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Derrick felt like his eye was about to twitch. He had only done a bit of shopping to get his brother and father some presents, but already he was annoyed by how busy it was. He took a few breaths, trying to calm himself down. He knew he shouldn't be annoyed yet. He had been here for less than an hour, but he was still just surprised at how crowded it was. Most people were buying things online these days, so for it to be just, so jam-packed it was surprising. Though he supposed at this point that most of these people, like himself, were buying last minute gifts. Luckily he was just getting gift cards, but even those seemed to have mostly run out, at least all of the holiday-themed ones. The ones that were birthday themed seemed to be well in stock.

He was going to have to go home for the holidays, as much as he hated to spend time with his father's side of the family, but he had to protect his little brother while he was there, and if he was able to secure a car or be able to walk home, all the better. That way he and his broth could sneak out once they started to get tired and could just go home and rest. There was a reason he had come to Destiny City, and as much as he loved his immediate family, he was at least able to get out of most holiday gatherings being out of town.

He sighed, holding his two bags close as he headed for the door. All he had to do now was get out of here saf-"oof" came out of him as he seemed to accidentally run into someone. He wasn't sure who it was, but he didn't want to make the situation worse by getting angry about it. "Sorry." He said, before he looked and saw what he thought was some familiar white hair, but he wasn't sure.

Derrick blushed a bit as he recognized who he had bumped into. "Uh..." He was blushing, he hardly ever did that and he really couldn't stand the uncontrollable reaction. "Key... Um, no. Not in a rush. I'm just trying to navigate though here, it is so crowded." And they were making it a bit more crowded by standing in the middle of all of it, but he wasn't paying attention to it.

"Are you going to do your shopping now or are you done?" As soon as it came out of his mouth he realized his mistake in what he said. She already had a bag, which meant that she had at least started her shopping. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He really wasn't sure why he got so nervous around her. "You need any help?" He could at least try and make up the fact that he had bumped into her.

Derrick felt himself pulled forward suddenly, and he was not a lot closer to Key. He blushed slightly, embarrassed at how he must have looked being surprised so suddenly, but it soon went away when she had hinted that she needed some company. He thought about it for a bit. Shopping would probably be a lot more bearable if he was with someone else, and he didn't really need to be back anywhere anytime soon... "No, I don't need to be anywhere. I'll be happy to accompany you." He replied, nodding his head and giving her a smile.

Although he was slightly tired from having to hold his bags, they weren't that heavy, and he could probably rest for a bit if they found a bench or something. "Might be a bit more bearable if we go together at least. I know it's hard to stay calm when you're by yourself shopping and people just pretend as though you don't exist." He didn't know how many times his foot had been stomped on already today. He would need to put an ice-pack on it when he got back to his apartment. "All right, you know where you need to go, I'll go with you." He didn't want to say 'follow' because that meant he would be behind her, which kind of defeated the purpose of them going together.

Derrick allowed her to guide him as they started to walk.
"I don't have to get anything for anyone in particular, but if we go around and I find something at a store we visit, I might get it." After all, it's not like he had a set number of presents to give, only a set amount of money in his checking account.

"Well, I'll admit, I probably have a bit too much energy myself. It's hard to do any parkour like I usually would with all of the snow and ice." Archery he could still do indoors, along with calligraphy, but neither really used much energy. Perhaps a bit more brain power and steady arms and hands, but he needed to release his pent-up energy some way. Maybe he should have joined some indoor sport or exercise activity, but that would have to wait until January.

He let her take the lead as they went along. He gave her a small smile. "All right, I'll tell you if I see anything I want to check out." He replied. Key wanted to make sure that he got everything done, and he wouldn't dismiss her kindness.

"Yeah, it's fun. Though I really started to do it because I wanted an excuse to exercise and be out more, without just running." Sure, he was outside as much as possible when he practiced archery, but he knew he couldn't just run or go to a gym, too boring for him. "If you would like, once the weather is better, I can try and teach you. It sometimes helps when I'm powered up, but I had to get used to the differences in power first." He had been surprised that he had managed to avoid getting any concussions, but he did have quite a few big scrapes and bruises that had happened underestimating his power when leaping. He blushed a bit when she concluded he liked to get his energy out in 'fun' ways. Mind out of the gutter Derrick!

He nodded. "There are, but there's nothing really like doing it outside in the sun and just being able to run up buildings. But... if you really want to try it out, we can always go and check one out together if you want? Though I must warn you it takes a while to get in the right shape, and if you don't stretch properly, you'll have sore muscles you never knew you had." Which was annoying, because some muscles you just couldn't stretch, no matter how hard you tried. "I would love to try rock climbing though. That sounds interesting and I've never done it." It couldn't be too hard right? It's not like they were quite like going up natural cliffs outside.

They went into a toy store, which seemed to be mostly made of board games, which Derrick though was interesting. "These are cool. Should probably try some out now that the board game industry seems to be booming." Or at least that was what he had heard, but he hadn't really played any of the new ones.

He gave her a small smile. "Sounds like a plan then." Though he wanted to make sure he knew as much as he could before starting the rock climbing. But it seemed that Key was volunteering to be his teacher at least. "I'll leave it to you to teach me. I'm sure there's a lot that I don't know and that I could really hurt myself if I just went and did it." She mentioned natural climbs, and he wondered just how natural. The kind that didn't involve the ropes? He would have to try the plastic rock-climbing first.

He heard the implication loud and clear and wondered if there was something else behind what she was saying. He nodded, deciding not to ask about it. "I think we both like the outdoors more than staying inside. Though they might be entertaining when you can't go out." One of the reasons he didn't like winter. He could be out all Spring through Fall but winter? He would rather risk himself with heat stroke than either frostbite, hypothermia, or slipping on ice and hurting himself.

He gave her a smirk. "It helps a lot. Though sometimes it's too much if you aren't used to it. I know I just barely missed a few concussions and broken bones underestimating how far I would be able to jump when I was first starting out." He was lucky that he had only come out with bruises and not broken organs.

Suddenly, a thought came to him, and made him wonder if he should really do this. "You... after this would you like me to help you home? Or do you want to come over to my apartment or something? Rest a bit after going through all of these crazy crowds." He was being forward, even more forward than usual, and it was weirding him out a bit, but suddenly the idea of going back to his apartment and relaxing on the couch after all of this madness didn't seem like such a bad idea.