Shopping Time

Anima walked down the aisles of the general store with one of the store's plastic baskets in her hand. She scanned the items she passed, looking out for what she had come to buy. For the most part it was simply just a grocery shopping trip, although Anima was considering buying some more clothes. She didn't have much to wear besides the school uniform currently, and how often laundry had to be done to ensure she had something to wear was getting to be a bit annoying. Plus she tended to just wear the same thing when she wasn't wearing the uniform, so that'd be handled as well.

Anima continued to walk through the store, eventually collecting some snacks including Pocky, pausing momentarily as she saw a figure come into sight.

There was fucking nothing to eat in their dorm.

His dormmate, fucking Kayla, had eaten the rest of their leftovers when he had been out. He had no chance of sneaking into the kitchens until the weekend was over and was left picking up ramen and chips from the grocery store. He supposed he shouldn't have minded it, expected it even, but he couldn't help but be stupidly bitter. And so he walked around the store with a basketful of junkfood, not paying much mind to anyone else.

Anima froze as she saw Preston. Was it good or bad that Preston was here? After all, their last encounter ended a bit awkwardly, with Anima having to flee the lounge essentially naked. Although, that was due to another student showing up and not due to Preston making her leave or something. She continued to look at him, too shy to approach him but not wanting to just walk away, either. So she simply stood where she was somewhat still, silently hoping that he'd either go elsewhere or take notice of her, if only to put an end to this awkward situation she found herself in. After all, she still had groceries to get, among other things.

He filled his basked up with a few bags of chips, and a thing of soda, some extra candy. All the good stuff that was part of a complete and balanced meal, of course. At the last minute, he thought to browse the rest of the store to simply pass the time and turned and went back up a different isle. It wasn't until he was someways in that he saw her standing there, looking his way. He knew the face by then. Anima, the girl from the carnival, and the lounge for sure. The image was burned into his head (not that he was complaining).

"Hey, there - Please, don't take off your clothes. I know you probably got a think for risk but -" She gave the girl a small, crooked smile, holding his hand up and chuckling under his breath.

Anima jumped back slightly when Preston looked her way, and her face grew red when he made reference to their encounter in the lounge. Anima let the basket in her hand slide down her arm slightly as to prevent it from falling to the ground as she reached for her notebook and pen. I don't take off my clothes wherever I go... It was just that one time. What are you doing here? Anima didn't realize how dumb the question was until after she had written it and held up the notebook. She could see all the food, albeit junk food, that he had collected.

It was strange as he stood there, waiting as she fumbled around for her notebook in a haste, near dropping her entire shopping basket onto the floor. He read her words and scoffed a little. Was she completely certain about that? "That isn't what you left me thinking," he mused, but he wasn't about to push it. Again, he had no reason to complain, and just supposed it was all simply bad timing on part of that blonde chick. "I'm here picking up a few healthy groceries. Were you here with different plans?"

Sort of, I guess? I mean, I need to get groceries too, but I was going to try on some new clothes to buy since I don't have very much to wear besides the school's uniform. Anima paused for a moment, looking at what she was wearing. More likely than not Preston had probably seen her wearing this outfit at least once, given how it really was the only thing she wore besides the school's uniform with a few exceptions (that Halloween incident came to mind). A slight blush came to Anima's face when she realized the fact. Shit, hopefully he didn't think she never washed her clothing or anything like that.

To be bluntly honest, he didn't remember anything she had worn before for shit. The last time he'd seen her out of uniform, besides her oh-so slightly revealing Halloween suit, had been during the Fall Festival. And that was such a long fucking time ago. Therefore, her blush had confused him somewhat, but he didn't think much of it. "What clothes?" He asked, blinking on a whim. Her basket looked empty.

To be brutally truthful, again, he couldn't about clothes shopping - he'd had already been forced through enough mall sprees with Verona to last him for the rest of his life, and then some. But Preston had some time left on his hands that he didn't mind sharing with Anima.

Oh, I didn't get anything yet. I was about to go try on some stuff though. Well, she was actually going to get those groceries first, but fuck it, they could wait now. Besides, she probably still had something in her dorm; she could just come back again later. Anima started walking, operating on the assumtion that Preston would follow after her. She continued to write as she walked, holding the notebook up slightly to her right so that it could be read from behind her when she was done. I'm just not sure what to get... I just know I need a lot of clothes. Obviously those were the words Preston would've wanted to hear.

It seemed like he didn't have much else of a choice except to follow her then, shrugging the grocery basket further up onto his arm and taking slow steps after her, trying to keep himself preoccupied looking at different, pointless items on the shelves as she scribbled down into her notebook. "You're a girl, aren't you? Where's your sense of fashion?" Preston asked blandly, glancing ahead into the clothing section. As soon as he saw it all, he could just imagine his sister having an aneurysm. The racks of clothes were all completely out of season, even he could see that.

Yet he found something that stood out among others. The Autumn smiled and reached for it at once. "Found the perfect shirt for you," he mused, holding it up to her.

Anima turned around at hearing Preston, a smile appearing on her face when she saw what he was holding up. Now that was quite the shirt. I don't know...I'm more fond of more... plain clothing, I guess. In general I guess I like the shirt though. Maybe you should buy it. She turned to look at more of the surrounding clothing, taking notice of a white hoodie, which she promptly held out for Preston to see, although it was only a moment before she noticed a pair of jean shorts, which she grabbed as well. Trying to gesture since both of her hands were occupied, she nodded her head before shaking it, trying to get Preston to give his opinion on the clothing.

Fuck, maybe he would buy it. If nothing else, it'd be nice to see the look on Pikachu's face when he handed it over to her. The young man said nothing back of it though and tossed it into his small basket, glancing back up at Anima. She held up a bland white sweater and some shorts, and he seemed rather off-put by her choice. Funny how he thought of her again, but even Kayla wasn't that ... well ... boring with their choice of clothing. Or maybe he was just used to his sister's extravagance.

"That looks nice," he said. Of course, so long as she didn't pick up something horrendous, Pres would say that about everything. "You gonna try it on?"

Anima nodded her head, taking the clothing into a nearby dressing room. Quickly, she removed her skirt before putting the jeans on in their place. They reached about a quarter of the way down her thigh, as Anima noticed quickly when she looked at her reflection. Next she put on the hoodie over her shirt, looking at her reflection for a moment before heading out of the dressing room and looking at Pres. She picked her notebook up from her baskest where it lay on her skirt, writing. How do I look? Should I get something else instead? Something seemed sort of... Off, despite you saying that it looks nice.

God dammit, where were those chairs that they put outside the dressing room for the guys that got dragged into the evening clothes shopping? Preston glanced around for such a thing, but of course, it didn't exist. The young man let his basket fall to the floor and leaned up against some racks, checking his phone and waiting for the girl to change. She took a lot less time than he'd anticipating, thankfully.

He gazed at the girl's attire, staring down her legs and gazing back up to her face again. It was simple, but a cute choice, admittedly. "It looks good, but I wouldn't want to wear it out there." The Autumn cast a glance behind him towards the windows. Snow still piled up outside.

Anima both smiled and blushed a bit when she heard how Preston felt about it. The last bit of what he said prompted her to follow his gaze, bwing reminded of what the weather was like outside. It really wouldn't be a smart idea to go out there in shorts unless having popsicles for legs was something you want. She nodded to Preston as she wrote. You're right about that. Let me find something that will actually be decent to trudge around in the snow wearing. Anima looked over the clothing racks again, pausing when she took notice of a baby blue parka. Yeah, that'd work. She also grabbed a pair of jeans, before going back into the changing room.

Again she changed out of what she was wearing quickly, replacing the hoodie with the parka. It was a bit big, but it would work. The jeans Anima had grabbed took the place of the shorts, and once again she walked back out of the changing room, her head poking out from the top of the parka.