[Log] Shopping is not for the faint-hearted

[pandabasket]

Characters: China, anyone else who isn't hungover from Christmas Day
Status: Open
When: December 26, around noontime
Location: Somerset Shopping Mall
Summary: After Christmas comes the battle known as the Boxing Day super sales.
Warnings: Watch out for the crowds! Being trampled is not unheard of.

Comments

/slides into thread

[spanana]

Like all previous Christmas Days, Antonio did his best to celebrate it with his friends (the ones that were in the States because he has not accrued enough vacation to go back to Barcelona yet). Though normally their get-togethers usually encompass of late nights out, bar-hopping and perhaps singing (off-key) at the pubs, this holiday came off a bit more solemn, more reflective to the Spaniard (the only one more solemn was Easter). But nonetheless, after the gift exchanges, the alcohol drinking, Antonio had managed to stumble his way home

/welcomes with open arms!

[pandabasket]

Yao looked up to receive a faceful of radiant grin from a stranger. His eyebrow twitched, almost in reflex to such... flippancy, before he quickly cleared his expression into something more polite and readjusted the box securely.

"Don't worry about it," he said. He glanced at his extensive stack of shopping as well and shifted his feet in sudden embarrassment. He looked like an opportunistic old housewife with all this. "I guess. Well, there's no time like this time of year to get a good deal, so I thought I might as well," he added, trying to rationalise it.

He looked at the stranger again, with his bright smile and, he noticed now, distinctive lack of purchases. He blinked, curiosity overcoming self-consciousness. "You don't look like you've bought anything though. Did you come too late?" It was already about noon, after all; a lot of the best stock was already snatched up by now.

Re: /welcomes with open arms!

[spanana]

The other man's enthusiasm, which showed stronger when he was talking about getting great deals, caused Antonio to chuckle a bit as he smiled. Though the Spaniard enjoyed an occasional deal, particularly when it was for expensive clothes and sports equipment, he never quite made it a top priority for himself. There were other things in life that were more important, important enough to outweigh the joys of clinching a great bargain.

"I see, I... honestly didn't hear about these sales," he replied as he looked around at the crowd. He saw the crowds had gotten steadily larger, making it a lto harder to get anyway, however, Antonio just assumed that it was something that normally came with being in a large city. "Come too late?" he repeated with curiosity, "well, I'll get something if I see something I like... hm."

With that, he paused and looked at the man closely. He looked strangely familiar.

[wien_sonata]

Roderich, with a few heavy bags on his hand, had never expected that the stay in New York added another significance to his Christmas

^-^/

[chocolatebow]

It was a quiet holiday. Edith enjoyed the pretty lights and the light snow, but sometimes she longed to be a part of the bustle; running frantic for gifts or trying to keep order in whatever party she hosted. Ah... it was as calm as it was melancholic in the states

\´ヮ`

[pandabasket]

Thank Heaven he'd managed to catch it. Heart still hammering a bit from the sudden surge of adrenalin, it took Yao a moment to register what the stranger was saying. She talked sort of fast, in a chipper way.

"It's fine," he replied, re-securing his grip on the box and composing himself. "It didn't actually--" His brain caught up on interpreting the words she'd said and his sentence ground abruptly to a halt.

"Wait. Excuse me?" He looked up properly at her with an expression wavering somewhere between disbelief and depreciation. Had he heard that right? 'Ma'am'?

[chocolatebow]

Although she was already relieved that she didn't hear the shatter that would've resulted if the box had not been caught, she let out another sigh when the strange reaffirmed this. She smiled and began to turn around when the stranger caught her attention.

"Hm?" Edith pivoted and when she saw the face twisted with shock and disdain, she furrowed her brows in worry. The box was fine right? Then the stranger said 'Ma'am'. Wait, was she being addressed or questioning the title?

There's no clear reason why the former would be the case if everything was alright. As for the latter... "Is something the matter?" was all she managed to choke out in the end.

(LOL RHYME /SHOT)

[pandabasket]

"Well..." Yao hesitated slightly at her genuinely worried expression. It was the kind of expression that could deflate anger simply with how well-meaning it was, and it did its work on his chagrin now. "I just thought you called me... 'ma'am', which is... you know, wrong."

Maybe he was addressing this a bit obliquely, and in something of a mumble at that, but it was really an embarrassing issue. And honestly, maybe he'd just heard her wrong, and he'd had a long morning, and she seemed like a good sort of kid anyway, so...

He gave up. "Never mind." He hoisted the box more securely up again, turned towards the store counter and remembered to smile at her. "I should let you get on with your shopping too."