xp_logs | Clarice and Jono, umbrella shopping.

Random little log thing, set somewhere after this thread.

Of course any and all umbrellas Jono would think to recommend were black. The one he was holding at the moment had a skull with flaming eyes painted on it. "This is a bit tacky," he said.

"I could brighten it up..." Clarice trailed off trying to be nice before remembering that she had left her glitter paints in New York. "Or something," she continued to look through the bins of umbrellas.

Jono set the umbrella on his shoulder and twirled it absently as he poked at the others. "You're not going to get a pink one, are you?" he asked, glancing at Clarice. It was actually more distracting to see her as 'normal' instead of purple.

"Pink? Doubtful. It's just so...Barbie," she told him, quickly grabbing a digital picture of him with the umbrella on his shoulder. "What about this one?" from the bottom a bin she found a blue plaid one with daisies sewn on it.

"Bloody ugly is what it is," Jono muttered and dropped the dainty pink parasol he'd just found like it was a dead animal of some sort. "That's better," he nodded at Clarice's choice, but didn't seem entirely convinced. Maybe it was the daisies.

"Or not..." she said, moving to another stack. "I don't think I've seen this many umbrellas in my life."

"Hey, it's England," Jono commented, looking around the store to see if anyone was paying any undue attention to them. He put the skull umbrella away and picked up a light blue one. When he opened it there were white clouds painted inside it. "How about this one?"

"Hey neato! A little sky!" Clarice took the umbrealla from him and did a pirouette. "What do you think?"

'It's not black,' he almost said, but then just shrugged. "Maybe it'll make you forget it's raining."

"Hee!" she did another pirouette, "I like it! How come you don't have an umbrella?"

"It's just rain," he said, watching her little dance. "It won't make me melt." Then he ran his hand through his hair and seemed to reconsider. "D'you think I should get one?"

"It would keep your jacket dry," she pointed out, "And all your little do-dads wouldn't rust."

His hand went autmatically to one of the zippers on his jacket, toying with it. "All right, help me find one."

"What about the one with the skull on it? All scary and manly," She flexed her arm and made a 'manly' voice.

"Yeah, it's all good if you listen to Manovar or something," Jono rolled his eyes, amused, and turned back to the umbrellas. The one he lifted had red cats painted on it so he abandoned it right away. "I've got the leather trousers though."

"Is there anything you don't own in leather?" the umbrella she looked at was black and had a giant yellow smily-face on it. She put it back too, despite the temptation to see how he'd react.

"I don't have a leather shirt," he replied, and raised his eyebrows at a neon lime umbrella. If he possible, he wanted to catch less attention on the streets, not more. "Besides, leather isn't that comfortable."

"Never worn it, my mom said it was too slutty, and we can't have that now can we?" Clarice remarked, "After all, dancing doesn't involve slutty costumes or too much make up. Here," the umbrella she handed him was black with silver piping.

He took it, inspecting the flawless black. "Thanks," he nodded at her. "It's obviously never the dancer's fault, it's always the musician's."

"Or whomever picks the costumes," she shuddered, "The things they make you wear! Ick! We ready?"

Clarice headed towards the counter to pay, mentally converting the pounds into dollars.

Jono tapped her on the shoulder, flashing the credit card. "Let's try this first."

"Oh yeah! Payback's a bitch, ain't it?"

"I really hope it is," he seemed grimly satisfied as he offered the card over the counter at the girl who gave him a second glance, but nothing more.