Bonding Time // Ra.

[Isis Richmond]

Moving to the United States hadn't made Isis and Ra's relationship any less complicated. The brothers that had always been able to share anything with each other, bond over anything, yet never seemed to stop arguing somehow. It seemed that as soon as they started to get along and express interest in the same thing, something else came up that made them disagree and argue until someone walked away. Usually the argument revolved around Isis and who he chose to have sex with. Which was... Well, most people. It had always been a problem for the two. Ra was protective of Isis, very much so. So when Isis came home with someone he'd just barely met, ready to sleep with him or her, it caused a problem. Though when the topic of sex stayed down and they were doing something that they could do together, they got along quite well.

It was in an attempt for a fun day together that Isis had asked if her brother would go shopping with her. Not because Ra was oh-so fashion savvy, but because he kept her from buying things that looked trashy and it would be fun to just spend the day together. So the two walked into the mall together for bonding time. The mall didn't have a huge amount of stores, but it was enough for her to find some clothes she'd wear. There was also a Starbucks and a food court that she was sure they'd be in at some point in the day. Isis was in female form for the day, since it was much easier to buy girl's clothes as a female instead of two males buying girl clothes. She wore a flowing dress with a belt and sandals. The dress was completely non-revealing for Ra's sake. He might have a heart attack if he saw people looking at her because of her revealing state of dress. She looked up at her brother with an odd sparkle in her eyes before looking around and walking toward a bench near a gumball machine. "So, coffee, lunch, or shopping first?"

Sitting down, she looked at her brother innocently. Isis wondered how much he really hated going shopping with her. Sure, he acted like he was perfectly fine with it, but was he really? Did he really like watching her pull out clothes she liked, waiting for her to try them on, and need to express his opinion on each and every one of the options? She didn't know, but appreciated that he was willing to do it when she asked. Because that was the type of big brother he was. Protective, caring, loving... Ra always provided for the needs of his little siblings and he always made sure they weren't being treated badly by anyone, ever. Willing to do things he might not like to please his family. Always a perfect gentleman. Isis, in a way, admired his brother, not that she'd ever admit it to anyone.

[Ra Richmond]

There was a natural air of neutrality that seemed to surround Ra no matter what he did- from buying and selling stocks to picking up groceries, there was always a calculating and precise manner about him. He looked like he was from another time era and has stumbled out of the nineteen hundreds on accident. Even when he went to the mall with Isis, he was clad in attire one would find suitable for a funeral rather than a trip out- he wore a tie and dress pants, for crying out loud. If the man owned a single pair of jeans in his wardrobe, he certainly looked like he had misplaced them. Straightening his tie for what had to be the fiftieth time that day, Ra glanced around the mall and then back to his brother. Well, sister currently. But who was he to judge?

Glancing at the candy machine next to the bench, Ra turned from it to Isis, looking around to the stores as he decided. If they went shopping first, they could grab coffee and leave rather than having a full lunch. But then again, he needed caffeine in his system to keep himself from going too insane at the endless amount of shopping he was in store for. “I’ll grab us some coffee. You wait here. Mocha coconut sound good?” He asked, already backpedalling. He knew Isis too well; of course it would sound good. After a confirmation was made he was off, snagging her strange concoction while getting himself something off the menu he barely knew, which tasted of peppermint and cinnamon. It was a good drink, so he figured it was going to be a decent trip.

It wasn’t like he hated shopping with Isis, of course. He just didn’t like the waiting process. At least unlike other men he could be the bag carrier and not lose an arm from a heavy load. Even Isis’s shopping skills were no match for his super strength. “Where to first?” He asked, depositing her drink into her hands. “Macy’s maybe? I heard they have a sale.” Ra loved Macy’s, if only because they had the really nice ties that he liked so much. They had sensible clothes too, with good patterns that Isis could have. There was also Wet Seal and Old Navy, though those were Isis’s stores, not his. He only liked ‘sensible’ clothing, anything else was met with contempt and utter disapproval on his part. Of course, Isis’s clothing options were different than his and he could respect that, as always. He just didn’t like her buying anything... Trashy.

[Isis Richmond]

Ra offered to buy the coffee before shopping, making Isis smile when he even knew her favorite choice on the menu. Of course he did. They knew everything about each other, having always been so close. Some might say it was unnatural, wrong, to be as close as the two Richmond siblings were. But it had always been that way, ever since the younger of the two was born. Ra had barely let their mother have any time with Isis as a baby. Enough time to feed and change the young one before taking him back. And over the years, they'd only gotten closer. So close that Isis knew when was the best time to get out of the house without Ra noticing. So close that they could spend entire days together and still be smiling by the end. So close that when they did fight, making up happened seconds after the first offensive comment. Oh yes, these particular Richmond siblings were closer than close. They did everything together, knew every detail about each other. Down to Isis's favorite coffee from Starbucks. Down to Ra's favorite place to buy ties from.

Smiling as Ra walked away, Isis looked around at her surroundings and noticed a tall male about fifteen feet away. His eyes met her's and she waved at him flirtatiously, confident smirk on her face as she did so. She could only wish she were wearing a better outfit for him to check out. An outfit... Well, an outfit that Ra wouldn't have approved of. Isis smiled and looked around at the variety of stores before getting a mischievous glow in her eye. She knew what store they were going to, and knowing so put amusing thoughts into her mind. It would be the most amusing thing to see, but the blonde wasn't going to let it show that she had a plan before she got to speak of it to Ra. Instead, she wiped her face clean of all emotion and pulled out her phone, going on the internet absently while waiting for her brother to come back. When she felt his presence, Isis looked up and listened.

"Where to first? Macy's maybe? I heard they have a sale." After taking a sip of her coffee, Isis shook her head happily and looked in the direction of the store she had planned. Her characteristic, trouble-maker grin spread across her pale face as she looked back at her brother. "Actually, I really need some new bras. Victoria's Secret first, then Macy's. The sale will still be there when we get back." The blonde girl stood up and grabbed ahold of Ra's hand, looking him in the eye in a way only he would understand before turning on her heels and pulling him along to the store. Once inside, a saleslady with red hair greeted them, giving an odd glance to Ra. Isis giggled and ventured further into the store before seeing the lingerie in a corner. Eyes lighting up, she rushed over and looked back to her brother, motioning to one with the hand that didn't have a coffee cup in it. "What do you think of this one?" Biting her lip, Isis kept herself from saying anymore with the saleslady within hearing distance. But she couldn't keep herself from thinking it. Heaven knows, it would go to very good use if he let her buy it.

[Ra Richmond]

There was one thing Ra prided himself in, and that was being able to detect when someone had their eyes on Isis. Call it a sixth sense if you will, but years of training had honed his ability. As he waited for his coffee he turned right on time to see Isis checking out a young man a few yards away, and Ra glared daggers at him. The boy had just barely turned when he saw Ra’s face and froze under his glaze. With a flick of his head, he gestured to the male that he best be moving on, and he obliged, quickly. Content, Ra shot Isis a look before turning back to the counter to receive his order.

It was amazing how a guy his age without even a semblance of romance in his life was so fine tuned to his sibling’s urges. Ra always seemed to know when Isis was planning on sneaking out or whose house she was at. He knew exactly how to foil her every move, and he did it in a swift and orderly fashion. Each time he felt a bit of self-satisfaction wash over him, and he couldn’t help but gloat to himself that he must be a telepath as well as super strong, in order to be so good.

As he sipped his drink, Isis turned down Macy’s opting for another store. For a moment he didn’t mind- he was enjoying his coffee too much to care- but then he realized what she had said and sputtered, almost dumping coffee on himself as she pulled him away. “What? Wait, no-” His rejection of the idea came too late, and Isis started pulling him along. He could’ve stopped her of course- super strength, remember- but he didn’t, opting instead to twitch his eye and blush profusely as she pulled him into the store. He didn’t even look at the models adorning to outer walls, opting instead to stare straight ahead into the middle distance and say nothing, except for a polite hello to the saleswoman.

By the time he had regained his wits and straightened himself out, Isis was in the dreaded lingerie section, perusing with reckless abandon. Ra opted to lean against a large wooden structure in the middle of the room, ignoring that fact that the drawers on the side were filled with various colors and sizes of bras. At Isis’s question, Ra looked up for a brief moment before looking back at his coffee, suddenly finding the biodegradable plastic lid quite interesting to read. “Looks fine.” He kept his voice level and tried not to act interested- soon Isis would grow bored of her game, he was sure of it.

That ‘Isis-telepathy’ thing he was gloating about earlier certainly would come in really handy right about now. ‘Damn it all.’

[Isis Richmond]

No matter who Isis brought home, for whatever reason (though the reason was usually quite obvious), Ra would try to scare them away. Nothing was forbidden when it came to making one of her easy lays leave before anything happened. The information spilled to accomplish this goal went anywhere from telling a boy that she was born a boy to just plain scaring them away with a glare and possibly showing off just how strong he was. Ra didn't approve of anyone that his little-brother-sometimes-sister tried to hook up with. He always found a reason that they weren't good enough. Isis knew the reason behind it and sometimes it wasn't such a bad thing, because having the random hookups gone left time to do better things. It was for the reason that Ra didn't like Isis having a sex life in any way that she was confused when he told her that the lingerie she'd picked out looked fine. He was going to let her buy it? The blonde girl was genuinely surprised, but this quickly turned to amusement when she realized that he'd suddenly become quite intrigued with the lid of his coffee cup. A smirk appeared on her face as she picked the garment up and began looking around the store again.

Now that she had picked up the second reason for coming into Victoria's Secret, she had to accomplish the first. But to reach that goal, Isis would need to pick out more things to try on. The blonde walked around the store, starting in the bras, pulling out clothes of her size and continuing onward. She tried to pick things that would go with her currently quite pale skin tone, but knew that she wouldn't always be this color and would have to find things that could go with other tones as well. Sighing happily, Isis picked up a pink bra with black lace and a matching thong, looking back at Ra as she did so. Victoria's Secret with her big brother trailing behind... She was having too much fun with this. When her arms were full of garments, the blonde skipped happily around a corner and to the dressing rooms. Nodding at a bench, she addressed Ra. "You can just sit there, I suppose." With a grin, she stepped into a room.

Noting the large space between the bottom of the door and the floor, Isis made a show of taking off her dress and bra and dropping them right in front of the gap. A small giggle escaped her lips as she thought about it. Looking in the mirror, the blonde examined her figure. Pale skin, blonde hair, sparkling green eyes. Her chest wasn't too large, but not too small either. She preferred a happy medium, both in herself and when looking for a girl. Shrugging, Isis began to sort through the items she'd chosen. The pink one with black lace stood out to her. While she was desperate to see what the lingerie looked like, there were better times to model that one than in the dressing room of Victoria's Secret. With a smirk on her lips, the small girl pulled the piece on and looked approvingly in the mirror when she noticed how the color went with her skin. A good choice. The slight problem emerged when she reached behind her back and fumbled around, trying to clasp it together. It didn't seem to want to go together, almost as though one of the hooks were bent.

Opening the door to the dressing room just a sliver, Isis put her eye to the crack and looked out. "Ra? I need your help. Could you come here for just a moment?"

[Ra Richmond]

These were the days that made Ra want to go back to England and just leave Isis to her own devices. If the shape shifter wasn’t his sibling, he would’ve given up on her and left her alone to get in trouble. As it was, he had a brotherly obligation to watch over her and make sure that she stayed out of it, or get out of trouble when he wasn’t quick enough. There were plenty of times when he had to pull Isis away from a fight when she got another girl’s boyfriend- or another guy’s girlfriend. It was like someone upstairs had cursed him with super strength in order to ensure that his lifetime would be spent following his brother (sometimes, unlike today) around without end.

With a sigh, Ra sat on the bench that he was directed to and sipped his coffee, giving a tight, stressed looking smile to the woman running the dressing room. “Hello.” He muttered, averting his eyes from Isis’s room when he saw her dress fall. Augh. He was never going shopping with her again. He was going to run away and join a monastery. Shifting his weight, he turned to the saleswoman, who kept glancing at him, and sipped his coffee, back turned to Isis.

“Girlfriend?” The woman asked, making Ra almost choke on his drink.

“Ah, no.” Straightening his tie, he contemplated leaving it at that. “Sister.” He let that sink in for a moment, before realizing that it didn’t make them look any more appropriate. “She, ah, trusts me with helping her pick things out. I... apparently have the eye for fashion in the house.” Lies. That was totally Anubis’s department, not his. His closet consisted of fourteen sets of the outfit he was wearing.

The saleswoman raised an eyebrow at him and looked ready to say something, but it was then that Isis decided to call him again, and he sighed, rolling his eyes to the ceiling as he sat the coffee on the bench and went to see what she wanted. “What?” He grumbled, keeping his eyes on her face before she turned her back on him. He looked at the contraption she was having trouble fastening with a blank look, before taking it and fixing one of the hooks before doing it for her. “I thought you were old enough to dress yourself.” He hissed before shutting the door, retreating to his spot with his teeth clenched.

Noticing nothing, the woman gave him a strange look and opened her mouth, biting her lip before continuing. “Are you, uhm.”

Realizing what she was going to ask, Ra closed his eyes and steeled himself for the lie he was about to tell her. “Gay? Yes.” It seemed to clear up everything, because it was after his ‘confession’ that she turned back to her business and left him alone. Ra stared down at his coffee again, noting that it was already half gone.

It was going to be a long day.

[Isis Richmond]

Giggling as Ra hooked her bra in the back, she shrugged. Guess I'm not, after all. Never said I was, though, so it's really your fault for assuming such things." He shut the door on her as she stuck her tongue out at him. Pouting, she crossed her arms and looked in the mirror. She'd never gotten to ask how it looked. Pity. Seeing that this was going nowhere, the blonde sighed and pulled off the bra, also letting it fall to the floor where her brother could see. Isis pulled on her own clothes and picked up the items she'd brought into the dressing room. There was no use in trying them on if it wasn't going to be amusing - she already knew they would fit. As she gathered the clothes though, she heard a woman's voice. "Girlfriend?" She had to be speaking to Ra, they were the only two here. Eager to hear how he would handle this, Isis stepped toward the door to listen.

His reply made her roll her eyes and chuckle slightly. As she moved her arm to open the door, a few items fell to the ground. The blonde let out a huff of air, irritated with this, though it was her fault. She bent over to pick up the garments and heard the woman speak again. "Are you, uhm?" An unattractive snort-like laugh escaped her lips and she was again waiting to see how Ra would answer an awkward question. "Gay? Yes." Isis let out a rather loud laugh and opened the door. Looking around, she found the woman that had been speaking and nodded. "You should see his boyfriend. Whew. All I have to say about that." Her face was serious as she said this, though she could not have been more amused on the inside. She picked up her cup of coffee that she'd left on the bench beside him. "Come on, Ra, let's go pay for this stuff." On the way to the register, Isis turned around and eyed the lady working the dressing rooms.

The woman wasn't unattractive in the least. Tall, brunette. Good sense of style, revealing just enough to make you wonder. Red lipstick that went well with her tan skin. Dark eyeshadow, but not so much that it looked trashy. She didn't seem to notice that the blonde was inspecting her. Smiling, Isis dropped the clothes next to the register and searched through her purse for a pen. On the back of a scrap of paper she began writing, shielding it from Ra with her shoulder. Before he could stop her, the blonde danced away and handed the paper, containing her phone number, to the woman and walked back to her brother confidently. An innocent smile played on her lips, knowing he didn't like this one bit but not caring at the same time. If he wasn't going to make things amusing on their day together, she would have to.

Isis picked up her bag and shoved the receipt in her purse. After a quick thank you to the cashier, she grasped Ra's hand and headed out of the store. She'd promised Macy's would come next, and so headed in that direction. A woman at the perfume counter greeted them. Isis nodded, unable to wave as her left hand was holding Ra's and her right was holding a bag and coffee. The two stopped at men's clothing. Isis turned to face him, standing entirely too close. Her hand let go of his, only to reach up and grasp his tie. "Maybe we should buy you some clothes." With a glimmer in her eye that only he would understand, she stood on her toes and whispered, "Let's get you out of this tie. We could give you a whole new look." Pausing, she remembered the lady at the dressing rooms in Victoria's Secret, and that Ra had "admitted" to being gay. Unable to help herself, Isis added, "For your boyfriend, you know." She chuckled and walked into the section, browsing clothes that would suit him.