Shin held his chin and cosidered Kai's outfit.

"Well," He started slowly. "The pants look good. The shirt doesn't quite match, though. Have you considered silk? Red silk is in this year. You could also go with a simple black work shirt. Those look good with whatever you wear."

Shin looked to the pile, searching for something else to comment on. "Maybe you could try the plaid next? Leather and silk aren't for everyone..." He stifled a yawn.

So tired... When he got tired, he got loopy. Had he really just suggested Kai wear leather pants? Haha. Even Shin didn't always look good in leather pants. ... Though, pink and purple polka dotted hoodies... Shin looked around. "You could use something in the realm of hooded sweatshirts. Or... do you wear a coat?"

Shin’s statements seemed to grow more and more disjointed. That fact combined with the poorly concealed yawn made Kai take a step back mentally. He had been kind of excited to try things on, even silly things like leather pants. But maybe now he should just grab the things he needed and return Shin back home so he could sleep. …Or we could make it fun…

Kai grabbed the red silk shirt and threw it on like a cape, then posed dramatically, as though having just planted a flag in the ground. “Perhaps a hooded sweatshirt, and then onto the plaid. Either way, I will conquer this dressing room and all its fashion obstacles and come out victorious. And well dressed.” He grinned at Shin, indicating that it was his line now in their epic dressing-room play.

"A cape?" Shin raised an eyebrow, then put both hands on his hips and posed dramatically. "Capes are overrated. White tuxedos are the new capes... even... though... they have capes... my logic is sound."

Yup. He needed to sleep more. That sentence made as much sense as... something... that didn't. "Anyways, that sounds like an excellent plan. Where to next, King-Kai?" Ah yeah. Hoodies. And plaid. Shin looked around. "Hoodies are that-a-way. Plaid hoodies, that-a-way, too."

He pointed, and started to walk, armload of clothing still in-hand.

His valiant efforts seemed to have failed. Shin was as silly tired as ever, but could muster the strength to make it to the next section of the department store. Kai followed his lead through the department store maze, once again. “I, uh, like to keep my plaid and my hoodies separate. I’ve actually never really seen them combined in one garment before.”

They rounded the corner and Kai spotted his saving grace. There were rows and rows of plaid! (Okay, there were also plain colored shirts and striped ones… but that wasn’t important.) There were so many color combinations to choose from! Probably a sensible green and red, and a blue and white is always classy. Kai grabbed several fine specimens.

“Alrighty! I’ve got the base of my wardrobe, anything else is just cherries on top!”

They reached the plaid motherlode. Shin grabbed something plaid to model himself. It just so happened to be a plaid hoodie. A good-looking one, at that.

Shin beamed at Kai. "What were you saying about seeing them combined?" He asked. He held it up against himself, imagining how it would look. It was just perfect for him. Shin liked hoodies. "Maybe I should try it on?"

I can’t believe it! His jaw dropped to the floor. That’s not… really…? He wondered, totally awestruck as Shin detangled the hanger from the rack and held up… a plaid hoodie. It was kind of beautiful, in its own way, like a way to mix the grunge/ laziness of just pulling on a sweatshirt with the class and sophistication of plaid. He liked it instantly.

“That is awesome! Is there another one… in my size?” As he spoke those words, a vision of fields full of flowers popped into his mind. He was running- no, skipping towards something. It was Shin and they were in matching sweatshirts. Uhh… that’s weird. he narrated over the daydream. And poof! Shin was sitting by the sidelines, watching as Kai ran happily towards a bodiless yet animated sweatshirt. It opened its sleeves wide to receive him and they were tumbling, tumbling down a hill, laughing. The fabric was so soft beneath his fingers…

He cleared his throat. “There’s a red and green one here, too, so we wouldn’t even have to match. I do love the red and green combination.”

>> “That is awesome! Is there another one… in my size?”

Shin grinned at Kai, and turned to snag one in a smaller size. It was the same color. There were other colors, though. "Lots of choices," He said, glancing to Kai. "You're in heaven right now, aren't you?" The kid had some sort of look about him, like this was sublimely awesome. It was, by the way. Plaid was a very nice color. Especially this... what was it again? Bone-colored plaid? Hmm.

Shin imagined himself wearing it... then, he imagined himself wearing plaid shard armor. It was a strange concept. He hadn't even gotten basic shard armor down, hadn't even mastered coating his index finger in shards. He was so early in the process, all he could do to conceptualize it was... okay. He was picturing himself in a plaid tuxedo.

That was kind of silly.

Kind of awesome-silly.

Kai cleared his throat intelligently.

>> “There’s a red and green one here, too, so we wouldn’t even have to match. I do love the red and green combination.”

Shin shook the image of red and green plaid tuxedoes out of his mind, and hopped to it, fetching Kai something meeting his standards for color. He held it out to Kai by the hangar. "Take this. I'm going to go try mine on in the changing room. Tell me how I look."

With that, he darted for the changing rooms. He'd be the first one to display plaid hoodies. First!!!

A minute later, he stepped out, looking slick. "So?" He modeled it, arms out in a spin. "Do I win something?"

Shin made a mad dash to the dressing room to try on the hoodie. “Woah! Where’s the fire?” Kai yelped after virtually diving out of his way. “At least you’re moving now, huh?”

He inspected the sweater that was thrust into his hands. He highly approved of the color combination and it was his size. So as long as he was waiting, he might as well try this hoodie on. Who needed a dressing room when he could just as easily slip the sweatshirt on right away?

Shin jumped out in his sweatshirt, did a little model walk and spun around.

>>” So? Do I win something?"

Kai just got the following image in his head: The two of them in their hoodies in a field of wheat. They looked EPIC!

“I don’t really have anything to give you- like a trophy, but we could be very awesome plaid twins. What do you say?”

Shin laughed. It was a jolly laugh. "Sure," He replied. "Your hoodie doesn't look bad, either. You're still wearing the leather pants, though. They look awesome. Combined with the hoodie..." Hmm. He held his chin and contemplated mixing leather with hoodies.

"It works," He decided, offering excellently horrible fashion advice. "Kind of like mixing school jackets and pajama pants, or tank tops and parachute pants. Speaking of, do they have a parachute pants section here?" He glanced around, and shifted the bundle of clothing under his arm. "I'm looking for something in a 'silver astronaut pants' line..."

“Wait, silver… what?!” That was slightly more than Kai could handle. “I think the leather are about as far out of my comfort zone as I’m willing to go today, Shin.” He tried his darndest to reel him back in. “I mean,” he stammered, “one can only have so many pairs of pants, right? I’ll get the leather ones and those jeans.” And some overalls, he added mentally. “But really, I couldn’t possibly use more than that.”

His eyes shifted a lot. He seemed to be having trouble making eye contact.

Kai attempted to shift his large pile of clothing into one arm and with the other hook onto Shin in case he needed to drag him along. “Come on! There’s a register this way!”

Kai seemed to think he'd wanted the pants for him. Shin shook his head with a light laugh. "Actually, I meant for the pants to be for me. Anyways..." The load in his arms was heavy. Shin made a judgment call. He followed Kai.

As they made their way to the register, the cashier's blue eyes seemed to pop. The two boys had so much clothing, and such diverse tastes. From leather to plaid to pink... She smiled a sunny smile, and started ringing them up.

Several minutes later, Shin and Kai exited the store, bags heavy in their hands. If Shin hadn't had his arms full, he might have cracked his wallet to let the moth fly out. After his own spending excursion, he didn't have much madness money left.

((OOC: Hope it was okay I got us through the checkout line. If not, let me know.))

Kai heaved his bulging shopping bag over his shoulder and followed Shin to the bus stop. He was actually pretty satisfied with the results of his first real shopping excursion. “Gee Shin! Thanks for all your help!” As they climbed up the steps, he was already mentally cleaning out some of the crap from the closet. Carrick’s pile of cardboard and other crap was getting unruly and could use a good purging. Once there was space, he could hang all his pretty new shirts by color, even!

He peered into the white bag, considering his relics once more. Wait… I thought those boxers were for… Kai shook his head. Some things you just had to let go. Bright pink boxers were still useful for wearing despite their garish color. Over all, he was still content. Kai leaned his head against the window and closed his eyes, just enjoying the feeling of the sun on his face as it filtered through the grime accumulated on the public bus’s glass pane. And with that, he slowly, ever so slowly, drifted off to sleep.