Leggings… or jeans? Leggings…… or jeans… “Ami usually wears jeans,” Aurum pondered aloud. Because jeans, she could run around in, and jeans weren’t as restrictive… jeans also weren’t as inexpensive. But jeans, it was. “I think she’s one of the people who’d probably compare it to Peter Pan tights. Jeans, she’d wear happily enough.”

His attention hopped to a nearby rack of dresses across the aisle. A polka dot dress caught his eye. The image of Ami in yellow and blue polka dots like the board in a game of Twister ran through his amused mind. He shirked the thought, and returned his focus to pants. “Definitely jeans. What’s this about hats?” He asked with a light laugh.

Hmmm, the girl usually wore jeans. Kealey refrained from pointing out that in that case maybe something different would be just the ticket. Devout jeans girls usually didn’t take kindly to change in that area. Maybe next time there was a gift day. Aurum asked about the hats and Kealey reached out to pat his arm, ”The hat is the most important accessory.” Kealey said, thinking fondly of the back page boy hat she wore quite often. ”It has to match the outfit, but be versatile enough that it could work with other things too. We’ll deal with that after the jeans though.”

“Jeans are a completely different monster…“ she said, moving towards the wall-o-jeans the store had set up on the far side. Glancing down at the list of sizes in her hand, the blond moved down the wall, hmmm’ing and staring and pulling a few selections. ”Now, which ones? All three pairs were skinny jeans, narrow through the hip and thigh and tapering to the ankle. The first pair was a medium, regular denim, the second was a faded grey with distress marks up and down the legs, and the third were simple black denim. ”All three of these would work, and go with lots of other things. Just pick the pair you think is most like her.”

A hat, really? He had no idea hats were that important. For a moment, Aurum imagined himself in a hat. Not a baseball cap, or a court jester's cap. No, he imagined a cowboy hat. An eyebrow quirked. It had to match the outfit?

"Of course."

His mental image of Cowboy Aurum in a lawyer suit vanished, dashed against the rocks.

"Jeans, a monster?" He dutifully followed her into the monster's lair. "How are jeans a monster?" This was sure to be enlightening.

He turned to eye the wall of jeans... another thing he had to pick out? "Hmm..." He'd thought she was going to do more 'helping'. "Care to help make this selection easier? I want to make sure I get this question right." Because, obviously there were right and wrong answers here. Obviously.

He didn't want to get a ruler to the hand.

Kealey just smiled when Aurum asked how a wall of jeans could possibly be a monster, the poor man had no idea. The blond didn’t say anything, though, simply led Aurum to what would possibly be his undoing on this trip. A few minutes later, that prediction proved itself true.

Aurum looked so completely confused that Kealey’s heart went out to him, and as he asked her for a little help as far as this decision went, she smiled and dropped her head a little in acceptance of the responsibility she’d been given. ”Hmmm.” Kealey said, eyeing the possibilities critically before holding the black denim out for Aurum to take, ”Especially if she doesn’t have a lot of skinny jeans…black are going to end up being the most versatile. They’ll go with almost anything.”

A few moments more, and Kealey had put the other two options back on the correct shelves. She turned to her companion, smiled, and walked right past him towards the place where the accessories were. The pair was greeted by hats, belts, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and headbands. Kealey was only interested in one of those things, though. Plopping a fedora-styled hat on Aurum’s head, she grabbed a sun bonnet for her own and began sifting through the black ones on the table to hold them up against the purple plaid shirt they’d picked out. Ultimately there were two options, a black beret and a black page-boy hat.

Noting her undying love for her own black page-boy, Kealey tossed the beret aside and settled on the page-boy. ”I think I put you through enough decisions already.” she said, nodding satisfied at the ensemble that they’d put together. ”Anything else you can think of that we could possibly need in here? the blond added, pulling the hat from her head and studying the price…everyone needed a good sun bonnet….and spring was coming after all.

“Okay, black.” He could handle colors. All the different cuts and sizes and styles and colors and acid-washed versus whatever-designers-thought-looked-cool, he couldn’t fathom, but sturdy simple bold base colors, he could do. There wasn’t much else more basic than black. “Black, we can do.”

Thank goodness they’d gotten that sorted out. Teacher Kealey was being most helpful. Next on their list were… accessories. The things she’d said were key. Aurum followed her into the depths of hat-world, like Alice following the white rabbit.

And just like that, Kealey set a fedora on his head. Aurum instantly knew he’d fallen down the rabbithole, with no hope of turning back. He tipped the hat, film noir-style, and modeled it dutifully for a mirror. He felt hardboiled, the kind of guy who never backed down from a fight.

“I need one of these for myself,” Aurum commented. Then, he turned to Kealey, to see if she had an opinion on the rugged black canvas hat.

For a moment, it looked as if she’d call upon him yet again to make a tough call. He’d soldier through it, because he was strong… but he’d deserve to survive it, because he was gentle. Wait. That was Marlowe. He’d just… stare blankly, and point. Or, maybe…

Oh. Maybe she’d make the pick for him. “Works for me,” He nodded. He hoped Ami liked it. It looked ‘alright’ to him.

>> ”Anything else you can think of that we could possibly need in here?” She asked.

Aurum gave everything she was toting around a good hardboiled look, then looked up at her. “Help carrying?” He offered an arm.

The more they shopped, the more Kealey got the impression that Aurum hadn’t thought there would be this much audience participation during the day’s activities. A sneak peek into his emotions confirmed her suspicion and the blond grinned, ”You’re actually doing very well.” she commented, patting her protégé on the shoulder as they moved away from the jeans, ”This is a lot to take in.” she grinned sideways, ”Trust me though, if you can surprise a girl with an outfit that she’ll actually wear for reasons other than to make you feel good…she’s yours.” Yes, they were shopping for Aurum’s little sister, but there was still room for application of the lessons he was learning.

Aurum didn’t seem to mind the hat, and Kealey grinned as he studied himself in the mirror. His emotions were amusing, to say the least, but she kept the knowledge to herself. It appeared that boys liked to play dress up as much as girls did, though, and she filed the information away. This was turning into a mutually beneficial situation if she’d ever seen one. Unconsciously, Aurum was teaching Kealey all sorts of things. Aurum pointed out that he needed one of the Fedora’s for himself and Kealey studied him thoroughly for a moment, wishing she had a free hand to ponder with as she held the clothes. Finally, she nodded.

”I think you do. It’s very dashing indeed.”

Kealey grinned after making the comment and mused for a moment over how a simple comment like that would have made her blush furiously just over a year ago, then set about arranging the clothing and hat in Aurum’s arms. He was the one gift-shopping after all.

”Well, if that’s it, let’s hit the register and see how awesome we are!” It was probably pretty awesome. Two shirts off the clearance rack, a pair of skinny jeans, and a hat….all within a reasonable price range. Kealey was good…she was very good…and she was still wearing the sun bonnet she’d put on her head and forgotten a few minutes earlier.

>> ”You’re actually doing very well.” Kealey commented.

"Am I?" Aurum quirked an amused brow. And here, he thought he thought he was floundering like a champ. Nice to know he was actually doing okay... and that he could... win hearts with outfits? Huh. She must've been hinting at that for future life lessons. Aurum mentally shrugged it off, and noted it for later. "Okay." He laughed. Good to know...

He moved on to rocking the hat. It was a very rocking hat, Kealey agreed. "Guess I'm getting myself a birthday present, too." Aurum stated, tipping the fedora jauntily to the side.

From modeling the hat, he went to modeling the clothing they'd picked out for Ami. Though, not as a traditional model. More, an arm-model, wearing draperies. Once everything was balanced well enough, he followed Kealey to the register. They were awesome. That was a given. Just how awesome, Kealey had yet to determine.

Kealey nodded, pleased with Aurum's interest in how he was doing at the shopping thing. Most men were uninterested at best, openly hostile at worst. Aurum was apparently an exception, and he was definitely amused by the assessment as Kealey nodded her head. Contemplative about her advice towards women, "It's true." she said in response to his emotions. "Girls love a man who knows what they look good in." Kealey didn't know from experience, just what she'd read in fashion magazines. It made sense, though, and she was pretty sure that if a guy ever gave her a perfectly coordinated outfit that fit her like it had been custom made...he'd have her heart in a handbasket.

Aurum commented that he was buying the hat she'd plopped on his head and Kealey grinned at him, nodding her head with approval and finally remembering the hat she'd placed on her own head. Slipping it off and back onto the counter, the blonde chuckled, "It's a good look on you. Always take advantage of such situations."

Aurum had unburdoned her, and Kealey followed him to the register with a smile for the girl who started ringing them up. Her skills had proved as masterful as she hoped and when the total flashed on the screen, she turned to Aurum with a satisfied smile and nod.

"You'd have never done this well without me."

>>"It's a good look on you. Always take advantage of such situations."

"Noted," Aurum smirked. ... Or, he smirked as much as a man could smirk when they'd suddenly become a clothes rack. Aurum shuffled after Kealey to the register, and set the load down with relief.

Finally, the shopping was done. Ami would have a terrific birthday present, and all would be right in the world for one afternoon. He glanced at the total, and paid the nice lady. Once everything was bagged, he took the load back up into his arms, and smiled at Kealey.

"I really wouldn't have. Thank you," He replied. "Now, let's get this stuff onto the bus, and back to my house for the wrapping. Mission Accomplished."

They'd done what they'd sought out to do, and done well at it. They were done.

((OOC: Aurum and Kealey shuffled off to the bus station, and on with their day, hat still perched jauntily on Aurum's head. Thread, end.))