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There was one thing about December that Gwendolyn Caspian loved and hated at the same time. The holidays! She enjoyed the holiday specials, the good cheer and the decorations, and, of course, the presents. But she was also growing to dislike the same five holiday specials that were being run to death, the sickening good cheer being shoved down her throat and the sometimes gawdy and ill-placed decorations... and all of her extra spending money that was able to go towards holiday presents. She enjoyed giving presents to others, though some more than others; she needed to find a gift for two people in particular, especially.

First of which was Anandi. Anandi needed a gift, but Anandi was simple to please, and Gwen was eager to please as well. The other person her focus was on was her sister, Maddy... and she was sometimes as eager to please as a finicky housecat that was already given everything it could desire and grew bored with what it had.

So here was Gwen, roaming the business district of Destiny City, her hands wrapped tightly and protectively around her purse (in fear of another attempt, though this time she was keen on keeping Micah AWAY from this crowd), and looking around for something, anything that she could tickle Maddy's fancy with. Why did shopping for Maddy have to be so difficult? Sure, she could have gone to Jett's family's store, but she could imagine the place was swamped and he'd have little time to assist her, much less talk to her. But that meant that she was shopping in this crazy world... alone.

Gwen walked from store to store, wriggling and sometimes pushing her way through the crowd to merely glance at a store and looking for reasons to not go into that one. "Too many people inside. Too big. Too small. Ugh, expensive as hell and Maddy'd beat me up if I spent that much money on her!"

All the while, clueless as to exactly where she was going or how she may have stepped on a few people's toes without thinking of apologizing. It wasn't like she was intentionally going straight for the feet; it was simply a crowded busy street and sometimes toes were going to be stepped on. At least she wasn't wearing heels, which made her think of the possibility of getting shoes for Maddy, though lord knew she had enough.

The safest route to go was jewelry, which is exactly what lead her to the store that she was standing in front of right now. It was pretty crowded on the inside, but not as bad as the others had been; the fact that she could see her own reflection in the glass was enough to tell her that she could walk in there and not feel suffocated. Her eyes caught something and she looked to her left, and she felt all color drain from her cheeks; was it Maddy?! She overcame her fear and looked to the young woman at her left, prepared to see Maddy's own confused expression and then her sly 'what brings you out here' retort. But instead, it was simply someone else, her hair addressed in a fashion that was similar to how Maddy wore hers, and Gwen couldn't help but give a loud, relieved laugh. What terrible luck she'd have if the two of them had went shopping at the same place, on the same day! "Oh thank heavens!"

Gwen knew she had failed to hide her nervous laugh and she felt absolutely horrible now that the one she had mistaken for her sister had caught onto her laugh. She forced the laughter down, hoping that she wouldn't take offense though not exactly sure why she was worried about that, when she was just stepping on toes moments ago. "No, nothing, it's just that..."

Now she looked at the young woman, staring at her face-to-face and thinking it was rather silly of her to have made that mistake in the first place. Now that she got a clear shot of her face, they looked nothing alike. "For a moment, I thought you were my sister, who I'm shopping for, so it was going to be extremely awkward."

She pointed to her hair, before making the motion with her hand to her own short locks, as she tried to justify making such a mistake, to a stranger that likely didn't CARE but Gwen simply had no filter or any other way to stop the words from spilling out of her mouth now that it had started. "The two of you wear your hair in the same fashion, so when I was looking at your reflection in the window, you looked like Maddy and had me worried."

"Sometimes she wears clips, when she feels like being fancy, but really it's just that your hair is kind of wavy towards the bottom and you both hold it really high on the head," Gwen said, trying to justify her mistake and unable to combat the awkward feeling but to no avail. She wasn't really expecting to have to explain herself to anyone today, much less explain to them how she could have mistaken a complete stranger for their kin, but now that the topic was on the table, Gwen wasn't going to spare any details. It was that or go back to the even more awkward silence and the troubling task of finding a gift for Maddy. "The hair color is also similar, but Maddy's is a little more brunette than yours... though, I think I prefer your hair more than hers. Especially your clips."

She wasn't just trying to dish out compliments to break the small tension that she might have accidentally caused, but she truly meant it. She especially loved the clips that help the ponytail up, and just like that, a spark of inspiration hit the young girl.

"Say, Maddy DOES love clips, so much that she sometimes forgets they're there and she sleeps with him in..." There was no filter between Gwen's brain and mouth, and the way she beamed could only be compared to that of a man screaming 'Eureka!'. "Where do you get your hair accessories? I'm trying to find a gift for her, you see, and I think hair clips would be perfect!"

"Nah, Maddy's pretty modest when it comes to her appearance and being compared to others. Besides, she knows I'd never reach her level of beauty even though I give her a hard time, just for fun!"

Their relationship was interesting, to say the least, and they got away with a lot of insults, more than one would think if they truly knew them on a personal level. Perhaps it was the fact that they were siblings that they felt that they could get away with such snide comments at each other's expense. When it was family, what else did they have besides brutal honesty?

Gwen was pleased that she was willing to share her secrets- who would have thought that mistaking her for her sister would have made her life all the easier? Perhaps making mistakes every so often wasn't so bad?

"If you don't mind? I'm pretty bad with directions, and I'd likely have to come back track to find you again anyways," Gwen said, her honesty easily one of the traits that she was proud to display to others on a whim. "I mean, unless you're busy or something, in which case I can go find it on my own, or just wait. Trust me, with this crowd, I won't be going anywhere fast... unless they try to sweep me away."

The fact that she was willing to help her out was enough to make Gwen beam, and she had to stop herself from clapping her hands together like a little girl that just opened up her own Christmas presents. This would definitely make her quest to find Maddy the perfect gift go all the easier for her, whether the other girl knew it or not, and Gwen was more than willing to accompany her into the store. Anything to get out of this hungry crowd that did little to warm the high-schooler up. "Sure, I don't mind waiting! Take as long as you need!"

She followed her into the store, her spirits completely uplifted but still not quite in the Christmas spirit herself- who was when they were weaseling their way through the almost frenzied crowds and the same five Christmas songs and it reprises being played over and over again until your sanity simply snapped like a twix bar? It made Gwen realize that she'd never, ever wish to be in retail... at least not ones heavily hit by the 'Christmas Spirit', anyway.

"Oh, by the way, my name's Gwendoyln, but you can call me Gwen," Gwen said, following as close to the other girl as possible and hoping to not lose track of her in this store. She kept her eyes pinned on her hair, the one feature that tied her to her sister and therefor, her reasoning to be forcing herself into this predicament in the first place. Meeting new people was always great; being forced to endure crazy crowds? It took a LOT of sisterly love and sheer determination for Gwen to do that. "What's your name, in case I need to shout it if we get lost?"

Gwen followed Winterlynn in without hesitation, trying not to show how grateful she really was to be out of the cold weather. No doubt the store would offer her some warmth and then some, thanks to the crowd of people. When Winterlynn told her to stay close, she couldn't help but feel that Maddy would have said the same thing, and just like with her sister, Gwen replied back with snark, but obeyed the request nonetheless. "Trust me, I'll stick close to you like glue! I don't want to be swept away with this crowd."

Someone had heard her comment and gave her a rather rude stink face, in which Gwen retaliated with one of her own as she scooted past them and kept close to Winterlynn, like a baby duckling waddling behind its mother. That looked like her sister. Either way, she was determined not to lose sight of her; getting lost in this crowd just seemed like it'd be a bad, bad idea, and Gwen had experienced enough bad ideas to last her a lifetime (and that wasn't even including her adventures as a Senshi).

Gwen all but held her hand when she addressed the sales associate, glancing around at the store and trying to keep her comments and thoughts to herself. This is it? This caused people to come piling into stuffy buildings and department stores in a mass hysteria? Jewelry? Little trinkets that could get lost or misplaced in a second, or become a liability?

And yet, Gwen wondered if Anandi would like something, and before too long, she, too, was looking around at the jewelry and necklaces, trying to think of how they'd look on Anandi. She eventually had to put the thought on hold, though, knowing that she should have focused on Maddy first. 'Sister before Misters... even if said Mister wasn't really a mister.'

Winterlynn had asked about a sapphire, and immediately Gwen tried to imagine how it'd look on Maddy. Sapphires were blue... dolphins were kind of blue. She piped up to the associate before she could venture too far away, "Got anything with dolphins, too, while you're at it?"

Gwen always spoke first, and thought later, or sometimes never, and the thought of just how rude she was didn't strike her until after the associate gave her a forced smile and nod. 'And crap, now I'm the rude customer.'

Gwen shrugged, unable to fight the awkward feeling that tried to consume her now and failing miserably. Still, she could roll with the punches, and as the associate left to go take care of their requests, she figured it wouldn't hurt to explain the whole dolphin thing to Winterlynn. "Maddy, my sister... she really likes dolphins. At least she did for her birthday... that was way back in March, but I don't think her opinion has changed much... I think?"

Still, it was worth a shot to at least look, right? And Gwen really had no reason to question Maddy's taste in animals- personally, she adored all animals, though she definitely had a thing for big cats, especially tigers. That made her mind kind of skirt back over to Anandi and what she would have liked, and she threw a question at Winterlynn while they were waiting for the associate to return. "Say, suppose you had a... romantic partner, who's from India. What would you think would be the best jewelry to get him, or her?"

Not that she was certain that Anandi liked jewelry, but still, it was worth a shot. Gwen knew that she'd be happy with just about anything she could give her, but still, she wanted to make both her girlfriend and her sister happy this season, somehow. Winterlynn seemed much more knowledgeable about fashion, so perhaps she'd have a good idea of what color gemstone would look best against Anandi's dark complexion?

It was also a question she wanted to ask Maddy, but... she wasn't sure her sister was ready for that kind of news. Not that asking a stranger who happened to resemble her sister from behind was a better option, but it would at least prepare her for giving Maddy the news, right?