(OOC: Sorry for the delay in replying the new job kind of drained my creative juices for a couple weeks)

Juka was a little disappointed that Jewel apparently wasn't about to allow him to buy her a puppy but didn't let his disappointment show, nor did it affect him for long. There was simply too much excitement to be had and there was still the decision of which kittens to get. How could anyone be expected to decide when they were all simply so adorable and lovable? It was cruel and inhumane to have to leave some of the furred critters behind.

"Your parrot doesn't fly, my dear," Juka explained to Aura with a beaming smile, not even occurring to him that the very idea was a rather ludicrous one to have. "It is a parrot, to be your loyal and colorful companion until the end of its days or yours. Why, I don't even think it would know what to do in the jungle." Not that there was a jungle in New York but that fact didn't register in Juka's mind.

"I will have the white one and the black one," Juka announced magnimoniously as he turned back to the kittens, a decision finally having been made. Then he blinked in confusion, realizing that the woman who had been helping them previously was no longer there. "Hello?" he called out, not realizing that she had left to go count Aura's money. "Will someone please come and let me have my kittens?"

((OOC: Welcome back We missed you!))

When Aura pulled out the cash, Jewel froze from shock once again. She seemed to be doing that a lot today. It was not the amount itself - she was used to large quantities of money being spent - but the fact that the strange girl owned this kind of amount, not to mention in her pocket, while every reasonable person knows that it should be safely tucked away on some bank account and a neat credit card. Jewel blinked, then blinked again.
Holy... what did I get myself into?
Juka didn't seem to notice any of this; he was too absorbed in his own little world and the kittens. Jewel put the puppy back down, and walked over to Aura, taking a deep breath and really hoping the money checked out okay.
So much for not getting into trouble.
"Um... you know, Juka is right. If you set the parrot free, it might die. If raised in captivity, they don't learn how to care for themselves..."
Once Juka announced his decision, she let out a small, relieved sigh.
"Great. They are really adorable... um, you'll have to wait till the lady comes back, she's... um, counting Aura's money."
She tired to give a warning look to Juka, hoping he stayed put and doesn't start talking... anything that would make the lady any more nervous than she must have been already. Then again, giving looks to Juka had a high chance of going unnoticed.

The woman sooned returned with change and Aura blinked at the idea of getting money back, unaware the amount was even diffrent, much less that it was far less then it should have been. Aura put it awaywitha shrug and some obvious confusion. Looking back at the other two then to the cage, she tilted her head at the strange animal.

"So the bird has forgotten how to be a itself?" she asked the conceat of forgetting your purpose in life was in deed a scary one. The bird would not understand what to do in the jungle or on it's own. The idea the animal would not simply fly free and come and go as it pleased was a strange one to Aura. Then Aura brightened a littile. "Well i will teach it to fly again, and like solkat i will provide it food, then it can come and go as it pleases, like kitty" she said again mistaking the work kitty for skunk. She was also not getting that the bird would likely not behave like the highly trained zoo skunk, solkat was.

She watched as the woman moved to help Juka, very happy with the sales she was making, the bird alone was a good sale. For better or worse she now had a parrot. If it could not recall it's purpose then death would be a mericiful friend. Aura suddenly grimiced dlightly, her hand rubbing her head for a few moments,, images flashing through her mind, battels she did not recall and people long dead danced their way through her head. Aura forced the false memories from her mind and regained her composure quickly. "Im going to have to buy smaller mice" she said looking at the parrot's moulth" She said as she stuck her finger in the cage, the parrot walked over and bit her finger, a secound later a pink aura flared around her finger and slipped it out, her finger bleeding a bit. "ohhh i like you already, your brave" she said with a smile. "Nice choice?" she said of the cats, though to her one was as good as another, she had no idea they would not all behave like solkat.

So fixated was Juka upon his 2 new chosen kittens that he didn't even notice that Jewel was trying to give him a look or trying to send him any sort of message at all. Then again, even in the best of times he wasn't very good with subtlety or picking up on subtle hints of any sort but today was special because there were fuzzy and wonderful kittens involved. "I will name you Ninetails," he pointed at the little black ball of fluff, "and you Jolteon," this time a point at the little white ball of fluff. He didn't exactly notice or care that no one he had come to the store with seemed to be paying attention to him or the fact that 2 of the other patrons were giving him something of a funny look. After all, he was thoroughly distracted and used to receiving funny looks besides.

Juka momentarily looked up from his new kittens and beamed at Aura as she described how she would take care of her new parrot and teach it to fly. She was a little strange, Juka decided, but who was he to judge people for their oddities? And she did have that lovely pink bubble-like aura so of course that in itself must speak highly of her. He would have mentioned to her that he didn't think that parrots ate mice (although he didn't exactly know much about parrots so he might be wrong) but the woman had come back to help him purchase his kitties and that took all of his constantly skittering attention.

"I'll have Ninetails and Jolteon," Juka announced, giggling like and excited little girl. He grinned happily, first at Jewel and then at Aura as the woman carefully extracted the kittens and put them into a little cardboard kitten carrying box. He then followed her up to the counter and payed for the kittens with his debit card. Money was never an issue for him, his estranged parents making sure that he had plenty, and he didn't even blink at the $500 for the two of them. They were kitties, after all, and they were worth every single penny. That and he didn't exactly have the soundest appreciation for exactly how much money $400 was.

Kitten case in hand Juka turned back to the two girls, grinning. "So, where to next?" He blatantly ignored the mutterings of the other patrons in the store, or perhaps he didn't even notice them, who could really tell?

"Now we go and buy some nice clothes for Aura." Jewel smiled, but sounded much less convinced than she did before. Her usual cautious self was stirring in the back of her mind, whispeing that walking around shopping with a girl who's probably a murderer and wanted by the police wasn't such a good idea after all. The words 'parole officer would have a fit' were also there somewhere.
She was happy to be out of the pet store; she was kid of used to Juka making a show of himself by now, but Aura was a different matter.
"Parrots don't eat mice" she told her as they walked down the street "I'll tell you later how to care for him, okay?..."
There was something else too, she just didn't know how to address the issue. Funny, really, one thing she'd always been comfrotable about was money. So far.
"Um, Aura... don't take this the wrong way, but do you have any idea how much your money's worth?..."

Aura had even less idea of just what $400 was, not did she understand what the parrot had actually cost. She really had never looked. at the pricetag, nor the suggestions and requirements for the bird, nor had anyone at the store mentioned it. The saleswoman and her manager had been to happy counting their ill gotten gains, and were just happy the girl seemed not to even care how much she got back. "To get clothing" she said a secound after jewel answerd. "This will be an intresting experince" she said not really knowing what to expect she did not even recall shopping before, for clothing.

"They do seem ill suited to the task and look even worse to try and eat, i tried a bird once, their pretty bad" she said thinking back. "Though goose is all right" she said thinking back, the geese had stood littile chance against the mutant unit and had been devoured in short order, the falmes having already roasted away any feathers, though the fleash had been a bit charred the incides were all right. "Still any assassistence you can render would be nice, pets are a new luxery for me.......and solkat can fend for herself for the most part" she said honestly. Solkat could have left her at any time and done just fine on her own.

"Not really" Aura admitted, she knew the numbers on the bills themselfs, but never bought anything so never really understood it's value. "I don't use it, back in the woods, any recoverd money went to the matriarch who provided for us all, for our service as her guards and sanctuary gives me free food and a room. I am happy with that, the money i collect mostly" she said honestly. "Humans seem to love the stuff for a reason i do not understand. Maybe i am just not use to these trees of steel yet and the customs of this place. I knew them as a child i think, but they with many other things were lost to my mind in the woods" she explained unsure if she was even being clear.

Juka tried not to be too distracted by his new kitties, knowing that he had a very important mission of finding some appropriate clothing for his new friend Aura. He was beginning to think that Aura was a little bit strange and that was something coming from Juka who knew that he, himself, wasn't exactly normal. Not that he minded, really, it just made things all that much more exciting. After checking into the box on his kittens and beaming at them, he tore his gaze away from his new furred friends and returned his attention to the ladies.

"Aura, my darling, I simply must find you some clothes befitting of your beauty. Cleaned up a little and you could be positively stunning, a perfect compliment to your beautiful new parrot." He put his hands on his hips and looked her over critically, with an eye towards what colors and styles would be most fitting. "As a dancer I'm sure you want something you can move in and also something that flows so that your every movement will be accentuate by the fluttering of fabric. I know just the place." He winked conspiratorially at Jewel. This was going to be fun.

Without a look backwards to see if the other two were following Juka set off towards a nearby store. He hadn't been in the city long but clothing was one of the few things that he knew a great deal about and discovering where to go to get new gowns was among the first things he had done since coming to New York. He would make Aura into a princess but a princess such as none had ever before seen. What was the point, after all, in following trends? So much better to start them and he was sure that with his and Jewel's help, Aura would indeed start trends.

"Back in the woods."

That actually explained a lot. Jewel remembered all the bits and pieces Aura said about her past earlier, and the picture that started to form as she pieced them together seemed too unreal for a girl her age. Not to mention rough and frightening, even though she knew her point of view was from the other end of the scale.
"Lead the way, darling" she winked back at Juka; as the boy skipped happily away towards the shop he chose, Jewel once again fell into pace beside Aura.
"Well, first of all: you have a lot of money. Most people don't carry that much around with them" she started explaining to her "The problem with that is seeing that much cash with a girl like you makes many people suspicious or uneasy. The good news is" she smiled a bit "you can buy whatever clothes you like."
Jewel suddenly felt like she crossed the final border of weirdness; it was as if the sun had finally come up. Whatever was going on, or was going to happen next, didn't feel surreal or worrying anymore - everything was just... as it was.
And now you're getting philosophical. All right, let's get some shopping done.
She turned to Aura again, and winked.
"Don't let him dress you up. If you don't like something, just tell him. He'll survive."
Following Juka into the shop, she looked around, and a smile tugged on her lips. Juka had something that was surprising, unusual and foreign... but it was still definitely a taste.

"That would be good, i have shredded what i recovered from the wreckage of our camp" she said casually, it was true much of her clothing had come from the remains of their encampment. Actually buying more had not been somthing she had sonciderd in her travels. She watched juka skip off, even to her the boy seemed like he had many screws loose or maybe the gods had forgotten to include them at all. He was a nice guy, just strange. "ah so i should leave more at home then" she concluded as she heard her mention most people simply did not carry around so much cash. Aura never really had cash of her own, well she did in the apartment but that just bought what was needed food and rent. "I have noticed some people do get nervous near me, i think it might be because i have been on tv" she said thinking to herself not linking her own excessively violent nature with their nervousness. "I see" clothing was clothing what did it matter what she wanted, she thought to herself.

"Clothing is clothing, as long as it covers the right places im sure it will be fine." she said giving her simplistic version of clothing. She recalled being dressed in white robes most of her life and as such had no experience with clothing other then to cover herself. clothings had been an irelavent part of life. hard to believe it wa sonly two years, it seemed longer, like she should recall more. "Our freind seems a bit off" she said considering Juka. " I admit i do not quite understand the concept of this shopping thing, you both make it seem like their is more then simply covering your privates" she said tilting her head. To her their really wasent at the moment, of course she had no idea of just how much clothing a girl could choose from. She stopped short of the store and mutterd something to herself then entered steeling herself for somthing, but her eyes and mind were a bit memerized by all the color, light and the people, Aura twitched a number of times, keeping herself from reacting to so many humans. Lost she looked at the other two blinking "So we just take a pallet of something?" she said figuring this would be a quick process whare they would just boy a box or something.

Juka gave Jewel a dirty look at her warning not to let Juka dress Aura up, though the look was softened by his impish grin. "Oh Jewel, your just jealous that you haven't quite managed to reach my own lofty level of fabulouslness." He grinned and did a sort of spinning curtsy, allowing his flowing skirts to billow around him. And, just to make sure he didn't hurt her feelings he added, "but you're the closest anyone has ever come." There, feelings saved.

With those words Juka bounced into the store, happily looking through the many racks of clothing. Every so often he could come back with an article of clothing, a shirt or a skirt or some other thing and hold it up to Aura, testing it for colour and fit and then handing it to her to try on when they were finished. He didn't even realize that the other two were talking about him, nor did he notice the stares he got from the other customers. Finally finished, he beamed at Aura, ushering her into the changeroom with half a dozen tops and bottoms, actually rather modest by his standards. In fact, the clothing itself was rather modest by his standards, only having a few frills and remaining almost practical.

"And don't even try to argue, my dear," Juka demanded. "I won't take no for an answer. Go try these on, not that's a good darling."

While Juka bounced up and down the store like a squirrel preparing his winter stash, Jewel settled for explaining the importance of shopping and fashion to Aura. She walked with her along the line of dresses, idly pulling out one or two to look at them, less enthusiastic than Juka but just as experienced.
"You know, the point of buying yourself clothes is that what you were tells a lot about who you are. What kind of person, I mean. That is why it is important for people: they send messages with how they dress up. If you look at someone's outfit, you can tell if she is rich, if she has a good taste, if she's going to some kind of special event, what kind of circle she belongs to, what her job is, or if she likes the current trend and fashion or not. Picking your clothes means picking what you want people to know - or think - about you. Our friend Juka here, for example, likes to draw people's attention to how special he is." she added with a smirk.
"But don't worry about it too much. The easiest way to go is to pick whatever you like, and feel comfortable in."
Eyeing the heap of clothes Juka piled up in Aura's arms, she shook her head and chuckled.
"Just indulge him, and try them on. I'll be outside, if you need help."
When Aura disappeared behind the curtain of the changeroom, Jewel raised an eyebrow at her best friend.
"You are unbelievable, Juka. As usual. You're going to drive that poor girl into culture shock."

Aura tried to stay calm, their were Humans everywhere and each time one got close, Aura had to stop herself from twitching. It was a reflex born from being able to determine enemies based on race alone. Still starting a fight in a place like this would be bad, she could two easily be surrounded and the large amount of people meant cops would likely respond quickly if called. Aura watched as juka sorted through clothing and looked over to Jewel as she began to explain what clothing did. It seemed to advertise a message and tell people who you were. It made sence she guess police officers wore uniforms to show who they were, as did many other people. All she was though, was a solider in her own eyes.

Aura had long decided Jewel was the sane one of the two, even as she took the heaps of clothing Juka handed her. Aura had in her own mind decided Jewel was in charge of things and so when jewel asked for her to try on the clothing, she immediately moved to do so. Aura felt better in the changeling room for many reasons, more so becuse the close din walls limited the angles of attack, limited what the humans could do. Setting her own rags aside Aura began to try on the clothing, walking out in each one to make sure some of it was right. She knew how things went but these two seemed much more understanding of clothing then her. Although it was easier to tell clothing apart then skunks and cats. "So clothing displays who you are......" she said thinking to herself and looking over at Juka then to Jewel, noting the diffrences in their clothing as well.