Wal*Mart RP

Phoebe

"I'm not so good with electrics either. Maybe Gerald or Arnold know how a fuse box works. IF we can find it, that is.."

Eugene

"You know what? I think we're walking in circles.. I've seen those clothes before. Now we're even more lost than before!"

Phoebe

"Ow no! I think you're right Eugene..
I wonder where our classmates are."
I sure hope they haven't found a way out and left without us..
"HELGA!! ARNOLD!! ANYONE?!"
I wonder if anyone heard that. I don't think my voice is loud enough actually..

((Hey guys, AG and I decided that I should try and fill in for Freddie's Arnold until he makes his triumphant return.))


Arnold

Arnold frowned.

"Maybe we should head back towards the food court. We could probably find something cold to put on your face to bring the swelling down." He glanced behind him. "I'm not even exactly sure we're still going in the right direction." As much as he wanted to get out of this ridiculous store, he also wanted to make sure Gerald was okay.

((Sorry bout that. Went MIA on ya there. ))

Helga:

She threw her arms up in the air. No body knew where they were going? Hadnt anybody shopped here? "Oh whatever it's not like the trucks will be there there for another few hours anyway." She placed her hands on her hips and smirked maliciously at Gerald. "Maybe we can find a freezer with a dead animal to slab on your face. Ha Ha!" Might as well make the most of this. If Gerald was going to be around her Arnold-time she was going to have fun with it.

She faintly heard her name being called in the distance. She used Arnold's shoulder to support herself as she climbed onto a clothes display rack and screamed out over the store as loud as she could. "PHOOOOEEEBBBBEEE WEEE'RRREEE IN THE FOOODD COURT!!"..... Well that should work. She glanced down and realized what she was standing on wasn't really sturdy. "eh... A-arnold...help me!...Now!"

(Don't sweat it. )

Without even thinking about it, Arnold instinctively lifted his arms up to wrap his hands around her waist. She gripped onto his shoulders as he smoothly lowered her to the ground.

"You should try and think before you pull stunts like that Helga. You could have smashed your head open." He scolded. His right hand lingered near her waist as he turned to the others. "Let's had back towards the food court then. I guess we'll all regroup. We should probably try finding a map or something in the meantime. And this would all be a lot easier with some light." He sighed. Finally, he pulled away from Helga and pointed back the way they had come. "Let's go then!"

Helga:

She smiled to herself as he helped her down off the clothes rack. So obedient. It was nice. . .though she scoffed a little at the lecture about her head being cracked open. "Yah? You wish!" If only he knew all the reckless stunts she had pulled over the years. . . most of them in his house!

She placed one hand on her hip and then noticed Arnold's hand still brushing lightly against her waist even after both her feet had been planted firmly on the ground. ". . . ." A couple butterflies in her stomach and she step sided away just as he started walking in their new direction. Arnold giving her that kind of attention was still something she was trying to get used to. She wondered if she ever would. Lately he had been counter acting her negativity and nastiness with casual affection. . .she didn't know what to do with herself when he did that. . .so she just started to follow him, a quiet scowl on her face for one reason or another.

Stinky:

He kinda smirked. "Why Harold are you a scared of the dark or somethin?"
He shown the flash close on his own face and made a creepy laugh. "I think the lights being off is kinda cool. We could get into so much and the security cameras cant catch us."

Arnold

Arnold, for his part, wasn't even thinking about what he had been doing when he had lingered close to Helga. There was just something instinctual about it all. Besides, she was the one who started off the weirdness by grabbing both his hat and his hand. Not that he'd objected, but still....

He thanked the darkness for hiding the blush growing across his cheeks as he led their ragtag group back towards the other side of the giant store. He refused to look back at Helga for the moment. This whole night was turning out to be a little too weird for him. Luckily, he had other things to keep his mind occupied.

Like getting his directions confused.

"Huh, I just remembered that I was following Helga to get here." He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, "Would you mind leading us back?" He asked her. "This is only like the second time I've been in a Walmart. I'm used to just going down to the corner store for stuff."

Harold

"I said I wasn't scared, okay?" He said just a little too loudly, giving away the already fairly obvious lie. Though it wasn't so much the dark that was frightening as it was the idea of being trapped somewhere for the night, with scary shadows and Curly lurking about. At least Rhonda and Stinky we're with him now. They'd both always been good at keeping their heads during a crisis.

Just then he heard a faint yelling from somewhere else in the store. He let out a whimper and hugged his pie closer to his chest.

"W-what was that?"

Helga:

Her own thoughts were halted when suddenly he addressed her again and they all had seemed to stop. "Sorry, what?" She blinked and then her eyes widened. "How the hell am I supposed to know!? I thought I was following your lead over here! Do I look like a girl who enjoys shopping to you?" Well that was rather a pointed way of informing she was just as lost as everyone else, still the idea of him relying on her for something was...intriguing.

"Okay okay okay let me think." Her eyes squinted in the dark. "The registers are bhind us and the food court ...should be... to the left of registers. . .so Im sure if we go left we'll eventually get there. . .but I dont know which way we're facing maybe we ARE going left? Or maybe we need to turn right to actually be going left?" She went a little cross eyed. "Personally Im all for standing on your head and screaming again."

Stinky:

He was taller than most so even though the shout had been faint he'd recognize it as Pataki any day. "Oh that was just-" but he stopped. Harold hadnt realized it was Helga and Stinky couldnt help himself with teasing his oafish friend just a little more. He suddenly pretended to be rather scared himself. ". . .You know I heard rumors. . .that the last time kids got trapped in here over night. . . they ran out of oxygen and all suffocated. . .and on some nights. . .you can still hear em screamin out for air. Gee you dun think thats them do ya, Harold?"

Arnold

Arnold took a small step backwards.

"I'd rather not try that again." He rubbed his shoulder. "I'm still recovering from before." He sighed and squinted into the dark, the light from his flashlight did not stretch as far as he would have liked. "I wonder if Eugene really was what made the lights go out... It was snowing pretty bad when we got here earlier...."

He stopped talking as he caught a glimmer of movement out of the corner of his eye.

"H-hey! Who's there?"

Harold's eyes were as wide as saucers. He leapt up from the floor, the pie tin slipping out of his fingers and crashing to the ground. He slowly began backing up to where Rhonda sat.

"Y-you're lying." He shivered as a twinge of fear ran through him.

((Man, I am SO behind, lol! It took me a while of reading to realize that we had someone subsituting for Freddie as Arnold. Sorry I've been kinda MIA myself in the roleplay, guys.)

Gerald
Gerald had chosen, for a rare moment really, to just remain quiet during the group exchange. He didn't talk especially after Helga's comment from before about putting a dead animal on his face. She was starting to sound like an animal herself...an animal in heat or a PMS driven woman who just wanted a piece of chocolate. Whatever the reason for her sour disposition, he had let her comments bounce off him. He did not dignify them with a response.

Though, when Arnold seemed worried about the bruises on his face, Gerald's first instinct had been to say "No, no, man, I'm okay, really..." so his best friend wouldn't worry so much. As soon as his mouth had formed the words, the lump on the side of his head had begun to throb, cutting him off. Apparently, the bruises had minds of their own and the minds said they needed something to help the swelling go down. So Gerald had given Arnold a silent nod as they went in search for something cold to put on his face, as Arnold had suggested.

But he couldn't stay completely quiet during the exchange between Arnold and Helga where Helga lost her footing. Since when was Helga of all people a damsel in distress? Gerald let out a small snicker at that. When Arnold put his hands on her waist and helped her down, he thought 'So, Arnold's her prince now?' That thought made him burst out laughing. He knew he just HAD to say something about this odd little happening.

"Hey, Helga...if you're going to do the damsel in distress act, then try not to make it so obvious next time," Gerald said, looking at Helga as he laughed.

He was still snickering when they had their conversation about which direction they all needed to go in because he couldn't help out with that and he knew it, unfortunately. Thinking about the comedy of the situation (and Helga going cross-eyed trying to navigate) and laughing a little helped him not to panic. He couldn't help because he had been knocked out near the front of the store and had walked with Brainy blindly towards flashlights. Arnold and Helga had been the first people he had just happen to run into. But what if he HADN'T been knocked out near the front of the store like he had orginally thought? What if it was one of the other entrances? Now Gerald was just as confused as the rest of them.

Any kind of sound Gerald was making, whether it be a snicker or a sigh suddenly died in his throat when he spotted, along with Arnold, the glimmer of movement.

Brainy
Brainy wasn't paying attention to the movement that two members of their party seemed to be focused on. He was, as usual it seemed, fading into the background surrounding the rest of them. He was completely ignored now...part of the darkness of the Walmart they were all still trapped in. It was the way it always was when he wasn't being punched...with the exception of when Arnold had helped him up. It was ironic really. After watching Arnold's hands around Helga's waist (the love of his life's gorgeous waist) all he could think about now was the jealousy that coursed through his veins...jealousy that was directed towards a defender of geeks. Oh the blasphemy! Thinking such thoughts about Arnold! Brainy reminded himself that he should be ashamed. The jealousy was so hot though...hot like a heater turned up to maximum in the winter. It burned his muscles so harshly that he had to do something to ease the pain.

So Brainy did. For once, he reacted to the jealousy that he felt so often. He walked right up to Arnold...and flicked him on the shoulder.

(( OMG Sharon your Brainy is FREAKIN EPIC AND HILARIOUS AND WONDERFUL! XDDD I Cant Stop Laughing!!!!! This is so great you guys! OMG!))


Helga:
She gasped a little at Gerald's comment about her being a damsel in distress! She was no such thing!! The very thought of being pegged as such made her growl and clench her fists. "YOU WANT ME TO STAND YOU UP ON ONE OF THOSE THINGS AND SEE IF YOU DONT FALL OFF ON YOUR ALREADY SMASHED AND GROTESQUE FACE!?"

Helga wasnt about to lose her dominant stance or take any kind of verbal abuse from anyone, especially Gerald. The way she saw it, she had just been bossing Arnold around. . .atleast that had what she had hoped it had looked like. Apparently not. Her face had gotten a little red, mostly with embarrassment but part of it was anger. And people wondered why she couldn't be herself.


Stinky:

"Ohhh I wishin I was lyin'! Do you hear em' now?" He stood closer to Harold to really sell the fact he was frightened. "They always go for the food court first. . .heavy people with lots o air in their lungs attract them. . .ACK!"

He suddenly flew back away from Harold. He knew he was being ridiculous, but he wished he could see the look on Harold's face. Wait, he could. He shown the flash light on Harold. "Y-you gotta hold your breath! They'll steal it from ya!"

Phoebe

I hear someone calling.. Hey, that's Helga!
"Do you hear that, Lila? It's Helga, she's not too far!"
The three walked in the direction of the noise.
Geez, there's a bright light shining in my eyes.. It's blinding me!
"HELGA! Is that you?"

Arnold

"Helga, calm down. Stop being so loud and - Ow!" He whipped his head around to find Brainy standing really close behind him. This caused him to jump about a foot in the air. "God, Brainy you scared me!"

Meanwhile the figure in front of them darted quickly to the side while Arnold was distracted. When he turned back from Brainy, the mysterious shadow was gone.

"Hey. Where'd you go?" The air did not respond. Arnold clucked his tongue. "Just great."

Helga:

She turned when she heard her name being called and it was Phoebe. She sighed with relief. "Phoebe! There you are!" She quickly stepped to her best friend's side. "Its about someone with brains not in the shape of recreational sports equipment showed up. Oddball here's seeing shadows now." She thumbed over her shoulder at Arnold.

"Did you figure out what tripped the lights?"


Lila:
"Im afraid we think it was Eugene tripping over some electrical equipment? But we have no way of knowing where to go... to put the lights back on. . ." She patted Eugene on the back to let him know it was okay, no one was mad at him.

Helga:
She saw Lila and rose a brow at Phoebe as if to say gee, you coudlnt lose her in the dark could ya?

((so i think we need a proper villainous character, don't you guys?))

Wolfgang

Outside the store, Wolfgang was warming his hands with his breath as Edmund fumbled with a set of keys.

"Would you hurry up? It's fucking freezing out here." He complained loudly. Not to mention dark, he thought to himself. Damn idiots must have gone and blown something. Either that or the snowstorm had.....

He shook his head. No time to worry about the snow. He'd been planning this for weeks, ever since that stupid Football headed dweeb had sassed him in front of a large group of highly attractive senior girls. As far as he was concerned the whole freshmen class was nothing but a mouthy bunch of whiners. They had this coming to 'em.

"We're really gonna scare the oliebol out of them." He smiled wickedly as the locked door suddenly clicked and swung open for them. He pushed Edmund into a small storage room at the side of the store. "Ladies first." He said with a laugh before stepping into the room himself.

The door locked behind them.

Phoebe

"It's great to see you too, Helga!
We were totally lost in this huge place!
So, do you have a plan to get out of here yet?"

Arnold

"Good to see you guys again. Guess we haven't really gone too far then." He also shot an annoyed glance at Helga. "And I wasn't seeing shadows, Helga. There was someone there!"

Helga:

"Well I didnt see anything, Arnold. Besides theres no one in here but us! The doors locked! It was probably just Curly trying to freak us out." She placed her hands on her hips, annoyed with herself that Arnold was getting annoyed with her. She had to learn to keep her mouth shut.

Lila:
"Curly does tend to do things like that I suppose." She took a step closer towards Arnold. "Perhaps we should work on turning the lights back on?" She shivered and rubbed her arms. "Its getting terribly cold in here."

((Why thank you, A.G. Hehe. ))

Gerald
Gerald was starting to grow tired of pushing Helga's buttons as fun as that often was. He was thinking that sometimes too much of a good thing can become very boring. Plus her last sentence of long and lofty screeching was enough to give him even more of a headache than he already had. He really didn't feel like dealing with that right then. So he just rolled his eyes and simply ignored her.

He was also frusterated with the fact that they couldn't seem to find a way out of this damn Walmart...

Gerald had watched Brainy flick Arnold on the shoulder completely out of the blue and raised an eyebrow. What was with this guy? A breathing problem, masochistic and a random, arm-flicking weirdo too? It was times like those that he really wished he was a mind-reader.

When Helga made her comment about Arnold being an oddball who saw shadows, Gerald wished he had said before her words that he had seen it too. If Arnold was crazy for seeing the figure than so was he. But, unlike Arnold who had been distracted, Gerald had a bit more of an idea of where the thing darted off to. Now was definitely the time to speak.

"Hey!" he addressed all of them that he could see. "Arnold's right. There was someone...or something moving over there. I can't...see the stand very well...but it looked like whatever it was went towards some kind of...fruit stand. Someone shine a flashlight over there!" He pointed largely towards the right of the group, hoping that he was right when identifying what kind of food stand it was...if it was even a food stand at all.

Eugene

"You know what guys? I thought I saw some movement too.. Over there, right Arnold?" He pointed in the same direction as where Arnold believed to have seen the shadow.. "And it moved to that direction.." Pointing again..
Eugene was the only one without a flashlight, so his eyes were a bit more adjusted to the dark.
"This is creepy.. I don't like this at all.."

Phoebe

"I'd have to say, I agree with Eugene.. I don't like this either." She took a step backwards, in the direction of Helga. Her best friend didn't seem frightened at all.. "And I'm freezing!"
Phoebe has always been a chilly person, always wearing a warm sweater, but she wished she put on some more clothes this evening..
"Well, I guess the only advantage of being stuck in a WallMart in the winter is.. There are lots of jackets here, so we won't freeze to death.."

Then she heard Gerald calling.. Someone near the fruit stand?
She looked into the group, then noticed Gerald's face all beaten up..
She felt a few heartbeats going wild.. Geez, who could have done this to her friend?! But she was too shocked by all these happenings to ask anyone..

Gerald
Gerald, who had been focused on finding out what the figure was only a moment ago, suddenly forgot about things lurking in the shadows. He forgot about being bored of Helga acting sour. He forgot about his growing smaller, but still chronic, headache and the bruises throbbing on his face. He even forgot that a whole group of them was trapped inside a locked Walmart for who knows when. It was as though his mind was a chalkboard that once had words and sentences written on it, but now someone had erased all the content on the chalkboard.

It was as though Phoebe climbed inside his head, carrying the eraser, and erased every memory from earlier that night...

How long had she been with the group now? Why hadn't he noticed her there before? He mentally kicked himself in the head for that one.

Phoebe wasn't like any of the tall, thin, model-like juniors and seniors at their highschool that normally inhabited his fantasies. She was very tiny and quiet...not what one would consider "hot" in the least...but so impossibly beautiful. He definitely knew the difference between "hot" and beautiful. Despite the way he would sometimes talk to the guys after gym in the locker room about "hot" girls and wanting to "pick them up," when he was honest with himself...he would rather have a smart, beautiful girl like Phoebe over one of the empty-headed "hot" girls any day.

But talking to intelligent girls like Phoebe was another story. He found himself getting tongue-tied, searching for something to say that wouldn't sound stupid. He also found himself blushing like a madman, his normal cocky, sarcastic, slightly smartass nature suddenly disappearing in her presence. Finally noticing her with the group was no exception.

She was looking directly at him...and her facial expression was highly upset. Gerald met her eyes and blinked, noticing, as well, that she was shivering. He suddenly wished there was a way that he could help her feel less cold...and perhaps make her smile at the same time. It was then that he remembered he had been wearing a jean-jacket the entire time they had been in the Walmart. He decided that Phoebe needed his jacket more than he did.

"H-hey, Phoebe..." Gerald said quietly, slowly taking off the jacket and approaching his shivering friend. "D-d-do you want...my jacket?" He paused behind her, nervously holding the jacket over her shoulder, praying to God that she wouldn't reject him and tell him to back the hell off...

((Thank you so much for such a beautiful opening, Anne! I've been wanting to initiate some Gerald/Phoebe flirting and that was the absolute PERFECT place!!! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!))