She grinned, and held him in that kiss by taking hold of his horns, then said softly "Chocolate syrup you tonight.  Like the idea?"

  The guys chuckled, and one of them said "Ozzy-dude, the way she's dressed today, you'd better be glad she's got you on a leash, or someone WOULD try and snipe her!  You've seen how she dressed at school.  Casual but not hot?  Well, today your girlfriend is dressed in 'hot'.   And the football team's captain is looking for a fresh piece of meat to try and boss around.  He likes brunettes."

Ozzy kissed her back and grinned,"Sounds delightful, babe. You know I love it when you lick me."

He then chuckled, "As long as he doesnt annoy us too bad, hes free to try nd talk to her. But if he gets grabby, I WILL kick his ass. Guy in Derrton made that mistake yesterday, before I was this size. When I was the way I used to be. Jackass is eating through a straw today."

  Clarissa grinned, and said "You taste good.  And you have good taste.  Now, any specific colors you want your kilt in?  And I need a pattern for kilts.  I like having a pattern to work from."

  The guys chuckled, and one said "Better let you go shop, dude, before she hauls you off by the collar."

Ozzy nodded and waved goodbye, "Later!"

He then started walking with Clarissa towards the crafts store, saying, "So that's fabric and a pattern. And a sewing machine. We'll probably want fasteners and such, too, so I can put it on and take it off easy enough."

  She smiled, and said "The question is, do you want velcro, snaps, buttons, or buckles?  Velcro and buckles can make it more flexible, in case you grow some, but velcro doesn't always hold super good in stress.  But I do need a good kilt pattern first so I can make you one with a couple mods.  I don't think you can wear a cup if you don't have anything else to support it, and I do NOT want you going unprotected, given that, well, certain things are at fist-height now."  She led him to the craft store, and rubbed his ribs affectionately as she said "Low ceiling.  Want to lurk out here, where you have room to stand, or come in and sit while I flip through patterns?"

Ozzy smiled and said, "If I won't be too bad in the way, I'll come in."

With that, he stooped down and, if needed, started to walk gorilla-style as he said, "And definitely buckles, love. Leather straps and metal buckles are traditional, methinks. And maybe a zipper up the front and back so that I can switch to the armor easily enough? Of course, I could modify the armor a bit, give it a 'skirt' to fit with the kilt, and have some more underneath. And do they MAKE cups in my size? I mean... you know."

  She caught him for a kiss, and said "I sure hope they do.  I don't want someone giving you a nutpunch."  She found the area with the patterns, and said "This may take me a bit, so you might want to have a seat.  Or wander around through the fabric to find stuff you'd like me to use to make you clothes."  She began to flip through the pattern catalogs, of which there were a half dozen, and all of them two or three inches thick.

Ozzy chuckled and said, "Right, because I have no idea how to protect that area in a fight. Still, better safe than sorry."

He then started to browse the fabrics as best he could, wondering what would be best for a kilt. Definitely something sturdy, but comfy... maybe denim?

  She was still flipping through patterns, and Crystal Rose came swooping over to land on his shoulder.  She said "Clarissa says you want to pick out colors you like, and in a number of different fabric weights.  You know, something light for hot weather, something heavy for cold, something medium for the days that can't make up their minds."

Ozzy nodded, "I like green, brown, blue... cool or earth colors. Prolly not green, though. I think I got enough green on me to last a lifetime, hehe."

He continued to browse through the fabrics, taking Crystal's advice into consideration as he did.

  Crystal Rose pointed out some nice earth tones, seeing a batch of lovely browns and tans.  She asked him "You like camouflage?  There's a whole mess of urban camouflage over there.  Buy the whole bolts if you really like the colors, if she has leftovers, she can always make you a patchwork piece.  You're BIG, Ozzy.  You'll take a lot of fabric."

Ozzy grabbed a few bolts of urban camo fabric in various weights, as well as some browns and tans in various weights. He grinned and said, "Well, I'll at least make up for any customers I scare off, yeah?"

  Clarissa was digging in a filing cabinet, and laying a little packet with two others on the table before going back to the catalogs.

  A couple older women were looking at him with WIDE eyes over a rack of silk bolts, almost like they thought he might jump on them if they got too close.  He heard one say "Is he a pet or a person???  There's a collar on his neck and a leash hanging on it . . . who let him loose??"

  Crystal Rose chuckled, and said "You might draw more."  There were several students from school in, browsing a bit, but more watching him with fascination.

Ozzy peeked over the racks if he could without puncturing the ceiling with his horns and smiled at the older ladies, "I'm a person. The collar and leash are just an in-joke between me and my girlfriend. Sorry if I'm scaring you. I'm a superhero. Painter, to be specific. I kinda got mutated in the line of duty last night, so my girlfriend is looking at patterns so she can make me clothes that fit. I wasn't exactly ten feet tall before, ya know?"

  Clarissa glanced over at him, and grinned at his methods.

  The ladies squeaked, but relaxed a bit when he admitted the collar and leash were an in-joke.  One of them asked him "Did . . . it hurt?  Did you save anyone else, or just stop the bad guys?"

  One of the other kids came over, and poked him in the leg.  "Dude.  Did you do the para-party thing, or did you get it all natural and shit?"

Ozzy chuckled, "Coincidentally? The house where the bad guys were making a deal was three houses down from my girlfriend's house, and one of the bad guys started going after her Mom, so I stepped in. I'd been sitting outside with another para, helping with a stakeout to try and catch the bad guys. But, yeah, I was protecting someone else."

He then looked down and said, "All natural, man. Well, the powers I became Painter with. One of the guys I fought last night shot me with this dart full of mutagenic stuff. I nearly lost my mind, but thankfully, I had a certain special someone to help keep me anchored and sane. Para-parties don't usually work, and I do NOT recommend them. You heard about Hotwire's hero boot camp? If you really want to be a para, try that. He's legit. I met him, and worked with him a couple times."

  Clarissa smiled, and fished out a couple more patterns, giggling softly.

  Crystal Rose chirped, and soared off to a rack, clinging to the top of it as she asked Ozzy "Goldtone, silverwash, brass or copper?"

  The ladies smiled, and one said "It's hard to find many good, civic minded young people these days.  That's good."

  His classmate said "I want to be a para, and kick bad guy butt.  Can you recommend me to Hotwires boot camps?"

  Maggie and her boy toy and a couple friends came swanning in, and she heard the 'big monster' was in the craft store.  She told them to get ready to cause a ruckus.

Ozzy smiled and said, "Copper, Crystal. And thank you, ma'am. I try. Mama didn't raise me to be a jerk."

He then nodded down at the guy and said, "Sure. Even if you don't have powers, you'll be getting the kind of training you'll need to maybe be like Hunter, or Batman. You don't need powers to be badass."

   Clarissa picked up her pile of patterns, and collected a shopping buggy to present to him, telling him "I found the patterns I think I can use.  Put the bolts you want in here with them, and we can snag the fasteners.  I need a bolt of elastic fabric too though, for the, umm, understraps."

  The ladies giggled, and one said "Tell her she did well."

  The student grinned, and said "I would like that.  A lot."

  Crystal Rose collected all the buckles, her wings fanning hard to bring her and the fastener pieces to the buggy.

Ozzy smiled and said, "I will. We're gonna go see her today, after we're done here. She needs to know, yeah? I kinda got kicked out 'cause my "dad" is anti-para. But what are you gonna do, yeah? Life goes on."

He then nodded and said, "No prob, dude. We can use all the help we can get!"

He then stuffed the bolts he'd chosen into the cart and gave Clarissa a kiss, before saying, "All right, babe. Where's the elastic stuff?"

  She pointed over to where the spandex fabrics were, and said "Those would actually work better.  Lycra-spandex lets your body breathe and is still stretchy.  Then you get to play pack-beastie, love.  At least you don't mind!!"  She padded over toward the spandex.  He saw her hand slide over the silks, and she gave it a longing smile, but didn't snag any.  He knew she had a thing for aqua, teal, amethyst, rose and amber, like Crystal Rose's colors.  Who came soaring over to land on his shoulder, and flattened herself there on his skin.

  The ladies nodded, and one said "Maybe we should have a word with your father, if you tell us who to discuss it with?"

Ozzy smiled and said, "You ladies don't have to go to all that trouble. If you're insistent, though, his name's Michael Gysbourne. But, like I said, you don't have to worry about it. I don't think he'll listen to reason, anyway."

Seeing Clarissa brush her hand against the silk, he 'snuck' some silks in her favorite colors into the buggy, grinning at her. If she was going to be making clothes, he'd be damned if he wasn't gonna let her make some for herself.

"Let's get these too, love. I know you like them. You can make yourself something too, after all. Not like I don't have the money, with my job." he said with a smile.

  She smiled, and tugged him down for a kiss, telling him softly "You are so sweet to me, love.  And your horns DO make good handles."  Clearly teasing, as she held one to hold him in that kiss.  Then she headed them to the cashier's, swaying her hips at him sassily.

Ozzy grinned and said, "Well, you spoil me, love. Only fair that I spoil you back occasionally."

And he was indeed transfixed by those swaying hips, so much so that he forgot to duck for a sign and smacked his face on it. He backed up, shaking his head to recover before making sure the sign was steady and saying, "Ow! Sorry, sorry. Gotta remember to watch the ceiling. I didn't break it, did I?"