Charles Patricius

While Kazuhiko accompanied Angelica for the sake of managing appearances, Soma gradually moved closer to the pair. He had words to share with Kazu based on an earlier observation. Once he was within earshot, he started scanning a rack and spoke. "What is it about that one that makes you defer?" he asked bluntly. Kazu took a moment to process being addressed so suddenly, and to realize what the black-haired male was talking about. "Huh? You mean Annie?" he asked. "The brunette, yes. You're supposed to be the leader here, right? You've been letting that one make all the calls this entire time. Why?" Whatever Soma wanted this information for, Kazu didn't know. He took a moment to think, but the answer was clear in his mind all along. "Well it's easy, right? I didn't decide to be leader anyway, but besides all that... deferring to the person who knows what they're doing is just the better choice in general. I'll do that before I try to pull something out of my ass," he said.

How interesting. Soma's take on the matter was quite different. He much preferred the idea of acquiring knowledge from the experienced, but not leaving them the stage. Perhaps there was something he didn't understand quite yet. "Sou ka. I guess I'll..." Just then, he was interrupted by a young clerk with long, dark hair held in a ponytail. "Miss! Your friends are already starting to try things on. Did you need any help picking something?" she asked, assuming Soma was a young woman as well. He realized quickly what was going on, and made a decision without hesitation. "Actually... I need something very showy. Something that'll make any normal guy lose his mind the moment he sees it," Soma instructed. "Oh I have just the thing!" the woman answered before gesturing toward a selection of teddy-style sets with openings at the nipples and crotch ─ one that seemed right enough for most of the girls in this group. Soma picked out a black version with matching stockings and partial sleeves. He said nothing more to the clerk, choosing instead to make a casual beeline toward the dressing rooms. He wouldn't be entering an empty one, but instead one occupied by... ah, it seemed Chika was the lucky random walk-in victim.

Angelica in this moment, became privy to a second hand conversation. One between Kaguya's son, Soma and Kazuhiko. The former of which was curious about why Kazuhiko chose to let Miko be in charge while he was supposed to be the leader. Did he not understand the necessity of task management? Well, even if he didn't it would seem that Kazuhiko had a pretty reasonable understanding of why he had nothing to say to Miko while she was taking charge of making sure this group got everything it needed. Soon after Kazuhiko responded some random woman walked up who worked at the store and asked the black haired boy if he needed help referring to him as female. Angelica looked at Kazuhiko and found herself whispering, "Does he look like a girl to her?" she whispered?

Miko had taken pictures of herself in her clothes and then all the way down to pink lace panties and then naked. That intense blush on her face was one thing, but it wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon. After trying on a cute teddy, she was sure that she was getting the right sizes and redressed to by a few more. By the time she was redressed she emerged from a dressing room to find Soma peaking his head into one. She'd wait outside of that one, with his phone in her hands. Meanwhile, Chika who was within this particular dressing room looked up to find Soma and apparently thought nothing of it, "Oh? Do you need something?' she wondered while looking at herself in the mirror. Shopping was taking place as Sena seemed to be finding some more sporty options for herself with Emirie's help. While Emirie seemed to be looking for subtly mature pieces in pastel colors.

A woman walking up to Soma as if he belonged, and in fact as if he were a woman, was odd... but not so odd in hindsight. Kazu had a look at the lad while Angelica asked if he looked like a girl to the clerk. Angelica wasn't very well-traveled even in Aincrad, so he supposed that question was normal. "Well, yeah. Guys aren't supposed to be that... pretty. Not at any age. If you just look him in the face, he's actually prettier than most girls you'll find in this world. 8, maybe 9 out of 10 overall," he explained.

Meanwhile, Soma was stepping fully into the dressing room occupied by Chika. She didn't seem very bothered at all. Perhaps it was a stroke of luck that led him to this one. His intention was to utilize Anya, but the higher tier afforded by linking one's mana to another would not be reached with her. As such, he committed to shutting himself inside to answer her question. "I need a lot of things. More importantly, you need this more than... whatever the hell that is," he said regarding an odd choice of pajamas, offering instead the teddy he'd brought along. While holding it on offer, he shifted his gaze slightly toward the entrance. A knowing smirk appeared on Soma's face, and he left it alone to pursue another part of an overarching plan.

Angelica's whispered question got a straight forward answer, that Soma for all intents and purposes would have made a very high attractiveness female person. According to Kazuhiko men weren't supposed to be pretty, that was an odd thing to note. Angelica considered Kazuhiko to be among the more attractive men she'd laid eyes on, and she saw Soma as being very attractive as well, but she didn't see it as a non-masculine sort of attractiveness. "Hm, I feel like that means I haven't seen enough people to understand what you're talking about. Though I would describe his face as pretty too," Angelica decided. "Though by that logic you're pretty too..." she decided, she'd picked up several different pieces already. Thongs, in lace and satin with matching bras. Lots of pieces that were the royal blue and white that she enjoyed so much. But also some blacks and whites with various amounts of coverage. Though Angelica's bag was royal blue based on her own taste.

Meanwhile, Soma was busy barging into the dressing room that currently was being occupied by Chika. He claimed he needed a lot of things, but that she needed the outfit he was currently holding. She looked at it and shrugged, "Hai!~" she said accepting it. She'd begin trying to slip into it, without anything considered common sense. Meanwhile, Ai and Kaguya had g-athered a decent amount of things. Ai had a white bag, while Kaguya had a black one, they'd both collected a decent amount of undergarments, but Kaguya had managed one of her other magical abilities so she'd only be getting a single one of each of the items she liked most. Ai, had several different sorts of things collected, but she was looking for button up pajama shirts which she found most comfortable. Miko tapped on the dressing room door occupied by Soma and mentioned outside of it. "Your phone is ready!" she was content to hand it over and then... go back to organizing shopping and starting to pay for important things.

Angelica's limited experience didn't afford her much chance to see most of humanity. Most people she knew were right here in this group, or among a small segment of Aincrad's population. That list was full of the exceptional. "Yeah, you haven't even seen the Gilleses of the world..." he said. Of all the people he'd seen in both worlds, Gilles de Rais was a special kind of concerning to look at. As for Kazuhiko being pretty, he could hardly argue that he lacked the more conventional masculine features. "Thanks, I guess? Most guys would rather go for handsome, which I don't think I could pull off any more than... well, however much I have as Charlemagne. Either way, I'd rather leave the pretty to you guys and... stuff like that," he said, a careful wayward glance falling upon the articles Angelica chose.

Soma didn't even have to convince the pink-haired girl. With no prompting whatsoever, she was taking the lingerie he offered. Soma was content to watch for the time being, but fate wouldn't be allowing that. No, it seemed someone was keen on putting herself right in the way due to their earlier arrangement. Miko, who had his phone, knocked and called out. What an annoying time it was for that. Soma groaned audibly from beyond the door. He had plans for Chika now, but he didn't intend to take that phone until he had time to take a proper look at it. Well, there was always a solution for everything. "I'm busy. Why don't you bring it in? I'm dressed," he said deviously.

Apparently, Angelica really hadn't seen very many people even in her extended life time. There were a few she saw, but they were all within the realm of attractiveness that she considered the standard high for humans, with a few outliers in the positive sense. Even humans like Renaud and Roland weren't ugly to her, they were simply not as pretty as Kazuhiko was as Charlemagne. The Gilleses of the world, as Kazuhiko called them were apparently on the low scale of attractiveness but she recognized that name, "Gilles? Wasn't he hanging out with Jeanne, I assumed he was at least regular attractive, which I count along with people like Roland... if he was hanging out with Jeanne I wouldn't expect anything much lower," she commented. Maybe that sounded shallow but the orders of the world existed for a reason, and it was kind of odd to her the idea that someone unattractive would attach themselves to someone as attractive as Jeanne d'Arc. Ah, but beyond that apparently pretty wasn't what men went for, in their odd sense of masculinity they preferred handsome as a descriptor and Kazuhiko thought that he only really achieved that as Charlemagne, "Hm... I think the future will see that handsome advance though nothing wrong with having a pretty face. It's what most people will see of you," Angelica decided. As for the prettiness of women and the objects they were holding, Angelica understood. "Still, it makes sense I guess..." Angelica decided, technically speaking standards of beauty were much easier for her to understand than anything else he'd tried telling her today.

In the meantime, Chika was busy changing into a very open teddy for Soma when a knock came to the door. It was Miko and she had Soma's phone. Well, that didn't require anything resembling a response from Chika. Miko had seen Chika naked plenty of times, she probably wouldn't even react to such a thing. So long as she kept her hands clean her friend probably wouldn't be upset with her. And what did Soma have to say... he was dressed so she could come in, but he was also busy. "That statement is anxiety inducing, shitsureishimasu..." she mentioned opening the door enough for her to slip inside. Once she did she was looking up and had Chika enter her senses physically. She took in the sight of exposed nipples and undercarriage as the pink haired girl was sleeping on the associated sleeves. She didn't say anything, but her grip on that phone tightened instictively as she opened it and immediately snapped a picture of the pink haired girl. "Ooops, I did that without thinking... I am going to need that," she mentioned as she handed the device over to Soma. Instead of harping on his phone she was developing a bit of tension in the middle of her forehead. "You didn't even think about it did you? Just put it on..." she said of the outfit the girl was currently wearing. "Nope, and yep. It looks good right Mi-chama?!" she said giving a twirl and big imploring eyes. "Yes of course it does. That isn't the point, this is why you aren't allowed to go out by yourself. You didn't even think about the details before you did this..." she chided the other girl who shrugged. "Eh, you guys already did that. And besides, he's Kaguya's kid... there isn't that much to worry about," she said with surety. A sigh escaped Miko, she was sure she was aging again... Could she even explain this in a way that would make the lesson stick? Whatever the case, within Soma's phone, besides that picture of Chika were a series of pictures of a progressively more naked Miko, staring in her outfit of the day, and stripping down to just heels and tights though a series of peekaboo shots. her panties and bra in that case, were red and black lace.

Kazuhiko and Angelica continued a discussion about human attractiveness while the former let his eyes continue passively perusing hanging lingerie. He'd never been able to consider Gilles attractive by any standard, but the worst came with the passage of time. "No way. You're the only person I've ever seen still look as good while standing next to Jeanne. Even with that being the case, Gilles was a little below average in the beginning, and only looked worse as time passed. I can't imagine what he looks like now... though I know what he will look like if I see him again," he growled. Moving on to the matter of his 'prettiness' as Angelica insisted, Kazu could do nothing but accept whatever she found positive. "I've got no room left to think about how I look to myself anymore. The number of people who seem interested in what I look like keeps growing. Even if it didn't... as long as your opinion's good, I've got nothing to worry about."

Despite her interruption of a plan in progress, Miko was easily persuaded into entering the changing room. She obviously didn't realize Soma was not its only inhabitant, but lo... she obviously wasn't displeased with what she found within. Another picture was added to Soma's camera reel within seconds, much to his satisfaction after the interruption. According to Miko, she also needed that picture. Soma took a moment to scroll through the images in his phone, also realizing a number had already been saved to the device. It couldn't have been anyone else's. "Asking for favors now? Well, since this is a lot more than I expected from you... fine. I'll send it, and I guess I still owe you. Ready to cash in?" he asked. In that moment, Soma was sending that picture to Miko with the one hand on his phone. His other hand was busy loosing his trousers while his crotch pointed in Chika's direction. "We were just about to make sure this lingerie passes all the necessary tests... including the activity check. Right?" he questioned further, shifting his gaze toward Chika momentarily. "That's the rest of the details, by the way. You clearly have an eye for both of us, and I've got enough room down here to fit both of you... with some caveats."

According to Kazuhiko the only person who ever looked the same amount of attractive around Jeanne was Angelica. That might have been a bit of an overestimation, or maybe it was just the Aincrad bubble life speaking in that case. Whatever he meant, he spoke of a man called Gilles, who started off below average in looks and only got worse over time. That was disturbing for magical reasons, but given what they'd learned of the betrayal of Jeanne made a bit of sense, "If he wasn't elevated by being around her... then there was something wrong with him at a deeper level," she commented almost absently. "And you just made animal noises," she said as they moved past the tension. Of course, she understood the amount of anger to be aimed at someone like Gilles who'd defiled and betrayed Jeanne, but that was something to be taken care of at a different time. There was likely a more human way to explain how Angelica understood the world, but at present, she was still picking out underclothes to wear, including tights which she'd seen on several of the others now and thought had some real potential. As for his statements about himself she scoffed just a little, "You've got plenty of room to look at yourself, but if you'd prefer the rest of us do it for you... I'm sure there is a group willing to do so~" she encouraged the boy she'd decided to attach herself. They'd had this sort of conversation already and whether he was Kazuhiko or Charlemagne he was someone many should adore, Angelica understood this.

At the same time, that dressing room was rapidly becoming a little den of debauchery. Why? Well, because Soma wasn't one to stop at the thought. Apparently what he'd received in his phone was more than he expected and he claimed he still owed her so he'd send her that picture she'd so recently taken of Chika. Oddly enough, Chika didn't seem to cause the same kind of innate no response and anxiety that her twin brother did in Miko. Perhaps it was exposure or maybe it was because a buffer was obviously present and they didn't have to interact in a direct sense. "I just didn't think I liked idea of taking that one picture without the context of the others. I've gotten oddly obsessive about that in the last couple of days. Still, arigatou gouzaimasu~" Miko admitted sheepishly. In the meantime, Chika was finding herself in a situation which was oddly normal for her. "Hai!~ Mi-chama did mention still being thirsty!" Chika said which was a surprisingly lucid sentence and understanding for her. She wondered if she should worry that her usual wariness was missing, but decided that she could figure that part out a bit later if need be. "I feel like I should be more annoyed, not less. So moving on, caveats? Like how are you trying to do this?" she specified as she moved to help him with his pants. She'd become very good at the undressing part of sex in her recent experience.

Something was definitely wrong with the man called Gilles de Rais. Most knew that much after first meeting him, but none seemed to understand the true extent of his eventual fall. All Kazu knew now was that his growling was certainly an accident, but not something he'd ever take back. "I'll do it again when I rip him in half," he said in eerily calm fashion, fully seething beneath the surface. There was nothing to be done about that now, though. As such, Kazuhiko moved on rather quickly. "Nah, no room at all. There's literally no point doing it if everyone important is satisfied. There's an old saying: don't try to fix what's not broken. Obviously I'm not broken," he finalized. "Anyway, how's your collection coming? Those look like some uh... err... interesting pieces."

Speaking of interesting pieces, Soma was finding two interesting pieces... of flesh. Between Chika and Miko, he would have a very full morning before their journey even continued. He already had a certain fullness in his phone, given Miko's preference for context to a single picture... which she obtained by adding over a dozen more pictures to the list. No one could rightly complain about an entire strip show in a camera reel. He'd have even less room to complain if his suggestion was taken properly. Chika seemed interested, much to his expectation. As for Miko, she wanted to know about the aforementioned caveats. Well, she was still reaching for his pants to help him be rid of them either way. "That's obviously not important to you, or you wouldn't be getting involved already. The major caveat is that this one is my primary target right now," he said, nodding toward Chika. "I have my own reasons for that. But as long as that connection is made, I don't care about much else." With that, Soma officially finished getting things started. His breeches were loosened enough for his cock to spring forth, held in one hand and waved between the two girls. "So... you'll have to share any 'drinks' no matter how 'thirsty' you are."

It would seem that Kazuhiko wasn't taken back that noise made because of thoughts of murdering Gilles de Rais. Angelica also understood to some extent that the one who betrayed Jeanne didn't deserve sympathy, but it was always odd to see the more serious form of the man she knew as Charlemagne. In general, the princess was used to him in him good temper, or flustered or even playful. The part of him that was a warrior or warlord or dictator were quite foreign to her as an idea. She didn't begrudge him the ill feelings he had though, she only slapped him against the back as part of her own playful sort of comfort. "Aye!" she offered. Moving on, he wasn't interested in thinking about himself because of the existing satisfaction of everyone who already mattered. "I suppose that is fair. Also trying to change yourself too much can be bad for you so yeah I get that," she said thoughtfully while picking up some more tights with interesting designs at the top. Their conversation was moving through normal things and as Kazuhiko asked about her collection she could only smile. "I think it's coming along nicely. I didn't expect to find these clothes so interesting and though I don't really get this obsession with layers, I do think these are interesting," Angelica mentioned. Well, layers were things often missing from the minds of gods and their progeny. They were too perfect from birth to consider covering up for modesty sake, so they'd get the surprise of that in their later lives.

Meanwhile, Soma, Miko and Chika were getting into something deviant within that dressing room. While Miko helped Soma with his pants she was given the details of his caveats. He mentioned that she obviously didn't care, and that wasn't entirely true. "Iia, I need to know where the line is, to avoid accidentally crossing it," she said in answer. "But this is fine, sharing is caring after all..." she said of her own understanding. Of course, she'd share simply because it was in her nature to do so, and she'd take if it was offered to her, such was how Miko understood the world. Too bad in this moment she was busy watching a cock spring forth and suddenly that bit of drooling she did returned with a vengeance, right in the corner of her mouth. "Hai, Mi-chama always shares with us!~" Chika said, making Miko's eyes shift towards her for just a second. She wondered if Chika like Astolfo was simply managing to say something that was very true without realizing the depth of that truth. Regardless, if the only line was that she had to share because he wished to establish his connection properly, she could manage that though if she could entice him into seeking her out again on her own after such an experience well, then she'd win by her own understanding. As if this thought was something which settled into her mind, Miko leaned forward and licked down his cock. Would she prefer a full course and exploration? Yes, but she could take a snack for now. Meanwhile, Chika was watching with wide and sparkling eyes, she hadn't known Miko would act so forward, it was almost shocking to see. "Sugoi! Always leading the way~" she confirmed as Chika went about a similar practice if only to see what happened and continue observing from any perspective.