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The mall was a strange amalgamation of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Abby understood the Halloween, Thanksgiving war in some stores since the candy centric holiday was nearly over. In less then a week October would be over and the candy was going on sale and then the fat man in the red coat would take over, as if there wasn’t even a holiday that came before it. The teen sighed and absently tapped her phone awake, she was here for a reason but going clothes shopping in a crowded, loud, hot, and expensive mall annoyed her to no end. So why exactly was she here then? Because her father had to work late on rehearsals at the college and a neighbor ‘helpfully’ said that she would take ‘little Abby’ shopping. The neighbor, who was trying to get into her dad’s pants as far as Abby was concerned, dropped Abby off at this mall before skipping out to do whatever she was going to do.

What did bored housewifes even do? Besides sucking up to the single dad on the street? Abby huffed and absently popped one of the little fun size chocolates into her mouth and tossed the wrapper in the nearby trash can. That was the one good thing about being at the mall, damn near every store was giving out Halloween candy and she had a whole pocket full of them.

The young woman glanced around when she heard her name called out, quickly spotting the older man walking towards her. Fai was one of her main teachers not that anyone really knew that since their training was done at night, and as senshi, this was actually one of the few times they had run into each other as civilians. It would be a nice treat honestly. “Shopping, I need to refresh my closet with more weather appropriate wear,” She shrugged and nodded towards the closest store while popping another chocolate in her mouth. Dark brows lowered slightly at the question about where her dad was. As tempting as it was to explain it was impolite to do so with food in her mouth, besides the extra time it took her to chew and swallow gave her a chance to come up with something that was more polite then the sex starved neighbor dropped her off in the hopes of getting in her dad’s good graces.

Once she was no longer eating Abby answered Fai’s question. “My father is currently running through a rehearsal of this season’s play over at university. My neighbor was kind,” the word was a little bit sarcastic but that was something she couldn't really help much since there was no hiding her contempt of the woman, “enough to drop me off here.” The young woman glanced over at her teacher and turned his question on him, “What brings you here today? A crowded mall doesn’t really seem like your situation either.” She kept a straight face even as her stomach pitched slightly, likely an after effect of eating too much candy and not actually having a true meal, with that thought in mind Abby decided to get rid of the rest of her collected sweets. “Would you like some?” She offered Fai a piece before adding, “the stores are passing them out and I’ve had my fill.”

Abby sighed and shoved the rejected candy back into her pocket. “I don’t. She is interested in my father for all the wrong reasons.” In all honesty the young teen had no idea how she would feel about her dad dating but her mom had passed away some time ago, even if it still hurt occasionally. There had been times in the past when she suspected he was seeing someone but he never introduced them to Abby, nor even talked about it to her. Her father was hers. He was all she had left. The idea of someone taking him away from her put the young lady on edge. But there was no way in the universe she would accept her father and the neighbor woman dating, even casually. Never, ever!

She knew she was getting worked up over nothing, even her heart was thumping a bit harder then if she was just standing there normally, so she took a few deep breaths to calm down. It smells like chocolate, she absently noted before writing the strange phenomenon away as the smell still being on her breath from the last candy she had. “That should be fine, it is always more enjoyable to shop with a friend anyway. I promise I won’t critique your taste in clothes too much.” The young girl smirked and pointed towards the nearest store, Old Navy. “You think they will have what you're looking for?” She wouldn’t hold her breath in finding something she liked in there but it never hurt to check at least.

“Hrump,” Abby scoffed at the sheer idea of the woman trying to win her over. “She doesn’t care about me at all, I’m just in the way.” That woman didn’t strike Abby as someone looking for more than a ‘casual’ relationship. One that had nothing to do with Abby herself, she was just being used as bait, a position she did not appreciate at all. As if she would allow such a shallow trollop near her father.

The teasing comments and the question about Old Navy had her raising her brow, a slight grin tugging her lips upwards. As if her ensemble was anything but presentable and polite. She was not like the other teenaged girls who practically wore bikinis and called it a dress, not that Old Navy would have anything like that. She wouldn’t be caught dead in some of the new fashions that were geared towards girls her age. “No I think I’m quite fine,” She gestured to the rest of the mall, “Is there any particular store you want to go to? I don’t have one I particularly want to go into. I was just planning on browsing for the most part.”

She just nodded at the comment about lunch, the thought of food kind of making her feel a little queasy. She really had nibbled on too much candy. “I've been enjoying them. It took a bit to get back up to snuff after I broke my leg but that was to be expected I guess. I’ve also been branching out to different styles. I like ballet but it doesn't quite fit anymore,” She knew Fai would know what she meant. Ballet was very useful in the basics of fighting as far as Abby was concerned but it didn’t really provide her with anything besides a starting point for attacks. However some of the stuff she has seen street dancers do, now those moves could be easily adjusted for fighting. Something she truly needed to work on. “And you? How are your classes going?”

“I’m not sure yet,” Abby didn’t like the neighbor woman sniffing around her dad but so far she hadn’t seemed to get very far. This meant that she didn’t have to go out of her way to make her life a pain in the a**. “I think I shall just sit back and watch her dig her own grave.” I can always squish her later anyway, she silently added as they started to walk through the crowded mall. Occasionally she would slow to peek into store windows but so far nothing really jumped out at her, although the book store looked interesting it was however not what she was here for.

“Oh I know, it took me quite a bit longer to get back into shape after I first moved here.” That had been a much longer break from dancing. Abby had quit it once her mother died, it wasn’t until a few years later and half a world away that she had started to dance once more. “I’ve taken a few rumba classes and a few contemporary ones as well. And of course we are always doing a variety of things since my teacher says they will all help in one way or another. I just wish I could find a dance that was more like a martial art. I like Kung Fu but it isn’t easy to convince my father to let me take even more fighting classes.” She scrunched up her nose in displeasure, and once more caught a whiff of chocolate, it was stronger this time. Could she have gotten some of it on her? Maybe a chocolate scented perfume or something? “One would think after I ‘got attacked’ and broke my leg he would want me to know how to protect myself. Instead he insists I run away whenever I feel in danger. Not that he lets me go anywhere by myself any more.” She sighed and shrugged. The young teen understood why he was being so overprotective. It just made things harder, but given enough time he would lighten up some just like he did when she first became a senshi.

She perked back up when Fai mentioned his new class, Snake Style Kung Fu. “What's so different about it? Are the base moves that different?”

The teen’s ears practically perked up when Fai started to talk about a fighting style that was like dance. If it was true and she could find someone to teach her then maybe her frustrations over her current skills would lessen. “Capoeira?” Abby stumbled over the name of the martial arts style, “I’ll have to look into it. I’m not much of a gymnast but I have picked up a few things from my friend and if it can really help me tie dance and fighting together then I’m more then willing to give it a try.” She would just need to convince her father. Maybe it was best to let him know what was going on in the city… then again maybe not.

Even as she was silently contemplating spilling her biggest secret to her dad Fai had gone on to explain the difference between the two styles of kung fu he was currently learning. “Interesting,” it wasn’t exactly the most eloquent response but it was true nonetheless. It just so happened that Abby was mostly mentally elsewhere. But even she couldn’t ignore the smell of chocolate getting stronger, drawing a slight grimace from her even as Fai mentioned the sent permeating the area.

“Let's hurry and finish shopping. The smell of chocolate is starting to become overwhelming,” She shook her head slightly and picked up her pace. More then willing to be done and gone from the Mall with all its people, noise, and above all, the smell.

(And this would be a finish.)