All-day bus passes were a wonderful thing. You could buy one, and then use it to ride all over the city for an entire day! It saved on money, it saved on gas, and it saved on hassles. Judging bus routes, one could even arrange meetings with friends. That's what Aurum had done in preparation for the shopping trip. He'd contacted Kealey, and let her know when and where to hop on the bus. Where they were headed for shopping had already been picked out by the blond. The bus route even set a course straight for it.

A course for adventure. They'd set it. Clothes-shopping for Ami would be an all-day quest.

And so, Aurum sat on the bus, dressed in a set of blue jeans, and a long-sleeved gray shirt, and waited. Kealey's stop was coming up. He checked his watch again. The bus was right on schedule.

The bus was right on schedule, and Kealey checked the number as it pulled up to make sure she was walking onto the right object of public transportation. It was the middle of the day, so the bus was crowded and it took Kealey a moment to find Aurum among the others who were already crowded into the seats. The seat next to him was open, so Kealey slid in and smiled. She was still a little surprised at how easily friendship had sprouted up between the two of them after their somewhat rocky beginning. The blond supposed it was strange what being in a hostage situation together could do for people.

”Hi.” she said, squirming slightly in her seat at all the emotional energy crackling around in the bus. People on public transport were always a modpodge of crazy emotions and today was no exception. One person was anxious, another was nervous, a third was absolutely impatient and yet another was furious. There were a fair number of calm and happy people too, but those emotions were inherently benign and the others were making her antsy.

Kealey was used to it, she rode the bus all the time, but what she wasn’t used to was a witness when it was crowded like this. She turned apologetically, ”Just fair warning…there’s lots of people here…I might be a little flighty until we get off of here.” She paused for a moment, trying to pull things together and shook her head, ”Sorry…why don’t you talk? Is your sister having a big girly party for her birthday? Are you going?” Her leg bounced as she talked, and Kealey didn’t even try to stop it.

The bus was crowded today. As new people filtered on at the stop, Aurum looked towards the front of the bus. Sure enough, Kealey was making her way through the throng. He waved at her, and made sure the seat next to him was open.

Kealey slid in and smiled

>>”Hi.”

She announced.

"Hi," Aurum smiled right back.

He noted the slight unease, and looked around. Yeah. This would be the kind of jam-packed jumble of emotions she'd find jarring. Plenty of commotion. One seat ahead of them, a child impatiently tugged at his mother's shirt. Across the aisle, a man nervously checked his watch, and eyed the street signs.

Aurum returned his focus to Kealey, and she said what he was thinking.

>>”Just fair warning…there’s lots of people here…I might be a little flighty until we get off of here.”

She paused, then continued.

>>”Sorry…why don’t you talk? Is your sister having a big girly party for her birthday? Are you going?”

"Yeah," Aurum replied. "On both counts. We're having the party at some place she picked out, and she's inviting her friends. I'm probably just going to pop in for the delivery, then run." He chuckled to himself. Teenage girl parties weren't really his thing. "She'd probably want to spend most of the time with her friends, anyways." And he saw her enough, as is.

Her leg was still bouncing as Kealey listened to Aurum talk about the birthday party. She was impatient with how long he was taking to get the words out and wondering if he was ever going to finish speaking even though she’d been the one to ask the question. Taking a deep breath, the blond did her best to pull herself together. The emotional baggage of the other passengers faded slightly, and Kealey did her best to convince herself that it was all simply background noise. Background noise it had turned into something of a mantra when Jacen had been around, but it was something she hadn’t thought of in quite some time.


Aurum finished and Kealey nodded her head at him, just a little apologetically. When it was all said and done, she’d only managed to catch about half of what he was saying. The blond thought that he’d said that he was simply going to drop off the present though. Something about that made her smile,and she chuckled slightly, fidgeting at the edge of her sweater as she looked at her seat-mate out of the corner of her eye,”You might see her enough, but I’ll bet her friends decide they don’t see you enough. I wonder if she’s going to be the type of sibling who will be disgusted by the cow eyed looks her friends give you or if she’ll think it’s great.” Kealey thought if it had been her sibling, she’d have been disgusted. One never knew with young people, though.

The bus ride wasn’t going to be long, but it seemed like the road was actually stretching out in front of them as the bus miraculously wove in and out of the busy New York streets. Kealey looked around again, trying her old technique of pairing emotions with individuals. It worked pretty well, and soon Kealey was just waiting for the ride to be over. ” So,” she said, turning to Aurum again, ”Made any good fish & chips lately?”

>>”You might see her enough, but I’ll bet her friends decide they don’t see you enough. I wonder if she’s going to be the type of sibling who will be disgusted by the cow eyed looks her friends give you or if she’ll think it’s great.”

"That... would be worrisome." Aurum commented. His right eyebrow rose slightly at what Kealey was suggesting. "Worrisome on two counts. First," he tilted his head. "The obvious. Second, the less obvious." He shook his head. "Ami's the type to make life difficult for any girl who expresses any sort of interest in me. She... might lose friends... she might kill them." A joke. Haha. Aurum didn't laugh.

Kealey could probably hone in on the less-than-serious emotion running under his oh-so-serious face. Ami wouldn't kill a girl. Probably. But there was always torture.

"And no," Aurum replied. "I haven't made any good fish and chips lately. Haven't had anyone I needed to impress."

Worrisome? Kealey quirked an eyebrow to match the one that Aurum had raised when she suggested that some of his little sister’s friends might like his presence on more than one level. Kealey couldn’t help but admit to herself he was a good looking, especially now that she could see him as something other than a derelict lecher. Surely a bunch of pre-teens would feel the same way…and act with less reserve than an adult.

The rest of Aurum’s statement, however, caused the second eyebrow to join the first, his sister was that possessive? At her tender age? For some reason, the thought made the corners of Kealey’s mouth turn up as she suppressed laughter at the thought. She looked at Aurum, and more than that, looked into him. He was joking too. Kealey allowed herself a laugh when she realized that. ”It’s always nice to know that there’s someone looking out for you. Even if she is an early adolescent. I’m sure she always has your best interests at heart.”

They had to be getting close to the store by this point, but Kealey hoped that Aurum remembered what she’d said…because she didn’t. Kealey was sure that as soon as they got out of this particular crowd, she’d b e alright…but until then….

Aurum spoke about the fish and chips, and Kealey’s thoughts, and head jerked back towards him. When had she turned away? Bah…this was already getting old. What had he said again? The blond shook her head and concentrated, pulling the memory of Aurum’s words from the past few minutes, ”Well. When you do need to impress someone…definitely cook that. It was incredible…and I was very impressed.”

The bus rumbled along and Kealey turned to the window before looking back to Aurum, ”Are we almost there?”

>> ”It’s always nice to know that there’s someone looking out for you. Even if she is an early adolescent. I’m sure she always has your best interests at heart.”

Kealey laughed.

"Sometimes," Aurum laughed lightly. He swung his attention to the city moving by the bus. They were nearly where Kealey'd arranged for them to go. He returned his focus the her, with a smirk.

>>”Well. When you do need to impress someone…definitely cook that. It was incredible…and I was very impressed.”

"Sure. Or maybe, I could try out another recipe. I found a real good one for cheesecake oreo brownies the other day." But that was neither here, nor there. He wasn't bragging. Nope. Definitely not bragging.

>>”Are we almost there?”

"Next stop," Aurum replied.

One stop later, he got up to get off. "Here."

There was nothing like brownies to pull a person’s attention away from the whirlpool of human emotion that can only be found on a city bus. Cheesecake brownies. Good lord, those would probably be as good as the fish & chips, Kealey decided. Definitely. Some people weren’t chocolate people, and Kealey didn’t understand it. Chocolate was sugar…chocolate was a little bit of caffeine, chocolate was texture and smooth creamy richness….chocolate was…chocolate.

”Those sound like something you make if you want a stalker.” Kealey commented with a small laugh, ”At least if it’s a woman you’re serving to. Chocolate and cheesecake is a powerful combination indeed.”

Aurum pointed out that they were close to their destination and Kealey nodded, simply occupying her time with staring at the passing city until the bus stopped.

She didn’t necessarily sprint to the front of the bus, and if people thought she was a little impatient, that was their own problem. Kealey didn’t care, she was off the bus and out into the fresh air. It wasn’t necessarily that proximity helped a great deal, but just being out in the open did wonders for the soul.

The bus had let them off relatively close to the specific store they were looking for. The place was reasonably priced, and usually had deals on items that weren’t.

A techno beat was pulsing in the background as they made their way into the store and a girl that really seemed too young to be working, and was obviously a walking billboard, beelined for them before the door even shut.

”Hi! Are you looking for anything in particular or are you just browsing?” she chirped, and Kealey decided the girl reminded her of a bird.

”Just looking, thanks. We’ve got it.”

The girl pouted away, and Kealey turned to Aurum, ”Well? What do you think?

>>Those sound like something you make if you want a stalker.”

Aurum gave an amused grunt of acknowledgment.

>>”At least if it’s a woman you’re serving to. Chocolate and cheesecake is a powerful combination indeed.”

Stalkers, especially women stalkers, sounded... Aurum shook his head. "I think I'd go for the brownies over a stalker, thanks." Aurum joked. Because that was totally an offer. Totally. He wasn't being egotistical, nope. But dang, those brownies really did sound better than hero worship. Aurum's thoughts swung to baked goods, and how much he enjoyed cooking for a moment.

The bus eventually stopped. They got off. Aurum had to rush to keep up with her. As he stepped down from the city bus, he fell in line with Kealey's steps. He cast one quick glance at the store they were headed to. Before he knew it, they were in.

Matching the speed of entry was the speed of help, it seemed. Unneeded help. Aurum smiled at her politely as Kealey 'shooed' the young woman.

>>”Well? What do you think?"

Aurum tried not to smirk, but it was obvious he was amused. "I think... we should probably run before she comes back with a friend. Lead the way~" Department store helpers with like hydras. You cleaved one head, and two more sprang back in its place. Why, even now, he imagined the perky girl eying them from behind her counter, talking bad about them to her friends behind their backs. Soon, there would be friends lurking. Watching. He could see it now...

Wait, no. He didn't have to imagine anything. Aurum waved at the helper, and gestured for Kealey to lead.

Run away~!

Kealey chuckled when Aurum pointed out that it was probably time to run before the shop-girl came back with a friend. ”Working on commission does things to people.” she said, but moved away from the entry of the store. Even if the girl didn’t bring a friend, the longer they stood there the higher the chances that another associate would decide to try her luck.

She hadn’t really been asking Aurum what he thought about the woman’s offer of help, but she didn’t press the issue any further. Aurum was as out of his element here as she was in a kitchen. Well…maybe she wasn’t that bad in a kitchen, but Aurum sure seemed confused. He definitely wanted her to lead. So Kealey led.

The shop was quiet, but the girl who had walked off was irritated and Kealey shot her a slightly impatient look. It was hard to shop when the people around her were in a bad mood. Luckily, a new customer entered almost on her and Aurum’s heels and the girl’s irritation was replaced with determined enthusiasm. That was a healthy shopping attitude.

”You said she doesn’t dress too preppy, so I figured this was a good place to look. It’s not quite the crazy emo, goth, scene…but it’s not the other end of the spectrum either.”

It was a chain, so there were lots of options. Rack after rack of clothes arranged by type and color dotted the floor like hay bales in a very crowded field. There were long-sleeved shirts, short-sleeved shirts, button up shirts, cami’s, tank tops, and cardigans. There were also, jeans, shorts, skirts, stretch pants, sweats, and even some pajama pants. They were going to have their work cut out for them if Aurum didn’t have any idea what they were looking for.

”Obviously, since she’s young, we want to kind of steer clear of anything too grown up. Some of this stuff is too revealing for me…even as an adult.”

Kealey crossed her arms and contemplated, casting a look into one particular corner, ”And that’s the clearance section. Let’s narrow down what we’re looking for before we actually pick a place to start, though. Were we looking for a dress, or did you want to try jeans and some layered shirts …maybe a hat too?”

>>”Working on commission does things to people.”

Aurum nodded sagely. "Strange, miraculous things." Or, wait. "Horrible. I meant horrible." Aurum amended his statement with a laugh.

He gestured for her to lead, and she led. And so, they ran.

Aurum eyed the aisles as they slipped through the stores leisurely.

>>”You said she doesn’t dress too preppy, so I figured this was a good place to look. It’s not quite the crazy emo, goth, scene…but it’s not the other end of the spectrum either.”

"It certainly has... a selection." He had no idea of what. Dresses, it looked like. And sweaters, and shirts, and pants, and... camisoles?

>>”Obviously, since she’s young, we want to kind of steer clear of anything too grown up. Some of this stuff is too revealing for me…even as an adult.”

"Right with you, there." He stated. "Maybe something nice in a habit..."

Changing the subject was a good thing. The camisoles had thrown him. Did young women usually dress like that? Kids these days... Why, in his day, they dressed in jeans and shirts, and thought that was rebellious and marvelous. Or, wait. He didn't just call himself old.

Clearance section. Great.

"I think jeans and shirts are more Ami's style. And maybe, a hat. I've got her sizes written down here..." He fished in his pocket, and handed Kealey a folded slip of yellow paper with his sister's sizes scrawled in print. It was a Post-it note. He put it in her hand, sticky-side out.

A habit? Was that supposed to be a nun joke? Kealey tilted her head, almost afraid to comment in case she was wrong, she shrugged it off. ”If you’re talking about a nun’s habit…trust me that would not please the girl. They do nothing for the figure.” Maybe it made her seem a little vapid of silly, but things like that should have been her first indication that life in a convent wasn’t for her. Boy this was going to be embarrassing if that wasn’t the joke he’d tried to make.

They moved on, Aurum pointing out that he thought the jeans, shirt, and hat sounded the most like the sort of thing his sister would like. Kealey nodded, it was practical too, and if they did the outfit right she’d be able to mix and match it with lots of things. She nodded and started looking around. Aurum pressed the post-it of sizes into her hand and Kealey studied the numbers for a few moments before nodding her head and moving towards the racks.

”Sizes and body shape are probably the most important things to think about.” Kealey said, starting to sift through some of the racks, ”Because no matter what someone looks like, you want to pick clothes that will suit them. Just because something is pretty on the rack, doesn’t necessarily mean that it’ll be pretty on a person.”

Realizing how she might sound, Kealey flushed slightly, ”I’m not meaning to lecture…but it’s good stuff to know, right?” she said, pulling out a couple of different shirts and laying them on top of the rack so she could see them better, ”Besides, when I’m in public like this, talking about what I’m doing helps me keep it where it needs to be.”

Stepping back, she crossed her arms and looked back and forth between the shirts, then over at Aurum, ”Grab me two of those camisoles in appropriate colors, please, I think these shirts need something under them.”

>>”If you’re talking about a nun’s habit…trust me that would not please the girl. They do nothing for the figure.”

“Kinda what I wanted,” Aurum gave a nervous laugh. He pointed a bent finger towards the more revealing things in explanation. “Some of this stuff’s a bit much…” He certainly didn’t want to think about Ami wearing any of that… or wanting to… or wanting to grow up, actually. Nope. Jeans and t-shirts were just dandy.

He followed Kealey’s narrative as they walked along. They had to pick things that suited Ami’s specific shape, and would look good on her, rather than just the rack. It made sense. This was why people usually had to try on clothes and check themselves out in the mirror before they bought something. It wasn’t just a healthy dose of vanity. It was common sense.

Aurum responded to her lecture worries with an accepting smile. He shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. Lecture away. I’m learning.” And if it kept her head in the game, that was fine. He’d asked her for help, after all.

She directed his attention to the camisoles, and for a moment, the thought that maybe it was a bit too… something… resurfaced… then, he realized she’d meant for undershirt purposes. “On it,” he laughed.

Aurum walked over, and got one in white, and one in red. He returned to Kealey, dutifully holding them out. “These work?”

Kealey wrinkled her nose at Aurum’s confirmation that he had, indeed, been talking about a nun’s habit for his younger sister. He was being silly, Kealey knew, but the fact still remained that he wasn’t interested in getting her anything more revealing than it had to be. That was good information for a shopping helper to know. Really good. Still, demure didn’t necessarily mean dowdy, and many girls still managed to look stylish and attractive without showing too much skin. Kealey being one of them, actually. Well, at least most of the time…there had been that one dress.

Her mind was wandering and waxing nostalgic, so Kealey turned her focus back to the clothing on the rack in front of her. ”Age appropriate it is.” she said with a bright grin and another considering glance at the two shirts she’d picked out. They were both perfect, assuming something was worn under them.

Kealey nodded her head when Aurum absolved her of any guilt related to the slightly lecturing tone she’d taken on a few minutes earlier. At least she didn’t have to worry about him getting prickly. That was a definite bonus. He was telling the truth too, also a bonus. If Kealey was similarly honest, she was very pleased with the somewhat easy friendship that had sprung up between Aurum and herself after their ordeal at the bank. It was one of the stranger things that had happened to Kealey, but also one of the ultimately positive ones.It also meant that she could get coffee at the Full Circle now without glaring the whole time.

She gave her instructions, and Aurum followed them to the T, moving away momentarily to returnwith two undershirts that matched the outfits quite well. A few moments of rearranging the shirts sothe undershirts laid beneath them, and Kealey stepped back with her arms crossed.

”What do you think? Option 1 or Option 2?” Option one was a simple black t-shirt with a v-neck that ran down to almost the belly button, the red underneath it would be a really nice contrast. The second was a long, plaid, button-up shirt that was purple and black and would probably look best with skinny jeans or tights underneath it. The black cami would ensure that the shirt didn’t need to be buttoned to the neck. Both were cute, and off the clearance rack. Kealey grinned. She was good.

It was good to know they were both on the same page with clothes for Ami. ‘Age-appropriate’ was very appropriate for a girl who didn’t know how to act her age. Sometimes, Ami acted like a kid. Sometimes, she acted like an adult, and tried making adult decisions, like drinking coffee, or chasing Aurum’s friends. Yes, acting her age was a very good idea.

Aurum eyeballed the two choices, and compared them against Ami’s own particular style in his head. While Ami didn’t usually wear plaid, option two seemed more reasonable than option one. “Option two,” he weighed in. “It’s nice.” And he was sure Ami would like it, as far as liking nice things went.