The Great Dollar Store Experience

The cashier looked up at the customer again when she spoke, momentarily taking her eyes off of the tentacle. "Yeeeaaaahhh, that's fine...?" she somewhat blankly responded, beginning to grow somewhat confused by the customer's extremely awkward, timid mannerisms. She had no idea how this creature could possibly be so seemingly frightened by her. "Uh... What will you be paying wi-... ...!!"
When the cashier happened to place her hand back down on the counter, she suddenly felt something soft and cold brush up against it. Gasping, she quickly looked down to see that the tentacle had crept closer in the moment she wasn't looking. "EUUGHH!" By complete reflex, she attempted to swat it away and off of the counter, striking it quite hard with the back of her hand.

"GAH...!" Marina let out a bit of a surprised squeal as her tentacle was swatted off of the counter, quickly pulling it close to herself and rubbing the spot where it had been struck. "Owww... W-what was that for...?!" she questioned, not only feeling more intimidated by the cashier now, but also rather offended.

The cashier gasped, quickly realizing what exactly she had done, and instantly regretting it. "Oh geez. L-look, I-I'm sorry; I-I didn't mean to-... I mean... Th-that was TOTALLY an accident," she nervously attempted to explain, fearing how this customer would possibly react to such an action. "I-it's just that... y-your... your tentacle... thing... just... Uh..."

With a wary look, Marina simply stared at the cashier for a moment as she listened to her explanation. She seemed genuinely apologetic, at least, which helped to slightly ease some of Marina's nervousness; however, her tentacle still stinging slightly front being suddenly swatted away, she couldn't help continuing to feel a little flustered. "I-I'm, uh... S-sorry about that..." she responded in a rather quiet, awkward tone.

The cashier appeared somewhat relieved when her mistake wasn't met with a hostile response. "... So, uhhh... What will you be paying with...?" she asked as she moved closer to the cash register, having been in the process of asking the very same question when the misunderstanding occurred. "We take, like... anything, I guess..."

"Oh, right...! Uhmm, gimme a sec..." Marina paused, reaching for a small handful of bright yellow coins and then quickly placing them on the counter. "... This good?" she asked, her head tilting subtly to one side.

The cashier hardly even took a moment to examine the coins before responding. "Yep, that'll do," she replied quickly, taking only five coins as payment for the tiny bulldozer. "Do you, uh... want a bag for that?" she asked, feeling mildly ridiculous for doing so, given the item's size.

Marina felt relieved that the process seemed to be going much more smoothly, now. "Nah, that's alright; I'll just carry it," she answered, then gave the cashier a tiny, awkward grin. "Um, sooo... Th-thanks...!"

The cashier's only response was an awkward wave.

Meanwhile, Pearl had grown impatient, and had just marched back into the store to meet up with Marina. "Marinaaaaa! What's taking you so long?!" she called to her, sounding somewhat irritated. "I thought you couldn't wait to get OUT of this dump!"

After briefly responding to the cashier's awkward wave with one of her own, Marina jumped when she suddenly heard Pearl calling to her. Quickly grabbing her newly-purchased item, she whirled around and scampered over to join her friend. "Hey, Pearl; sorry...!" she apologized, feeling guilty for keeping her waiting so long. "I'm totally ready to go, now...!"

Instantly, Pearl spotted the object in Marina's hand. Now that it was right in front of her, she could see it quite easily. "... Wait a sec. Is that one of those cheap little toy machines?!" she asked with an amused smirk, snickering. "You actually BOUGHT one?!"

"Y-... yeah," Marina nodded, a small, rather embarrassed smile creeping onto her face. "I know it's really cheap and all, but... Well, actually, I'm not even completely sure. I guess I thought it would just be nice to have around, since everything's so strange right now...?" she attempted to explain, staring down at the flimsy toy in her hand for a moment.

Pearl broke into laughter when Marina attempted to explain herself. "You thought having THAT would somehow improve this situation?! A little itty-bitty toy dozer?!" she remarked, clearly finding this amusingly ridiculous. "We're not babies, Marina! ... Well, at least I'M not!" she teased, still snickering.

"Hey, I wasn't really thinking; I was kind of freaking out...!" Marina protested sheepishly, the tip of her long tentacle curling up and down as she spoke. "I'm completely aware of how silly it is...!" she continued, briefly crossing her arms in a joking fashion.

"Awwww, don't get all cranky, now!" Pearl remarked, still lightheartedly poking fun at Marina.

"I am NOT getting cranky," Marina responded simply, gaining a lighthearted pout and looking to the side. However, while her gaze was turned, she was quickly reminded of where they were. "... But anyway... I guess we should probably keep looking around, huh..." she noted, the uncertainty instantly returning to her voice.

"Yeah, we really should," Pearl agreed, her expression also becoming a little more serious. "We should probably focus on actually getting a snack first, 'cause that's kind of what we came for in the first place. If we don't, we're gonna get WAY hangry."

"Oh yeah... We should definitely get a snack before we do anything else," Marina agreed, proceeding to glance around with a somewhat-worried expression. "I sure hope they actually sell food somewhere in here..."

"It's a mall! There's gotta be SOME place that does!" After taking one more glance around the immediate area, Pearl started determinedly marching along, scanning for any business that appeared to be selling something edible.

"Right... It'd be totally silly if there wasn't!" Marina agreed partially in an attempt to reassure herself, quickly following as Pearl began to march ahead. Along the way, she constantly kept on the lookout for some such business, as well.

Pearl's gaze idly scanned the shabby interior of the mall as she marched along, a mildly disgusted look on her face. "Yeesh. This place is a DUMP," she sneered. "What kind of person would ever actually come here on purpose? It's so totally gro."

"Agreed," Marina responded, giving a small nod and slowly glancing around as she continued to follow Pearl, looking completely unimpressed as well as extremely wary. "It's kinda making my skin crawl..." she commented in addition.

(Do you guys mind if I try and sneak in a bit later on? Totally forgot Flint was a part of this, whoopz)

(Sure, if you want xD)

"I KNOOOOOOOW!" Pearl groaned very loudly in response, followed by a brief shudder. "Even just the AIR here feels nasty! When we get back, I need a good shower to just wash it all OFF."

"Eugh... Same, here!" Marina complained with Pearl, also feeling a shudder run through her body. "Then we should go to like... the best mall in town, just to erase the memory for good."