Patrick was left alone for the first time in what felt like forever, but realistically had only been about a day. He continued looking around at the close but not quite familiar styles of clothing on the rack, but resisted the familiar impulse to just grab what he needed and bolt before things got any more fucked up. Part of his restraint came from knowledge what he had stumbled into was too messy and complicated to navigate on his own. Part came from the slight fear if he ran out right now, this might all turn out to be a dream, and he would end up still stuck in his backwards town, which he just now realized he dreads more than possible vivisection and immolation.
The rest of his restraint came from Seamus' warning and Mr. Akila's comment about 'monitoring' the space. While Patrick couldn't see any form of cameras placed around the room, he had already caught onto the understanding that not everything is always as it appears. Giving into old habits to shoplift probably wouldn't win him any new friends (although Seamus would probably get a kick out of it) and he didn’t want to shut off any potential sources of information to feed his exponentially growing pile of questions.
After browsing for a few more minutes, Patrick settled on a relatively normal plaid button down shirt with a minimum of strange stains and patches, a pair of what looked like denim jeans in his size that were slightly too heavy and tending more towards white than blue, and a deep blue denim jacket with what appeared to be a skull outlined in black beads barely visible across the back. Patrick wasn't completely sold on the jacket, but it was rare to find one that was long enough in the arms that wasn't unbearably baggy across the chest.
Plus, after realizing the fringe on one of the jackets was made from human teeth, and remembering that he was now interacting with beings from myth and legends, he decided he wasn't quite willing to trust the source materials of any of the better fitting leather jackets. While he had now been told by several beings he wasn't actually human, that didn’t change years of upbringing and psychological conditioning that made him start to gag at the thought of potentially wearing a jacket made out of human skin.
After piling the clothing he had selected onto the glass counter near the old fashioned mechanical cash register, Patrick didn't quite know what to do. He assumed either Mr. Akila took regular U.S. currency, or that Seamus was planning to cover the expense in whatever magical money they did use. It would be a pretty cruel joke to take him here knowing Patrick lacked any 'local' currency and just watch him flop. Although after getting used to his personality this seemed like the type of prank Seamus would pull, at least so far Seamus hadn't done anything at his expense. Either way, he would know when the two came back from their backroom chat.
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Looking around the room, Patrick spotted an antique wooden chair upholstered in some sort of crimson fabric placed in a corner by the clothing racks. Walking over to sit down, Patrick felt a lump on his back before he remembered the book Seamus had given to him. He had tucked it into the inside of his jumper , held in place by the elastic waistband. Pulling it out, Patrick remembered Seamus' advice to look through and familiarize himself with some of the information. Opening the cover, Patrick saw an index like you would find in a textbook. Deciding to start with looking up the race of the shopkeeper Mr. Akila, Patrick flipped until he found an entry entitled "Ibisian."
Ibisian: One of the divine spirit races of the Pharonic Pantheon. Patron god is Thoth, the Ibis headed God of Knowledge. Legend claims they evolved from messenger birds blessed by Thoth during the Dawn Era. Politically neutral, one of the few divine spirit races willing to interact with outsiders without bias due to their constant desire to acquire new information. Low scores for aggression and physical combat and high scores for intelligence and magical ability.
The entry for the shopkeeper's race was relatively short but enlightening, unfortunately it only produced more questions. Patrick flipped through the book looking for a glossary of terms, and found it towards the back. He began to try and look up the terms from the previous entry that he didn't understand, hoping to finally flesh out his understanding of this magical world he found himself a part of.
Divine Spirit: Any member of a race created by or descended from a member of a Pantheon.
Pantheon: Individually, a Pantheon is a collection of Gods ruling over at least one realm from which they originated. Collectively, the Pantheon is one of the three main factions of the Domain of Order, consisting of representatives of every official individual Pantheon.
Pharonic Pantheon: a collection of Gods originating from the twin realms of Aaru and Duat. Known for their preponderance for animal headed forms, which is reflected on many of their subordinate divine spirits. Most known spatial portals under their control connect to the Northern Africa region of Earth.
Dawn Era: The first recorded era in the history of the Domain of Order. Characterized by the rise of the first realm spanning organizations. Beginning of the Era is marked by the decrease in spatial turbulence which allowed the first intermittent inter-realm travel.
After reading several entries, Patrick felt himself floored by the immensity of the world that had been uncovered to him. The book dangled loosely from his hands as his gaze drifted aimlessly around the room, consumed in thought. Glancing back down at the relatively thick, small print book, Patrick thought about how much information must be packed within it. He had never done very well in school, but not because he wasn't smart, or able to learn. He had nearly died once, and wanted to keep that number from going up as much as possible. Patrick flipped back to the beginning of the book, intending to spend every free moment reading that Encyclopedia Mysteria until he had it memorized cover to cover. In Sun Tzu's Art of War, one of the few assigned literature readings Patrick truly enjoyed, it is said 'Know yourself, and know your enemy, and you will not see defeat in a hundred battles.' Something in his gut told Patrick that he would be seeing north of a hundred battles in the near future, so if he wanted to survive he better get educated stat.