Welcome to Gaia! ::

Shaheen still wasn't quite sure why she had agreed to do this. Maybe it was the residual guilt associated with the time she had nearly killed Zhi, twice, in her insanity consumed form. Maybe it was the fact that after all of that, the conquest man had thrown himself at her in a hug. A hug.

Nobody had ever hugged her before.

Still, this entire shopping for clothing thing was not even within the same realm as her comfort zone, and the fact that Shik was along for the ride was either horrible or wonderful, she couldn't quite decide. Wonderful in that she got to witness first hand his his torture, horrible because she wasn't sure if she should really be in the near vicinity of him, if the looks he'd given her were any indication. Well, she had wanted to drive a wedge between them, make it clear to him that she wanted nothing to do with him anymore, make sure that he would not want anything to do with her anymore. Surely she had succeeded on that front?

Still, she kept herself out of easy reaching distance of those big dirty and clawed man hands of his, her arms crossing over her chest as she decided the best course of action would be to remain indifferent to his existence in this little excursion. If he glared at her, she would just raise an eye brow in return and look as unimpressed as possible. If he spoke to her, she would reply in as calm of a manner as possible, though not without a few jabs at his pride, if she could get them in.

And so she entered the maul shortly after Zhi, her own eyes roaming, taking in the unfamiliar sights and sounds. Of course, she knew what a maul was, she just didn't see the point. She could make her own clothes, or have somebody make them for her. She could hunt for her own food. She had no use for technology. She was here solely for the purpose of humoring her friend, which could end disastrously for him but considering Shaheen's reputation, but he would have plenty of time to learn that over the course of this trip.

At Zhi's question, Shaheen merely shrugged, and pointed at the first shop that her gaze rose to.

........Why did Halloween have a Christmas shop?

If Zhi noticed the somewhat unusual air between his two War friends (whether the term "friends" was mutual was under debate), he did not say anything, his attention focused intently on the vast variety of stores that lined the maul. This was amazing, but truth to be told, he had absolutely no idea where to even start. What did the Conquest horseman know of fashion anyways? Absolutely nothing, beyond the outfits commonly worn by members of the Four Clans. This "modern fashion" that so many of the young Halloween students were wearing was completely lost on him. Where would be a good place to check out first?

He immediately perked up when Shaheen lifted a hand and pointed to one of the stores. Eyes eager, he followed her gaze to find...a Christmas shop? Even the Conquest horseman looked a little hesitant at the choice, the grin dropping from his face. He said nothing as he wrinkled his nose and turned to stare at the woman with eyes that seemed to ask if she was really sure about this. From what he could make of the store that was decorated by colorful lights and played terrible carols, the only kind of clothing that it sold consisted of bright, color-clashing Christmas sweaters. Who in their right mind would need something like tha--

...

Zhi eyed the shop full of ugly, bright, but modest Christmas sweaters.

Then he turned to look at Shik's bare chest.

Back to the shop.

Back to the chest.

Zhi's need for modesty declared that they needed to cover that bare chest of Shik's with something. Clearly this was the perfect choice.

Cackling gleefully, he threw his arms up in the air and began to march towards the store. "Very well, let us go with Shaheen's first choice! I am not a cruel master! For my dear slave, I will buy him a nice, warm sweater to shield his abs from the cold!"

Shik did not appreciate Zhi's look towards his exposed chest and made sure the so-called soldier knew it with a dagger-sharp glare that said oh no you don't -

And then Shaheen started purring and the executioner knew he was headed for trouble.

Trouble that meant "music", "light up", and "festive".

Shik never thought he would loathe music, but these two made arguably the strongest case for it. They also argued for how slow their individual deaths would be once this finished: slow, painful, and ensured that they screamed. Possibly with the worst scratchy fabric and the infectious musical disease called ear worms. Suffering was practically guarenteed once Shaheen mentioned mittens. Mittens.

"Put those things near me and I will end you," he hissed, which he rationalized was still not talking to Shaheen because Zhi was very much a part of the threat as well. In fact the conquest horseman got another cold glare meant to deter him from getting any more funny ideas about this.

Shik's threats just earned him little reaction from Shaheen, who just inwardly shrugged it off, not worried in the least bit about how he might 'end her'. She knew very well that she had done more then enough to him to earn the most painful and drawn out torture he could likely manage, and with that in mind she knew she really had nothing left to lose.

And so she felt liberated to do and say anything and everything she wanted to.

"His claws would wreck them, I suppose." She mused out loud, as though the loud and mostly unbearable man hadn't even spoken, following Zhi to the first sweater he lifted up, giving it a glance over but in the grand scheme of things, caring very little about whatever it was that got purchased.

"I have heard of things called manicures before, however. Something that is done in a...salon?" Foreign words to the chieftain, who cared little for her own appearance. "Maybe another idea, if this maul should have a shop like that."

She was just on a roll with great ideas, and without any real inspection of Zhi's selection, gave a nod.

"It will do."