Shopping Trip

Shopping Trip is a story written by BobLogical as a sequel to Girls Night Out. It involves the characters from the previous story (Eleanor Harkness, Achilles, Yuu Kasuga, Carmen Mendoza, Molly Jonker, Almos Lorand, and Seymour Harris) going to a mall in order to shop.

Continuity
There are a number of small continuity errors in the story similar to the original. In the same way, they could easily be rectified if it were to take place in the future.

Transcript
The minivan lurched forward, shaking the passengers within at the abrupt stop from the previously blazing fast speeds. After several tries of pulling forward, breaking sharply, backing up, another break, and pulling forward, the car was tentatively parked almost within the lines. At least they didn't hit anyone.

Falling from the back row of seats down to the pavement, Molly embraced the ground for a time before even beginning to move. Carmen had fainted some time ago from fear. Despite facing monsters on a regular basis, she'd never been more certain she could die at any moment than this drive. Yuu, whose career involved regularly jumping from planes and impacting the ground, hopped from the vehicle and began walking towards the large building across from the lot they'd arrived in.

Megali, beaming from behind the wheel, unbuckled a seatbelt and turned to her copilot, Eleanor. “I did exemplary, yes?” she asked, proud of her assumed skill in mastering the mechanical chariot.

Releasing the handle above the window, fingers like iron the whole ride through, she nervously smiled. “For a first time, you did pretty good.” A lie, but for a good cause. “I should show you a couple special skills, though. Let me do the ride home.”

“Special skills are important knowledge,” she agreed, exiting the vehicle and vaulting over the tilted parking job to continue towards the store. Molly, recovered, followed her at a safe distance. Eleanor stayed behind to revive Carmen.

Meeting up at the entrance, the group entered the mall. Having unanimously decided Yuu needed more than seven versions of the exact same outfit, they made it their mission to take her shopping and find some new clothes. Even so, no one had any idea where to start. Yuu herself was of absolutely no help, not even seeing the point of getting more clothes and having no discernible style outside of “Punk Rock Magical Girl”.

Entering a scary looking store patterned in black and red, death metal blaring from the speakers, Molly guided Yuu through the aisles. Being the most fashion-conscious of the group, it was an easy choice for who would be the one to help the tiny girl define an actual look for herself. Meanwhile, Carmen and Megali were scouting ahead for any stores that looked promising (it was exceptionally hard finding a place that carried clothes designed for an adult with the body of a teenager). Eleanor traveled to another section of the mall to find a place that carried home furnishings, hoping to finally spruce up the currently drab room the cyborg lived in on base.

Her eyes drawn to a black shirt with a white kanji character on the front, Molly pulled Yuu towards it. “Maybe something like this? I thought since you can speak Japanese, it would be neat.”

The smaller girl took a short look, turning to her friend with a dreary look. “It says turnip,” she announced.

Feeling exceptionally stupid, Molly laughed nervously. “Maybe not, then.” Moving on, they found a display of various body piercings. After a moment of though, she shook her head, not being able to imagine the tiny girl slowly pushing through a pile of hoodies with any kind of metal alterations to her body.

Still trying to place a style, the pink haired woman was jerked into reality by tiny fingers tugging the sleeve of her shirt. Holding up a black hoodie patterned to appear like orange paint splatters covered its front, Yuu tilted her head to signal for an opinion. Molly nodded enthusiastically. “That looks perfect,” she complimented, receiving a small smile in return. Though they looked around more, nothing else seemed to fit, and they left the store with nothing but the hood to show for their efforts.

In another part of the building, Eleanor compared rugs, teetering between a red one in a square shape and a blue one in an oval. Comparing their feel and imagining each in front of the door, alarms began to ring in her head as footsteps approached her from behind. Whipping around, hand reflexively landing on the gun holstered to the back of her pants and covered by her jacket, she upholstered and leveled the weapon at the vampire in front of her. “I told you not to come back,” she said, pulling back the hammer and taking aim at his chest.

Throwing up his hands, Almos flashed one of his winning smiles. “Relax, I was just coming to say hello. Can't an old friend catch up? And you should know you'd need more than a gun to put me down by now.” He placed his hands in his pockets, surreptitiously covering his crotch with his hand. “Are the rest of the girls around here somewhere?”

“None of your business,” she answered, still keeping the weapon raised. “Where's your friend?”

“Around,” he replied, looking off to the side to remember his exact words. “I think he said he was going to get a latte, a cop car, some candy from a baby, the baby, and a pet turtle. In that order.”

She couldn't put aside the possibility he was actually stalking the area. This was probably just a big revenge scheme in the first place. Placing the hand used to brace her gun on her wrist, she took the adjustment knob between her fingers. “Three pulls and I'll have an army swarming this place in ten seconds. Think it's best if you just be on your way.”

Almos was neither amused nor intimidated. “I'm not trying to kill anyone. And I've totally forgotten about that thing where you shot me in the balls. Can't dwell on the past, you know?” The uncharacteristic and suspicious level of maturity by the vampire would put anyone at maximum levels of alert, and the spy was no different. Even without a handy printout of his backstory, she didn't believe in this apparent lack of animosity after their last parting. Stuck with no moves, they remained at a distance with neither attempting a move.

Off at the food court, Carmen was holding back tears at her now empty wallet. Unable to resist the impulse, she'd bought four bags worth of new clothes, burning through all her discretionary money. Now she'd have to live off the kindness of strangers, just like the old man. Which meant sleeping in the car for another several weeks. Head impacting the table, Megali returned to their space with a plastic tray full of cheeseburgers and fries. “The food of this era is quite fantastic. Everything tastes of fat and meat.”

Ripping the paper off one of the sandwiches, she inhaled it almost immediately, starting on another and shoving a fistful of potatoes into her mouth. Carmen looked up in confusion. “Where do you even get money? Aren't you, like, not actually employed, and stuff?”

Swallowing hard with a mouth full of meat, she answered, “There are many ways to obtain currency. An ignorant young man often challenges me to running competitions. I imagine he is now a beggar.”

“Huh,” Carmen replied. She'd always been fascinated with this woman. It was an easy feat to decipher her true identity following a short exhibition of her powers, even in spite of all the stories declaring her as a man. Despite the immortality and being dead for about 3000 years, here she was shoving burgers in her mouth and bragging about beating some ass in a footrace to take his money. More than anything, she admired how well she'd managed to adjust to the world. It must have been hard knowing everything was different and all her friends and family were dead. It was practically a cliché by now, but someone living through all that probably did feel that way.

“Also, I would like to apologize to you.” Carmen was surprised, especially given all the positive things she was just thinking of her friend. “I attempted to take advantage of your drunkenness previously. Customs were different in my time, but I've come to realize the error in that mindset, especially towards a comrade. I am sorry.”

“No, no! It's cool!” She waved her hands to dismiss any sort of grief. “We were drunk. Shit happens.” Even sober, she wouldn't have been opposed to things playing out as proposed. To say Megali was unattractive would be a filthy, filthy lie, and you should be ashamed of yourself for thinking that. There were far worse people she could have hooked up with in that bar.

“However,” Megali continued. “With the absence of ale, I will extend the offer once more. I admire your skill in hunting magical beasts and find you quite appealing. If my offenses have not been too unforgivable, would you be interested?” She smiled sweetly, Carmen returning with a series of uncomfortable laughs. Not at the absurdity or as an insult, but as her nervous tick for intimate talk with another girl. Awkwardness and total inability to act like a mature adult aside, it was certainly tempting. Like she was just thinking, Meg was a very attractive person, and she really liked her as a person. She couldn't go through with it, though. She didn't know why, but she couldn't. Maybe it was nerves, or how far apart they'd be, or...something else, but she couldn't.

Face having turned a furious but still quite wimpy pink, Carmen stuttered and tried to make a response. “Well- I mean- it's not- it's nice...”

Megali placed a hand on her chin, smiling at her friend knowingly. “I believe I understand. I don't see the purpose in limiting yourself to one person, but I respect your decisions.” Carmen wasn't sure what to say to that, or even what she meant. “You and miss Molly, of course.”

Unable to even form sentences, Carmen's mouth made a series of bubbling, shrieking noises before her head fell into the table again. After a few moments, she looked up. “That obvious?” she asked, face falling back after speaking.

“I could tell from the first moment,” she confirmed. “I simply believed you to be open with consorts. I would not have intruded otherwise.” After a pat on the head, she offered her friend one of the many burgers she'd bought, but was refused.

“Wait,” Carmen said abruptly. “Weren't we supposed to be doing something?”

Megali thought for a moment. “I know! We were meant to be scouting stores!”

“Shit.” Carmen continued hitting her head into the table.

Yuu and Molly continued around the store. The cyborg wore her new hood with pride. It was slightly big on her, almost like her normal outfit in length, but she felt comfortable in it. They found a few pairs of pants that fit her and weren't hilariously ugly or juvenile. A few shirts later and they were on their way towards an exceptionally frilly looking shop full of barely dressed manequins.

“What's in there?” Yuu asked in confusion, not entirely sure what kind of sex appeal would be necessary to sell such a bad product.

“Cute underwear,” Molly announced cheerfully, bringing a blush to her friend's cheeks. “You want to impress your doctor friend, don't you?”

The blush spreading, she pulled the hood further over her head. “He's only a friend,” she mumbled from under both sets of face concealing garments.

She nudged her in the side. “We should just go all the way, you know. They've got sock and stuff, too.” Yuu grumpily followed orders, averting her eyes from the displays out of embarrassment and allowing Molly to do what she wanted.

“Howdy, cowgirls,” came a voice from down the aisle. Slurping a latte with “Surflord” written on the side, the one eyed vampire walked towards the two before tossing the drink at the wall. “Nasty shit. Don't know why I keep doing that.”

“Seymour!” Molly greeted. “We haven't seen you in ages.”

“Four months, seventeen days, and forty-eight seconds exactly,” he replied in monotone.

“...Really?”

“Nah, I don't know. So, what's two fly honnies doing in here without the rest of the gang?”

She laughed. “We're buying Yuu something to wear for her boyfriend.” The smaller girl completely closed the opening to her new hood with the strings. “What about you?”

“Making the men in here uncomfortable. And trying to find something to wear. Everything's so soft. It feels good on my sensitive, little bottom.” He rubbed his ass to reiterate its soarness. Making a move determined why, with the unsafe bat(s) strapped to his belt jabbing him with a rusty nail at every turn. “Got to find a better way to carry this,” he said.

“You could try the sports department,” she suggested. Turning momentarily, she placed a hand on Yuu's back. “Come on,” she said, giving her a pat. “You need some different socks, at least. You can't live in stocking, no matter how cute they are.”

Seymour grabbed some underwear off a shelf. “Personally, I think these would work. The white lace offers a contrast to all her black and represents her underlying innocence.” No one was sure how to react to that. Even Yuu peeked out from her hoods to look on in surprise.

“I didn't know you were so into fashion. Or, poetry?” Molly complimented.

“You think I look this good on accident?” he questioned, spreading his arms dramatically to show off his strange duster and ascot combo. “Either you take them or I do,” he declared, flipping his hair for a glimpse at a mismatched green eye.

Yuu took them in hand and looked at the clothing timidly. After a moment, she turned her head and muttered, “Fine,” under her breath, much to the other two's delight. She rationalized it as saving a perfectly good pair of panties from being ruined by someone who was far too big to wear them, but really she just thought they were cute and wanted to try that feeling for herself.

“Well, it's been fun, but I have to go talk to a cop about a car,” the vampire announced, giving a bow as he unholstered his bat, placing it over his shoulder as he began loudly singing Toreador to announce his exit.

Recognizing the tune, Molly had a sudden realization. “We lost them!” she yelled. “Come on, we have to pay quick so we can find out friends.” Taking Yuu by the hand, they rushed to the counter, making a purchase that returned the girl back into the safety of her new hood to protect her from the cashier who was totally judging her. She could just feel it.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, both blondes continued to annoy each other. Gun having been holstered, Almos was forced to carry bags of rugs, pillowcases, blankets, and a lamp (some assembly required). “Someone should show her how to use a computer, too. I think we should get her a computer next.”

Grumbling at having to lug the items despite his strength making it little more than lifting a feather, he spat back, “Where'd you even get all this money? Aren't you on a government salary? That's, like, $5 and a Happy Meal.”

“Business expense,” she smirked, comfortably writing all this off as money well spent helping her colleague mentally prepare missions. It was always important to be in a good state of mind for performance's sake, after all. “Quit complaining or get gone.”

From down the escalator they'd stepped onto, she spotted the distinctive bounce of pink hair followed by a tiny black spot. “Molly!” she yelled while rushing down the steps, followed closely by an annoyed Almos. “I've been looking all over for you. Drop your bags, he's got it.” She pointed over her shoulder at the vampire.

“Thanks, Almos,” she said, quickly tossing them up into his arms. “Yuu bought panties!” she announced, pulling them out of one of the bags she'd given up moments earlier and making the tiny cyborg cover her face once again.

“They're so cute!” Eleanor squealed, petting the smaller girl on the head in spite of her extreme embarrassment. Almos whistled in the background, which returned him a kick to the shin. Placing them back in the bag, she looked around. “Now we just need to find the others,” she said.

Right on que, both women came running towards them holding a large bag. “We got burgers,” Carmen declared, holding one up. Reunited, they all began to talk about their solo adventures throughout the mall, continuing to pile bag after bag on top of the vampire.

“That's great and all,” he finally said in the middle of Eleanor regaling them with her tough choice in which set of sheets would go best with her friend's new rug. “But I have about twenty bags up in here, and I kind of want to put them down.”

“Fine, you big baby,” Eleanor scoffed. “Let's go to the car. And you call yourself a vampire.” She mumbled the last part under her breath, knowing he'd be the only one to hear it. They walked in a group back towards the minivan, unloading all their loot into the trunk.

Almos grinned. “Never pegged you for a soccer mom,” he jabbed.

“Rental from the base,” Eleanor returned, closing the backdoor after the last of the backs was placed inside. “We've still got some more shopping to do if you want to carry more bags,” she said, turning back to face the vampire. In response, she heard a loud squelching noise, followed by a blinding pain in her stomach.

She looked down, seeing the chain from around the vampire's wrist sticking through her. She looked up, met with a sadistic and hate-filled smile from Almos. Without a word, the chain lifted through her, cleaving her body in half and splattering blood against the white vehicle.

Molly was screaming, Carmen in disbelief. Megali delivered a sharp jab to the face, knocking the vampire through the air. Before she could continue to exact vengeance, though, Seymour lunged from behind a parked car, slashing through her heel. As she fell to her knees, life leaving her revived body, he crouched down to her slumped head on the pavement, grabbing a handful of hair to lift her up and say, “We remembered.”

Yuu, unable to fight without her weaponized arms, shoved her friends to force them to run. Turning back to try and buy time, her head separated from her shoulders after a quick chop by Almos, smashing the window of a truck nearby. Seymour moved next, grabbing the weeping Molly by the collar and ripping out her throat with his teeth.

Carmen fell to her knees. There was blood everywhere. She couldn't fight. Henry wasn't there. Neither were police, or the army, or priests, or anything remotely powerful enough to stop them. She reached out a hand towards Molly's body across from her, a pool forming from the gaping wound in her neck.

She felt a sharp pain against the bottom of her face as the ground fell away. Slammed against the side of the van, both vampires smiled with sadistic glee as Seymour held her prone. She tried to struggle, but his grip was too strong. His other hand closed in on her face, index, middle finger, and thumb pulling her right eyelid open. They kept pushing slowly, feeling her eye begin to move outward.

Three snaps later and Almos returned to reality. “You coming?” Eleanor asked with a hand on her hip. Meg was complimenting Yuu on her new hood, which she coyly mentioned had been her own choice. Carmen and Molly ate a sandwich, happy to finally get the chance to share in the experience of the fabled Cheez-It burger. He slowly came to realize that he'd just been imagining things.

After a moment, he shook his head. “As much fun as it is being bossed around by a woman, I've got some more important things to take care of today.” The spy looked at him incredulously. All of them turned their attention towards the sound of sirens, however, with a police car bouncing against other vehicles while a fleet of others followed in hot pursuit. “Like that,” he continued, turning away and walking off towards the ensuing chaos. Someone had to bail that maniac out when he crashed into a gas station.

With a shrug, Eleanor decided it wasn't her problem on a day off. “We're down a pack mule,” she addressed the group. “Sucks, since we're getting Yuu a computer.” Everyone was excited about that, even Yuu herself. They walked back towards the store, ready for round two.

Trivia

 * This would mark the first time Carmen admitted to having feelings for Molly.
 * Despite her intentions in the last story, Almos remembers Achilles' true identity from her introduction.