Day 28: Bill's Hardware

[navigating.livejournal.com]

[ from here ]

Could Nami be acting any more natural? Could her smile be any more confident?

Perhaps, although she'd done this what seemed like thousands of times, on her way to make the millions of beli she needed to free her town. And while pirates were her usual targets, stealing pirates' booty held with it the threat of death. Here? The worst that would happen to them was a scolding look and a mild sedation. Nothing big, right..?

..Unless they took her and made her do the things that Luffy had been forced to do. That wouldn't be very fun.

Still, she was going to undertake this job with the utmost professionalism; just because they were on a different planet didn't mean that she would stop stealing things like she meant it.

Nami let herself into the store as if she were a regular. She looked around slowly - at first glance it seemed that it was a normal hardware store. Maybe with a bit better technology, but she could certainly deal with that.

Comments

[daddyslilkiller.livejournal.com]

Dammit, this wasn't going to work. Maybe...

He shot Duo a quick look that said 'please, just trust me.' Hopefully Duo'd be able to talk fast enough to keep himself out of the fallout of all this and maybe still end up with the stuff.

"I-I'm going to wait outside, Duo-kun." There, excuse to leave, body language just the tiniest bit off from what it should be, nervous maybe, and gods, it'd been so long since Omi had had to actually think about things like this. He 'bumped' into the shelf holding the screws as he turned, pocketing one package with what he hoped was just enough lack of skill to be seen without seeming to try to be seen.

Now to see whether the girl took the bait. If she wasn't going to rat them out, Duo'd be able to get the other stuff easily. If she missed him, at least they'd have the screws. If she did rat on him... well, maybe he'd be able to talk himself out of the punishment. Maybe.

[deathneverlies.livejournal.com]

Duo barely caught the look Omi gave him. He'd seen that look before, had himself given it to other people right before he did something either brilliant or stupid. Or both. It worried him that Omi was giving it to him now, but he made no move to stop the other.

Sure enough, Duo wanted to groan when he saw Omi grab the screws in a less than professional manner. What was he doing? Omi himself had said he wasn't very good at this, so why? There wasn't any help for it now, though. He had to improvise and hope for the best.

"Alright, I'll be out soon. Don't wander off, ok?" He gave the other boy a smile before moving away from the section he'd been browsing, heading for the next aisle.

[daddyslilkiller.livejournal.com]

You're doing it wrong.

Omi didn't have to fake the startled squeak when the woman spoke to him. Of all the things he might have thought to expect, that wasn't one of them. He froze, blinking in surprise. "What?"

The tiny part of his brain that was keeping track of this whole escapade really hoped Duo was having more success than he was.

[deathneverlies.livejournal.com]

If he hadn't heard Nami's voice, Duo definitely heard the squeak that Omi gave. He paused at the end of the aisle, just far enough to feel unassociated, but still leaving the two in his line of sight if he kept his attention to the end-cap.

This was not going at all how he'd hoped. What the hell was that woman up to?

Either way, he wasn't about to let her get away with hindering their progress or whatever she was up to. If her attention was on Omi, Duo figured that she wouldn't be watching him, too. Fingering the row of small replaceable blades he had seen earlier, Duo deftly slipped one off the rack and into his inner sleeve.

[daddyslilkiller.livejournal.com]

That... and then.... and falling things....

He had to just blink at the destruction for second.

That was it. Omi was so out of there. He edged around the two and darted for the door, barely avoiding the falling merchandise. He'd wait for Duo outside.

[deathneverlies.livejournal.com]

And Duo thought the woman was strange. Her friend was even worse.

It was a blatant distraction, and a damn good one. As talented as he was, even he wouldn't have the gall to literally step on a nail (if that part really was part of the act). The attention that he was gathering was quite convenient.

And first and foremost, Duo was an opportunist.

With the attention on the flailing boy, he grabbed a pack of matches and stuffed them into the pocket of his hoodie. He didn't wait to see what became of the boy with the nail in his foot. Instead, Duo hurried outside after Omi, fleeing the chaos the other two had made.