Shopping Spree! [Lost]

Mae was lying down on her new bed reading some Sgt. Frog when the doorbell rang. The day had been quiet up to that point. Charles had already left by the time the girl woke up that morning, so he wasn't at home. // He can't be home yet, can he? // Mae thought as she put her manga volume aside before rising up and opening the door.


Mae was met by the chirpy voice of Ayane. She wasn't one to come on suprise visits like this. It was very nice of her to come around though. "Hey Ayane! Come in, why don't you?" Mae said, inviting her friend in, and showed her around. "Woow. This is where you live now?" Ayane asked, looking around the place before finally falling down on the bed. "So where is he? Your boyfriend? Charles was it?" Looks like she remembered Charles. Good on her. "Oh, he's off working. I'm all alone here until 5 PM this afternoon when he gets off work. So... Is there a paticular reason why you're here?" Mae asked curiously. As stated before, Ayane wasn't one to go and visit someone unplanned... at least not without a good reason to. "Well... You remember back at the studio, right? That girl you were hanging out with? That's DJ Ri Rain Right?" So she had heard about her... Alright. "Yeah. That's her. We're quite good friends, I must say." The pinkette laughed. "Oh Really?" Ayane's face lit up. "You have her number right? Come on! Hook me up! Let's do something together! Just the three of us! I wanna go on an old-fashioned Shopping spree at the mall." A shopping spree, eh? Well, to be honest... She hadn't done much of that with her friends here (Mostly due to the majority of her friends being male)... So she would shrug lightly before picking up her phone. "Sure, why not? I don't have anything better to do anyways." After finishing her sentence, Mae sent Rin a text message.

--Hey, Rin. Are you free today? I'm going to the mall to shop for some clothes and the like with Ayane. Wanna join us? If so, meet us by the entrance to the mall. See you there, if you have the time.
- Mae

The two teens would then head out to the Mall. Mae locked the door behind her after leaving a note for Charles on the table telling him where she was in case she wasn't home by the time he got off work. A long walk later, and the two teens found themselves standing outside the massive mall. "Alright... And now we wait." She said as the two girls sat down on a nearby bench outside. The weather was nice and warm. Hopefully Rin had the time to show up...

Mae looked up when she heard that familiar voice. "Oh hey, you two! I'm glad you could make it!" Her face lit up, as she beamed brightly towards Mallory and Rin. "Oh... You again..." Ayane would puff up her cheeks, and frowned at Mallory, as she crossed her arms. Her vividly red glare was entirely focused on Mallory. "Ehm... Something wrong?" Mae asked, raising an eyebrow at Ayane's sudden change in tune. "O-Oh... It's nothing." Ayane would immediately reply, sweatdropping slightly. "Nothing at all..." Well, whatever her issue was, Mae didn't care to elaborate on the subject much further than that. Instead, she stood up, looking at the curious creature that Rin had brought with her. Obviously Ayane didn't see it, and Neither did Mallory, it would seem, judging by their lack of... reaction to the thing. She would look back and forth between Rin and her new pet, with a face that said "You can explain it to me later."

She smiled widely at Rin. "Hey, Rinny! I hope you've been well?" After what had transpired last time they had met, Mae hoped that she had been fine. "Oooh! A new dress, huh?" Ayane positively jumped out of her seat and clapped her hands together excitedly. "We'll find you something stunning, I'm sure!" Mae gave the DJ a lopsided grin. "A dress, huh? Is it for something special, by any chance?" Now that had sparked her curiousity. Ayane, on the other hand didn't really care what the Dress was for, as long as she could go out shopping. Some people never change, huh?

"Well, fortunately for you, I've been here a couple of times before, so I know my way around here pretty well by now." Mae chuckled happily. A couple of times being of course that one time she went with Ayane to buy herself a new bikini... and the day when she met Julian. At least, those were her most notable visits to the mall as of yet. "So... What kind of dress are you looking for, hmmm?" Ayane asked Rin, walking alongside her. Mae could tell her friend was going to have a blast with this. Precisely as she had hoped how things would turn out. "Oh... Well, that's a bummer. Is there a paticular reason why, or is it just your brain not willing to co-operate as it used to?" Mae asked, tilting her head slightly. "At least you're doing good, so I can't really complain. I've seen better days myself... but you just have to roll with the punches." Yeah... Things had gone a little bit worse for Mae as of late... Hopefully this streak of bad things happening would cease soon...

"You are?! Oh, that's great, Rin! I'm so happy for you!" Mae clasped her hands together, smiling widely at the DJ. "Way to go, girl! Let's see if we can't find something extra spiffy for you then, eh?" Something extra spiffy eh? Ayane gave Mae a look. "Alrighty. I know just the place! This way." And the pinkette started leading the way towards a shop a small distance away from the enterance. "Yeah... You should get yourself a guy, too." Ayane grinned mischeviously at Mallory.


"Well, here we are." Mae stopped outside a women's clothing store. Both fancy dresses and modern, casual clothing were on display. "I've only been here once before... I bought my Ball dress here... You know, for graduation. But due to the condition of the school... I won't get to use it for it's intended purpose, sooo... I ended up using it on a date. I'm sure you'll find something that suits you here." And as per usual, Ayane had a hard time trying to contain her shopping frenzy. If you looked carefully at her fingers, you could see them twitch ever so slightly now and again. She had some issues...

"Yeah, no kidding. This mall is pretty big. But I don't think you'd be lost for that long- I mean, there's a lot of people around here you could ask for directions... Then again, asking them where to go is another matter entirely." Would Rin really do that? She was pretty well known around San Malarus by now. Heck, even Mae found herself listening to some of her friends tracks every now and again on Spotify. Not only to support her friend, of course. She genuinely enjoyed listening to her music. "Something colorful eh? Alright. I'm sure we'll be able to find something that suits you. Ayane's pretty good when it comes to this stuff." Ayane grinned proudly behind Mae. "Hehe, you're not the only one who dislikes tomatoes. I think they ruin the food, in all honesty. Everything just tastes like tomato once you take a bite out of one..." But that was just Mae's opinion. Obviously people liked tomatoes. Otherwise what point was there to selling them?

"Well, if you need help with that, I'll gladly swing by for another jam-session. I'm sure that helps you out somehow." Mae grinned happily at Rin. "It's fun, and it flexes those creative muscles. Maybe I should introduce you to my step-mom while I'm at it?" That was worth considering. Mae was pretty confident that her step-mom couldn't say no to a jam session. She loved singing, perhaps even more than Mae.

"I'm so glad things are going your way! So, when's the big day, huh?" She couldn't help herself. Mae just had to know. This was too good news to dismiss them without a second thought. "I'm rooting for you. I'm sure you two will make up a cute couple." Ayane nodded enthusiastically.


Well... She made her point abundantly clear... What was up with her and Mallory anyway? Heck, the secretary seemed to be pretty confused about the whole deal herself... Poor Mallory.

"Well, let's take a look around, shall we? Tell me if you find anything that piques your interest, and we'll check it out." Even Mae was getting a bit excited about this. Hopefully they would find something for her to wear. Maybe not in this store, but it was a good start. Plus they had all day to find something, and the mall was pretty large, so there was plenty of stores to check out. Maybe she should've brought Trinny with her? On second thought... Maybe they were better off without her this time around. Maybe next time.

"Oh, you don't?" That she had not expected. The mall was fairly central in San Malarus, so it wasn't too much of a stretch to say that she would've at least seen it before... But oh well. "Is there a paticular reason why? Or is it just personal preference?" Mae asked curiously. Maybe it was her parents or something? Her father had sounded like a pretty big d-bag earlier, and Mae did not use that word often. That man was messed up in so many ways she didn't even know where to begin...

"Hehe, I know right?" Mae laughed happily with Rin. If one looked at them now, they really seemed like pretty close friends. But both of them knew it not to be the case. They just clicked well. And that was something which Mae could be happy about. Some people were much worse off...

"Aww... That's a shame. But oh well... Tell me when you're back in the mood though. I'd gladly jam out with you again. It's fun, don'tcha know?" Mae smiled at Rin. What else was there to say? She couldn't exactly help out with that. But oh well, at least she could help Rin find some new clothes.

"Oooh... That's sounds so romantic... Ahhh..." Ayane said in a dreamy voice. Indeed, it did sound really nice. "Oh? It's almost done? Wow! Congratulations on that tooo! I'll buy it for sure once it hits the store shelves. I have to!" Not only did she do that to support Rin, but she genuinely liked her music. It got her pumped to do things. Like sing and stuff. Yeah, without a doubt, Rin's music was in her taste.

Ayane started emptily at Mallory as she turned around.


Looks like she realised that she had done something wrong, for Ayane ran off after Mallory, hopefully trying to apologize... "I'm sorry you had to see that, Rin... She can be... a little much sometimes. Hopefully she's going to do what I think she is..." Mae looked at Ayane running after Mallory, before turning her gaze back to Rin. "I guess while she's off apologizing... Let's find something for you to wear, alright? Now, they don't just sell dresses here. Go and have a look around and see if you can find something that catches your eye. I'll keep you company." Mae smiled happily at her. Sure, Ayane was the better of the two when it came to this stuff, but Mae could hold her own until Ayane came back... Or rather, IF Ayane came back. If she was denied her apology, the girl would probably go back to the refugee center...

"Hehe, for me, it depends what I'm looking for." Smaller shops could have things the larger ones didn't have, but in general, big places had a much larger variety in what you could buy that it made up for it. The San Malarus Mall was probably one of the better ones she'd been in. There was a ton of good shops here to visit, and it was a nice-looking place in general.

"Great! I'm looking forward to it!" Mae said cheerfully, smiling widely at Rin. "Oh, yeah. You should bring Calvin with you too. He's quite something with that Acoustic guitar, no?" That had been a pretty good day. Their first jam session had been absolutely fantastic. "How's he doing, by the way?" She asked curiously. He had been pretty nice both of the times she had met him so far.

"Aaww... That's really nice of you. I'd prolly buy one anyway, just to support ya. And, my step-mom actually listens to your music every now and again. After I showed her a video of you on stage, she started listening to your music every now and again. I'm sure she would apprechiate a CD. Her birthday's coming around soon-ish too." And for once in her life, Mae knew exactly what to buy for her mom's birthday. She used to give her things like Make-up and accessories. Normally anyway. Pretty uninspiring gifts, but they worked. This year, however, it would be different.

Looks like Ayane wasn't coming back. And Sure enough, a text message arrived from her to Mae. She felt bad for what she had done, and couldn't stand looking at the DJ after that. She was that ashamed... Poor girl... "Aww... She ain't coming back either... Looks like it's just you and me then... Although, she wants a chance to apologize for her behaviour... Not that she knows what exactly the underlying reason for Mall going away..." Mae sighed deeply. "Ayane assumed it was all because of her, and well... She's on her way back to the refugee center. She's so ashamed..." If Mallory would give her a chance... "He's still not back?" Mae asked in a worried tone. "Because if not... I wanna help out finding the guy. Once we're done here, that is." There was probably an underlying reason as to why the kid had run away from home... Not that she had any idea what it could be. Mallory didn't seem that terrible of a mom if she worried so much. Maybe Mae should try to help her as well... Because as far as Mae was concerned, Mallory was a good friend of hers as well, so naturally Mae wanted to help her out whenever possible.

"Yeah... I've been wondering about this little thing..." Mae looked at the little pixie-like thing that was hiding behind Rin.

"Hehe, that's actually kind of cute of Pico, in a sense. I dunno why, I just find it adorable when animals are jealous." Mae shrugged, chuckling lightly. "Poor Pico though... being sick isn't fun... I hope he gets better soon." Sometimes even the smallest of diseases could cause major problems for other animals. Hopefully it would turn out okay in th end...

"Hehe, will do." Mae smiled warmly at Rin, and made a mental note to do so the next time she met Kinaku. She was really considerate. Maybe Rin and Mae's stepmom would actually get along well? It honestly wouldn't suprise Mae if they did. "Hehe, well, it's good, I can tell you that much." That she couldn't disagree on. Mae already had a bunch of her songs on spotify to listen to... Technology was wonderful, was it not?

"So? When did it happen?" Mae asked curiously. "I'm... A little sad you had to get wound up in all of this though..." Mae looked at her friend, somewhat saddened. "But hey, at least we're on the same side. So... has anyone told you what's going on so far?" She asked, inspecting different kinds of dresses... "Hrm... Try this one." Mae held out one for the DJ to try out. If it would fit or not was a different matter entirely... But at least the color matched her hair pretty well...

"So... neither of you wants to share Calvin?" Mae chuckled lightheartedly. Pico seemed like an interesting pet to have. She had heard of dogs and cats being jealous at other animals for getting attention... but she'd never heard of a bird being that way too... But then again, there's always a first time for everything. "It's not like he's gonna take him away from you, ya know." That was very true... Unless Pico was that kind of bird... Was that even a thing?

"Yeah, it's one thing hearing about it and then actually seeing it. Have you ever had any fans run up to you on the streets?" She'd ask curiously. Maybe her fans was like that? She was famous, but not to the point where she needed to be escorted by bodyguards everywhere... Unless they were with her now, just hiding... In that case, they were pretty good at not showing themselves. Ha!

"Wait. Hold on. YOU WERE THERE?!" That was news to Mae. Things had turned out pretty ugly over there, from what she had heard... Some guy random guy started a ruckus apparently, and shortly after that, all hell broke loose. The result? A couple of casualties, and another Primordial was on the loose. Oh Joy. "So you gained your powers there... I see." Mae said thoughtfully... That was quite convenient for her. Had she not gotten her powers then, she probably wouldn't be standing here, that's for sure...

"Ehehe... Not really that 'Spectacular'... I was tossed into the Alternate reality of Zela Academy, and I was attacked by my Shadow there, taken a minotaur form. A friend of mine came to my rescue, luckily... Without him, I probably wouldn't have made it out alive... I owe... him my life..." Of course she was talking about Julian Remming... Who else? She was lucky enough to be saved by him back then... "Well, my Shadow fell to him and his persona, and after that... well... got Qilin. So, it's not all that spectacular. But it was scary, lemme tell you..." At least the nightmares had finally stopped plaguing her mind by now...