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The Russian watched Jalen ran off, chuckling lightly to himself. Well, at least he knew how entertain the teen: get him books. Ivan moved to clean up the small mess he'd made cooking and took a look at a calender he kept on the side of the fridge. Hm, full moon in a few days. He'd have to go on a late night 'camping trip' and make sure Jalen would be alright by himself. Ugh ... his skin was already a bit itchy in places. It would feel good to get some tension out.

Sure, he wasn't bound to the moon like some legends said ... but he did feel a horrible need to run around on those nights. A need if not fulfilled made him very ... irritable for an entire month. Ivan knew this; he'd tried. Once everything was s**c and sat he sat in the couch, waiting for Jalen to finish.

Ivan smiled, getting up from the couch and heading out towards the car. Once Jalen was buckled in the passenger seat and the Russian himself was also settled in he turned on the engine. Pulling out and heading down the dirt road, Ivan thought of a question to ask as the slightly-bumpy ride smoothed out once they were on the main road again. "So, what kind of books do you like?" It seemed an okay enough question.

The bookstore he brought the teen was a pretty big one. One of those places that had shelves of books smelling of that 'new book' scent and a small space set off for a coffee shop with caffeinated drinks and cookies, etc.

"I'd say ..." Ivan pondered his budget. His job wasn't the most high-paying, but he was pretty good at saving up money. Mostly for meat meals were the most expensive thing the Russian ever bought. "... below seven? Yeah. And try not to get hardcovers," he said, though he was pretty sure Jalen knew better than to grab those, coming from foster care and God knew how many budget crunchers that gave speeches on saving money and all that. "I'll be sitting over there," Ivan said, pointing to one of the many strategically-placed couches around the place.

Leaving Jalen to 'hunting' out some novels, Ivan took a spot on a chair, grabbing a cook book. Ah ... how to better prepare meat ... He had to try very hard to keep from drooling at some of the meaty pictures.

Ivan had been quite happy where he was, ogling delicious meat. A few people shot him glances the looked along the lines of 'You should be ashamed!' obviously thinking he was looking at some hidden porn mag or something. What? It was just food! Delicious, wonderful food. The Russian blinked at the intercom announcement, then winced. Why did he feel like he'd just been called to the principles office? Putting the magazine away, Ivan walked to the front of the store, looking curiously from Jalen to the obviously-irked manager. "Is there a problem, sir?" Ivan asked, plainly bewildered.

Jalen didn't seem like a kid that wanted to cause trouble. In fact he had appeared to Ivan to be more of the 'hide in a corner and quietly read til the world ended' type.

Ivan absorbed the situation quite quickly, though it was still a mystery to him what Jalen could've done, and tried to salvage the situation a bit. "Sir, I'm sure this is just a mistake of some sort. But I can still pay for those books, so then we'll be on our way--" He didn't particularly like how the manager was snarling. Hell, Rocky could've gotten away with it--he was, what, over around six feet tall and wide enough to eat two of this manager--but this little person really shouldn't bare his teeth to people he didn't know. It was rude and annoying.

And life time ban from a book store? Wow. Ivan didn't even know that was possible.

Ivan blinked. Now that was surprising, to say the least. He caught Jalen by the shoulders as the teen was shoved at him then gently steered his charge and himself towards the exit. Wow ...

Once they were both outside, Ivan gave a very large sigh. "... Molesting?" he said but ... it almost sounded like he was trying not to chuckle. What he wanted was to hear the story from Jalen's side ... are at least get an excuse of explication.

Ivan got into the car as well, but didn't start it up. He sat and silence and waited until he had his answer, then mulled it over for a few moments. With a sigh, the Russian got out of the car, and walked off. After a little while he returned, the books that had been in a pile a the front desk in hand along with his sales receipt. Getting back into the car, Ivan handed the slightly-heavy pile of novels, before buckling up and starting the car. "Well, other than you getting a lifetime ban from a bookstore, I'd say we've had a rather nice day so far. How about you?" the Russian said.