Izumi was quite surprised by Dyss's choice of places to hold onto. She had figured that he'd just wrap his arms around her arm, or suggest that she do that to him, or maybe wrap his arm around her back--but stand close enough that he could wrap his arm around her and around her belly . . . that was the last thing she expected. That wasn't something she could freak out about, either, even passive aggressively. He wasn't doing anything obscene or perverse, just holding onto her. She gulped, suddenly self conscious.

With a bit of hesitation and nervousness, she said shakily: "A-ah, o-kay, um, th-that works, too . . ."

As she had suggested before, Izumi was self conscious about her weight. Dyss never really had the opportunity to feel around to check if she really had all that much reason to feel that way, as the only place on her he had touched by then was her chest--either the side of her chest or the front, during one particularly embarrassing night for him, and worry-some morning for her.

Holding onto her a bit tightly, Dyss would be able to tell that she wasn't skinny as a twig, but she was in no way overweight, though. She had once described herself to one of her friends as having "baby fat that just never went away" and a "really low metabolism." Of course, this lent her some curves for her age, but she failed to be optimistic about her body.

There were quite a few bodies moving through the market, and as they walked, it became harder and harder to avoid them. Dyss would have brushed by a few already, as did Izumi. Likewise, it would become extremely difficult for Dyss to discern any conversation from the other.

"Ohhh, where is it? It was here just last week!" Izumi exclaimed as she stood on the tips of her toes for a moment, while walking--nearly toppling over, and only keeping her balance because Dyss was holding onto her.

Dyss, for better or worse, didn't really seem to notice Izumi being uncomfortable in his grip. If questioned about it, he wouldn't have had any insult to give about Izumi's weight (and not just out of politeness). In fact, he was sort of enjoying the situation. Enough that he might have pretended not to notice any discomfort on Izumi's part anyway...

"What are you trying to see...?"

Dyss's grip apparently served them both well. It kept him from tripping and falling over people in ways that he might not have avoided in another grip, but also kept Izumi from falling due to her... Own feet, apparently. Dyss wasn't a mountain by any stretch of the imagination, but Izumi wasn't a big girl, despite her self-conscious delusions. When he was stationary, he could keep her up, even if he pulled her tighter in the process...

"A-ah!" Izumi initially grabbed onto Dyss's arm as if it were her only lifeline, as she hadn't expected to be hoisted up.

Needless to say, she was duly surprised. For a moment, she thought he was hoisting her up and taking her away somewhere. Where, she had no idea--Dyss was blind and had no clue where the hell he was, but it was still a possibility, one that had Izumi quite frightened for a brief moment! Once she realized that he was just hoisting her up so she could see better, she felt relieved--and a bit silly, for being afraid of something that out there and impossible. Nonetheless, she could see better, now, and had to be thankful for that. Though, she was still worried about the potential of Dyss dropping her.

"Th-thanks," she whispered, "U-ummmmmm, oh! Th-there it is! Okay, I can lead you there!"

Once Dyss had her back down and not so tightly held against him, she'd be able to start ahead, trying fruitlessly to worm her way through an apparent sea of bodies, all moving at once, all brushing by them. If Dyss were out here alone, he'd have probably been scared half to death! Even some people who could see were intimidated by the marketplace.

Dyss's grip was released, but not by much. He wasn't exactly afraid of the market, despite its walls of people that seemed to be trying to crush him. He was afraid of losing track of Izumi, because he had no clue how to get anywhere here, and no idea where he was...

"Um... You're welcome..."

Dyss's legs were basically an addition to Izumi's own, at this point, and he at least served to keep her from falling over. The closeness as well, was rather nice. Dyss didn't really mind that at all...

"Excuse me, pardon me . . ." Izumi whispered as she wriggled through the crowd, though she spoke in such a quiet tone that no one seemed to hear it. She certainly wasn't meek, but she had a habit of socially subordinating herself around others, especially when there were so many around her. Of course, that was only to a certain extent. If someone she didn't know tried to get away with some of the things Kayla did, Izumi may very well have been inclined to deny them in every way, and politely send them off!

After they were finally out of there, she let out a sigh of relief. "Whew . . ."

"Oh, hello there, Miss!" An older, male voice exclaimed, "And . . . er, sir."

"H-hello!" Izumi exclaimed cheerily.

He sounded a bit surprised about Dyss, probably because of the way he was holding onto Izumi. It wasn't quite necessary now, though; the crowd had thinned out where they were, and if he were just holding onto her hand, he'd be fine. He didn't need to hold her close--in fact, she'd likely find difficulty here in a bit if he was.

"We're, um, we're just here to browse s-some of the clothes you've, um, already have made?" Izumi had a questioning tone.

"Aha, all right. Well, all the non-custom articles are over on these wracks here."

Izumi tried to gently coax Dyss's arm out from around her waist so she could just hold onto his hand, partly to make walking easier for her. "Thanks!"

Following through the crowd, Dyss would remain quiet, letting Izumi lead in her mostly passive way. He couldn't really justify pushing past people or anything like that as he was...

Dyss would release Izumi once she started to motion for him to do so, his hand moving to hold hers. He was glad that there was less of a crowd around, but he still had no clue what the world looked like around him, much less what people were around...

"What do they have here?"

"Mmm! A ton of clothes!" Izumi replied. "Of all different styles, too! New Xexorian, some fashion from Greoul, Xexorian, Cizokian, Algerothian . . ."

She was silent, then, with only the sound of very light metal scraping against thicker metal.

"Hmmmm . . . maybe this one?" Dyss would feel some cloth up against him, "Hmm . . . no, this one. This one looks a lot better. Hmmmm . . . a-and this! Ohh, but it's summer--it's definitely not jacket weather yet. But . . . hm. I wonder . . . if you're going to be traveling a lot, you could always have something warm on hand for when it gets colder in . . . ummm . . . three months or so."

Even though it didn't really get that cold around there until winter, and it wasn't even the beginning of summer yet.

"Okay! A-and . . . hmmmm . . . ohhhh, but this is so cute, too . . . I wonder if it's too expensive. Or if it will fit me. Hmmm . . . I'd probably have to lose a few pounds, maybe . . ."

Dyss could only listen to Izumi, trying to imagine what the clothes were like. Gray, certainly... Clothes didn't come in any other colors. Not that it mattered much to him. He was only really concerned about the comfort of the clothes, at this point. Izumi would just have to pick something she could tolerate seeing...

"You don't need to get me a jacket if it's so warm... I don't want much! If you want something, you should get it for yourself..."

Dyss still felt awkward about needing so much help, including the purchase of any new clothes. That was likely only a portion of how awkward things were about to become when he had to attend to hygiene for the first time, with Izumi's help...

"No, no! It's fine," Izumi replied quickly, "You're going to need one eventually, right? Why not stock up when you can?"

That was, in general, how her life functioned. If she had extra money and winter was going to peak its ugly head sometime soon (be it months off or not), she'd stock up a bit on supplies, like warm clothes. If summer was coming up, be it months off or not, she'd stock up on the necessities for that, too--such as light clothes, tank tops, shorts, and the like, maybe even a bathing suit if she felt content with her weight at the time--which wasn't common, to say the least, and for at least the last year and a half, she had avoided it at all costs.

Content with what she picked out, she took Dyss's hand and walked forward a bit. He'd be lost if she didn't . . .

"I'd like to pay for these," Izumi stated.

"All right," replied the shop keeper, male.

There was a bit of an exchange between the two--nothing verbal. A monetary exchange. For a short time, there was only silence between them. Not that Dyss was used to such a thing. Well, technically, he was. Rations, though--that's what they were called as far as he would be concerned. They had a certain amount of rations they could use per week, but every little luxury or spirit item (cigarettes, for example, weren't quite as real as cigarettes in the real world compared to what Recheov smoked) cost the same. Likewise, no one "worked" for more, nor were there anything like social classes.

"Thank you~!" Izumi exclaimed.

"You're quite welcome. Be safe, now."

Izumi had her attention on Dyss again, "W-well, should we get back to my place, now? Ummmm, you do still have to get cleaned up and all, right?"

Dyss wasn't really to the idea of purchasing things, but he would quietly wait for Izumi to finish the transaction, really sort of helpless to keep her from buying what she wanted. He had no idea what she was purchasing, what they would look like when he wore them. As long as she liked them, he wasn't really concerned. He wouldn't have to look at them...

"Yes..."

Dyss would turn a bit red in anticipation, eager to get cleaned up but not quite as eager that Izumi was going to have to help him. Being blind was making even simple things difficult, but at least he had Izumi to help. Without her, he might well have not survived even this long...

Getting back to the apartment was fine; no problems there. Izumi held Dyss's hand the entire time so he wouldn't stray off from her and get lost (of course, holding onto his arm, and him holding onto her arm, when they were still in the market--a duly chaotic place, easy to get lost even when one could see!).

Once in the house, she escorted him up to the guest room, helped him in so he could sit down, and left for a few minutes. She came back with a single article of clothing: a pair of shorts for Dyss, for both of their sakes. She set them, folded up, on the bed near Dyss, and guided his hand to them.

"Here--a pair of shorts, s-so . . . um, you know . . ." she didn't elaborate, and just hoped that he understood what she meant.

It wasn't that Dyss was unattractive or anything--quite the contrary, in fact. That wasn't the problem. The problem was that she hadn't seen a man naked before, and really didn't want to unless she was being intimate with said man--and she obviously wasn't with Dyss, nor did she think she would be, or at least wasn't intending to become. She had just met him recently, after al! Such a thing was far from her mind at the moment!

"Ummmm . . . d-do you need help dressing?" she asked, hoping that she wouldn't have to help him undress and put on the pair of shorts. That was the whole reason she was even giving him those shorts (which she purchased today), after all--so she didn't have to be embarrassed by seeing too much, even if Dyss had no idea what all she could see or if she ever stared . . .

Dyss certainly didn't want to get separated from Izumi, and he would stick close to her while they traveled home. Perhaps a bit closer than necessary, in fact, even once they had left the chaos of the marketplace. Dyss wasn't consciously staying close to Izumi, perhaps, but he wasn't pulling away, certainly...

On reaching his room, Dyss would wait patiently, until Izumi came back with the shorts. He hadn't thought of using such a thing, but it would save both of them quite a bit of embarrassment, though it wasn't going to get rid of all the awkwardness...

"Um... No, I'll be fine..."

Reaching out and touching the shorts, Dyss would wait for Izumi to leave before changing. He was capable of removing his clothes pretty easily, and then, it was just a matter of making sure he put his legs in the right side of the shorts. They were pretty uncomfortable, but it was going to be good to get cleaned up, anyway...

"I'm ready..."

Dyss wasn't a big guy, and his body was pretty pale from years without significant sun, but there wasn't really enough food in Purgatory to gain any excess in fat. He had to be muscular to survive, as well, even if he wasn't very tall. However, he would look a bit goofy, wearing nothing but the shorts, and even those backwards...