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 Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 12:49 pm
Her nightmares had been driving her absolutely crazy; After what had happened at school, she couldn't even comfortably sleep in her own bed, no matter how secure and alarmed the grounds were. So much tossing and turning was starting to exhaust her, and she needed something to pick her up.
So it happened that Jada decided it was time for her favorite thing to do: Shop.
It was almost 3:30 in the afternoon on a Monday when she stepped out of a taxicab and into the shopping district. She was in her replacement Crystal uniform, not having had time to go home and change after this impromptu shopping trip. She'd gotten permission to purchase all new clothing, since everything that had been in both of her closets at the Crystal Academy had been torn apart or stolen in the break-in. Thousands of dollars in clothing she wouldn't be able to replace to easily.
At least she had the most important thing, Jada reflected. She hadn't been there, so she hadn't been ripped up as well, and she had a credit card. And she had the 'old' clothing that had been at her parents house waiting for one of the maids to have it delivered to a charity. So in the three days since the break-in, she'd been handling everything quite well. Excepting the fact she hadn't slept more than an hour or two at a time out of the last 96 hours!
As she moved through the mall area, she'd caught herself looking around nervously. Last time she'd been here she'd acquired a crazy man who had followed her around all day. This time, she wasn't sure that she'd have a savior or two like she'd found in the Xanis brothers, should something happen. Still, she found that weighting herself down with bags full of clothing and little knick-knacks was a most stimulating distraction.
Maybe if she didn't think about the fact that some man had...
Stop.
She chewed on her lip, standing outside an electronics store in the mall, looking in the window. Zora and Kayley's thirteenth birthday was coming up soon, and she knew that her younger sisters were into things like these. She'd never had the time to explore the world of video games, but she was certain that someone within would be able to educate her on something appropriate.
Something much more appropriate for her little sisters than the red and blue sundresses in her bags.
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Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:10 pm
This place was almost as bad as the goddamn Apple Store. Overpriced everything, but what else could you expect from the mall? She didn't even know why she'd come in today, just had decided arbitrarily that today Audrey Collins would go troll the mall. Maybe would run into someone interesting, perhaps find a senshi to help beat into the ground, anything other than hanging around her house and dwelling on recent changes in her life!
Some of those changes had begun to reflect themselves in her wardrobe. The bow had vanished and was replaced by hair twisted lightly and tied off at the end with a thinner version of her everyday ribbon. And for a change, she was actually wearing a black v-neck t-shirt with nothing underneath? Scandalous for the girl who never used to show her arms! The stockings underneath her denim miniskirt however were in full-force and were roughly the same shade of gold as the design on the tee, tucked into her same old starry Converse hi-tops.
All in all, it was downright scandalous for Audrey Collins! Lazy, bored, she leaned against the archway leaning into the store and deep gold eyes ended up resting on a quite lovely young woman chewing thoughtfully on a pouty lip. Her Crystal uniform and the bags in her hands painted quite a picture, and Audrey snorted to herself before raising her voice. "If you're looking for overpriced, high-end merchandise you're in the right place." She probably was.
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Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:36 pm
Jada jumped as a voice came from the right of her. "Well, honestly, I'm not worried about the price." she gave the blue-haired young woman (who she assumed to be the speaker) a small smile. "What I'm looking for is a birthday gift for my little sisters." she looked back inside the window. "They like to play these games with little people with swords and wizards and things."
Honestly, Jada looked quite bewildered. If she'd found a little more time to hang out with them lately, and hadn't been so internally focused, she might actually know what the name of the game was called.
She glanced over at the other girl, taking in the tee-shirt and the denim skirt and... those were actually kind of cute shoes. "You don't happen to know a place where I could get something reasonably priced, with some knowledgeable staff? I'll be frank, I know very little about video games, much less about what might be age-appropriate for thirteen year-old girls." She straightened her back, suddenly a little self-conscious, and held out her hand to the other girl, somehow keeping the bags on her arms. "Jada Chamberlyn."
It was nice to meet another stranger. See, the mall was a good place to be.
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Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 2:55 pm
Stepping forward to take the hand and shake it lightly before releasing and scanning the girl again from head to toe with metallic eyes and smiling encouragingly. "Well, it's your lucky day. I know more than just about any salestool when it comes to gaming and system and I won't try to push you into something you don't need. And maybe I'm a little old now, at the lofty age of seventeen, but I was totally thirteen about a week ago. Oh, right. Audrey! Audrey Collins, that's me." Certainly she was now in a better mood, having found something to do with her time and talk about things that she understood.
It was a welcome change. With Elzo, it was always her foot in her mouth, or her hand where it shouldn't be. Or his. Obsidian was never much of a chatterbox, and Aree was an unreliable companion at best. You never knew when she was going to turn up. But that was ok. Pasha was lovely company on a sunny day for doing things outside, but wasn't too concerned about the inner workings of a computer or anything mathematical. Nobody was ever interested in math!
Pushing that thought aside, Audrey thought for a moment and then pointed in a direction back down the way she'd come before hitting this store. "I think we want to go that way. Gotta know what they play before I can really recommend something. Would you know the game if you saw it? If not, I can probably estimate but it's worth a try if you're not too pressed for time." Audrey certainly wasn't.
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Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 3:38 pm
"Excellent." Jada gave the blue-haired young woman a bright smile. "I'll trust your expertise then." she shuffled bags around, digging in her purse. Dropped it, sending makeup and a cell phone scattering across the floor. The black-haired girl gave a soundless sigh, dropping to her knees and letting go of the bags to collect her things.
Still on the floor, she found a piece of folded pale pink paper, holding it out to Audrey in triumph. It even smelled like flowers, and when the other girl would open it, the writing would be big and curliqued.
Warcrack! x2
FPS!
Romance Sims! (this handwriting was even more intricate than the other, and in a different shade of ink)
Mercenaries - Don't worry that the rating says M, it is only a little violence!
Mech games - Mechs are giant robots. They'll know what you are asking for!
The list went down and down, taking up almost an entire page and ending with 'a pony!'
Finally the Crystal Academy student managed to finish collecting her things and pushed to her feet, gripping the bags again in her hands. "I told them to make me a list of what they wanted." she explained, lamely. "I think they have most of the necessary equipment to play whatever I purchase, so..." She shrugged. "I place myself in your capable hands, Ms. Collins. As long as I can make it to the gym by 7:00, I've got no other plans."
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Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 11:03 pm
Pulling the paper from the Crystal girl's fingers, Audrey's molten eyes lit up and she grinned wolfishly at Jada. "First, it's Audrey, straight up. I appreciate the manners, but I prefer Audrey." Honestly she preferred Lina, but that wasn't exactly something you could run around telling everyone now was it? "And this list is perfect, you have absolutely no idea! Man I wish we had time there's a better place closer to home but there's a pretty good one..here c'mon." Without wasting any time, she snagged the beautiful young woman by the wrist and started hauling her down towards the Lower End of the mall.
She called it that, because it was the less-shiny, older section of the mall from when it was first constructed a very long time ago. The rent was probably cheaper down there, and it was where a lot of specialty stores were. New Age crap, the Chinese store where you could almost always get good Pocky. Some weird tea place that she swore was a drug front, a store to buy rims for your car which was absurd! And there, tucked away in the very corner, was Audrey's Heaven. A new and used game store that carried all sorts of weird merchandise that you could only ever get online. Like that amazing Sylvanas figure she'd been drooling over for a good long while now, but would probably never get.
"Here, this is the perfect store. I mean you can't find this stuff almost anywhere else in town, you usually have to order it online. They have collector's edition EVERYTHING and some it is even signed, you have no idea how amazing that is!" Pushing Jada in front of her into the store, she beamed and waved at the guys behind the counter. She was a regular. They knew her. She was cool. "Now, Warcrack is probably World of Warcraft and there's not a whole lot we can do there software-wise. You might want to get them figures or something of races they play but they might have them? FPS you can do great!" She flitted about the store, gathering up several things and pointing to them and explaining each's significance to the list.
It was so fun to educate the unknowing!
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Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 11:21 pm
Audrey looked so delighted, looking over the sheet of paper, that Jada couldn't help but grin back. "You're right, I have no idea. Zora's been trying to get me into online games for a while, but I have... so much else to do." she hurried along with the other girl, the heavy bags knocking around her legs.
A New age store caught her eye, the smell drifting from it highly alluring. "I'll have to pick up some more incense." she spoke aloud to herself, jotting it on her mental notepad. And some of the other stores almost made her laugh. Really, a store for TIRE RIMS?
"Collectors Editions?" she was back to being confused. Like collectors editions on books, but for software? What kinds of things would they add on to such a disc? The guys behind the counter waved to her companion and called greetings, and she shyly waved back, nodding acknowledgment. "I think you're right. Something about a World War." she hoped she didn't look as lame as she sounded. "She can't convince Mother to get her the latest expansion?" she sounded thoughtful. Well, after their birthday she could always get them something else.
"What is an FPS anyways?" she followed Audrey like a stray puppy, collecting items in her hands and looking them over. Jada picked out a few of the items, some of the little statuettes. Kayley would find those more enjoyable, while Zora would actually play the games.
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Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 11:43 pm
Pausing in her explanation about what a Murloc was and why Jada absolutely had to buy this giant plush version, she waved a hand and cocked it like a gun. "FPS is a First Person Shooter. You can't see the body of the person you're playing, you just see in front of you? It's like you yourself are the gunman? A lot of war games and stuff are like that. And ohmigod your sisters don't have the new one yet?! I mean Lich has been out forever now I was doing ICC 25 when I lost my guild are you...auuugh! Unless you're talking about Cataclysm, which isn't out yet! I was trying to get into the alpha but I don't know anyone who works there." Ramble ramble, Audrey was a better salesperson for this crap than the guys that worked there, and they vastly appreciated her bringing in her rich friends, of which she seemed to pull out of thin air.
"And that over there," she pointed into a glass case where they kept higher-end merchandise, "that is the Banshee Queen, Sylvanas Windrunner." Feeling that she'd loaded Jada down with enough games and merchandise that she wouldn't be feeling so generous and buy the rare figure for her sisters, Audrey pointed it out with longing interest. "She's the queen of the undead faction, and has the saddest story. Died as a hero of her people, but was raised by the Lich King as a slave. Eventually broke off because she was so powerful, and made an entire kingdom for herself. She's my idol." Well, if she was an undead slave, that is. Ursula might have been her own private Lich King, but she wasn't about to revolt. Audrey had no interest in that sort of power.
"Isn't this place great?!"
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Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 11:53 pm
Jada eventually took her things over to the counter, setting the bags on top of it. "Can you please do me the favor of holding these behind the counter for me?" It wasn't like they were doing anything, watching the two girls walk around the store, and talking about something in a magazine they kept hidden under the counter. She frowned at a few of the objects, and one by one, the stack of things on the counter was getting taller.
Not all of them were for her sisters. The giant Murloc was adorable beyond all comprehension.
She was stumbling along behind Audrey when the other woman pointed her towards a locked case with statues in it. The Banshee Queen sounded like a very interesting character. She'd scraped herself up from worse than a slave, and become the ruler of a nation... Audrey's eyes were full of something. Probably best described to Jada as a look of desire and worship.
Behind the blue-haired girl's back, she raised a hand. One of the guys scrambled over with a key. "Can I see this?" Perhaps it was a little cruel of her.
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Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 11:59 pm
It was probably all-around a good thing that Audrey Collins didn't have the same sort of temperament that Andrew Collins did. The sort of Andrew Collins that would have probably have snapped Jada's head of at the neck for that sort of thing. Obviously, she had underestimated two things. One, Jada's devotion to her little sisters. Two, her apparently vast reserves of Daddy's Money. Mark, the guy who was working behind the counter knew how badly Audrey had been wanting the thing, but hadn't had the means to drop several hundred dollars on a statue that would do little more than collect dust. So it was with embarrassment that he kept his eyes averted from the bluenette as he delicately pulled Sylvanas from her glass prison and held her out for inspection.
Really, she was perfect! Every detail was sculpted finely, and the pain and lacquer and all of it just shone with the ferocity that was the Banshee Queen of Undercity. Abruptly, cursing herself for a fool and hating the entire situation, she turned and went to pull a few more things and throw onto the pile. If Jada was going to be like that, she'd certainly make her pay for it! Scott, the other attendant, understood and gave her a pitying look. b*****d!
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Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 12:02 am
He pulled it out, raising his eyes to come face to face with Jada's 'serious face.' "That figure," she said, cooly, "Had better be wrapped up as quickly and as securely as you can." she passed him a credit card. "And then handed to my friend here." she turned red, giving Audrey a shy smile. "Thank you for being such a help, Audrey."
She leaned in, giving the blue-haired girl a quick hug. "I want to know how she looks in your room, okay?"
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Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 12:17 am
Dumbfounded, Audrey all but dropped the games she was comparing as Jada enveloped her in a lightly-scented, tight hug. Mouth agape as the now-grinning clerks started to wrap up and box the precious figure, the teen turned and clung to the Crystal student. "Oh, oh my Jada I couldn't...I mean I want to but she's so...oh my oh my." Even in the hug, her eyes latched on the box with stunned gratitude. "Thank you so much! Man, if you ever need anything I think I'm your slave for life. Unless you start going all Arthas on me, then I will probably have to revolt and try and kill you but like wow. Hell, I think you might have to come over and see her! My mom loves guests and is a killer cook. I know you're busy for the gym but like...man hang on!" Leaning over the counter with easy familiarity, she snagged a pen and grabbed one of the many fliers advertising some underground band or another and scribbled out her number.
Signing it with a flourish, she folded it, and tucked it into the girl's hand before enveloping her in an exuberant hug of her own. "I have no words. None. Whatsoever." Which, for Audrey Collins, was mildly astounding!
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Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 12:29 am
Oof! She hadn't expected to be hugged back. Jada grinned as Audrey's eyes were locked on the box. "There isn't a question of couldn't." she teased. "You've been such an awesome saleswomen I figured you deserved a bit of a commission." Honestly, it felt good to have made someone else so happy, and her own face was almost glowing with pleasure.
"I don't know who or what an Arthas is, but I'll do my best not to become one." she gave a salute, reaching over to sign the receipt for the purchases. Well, this was one shopping trip she'd be needing to account to Daddy for, but she didn't regret it. Not with all the fun new things she'd gotten. She took the paper and was preparing to slide it into her purse when the blue-haired girl hugged her again. "No words are necessary." she assured her. "I should be thanking you. My sisters will love the..." her voice trailed off. "What's the word? Oh. They'll love their 'loot.'" the grin was lopsided.
By the time that the clerks almost reverently passed the box over to Audrey, it was almost 5:30. Already? "Oh wow, that was a quickly eaten two hours." She sounded mildly bewildered. If Audrey's throat wasn't dry as a bone, she'd be amazed. "I still had a couple other things I wanted to pick up in the mall before I dropped these at my dorm and went to the gym. Would you like to wander with me a little longer?" Who knew, Audrey may have some other interesting ideas.
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Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 12:39 am
Huh? Time? Oh yeah right, chunks outside of GLEE GLEE SYLVANAS GLEE that had nothing to do with Audrey hoping on top of the mall and doing a dance. Or several backflips, which she had worked hard on perfecting. And really she was kidding herself, they were more like cartwheels anyway! Reluctant to let go of the box, she used the other thing she'd been perfecting - her Charonite Stare. It was for incredibly serious moments anyway, as it had the unfortunate side effect of making people never want to speak to you again. "I'm going to leave this here so it doesn't get broken. If I come back and it's not here, I am going to throw a fit so large you are going to wish you'd never met me. Understood?" Unsettled, Mark rapidly assured her that she'd be carefully packed under the counter where nobody could even look at the box, let alone break it.
Satisfied with this answer, she gathered up Jada's purchases and linked arms with the girl she'd decided was rapidly moving her way up to Excellent Friend. It wasn't the money, it was the generosity of the gesture that had touched Audrey so much. Good people did good things! Plain and simple! Audrey enjoyed good people. Almost as much as she enjoyed wickedly naughty ones. "Yeah, but you have to let me buy the snacks, ok? I can handle that with my allowance. How do you feel about pretzels?" Meandering out of the store, it was mildly surprising to the girl that her feet were still on the ground.
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Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 12:48 am
The Charonite Stare had not only the effect of unsettling the workers, but even making Jada nod in agreement with them. Audrey had made herself well understood.
Her 'serious face' blew Jada's out of the water.
She helped Audrey lift the bags, grateful for the help. "I don't know how I am going to fit all of this into a taxi." she commented. "And this isn't even the start of replacing everything." she led her out of the store, carefully so the bags hanging on the sides of their linked arms wouldn't knock over anything important.
"I like pretzels," she said finally; Jada liked any treat, "But I don't want to have something so salty before I go for a workout. If you're willing to upgrade that to a tea though, I'll take you up on it in a second." she looked hopeful.
The first store she dragged the other young woman to was the tea place. Unlike Audrey, a shop was a shop to Jada, who rarely bothered to look beyond the surface when it came to buying things.
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