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Gentlemen's late lunch; Julian
Topic Started: Jun 27 2016, 05:32 AM (407 Views)
Julian Keller
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Advanced Telekinesis
Julian wasn't going to say anything else. This was Ros's day, so he would go along. His concerns had been vocalized, but ultimately this was happening. The young Master Keller walked more slowly and cautiously into that store than he had into a Sinister ruled Sanctuary. It was like climbing into a swimming pool while trying to test the waters and acclimating.

Immediately, the smell of laundry hit him. Clean laundry at least, but somehow still a little off. There were so many racks of clothing, and people milling around slightly aimlessly. Maybe it was just Julian's imagination, but there was an underlying sense of down town slump. Over and over again, the boy had to remind himself that it was just clothing. There was an excellent chance that he was just over reacting, but he was in unknown territory.

Ros seemed happy, and that was what really mattered, and the wealthy teen was very surprised to hear how much charity and good this place did. Clearly, Ros had put a lot of thought into this. That was something that Julian could get behind. Resigning himself to his fate, Julian let out a small sigh, and moved over to the section, over which hung an outdated styled sign that read "Mens"

“So, uh… what is it exactly we are looking for?” Julian could only imagine what his Father or Mother would think if they knew that their recently disowned child had just walked into a thrift store with intent to buy. Oddly enough, the idea of the angry look on the old man’s face was actually endearing the boy to this place a little. “Oh good, look. They even have previously worn shoes.” Though his tone of voice sounded anything but happy about this fact. He was briefly reminded of going to a bowling alley in his youth. His mother of course had purchased him his own bowling shoes. He was appalled to learn that normal people actually paid money to use shared shoes, owned by the alley. Who knows how many people had worn those shoes that day, or that week. How many of them had foot fungus or at the very least odor? “Wait. They don’t actually sell used underwear, do they? Cuz if so, this might have to be over right now.”

Julian looked at some of the brightly colored racks of clothing. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to go through them or not. Then his eye caught a rack of jackets. That might not be so bad. In fact, he wondered if some of those might be vintage. Now there was an idea. He could just treat all this stuff like it is vintage or perhaps hidden treasure. That might make it better.
Damn Ros, especially if this now becomes a regular thing. “I mean, how do you…. Usually do this? Is there an attendant?”
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Pyrrhic
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The thrift store was well lit, not a dark place like say Aeropostle was. The owners didn't hold the belief that dimming the lights would be a good business practice. These were mostly used clothes and nobody would be pleased to get home and find out that the shirt that they thought was pristine white was actually a pale pink from getting washed with a red sock. They were proud of their merchandise, and weren't about to put things that were badly stained or destroyed for customers to buy. Having the lights up and brilliant enough that you could see everything was proof of their commitment to their customers. Music was playing, and pretty decent music at that. None of the cheesy instrumental covers of romance ballads or soft rock from the nineties playing, blasting customers with an endless stream of Not Backstreet Boys singing "I want it that way". You would think that with the store's mission it would be hymnals playing, or at least that one song that played in every single animal rescue commercial. Someone had found a good radio station and hijacked the overhead system to play it in store.

"For us, clothes, for everyone else, eh I'll know them when I see them," Ros said. He let his hands skim over the hangers of clothes. He wasn't really looking at the clothes for their style. It was size that he focused on, and the shape of the clothes. Ros's fashion sense had been improving as of late, but it was mostly a subconscious absorption of what his better dressed friends wore. At random he grabbed a black shirt. It had a bright red pentagram on it with the numbers "2112". A band t-shirt that was pretty soft, and he gave it some serious consideration before putting it back and grabbing instead a a blue t-shirt that was vaguely sports like. It was even softer than the Rush one and it looked like it would fit him right. It was clear though that Ros didn't know what sort of clothes one wears to a club though.

"We don't need shoes though," Ros said. There were some things that he acknowledged it was better to buy both new and brand name. Shoes were one of them. You could wash clothes easily before donating them, but shoes on the other hand were hard to get clean. At least not without damaging them. His current shoes would have to do well enough for the club. "I mean we've got stuff on our feet and they touch the ground already. How much more mess can get on them then what they would be walking on anyways."

Ros had to admit that there was at least a little bit of entertainment to be had from watching Mr. Suave struggle to figure out this setting. Thrift stores might be a little bit different from most stores, but the process was just as normal here as it was in any other store. So for Julian to ask how this all worked was almost comical. Almost if not for the fact that Ros felt like it was just another cheap shot at him for liking shopping here. He had to remind himself that Julian didn't know what this place was like because he hadn't been exposed to it. If he was going to get upset with anyone he should be upset with Julian's parents for never showing him how those who didn't have two hundred to blow on a snack shopped. "Well Julian, it's a pretty strange process. You look at the stock, decide what looks good to you, try it on, and then pay at the cash register. You could use cash, credit, debit, or check."

Ros gave Julian a smile before handing him a pair of blue jeans. It was one of those cases where either someone with too much money had bought something that they never used, or a store had extra product. The stickers on the side saying the size and cut were still in tact. An employee walked by, nodding their head to the music. This employee was the reason for the good music. Like a cuddlefish his skin was displaying a show of colors, but in time to the music. A hand was waved and they came over, a paperbag wrapped rectangle in hand.

"Ros! For you!" they said handing it over to him, "Only a dollar today."

"Thanks Obie," Ros said taking the package from Obie the shop employee. It was one of the "mystery books" that you could buy here in the store, for the amazing low price of one dollar. Ros had taken advantage of this fun surprise on more than one occasion. It wasn't guaranteed to be a good book, but he would read just about anything. "Obie this is my friend Julian. He has never gone shopping before."
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Julian Keller
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Julian rolled his eyes at Ros's jokes. Shopping when you are a billionaire's son in Beverly Hills was a very different experience, especially on world famous Rodeo Drive. Attendants assist to the point that the consumer could literally just sit, and have have everything brought to them. In some of the nicer places, they even served you tea while you "shopped" or wine, but as we evident earlier this evening, only for the older customers. Julian of course knew how to shop at normal department stores, but a place like this where some of the merchandise would already be worn out, he wondered if they did not have some kind of special rules for handling, or have special employees to do it for you. They certainly would in the vintage stores the teen had been to.

Ros handed him a pair of jeans that seemed to be brand new, which seemed to go against the idea of shopping at a thrift store, or at least in conflict with Ros's reasons for wanting previously worn clothes.

Hellion had to admit, he was quite a bit out of his element. He stood there with wide eyes and a pair of cargo pant jeans in his arms, as what could only be an very open mutant came approached and addressed Ros by name, and handed Ros what was clearly something he knew the other Xavier's student would like. Exactly how much time had Ros spent here? They were will into Pyrrhic's home turf. What did Ros say the employee's name was? Obie? The colorful display across the man's skin was actually pretty mesmerizing, and had the odd effect either by design or coincidence, of drawing Julian in.

"Obie this is my friend Julian. He has never gone shopping before."

It was inaccurate and slanderous. Ros amused himself by shaming Julian in front of new people, but the older boy didn't really care. For how odd all this seemed to him, he might as well have never gone shopping. The one called Obie gave the telekinetic teen a scrutinizing look. Time for a bit of pay back.

"And it is pretty clear from the look of these jeans that Rossy Boy here has no idea how to dress to go to a club." He put the jeans down on the near by register. What occasion they were shopping for would have been the first question asked by a Rodeo Drive attendant. Having already covered the fact that this was not one of those stores and he would not, in fact, be offered any tea, Julian volunteered the information. "So clearly, we could both use a little direction. You seem to be just the right mix of quirky, stylish, and a bit of flash. Could you help us?"

To Julian's surprised, there was one article of clothing that stood out to him from afar. He found himself wanting to try it on. On the men's jacket rack, between a hound's tooth coat and a tweed jacket, was a purple blazer. The sheen and variance of color gave him the impression of velvet. It would be hard to tell without feeling it. In a place like this, it was sure to be an imitation fabric, like velveteen. The only thing worse than searing used clothing would be to wear imitation, but that right there was an article of clothing the teen could work with.

Not that he was handing any kind of victory over to Ros, but it is not the kind of item Julian would have been able to find just anywhere, off the rack like that. And the exclusivity of there being only one here, and being the one lucky enough to get it was kind of a small thrill. Maybe the rich teen was beginning to see a bit of the appeal. Now to see if it was in any kind of good condition.



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Pyrrhic
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"I never said I knew anything about fashion," Ros defended himself. If he managed to look halfway stylish it was not intentional on his part. His parents provided him with clothes that could look good, but Ros had no skill at color matching or picking what clothes looked well together. Provided what he was wearing wasn't badly stain or torn he did not feel like it really mattered. His clothes had a tendency to wrinkle with wear quicker than others. To Ros it didn't make a difference if the pants he found were a pair of cargos or not. Cargo pants just meant more pockets to hold things in. It was a practical. Picking clothes out for a club, especially a club that he had never been to was beyond him. He accepted Julian's teasing with a generous smile. Alright, so cargo pants were apparently a no for a club.

"I think I've got the whole 'flashy' thing already taken care of for clubbing," Obie pointed out as the song on the radio came to an end and went straight into a high energy one, his skin matching the music once more, "I make anything look good."

Obie noticed the direction that Julian's gaze was fixed in and headed over that way, returning with the jacket that Julian had been eyeing. Ros made a noise of protest. It wasn't that he wanted the jacket. To be perfectly frank the thing looked horrible to him. Something about a purple velvet jacket screamed either Hugh Heffner or a disco. The seventies fashion trends all looked to Ros as though they smelled of feet. For someone who had no fashion sense even he had to admit that corduroy bell bottoms and large floral silk shirts were a horrendous choice of what to wear. Pants that had a purpose, like cargos were unacceptable, yet a purple velvet jacket was cool enough for Julian? Was it any wonder that the younger immortal didn't even try to follow fashion?

"How is that better than new pants?" Ros asked shaking his head in confusion. He turned his attention back to the clothing rack, marveling over just how little clothes there were for men in comparison to females. He grabbed a blue t-shirt that had the white outline of ships sailing on the chest. It was a nice enough shirt, unassuming looking, but the fit of it would be great, the blue highlighting the green of his eyes. Sort of like Ros in a way. He normally was thought of as harmless, but should he act, he could be lethal. He grabbed the shirt and a pair of black jeans that might be a tighter fit, dare one say skinny jeans, but would go around his waist just fine. After a minute of thought, since Julian was looking at a jacket himself, Ros grabbed one that was mostly black with a few vertical thin cream stripes sandwiching a wider ribbon green stripe. "Look man, I'm not looking to star in a film, just have something that I don't mind getting a little sweaty as I dance. Just grab something you think you like, and head to the dressing rooms to try it on."

He wanedered away from the clothes to the shelves that had random brick-a-brack on it to look for the gifts for his friends. He didn't have particular things that he was looking for, just things that tickled his fancy and he thought his friends might get at least a moment's worth of laugh from. For Daisy he grabbed a little plastic flower that bobbed when it's solar panel was exposed to light, for Fia a little blue glass bowl that had a pearlescent shine to it, and Ethan was going to get an Angry Birds mug. When he came across a small lawn gnome he knew he had found something for the Cuckoos.
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Julian Keller
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Obie brought over the jacket. Julian was obviously not good at hiding his interest in it. A hand instinctively felt the smooth, fuzz of the material. It was not quite as smooth as real velvet. He checked the label. It was very worn and faded, but still revealed the jacket to be a synthetic imitation material. Still, it was a good synthetic, and Julian liked the look of it. No too bright of a color, it was a nice kind of burgundy purple.

Ros went off to look at something else. Clearly his friend didn't understand fashion. Clothing was clothing, but some looked better on you than others. You don't wear cargo pants just because they happened to be there, both Julian and Ros's body types would just look silly, unless they were planning on painting a house or picking up garbage.

"You have good taste." Obie said casusally. "To tell the truth, I had my eye on that, but I hardly need velvet to make me look flashy." to prove his point, the thrift store mutant held out his arms, and dots of light danced under his skin in accordance with the music playing over the store sound system. "Hold on." the man said, and then he suddenly moved to the side without steps. Julian looked down to reveal that Obie now had on roller skates. Did he have those on before? It made the telekinetic think of his fun-loving little brother, Ahura.

Obie rolled from rack to rack, picking up items as he went, before gracefully gliding back to Julian, and putting an armful of clothes to the teen's chest. "Now off you go." he said, as he shooed Julian toward the dressing rooms. Some of the items seemed a bit out there. Young Keller was about to express his concerns, but Obie pressed a finger to his lips. A gesture that made Julian uncomfortable beyond belief. "Trust me. Go." the man said.

Julian backed away slowly, before turning and going to the dressing room, inside which there was no mirror. The mirrors were outside so Julian would have to actually go out there in this outfit to see how it looked. He quickly undressed down to his boxers and socks, and pulled on the shirt that Obie picked out for him. The fabric was actually pretty soft against his skin, non of the crispness of a new shirt. It was exactly his size. It was a long sleeve, woven button up with a subtle blue and purple tint paisley print. Much louder than Julain was used to wearing. The jeans were dark colored and also fit like a glove. Kudos to Obie. They were a thin, straight fit and, like everything else here, had a slightly worn look. The clever dancing rainbow of a man even included a belt. Julian topped it all off with the velvet blazer, and just knew he would look silly, as he stepped outside the tiny room. At least it was comfortable.

To the boy's surprise, when he got before the mirror, he was quite pleased with the result. He was looking good, even if he did say so himself. Oh man. If he told Ros he liked the outfit, he would never hear the end of it. So it turned out okay. He probably got 50% of the only decent clothes in the place.

"See, told you to trust me." Obie said, coming up behind him. "I do this for a living, Friend of Ros,. Colors are my life, but I have to say we rarely get such a good looking model in here for them." He stuffed a yellow handkerchief he had folded into a pocket square, into the front breast pocket of the jacket, and turned Julian back around to look in the mirror again. The simple addition of bright color contrasted and made the purple pop, as well as pulled out some yellow in the shirt's print that he hadn't noticed was there.

"So, this is like, your mutant power, right? Super fashion sense?" Julian joked, but couldn't manage to stop looking at himself in the mirror. "Can you fix Ros up?"
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Pyrrhic
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"I would but Ros hasn't asked," Obie said. He had considered making a crack about how Ros was beyond even his help but the teen really wasn't that bad. His color matching skills were a litle flawed, and he had no clue on cut or silhouette, but every so often Ros managed to look passable even for Obie standards. "The boy hates to look at clothes."

"Ros what?" the teen asked as he popped his head out of the changing room he had been in. Ros had been getting changed as Julian got something more along the lines of the shopping experience he was use to. He came out, holding on to his boots. It was more of he came out because he had heard his name said rather than he wanted to see how his cloths fit him. The pants were tighter around the legs than what he normally wore, but not tight around the waist and it was a good fit. All he had done was look for a pair that would cover his ass and had stumbled into something that he would do well to get multiples of. The shirt felt just as comfortable as he expected it to be, and the color was good. The jacket made it a little more classy. Where Julian looked polished and like a fashion model Ros looked more like a picture of some celebrity walking around downtown. Maybe not a big rock star but at the very least someone who was in a band that played in coffee shops. A coolness was there that wasn't the sleek perfection that Julian pulled off.

Obie held up two thumbs in approval of the outfit. Ros looked at him and Julian, his question still unanswered. He looked at his clothes, checking to see that nothing was sticking out anywhere, or that he suddenly had strange bulges. No nudity and no strange lumps meant that his outfit was alright for him. He did not care that the colors were the right ones for him, or that the cut was flattering for his ever improving physique. Working with his powers every day, and wrestling with Piotr had turned a once soft bookworm into a decently muscled young man. His arm muscles were like iron bands now. His old school classmates might not recognize the man that he had grown up to be. Should he be tossed into that fight ring now, it might go a different way. He was a fighter now, not just with his powers. For all the changes that Ros had been through though, he could not see them himself.

Ros pulled off the visible tags, and handed them to Obie. Usually if Ros bought clothes he wasn't going out wearing them immediately. But today they were going to a club, and he wanted to be in the right clothes for that before they arrived. Usually if someone was wearing something out it seemed like it would be more along the lines of a jacket, maybe shoes if a pair of high heels had broken. An entire outfit on the other hand was a little bit unusual. He looked at the purple jacket Julian wore, still confused about how that was better than a brand new pair of cargo pants. His friend rocked the Hugh Hefner look. Ros was glad that Julian didn't look like he was too grossed out to be in here, and to have second hand clothes on his skin. Didn't he ever get James's hand-me-downs? "I'll get these Obie. You good Jules?"
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