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Not... proper?

Tari blinked several times, slowly, trying to process this objection. It would be one thing if it were Tari - the 'no touching boobs' rules had been extended into 'no showing your boobs'. But Xiu was a boy and boys didn't have boobs. Televee showed shirtless males all the time, it seemed perfectly culturally acceptable.

"Why?" she eventually managed. "No tummies. Xiu and Tari no kissing. Boys can take tops off public. Not pants, but Xiu is like Tari - no tummy."

There was nothing there Tari hadn't seen on televee already.

"C'mon, c'mon! Tari can't go out there," she wheedled. "Will be seen. Want to see Xiu mafia-style!"

If she had any idea how Xiu's top worked, she'd attack and remove it herself. She eyed the top speculatively, trying to work it out. The outer layer looked like it would just tug off. But the second layer...

Tari pouted. It was a fearsome weapon, nevermind about the claws. Despite instincts urging her to just tear Xiu's clothes off, she forced herself to focus past that and tried to compromise.

"First layer off? Second layer stay on, but then Xiu can wear suit jacket?" she suggested. Large green eyes didn't blink, just stared at Xiu in hope. Deciding maybe the blin needed to lead the blind, she offered, "Tari, too!"

Fishing through the pile of discarded suits, Tari found a smaller, more feminine looking jacket. She tossed a larger one back to Xiu before placing hers down on the edge of basket. Careful of her claws, she reached both hands up behind her back to unclip the golden armour shielding her bust. Thankfully she still have the black, lace-edged top underneath... but it really didn't cover any more than a bra...

"Hmmm," Tari looked in the mirror, gently shifting to test different angles. The female suit jacket had a plunging neckline, revealing the black lace from her top. It didn't look bad, but she wondered if it was as dashing as a mafia suit should be. She turned to Xiu, seeking a second opinion. "What Xiu think?"

She brightened as she saw Xiu had finally caved in and put the jacket on. There was something wrong with the grey collar of his normal clothes sticking up, though...

Rumaging through the basket again, she fished out another suit. This one had a high Mandarin collar and buttons down the middle - still black with a white undershirt and very formal. "Xiu try this?" she offered, leaving it up to Xiu which he preferred. "Can be Chinese mafia, like movie bag guys. Tri... Tried?" she guessed, not quite remembering the proper name.

"Really?" Tari beamed and gave Xiu a quick hug. "Xiu so nice!"

Passing over the new suit jacket, Tari turned to preen in the mirror while Xiu changed. Raising her arms, she struck a pose form the movie, pretending she had one of those gun-things. Hmm, that looked good.

"Hurry! Xiu needs to pose with Tari," she encouraged the white Frei.

Tari pouted and whined softly in the back of her throat. This was so much fun, she didn't want to stop now. She had a feeling Xiu was going to his foot - um... ribbon? - down about this one, though. She huffed and sighed, making it clearly obvious that she didn't want to.

Taking a last look at herself in the mirror, Tari spun and wished she could keep the suit jacket. Somehow, even with her emotions ruling her, it felt very, very wrong to steal.

"Tari understand." Her shoulders drooped as she unbuttoned the jacket. She reattached her gold armor. The lovely suit jacket was carefully draped over one arm, then slowly taken back to the clothing bin after checking that the shop assistants weren't looking.

"Ready to go?" she asked Xiu. Another sigh. "Xiu and Tari made such good mafia."

When Xiu agreed they'd made a good team, Tari gave a happy little hum. The accompanying smile didn't last very long, though, since their partnership was now over. Tari didn't like the end of her adventures with other Raevans at the best of times, let alone when she was uninhibited thanks to a virus. Still, she followed Xiu out of the shop.

Then Xiu made the mistake of mentioning Guardians and leaving. Tari's face grew stormy. Her rune flashed to a sickly green several times in quick succession.

Scrunching her face up, Tari searched for the words to express herself. What came out was... surprisingly articulate. "No! Tari doesn't want to go home. Tari is having fun. Home is boring."

Her wings flapped as she considered this. The logical solution, clearly, was to not go home. To spend more time here having fun.

Of course they'd still been moving while having this discussion, slowly approaching the rendezvous point. Kali was already there waiting, and Tari came to a complete halt as she saw her mother take notice of them and start walking towards the two Raevans.

Tari made a split second decision. Giggling to herself, to turned to Xiu. "Thank you for a fun afternoon, Xiu. Tari will see you later. But Tari isn't going home just yet." A quick hug for the white Raevan and suddenly Tari was darting off in the other direction.

Eyes wide, Kali ran the rest of the way of to Xiu. "What...?" She was clearly torn between getting an explanation and chasing after Tari right away.

Tari stared at Xiu, who was holding a hand to keep her in place. Her expression was bemused, as though she couldn't understand why Xiu was there or what he was doing.

"Why?" she asked. "Why should Xiu worry? Why shouldn't Tari do what she wants to do?" It wasn't a thought that occurred to the angel before. Pre-infection, it had seemed natural that she follow someone else's orders. Be polite, good, obedient. And yet right now, she was simply left wondering 'why' to all of those rules.

A sickly green colour overtook Tari's rune again. It flashed between its normal red and the new green several times, before settling... into the green. Almost immediately after, Tari snatched her hand from Xiu, eyes narrowing. "It is not Xiu's choice. Xiu doesn't control Tari... and neither does mama!"

With this emphatic statement, Tari was off again. Before Xiu could follow, Tari was ducking out the mall's automatic doors and into the street.

Kali came barreling past. Her eyes never left Tari's retreating figure, even as one hand raised a slim mobile phone to her ear and hit the only speed dial she'd bothered to program in. "Doctor Kyou, this is Kali..."