"Ah-ah- uhm. y... you are? Well, I just figured you would want to...uhm... take it a- at your own pace is all... You know... Um... Yeah. You don't mean... you want to speed things up?"

She blinked at him, lips parted slightly, hand still on his. The car wasn't going anywhere, and the light was green. She had seen arguments start for less on New York streets."Why wouldn't I want to speed things up? We are never going to get anywhere going slow like this." She grinned, turning her head to glance back through car at the few cars behind them, before wiggling back into her seat. "Besides... life moves too fast nowadays to take anything slow."

Someone honked way back in line, and she wrinkled her nose at sound.

"I would love it if you taught me... I have always wondered how these things work, but I have never been given the opportunity to try it out." She fiddled with her seat belt and giggled. "...You know, since I've been by myself for so long..." She hadn't known anyone at the Sanctuary who drove, well, save for Jorge. ... but she hadn't been in the right mind to ask him anything about his car.

A honk pulled him out of his deep well of thought and surprise... Wait a sec... Crap! They literally weren't going fast enough! He started the car again, and they were moving once more in no time... Saph sat silently for a moment, working out things in his head... So... wait, maybe she was talking about they were literally going too slow, and... and he needed to drive faster... yeah, that could be it... Or... Or she really wanted their relationship to go to the next level.

Woah. It was a little soon, but... Well... If it was what she wanted.

"Yeah... too fast... slow is bad... yeah..." He sat silently for a moment, until the next light. Well... What could he say in response to that? It wasn't like he'd prepared for something like this. What did it even mean, anyway? Was... was he getting lucky tonight?! To be honest, he was a little disappointed. He'd taken her to be more modest than that. Still, they had already thrown the L-word around, and he sure as hell meant it... Maybe it was the right time. He was driving toward a tree.

SCREEEEEEE~~~~~~~!

He swerved back into the lane. "Eh... Sorry... I dunno what happened, there." Saphirus decided his thoughts were best left to the road for now... He would think about the rest later.

((Early grats on your 906th!))

They started moving again... but now he was babbling... and she couldn't figure out about what. She stared at him for a moment before dragging her eyes away.

...At the right time, apparently, because OHHOLYHECKTHEYWEREHEADEDFORATREE! The Greek latched onto her seat and the car door, and braced herself with foot up on the dash. It wasn't the smartest thing to do, mind you seeing as if they had crashed she would have most definitely broken her leg... but, considering her lack of experience with cars and crashes, she did it anyway.

He corrected the direction the car was going with a screech and the turning of the steering wheel, and those cars that were behind him decided to stay a safe distance away from them from then on.

She almost didn't even want to ask what that had been about... Maybe she was distracting him with all of the talking? Or her questions... probably the questions. She decided, once she was able to calm her rapidly beating heart and peel herself out of her brace for impact, that she would sit quietly until they got to the Mall...

...and THEN barrage him with questions.

"It's alright... no harm done."

..yet.

BAM, POW VROOM VROOM PEW PEW PEW~!

Alluvasudden they were in the mall! With some less interesting things skipped, and some good times passed, Saphirus now walked while staring at a brand new phone that had a screen... get this... that you could touch to make it move.

Holy crap.

Like, that stuff was real, okay? REAL.

He'd gotten one for his lovely companion as well, though hers was the indestructible waterproof tank round proof magma proof lightening proof version. What? She had a history with phones, and he just wanted to make sure he could find her and save her in case someone tried to kidnap her again... Okay, so he was being a little overprotective, but he didn't want to lose her again.

"Okay, look... so when you touch this button, you're... on the internet, and you can youtube and stuff. Ain't that cool? Jees, last time I got a cell, it was a miracle you could call people. Texting was out of the question... Wanna text?"

He lifted his phone, and slowly typed a message.

Y-O-U SPACE L-O-O-K SPACE P-R-handcramphandcramphandcramp-E-T-T-Y SPACE T-O-D-A-Y EXCLAMATION POINT!

He grinned over to her as he pressed the send button. "So, where to next?"

Her phone was... confusing.

and yet exciting!

...and yet, waaaay to expensive. Seriously... people just bought these things all of the time? How could they afford cars? or houses!?

Still... it was pretty cool. It had a little keyboard that flipped out, like a miniature laptop. She was on the net surfing before she realized what she was doing, until a vibrating and a cheerful little melody broke her away from something called Angerexpressions.com.

With a little smile at Saph, she fiddled with the phone some more, before finding the text message. It was hard not to blush. "Heh... thankyo-- oop!" Ducking her head, her hair fell in a curtain around her as she typed away, concealing what she was sending back.

A moment later, his phone signaled a message, that read simply. 'Thank you very much, I love my phone.'

"I... dunno. I suppose we should get the buying of clothes out of the way first, no?" She paused, lifting her head to grin at him. "I think there is this adorable little shop that sells sweaters and stuff, called Modern Modesty... "

She plucked at her, er, his clothing that she was wearing nervously.

He watched her curiously as she tapped away at her phone way faster than he did. Woah, she was a natural at this, wasn't she? Underneath the curtain of hair he heard the sounds of a message being created at superhuman speeds. Yup, he was staring. She looked up finally, and he heard his text ringer. "BE A MAN~!" ala Mulan. What? Mulan was a manly movie, dangit! It had a song about being manly!

He took a moment to get to his message list thingy, and smiled as he read the message. He decided not to reply via the same medium; clearly he could use some practice.

It was then she suggested a shop... Modern modesty? Huh... Maybe it was one of those ironically named shops that had funny shirts in it and stuff.

...Nope... It wasn't. His eyes wandered around the store as they walked in. Holy crap. He was in a nunnery. Everything he saw in the woman's section was either an ankle covering skirt, a shirt that went up to the neck, and blouses that covered the elbows like showing them was a sin.

He couldn't help it. He laughed. All of the old stuffy ladies in the store gave him looks, but he had to laugh. "Look, I know you are used to dressing in this kinda stuff, but you're beautiful, and under this stuff... heck, I'm surprised you survive on sunny days in all of those layers... C'mon, lets go somewhere else, okay? You can try on some clothes that people who aren't over 9000 don't wear."

As if to emphasize his point, he patted a nearby rack of sweater vests, and a small cloud of dust poofed out.

The laughing drew her attention away from the article of clothing currently in her hands. What was so funny?... Was there something on her face? Was someone in the store funny?

The Greek glanced around curiously, before settling her gaze back on him. She openly stared at him as he explained, then looked down at the sweater vest in her hands, and flushed brown. So what if she liked clothes that covered her properly?

...well, maybe he had a point. They were a little old fashioned. With a slight frown, she put the vest back, and reached out to take his hand. "Perhaps not this store then... How about you choose which one next?"

She proceeded to thank the nearest employee, before pulling Saph out with her. The rest of the mall was a maze to her, and she honestly didn't know where to go...

He nodded as she accepted his truth, and put on his pondering face as she asked which store they should go to...

Damn. He didn't exactly frequent malls himself, and after spouting his vast knowledge on how other stores would be better, he was left dead in the water when it came to what store they should actually go to... That was okay, though, because right across the hall he could see a store that looked like lots of women her age were walking toward...

He could hardly make out the name of it from here... Glitter? Sounded innocent enough. "How about that one?" He pointed, and lead her out toward it, the eyes of the old people still tightly trained on them.

As they neared the glitter place, he started to get a sinking feeling... The place was rather... pink, wasn't it? Well, he wouldn't judge it from the outside... Maybe the stuff inside would be less... yeah.

She spotted the store he pointed out, and nodded. Glitter? ...with a glittery sign! She liked glittery things, so...sure!

Following along behind him, she stopped dead in her tracks just inside the store entrance. People were mulling about, and as it turned out, it was a rather large store. It also smelled heavily of... some type of perfume, and there was a strange wub heavy song blasting out of the speakers overhead. How did anyone hear themselves think?

She suddenly missed the quiet violin from the more modest store.

"Oh...em...gee. Girl, what are you wearing?"

Andrea turned her head, casting a rather confused look at a girl as she waddled over. In heels and... some sort of tight dress, she looked more like a customer than a worker, but the name tag pinned to her chest area was a clear sign of her employment. The Greek glanced down at her borrowed clothes at the question, but before she had a chance to question what the girl meant Monica was circling.

"Like... I know the boyfriend jeans and stuff are in, but you are taking it to an extreme, girlfriend." With a hand on her hip, she chewed at her bubble gum and gave the green woman a brisk once over, before tsking and shaking her head. "We are going to have to hook you up, sister, before someone mistakes you for a flat out tomboy!"

Before she knew what was happening, an arm was looped through Andrea's and she was dragged toward the back of the store. She refused to let go of Saph's hand, dragging him along with her. When changing rooms came into view, the girl all but pried Andrea away, leading her into one of the stalls. Monica left a second later, off to search the racks for an outfit she deemed worthy for the green skinned Greek. Minutes later, she returned with an armful of items, gave Saph a once over, before shutting herself in the stall with Andrea.

A few surprised yelps issued forth, and much awkward banter, before the twenty four year old was pushed out of the stall. She stumbled in a pair of heels Monica had brought her, flushed deep brown from her neck to her eyebrows, and blinked at Saph through her glasses. She had been stuffed into tight fitting straight leg jeans, which rode a lot lower on her hips than she was comfortable with, and a cropped tank top that covered none of her stomach.... which a strange fishnet half shirt over the top. She couldn't manage to cover all of her stomach with her arms, and after taking one look at herself in one of the viewing mirrors, turned and fled right back into the booth.

Monica tsked more, and set about changing her again. The next time she was pushed out, she had been clothed in a cropped yellow shirt, the shortest shorts she had ever had the misfortune to put on, and red suspenders. She couldn't return to the changing room fast enough, after catching a glimpse of herself. The last outfit Monica squeezed her into covered her from ankle to collar bone, leaving her arms and neck bare... the only problems being that it was skin tight (seriously, like she had been dipped into it), and that her entire back was open and bared for all of the world to see.

Really... she couldn't blush anymore, without fainting from lack of blood in the rest of her body. After shuffling awkwardly back into the dressing room, she came back out (finally) in her own clothes, with the yellow shirt outfit in her arms. "...Y-yes... thank you. I really did like this one the best..." With a wink, she flipped her hair, and turned to clip-clop back toward the front of the store. Andrea, holding her heels and... newest items of clothing, turned to Saph with pleading eyes, and a quivering bottom lip.

"This store frightens me...canwepleaseleave?"

Okay, so he'd picked wrong.

It wasn't like this was all bad, though. The first getup the lady pulled Andre out of the dressing room made his eyes widen. It was true that she was clearly uncomfortable in it, and therefor he didn't like it, but... Wow. She really wasn't the insanely skinny girl who he loved for her purity, loving personality, and unique appearance... She was a curvy bombshell who he loved for her purity, loving personality, and unique appearance. He wiped his mouth as soon as he realized he might drool.

She retreated back in, and he waited for a moment, looking around nervously. S@$5 this place was filled with teenagers and scantly clad club goers. He'd really dropped the ba- Hubba hubba! The green girl was out again, and once about in a somewhat familiar, but rather revealing outfit... Where had he seen that before? No matter, it really showed off her legs, though... She had nice legs...

STOP STARING

Oh yeah! He looked up, and before he knew it, she was inside the booth again.

The last outfit she walked out in would have made him spit his coffee out in he had any coffee. Woah, how did girls wear that in cold weather? Still, though... it wasn't at all bashful about showing off her curves... He wiped sweat from his brow, and then retreated with her toward the front of the store...

Surprisingly enough she'd opted to buy one of the outfits... probably just to be polite... It was okay, though, he would humor her... He pulled out his card as the very fashionable male behind the counter rang it up. "That'll be 118.57.' Once again, no coffee to spit out.

"Jesus are the shorts mink?"

"uh, no... they're denim."

@#$% all that and the man didn't grasp sarcasm. He looked to the green girl next to him, and drilled into her with his eyes, mostly jokingly. "You're gonna hafta actually wear that for me now, you know that right?" He paid begrudgingly, and they headed for the exit.

They were cut off just before they'd escaped, though, by Monica once again. "Oh My GAWD I almost forgot... You. have. GOT. to lose the glasse-" She'd reached out to grab the glasses from Andrea's head, and made eye contact... Her last thought before she was out was. OMG those eyes are, like, soooo hawt.

Saph looked about urgently, and then ushered the former flower saleswoman out into the mall again... After a moment, he started chuckling... It wasn't long before he became a laugh... After all, that whole process had been pretty damned goofy.

"Alright, lets pick a store with normal looking people in it this time."

She shot him a startled look at the comment, half horrified at the very thought of having to wear the outfit she had just been guilted into letting Saph buy her... until she remembered that American's had a funny sense of humor. Perhaps this was just another strange, silly joke? Yes.

"Oh... Saphirus, you had me going for a moment there..." She giggled, eyeing her purchase awkwardly, before the women who had pretty much picked it out for her appeared once more. There wasn't even time to try and make a run for it, or bat the lady's hands away. A moment after the last words tumbled from her lips, she was standing stiff as a statue in the middle of an isle, and Andy was panicking. "Oh...oh god..." She snatched her glasses back, depositing them back on the bridge of her nose before anyone else got zapped, and allowed Saph to quickly and quietly usher her out of the store.

The guilt of leaving the poor woman behind, just standing there like that for an undetermined amount of time. The guilt tripled with Saph's laughter. "It is not funny, Saphirus! She could be like that for hours!" The Greek huffed, swatting at his arm, and stared at her new clothing mournfully. "....And I didn't even want these... They barely cover anything!"

With a pout that could rival a five year olds, she huffed one more time, and blew a few stray strands of dark hair from her eyes. She agreed that a more normal store was needed, and kept her eyes peeled for just such a thing. They passed kids stores, strange... darkly theme stores, stores with shelves full of crystals and strange little wooden people... before her attention was captured by a store she had never seen before.

"What is this one?" The name on the sign was 'Spankies'. She didn't get it. Was it like, spanks? Those tight fitted things some women wore under their garments? Blinking, she started on in before Saph could stop her, and was immediately greeted by an assortment of strange hats, and a wall of T-shirts. The Greek stopped before said wall, eyebrows knitted as she read through some of the sayings. One shirt in particular stood out and earned a laugh from her. "Look at this one!" She pulled one off the shelf and held it up for Saph to see the text scrawled across the front, that read 'I'm great in bed, I can sleep for hours!'

"It is just adorable... I can sleep for hours, heh!" Folding the shirt back up, she wandered further into the store. The assortment of toys and games she came across puzzled her. But, she found herself staring at a little package of fake mustaches and giggling before her confusion could take over completely. "Things in this store are very silly... What is this though? I do not recognize it."

She held the item in her hand up for him to see, and gave it a squeeze. It squeaked, and she couldn't stop from giggling.

Heh... She thought he was kidding. He would let her think that for now, and then, who knows? Maybe he could guilt her into wearing it when she was more comfortable with him in the future... It wasn't like they didn't have plenty of time, was it?

She got a little upset about freezing the girl, but honestly, he wasn't worried. It was disorienting, sure, but it wasn't like it had any lasting effects. "Naaaah I wouldn't worry about it. She'll be fine. We wont, on the other hand, if we don't get us some clothes."

That was a double negative. Don't do no double negatives, yo.

His eyes widened as she brought up the prospect of going to spankies. He didn't go to malls super often, but he knew what a spankies was... "Oh, well.. I don't thi-" They were already inside... Oh crap. He didn't see this ending well.

The first thing she did was grab a shirt with a naughty saying on it... She... did know what that meant, right? "Uh... Well, I don-" he looked to the nearest associate, who was picking his nose, and then back to where she'd been. She was gone again.

He ventured into the store after her, and froze in place when she presented him with... well... it was... a somewhat cartoony caricature of something poor Andrea would probably never hold in her hands on purpose. Dear god, put a little smiley face on it and she was clueless... "Oh! That... Th- Thats not important. Lets put it back." He plucked it quickly from her gloved hand and tossed it over his shoulder. "There! Good as new! I don't see a lot of clothes here, maybe we should g-"

"Well hello~~~~ there!" A voice rang out. "Do we have a happy couple here?" An effeminate man with hair died every which color addressed them as he strolled up, and placed a hand on Saph's chest. "And quite a charming couple as well."

Uh oh...

"You know what you could use? Something special to spice things up!" the man grabbed Andrea by the hand, and started to drag her to the back of the store. "I'm Tommy by the by, and I gotta say you look waaaay too comfortable. Trust me, I know how to please em, and comfortable isn't the way to do it." He gave her a wink, and pulled her into an isle that was full of clothing items that were sure to make her turn more shades of brown than charlie could ever be.

The toy was snagged from her grip without much of an explanation. Her curiosity doubled, but before she could ask him what he meant, someone else interjected. An employee, no less!

"Do we have a happy couple here? And quite a charming couple as well."

He... had colorful hair. Very, very colorful hair. It was... actually kind of pretty! He seemed nice.. though, as he dragged her off, she wasn't sure what he meant by "comfortable"... and how was she supposed to spice that up?

"...H-hello Tommy..." She managed to get out, once he had finally stopped pulling her. She stared at the man as he rifled through a rack of clothes, then through a box of.. more clothes?.. before he turned back to her and shoved something into her arms.

"These should do the trick.... They are the newest in that particular brand, and if you ask me, well worth the price." A puzzled expression settled on her features, as she glanced down at what appeared to be a pile of ribbons in her arms. Why would ribbon be expensive?

Then, her eyes rose and she focused on the wall behind Tommy. It was full covered in posters of half naked women... some of who were more than half naked. Her cheeks lit up instantly. She dropped her gaze to the shelf beside her, trying to think of something polite to say, when she caught site of what decorated that particular shelf.

... and the one under it.

And the one under that! Oh god! What kind of store was she in?!

Suddenly, the ribbons in her arms made sense. She dropped them as her face darkened considerably. The outfits hanging from the rack at her other side were basically lace and ribbon as well. Tommy took one look at her face and grinned.

"Aww, that's cute... You know, I have this other product that would be just perfect for you! It's right over here..."

One glimpse of the item he picked up, and she turned on her feel and raced through the store. One speedy green blur, straight out the exit. The sight of a ladies room sign ahead of her was welcome, and before anyone could stop her, she made a break for it.

As the bathroom door swung shut, it opened again briefly for her for toss her garment bag out into the hallway, before letting it shut and locking it behind her. "What kind of dirty mall is this?! How can they have that stuff out in the open like that!"

And Saph had been there too! "Oh god!" The Greek sank against the door, with her head in her hands, and tried to get her face to return to it's normal color.

How sure was he that this was going to end badly?

So, so sure. He'd never been so sure of anything in his life. You see, Andrea's innocence was not unlike a minnow. A small fish that swims in small ponds, and is carefree in almost all aspects. Sure, it's bound to discover some new things here or there, but anything it encounters won't be much bigger than it; it is a small pond after all...

This was ramming a whale into her pond and telling her to deal with it, so when she ran out, Saph looked at the colorfully headed man, and frowned. "What? Was it something I said?" The man asked, shrugging as the item in his hand flopped about. " I... eh... I gotta go." Saph hurried out in the wake of the panicked exit of his date. All he saw was a door close, with a man leaning against the sign next to it. On the other side was another door, and between the two doors was a ladies restroom sign.

The man looked at his watch, and suddenly jumped into action, heading down the way....

Uh oh...

Behind where the man had once stood was a Men's bathroom sign... right next to the door Andy had entered.

Water... she needed water to cool down with. Standing, she stumbled her way over to the sinks, and turned the faucet on. Before she could get her gloves off, she glanced up into the mirror.

Behind her just off to the left, stood a horrified looking male with his back to her, glancing back over his shoulder.

Tinkle

Tinkle Tinkle

Andrea stared. The man stared back...

Driiiip.

She screamed bloody murder. Didn't even bother turning off the water, as she did it, too! The guy joined in, hollering despite himself, and the two of them shared a nice little awkward duet. Until she rudely exited, of course.

The bathroom door flew open, slamming against the tile wall, and out shot a green blur. A green blur that slammed right into the chest of her date, as he had been standing right outside of the bathroom. The Gorgon went crashing to the ground, and from behind her exited the other man. Red in the face, and actively avoiding looking at her as best he could, he squeezed past Saph and vanished into the mall.

Andrea's face flushed deep brown, and as she pushed herself up into a sitting position and adjusted her glasses, she couldn't help but stare at Saph in a horrified manner.

"....T-that... was the men's restroom.." A little wibble of the bottom lip, a sniffle, and she was the perfect picture of a kicked puppy.