Aunt Cass let out a sigh of frustration. Several hours had passed since the incident, though she was no closer to understanding what was going on than she had been when it first occurred. And there was video evidence of it happening, thanks to a film student practicing with his camera in the area.
Things had slowed down at the café. It was more of a lull before the lunch rush, but it allowed her to sit down with her nephew and watch the event on the news. They were treating it as more of a student's prank than anything, but somehow Cass wasn't convinced. "You're sure that's not one of your experiments, or one of your friends?"
Hiro watched the screen like nothing else existed. "Pretty sure," he replied as he watched the replay. So far this was the only incident reported. That could mean it was a singular even, or that it was the only one people had actually said anything about. It wouldn't be the first time such an event had been ignored, simply because this was San Fransokyo and the students at the Institute were prone to doing rather silly things to the public, either on dare or because an experiment went wrong.
"Baymax, can you record that for further analysis?" he requested the healthcare bot, still not looking away from the screen, even though the news anchor had switched to another story, something about a reenactment in some such or other park. That would at least explain the strange man still dozing off in the corner of the café.
Baymax swiveled his head slightly. "I have already done so," he stated, reminding Hiro he was programmed to record all information he came in contact to, with the sudden hint that such information included anything potentially useful to the Big Hero team, and not just for healthcare reasons.
Hiro patted the robot with an absent-minded gesture. "Thanks buddy. I want to analyze that down in the lab. See if I can't come up with any ideas. It would have been so much better if I'd seen it with my own eyes."
Cass shook her head as she smiled, reassured that her nephew had not been the one responsible for the incident. "Don't work too hard," she admonished affectionately as she wiped up the table they'd been sitting at. She had a lunch rush to get ready for, after all.
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"How about this one?" Honey Lemon asked as she held up a blue cotton blouse. It had short sleeves and tassels on the front.
Deanna Troi glanced at the clothing item and shook her head. Part of her wished she had access to her closet back on the Enterprise. But, seeing as that wasn't possible, she hoped to go with something at least similar to what she was used to wearing.
So far they'd found several pairs of nice slacks, mostly in black. The main trouble was finding some kind of top that Deanna felt both comfortable in and that wasn't too flippant in nature. Not really for flaunting, some of the styles present on the racks weren't exactly what she was looking for.
GoGo watched the exchange with folded arms. Her style was fairly easy going, biker shorts under a pair of shorts or similar, a t-shirt, and the customary black leather jacket. Of course, that wouldn't exactly do for their guest. "Why don't you just go for some plain shirts?" she suggested as she moved to one of the racks.
"That is more like it," Deanna commented at the simple design of a shirt the shorter girl held up. It had a V neck cut with three-quarter lengths sleeves. And though it would be a bit form fitting, it wasn't skin tight, which was a plus. And the fabric flowed well. "Does it come in blue?"
It had been some time since the ship's counselor had last done any real shopping, especially for clothes. And, despite her usually modest demeanor, she found she was rather enjoying herself. "I also wouldn't mind something in dark purple or red."
The two locals quickly looked through the options, pulling out several different tops for the counselor to try on. Deanna took their offerings back to the changing room to see how they'd fit.
"I wonder how the others are doing," Honey Lemon said as they waited. "I kind of wish we hadn't split up but I can understand why."
GoGo shook her head. "I know, right? I really wanted to see what they'd find for that Worf guy." She cracked a smile.
....................................
On the other side of the clothing store, on another floor, Data, Worf, and Picard were at the mercy of Wasabi and Fred. Thankfully Hiro wasn't there to give his input or they might have been there all day.
"I still think he should go for a style similar to Tadashi," Wasabi argued as they looked over several different choices, not bothering to consult the men they were trying to help.
Picard gave an incredulous smile. "Gentleman, please," he interrupted. "Why don't you let me be the one to judge? After all, I am a man of greater maturity than either of you."
Fred shrugged. "He has a point. I still back my vote for cargo shorts and t-shirts." He glanced at the rack of pants, possibly thinking about adding some more to his collection.
Seeing the two students were distracted, Picard grabbed up the current offerings and headed towards a sales lady for directions to the nearest changing room. He wasn't about to admit he felt a little out of his element with the different choices. And while the style Wasabi had suggested did have its merits, he still wasn't sure about going around in a somewhat formal jacket over a plain shirt.
Worf looked away from their two hosts, arms folded. "I have already decided on my attire," he announced. He'd managed to find several pairs of black pants that resembled his uniform bottoms. And he'd added in an assortment of button down shirts in solid colors that he didn't consider too offensive.
"And you totally look good in them," Fred agreed, feeling glad they'd decided to go to one of the many department stores in the mall, instead of one of the more formal places his mother might have insisted upon visiting.
Data browsed through one of the racks of shirts nearby until he spotted a clothes dummy dressed in a white undershirt with a button-up shirt over it, wearing long slacks. "I believe I have found a style to my liking," he announced.
Wasabi nodded in appreciation. "Now that I can agree with. Why don't you try on a few different colors and see what works best with your... uh, unique skin coloring."
While Wasabi was busy helping Data, Worf looked around for more potential items of interest, mainly because he was scoping out the area. Picard had ordered him to leave his phaser back at the Manor, safely tucked away in his room. Data had done the same. But that didn't mean he couldn't keep on guard for any potential threats.
After several minutes of Fred just watching the Klingon, they were interrupted by Picard rejoining the party. "I seem to like the style your friend suggested after all," he announced, holding up a less formal jacket and a plain shirt to go with it. "Though I'm not entirely sure about these pants you call jeans."
"No problemo," Fred said, looking at the pants in question. "I mean, if you really wanted to dress in the style, I'd go for something more business-casual anyway. Jeans are overrated if you ask me. Why don't you try those pants over there?" He pointed at a display loaded with pants made from a soft twill fabric. "My dad always likes those kinds of general wear when he's not wearing a suit."
"Ah." Picard looked at the display in question and quickly moved towards it to investigate.
At that moment, Wasabi and Data reappeared from another section of the store with several articles of clothing in hand. "Are you sure you don't want to actually try them on?" Wasabi asked the android.
Data looked slightly perplexed at that, though it was a brief expression. "There is no need for me to try these garments on if they are made to the specifications indicated on the tags," he informed. "My measurements are quite specific and will not change."
Wasabi wasn't sure what to make of that but shrugged it off. "Suit yourself," he said instead. "I'm not the one who'll be stuck wearing them." He turned to look at Fred. "Everybody find something? I'm more than ready to get out of this place. You don't even want to know how disorganized everything is in the dressing rooms."
Realizing Wasabi was getting close to having a neat freak panic attack; Fred looked around for the captain. "I think we're just about ready. You can go find the girls if you like," he offered. "We'll all meet up downstairs by the cash registers in a couple of minutes. Sound good?"
The OCD student was more than willing to take him up on the offer and quickly headed towards the escalators. It wouldn't be too hard to spot Honey Lemon in the crowd. She did stand taller than most women he knew.
...........................................
After more shopping, the gang finally sat down for a meal in the mall's food court. Their rather large party was surrounded with various bags and bundles from different stores, making it more than a little crowded.
Wasabi eyed one bag from a cosmetics shop. "Was it really necessary to buy a whole set of makeup?" Though the man could appreciate the wonders various powders and creams could have on a woman, he hadn't realized just how many one person could use in the process.
Deanna and the girls giggled behind cups of soda. "Wasabi," Deanna admonished with a smile, "while it's true there are a great many different products a woman uses, chances are good you will never really understand how all those products can transform a woman and her morale for the better. Just take my word for it that it helps a great deal."
Fred nodded knowingly at her point, half a French fry sticking out between his lips. "Totally true," he added, sucking the length of potato into his mouth. "My mom always says she never feels complete without her makeup. It acts as both image booster and war paint."
Those comments earned him a few odd looks from all males in the party. But he merely shrugged it off. "What? It's the truth."
"Just be glad you didn't come with us into the lady store," GoGo teased. "I'm not sure your poor eyes could have handled it."
Honey Lemon shook her head in amusement as she reached for her sandwich. She wanted to stop that train right there and then. "I kind of wish we'd asked Hiro to come along," she admitted. "He could have used a day out."
Wasabi resisted the urge to squirm in his seat. He hadn't told them their leader hadn't been in the room when he got up. Nor had Baymax for that matter. He had no idea where the duo had gone, but had decided to cover for the youth. "Hiro needed his sleep," he defended, feeling more than a little uncomfortable at the lie. "Yesterday took a lot out of him."
"I hope he's okay," Honey Lemon worried. "We should have at least checked in on him before we left."
Fred waved an errant hand as he popped another fry. "Nah. He's old enough to take care of himself. If he wakes up hungry, Heathcliff will take care of him. Besides, we all saw how tired he was last night."
Deanna exchanged a glance with Picard. She sensed Wasabi wasn't being entirely truthful, though she wasn't sure why. Maybe he didn't know himself. But it left a rather sour note in an otherwise nice outing. And the fact that the others seemed to be enjoying themselves for once in a long while, even Worf, had been a nice change.
"Still," Picard said, picking up a little on Deanna's unease, "it might have been a good idea to at least give him the option of joining us. He is your leader."
But Wasabi shook his head. "Trust me. When Hiro doesn't get enough sleep he gets really cranky. I'd rather not deal with that, if you know what I mean."
Fred nodded in agreement, his expression taking on a somewhat worried expression. "I know, right? I remember only a few weeks back when one of us accidentally woke him in the middle of the night in his lab. It wasn't very pretty."
GoGo rolled her eyes as she sucked her soda dry. "It doesn't matter now, does it?" she asked. "I mean, we're all here and he's obviously not. He'll either figure it out, get lost in a project, or call one of us to find out where we are. It's that simple."
Data looked suitably impressed with that logic. It was, by no means, outside the norms he'd observed so far. That and it was fascinating to watch the interactions of everyone at the table and how they reacted. Even Worf, who remained aloof as usual, seemed to be enjoying the Philly cheese steak sandwich they'd ordered for him.
"It is better to let a warrior have his rest than to test his temper," Worf commented between bites of his sandwich. It wasn't Klingon food, but that didn't mean tasted bad either.
Picard nodded, feeling contented with his basket of fish and chips, or at least what they called fish and chips. "Very wise," he agreed. "We will have to catch up with him later. For now, I'm very curious about this video arcade I saw advertised."
After that comment, the conversation took a completely different turn, with Fred describing the different games since he'd played them all. And with a somewhat captive audience, he felt more than confident he was entertaining them in the best way possible.
Wasabi breathed a silent sigh of relief to have the conversation directed away from Hiro, though he caught Trio giving him a rather odd look out of the corner of his eye.