Deceptive Cadence (Cecil/Rui)

Cecil is rendered speechless.
"Doctor's...orders? For...that long? I...nevermind."

And then he continues on. That's...kind of missing the - wait a minute, tax deductions? That...why does that even occur to him?
Just what was even with this guy?

----

Shopping started normally.
Started.
Rui seemed to have managed to find every single part of the store he was aware of, and several he wasn't - Cosplay? Construction clothes? And...what even are those? - and was not letting anything slip by.
Not even the women's clothing. He couldn't help but look for those lustful girls again in case they'd been followed, at that point.
Apart from the stranger stuff though, Rui's clothing choices really didn't stand out to him much. Definitely too pricey for what they were, but that was fashion.

He's breathing a sigh of relief as Rui finally seems to be trying clothes when his phone buzzes. "...you get on that."
Looking...oh. Just an app.
There had been more than enough time for the incident to have spread, given how long Rui was taking...
...maybe he'd gotten away with it?
He could hope.

He slips away his phone again. "Figured out what you're after yet?"

Rui took a truly absurd length of time in order to try on various outfits. And after a more grueling wait, he finally did apparently settle on a great deal of clothes to buy. A mixture of normal clothes, from jeans to trousers to sweaters to polo shirts, colored from bright pink to dark black.

And a smaller mixture of not-so-normal clothes, such as apparently a witch costume, a maid costume, gray combat camouflage fatigues, and random accessories that could only seemingly go on stage costumes. Also, a large fur blanket apparently hidden somewhere in the store.

"Oh, don't worry! I'm done! All I have to do is take this ho-uh oh"

Rui tried to lift the bag with all of his clothes in it. Frowning as nothing happened.

"Uh..., well, the nearby grocery store probably wouldn't mind if I 'borrowed' a shopping cart, right?"

The fatigues and the accessories didn't really raise any flags in Cecil's mind.
The witch and the maid costume left him wondering why he would even be wearing such a thing. Crossplay?
And the blanket..."Rui. Do us both a favour, and put that back. I don't know where you got it, but I assure you, that is not for sale."

The blanket was shortly seen back to its proper place, but there was still the problem of Rui's bag.
Or to be accurate, bags.
So, so many bags.
"...firstly: yes. They would mind. Second: I'm pretty sure the thing would buckle anyway under the weight of all this." Cecil sighs. "You don't have enough arms to carry all this. I'm pretty sure we'd need at least 2 more people to safely carry this..." A thought strikes him, and suddenly he's giving Rui a stern look. "Don't actually do that."
He shakes his head, and starts picking up some of the bags to take them back, not questioning where he managed to actually find the bags he was using at this point. "I can't believe I have to say this, but if you can't carry all of it, then you shouldn't buy all of it." He pauses a moment. "...you do remember you needed to take these things up to pay for them, right? You weren't going to try and walk out with all this?"
Forget that, how was he planning to pay for it all anyway?
Flashes of various clueless rich kids in media who'd never interacted with the world run through Cecil's mind, many of which were all too easily substituted for by Rui.
...even at this point, he had to reject such an idea. If that were the case, Rui wouldn't have lasted five minutes outside, let alone this long.

"Just...just pick what you want to get now, and come back later if you want anything else. You're going to have to carry this all back, so get an amount you can actually carry back." He shakes his head. Things were dire indeed if he of all people was the purveyor of common sense.

Rui laughed, "Of course I know I'd have to pay for them. Who do you take me for?"

He immediately moved on, giving Cecil little opportunity to answer that question which Cecil likely did not want to answer.

"That's the easy part. I can just get the clerk, or clerks, to carry it for me over to the counter. And out of the store."

He crossed his arms, "What are they going to do? Complain that I'm buying too many things?"

Rui was aware that he'd probably come off as a shopaholic to anyone who didn't know he was trying to buy his entire wardrobe in one fell swoop while they were on sale. But he figured he could use that appearance to his advantage and extract better service. Hell, they might even throw in the blanket if he pestered them about it.

"And at that point, I can just call a cab to get back to the dorms."

He didn't call cabs often, but he figured the cost of a cab would actually be lower than the time spent to locate all of the clothes during a second-trip. Or if the sale ended.

He then pulled out his phone, "Now I haven't used it before, but I heard you can easily call a cab on the phone..."

Amazingly, Rui did have a phone, heavily decorated with stickers and phone straps. What could go wrong...?

Someone distinctly divorced from reality.

Pushing the stray thought from his mind, Cecil looks between the accumulated selection of clothing.
"With this much...I wouldn't be surprised. It's going to take a while to ring all this up, and it's liable to be a significant holdup. And that aside, even assuming you aren't pushing it with having the staff get all this out to a cab - because, you know, they have other obligations - you're still going to have to handle this all yourself once you're back. Really, something like this is probably better done onli-"
A chill runs through Cecil.
No, noooo. The only online shopping this boy should ever do was with a proxy to interact with the system.

The icy presence intensifies as he recalls what Rui was attempting to do right now.
This was his own phone, yes. If he was going to ruin it, that wouldn't be the same problem.
But on the other hand, everything else that would come about if he bricked his phone...
Cecil shudders. That would be a world of misery for everyone else.

With an apprehensive look in his green eyes, Cecil shifts around so he can see what Rui's doing. "Let...let me help you with that, alright? Better to ease you through this if you're not familiar."
Because I really, really don't want to see what happens if this goes wrong.

"Well, they would have other obligations...but presumably less profitable obligations. And one must prioritize..."

Rui clapped his hands together, "Oh, well, feel free to coach me through the process if you're familiar with how this works."

Rui pulled out a black blackberry, whose black paint was covered head-to-toe in bright stickers and cell phone straps of various cutesy mascots and anime characters. Luckily for Rui, it didn't have a touch-screen.

He scooted in a way where Cecil could see his screen.

"Well, it seems I just have to open the internet. Type in the address. Make an account. Type in my e-mail and phone number. And wait..."

Interestingly, Rui did not have his phone set up to access any "mobile" site, opting for the desktop version instead. He had once accidentally selected mobile site and was forced to ask tech support how to change it back. The only downside was that the text was...very very small, but that was no problem for him.

It seemed he had to verify his e-mail. He clicked the physical e-mail button on his phone, scrolled into the e-mail, moved the selector tool onto the newest e-mail, and then selected and clicked on the verification link, which conveniently took him back to the website. The phone number worked the exact same way. All of this was surprisingly fast.

"...and then all I have to do is enter my credit card number and my security code..." Conveniently, he had both of those numbers memorized off the top of his head and nonchalantly typed them in on the phone's mini-keyboard.

"Oh-hoh, it wants me to install some sort of 'appetizer.' Nice try, I know where this road of destruction leads."

He immediately selected no, moved onto the base website, and immediately called a ride to the store for twenty or so minutes later, giving him ample time to check out his clothes.

"Oh, that was actually pretty simple. Far easier than stupid store devices."

Amazingly, Rui was capable of using technology. As long as it had no touchscreens or "mobile enhancements" or an overly new operating system. Something increasingly rare.

Cecil rolls his eyes. "You're profitable until you've paid for everything. After that, it's anyone's game. And that aside, long hold-ups won't be great for other revenue. Especially since relying one person for revenue is a lot more dangerous than getting an equivalent amount from other people." Not that he was personally familiar with such things, but come on, this was basic logic. If you relied on one person for your money, you were screwed if you lost them.

As Rui went to work on his phone, Cecil found himself somewhat stunned. He...this was normal. This was actually the way he'd expect this to go with anyone else.
Some of it what more along the lines of what he'd been expecting admittedly. Like...
"Not appetizer, application. A program designed specifically for the purpose of doing what you're trying to. Though...I don't think it'd work with your phone anyway."
Still...that aside, nothing crazy happened.
...he still wasn't letting his guard down.

"You're still the only person to ever do something like that to a store system." He shakes his head. "Let's just get this done before your cab arrives."

Rui was able to flag down a store worker without much trouble, who then proceeded help him carry all of his clothes to the register. The cashier was somewhat surprised-looking at the size of the purchase, but he had probably seen worse before.

The cab quickly pulled next to the store and at Rui's insistence, he had actually gotten both the driver and a store employee to help him carry the clothes into the car. He made a mental note to make sure to give a heftier tip than normal.

He spun around at Cecil, "Anyways, I'm heading back to the dormitory! Want a ride?"

...he could have sworn the store was busier. Huh.

Even if he was concerned about how he was going to get his clothes about once he got back, enough was enough, and Cecil waves off Rui's offer. "No thanks. Honestly, that's pretty much the opposite direction of where I want to be going." He quickly checks his phone for the time. "Yeah...I really need to heading ba-ack...now..."
Was that a text notification?
Please don't let it be a text notification.
Cecil checks his phone.

It's...from Rydia.
I'll...I'll look at that later.

"Yeah, I ah...need to be back more urgently than I thought actually..." Cecil smiles awkwardly. "Guess I'll see you about, Rui."
Cecil gives a quick wave as he walks off, before putting on his headphones and picking up the pace.
It's going to be fun when I get back, isn't it?

Rui nodded. The driver seemed perhaps less than pleased when he was forced to haul Rui's copious clothing objects. However, his tune quickly changed once he saw Rui's rather generous tip.

All in all, that was a rather surreal interaction. The student he had met seemed extremely outgoing, extremely worrying, and somewhat of a nurturing busy-body, which was not a personality type Rui minded even as he knew that some people would dislike that.

With little knowledge of Cecil's actual reputation on campus, Rui made a mental note to ask around school later if they knew an extremely tall, extremely outgoing, and extremely aggressively helpful upperclassmen.

[EXIT]