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

[chiickadee]

Studying insanity was the last place she should have been. Why did she have such a curiosity? Why couldn't she just stay back at the labs, tinkering away at her runic weapons, and be done with it? Why was that so hard? It seemed practically impossible when she kept fidgeting to get up and do something.

A bright light filled her eyes, causing a hand to fly up and block it out. Familiar noises filled her ears, shopping mall noises. No, city. Saks Fifth Avenue. Home.

Her hands went to her holsters immediately. Gone. Coat, also gone.

A blood curdling scream came from her mouth.  

[Carhop Cavalier]

Lex wasn't even interested in researching Insanity - he was done with all the fog and crazy blues and weird feelings of paranoia. The boss, however, thought differently. He was to stop studying medicine and Norse and go check out some portals that had been popping up in the haunted house, like every other Hunter was at the moment. With a roll of his eyes and a grudge in his step, the tall man made his way into the house.

Once he was in, the weird stuff happened. A flash of light, a feeling like he was being picked up by the seat of his pants and thrown, and suddenly there was lots of noise. Cars, people, pigeons, bikes - all the sounds of a city.

Oh, and there was screaming. A scream the man completely recognized.

"Ami!?"  

[chiickadee]

Someone was calling her name. A man's voice. It was New York. For a moment, the voice sounded like someone else's entirely. Now it was truly a nightmare.

Logic assembled the pieces. Lex was somewhere a few feet in front of her, calling her name. Oh dear, what was he wearing? She almost walked away entirely, not wanting to associate with ... that.

Still, he was the only person she recognized, and it was New York. She couldn't be seen here. Not by people who would recognize her. She was dead here. Besides, there were more pressing issues.

"My dress. I didn't put this on. I didn't wear this- I would never-" Her sentence was cut short as a thicker man grabbed her arm and swung her sideways into a store.

"If I've told you once as your boss I've told you a thousand times. Now get back to work." With that, he left her in the store, with no idea what was going on. Except this strange urge that she NEEDED to do this job. It was her job.  

[Carhop Cavalier]

The tall man had to admit, Ami's dress was rather...gaudy. A mess of green and red, interspersed with randomly placed white stripes. Like a three year old had attempted to make a Christmas zebra. He smirked a little, before the man began hassling her. He was about to pull out Regal, when he realized that his mind space was vacant again, and that the ballpoint pen was gone.

He patted his pockets just to make sure, and found something he would rather not have. His pants and shoes matched Ami's dress...and he had a loud green shirt on, with an equally loud candy cane striped vest, adorned with fur. And on his head? The silliest of elf hats, complete with a little bell.

"Oh dear God in heav-" He was cut off, much like Ami, and dragged into the store, being told to do his damn job already you lazy wretch.  

[chiickadee]

Talk to people. Ask them how they are. Be friendly.

AKA Everything Ami was terrible at.

She didn't want to talk to these people. She didn't want to talk to anyone, actually. People were horrible, and there was the chance that someone could recognize her any second.

A wave of joy came over her. She recalled Christmas- one of the few holidays her father was home- and warm fires. Well, she had to promote this deer. Might as well get it over with. Besides, it could be fun?  

[chiickadee]

Nervousness took over. She pulled on the edges of her dress, bottling up. Christmas was great, but this job was not.

The boss' angry eyes loomed over her. A woman walked by with a child and she timidly said, "E-Excuse me, how-" The woman walked off, clearly thinking Ami was all kinds of crazy. A fierce embarrassment came over Ami. This was why she didn't talk to people.

A man approached her, looking somewhat seedy. "H-How are you?"  

[chiickadee]

"I'm doin' fine. What're you sellin'?"

Ami looked down at the little reindeer in her hand. It was so sad looking. Truthfully, she wanted to take one back to the hunter base, but that was out of the question. "Ah I-I'm here to promote Sappy the Sad Reindeer!" she spat out. How she knew that name was beyond the point. This was embarrassing, and the man kept looking at her like he was going to eat her. It was uncomfortable.

Yet at the same time, if she didn't entertain him, she'd be fired. Above all else, Ami knew she DID NOT want to be fired. "You're doin' a fine job at that, can I take one?"

Ami handed him the reindeer, almost sad that it had to go to such a creepy man. New York was filled with these types, so she was used to it, but it didn't make it any less weird. "Enjoy your day~" she said.

The man winked and said, "Oh, I will," before stalking off to prey on some other girl in a bright, short-skirted outfit.

Worst day was the worst.  

[Carhop Cavalier]

Sell this thing to people, make it look great. How the crap was he supposed to make a sad reindeer look great. Who even liked sad reindeer? He looked over to his fellow Hunter, catching a look of fondness for the thing in her eyes.

...of course Ami would like the sad reindeer. Why wouldn't the sad girl like the sad reindeer. And idward sigh, but Lex got to work. Talking to people was his thing; and so was selling. Half his job had been convincing people they needed another margarita, and more bar food was always a good idea.

Making a beeline to a younger looking mother who had a five year old attached to her hip, Lex gave the woman a charming smile. "Hello miss, could I interest you in Sappy the Sad Reindeer? I'm sure the little guy would love him."

He could see the hunger in the woman's eyes. Either she was single; or hated her husband. Oh god man, don't think of this like a sex operation. Focus.

"Oooh, I'm very interested."  

[Carhop Cavalier]

Bam, she was on the hook. Lex smirked as he piqued an eyebrow, letting his eyes twinkle a bit. Line.

"Well, he's quite interested in you too. You can take him home, given you spend twenty dollars in the store. Not a bad value, hm? He's worth plenty more." His voice was like smooth red velvet, followed by a long sip of fair trade coffee. All the expressions he made were right, and she was completely caught. Now just to reel her in.

"Oh, I'm sure it won't be hard to spend twenty dollars here." Her own voice was rather husky, almost panting. Definitely single, and very very desperate. Not that the two had anything to do with each other - he'd known plenty of single women who weren't desperate, and plenty of married women who were. The two weren't synonymous, but when they were in the same person? Magic.  

[Carhop Cavalier]

"Momma, I want candy canes. They don't have candy canes here." The woman's son was tugging on the hem of her dress, big green eyes pleading for some candy. He was right - this store didn't have candy canes. Who the hell didn't have damn candy canes during the holiday season? This stupid store, apparently.

"Sorry bud. Maybe an elf will come tonight with candy canes, and you can eat them tomorrow?" A wink at the mother, who caught the meaning. Oh yes, this was good. All very very good.

"Tommy, come now, let's get some fancy chocolates for mommy so you can get the cute reindeer."

"But candy canes, momma."

"The elf will come tonight, sweety."

"But I want them now."

"Tomorrow, sweety. And they'll be the very best kind."

"THE BLUE KIND?" The child was screeching in pleasure.

"Yes, honey, the blue kind."

Message received, job done. Hells yeah.  

[chiickadee]

Time to man the cashier. Easy enough. She'd had a part-time job at a coffee shop. Easy enough. Annoying, but easy enough.

"That will be $24.37 please." Tax in New York was ridiculous after all.

The woman handed her money. Job successful.  

[chiickadee]

Ami looked over at Lex, who was talking with some mother. Was he in to that type? Ew.

"Excuse me!" a ruffled little man huffed.

"Oh- yes I'm so sorry. $15.35, thank you."  

[chiickadee]

For a moment, she'd actually forgotten about hunters. About Adam. About the whole ordeal. It was Christmas time, she was working, and happy. A bright smile crossed her face. Christmas!

"Yes, $150.46, thank you!" she said somewhat enthusiastically. As enthusiastic as Ami could get.

A little girl grabbed the doll she'd just purchased and hugged it close to her. Awww. Ami smiled again. Christmas~~~~~~!  

[Carhop Cavalier]

The woman walked out, and it was time for Lex to man the register. He told Ami that she was needed on the floor, it was starting to get hectic down there, and began ringing a little old lady up. She was seriously just gosh darned cute, and Lex couldn't help but give her something for free.

And why not? It was CHRISTMAS. A holiday of cheer, joy, laughter, generosity. Even the hardest of hard became a little soft around Christmas time, and everyone tolerated the happy drunk man on the corner. Christmas was just great, everything was great. Even Ami's gaudy outfit was great.  

[Carhop Cavalier]

This man in the trench coat that was buying a little barbie doll was great. Really freaking great. He was so great, in fact, that Lex slipped a box of truffles into his paper sack, and gave him the biggest smile ever, and a loud and extremely cheerful "MERRY CHRISTMAS! I LOVE YOU!" And then he hugged the man, who actually took it quite well and shrugged it off, mumbling something about creepy drunken elves.

Drunk off what? Holiday spirit? Because if that was the answer, then yes sir dee doo da he was as drunk as a skunk off holiday spirit. So drunk, in fact, he could drink a whole carton of eggnog.

"AMI! AMI OH MY GOD! LET'S GET SOME EGGNOG AFTER WORK OKAY? I LOVE EGGNOG, AND I LOVE YOU! MERRY CHRISTMAS!"