Inn narrowed his eyes across the coffee shop table to where Lion was staring at his new phone with rapt attention. The other boy had been completely flustered, trying to drag Inn back to the store to return the second phone.

Inn hadn’t meant it to be a particularly nice gesture, the thought made him uncomfortable. He just wanted to make sure he would always be able to contact his human in case Inn became lost in this strange city.

The waiter put down two tall glasses of orange cha yen, he had dyed blonde hair and a lip piercing as he gave Inn a suggestive wink.

“It’s like a spaceship,” Lion giggled obliviously, still staring at his phone and caressing its edges with thin fingers. Lion sighed happily before leaning forwards, attempting to capture the straw with his mouth without looking.

Inn tipped his head slightly so as to better watch the movement of Lion’s throat as he took a large gulp of his drink. “Oh!” Lion exclaimed with a smile. “It’s not too sweet here, that’s really good. P’Inn, you should try yours, do they have iced tea where you come from?”

“Not like this,” Inn frowned suspiciously at his drink before taking a cautious sip. He shuddered, if Lion didn’t think this was too sweet then he dreaded to think what the beverage was normally like.

“We should get you some clothes,” Lion nodded decisively, finally stowing his phone back in the bag. “We’re running out of anything that would fit you.”

“Most of these shops seem to sell clothes,” Inn stated, looking around the brightly lit mall. “Which one is best?”

“I’m not really sure,” Lion shrugged, “I’ve only heard of some of these brands, I’ve never actually been inside.”

“What does that say?” Inn pointed to one of the large stores with a red logo above the door and large curved glass windows. The lettering was odd and foreign, like most of the shops.

“Oh that’s H&M,” Lion replied, “we could try there.”

H&M, as it turned out was relatively similar to the Demon Lands in that there were a lot of writhing, hot bodies, intermittent screaming and a general sense of impending doom and disorientation.

Inn hissed in protest as Lion jostled him forwards towards an area with shirts and pants and thankfully, a grey couch.

“Um, if you’d rather sit down,” Lion began as Inn promptly sat down, “I can just go find a load of stuff in your size and then you could go try it on?”

Inn nodded, feeling somewhat relieved as the human boy scurried off, ducking between the rails. Inn sighed as he glanced over to look at some of the mannequins. One of them was wearing light washed grey jeans with a slim black T shirt, a strange design on the front of it lit up in neon embroidery.

Inn hummed thoughtfully as he imagined the outfit on, it was far too small for him, but for a weak human like Lion, it could work.

“I’m back!” Lion announced, tripping over himself and wincing apologetically at a nearby couple as he nearly took the man’s eye out with a clothes hanger.

Inn raised an eyebrow at the veritable mountain of garments in Lion’s arms. He let himself be led to the changing rooms whilst flicking through the items that Lion had chosen. “These are all too large for you,” Inn frowned.

“Oh, I’m not trying on anything,” Lion shrugged.

“I’m afraid you aren’t allowed in the changing rooms unless you are trying on some clothes,” a curly haired shop assistant smiled from behind her white desk.

“That outfit,” Inn announced, pointing to the mannequin. “He wants to try it on.”

“I do?” Lion’s eyes widened nervously.

Inn nodded curtly before disappearing into a curtained cubicle. He eyed himself in the mirror, despite being a completely hideous colour as opposed to his natural green, he supposed his human form was at least still handsome. He stood tall and strong and his shoulders were broad so as to support his muscular frame.

One alarming feature of note in this new world however, was that Inn could feel his demonic strength fading into that of a human's. At least his stature was still impressive enough to feel menacing. If Inn had been turned into a small scrap like Lion he didn't know how his pride would have ever recovered.

Inn tried all the outfits on so as to affirm what he already knew to be true, that he would look fantastic in anything. He was just getting back into his original clothes when he heard someone clearing their throat outside.

Lion flinched as Inn wrenched back the curtain. “Hi!” Lion said, he was fidgeting nervously but Inn felt himself start to smile as he noticed the other boy was wearing the outfit Inn had picked out.

“I- I don’t know if you wanted to see it on before I put it back,” Lion screwed up his face, “I mean of course you didn’t want to see it, dumb right? I just wasn’t sure why you picked it but it was just so I could accompany you in here right and –“

“It suits you,”

Lion’s mouth snapped shut as he gazed up cautiously at Inn. “Yeah?”

“Keep it on,” Inn instructed, “we shall purchase it at the cashier,” his tongue rolled strangely over the new word he had recently learned.

“Oh,” Lion blushed but looked pleased. “Inn, are you sure? It’s quite expensive, I don’t need new clothes.”

“Your clothes have holes in and smell like mildew,” Inn replied brusquely, causing Lion’s face to redden further. Inn wondered for a moment if he had offended the other boy, Lion was shuffling his feet as if embarrassed.

Inn sighed before gathering up the strewn about outfits and marching Lion out of the changing rooms and towards the pay desk.

When he had learned the amount of baht an emerald was worth Inn realised just how skewed Lion’s perception of fortune was. It was truly pitiable how Lion thought these scraps of fabric cost a lot of money. Inn half wanted to boast to him about the treasure rooms back at Longka palace, but that would key Lion in on his deception.

Inn wondered if Lion’s precious Hanuman had treasure rooms over spilling with the spoils of war? The infuriatingly penitent primate probably dispersed his riches amongst the poor, buying their worthless loyalty and adoration.

Inn caught himself frowning darkly at the cashier before trying to rearrange his expression. She had her hair in a high ponytail; it reminded Inn of how Nin had worn her hair during ballet practice.

“Do you sell dancing clothes?” Inn asked the cashier gruffly, causing both her and Lion to look at him in surprise and confusion. “For ballet,” Inn added, in case his words were not clear enough in this new dimension.

“No,” the cashier shook her head apologetically, she looked genuinely upset as if she had really wanted to give Inn whatever he wanted. Inn felt his chest puff out as he smirked, he could feel Lion tugging nervously on his sleeve but ignored it.

“But if you pop over to Siam Square One there’s a store called Ballet Shoes, they’ll have everything you need. I took my little sister there once,” the girl beamed proudly.

Inn nodded before thinking about how Hanuman might respond. “Thank you,” he added, the word feeling like an ulcer on his tongue.

“Oh you’re most welcome!” the girl gushed before her colleague nudged her hard and pointed to the large queue that had built up behind the boys.