"Where are we going anyway?"
"Only the best store in the mall."
She felt a knot build in her stomach. What store could be the best in the mall according to Auruo? A spreading chill of shudders came over her as she glanced up, spotting Erd, who said he'd be coming along. He was a tall guy, blonde, friendly, somewhat outgoing, good in athletics and wore his hair in a flipped up ponytail. They had met a while back in a political science class, through a forced-group project, but she was happy to have him. He was friendly, supportive and fairly down-to-earth, though, he fancied himself a bit of a ladies' man. She waved to him and he smiled, heading over and greeting them.
"Well, you're dressed up, Petra. I'm surprised you agreed to come."
She looked away from him hesitantly, in attempts to deter Auruo from making any comments.
"Me too. So, where are we going anyway? What concert is this?"
He looked at her a bit in shock, "You don't even know who you agreed to see? Have you never heard of Wings of Freedom? They're awesome. Really politically active; they write about governmental corruption and such. Really up your alley in regards to theme."
She looked at him, a bit surprised. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. And, politically active sounded actually kind of intelligent.
"Well, where are we off to?"
Auruo and Erd led her along through the crowded shopping centre, to an entertainment store where they encountered a whole section dedicated to the band; different items ranging from lingerie to hair ties; car seat covers to keychains featuring the symbol of their political message, from which they got their namesake. The Wings of Freedom; a pair of crossed wings; one cobalt and one ivory over an ashen coat of arms lined in white, separated in four pieces by ivory lines in a plus shape over the background. Upon seeing the symbol, she looked back to Auruo.
"This is that wing thing you have on a bunch of your shirts."
Erd laughed, which made her direct her gaze to him and she noticed he was wearing a shirt with the wings of freedom on it and a quote from one of their songs. "Nothing can be changed without sacrifice." She looked back to the racks of clothing and other miscellaneous merchandise before her. They all bore different messages, but all political and with the Wings of Freedom placed somewhere. If a product didn't have the wings of freedom, it typically had silhouettes of the different band members. This wasn't exactly what she had planned for when he said they should go clothes shopping and she went looking through the racks, settling at a plain black t-shirt bearing the symbol of the band's namesake. Erd leaned over her shoulder, which wasn't hard to do at a 182 cm in height over her measly 158. She tilted her head straight back to look up at him, her honey eyes meeting his gaze of sky.
"That's too plain. We're going to a concert."
Auruo smirked, leaning against the rack she was looking through.
"Yeeeea. You've gotta be loud. Draw attention."
She looked down at the shirt in her hands. Okay, so it was a plain, black t-shirt. But what did they want her to wear to the concert? A bikini? Not happening. She looked back up to Auruo, who was holding a royal blue tube top that would barely cover her bust, with off-the-shoulder sleeves, bearing the symbol of the wings of freedom over the heart. He wore the cheekiest of smiles, clutching the small rag, Erd thumbing up at it almost immediately. For something that covered so little of her, it had a hefty price tag. However, that didn't affect her final decision in the least. She looked at it and raised a copper brow, almost as if in mockery, unamused.
"I'm not wearing that."
Somehow, she ended up wearing that.