[Fin] Clothes Maketh the Man (not freeze to death)

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel paused with his coffee mug halfway to his lips; he lowered it instead and pressed the forefinger of his free hand squarely on Zevran's chest. "Ah-ah, no, that's not what I said," he pointed out without hesitation, his eyebrows lifting a bit again, "I said I would help you, not that I'd do it for you. You're not a kid, so I'm not gonna treat you like one - deal?"  

[TawnyAngel]

"Heh." Zevran looked down at the finger and then up again at Abel with a wry smile. "I was joking." Mostly. "You can certainly give my your opinion though yes?" Just narrowing things down a bit would be helpful... Did Abel really think he was childish? He hoped not. It was a strange thing to find difficult to face though wasn't it? So far as he could tell everyone else just did it and without any problem at all. Humm. Well he would just have to make sure he didn't seem too indecisive, pick at random if necessary. They were only clothes after all, it wasn't as though it was very important.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Oh, okay," the taller blond said as his finger dropped away, his hand turning palm-up in a kind of shrug, "I couldn't tell you were just joking." That said, he raised his mug to his lips again, both to have another sip of coffee and to hide the telling smirk that threatened to form. Joking, of course; he completely believed that. Definitely.

...it did make him curious, though. Zevran had said before he was used to having some things taken care of so he needn't worry about them, like housing and the like. Clothing wasn't one of those things, was it? Grocery shopping and cooking definitely weren't, but other kinds of shopping...

"Alright," he went on as he set his mug down, figuring Zev wouldn't particularly enjoy not being believed - if he noticed - then turned to his friend, "want me to help with breakfast?"  

[TawnyAngel]

"Ah, that would be my deadpan sense of humour," Zevran replied with a brief laugh, he had an inkling that perhaps he had not quite been believed but Abel wasn't mentioning it so he chose to believe it didn't matter.

"If you would, that would be helpful yes please," Zevran continued as he headed towards the kitchen, transferring his coffee mug to just one hand and sliding the small shopping bag that had been hanging around his wrist back into his hand. "I thought cheese and tomato would be pleasant, perhaps you could grate the cheese and chop the tomatoes for me while I start the omelette? Ah, and do you still have some milk in?" There was milk in his coffee but that could have been the last of it. "No matter if not, I can add a little water and... humm, maybe a little melted butter?" He'd never tried doing that and had no idea if it would work, so hopefully there was a splash of milk to be found.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

A soft breath of a laugh escaped him at the humor statement - yes, of course that was it - but he didn't comment because he didn't really know what to say for one, and for another it wasn't important anyway.

"Sure," he said instead as he moved to pull a grater and a cutting board from a nearby cabinet, and assuming Zevran knew where the pans and utensils he needed were; he'd cooked or prepared food for them often enough that he felt it a safe assumption. "Cheese and tomatoes are good, and yep, there's more milk in the fridge. I think.. half the bottle? Something like that," he mused aloud as he drew nearer to his friend to peer into the bag he'd brought. No doubt he had the cheese and tomatoes in there, but he didn't exactly want to just reach in and grab them; that'd be rude.  

[TawnyAngel]

Indeed Zevran knew his way around Abel- Abel's kitchen pretty well by this point and he located the large fying pan he wanted plus a jug without trouble. Once the jug was set down on the side and the pan put on the heat he turned back to the bag he'd brought to fetch out the eggs, two tomatoes, and block of cheese.

"I think about that much of the cheese," Zevran gestured to about a third of the block, "or half if you like it very cheesy! Ah, and the tomatoes in small chunks please." As he spoke Zevran started cracking the eggs into the jug; all six went in in short order and he then crossed to the fridge to find milk.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"About a third to a half; got it," Abel noted with a small nod as he reached out to carefully take the block of cheese in one hand and both tomatoes in the other, then set them down on the board for now. He fetched a bowl out from another cabinet, set the grater on top of it, and began grating the cheese first; he didn't know how Zev would cook the omelette - omelettes? - but he figured cheese would probably go first. Or last. Or both.  

[TawnyAngel]

Once a little milk and some pepper was added to the eggs Zevran dropped a small knob of butter into the heating pan and then whisked up the egg mixture. While he waited for the butter to melt in the pan Zevran finally took his jacket off, now that he felt warm enough, and took another sip of coffee. "Shall we get lunch while we're out?" he suggested, curling his hands around the mug again. "Either from a sandwich shop, or a 'free samples' search? Those fancy delis often have such things yes?" If they ate a good breakfast now a light lunch of what they could possibly acquire for free would be fine, which was good because he wasn't sure how much money he would end up with after shopping and he knew for a fact that Abel had little to none.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The taller blond paused in his work just long enough to take a pinch of the shredded cheese and pop it into his mouth; he resumed grating the rest shortly after. "Mm, lunch would probably be good, yeah; I dunno how long we'll be out. Shopping can take a while if you need a lot, or don't know what you're getting."


Once breakfast was cooked and eaten, and Zevran disappeared into the bathroom, Abel slipped out onto the fire escape to smoke for a while. He returned before his friend finished in the bathroom, and a short while later the pair left the apartment building, got into Abel's car - a trek which left the taller blond rather breathless and quietly frustrated, despite the short distance - and traversed Camphoreon's streets. Upon arriving at the mall, it didn't take long at all to find a parking spot - near an entrance, even - and after parking and exiting his car, Abel headed towards and through the doors into the mall's interior. "Alright," he said as he unzipped his coat but kept it on for the moment - even if the inside of the mall was warm and comfortable, he still felt rather chilly from being outside - and turned to look at his friend, "was there anything in particular you wanted to look for first? A coat maybe?"  

[TawnyAngel]

"Coat," Zevran agreed with a nod, "that will be the most expensive I think? So if we find that first, other things can follow?" That made sense and in general there were fewer kinds of coats to have to choose between than, say, shirts. A good place to start from all angles.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Yeah, sounds good," Abel agreed with a nod, then cast around for a... Aha; there. He slipped his thumbs into his pockets as he turned and headed towards a convenient map display. "Alright, coats, coats..." His eyes scanned the list of stores separated into different sections - clothing had its own section - and hummed thoughtfully as he sought out a few that he knew would definitely have coats. Some were more obvious than others; ones with 'coat' in the name, for example. "These ones would probably be good," he said as he pointed to a couple different store names; their numbers matched up with ones on the map itself to make finding a desired store simpler. "Though," he added after a moment before he pointed to a pair in particular, "I think these two would probably be cheapest. And one of them's a department store, so it's bound to have other clothes there too."  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran regarded the map with mild scepticism. He'd been here plenty of times but just to wander around and people watch mostly, certainly never to study the map in search of clothing shops. "Ah, the department store?" he said after a moment. "They are little little self contained worlds of capitalism, and people trying to spray you with things. A good starting point I think?" Perhaps he would be able to find everything he needed in one place, that would be something of a blessing. "Ahh, and of course if there is a furniture section we will have to try it out," Zevran continued with a grin, which soon became a smirk. "But not like that, we are on a mission after all."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"That's a pretty accurate description, yeah," he agreed with a wry smile. "I think it'd be a good place to start. I don't think department stores usually have furniture - or if they do, not a very wide selection at all - but I think that'd be fun to try out, yeah. Not too much though, of course," he went on with a small wave of his hand as he turned to head towards the store in question, though he aimed a small smirk at his friend. "I'd rather not get kicked out for that kind of thing anyway. I mean where would I go when I need to go shopping if I got kicked out of the mall entirely?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran gave a snort of amusement and, with another glance at the map, set off towards the department store. "Well we shall have to entertain ourselves somehow! Hopefully without getting ourselves thrown out, though we are quite good at that even when we are being completely innocent so I suppose there is no guarantee even if we do behave ourselves." Which he intended to, he had gathered quite well that Abel was not one for public displays of affection unless it was several meters in the air in an enclosed carriage. "Perhaps I will ask for samples of the most feminine sounding perfume I can find and see how the beautifully coiffured employees react?" he suggested after a few moments of consideration with a smirk to Abel. "Something with Princess, or Purity in the name?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

A wicked grin spread across his face. "I can think of a few ways." His expression faded to a more amiable smile just as quickly, though amusement glittered in his eyes. "That would probably be pretty funny, though I'll bet some of them won't even be fazed. I'm sure they've seen a lot of stuff, working in retail. Maybe if we went to a really ritzy specialty shop, but a general department store probably doesn't have employees like that. Or too many of them, at any rate," he added with a slight shrug. Said department store came into view almost immediately after the pair rounded the first corner; Abel couldn't help but feel quite grateful with how close it was.