Coats and such....

[Warp the Fox]

Most powers have some manner of special effect to accompany them, such as a thunderclap, or a lightning flash, or some kind of noise. Not so much with this one. There was nothing, and then there were two foxes, the taller male with an arm around the shorter, blue female.

"Well," his pleasant tenor voice rang out through the empty mall, devoid of shoppers, or even looters. Well, except for the two of them. The taller one shuddered involuntarily, the cold reashing through his clothes to caress his skin past his fur. That was no way to go about these things. He needed a coat, too, maybe.

"Here we are. Westopolis mall. Coats, refuse, interesting memorabilia, and other such nonsense." Warp looked down at Kils. "Coats are over there. Pick one out that you like, if there is one, or settle for one you don't." Warp teleported over himself, grabbed a plain brown trench coat off of a rack, and tried it on, buttoning it up and popping the collar. "How do I look?"

[Glitch]

"It looks... um... I like it." Kils said sheepishly. She was going to say it looked good but she wasn't sure. She liked how it looked on him but she was probably wrong. There was a lot about this world outside captivity that she did not yet understand, and she was willing to bet she was wrong about just about everything, she seemed to have been so far.

She walked over to where the coats were a bit hesitantly. It still didn't make sense to her, just taking something you hadn't earned with no consequences. But if that's what he wanted her to do she should obey him. She reached out and picked up a black leather jacket that had all manner of shiny buckles and zippers on it, most of which weren't actually needed. She slowly slipped it on and turned to Warp. "Is this good?" she asked timidly.

[Warp the Fox]

Warp tilted his head. "Well, maybe, if you wear, like, tight jeans and a punk-rock tee with it. And biker boots." He straightened again, then said, "But for your outfit, it doesn't quite work. If you want, though..." He pointed over toward one of those columns with mirrors on all four sides. "See how you look."

He stepped over toward one side of the mirror column. "Hmm. Yeah. Goes with my fur. You got good taste, m'lady." He ran a hand through his hair, letting it fall naturally. Looking closely, Warp noted that he did look kinda handsome all in the get-up he was wearing. There was something he wondered about Kils, and that was whether or not she thought he was handsome. There was no way to take that from a girl, was there? Well, he could find out. Although it would only be a definite answer if she did blush. If she didn't, he'd never know.

And so, he turned and leaned against the mirror, blasting Kils with his most charming smile. "You're a pretty girl, you know that?"

[Glitch]

Kils had looked at her reflection and raised an eyebrow. The jacket she'd picked up didn't quite look right on her in her opinion. She'd started to take it off when Warp mentioned she was pretty. She stopped and looked at him in surprise then looked back at her own reflection. "You... really think so?" she asked in almost a whisper. When she looked at her reflection she didn't see a pretty girl, she saw a monster, a screw up who had done horrible things in her past. Someone damaged, or maybe even broken. She didn't understand how someone could see her as pretty. "I'm not... I'm... wrong..."

[Warp the Fox]

Warp kept his smile and gave a little "M'hmm" when she asked if he actually did think so. "You're not? Not what? Pff. Nobody can know what they look like to other people. Everybody can try to give a certain impression, but it might never be interpreted that way. Here's a saying for you. 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.' Do you know what that means?"

Warp pushed off to go grab another coat, one that was a little bit longer. It was a dark blue, and thick, with a sturdy zipper in the front. Kils was thin, like she didn't eat much or something, and she probably had a problem with keeping warm even in warmer places. "Here. Try this one."

[Glitch]

Kils finished slipping the leather one off and gently took the one Warp handed to her. "I... I'm sorry... I don't understand..." she said, looking down ashamedly as her ears flicked back. "Or... maybe you don't understand... because you don't know... When I look at myself I... I'm not sure I'm a person..." She slipped the blue coat on. It was a bit large on her. It looked baggy and a bit awkward and the sleeves hung down a good three inches past her fingertips.

[Warp the Fox]

Warp's eyebrows rose. "You have a body, a mind, independant thought, remorse for wrongdoing. Yep. You're a person." Then he tilted his head. "If you're going for the cute schoolgirl look, the coat fits. Do you like it?"

The taller fox wrapped his tail around his waist. "Okay, so you don't know. Beauty in the eyes of the beholder means that what is beautiful and what is not is only relevant to the individual's taste. In other words, even if you do not think you are pretty, that only applies to you. Some others might share your view. I do not, and there may or may not be some that share my view as well. There is no more social benchmark for what 'pretty' is, nothing but an individual's say-so."

Then he tipped Kils a wink. "And I say you're pretty. We can agree to disagree on this point, of course. Niether of us is 'right.'" He lifted his hands out of his coat pockets to emphasise the word "right" with finger-quotes. There was no right or wrong answer, really. This girl seemed a bit over-concerned with her image. No matter what the girl has gone through, no matter where she is, a girl will always be concerned with how she looks. This inner joke made Warp chuckle a bit.

[Glitch]

"So... if neither of is is right, that means we're both wrong..." Kils said, trying to make sense of his explanation. It was understandable that she would be confused, the way she understood it certain people were right and if you didn't agree with them you were wrong. She was not raised to believe in opinion, only to follow orders. Of course, she didn't always follow orders and thus earned herself a lot of punishment over the years. She looked at her reflection now that she had the blue coat on. "The sleeves are a bit long... it may make some things more difficult..." she said, half to herself.

[Warp the Fox]

Warp gave a sort of grimace. "No, neither of us is wrong, either. I guess you don't know about opinions, either?" Warp shook his head. "Poor depraved girl. We need to get you to your brother posthaste. I don't think I'm up to this particular task alone."Then he smirked. "No, I kid. But I would think that your brother would be mad at me if I didn't at least keep you warm. I bring you to him with influenza, my *ss is crass, you dig?"

His ears twitched at the last statement. "Hmm? What would the sleeves make difficult? If you'd like shorter sleeves, there's something like it over there, but it's more like a sweater, really, and that won't do in this weather. Maybe the sweater and a coat for you. You're thin, no lipid layer to speak of. Fat keeps you warm, you see. Need to eat more." The adolescent took a seat on a bench, thinking. What else would she likely need? Probably warmer clothes. Like, pants and an actual shirt, although, with a sweater, what she had for a top wouldn't be that bad.

[Glitch]

"Umm... I'm sorry but... what does digging have to do with anything?" Kils asked as she took the blue coat off. The truth was she didn't understand half of what he had said, but she figured she could start with words she understood and then move on to the ones she didn't. She turned to have a look at the 'sweters' Warp had mentioned when another coat caught her eye. She picked it up and held it out in front of herself. It was a pale purple suede with faux white fur lining. The fur stuck out along the edge of the hood and the bottom of the coat and the sleeves were folded back so that they had fur cuffs. In the front were large, white buttons to fasten the coat. She turned to the mirrors and put the coat on, buttoning it down the center carefully. She looked up and her ears perked a bit. She liked this one, and the sleeves weren't too long, they reached down to her wrists but no further. She turned around and faced Warp. "Is this one good?"

[Warp the Fox]

Warp grinned. Wow. This was going to be diffficult. He was almost tempted to ask if Kils had been kept in a box. No, she'd think it an honest question. Hmmm. Okay, he'd have to drop almost all his slang, which was interesting, because its appearances were few and far between anyway, but he had no clue that he was using them.

"Never mind, just a phrase that means do you understand. Not used very often." He then looked at her coat. "Wow. I like it. You wear it well." Then he smiled. "But I bet your legs are kinda cold, what with just a miniskirt and all. C'mon, lets go get you something a bit warmer." Warp stood and began walking towards a Limited Too. He knew it was a shop for chicks, but he wasn't sure about the age group. Hopefully, something'd fit. Besides, she was a twig. It'd be hard not to find something, even in a younger-age store.

[Glitch]

Kils' ears perked again at his approval and she almost, but not quite, smiled. She nodded obediently as she followed Warp into the store. Her legs really did get cold quite often. Then again, most of her did. She had started to think it was supposed to be that way but apparently she had been wrong, and Warp had explained that to her. What seemed strange, though, is that he hadn't punished her at all. She had been wrong about a number of things and not understood even more, that meant multiple failings which was supposed to mean multiple punishments, but for some reason he wasn't punishing her. Was he maybe waiting to give her one big punishment, something as bad as all the punishments she'd earned put together? The thought frightened her, but if it was true then disobedience would surely add a lot to that punishment.

[Warp the Fox]

Warp sat against a wall. "This part's all your show. Pick something out that'll cover you more, make you a bit more comfortable. If there's nothing here you like, there's also a Gap and a Hot Topic we could try. Store names are funny. Limited too?" He chuckled lightly, then crossed his legs, flicking his ear from the cold. After a few seconds, he reached up and covered them with his hands.

His eyes followed Kils serenely, a slight smile on his face. She was like a child, completely new to the world. "If you see something you like, try it on." There was no doubt in his mind that she at least understoof privacy, and would at the least duck behind a shelving unit, if not into the fitting rooms. Content with this certain knowledge, the fox sighed softly and mentally recalled routes from where they were to the other clothing stores he knew of, eyes still on the girl.

[Glitch]

Kils walked around the store slowly for a bit. He'd brought her here primarily for pants as she understood it and apparently she was supposed to like them too. She looked around for a while until she spotted a pair of white leggings. However, it seemed she was not as familiar with the concept of privacy as Warp thought she was, nor was she familiar with the concept that leggings were generally meant to be worn under a skirt or something, especially white ones. She slipped her shoes off and then her skirt right in front of Warp and then started on the task of putting leggings on from a standing position, which ended up involving much bending and squirming.

[Warp the Fox]

Warp was completely dumbfounded. He knew he should say something, but he was completely mute from shock. All he could do was stare. Especially at the bending and squirming. She had a cute butt.

His mouth worked a bit, trying to get a sound out, any sound. He couldn't even gasp. One thought repeatedly ran through his mind. I'm going to the Special Hell.... After a minute, when he realized just how much Kils knew of the world, he decided to simply put everything he had into not doing something her brother would dislike. Kils' waving tail was tantalizing, though....

And he still couldn't talk. Or move.