Mallstuck OR New Kids in the City

[nintendonut1]

"I'd say so, yeah," John replied to Gamzee, getting out an exasperated chuckle. "Well, you came here for new clothes, right? Guess this is a good chance for you to take a look!"

It was a bit of a chore, but didn't take too long thanks to all of them working together. As hectic as they were, the trolls certainly weren't above working together, John noticed. It was really hard to stay mad or upset at them, as he watched Gamzee prop up stands and pull off clothes swung over Tavros' horns to hang them back up.

"Hm?" John turned back to Nepeta, finding himself soften even more at her apology. "Aww... don't stress about it."

[sleepZombie]

Tavros seemed to be calming a little bit as they worked together to hang things up. Once he was situated again in his chair he went to work holding out things for Gamzee to hang back up. When he slipped a few articles of clothing over his wide rack he looked up, stunned and flushing. Maybe the Capricorn didn't mean anything by it, though...

So he sat and fidgeted a moment until finally everything was cleaned up. Free'd from the duty he rolled forward and began fingering through some shirts that they'd just put away, he'd gotten the chance to look over them and consider. "Gamzee, I think... you might look n-nice in something like this, uh, don't you?"

[kisashika]

When they cleaned up, Gamzee did see a few shirts he liked, but when they were hung back on the racks, he didn't see them again.

"Huh?" He said, looking over at the shirt Tavros held up, a purple tank top? "Aw, hell yes!" Gamzee said and went back to shifting through the rack in front of him. "Purple is a motherfucking amazing color. Haha, what about this one, guys?" He pulled a bright pink, flower print over shirt off and held it in front of him. "Y'all think Gamzee could pull off pink?"

[shiftyPotentate]

Nepeta had a good look at the shirt. "I think you could pull off any color you pawssibly wanted, Gamzee!" she exclaimed, taking the shirt from him and slipping it down over his head (careful of his horns). "See? You look great!"

She tried to find something for John as well! No one said he HAD to wear his god tier hood all the time, right? Vwhiskers wore her regular clothes despite being the Thief of Light. So clearly the hood wasn't required! She dug and dug, before finding a nice shirt with a neat symbol on it. It looked like a whirlwind!

"John, John, look look look!" She showed him the shirt. "It's purrfect fur you!"

[nintendonut1]

"Hahahaha, go for it! Pink is the new black, dude!" John laughed as Nepeta slipped it on the Capricorn, and he threw up an approving thumbs-up. "Looks awesome, man!"

At Nepeta's excited calling of his name, the heir turned back and was presented with a nice cottony shirt, buttoned up the front, with windy swirls wrapping around the fabric in graceful curves. "Oh wow, neat. For me?" He took the shirt into hand, laying it over his chest to idly test its look. He liked it. Usually he didn't care too terribly about what he wore, but he liked this shirt a lot.

The thought of getting clothes for himself hadn't even crossed his mind. He just thought the god tier pjs was his default, but hey, having options never hurt!

He grinned up at Nepeta and nodded. "Yeah, I really like it!"

[sleepZombie]

Tavros laughed, clapping at the sight of the pink shirt. He was really starting to like seeing colors that weren't directly associated with their blood color all over. "I, uh! Like it! You should g-get that one. And, this one!" He reached out and snagged a black shirt off of the rack, a button down with short sleeves kind of like how he usually wore. He held it out to Gamzee, eyelids lowering slightly as he imagined how it'd look on his lanky, tall figure.

"Y-Yeah... that's a good one..."

John and Nepeta were also picking out clothes. Tavros had to admit, he really liked the windy sort of pattern that decorated the shirt John was holding. "That, uh, that really suits you."

[kisashika]

There was a grunt as the shirt was pulled over his head, almost ripping a hole in it from his horns, but Gamzee laughed when it was put on. "Oh, man, yeah Tav! Let's fucking get that one, too! You're great at finding stuff, dude." Gamzee started going through the pants, looking at several pairs of blue jeans and stopping on a pair of black jeans. He pulled them off. "Man, these look so motherfucking tight." He went to pull another pair off when Nepeta started finding stuff for John.

"Oh, sweeeeeet, that spiral thing is motherfucking entrancing."

[shiftyPotentate]

The Leo smiled, and looked around for more things to try on. She quickly got distracted by all the sights outside that particular store. She walked toward the entrance and looked around. She hadn't had a good look at THIS side of the mall!

One store caught her attention. It looked like the people there... sat down and had other humans play with their hair? Grooming? Some other human ritual? Still, she wanted to know more. Maybe John knew!

"Hey, John? What's that store ofur there?" she asked, pointing to the stylist shop. Her tail twitched eagerly.

[nintendonut1]

John went with them to go pay for their new clothes, and after Nepeta paid, he declined the offer for a bag and instead stored the shirt in his sylladex. Upon looking over his current wear, he decided he'd had enough fun with his hoodie for now, and swifter than an automated dressing room, one moment later he was wearing the shirt he had just purchased. He looked over himself and grinned. A smart buy, this was.

"Hm?" John looked over to where Nepeta was pointing, his hand just reflexively holding hers. "Oh, that's a hair saloon! You pay professional hair stylists to cut, trim, dye, and otherwise style your hair," he explained.

[sleepZombie]

Slowly his brain had begun to slow down. Tavros was still jittery feeling but the absolute smack-down knock-out urge to just move was ebbing and he was sort of just left with an alert, loopy feeling. It was kind of nice, and he didn't worry so much about everything. He especially didn't worry about holding Gamzee's hand, or watching him change, or thinking about how glad he was that the Capricorn was here with him.

From the corners of his mind he heard John and Nepeta talking about some store. It wasn't until he heard the mention of the word 'dye' that he turned his attention towards them, taking a moment to hazily focus before a smile slowly came across his features.

"Dye? L-Like, uh, for hair? Gamzee, Gamzee. We, should go do that thing, we were talking about! Maybe..."

[kisashika]

Once the clothes had been purchased, Gamzee quickly changed into them- purple tank top, black over shirt, black pants, purple converse, and a pair of silly purple shutter-shades. He stuck by Tavros' side, smiling wide. He turned to where Nepeta was pointing.

"Oh, yeah! Hey, guys, how about we go get our hair dyed? We can get crazy shit done for fun! This motherfucker is paying!" He said and started towards the store, hoping the others would like the idea.

[shiftyPotentate]

"That does sound fun!" Nepeta smiled and raised the hand she shared with John, gently leading her along with her. She hadn't even fully noticed the hand grasp, it being almost fully unconscious. Natural.

Nepeta really wanted long hair! She always felt a little cursed to have short hair on her head. And she saw hair like Vriska's and Feferi's and she just felt jealous. She didn't know for sure why she wanted long hair, she just knew deep down that she had to have it. Plus for it to be a little bit green to match her blood! That would be pawsitively purrfect!

So she eagerly followed behind the Taurus and Capricorn, eager to see what kind of magic these stylists could unleash!

[nintendonut1]

Before he knew it, John was being pulled into the saloon. Oh, so that's what Gamzee and Tavros were talking and giggling about earlier to each other? And Nepeta looked just as excited about the idea. Gosh, they all sure knew how to have a good time!

Idly, he paused. Besides Dave, Rose, and Jade, he didn't have many other friends, and most certainly none that were willing or able to get together for a big shopping spree like this. So, this is what it felt like, huh? The feel-good atmosphere around shopping, eating, and even causing a little havoc together, was just something that John wasn't used to, but was immensely enjoying either way.

Which made him a smiggen torn as he realized the others were all getting their hair dyed. He glanced into a nearby mirror and fingered his locks, which honestly he liked just they way they were. A new shirt was one thing, but... dyeing his hair? It seemed... weird.

"Mmmnn... I dunno..." he voiced his general uncertainty.

[sleepZombie]

Tavros wheeled forward eagerly with the others, still too hyped up on caffeine to be able to really have any hesitant feelings about semi-permanently dying his hair another color. Although when John hesitated he did pause a moment by his side to look up at him, reaching out to pat the small of his back in a comfortable way. "Uh, you don't, have to. You know. It is, kind of a big change! I think..."

He looked ahead to see that the others were out of ear shot, leaning in to John just slightly, his face pulling a little tightly. "I think. A change is important, for us. Alternia is..." He reached out with both hands, fingers half curled as he tried to think of a way to explain. "Alternia has, a lot of laws. There are, a lot of reasons that we should all have been, uhm, culled. I think. Every last one of us. Except maybe, Sollux, Kanaya, and Vriksa. E-Even Equius might have, been a chance. Since. I don't really think, he could have gotten a matesprit or kismesis." Thank god for the coffee, without it he wouldn't have been able to voice these sort of opinions. "We had to, be really careful. The smallest thing, would mean we were unfit. So. Doing something like this," and he waved his hand towards the salon, "Is, kind of like. Rebelling."

He gave a firm nod when he was finished. There. That sounded about right. Or at least, that's what he thought, in his slightly aidled state of mind.

[kisashika]

Gamzee almost had his face pressed to the window of the salon, watching all the people get their hair done in different styles, wondering how he should get his done. He took a step back, noticing Tavros and John lingering behind and wandered over to them- just catching the end of their conversation.

"Aw, man, c'mon, John! It'll be motherfucking fun!" Gamzee slung an arm over the human's shoulders. "You know you want to tap into that wild side of yours- just 'cause you're the leader don't mean you can't go off and wreak a bit of fucking havoc with some buds." He started walking back towards the salon, backwards, beckoning John and Tavros to follow.

"It ain't like you're gonna' go fucking swimming with sharks or nothin'! Just a little hair color!"