[Log] Shopping is not for the faint-hearted

[pandabasket]

Characters: China, anyone else who isn't hungover from Christmas Day
Status: Open
When: December 26, around noontime
Location: Somerset Shopping Mall
Summary: After Christmas comes the battle known as the Boxing Day super sales.
Warnings: Watch out for the crowds! Being trampled is not unheard of.

Comments

^-^/

[chocolatebow]

It was a quiet holiday. Edith enjoyed the pretty lights and the light snow, but sometimes she longed to be a part of the bustle; running frantic for gifts or trying to keep order in whatever party she hosted. Ah... it was as calm as it was melancholic in the states.

The day after the holy day, Edith found her cupboards devoid of chocolate and ingredients. It was pretty convenient however and gave her a purpose for today's expedition: after-Christmas sweet shopping.

Much to her delight, there was a fairly large amount of quality chocolate left when she arrived at the raucous mall. But there was little joy to dwell on now that she carried her only purpose in a bag. However, Edith wasn't one to stay down and she began to explore the multitudes of sales. She spied a home ware store and impulses to upgrade her crockery and cookware passed her mind. Impulses that were readily accepted.

Edith inspected a particularly cheep and shiny double boiler before nodding her approval. She turned around abruptly and near smacked the pot into another person. "Woah! Excuse me!" She yelped as she anxiously watched the box that she collided with's fate. She let out her held breath when the stranger caught it. "Ah. So sorry there, Ma'am. Really crowded here. Thing's not damaged is it?"

\´ヮ`

[pandabasket]

Thank Heaven he'd managed to catch it. Heart still hammering a bit from the sudden surge of adrenalin, it took Yao a moment to register what the stranger was saying. She talked sort of fast, in a chipper way.

"It's fine," he replied, re-securing his grip on the box and composing himself. "It didn't actually--" His brain caught up on interpreting the words she'd said and his sentence ground abruptly to a halt.

"Wait. Excuse me?" He looked up properly at her with an expression wavering somewhere between disbelief and depreciation. Had he heard that right? 'Ma'am'?

[chocolatebow]

Although she was already relieved that she didn't hear the shatter that would've resulted if the box had not been caught, she let out another sigh when the strange reaffirmed this. She smiled and began to turn around when the stranger caught her attention.

"Hm?" Edith pivoted and when she saw the face twisted with shock and disdain, she furrowed her brows in worry. The box was fine right? Then the stranger said 'Ma'am'. Wait, was she being addressed or questioning the title?

There's no clear reason why the former would be the case if everything was alright. As for the latter... "Is something the matter?" was all she managed to choke out in the end.

(LOL RHYME /SHOT)

[pandabasket]

"Well..." Yao hesitated slightly at her genuinely worried expression. It was the kind of expression that could deflate anger simply with how well-meaning it was, and it did its work on his chagrin now. "I just thought you called me... 'ma'am', which is... you know, wrong."

Maybe he was addressing this a bit obliquely, and in something of a mumble at that, but it was really an embarrassing issue. And honestly, maybe he'd just heard her wrong, and he'd had a long morning, and she seemed like a good sort of kid anyway, so...

He gave up. "Never mind." He hoisted the box more securely up again, turned towards the store counter and remembered to smile at her. "I should let you get on with your shopping too."

[chocolatebow]

Wrong? What was wrong? Edith thought of her two possible ideas and the one where she got the gender mixed up is becoming more and more reasonable. Well, the stranger had long hair, a small frame, and overall looked delicate. Plus Edith certainly did not want to end up being accidentally insulting.

And then she heard 'never mind'. Now the poor girl was split between pursuing the person she bumped into and amending whatever she did wrong or just not bothering. "Oh..." Edith remembered she was still holding the double boiler.

"It's... it's okay actually. I'm actually... done. Please tell me if I did something wrong, 'cause it's just plain not polite to walk away if I'm in the wrong, ya know?" The first option won and she proved her alibi by motioning that she was going to follow to purchase the pot set.

[pandabasket]

Yao tilted his head back around at her and blinked. Ah, looks like it was too late to brush off the incident; the expression she was wearing now was distinctly troubled, even as she brandished the pot set in an apparently casual manner.

He sighed a little and tried not to look too put-out, though he couldn't help glancing off to the side. Well, okay, he'd just have to deal with the embarrassment.

"Ah, that's... well, I just thought you mistook me for a woman. Which I'm... not. I'm a guy." It's not like this was the first time he'd had to deal with this, but still. He glanced back at her slightly wretchedly, trying to keep his tone flat. Now for the reaction.

[chocolatebow]

Whups. That was a shocker. Rather, a slap on the face. Or maybe dynamite. Edith certainly didn't see that coming. Well, she did, but the actual confirmation had the effect of surprise.

"Wat?" In her moment of surprise she let her dutch accent through. Edith coughed and then proceeded to apologize. "Oh, oh god, I'm really sorry for that." Man, all she seemed to do these days was to cause people problems. Not exactly a good thing for one's self-esteem.

"So, um, is there anyway I apologize or amend that? 'Cause I feel like I really insulted you." she said sheepishly.

[pandabasket]

Of course it would be that kind of reaction. Yao watched as the stranger went through the various expressions of shock and embarrassment, and wished they weren't quite so familiar.

"It's okay," he replied to her, resigned. If anything, he just wanted to end this encounter as painlessly as possible and get away. "It happens, I guess, so just forget about it..."

Yes, forgetting about this would be nice. He managed a final, albeit slightly crooked smile at her before putting his box on the counter for the shopkeeper to scan. Well, his shopping was more or less done after this, which was just as well.