Cut From the Same Cloth (Tamsin/Kendra)

Israel didn't understand the stigma of men who are into fashion. If a person wants to look good, why not let them do it on their own terms? It'd sure suck if everybody wore drab gray, and abyss black.

Iz rifled through the jeans section, looking for a pair of non-ripped, on-brand, blue skinny jeans. He wanted to play it safe, at least while building his wardrobe. No fluorescent green dress pants yet.

He was a size medium, and had been for years. A new pair of jeans was necessary. He sucked at packing, and left a large portion of his clothing behind before he moved. Iz often blamed the world, but he... really had nobody to blame for that other than himself.

This was the first time he had stepped into a clothing store in Little Tokyo. Odd, considering it was a hotspot for people like him. People who dressed similar, who talked similar. But nobody who thought similar. Not that anybody would, after all. He was just a pale, skinny teenager with a skateboard and some spray paint.

Kendra needed more clothes. Well, she wanted them too, but for once she did actually need them. After the whole poster fiasco, Kendra decided it was in her best interests to try and dress as differently as possible. And if she just so happened to have wanted to try to pick things out for herself, then so be it.

The store she had decided to go into was different from the store she and Nadia have visited. She didn't think she would be as welcome, considering she had kicked one of the racks. Nothing too bad had happened, as Kendra had been too absorbed in what she was doing to notice the people around her staring and commenting, but she wasn't going back just in case. Plus, the organization of the place sucked.

This store seemed different. The other one seemed to be more fancy, this store more casual. Perfect. It was more than likely Kendra could find something bold, bright, and different here. Something that was her, and not her parents. She poked around just a little, looking for something that caught her eye. She enjoyed being in the store, not having been able to shop freely before, eyes beginning to light up. She was so enthralled in just staring and touching when she could that she wasn't paying attention. She felt herself walk into somebody.

"Sorry!" She was as loud as usual, her embarrassment not making her shrink. Besides, the male she had walked into would understand, probably, and if she was lucky she could make a friend. She liked Nadia and Cecil a lot, but she needed more than two people to rely on. They had their own issues, and their own relationship, so if Kendra could branch out they'd probably be happy.

Tamsin didn't like being backed into a corner, least of all by worthless thugs like these. Her brows knitted, and her eyes narrowed in defiance as the two older boys bared down on her. There was an old metal trashcan to her right, and the boy in front of her, as well as the boy to her left. The fourteen year old was tall for her age, but she was still smaller both in height and frame than the other two boys. "Get the hell away from me." She spat.

The boy in front of her snatched her wrist, pulling painfully. "Come on, Tam-Tam. Didn't we help you out when that kid was sick? Ain't it about time you returned the favor, eh?" Tamsin didn't like being outnumbered. She couldn't manifest her Persona against these two though. Even if it was night time, it would be a bad idea. She didn't need Ghost Train to deal with the likes of these guys. Or at the very least, not to get away from them.

Straightening her fingers into a knife-hand, she pivoted her wrist to break the boy's hold on her, and with the same motion brought up her right heel to connect with the side of his jaw. "Don't call me that...!" The boy stumbled backward, and she took the moment of surprise her retaliation had caused to seize the lid of the trashcan with her right hand and chuck it into the face of the other boy. He tried to dodge, but there was a satisfying clang when the metal connected with his forehead. There wasn't time to revel in her momentary victory. They still outnumbered her. She took off, pulling the trashcan down between them as she went, and turned out of the alley into a bustling street.

The door of the shop jingled as Tamsin threw it open and darted down between a couple racks of clothes. She was too busy hiding to notice that there were two other individuals in the isle, only made herself as small as possible to wait for the boys to pass. One of the boys, seeming to have lost her, pressed his face to the glass window of the store. Not immediately seeing her, the two boys dashed off down the road in pursuit.

Sighing in relief, the blond girl massaged her bruised wrist. Seeming to notice the two people in the isle for the first time she blinked. "...Excuse me." She said finally.

"Oh, you're fine." Iz replied to the short girl who had bumped into him. The girl looked at him, expectantly. As if she expected him to say something. She was very pretty, and tiny compared to Israel. Her appearance and mannerisms were neat, like she was a socialite. Despite this, he could tell she was quite clumsy. He reached down and grabbed his messenger bag that had fallen off of him. He just barely managed to hide the spray cans that almost spilled out. The simple act of owning them wasn't illegal, it was the fact that he carried them around everywhere that raised questions.

Iz didn't really know how to talk to girls, so he didn't know whether or not to make eye-contact. His gaze switched between the outside window and the girl's eyes. He hoped that wasn't creepy, or anything. Israel spotted a familiar figure entering the building. The girl he had bought ice cream for the other day sprinted into the store, hiding in their aisle. "Er... Excuse me a moment." He said to the shorter girl. This was an unexpected chance to leave the situation Israel himself had made awkward.

"Hey, what're you doing?" He asked Tamsin. She seemed to be hiding from the miscreants outside, who swiftly dashed off down the street. How did she find herself in this much trouble? Iz recognized the boys that were after her. Two degenerates far worse than Iz himself. Bullies, that's what they were. Picking on those smaller than themselves for fun. He didn't much like the cut of their jib.

Kendra beamed at the guy who had enough decency to not explode at her for bumping into him. Really, though the thought was hypocritical considering Kendra's own nature, she didn't understand why people got so worked up over the smaller things in life. She was tempted to try and grab his bag, have a little peek, but he seemed to be faster than her and quickly managed to get everything. She felt ashamed of herself, just a little, knowing it was a violation of privacy, but the bag was certainly bigger than some bags she had seen.

"You seem nervous!" She chirped. Really, she had no real way of knowing if the constant movement of his eyes was normal, but in the movies it usually meant that a criminal was trying to find an escape. And then an idea struck Kendra. What if he was a criminal? It would totally explain the large bag! He must've been taking something, or smuggling an item away to go back to his evil lair! She was so distracted, lost in her wild speculations, she didn't hear him excuse himself. When she next focused, wanting to ask questions, she saw he was not in front of her. At first, Kendra felt a little angry, not wanting to be ignored, but she suddenly realized that this might be the guy's accomplice! Maybe they were nice people doing shady stuff because they had to, or maybe they were evil people. It didn't matter to Kendra.

"Whatcha guys doing!?" She asked as she moved towards the two, blissfully unaware she had basically just barged into a conversation with two random strangers as though she was an old friend.

Tamsin was not ready to initiate conversation with anyone. She was still a little breathless and not a little paranoid about the guys circling back toward her. And yet, now she had not one but two people approaching her, asking her what she was doing. One was the boy from the other day, and one was a young-ish looking girl with bright eyes. She was pretty though.

Tamsin averted her eyes to look at the boy, who had approached her first. She cleared her throat. "What does it look like I'm doing...uh...Israel?" It took her a minute to dredge up his name. "I'm here to shop, obviously." She answered her own question. It was clearly a lie. She hadn't had time to compose herself. This time her gaze was fixed on the shorter girl with a raised eyebrow. She was a little perplexed by the girl's apparent excitement. Was she on drugs or something?

"Sorry, have we met?" She asked the girl, a little bit of flush coming to her cheeks unbidden. Tamsin had never had a girl her age look that intently at her before, or with such enthusiasm. It made her a little self-conscious.

"Nervous?" Israel replied, chuckling. "How so?" He grinned, a small air of devilishness permeating his words. She was a short girl, likely around Iz's age. Maybe a little older. Iz's eyes drifted to Tamsin. "You shouldn't mess with those guys." He said, seriously. "They're just trouble. Those boys frequent my sister's shop. Rabble-rousers and thugs, they are." He sighed. Tamsin seemed out of breath, as if she had gotten in a physical encounter with them. "Are you okay?" He asked, concernedly. He stepped in front of her to block her from the boys' view.

Israel smiled at the shorter girl. "Oh, her and I know each other. Don't worry about us. My name's Israel, and this is Tamsin." He spoke while looking out the window. He regularly kicked those thugs out of his sisters store. In fact, that was part of the reason he worked there in the first place. He acted as the bouncer for the store, which was located in a pretty shady spot in town.

"Your eyes were moving around a lot. That's usually suspicious in movies." Kendra's answer was blunt, and showed exactly the amount of social interaction she was used to. To her, however, Israel still seemed pretty suspicious. The girl wasn't as suspicious in Kendra's book, but she seemed to know the guy, so that counted as a reason to suspect her of being a villain of sorts.

"Thugs? What boys exactly? Are they hurting people?" Kendra couldn't keep her curiosity at bay. Plus, if people were getting hurt it would be better to know. Maybe she could actually do something about it. And then she needed to introduce herself. Her suspicions went down. Villains were more likely to bolt than be this friendly, right? "Nice to meet you! I'm Kendra!" She paused, thinking. "Nope, don't think we've met before."

Tamsin was flustered. So this guy knew those thugs too? great, this was becoming an even bigger headache than it could have been. He seemed intent on butting into the situation, moving to specifically place himself between her and the window, even though there was already a rack of clothes. The boys outside were passed now though, and feeling the threat lift a little, Tamsin lightly stepped away from Israel with a guarded expression. "I'm fine. I can fend them off easy enough." She said resolutely, though it wasn't entirely as accurate as she'd like it to be. She had more skill and finesse but they overpowered her considerably, which was irritating. There was only so much a fourteen year old body was capable of without the kind of intense physical training she didn't have time or money to afford. "You'd do better not to involve yourself with them. That goes to both of you." and she turned her eyes to Kendra. She had asked a question - about whether or not the boys were hurting people.

"And it's...not really about hurting people really. Not directly, though they probably do a fair bit of that..." Tamsin trailed off. There was no way she was telling the story to strangers in a clothing store. Especially this Israel kid, who looked like he was seconds away from playing hero. Honestly, he needed to learn how to pick his battles. At first she'd suspected it was just authority, but it was thugs too. Maybe he was just the type that found fights to pick everywhere he went. Still, he seemed to mean well enough. "In this instance I suppose it was me who hurt them. Not that they gave me much choice." Honestly, she was a little concerned what boys like that would do to her if they overpowered her. It wasn't something she was prepared to spend much time thinking about.

"Yeah, I'm trouble." Israel said, jokingly. "I go home everyday from school to eat human flesh. My favorite is the elbow. Mmhmm. Oh, you might wanna stay away from me." He grinned again.  This girl was strange, certainly. Israel felt a type of child-like naivete coming from her. It was quite cute, but Iz found these types of things wore off quickly. She mentioned the thugs. "Maybe I shouldn't have said thugs. They're just trashy hustlers, the lot of them."

He turned to look at Tamsin. "Oh, I believe you can fend them off. I just don't want you to be in their crosshairs like I am. The fact is that they'll never forget if they've been wronged. Trust me, I try and avoid those folk as much as possible." He took a deep breath, and peeked out the window again, but he couldn't see where they were in relation to him.

"Oh, and I've already involved myself plenty in their business. Not by choice. More by... Circumstance. Although I'm ready and willing to fight them off, truth be told." He said that with a degree of confidence. He was a thinner boy, but he was very athletic. Physical strength wasn't his forte, but he could lift quite a bit if necessary.

Kendra crossed her arms, seeming to be unimpressed. After all, why wouldn't she try to intervene if somebody was causing trouble? Though it seemed like it wasn't actually as bad as she thought. And it seemed she was wrong about the guy. She may not have been the brightest person ever, but Kendra still could figure out that there was no way this guy was a cannibal. I'm not stupid enough to fall for that! Still, you guys do seem to have a problem. Those guys sound like a lot of trouble. Do you have evidence of them being trouble or anything? Really, to her, the problem seemed pretty simple. "Self-defense totally wouldn't get you in trouble."

She looked around the clothes store quickly, trying to see if she could spot anything pretty from where she was standing. Nothing really stood out, sadly, so she went back to focusing on the conversation. "I could help if you guys fought! I'm tough!" She puffed out her chest, trying to look threatening. Considering her height and her earlier behavior, it sort of fell flat.

Tamsin sighed, putting her hands on her hips and shaking her head. The amount of concern these two were showing her made her blush a little bit, especially the excitable girl with her intent eyes and the way she puffed out her chest for effect. "Fighting them will only piss them off. Then they run back to their boss and the problem gets bigger. The last thing I need is my problems find their way back to the orphanage." She pointed a finger at Israel. "Do what you want with them, but do it without me, got it?"

She turned back to the shorter girl then, some of her guardedness melting a little. "I'm sure you're plenty tough, but fighting isn't always the best thing to do. I'm trying to save up some money to pay them back--" Tamsin froze. She shouldn't have said that. She hadn't planned to tell them anything, but that openness of Kendra's had caused her to slip. Damn, Tamsin, you idiot.