Department Store Spree

(( sorry about the short post, third person, and the spelling/grammar mistakes ))

Scratching his ear absentmindedly, Ace looked at the building before him with disinterest. Wondering how he got there, he pushed open the door of the store and nearly smacked into some girl. Catching himself before their bodies made contact, he sidestepped and eyed her warily before rolling those same grey eyes. "Now that is a fantastic place to pause." He remarked, tone blatantly sarcastic.

((I shall write in third person, too. We should just reply in short posts, anyway xD))

Ronnie pivoted on her heels to face the person who made the remark, her chain necklace jingled around her neck as she did. The boy looked vaguely familiar. Probably one of the campers, though, she wasn't so sure.
Instead of tilting her head and asking who he was, Ronnie gave him a look. It wasn't exactly a glare, but it wasn't exactly friendly either. "Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I should've known you'd be entering," Her voice had an equal tone of sarcasm, maybe even more.

(( Do you not have school anymore? O. O ))

"The thought didn't occur to you that someone might actually enter the department store, so you took it upon yourself to stop in the doorway?" He asked curtly, though it really wasn't a question, expression clearly one of disbelief. It was dumb of him to be here, never mind the fact that he was a demigod in general, but he was a child of Hades nonetheless. Monsters just amassed wherever children of the Big Three went - no doubt wanting the glory and satisfaction of killing one themselves. There he went, firing random thoughts off again.

Rolling his eyes again - at himself this time, he moved around the girl and shuffled around tentatively, unsure as to why he had come here. Stance rigid and looking as out of place as a lion among lambs, Ace surveyed the store around him, pondering the usefulness of such a place. He swallowed dryly and tried to decide what he should do next.

Ignoring the girl she had pointed at, I instead followed the girl I had first bumped into. Well, almost bumped into. Lengthening my stride to make up for the space that had increased between us, I found myself next to her in no time, with little effort on my part - kudos to the training I had received at Camp Half-Blood. Why was I even bothering myself by talking to her? Winding up my arm, I stared at a display of sunglasses blankly while running the conversation choices through my head. There weren't that many. Wincing at a sound that my shoulder made, I grinned at her.

"Alright, let's start over. Formal introduction, I'm Ace, son of-" Catching myself before I said Hades, I freaked out inwardly, though I managed to keep a nonchalant expression on my face. Stance becoming rigid, I wracked my brain for a cover-up. How would I save myself? Telling some mortal about my godly parent, what on earth was I thinking? "You're pretty." The pause was almost imperceptible, and if I do say so myself, I thought I covered up the whole rattling off about my dad thing pretty well. The unconcealed compliment would hopefully muddle her brain as badly as mine had been from the near slip-up.

Sneezing as I inhaled a small amount of dust, I smothered the sneeze with my elbow before lowering my arm back down. Dang dust. Stopping to examine a special pair of sunglasses which had been laid on a case, I slid on the bright purple heart sunglasses and took up a dashing pose for the girl. "How do I look?"

Not uncomfortable at all with the close proximity, I scratched my neck. "What's Ray Ban and Prada?" I asked, the look on my face probably priceless. Watching as she replaced my oh-so-stylish sunglasses with different ones. I didn't get a good look at the features of the glasses but my world was now tinted with a colour much less purple. "My face shape?" I asked, raising my eyebrows before selecting a pair of more dainty, feminine sunglasses and placing them in their appropriate place, poking her ear while doing so and saying a quick apology.

"My my, aren't we a fashionable pair." I said, making a silly face. The weight of my actual glasses in my pocket seeming to be heavier now. I'm sure that if they were an actual person they'd be looking at me accusingly, as if I had been unfaithful or something of the sort. Thank the Gods that I could still see without them.

"What's up with her?" I asked, nodding my head in the direction of the saleslady. Wasn't there something like, "the customer is always right." Oh wait, wrong one. Dang, my memory was getting worse and worse. Smiling, I rolled my eyes. "Admit it, that pair of Barbie sunglasses - which you discarded like a broken watch - were hot. I have such good taste." Shaking my head as if I were the most fashionable person on earth, I crossed my arms. Tch, as if. No girl would ever have enough faith in a boy's sense of style to wear something he picked out seriously. No hard feelings to my fellow men, it's just facts.

Shuffling around without waiting for her answer, I spotted a pair of very fine looking females and did the natural thing - wolf-whistle at them as they passed by. "Hey there, a pair of beautiful ladies like yourselves must have fellas falling at your feet everywhere you go." I said, grinning crookedly. What? I may be some real lax person with this sort of ominous demeanor but I was still a man. One of them was genuinely startled but the other beamed, paused, and wrote something down quickly before pressing it into my hand. Lacy, 917-425-7268. Score. Sauntering back to Ronnie, I smirked and held up the piece of paper between my index and middle finger. "Who's a stud? Oh, I think I am."

(( Because before, Ace was much too indifferent to females to be considered a male. ))

Rolling my eyes, I sized the man up before scoffing at Ronnie. "Nice, you got the attention of a guy who's easily twice your age, if not more. You think my girl was desperate?" I said, snorting. "Watch this." Scanning the department store for more nice girls to prey upon, I smiled when I saw a lone girl browsing through shirts. Bingo. I knew I was no heart-throb, but I thought I was decent looking enough. The height and muscles helped, I think. I saw some guy who looked like a Hermes kid but I brushed it off, continuing to the girl.

She seemed to realize that I was getting closer and she looked over me cautiously as I approached, as if I had suspicious motives or something. Affronted but managing to not show it, I slid up next to her and saluted. She looked like a nice girl, with her turtleneck sweater, jeans, long brown hair and wide blue eyes. Even so, she was a little surprised about my appearance out of nowhere. Rightfully so. We talked for a little bit, her wariness eventually wearing off and I ended up returning to Ronnie with a victorious expression and another neatly written number in my hand.

"Beat that, you hooligan. That was a decent person." I said, grinning and actually considered calling the girl. She hadn't been shy, but she wasn't exactly outgoing either. Just did what she needed to, but she seemed like she was really nice, I judged from the short conversation we had.

I scanned the room for more victims, if that's what you'd call them. "Good job. You just gave the girl something to squeal about for the next, oh I don't know... Maybe for the next week or so?" I said, still looking around for decent guys to use. A feeling of guilt was seeping through me, yeah I felt sort of bad for the people we're using to prove our charms. But, hey, Ace started it.

Slightly fidgety, I turned back to Ace and decided to break the news. "I don't think you'll find a lot of guys- especially decent guys- in the women's section of the store. And I don't think it's right to use others as pawns to test our insanely good looks." I emphasized the last part with huge amounts of sarcasm. Though it's surprising that I'm actually feeling angelic to strangers, especially during halloween. Oh drat! It's halloween in a few days... I seriously need to buy a costume. Clearing my throat, I mustered all the dignity I had left and went back to the man behind the counter.

Best to make a strong impression so he loses interest. And I have this thing for leaving strong impressions. With an outward breath, I slammed my hand on the glass shelf; still careful not to put too much strength into the force applied. "Alright. Spill. Tell me where the halloween costumes are!" Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. I fixed him with my signature green glare, and that's when I could sense he was trying his best manly efforts not to cower. "The fifth floor. There's a sale on going. 30% off for all costumes." The man cleared his throat after he stated the information in a brisk manner. Still refusing to look at me, he began fixing his necktie. Good choice. I motioned for Ace to follow with a quick glance as I trudged towards the elevator. Happy halloween, perfume man.