Subtle Affection For The Inanimate. [Daizu/Open]

>> The day outside had been moist and humid, beading sweat on his skin in the short walk from car to the artificially cooled inside of The Mall. Capital T, capital M. While his brother had been considerate enough to drive him, they had parted ways quickly despite their usual closeness around home. It really didn't phase him, he wandered so erratically on his own whims so much they wouldn't of stayed together so easily anyways. Neili liked to only look what he needed - Lavi like to see every thing.

His plastic bag swinging in a softly calloused hand, only a DVD and light novel he'd been debating about getting for a while contained inside from the first store the brunet had beelined to. He looked more like a wandering boy than a lost one with something in palm and no one paid him any heed. Various groups of people moved around him as he flowed with in the crowds, the goths to the preps and the stray Grandparents hunting for Grandchilds' birthday gifts. Lavi took a moment to wave at every child in a stroller he saw - 95% of the time the parents were also amused, leaving him with a warm smile as he walked.

There were the store fronts he always avoided - uninterested mostly in the over abundance of clothing stores that all smelt the same and little candle shops. The only time he usually dared to near either really were for his mother and she was here nor there tonight. Watching his reflection pass by in the shine of the windows, he skimmed the various establishments based on the manikins and items in front display, plenty of time to burn until Corneilious came back around and dragged him home.

The air conditioning was steadily becoming unbearable, the hum of the motors over the roar of the crowds plainly audible on his ear drums. It was probably a sign from somewhere the Summer was to be a sweltering one and without much care he unbuttoned the top of his shirt down two holes in an attempt to counter the humidity still clinging with in the building. The more crowded stores looked hellish, sticky people packing together for no particular reason. Anime, video games, manga - he had never gotten huge into them and it surprised him sometimes of how the streams of people seemed to only navigate from the prime stores with animated characters as mascots and their large, doe eyes. Cute, but unappealing.

Then again, Desmond Lavi Berwick may have always just been a giant hypocrite in his life - who knows. He was set on passing the small store on by until he noticed the petite figures in the window and the cute decorative outfits the girls were placed in. While it wasn't a huge fact that he appreciated the fine arts, he had a spot in the bottom of his heart for it and in a fit of happiness he excused himself as he cut through the crowd to stand at the large shop window. The brown eyed boy had no need to read the words on the little plaque at the small ball jointed doll's side. It was a MiniFee Chloe, he knew the face anywhere and the soft shoulders on the faintly blushed body.

In his head he sounded quite creepy (mostly the reason he didn't ever bring it up), but he couldn't help at stare at the specialty artists' doll. Craning his head the slightest, his nose and forehead were only centimeters from the window. The tag said 'model only for display' - duh, all dolls needed to be ordered and hand made, no two were the same, but it was fascinating to see an actual one before him. Well, beside from if he ever attended an anime convention but that was back into his uncharted territory.

Lost and conflicted, Lavi hovered around the grand window, unsure if it was safe to enter with the influx of teenage girls and (strangely-decent) smelling men. She was breath breathtakingly pretty and much more genuine than the pictures he skimmed through on the internet. He felt sort of sad for knowing all this about resin dolls and was certainly bait for girls who would instantly question and fawn over his supposed sexuality, but. The boy whined, twisting his bag in his hand as it bounced against his knee.

Ooc: Sorry it ended in crap, bleh bleh.

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It was a hot and sticky day out as Daizu navigated his panicky way through various crowds. He still couldn’t believe he’d managed to actually come all the way here and thus far, not pass out. In truth, he was used to being lost in crowds and having that knotted feeling in his stomach that he would see someone he recognized. Today though it was just so muggy out that, in addition to his claustrophic panic, the heat was wearing thin on the red-head’s nerves. Still, he managed to weave in and out of people, luckily not bumping into anyone and having to face them to apologize, and eventually he came to the food court entrance. Finally, a place he could breath!

The food court always seemed a lot less crowded despite the propensity for one to think otherwise. Maybe it was due to the fact that everyone was sitting down, absorbed in their own conversations or activates that made it feel like that but whatever it was, it was still a relief to Daizu. Come to think of it though, he ought to do something as opposed to just stand there looking like an idiot. Hm, maybe he would go for a light snack. One of those American pretzel stands caught his attention just as the thought flittered across the boy’s mind and so, turning on a whim, Daizu made way for the short line. As he waited quietly, the boy looked out across the people sitting and watched them in a serene silence. He had always enjoyed people watching, not being watched. It was fun to wonder about where everyone was going, what their busy lives had in store for them as well as deciphering what their clothes and various possessions said about them.

For example, one man sitting not too far away had a newspaper in one hand and a drink in the other. The drink was from one of those unhealthy chains and his suit was of a cheap material not quite up to the highest standards. From these observations Daizu could assume either the man was at a time in his life where he was in need of a boost or, he was just on the poorer end of the stick, per say. Another look would dismiss the latter thought as Daizu noted his ring finger bore the mark of a missing, yet thick band most likely recently lost. This man had just come out of a divorce and was dealing with the pain by spending his lunch breaks here, amoungst all the fatty foods and with his mind flickering about idle newspaper articles.

Another person, a woman this time, sat slightly farther away but in a similar state. She was younger, this woman, and she was surrounded by a lot of bags from various more expensive stores in the mall. This one seemed to be dealing with her own issues with the typical ‘shop-a-holic’ syndrome he’d seen in a lot of women recently. How did he come to the conclusion? Well for one, the woman took very little care of her bills as her bulging pocketbook would explain, peeking out of her purse. Secondly, the receipts all laid out before her had been pushed aside to be replaced by a heart-healthy salad from one of the other stands. She worried about her figure and would do anything to maintain it, the grimace on her face towards the lettuce might explain that and she--

“Next!” Daizu nearly jumped out of his skin as the man behind the register called out to him. Apparently it had not been the first time he’d called for attention as the irritated scowl on his face might account for. “S-sorry,” Daizu muttered anxiously, still alarmed at being startled out of his reveries. “Um, one plain pretzel, no salt please,” he asked quietly. “I can’t hear you, speak up boy!” the cashier cried out crankily. “O-one plain pretzel!” Daizu repeated, almost trembling. “Ya don’t hafta shout,” the man grumbled, turning to fill the order.

As he paid and thanked the man with another apology, Daizu stepped aside and looked out over the place again. Then, peeking into his bag, he tore off a piece of his snack and munched on it quietly. Now, where to sit. Most of the seats if not all of them were already taken. It appeared he’d have to wander for awhile.

Setting out on his journey through the mall, Daizu continued to break off pieces of his pretzel and munch quietly as he peeked into the various store windows. There were so many fascinating things here that glittered and shone, making his eyes skip from one to the other faster than his mind could register each. Finally he came to a store window in which there was a funny display that obviously had caught the full and total attention of a boy that seemed vaguely familiar. Suddenly, Daizu’s heart skipped a beat and he nearly choked on the bit of pretzel in his mouth.

There, standing before him, was Desmond Berwick, or Lavi as he was called. Daizu seemed frozen in place for a moment as his mind raged, rampant. He had to do something before the boy turned and saw him staring like an idiot. Maybe he could sneak away without being noticed. No, he’d be sure to be seen then and what if Lavi thought he was being rude?! No, he had to say something. Maybe if he spoke first Lavi wouldn’t be offended. But what to say?!

“H-hi, Lavi!” Daizu burst out suddenly without thinking. Oops. Blinking quickly, the boy brought his hands behind his back and, blushing, quieted his tone. “W-whatcha looking at?”

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The mall. How crowded it was. Kei wasn't particularly in the mood to be spending time here in this crowded place, however he didn't quite have a choice in a way. Apparently his mother didn't want him home all day crying over his soap operas and kicked him out. Why Mommm? He sluggishly walked through the hall of raging people, with his black sneakers simply dragging away. He felt so lazy, nonetheless. Some of the people even looked at him weirdly because of his eye patch and at first he was clueless of it, but then some kid whom was walking by was like 'Mama, is that a pirate!?' and her mother only told her to keep walking. With a sigh, he covered it with his bright blue hair somewhat and roamed around some more.

He did bring some money with him, although it wasn't nearly enough to buy the things that he needs. Though the things that he needs aren't things that normal people would need. That's because Kei is one of those weirdos that builds unneeded things using useless stuff. To the glorious blue head, they are not useless things, as they are infact things that are proven useful to himself, but others tend to think otherwise. He doesn't really care, but he tries to make them understand why they are useful. For example, he build a generator for his room using worthless crap mainly because it saves money on the electric bill. Why people don't see this as a useful thing, he has no idea. Either way, he's low on 'useless' stuff' and recently all he's been doing is watching soap operas.

Passing a bunch of places that he wasn't interested in, he continued to walk slowly, with people bumping into him because he was walking rather too slowly, and in comparison, he'd agree they're just walking too fast. He noticed on the right side of him a store that sold a lot of those baseball looking hats, or those 'thug' looking ones and stepped inside for a moment to look around. The people that were already in the store itself looked at him weirdly, mostly because his shirt was purple and an anime looking cloud on it with a cutsie looking '=w=' on it and the store didn't match the typical looking 'child' as they judged him to be.

Anyway, he wasn't interested in.. many of the things in it, however he found something that caught his attention. A hat that was simply gray looking with a rose on it. Let's just say afterwards, it was on his head with a cheesy looking grin as he left the store a few minutes later. Now he's down to a little money left.. Ah well. It was worrrth it

In attempts to maybe go spend the rest of his money on a thousand things of food, he stopped walking. Why? Oh, well, because the window beside this feminine looking place had a ton of mechanical tools and also.. a sports car figurine. I want it. I WANT IT! He stuck his face on the window like a child with his eyes as wide as they could go and stared at it head on. Obviously from the looks of it he didn't have the amount needed to buy it, but he didn't realize that at the moment. Instead, he continued drooling over the item and stood there like a short statue, ignoring the random 'what the hell is he doing' comments from the common people that looked at him.

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>> The gears inside his head were turning, almost tearing the little resin doll apart in his brain. He was pretty sure he knew the clothing brands too, cute and totally Dollzone even if she wasn't of that origin, but the shoes looks a bit too big on her tiny, perfectly sculpted feet and figured it was an outside brand. Lavi's finger pads left smushed prints against the high gloss glass, and on the inside of the store one of the female patrons noticed him, catching his gaze through the transparency. Swallowing hard as if a burglar caught in the act, he turned hard and tried to move back into the crowd of people visiting the sweltering mall.

"O-Oh, hey Daizu,

[/color]" the brunet faltered, caught almost completely off guard in his retreat to see the friendly face hovering around. Sheepishly, Lavi hoped he hadn't noticed what he was tuned so intently into, with her cute little dress and shiny boots. Based on his question and the tone of his voice, it seemed as if he hadn't, and the boy released his breath as he tried to back track. The thin boy really didn't have a use to lie, not ever, and he considered the other nice enough not to laugh, so with a chuckle of his own, he turned back around to point at the showcase.

"They have a Ball Jointed Doll,[/color]" he explained simply, his dark hazel eyes tracing over every joint on her body. Lavi's cheeks had colored over slightly, flushed with his own embarrassment to be saying such things. It wasn't something you just knew, it was equal to spending hours online researching them, but he hoped Daizu wouldn't pick up on that part and take it for face value as a pretty doll in a window. God, how he wanted to tweak the lace on the hem of the dress between his fingers. "It's not something you would normally see in a store because they are kind of custom made... so I was a little surprised,[/color]" he explained sort of hoarsely, patting down his fly away hair that fanned around his ears to busy himself before he rambled onward. "They're kind of insane for showing her off like that, if any of those girls in there actually knew what she was worth...[/color]" he trailed off in defeat, digging his fingers into the plastic of his bag, the books thumping against his bare leg once more.

The crowds had swelled, pitching in activity after lunch when people wandered back out of the food courts to grab a snack. As the youngest Berwick turned around, he noticed Corneilious in the flood of patrons and panicked slightly. A brother was still a brother and standing infront of an anime desu store – the brunette reached out and tugged Daizu over by the elbow, bringing him out of view of the shop window as a gaggle of girls exited the store. “What are you doing here?[/color]” he asked the freckled boy to pass it off, still flushed over with his mild embarrassment from before. It was apparent he had been eating at least, the bag still in his palm. The crowd of girls still not really moving, their presence hovering over, Lavi beckoned for them to move over a bit more if they were going to stand around and loiter.

In his blindness as he inched backwards, he bumped into the blue haired man, turning around to apologize quickly as the force of his bag thumped against Kei as well. “Oh, hey, sorry about that,[/color]” the brown eyed boy rushed, obviously a bit flustered and over taken for no reason – he was still trying to gauge how badly he had been caught fawning over the doll only moments earlier.
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