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Rivener had no plan, but that was the very best kind of shopping trip. Having Vivette ask him for his opinion on something like this was flattering, and was going to be fun to boot. Buying new shirts for the pink-haired Frei was going to be easy, Riv recalled the young male to be quite pretty. He'd fit many of the current styles. The Scorpion was going to buy few of his own, as well, always eager to add to his closet. He didn't know what Vivi's car looked like, so the Raevan made sure to look as impressive as he could constantly.

He'd dressed up for the occasion, vanity dictating that he needed to look like the fashion-savvy Sigel Vivi expected him to be. His jewelry had been ditched for the day, replaced with a simple pair of black bracelets and a watch, a necklace he'd received from Zul hanging around his neck, the thin silver chain displaying a simple hematite disc. Riv's open-fronted vest had been replaced by a fitted tank top with a close v-neck, dark red with black accents around the hem and collar. The back of the shirt had once boasted a black design, like a false full-back tattoo, but that had been removed now to let Riv's wings through. The fabric was shimmery enough to catch the light, and breezy enough to feel wonderful in the summer air. The Sigel's hair had been clipped up into a ponytail, his sunglasses sitting atop his head. He didn't mind admitting to himself that he looked quite casually handsome, and smiled at people he caught peering.

Eventually a car pulled up nearby, and a familiar half-body floated out of the passenger side. Riv straightened from where he'd been leaning against a shop, meeting up with Cesc just as Vivi pulled away. The Sigel gave her a wave and a grin, then turned to Rhedefre with crossed arms, red eyes looking at the boy up and down, assessing immediately what would work for him.

"Hello again, Cesc! You remember me, don't you? I'm Rivener." He extended his hand for a shake, eyes snapping back up to where they should be, grinning. "Hope you aren't offended by the scrutiny, I was just thinking of what would look best for you. Is there a style you like? Casual, like this? Or did you want more formal things like the usual you wear, cravats and shirts and vests? I'm looking forward to this, there's a lot of good sales going on this time of year."

Rivener tapped at his chin, the other hand supporting his elbow. He nodded at Cesc's request for a variety- it was good for the pink one to try a lot of things, so he might figure out what he liked best. The experimenting was the best part, anyway! Riv grinned. "Yes, it was pretty short before the maze. I didn't see you much after the maze, either... But we'll make up for it now. So, let's do this thing! I suppose the only thing I have to ask now is: what's your price range? Is there an amount you're not supposed to go over? Shopping can get expensive pretty quick if you don't keep an eye on the amounts." Rivener himself had enough money for an extensive spree at this point, and he silently decided that he'd just pay for whatever went over Rhedefre's budget himself. It was a worthwhile expense, to get to play dress-up with a life-sized doll.

!!!Not that this was anything like that! He frowned at himself, wondering when the hell he'd begun to think like a stupid girl. This wasn't dress-up! It was serious style study, and that's all. Riv was along as an expert to offer advice.

"Let's start here, then!" he announced, pointing at the first shop they came across: very trendy and youthful, the SNAP store was one Riv himself hardly frequented- it was not edgy enough for the Scorpion. Still, the fresh styles and airy colors that were in vogue here this season might fit Cesc well.

Riv led the way inside and ignored the greeters after giving them a polite smile. "So, let's see. We can just skip the pants section entirely. Let's go straight for... Ahh, see? I think that would look good on you. Do you like it?" The dark Raevan pointed to one of the mannequins against the wall. The plastic man wore a light blue sleeveless tee with white stripes crossing the chest in three broad bands. It was just the first one Riv had seen with proper colors, and it was mostly meant to gauge Cesc's reaction, see what he enjoyed.

Rivener was hanging back now, giving Cesc all the time he needed to examine the offered shirt. The Scorpion stood with arms crossed, head tilted, studying. At first it looked like the pink one was refusing it, based on its sleevelessness, but in the next instant the Frei seemed suddenly interested, fingering the shirt. Riv grinned, his wings rustling as he began glancing about to collect a general impression of what else might be suitable around here.

Cesc's question drew the ruby eyes back, one dark eyebrow raised in curiosity. Riv actually looked a little surprised for a moment, then he chuckled, nodding in answer. "I suppose it's not always an obvious thought at your age- I didn't start altering the way I dressed until I was a Sigel, it hadn't occurred to me before, so it's not as silly a question as you might think. And yes, you can definitely wear more casual clothes day-to-day, and switch your style to suit what you're doing, where you're going." He winked.

"So did you like that shirt?" He pointed at it to confirm, floating a bit closer and tapping at his chin with a clawed finger, elbow propped in his other hand, thoughtful. "I thought the color in particular would be good on you. With your pink, I think blues and reds would be best. A nice turquoise-y green, maybe, too. Purples. No oranges and yellows, we'll keep that for your usual cravat-outfit, and it will make it stand out more in your closet, hm?" He smiled at that and waited for the decision on this first shirt, which would then affect which ones Riv suggested from here on.

Rivener was quite pleased at Cesc's reaction. The pink-haired one really thought about things much deeper than most Freis his age Riv had ever met. It was also nice that the Frei seemed open to change, open to trying new things. Riv put hands on his hips, regarding Cesc's body rather intently for a moment, trying to gauge a size... Medium, most likely. If it was too tight they could come back for a large, but he certainly didn't look like a small. The Sigel fingered through the chosen style's rack until he found a proper sized one, and draped it over his arm, instantly starting to look around for more options. There was a table with folded shirts over by the window, one of them bearing that turquoise green Riv had mentioned.

"A teacher? Nah, I didn't have any of that. I just grew, and when I started noticing people changed their clothes while I didn't, I got curious. I did a lot of looking at things online. Eventually I figured out which style I liked best, and I stick with that, now." He led Cesc over to the table and picked up the shirt he'd spotted. Still light and summery, a polo shirt. A little more formal than a sleeveless T, but since Cesc seemed willing to try a bunch of things, Riv saw no problem in looping it over his arm with the other. "I'm going to pick a few more things for you, then we can try them, alright? And I promise no purples." He laughed softly at that, red eyes angling over to the other Raevan. He motioned out into the store. "How about you float around and see if anything catches your interest. If it does, pick it up. You have to look at the collar, here, see? And there are different sizes of clothes for different sizes of people, so for you we're going to try the size "M" or "Med". Think you can go hunting by yourself? When you see me by the door in the back, there, come and meet me, okay?" He pointed at the change rooms, smiling encouragingly. The Scorpion had always found the best way to learn to fly was to jump. Besides, this was only a clothing store. Cesc would be fine.

Regardless of if they parted or not, Rivener found a few more items to try before going to the change room. He had a regular sleeved t-shirt, fitted and colored dark blue. He'd found a very stylish (in his opinion, at any rate) heavier-gage shirt with a zipper angled asymetrically along the side from the neck to the shoulder, the collar made of soft wool, the sleeves stopping at the elbow in a pinned roll. It was a dark grayish-green, with the wool and rolled sleeves black. Lastly he'd found a fitted button-up shirt with short sleeves, bright red with white pinstripes. There was a good range of styles there, and from seeing which Cesc would prefer they might narrow down the search field a little. If people had warned Cesc away from Valentine colors, Riv had the impression that darker, manlier shades would get the votes.

"Ready to try some clothes?" he said as the pink Frei joined him, an attendant coming over with a smile.

Rivener gave Cesc's choices a quick once-over, nodding in approval. As he'd suspected, darker colors. The Frei had chosen a good variety of things too, only the black button-down being the same cut as one of Riv's choices, though the colors made the two distinctly different, as did the black's extra little pocket and cuff stitching.

As the attendant took their clothes and set them up in one of the thankfully large changerooms -it always took quite a bit of room to maneuver clothes onto and around their wings and horns-, Riv turned to look at whoever Cesc pointed out. Red eyes sought through the store first, finding nothing. He almost missed the girl in the window and turned back, but she flinched as his eyes ran over her, which drew his attention. Immediately she picked up her cell and snapped a photo, then started to text furiously, and Rivener sighed with a flat expression of disapproval.

"I don't know her specifically, but I know of people LIKE her." He had enough bad memories of that type to last him a lifetime. They'd been responsible for his categoric dislike of females for a good long portion of his Frei extistence. Suddenly his ruby gaze hardened and his stance tensed with determination. Rivener would NOT let a mob of frantic girls traumatize Cesc the way they had done him. "Don't worry, I won't let them bother you. Now go on and try those clothes. Did you need any help with it?" He realized sometimes someone might be hard-pressed to work a shirt around their wings, and Riv had a pair of scissors handy, cutting out wing-holes in all the shirts. He'd expected they'd need to do this, but for the first round of outfits there was no helping it. Once the pink Frei figured out what he enjoyed, they would hopefully only be trying on things they would buy, so it would be less money wasted.

Riv stood by at the ready once he was done preparing the holes for Cesc, and the Sigel leaned in to the worried-looking attendant, quietly promising that he was going to buy all these shirts. The human relaxed visibly, nodding.

Rivener grinned and nodded at the request for help with the wings, following Cesc into the changing area. "I'll help you out, but you should pay attention to how I do it so you can try to maneuver it yourself once or twice. Either that, or you'd have to get Vivi or someone to assist you every time, which isn't all that bad though it CAN be inconvenient sometimes." He stood nearby at the ready with arms crossed, and when Cesc removed his white button-down, the Scorpion actually did a double-take, eyebrows raising. The little pink gentleman was much more of a man than Riv could have guessed! Those colors of his truly sent people the wrong impression, because those wide shoulders and hints of strength clearly spoke of how he'd be as an adult. Riv smirked- no more thinking of Cesc as "Cute", then. He'd be "Handsome" from now on.

The antlers drew a laugh out of Rivener and he grimaced a bit in sympathy. "That won't happen for a while yet, so it's not a problem now, but if you want we can focus on shirts with large collars, to give you room to work, or shirts that don't go over-the-head. Like button-downs, or hoodies with zippers, that kind of thing. That way you could keep those when you grew into Sigel. To be honest though, I get the sneaking suspicion your clothes won't fit you anymore when you grow up. You're going to be a strapping young lad." He laughed at his own comment, moving to pull the wings through the cut-out holes. The trick with the light was startling, but like Cesc said, it could be VERY useful if the boy managed to learn to do it at will with the whole wing. "Hell, if you can keep it as light for a more permanent length of time, you might not even need to cut holes out of the shirts at all!"

The shirt was on now, and Rivener followed Cesc out to the viewing area, circling the Frei with a thoughtful expression, hands on his hips. It did look good, but that stripe wasn't at the best place to accentuate Cesc's shoulders. Still, if that was its only flaw, it was still a very respectable choice. It seemed to fit in all the right places and draw out the masculine form, hint at a stomach that wasn't there... "So how do you like it?" That was, after all, the most important factor.

The answer was forestalled, Cesc asking a question of his own that made the Scorpion glance up to the window. He glared at the girls, who seemed to go into a frenzy of squee-ing as both floating men looked at them. More cell phone snapshots were stolen and they tittered incessantly as they texted, no doubt summoning more of their ilk. Riv groaned. "No, I'm no more famous than any of our kind. You shouldn't take them too lightly, Cesc, they can get... dangerous. Mobs of them are so unruly, and when one of them starts daring to touch you, the others soon follow, and then there's no way to escape all the touching and grabbing and the trying to steal your-... Ugh. Sorry Cesc. I just don't like that type of person at all. Don't worry though, I won't let them bother you. I'm stronger now than I was back then." He'd throw them all bodily across the street if he had to.

Rivener was trying to ignore the girls after his war declaration, but it was obvious Cesc was more than a little confused about the statement. The Scorpion flushed slightly in embarrassment, knowing what it might look like, but he still ushered Cesc into the changeroom and tried to move on, making note that the pink one enjoyed that shirt, and handing over the wool one with the detailing near the shoulder. Rhedefre seemed intent on trying to get it on himself this time, so Riv just stood by at the ready.

That small amused smile of Cesc's made Riv rustle his wings self-consciously. He didn't mind the verbal stumble, sighing in annoyance and looking out towards the window again. Eight or nine of them now. "Girls LIKE them. When I was younger I didn't stand up against them, to stop them, and they did hurt me. Not much physically, but I was young, very young, and to be surrounded by such a gaggle of people, grabby and screaming and... I didn't deal with it very well. Maybe you're old enough to understand what would happen, but I wasn't, that's all. I don't like their kind." He felt like he was admitting something horrible and likely falling in the other Raevan's perceptions, but Riv certainly didn't want to lie.

"I'm not going to go toe to toe or tip to tip with anyone unless they get too close. So let's just ignore them, hm?" He smiled slightly and motioned with his chin towards Cesc's battle with the woolen shirt. "You've almost got it, want help? Or will you finish it yourself?"