xp_logs | Log: Forge, Angel, Mr. Bubbles.

As per Angel's request, Forge gives her a lift for some Christmas shopping. However, while he has encountered crazy gravity manipulators and insane magnetic terrorists, nothing has prepared him for... Wal-Mart

The hustle and bustle of the Wal-Mart didn't seem to bother Angel too much. She looked determined, though, to get through the throng of people. And after the woman with half a billion children threatened to run her over with the cart, she was trying very hard not to set people on fire. But no fire yet, so it was progress.

"Pets pets pets," she muttered, propelling herself--with Forge hopefully behind her--towards the pets section.

"Oh good god, I will never take online shopping for granted again..." Forge mumbled, turning sideways to avoid a very large woman with an armful of capris that would have been too small for Yvette. Giving a shudder, he trotted after Angel. "What're we looking for?" he asked.

She turned and grinned at him, rubbing her hands together in glee. "A pet," she responded, the last Red Bull she'd had in the car obviously catching up to her. "It's my mom's birthday present to me, but it has to be small because of the rooms."

Forge threw up his hands in resignation. "Pets! Whatever happened to getting those little chubby dragon sculptures or... or those digital things? Why's it always have to be pets?"

"Because I'm a fifteen year old girl?" Angel asked, giggling as she ducked down an aisle. "But no cat or dog or bird. I can go visit my dad's dog whenever I want to and birds freak me out. But like a hamster or a fish or maybe a ferret...ooh, a ferret would rock! I'd have my very own furry slinky!" She paused when the encountered a wall of blue and 'Oohed'. "Fishies!"

Pausing by the oversized tanks, Forge watched the colored fish swim back and forth. He cocked his head, entranced by the schools of orange and iridescent blue fish darting from one side of the tank to the other in synchronous coordination. "You know, I wonder if anyone's ever tested fish for similarities to base-level psionic linkage," he murmured, tracing one metal finger over the glass, arching an eyebrow as one walleyed fish followed the line in the condensation.

Looking over his shoulder at Angel, he rolled his eyes. "Oh, pick one already."

She was glued to the side of the tank, fog starting to form on the glass from where she was breathing on it. All thoughts of furry slinkies went out the window at the sight of the pretty fish. "But there are so many..." And there were, there were tons in each tank. Angel walked up the line of tanks, staring into each one. She paused at one. "...hey, Forge, how smart are fish supposed to be?"

"Somewhere between a digital watch and a stack of quarters," Forge responded, kneeling and leaning back on the wall of aquariums, absently waving his cell phone at the fish to make them follow the light. "They're not going to sit up and beg for a treat, but then again, they won't crap in your favorite shoes." Which would qualify them to work here and probably be on the list for promotion... he thought to himself.

"Eeeww, yeah, I'll avoid that. If I had my own room, maybe I'd get something bigger." Angel giggled and pointed at the corner. "I think I may have found the one I want." The one she was pointing to looked...stuck but happy as it kept bouncing off the wall. It was riding the flow of bubbles that any tank had but unlike the others that got sucked in, it kept going back.

Forge followed Angel's finger to the fish. If it was possible for a creature with eyes on complete opposite sides of its head to be cross-eyed, this fish was it. "Well," he ventured, "He's definitely... special."

"I like special," Angel said firmly, "they turn out the most interesting to have. My dad picked out his dog when we were looking at the litter because Buddy had gotten his head stuck in a box. 'Now that's going to be an intertaining dog' he'd said." She grinned at the tank. "Hello, special little fish. And now to find an employee in blue."

"Apparently you need to be able to speak Wal-Mart," Forge grumbled, then stood up and raised his voice in the thickest Texas drawl Angel had ever heard. "Well shucks, Loretta, Ah can't tell whut's on special here. If only summun would 'splain it to me..."

As a number of blue-shirted employees began to flock to the pet section, Forge just folded his arms and smiled. "Thank you, Doctor Pavlov, your experiment was a success."

It took Angel a few seconds to stop choking on the air and she turned to one of the employees, trying desperately not to laugh hysterically. "I want to buy a fish. And I want to buy...that one." Oh good, he was still in corner, enjoying the little fish jacuzzi.

"Er, that one, miss?"

"No, I totally pointed to that one to throw you off the one I really want." It was rare that Angel was that outwardly sarcastic towards strangers but, really. "Yes, that one, please."

It took a few minutes to chase him--he apparently took offense at being moved from the bubbles--but soon Angel had a cart full of fish things and a bag with a little fish in it. "Yay!"

"He looks like he's stoned," Forge said as Angel happily wheeled the cart past the throng of Christmas shoppers. "So have you named him already?"

"Mr. Bubbles because, all things considering, he's a bubble kind of fish." Keeping the bag close to her chest, so as not to squish Mr. Bubbles, she looked pleased as punch about the whole thing. "Maybe the next pet will be a ferret but for right now, Mr. Bubbles is pretty awesome."

Approaching the car, Forge unlocked the doors remotely, then frowned. "I suppose Mr. Bubbles is going to want to obey the speed limits all the way home. I'm not exactly sure how many g's of acceleration a fish
can withstand, alas."

Eyes a little wide, because she'd really liked the speed Forge had driven last time, she hrmed. "I'm sure not a whole lot of g's...but maybe a little g?"

With a smile, Forge held the door open for Angel. "Buckle up, then, and hold onto Mr. Bubbles. I figure a little bit of a fishy heart attack should get him used to life in the Teen Girl Squad suite."