Jamie's Lucky Day

Jamie tingled with excitement when they drew close to the hardware store, the same one she'd loitered in all morning while she searched for a way to get at least one can of spray paint. Her cover story would be easy enough, it was the same one she'd give lucky, not that the guy in the store spoke English anyway.

"Woo!" She cheered. "What? Oh, I'm done with those situations. And when the AFW finds someone my skill level, they'll call me. Ha! Get it? Because there's no one my skill level! And I don't even have a phone!"

It was kind of funny. Now she just needed to be careful...

She skated off toward the entrance to the shop and patted her satchel. She reached inside and fished around, opened it up and looked in it, patted her butt where her back pockets would be if she weren't wearing a skirt, and then looked back at Lucky with the most helpless look.

"M-my wallet! It must've... I dropped my bag from the gas station earlier, and... My money must've been in it!" Of course, she didn't have a wallet. She DID have a round, yellow rubber ball with a smiley face on it, that when you squeezed the sides the mouth opened. She kept what little cash she came by in that, and that was still safely in her bag.

"What do i DO?!"

Speak of the devil and she will appear.

By a remarkable coincidence, as Lucky and Jamie entered the hardware store, a somewhat familiar face was browsing in the lighting aisle.  Only somewhat familiar, because out in the world proper, Abattoir wasn't wearing her mask - in fact, outside of the ring she looked almost unrecognizably normal.  Unmasked, hair up, jeans, black t-shirt with the baffling phrase "KILL YOU'RE PARENTS" on the chest.  If it weren't for the dead-eyed stare she could probably pass for an eccentric tourist.

At the moment, she was pushing a shopping cart laden down with fluorescent lighttubes.  It'd been a bitch and a half to actually find the store, considering the language barrier, and even more of a chore to look around until she found what she was looking for (because reading the signs was out of the question), but with the help of a translator app and a rapidly-diminishing sense of patience she'd been slowly making progress.

As Abattoir pushed the heavy cart out of the aisle and attempted to turn the corner, she found herself nearly running up against a pair of newcomers.  Great.  Everything in this goddamned country was so close together.  It was impossible to move without having to shove your way through a crowd.  And what was with all the people with blue hair--

Her eyes drifted down from the hair, scanned Lucky's face, and everything kind of clicked.

".....Ah," she said aloud, in the most cautiously-neutral tone possible.

Lucky looked at Jamie and frowned. She didn't like what Jamie was saying and she didn't think it was funny at all. She also started to wonder if Jamie ever told the truth about anything as she watched her fumble around the hardware store and pretend she lost her wallet.

Lucky slipped next to Jamie and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Jamie-san." She said in a soft tone. "Just get whatever you want." Lucky said and smiled warmly at Jamie. "I'll take care if it." Lucky herself was very well off. Wrestling had just been the profession she chose. She didn't need the money that came from it. As she ushered Jamie into the store, she only had one more thing to say. "Just..." Lucky turned her head. "Please don't..." Lie to me.

Before she could get the words out, she saw a cart nearly bump into her big butt. She pressed against Jamie, grabbing the blonde's arm and turning. "G-Gomen nasai!" She said before she even saw the girl. She then turned and looked, only catching a glimpse as she awkwardly tried to both bow and nudge Jamie clear of the girl's path.

Though Abattoir's menacing visage was quite fresh in Lucky's mind, the girl before her looked almost nothing like the woman she faced in battle just a few days ago. The eyes alone weren't enough to allow Lucky to put the pieces together, but she blinked and checked the girl over. She noticed the girl's shopping cart and then looked back at Abattoir, almost staring blankly at her as her mind whirred a bit.

"Ah..." She muttered back. "Please excuse me!" She said finally, shaking her head, blushing at the misunderstanding and turning back to Jamie.

"No, really! I swear it was just here, and I must've..."

Well, that was easier than expected. If Lucky was buying, Jamie didn't even need to bother selling her story. She decided to quit while she was ahead.

"Let's seeeeee...." She put her hands on her hips and began looking and the aisle markers as if she could divine any meaning from them. Granted, she already knew where the paint was, but she kept up the ruse out of sheer habit. She leapt back, her skates clacking against the floor, when the woman with the cart appeared.

Her expression instantly changed to one of suspicion. She warily looked over the dead-eyed stranged, and rolled backward as Lucky nudged her away.

"Hey, c'mon, this way," she quietly urged Lucky without taking her eyes off of Abattoir.

There was a split second where Abattoir had thought this was A Thing, like something AFW had set up, and for a moment she glanced around for cameras.  Nothing.  But considering what she'd seen of the federation so far she certainly wouldn't put it past them, and she held Jamie's gaze all the way down the aisle, waiting for an attack that never came.

....Huh.

As the coast cleared, she pushed the cart onward (with some effort) and moved on to a different aisle, but not before taking a final look over her shoulder, just to be safe.  Nope, still no attack.  Could it seriously just be that they came to the same place at the same time?  The very concept of coincidences irked Abattoir's paranoid mind.

Warily, she moved on and started trying to find the duct tape.  Things were normal-ish again...for the moment.

Lucky pulled Jamie away from Abattoir but watched their little stare down with a distasteful look of her own, looking at Jamie once the path was clear and they were no longer in Abattoir's line of sight. "Jamie-san." She said with a firm, yet polite tone. "Not everyone is out to get you." She said. "I know that girl has a strange shirt, but it doesn't make her bad." She said. That was about all there was to it.

"Come on!" She chirped, eager to get back to business. "You've got art supplies to get! Will you tell me about your project?" Lucky asked. Maybe if she asked for permission to ask the question, Jamie wouldn't be so deer-like with her responses. She was just trying to put Jamie at ease and get her to open up and trust a little bit.

Lucky looked back in the general direction Abattoir had been. That girl wasn't helping, that was for sure. Still, Lucky felt a familiar tug at the back of her head as well, as if she should be privy to the silent exchange between Jamie and Abattoir.

Jamie's narrowed, watchful eyes remained on Abattoir until she disappeared around the corner. "Wha? Yeah. Okay."

She began rolling slowly toward the back wall that held the paint-related supplies, talking to Lucky along the way. "Well, it's actually really cool. I saw stuff outside that I really want to paint. It was so awesome. I just need paints, and some... whatya call it..." She flopped her wrist back and forth like she was holding a paintbrush. "Chalk. Or coal or something. Charcoal. Something that'll rub-"

She stopped suddenly, and looked at the shelf to her right. "And I need this wrench." She quickly grabbed the biggest metal wrench she saw, a little over a foot long, and tucked it discretely up her sleeve.

"Oooooh..."

Lucky listened to Jamie's words and smiled. She wondered if Jamie was going to be doing some graffiti as well. Lucky didn't care for the idea, but one thing at a time. "I'm sure it'll look great when you're finished. Maybe... You'll show me when you're finished?" Lucky asked reluctantly.

She then watched as Jamie picked up the wrench. When she slipped it into her sleeve, the bluenette sighed. She held her tongue. She just didn't understand how such a cute girl could end up in such a state. It was sad and Lucky's kind heart was just not equipped for all the girl's issues.

That made her even more determined though. She clenched her fist in determination and looked at Jamie. "So! What colors do you need?!" Lucky chirped, heading over to the spray paint section.

"Finished?" Jamie asked, like she didn't know what she meant.

With a suspicious glance over in the direction of the shopping cart girl, wherever she was, Jamie skated off to the back wall and heel-braked to a stop.

"Uh... Just, whatever looks cool, I guess..." She said, and grabbed an arm-load of cans.

Lucky raised an eyebrow at Jamie's words. "You don't plan on finishing?" She asked. She watched Jamie scoop up an armful of spray paint cans. With a soft chuckle, Lucky pulled a few cans of her own and tucked them into her curled arm. "I've never done much art. It sounds like fun!"

Lucky then looked at Jamie. "Get anything you need and I'll start putting stuff up at the counter. You can grab anything you want." She leaned over. "I'll get it. For real, Jamie-San. Please..." She said and flashed her an apologetic smile, hoping the girl understood.

She then turned and began to head for the counter.