136: Meal Agreement

Makeup. Jewelry. Clothes.

Nyssa, Titus, and Gideon started by hitting all the classics. Given the nature of the mission, they stayed in a group—even if it meant subjecting Gideon and Titus to a two hour long makeup browsing session. Nyssa, given her powers, never used makeup herself. She could just transform to have perfect makeup whenever she wanted, but it did make a good gift for a certain... special friend.

“You know, I didn’t know that there was so much makeup,” Titus murmured as he perused a shelf of foundation. “I probably should’ve known, given uh...”

He trailed off. Unable to say his younger siblings in the context of the mission. Nyssa, after a brief moment of eye contact, watched Titus mouth it instead before adding on. “Given Albion I guess...”

“Oh? Wait, does he use makeup?” Nyssa trotted towards the self-checkout area with a basket full of makeup saddled on her arm. “I’ve never seen him use it myself though.”

“He’s been experimenting recently, just some basic stuff, like... I don’t know. I know he’s done eyeliner and has some sparkle-filled eyeshadow. There’s probably more, given the many things I’ve seen in his room, I just don’t know what they are,” Titus coughed into his fist. “He’s seen some of the pop stars from the far east, and is considering trying to replicate their look.”

“Ah, makes sense,” Nyssa began scanning the makeup. Her hands moved with practiced efficiency. “Given his pale and slightly more delicate features he’d be a heart throb to a certain subset of people for sure.”

Titus, standing behind Nyssa, stiffened for just a half moment, his expression twitching before he nodded. “For sure, I bet he’d be popular with a lot of girls.”

“Probably,” Nyssa shrugged. “If things don’t work out with Celeste maybe I could take some inspiration and craft a new look to get more girls.”

“Is this not your natural look?” Titus whirled around after grabbing a pack of gum. “Wait, wait you can’t just drop this.”

“No, it is,” Nyssa smiled while beckoning for Gideon to hand over the credit card. Feigning pain, he did after a moment of ‘deliberation.’ Nyssa, after tapping the card, looked over towards Titus while packing the makeup into the bag. “How could I touch this? It’s a face honed after a thousand naps. Nothing better than it.”

“Gotcha,” Titus took the card from Nyssa and scanned his pack of gum. Of course, Nyssa didn’t look quite like her usual cheery self, but he knew what they had meant during their conversation.

I’m not that stupid. Not yet.

Done shopping for her first gift, Nyssa dragged the others to the clothing section of the shopping mall. Here, they split once within the same store. Gideon and Titus to one side and Nyssa to the other. The rest of the trail teams followed along. Those like Celeste in the ‘out of sight out of mind’ groups, slipped along in the rafters while the other trail teams, dressed in their smattering of unassuming outfits, mulled around doing their own shopping.

Seeing Ryker and Electra shopping together, Nyssa raised her eyebrows before returning to her own work.

Well, I have to pretend to not know them. But they’re still so suspicious. Like. Hello????? They have got to be dating, they look like a couple right now- like... more than Celeste and I look like we’re a couple. We just look like a pair of friends... touchy friends maybe... two friends in a cooked situationship, yeah....

Browsing the cardigans, she flipped through them as if she had something to buy while taking a moment to scan her surroundings. Beyond those she knew were members of Class Zero or the Guild, she tried to keep track of the other shoppers. She looked to see if they had any hidden weapons on them, if they had any earpieces, or if they just looked... villainous.

What metric counted as villainous? Nyssa had no idea.

If they twirled a handlebar mustache while laughing maniacally perhaps... like in the cartoons.

They all look extremely mundane though. Like that kid looks bored out of his mind while his older sister browses crop tops. He probably wishes he hadn’t been born with how bored he looks. He looks like he’s ready to blow the entire store up-

Wait a second-

Well, he’s just a kid anyway, I’m sure it’ll be fine.

Turning back to the clothing rack, she flipped through the last few cardigans before coming to a stop on a pale, cream-colored one. “I might look good in this... it’d match Celeste’s as well.”

“And it's not like it's your money anyway,” Titus’s voice interrupted her from the side.

Leaping out of her skin, Nyssa’s eyes widened as she pressed a hand against her chest. “Why do you have to scare me like that... but also... yeahhhhhhh, you’re so right! It isn’t my money anyway!”

After exchanging a handshake with her fellow money-guzzling compatriot, she threw it into her basket without another thought. Wandering out of the cardigan section, she moved over to the crop tops where she had just seen the sibling duo. Taking her time, she and the others spent another hour in the store before leaving with their arms laden with bags.

Well, Nyssa herself only had one bag while Titus and Gideon each had two.

“We’re still doing quite light,” Gideon chuckled while looking through the bags Nyssa had given him. “You really bought a lot less than I was expecting.”

“I felt bad making you carry more,” Nyssa sighed, feigning a delicate maiden as she scanned the shopping area once more. “Should we get lunch? Titus, you were looking at the directory earlier, right? Any ideas on what looks good?”

“Well, there’s a bit of an older pizza place that’s pretty cheap, there’s also a medium-priced noodle place. There’s also a bit more of an expensive all you can eat meatery,” Titus tapped his chin while thinking. “I’m leaning towards a certain place of these three.”

“I”m also leaning towards a certain place among these three,” Nyssa laughed, copying Titus’s pose. “I wonder if we have the same wavelength right now.”

“I’m kinda feeling noodles,” Gideon shrugged, only to freeze up as both Titus and Nyssa turned to look at him with deadpan stares. “... I mean I think I’m feeling the meatery... yeah...”

“Oh, would you look at that,” Titus turned and slung his arm over Nyssa’s shoulder. “It seems like we’re all in agreement here. Let’s get going to the meatery, what do you say? I even memorized the path earlier, so let’s just head right over!”

“Sounds great to me!” Nyssa beamed.

Walking behind them, though, with a slight trudge in his step and an exasperated air around him, was Gideon. Who, after a long, but amused sigh, lifted his feet and began walking.