I got a right to sing the [blues] (open)

[jagger]

Abyss speaking,
How may I help you?

The slim black car drifted into the parking lot and paused just long enough for the tiny blonde to climb out, her wave at the driver both appreciative and quick - one of those "don't bother staying, I don't need you anymore" sort of gesture. The driver didn't bother to motion back, simply floored it to continue through the parking lot with the off-white albino staring after it with a thinly veiled look of displeasure. Her lip curled, she stalked into the feed store, the bell jingling as she entered.

Stamping the dust off of her knee high boots, the brown leather gave way to black breeches, white tanktop curving around her generous although tiny figure. Her mirrored sunglasses were shoved up on her head, pushing the thin strands of ivory back away from her strange, crystal blue eyes. She was pale - paler than pale, in fact - and had a nearly ethereal quality about her. She wandered through the aisles, 4'9" figure nearly swallowed whole by the aisles. Finding the section she was looking for, she paused, eyeing the various bits of leather and metal.

She was engrossed in her selection before long, fingering each headstall as she passed it and yet still coming up short. She knew what she wanted, just wasn't seeing it here. Frowning slightly, she shrugged, abandoning her quest and moving to the next item she knew she needed - show-sheen. Head up, she paced the aisles, finding it on the top shelf and half way back. With another intense frown, she glanced back and forth up the aisle, looking for something to monkey up and grab the bottle with. It was either that or scale the shelf.. hmmmm.

[jay]

Returning from a smoke break, Carlo Adriani flicked his butt away and wiped his hands on his jeans. They were worn and faded from years of use with dirt and various other stains from on the job spills and puppy training accidents. Still, they were comfortable and almost encouraged by his boss since Carlo drifted between stocking shelves, loading trucks, and handling the cash register on his shifts. Blowing the last of the smoke from his lungs, Carlo tugged his black Valley Feed hat back down on his head and headed in.

He went into the store room to pick up a few things, then headed back out to the front. There was some girl minding the cash now, and since it wasn't busy, that meant Carlo had a chance to restock a few things before heading back to his aisle of doom. He dropped a couple of older stocked things into the discount bin near the door, then hung a few new halters on the empty racks. Thankfully no one had wanted anything from the top shelf yet today. All small animal bedding and that, which meant a trip out to the back to retrieve the stairs, a trip up the stairs to try and decipher a customer's hand signals.... gah! It was frustrating even to think about!

Rounding the corner to drop off a few horse shampoos and sprays, Carlo arched a brow quizzically at the odd-looking lady standing staring up at something. He followed her gaze to the Show Sheen and had to bite back a laugh. This chick was tiny, no wonder she was staring up at it. "Help you, ma'am?" he asked, his tone far more polite than the mischievous glint in his eyes.

[jagger]

She had already placed her arms on the shelf at waist level and lifted one foot to begin the climb to the top, freezing sheepish as she was inexplicably caught - like a kid scaling the cupboards to reach the Oreos, she had her hand in the cookie jar. Dropping back to the floor gently, her heels clicked as she stepped back away from the shelf, that same sheepish look still plastered onto her angelic face.

With her arms crossed low on her abdomen, she pivoted on one heel, eyebrow arched as she stared at - or rather, up at - whom was obviously an employee. Her hair, loose down to her waist, swayed slightly in a heavy waterfall behind her as she flicked her gaze from him to the bottle of show sheen and back again. She smirked; rather wickedly for a woman her size, biting her full lower lip. "Oh, no. I just enjoy staring at things I can't reach." Her tone was dry but her face plainly amused.

She stood there, silent for a moment, before arching a fingertip toward the product. "I need a bottle of Show Sheen." She didn't dare throw anything about "I can't reach it." or "I'm too short." - the man wasn't blind, he could see that, clearly as she felt it. She had a bit of a Napoleon complex, anyway; and had he not seen her, she would have climbed up the shelf to retrieve it herself - as she did in grocery stores and, quite often, in warehouse stores. One slim, athletic leg cocked sideways, the toe of her boot resting against the floor. "Can you reach it, O' kind and tall Sir?" Okay, that last bit was a tad sarcastic, but somewhat good natured nonetheless.

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[jay]

Carlo probably should have said something about her looking like she was about to climb the shelves, rules and regulations and all that. But, to be honest she'd looked so funny he couldn't bring himself to even bother trying to tell her off. He actually almost wanted her to scale the wall to reach what she wanted. God she was tiny! How did anyone survive being that short?! Geez, Carlo didn't think he'd handle being so little. But, he was used to being tall, rounding out at just over 6'1" he was a good size.

"Well, so long as you're enjoying yourself," he said dryly as he put away the bottles that he had in his hands. He then pulled a list from his pocket. He made a mental note of a few things to grab from the back room when he ran back. He glanced over at her when she said she needed to get a bottle of Show Sheen. He glanced up at it, then realized why it would be such a problem for her.

Tucking the list into his pocket once more, Carlo nodded to her, ignoring the sarcastic comment about him being able to reach it. "Sure thing, ma'am," he said, leaning over to grab her a bottle. He then handed it to her. "There you go. If there's anything else you need, just let me know."

[jagger]

"I make it a habit to always enjoy myself." She sniffed after a moment. Abyss took the bottle gingerly between thumb and fore, waiting until he had fully released the bottle before wrapping her fingers around the neck of it. Fixating her ice blue stare at him, she nodded. "Thanks." She was struggling with her inner dialogue. Part of it wanted to stand up on tiptoes and poke him in the chest to scream a monologue of bitterness. What?!? I'm SHORT! What OF IT?!" And smart enough, Aby kept quiet.

Turning to stomp off like the bitter smurf she is, she rounded the corner and came face to face with a display of vet wrap, bumping into it and knocking product off. Squeaking slightly, boxes rained down at her, braining her as she backed out of the slight mess she'd created. She didn't dare turn around to flag down Carlo again, she'd just look like an ass, and she hated that. Instead, she quickly began stacking boxes. Employing a technique used much around the horses, she stepped back, turning her back to the metal display and then swinging back at it as if preparing to mount, monkeying onto the side and clinging there to quickly shove the boxes back into place. Not quite perfect - it was obvious they were Helter Skelter - but at least it would work and she wouldn't have to ask for anyone's help. Huffing, she backed away, picking her foot placement carefully before pivoting to stride the other way nonchalantly.

Finding herself back at the other side of the store, she cruised up the aisles to the cashier, pausing half-way and realizing she'd forgotten the very item she'd knocked to hell. "Shit."

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[jay]

Carlo didn't see any reason to pursue conversation with the woman, she was clearly not digging him. Even though she didn't say anything, Carlo was getting a pretty indignant vibe from her. Which was probably warranted, since she probably got lots of looks for her smaller stature and she was probably sick of it. Still, when the average person around town was decidedly over 5 feet, her kind of small stood out like a sore thumb.

"No problem, ma'am," he said absently. "Here at Valley Feed our customers are all highly valued." He had spouted the line so many times that every time he had to say it Carlo wanted to scream. Or throw things. But to do so would be unprofessional.... and he really needed to keep this job. Discounts came in handy with three dogs to feed.

Heading for the back room once again, Carlo spun quickly when he heard a crash and a feminine squeak. He fought to keep from laughing as he saw that the lady had walked into the vet wrap display he'd set up the night before. When she started restacking it all herself, Carlo shrugged and kept going for the back room. Fine by him if she wanted to do his job. After restocking a few of the small animal feeds, he went back to check on the vet wrap display. Well, it's mostly together, he thought with a sigh. Still, he knew if his boss saw he'd catch shit. So, back to work he went, reorganizing the skewed boxes. Thankfully it wouldn't take half as long since it was mostly rebuilt for him.

[jagger]

Despite that she wasn't in fact legally blind, she was still technically blonde and by blonde she meant - oh, scatterbrained, airheaded, shit for brains, pick your adjective. Flinging herself pell-mell down the aisle, she slammed into Carlo and reeled back before realizing what was going on. A stream of swears floated to her tongue and she bit the end of it sharply, cutting the words off physically and mentally; that copper penny taste of blood flooding her mouth. Her face went pink - not with embarrassment, rather; she was pissed. At herself. "Oh for fuck's SAKE." She gasped. That was the straw that broke the camel's back. She lost what little footing she had been teetering on and fell backward, squeaking again as she dropped to land on her ass.

"Oh I swear to Satan, I'm so over this." She blinked the red from her eyes, bringing a hand to her lips to dab at her injured tongue. Finding her spit pink, she grumbled, shooting a homicidal look at Carlo. "What're you staring at?" She snapped. Sure, it wasn't his fault - she knew that - but she had to let someone have it, or she'd go insane. "Yes, I'm short and I'm a fucking clutz." There, said it before he could. She stared up at him from her place on the floor, her breeches collecting dust. Her boots had left a fine scuff on the floor - but she ignored that. At least the display was still standing.

[jay]

Carlo had just finished the display when his back started cramping. He stood slowly, pulling a face as both knees popped loudly at the same time. God... he was in rough shape. He really needed to do something about that. Maybe do some more stretching... try to cut back on the smokes... start running again... something... anything. It had to be better than slowly deteriorating at his young age. Arching his back lightly, Carlo winced as several vertebrae snapped and popped. He took a deep breath and stretched a little further, and then was hit.

Being substantially off-balance and nailed right in the gut, Carlo toppled over backwards without much resistance. His ass kissed the floor and what little air in his lungs was forced out in a harsh grunt. Pain bloomed across his ass cheeks and palms, threading its way up his wrists, shortly thereafter. It wasn't until she swore that Carlo realized what had happened. Just great... hi-diddly-dandy. Lord.... this woman was becoming a pain in the ass... literally. However, when she herself toppled over, Carlo couldn't suppress his grin. No less than she deserves, he thought.

What he wasn't expecting was her little outburst. He held his stinging palms up with a frown. "Listen, signora," he said, trying to keep the heat from his voice. "I'm the one who got plowed. What do I care if you're short and clumsy? Ain't nobody perfect. So just settled down. Cazzo."

[jagger]

She stared at him, expression a mix of dismayed, irritated nerves and sudden and intense attraction. What language was that? The hamster in her head jumped on his wheel and began running, the mental wheel squeaking to life. She filed the words away, considering it. Italian. Yes, that's Italian. She was briefly curious, shifting uncomfortably as her numb buttcheeks started to tingle back to life. Foreign languages were a button of hers.. to put it lightly. "Oh don't give me that. You've been eyeballing me since I walked in." She licked her lips, tasting that salty aftertaste and grimaced. And I bet you've just been wondering what kind of freak I am, haven't you? Hmm? And now this is more ammo for the fire. Later you'll tell your buddies about the freaky little midget who ran into you today. She refrained from speaking her piece out loud, still remotely intrigued by this individual. Rolling onto her hip, she shoved her legs beneath her and stood; her pinned ankles cracking, the titanium rod in her lower leg staying rigid and making her leap to her feet a sort of clumsy ballet.

"Um." She paused, sultry glare directed at her feet as she dusted herself off. She offered up a hand, more than strong enough to help him to his feet - after all, she did ride Thoroughbreds - and grimaced, sucking on the end of her chewed up tongue. "Y'kay?" She hurried the words along, staring at him with her hand outstretched. Abyss didn't apologize much - okay, never - and was finding it hard to shame herself into doing so now. She settled for asking him how he was and offering him up. That oughta be good enough, right? Snapping her fingers after a moment, she waved the outstretched hand, still holding it out for him.

[jay]

Carlo was getting a bit heated under the collar. He didn't like being accused with no evidential support. He'd been eyeing her since she came in. Yeah right, in her dreams maybe. So when she even mentioned it, Carlo couldn't help but scoff audibly. "Listen lady, the first time I set eyes on you was when I walked up that damn aisle to restock a few things, which happens to be my job," he snapped, "and I saw you looking like you needed help. Helping customers happens to be another important part of my job. So, I helped you. Then I'm fixing the display so I don't catch merda from my boss and you come flying in and run me over!"

He was still in a bit of a huff when she heaved herself to her feet. He supposed he ought to be flattered that she offered him a hand up, but it only served to further irritate him. He got to his feet, completely ignoring her hand. "So, don't go flattering yourself with delusions that I can't take my eyes off you," he grumped, gingerly dusting of his backside.

[jagger]

Mmmmh. Oh there was that language again. The growling foreign tongue caused an involuntary shiver and she shook it off immediately, maintaining her distinct animosity toward the leggy individual before her. She only stared down at him for another moment.

Fixing a dry look on him as he clamored to his feet without her assistance, she dropped her hand, snorting indignantly. "I never said you were checking me out. That would imply attraction." She snapped, voice dripping with condescension. She stepped into him, leaning around him to snap a package of wraps off the display. His heady, masculine smell smacked her in the face with both sides of the hand and she resisted breathing any more than she needed to, jerking the wrap off the shelf and stepping backward hastily. She briefly considered saying something more to him, resisting the urge to chuck the roll at him and instead steadied herself for a ground-breaking moment in Abyss history. "Whatever. Sorry for bowling you over." It was sincere but muttered, given that she pivoted on her heel to limp off down the aisle with her Show-Sheen and wraps in hand, a low growl drifting over her shoulder as she grumbled the whole way to the cashier.

Reaching the counter, she found it vacated, a twisted growl coming her chest again. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me?" She glanced back down at Carlo, dropping her things on the counter and waging an internal war - stay and let him check her out? Bad choice of words. Let him ring her up? Much better. Or did she leave the stuff there, give up, and come back another time? She leaned against the counter, considering her possibilities for a moment in silence. Deciding on the latter, she started to stomp toward the door, stopping halfway and realizing she didn't have a ride home; she'd need to either call a cab or the ever dandy Phone A Friend - but a quick glance at her watch said that aforementioned Friend wouldn't even be off work for another hour. Oh, crap. Turning hesitantly, she skulked back toward the register to wait, hands over her chest protectively.

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[jay]

Carlo was ready to go home now. He was fed up, tired, and really sore. Thankfully he only had half an hour left in his shift. If he managed to keep mostly to the backroom and aisles, he might even be able to get out on time instead of being roped into some random, mind-numbing task. Doubtful, but perfectly possible. And considering what he'd just been subjected to, it was practically earned and almost warranted that he get to punch out on time.

With a sigh, he headed to the front to check the displays by the doors. He saw a few people wandering around and didn't even notice the fact that there was someone waiting at an empty cash as he passed. He checked the displays and made a few notes on his hand with the pen he kept tucked in his pocket. Readjusting his company hat, he looked up to see an empty cash with a waiting customer. His face clouded over as he saw who it was. "Great.... bad luck comes in threes. What's gonna happen now?" he grumbled to himself before heading over.

He slid himself behind the register and punched in his employee to unlock it. As it fired up back to life, Carlo glared at the woman beside the counter. "Find everything you were looking for, ma'am," he shot at her, sarcasm practically dripping from his words.

[jagger]

Abyss couldn't help but feel a little guilty as he glared at her. She had obviously ruined this man's day - go her! - but completely without reason outside of herself. No, rather, she was a shithead, and a selfish one at that; she tended to blow everything out of massive proportion and then wonder why people hated her for it. Story of her life. Sighing slightly, she gazed at him placidly, finding that zen place inside of her. Her arms remained crossed over her chest and she ignored his sarcasm, ferocity meter dropping minute by minute.

"Look, I am sorry. I shouldn't be such a bitch." What else was there to say? Hey, I had a bad day? Big whoop. Not his problem, and he'd point that out if he were smart.. which she had a feeling he probably was. "There's no excuse for it, I'm just a cow with a Napoleon complex." Well that was easy enough. She did the self deprecation thing well as it was, may as well put it to good use. She let herself zone out after she said her piece, bringing an athletic, albeit short, leg up to haul her wad of wash out of the top of the knee high boot, paging through the bills as she waited for her items to be totaled. There was nothing else to say at this point, and she left her gaze on the countertop, expression serene.

[/size]

[jay]

Carlo barely heard her speaking as he rang her Show Sheen and vet wrap in. Instead he glanced impatiently at the clock. By the time she left, he would be off and like hell he was sticking around after that. He just wanted to go home and veg out on the couch with the dogs and watch some tv. Or rather, sleep in front of tv. That seemed to be his specialty.

He looked at her hard for a moment when it registered that she was apologizing. "You're right," he said finally. "You shouldn't be such a bitch. Your total is $15.76, ma'am." Yea, so he could get fired for making a comment like that, and he wouldn't exactly put it past this one to make a complaint to that effect. So, he was pushing his luck, but his patience had long since worn thin.

ooc: Bah. Couldn't think of anything to make it any longer. Sorreh!

[jagger]

Abyss rolled her eyes, fishing a twenty out of her billfold and making a slow show of tucking the unused bills back into her boot, handing him the twenty. She made a point of grasping it long enough that he simply had to look at her to take it, eyebrows lifted. Okay, we deserved that. Her inner monologue quipped, and the devious side of her giggled in it's own demented way. She fixed her cold blue stare on him. "One has to have feelings for them to be hurt, so seconding my own opinion isn't a great scare tactic with me." She released the twenty, leaning over the counter to snatch a bag off the rack and bag her own merchandise.

"And I was serious, I am sorry. I have a real pigheaded way about me - don't respond to that - and when I get embarrassed, I get pissed off. I'll make amends. Buy ya a drink?" She was not at all joking; nor was she coy or even trying to flirt. It was much like setting up a business deal.