Logs: Lunarvale Clothes Shopping
Lunarvale - Sun Mall
Little more than a strip mall with a roof, Sun Mall is the more frequently visited mall by students looking for a bit of afternoon fun after school. It is not inherently a large shopping center, and seems to be going into decline. There's still plenty enough to buy and eat.
Peace Diner is one of the most dominant fast food chains several towns over and tends to get most of its business from St. Hermelin students looking for a quick bite to eat. The Rosa-Candida clothing store is the place to visit for the latest fashions, though it has a snooty air. The very first Satomi Tadashi pharmacy lies here, one of now many throughout the nation made (in)famous for its theme song giving praise to its products. Judgment 199, a small casino, does not appear to care about the age of its players. A candy store using very difficult kanji for its name sells traditional snacks and other goods in an atmosphere invoking days long gone by. An unmarked door leads to one of the largest Augustus trees in a small enclosed garden. A blue door leads to the mysterious Velvet Room, of which only a few people have gotten inside.
While Sun Mall is on the decline compared to Joy Street, many stores remain open almost entirely on the mercy of St. Hermelin students and local families. The relative quiet tends to be seen as a plus.
The recent earthquake really hit the other side of town pretty badly. The hospital's a mess! Lunarvale is, currently, in a brief period of grieving for how the unexplainable can suddenly take away those one cares about. This gives a somber edge to the one day of the week most schoolchildren have off.
Midori, as always, is fine, even though her friend's brother's sister-in-law just passed away in the accident and she should feel really bad about that, as incessant chatting with other people vaguely cose to the person in question dictates. But now, to get her mind off of everything (if her mind is ever on anything to begin with)... it's shopping time in Lunarvale, early in the evening.
She's window shopping on her own in Rosa-Candida, admiring a lot of the clothes here and there. Given how much she wears at once at any given time, it is something of a small wonder as to why she might ever have any interest in obtaining any /more/.
She's also holding a small shopping bag full of candy. The earthquake in Lunarvale has on the whole not really affected Masumi Hayashi. That's not so say that he is cold or feels no sympathy for those which did lose friends or loved ones in the tragedy, but he has generally been removed by several degrees of association from those which did perish. The loss of life is always an unfortunate tragedy, but any personal feelings of depression or stress or grief -- what would they accomplish? The living must go on living.
Masumi has a certain appreciation for clothing and fashion which generally exceeds that of most of his male peer group -- not so much any particular attraction to clothes or shopping themselves, but of possessing a refined and very particular choice in aesthetics. It is a subtle thing, like almost everything else about him, and does not usually stray into the realm of excessive. He simply knows what he likes, and pursues that without compromising in the face of stereotypes and general expectation.
The door to the Rosa-Candida swings open, and Masumi steps inside. More than a few stares are consciously ignored as he approaches the woman's section instead of the men's. While he doesn't wear anything which would overtly label him as a cross-dresser, he does find that he often prefers the overall softer design of certain items, often shirts, that are placed within the women's section.
"I like this one." Midori narrates to herself, although it is not clear what she is exactly liking because not only is she standing far enough away that it's difficult to tell what she's looking at, she's not even picking anything up to inspect it. She brings her gloved hands in front of her face, as if to gasp at... something. Who even knows at this point.
She turns her head when someone else steps near her to go check out the women's section. She looks back towards what may very well be the thin air between herself and the actual rack of clothes she might be interested in, say... touching. Or otherwise interacting with.
"This store is fun." She says.
As Masumi approaches one of the racks of clothes, he is careful not to get in the way of or otherwise inconvenience the other person already standing there. It's the natural habit of someone who has a strong preference for peaceful interaction with his fellow man over strife and conflict, and is okay with yielding to those around him to maintain that desired state. If it means that he himself is mildy inconvenienced at times, that is fine.
Masumi browses through the assorted garments with the slow but steady eye of someone who is looking for something very particular, giving careful attention so as not to miss whatever he is looking for while also passing over much of the selection. He finally stops at a stark-white, button-down blouse. That looks promising. He removes it from the rack for a more careful examination, spreading it out and running his fingers along certain points. He occassionally nods to himself, sending small ripples down his waist-length hair.
"They have a nice selection," Masumi agrees without looking away from his task, speaking in a smooth, rich tenor. "I believe the atmosphere could use some improvement, though."
Rosa-Candida does have a tendency to come off as that snooty foreign clothing chain - and they would be absolutely correct. The person behind the counter is probably already thinking of ways to complain about Masumi even now through some new Apple product of dubious usefulness (but undeniable trendiness).
"Clothes are great." Midori says. "It's like you're telling the whole world how you really are. It shows everything." She says this, even though she exposes pretty much no skin at all outside of her head and face.
Masumi continues to carefully examine the shirt for suitability, once again apparently looking for some very specific items. As much as he (at times) might wish otherwise, the simple fact of the matter is that his build is always going to be just a little off from the general one the designers had in mind. He finds that he often has to make certain alterations by hand before such items of clothing are suitable for wearing, while some items simply are impractical altogether.
"Hmm. I'm not sure one could go so far as to say that they show quite /everything/," Masumi says after a moment of consideration. His soft tone is one of gentle disagreement, one which avoids even minor amounts of contention or combativeness whilst expressing a differing opinion. "And one can certainly use their clothing to lie to the world about themselves." He frowns slightly as he runs two fingers across one of the blouse's seams, contemplating.
After a moment, he seems satisfied, setting the shirt off to the side so he can continue perusing the selection for now. "But yes, they can serve as very strong statements of self-expression. Most people don't quite realize how much they tell about themselves through their choice of clothing -- even those who don't care are making a statement through the very act of not caring."
Midori's eyes follow the shirt as Masumi goes about inspecting it, unaware but for some reason seemingly caring about whatever sorts of criteria he might have in whether or not it's worthy of a purchase. Why she would concern herself with the purchases of a complete stranger is perhaps a mystery unto itself as she lowers her hands down in front of her and takes a step towards the shirts for herself at last, as Masumi gives his counterpoint.
"You're really into clothes?" Her tone of voice may come off as jarring - largely how easy it is for her to go from a somewhat neutral tone to complete enthusiasm - which, with the word choice in question that doesn't fit said tone... "That's really deep.
She snatches a lavender button-up shirt, her shopping bag full of candy rustling so suddenly in making this sudden, decisive choice to pick this specific shirt out. "I wonder what this one says. I bet it likes to talk about flowers. That's what it reminds me of."
Though he does not appear outwardly ruffled, Masumi finds that the other girl's nature grates harshly on his sensibilities. Her sudden shifts in tone are jarring, while her impulsive chattiness and sudden spikes of excessive enthusiasm speak of a terribly shallow existance. The Inaban youth makes a conscious effort to repress the soft sigh threatening to slip out. He is not entirely unaccustomed to running into such people at clothing stores, and ponders if it would be better in the future to simply remain silent.
But still -- it's not a topic he gets the opportunity to engage in often, particularly when actively browsing the woman's section. Sometimes one must take the opportunites which are presented, even if they are not perfect, and he cannot deny that the lack of any overt judgmental vibes is almost refreshing enough to make up for the girl's grating personality.
"I'm not sure 'really into' is the best way to put it, but I do have an appreciation for the stories they tell and aesthetic they can create, yes," Masumi replies softly as reaches forward to take a deep purple sweater off the rack. It is treated with the same level of scrutiny which the shirt received, though he does stop long enough to glance at Midori's selection. "That sounds like a reasonable assessment." His attention turns back to the sweater. "Lavender is often a color of imagination and the romantic."
Midori, on the other hand, is completely oblivious to these thoughts and suspicions that may ultimately be warranted, for she is talking with a new friend-to-be with an equal appreciation of clothes, in so far as 'equal' can be determined when viewing it as simply 'does like clothes' or 'doesn't like clothes.'
She nods along with what he says while she goes over his other choices and thoughts. Is she really listening? "Wow... colors are neat too. I like them." She says this as she puts her selection back. "Did you know kids in some parts of the world dress up in costumes tonight and go asking for candy?" She turns her head towards Masumi suddenly, hands raised again. "They do it here in this city too. It's going to be colorful tonight! I can't wait to see them."
With this thought, she thinks about the time. Yet, she has no watch to check... nor does she pull out a cellphone or anything of the sort. "I'm going to go hand some out. They'll all be so cute. I know it!" She giggles... a little inappropriately.
She bows her head. "I hope to see you again! We should talk about clothes and colors again some other time!" Regardless of what Masumi there might ask, she seems pretty intent on strolling out to whatever part of this city she lives in.
