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Howl was in need of a sweater for the upcoming winter months. Certainly, his mother could have ordered him something online, but that did not seem to suit his tastes. It was not that he did not trust his mother's sense of fashion. Actually, his mother was quite in touch with suitable fashions for young men. Part of this had to do with her working as a model. It was strictly the lack of choice in coloration of whatever sweater she selected.

So instead, the teal haired lad opted to visit the local mall. It was something he had not done in the longest of times, but it was simply because the occasional presence of his parents in their new condo in the city. When one was boarding at what was essentially a prison, having family comforts really did seem to eat any free time away.

With a cup of tea from Teasvatta at hand, the lad began to wander about one of the larger clothing stores in the mall. Howl was not limiting himself to looking at the men's section, since he also had to consider getting clothing for his mother for the upcoming holidays too. Eventually, he paused in front of a lovely women's business suit. It was a warm earthy brown color and looked like it was soft to the touch.

Look, do not touch he reminded himself, keeping his arms behind his body. If he had the intention of purchasing, that was when he permitted himself to touch. One less person soiling the "new" clothing with their grimy fingers. Something that Howl could appreciate.

Once he had finished looking, he moved on, walking down the aisle casually and continuing to look at various articles of clothing. It was quite uneventful. He eventually paused and lifted his cup to his lips to take a sip of his Earl Grey.

His head turned very slightly as he heard footsteps approach towards one side. There was a girl with short curly red hair. His eyes momentarily glanced to hers, noting the odd coloring of each iris.

Howl would have needed to be an absolute idiot to not recognize a conversation opener if he had ever heard one. Cordially, he took the bait the redhead had offered, nodding his head slightly as he pulled the cup away from his lips. He swallowed the remaining Earl Grey then turned to face the girl a bit more directly.

"Indeed it is, Miss." Each word had an elegant English accent touching it. "I suspect if it was in another color, my mother would look quite stunning in it." Despite how lovely the business suit was, he knew it wouldn't look all that good on his mother. Anastasia Wickham had ample amounts of lovely brown hair, which posed a problem whenever she wore too much brown. The presence of the one color washed out any other details, including his mother's lovely turquoise eyes.

Taking a moment to glance back to the suit in question, then back to the girl, he offered an observation. "I believe it would look much better on a young lady, such as yourself."

"I am merely window shopping at the moment," was the answer she'd receive. That way, there was no commitment to the sort of purchases he could get.

The mention of having no reason to wear a business suit did seem to hit a nerve, though one couldn't tell by the gentle, polite smile upon his lips. Not hesitating to let his thoughts be known, he approached it with a simple question. "Then I take it you are gaily employed at some fine establishment, Miss?" He drew his cup to his lips and took another sip while awaiting her response.

Moving his cup from his right hand to his left and pulling it away from his lips, he reached out to meet her hand. However, instead of taking it for a handshake, he actually took her hand delicately by the fingers and swept it upward slightly. In turn, he leaned forward and planted a light kiss upon her hand. The teal-haired lad most certainly had manners to spare.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Jacobs." He gently released her fingers. "My name is Howl Wickham." He stood himself back to his usual height, his posture absolutely perfect.

His eyes once more glanced to the business suit, as if inviting the girl to take another look at it. "I think that you might need to widen your scope then, Miss Jacobs. Those who are unemployed, but of the proper age, are perhaps the most in need of a suit such as this one." He nodded his head slightly. "I would suspect if one was to go to an interview of any variety with such a lovely suit on, the first impressions would be phenomenal." First impressions were very important, since they usually started off physical appearance. It was a cruel reality, but this was a society that prided itself upon sheer aesthetics at times.

Her attempt at a compliment was not wasted on the effeminate lad, for he nodded his head at her words. "I am quite grateful that my parents gave me such a suitable name." It wasn't exactly like children got to choose their names.

She once more seemed to consider the outfit. However, something about the way she looked seemed more polite than genuine. As if she was only doing it for show. It was an observation he kept to himself, since bringing it up would only be an embarrassment.

Instead, he drew off of her words and replied with his own. "Many people usually get lost in the small picture and lose sight of the larger picture. Though now I am curious, what year in school are you, Miss Jacobs?"

In all honesty, he wanted to move along, but as the redhead had already observed, Howl was a stickler for manners. Even attempting to move ahead would come across as rushing the momentary conversation.

The invitation was welcome, though the mention of the other girl attempting to get a closer look caused him to turn in her direction and utter out "I beg your pardon, Miss." With a nod of the head, he turned back to his own task at hand, which was apparently moving forward. He took one sip of tea as they generally moved ahead, out of the area of the business suit. However, there were many more surrounding them, since the clothing industry liked to put similar clothing near each other, grouped off in one fashion or another.

"Well, I hope that your senior year is an exhilarating experience for you." Howl could have mentioned he was merely a Junior this year. However, that would have led to the conversation moving forward in a distasteful manner ending with her asking about which school he was at. Over a year, and he was still in denial about the whole Hillworth issue.

Instead of keeping the subject to the school one, he attempted to move onto a different one that was completely relevant. "Browsing is just browsing, Miss Jacobs. It is merely just looking for something that is aesthetically appealing to the eye. No commitment of any sort. It was no bother at all, Miss Jacobs."

He eventually slowed his steps when they approached a rather brightly colored blouse. "Would something like this be more suiting to your tastes?" Since the blouses were on hangers, he carefully picked it up by the metallic section of the hanger while carefully keeping the cup his beverage was in somewhat distant. He held it forward, as if to compare it to the girl, and more importantly, to make it evident he wasn't thinking of it for himself.

After all, there had been times people thought Howl swung that way.

His fingers easily released their hold upon the hanger as her fingers delicately snatched the blouse in question away. "I suppose if you are aiming to make your red hair stand out, then softer tones would be the way to go. However, some tones similar to this actually compliment your hair color rather than making it stand out." All too many times he had seen young red-haired women make this exact same mistake. On occasion, making their hair color stand out was not a bad idea, but it was also nice to look balanced.

Liliana went through all the throws of inspecting the article of clothing. She seemed much more interested in this blouse than the suit from earlier, for her eyes eventually lifted and began darting about in an effort to locate what he assumed to be the fitting room.

She did come across as quite bold after she made her request of Howl. She had only just met him and was already asking him to assist her with her purchases. She most definitely was a redhead. Not letting on that her boldness was noticed, he simply nodded his head. "I suppose I can offer my opinion, since I was the one who located the blouse for you."

The redhead vanished to the fitting room. Howl, on the other hand, remained in his spot amidst the clothing. It was not his place to wander to the fitting rooms and to wait. That was what a boyfriend did. So instead, he continued to look through various articles of clothing in the immediate area. By the time Liliana had returned to where he had been standing, he had 2 more tops in a slightly paler coloration (as she had requested).

The familiar voice prompting him caused him to turn and to give the girl a once over in a tasteful manner. He didn't let his eyes linger too long about inappropriate areas, for that would just be tasteless and rude.

"Let me see here." He took a couple steps so he could round towards her side a bit for a different perspective. "For that honest opinion you requested of me, I will say that it seems like the warmer colors of this blouse work better than the cooler colored sections do. Overall, it looks rather lovely, but if it stuck to the warm pallet, then it would have been absolutely stunning." With a nod of the head, he then extended his hand out that was holding onto the two new hangers. "I found these while you were in the fitting room, Miss Jacobs. These are closer to the color schemes you prefer, correct?"