One couldn't really say the supplies made available in a hardware store merited a lot of admiration, but the shelves reaching high earned careful observation from a man searching for very specific materials. Shrink wrap, hammers and blades, boards and construction gear, all came with variety and good deals, as long as he looked at the right corners. Sometimes this meticulous observation required him to take a couple of steps back, chin tipped up with his hands in his pockets.

Dexter bumped against Ariadne to no one's surprise but their own, turning immediately to offer an alert apology with appropriately arched eyebrows and a harmless hand.

"Sorry--" He threw in a smile, short of something sheepish, just to show how unintentional his distraction had been. All of it was fake, of course, a carefully automated response to perfectly normal social situations (as social this could get, anyway). With that taken care of, he was ready to step away and return his attention to its due place.