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 Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2017 2:45 pm
Quote: At long last, your Holiday shopping is complete! Every last person is checked off the list, and you have time to spare. Maybe you deserve something a little extra special, too? Or is there someone you suddenly remembered? Are you just imagining that you’re done? What if you actually haven’t gotten everything finished? This time of year is always so stressful—how are you handling shopping at all?
Ahhh, Christmas time. The time for joy and time for cheer, where small children had been less annoying and disgusting than usual, called it good, and proclaimed that it was so hard not to be a little turd-monkey, and they hoped that Santa came soon so they could go back to being disgusting, dirty little shitbags. Or something along those lines- Pythia wasn't one for kids, or anything remotely resembling small mini-people. Which considering her opinion of most politicians these days- lumping them in the same gravy boat with a lot of those types of mini humans- probably meant that she was considering the wrong career path. Ah well; she'd put too much money into political science as a major to quit now.
As she passed by the Santa exhibit at the mall, listening to screeching and hollering, peering at ragged-looking young people in elf costumes, ragged and harried parents trying to keep their children from skipping the line and accosting the Santa with his fake beard and dead eyes... well. At least she wasn't alone. Not entirely. Not as alone as the poor souls standing in front of Santa in shitty-looking velveteen suits and tights, with actual elf-shoes on their toes and bells in their hair. They looked halfway between crushed and murderous. That was a feeling that she could identify with- and as she walked past them with some relief that there was no gremlin attached to her, she pulled out her Christmas list to avoid making eye contact with any of the walking dead.
Arolon and Ophira were very much the main people that she had needed to concern herself with, her parents always being very intent on receiving appropriate rewards for Pythia's very existence- and the fact that their 21 year old college student was still living with them, of course. Ophira cared much more about being the recipient of a Christmas reward than Arolon; her father seemed mostly relieved that Pythia was able and willing to pay a portion of the rent for her bedroom. She had picked up a small variety of some expensive loose-leaf tea for her mother, and there was a growing list of considerations for her father. There had been a lovely silk-ish tie she'd seen at one of the boutiques, and there were some cufflinks she had seen at one of the department stores... He had cufflinks, of course, but none of his had a matching tie pin! That was where she would get him...
Yeah... she sighed, running fingers through her flame-red hair. She'd picked up some unusual alcohol at some little wine store in the mall for one of her school... classmates? Someone from school who was going to be hosting a Christmas party. Yeah. And she had gotten a few little trinkets for people she had met on her “evenings out” as Imbrium, and she'd picked up a really cute, glittery scarf for herself. Because she was worth it. That, however, made her list... quite short. Pythia didn't have much family, and she certainly didn't have many actual friends. Probably because she was mean to them. Was that a New Year's resolution in the making? Possibly. Or she just needed to find friends with thick skins.
Face buried in her list to avoid Christmas cheer, she wasn't paying any attention to where she was going- and she was headed for collision.
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Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2017 8:02 am
"Oh my god, what a nightmare!" Lovi's vivid exclamation meant nothing against the tides of Christmas shoppers — she could scream at the top of her lungs and never be heard — but the teen was engrossed enough in conversation with her friend that she forgot to lower her voice. All the while she kepts her rumpled Christmas shopping list out and spread it over her thigh. A few holes in the paper were from crossing things off with her gel pen, and she marked up her brown leggigns a couple times. She told herself no one could see it unless they looked really closely, and who was going to do that? Anybody getting that close wasn't going to care that much about her stockings.
"That's so lit! You should go with him? I heard it's really amazing!" Switching sides, Lovi awkwardly pinned her phone between shoulder and ear. More gifts were crossed off for more names.
Wow, she was already almost done! Good job Lovi, you swave b***h! You've totally got this in the bag! A wide smile informed the teen's success. She was down to just a couple gifts left at this point, and all she needed to do was hunt down Bath and Body Works for them. Then afterward she could maybe treat herself to the food court and do some much-needed window-shopping. Maybe try a few things on…
She folded the list and shoved it back into the pocket of her knitted sweater. Carefully she reached down to scratch an itch just at the top of her laced tan boots, then part of her white scarf fell and her phone fell with it. It went clattering across the floor in its bejeweled case, where a Lion King-style stampede of people were walking right around it. Someone was going to stomp it to death!
"Waitwaitwait, excuse me! Sorry!" Lovi elbowed her way through the sea of swarming water buffalo people and bent at the waist to swipe her phone off the floor. Then someone nearly stepped on her instead, and the impact of some girl's knee to her thigh sent her stumbling back a few paces with an oof.
And when she straightened up, her thigh humming dully, she saw a redhead that looked just as surprised as her. "Oh, ummm, sorry!" Lovi flashed her a wide smile while she fixed her own hair. "Totally dropped my phone. Massive klutz here."
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Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2017 7:30 am
The only real warning that Pythia had that something was about to go terribly wrong, was bodily contact. What the actual frick? Pythia's hand jerked out, grabbing some stranger for balance, then shoving them away when they glared. Now it was her turn to glare, peering judgmentally at the other woman, who was rising from a bent position. Sorry. Irritation warred with two interests- being liked, or being angry. It was a close thing, because the inherent annoyance she felt at having someone just decide to bend down in her way without even a word of warning. Ugh.
Christmas Spirit won out, however, and Pythia gave the other girl a sharp smile, instead of pulling out her fanged glare. "Well," she said with fake cheer, "We can't all be perfect." Teal eyes passed over the other woman- brown leggings, white scarf, tan boots. A sweater. Not bad, though. Bland fashion, but cute. Dressed for the weather, anyway. Hopefully she wouldn't trip and lose herself in the snow. At least she hadn't almost tripped over someone ugly, it might have been infectious.
Well, that wasn't much Christmas Spirit. Pythia caught herself being uncharitable, and debated if it was worth chastising herself- probably not. Instead, she shooed the other human with her hand, off to the side, and bared her teeth in a grimace-smile at some guy walking by who glared at them, standing still in the middle of the walkway like idiots. "Is your phone okay?" she asked after a moment, eyeing the bejeweled case with mild interest. Wouldn't that be a terrible fate so close to Christmas? Oh dear, she really needed to tamp on the catty. Could she blame Christmas, and the sheer amount of hippopotamus tramping the mall?
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Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2017 5:58 pm
Lovi's smile faltered when the woman's biting words reached her ears. Woooow, someone forgot to take her b***h pill this morning! "Yeah," she returned in an accusatory tone, "you're right." Little Miss Redhead looked a little too curvy for the holidays. Maybe she'd been hitting the fruitcake too hard. Well, whatever. She could stuff her face all she wanted. She'd still be spending Christmas Day alone with an attitude like that.
"Phone's fine," she leveraged back. She hadn't bothered checking it; the old thing was so biffed and bashed at this point that some of the jewels fell off the case, but it hadn't stopped the little kevlar strips inside. The phone itself was usually fine. She didn't see much point in checking it and flipping out in front of Miss b***h with her need to get all self-entitled. So Lovi followed the hand waves, turned, and started to melt her way back into the crowd. "Merry Christmas!" She called over her shoulder as cheerfully as she could. Even if the stranger got all sour over it, at least Lovi ended their little spat on a high note.
Breathing a sigh, she held her phone to her ear. "Hey, still there? Yeah, sorry, dropped my phone and then this raging b***h wanted to give me the cold finger afterward. Oh, it's cold shoulder? Oops…"
Her voice fated into the tumult of the crowd as she made her way toward the mall exit, relatively unfrazzled.
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