Chapter 3 - Mall Blues

[Shuu]

[ Setting ]

A few weeks have past since the first incidents at the cafe and the festival. The news has been plastered with the strange events, but nothing new has occurred since. Things have called down in Tokyo on this miserable, chilly fall day. It is gray, gloomy and windy outside, with scattered showers and a bitter wind. A lot of people of Tokyo have fled indoors, especially at a large, somewhat new mall.

[Minxie]

{ Alexis Caldwell-Blakeney :: Almost like being at home. }

Wrapped snugly in a floor-length coat of soft blue wool with a white faux-fir trim and huddling under an umbrella, Alexis made her way to the mall she had agreed to meet Mavros in. Allegedly there was much that would be of interest to her, and she hoped that perhaps with her assistance Mavros might find whatever it was he was looking for.

Reaching the relative safety of the doors, she lowered the umbrella and shook it out, then folded it neatly. She took in the sights as she stood there, unbuttoning the coat with one hand - after all, there was no point keeping herself trussed up like the proverbial Christmas turkey whilst she was inside. The mall's heating system appeared to be working well, and her coat would do her no good outside if she grew accustomed to the temperature of the mall with it on.

Today, Alexis had opted to wear an ankle-length skirt of dark royal blue paired with a long-sleeved cream blouse and low-heeled cream boots. She was also wearing thick tights and bloomers, the latter she usually felt a little ridiculous in, but it had been so chilly outside she had felt she needed the extra fabric. Once her coat was unbuttoned she removed her cream leather gloves and placed them inside her handbag, idly patting her hair back into place with one hand as she continued to take in the sights. As far as Alexis was concerned, the mall was typical of all that she had encountered.

[Shuu]

((OOC: Whenever Shen is speaking in Chinese, I'll be putting her text in italics.))

[ Guang Ying Shen ~ I hate this... ]

Shen didn't like this.

She was pratically dragged kicking and screaming out of her comfortable apartment and out into the Real World (tm) by the only other female who worked in the curio shop; an overly-excited young woman named Yang Wei Han. She arranged the impromptu visit to the large mall, claiming that Shen was a "virtual hermit" and "needed to get some fresh air." Shen didn't buy it, perfectly content to remain at home and either read or meditate, but Han was oddly persuasive on the matter.

So, here she was, a giant of a woman being dragged along reluctantly by a 5-foot-nothing Chinese woman.

"Come on, Shen!" Han laughed in Chinese, grinning up at the towering woman, "Stop dragging your feet! This will be fun, I promise!"

Shen wanted to say it wouldn't be and this was a horrible idea, but she merely sighed and relented. Already, people were staring at her, and she wanted to disappear into her maroon turtle neck, praying no one would recognize her. Not that they would; she just touched up her dye this morning and was sure to keep her bangs in their usual disorder.

"This is why I do not like going out, Han." Shen muttered down at her companion, passing by a group of Japanese girls who whispered something about them being Chinese and made fun of Shen's massive height. She pretended not to understand them, though. "Everyone always thinks I'm a freak for my height."

"You don't even know what they're saying!" Han chuckled, stopping in front of a store, "And you'll be fine, trust me."

"If you insist..." Shen sighed, tucking her chin into her turtle neck again.

[ree]

Meidono Sen - I Want Cake

The day was shit. The weather, the job, the attitudes of all the new gaki who didn't know their places and goddamnit Sen just wanted a piece of damn cake and some time away from home. His older brother Haruomi was also being an annoying dick (something about some gorgeous woman he'd just started dating) and his mother was now fussing as to why Sen didn't have a "special someone". She got like this every few years and until she was out of her phase, it was best to just steer clear for a while.

So he'd gotten into his private car, snapped "drive" at the chauffeur, and they were off, looking for somewhere for Sen to get his sugar fix and perhaps some companionship that didn't make him want to stab kittens. At least for a few hours. He immediately ruled out all the usual places. He wanted something new and relatively different. That's when they happened upon a new-ish mall that had been built only a month or two ago. Deciding it was good enough, Sen ordered the man to stop and got out of the car.

Sen knew he looked intimidating. And he knew he looked sexy. His ankle-length, grey Armani wool coat had been specially tailored to flatter his broad shoulders and muscled body. He adjusted the cashmere scarf draped around his shoulders and made his way into the mall. He knew his driver was calling his gaki to come and keep an eye on him but he didn't care. Any time spent away from them was good in his opinion.

"So...where's the cake?" he mumbled to himself.

[sylver]

Alastor Vasilios - Too many doors

Alastor pulled the scarf tight around her face as she made her way between two groups of teenagers heading into the mall. If she was lucky, she'd have the item she was looking for and be on her way home before Kiko realized she was running late. 'I don't see why I had to be the one to come buy Kiko's birthday present. They know it's impossible to hide stuff from her.'

She stepped into the mall and was grateful that someone in management had the sense to turn the heat on. Her roommates had made of her fun of her that morning, saying she looked like a thing of cotton candy with her fluffy pink sweater, scarf and mittens. At least until the wind picked up and turned the other two into popsicles.

Pulling the fluffy pink scarf from her face, she walked straight to the nearest store. Seeing a mannequin dressed in a business suit made her pause and take a closer look at where she was. She was sure she had come the way they had last time, but this was most certainly Not the music store.

She stepped away from the men's clothing store and turned to look at the other ones behind her. There wasn't a single store that looked familiar. "Wrong door." She debated going back outside to find the correct entrance, when a gust of cool air from the open doorway quickly changed her mind.

'If I'm going to get lost, I'd much rather do it inside where it's warm.' She began walking in the direction she hoped was correct, vowing to memorize the layout eventually. At least for the three stores Kiko had fallen in love with.

[Minxie]

{ Alexis Caldwell-Blakeney :: Cripes! }

Loathe to call herself 'nosy', but knowing she was all the same, Alexis watched the comings-and-goings of other people around her, a silent commentary running through her mind as she did so.

Goodness me, I cannot imagine how anyones' parents would allow them to leave the house dressed like that. Is that intended to be a skirt, or a rather large belt? Why is it impossible to find common decency in dress sense nowadays...

Her little litany was cut short as she caught sight of an exceptionally well-dressed gentleman striding into the shopping centre as though he owned it. Alexis couldn't quite stop her jaw dropping slightly, though she very quickly schooled her expression - she had had years of practice after all - but was rather unable to take her eyes off him. Perhaps it was something about the way he held power like a mantle about himself, or the confident air he had. Perhaps it was the fact he seemed dangerous. Whatever it was, Alexis was ashamed to find she was watching his every move.

[tenka]

[[ Mavros Kalloni // Utterly Lost ]]

Mavros was mess, to say the least. To say the most, he was cursing whomever invented the concept of the mall and whomever decided to give it multiple entrances, multiple levels, and multiple stores that looked the same.

He had entered at what he thought was the correct entrance, pleased at the generous half-hour that he had given himself before his meeting time with Alexis. However, he soon discovered his folly and had used up that entire half-hour running from one entrance of the mall to the second. It was now past his meeting time, and he was charging through the mall in a fury to the final entrance. His ivory wool scarf flew behind him like a cape as he charged like a bullet. He was just barely missing the various mall-goers with his full body and his scarf had slapped many along the way. It had yet to get pulled from him, however, and so he just kept running.

He was rewarded for his swiftness as he neared the final entrance. From the distance, he could see Alexis' unmistakable pink up-do. Hearing the charge of victory ringing in his ears, he doubled his steam, screaming past a dapper gentleman with bright gold hair and a ball of pink cotton candy with legs before skidding to an impressive halt in front of Alexis.

*huff* "I'm-" *huff* "-here." *huff*

[ree]

Meidono Sen - I'm Sexy and I Know it

The minute Sen walked in he became aware of two things. One, it was quite crowded in the mall. And two, he was attracting female attention and a lot of it. He managed to dodge the hyperactive young man who rushed straight by him with a well-executed turn and in doing so, got a glimpse of the pink-haired woman he'd stopped in front of. Sen offered her a slow smile and a nod before he turned to go and find the cake shop. Attractive, but a bit mousy for me. Then again, the bookish ones are always hiding the most surprises because they've read the manual.

"Master Sen. Master Sen, really, this is most-"

"Kuma, what have I told you about interrupting me?" He kept his voice quiet as he gazed at the map of the mall.

The man sighed. "You're lucky you're not young enough for me to scold, young master. Your men should be here shortly and-"

"Keep them out of sight." Sen removed his coat and handed it to him, revealing a deep green cashmere sweater and black, fitted pants. "I don't want to cause a riot. Come on, the shop I want is that way."

"Of course young master." Kuma fumbled with the coat, careful not to drop it. "Honestly, wool? I'm amazed you aren't itching to death."

"Shut up, Kuma. I don't do anything as common as 'itch'. Now come on. This place better have good cake or someone's losing a finger." And he strode off, noticing a woman even taller than him out of the corner of his eye.

A fission went through him and he paused, blue-black eyes focused on the tall woman. She was attractive, certainly, but this reaction was stronger than the kind he normally had around a beautiful woman. He ignored Kuma's prodding for a while, trying to catch her eye, but eventually allowed himself to be guided towards the cake shop. Who was she?

[Minxie]

{ Alexis Caldwell-Blakeney :: Gracious, it is all go! }

Her attention pulled from the arresting gentleman, Alexis blinked at the clearly out-of-breath Mavros before her. A number of different sentences bubbled through her mind, but all she managed initially was:

"Yes, I can see that."

After a moment, she felt her lips tugging into that smile she could rarely help when he was around.

"You need not have rushed so, Mavros." She told him. "I am sure that I am early."

Perhaps it is time I invested in one of those mobile telephone devices? It might have saved poor Mavros some discomfort...

[tenka]

[[ Mavros Kalloni // Early?! Oh... ]]

"Early?" Mavros regained his breath quickly and looked at his watch. "But the time, I'm late by nearly 10 minutes!" Then, there was that nagging feeling that tended to poke him whenever he forgot something. He pushed one of the setting buttons on the side of the digital face and frowned as the time switched to read 20 minutes earlier than it previously had. "Or rather... 10 minutes early..." Embarrassed, Mavros switched back to the previous time display and reset it. It had been his stop watch, used for keeping track of his lunch at work. He had gone earlier than usual, and forgotten to switch the display back, giving the illusion that it was 20 minutes later than it really was.

"Well, now that I've sufficiently embarrassed myself for the afternoon..." Mavros coughed into his scarf and adjusted it so that the ends hung down his front. "Shall we?"

((OOC: And btw, I've actually done that with my own watch, lol))

[Shuu]

[ Guang Ying Shen ~ Wait, I know that feeling! ]

The pair of Chinese women stopped in front of a store full of trendy clothing. Totally not Shen's style, but Han was salivating like a child in a candy shop.

"Oh my gosh, look at that skirt!" Han flailed, still firmly grasping the taller woman's hand. "Isn't that the cutest thing you've ever seen?! Oh, and that bag, too!"

"That might be a bit above your price range, Han." This curt response was replied with a playful slap on Shen's arm, though it didn't hurt her.

"There's no harm in window shopping, Shen! Stop being such a stick-in-the-mud!" Han laughed, and continued to blabber on about the cute clothing in the window, before dragging Shen further down the main concourse. Shen swiftly lost focus as something caught her attention, though it wasn't any outside stimuli...

The Song started up.

In all of her life here on Earth, she hadn't ever heard it like that before. Not even when she was called away from her quiet home in the Himalayas did she hear it like this before. Only once had she heard it like this, in all of years, and that was when--

Shen stopped dead in her tracks, practically jerking Han backwards into her when the tiny woman continued moving. Han gave a startled squeak in response, but Shen didn't notice.

Charon. Shen's eyes, which were usually downcast, looked up and quickly took in all of the faces around her. The only time she had ever heard the Song sound like this was when she awoke and spoke to Charon in the past. Did that mean the Guardian of Pluto was here? Right now? She was so focused on finding Charon that she didn't hear Han talking to her or the tugs on her hand.

Then her eyes crossed the way and towards a rather attractive man, who was staring right at her. Shen gasped and quickly looked down, praying he didn't recognize her from before she fled the country.

"--en! Shen! What's the matter with you?!" Han gasped, giving another tug on the tall woman's hand.

Realizing her friend was still with her, Shen lifted her head up from where she looked down at the floor, down at the shorter woman. "I-- Sorry, I just got lost in thought." She glanced over her shoulder and towards the man again. Han noticed this time, peering around the tall woman and smirking.

"Wow, he's pretty cute! I bet he thinks you are too!" Han teased, nudging Shen in the side with her elbow.

"It's nothing." Shen said, looking away and hurrying down the path. "Let's keep going."

Han found herself being dragged this time, but didn't protest, silently watching where the young man went and started to drag the unknowing Shen in that direction.

[sylver]

Alastor Vasilios - How rude.

Alastor barely noticed the man that went running past her, but she did notice the white scarf flying behind him. It brushed her hair and had she been a little taller, would probably have hit her in the face. "No running in the mall!" she yelled after him. Not that he probably noticed, all of his attention seemed to be on a very tall pink-haired young lady. 'Love the hair, but her taste in boyfriends leaves something to be desired.'

Her phone began buzzing in her bag, so she paused near the base of an escalator to dig it out. The mittens made it difficult to operate the touch screen, so she used her teeth to pull one of them off. She began typing a reply when the slick material of her remaining mitten made the phone slide right out of her hand. Muttering in Greek, she reached down to grab the phone just before someone's shoe came down on it. "Watch where you're stepping, please!"

[ree]

Meidono Sen - Invasion of the Gaki

"Ah! My apologies miss!" One of Sen's newest minions, who'd been brought in less than two weeks ago removed his foot from where it was about to crush her phone. "Are you all right? Your phone wasn't damaged was it?"

Five other men snickered and one of them clapped his hand on the kid's shoulder. "Forgive the kid, miss, he's new and hasn't been house trained yet. Oi, Ichiro, better get going and find Kuma so you can get your orders. And try not to piss off the young master this time."

Blushing, Ichiro once again bowed and murmured his apologies before running off. He was no more than 16 or 17 and the other five men were all in either their late 20's or early 30's. The man who'd spoken tipped his hat to her and politely excused himself, going in search of Sen-dono.

Sen, still reeling from that long look into that woman's eyes, settled down in a booth in the cake shop. It was bright, airy, but not overly filled with pastels, which he appreciate. Oddly enough, the smells of sugar and cream calmed him down and he gestured for Kuma to go and fetch him something. As his man left, Sen laced his fingers together and thought. She seemed familiar somehow. Like we've met. Yet I'm certain I would remember a woman who is taller than me and very attractive.

He spotted his gaki and growled low in his throat. "Kuma. Deal with them."

"Of course young master and your order has been placed. Excuse me." And Kuma went to deal with the recruits and order them to spread out and try to look inconspicuous.

Knowing the job was in capable hands, Sen went back to thinking. He found himself wanting another look in those eyes. Hopefully, it could spark a memory and he could figure out why he had such an odd sense of deja vu.

[pysi]

(Celeste Lewis- Ugh, shopping)

Celeste had the day off from her busy job, and decided that it was time to head to the mall and get more dressy work clothes. She wasn't one for shopping, or dressing up either. In fact, she hated it. There was nothing like being in old jeans and your favorite t-shirt and sweatshirt to Celeste. However, she had to keep reminding herself she worked in a pub, her clothes were getting a bit stained, and the guys always gave her better tips when she looked cute.

She begrudingly walked into the mall entrance, swearing around the many people coming in and out. She held her dark brown wool cloat closer to her body. Celeste had decided to not look like she normally did on her trip today. She actually wanted to get a bit of feddback from store workers on outfits, not get shunned for wearing holey jeans. So she wore her favorite black pair of skin tight jeans and a pair of dark red knee high boots. Under her coat was a cute white wool sweater. She made her way into the building, finally, and started to check out shops, deciding which one would be best to start in.

[Minxie]

{ Alexis Caldwell-Blakeney :: }

As Mavros realised his digital watch was misalligned, Alexis gave a little chuckle. It was not malicious, however. It was a gentle sound, one that few expected to hear from such a stern-faced woman.

"Case in point as to why I prefer the sort of watch one winds." She smiled at him. "Though I suppose if one forgets to wind it..." Alexis trailed off, and chuckled again. "I am glad to see you." She added impulsively. And she was; Mavros was a familiar face, someone she was feeling was a good friend. She had been having recurring, terrifying nightmares of late, and friendly familiarity was what Alexis both wanted and needed.

"I must admit to having suggested this place at total whim." She said, giving a slightly chagrined smile. "I cannot say I have any knowledge of it, nor anything that might be in here..."

[[ OOC: Tenka that's adorable! ]]