An Odd Family Version 2.0

Shopping Fun

Scott dropped Vincent and Anguis off at the strip mall and took off to do a few errands. Anguis glanced behind herself and eyed all the cars in the large parking lot, then looked up at Vincent.
"Is this a car factory?" She asked curiously
"Nope"
"Then why are there so many of them?"
"So many cars?"
"Yeah"
"Well, that's just how many people are here shopping"
"That's.... that's a lot of people..."
Her voice trailed off and she looked up at the building.
*how are there so many people in this mall... it's so tiny.*
She realized Vincent was looking at her and she gave him a confused look.
"What?
"You didn't hear what I said, did you?"
"No..."
"I said you're gonna be okay, they're not gonna hurt you"
"I'm not scared of getting hurt... I just don't wanna scare them..."
"Ah, don't worry, I'm sure if you stay close to me they won't even notice you"
They walked through the revolving doors and Anguis was suddenly overwhelmed with the amount of people that were in the seemingly small building. She panicked and stopped dead in her tracks.
"Ooh g-goodness..."
Vincent tried to walk forward more, but stopped once noticing Anguis anchored herself down. He looked behind himself and saw her standing in place, shaking and staring in fear.
"Anguis? What's wrong?"
"t-there's w-way too many p-people"
He realized she was having another anxiety attack and quickly looked around for a spot that was out of view of the bustling crowd. He spotted a place to the left of them and beckoned her to follow. After staring at everyone for a few seconds, she managed to hobble her way over there slowly, still not used to the crutches. A large crowd walked through the doors shortly after they moved out of the way and Anguis slouched back against the wall, not wanting to be seen.
"I don't like it here" she said quietly
"Trust me, I don't like it here either..." Vincent mumbled, "but are you going to be okay hon?"
"I-I don't kn-know..."
Vincent sighed and tried to think of something that could calm her down. An idea popped into his head and he quickly texted something over to Scott, who responded milliseconds later to his surprise.
"Okay, sweetie you stay here, imma run back out to Scott's car to get something"
"I-I thought h-he left"
"Nah he just parked his car, he got a candy crush notification and got distracted with that"
"O-oh..."
"I'll be right back, just stay here"
He kissed her on the forehead before walking back out the doors. Anguis nervously glanced around when she noticed there was a group of small kids gawking at her and whispering amongst themselves.
*please don't actually see me, please don't actually see me* she thought
She looked away from them, hoping they would loose interest, but instead they walked over to her. Her heart started racing again and she whimpered quietly to herself. The group stood in front of her and continued to stare, making her more uncomfortable.
"Why is your hair a funky color?" Asked one of the small kids
She just shrugged her shoulders and continued looking around the area.
"What happened to your leg Miss?"
Again, no response.
"Hey can you even speak English?"
"Yeah, what's wrong with you, weirdo?"
"Just leave me alone..." Anguis quietly said
"What'd she say?"
"Can I try your crutches?"
"No"
"Why not Miss?"
"Cause I need them"
"No you don't"
"Yeah, I kinda do"
"But you're not using them now"
"Sure I am"
"You're not walking around, so you're not using them"
"Just leave me alone you idiots..."
She looked back out the doors to see if Vincent was on his way back, but he was nowhere to be seen. The larger of the kids stepped in front of her view and sneered at her.
"Let us try the crutches"
"No, You don't need them"
"You don't ether seeing how your foot is on the ground"
"Fuck off kid, it's not as easy as it sounds when holding up your leg all the time."
"Cmon, we wanna play with them"
"No, go bother your mother or something"
"Hah, my mom just dropped me off here, I'm finally old enough to come here on my own."
"Oh good for you kid, I don't care"
"Donnie just take them!"
"Yeah cmon Donnie! You're probably stronger than her!"
*No please cmon don't do what I think you're gonna do*
The kid, apparently named Donnie, kicked her right where the break was in her leg, and Anguis howled with pain, getting the attention of a lot of people. He did it again, making her drop the crutches and fall down to her good knee. The group laughed while onlookers pointed and recorded a video of it. Donnie picked up the crutches and mimicked Anguis, hobbling around in a circle.
"Duuuur look! I'm a socially awkward girl, Duurrrr!"
The small group of kids laughed and Anguis' eyes flashed red. A low but loud growl came from her and she morphed in her wings and stood up on her good leg. Donnie didn't notice until people gasped and pointed, then he turned around. Anguis grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and took off to the top of the mall, 4 stories high. He gasped and held onto his shirt, looking down at the long fall.
"So, you think you're so funny, huh? Picking at people who don't seem to be able to defend themselves well?" She growled
"P-please don't hurt me Miss, I'm s-"
"HAH! So now you're sorry, huh? After you've already caused the damage."
"M-miss I didn't know-"
"Didn't know? Didn't know what? That I had a broken leg? Or did you seemingly think I was faking it."
"I-I didn't mean to h-hurt you Miss"
"So you're saying that you 'didn't mean' to kick my broken leg? Or you 'didn't mean' to offend me?"
"Y-yes"
"LIAR"
"ANGUIS WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!?"
There was a loud whooshing sound and suddenly Vincent was next to her side. He noticed the redness in her eyes along with the insane look on her face and glared at the kid. He grabbed Donnie by the arm and pried Anguis off of him before flying back down to the ground, dropping him a few feet above the floor. Anguis dropped down next to Vincent and landed, unmorphing her wings and immediately falling to the ground, unable to stand. Vincent dropped down to the floor and glared at the people around them, then lowered his gaze to look at Donnie.
"You really thought it was a good idea to mess with a crippled person?"
"No sir..."
He grabbed Donnie by the shirt and pulled him up so they were face to face, getting a hushed gasp for the crowd.
"What. Was. That. You. Little. Shit?"
"I-I said no, sir"
Vincent scoffed and pushed him back hard, making him fall flat on his back in an awkward position.
"You fuck with her again, and this goes to any of you; you fuck with the girl, you get a dragon in return: maybe two if you're really, really unlucky"
Everyone else in the crowd glanced at one another, then resumed their day.  Donnie got back up on his feet and ran to the nearest pay phone to get a ride home. Anguis sat up and sighed, looking down at her feet. Vincent walked back over to where her crutches were and grabbed them before walking back over to her.
"You okay sweetheart? What happened?"
"That asshole of a kid kicked my bad leg just so that he could play around with my crutches..."
"Well don't worry about him my love... he won't be alive much longer.."
"Huh? What do you mean Vinny?"
"~chuckles~ well, lets just say the way I threw him backwards would of caused internal bleeding in the upper left abdominal area based on the way he landed, since it would of pinched the bottom two ribs together, ripping the skin on the organ. Oh, and it's nearly impossible to recover from it"
"Oh"
She looked up at him and noticed that he was now wearing a hoodie instead of a shirt that he was wearing earlier. She looked him up and down in surprise.
"Woah..."
"What is it dear?"
"You look... good in a hoodie"
"Oh do I now?"
"Yeah, but why did you change into it?"
"You'll see: morph into one of your dragons."
"Wait am I gonna sit in your hoodie?"
"Mhmm"
"Can I sit in the hood instead? Pleaaaase?"
"I don't see why not"
"Ooo yay!"
She morphed into her Eraylew form and somewhat sat up a bit higher, holding her front paws in the air. Vincent picked her up and put her in his hood, where she promptly curled up and nuzzled her head against the back of his neck before resting her head on his shoulder so that she could see where he was going.
"Okay, I'm ready now" she whispered to him.
He stood back up and pressed a button on the crutches. They folded down and collapsed small enough to fit into the pocket on his jeans, then they made their way over to a clothing store.
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While Vincent was looking at some outfits for himself, he felt his hair being kicked and looked behind himself. Anguis was laying on her back in his hoodie playing with his hair, giggling to herself.
"What on earth are you doing back there silly girl?"
"I'm bored... clothes shopping is boring, so I'm entertaining myself"
"Well lemme get some clothes that I like and then we'll go find some for you, okay?"
"Mkay... wait, Vinny"
"Yes dear?"
"Can we pick out an outfit for each other? Please?"
"Sure"
"Yay!"
She rolled back over to her front and sat up, looking over his shoulder with her head against his neck. He continued looking around when Anguis spotted something she liked and nudged him on his cheek bone.
"Yes?"
"I think I found your outfit"
"Okay where?"
"The hoodies to your right."
He walked over to them and Anguis crawled out from his hoodie and carefully made her way down his arm. She reached out and felt the fabric with her paws, then looked up at Vincent.
"I like this red one"
"Okay, anything else?"
"Oooo, what about those black fuzzy sweatpants?"
"You want me to grab those too?"
"Yea"
"Alright"
He grabbed the pair of pants and went over to the girls section so that Anguis could scope out some clothes that she liked. A customer spotted Vincent and scowled before going over to an employee, whispering something to him. The employee promptly went up to Vincent when he wasn't looking and cleared his throat.
"Uh, excuse me sir, are you in the wrong section?"
"Hm? No I'm not, why are you asking?"
"This is the ladies section, the men's is across the building."
"Huh?"
"Oooo Vinny, can I get this one?"
Both of the guys glanced over to Anguis, who had flown off of Vincent and was hovering next to a rack full of various colored hoodies. The employee covered his mouth in surprise while Vincent just chuckled and walked over to where Anguis was.
"Sure dear, which ones do you want?"
"I want the gray n black ones"
"Nothing colorful?"
"Nah, my hair is already colorful enough"
"Fair point"
He grabbed the various shades of gray hoodies and a couple of black ones before spotting something that he liked on a mannequin. The employee had walked over to Anguis and was talking to her, so he slipped over and grabbed the mini skirt and a lacy crop top, along with a matching bra and thong combo from a stand before walking back to where they were.
"You got everything you want sweetie?" He asked, interrupting the conversation between the employee and Anguis
"I want some shorts; but like the long ones that I had, just not as tight"
"So you want some basketball shorts?" The employee asked
"Sure?"
"Alright, back over to the men's section we go"
Anguis crawled her way back up into Vincent's hood and got herself comfortable before they started walking back. She selected the same dark gray and black shades as she did with her hoodies and waited impatiently while the person at the check out scanned their items.
"Mmmph this is taking foreeeeeever" she muttered
"I know, I shoulda gone into the self scan isle."
A funny idea popped into Anguis' head and she quickly scurried around the hood section and popped out near the front. Vincent and he person standing next to him raised an eyebrow as she held onto the front of his hoodie and positioned herself so that her head was the only thing that showed at the front, while the rest of her laid flat against Vincent's chest inside his hoodie.
"Do I even wanna know what you're doing?" He asked
"I thought this was gonna be comfy, but..."
"But what?"
"I don't think I can get out now"
"You're stuck?"
"Mhmm"
Vincent facepalmed and shook his head while the cashier and the next customer laughed. He pulled Anguis out and placed her back into the hood, making sure she stayed there first before paying and taking their clothes.
On their way back out to the parking lot, Anguis caught a whiff of some food and poked her head out of the back of the hood. She spotted a pretzel stand and cocked her head sideways. Thinking Vincent wouldn't notice, she jumped out and flew over to the stand, landing somewhat on the bar that held the menu options. The food cart owner looked up after hearing the clacking sound of nails on metal and gave her a look of surprise. She jumped down on the counter and wandered around, sniffing everything and investigating what pretzels were.
"Well hello there little... whatever you are" the owner commented as he sat down on a stool. Vincent continued walking until he noticed the weight difference on his back and turned around. He noticed her sitting on the counter of the cart and sighed before walking back over to the stand. Anguis continued eyeing the pretzels behind the owner and licked her teeth, trying to determine what the food would taste like. She felt hands come around her stomach area and was lifted off of the cart, making her squeak in surprise as she looked up.
"Sorry about that, she likes to wander around" Vincent muttered to the owner.
"Oh not a problem, she's rather cute actually"
"Mhmm"
Anguis let out a loud whine and got Vincent's attention.
"What?"
She looked back over at the food and swatted her paw towards it, then glanced back up at Vincent.
"You want a pretzel?" He asked while putting her back in his hood.
"Yea, I wanna try one"
"You've never had a pretzel?"
"No..."
"Alright"
He paid for the largest pretzel that there was to offer and tore off a piece for her. She eagerly snatched it from him and ate it while they were walking back to the car.
"Malls are weird..." she muttered while looking around at the different stores.
"That they are, which is why I like going into town better than here."
"Can we go into town?"
"Not today, I need a nap or something"
"Okay"
They walked back outside and were greeted by the blinding sunlight. Anguis let out a quiet whimpering sound and covered her face with Vincent's hair, blocking out the light. He chuckled quietly to himself and pulled her out of the hood, holding her against his chest and scratching her on the head like a puppy.
"You act so strangely sometimes, you know that?" He asked
"Yeah... is that a bad thing?"
"Of course not"
Vincent sat down on one of the brick wall structures that had the name of the mall on it and let Anguis rest on his lap. She stood up in her good hind leg and placed her front paws on his collar bone, making it so that she was looking him in the the eyes. He briefly kissed her on the nose, getting a quiet giggle out of her, and noticed her tail was wagging.
"So why is it that whenever I'm lovin on you, you giggle?" He asked
"Dunno, that's just how I react when I get attention I like" she chirped
"Mmh, okay then. How's your leg feeling?"
"It hurts still..."
"Here"
He took out a small plastic bag from his wallet and gave her one of several pain killer pills along with another piece of the pretzel. She decided to take a bite of the food and then eat the pill while she was chewing, biting down on the pill and breaking it open in her mouth. A look of disgust quickly came over her face and she swallowed the food and tried rubbing the taste off her tongue.
"ehhhhhh grothss" she mumbled while scrapping her tongue
Vincent knew what she did and was sitting there chuckling quietly to himself, smiling a little.
"And that's why you don't bite a pill" he managed to say while laughing
"Bleh when is it gonna go away?"
"No clue, I've never done that before"
She tried to get rid of the taste by eating the rest of the pretzel that was given to her, but it didn't help her cause. Anguis decided just to ignore it until it went away and leaned back against Vincent, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Where's Scott at?"
"Good question, probably still playing Candy Crush"
"~sigh~I'm bored...."
"Already?"
"Mhmm..."
An idea came to Vincent's head and he flipped Anguis around so that her head was on his knees and she was laying down on his lap. She cocked her head sideways and gave him a curious look. He tried to tickle her on her chest, getting an odd yelping sound as she tried to grab him with her paws and mouth, like playing with a kitten. She growled slightly and continued scratching and swatting at him until she managed to get his thumb in her mouth, then gnawed on it lightly as if she was teething.
"Haha I got you" she said quietly
"That you did; I can still get out of this though"
"Huh?"
He pressed her tongue down to the bottom of her mouth and pinned it there. A look of alarm came over her face and she opened her mouth and tried to pull away out of his grip. He held it there for a few more seconds before letting go and avoiding getting cut by her razor sharp canine teeth.
"Hey!" Anguis exclaimed once she was released.
Vincent sat there chuckling to himself and scratched her on the chest. She got his thumb again in her mouth and held it there lightly, making it look like she was sucking on it. She looked up at him and had her pupils widen slightly.
"Awe... that look is adorable" Vincent said with a smile.
Scott pulled up in front of the building and Vincent grabbed the bags while still holding Anguis in one arm and allowing her to still suck his thumb. He went over to the car and threw the bags in the back seat before sitting down in the passenger seat and putting Anguis back in his lap. Scott raised an eyebrow once seeing what she was doing and smiled once realizing what she was doing.
"You're letting her suck your thumb?" He asked
"Yeah, kinda wish she was sucking something else if you know what I mean"
"Mmhh no" Anguis said
Both the guys laughed at her comment before Scott put the car into drive and took off back towards the house.
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