Log [Alison, Haroun] Shop 'till you drop!

[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

Since they'd been talking about it for ages, Alison and Haroun finally decide to take a day to go out shopping. Small things are noticed in the midst of all the distracting and teasing that goes on. Changing cabins will never be looked at by Alison the same way again...



Haroun sat gratefully in the chair set out for the purpose at the changing rooms and waited for Alison to re-emerge to show him how the clothes she'd picked out as acceptable looked. He rested his walking-stick on the wall next to the chair, and grinned to himself as he pondered the sorts of things she was going to model for him.

Summer shopping this early in the season was a challenge, but if anyone could pull it off, Alison could. A few calls had been made in advance and a day settled upon - Alison grinned at herself in the mirror, feeling a touch guilty while still unable to preen just a little bit. The bruises had faded and she was looking good. Very good. And she had promised that to Haroun. How could a girl not show off a little bit? Besides, short flippy summer skirts were a wonderful thing, really. And the top she'd been offered to try on with the skirt wasn't half bad either, a light midriff baring sort of blouse.

She cracked open the door to the changing room and took a look at him, gauging his condition - shopping trip or not, the rule today was 'take it easy on the Haroun' after all.

Haroun's condition was a mix between some nagging pain in his back and fiendish anticipation. He spotted her peeking her head out, and motioned her to come out more fully, so he could see her in all her glory. "Now is not the time to develop a case of the bashfuls." He said with a grin. "Come on out here and let me see you."

"Bashful?" Oh, that was amusing. Alison's grin widened at that and she smoothed down the side of the skirt absently, letting the door swing just a bit more open. "There's no bashful here." The purred comment was accompanied by a lazy walk as she moved out of the changing room, the heels she was wearing not too high but just enough to fit in perfectly with the rest of what she was wearing. A slow pirouette, Alison peeking over her shoulder to see Haroun's reaction. "Sooo. D'you think that works or should I just try something else?"

Haroun grinned as he looked at her total ensemble. The expanse of leg, left unadorned in its perfection, the slight heel, the bare midriff begging to be kissed, the flirtatious attitude. "I don't know." He said with a wide grin. "I may need to evaluate other possibilities. Put this one in the "Definitely Possible" file." he said with a laugh. He was determined to stretch this whole thing out for as long as he possibly could. "What else do you have?"

There wasn't a smirk in sight as Alison reflected about how doubtful Haroun had been regarding the shopping trip when they'd talked about it and instead she just indulged in very much reveling in how he was looking at her. "Mmm, depends what you'd like to see..." Leaning on the side of the changing room was fun and allowed her to show off her legs that much more. "There a few longer skirts, something a bit more suitable for evening wear maybe. I think I may get that one, in fact." It was a gem of a dress, really. "And then there's some of the other stores out there, too..." She managed something close to innocence with that statement, which was no mean feat indeed.

Haroun smirked. "Oh, you're just mad for shopping. Admit it and move on." he said with a laugh. "I'm not much of one for evening wear. I've got a suit already." he said piously, deciding that the best way to make sure she enjoyed the whole thing was to feed her ammo. Besides, he had made a Resolution that he was going to enjoy this, just take it as a light day out with Alison trying things on. He wasn't going to think of the economics and the inequities involved, no sir. "Which
other stores would you like to go to?" he asked curiously. "And do they carry headscarves here?" he asked.

"It's the trying on things and looking at them that's fun. That and playing spot the color difference," she admitted, feeling a bit sheepish on the last, even though Moira had run her tests on that and she knew why she saw nuances that way, now. "Well, there's a small place that's good with silk in the mall we could hit," giving the name outright would be plain telling, after all, "and I wouldn't mind stopping at the spa supplies store for a things. And if we can't find headscarves here, we can always sally forth outside and make a quest of it." Miles and his Quests were definitely influencing her. "There's always food at one point, too."

Haroun picked up his walking-stick and then grinned. "Then lead on! Do you want to show off that dress you mentiond earlier, or are you going to give it a pass?" he asked with something of a leer. If it was the one he thought it was, he already knew that he was going to like it. "Not hungry now, but I'll keep that in mind for later. And since we're dressing you, I suppose it's only fair if we stop in a men's clothing store and look at things for me? I will, of course, bow to your superior judgment."

"I think there should be showing off of the dress before we go," she grinned and headed back to the changing room to do just that, snagging a pair of higher heels in the process from one of the boxes stacked neatly to the side. The temptation was too strong and she certainly wasn't about to ruin his fun. As she changed, she spoke to him through the door. "Do you have anything in mind that you want?" Mentally, she was cataloguing through what clothes he did have and making a note here and there as to what had the most wear and tear, and was obviously preferred clothing.

Haroun shrugged. "You know that my tastes are simple. I thought that you'd jump at the chance to jazz my wardrobe up a little, make it more to your liking." he said. "A little fun for you, so it's not just all me enjoying your shameless self-promotion." he said. "And which ones of these are we taking home, and which ones stay?" He snuck a glance at a price tag, and mentally swallowed. This could be a very expensive trip.

The sound of a strap snapping cheerfully answered him, and then Alison stuck her head out to grin at him impishly. "Just a few. The skirt. Maybe the dress I'm trying on now. And well... We'll have to see what we can find for you then, mmm? You'd make anything look good."

He was informed of this most solemnly, even as Alison stepped out of the booth to model the dress for him. There were no slits on the sides, the fabric instead clinging to her curves and outlining her every move for him every instant, the front concealing skin all the way up to her neck snugly, leaving her shoulders bare. The back was another story, it was revealed as she turned around slowly, dipping almost dangerously low.

Haroun swallowed. Heavily. This was almost as bad as the SynthSilk, which had hugged every curve like it was painted on. Which, he thought absurdly, it had been. He felt the old familiar rush hit him, stronger and harder than usual. "Very nice." he said, with a little bit of a growl to his voice. "I like it."

He had that voice. Alison didn't move for a heartbeat, a small voice reminding her out of the blue about that excess of blood filterings he'd been going through lately, while the rest of her gleefully egged on the preening. And the very pleasant shivers going down her spine were being entirely too distracting in general, which meant she spent that much longer giving him a small, secret sort of smile before reluctantly admitting to herself that maybe getting changed back to something else would be good now. Any time. Soon.

"Then I guess I'll take it." She moistened her lips, then took a slow step towards the changing room, then another.

Haroun itched to pursue, but fought the urge back down. Instead, he stood up slowly and grasped his cane, in preparation for their next stop. He was possessed with a strange energy, and he itched to be doing something. Sitting still and watching had lost most of its appeal, although that warred with the notion of Alison in more barely-there or clingy outfits. "You should." he said, his eyes glued to her back as she slowly glided back into the changing room.

A few seconds later she'd made it to the changing room, which now seemed small and stuffy - which was entirely ridiculous as it wasn't. Taking a deep breath she slowly peeled the dress off and retrieved her own clothing to get dressed more appropriately for both shopping and the weather. The jeans were comfortable, and after buttoning her blouse Alison decided to forego any other layers until they stepped outside. It was hot inside. Purse slung over her shoulder, coat in hand and both skirt and dress carefully placed back on the hanger and carried out of the changing room that way, Alison smiled as she stepped out. "Done! Just need to get that wrapped and we're ready to move on..."

Haroun nodded, and moved alongside of her to walk over to the register. "You OK? You look a little flushed." he said idly as they walked through the store. "It is a little warm in here." he commented. "You go on ahead and make your purchases. I'll wait for you by the entrance, OK?" he said distractedly, itching to get up and move more than he already was.

"Yes, just a bit hot." She bit down on the comment informing him that it was all his fault, and the far more outré line that followed. And buying a glass of cold water and dumping it on herself would probably end up in a display that would be far too public, Alison had no doubt.  It just wasn't fair. "I'll be right there," she assured him, pausing to kiss his cheek briefly, the hand she laid on his arm lingering perhaps a touch too long before she made a beeline for the cash.

Haroun nodded, and then swatted at her butt as he walked away to burn some of the energy that was coursing through his body off. He could practically feel the fur sprouting on his tongue, and he either wanted to rip Alison's clothes off or go beat someone's head in. Since neither was an appropriate response, he spent the time pacing back and forth, trying to burn off some energy. In his mind, he amused himself by analyzing the way the passer-by moved, and how easy or not it would be to put them all down.

Paying for the clothing went quickly, Alison not even noticing as one of the shoppers in line behind her gave her a puzzled look of half-recognition. Walking away with the dress bag in which the clothing had been carefully place hanging over her shoulder, she paused at the exit just a moment. Being looked at like that did bad bad things to her self-control. The small voice asking her snidely 'what self-control?' was ignored as she stepped outside, smiling at Haroun when she caught sight of him.

Haroun turned around, and then undressed her with nothing but his eyes and his imagination. "Hey." he said, with just a hint of that growl inhis voice. "Where to, O Guide To American Capitalism? Men's clothing, or one of those other stores you mentioned?" he grinned. "I'm flexible
and quick with an opinion of anything - anything at _all_ - that you want to try on." he said with a laugh. He still occasionally amazed himself with his boldness, but it seemed to work.

There was pure feminine contentment at still being looked at that way, which neatly drowned out the warnings in the back of her mind for a moment, the fact that they were in public the only reason she didn't push things further. Much further. The gleam in her
eyes spoke clearly of that as she wandered closer, until the reminder that breaking Haroun was bad finally broke through loud and clear. "Mmm. Men's clothing, I think," she offered , trying to behave while one hand treacherously reached out of its own volition to pat his side lightly. Maybe it would be best to skip that store she had in mind for herself. Just maybe. He had that air about him.

"You sure about that?" he asked, nostrils flared, sensing a hesitation, a weakness. He then smiled at her and put the brakes on hard. He was not normally like this, but it felt so right, so perfect. "Yeah, OK, sure. Men's clothes. Lead on - guess it's my turn to show off a bit, hrm?" he said with a grin.

She was doomed. Utterly doomed. And she had to behave. "I could live with that," was the only answer possible, Alison grinning cheerfully as she pondered the options, and then decided upon which store to go to first. Comfortable, something allowing him range of motion for his particular style of fighting. "Mmm. Thataway!" Chattering about things (anything!) as they walked was one way of keeping things on a safer lever, or so she hoped, and she indulged in doing just that.

"Try not to sound so enthusiastic at the prospect." he grinned. "It's unbecoming." He then kept his conversation as light and fluffy as he could possibly manage as they headed for the store that she had apparently decided was the Go-To Place to Acquire Clothing. "So - what am I modeling for your viewing pleasure today?" he asked as they walked. "Suits? Casual clothes? Swimwear?" he asked with a leering grin.

The latter was just teasing her, is what it was. "I think we should make a special trip a bit before the summer just for swimwear. But for today? Casual." She didn't quite manage to keep the purr out of her voice as she said the word, biting her lip lightly in a vain attempt to not smile quite too widely. "Comfortable and," Alison carefully edited out the next line which had something to do with sneaking in there with him it was so comfortable, "preferably something in black I think. Maybe."

"Do you think? All rightie then. Black it is." he said with a grin as they walked into the store. "You're in command here. Where do you want to start? Sweaters? Button-downs? T-shirts? Your wish is my modeling command." he said, leaning in close to nibble on her ear just slightly.

"Well we…" She trailed off for a moment - that was cheating in horrible cheating ways, it was. "Mm. Pants. We should start with those." As in him putting another pair on, yes. "And that's nice." It was hard to reach for something to show it to him, Alison discovered, when her body decided that staying exactly where it was seemed like a better idea. There was still a vague attempt to reach, nonetheless, and point at one of the actually very nice turtleneck sweaters on display.

"Pants." he agreed with a grin. "I can do pants. Pants are easy." he said with a low laugh. "See anything that moves you?" he asked, fully conscious of the double-edged nature of the question. "Anything you'd like to see me try on?"

There was a non-committal sound, which was really Alison just buying time to dismiss one potential answer after another. They were in public. He had a vibe about him that spoke of needing a filtering and she was starting to wonder about the frequency at which that kept happening of late, even as a small voice mockingly informed her that the continued failures to get anywhere probably had a lot to do with it, and wasn't that pathetic enough? She finally managed to get a hold of one of the turtlenecks and brought it close, turning around a but to drape it on him. Yes. That was nice. Very nice. "The turtleneck." She paused, concentrating on clothing and Haroun and not the jeering comments in the back of her mind.. "And pants. We can find you pants on the way to the changing room." That Look was actually quashing the bad voice neatly and distracting her all over again. Good thing she had the turtleneck between them. Even if it was close to getting flattened between them at this rate.

Haroun looked at the turtleneck, then looked at Alison. "Guess I'll go try this on." he said with a grin. "Go find that pair of pants you wanted me to try on while I go try this turtleneck on." he said, and then headed off to the dressing room - with as much of a slow languid strut as his aching back and cane would allow him, anyway. Who knows, maybe he could tempt her into something public and risky.

Alison waited until he was out of sight to quietly hide her face in her hands, ignoring one of the low snickers from someone or other nearby. She found the rack of jeans but was distracted soon by a pair of urban cut pants instead and selected those, adding a simple pair of black jeans as an afterthought before finally heading over to the changing area. In the interest of not precipitating a far too public display, there would be no silk shopping. Or pouncing on a Haroun in the changing room. No matter how much fun either might be.

Instead she asked one of the salesclerks in which cabin Haroun has disappeared in, and then waved one hand over the top to get his attention before slinging the selected offerings of clothing over the edge.

"Here are a few things."

Haroun, rather than accepting just those few things over the wall, walked out in just his jeans and boots. "Thanks." he said, taking the clothing to be tried on from Alison, and letting his fingers linger a little too long on hers before drawing his hand back. Only the bandage still wrapped around his lower back spoiled the effect.

He was doing it on purpose. Alison had pulled that one herself far too often not to see it coming a mile off. It didn't save her from the effect it had on her however, which involved unabashed staring and a slight leaning of the body towards him before she caught herself. She smiled at him, reaching out close the door on him after he backed into the cabin. "You are an evil man," was the murmur through the door, Alison then turning to look to the side - and sparing a flat look for the woman who was lingering a bit too obviously nearby, until she realized that Alison had spotted her and casually wandered off.

Grrrr.

Haroun grinned from ear to ear as he heard Alison lightly growl at some other woman in the hallway. She had actually growled! Whistling a very cheery tune very badly, he tried on the first turtleneck. "Hey, Alison? You should come in here - I'm not sure this is really the right look for me, especially with the bandage on. And I think the bandage shifted, and I could use some help in putting it back on straight." he said transparently. If the mountain wouldn't come to Mohammed...

"The bandage?" Worry broke through everything else and Alison cracked the door open just enough to slip inside to check up on him. And paused, even as the door clicked shut behind her - this was a very small space, when there was a Haroun already taking up a fair part of it. And he didn't look in any pain at all.

She'd been had. Oldest trick in the book, too.

He gave her about a quarter of a second to realize that she'd been had before he kissed her. Just hard enough, the way she liked it normally, and with enough passion to let her know that he meant business. Then he put her back to a wall and nuzzled at her neck urgently, mad to
taste her, to smell her, to finish what they'd begun in that hotel room in New York City before it ignited. Haroun felt like he was on fire, and there was only one thing that could possibly quench the flames.

Her arms had very much ended up wrapped around his neck, though Alison hadn't the faintest idea when exactly, other than it had happened at one point between when he'd started to kiss her and when she'd realized she was now pressed up against the wall. And it was a very nice kind of being pressed up against the wall, the small sounds he was making doing very bad things to her intentions - the ones that were rapidly taking a hike, even though they involved things like not making Haroun's head explode before his next filtering or oh, their first time together being in  a changing room at the mall. "Ah! Haroun..." She fully intended to point out.. Something. Oh yes. Somehow, whatever that something had been, she wasn't remembering it, however.

Haroun was rapidly losing interest in whatever protests she had to offer. This was something right out of one of his books - very romantic and secretive, very hot as well. He let one hand trace along her front, exploring every swell and curve, while the other kept entwining itself through her hair. He was mad for her, mad to experience everything his accident had denied him. Kissing her, however, was very, very nice. He could do it for days, or until he died from starvation.

He had, it would seem, neatly driven any ability to think clearly at all from her in a few moments. Every touch was leaving behind an after trail of heat that left her wanting so much more and the turtleneck that had seemed so perfect while in the store was now very much in the way, her hands moving restlessly over the soft wool. The ability to breathe was deemed as entirely unnecessary and Alison instead set about returning the kiss - with interest.

Haroun growled from deep inside of his chest, wanting to feel skin under his hands, not clothing. So he slid a hand under her shirt, resting it on her stomach for a moment, reveling in the feel of her skin on his own. He kissed her again, deeply, pressing himself against her while his hand roamed northwards. The other one amused itself by running through her hair, feeling the silken softness of it.

It was, really, as much her reaction to it as the feel of his hand on her skin that jolted her back to sudden reality. They were in a changing cabin in a mall - and Haroun was radiating heat far more than was normal, even for him. With a strangled sound, Alison manage to tear herself away from the kiss, just long enough to somehow move one hand to the center of his chest, trying to gain herself just enough room to earn a moment's respite, in the process blocking the hand which had been steadily inching higher underneath her blouse, all the while ignoring the wail of protest in the back of her mind. "We can't..." She had to take another, steadying breath to continue. "We have to stop, Haroun. Now."

Haroun snarled. Literally. "Why?" he asked, looking deep into her Baby Blues. "What, you're not interested now? Or are you worried about some kind of problem that I supposedly have?" he asked harshly. "I'm fine. I'm fine, you're fine, we're all fine here."

She didn't move further, instead lessening the pressure of her hand on his chest, forcing some of the tension that had overtaken her away, relaxing against him slowly. The was nothing rational about his reaction, clearly. Her mind tracked back over events of late, noting minute details and setting them aside for later reference and she reached up, softly laying a hand on his cheek, eyes a bit wide  but nonetheless calm, looking at him searchingly.

"Please, Haroun. Just listen to me." The dead quiet from outside the changing room suddenly drew her attention but she ignored it - it was unimportant, compared to trying to brings things to an even keel again, hoping she'd not have to use the safe word they'd agreed upon, just a few months ago when they'd first started talking about such things. "I need you to do that, right now. Okay? I need you to do that." She repeated the words softly, trying to get through to him.

Haroun closed his eyes and fought for control, to put the rage away, to cram it back into the box. He mostly succeeded, and the residual anger was something he could deal with, channel away, filter out. When he opened his eyes again, he saw the fear in hers, the concern, and it stabbed through him like a knife, turning hot anger into hotter shame. "I am listening." he said, as calmly as he could manage. "I got carried away again, didn't I." he said flatly. "Pushed it too hard, took it too fast. I'm sorry. I didn't..." he said, letting his voice trail off.

The fear was for him, equal to the concern that had beaten down the passion of before nearly entirely. "It's okay," she murmured, not moving a millimeter - they had a balance of some sort, and as precarious as it was, it was still there and she had no intention of disturbing it. Telling him exactly how his getting carried away affected her would be a Bad Thing right now, she reminded herself, no matter how much she wanted to reassure him on that score. "It's okay. We both got carried away." She spoke in a low tone, keeping one ear out for the more normal hubbub of conversation outside to resume - which it seemed to do, though it took agonizingly long to do so. She offered him a calm smile, breathing slow and steady, doing her best to radiate calm in every which way possible. "We're okay." Even if he wasn't, she knew. This had been getting steadily worse.

Haroun gritted his teeth and nodded. "Sure." he said, clearly unconvinced. "Well, anyway, I like the sweater. We should probably cut this short." he said curtly, knowing that it was his weakness, his
failure that ended the outing before it was supposed to end. "Let's go. I think I have a date with the bloody chair again." For the second time today, he thought bitterly to himself. "I'm sorry. I was going to buy us dinner. Our restaurant, even. I can cancel the reservations."

"We'll order in, that's all," she suggested, even as she knew that  just curling up in bed to watch a movie with him wasn't going to happen. The dining hall, then - and the rec room for the movie perhaps. She kept her hand on his check a moment longer, savoring the contact to the utmost, while trying not to give herself away. "We can take the sweater and split." Madelyn had shown her how to run the filtering machine, after all - though Alison would understand if he preferred she not be there, just now.

He had stepped in it big time, that much was obvious. She was being so cold to him; it wasn't like her at all to be like that. "Sure." He said, pasting his smile on. "That would be nice. You can go ahead and make the call and set everything up. I'll be in Medlab. Maybe by the time it arrives I'll be fit to be around again." he commented sourly. I wouldn't count on it. he thought to himself. I'm not usually like this, why can't she see it?

The expression on his face was strained and the sensation of walking on eggshells was overwhelming. Alison nodded slowly and carefully, the realization that what might convince him entirely that things were all right would simply not do just now. Damned if she did and damned if she didn't. There was no way to work this out properly and panic fluttered within for a moment before she beat it down. Now wasn't the time. "I'll take care of things." And then, she dared, just a little. "I know how to do the filterings..." It was, now more than ever, a part of him after all, and so the offer was there - even if he might not be entirely in the right condition to give her a balanced answer.

Haroun didn't know what to think of that offer. Was she doing it out of concern, or was she doing it so that it would be done correctly, or was she doing it so that she could gloat at her handiwork? He wasn't sure, and his mood was nose-diving too rapidly to make much coherent sense out of things. "If you want to." he said to her as he shed the turtleneck and put his regular shirt back on. No teasing this time, just quick movements. "Let's go." he announced.

It was only fair to deal with the consequences, instead of vanishing upstairs to settle things and avoiding the actual filtering itself - which was what they'd always done before, she realized. Not anymore. "Okay." The reply was soft and low, and she folded the turtleneck gently, holding it close to herself after keeping an eye on him while he changed - the bandage being her sole focus of attention, this time, though it seemed to have weathered events well.

Great. Now she was staring at his bandaged midsection. This was so turning out to be not his day. Since she wanted to cling to the turtleneck, he left it to her. "Did you find any slacks to go with the turtleneck?" he asked her in as normal of a tone of voice as he could muster. "That sort of a thing demands the little round sunglasses and pressed slacks." he said. "And a volume of shitty French poetry."

She grinned suddenly, a bright expression. "Yeah, I did." She tilted her head towards the pants that had been forgotten the second she stepped inside the small room. Which she was still in. Opening the door, just a bit, she paused, hand on the handle - that was safer, for both of them. "The little round sunglasses would look great on you." The smile grew, a bit. "Very Morpheus. Dunno about the poetry, though."

Haroun grinned at that one. "Morpheus. I could get into that one. We have one more stop we need to make." he said definitively, striding past Alison and heading for where this store kept their suits for sale. On the way there, he snagged a somewhat dingy yellow tie from the rack. "OK, I lied. Two more stops." he said as he thought for a moment.

Despite the worry that wouldn't let go, Alison smiled a bit. He was perking up now that the notion had taken it seemed - and that was all that mattered, just now. Even with the cane, he was keeping a fair clip as he headed toward the other side of the store and Alison paused only once to throw another glare at the woman from earlier, before catching up with him. "Two more stop it is!" she agreed, a cheerful note to her voice.

Haroun picked out a brown suit, and then thrust it at Alison as soon as she caught up to him. Then he added the yellow tie to her bundle of Haroun-clothes. "Next stop, the Sunglasses place we saw on the way in." he told her. "After all, I should dress the part if I'm going to be Morpheus." he laughed. His earlier troubles were almost forgotten, submerged in the simple joys of shopping and trying to make Alison happy in a way that didn't involve him massaging her various bits with his tongue.

A quick check of the suit revealed that it was good quality and would actually look... pretty damn good, she decided, then folding of clothing over her arm taking a few moments of her attention. The laughter drew it right away though and she chuckled along, wrinkling her nose at him even as she held on to the clothing to keep herself from the first reflex - that of reaching out. This learning to express herself in other ways than the physical was going to be a nightmare. "Well then, I should probably pick up a pair myself." She tilted her head to the side, then eyed the cash and started to head that way. "Too bad I let my hair grow long again. I could have been the blonde chick dressed in white..."

Haroun stopped dead to consider that for a second, and then grinned. "You'd look good in white leather." he said with a laugh. "Come on, we need to pay for this so we can go hit the sunglasses store." he said with another laugh. "On second thought, tell you what. You pay for this stuff, and I'll meet you there." he said, and then headed out of the store without even waiting for an affirmative from Alison.

And off he was again - channeling the excess energy into something else, she realized. Paying happened fast, Alison ignoring the knowing or worried looks some of the staff were giving her, instead intent on getting the stuff wrapped and in a bag, and then finding Haroun. Quickly.