<Yeah. Next time I want to try to acquire a debit card and then we don't even have to interact with people, apparently.>

The teller checks his ID. Frowns at it. Thinks that she doesn't think any state license looks like this but she isn't really paid enough to care. "Where're you from?"

"San Diego."

           She hands him the money. "What brings you here?"

"Uh, work."

           "What do you do?"

"I research algae."

            "Have a nice stay. Do you want a lollipop."

"A lollipop."

           "Yeah. They're free." 

"I will take a free lollipop. Thank you."

            She gestures at a coffee cup that contains lollipops. He takes one, gingerly. He looks like he's never seen a lollipop before.

She gets back to reading her romance novel. They walk out. 

Matirin is examining the lollipop with intense confusion.

:I think you eat it? She did not conveniently think through instructions for lollipops: 

He sticks it into his mouth. It tastes like paper and is really inconveniently shaped to fit in his mouth. "Hmm," he says. <I have not actually tasted any human food but this does not compare very favorably with grass.>

There is a Goodwill a block away. By the window display it appears to be a clothing store. He starts in that direction. <Was she serious about the passwords>

<Apparently!> he sends to all three of them, very indignant. <I checked everyone else's security codes and most of them are in fact short English names.>

<You should have checked that first!>

<It was called a security code! Your dog's name is not a security code!>

:I am rather unimpressed but it is not - unlike - the way humans in Velgarth sometimes behave: Leareth reaches ahead with Thoughtsensing, maybe he can eavesdrop on some patrons already in the store and figure out what behaviours will look less creepy. 

:Apparently my skin colour is conspicuous in this country?: Nayoki complains. :Where is 'Africa', I did not look at the map very much: 

:An entirely different continent, I think. Much closer to the equator, which would make sense with colouring: 

There are some patrons in the Goodwill to mindread. This guy is drunk and just being in the store to get out of his house. An employee is trying to decide if it's worth kicking him out. This woman is looking for a new pair of snowboots. This one is idly bargain-shopping and has a pot and a sweater in her shopping basket. 

Matirin makes a startled sound and almost stops walking. Then he keeps walking, but past the store. <One minute, please.>

Leareth freezes. Then tries to keep walking without looking creepy. :Is something wrong: Neither his eyes nor his magical senses are picking up on anything especially out of the ordinary.

<Everything is fine but the lollipop has an intensely flavorful inner layer and it is extraordinarily distracting!!! I am concerned this is one of the substances many humans are addicted to!!>

:Fascinating! I wish we had brought one of the Fetchers so we could sneak some more, I am so curious: 

Leareth frowns. :In Velgarth I think most addictive drugs are that way because of mind-affecting substances they contain, not only flavour, but I suppose it could be both: 

:Do Andalites actually have a sense of taste? You eat grass. Through your feet: 

<I just need a couple of minutes and then I will be less distracted I think.> He is continuing to walk mostly normally. <I have not eaten in morph before. Grass has attributes about which we get sensory information but - not like this.>

:You are missing out! In Valdemar they have a kind of pastry with cream and apple slices in it...: Nayoki spends the next minute or so listing foods. 

:Nayoki that is probably not helping with the distraction here: 

Matirin has recovered himself and finished chewing and swallowing his lollipop. On the whole it wasn't even a pleasant experience, just very distracting. 

<Maybe I will try tasting things in a controlled environment at some point. We can go in now.>

Well, as long as they behave better than the drunk man they shouldn't get kicked out. Leareth looks around for other baskets like the one that the bargain-shopping woman had, and then attempts to figure out where various kinds of clothing are. He's been trying to pay some attention at least to what women and men wear differently, here, though the styles seem less different to his eye than men's versus women's clothing in most of Velgarth. 

Both men and women seem to wear pants, here, and mostly wear baggy thick clothing suited to the cold weather. Women seem to wear their hair longer. The store divides its clothes into 'men's' and 'women's' - aside from size the women's ones seem to have more purples and more floral patterns and all the skirts and dresses.

Matirin grabs lots of clothes for both genders and quickly fills his basket. The clothes are mostly between $1 and $8.

Nayoki spends a little more time being selective and peering at floral-patterned long dresses with fascination until Leareth hurries her along. All the ones she picks out are extremely loud-coloured.

Leareth goes the opposite direction and looks for things that are the opposite of loud. If necessary he can illusion on top to stand out less but that's a lot of work. 

The Goodwill also sells jellybeans and "Halloween candy". He throws some into his overflowing basket so that the other Andalites can experience tasting things in a controlled environment.

He pays for it with his bundle of bills. The guy behind the register thinks that it's super weird to want tons of clothes that are all different sizes and styles but he isn't paid enough to care and at least they're actually buying things. "From out of town?"

"I'm from San Diego." 

           "Huh. Near Disney, yeah?"

Well fuck. "...yeah."