World Tree MUSH

    Magilou has a little bit more of a problem than normal. She's always a borderline completely broke, homeless, wanted criminal. At the moment, though, she's also one who only has the scrubs she stole on the way out of the hospital and the bandages that are covering up her stitches from where Claire had impaled her under that as her sole possessions in the world, at least until she can get around to stealing back her bookskirt, wherever it ended up. And her hat, even more so; her long blonde hair is looking pretty rough.

    This is a difficult outfit to acquire anything else in, though, especially given that her ears and eyes still stand out basically anywhere, and she's barefoot. So she's ended up putting out word to anyone she knows that she wants to do a friendly shopping trip to a mall in the world she'd been in the hospital in, just some bonding time between friends, definitely no plans to mooch off them or utilize them as distractions.

    She's sitting on the hood of an empty mall security car while she waits and hopes at least one person shows up for this 'vital mission of utmost importance'.

Popoi had happened to find their way to this mall. Such places had lots of neat things there, a lot of these things were kept behind glass displays or on high shelves ( if there was not a store clerk keeping them from anything that they could get their mits on ) though, being a young child, meant all the really fun stuff was kept out of arm's reach.

When mall employees started asking where their parents were, they had to keep themselves out of sight, eventually finding themselves not too far from where Magilou was. They didn't know the pointy eared woman, but they looked like somebody who had just got themselves out of a messy spot, somebody who was no stranger to big trouble.

Just the kind of company Popoi would be looking for when they were up for causing chaos.

    Belle isn't a friend of Magilou's. She doesn't even know her! The message got redirected, which while confusing it did amuse her. Normally she'd just discard it and forget about it, but the young huntress was not exactly far from the meeting point anyway. And... truth be told, when she walks over and spies the one obviously in need, she can't help but chuckle a little.

    She's... a little more used to this sort of antics than she'd like to admit. "Well, I doubt I'm one of the people you called on purpose, but this looks like it has one heck of a story behind it."

Well, if you're hoping for someone subtle, Holly's not exactly the best choice for the mission. The witch usually looks like she came in from a costume party somewhere and is followed by two ghosts. If you're look for a distraction on the other hand, she's the perfect choice. "Magilou! What happened? You look like you were in a fight or someone mugged you." She's quite concerned for her fellow witch.

 She also notices Popoi, "Hi there! Did you get seperated from your parents?" Holly wonders what a small child is doing here alone.

    Subtle isn't Magilou's style, really, so that won't be a problem. She'll hop back to her feet, wincing a little - the asphault is quite hot today - before saying. "Well! I have no idea who two of you are, so I'm assuming my messages got lost. Or you're just here randomly. But it's nice to meet you and I hope you don't mind doing some shopping with me."

    She'll then turn to the dramatic, lifting one hand up in the air, to explain. "Oh, yes! A tremendous story, and struggle! It was a horror! An enormous mud monster appeared in the sky, and naturally as a witch I was obliged to assist. But unfortunately, it somehow managed to muddy the mind of our act's third person, and the farmgirl decided to drive a dastardly sword into my belly while I was fighting the monster."

    This bears at least a slight resemblance to the truth, but..

    She'll lift up the scrub top enough to show off the very large bandage fully wrapped around her midsection. "Anyway, I decided to leave the hospital before they could bill me, but I need to find some new clothing. And that's where you all come in! Companions are a great necessity in helping with clothes shopping. And Bienfu has terrible taste."

Popoi had listened to the story, "Mud Monsters, from the sky now?" Usually the come from the ground, but this sounds a lot more exciting this way, "Well, you don't seem like a scary witch, and farm people usually don't bother to check if somebody is a good or bad witch, so that's rough that you had to deal with somebody like that. And I wanted to go see all the stuff inside the big store, but they kept asking me questions and saying I was too small to be out on my own, so if I go with you, then there shoudn't be any problems!"

The Sprite figured there was one way or another to divert attention with two other people to accompany them if things went south. But it seemed like the Witch probably had something up her sleeveless sleeve that would make this shopping trip even more fun, so they'd take her lead for now.

    Belle lifts an eyebrow. Not at the mud monster idea... but the rest of the story is full of more holes than Magilou's torso. She doesn't say that, tempting as it is. This is probably a crime. In fact, skipping out of the bill was definitely a crime!

    "No insurance, huh?" she asks casually, then rubs her head. "Anyway, I'm not the best in picking out clothes, but I could give you a hand. Raylene would be a lot better for this, she's always wearing the fancy clothes."

"Wait, Claire stabbed you?" Holly's confused about that now, she thought they were going to put on a show together. "And a mud monster from the sky is kind of weird, unless it's raining mud or there's a mudslide or something."

 "Yes, it would be a good idea to stick together until we can find your parents." Servis figures some adult supervisions for Popoi might not be a bad idea even if he's limited in what he can do.

 "Reminds me of when the ex would drag me along to shop for clothes." Lavaux can't help but to add.

 "I can also summon clothes myself, but it's kind of random what comes out." The witch isn't sure if they would get anything suitable.

    "Yes, she did. I think Claire felt very guilty about it, after, though. She ran away in shame, leaving me bleeding in the street! And I'm not a scary witch, just the evil witch Magilou, frightener of dragons and scourge of self-righteous exorcists everywhere." She'll smile at the child, and bounce on her feet.

    "And I don't know what insurance is, but they were planning to arrest me as well as bill me, so I booked it. I never agreed to pay, anyways." Because she was unconcious and bleeding in the street, mostly.

    She'll start leading the way towards the mall now, humming at herself. "...Do you have parents? If not, don't worry about it. They're mostly just a source of disappointment and pain, anyway! Let me know if you see anything that'll look good on me. Pink and purple are my best colors."

Popoi looks between those that suggest they need to have parents around, "I don't see why I need parents with me. I guess people here are much different. Back in my own world, there was a village elder everyone called Grandpa. But we never had to have them around whenever we went out into the forest to forage."

The Sprite double-taked towards Magilou when they mention that they're evil, "Umm, what exactly do you do that's evil?" I mean, as long as they're not 'take over the world' evil, they might even overlook 'poisons kittens for fun' evil, but would probably limit their association with them in the future if they were.

"Anyways, is there a plan? This sounds like one of these times where somebody starts talking about a plan."

    Wince. "It sounds like you just want to steal clothes. Can't say I approve, but I'm not going to maul anyone for that!" Weird she specifically says maul. "But I'm not exactly going to lecture anyone on what to do there."

    Belle doesn't look too happy but also seems to not actually care that much. She stretches, and may be taking mental notes for later. Then again she may just be along for the ride. She's not a planner.

    "Uh... Just point me to where I gotta go, I'm not so good at the planning," she says. "Just so long as nobody gets hurt, okay? I think we can all agree on that." At least Popoi and Holly seem like the sort to be on the same page there.

"I don't think you're evil Magilou! And you don't get along with your parents?" Holly can't help but to wonder her parents are like as she follows her. "Pink and purple? Maybe I'll get lucky and summon something from Valentine's Day! I mean that is a holiday after all right? Unless you have a better idea, I don't have that much money..." If they're planning on paying for a new outfit, she's not going to be able to help out with that.

 "Well, you're rather a young looking...person." Servis pauses a moment not being sure if Popoi is male or female. "Then again you might age differently and could be an adult for all I know." Appearances could be misleading after all, Holly certainly didn't look 24 after all.

    "Well, my parents sold me to a circus when I was a baby!" Magilou says, so glibly that it sounds like it must be a lie. Which, technically, it is.

    She was abandoned; the circus found her and claimed her for free.

    "And.. either steal clothes or get one of you to pay for them, I was going to be kind of flexible in my goals. Or maybe, if I have to, steal money to pay for clothing. I think officially I was labeled as evil when I was convicted of Heresy, though."

    "..Also planning isn't really my thing. I was just going to play it by ear and see what happened!" Honestly, she's half expecting the mall to be burning down by the end of it; that usually happens around her.

Popoi thinks about the nature of their age for a moment, "Well, all I remember was being the youngest one among the rest. Young is young and old is old, easy to spot the difference. Ages are things people who like to count days, weeks and moons do." Which is all they have to say on the matter.

"So we just do what comes to mind. If we're gonna sneak off with something, we probably need somebody to have a disguise. And somebody to make up a good story to keep people distracted."

    "Sounds like some kind of faerie creature," Belle reasons, regarding Popoi. Belle also isn't expecting the mall to burn down, though. She shrugs at Magilou, then asides to Holly, "I at least look my age. It's why I wear these spectacles," says the teenager.

    "Anyway," she sighs, obviously getting restless. "Sure, tell me a story, I'm way better at beign a distraction than anything else!"

"Oh I thought you wore them to help you see!" That's what Holly's first thought upon see Belle is. "Yeah, I agree it sounds like a fairy!" She nods in agreement, "A story um... once upon a time...wait your parents did what?" Of course she doesn't have any reason to doubt Magilou and drops her staff in shock. A blast of orange magic shoots forwards from it and hits a random employee. There's a large puff of smoke and they found themselves wearing a giant pink heart with arms and legs.

 Lavaux does his best to try not to laugh at what just happened, "Well, there's your outfit Magilou. Just have to go claim it first."

    "...Mm, no, I don't think so. My heart's too broken to put on display like that, you know? But that's not a bad start! And you're a lost child" - She's pointing at Popoi - "And you've found them and need that employee to help them right now without changing out of that costume, okay? I'll be right back."

    Magilou will quite literally dive into the middle of a rack of clothing, starting to dig through it while she trusted in the other three to provide a distraction.

    After all, Holly's off to a good start already on the distracting front.

Popoi nods, "Lost faerie child, that sums up my situation pretty well." They say while explaining things, "I was exploring the forest my village is situated in, hoping to find a way to leave it in order to see the rest of the world, when I ended up finding myself not only outside of the forest, but outside of my whole world, with no way back."

The Sprite cranes their neck up towards the other two with them while Magi had slipped off into a clothes rack, "Being such makes me stick out like a sore thumb and draw a lot of attention." They then pull out a mallet, waving the other two clothes, "Maybe you'd like to try pretending to be lost faerie children too. I have something here that'll make the right size for it." They say with a grin, before slowly scooting back in the direction of a circular clohing rack.

    Uh oh, this looks like it'll be a thing. "Uh, what do you mean?" Belle does walk closer, but she's also seeing that the costume is drawing the eyes of many, when Holly poofs someone into it. "Hurry up before they notice, that won't keep them for long!"

    She has no idea what she's getting into, does she?

"Well, I was trying to become an elf so I could live a long time and become a great witch! But a fairy's pretty much the same thing right? Plus, fairies tend to be skilled with magic! Though why would I need to become a child for that? Is that a magic hammer that can only be used by children?" Holly couldn't help but to wonder that as she gets closer to Popoi. She's always curious about magical artifacts after all.

Popoi opened up a gap in the line of clothes, there's a lot of colorful hoodies with various patterns on the hangars. The Sprite figures they have as much of their consent that they can wrangle out of them, before raising the toylike mallet above their heads, and giving them a light tap each with it. There's a poof of smoke, which clears quickly enough, and the two soon realize that they're now 1/3rd their original size, "Now grab a hooded coat, use it like a robe to help hide your looks and lets start some pranks."

    Magilou had actually found her way into the deep, deep discount rack, mostly because the clothing on it is too ugly for most people to willingly purchase. She's going to come out with some items, which she'll take off to the shoe section and then a changing room while the others hopefully provide the distractions.

    The staff are definitely in a little bit of panic, because this is a low magic world and so they're all just going to be very confused about how the costume has happened, or for that matter about the now three miniturized children(?) in their store. It makes the barefoot nurse definitely not a priority, though, so people are doing their jobs!

    Belle is generally a serious sort. Generally. But when she's bonked to become under two feet tall, well... that's going to mean she's going to enjoy it. "Not really a pranking sort," she says, before grabbing a cloth to wrap around and just... dashing under a clothing rack, as kids are wont to do when they have those circular racks.

    Which of course leads to said rack scooting along at a good clip as Belle just pushes it around. Not a prankster, but she can be pretty darn immature sometimes.

Holly's reduced to just under two feet tall in-size herself. "I'm tiny!" Her voice has grown a lot higher as she speaks. She goes to pick up her candy staff but it's now larger than her. She's still physically strong but it's a bit awkward to swing around as she grabs a coat to inside of. "I wonder if I would be able to fly really high like this! She's pretty light now after all.

Popoi grabs a large wool beanie cap for themselves, pulling it over half of their body, still able to see throgh the gaps in the fabric, "Pranks, Mischief, Shenanigans! Any of those work, as for me. It's time to head into the back area they always keep you from going into, woosh!"

The legged wool cap runs off into the storage/employee area, with several employees in tow, with the others attempting to stop Belle from scooting the circular rack around as its wheels squeak loudly. And none are the wiser about Magilou's presence.

    Magilou, meanwhile, found shoes, and got herself changed, stepping out of the dressing room in what may be the most garrish hoodie every made, yellow with purple, dark blue, and light blue trim, along with a brown skirt. She's also managed to find asymettrical knee-high socks that are orange and red. She looks vaguely younger than she had in the nurse's scrubs, but she's put on glasses - or at least frames - possibly to try to look a little wiser or maybe just to disguise herself. She's also managed to find sneakers that at least mostly fit.

    "Why, I never! How dare you allow these repugnant rascals to run rabidly around while customers are trying to shop?" She demands at the nearest of the various staff members. "And your changing rooms are completely unsatisfactory, with all the smoke and fire and everything! See if I ever shop here again!"

    And she'll march out, just leaving the trio behind unless they make their own exits right now. This is the distraction she needed, though she did actually start a small fire just in case that wasn't enough.

"Wait for us!" Holly's has trouble catching up to Magilou, it's difficult to keep her with at this size. Not to mention that the witch isn't the most graceful person to begin with. She isn't able to see where she's going in the coat and trips causing the floor to crack. It seems like she isn't any physically weaker in this form.

    Tiny Belle doesn't want to ruin her shrunken clothes, but a little physical boost can't hurt! She gives the cart a good shove, then takes off running in the other direction... toward the exit. Sighing under her breath, "I knew she'd just leave us on our own... hey when does this wear off, anyway?"

    A good question, but maybe she should have thought of that BEFORE getting shrunken, right? Hopefully the clothing rack spinning toward the changing rooms will be enough of a distraction for the tiny schoolgirl to dart out the side of the main entrance. At least Magilous is um. Not hard to find.

Popoi had eventually lost the employees in the darker areas of the storage shelves, their smaller size allowing them to hide among the boxes, they eventually had to give up the chase due to the manager having decided to call Mall Security to deal with things, though the fire in the dressing room would probably be a greater concern, giving the trio some cover of their own in order to make for the egress.

The Sprite headed for an entirely different exit, triggering a fire alarm in the process. If they didn't run into the others in the multi level parking area where they originally met up, they'd find the reduction would wear off in the morning.

.

    Magilou is easy to track, but she's also hurridly starting to leave the area, because the fire alarm is going off in several regards and generally she's found that this is the point where people attempt to attack her, knock her out, and put her in a jail cell. Again.

    But she's not running, because that also draws attention, so if the others ARE willing to run they can catch up to her. She's certainly visible from quite a long distance away, though she'll laugh wildly at the power of no longer being barefoot on asphault.

Finding running like this difficult, Holly slowly pulls herself up back onto her feet and removes the coat only so she can actually see. The witch pulls out her broom only to find it hasn't shrank in size. Maybe she could ride it like a skateboard since would have trouble staying balanced on it. She climbs onto of it but has trouble staying balanced before she's ejected from it and goes flying through a door.