Nutcracker

[KamiKaze]

When Charlie arrived at the mall, she wasn’t sure what exactly her plan was. She knew it was December, and she knew that she had to get something for Toni. She said that she was able to come over to visit for the holidays, which was nice. Their parents would probably get something for her, too, but Charlie felt like she needed something for when Toni came over. That was still a ways away, but she wanted to make sure she had something.

However, Charlie felt out of place inside the cacophony of Christmas music and the crowds of people. She’d been to this mall before. It was a nice place to play Militia Mobile. It was full of Supply Depots, which meant you had plenty of chances to get items. The wi-fi here was decent enough, and one time, she’d found a relatively rare soldier. She hadn’t managed the recruit the Admiral, but she’d heard rumors that they tended to spawn around this area from time to time. However, Charlie also wanted to find a War Dog. They weren’t as rare, but still not as common as you’d think. The art was cute, too, and she’d also seen them around a few times.

So, yes. Charlie had been here before, both to recruit soldiers and to, obviously, buy things she needed. She’d probably look weird, if she came here just to find soldiers. It wasn’t as often, though. Sometimes, the crowds of people were more than enough for her. Like now. Everyone else had the same idea, and so the mall was covered head to toe in people, alongside the lights and garlands hanging from the walls and ceiling.

She took a deep breath. Charlie had realized she hadn’t really had a plan on where to check first. Was that weird, too? Not knowing what stores to visit while shopping, and just looking around? She hoped not.

After inspecting one of the maps scattered through the mall, though, she had an idea. Maybe Toni would like something from the bath and body store. Charlie thought back, to how her room was full of scents from sprays and lotions. She’d like that. She hoped.

It was on the ground floor, too, so not that far off.

Slowly, Charlie found her way inside the store, looking around. It was full of warm, wooden colors, with various products on the shelves. Candles were to the left of the store, while various lotions, bath products, and sprays were placed throughout. What looked like seasonal products were placed near the front.

Charlie went over to the candles, and gingerly picked one up labeled “Ocean Breeze.” She sniffed it, taking in the aroma. It did smell nice, but it didn’t seem like Toni.

“Hello! Can I help you?”

Charlie flinched, and turned. Oh, it was one of the employees. She had a smile on her face, but maybe she thought she looked shady, or just weird in general.

“Um…”

Okay, try to deal with this, you can do it.

“I’m looking for something to get my sister,” she forced out.

There. It was true, and maybe she’d not ask more. The employee, whose nametag read “Aimee,” continued smiling.

“Oh, we just brought back some of our seasonal products. Would you like to try some?” Aimee chirped.

Charlie gulped. She hesitated. But:

“... Sure.”

“Okay!” Aimee said, and before she knew it, Charlie was at one of the counters, as Aimee took a product off the shelf with a pink “Try Me!” label on it.

“You see, this lotion fizzes when it comes out of the nozzle,” Aimee said, her voice light. “It’ll moisturize your skin.”

Charlie nodded. She didn’t know much about lotions or such, other than what Toni said. She had to keep a straight face, though.

“There are many scents in this line, but this one smells like peppermint,” Aimee continued, holding the lotion. “But there’s also others with a seasonal theme. Maybe it’s something she’d like?”

Charlie thought. Then she hesitantly nodded a second time. It was the kind of scent she liked, looking back.

“Okay. May I have your arm?”

Slowly, Charlie raised her arm, and Aimee took it, rubbing her arm with the lotion. It felt weird, having someone else touch you like this. But after Aimee was finished, Charlie took a sniff. It… did smell nice? And it felt nice, too.

“What do you think?” Aimee asked, still smiling.

Charlie took a breath, then spoke.

“I, um… it smells nice,” Charlie said. She wished she could say something better.

“How much does it cost?”

---

That was dealt with. Charlie paid with a twenty dollar bill, and got $7.50 and a bottle of the lotion in a small green and red paper bag back. Okay, so that went better than she expected. Right, then. Were people who worked in stores like that always so… friendly? She had no idea.

Well… now that she found something for Toni, she could look for some soldiers? It was still pretty crowded, but it had dissipated somewhat as she was inside the store. Eventually, Charlie found a place to sit near a fountain. It was quieter, and full of cushioned chairs. It was right near the fountain, which had been decorated with a polar bear display. She had to admit, it looked nice. Christmas music gently played over the intercom, along with the occasional holiday message. There were signs scattered about, advertising to “meet Santa” and about how they’d track Santa using radar as he traveled along the U.S. All-in-all, it looked nice and holiday-ish.

Charlie pulled out her phone, made sure she was connected to the mall’s Wi-Fi, and opened the Militia Mobile app. Right away, she was greeted with the safety warning that’d been ingrained into her memory by this point: “REMEMBER TO BE ALERT AT ALL TIMES. STAY AWARE OF YOUR SURROUNDINGS.”

It was usually accompanied by a quirky image of someone looking at their phone while wandering into, say, a battlefield. It was meant to be a warning not to play it while driving or something, but Charlie’s eyes darted towards the bag, sitting next to her inside the chair. Oh, what if someone reached down and took it while she was looking at her phone? What would she do? She paid money, and she didn’t want to lose it. Charlie tucked the bag into her hoodie pocket, and, after patting it to make sure everything was still there, looked back at her phone. The fountain was a Supply Depot, and, after swiping to get some items, she saw that there weren’t any soldiers right nearby. Maybe some would spawn soon. Or… she could use a flare.

If you used a flare on a Supply Depot, it’d lure soldiers towards the area. It was also a good way to meet other people who played the game. Charlie looked at her inventory. She had plenty. But the idea of possibly meeting someone else who played the game… it was both kind of scary, but also… she knew Toni would have liked her to meet more people.

Charlie sighed. But she used the flare. An orange glow came from the Supply Depot icon.

Maybe she wouldn’t meet anyone after all. But maybe she’d at least find some nice soldiers.

[Tapey]

{{Scott Pirece}}

Ahh, the sound of Christmas...

Scott sat on a bench near a chair near the fountain, while holding a cup of iced green tea latte he bought from Starbucks a few minutes ago. He always liked the merry environment of the mall, especially during holiday seasons. The sound of Christmas carols echoing through the entire mall and people walking here and there somehow made him felt excited that Christmas is near.

Scott was pretty familiar with the mall area, since he came here a couple of times before with his friends. That day was rather different. He just decided to wander alone in the mall simply because he felt bored playing Counter Strike on his XBox everyday since holiday started. He also didn't invited anyone to go with him, as he was only here for a stroll to enjoy himself.

So there he was, exhausted for walking across nearly every corner of the mall for a few hours, sipping his drink through the straw while scrolling his Instagram. Everything seems pretty normal in his news feed: Loads of selfies, photos about delicious foods, a few throwbacks, and some nice pictures about the views from whatever the place his friends were visiting. As he started to feel bored scrolling across his feed, he decided to close his phone while looked around him. And that was when he noticed a girl sitting two chairs away from him. He thought that she looked familiar, but somehow couldn't remember her name. She also seemed to be on her phone.

Feeling curious, he started to approach near her, and greeted:

"Uhm, hello."

[KamiKaze]

So… no soldiers yet.

They’d probably come in a few minutes, tops. She’d just set the flare off, after all. Maybe it’ll be a common, or maybe something nice. But she knew there were soldiers here. She'd managed to recruit some before.

But, somewhere out of the corner of her vision, she saw someone walk over to her. Charlie slowly lowered her cell phone. Her eyes narrowed a bit. Didn’t they go to the same school together? It was a boy. She wasn’t sure of the name, but she knew that he was in a sports team. Um, soccer? She wasn’t sure of who was on what team, but she did remember seeing him in her classes from time to time.

“Um... hey,” she said, trying to remember the name. “Math class, right?”

Maybe she was wrong, and they didn’t share math together. Maybe it was history, or P.E. Maybe he’d been in more too. Was his name Shaun? He looked like a Shaun. Brown hair, brown eyes. She got the feeling it was wrong though. Maybe it was “Simon.” Maybe it was “Scott.”

Charlie fidgeted in her seat. She wondered if she looked weird like this, too. Lots of people looked at their phones, didn’t they? Maybe he’d realized she was playing Militia Mobile. She did just set off a flare. Maybe he figured out she was the one who set it off.

[Tapey]

Math class, of course! That rang a bell. Math class was not Scott's favourite subject, as he has no interest in studying things like algebra or geometry. In class, he usually just looked around the class or scribble random stuffs on his book when the teacher was teaching, or as he called it "hearing him speaking in a language he never know". He did heard her name a few times in class, but he could not remember that clearly. Is it "Sharleen", or "Jenny"? Or perhaps "Kaylee"...

"Yea!" Scott answered with a friendly smile on his face, while continued to ask her to know her name. "I saw you in class a few times but didn't quite catch your name. What was your name again?"

He said that while trying to find a seat near her. His legs still felt tired after the long stroll. Seeing that there was an empty seat on her right, he walked towards the chair, and asked, "No one's sitting here, right?"

[delicateMachine]

((Leon Valera was drawn to the flare like a shark to just, like, a whole shitton of blood. Blood everywhere.))

Seb's favorite author had recently released the first book in a new- trilogy? Quadrilogy? Endless sequence of stories about magical people doing magical shit but like, put way more complicated than that? Whatever it was, Seb had been hyped about it for months, while simultaneous moping about how he hadn't even finished the previous series, and he had like a thousand words left in the last book, but all of his favorite characters were having a miserable time so he didn't have the energy to actually read those words, and he was so excited Leon, like so excited he didn't even know, but he just couldn't justify spending the money on something he wouldn't be able to get to for months, and if there was a Hell on earth, he had totally found it, and was living in it, woe was him forever.

There was more to it, but that was the gist; and what sort of older brother would Leon be if he didn't leap on the chance to give a nice gift that was at the same time a terrifying, looming obligation? The book was damn heavy, he knew that much. Heavy enough that you probably couldn't take it on a plane because everyone'd be terrified of it being sent flying during turbulence and knocking some poor old lady in the head. K.O. K.Old.

Now that he was done future-treating-slash-tormenting his brother, Leon was gonna treat himself to some Militia Mobile. The mall was a hotbed of supplies and bases; so he restocked his dudes and prepared to immediately kamikaze them against some shit. There was an enemy base near the flared depot with incredibly low defenses - Leon wasn't sure if it was because his comrades had been wearing it down or just gross incompetence, but either way the result was the same. Their walls fell, he claimed it for the glory of Blue Battalion. He'd been stockpiling guard towers and turrets; so he was able to immediately reinforce his new territory.

Leon was proud of himself for pulling off such a fuckin' rad blitz, so he scanned the area for the person who had set the flare off. Friendly gloating was half the fun of the game, after all. There were a bunch of people around with cell phones, and there were a bunch of people who were loitering suspiciously in the general area of the flare, but only two people matched both those categories, so Leon set his sights on the target. They were both classmates, anyway; so if he was wrong there wouldn't be any harm done.

He walked up to the two and casually waved. "Yo, was that your guys's flare? 'Cause if it was, I just wrecked all your shit. Like, all of it. Like, raze the salt, ash the earth wrecked."