Bright colors and scents were a good way to gain attention. The best way to feel pretty when you want to draw attention, Aero knew this; over the years, he's received several bright and flowing clothing and just as many scents as the powders alone could have filled a cart.

More than half the time, Aero just threw it away or gave it to his mother. She liked feeling pretty. Not that Aero didn't like being good-looking and smelling, but it was more a matter of practicality and pride. First, most of the clothing wasn't that appropriate for his lifestyle on the road and fighting. So he wouldn't really wear it within any reasonable time frame.

As for pride, Aero didn't believe he needed any artificial change to make himself look better. He looked plenty good. Nor was he lacking in confidence he needed to boost.

This also meant the only time he'd been in a store like this was when his mother had to take him everywhere with her. he didn't even remember that last time. Not that he was concerned about this. 'though this might be more people if start courting,' a thought that was quickly pushed aside as he joined his teammate in observing the goods; there were many options.

"so have any perfurances?" Inna asked, only for Aero to plainly tell her that he's never looked into perfumes. "I've never felt I need to change how I smell, plus the soap I use is strong enough." she hummed before stating she's never smelt the soap. Then Aero explained that he didn't let a lot of people close enough to smell it.

"you know what fair, so what scent is your soap? That's a good place to start."

"ah, just some flower scent." he didn't know what kind, but he usually stuck with some nature-like. Personly, he liked the scent of flowers, but it also helped hide him when he was hunting. "I can work with that!" Inna said before moving to the more floral scents.

The cosmic lord has mixed feelings about the scent; they weren't too bad, but they felt too strong for him. People would be able to smell him from a distance. Inna argued it could be for a special occasion, to which Aero asked what would you call a special occasion.

To him, this was a way to impress someone, but Inna viewed it as something a bit more personal. Their views didn't lead to an argument, but it did lead to a discussion of how different scents might fit better in situations. Aero had to admit Inna knew what she was talking about, 'I wonder how much she studied.'

The amount of knowledge she had couldn't be the causal knowledge. She knew a few things about the production of the scents, especially how some were designed to go with the clothes handing in the sore. Which was really something that Aero didn't know, " you know you might want to consider getting an oil. If you dab it in a few locations, you don't get a strong scent, but it's clearer than what your soap gives off." she suggested.

"Maybe, but would it be too strong for when I need to hunt?"

"You've got a point. Oils tend to be the last longing, so maybe a water-based one would be better as you could wash them off when needed."

"Assuming I'm near water," Inna had to give him that, but she also asked if he was going to find a flaw in every suggestion she gave. "there is no suggestion that is perfect; I'm trying to find what has the least drawbacks in my opinion...I thank you for trying to help."

"you're welcome. Now let's see what we can find?" after a bit of back and forth, Inna figured the best thing would be something of mild strength, able to wash off quickly. which was a surprisingly hard combination to find; there were plenty of things with a mild scent.

And plenty of things that wash off easily, but not many things that meet both. Then, it was a matter of finding a scent Aero would like to wear. This resulted in him trying them on. It also meant she got to smell them to give her opinion.

'how?' she privately wondered,' how did he do that?' somehow, each scent was good on Aero. It had to be this calm, unboasting confidence he had. She knew confidence said a lot about how much you could pull something off, and he was solid as a zaltess blessed metal.

"so which one do you want?" she asked after Aero tried on 13 scents. Aero tilted his head in thought before deciding," I think I'll go with this fruit and flower mixture. It's not too bad."

Aero nodded before heading over to the counter, paying for his purchase before putting it away in the folds of his robe. If a little was put on before, that was Aero's business. "So, is there anything you'd like to pick out?" he asked as he returned to Inna's side.

"I'm thinking of refilling my usual or trying something new." Aero nodded, wondering what she usually wore. 'I don't think I've gotten close enough to smell it,' even if he had, he didn't make it a habit of sniffing people.

Aero watched, trying to make light conversation; he didn't know many topics to talk about. so he turned to what Tova had been teaching him, the lessons now taking place over letters as Aero was going to be traveling more. She said she could just go back and forth, "I have access to some technology and mysticism."

While Aero declined her putting herself through trouble, Aero did ask questions about technology and mysticism. There was a lot to go over. Currently, it is a foundation topic. Building up his understanding of the topic was tedious; the text could be quite thick.

Inna was more interested in different topics. Aero only showed his patchwork knowledge about the universe they lived in; he did know some sights that were within a few dozen lightyears of their planet. "Man, that's so far," Inna started after Aero explained what a light year was.

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"it would probably make you feel worse to learn with advanced enough tech that would little be a day trip." we have a long way to go, don't we," he nodded before talking more about what he knew, at some point, they reached their next destination.

This one was less colorful, but Aero didn't mind. Despite being so far away from his home, a library still had the hint of familiarity. "so what do you prefer to read," Inna asked as they moved down the shelves.

"Honestly, a bit of everything; it really just started as something to do while avoiding people."

"huh?" well, that was something she wasn't prepared to hear," so, do you still like reading now that you're not avoiding people." Aero turned to her, giving her a rather blank look," I never said I stopped avoiding people! Honestly, I interact with most people because I have to live...my teammates aren't most people!

As Aero speed walked away, Inna processed what he said and what that meant."wait," she rushed after him," you're not walking away after that!" in response, Aero started running. Which only encouraged her to move faster. "you can't outrun me!"

"by the zalts, I can," making a sharp turn, Aero upset a stand as a springboard to jump high enough that he could grab the edge of a building; with a kick against the wall, he flipped onto the roof, he turned to Inna was had paused in the street. "coming? He asked with a smile before walking down the rooftop, the wood and stone clanking under his feet.

He didn't expect her to make it too fast; climbing buildings was different from climbing in the forest. Honestly, he only knew it because he did it to avoid people... wow, how many skills did he have just to avoid people?

'if I cared more, I'd be worried by the number that just came to mind,' his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Inna hitting the side of the building. Just managed to grab onto the ledge before gravity pulled her to the ground.

"Well, it's clear you need more training," Inna only silently pulled herself up. By the time she did that. Aero had jumped to the next building. "okay, I guess this is happening." Inna got to her feet and ran, jumping at the ledge; she noticed that one. she overestimated the distance, and two, Aero was already on the move.

Landing in a tool, he got back to her feet quickly to continue to chase Aero, who was moving around across the rooftops with barely a look. When Inna got close enough to catch him. he dropped to the street, sliding down a wall.

Crossing the street, he climbed back up, making use of a decorative tree. "of course, it wouldn't be that easy!" taking a deep breath, she followed; Aero brought up a level of a chase, at one point, he jumped onto the back of a cart and watched as she tried to catch up.

"Where did you learn to do this?" she shouted when Aero stopped to buy a snack, buying one for her as well, but still stayed out of reach. " I didn't have many friends when I was young, and the people who were watching me didn't want me to stay inside so much."

"so you went running and climbing?"

"yeah, the guard my mom hired was so annoyed by it," he remembered all the time he left the women panting and tired. Sometimes, she would just straight up drag him home, which only amused the young Aero; in fact, it amused him now. he couldn't resist the memory of dodging Inna's attempt at a sneak attack.

'no time for memories, she almost caught me!' jumping on top of the stand, he ran across it and a few more to build up the momentum to jump onto the side of a building, running across it for a few moments until he was int he range of a third story window.

He could hear Inna coming behind him as he climbed through the window into a room where a couple was getting very close. "AH! sorrY!" looking away, he raced for the door, but he didn't leave through, instead running up it.

Just as Inna entered the room and was stunned by the naked couple, a distraction Aero took to flip over her head and bound out of the room. He landed on the roof of the next and shorter building. Only then did he let himself feel the full embarrassment of what just happened.

Some very interesting words were said, and a part of him wanted to apologize once more. But that was a whole new level of awkwardness he couldn't do. He vaguely realized Inna had jumped down towards him, and he took a few steps to prevent her from touching him. But she didn't do that, taking the time to recover from her own embarrassment. With fewer words and a kind of wordless scream as he bent over.

By the time she recovered, Aero had regained enough composure that he could fake it. "we don't talk about what just happened?"

"yeah, let's keep that between us," letting out a sigh, she stood up. " are you done running around and showing off?"

"I don't show off," Aero said, walking towards the edge of the roof before turning to face her," too much." then he leaned right off the roof, putting Inna's heart in her throat.

She quickly raced over to find her team caption was perfectly fine; why she expected otherwise was something she asked herself before climbing down. They walked slowly, grabbing a drink from a stall and something else to eat before returning to the inn.

"What happened to you two?" Galia asked, looking over the scroll she was reading; it was a letter from her weapon smith, telling her about some potential improvements to her weapon of choice and maybe some armor options. "we went running around, loosening his clothing as he took a seat.

"What a jog around the town?"

"more like through it," Inna said before explaining the chase Aero led her on. Gailia looked over the teen who was hydrating, "I can climb as well as everyone else, but where did you, and why did you learn that."

"It was a great way to avoid people; when I was attending the first school, the teacher scolded me for being rambunctious. So, in petty revenge, I climbed on top of the school builds." Aero smiled at the fond memories, remembering how proud of himself he was for climbing up there.

"I got faster as they caught on and tried to stop me, or learned to see new routes when they tried to block," though it wasn't just the teachers. There was also the one time he was throwing a tantrum and just climbed on a building to get away from his mother. Who attempted to climb after him.

He didn't even remember what had gotten him so upset, and it became meaningless when his mother fell trying to climb up to him. Thankfully, she only got scratches, but Aero was clingy for a while.

"Man, that is a story," Gallia said; part of her was wondering what Aero defined as clingy. She couldn't imagine it, but she had a clearer image of what Aero probably looked like at that age. She saw a few sketches that were in his mouth. He was definitely cute, but 'if I said that, his response would probably be violent or to leave.'

Instead, she asked more stories about Aero going out of his way to avoid people, then when he became too prideful to do that. Ignoring them or tearing them apart with his words or fist. "how many people have you hit?"

Aero didn't even bother trying to answer that question, especially as he didn't bother to remember all the people he'd struck.

"Really?" Inna said, giving him a certain look." you don't remember the people that you've unleashed your emotions on, the people you've made bleed or scared." Aero looked at her, but he didn't smile. His expression was blank," If they bleed, I'd be in jail. Besides, remembering them means I decided they were worth the memory. I won't let them win in any way."

"by the zalts, the messed up!"