[Instability Portal] Fashion Disaster [Ami + Lex] (FIN)

[Carhop Cavalier]

And then the mom came back, bags upon bags of teddies and chocolates; the two best things in the history of ever. A giant smile, and Lex kissed the mother full on the mouth. She kissed back, albeit very surprised, but managed to slip a fifty dollar bill in Lex's pocket with her address written on it.

He let go, rang her up, and called out season's greetings as she left.  

[chiickadee]

Suddenly there were people everywhere. EVERYWHERE. No more cashier's duty, just pure mass panic.

"WHERE ARE THE PURPLE SHAVING DISKS?"

What the ******** was that even?

Ami just shrugged and moved through the crowd like she didn't hear the guy.  

[chiickadee]

"EXCUSE ME MISS? WHERE DO I FIND THE KITTEN HUGGER 2000?"

Ami looked at the person and panicked. "Lex? Lex help this lady." He was screaming and hugging people. This entire situation was starting to majorly stress her out, and she didn't like it. Crowds already made her uncomfortable because of how short she was, this but wasn't helping at all.  

[chiickadee]

"Teddy bears? Where are they, miss? I'd like one for my son ..."

FINALLY. Someone that made SENSE. She'd seen the bears on the way down here, and pointed in that direction for the lady. Easy enough.

She took a deep breath. Maybe this wasn't as bad as it could be. Deep calming breaths. She even shot the woman a smile, who then thanked her and ran off.  

[chiickadee]

"I'm sorry, where did you say the teddy bears were?"

Confidence lit up on her face. She knew this one, she did! "To your left, down the stairs." Ami glowed with Christmas joy. She was really getting this down!

Suddenly she realized this was not where she was meant to be at all. She wasn't a human who did mundane part time jobs in horrible Christmas costumes. She was a hunter, and had hunter duties.

She needed to find Lex, and to get out of here. "Lex? Lex where are you?"  

[Carhop Cavalier]

Lex was on the floor now, hugging everyone he could see and shouting MERRY CHRISTMAS! as he went along. An older gentleman broke from one of his hugs and asked where he could find that darned fancy Christmas toilet paper, to which Lex responded with an overly enthusiastic pointing of his finger.

"OVEEEEERRRRRRR THEEEEERRRRREEE!"

And he was back to hugging.  

[Carhop Cavalier]

This time, a young woman of about 14 asked him where she could find the jumbo Pikachu plushies. Lex shrugged, hugged her, and went on his way. Ami was calling him for some reason.  

[Carhop Cavalier]

Making his way through the crowd, a young man around his own age stopped him, asking where he could find water bottles. Lex shrugged again, but kept beaming. "Water bottles? Why not get some cocoa? It's CHRISTMAS!"

The man walked away rubbing his ear.  

[Carhop Cavalier]

And then, just before reaching Ami, a hulking German grandmother stopped him in his tracks, asking where she could find the snowman cookie jars, because her grandsons broke the one she bought yesterday playing catch with it.

His eyes lit up and he pointed behind him with a jerked thumb, smiling like a fool. "Why, right behind the festive toilet tissue madame! Guten tag!"

Upon reaching Ami, his head cleared a bit, but a big holiday grin remained plastered on his face.

"So....what were we even doing here?"  

[chiickadee]

Ami sorted through the crowd looking for the other hunter. It really shouldn't have been so hard to find an ELF'd out 6'4 man, yet it was.

Finally he found her. She sighed with relief, glad that she hadn't lost the man to the Saks madness. Their boss came up to them and gruffly thanked them for their work, no reward received. She frowned. Something was definitely wrong.

The frown deepened as they hit the outside air. It was New York. It was home. She could see Adam, couldn't she ... ?

Something gave. Something totally against the rules. Something she could easily receive the pods for. It broke the already thin ice she was skating on. Reckless, and stupid- two things Ami was normally not. "Go home without me. I'll catch up soon." She pulled up the gaudy striped scarf she'd been given and began to march off down the street, no cares in the world.  

[Carhop Cavalier]

"Yeah...that's not happening." And for the second time that they'd known each other, Lex picked up and threw her over his shoulder, like one would a sack of potatoes. Except this time he made sure to put a hand on her skirt's flap, so no pervert could get a peek at her underwear.

He took a step in the opposite direction she had been headed, which just so happened to lead to an eggnog vendor. Just as he paid the man for two cups of the drink, everything dissolved, a brilliant flash of white lit up his eyes, and he found himself in a crumpled heap, Ami atop him.

"Wh..where?"  

[chiickadee]

Ami kicked and wiggled out of his hold. He even had the AUDACITY to put a hand on her a**, which was not okay. So not okay.

When they flopped back onto the ground near the haunted house, Ami pushed her way off of Lex. "I HATE YOU," she spat suddenly. "Why didn't you let me go?! I could've ... I could've..."

Could have what, gotten caught and screwed over royally? Ami knew that. She should have been thanking Lex, really. It was just frustrating to be so close to something she wanted desperately, only to have it yanked from under her feet. "Just forget it." Her hands rubbed her eyes in annoyance. This entire situation was frustrating.  

[Carhop Cavalier]

Lex should have been more offended, really, but he wasn't. Her hate barely stung, like the bite of a little fly. He only blinked at the woman,mouth twisted in a confused smile. "You could've what? Walked beyond the barriers of the illusion and broke it like I did?"

It didn't take a genius to figure it out. He was sore from laying on the ground for an extended period of time, and from where Ami had been laying on him. The situation they were in was too surreal, and the fact that he'd literally seen the scene shatter before his eyes proved it. They portal was some kind of trick; an illusion.

"We weren't actually in New York, Ami. We weren't in disgusting clothing, we weren't working a retail job around Christmas time, and a single mother definitely did not want to get in my pants." He wiped himself off, shaking his head sadly. "So whatever you were trying to find wouldn't have been there."

A pause, contemplating what she was doing. "And I'm sorry." Genuine sympathy came from his voice, like a freckle of sea salt on caramel. He wanted to give her a hug, or at least his coat. Something to snuggle into and cry the hurt emotions away.

Did Ami even cry? Or snuggle into big coats?  

[chiickadee]

His words stung. She knew it wasn't real. Ami had been in countless illusions created by Medea, over and over. She couldn't particularly tell what was real anymore, but she'd found a sort of base in what most referred to as reality.

She was just so lonely for someone like Adam, someone that loved her unconditionally, that she'd been willing to settle. Even if it just meant seeing him and ducking behind a wall. An illusion, something fake that she knew would disappear. She just wanted something.

There was nothing she could do now. "No. You did me a favor," she said quietly, retying her coat and holsters now that they were securely back on her hips. "I just really wanted to see someone, I'm sorry." She wiped an eye and tugged on her ears. Not now.  

[Carhop Cavalier]

Okay, this was definitely not okay. She needed to let her feelings out, not tuck them away inside her. With a little frown, Lex took off his coat, and the hoodie he'd been wearing under it. It was three sizes too big for the girl - perfect. He draped it on her shoulders, sitting next to her and patting the ground next to him.

For once, this wasn't a sexual gesture. This was Lex caring, a side Ami probably didn't expect him to have. He left his shoulder completely open, just in case she decided to finally open up.

"Someone special, I take it?" An obvious question. with an even more obvious answer. Something to get the talk rolling. "I would've done the same thing, you know. If it had been my dad, you'd have had to pin me down like that day you showed me around the labs." A soft smile, and a ruffle of the back of his hair. He highly doubted this would even work, but why not at least try? He would have appreciated it if someone did this for him.