Maxxob
The Overseer
CODE / ARKNIGHT
Charles Reiss IV
Location: Let's go to the shop, darling!
The weight of tradition
The weight of tradition
It looked like his idea of linking arms ended up not being that successful, with ( MisoraUni ) Alirah taking his hand instead and tugging it. Charles had no complaints about that, feeling the comforting warmth of her hand return to his, which was getting rather lonely. When the girl started moving, at first he ended up being dragged, struggling with his movements for a single moment, before picking up the exact same pace as her, staying only slightly behind her. On their way to the boutique, the young aristocrat didn’t think about anything in particular, just taking in what other shops they could find in that spacious mall.
After a bit of time, they ended up in front of an interesting store. The design it sported was very traditional, something akin to what he had seen in books depicting Japanese art and architecture. When he visited Tokyo, a few years ago, it was very disappointing that most places he went to ended up having a western-styled design to them. That boutique was a welcome change of pace. The young heir then noticed a sign by the door, instructing those that came in to remove their shoes - “Mmmm… I see they are not really skimming on keeping tradition alive” - he wondered to himself. Suddenly, the warmth left his right hand and, looking down at his hand, he saw that the purple-haired girl’s hand was gone. A slightly displeased expression permeated his face, until he heard her voice penetrating his ears, his face moving, so he could look at her.
When he heard her sweet, shy voice call him by his nickname, even if it was quickly said it, the displeased expression vanished. His eyes brightened up, just like a child on Christmas morning who had just unwrapped a gift by the Christmas’ tree and found out they got that toy they asked for the whole year. Her sheepish eyes only complemented it and, for a moment, he realized how lucky and fortunate he had been in meeting the girl - “Will do, darling. Last thing I want is to be rude to a shopkeeper” - and, with that, he removed both of his finely-crafted, black-leather shoes, putting them at the entrance, just beside Alirah’s footwear. That revealed the young man was wearing silk-black socks.
Entering the shop, Charles stared at the crow who had made its way to the counter. Approaching it, with the girl closer to it than he was, he watched the odd behaviour of the bird - “Wait… what?” - he studied how it kept pointing at the girl with its wings, trying to get the old lady’s attention about something. When the same old lady said something about the crow communicating with her, the young Reiss felt really sad for her. It looked like time had done it away with the shopkeeper’s senses, now believing that she talked with animals. Truly a shinning example of Japan’s failed and ineffective mental health policies. When the purple-haired girl started to make her way to the backroom, he thought about protesting, fearing for Alirah’s safety. His worries were laughed off, remembering how active and strong she was. And, with both leaving to the backroom, he was left with the odd bird.
Seeing the crow eye him up and now, as if measuring him, made his eyebrow twitch. He approached the animal, staying no more than 3 inches from the counter. Once again, crouching down, he was at the bird’s eye level, and he stared at it - “You don’t look like any crow I ever saw… you are something else, aren’t you?” - he asked the bird, narrowing his eyes questioningly, not really expecting a reply from it. Maybe he was just imagining things from all the excitement he had on that day, stealing his first kiss and knowing the purple-haired girl had feelings for him, as he did for her - “What am I doing, talking to a crow? Maybe I was the one who went insane” - he comments in a low voice, but enough for the black avian to hear it. He laughed lightly, in a self-deprecating manner, entertaining the idea he had gone bonkers.
In just a moment, the bird had flown away. Following it with his eyes, it had landed on a top shelf, probably wanting to get a better vision of the store or maybe betting to find a stray prey on the floors of the shop. After a few minutes, both the old lady and the girl were back to the front of the store. Look at Alirah, he noticed her contagious smile and, in no time, he was smiling as well, without even noticing it - “Yes, yes I am!” - he answered, just after the purple-haired girl, being taken to the counter of the shop. The young British man was surprised by the price of the bracelet. While he had only seen it for an instant, it was very cheap. So much he almost felt bad for paying so little on it. His right hand darted to the inside of his blazer, accessing the inner pocket of it. There, he took could his wallet. It was brown, made it out of leather, without any other discerning patterns or names on it. Opening it up, he took out two bills from it, a 5000 yen bill and a 1000 yen bill - “Please, keep the change” - he said, when he handed over both bills to the old shopkeeper.