bakerstreet | Attention Wal-Mart Shoppers

[ ooc: I mean, a two AM wal-mart run for pointless shit just sounds like a blast to her. ]

It happens at 3AM.

The lights flicker, and in that instant of darkness, a seven foot tall man of skin white like a china figurine appears. Wearing several layers of shirts crammed into a pinstripe blazer, his scarves reach off into the far distance, winding around aisle after aisle. Two pairs of eyes overlap in his sockets, a white and red pair whose pupils merge and breach repeatedly as they roll around. It's the third eye on his forehead, huge and laser focused, that doesn't waver. Staring right into the very soul of whatever its unblinking gaze turns to. His mouth opens to a swirling black void, a whirlpool of molten darkness, some dripping out in thick, viscous blobs that splatter on the floor. And yet the that comes out is perfectly smooth and soft, exactly the sort of voice best suited to whispering sweet nothings.

"Excuse me, do you know where I can find the Poop Emoji Cake Pans?"

If it weren't for the fact that Dani were a mutant hanging around with other freaky mutants, the sight of a seven foot tall lanky dude -- God -- dripping black pus from his mouth might have startled her, but instead she pauses what she's already occupying herself with, blinking at him a few times. Did he think she worked here? It was the vest she was wearing, wasn't it? She swears this is the last time she does an emergency cereal run for Bobby so early in the morning.

"Oh, that's nice," with a sigh she grabs a box of Captain Crunch and points it to the left of her, "the baking aisle is the next one over, I think, so you'll have better luck checking over there for your... yeah, you know. Why on earth does everyone keep asking me this sort of stuff?"

It's probably made worse by the fact that the black splats on the floor wriggle unnaturally, tiny spindly arms rising from them and wriggling their even thinner fingers before they submerge again. It's hard to tell if they're trying to take form or are representative of minuscule drowning figures.

His head turns to follow her finger, not where she points, somewhat like a cat. When he blinks, his form undergoes a small change, his eyes morphing into three of the huge set, staring endlessly. His lips become interlocking squares, a little like a carved pumpkin.

"I don't know about the others," he says with that bizarrely softly spoken and pleasant voice, not altered at all by the fact his mouth is impossible at the minute. "But you're the only person in the store that can see me."

Asura is feeling more unstable than usual today, and his physiology and feelings are interlinked. As is reality, to a certain extent. It's the reason for his invisibility as well. He doesn't want to be looked at. The flickering lights, the way the aisle behind him seems to keep getting longer by the second, one direction becoming another... It's all getting a bit Salvador Dali meets Silent Hill. Why precisely Dani can see him is up in the air. Her telepathy, perhaps, or maybe because as fear itself her specific powers call to him. Maybe magic. Maybe his cat-like desire to bat her hair around like a piece of string overrides it. Anything is possible.

[A last ditch run for coffee more than likely.

AU post "Knock,Knock"

OTA for gen/cast, M/F for ships]

[Walmart is where all the cool kids hang, right? Well, it's probably cooler than hanging out at the cemetery. Maybe. Buffy's mom asked her to grab a few things since she would be out, and now after a night of slayage, it's time for some snackage. And grabbing some essentials for her mom. Of course. But snacks, too.]

[But snacks are very important. So that's why Buffy is now in the candy aisle. As she comes to a stop with her cart at one end, she glances both ways. It's not like her mom's about to pop out of nowhere and call her out on this little side-venture, and she's able to justify it with the simple cliche of better to ask forgiveness than permission, but still.]

[Still, as much as it's a very sad thing to enjoy the thrill of pseudo-danger at buying candy your mom didn't give you permission to buy with the $40 she sent you to the store with, she's going to enjoy it, dangit!]

[Buffy makes her way down the aisle, stopping halfway and begins surveying her options. She, of course, wants something that's on the top shelf. Something she has get on her tippy-toes and take a few steps back to see if there's any left. She mumbles an of course upon spying it at the very back and makes the perilous climb to be able to reach. It takes a few moments of some intense reaching, but her fingertips find purchase on the bag of the sugary goodness. Except when pulling it free and hopping back down, there's a small cascade of a neighboring candy that comes toppling to the floor.]

Ooh!

[Buffy instinctively takes a step back, hand covering her mouth. Without a second thought, Buffy quickly tosses the bag into her cart, and does a quick heel turn to try and escape her shame. Hopefully in her attempt to avoid potential eye contact, she doesn't mow you down.]

Being run into by a slayer trying to make a quick escape was possibly worse than being run into by a hybrid werewolf who was trying to move fast, and Lydia found herself just barrelled out of the way. Fortunately behind her was something soft - an entire tower of kitchen towels which Lydia fell backwards into.

She looked up, eyes wide, and swallowed. Instincts telling her to run, and her brain telling her that would be exceptionally stupid. She didn't know why the blonde was so threatening, and she didn't know that if the blonde was listening to her slayer senses the banshee would register as a demon. But she did know that the best thing she could do with really scary people was, if possible, make friends with them.

[ooc: voice testing from anime only so far. cross-canon welcome.]

[It's an unspoken rule that you never go to Wal-Mart for just one thing.

Doubly so when going with someone who is super curious and still peppy this late at night. Whoever the poor party is that came with Nejire suddenly finds themselves alone as something has caught her eye in one of the aisles. Some sets of small glitter pens.]

Aww I didn't know they had these--they're so cute!

[The exclamation comes from aisle down. Then not too long after that another from an aisle a bit further. Wal-Mart has taken over her curiosity.]

Hey, hey, should we get this??

[Tamaki, apparently a rule-breaker:]

Hadou-san, we're just here to buy milk.

[Oh no, why is Nejire so close to the 2020 party glasses. The sigh that escapes him sounds like it has come from unknown long-suffering depths.]

Those aren't even relevant anymore...

[Please just let the poor boy buy milk and get the hell out of dodge.]

I know but they still look funny! It's not like we'll have another chance to see these. Don't they make you want to try them on??

[She holds up a pair. This is completely relevant to buying milk even though the fridge aisle is somewhere in the opposite direction.]

[Does looking longingly in the opposite direction answer her question?

Because that's what he's doing.]

Aww Amajiki-kun, come on!

[After a moment she puts them on and watches him closely. Do you feel that, Tamaki? 2020 is staring into your soul.]

[2020 needs to stay on the shelf where it belongs........

But he does peek over his shoulder just enough to get a glimpse of the dumb glasses. They're as awful as he thought they would be, a bleak reminder of all the pressure from the last year.

Him and Nejire are not really near a wall for him to face in this aisle, but the shelving unit is tall enough that Tamaki makes do with what he has, mumbling to himself:]

We're just here to buy milk.

Aw okay if you really don't want to.

[Nejire takes the glasses off and puts them back. Is he trying to hide by the shelves? Tamaki no.

Tilting her head a bit she holds her hands behind her back.]

Hey, hey, are you really getting that stressed out about buying milk? We've only been here a few minutes and there's barely anyone here.

[Probably late night shopping. It's 2 AM.]

You're not giving up, are you?

[In typical teenage fashion, Trish is putting on airs that she does not care about the outcome as she leans against the claw machine. But while she is certainly taking some entertainment in watching some of the endless frustration that's been mounting for the past ten minutes, Trish... Trish actually wants that alpaca plush. She likes the way it's colored in stripes of pastels and its little stitched on smile. So, she's sorta hoping that her companion is actually willing to keep trying for it regardless of how many quarters it takes. They've certainly put in more quarters than thing is probably worth at this point. So it would be nice to have. And it would be nice if they didn't give up on it. For her.]

[But still, there's nothing particularly pointed about her question. If anything, she seems like she just checked back in after seemingly going somewhere else for a while during the struggle to the get the claw around the alpaca over and over and over and over again.]

Edited 2021-01-10 01:34 (UTC)

[It's important to keep in mind that Doppio has never played one of these games before today. It's almost important to keep in mind that that isn't the only part of this experience that's new to him; to his knowledge, he's never had a... daughter...?

To his knowledge, as far as he can remember - which is an admittedly nebulous measure - he has never had a relative before. So, you see, the odds are stacked against him in several ways here.

For the fifteenth time, the claw fails to do much more than lightly nudge the alpaca.]

God dammit! [He kicks the machine and his face immediately scrunches up in pain and regret because, as it turns out, the machine is made of much sturdier stuff than his foot.

... But he doesn't want to give up, is the thing. He... kind of feels like he can't. This may be new to him, and he may be at a severe disadvantage, but...

Doesn't he kind of owe it to her?]

[It's 3am. The lights seem a little too harsh, and there doesn't seem to be anyone else around bar the bored cashiers. If you go near the pet section, however, there are bags of bird seed sitting on the floor of almost every aisle, as if someone had tried to pick a whole bunch up at once and found themselves needing to lighten their load.

Then you see him. The shape of a man, bulging unnaturally in places as he shuffles quietly down the aisle towards you. The hood of his jumper obscures the top half of his face, though his mouth is set in a firm frown. He comes closer. Alcohol, mold, and sweat are strong in the air. His lips move.]

You know if pigeons eat millet?

[Supergirl is stalking the twisty maze of aisles, fists at the ready, eyes and ears peeled for any sign of Wal-Man. Who apparently runs around turning Walmarts into bigger inescapable traps than they usually are. While blasting terrible music. Also who makes shelves out of lead??]

Come out here and face me, nerd! And stop it with that music!!

[maniacal laughter echos over the PA system, which then switches back to rickrolling the entire store.

....alright, maybe the bad guys are running out of ideas. Or getting too creative. One or the other.]

Janet is picking up some last-minute items for a get-together at her apartment. The new season of Undercover Billionaire has started and she's having a watch party with her colleagues from the FBI. Of course people whose job it is to talk about financial crimes want to watch a show that's entirely about financial challenges. That means her cart consists of some potato chips, two-liters of soda, and a few other random things.

She's enjoying doing something mundane, too. So much of her recent life has been work or dealing with personal problems. Wandering around the aisles of the local Wal-Mart is reassuringly normal and she's going to linger for a while before heading home to start laying out the spread.

( Gary is lost. But it's in his own world, hardly paying attention to the physical realm around him. Beneath the harsh electric lights, he's scrolling through neon wavelengths that only he can see. He can tap into any phone, any network, any website with but a flourish of hand movements.

He's playing the piano one handed, and the world's satellites are his instruments.

Most are content to stay out of his way. He's happy with that. He doesn't look at anyone, avoids bumping into people, and looks everywhere except at those in the aisle with him. Gary snatches a blue raspberry lollipop off the rack and sticks that in his mouth. He pockets the wrapper for later purchase. )

I.
[ unfortunately for riddle, he's one of the shortest people in his entire school. what's more, he really needs the last box of marshmallow peeps on the highest tier of shelves.

he's hoping no one notices him jumping to try and reach the box... talk about embarrassing. ]

II.
[ it's 3am, finals week, and the student store is closed, so riddle has no choice but to go off campus to the local walmart. he can be found in an oversized pink shirt that clearly doesn't belong to him, clashing purple basketball shorts, and those weird rubber gucci slides.

in his basket is at least a half-dozen cans of monster, and he's currently standing in front of the rows of 5-hour energy. he has lost control of his life. ]

III.
[ the line has been held up for awhile now, and normally riddle would just keep to himself, but upon glancing into your basket, he notices the most bizarre thing you have.

he eyes you somewhat judgmentally. ]

What are you doing with that?

[Cigarette run! Or her truck just broke down in the parking lot.

Pre series

M/F for ships, OTA for gen/cast]

[the fuck is this

why does it have the size of a town

where did his pack go]

( ota! cross-canon and cast both loved. ♥ )

[look, Gladion knows he looks a total wreck inside this store, in his grubby, ripped hoodie, tired eyes and cart filled to the brim with ramen noodles. but in his defense, people at wal-mart are a runway of looks in themselves.

he's also almost collided with other shoppers carts about five times. when he crashes into Minako's for about the third time he growls out--]

Watch it.

"Balthazar? What are you doing in Wal-Mart?"

Fairlight's Hunting years are long over; he's finished medical and graduate school, and he even finally finished his residency, but he still keeps in touch with his old friends. Between his old friends, and Jim's friends, they lead an interesting life.

Fairlight doesn't usually shop at Wal-Mart, but sometimes you just run out of ice cream, or beer, or ammo at an ungodly hour, and then you have to go where you can get the things you need right now. Tonight it's Clarissa's favourite ice cream, fortunately; on the rare occasions he needs ammo in the middle of the night, he usually doesn't have time to chat.

[R!63 and pre series AMC Jesse Custer?]

[He comes from a post apocalyptic world and a place called Hunger City, always has a white greyhound with him.... he's probably stealing all the food and guns. Happy to play with someone helping or if you want to be a law enforcement type trying to stop him. Also open for general shenanigans. The crazier the better.]

[ ooc: Probably will be either a jamjar au or a modern au of some sort. Let me know which one you'd like! ]

He's lost. Hopelessly lost.

The list he gave himself says he's here for lightbulbs and batteries, but he may as well be looking for a polished needle in a haystack with all these aisles!

Especially when he forgot to write down what kind of lightbulbs he was looking for.

So now he's staring blankly at two different sizes of bulb. Wouldn't be too much of a bother if he wasn't standing in the middle of the aisle!

Attention Wal-Mart Shoppers

Gwen Stacy: Into the Spider Verse - OTA

Kishin Asura ΦΦΦ Soul Eater

no subject

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Kristen Kringle-Gotham

buffy summers | btvs | ota

Re: buffy summers | btvs | ota

Hadō Nejire ꩜ My Hero Academia ꩜ ota

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no subject

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Rose (WoL OC) | Final Fantasy XIV

trish una | jjba: vento | ota

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nanba yu | yakuza 7

Supergirl | DC Super Hero Girls | ota

Special Agent Janet Ford | Non-Fandom OC

Gary Bell | Alphas | OTA

riddle rosehearts ♡ twisted wonderland

Jessica "Jessie' Custer-AMC Preacher AU

Colin | Werewolf: The apocalypse | ota

aino minako / sailor moon

no subject

Balthazar | Supernatural | ota

no subject

Re: Balthazar | Supernatural | ota

Halloween Jack ◇ Diamond Dogs ◇ OTA

Luca Balsa ("Prisoner") | Identity V | OTA