The Great Mall Adventure (V.2)

Ulala gasped loudly, also looking rather horrified. "Oh NO! I HOPE not...!!" she cried, putting her hands to her face. Somewhat frantically, she took another look around. "... M-maybe we should just keep going in the same direction...?? We might still get there!"

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Slyk, too, went with the others. "{'Sup?}"

Seeing the small crowd gathered in front of her, Gum slowly rose to her feet. "Uh... Hey there," she chuckled, sounding slightly confused, but giving them a little wave. She wasn't quite sure why they all came and started staring at her like this. They look kinda... alien, she randomly noted to herself mentally.

"{Hm...}" Callie appeared deep in thought for a moment, examining the creature standing before her and the other Inklings for any signs of injury. "{... Yep, she sure seems fine to me!}" she commented cheerfully, looking over at the others.

Heheh. What are they talkin' about...? Gum wondered to herself, listening to the creature's strange speech with an expression that looked both amused and curious, and resting a hand on her hip. All of a sudden, however, she wrapped her other arm around her stomach, looking slightly shocked, as it had just now decided to loudly remind her how empty it was. "Ngh...!"

Hearing this sudden growling noise, Callie quickly looked in its direction, appearing a little startled. "{WHA?!}"

"{Eh...??}" Slyk, who had been looking at Callie as she spoke, returned his attention to the stranger as well. However, when he saw her, he just had to laugh a little, realizing what the sound most likely was.

When she saw one of the creatures react in a startled fashion, then another start laughing, Gum's expression became very embarrassed. "Hey...! K-knock it off...!" she whined at them, her cheeks blushing slightly pink. "So it's been a while since I ate last! So what?! I-I'm sure it's happened to YOU!"

(I kinda wanna bring the Ulala-Flint-Torsolus-guard group to the Gum scene, is that ok?)

(The guard actually somehow went running in the wrong direction (xD), but sure. >:D Just not quite yet. Let's give Gum some time to enjoy this language barrier first.)

Lill couldn't help giggling a bit when she, too, realized what was probably going on. She then heard the stranger speaking up in a rather flustered-sounding voice, and spotted her cheeks looking a little pinker than before. "{Aww, haha, don't look so embarrassed...!}" she replied with a chuckle despite the glaring presence of a language barrier, then turned to the other Inklings with a thoughtful expression. "{Maybe we should bring her to a food court or something...}" she suggested, waiting for their input.

"{Sounds good to me,}" Marie responded casually, having no objections to this idea. In fact, it would most likely give them a chance to sit down and relax for a while, something that she had begun to long for after what felt like ages of wandering about the mall.

(Ahh, no prob. XD lemme know when you're ready for 'em)

"Yes....YES THAT's A GoOD IDEa." He grabbed her by the hand and took off again, a little too quickly--"Sorry..."--let her go and kept going.

Flint was silent as they ran, even through the exchange about if they were too late. During that he had just stood with his arms crossed, silently watching them, and holding them with an impatient look. 

He then turned and dashed after them when Torsolus took off. His ears as far forward as they would go as he tried to locate the voice that had screamed. His hearing was only slightly better then a humans though, so he couldn't quite hear anything useful through the loud jumble of conversations going on around him 

"Hey I heard you were looking for -" 
"-Why would anyone s-"
"No no no, you're not getting it... I wan-"
"Can we, pleeeease?"

Flint let out a soft frustrated growl as he ran.

Ulala let out a brief, surprised yell when Torsolus tugged her arm, but was soon just running along again like nothing ever happened.

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"{Yeah, that's probably a good idea,}" Callie chimed in, glancing sympathetically at the strange girl. "{She sounds reeeaaally hungry...}" She then looked like she was thinking for a moment. "{... Actually... Come to think of it, I could eat, too!}" she mentioned with a giggle.

"{Ya don't say?}" Slyk remarked, smirking. "{You're both in luck, then; there's a food court right over there,}" he acknowledged, pointing in its direction. "{It's not even a long walk or anything, so ya won't have time to collapse from hunger on the way or whatevs.}"

Gum noticed one of the creatures pointing in the direction of the food court--the very same one that had distracted her, causing her mishap, actually--as he spoke with the others. At the moment, though, she was still feeling rather awkward, and couldn't help wondering if they were making fun of her or not right now, especially after seeing one of them glance at her, then laugh a bit a moment ago. "Uh... Excuse me?" Looking slightly irritated, she stood up straight, putting her hands on her hips.

Lill glanced at the girl as she stood up straight, tilting her head subtly in confusion when she noticed her look of annoyance. "{She suddenly looks kinda... Unhappy about something,}" she commented, briefly looking in the direction of the food court after she spoke. "{Maybe it's cause she's so hungry... We'd better get her there quick!}"

Marie vaguely nodded in agreement, suddenly looking somewhat deep-in-thought as she observed the stranger.

"Excuse me, guard, sir?" Torsolus asked as they ran along. "Do you think we're almost there...? I don't hear her anymore....do you think we can get there in time??"

Unfortunately, the guard was nowhere to be seen.
"... Huh...?" Ulala looked around confusedly as they ran, not seeing the guard anywhere. "I... I think we lost him," she remarked, sounding somewhat perplexed.

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"{Ehh?}" Callie quickly looked over at the girl to see what Lill was talking about. "{Oh... Yep. That's not a happy face,}" she remarked, looking slightly startled. Suddenly, she ran up to her, grabbed one of her hands, and started trying to pull her in the direction of the food court. "{C'mon! It's OK; we're gonna get you something REALLY GOOD to eat!}"

Slyk's eyes widened a little when he saw Callie suddenly run up and start tugging on the stranger's hand. "{Uh, are you SURE you should be doin' that?}" he called to her, then started walking after her. "{What if she decides to turn on you or somethin'? We don't even know what exactly she IS; it could be somethin' vicious! And let's not forget that she's hungry, too...!}"

"H-hah...??" Gum was rather surprised when one of the creatures came and started pulling her hand. Due to the skates on her feet, she was pulled along quite easily. "Hey! What do you think you're-...!" Just then, she remembered what was in the direction they were heading in, and looked ahead at the food court. "... Ohh..." Smiling a little in amusement, she looked down at the creature pulling her. "Are you actually trying to bring me over there? 'Cause you heard my stomach?" she asked with a bit of laughter in her voice. "Aw; that's so cute...! ... But still; I can move on my own, y'know..." She started slowly skating, but not fast enough to suddenly leave them behind. "See? You don't have to pull me."

With a bit of a surprised laugh, Lill quickly dashed ahead to join Callie as she attempted to pull the stranger along.

Hearing the commotion, Marie was quickly dragged out of her thoughts, her eyes growing a little wider when she saw what was going on. "{Wha-... Callie, don't just-...!}" Before she could finish, however, everyone else had already started moving ahead. With a subtly flustered sigh, she ambled along after them.

When Lill saw the girl's seemingly amused expression and heard what sounded like laughter in her voice, she couldn't help but feel reassured. "{It's OK...! She seems a lot cheerier now!}" she noted, glancing back over her shoulder at Slyk and Marie.

"{Uh, OK... Still, ya should probs avoid runnin' up to strange creatures in the future, 'kay? Especially when they're obviously hungry,}" Slyk told Callie and Lill, walking alongside them.

"{But what if they're also obviously nice?}" Callie responded to Slyk, letting go of the girl's hand when she started moving with them on her own. "{Trust me; I totally know what I'm doing,}" she told him, grinning. "{... Still, I do kinda wonder what kind of creature she is.}" Curiously, she glanced up at the stranger. "{... She looks like another one of those furry-headed ones, actually... She's got that helmet thing covering a lot of her head, yeah, but you can see some fur poking out from under there and everything!}" she noted, pointing up at the girl's head, referring to her hair.

"{Yeah... Man, there are a LOT of those here, it seems like,}" Slyk remarked, looking around at the various shoppers in the area.

As she rolled along with the small group of creatures, Gum thought to herself. I hope things don't get awkward at the food court... How am I gonna tell 'em I have no cash on me? ... On the other hand... What if they're planning on buying me something? They can't understand what I'm saying; how are they gonna know what to get...? ... This is gonna be fun.

"{Yeah, we've been seeing 'em around all day...!}" Lill commented in agreement as she stared up at the stranger's 'fur', then glanced around at some of the other, similar-looking shoppers.

"{... I kinda had a thought, earlier...}" Marie suddenly chimed in, looking rather thoughtful again. "{You guys remember all the legends about those ancient creatures? Y'know, the ones who were around waaaay before us? ... I dunno if it's just me, but... doesn't she sorta remind you of them?}"

"{Huh? ... Ohhhhhh...} Callie looked up at the strange girl again. "{Come to think of it... Yeah!}" As she looked at the stranger, she thought back to pictures she'd seen of fossil skeletons, said to belong to a certain species that died out when the seas rose at the dawn of the Mollusk Era: the human. Realizing that she was roughly the same in size and shape, she gasped in surprise. "{OH SNAP!}" Wide-eyed, she turned to look at the other Inklings again. "{Guys... Do you think she could actually be...? Are we looking at a real, live human here...?!}"

"{What?! Dude, how?!}" Slyk stared in disbelief at the girl. Indeed, she seemed to match descriptions of what humans probably looked like quite well. "{If she actually IS a legit human... what's she doin' here? What are ANY of 'em doin' here?!}"

Suddenly, Gum noticed some sort of lively discussion going on between the creatures, who would periodically stare up at her in apparent wonder. ... What's up with them? They seem awfully interested in me all of a sudden... She started feeling a little uneasy, wondering what they could possibly be talking about. "Um... OK, guys; what's the fuss all about?" she asked, with a slight hardness to her tone. She appeared to be rather on guard, keeping her gaze focused sharply on them as she subtly began distancing herself. By the look of it, part of her almost expected them to suddenly attack.

"{Whoaaa...!}" When Lill thought of the possibility that this stranger could, in fact, be a human, she gazed at her once again, jaw hanging open in amazement. "{I dunno!}" she replied to Slyk, sounding completely astonished. "{You don't think we somehow went BACK IN TIME, do you??}"

"{Whaaat? Nah, there's no way we-... ! Huh?}" Before Marie could finish what she was saying, she noticed the girl beginning to distance herself from them with a wary look. "{... Why's she suddenly lookin' at us like that...?}"

"{Like what?}" Callie looked over to see what Marie was talking about. Right away, she noticed the human girl's suddenly-wary body language. The look in her eyes as she stared at them appeared somewhat distrustful, almost a little cold. It was a bit startling, considering how, just a moment ago, she seemed very comfortable and actually rather curious about them. "{Oh, yikes...! What's up, you think??}" she asked, looking a little surprised.

"{Huh... Maybe we made too much of a big deal over things earlier?}" Slyk suggested, seeming very surprised, as well. "{She can't understand what we're talkin' about, and we got kinda excited there, so... Maybe we suddenly raised our voices, and it spooked her or somethin'? ... I dunno, man... Maybe humans are just shy like that.}"

"{Aw, no...!}" With a look of concern on her face, Callie carefully took a step towards the human girl, looking up at her. "{It's OK! I'm sorry if we got kinda loud; we were just excited...!}" she told her, sounding and looking genuinely apologetic. "{Please don't run away; what about the food we were gonna get you?}" she tried to remind her, pointing at herself, then towards the food court, and then at the human, in an attempt to communicate with more than just words.

Gum stared down at the creature who decided to approach her, her expression softening gradually as said creature, looking sorry, tried to talk to her. She noticed the gestures she was making, realizing that this was an attempt to tell her something. "Hah? Are you... saying you actually wanna BUY ME something to eat?" she asked, pointing at the creature, then herself, then the food court as she spoke, trying to communicate back. Oh, come on! I can't look THAT pathetic...! Of course, her pride caused her to feel rather uncomfortable, even insulted. However, she wasn't carrying any money with her whatsoever, and actually was unable to buy anything to eat on her own, so she was also thankful. "OK... Uh... Thanks... Guess I should stick around, then...?"

"{Phew... Looks like that's all sorted out, hopefully,}" Marie commented, feeling quite relieved when Callie's attempt at communicating with the girl seemed to calm her once more. Still, she kept a close eye on how things were going, just in case.

"{Yeah... I was honestly kinda worried there, for a sec...!}" Lill chimed in with a slight, awkward chuckle in her voice. "{Guess we'll have to be careful not to spook her again, huh?}" she noted, then took a few careful steps forward to join the human and Callie, wearing a friendly expression on her face.

"{Huh... Interesting,}" Slyk remarked as things unfolded before him and Marie. "{This is like... wild stuff. Wild movie stuff, right here.}"

Callie's eyes lit up when the human responded with some gestures of her own. "{Yes, yes!}" she chirped, nodding enthusiastically. With an excited expression, she looked over at Lill when she came to join her. "{Didja see that? I think she understood me!}" she told her cheerfully.

Gum, appearing significantly more relaxed by now, calmly looked at the other, blue-tentacled creature when she randomly approached. "Hey," she greeted casually. "... What's up?"

"{Sure is,}" Marie agreed, her gaze idly following Lill for a moment as she stepped towards the human girl. "{Runnin' into humans... I gotta say, I never expected THAT to happen.}"

Lill returned Callie's excited look when she approached, having seen her and the human's apparent success in communicating with each other. "{I did...! That's so cool!}" she replied with a grin. Then, she noticed the human looking at her and saying something, so, assuming it was a greeting, she waved cheerfully.

"Oh.....well.....we lost him, hahaha....."

Torsolus looked around and put his hand on the back of his cueball-esque head.

"Shoot. Do you know where we are? Because I sure as muffins haven't seen these stores before."

Flint looked around "Gosh darn it. Where did that scream come from?" He paced, circling in a hurried fashion. Stopping himself, he turned and faced down the hall. "well... it's pointless to just stand in one place anyway." And he dashed off again without looking behind himself to see if the others were following

"Ngh..." Ulala confusedly looked around at their surroundings. "I would say we're lost, but... I guess we never really knew where we were before, so... eheh." Suddenly, she saw Flint take off again. "Wha! G-guess you're right," she remarked as she followed him, looking back to make sure Torsolus wasn't being left behind. "C'mon!"

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After a few moments, Gum appeared to quickly grow impatient. "... Well, are we going over there or what?" she asked with a hint of irritation in her tone. The thought of this whole food court thing was only making her feel hungrier by the moment. Not only this, but she briefly wondered how they were even going to order in the first place with a language barrier getting in the way. Suddenly, the moment she got to eat anything felt like an eternity away at this rate. "... RRGH!" All of a sudden, she let out a brief, very frustrated growl. "That's it; I can't take it anymore! I'm starving!" she griped. "Look; it's been fun, but I've gotta grab something NOW. You can follow me if you want, but I'm not gonna wait for you or anything," she told them, not even really caring if they understood or not. Then, she simply turned around and started quickly skating away, scanning for any stores in the area that may be carrying something edible.

Lill grew alarmed when the girl suddenly began to sound irritated. "{Hey... What's the matter?}" she questioned somewhat nervously. "{I thought we were cool now...!}" Then, when she proceeded to growl at the Inklings and quickly start skating away, Lill became even more shocked. "{Heyyy!! Where are you going?!}" she cried out confusedly, instantly beginning to dash after her.

"{H-huh?? Hey, wait a sec!!}"
"{What the-...?!}"
Callie and Slyk both ran after the stranger and Lill.
"{What about the food court?? I thought you were hungry!}" Callie called, sounding just as shocked as Lill.
"{What a jerk! What's her problem, exactly?!}" Slyk wondered aloud, sounding very unamused by the girl's sudden change of attitude.

Looking across the drop she had jumped across earlier, Gum noticed a small snack shop on the opposite wall. Yep, sure; that'll do, she commented mentally, being careful not to lose track of it as she rushed towards the walkway connecting the two sides to the central walkway.

Marie followed the others as they began to run after the stranger, sounding shocked as well as rather unamused. "{Yeah... What gives??}"

"{I dunno...! She was fine just a second ago, but then she just, like... decided to bail!} Lill responded, absolutely puzzled. As she ran, she tried to see where the girl might be heading.