As Alice circled him, Sasha stood in place and kept watch from the corners of his eyes, only minutely turning his head. He was waiting for the realization to strike her, for that delicious moment when perplexity bloomed into alarm. When something instinctive switched on, regardless of the logic of the situation, and ignited an animal response. There they remained on the precipice, ready to tip over the edge. But she lingered there.

Disbelief. Hm. Well, that happened.

She proceeded with the measuring. When he didn’t immediately spread out his arms, she pricked him with the pin. He jumped at once, and held out his arms if only in astonishment.
 
“Ah!” He kept his arms held up, finding himself a bit captive by her professional assertiveness alone. “What are you—?”

Alice was pretending nothing was wrong. She went on pulling her tape taut and taking her measurements, as she promised. Perhaps as long as she fulfilled her end of the agreed arrangement, he was perform his and the night would thankfully come to a close. Was that all she was going to do? 

Still, he appraisal wasn’t unflattering.

“Well, not surprising the shoulders are too tight,” he muttered, vainly distracted by Alice’s observations. “I had this made in Malaysia. They typically don’t have people in my size.”

Sasha glanced in the mirror, where Alice moved alone. If she didn’t look at it, there was no problem.
 
How typically human. This was such a symptom of the modern era. It used to afflict only the rich and comfortable, who would preserve the status quo by denying that anything could ever shift the balance, but now the entire Westernized world was rich and happy. At this end of the Industrial Revolution, the humans were beginning to note that they were cooking their world alive. 
 
Yet as long as they pretended it wasn’t happening, surely there was no catastrophe waiting for them on the horizon.
 
“You’re an odd one, aren’t you? [i]Hey—!” Sasha darted to the side, feeling another pinch on his side. “Do you impale [i]all[/i] your customers or just the ones with no reflection?” He rubbed at his waist defensively. “You’ve noticed, I [i]know[/i] you have. Are you trying to convince yourself you’re [i]that[/i] tired?”