That throbbing beat takes your breath away

[heavenly_earth]

Characters: Neji, Tenten, and Hanabi
Location: Shopping District- Mall
Rating: G
Time: November 22nd, early evening
Description: Hanabi and Tenten need new clothes, Neji offers to take them shopping. It's as good a time as any for a discussion or two as well.

Comments

[usedforcepalm]

Hanabi listened to Neji's explanation of Lain and her personalities. It seemed strange, but after what Lain had told her about being captured by the Witches, if there was one person the girl would feel she could trust at that point, it would be Neji. Keeping what Roy Mustang told her about resonance in mind...well. She was just going to have to do her best to be nice to both Lain and Bold. It was much easier to be nice to Lain, who all in all seemed like a sweet girl and similar to Hinata. Bold would require more patience, but she'd given up on being rude and simply disconnected the conversation when Hanabi didn't show any anger.

When Tenten pulled off her shirt under the vest, Hanabi was about to tell her that she didn't have to do that. Tenten's reassurance that she would be fine was what stopped her. She had already made her decision and refusing the shirt would have been disrespectful at this point.

"Thank you very much," she said, pulling the shirt on over her arms. She resolved to pick out a couple of long sleeved pieces of clothing when they shopped if the air was going to be this cold in the evening. If there were any change rooms to try the clothes on, she could return the shirt to Tenten there.

Even though Tenten wasn't a large person, her shirt was huge on Hanabi's petite ten year old form. The shirt went down to the middle of Hanabi's thighs and the sleeves dangled over Hanabi's hands. Still, it solved the problem of feeling cold quite nicely.

[heavenly_earth]

Neji smiled at the gesture, relieved in part because he didn't have anything to offer his younger cousin, and nodded. "It should be warmer inside anyway." he amended, leading the way inside.

"As for Lain, I don't know why she has three personalities, but what I do know about her world would be difficult to explain and even harder to believe. For the moment, let's find you both some clothing."

There were shops everywhere, a good number of them named in the same regulation as anywhere else in the city- correlated in some fashion with death in a pattern he still didn't understand the appeal of. He could only haphazardly guess it was the idea of the being Shibusen called Shinigami-sama and he occasionally wondered about the true nature of the city.

"Feel free to look at whatever appeals to you. I'm far from an expert in this field, but I'm confident I can afford everything the two of you could need."

In the meantime, he'd search for a gift for Lain- something to communicate his appreciation for being willing to let them go out after such an upheaval and serve as a reminder that he didn't forget about her in the time he was gone.

[underspinning]

"Neji, I've been kidnapped from home and been enlisted to fight in a war by some box. Lee and the Kazekage are involved in a relationship, and Guy-sensei is not in spandex. I think I'll be able to believe almost anything you guys tell me." She did have a point. There's been so much craziness in the last couple of days, that really anything isn't far from being automatically disbelieved. I mean, if her little coping side-thought that this is a dream is to be believed, then anything she learns about Lain could just be disregarded anyways, right?

Regardless, Tenten does take in the note of all of the names of the shop and how they all seem to have a theme related to death, "These people are really big on dying here. That's reassuring" She quips and looks around, still noting the names of everything.

"All right. I won't take or need too much, Neji." In reality, Tenten began to look through the windows with her observant eyes and began to look for anything that she'd normally wear at home. Nothing too tight or revealing, but something to fit into her theme of Chinese clothing. Unfortunately, there isn't anything that seems to catch Tenten's eye so far. Tenten knew there wouldn't be that many clothes that I would normally wear in a place of Nevada, but she'll continue to look anyways.

[usedforcepalm]

"Neither will I," said Hanabi. She made a mental list of things she thought she would need. A few pairs of underwear, definitely. A coat or thick sweater, for sure. At least one other shirt and another pair of pants so that she'd have things to wear when she was washing her clothing. Those were the things she needed. She wouldn't pick out anything else unless Neji insisted.

Most things didn't really catch Hanabi's attention either, but she paused by the window of one store and took a second look at a store with a black and purple hooded sweatshirt on display. It looked warm, and aside from a front pocket, she could see there were a couple of more discreet smaller pockets.

"Can we go in here, please?"

[heavenly_earth]

Neji smiled humorlessly and shrugged, moving to peer through a few windows. "In that case, Lain is a type of God in her world," he remarked casually, idly catching sight of a few glimmering accessories in the next shop over. It looked crowded with women crooning over gems with apparent envy.

The Jounin turned from his brief appraisal of the jewelry store and redirected his attention to the window pane that had caught his young cousin's attention. He nodded, gesturing for them to move inside ahead of him.

"Of course. Something like that would likely be suitable for this winter."

[underspinning]

"Her world has some serious problems with their choices in deities." She's nearly been drowned by what best may be described as blue sushi brought to life. That doesn't even phase her. The women crooning over the jewelry garners more interest from Tenten who just gives them a brief eye roll. Gems won't ever get you anywhere so why even wear them in the first place.

Tenten follows Hanabi into the store, using her sharp eye to scan the store for anything remotely oriental. Tenten's patience with the availability of the outfits was wearing rather thin. Everywhere her eye glazed it was more modern day, tight and restricting trash.

"There's something I can use. I wonder if it even comes in my size..." She could tell none of the jackets on that rack would fit her by her amazing analytical prowess. When she does get closer to the coats for Hanabi, Tenten will just be scanning for other coats. For the first time in her life, fashion was a chore.