((Um...I'm confused...are we at the furniture store or the supermarket? I thought it was the furniture store? @_@))

{{i'm pretty sure it was a furniture store.}}

((Sorry I was on my phone, I must have mis read! I'm sorry!!! I'll fix it!

Okay I fixed it all you need to do is read the bottom really. I'm sorry @_@))

((Ohh, okay! No probs. ^_^))

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"Finally!" Arian happily went and got a cart to push around. He wasn't sure if a desk would fit inside it, but he could always get someone to help if that happened, he supposed...

"What kind of furniture are you buying? If you're missing anything, that is..." He asked Lexi. "I need a desk, myself. An office desk, I think...and maybe one for the kitchen if there's enough room - and money - for one." Frowning, he reached for his wallet to check if he had brought enough money. His parents did allow him one credit card, but he wasn't sure how much money he had left in his bank account, and his parents had been very severe in warning him that if he over-maxed out his card one more time, they won't be paying off his debts again.

Lexi shook her head. "I don't need anything. But..." she was silent for a moment. "I-I can help you look around, if you want." she added. She really was trying to be his friend. Though she knew her father wouldn't be happy about her trying to get close to a guy. He would just have to deal with her growing up.

Arian nodded. "Oh, alright then. I'll try to be quick so I won't take up too much of your time or anything." He looked around for the desk area. Finding it, he directed his cart towards the section, craning his head left and right at all the desks piled up here and there down several isles. Ten minutes later, he had roughly three desks that he supposed he liked well enough, but wasn't sure which to choose.

The first was a wooden desk, with several drawers and a space to place his keyboard, as well as space to put his many little decorative figurines around on. The second was a very...default-looking office desk, slightly too plain for his tastes, but it was the cheapest out of the batch. The last one was the largest, enough for him to pile all his working material on, but it was also the most expensive.

"Hmm...any ideas?" He pointed at the three, standing beside Lexi.

"You can take as long as you need. I have all day." Lexi told him. She had the day off so that she could move. And it wasn't like she had anything better to be doing with her time.

She examined all three desks. The first was like the one she had in her apartment. And she wasn't sure how much space he would need.

"It depends. What do you do for a living?" she asked.

"Well...I'm an illustrator and comic artist. Sort of." He did a half-shrug he always did when it came to talking about his career. It wasn't exactly one of those 'honorable' jobs his parents are always hoping he'd become...pfft, as if he'd want to stare at bloody human bodies and sewing them up all day or wriggle clients out of the law system in courts all the time... "I draw comic strips for people who want to see their favorite characters from any series, be it a movie or a novel or another comic, in a custom-drawn book just for them. Or when I have the time, I draw covers and illustrations for other people's novels. So I need the space for all the sheets of papers, a scanner, a computer, drawing pad, color pens, brushes, amongst various other things...I'd get the largest one, but it's a bit expensive and I'm not sure if it'd fit into my room. But then the smaller ones might become overloaded...I just don't know." He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. How come he never knew buying furniture could be such a pain?

Lexi couldn't help but grin when she heard about Arian's job. "That sounds so cool!" she exclaimed. Definitely better than her job. But it wasn't like she needed the job in the first place. Her father offered to pay for everything for her. But, she wanted to do it for herself. She thought about the desks. "You should get the one you think is best, no matter the price. And if it doesn't fit in your room it should fit in the living room." she told him.

Surprised, Arian blinked several times before finding his voice to speak. "Really?" Everyone else he'd known that had learned what his occupation was had looked funnily at him like he was insane or retarded. But then again, he supposed the people from his parents' world were from another planet altogether anyway.

He then focused his thoughts back to the problem at hand: the desks.

Frowning and habitually pulling at some strands of his hair, he eventually decided that he needed the larger desk, if only so he wouldn't rip his own head bald someday. Checking the price tag again, he then decided he'd forgo getting a kitchen table and the bed mattress he'd originally thought about buying.

"Okay, I'll take the large desk then." Arian found an employee in the area to help him load the large box of desk into his cart (where it teetered dangerously due to the height), and wheeled his cart towards the checkout counters. "I'll probably have to get this back to the apartment first...I don't think I can handle carrying this to the supermarket."

He then groaned at the thought of lugging the huge box up three flights of stairs.

"Yeah. Really." Lexi said, still smiling. ".. Do you think you could maybe make one for me?" she asked, her voice quiet. That would be great if he would. And it was something she would gladly pay for.

"They can have it shipped to the apartment building. But, you would have to take it upstairs by yourself." she told him. That's what they did for her. But she didn't carry anything. As much as she wanted to help. Her brothers insisted she just sit back and relax while they did the heavy lifting.

"What are you making?" Joshua turned, and found himself behind Lexi and Arian. It seemed odd for a such a large city that he would run into the same people again. In his cart he had a desk lamp, some green sheets, and papers. It didn't seem like much, but he had just ordered a dresser, and a small portable desk.

Leaning over his cart as if he was tired he groaned for a moment.
"What did you need?" Joshua asked the two as he tried to pull himself together.

Just for the fact that the girl wasn't laughing at his occupation, Arian wouldn't mind drawing something for her for free...though, he'd have to find the time to do it. "Sure. Got anyone in particular you'd like to see in the book- ?" The sudden voice behind him caused him to jump, his heart rate speeding up from the surprise as he whirled around. "What the- Oh, it's you." He took a few breaths to calm himself.

"I'm just buying myself a desk while Lexi here is accompanying me...are you ok?" He peered at the other man leaning against his cart. He (, whose name Arian remembered as Joshua Hawk...Hawk-something. Hawkins? He really needed to work on his memory.) looked ill. "You don't look too good."

"That's the side effect of mixing a crazy sister with little sleep." Joshua smirked as he picked his head up. It was just a long night packing, followed by moving in the next day. Although he had to thank god for making Charlotte sleep threw most of the move. Joshua stood straight trying to crack his back, and correct his sloppy posture.

"Well if you need any help with your stuff let me know. I got it easy living on the first floor." he offered as he moved his cart from the middle of the aisle before he ended up blocking someone. Not that the place was crowded or anything.

"I'll have to think about it. There's a lot of characters that I like." Lexi told him. It was hard for her to decide on a favorite since she likes a lot of mangas. She would have to look through them when she got home.

She turned to the guy who approached them. So, he apparently lived in the same building as them. It was weird how they all ended up in the same store on the same day. But, she didn't say anything about it. It was to weird and she wasn't sure she'd be able to speak to this guy.

Arian nodded sympathetically at Joshua's words. He did not have any siblings, but his parents could easily fill in that 'crazy' position. He's also always running on little to no sleep thanks to his night owl activities of being hooked on games and lots of approaching deadlines. His eyes then lit up at the other male's next words.

"Really? It would be wonderful if you could help me with this desk!" He pointed at the huge box sitting in his cart beside him. "I still have some grocery shopping left to do, and my physical strength is far from being the best out there..." He glanced at his thin, not-muscular-at-all arms thanks to his exercise-less lifestyle. "I live on the third floor, and by the gods I don't know why no one ever thought to install an elevator into the damn building..." He grumbled, half serious, half joking. The owner of the apartment building probably wanted to keep the costs down, after all, so he could see why there wasn't an elevator. Didn't mean he had to like it though.

Turning back to Lexi to answer her, he said, "Sure, just slip me a note when you have it all thought out with the details, like name of characters, description of any original characters if you have one, how you want the story to go, etc. etc, and I'll see what I can do about it. No guarantees on how fast I'll be able to get it done though...still got a couple of deadlines waiting for me and I need to get that other doujinshi - One Piece, dunno if you've heard of it, - done and printed in time for that convention coming up next month..." He trailed off, realizing he was rambling. Coughing, he changed the subject.

"Anyway, this is Joshua...er, Joshua Hawkins." He introduced, hoping the uncertainty of not quite remembering what the other man's surname was didn't show in his voice.

"Yo." He smirked as she peered over to Lexi. She seemed like a sweet girl, but a little young looking to be on her own. Either the world had changed, or he just wasn't keeping up with the times. Taking a sharp breath he snapped back just in time to get the tail end of Arian's conversation. Joshua was never one of those anime guys, but his sister had been crazy for that kind of stuff since they were little.

Remembering back to when they were young, Joshua could recall countless times Charlotte would bother him about anime. Changing the channel when he was obviously watching something, begging him to dress up as some random character for Halloween. Thinking on it now he regretted not spending that time with her, but the past was the past. Still, he couldn't hide the sad look in his eyes as he thought back to his sister. Joshua could feel his face sulking from the memory and quickly joined the conversation again.

"Well I'm parked out back. If you wanna load some stuff up I can drive it back to the apartment, but I'm still gonna need an extra set of hands with everything."

"I'll go through my manga when I get back to my apartment." Lexi told Arian. She had so many, it was hard to choose a favorite. But it shouldn't be to hard. She would choose one at random. That way, it was more fair to each of the mangas to not get left out.

She turned back to Joshua. "I-Its nice t-to meet y-you, J-Joshua Hawkins." Lexi stuttered. "I-I'm Lexi Cross." she added, introducing herself. "I-If you two n-need help, I-I could call m-my brothers and they w-would help." She knew they would. If she was the one asking. They would do anything for her, after all.

((Where have the other two gone? :cry:))

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He immediately perked up at the Joshua's words of not having to walk all the way back to the apartment. "Maybe we can go back to the apartment first and put everything down before we head out again for the food?" He asked Lexi.

Arian noticed that Lexi seemed to stutter whenever she was talking to someone she's never met before...her stuttering had almost disappeared by now when she was talking to him, when it had been pretty bad in the beginning. And now she's stuttering at Joshua...how interesting.

((I don't know, it is making me sad though ~_~ It just figures. I'm amazed I even make a group when it comes to people like that ~_~))

Joshua thought it was odd that Arian just assumed he was going out for groceries. After all it wasn't like he mentioned he needed anything; he simply offered to take everything back since he was heading home after this. Maybe Arian just didn't know the city that well? Then again, Joshua really didn't know much either.

"well my sister will take care of that. She's the girl after all. I actually don't know where the grocery store is." Joshua explained. He was starting to think Arian was lazy or something. not that he really wanted to believe guys were lazy, but that was pretty sexiest of him.

((Perhaps you could ping them to remind them to post? :())

((Actually, Arian was only asking Lexi about heading out again later, but it works. :XD))

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"I have no idea where the grocery store is either...Lexi knows though, I think." Arian glanced at Lexi as he spoke.

Lexi was silent as Arian and Joshua spoke. But she instantly paid attention when her name was said and nodded. "Y-Yeah. I-I know where it is. I have l-lived here my whole life." she said. She was born in this city and probably wasn't going to leave for a while. Her father didn't want for her to go to far at first. Maybe someday though she'll be able to see the world.

"Well, Lexi looks like your in charge of showing the guys around." Joshua smiled at her. He couldn't rely on Charlotte all the time, even though it would be easier. if he was going to stay Joshua had to figure out where everything was. Brushing the hair from his face he thought about needed a haircut as well. He had really gotten shaggy in the last few months. between packing up back home, and taking classes he really forgot about his typical upkeep. He was starting to feel like he had let himself go, and he couldn't let that happen. Joshua had a horrible thought of getting fat and hairy, and he couldn't let that happen. As must as he put on the carefree face, he worried about his appearance as much as his sister did hers.

"I know I need a tour of the city so if you have the time, I'd appreciate it."

(I didn't want to just leave you guys hanging so this is my last post till tomorrow night or Friday morning. My bf is in the hospital so I'm going to take care of him. I'll be back soon though! I'm sorry!)

((Omg, I hope he's alright! D: Take your time! Health comes first!))

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"A...tour." Arian mumbled. On one hand, he really needed the tour as well, as he would've been completely lost without the help of Lexi. On the other hand, a tour sounded so troublesome....

Thinking both sides over, ("C'mon, you know you need it, or how will you ever learn to get around the city by yourself? You can't even find your own way back home (not the apartment) from here!" Said the more positive side, "Seriously? That would mean more walking around! And possibly having to get on various public transportations which means more squishing around with strangers! And don't forget you still have a deadline coming up!" Screamed the negative side,) and struggling not to grimace, Arian nodded and agreed with Joshua's words. "Yeah...I need a tour too."

{{That's terrible! I hope he gets better soon. :hug: }}

Lexi nodded. "Y-Yeah. I can do that. J-Just let me know when you w-want to go." she told them. Her schedule was flexible. She always had the time to help out anyway. Her job wasn't to strict about taking time off either. So, when they were ready, then she would go. No problem. The only problem would be if they ran into her father. He wouldn't be happy seeing his little princess with two men. So, hopefully they wouldn't run into him.