Time for a Cinnabon!

[polymods]

✖ THE MALL

Ⅰ. ARRIVAL
You can read all about your character's arrival in the game lore.
You step off the ferry and find there is no beach. No, the concrete wharf opens up to a vast, flat plain of pavement. It goes on, and on, and on. Sodium lights on tall poles are spaced at regular intervals, and as you move forward you notice white lines painted in neat rows.Those of you from a typical earth world might recognise almost immediately that you are, in fact, in a giant parking lot.

Up ahead you can see a vast building, a long rectangle flanked on either end by an even larger square. In the very center there is a large, triangular glass awning hanging over an entranceway composed of several automatic doors. There is neon tubing running along the inside of the awning, lighting up the glass so it is a beacon shining across the expanse of pavement you’re crossing.

That’s right, Travellers. We’re going to The Mall.

The building is huge - it takes a good hour to walk from one anchor store to the other at the opposite end. There are stores selling damn near everything - clothes, housewares, books, kitchen supplies, movies and music, electronics - as well as hair salons, nail salons, and a ton of kiosks. The merchandise being sold seems to be from different decades - anywhere from the 1970s to the late 2000s. You can find almost anything you could want!

The flooring is faux marble, the pillars decorated with brass detailing halfway up their length. Potted palms are set at regular intervals. The mall’s concourse is huge and open, with a glass ceiling criss-crossed with metal supports. A fountain jets water coloured by lights into the air over and over in the center of the concourse.

Escalators and an elevator run up and down to the second floor, where the food court is, which is a heaven, provided you’re too worried about MSG. Food from across every conceivable world exists here - no matter where you’re from, you can find a fast-food version of something you’re familiar with. And there’s an Orange Julius!

Truly, a paradise. Kind of weird that the automatic doors won’t let you out the way you came in, but you have everything you need right here! Just be really careful on those escalators - wouldn’t want to get sucked under. And by the way, what’s that noise…?

Notes:
1. Please remember to mark threads appropriately with Content Warnings when necessary.

2. These prompts are a jumping off point - how they affect your character and their development is up to you.

3. Any food is safe to eat, and is consumable by non-human entities.

4. The people inside the mall are normal humans unless otherwise indicated. Killing them is possible and will affect the colour grading of your Scrywatch depending on the situation.

5. Have fun!

---

Ⅱ. BLACK FRIDAY
CW: violence, mob mentality
One of the mall anchors is a huge department store that sells everything under the sun. As you walk through the empty aisles, you’ll notice that there are signs hung everywhere that read “SALE!” Indeed, prices seem to have been drastically reduced. The place seems eerily calm, however; you can’t see any shoppers anywhere.

But if you walk close to the exterior entrance on the far side of the store, you will see them if you look outside.

Hundreds upon hundreds of people pressed up against the glass doors. With a start you see that all of them, from children to the elderly, are missing their eyes. Black, empty sockets stare sightlessly ahead. Store employees, recognisable by their red smocks, stand at the ready.

“Alright, let’s open her up!” one of them shouts, and the employees move to unlock the doors. Immediately the crowd surges forward. The employees pull each other out of the way moments before they can be trampled. The mob rushes through the entranceways, stampeding towards… towards…

Oh. You.

The mob lacks any empathy; people push and climb over one another, uncaring if anyone falls to the ground. You’re pretty sure several of them are actually being crushed beneath people’s feet. Oddly, they aren’t screaming in pain. People’s mouths are moving, but only to form certain words:

“FLATSCREEN!”

“INTELLIVISION!”

“TICKLE-ME-ELMO!”

They are only screaming what it is that they want. They are single minded in their purpose, and don’t care who they hurt in their pursuit.

Make your way to the entrance that opens into the mall and you’ll be greeted with a nasty sight: the gates are closed. No matter what you do to them, they won’t budge an inch, impervious to brute strength, magic, superpowers. That means you’ll have to find another way out if you don’t want to join in the bloodshed. Maybe there’s a ventilation system or a loading bay...

There’s a chance you could just hide out until the sale ends - a store this vast has more than enough food and drink to sustain you, and you could probably get a good night’s sleep in a camping display if it isn’t torn apart by rabid consumers. Just be careful, because the longer you spend trapped in the department store the more likely you are to turn into one of them: mindlessly screaming what it is you want as you tear the store apart.

Notes:
1. There may be a few Black Friday shoppers loose in the mall, but primarily they stick to the department store.

2. Your character might find a way into the mall again, or the parking lot outside. However they manage that is up to you!

3. If your character does turn into a consumer drone, they can be changed back by being taken out of the department store. Maybe go chill out by the fountain in the concourse or get some chilli fries in the food court.

---

Ⅲ. UNDERGROUND PARKING
CW: potential starvation, dehydration
If the two floors of the mall are for eating and shopping, where do the down escalators go? Unsurprisingly they lead to an underground parking lot. More surprisingly, if you choose to enter the lot you’ll find yourself suddenly transported to the inside of a car. What car? Any car! It sure isn’t yours! It’s locked and you can’t get the doors or windows to open. Even trying to break your way out is futile.

Thank goodness you have a way to call for help: your ScryWatch! Although you can still access the public network, your ScryWatch will also now function as a private one-to-one device like a phone or a walkie talkie. You can ask a friend to come and help you!

The second person entering the lot won’t be magicked away, but a friendly mall employee will stop you and hand you a set of keys. Clearly they go to a car… but which one? Better start pressing that alarm button, huh?

The parking lot is massive. The party in the car would be wise to describe what they can see to their seeker. After all, teamwork makes the dream work! You sure don’t want to be stuck in a warm car for a couple of days!

Notes:
1. Your character can post/call the network or text/call an individual - in the latter case nobody else can read or hear the conversation.

2. The car might have some goldfish crackers or something in the glove box, or maybe an old gatorade bottle on the floor, but there’s not going to be enough to survive on for any length of time.

---

Ⅳ. MANNEQUIN
CW: automatonophobia
As you walk through the mall, you’ll see plenty of window displays. Gleaming cookware turning on pedestals under mellow lights, toys going round and round in fake wonderlands, personalised miniature license plates - although they’re all out of Borts - and of course plenty of stylish clothes draped over countless mannequins.

It’s always fun to window shop, isn’t it? Which is how you will come to notice that some of the mannequins look awfully familiar.

Everyone has, at some point in their life, treated someone like they weren’t real outside of what you wanted them to be. The romantic interest you put on a pedestal, the friend you only called when you needed them, or the poor bastard in the office who never did anything to you but who you hated on because it made you feel better. The mannequins greatly resemble that person or persons.

No matter which window you pass, they’re there. It looks like they’re watching you. But that’s silly, isn’t it?

With every mannequin you pass, the more your unease grows. Eventually the feeling of being watched is so great that it’s overwhelming. A sense of guilt grows alongside your paranoia, gnawing at your guts until you feel physically ill. Maybe if you apologise to the dummies for treating them like objects?

Or maybe if you just break all of them into pieces.

Notes:
1. Stating how you have wronged the person the mannequin resembles and apologising will cause the guilt and paranoia to vanish. But then, so will breaking them.

2. Could the mannequins sneak up on you? Move when you’re not looking? Sure! the floor, but there’s not going to be enough to survive on for any length of time.

Come on Jessica, come on Tori! Let's go to the mall, you won't be sorry!

Network · Logs · OOC · Memes · Plurk

Comments

Hawks | BNHA | OTA

[nanban]

A; TICKLE ME WHAT?

Hawks is just chilling with a soda when he wanders into the huge department store. There's something kind of eerie about this, the emptiness of it. There's sale signs, so where the hell is everyone? He wonders if people living here just get sick of this. What kind of island is this? It's definitely suspicious.

He gets to the end of the store near the exit that leads outside and nearly drops his soda at the sight of all those people with their freaky eyes.

"That is absolutely not normal," he says aloud to no one in particular.

Luckily for Hawks, his eyesight is excellent, so he doesn't have to get all the way up to the glass to see what's happening. That gives him just enough of a head start when they rush in to run the other way. He really only runs a few steps before his wings do the rest of the work. Hawks is very, very fast so anyone who encounters him may just barely see him whizzing by.

He lands near the entrance that leads into the mall, but that's also a dead end.

"Shit," he says. He takes off again before anyone can actually grab him and stays there, hovering above the shoppers. He's out of reach, but that doesn't mean there's a way out.

Find him at any point along this journey. Maybe he dropped his soda and you look up to see him.

Alternately, he might spy someone else about to get trampled. "Hey, watch out down there," he calls out.

[ Let me know if you'd like Hawks to rescue your character from the stampeding shoppers. ]

B; HEY DUDE IS THIS YOUR CAR?

After that absolute bullshit with the shoppers, Hawks is pretty wary of going anywhere else. He sees the escalators, but nah, he's not about that. He's not going down there unless/until he has to.

Fortunately for some poor soul, Hawks checks his ScryWatch pretty often. So he sees the distress call that someone posts.

you got stuck in a CAR?
ok hold on I'll come get you out

So much for avoiding the escalators. He grits his teeth and goes down. At the bottom, he has a run in with an employee who hands him a set of keys. They have no answers to anything, though, which is pretty useless.

He flies through the parking lot, clicking the keys. He can see pretty far away, so he might see someone struggling in a car and zip over to them, clicking the keys he has and hoping for the best.

C; WILDCARD ME

[ something else you'd like? Mannequin run in? Just a random encounter in a weird store? I'm game! Throw something at me here or find me on plurk at boywonder for plots/custom starters! ]

B - No it's Not

[helpdesk_hero]

David hated himself for this. He should have known better, especially after dealing with Sephiroth. But he'd been distracted getting away from a mob of shoppers and gotten onto an escalator without thinking and... Now here he was. Awake and locked into a damn late model Honda that was way cramped when he'd been here for an hour and a half trying to get out.

He'd tried popping the steering column to hotwire the car and pop the locks that way. Then he'd tried cutting the doors open. Hell, he even tried cutting the windows, because his psychic knives should be able to do that. It had only been when frustration had set in that he'd finally messaged for help.

Now all he could do was sit and mope. Good thing he had some old television stuff downloaded on his glasses. Those had come through with him and while he HATED to watch himself, but when all he had was old editing cuts for his old show, he was going to watch it to pass the time.

up to you whether the keys work or they do this the hard way!

[nanban]

Hawks hasn't found anyone yet, but he's not the giving up type. What kind of hero would he be if he did that? No, these keys have to go to something in here. He's not sure he's going to like what he finds when that burning question gets answered, but a combination of hero mindset and flat out curiosity keep him going.

The Honda David got stuck in is at the other end of the parking structure (because of course). So Hawks does see him before he's close enough for the keys to work, if that's even what they're meant to do. He recognises David, though, and speeds up. Hawks is fast too, after all, so it takes him pretty much no time to get there. He's used to this, though, so he can stop pretty much immediately. The trick isn't that his wings work like a bird's might; it has more to do with telekinetic control of the feathers. They look birdlike, but in the end, he controls feathers individually as often as he doesn't. Who said quirk physics had to make sense?

He lands on the ground near the Honda, yelling David's name to get his attention.

"Hope you haven't been here long!" he says, clicking the keys and hoping this has an easy answer.

hard way is fun

[helpdesk_hero]

David sees the approach, how could he miss the flash of those crimson wings. If nothing else, David had years of experiencing spotting the movement of people who definitely went too fast by normal human metrics. He would ignore the fact that him and people who went fast were complicated, he was just watching the approaching hero thanks.

The shouting of his name was almost amusing though.

"Oh, you know, only an hour and a half. But that's all because I'm too stubborn to ask for help."

The keys beeped. And... Nothing came from that. No click of locks, no car coming to life. David sighed and put his head against the steering wheel, because of course that would fail. When he'd helped Sephiroth the keys had opened the car but... He hated this.

"Car's extra durable inside," he said when he lifted his head, a blade of golden-yellow light forming in his hand. As if to demonstrate his point he attempted to drive the blade into the dashboard and it just tinked off.

"Normally I could cut things like this. The outside, though, it's just a normal car I think. Well, at least Sephiroth was able to cut the thing up."

[nanban]

Hawks isn't too bothered about whether David spotted him before he zipped over here. He's more concerned with how to get someone out of a locked car.

Of course the keys don't do it. That would be too easy. Do these keys even go to a car? Is this just a mall gothic meme? Wander around a garage and click the keys but nothing happens. He's not sure; maybe there's another car that the keys unlock, but that's not his priority here. He pockets the keys for now.

He doesn't have Sephiroth's huge ass sword to slice through cars. He can detach some of his feathers and use them like swords, but they aren't anywhere near as sharp as an actual sword. He can't just cut into cars with them.

That leaves another option.

"Get down and cover your head," he says. He takes off again and flies a few yards away. When he's sure he's got enough space between him and the car, he flies at it again, very deliberate this time. He shifts so his feet are in front of him. He figures with enough speed, all he has to do is hit the window hard enough and it will break.

He's fast enough that he doesn't need tons of momentum to get the right effect. His booted feel connect with one of the car's side windows. A crack spreads up along the window, splintering into many other cracks an instant later.

[helpdesk_hero]

Get down and cover your head.

Again, he's known more than enough speedsters to know what's coming next. David curses and lowers his head, even as his hands come up and he thrusts power out, focusing on it as much as he can to form a golden dome of energy over himself. A shield. He hasn't had to use his powers in an active sense since he got here, but wow, this was going to be a real test.

He winces at the sound of the kick, and lets himself look up, look at Hawks. And yeah, there it is, cracking.

"Another blow like that should do it."

[nanban]

Hawks isn't too much stronger than he looks, but he's fast and that gives power to a blow like this. He's reminded of the reason the Commission even wanted him to train as a hero, saving people from a wrecked car. At least this isn't anywhere near that urgent. David doesn't seem to be in danger, just stuck. And maybe he'd get out eventually, but maybe there's some other terrible thing lurking in this garage! Why wait to find out?

He nods at David and flies backwards again so he can do the same thing. He's got good aim, so he hits the window pretty much in the same place, where it's already started to fracture from stress. It breaks this time, sending little bits of tempered glass all over. There's nothing for that, really. At least it's maybe less hazardous than some other types of glass?

"Man, didn't anyone tell you not to get in a stranger's car?" he asks, offering humour to cover his actual concern.

[helpdesk_hero]

Speed is its own strength, something people often discount. David knew too much of physics to not be certain that Hawks could manage this for him. So he had full faith that the window would shatter with the second hit, and was glad to see his barrier held up to let the safety glass practically snow around him.

Still, it was a jarring experience, and David took a deep breath before moving the shield, the golden light reforming into a wedge to drive out more of the glass before reforming into a ring that curled around the edges of the window frame to serve as protection. Only then did David twist, put his hands on the roof, and haul himself out through the window with a surprising amount of grace.

"Didn't get in by choice," David informed Hawks with a sigh of relief once he was out. "The escalators? Fucking cursed things or something. Accidentally ended up on one, and just... Between one moment and the next I was in this car. Tried to use my powers to pop the steering column, hot wire it, and use the electric locks. Tried to cut through the frame of the door to get at the physical mechanism. The thing seems to be impervious from the inside."

Which was stupid.

"Thanks for the help. Timely too. I've been here for a while, so it's nice to breathe fresh air."

[nanban]

Hawks watches David carefully, the thing with the light shield, the way he moves. He's seen quite a few people here who are just human and that's fine. But it's nice to watch David, because he's kind of familiar, just a guy who knows how to use his quirk (even if he calls it something else) and not panic. It's familiar, like being home, in a sense, even if this whole situation is absolute nonsense.

Also, listen, competence is attractive. Maybe there's that, too.

"So don't take the escalators, got it. Some parking dude gave me these keys, though. Wonder what they do go to." He clicks the little key thing again. The light on it blinks, so it might go to something, but who knows? Hawks has heightened sight, but not heightened hearing. He can't follow the sound to anything. Maybe it doesn't go anywhere at all.

"You all right, other than the intense boredom factor?" he asks, looking back to David. He can't help the humour, it's a coping thing, but his concern is genuine. He does do this full time for a living, after all.

[helpdesk_hero]

Thing was, this wasn't even his native 'quirk' but rather something he had picked up later. The things he could do with his own, the competence that came with it, was something people couldn't see well. They could only see the fruit of it, and not the hard work that went into keeping his own mind manageable.

But hey, impressing people with acquired glowy lights was good too.

"Might have been meant to rescue someone else?" David suggested as he stood and did a cursory once over of his clothes, his hands now coated in the glowing light to protect them. Once he was certain he was free from cuts, he waved the light away and touched the returned yellow lensed glasses he wore.

"I jury rigged a sound analysis program when I had to help Sephiroth. Maybe it will help here to see which car that goes to. Statistically it's unlikely two people are down here at the same time, but unlikely isn't impossible."

And there was David, barely even thinking about how he was. But Hawks asked and he did a mental inspection and offered a brief smile and a shrug.

"Slightly dehydrated due to overheating because I couldn't even roll down the windows. Nothing that won't pass. I'll be fine thanks to you. Also, just how fast were you going there? That was impressive. I know a lot of people with wings back home and typically they can't pull truly high speeds. The relative G-Force would tear their wings apart, even those with healing quirks."

He was going to use Hawks' term for it out of respect.

"The telekinetics tend to get far faster though, because they can redirect the airflow to help some. Though nothing compares for the Beaubiers save members of the Nova Force. And now I'm just rambling. Sorry, I get like that when I'm stressed and sadly being trapped tends to be a recurring stressor of mine."

He needed to sit down, have a hot cup of tea, and maybe something sweet to eat.

[nanban]

"Or maybe to get me to trap myself in a car. Hopefully a big truck or something. Hate to cramp my wings up," Hawks says, automatic, talking to fill space. That doesn't mean he isn't listening or considering, of course; he always is. That's just how he functions.

"Sephiroth? Man, I bet he was thrilled to get trapped in a car," he says with a grin. He's only met Sephiroth once, but he seems like the hyper competent type. Besides, he knows Sephiroth is a military guy. Stoic. He knows that personality type well enough. Not that anyone would be thrilled to be stuck in a car.

He fluffs his feathers and shrugs.

"Dunno. I can go a little faster if I have more space to start up, but I told you, I'm not like a speedster. I can't break sound barriers or anything like that. I just have a nice advantage." He's not really humble about it, but he is realistic.

"I can control each feather on its own," he says. He doesn't talk about the specifics of his quirk very often, though it isn't unknown to people at home. Pro heroes don't have tons of secrets about their quirks; that's just how it goes. There's a couple things Hawks can do that people don't know about, which is why he can be a spy effectively, but feather manipulation isn't a secret, even if it's something people don't really bother to learn. "So that's how I get through the speed thing. But it's intuitive, y'know? I could do it as a kid, too, without knowing that's what I was doing. I can't do the telekinesis thing outside of my own feathers. Be cool if I could, though."

He laughs a little. "Nervous talker, huh? Same, man, same. Well, I'll keep clicking this key thing and see if we find some other poor sap on our way out. But you need some hydration and some fresh air, I think."

[helpdesk_hero]

"Yeah, wings and vehicles don't tend to mix I think," David had to agree. And that wasn't something he thought was easily compensated for. But yeah, that observation has him smile.

"Sephiroth was PISSED. And he had his sword in it and he couldn't get out. He decided afterward to just attack the car but I can accept that. he was frustrated." SO the stoicism had failed a bit there, and David hadn't minded it at all. In fact, he had enjoyed that a lot. It was nice to see that people like that could loose control. Made David feel a bit less bad about when he lost control.

"It's a very nice advantage," David agreed. So not full on speedster. But that's fine. Most winged people didn't seem to get there. And that's for the best for them. But he's really intrigued to hear about the mechanics of it.

"Only the feathers, huh? Is it because they are another 'quirk' or is it because they're so inherently connected to you? Could you manipulate your own hair, for instance?"

Yeah, he's intrigued by the implications of that. Though he's not going to argue about the water and air. David tries to hide how much that good point makes him wince. Oh well.

"I guess I could. There's, uh, a history with parking garages too?"

A

[kyley_b]

Kyle's digging through a display of winter hats - because apparently he's determined to spit in the face of fashion - when he hears the sound of approaching footsteps. A lot of footsteps. Too many.

He looks up and sees the mob swelling towards him.

"Not again!" he shrieks and takes off running as fast as he can. Which is pretty fast! Unfortunately the main entrance gates are shut and locked. Kyle looks around desperately and only then hears Hawks shout. He looks up.

"Fucking help me!"

Maybe not the most polite way to handle this, but he can hear shoppers rushing toward him.

[nanban]

Hawks doesn't really mind the lack of politeness. He's been doing the hero thing for years now, and people who are panicking don't often remember what manners are. Anyway, he'd feel pretty demanding if he was trapped on the ground with those crazy shoppers. He's just lucky he can fly.

Despite his relatively small stature, he's also pretty strong. Besides that, his wings don't work like he's a bird or something. Part of how he flies has to do with telekinetic feather control as much as it does actually just flying. He can't fly if he loses too many feathers, but he has more control and more relative weight bearing capacity this way.

"All right, hang on," he says, but he's already moving as he says it. He can fly faster than the shopper zombies (what a terrible phrase, he thinks, but what else can he call them?) can run. Still, it's a close enough thing. He zips down to pick Kyle up. It may not be entirely dignified, but it's better than being trampled, right?

[kyley_b]

Kyle, looking like the world's tallest and gangliest Lois Lane to Hawk's Superman, clings with no shame whatsoever.

"It's fucking Black Friday!" he despairs. "Oh my GOD dude, how long can you stay up here?!"

[nanban]

"Not forever," Hawks answers. It's not the answer he wants to give, but it's the truth. "But I'm not gonna drop you. Maybe there's an air vent we can get to."

He hovers there, looking above them at the ceiling. He spots a grate a little ways away, over a shelf. Well, at least that will give him somewhere to set Kyle while he tries to open the grate himself.

"Hang on, my dude," he says. He starts flying towards the grate. He's fast, even with a passenger, and the store isn't that big. The frenzied people below them, though, would probably trample them in a heartbeat. Good thing they're distracted for now by whatever sale they think is happening.

[kyley_b]

Kyle clings tighter. "Fucking Black Friday," he whines. "I hate this shit, why is it always this bad?! I saw a guy on the news once who ate his own kid while waiting in line..."

As Hawks hovers closer to the grate, Kyle finally lets his grip loosen. Just a little. "Dude," he says. "I think we can fit in there, if your wings fold up enough. We need a way to get it open."

Below them someone howls and starts beating another person with a 80% Off sign. I's not terribly effective.

HELLO my apologies, I was on december hiatus!

[nanban]

Hawks's eyebrows shoot straight up at that comment. "You shouldn't watch that kind of sensationalist news, man," he says, figuring it's probably just tabloid style junk and not a real thing that really happened. Or maybe Kyle comes from a really bad place, but Hawks doesn't want to think about a world where someone would literally eat their baby. That's horrific.

"They fold up pretty tight. We'll fit," he says, reassuring himself as well as Kyle. He could probably shed a few feathers if he really needed to, but he hopes it doesn't come to that, since growing them back is never fast and there's absolutely nothing to be done to hurry that process along.

"Here, lemme set you on this shelf for a sec while I get the grate open," he says. It doesn't look like it's screwed into the ceiling, at least, thankfully. He should be able to just jimmy it open with enough pulling, but he needs his hands for that.

oh, no worries!

[kyley_b]

Little from column A, little from column B...

"Okay, good," he says, relieved. He's less ecstatic to be placed on the shelf, but it has to be done. Kyle clings to the shelving so tightly his knuckles turn white. He watches Hawks tug at the grate, only looking away when he feels the shelf vibrate. He looks down.

There are people climbing up the shelves.

Blank-eyed, drooling, they howl like the damned as they try to claw their way up. Kyle shrieks and looks around. He starts knocking things off he shelf as best he can. "HERE! Go away!"

Discount goods bonk off the heads of shoppers, calming some but driving others to keep climbing.

"Dude?!"

[nanban]

Hawks hears the commotion below and glances down. God, these people are out of their minds. He's heard of some people losing it for sales, but where he's from, no one would act this way. It would just be unheard of unless they were being mind controlled or something. That's not out of the question, but it's not terribly likely, either. He's not sure what's up with these people, but he's more concerned with getting Kyle out of here than figuring out the answer. He's used to prioritising to save people, though. That's part of the whole hero gig, after all.

"One more sec, man, we're gonna get out," he promises. It's not an empty reassurance, either, luckily.

He gets the grate off and turns to chuck it at the person nearest to reaching Kyle. He has good aim and it hits them hard enough to knock them off the shelf. It's just a grate, not a deadly weapon. Hawks isn't looking to seriously harm any of these shoppers, after all, just get Kyle out of danger.

He zips back down to grab Kyle again.

"These people really don't know when to quit, huh?"

[kyley_b]

The difference between how Hawks handles the shoppers and how some other people do is shocking. Hawks is, without a doubt, a hero.

Kyle clings like Lois Lane to Superman.

"No," he says. "They don't. I haven't seen anything like this in years, dude."

Once he's close to the now open hole leading into the store's air ducts he reaches for the edges and pulls himself awkwardly inside. He wriggles down the vent, looking over his shoulder to see if Hawks can get in.

"You okay?"

[nanban]

This is a truly strange turn of events for Hawks, because what the hell are these shoppers even doing, but it's not anywhere near the most dangerous things he's ever seen. He's not even really breaking a sweat doing this. He's just glad to be useful for once! He's felt like he's not really very heroic on these islands.

Okay, this isn't really heroic in his mind either, but he's helping Kyle not get trampled by shopper zombies, so he's gonna take this as a win.

"Lucky us," he says.

Hawks hovers for a second so he can catch Kyle if he slips. Once Kyle is up in the vent, he pulls himself in. It's not the most comfortable thing, of course. His wings don't work like normal bird wings; he can control his feathers with telekinesis (no the rules don't make sense, it's fine), so he can get his wings pretty close in against him. Still, this isn't his first choice.

"Yeah, I'm all right. This isn't my fave! But I couldn't find another way outta that shit show down there. Are you okay? No sudden urges to buy things on clearance or anything?"

[kyley_b]

"No, I hate shopping," is Kyle's immediate and somewhat ridiculous response. "Okay, uhm. I think if we head the way I'm pointed, that should take us toward the mall proper unless it veers off. Once we're out there hopefully we can knock open a vent and see if the rest of the mall is insane too."

He starts crawling forward, bony knees making loud, hollow thunk noises as he does.

"Thanks for saving me. That was really impressive."

A.

[welltakerwishgiver]

Nulo is still getting used to not being stuck in a well for 29.5 days of the year, but they certainly didn't seem to have malls where they're from. Thankfully, it seems to be a culmination of shops, some far more obscure than they've ever dreamed and some, seemingly, normal, like places that sell food. The crowds are something, but they don't bother Nulo as much. They'll watch others more than anything else.

As they're doing just that, staring at other people, a drink fall from the... sky? Ceiling? and splashes all over them.

"Ah!" they yell out, looking around immediately for the source before looking up. But they can't even be angry.

"You can... fly?" They ask, unsure if to be confused or amazed.

Nope, they're still not used to the varying walks of life from here.

[nanban]

Hawks isn't generally clumsy, of course, so he feels extra bad about spilling his drink all over the person below him. Hawks is very used to people looking all kinds of ways, including not at all human, so Nulo's appearance isn't very shocking to him. Still, he's never seen anyone exactly like Nulo, so that's new!

And that's also something to worry about later, since down there on the ground, there are still shopper zombies heading this way.

"That's what the wings are for, friend," he answers. "Sorry about the drink. I'll buy you a shirt if we can get outta this store before those crazy shoppers come. You definitely don't want to stick around here."