i was walking in the forest of truffula trees when i saw a thneed boy wearing tiGHT pants

[fraternal]

[ WHO ]: Garry and Once-ler
[ WHERE ]: at the maaaaaaaaaaall
[ WHEN ]: Daylight hours
[ OPEN/CLOSED? ]: Closed until further notice
[ RATING ]: PG maybe worse later
[ WARNINGS ]: sexy gasmasks

So Garry had taken that tv program seriously, and had went out and got himself a gas mask - Once-ler was being nice enough to indulge his worries by getting one for himself, too.

"Are you sure you can put it on without it hurting? Want me to help?"

Comments

[triggeringbiggering]

"Nice hit!"

[fraternal]

"I've got everything I can carry! Let's just get out of here!"

He reaches out, wanting Once-ler to follow.

[triggeringbiggering]

He doesn't need to be told twice. He high-tails it out of there with Garry, then pauses as he's about to leave, with the doors still open. He's tall, the axe has a lot of reach... he jumps up to smash the sensor so that the models can't follow them through.

The doors slam shut behind them. He pauses, panting, in the body of the mall.

Then he wipes his brow.

"Rucksacks. For definite."

[fraternal]

He sags down to fall on his butt, sighing as he clutches his raggedy backpack close, opening it to make sure everything is there.

"Six first aid kits..." He glances at the bag of drugs he'd hitched over his shoulder. "...those-" And the poor lonely box of condoms.

...he leaves those by the door.

[triggeringbiggering]

The Once-ler picks them back up and tosses them in. He gives Garry a wink. "Never know when the kids might get frisky. Last thing we want are teen pregnancies here, of all places."

... He grips Garry's shoulder. "We did good in there. But I get a feeling that was a warm up. We're probably gonna have to be more careful in the next shops." He doesn't apologize for being the one to run off, and instead adds, "Camping, probably. This is a mountain town, right? They've got to have a camping store."

[fraternal]

That gets him to crack a smile at least, and he brushes his hair from his eyes, before he looks at Once-ler's hand on his shoulder. He nods his head, agreeing, he was probably exactly right.

"A store with a buggy- that'd come in handy too. Something like a Toys'R'Us or Walmart..." He trails off, and motions Once-ler down.

[triggeringbiggering]

"Camping store first," He insists. They can get the rest of the stuff in a bigger department store pretty easily, he's sure. But then he frowns and hunkers down beside him.

"Yeah?"

[fraternal]

He'll pull his neck into a one-armed hug.

"You alright? You scared me." He doesn't care about the blood at all.

[triggeringbiggering]

He startles and pushes back a bit before stopping and letting Garry hug him. His gloves and shirtsleeves are all bloody and he's not sure where to put his hands, so he doesn't hug him back.

"I - uh... haha! Sorry for worrying you."

[fraternal]

"No running off next time - we'll fight together, alright?"

He'll pull away, sighing - he looks tired. you'll give him wrinkles, Once-ler. He'll get to his feet, clothes a little stained with blood - he doesn't even bother noticing them.

[triggeringbiggering]

"... Yeah. Yeah, I shouldn't have done that." He huffs a little sigh, then gets to his feet. The abruptness of the way he says, "Okay!" with the cheery tone of voice might make it sound like he's just forgotten about it.

"Let's get going. Come on, Garry."

[fraternal]

Sigh.....

He'll shove the bag of medicine at him - you have to carry stuff too mister. Then onward they'll go.

[triggeringbiggering]

Oof. He shoulders it without more of a complaint than that, though.

The walk through the mall again is quiet, with only their footsteps echoing in the empty area. It takes a bit of a while to find the camping store - and the shutters are down. Not locked, though.

"Eesh..."

[fraternal]

"I've got it-"

Heave ho. This time he removes his jacket - with the AC not on in the mall, he's been working up a bit of a sweat. He stuffs the jacket in with the first aid kits and cracks his knuckles before he crouches down to start prying it up.

[triggeringbiggering]

He can't help but stare - Garry is surprisingly built. Still pretty slender, but more muscled than Once-ler would have thought from seeing him with that coat on. In his mind's eye, Garry is as skinny as he is. Seeing the well defined biceps and triceps is a little surprising.

"Uh... need a hand?"

[fraternal]

"No I- got-...it."

Heave ho!! He'll get it up enough for them to slip under by just crouching a bit.

[triggeringbiggering]

He ducks under the doors and gives him a thumbs up when they're inside. "Nice going, muscle man!"

[fraternal]

Razzle frazzle, he runs a hand through his hair and ducks under too.

It's dimmer in here, a few lights flickering on and off as they look around.

[triggeringbiggering]

He makes his way inside further, scowling at the flickering lights. "Honestly. Can't get a break here, huh?" He feels along the shelves for a maglight, a torch - something that gives more light than what they're getting.

[fraternal]

"Look for those ones you wind up..."

He looks on the other side of the aisle, treading carefully to listen for any other noises around them.

[triggeringbiggering]

His hand closes around a likely looking one - no, batteries. He tosses it back down with a "Tch," and moves along. "At least it'll be along this aisle. Any luck there?"

[fraternal]

"Just batteries..." He'll take a couple AA packages, regardless.

[triggeringbiggering]

He picks up another, tosses it down, and kneels to check the lower shelf. There's smaller ones here, and he checks them out.

"... We might have hit the jackpot!"

[fraternal]

"Grab two for now - we'll get the rest when we can find some bags."

[triggeringbiggering]

Tossing him one, he starts winding up his own. When it refuses to turn anymore, he flicks it on and lets the beam of light spread through the shop. "Good idea, Garry. Got it working?" He looks over to him.