How Green Becomes Wood

Dark shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck, "Thrift stores are tricky for me. They do not regularly make clothing long enough to reach my ankles and wrists, so unless some other 6'8 man died recently, and was built similarly to me, it is unlikely to find clothing which fits. Which is another reason why nobody should want to be this tall."

The store, as promised, was large. It was not separated into "Mens" and "Womens" but instead into types of garment. The only broader sections were Maternity, Petite, and Plus Size, although these, two, had the garment categories beneath them. The store actually had two levels with a lofted area above the main floor.

"There's a thrift store I went to in Paris where everything was charged by the kilo," Daizi told Alec, "I bought a vest for, like, 67 cents."
 
Last edited:
"Wow!" Alec whispered in awe. "This place is massive! How do you find anything here? Never mind, no, you find it by luck because you were supposed to find it, right?" He grinned and tugged very lightly on Daizi's arm. "Let's go look at the maternity clothes first! There's some very nice ones, I bet."
 
Daizi quietly groaned, but allowed herself to be tugged, "It's really okay if we do it later, we came here mostly for you..."

"No, we should go now, darling. Eat the frog, yes? Get the least pleasant task out of the way first?" He placed his hand on the small of her back and led her towards the maternity section.

"I hate trying on clothes even when I'm not pregnant..." She grumbled, "It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact I know I'll just need to come back later."

"Then we will buy in advance," He replied, "I promise this will not be as bad as you are expecting."
 
Alec dove straight into it, looking over the styles. "Oh, these aren't so bad! Some of them look like they adjust. Or just hang and flow so that you could wear the same thing for the entire time." He sorted through, chattering almost ceaselessly as he started hanging items to Dark. Sometimes he'd take one out, look at it, shake his head, and put it back. Other times, he'd hold it up for Dark to look at, but he never quite stopped talking the whole time.

It wasn't until Dark's arm was full of possible choices that he asked Dark, "Which of these do you like best?" and actually paused for an answer.
 
"How heartbroken will you be if this baby doesn't grow up to be interested in clothes?" Daizi asked Alec, following them around.

"I probably will be, at least a little bit, if she decides she does not like clothes while I still get to dress her," Dark replied, looking like a closet. He had a momentary guilty moment where he was glad Daizi was blind, because he knew she would laugh at him if she could see.

It finally being time for him to give his opinion, he quickly picked off the ones that were too brightly coloured. Daizi wore more colour than he did, certainly, but some of the outfits Alec picked were too bright. Daizi wore jewel tones. A few more he discarded because they were in a material he knew Daizi despised, even though the pattern and cut was nice. One skirt he held up and squinted at for awhile, and then handed it to Daizi, "It might be too short when it is on. What do you think, Spider?"

She felt the hem line and the length of the skirt, "I can't tell. The fabric is nice..." She felt the waist band, "What's this?"

"It is an elastic band. It gives you support and helps the skirt stay up." Dark replied, and after she felt it for a while more, she handed it back to him. In response, he handed her another dress, "Feel that one."

She touched it, and after a few moments she smiled slightly, "It has stars and bat sleeves..."

"And this one I picked," He handed it to her, "It has ivy embroidered across the neckline and down the bodice, it is very pretty."
 
"The ivy one is the prettiest, I think," Alec admitted to Daizi. "Dresses will probably be the easiest. They won't pinch one little bit, but that skirt would look good, as long as it's not too short. Oh! One more." He pulled out a long, flowing, dark red dress with the gathers under the bust rather than at the waist. "I like the color of this one. That's the last one! I promise."

He looked to Dark for approval and direction. He had absolutely no idea where the dressing rooms were.
 
"I need to have some skirts, at least for my appointments." Daizi said, and then feared for the amount of clothes she'd be made to try on.

"We have some. And some shirts," He began flipping through and frowned, holding one up to Alec which read "Ice Ice" and then had an arrow pointing to the bump, "No." He hung it back on the rack.

"You can probably go look at things for yourself while I try these on, Alec, I'm not sure if it'd be fun for you to watch me go through all of these."
 
"I don't remember picking up that one," Alec protested. "That is so tacky! Even I know that." When Daizi said he should find something for himself, Alec hesitated a moment before slowly nodding in agreement. "Alright. I hope we picked out some comfortable options for you. You could make even tacky look good, but it must be comfortable." He turned and started moving away, seeking the area that would most likely hold things he'd be interested in.
 
"Thank you for helping." Daizi said. Ultimately she was glad he agreed to go look for himself, rather than asking to watch her model everything, because she didn't know how everything was going to fit, and her husband seeing her in clothing that didn't fit properly or she hadn't correctly put on was fine. Her fifteen year old son seeing her like that was not something any of them would enjoy.

"The dressing rooms are just over there," He gestured to them. They were actually individual stalls and not full rooms with hallways leading to them, "If you need us, that is where we will be, okay?"

Dark brought Daizi to the fitting room, hung everything up, and then waited outside for her to start trying things on.
 
The moment Dark and Daizi left, so did much of Alec's spark. Looking for someone else was easy and fun. For himself? Not so much anymore. Listlessly, he moved through the racks, occasionally tugging out a piece to look at only to put it back. In the amount of time it had taken him to load up Dark's arms for Daizi, he hadn't found a single item for himself. He just didn't feel like it. He'd mostly agreed to doing this to make Dark and Daizi feel better.

Then he found The Shirt. A slow grin crossed his face as he pulled it out of the line of hanging clothes and held it up. Xander had said he could pick any shirt he wanted to make certain he'd be easy to spot in the crowd. This shirt was absolutely hideous! He loved it. Then he spotted another shirt just a short distance away. That one was even better! Actually, as he looked at it, Alec thought he might like it for himself. He smiled to himself and held up the two shirts. Perfect! He continued down the row until he eventually found a section with all belts. He found the longest belt he could and snickered to himself. It was black leather, but it had a scale pattern, and the buckle was a snake's head where the teeth were what went into the holes and held it on. Satisfied with his finds, he started for the dressing stalls, but he moved slowly, giving Daizi and Dark plenty of time.
 
To Daizi's relief, the process of trying on the clothes wasn't as bad as she had feared. What Dark and Alec had collaborated on to pick was comfortable, and when she could feel the designs, she was relieved to find they were familiar. That one skirt wasn't too short to wear, but it was shorter than she felt comfortable in. There were a few other items she rejected, either she didn't like how the material felt against her skin, it felt too tight across the chest, or just because there was something about it she didn't like. The batwing dress and the ivy dress she absolutely adored, and Dark, who was sitting on a stool watching her, had his arms folded comfortable across his chest, and was more or less just being her cheerleader, because in his eyes, everything she wore, that she liked, was stunning. It was almost too much to take, seeing her come out from behind the curtain in clothing she looked divine in.

When Alec came up by the stalls, Daizi had just stepped out in the final outfit: The red dress Alec had selected, "This one is very comfortable," she said, turning slightly, "How does it look?"

Dark blinked, staring at her, desperately trying to remember a single word in either of the languages he spoke.
 
Alec grinned as he watched her turn. He glanced at Dark and almost laughed at the expression on his face. "Daizi, you are truly a goddess," he told her. "The professor would agree, but I think he swallowed his tongue. You make that dress look... divine is the only word for it. Right, Professor?" He gave Dark a gentle nudge.
 
"Mmhm," Dark replied instinctively, and then his wits returned to him, and more eloquently said, "You look beyond words."

"Obviously," She giggled, "I should go change. A dress that breaks my husband is too dangerous to wear lightly."

She slipped back behind the curtain, and Dark shook himself fully awake, "So, did you find anything you liked?"
 
Alec smiled brightly and held up two very... unique shirts. One was offensive to the eyes on color alone. Yellow, blue, red, black, white, all the colors in lines down the shirt but in a kaleidoscopic pattern. At a glance, it almost looked like a paisley pattern, but not quite. It was a long-sleeved button-up shirt made out of very nice, breathable material and a good collar.

The other shirt made the first look completely reasonable. The short sleeves were striped with orange, red, white, and two shades of blue. The collar was bright red. The body of the shirt was its own shade of aqua blue with what looked like sausages all over it, but on closer glance, the sausages were actually little binoculars. It was a daring shirt to be sure.
 
Dark blinked slowly at the two shirts, once more at a loss for words, but now not in a good, awe-struck way as before, "Daizi does not know how lucky she is." He said, and it was unclear if he meant she was lucky because of the... restraint Alec had shown when choosing her outfits, or if she was lucky because she was blind and could not see these two abominations.
 
Alec held out the paisley shirt with a smile that was all innocent sincerity. "I really like this one for you," he said without a hint of teasing, his eyes clear of mischief. "It might even fit!" And from the way he was holding it, it did have the illusion of being bigger than it really was. "You'll try it on, right?"
 
"I... do not know about that," Dark replied, trying to maintain his cool and not let Alec know how absolutely atrocious he found the thing, "I am not sure it is really my style."

"Oh, did you actually find something Dark may be able to wear?" Daizi asked, stepping out of the stall, once more in the dress she wore in, and glad to be finished trying on clothes, "You should try it, just from the rarity."
 
'OH, absolutely! Please?" Alec tried, but his voice cracked a little on the last word, and he broke down laughing. "I am joking! I am joking. You should see your face! Daizi, he looks like some random stranger just tweaked his nose. No, this isn't for you. I picked them out for Xander. He said I could choose whatever I wished for him to wear at the concert tonight, so I chose these." The mischief now sparkled in his eyes. "I wonder if I can get Declan to wear the other one."
 
"Aw you should've guilted him into trying it, you called it off too soon!" Daizi cackled, extremely impressed with Alec's decision to pull a prank on her husband.

Dark sighed heavily in relief, and standing said, "If he got it for Xander, I would probably rip the thing to shreds."

"Well that's perfect, doesn't Xander like distressed clothing? And it'd be fun for me, too." Daizi took his hand, "Did you find anything for yourself though, Alec?"
 
"Not yet. But I did find something the professor can try on," Alec said and held up the belt. He started to hand it to Dark and then changed his mind and took Daizi's hand, putting the belt in her hand so she could feel it in all its snakey glory. "Don't you think this will suit him perfectly?"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top