Notepad comes out, along with bright smile! (Evelyn loves making new friends.) "Go right ahead!" 

"I am actually not sure how I feel about Martin making a full recovery," she says to Alfirin in Taldane. "I think it would have been illegal for me to kill him, so I'm glad I didn't, and it's not as if it'll improve much if he can't work and slowly starves, but - it seems very optimistic to hope he will have learned and will change in the future."

"Being stabbed can be a way to learn and change."

"...I guess. Well, I hope he learns and does not go to the Abyss."

Evelyn is not going to demand to know what they're talking about even though she's so curious. She takes down Marian's phone number, smiles at her, and then goes back to filling out the application forms. It's mostly pretty straightforward information, she can fill in nearly all of it from the placement forms or just put down her own details for the contact phone number and contact email. Neither Iomedae nor Alfirin have a social security number or legal ID, but hopefully they can do without that if they're not actually getting paid? She puts 'N/A - paperwork pending' in that slot, and Diel's phone number as a 'reference'. 

She brings the forms back to Tyler at the counter when she's done. 

"Great, thanks so much! We'll see you tomorrow, then?"

"Hopefully! I need to double check some other scheduling - what are the options for times they could come in? I can call this afternoon to let you know once I know what else we have on tomorrow." 

"Volunteer hours for packing boxes are 2:30-5:30."

"Great! I think that should work for tomorrow - they're not in school right now - but I'll call in a bit to confirm for sure?" She'll need to juggle being home for Lily's school bus arrival, and then take Lily with her to pick them up, it's still too early for her to feel comfortable sending them both out by bike. It seems worth it, though, and that leaves the whole morning open for doctor or dentist appointments. 

"Yep! In general you're supposed to give us 48 hours notice if they can't be there but if you give me a call when you get home that should work okay."

"Of course! I should definitely be able to give 48 hours notice in future." She digs out her planner to write the timeslot down. "How many days a week do volunteers usually come in? I think every day would be a lot for them, but if it's helpful to pick Tuesdays and a second day, I think we could do that." 

"Tuesdays and Thursdays are when we do donation sorting and box packing."

"Great! I think Tuesdays and Thursdays work fine." She writes all of that down. "See you tomorrow! I'll just call in a bit to confirm." At this point the only way she's cancelling is if Diel already awkwardly scheduled an appointment for that time block tomorrow, but honestly she would be surprised if Diel had managed to get around to it already. 

Marian has already ushered another presumable-patient through the door to whatever room she has back there, so Evelyn doesn't have a chance to say goodbye to her. They can head out. 

She asks on the way back to the car if they're up for a Walmart trip to get Alfirin some clothes, and if that doesn't take too long, maybe a visit to the secondhand bike store? 

More errands are fine with Iomedae.

Walmart trip! 

...Evelyn is discreetly keeping a very close eye on Alfirin. She doesn't think she has that good a read on her, yet, and is trying very hard to avoid the temptation of rounding Alfirin off to 'basically Iomedae'. They're entirely different people, who clearly don't have the same background or life experiences or beliefs or assumptions about the world, even if they do have more in common with each other than with Evelyn, or come to think of it, any other child she's ever fostered. 

She's definitely expecting this to end up being fraught and emotionally exhausting in some way, but she's trying not to get ahead of herself and borrow trouble. 

Once directed to the girls' clothing section, Alfirin starts going through the aisles somewhat methodically, staring at each item for about a second without touching them. (Sometimes she nudges the hangers if she needs to move something out of the way of something else)

Iomedae doesn't actually have a guess what that's about but it's also none of her business. Alfirin isn't a paladin and her survival strategies here are going to be different.

Evelyn hasn't even particularly noticed this is weird! Her own browsing method isn't quite that, well, methodical, but 'skim all the items on offer, looking for that one awesome find' is kind of how she approaches shopping, especially at thrift stores. She's mostly not watching that closely because she doesn't want to make Alfirin self-conscious. She occupies herself looking at handbags (there's a display of them across from the teen clothing section) without intending to buy anything. 

Eventually Alfirin has checked all the items, and taken note of which ones of each kind were the least expensive, and spends an extra few moments figuring whether dresses are less expensive than shirts and pants together. She picks three of the least expensive dresses that parse to her as dresses and one each of the least expensive pants and shirt. (Dresses are cheaper)

They're reasonable choices that Evelyn has no particular criticism of, though Alfirin definitely isn't going for durable like Iomedae was and seems much more willing to look feminine. 

...They should do bras, too. Maybe she can have Iomedae explain in Taldane what bras are for, to avoid a repeat of the awkward boob-dance pantomime. 

Alfirin knows what human bodies are shaped like and understands what bras are for by looking at them but she doesn't know why Evelyn thinks she needs one?? "I wear these clothes?" she says, gesturing at the things she already picked.

"Yes, and the bra would go under them. You don't have to wear a bra if you'd rather not," she does look like she needs one somewhat less than Iomedae, "but it can be a lot more comfortable for exercising and stuff." 

Can Iomedae translate?

”She says you do not need to buy it if you do not want it but it can be more… something… for something…”

"Do not know 'comfortable' 'exercising' "