Cards and Cameras

First Time. Part 1

NSFW. Toys. Loki really REALLY needs to buy something. Part 1/2

It's 11pm, and soft orange lights glow from within Bayonetta and Jeanne's abode in Vigrid.
Faint music that she always listens to blends into the quietness, only drowned out by the scribble of pen to paper of Jeanne grading and writing annotations on her student's essays. When she's in her office, it's get out and stay out. And since it's late Spring, finals have her up for hours on end, costing her precious hours she could be asleep.
In her pyjamas, she holds a red pen between her fingers like a cigarette, her eyes scanning every sentence with a furrowed brow. After a while, she writes something after flipping to the last page and circles whatever it is that she wrote, and places the bundle of pages to the side. She grabs another from the now lighter side of papers with a sigh and repeats the process all over again with varying facial expressions and mumbles.

Knock knock
Loki taps on the partially open door to her office with a peek, slowly allowing himself in.
"Hey, love."
Jeanne looks up at him with a her usual droopy eyes looking more exhausted than usual, then back down at her work. "Haven't seen you all day. Figured I should check up on you." She smiles meekly while still focused on the documents before her, seemingly too exhausted to get thoroughly mad at him. "Loki, you know you I'm busy around this time of night." "I know.." Loki's voice trails off playfully.
"If you're hungry, go reheat some of the chicken wraps Cereza made."
"She made that two days ago and we already ate that. Instead, here." Loki moves some of his mom's desk clutter to the side, and before she could protest, he places a warm plate of shrimp scampi before her followed by a mug of black tea. "Try not to die of overwork, m'kay?"

She blinks at the quality of the food before her.
"My, it looks like Cereza's been teaching you how to cook properly."
Careful as to not get the sauce all over her student's work, she quickly organizes herself and pulls the delicious dinner closer. Jeanne, sis. The carbs. she thinks, but not eating all day put a growl in her stomach. "Thank you, Loki. You're sweet when you're not getting yourself in trouble."
Loki scoffs with a smirk, "You're lucky, I wanted seconds and almost didn't give you a plate. Eat it before it gets cold."
Jeanne twirls her fork through the angel hair pasta and then takes a bite. The warmth of the noodles saturated in the rich and flavorful sauce brings her to close her eyes; relief of good food flooded her taste buds while she barely waited another moment to take another bite.
"Well done, Loki. I see she's a better teacher than I thought. I'll have to ask you to do this more often."

Her son rolls his eyes with a smirk, mouthing "Okaay…"

"Well then, I'll leave you to it now." He turns around to head out, but only to stop in his tracks.

"Oh, uh. Actually. Could I ask for something?"
Jeanne looks up at him through her glasses, expecting some ridiculous request. It wouldn't be the first time.

"You mind letting me borrow 10 quid? It's for bus fare tomorrow. I'm going to a friend's joint."

"Please don't ask me where this friend lives." He internally begs her.

10 quid for bus fare? She's never used Vigrid's modern public transport, but she's heard her students say it gets expensive on the weekend depending on where you want to go. Oh right, Her guard lowers again and she points to her purse sitting atop an antique chair to the right.

She finishes chewing on a shrimp, throwing her hand in a 'whatever' fashion. "There. Grab the 50 euro bill in in my wallet. Isn't that event happening in town tomorrow?"

"Yeah, actually." He didn't know until she mentioned it. "We're going there for a bit just to sightsee."

Jeanne nods.
The little chef side steps over and his hand goes into the purse. It doesn't take long at all for him to pull it out and find the crisp bill now in his hands. Thank the gods his mothers are wealthy.
"Heh, wish I had it good like this. 'Appreciate the money, love."
"Don't lose it, or else you're shit out of luck." She says just before she sips on her black tea.
"That, or I can just ask Bayonetta." Loki puts his hands behind his head playfully, and then looks at Jeanne who is already throwing daggers at him with her glare, "Kidding, kidding. I'll keep up with it. Trust me."

The now awake teacher nods and gives him a thumbs up. She puts her mug down and pulls his face in for a goodnight kiss on the cheek. Out of instinct, Loki makes the same puckered kiss sound with his lips at the same time, and then steps back. "Have fun tomorrow."
"I will. Good night, love. I'll see you in the morning."

As her son leaves her office, she mumbles to herself after noticing more paperwork she's gotta finish before Monday. "We'll see."
He pulls the door closed and makes his way towards his bedroom upstairs. Even before he entered, the smile he was hiding finally burst at the seams. Yes, it's in his hands! His plan worked without a hitch. He thinks, 'SO glad she didn't dig any deeper. She's always so nosey about what I'm doing with my money."
Part two should go even smoother now. It's not like he tricked her or anything. As a matter of fact, he really wanted to check in on his mom. After all, Bayonetta and Jeanne gives him food in his bed every now and then. Why not return the favor? But this money is going to be put to good use the next day.

The next day

Almost there to the train station. He can see it just a few feet away as he approaches. The nearby festival happening in Vigrid's usually introverted streets meant a flood of the devout making it near impossible to enter any shops giving discounts and freebies. While it doesn't compare to Noatun's local events, it made getting around as a human kind of a bother. It was a relief that none of these stores are any Loki has any interest in, though. In fact, it would be a cold day in hell if there was ever a store like the one he wanted to visit on these holy grounds. His hands tap his pants pockets, his mind going "I got my wallet, right?". Upon pulling it out he unzips the pocket and finds the crisp 50 euro bill from last night. He's done this maybe six times already, and the sudden anxiousness he's getting makes him furrow his brow.

"Nothing to be worried about. Get on the train, get the thing, and then come back."

It was his first time. So maybe that's where it's coming from?
He shakes it off with an annoyed sigh.
Loki descends further down into the train station, spotting how few people are here compared to the inbound section of the station. It's humid, and up ahead is a couple and an old woman sitting on the benches.
The familiar shaking of the plaform stirs the nearby people to stand up, anticipating the now arriving 98 outbound train. Upon stopping, door hisses open and he quickly climbs on board after a few festival goers depart. Admission was free for those with a Vigrid Pass.
The train was pretty much empty. Loki sat towards the back grabbing a window seat, as would most anyone. The train smelt faintly of an old church and the central cooling blew away any lingering humidity.

Digging into his pockets, Loki pulled out his phone and plugged in his earphones as he searched through his playlist. He pulls up the webpage of what he wants to buy. Blue. Soft texture. With a blank expression he quickly tucks his phone back into his pocket. And with that, he was on the road.

As uneventful as the ride was, the little god was happy to finally be up and moving again as the train leaves him behind.

Arkham was more like an average modern town in America rather than one of these archaic cities that plague this region. While it still echoes a similar vibe, it was definetely more lively than Vigrid is on any given day. That being said, it felt a little easier to blend in with the everyday folk walking past, a few heads pivoted down at their phones, some kids running by playing dangerously close to the busy streets. Even barking could be heard from a window a few flights above.

But right now wasn't the time to be blending in. Loki knew exactly where he needed to go. In fact, he was pretty close after about 10 minutes of walking. His head darted around alleyways as he passed them and at any boy-sized bush he could casually walk behind and given the slip, as it were. But the hustle and bustle of Arkham made it impossible to enter Purgatorio without potential onlookers. It was going on 2pm, and if Arkham's anything like Noatun, it means more people are coming back from work and school.

"Shite. Finding a spot is going to be impossible at this rate." Loki shoves his hand into his pocket pulling out his phone. On the map, it's indicated that he's about another 10 minute walk from the store. As a matter of fact, Loki thinks, it might be far away enough from the more active areas here.

Not wasting any more time, he's off.

Right between an old thrift store and a bar closed during the day, Loki nears the entrance to his destination. Up above in cursive Vigridian text, something he would've never thought of seeing up close,

A sharp exhale follows a shivering inhale. His mind feels like it's rushing and staying still at the thought of getting it. It's exciting and terrifying just standing there.
"Alright," he braces himself, "get in there, grab the toy, then leave."
While it wasn't as busy as downtown Arkham, there was little foot traffic to give him the chance to go incognito without getting spotted. Loki rounds the corner into a small alleyway. His eyes scope the immediate area above him for any cameras. None in plain sight as far as he could tell. He waves his arm above him and there from blue sparkles spawns a set of tarot cards: Observer, Nothingness, and Transform. With this combination he whispers a small chant in Enochian, steps forward and transforms into magic that scatters into the air.

"Right then."

A door chime rings as a waft of burning candles slaps him in his face upon entering. The lights are low and smooth jazz plays. It somewhat reminds Loki of The Gates of Hell. Just without the giant smoking demon staring him down. Inhaling again, t's a different smell then what he was expecting but a welcome one at the very least. Though it contrasts against the decor; And this was just the first room. In his ignorance, he assumed the place would smell as dirty as the themes going on here.

"Heeeell-o?"

An older man wearing pince-nez looks up and around from the erotica he had in his hand, looking around for who in the hell just entered.
"...Damn door. 'Told that electrician to do a thorough job this time. Guess he won't be gettin' that discount."
...

Loki finally unfreezes. "Shite. I need to get what I came here for and go already."
The little god sounds annoyed with himself for getting spooked by some human who can't even see him. He knew this and yet. Anyway.
He walks past all of the , feeling his cheeks heat up at how in-your-face it all is. Not what he's looking for anyway, though he does let his curiousity entertain flipping through some pages of nearby magazines. Speaking of curiousity, his gaze snaps at the corners of the store. One camera, though probably not of the highest quality with how old-school they look. "Perfect" he whispers, those won't catch him in 4k.
The invisible customer walks into the next room over. THIS is where he wants to be. Where the other room had stupid gimmicks and shitty looking tabletop games, this one was full of...Loki swallows the dryness from his mouth. It was overstimulating seeing all of these all at once. Some looked pretty good size wise, others looked impossible to fit inside anyone.

Loki walks towards a section labeled one that even says "best seller! Become another satisfied customer!" with a transparent confetti color.
He spots the toy he's been eyeing online for the past week and a half now. "There you are," he thinks. And with a determined hand he grabs the blue toy in a box and observes it. It's a black box with a generic brand name on it. There's so many that make him question if he even wants this one in the first place. But wouldn't he know it, there's a sale going on.
"Buy one, get one half off!"
"..."

He eyes a larger Loki's mind wanders for a moment thinking of a certain guy. Is he even this big...? Well.

BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.
"The hell is that...?"

The clerk gets up with a hasty walk trying to catch whatever is happening in the act. He darts into the room as if to surprise someone, only for everything to be entact without any thieves picking and plucking at the merchandise. The man starts scoping the area only for there to be the door chime behind him.
"The fuck?!" The man sprints back. On the checkout counter lay a 40 Euro bill and some change. The man stands there baffled as the slow jazz suddenly picks up.