A Search of Vital Importance (open)

[Tekka King]

Tekka had turned the mall upside down today, and she still had yet to find her prize of a warm coat for the cold months yet to come. She had pickpocketing plenty since her arrival and had somewhere around $200 by this point, so price wasn't a problem. No, the only problem the teen had run into thus far was that she didn't LIKE any of the jackets presented in the stores. It was as if the designers were conspiring against the little teen to create things that repelled her odd, odd mind.

Still, the thief wandered through the mall, searching for something that would actually work as just a jacket (preferably with good pockets so she could hide her loot).

[Jane Touzoko]

"Do I have to make all my clothes myself?" Jane sighed, fingered through the rows of winter coats. There was nothing bright and fantasy-looking in any of these stores. She thought she'd at least find something in the punk rock store her sister used to shop at, but no. Nothing. If only the disney store carried larger sizes. She'd love to have a pirate coat for the winter. Maybe some boots too...

The tiny blonde Ookami sighed, turning away from the clothing racks. Did all desginers these days lack creativity?

[Tekka King]

Tekka trotted about, there wasn't enough selection to really make a good choice. And then, like a bright flash of hope exploding in her stomach, the Tora got a hunch and sprinted over to a thrift shop she had passed through a little while ago. Someone had just gone in with boxes upon boxes of clothes. Something HAD to be in there now, and since no designs from the current era struck her fancy, perhaps patterns from a past one would do the trick.

The little blond ducked and dodged through the crowds. "'Scuse me, pardon me, coming through, make way!" She called out as her thin elbows parted the crowd like the red sea. This didn't work completely, however, for the orange-banded teen barreled headlong into a rather familiar blond. The smaller of the two stumbled and fell back onto the floor, most of her weight was taken by her arms as they swung out to do their job of damage control.

As the quick instant of pain faded, she looked back to the girl. "Jane?" She said, recognizing the Ookami from the gardens.

[Jane Touzoko]

Jane, still dazed by the collision, replied in a distant-sounding tone.

"That's my name." She chimed, giving her head a good shake afterwards. "Ah, Tekka." The Ookami added after her vision re-focused. "It seems as though I'm not the only one who wishes to browse through styles of the past. Though I've yet to find anything distinctly victorian." Jane paused, tapping her lips thoughtfully.

[Tekka King]

Tekka chuckled and stood, brushing herself off. "Well, it IS the thirty-first century. You'd be hard pressed to find any really good relics." She paused and looked around at the racks and racks of shirts and jackets, pants and hats, and oodles upon oodles of shoes and scarves. "Though I can't say that you're not looking the in right place..."

In fact, this was probably the only place in the entire mall that even had a varied selection. Goodness knew Tekka had seen the same designer jeans in the past three stores, but she could pick out seven distinctly different pairs of pants after only a few moments of looking. As a matter of fact, the Tora hadn't spent all too much time in the store on the account of seeing a few less-friendly faces of some of the gang members she had stolen guns from over the years. They appeared to be gone now though, and that allowed Tekka to take a better look at all she saw.

The thief blinked after a moment. "Why are you looking for Victorian-style clothes?" She asked, curious why anyone would want to wear the poofy dresses and pointy hats that she associated with that era. Then again, she had never been particularly good with European history...

[Jane Touzoko]

"Well I've done the 1960's for awhile, so I suppose its time to move on. Actually I was planning on just cosplaying Pandora Hearts for the next month or so- hence the need for clothes of that time period." The blond paused again. "Though I suppose the real reason is I need something to match the crossbow."

Unfortuneatly for her compainion, Jane neglected to explain she was currently working on constructing a rapid firing crossbow, like the one in Van Helsing. After all, who needed pepper spray when you had a machanical arrow-shooting weapon of doom at your side? But sadly, mechanics still weren't much of a strong point with the Ookami. Most (meaning all) of her current models misfired terribly, causing injuries to both herself and the unlucky passerby.

[Tekka King]

"Cool!" Tekka exclaimed at the mention of the crossbow. She herself owned guns and knives (stolen from gang members) but that was about the extent of her arsenal. She barely knew how to use them, not to mention her aim was terrible. "A real live crossbow? Really?" She grinned and hopped up and down, not waiting for a response. "That's awesome!"

Her hopping stopped after a moment or two as she calmed down. "So just so I don't go off on a futile search, someone DID just come in with a box of new things for the store, right?" Donations if she wasn't mistaken. Things that families had no use for or held too many unfortunate memories to keep hold of. She almost found it strange that her own family hadn't given anything to the store. Almost. Aiden's seemingly inhuman attachment to their mother's old things was one of the driving forces to keeping them.

[Jane Touzoko]

"Yes, yes someone did." The Ookami chirped, her eyes wandering eagerly towards the fresh stack of boxes. "Hopefully this person appriciates my sense of style..."

[Tekka King]

"Well in that case, we should probably get looking, neh?" Tekka grinned, grabbing Jane's wrist and tugging her over to the 'new donations' section. It was a fairly big part of the store, and that was to be expected, with the clans taking children from families most parents probably wanted to get rid of the memories before it caused them a little too much heartache.

[Jane Touzoko]

The little Ookami nodded and started sorting through boxes, finding no problem at all with the fact that these items had all belonged to someone else. In fact, she often preferred it that way. She liked it when an object had history. In her opinion it just gave the asset more personality.

Jane paused her search, lifting one hand up for examination. From between her long fingers dangled a shining gold chain, and attached to it- a pocket watch. The blond popped it open, noting that the glass on the inside had been smashed, stopping the clock in mid-tick.

"I wonder what kind of person this belonged to." The blond mused aloud. "It's always interesting, thinking of the stories." Jane turned to her compainion. "Find anything Tekka?"

[Tekka King]

Tekka pawed through the belongings, picking up a pale scarf with a delicate gold pattern drifting up from the end diagonally up to the side before trailing off. She gave it a critical look and placed it aside. She'd get it, but it wasn't what she was looking for. The thief's ears pricked upon hearing her name. "Whuzzat?" She said, registering the words a moment later. "Oh, yeah. It is!" She smiled.

There was a bit more digging before Tekka managed to find something absolutely perfect. From the bottom of the box she withdrew a brown leather bomber jacket. The material was worn soft with years of wear, and when the Tora checked one of the pockets she found them to be of perfect size. Tekka's eyes lit up.

"It's a little big," She said, slipping it on and finding it to be just as soft and warm as she had hoped. "But I think I just found what I was looking for..." Reaching into one of the flapped and snap-shut pockets on the front the blond withdrew a small silver knife. A smile drew across her face. "Oh yeah. I like this."

[Jane Touzoko]

"See, I never understood why people would get rid of something that cool." The blond stated. Afterwards her lips drew up into a small smile. "But their trash is our treasure I suppose. Great find!" Jane shifted through the clothes for another few seconds before pulling away, satisfied with the pocket watch.

"I think this'll do for now," she chimed brightly. "I can get my fancy victorian coat from that mail-order magazine at home. I was just hoping for something with less of a hassal." She shrugged, golden eyes shifting around the store before she scrambled over to grab a huge hat with an obnoxious pink feather. Jane plopped it on her head with a giggle.

"Wow... I feel like a pimp." She commented with a smile.

[Tekka King]

Tekka looked over her with a critical eye, "Nah, you need a scepter or something..." The Tora glanced around and pulled what looked to be part of an old pimp Halloween costume out from under a rack of clothes. It had a huge gaudy fake diamond on it, unmistakable as a scepter. "Hold this, we'll also need a fur coat and a feather boa... and green shoes." Everything was better with green shoes.

[Jane Touzoko]

Jane looked at the staff and then struck a regal pose, sticking her chest out like an arrogant peacock. The hat, being a bit too big for her head, slid down towards her nose. The Ookami adjusted it, using the jeweled staff to move it out of her face.

"Well doesn't this bring back memories," she chimed, recalling some of the odd things she and her theathre buddies in high school had done in their spare time. Namely messing with costumes, similarly to what they were doing now. Jane turned to the mirror with a thoughtful pout. "Though I think I was taller then."

[Tekka King]

"Taller when?" Tekka asked, rooting around and chucking a fuchsia feather boa at the taller blond. "Try that," The thief carted over a huge white fur coat. "And this too!" It wasn't REAL fur as far as she could tell, but...