Tses watched Mari's reaction to the stuffed animal she chose, and felt herself smile slightly. While she had chosen it mostly out of habit (tigers reminded her a bit of Ty now, and she also had a small affinity for them just based on their power and grace), she thought it was a bit comical that he also saw it as a jab towards him. Oh well, all the more reason to have it. She wasn't against passive-aggressive messages. "Eh, if it keeps you on your toes, sure, I am trying to send a message." She stepped forward, and the employee gave them a bored look, a teenage punk who looked like this job was sucking away their very soul. Tses empathized with them.

"So, we stuff it now." She told Mari, and the employee took her tiger, and shoved the nose in the animals back. As she pushed a pedal on a floor, the set up sort of like a sewing machine, and fluffing started flowing slowly into the animal skin. Then the employee nodded to the bin of hearts.

"Go ahead and pick one. I can do the whole 'ceremony' if you guys want, or you can just make a wish and stick it in."

Tses shrugged, picked out a heart and considered things for a second. While she thought the whole thing was cheesy, she figured if she didn't do things right, she'd hear Mari complaining for awhile after. I wish...I didn't have to be alone again. She thought finally, and shoved the little heart into the stuffing, then they finished off her tiger, and she stepped to the side, motioning to Mari. "There, you try now."

Mariusz presented his bear to the employee to be stuffed and watched at it slowly poofed out with stuffing. First the little black feet and arms, then the head and body, gradually took shape until they were stuffed completely. Then the employee pointed in the direction of a bin of little hearts. What a novel concept! Mariusz went over to the bin and selected a heart then went back and placed it into the stuffing. Now the question was, what to wish for? I wish for a solid beginning to my new journey, he thought to himself. That seemed a perfectly reasonable, and even attainable, wish.

Having made his wish the back of the animal was sewn up and it was handed back to him. Now the little black bear looked a lot more like a proper stuffed animal. Mariusz turned and showed it to Tses. "See? Does he not look pleased to be getting a new home," the feathered man asked, holding out the bear for her inspection. "So," he asked as they stepped out of the way and let the next people in line go forward for their turn, "Now what do we do?" Tses was American and this was an American store therefore it stood to reason, logically, that she would know what the next step in the bear building process was.

Tses glanced at the two stuffed animals, then looked around the little shop. The children that were ahead of them before had moved to one last station, where there were little bear brushes, bows and a 'grooming' station. Drawing the line at 'grooming' the bears, she pointed to the clothing. "You can shop for different clothes next. There are shoes and accessories and all kinds of stuff over there for sale you can look through." Without waiting for him to follow, she made her way over to the display shelves, and started navigating the different outfits. The prices were a bit ridiculous, she had to admit. $20 for something she could sew herself; and that was per piece. While most of the little girls were looking and princesses and cheerleaders, Tses found some fishnets, boots, and a long sleeve shirt and held them up to her bear. At her side, a little girl watched curiously, and then made a face at Tses choices.

"What, you don't like it?" She said, frowning at the girl.

The tiny blond haired pipsqueak shook her head, and once more made a face. "She looks like a hooker."

Tses felt red tint her face, part out of annoyance, and part out of embarrassment. "She does not!"

"Does too!"

"Does not!"

The argument continued for a few minute, until the little girl stuck out her tongue and skipped off, leaving Tses bewildered and irritated in her wake. Crossing her arms, she set the fishnets back, and looked at the boots, grumbling to herself. then she found some jeans and a punk T the tiger could try on instead.

Mariusz looked past the stuffed animal grooming station to where the various costumes for the animals were. He followed Tses over in that direction before splitting off to look in the various bins. As a result of poking through the costumes and such on his own he complete missed the conversation that took place between the blonde woman and the child. As the Czech man poked through everything he came across something that was simply too good to pass up. Lederhosen for his bear, which reminded him of home, even if it was the more touristy aspects of home.

Reaching out he snagged the bear sized costume and held it up to his bear. Yes, the lederhosen was definitely the right choice to make. In his mind Mariusz saw the choice of clothing, mixed with the very American teddy bear as the perfect metaphor for his new life in his new home here in America, the mixing of Europe and America. He slipped the costume onto the bear, though others from his part of the world might have found it somewhat racist, the avian mutant did not. With his decision made he went looking for Tses.

"There you are," he said at last, having tracked her down. "How are you coming along with your choices," he asked, arching an eyebrow in the direction of the blonde woman. "What do you think of little Franz here," he asked, holding the bear out for Tses to inspect and comment on if she so wished. "Is there another step in this building of a bear?"

Tses was a poor sport at the best of times, and she had quite frankly put up with this better than she expected. The children, the giggling, the adorable fluffiness. It was like she was dying slowly at the hands of stuffed animals in designer clothing. As Talon approached, she felt relieved, and made a face at his clothing choice. "I guess to each their own..."[/color] She shrugged, and glanced around slowly. The last station she saw was a row of computers, labeled 'Birth Certificates'.

It was the tiara on top of the whole ensemble.

Well, may as well make the torture complete.

"C'mon, last you have to make a birth certificate for it. It's a kids place, so I bet it's self exploratory." She said, and wandered over to look at the devices. She didn't wait to see if Talon was following. She just decided to get things over with.

On the computer, there was the usual cute and cuddly graphics and happy kid friendly instructions. Tses stared at the screen for a few minutes, and struggled to decipher the words. Eventually, she manged to get her tiger's name and birthday in, she stumbled through the rest of the prompts, and eventually got to the completion page. It read: Fish, birthday December 17th, 2012. The name was for kicks, and the birthday was the only one she could think of; her own. Finishing up, she turned to see how Talon was faring, hopefully having better luck with the complicated process.

Mariusz walked over to the computer station and began working through the prompts. As he tapped on the electronic tool he was careful to make sure he did not extend the talons on his fingertips. Somehow he imagined that it might alarm the employees of Build-a-Bear as well as the parents and children that were in the shop. As many of them were already giving him something of a wide berth because of his appearance he could not see a good reason for doing anything to further their possibly misguided viewpoints. That and he might want to build another bear in the future and if he damaged the property of the store he imagined he probably would not be very welcome if he returned at a later date.

As he worked through the screens he decided that the logical date to use for the birth date for Franz was the date for the current day, after all that was the day that the bear had been built. With that in mind he plugged in 31 December 2012. Once he had finished with everything he turned his attention and focus back to Tses. "I have completed the birth certificate for Franz," he said, again holding up the bear for Tses to see. "I suppose the only thing left to do is to go and pay for everything, ano," he asked, gesturing in the direction of where they would need to go to pay for the purchases.

Tses rolled her eyes at Mari's delight with the birth certificate, and nodded as he motioned to the registers. Finally, they could get this over with. With her bear and it's clothes in hand, she started that way, and waited for the feathered child man to follow. There were only a few people in line, but Tses still felt impatient to get going. At least, until she saw the little boxes they were putting the bears into. They were white and blue, and shaped like little houses with little bears and hearts and other cute things plastered all over them.

"Is there a more discrete way to get this thing out of here...." Tses murmured unhappily. It was bad enough to carry a stuffed tiger dressed in clothes down the street, but it was another to have it in the entire house ensemble. The more she thought about it, the less pride she felt she had remaining after this whole day. She could just leave now... steal the little animal and run. Then they it would be an accessory in crime, and that was much more cool than just any old dumb bears. She was about to make a break for it when the line cleared and they were called up to the register.

Mariusz and Tses stepped up to the register and watched as each of their purchases was put into their little box home. It was really quite quaint, who would ever think of such a thing? The marketing geniuses at Build-a-Bear, that was who. He listened as the clerk rang up the purchases and then told him what the cost was. "Of course," he said, fishing a wallet from one of the interior pockets of his suit coat. Producing a credit card the wallet he handed it over to the clerk. It was swiped and he signed on the little electronic device and that was that. He could tell Tses was not very happy in the store so even though he wanted to look around a little more he led her back out onto 5th Avenue.

Standing back out on the street he turned to examine Tses, a quizzical look on his face. "You know, it occurs to me that it is New Year's Eve. I have seen on television in past years that they drop a giant ball of light in a place called Time's Square in New York City at midnight," he said, gesturing expansively. "I would very much like to see that tonight since it is New Year's Eve after all. Would you like to come along?"

After things were paid for, Tses snatched her bears box home, and fled outside like she was escaping from prison. Breathing with relief, she had to resist giving the tiny tiger in the box an inhuman shake to prove to passing stranger's she was too cool to be holding a Build-A-Bear. But she resisted, at least making an effort not to insult her companion. All things considered, she was having a decent track record today. There were no fist fights, no arguing, no stealing, and no crying; Mari had ended up in one of the most normal encounter's with Tses possible, which could be a little weird considering it involved so much grumbling and complaining and snarkiness. If this was pleasant, she needed to rethink her personality.

As he mentioned New Year's Eve, Tses felt her heart give a little flip flop. That was right, Ty and Butterfly were supposed to shop up today, and she glanced around for a clock to see what time it was. She finally found one on a billboard sign, and sighed, grateful it was still several hours before seven, when she hoped to be home. Then she turned back to Mari, and shook her head with what she hoped was an apologetic expression. "As... entertaining as this has been, I got plans tonight. I'm meeting with my b---" She stumbled over the word slightly, cheeks slightly pink on the edges. "---oyfriend and his sister are supposed to go out with me tonight. I've never actually watched the ball descend either, even though I've lived here for almost four years. Typically I just have fun with less... well, probably less legal activities." That was an understatement. The year before she had decided to race across New York and see how many trash cans she could blow up in five minutes. It had been quite a feat, and she wondered if she could break her record.

"You should try to see if any of the people at the mansion are going. I bet they'd go with you." She tried to clip the sentence off, disgusted in her kindness. This was going to far, and she tried to make herself feel better by swinging the bear in the box in a circle and then walking backwards a few steps, making pedestrians step to the side to avoid being hit.

"Oh, I did not realize you had a significant other," Mariusz replied amiably as Tses once again began to walk backwards down the sidewalk, noticing easily with his keen sight that she was blushing slightly. "Of course you must spend New Year's Eve with him," he continued brightly. "I would imagine you are right in supposing I could find someone at the Mansion to come with me to Time's Square tonight to see the ball drop. I have seen it a lot of times broadcast, but it would be fun to see it live."

Mariusz opened his bear box and dropped his other purchase lightly into it before sealing it back up. "There is so much to see and do here in the city, but I must confess there is plenty of time for me to do it all now that I live here and I would rather like to be getting on back to the Mansion. You should think on what I said and come join us there. It is really not nearly what you think it is and if you wound up not liking it you could always leave." He ruffled the feathers on his wings a little as he spread his wings just slightly to begin loosening them up. "Now, if you will give me your leave I think I shall be on my way home."

While Tses found Talon mostly annoying, obnoxious, and evil for making her build a stuffed animal, she couldn't help but smile a little as he told her she should spend New Years with Ty. She was really looking forward to it, and it was the only really official 'date' they'd ever set up. Well, even if Butterfly would be there too, but that was Tses' idea anyway. So she couldn't really blame him.

"I don't think I've ever see in on television, but I don't want much T.V. anyway."[/b] She shrugged, and then nodded as he remarked on how much there was to do in the city. She resisted making a face as he gave a plug to the mansion again, but after being here long enough, she knew the same old sales brochure.

"I may swing by sometime, but staying probably won't happen. Thanks for the offer though." She turned in a circle once, and then faced forward, ending up slightly alongside Mari. "And your free to go. Don't have too much fun tonight." She said with a smirk, and after waiting for his goodbye, she turned and started heading back the other direction. Home was still a ways away, and she would catch a cab out at the main street. She did take one glance back though, curiosity getting the better of her, and waiting to see the feathered mutant fly off. Inwardly, her mind replayed the little heart plummet he must experience doing that, then she chuckled and went to hail a cab.

"Crazy flying mutants..."

Securing his packages and shopping in his arms Mariusz sprang upwards and gave his wings several powerful beats to get airborne. Rising slowly higher and higher into the air over 5th Avenue he watched as Tses got into a cab. He would have offered to fly her home, but she had already rejected the idea of going for a flight twice and he did not think it would be overly polite to put her in a position where she would have to turn down the offer for a third time. With his packages secured and his person safely airborne the Czech mutant circled for a few minutes to gain a little more altitude and then set off in the direction of the Mansion.

[Exit Talon]