fandomtownies | Demon Marcus, Sunday

Sparkle couldn't quite tell if she was being serious or going for a comedic deadpan, so he just sort of settled into an awkward smile in reply.

"Yeah, we try to keep everyone happy here," he said. "T-shirts and jeans are easy, and we've got a good selection of coats and sweaters, too. You even showed up before all the sweaters started to get more and more Christmas themed, so I'd say you lucked out."

Who was he kidding? Sparkle had a fantastic collection of terrible Christmas sweaters at home, too.

Breq noticed that awkward smile and realized she hadn't quite managed to get her expression right, but for now she wasn't too bothered.

"May I browse what you have myself?" She wasn't sure what was the custom here. "When I've selected a few things perhaps you can tell me if it's suitable."

After a brief moment, she added: "I didn't know there were seasonal clothing."

Many places had that, which had amused a lot of her officers and resulted in comments involving 'uncivilized'.

"Feel free to browse, sure," Sparkle said easily, and then he grinned a bit and waved a hand around the store. "And yeah, there's seasonal clothing, holiday clothing, unseasonal clothing... basically, clothes are about as varied as the people who wear them. I try to get a good selection here to cover all the basics, but on an island like this, I'm probably still missing a few, you know?"

Breq replied with a smile she hoped was friendly but not excessively cheerful, and headed towards the shelves and racks.

While browsing she hummed a song, an old favourite she had picked up about a hundred years ago, while trying to pick out things suitable to wear. She had seen fashions change during her two thousand year life, but until now she had never had to be concerned with clothes for herself. In many places people expressed themselves through the clothes they wore. For her that was... not complicated, but just difficult.

Breq knew the measurements of this body quite well, and she was used to making changes to her officer's uniforms, so finding the right size wasn't particularly difficult, especially since she didn't choose anything tight-fitting.

She returned to the counter with a few pairs of jeans, some T-shirts in different colours, a sweater and a hoodie and a dark blue winter coat.

"What do you think about this? Some things have prints, but I didn't know if there was a meaning to them so I avoided those."

"If any of the prints mean anything, it isn't anything I'm familiar with," Sparkle replied, shrugging his shoulders as he leaned down for a better look at the clothes she'd gathered. "Looks to me like you played it pretty safe, actually. It's hard to mess up with jeans and a t-shirt, I think you'll be fine with all of this."

"Good." She added a smile. "I'll have these then, provided I have enough funds."

Trying things on wasn't necessary, although perhaps for boots. Which reminded her: "I need a pair of boots too, I think."

Sparkle smiled faintly. He'd made certain she had enough funds. It was possible he was bad at business, but really, winter was coming, and if she didn't even have boots...

"We have nice warm boots against that wall," he said, pointing that way. "You'll probably want something with a good lining, something waterproof. Winters around here can get pretty sloppy."

Breq turned to look at where he was pointing and walked over to it, picking up a few different pairs, trying to estimate the size. She held up two pairs, both practical and sturdy, and turned to Sparkle:

"Are these waterproof?"

"That pair," Sparkle said, pointing to the one in her left hand, "more than the other one. But those other ones can be treated to be waterproofed, too. We have a spray for that."

Wasn't science wonderful?

"I still take the waterproof pair," Breq decided.

Boots she should better try on. It was harder to determine the size, and she didn't want them to hurt. They did fit though, and she looked at Sparkle. "Good?"

Sparkle considered, and then walked around the counter and crouched down to press down on the boot's toe, to see where her own rested inside of it. He gave a satisfied nod.

"Good," he replied, "in that it fits. Feel free to talk a walk around the store in them to see if they're comfortable, though. Some boots need breaking in, and that can be a painful process."

"I know," she said. "I just want to make sure I make a good choice to start with, and that they will be functional."

She looked down at the boots. "I think I'll be happy with these."

She looked up at Sparkle again, quickly turning her expression into a friendly one.

"Okay, then," Sparkle replied, giving her a quick little grin right back. "And is that everything? Are you going to need winter gloves or a scarf or anything like that, too?"

Breq's face turned blank again, considering the question. "Yes. Of course. I didn't think about it. What do you suggest?"

Advice would save her from making too many decisions.

Huh. There was that blank expression again. Sparkle was starting to suspect that those looks were nothing personal, just that this perdon wasn't exactly used to emoting for other people. He continued to smile, himself, and then made his way toward the other winter gear.

"A pair of water-resistant gloves, a nice warm scarf, and a hat," he shared. "And if you don't want all of your clothes to be solid-colours, the scarf can even have a pattern on it, to kind of break it all up a little."

Accessorizing was his favourite part.

Then Breq could get advice from an expert.

"A pattern might be nice," she said, mostly listening to Sparkle's suggestion. "I'll let you choose. I'm sure you know this better."

And she smiled again.

Well, Sparkle wasn't an expert yet. But he was going to school for it, so...

"Here, then let's find you something that'll go well with the blue." He paused to consder, and then started rummaging through the scarf selection. "There's a pink and grey plaid one that would probably look nice, actually."

Sparkle har someone to practice on, here.

Breq wrapped the scarf around her neck. It did go quite well with her skin and with the blue coat.

"The material is soft."

"That's the best part," Sparkle replied with a grin. "I'm not going to try to sell anybody a scratchy scarf. Then they wouldn't even be able to wear it."

Breq had decided she liked the shop owner, who took his job seriously and seemed to enjoy it.

"You'd be surprised how many places in a universe where you can buy scratchy scarves to people who can't afford better." She almost forgot to add a smile, but she meant it.

Sparkle's own smile went a little wry.

"I don't think I'd be that surprised," he replied. "A scratchy scarf is better than no scarf at all, after all."

And he'd gone to some pretty scratchy lengths to stay warm with no scarf in the past.

"So it is," Breq agreed. She had seen people freeze to death after annexations, after all.

She tucked the scarf a little tighter around her neck.

And that... was a depressing train of conversation, so Sparkle was quite happy to let it drop.

"Yeah." A pause. "So, how about these gloves, and... that hat? They go with the scarf."

Yay, topic change!

Breq was happy to leave that topic too.

"They look nice," she said, pulling on the gloves and flexing her fingers. It was funny how quickly she had got used to being bare-handed in front of people, and get to wear gloves only to keep her fingers warm.

Hey, she was adaptable! That wasn't a bad thing!

"And do they fit okay?"

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