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Aree hated Christmas shopping.

Aree hated shopping.

Well, generally Aree just hated. It was kind of her thing. Even the brightly colored tinsel and garish decorations of the Destiny City mall could not cheer the young woman up as she perused store after store for gifts for the few people on her list. It should have been easy. Hell, it might have been easy were her list not mostly filled with Negaverse officers. After all, what did one buy for the domination-seeking Queen of the Dark? Or the high-spirited but complicated General Linarite? There was Sharper Image and Gap and Macy's, but where did one go to find gifts for people who would just as soon accept a gift card to Starseeds'R'us?

Aree was so distracted in her thoughts (and in scowling at the occasional passerby), that she didn't see the girl until she had already collided with her. It took her several moments to realize that she had not just stumbled over a bump in the long, festive runner outside of Spencer's Gifts, but had nearly tripped over a very tiny, adorably dressed human being. A very young, tiny, adorably dressed human being, even. One brow arched, and for a brief moment Aree's perpetual dislike of anything and everything was replaced by a sudden curiosity.

“Where are you parents?” She said, likely sounding more severe than she intended. This was Destiny City, a place where monsters lived, and some idiot couple had left their little girl to wander the mall alone? Didn't they know what kind of people went to malls? ***** and kidnappers and starseed-stealing Captains.

“I'm- what? Of course I'm fine.” Aree sounded taken aback, almost offended at the idea that she could be harmed by stumbling over a nine-year old.

Aree... laughed. It was a strange sound, awkward and unusual, and her mouth seemed to twitch at the corners as though uncertain of how to properly shape the noise. The result was a half-muffled giggle of a sound, tapering to silence as she observed the little girl.

“Ah- oh. Thank you?” The response came out as a question, as Aree's lack of social skill reared it's head. She had always been awkward in her human guise, far more comfortable with the power and freedom that her Negaverse identity provided. Over the months Aree Cadence had begun to feel less like her true identity and more like a second skin, an outer shell worn to protect the Negaverse agent inside. She was never quite sure what to say in such moments, whether it was a compliment or a casual conversation, so she immediately turned the conversation in a better direction. One away from herself.

“Maybe I can help,” she said quietly, bending slightly at the knees. At an even 6', Aree had always been remarkably tall for a woman. When compared to Istas, she might as well have been an ogre. “What were you thinking of getting her, hm?”

“A dream catcher?” Aree's expression brightened visibly. Pleasant memories from her childhood were few and far between, but among them was the arts and crafts hour in her after-school program. She had always been fascinated by the idea of creating something as a child, enchanted by the thought that she could make something pretty and purposeful out of a seemingly useless pile of string and beads and feathers. It was that rare spark of joy that Istas seemed to bring out in her, and it showed in the way her eyes lit up.

It had been years since she'd worn such a smile.

“The craft section is just over there, why don't we pick out some beads you like and I'll show you how to make her one, hm? I'm sure she'd love it much more if you made it for her.”

Aree looked back, to the place where the little girl had pointed out her mother, “You should ask her first.”