Wake up, get in the shower. Wash your hair. Brush your teeth, put on your clothes. These were the normal things Zane did in the morning, but recently he had to shave. Normally, an elf his age wouldn't have to shave. But the thing was that he wasn't an elf, at least not anymore. He was a human, and slowly he was becoming a human that looked more his age than a 16 year old. His body was changing, and not quite like the ways they would in the sex education classes you were required to take in school.

The years of aging he skipped over as an elf caught up as a human. This whole time he could afford to act like a teenager despite being 28, but that was a luxury he could no longer turn to. Putting on a simple red shirt and jeans, Zane decided to be rather simple with his fashion sense today and headed outside his room, closing and locking his door behind him. Chances are he wouldn't be back here until he needed to sleep once again. Moving to his right, he reached the room of his traveling companion.

Zane thought before he knocked on the door. He intended to tell her about everything, but would she be creeped out? She clearly looked a little bit young, but at the time he too looked young. It was likely that most people would probably guess based on his past face that he was in his late teens, but in reality he was basically a decade older than that. He pondered if she would think of him as creepy...

Shaking off his worries, Zane just decided to knock on the woman's door. It was only about a few minutes until most of the places in Fiore would open for breakfast, so he figured she probably hadn't left that. Maybe she was a late sleeper? Regardless, Zane also called out a little bit to her as well. "Hey Kaiser, are you there?"

Zane entered the room, looking around to see a lot of clothes and stuff on the bed. Somehow, even he was more organized with his stuff than her. Not paying it much mind for now, Zane sat on a suitable spot on the bed, trying not to do so on some piece of clothing or anything, having a feeling Kaiser wouldn't really want him sitting himself on top of her shirt or something. "Take your time, I'm in no hurry!" Zane noted, wondering what would of happened if he had knocked a few minutes earlier. Quickly purging that thought from his head for now, he replied to her question about plans. "I just wanted to see the town, personally. I dunno if you wanted to do some work or anything, but usually it seems like Era gets a lot of job requests. Of course, I can't make ya come and all. It's only if you're wishing for some extra money or something." noticing he couldn't lean back or anything without getting his hands all over Kaiser's clothes, Zane just rested his hand in his lap.

"And uh, truth is, I wanted to tell you about my face. The truth is, I'm actually born an elf." He'd prefer to say it now while the two were in a private room. He hadn't really told many people as he felt insecure about it for some reason. "I don't really know why I'm human now, but I know that my years of youth as an elf are fading." He noted, taking a little breath before saying this one.

What he was about to say might freak out a younger girl and all, especially considering he was in her room even. That being said, he figured it was better to just say it now and risk being thrown out than to lead her on forever into thinking he was super young. "I might have seemed a lot younger, especially when we first met in Astera, but the truth is I'm 28 years old." Waiting for a reply, Zane hoped to god that he wouldn't be labeled a creep and kicked out of the room immediately. Fingers crossed, as they would say.

She was right. Today should be for exploring, no need to rush working. Zane guessed that perhaps he was more up for it given his history in Era, but for Kaiser, it was all brand new. And she'd most likely need a guide or something, right? Zane had taken on the job of explorer, so it only made sense he knew a lot of things about the land of Fiore most people didn't have knowledge of. The months he spent looking for a cure to his curse helped too, though they didn't help with actually stopping it at all.

Zane blinked, surprised at her reaction. He wasn't expecting her to shut it down THAT easily. Sighing, Zane could only come to the conclusion that the other places on Earthland weren't exactly as wacky as Fiore. It definitely seemed like his country had a higher percentage of weird stuff compared to what he had heard from places like Enca. "Fiore's weirder than everywhere else, so I can't blame you for not believing me."

Getting up from her bed, Zane put his hands behind him a bit to get himself up onto the ground, not realizing one of his hands had landed smack dab on her bra. Blushing a bit, he stood up quickly, apologizing as though it was instinct. "Uhhh, sorry! I didn't mean to touc-" Realizing that she was already making her way out, Zane corrected himself in an attempt to get out of hot water. "Nothing! Never mind!" Clearly a bit flustered from that experience, Zane awkwardly came down the stairs with her to the free breakfast.

Impressed by the sheer variety of food the establishment offered, Zane decided to get a little bit of everything. He used to be a chef after all. Who else was better to judge this hotel's food than him? Hurrying back with a plate that ended up being about as big as Kaiser's, Zane sat down and started with the bacon. "Huh, whoever the cook here is, they know how to cook bacon better than most." he noted while chewing, taking note of some aspects of the flavor for inspiration in case he ever decided to cook again. Thinking perhaps he should avoid the topic of his elf heritage for now, Zane decided to ask Kaiser something.

"So, outside of the big Magic Council building, Era is pretty much best known for it's pretty impressive downtown shopping. I don't know if you're a big fan of shopping or not, but from what I've seen in my past visits they have a ton of stores for pretty much everything you could want." Zane wondered if he should bring up the big plushy store. He figured she might like stuffed animals from their first meeting in Astera, but he thought it might work better as a surprise for her later on in the day.

Even someone a bit dense like Zane could see that Kaiser was almost instantly extremely interested in the idea of going shopping. Breakfast would end a bit earlier than Zane expected, him having to quickly eat the last of his crumpet as he stood up to catch up the young woman. While it was odd, he found it quite amusing how her demeanor would become significantly less serious when he mentioned something she liked. This only got him more excited to show her the stuffy place, but it would have to wait. There was an order he had to do this in. He had a plan, one that would take the already great surprise and enhance it further.

This plan was surprisingly simple. Walking Kaiser to the shopping district, Zane stood at the end of its western block. Essentially, the shopping district was shaped like a +. Their current block was on the right side of the plus, with the big plushie store on the top side of the plus. Zane would take her shopping on the western block, she could visit places and see everything, then he would proceed to get her around the corner to see the big store on the north block. His master plan was actually pretty simple and was probably the natural way to go shopping anyways, so it really just boiled down to getting her to shop mainly on the northern end of the block instead of the southern side.

"Here we are. This place is probably one of the best shopping spots in Fiore. I think it was only put here to encourage families to move in and join the knights, though..." thinking to himself, he looked at the two sides of the block, hoping he could find a way to sell the north one better than the south to her.

On the south side, from closest to furthest, there was a coffee shop, a woman's clothing store, a store that specialized in soaps, shampoos and other bathing products. Further down was also a men's clothing store, a shoe place that mainly sold those intended for high-class women, and finally one for makeup.

Meanwhile, the north side has from closest to furthest a weapon shop, a lingerie store, a flower shop, two clothing stores which offered options for either gender, and a small restaurant where they mostly served Sinese and Joyan food. He had to admit, to most girls, the south side would probably be the more appealing option... at least based off of Zane's views of women anyways, which are probably not very accurate in the grand scheme of things. Instead, he'd just try a simple comment. "I heard that flower shop is the best in Fiore, actually."

This was a lie. He had never even noticed that flower shop in the past.

Perhaps Zane was to naive to notice if people took advantage of him or not. For all he knew, Kaiser was taking advantage of him too. Regardless, he wasn't quite smart enough in that sense to notice either way it went. That being said, Zane did manage to notice just how much Kaiser seemed to light up when they got to the shopping block. A girl he had seen as normally quite silent and calm was now quite noticeably excited. This actually ended up making Zane smile as well, perhaps finding happiness in knowing that he could make someone so positive just like that.

Little did Zane know however was how much some females shopped. He was born and raised in the country, Baska to be specific. Usually when he shopped, it was quick and to the point: walk in, see a few things you like, buy them, walk out. This wasn't the case here. It didn't take long for Zane to tell it would be a while before they reached the corner...

Zane also volunteered to carry a lot of Kaiser's things. Again, having grown up on the country made him accustomed to carrying a lot of stuff around. What he never could've been ready for was the lingerie store, however. Perhaps he should've just asked to wait outside, but it came to the point where he missed his chance. The whole way through his face was red, embarrassed as he had to stand in a store full of woman's underwear. He had to admit that he originally thought the word "lingerie" meant something else, and that the underwear in the window was just a small part of a general woman's clothing store or something.

The other shops were hit after as well, thankfully allowing Zane to regain his composure as the pair approached the corner of fate. This was Zane's time to speak up. "Kaiser, I think there's something you'll reallllly like up here." he said, with an excited smile, having been waiting for this moment since the hotel room. He hoped she would be happy.

Bags still in his hands, he pulled a bit ahead of her on the corner, walking far out enough so that he could see the large plush store. Should Kaiser of followed him, she would most likely be able to see the clear view of it as well. It truly was impressive, and even just through the windows it was clear that the selection was pretty vast.

Zane smiled, looking over to wherever Kaiser was. Judging by how she acted in Astera, he imagined she would have a pretty good reaction to what was going down here. "This is Russo Plush's head office, and also their biggest store by far. Shall we?" he asked, ready to follow the girl at a moment's notice.

The girl seemed to show very little remorse for her actions, something Zane knew he couldn't feel too bad about considering he volunteered. Though, he did feel she teased him a little toooo much about the lingerie, though he enjoyed it a little at first. It all ended up paying off though - Kaiser's reaction was as good as Zane could've hoped. "It's alright, don't worry about me. You get as many as you want." he said with a smile, words he knew he may very well end up regretting. He could take it though.

Still, the sheer number of things he was carrying was already a lot. He was already starting to feel some fatigue, and he had a feeling that once they got into the plush shop, well...

The average life expectancy in Fiore was about 83 for most human males. Zane probably would've died a whole 55 years too early if it was not for the help of one brave woman. Was it Kaiser? No, it wasn't. If anything, she was the one who would've been the cause for his death. What really helped was the nice lady who worked at the plush shop. Her name was Olivia, and she had offered to give Zane a cart to put things in, having seen how much stuff he was carrying. It was the kind, compassionate moves in life that really stuck out to Zane. He'd have to return it back to the store at the end of the day, but he didn't mind.

Still, despite everything, Zane would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy today. The fun didn't last too long though, as Zane's stomach gave him clear signs that it wasn't pleased. "Well, I think I'm about ready for lunch. You ever tried out corndogs?" Zane asked, knowing a good place for them not far from here. And so the two walked down the street to their next stop, with Zane knowing full well she'd probably want to do even more shopping as the day went on forever...


EXIT