2015-01-08 - And Now, Shopping

At the end of the season, temporary employees are normally released into the wild. Some are tagged for recapture if they've shown promise. Nico Minoru is kicked to the curb from her Mcdonalds job without being asked for her phone number, but she does have a paycheque at least. Looking for her friends outside, she doesn't seem overly put out by being fired.

Standing under the golden arches, she flings her hat into the trash and fingers a pocketful of stolen french fries. "I told them I'd be quick...MOLLY!"

Molly Hayes comes out of the McDonalds, which she went into because she got bored waiting for Nico to come outside. She really would like to work at McDonalds. That sounds like a DREAM job. Burgers and fries all day to eat, and beating up Hamburglers, and dressing up like a clown.

Molly hasnt really been in McDonalds that often.

She comes out with a hamburger that she got when a mom at a table was teaching her children not to complain.

"If you're not going to eat, I'm just going to throw out your food!" "I'll take it!" "See? I'm just going to give your food do that girl right there and you're grounded also." "WAAAAAH"

Molly runs over to Nico with a burger in her mouth.

The bad part of winter is that the ground's too icky for roller-skating. Richenda's missing that as she steps out of the Mickey D's behind Molly, still trying not to chuckle. Sure, that Mom was mean, but at least Molly got a free burger out of it.

She stifles a shiver as she steps out into the mean NYC coldness, pulling her rainbow-striped tasseled cap on and drawing it down over her ears. "I guess it's not good news, Witchy-Poo?" she asks, seeing the irritation on her friend's face.

Nico Minoru doesn't seem overly put out by being fired, giving a slight grin to Richenda and a bag of french fries to Molly. "Actually I got to tell my boss that she was an overpaid hack with delusions of sexuality. I don't think she appreciated it at ALL."

Leaning down, she gives Molly a hug and says, "I did get paid though. Where do we want to spend it? I believe I may owe Miss Tightpants here something to wear."

Molly Hayes eats the rest of the burger with a big gulp. "You should get fired from IHOP next! They have great pancakes and country fried steak according to Chase." She hugs back. Then looks around. "Who's Miss Tightpants?"

Molly Hayes is wearing a penguin hat to handle the coldness. Also invulnerability.

Mostly the penguin hat.

Nico Minoru admires the penguin hat.

Chenda holds back a bit, so there's plenty of hugging room for the two almost-sisters. It doesn't hurt that she can get a better look at Molly's Chilly Willyish chapeau from a couple steps back. Naturally, she's wearing tight jeans below her well-worn purple winter jacket, but she's not sure who Nico means, either. "Make sure it's not one that's just opened, though. It's not fun listening to people complain about the slow service," she quietly recommends. "And who do you mean? Technically Molly and I could both be Miss Tightpants... though it's on purpose in my case."

Nico Minoru reaches toward Richenda and grabs her skull, kissing the top of the girl's head right through the rainbow cap. "I claim your skull if you die, just letting you know. Need to drink a mead out of something after all." She grins at Richenda, then says, "Molly, your pants are so tight I'm amazed I can't count the change in your pockets. What was with the yelling anyway? I head some mom going berserk while I was getting poorly defrocked in the back room." Oh, my frock. I liked having a frock. It went with my other suit.

Nico Minoru is wearing pants herself for once. Work clothes after all. It's a rare situation, savour it.

Molly Hayes looks at Richenda and Nico. "I wonder if Thor does stuff like that. Cause he drinks mead all the time. By the way what's mead? Let's get mead! Oh and some mom was teaching her son a lesson about complaining about food because there are kids in Nigeria who are starving, and I'm not from Nigeria but I was hungry too." She crosses her arms. "And I don't need to keep change in my pants pocket. That's why I have a jacket." She pulls her jacket pockets inside out. Then says. "Um... and I don't have change."

"Oh... Well, I do hope you'll wait 'til I'm dead for that," Chenda says. "I kinda like my head where it is right now. Pretty attached to it, ya might say. And I think mead's a little above your age range, Mols. It's a kind of beer brewed with honey."

She kneels, giving Molly a quick hug. "No, you don't need pockets, but ya do need length," she observes, seeing how much she can see of PP's ankles. "There's not enough to cover all of you down below. So you either have to get new pants or make a very important choice every morning when you get dressed."

So saying, she pinches the outer seams of Molly's jeans and playfully draws them down the few inches necessary to cover the girl's ankles. "Will you cover ankles or undies?" she asks, winking at Nico.

Eyeying Molly as she scarfs the end of her burger, she says sardonically, "Because you're obviously starving to death. To DEATH! I actually didn't know what mead was, I was just being strange." Swatting Richenda's tush gently, she says, "Stop showing off my girl's shorts and let's walk, people. I want to get some shopping done before Chase shows up and convinces me that we really need a LexBox One. How he gets those things to link with Leapfrog still boggles my mind."

Molly Hayes follows the older kids. "But I don't need new pants! Can we get new hats? I could use more hats!" Molly does totally need new pants though.

"Yeek! And now I'm young enough to spank?" Chenda inquires, stifling giggles as she falls into step with Nico. "Save it for Chase! He totally deserves it more, if he's bringing home strange LexBoxes."

She does reach down and slip her own jeans down a few inches, so she's showing undies at the top like Molly. A strange show of solidarity. "Have anyplace in mind, Nico?"

Molly Hayes follows behind and calls out to Richenda. "You really have a thing about showing your underwear, yknow..." She holds her hat on her as she rushes along behind Nico and Richenda.

Nico slips her hands into her own back pockets, her pants -having- pockets being an interesting sensation for her. "You need pants, Mol. Your super outfit has got to fit, doesn't it?" She leads the way a bit, glancing at the two behind her. "I'm gonna suggest the thrift store down the block here, actually Chenda. They got a delivery yesterday, which means new options on the racks this morning. And we need to save enough so Mol can have that video game she wanted." Looking innocently at Mol, she smiles. "I don't always forget, y'know."

"Just following your example in those pants, Mols!" Chenda calls back, sticking out her tongue at Molly. She's so mature. "Sounds like I'd better chip in too, Nico. The latest releases are kinda expensive..."

She pauses to get the door for her companions. "Quick, girls! You know how shop people can get when you're letting the cold air in!"

Molly Hayes cheers as they move along, "Woo!" She peers at Richenda. "You know, you could totally be a Runaway like us. It's cool. You get to live in a frog and fight bad guys and put hats on dinosaurs...." She hurries into the thrift store.

Nico Minoru lets her hand rest on Richenda for a moment as she slips into the store, then she's all business again as she eyes the inside of the thrift store like a queen surveying her lands for drought. "She's right, you should take a trial run and see if you can put up with the whole family for a while. Mol, you've got pants in the right. See if you can find something that you're willing to wear. Sec."

Nico walks straight to the change room past a display of bras, snagging one and hanging it on the door handle -just- before a quartet of teens comes giggling up to claim all available change rooms. They bypass the one with the bra on the door as 'occupied', leaving it for us if we want it.

Turning to grin, she winks at Richenda, amused by her own talent. At thrift store shopping. Sigh.

Nico Minoru has a small depression moment, thinking about when she used to shop for fabrics and designer jeans. Meh. Molly Hayes never particularly liked going clothes shopping when they lived in L.A. Back when they were all oblivious about their parents being evil supervillains who 'owned' the city. Her mom tended to do the clothes shopping, and the people at the stores ALWAYS had the clothes ready for her. Of course Molly didnt know that it was because her parents would mentally control the clothing store people to pick out the perfect outfit. Or the one time the clothes didn't fit, Molly's mom implanted a mental compulsion in the shopowner to go home, kill his family, then shoot himself in the head.

Ignorance is bliss.

In any case, Molly didn't actually miss shopping at high end stores, plus this store WAS awesome. It had clothes and clock radios and video games and pet stuff all in the same store!

"Hmm... have to think about this, Mols," Chenda replies, with a thoughtful smile at the only princess among them. "I've never put a hat on a dinosaur, though I have put a few on a treegirl, and I've never seen a frog big enough to live in. But I've lived in a moving house before, and I'm not bad at fighting bad guys... I see jeans towards the back, on the right like Witchy-Poo said. Be right with ya to help!"

She turns back to Nico, just in time to see her drop a claim flag on the door handle of a changing room, claiming it just ahead of a teengirl changesplosion. Giggling, she leans in close and kisses her favorite witch-girl's cheek. "Sometimes you are /so awesome/, Nico..."

Nico Minoru has her arms crossed, looking cross, when Richenda kisses her on the cheek. Sometimes she really needs those little reminders that the here and now isn't bad, just different. This was one of those times.

With a smile quirking the right side of her lips, she decides to keep Richenda and pushes away from the wall. "Try it, you'll adapt. Or you'll have a psychotic episode. Men in Black reference for the win. Molly, pants, pants! You can not wear a clock! I don't care if it oh alright, get the damn penguin clock..." She wanders over, grinning. Yes, I just powerposed. Live with it.

Molly Hayes trudges into the changing room with pants, then peeks out. "Hey... Richenda, are you like Karolina? I mean with the whole only liking girls thing? Not the alien thing. Just curious." She closes the door to try on the new pants.

"I'm not sure I haven't already," Chenda murmurs, shutting her eyes for a moment and pinching the bridge of her nose. MIB reference or not, that offhand remark took her to a bad place for a moment.

She has to think about that one, leafing through a rack of jeans herself. Finding a pair with an interesting silver-embroidered butterfly pattern on the right hip, she moves to the door to reply to Molly. "Sort of, I think? I did have a boyfriend once, a while back. Should I wait outside 'til you're done? Or are you more into sharing than personal space?"

Nico Minoru is looking at a penguin clock, herself. She misses the reaction to her psychotic episode crack. Glancing up when Molly asks about the liking girls thing, she raises an eyebrow. "I'd let her be, Chenda. She's been changing her own clothes for weeks now and she's very proud of that fact." Grinning at her own wit, she fails to grasp that she may have hurt one or both of her friends with those comments.

Molly Hayes says from inside the changing room. "I'm also trying to learn how to change clothes quickly. I heard that alien guy in Metropolis used to go into these little changing rooms on the sidewalk that even had PHONES in them to change. They should totally bring that back."

Nico Minoru pff. "Nobody puts phones in changing rooms. They'd get stolen in seconds by the first crackhead who wanted oh wait, you mean a LANDLINE? God, that was just an urban myth, I thought." The concept actually makes her wonder for a moment. "Huh. Public phones for people who can't afford a cel. That might work."

"Waiting, then." Chenda leans against the wall outside, frowning a little at Nico. She hadn't missed the crack about Molly's changing. "It /did/ work, 'til people started vandalizing the phones. My Dad told me about phone booths. They kinda went away after cels became some popular. Sometimes ya still see the booths around, in older towns. But they're glass all around, so it wouldn't be a good idea to change clothes in there..."

Molly Hayes seems to not be giving Superman any sort of run for his money on quick-changing. His job is safe. For now. She calls out from the changing room, "I wonder why they bothered to have phone booth rooms on the sidewalk anyway. Maybe for when iphones don't get as good reception? Or maybe it's specifically a superhero thing. That would be cool. Okay, coming out!" She comes out in her new pants by OshKosh.

Nico Minoru looking at Richenda, Nico looks a little confused at the frown. She glances behind her, making sure that she's the one being frowned at, then puts the clock down carefully, wondering what she did that made Richenda not like penguin clocks. Then she mouths 'what?' at Richenda, just as Molly starts chatting again.

Molly coming out makes her pause though, frowning a little on her own as she looks the girl over. "It's a start. That miiight actually be a boy's style, but it looks good on you." With an honest smile, she tilts her head. "Gonna be a real looker when you get a bit taller actually, Mol. Have you thought about your hair?"

Chenda catches that look. 'For /weeks/?' she mouths at Nico, when Molly's attention drifts to the mirror. She kneels to take a good look. "Mols, that doesn't look bad. And that brand really lasts. I think these have lots of wear left in 'em." She hooks the waistband with a finger and tests the elastic. "And they're not stretched all out of shape, either. I'd better help ya find a good belt, though."

Molly Hayes just watches Chenda. At least she's not asking if it's tight in the crotch like her mom used to, which was totally embarrassing. And also fortunately she never said yes it was (mostly because she wanted to get clothing shopping done with) - fortunate for the shop owners, that is.

Yeah, Molly's parents were real monsters (to everyone except Molly).

"I need a belt too? Can't I just eat lots of nachos?"

Nico Minoru gets no reaction from Molly, but her reaction from Richenda makes Nico think a moment. Her face goes kind of odd, as she fingers some other pants in the same general size as what Molly's trying on. "I was going to say that I could just adjust the seam, but belts are really cheap if you want one Mol. Might add to the costume look you're going for if you want actually." She seems to be talking kind of distractedly. Mind's on other things.

Molly Hayes looks at Nico. She holds her hat on her head. "What about my hair?" She hasnt thought about 'being a looker' though. Her one foray into having a boyfriend ended with the jerk cheating on her with two swimsuit models at a Julian Keller party, when Molly got as far as holding hands and a peck-kiss on the lips.

Catching that look from Molly, Chenda blushes a little. Uncool, she knows. But when you grow up poor, you think about these things. Clothes have to last. "Buddha Belly, Mols. Which is very un-cute. The seams could be adjusted, but with this elastic waistband, don't carry too much pocket change. Or let anyone get close enough to pants you, 'cuz it'd be easy. S'where a belt comes in handy."

She sneaks a glance at the witch-girl, frowning thoughtfully. "Quarter for your thoughts, Nico?"

Nico Minoru smiles at Richenda, her smile looking quick and almost mcdonalds front desk-like. "All good, Chenda," she says, running her left hand up her own neck into her tightly pinned hair. She makes a fist, pulling on the hair a little, and the pain wakes her up a bit. "Sorry. Brain fried a bit. I was...bleah. Gotta be totally honest with you Mols, your natural hairstyle is actually better than anything I could manage. If you stop wearing hats someday and show it off, it'll be one of your best features."

A small, hesitant smile in Richenda's direction suggests that it's a real compliment, and a peace offering at the same time.

Molly Hayes keeps her hands firmly on her hat, which she keeps firmly upon her noggin. "Nuh uh. I'd look dumb without my hats. Francis kept wanting me to not wear hats, and when I didnt he acted like he liked me, and I mean LIKE liked me... and then he did STUFF with those girls in bikinis at that party. Plus... they're cute, arent they?" She looks at Nico with puppy dog eyes.

Chenda giggles at Molly's protective gesture, and gives the princess a hug. "They do, but the wearer helps a lot," she replies. "I've never seen a hat that'd cuten up a toad, but a cute hat never hurts a cute wearer." She gives Nico a grin over Molly's shoulder, a wordless message that it's all good there, too.

Sighing, very gently, Nico says "Oh stahp with the cute, I'm gettin' cavities in mah ankles," she says, her smile gentling the comment, as she tosses a second pair of pants to Molly. With a grin at Richenda, she says, "Mm, point, okay I make you a deal, Mol. I'll make you some new hats if you promise to try them on, and we'll see if we can't keep the cute and still make you look awesome. I can do hats. I had this idea for a cowl, actually, and you definitely need to super hero it up once in a while."

Molly Hayes blinks. "You'd be okay with me wearing a costume again? But Chase and everyone else said costumes are lame!" She seems pretty giddy at the prospect of costuming it up again. Especially where she isn't wearing a mask made from a cloth napkin like last time in New York. "Okay!"

"Uh-oh... and I don't know any ankle-dentists," Chenda ripostes, patting Molly's back, then rising and giving Nico a kiss on the cheek. "I hope that'll do for fluoride."

One of the Teen Girl Squad (tm) vacates a changing room near the other end of the row, and she nods in satisfaction. "Got something I need to try on myself. I won't be far away," she promises the witch and the princess, and with a little fingertip wave vanishes into the vacated room. Just a moment, please. Or many moments.

Nico Minoru eyes Molly. She puts her hands on her hips, cocking one hip, and says, "I've changed some myself in the last year, Mol. Have you ever thought that maybe the reason I'm wearing gothy stuff all the time is because it IS my costume?" That'll put a bug in her brain. "Now, try those pants on. I need to make sure that if you're gonna do it, it's practical AND awesome. No rubber gloves from under the sink this time."

As Richenda passes, she slips the girl a pair of gloves and a scarf she snagged for the girl to try on, and a smile. "Don't die in there, I have no idea what those kids did inside but it smells like perfume now."

Molly Hayes blinks again, never having thought of that. She takes the next pair of pants to try on, while saying, "You know, those rubber gloves are also good if we go heisting."