Entering the city outskirts Kat was, underwhelmed. *Lily and Vivian seem so excited. The city isn't even that impressive though. Sure you have some large buildings but it's just missing something. It's all so boring.*
Kat gazed out the window listlessly. Sylvie was strapped into the seat next to her and seemed to be enjoying just sitting around with Kat rather than the city itself. Sylvie had her eyes closed as she leaned into Kat with an adorable smile on her face. *Sylvie seems to have the right idea, enjoying the moment with calm grace. Though I suppose I can't help but respect Vivian's unending enthusiasm,*
"So, first stop is the mall. Now when we are there, I want you all to pick out at least one thing, that includes you Lily. You can pick whatever you want except a desk. I have plans for that later when we visit a good friend of mine" said Vivian
"Shouldn't you be encouraging us to spend less on useless things?" said Kat
"Well, your rooms are so bare anything to liven it up cannot be useless. And besides I trust you both not to go overboard. If you girls start spending money like water then I'll need to rethink some things but I have seen your rooms at the orphanage" said Vivian
"Well it isn't as if we had the spare money to decorate in the orphanage, we could be horrible with money" said Kat
"I doubt it dear. You both know the weight of money, so let me spoil you a little. Just this once I don't promise" said Vivian trying to obfuscate the 'don't' in her sentence.
Kat just sighed. *It's at times like these that make me wonder if Vivian is the most childish out of all of us or if she is the wisest. I suppose she has the money to spend but at the same time is this responsible. Then again, she also recognises that she is likely to do this again but only if we behave well…*
"Vivian, how long will we be in town do you think? Originally I was going to have my wings in resting position but now I see the crowds I think doing that will take up too much space especially if we are on the sidewalk" said Kat as she looked over the busy streets.
"Well, we can't stay too long especially in the mall because my friend we are visiting shuts his shop at 3:00pm on Saturday's. I'm sure he'd be happy to chat with us a bit longer but I don't want to keep him too long. So assuming we can find everything in the mall we will probably spend three hours at most" said Vivian, after glancing at the dashboard clock.
"Ok, I think I can manage three hours with my wings folded. If not I'm sure I can find somewhere to hide for a moment and stretch" said Kat as the car started pulling into the parking lot.
"Well, if you think you'll be fine. I agree with your reasoning but I wonder if you will find enough space to stretch" said Lily glancing towards Kat whose wings were currently occupying the entirety of the back seat.
"What do you mean? I just need a bit of a quiet corner with no people around" said Kat
"Kat, I guess maybe it's a bit different from your perspective, but your wings are huge. Stretching them will require a lot of space and I just feel like some random shop corner won't actually be large enough" said Lily
*Huh, she's right. I hadn't considered the extra space required to stretch. These demonic additions can be weird like that. On the one hand I can walk and balance perfectly with wings and a tail and I can move them as if I'd grown up learning. But on the other hand I still fail to take these things into consideration, like size.
*I know instinctively how big they are and where I can fit with them spread but thinking about more abstract things like stretching somewhere, eventually doesn't seem to give me the same aid. I think I'll still keep them closed though, the last thing I want is for someone to run into them and have nothing happen to me. My muscles are strong and my wings can support my whole body weight essentially, I don't even know if I'd notice someone running into me and that could shatter the whole 'Kat totally isn't a demon it's a costume' plan.*
"I think I'll keep my wings folded even still Lily, I wouldn't want to shatter the illusion" said Kat
"What do you mean" asked Sylvie
"Well, normal fake wings that people are going to assume I have would be flimsy light things made of Styrofoam. My wings are strong, supported by a number of muscles and are capable of supporting my entire body weight, having someone knock my wings and then have them remain intact would probably make it hard to believe this is a costume" said Kat
"Hmm, interesting. I hadn't considered that Kat… How strong are your wings exactly" said Lily as Vivian managed to find a park.
"Well, I know they are strong enough to lift my whole weight, and nearly enough to lift a second person but not quite. I can glide, carefully, holding someone but doing anything more advanced then flying in a straight line is a massive strain on me" said Kat
"While interesting, you should make your decision quickly, I can see a few people around the parking lot so I think it's best to pick now" said Vivian as she glanced between the groups traveling around the parking lot. Kat folded her wings and got out of the car, fixing her tail in a comfortable s shape so that it could bounce a bit. She refrained from letting her tail rest close to the ground like others might expect because for some reason her tail always rested up if possible. Vivian walked up to Kat and whispered "Just act like you normally do and no one will notice"
Everyone started walking through the parking lot towards the mall. It was a rather large but stocky looking building, as if it had intended to be two stories tall at one point but the decision was changed halfway. Despite this the building sprawled out and covered a large chunk of the outer city area it resided. The group followed Vivian as she led the way.
"Where are we heading first" asked Kat
"Well, I mostly want you girls to just wander round, but I think I know the bookstore Lily is aiming. So I've been heading roughly that direction. You're looking for the old second hand bookstore behind the hairdressers, right?" said Vivian
"Ah, yeah, how did you know?" said Lily. Vivian just looked back and wiggled her eyebrows playfully at Lily.
"How is it behind another shop" said Sylvie. Vivian looked pointedly at Lily, asking her to speak.
"Well Sylvie, the shop used to be something else I think, and the hairdressers didn't need all the space so it was split between the two" said Lily
"Close, the bookstore is actually the owner of that space, not the hairdresser" said Vivian
"Wait what? Why would they take the back section then?" said Lily. Vivian just shrugged; she had a few guesses but nothing concrete.
As this conversation was going on Kat was watching everyone's reactions to her group. With her improved eyesight, and her newly improved ability to process information she could keep track of everyone she passed with only some minor thoughts, still focusing mostly on the conversation.
*Vivian was right, these people really just aren't bothered. Most people just keep walking like I don't have wings or horns. A few do double take but just keep walking, and even less stop to take pictures. And I think I can see about five groups of people who are conversing about me. Actually can I try and listen in?*
Kat pushed some of her energy into her ears, using the same process of compressing her aura and pushing it towards her head. It was a bit harder to split the feeling between both ears rather than just throwing it to the front of her face but it did the job.
"Woah, do you see that girl in the demon costume, that's next level"
"I don't recognise her from anything, do you know what show she is supposed to be from"
"The craftsmanship on those wings I'd hate to be whoever made those, but I'd love it as well"
Focusing on that last conversation, just in case they'd noticed something strange. That group consisted of a man missing one of his fingers, who had just spoken, and a lady who had her arms wrapped around his.
"I don't get why you think they are such high-quality productions. Her wings are so plain, it's the details on the horns that interest me" sad the lady
"No you don't get it, those wings bounce along with her steps" said the man
"So, everything bonces, her clothes bounce, my clothes bounce, that's how people walk Julian" said the lady
"Look, it ain't like that. They don't move like a single piece they move more like, hmm. Not quite sure what it's like" said Julian
"Well, if you can't even explain it let's go. We are already late for the gathering at Pauls" said the lady as she started pulling Julian through the crowd.
I guess I'm being a bit too suspicious.
