ArchivedLogs:Grocery Shopping Woes

Grocery Shopping Woes
Dramatis Personae Anette, Ash, Billy
In Absentia	2014-06-22 Three mutants are in the Chinese Grocer as it is held up at gunpoint. (Followed by Treatment)
Location <NYC> Chinese Grocery - Lower East Side
Just outside of Chinatown, there is a Chinese grocery where one can get all of their Chinese cooking needs. The stuff here is cheap, yes, but it is all well known labels with translations provided, as opposed to the really authentic shops where those who cannot read Chinese characters would likely fail to understand what they are buying. The linoleum is white and gray, but has taken on a yellowish tinge, despite the scent of chlorine and frozen fish hanging around in some of the refrigerated food aisle. All manner of brightly colored packages of premade noodles draw the largest crowds, as well as the bulk prices on tofu and squid. It's a blazing Sunday afternoon in the city, and even though that's the worst day to go grocery shopping as a rule ...it would seem today is the exception. Everyone with a brain in their head is at the beach. A family run place, the owner reams into his teenage daughter in Chinese. Up by the front registers, he wags his finger aggressively into her pretty face as she bursts into tears. "Excuse me, do you know where the-" Billy lifts onto the balls of his feet to try and get either of their attention, despite standing a good foot taller than either of them. He doesn't succeed, "Oh-okay ...then." Gulping, he begins to wander, struggling with a rickety little cart with a wildcard wheel. He's trying to finish some last-minute food stocking before his father's visit. All he ever eats is grilled chicken breast and lettuce. Mr. Sharpe, on the other hand, eats like a normal person. While the owner's shrill voice carries on through the store, another young man of Asian-descent cruises into the shop. His hands are plunged deep into his front pocket and wears his hood all the way up to shadow his face. He bumps shoulders with Billy as he cases the isles. The little bell at the front door chimes again moments later as another young man fitting a similar description slips under the owner's nose as well. Anette steps into the store, breathing a sigh of relief once she enters air conditioning. Her overheating might have something to do with that leather coat she's wearing, but she hasn't taken it off for whatever reason. She glances towards the screaming father briefly but ignores them, making her way into the store. She grabs a basket and slowly makes her way through the aisles, seemingly pulling items from random. Usually cheap and snack-type foods. She really doesn't cook. She idly notices the others in the shop, though she mostly ignores them, focusing on her "shopping" if you can call it that. Ash is standing in the freezer aisle, peeking in through the windows before pulling one open to pull out a packet of shrimp. He wanders a little to the left, looking inside at some fish this time. He is getting a little distracted by the octopus on the top shelf and their amazing little suckers. He glances up when he sees a shadow in the aisle, then turns back to the fish. He decides on a packet of scrod. After Billy starts asking, he helpfully calls out, "If you're looking for something, I might be able to help." “This is really embarrassing,” Billy mumbles behind a coy smile, “I can’t even pronounce this.” He holds out a neatly written shopping list for Ash to examine, indicating a particular line with a pasty-white index finger. “My dad’s visiting and he likes this stuff. I’m not even sure what it is?” The sad thing is, he went through this exact debacle last year and learned nothing from it. The two young men are casing the joint. That much may become clear to anyone with a nose for it, as they both loiter about. The first to enter in the hood lingers in the peripheral of Billy and Ash, while the third scopes out the perimeter of the store and coincidentally, keeps an eye on Anette. The bell chimes again, making three and from the four large security mirrors in the ceiling corners a hooded figure can be seen entering into a discussion with the owner and his daughter, who have fallen very quiet rather abruptly. Anette may not be paying attention to much but three hooded figures in one place on a hot night like this is enough to trip her suspicions. The one in a knee-length leather jacket. She glances up to the mirror briefly catching sight of the one talking to the owner and daughter. This really doesn't sit well with her. Now that's she's in hyperfocus, she begins picking up on the footsteps of the one closest to her. She's unsure of what to do just now, so she makes her way closer to the owner and pretends to start browsing the shelf. For most people, she's nowhere near enough to pick up a quiet conversation but having owl-like hearing is handy on occasion. She also mentally notes Billy's voice, and another she doesn't recognize, as present, though she isn't sure where they are. Ash crosses the distance between himself and Billy and reaches out for the note, his brow furrowing. "Oh. Well. Huh." He rubs at his lips a little before handing it back toward Billy. "Well, some of the Romanization is on the displays down by the price, but everyone's kind of got a different way of Romanizing it. You know what kind of food it is you're looking for? Fast, premade food, or a specific cut of meat?" He glances back toward the register before looking over Billy again, not really registering much about Anette yet. Billy opens his mouth to respond but is stopped by a ‘click-click,’ similar to that of a gun being cocked. Posture stiffening, his happy expression remains frozen on his face as he stares into Ash’s eyes. “Cell phones out, drop ‘um on the floor,” comes a calm, overly deep voice from behind Billy. The hooded man doesn’t make his gun visible, but keeps his hand in his pocket. At the front of the store, the owner’s daughter folds her knuckles into her teeth as her father calmly rounds one of the check-out lanes to get to the register with his new friend close behind with something metallic reflecting the store’s cheap, overhead lighting. They are speaking in Chinese and very quietly, but it would appear that the owner is fully cooperating. The third hooded figure, slower on the draw, continues to loom behind Anette. His jacket rustles, as if he might be reaching for something. Anette freezes once she realizes what's going on. Indeed, in the time it takes for the one tailing her to grab his own weapon, she's already twisted around dropped her coat to the ground, revealing her wings to the hooded figure. The aisle is too narrow and she has no chance of actually making use of her wings but they do add +5 to intimidation. She does have room, however, to send a solid kick to the hooded figure's chest. And you thought she wore boots just because they looked awesome. Ash goes quiet at the sound of the gun, his gaze a little vacant as he freezes, then reaches into his pocket to pull out his cell phone. He is careful as he drops his phone, trying as best he can to slide it off the side of his pants so it doesn't break upon impact with the floor. Afterwards, his hands raise in a gesture of surrender, his gaze refocusing a moment on Billy, then shifting back to the aggressors. He remains quiet despite the sound of the scuffle around Anette. "I said cell phone on the ground!" Billy finds himself with a pistol pointed directly at him as he shakily fumbles in his pants' pocket for his phone. He's too anxious and too shaky to get it out, "I'm trying! I'm sorry!" "NOW, BITCH!" The gun is pointed away from the blonde, as Ash and Billy's assailant is distracted from a shot fired at the front of the store. The man Anette kicks misfires from his pocket and shoots himself, letting out a pig-squeal of pain as blood explodes around his foot. Stumbling back, he disturbs an entire shelf of boxed and canned goods, offering the winged mutant plenty of momentary cover. Anette takes this moment to dart down an aisle (after grabbing her coat, priorities of course) once her attacker is down. Reaching to her waist, she grabs a knife conveniently hidden. Hey, she hasn't mutated talons yet, knives are the next best thing. She rounds the corner, skidding to a halt once she nearly runs into Billy and Ash, another hooded man practically pointing a gun straight at her. "Shit..." she hisses, eyes darting around as she quickly assesses this scene, trying to plan her next move while she still has time. Ash's gaze is shifting rapidly, looking from Billy to the man at the register with a gun to the staff, to the man who had a gun on him, but is now looking at the sounds Anette is making. Shit. His eyes are wide, his breathing calm. He stays still though. "just... stop. Calm down. Maybe lay down. Show him you're not a threat and maybe no one else gets hurt." "Shit!" Seeming just as surprised as her, the deep voiced man shifts the shaft of his pistol in the direction of Anette, firing once erratically. As he does so, Billy draws up a fat wad of mucus and lets it loose, catching the robber in his face, if not one of his eyes. He screams and flails back into a shelf, cupping his hand over where it burns him, "WHAT THE FUCK-WHAT THE FUCK?!" He fires at the ceiling as Billy yelps and scuttles back behind the cart. "I'M SORRY!" A trail of bleachy white urine follows him on the ground. Up at the front of the store, the door chimes as the third man runs off with the money. The owner and his daughter holler in Chinese as they take cover behind one of the conveyer belts. It can be assumed that they'll call the police. Anette quickly moves to the side as the gun goes off, dodging the bullet aimed her way. Panting hard, she watches as Billy spits in his face, grinning when she remembers what his ability is. She can't help but be pleased with the result, though her grin suddenly turns into a scowl. Apparently she didn't miss the bullet as her right shoulder is now bleeding. With a sudden surge of anger, she switches her knife to her left hand and suddenly lunges towards the robber, hoping to use his sudden blindness as an opportunity to gut him. As the gunman starts firing wildly into the ceiling, Ash turns to tackle him to the ground, working on controlling the gun arm as they go down. He starts wrestling the gun away from him, looking over at Anette when his fingers succeed in removing the weapon from the other man's grip. "You," he states flatly, "I... dreamed about you." Billy yelps as Anette produces the knife. “Athena. Cameras,” he hisses, attempting to redirect her. Wrapping his fingers around the handle of the shopping cart, he prepares to shove it forward at her if it comes to it. When Ash speaks, he loosens his grip on the cart, confused. “No camera! You mutant!” The owner stomps into the isle, brandishing a big wooden bat, “No camera! You mutant! You run!” He nods, motioning towards the door with an frantic expression. It takes Billy a moment to realize that he’s helping them and he says as much, in case Anette gets trigger-happy, again. “He’s helping us!” Anette growls to Ash when he gets in the way. "Move!" she hisses, the knife gripped tightly in her hand. Even when the man is no longer armed, she still seems bent on slicing him open. "Yeah...dreams...you were there," she murmurs, clearly remember the dream but not really concerned with it right now. She glances to Billy, her rage beginning to cool down as the idea of 'running' is brought up again. Slipping her knife back in the sheath, she nods to Billy, slipping her jacket over her shoulders and booking it the door. Ash snags the gun and shakes his head. "NO. Just go. Run." He gets to his feet and wraps the gun in his shirt, carefully cleaning his fingerprints off of it as he heads for the door himself, making sure he's the last of the people being herded out of the store. He then dumps the gun in the nearest trash can and heads out, trying to disappear home. Billy shoves the shopping cart out of his way. He dips down only to snatch up Ash's cell phone, trying briefly to hand it off to the guy but Ash is busy with the gun and seems rather adamant on making his escape. Taking a page out of his book, Billy darts in the opposite direction towards home, too. Anette quickly runs out the door, wincing as the adrenaline begins to give way to the pain in her shoulder. Once outside, she pauses, putting her hand to the wound briefly. With a pained gasp, she watches as the other book it down the street in opposite directions and she quickly heads in the direction of the clinic.