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 Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2018 1:56 pm
There was a list in one hand and the other was wrapped around the red plastic that covered the metal handle of the shopping cart. White faded letters were printed across the plastic and Jade's thumb absently picked at the paint that remained, blue eyes skimming the list as she walked down an aisle with her charge at her side.
Her nose wrinkled, then her brow crinkled and she turned her attention to Delilah, tan booties clicking to a stop while the rest of her stilled.
"You're welcome to pick out the specific colors or patterns you prefer," she started, turning her attention to the rows and rows of sheets that Target had to offer them. The displays were impressive, clearly designed to market appeal but she wasn't entirely sure where to start.
Most of the things they'd collect would be up to Delilah, with Renegade Media footing the bill thanks to the adjustments Chase had made when he stepped into the power vacuum left by Renegade's disappearance.
There was a lot that Jade herself had to do for the company but she was still processing the realities of what she had done and what it meant.
For so long, the white haired woman had wanted nothing but death for the senshi who'd attacked her, once again for merely existing, and yet, when faced with the choice she chose instead to rob the girl of her identity and draw her kicking and screaming into something that should have been a choice.
It was confusing, but so was the mixture of elation the power had given her and the fear that she would wake up one day unable to shake the bloodlust she feared ran too bright in Chase's veins.
"A lot of it's temporary," she continued, babbling to distract herself and waving the hand about to encourage Delilah to shop, "we'll get you your own place later, when you're more settled. When we're more settled." Because Jade was thrown off by all of it too. She had a subordinate, Tantalite, but Nembus was different, she hadn't been given a choice and Jade wasn't sure how to deal with that yet.
But Chase had impressed loyalty and bonding, like Xenotime had done with her, into her and she was trying.
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Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2018 2:29 pm
Everything around her sounded so new, so foreign. Words bounced around her head like they were bouncing off rubber, all the sounds around her distant and far away and occasionally tinny and what was that terrible loud scratching noise-- Delilah came out of her head to the sound of a shopping cart wheel scraping across the ground, and offered a smile to Jade, the one woman she solidly recognized in all of this. She still didn't have a true sense as to why. She wondered if she ever would. "I'm sure I'll find something good." Would she? What if she picked something and didn't like it later? What if she picked something and didn't like it now?What did she even like?She thought about the covers of books she had flicked through in the past few days, the color of her hair and the color of her uniform, the color of the clothes she was wearing now, even if a bit haphazardly picked out. Delilah had to guess she liked purple and blue. Flicking at a curl bouncing by her ear, she knew that had to be the case. Otherwise she would have dyed her hair differently by now... A cool-colored pattern with abstract swirls caught her attention, and Delilah headed over to it, lifting up the fabric to inspect it better. It felt comfortable enough, at least. She didn't have much else to compare it to, but it wasn't scratching her skin. Delilah knit her brows. Hm. "Temporary? Is this stuff I'd be able to take with me to my own place, whenever that is, or will this just be, uh," she knit her brows. Delilah had quickly realized that she hated feeling this clueless, "staying where I'm staying now?" As she asked this, she pulled the sheet from the shelves, deciding that it seemed good enough for her. It was pretty, at least, and it matched her hair.
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2018 2:37 pm
She spent a fair amount of time watching, blue eyes sharp and following the girl as she moved across to contemplate some choices. The person who stood before her didn't resemble Sailor Sparks, not in the ways that mattered anyway. The looks, they were the same but how she acted...that was different, but Jade had to assume it was an after effect of the corruption and the memory loss that had clearly come with it.
They'd gone over stuff, repeatedly but at the same time, she knew it didn't matter.
You could tell someone something over and over again and have none of it stick.
It was the question that tugged her back into the present and Jade offered a weak, half assed smile like she'd forgotten what it meant to put up a front. Everything was exhausting these days but she did her best to keep her shoulders squared and the tension hidden away. "It's as temporary as you want it to be," she said, settling on that answer after a second of contemplation. "If you want to take it with you, that's fine but it's not a 'this is the only choice you have'."
She could feel herself rambling and forced herself instead to take a deep breath and exhale slowly.
"I'll be straight with you, a lot of this is new for me and of course, for you, so there's going to be a learning curve for us." Jade paused, hesitating and crinkling the paper in her hand. "But you're my responsibility, we gotta work together to figure everything out."
She felt weird about the statement once it was out in the open like that. She went from would-be executioner to caretaker and handler. She didn't know if she was prepared for this, but she didn't really have any other choice. She made the decision that brought Delilah into her care, it was her responsibility.
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Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2018 2:57 pm
Delilah caught Jade's expression, and quirked a brow, but didn't ask. It wasn't her place to pry; that wasn't the relationship she had, whatever exactly that relationship had been. She had gathered that much, at least. Was this how newborn babies felt? Did newborn babies even feel? She imagined the lack of deeper thoughts was probably an assistance in that case... Jade seemed ... concerned, at least. Calling Delilah her responsibility and that. It was nice that someone cared about her. She couldn't imagine waking up in the situation she had been in all by herself. She probably would have felt even more lost than she did now. Nothing made any sense-- She bit her lip, for a moment, and then offered a smile. "That's good to know. I don't exactly feel ready to be on my own at the moment," she barely felt ready to leave her temporary home, how could she keep up when she felt like she was twenty years behind the conversation? "But if I decide I'm ready to branch out I'll let you know." She assumed she would eventually, once she gained her bearings back, but not yet. Delilah folded the sheet, though her focus seemed elsewhere, and placed the sheet in the cart. Her eyes started wandering around for other things, and for some reason, the first thing she thought of was a quilt. That would be nice. Just a nice, soft, warm quilt. It was warm outside, but indoors, that didn't matter so much so long as the air was on. She wandered in the direction of the quilts, though she made sure to turn behind to make sure Jade was still coming. "This is really new to me too," Delilah remarked, belatedly, "but that's pretty obvious, I think." Jade had already said that. Why did she repeat it? She probably sounded foolish-- "I hope we can figure this out. And I appreciate the help, really." She felt like a fish out of water. That had been a phrase she had read in a book recently (though everything was recent) and it felt pretty accurate. At least quilts were nice.
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2018 12:52 pm
Glamor's such a funny thing, Jade thought as she took a moment to scrutinize Delilah's appearance a little bit. If she hadn't been there...if she hadn't known then she knew she wouldn't recognize the woman before her as the girl who'd once stood as the mundane side of Sparks.
Part of her wished that she hadn't been there, that she didn't know, like not knowing would make this any easier when she knew it would have only complicated things later.
That almost made her laugh, as if it couldn't get more complicated than it was without being laughable.
"I haven't had a roommate in a while," she admitted, turning the cart to follow after the girl. It was clear that Jade was easier to talk about something nonsensical. It was easier that way. "So there's gonna be a learning curve." As if it wasn't already a given. "But, Chase seems confident that we'll be good together."
She didn't sound as convinced and struggled to keep that out of her tone. She'd never been in this position before (and part of her didn't want to be again).
"All of your paperwork should be finalized soon. Then we'll get you settled at Renegad, a new hire to help with the transitioning," Jade recited, remembering what Chase had gone over with her. "There's going to be a lot of changes, but you're probably expecting that."
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Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2018 9:05 pm
Delilah was fine with keeping conversation light. It was hard to think of deep things to talk about when there wasn't much to her at the moment, and she knew it. It bothered her. She needed to come up with a backstory of some sort... With a small laugh, Delilah admitted, "So far as I know, I've never had a roommate." There was a quilt in front of her with kittens on it. She didn't know a whole lot about kittens, but she knew they were cute. Delilah dug her hand into the folds of the quilt to figure out how warm it would be, because she was fairly sure she liked warm things. At the very least, she felt a smile spread on her face when she realized it was quite warm and cozy. This would be the one. The quilt was quite nearly yanked off the shelf and plopped into the cart. That was definitely something she'd take with her to the new place... What was next? Pillow maybe? They were nearby, at least... "A lot of changes at Renegade or with me?" offered Delilah, turning around to throw a small wink. Evidently, both were true. "But no, seriously. Changes make sense. Change of ownership, right?" At the very least, Delilah had gathered that Renegade Media was important. Jade worked there. Chase worked there. It had been mentioned a few times already. She knew she needed to make sure she stayed involved with it... "What do you think will be changing?" ... Not that she had a whole lot of context for what the differences would be ...
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 2:26 pm
She appreciated the attempts at humor even if they didn't quite work. Jade's thoughts were in a million places and she ended up zoning out slightly while Delilah examined the quilt she was thinking of purchasing.
Mentally she was creating a list she should have been writing down and once again she was jolted back to the present by a question. Luckily her thoughts moved at a thousand miles per second and she was able to orient herself completely.
"Both. Mostly with Renegade Media," Jade answered, then shrugged. "I don't really understand half of the things Chase is doing." Her appeal wasn't on the business side of things but more of the HR and publicity. "A lot of changes in the staffing, new members, restructuring to curb out those that aren't good candidates, the like."
Jade waved a hand, reaching for a quilt with a particularly interesting pattern before putting it back.
"We have standards that a fair amount of current staff no longer fit. We'll be fixing that and the general way we go about business."
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 5:05 pm
It was fair that she didn't understand half of what Chase was doing. Delilah would say she didn't really, either, but she didn't exactly know the specifics of what Chase was doing, anyway. And she also honestly didn't understand much of anything at the moment. She laid her head on a soft pillow, letting out a happy sigh. Delilah understood she liked comfort, at least, and a soft pillow was definitely comfortable. Maybe she should grab a couple of them. It seemed that she was free to grab whatever she wanted so long as it made sense, right? A couple of pillows certainly made sense. Delilah fished one off the shelf as she replied, "Standards for staff? What are those?" She plucked up another pillow, and a third, before heading over to the cart. She figured Jade would stop her if three pillows seemed too excessive, but Delilah didn't really understand why it would be. In what she had seen online, a lot of hotels had four pillows in their rooms. Three seemed reasonable... "I assume I pass them, I hope," replied Delilah, with a giggle. After all, it seemed they were bringing her in for some sort of position... And they had brought her in to their group in general, after all. She glanced over what she had placed in the cart. What else would she need... She assumed she had a mattress already, right?
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2018 10:22 am
There was something about shopping with Delilah that made Jade feel like she was out with a child. It wasn't a bad thing, but it was something that the woman had very minimal experience with. There was an uncertainty to nearly everything the younger girl did, like a child trying to learn.
Jade didn't like equating what should have been a fully grown woman with a child, but Delilah was starting completely over and she couldn't begin to understand what that sort of vacuum did to a person.
"Enough," she stated, perhaps too bluntly. "We'll make sure you do," Jade amended, chewing on her lip. "You have me to lean on, the others...the ones we'll bring in won't get that luxury."
Delilah was her responsibility and she was determined to make sure the girl fit in the parameters that they had devised.
"Okay, pillows, sheets, blankets, check. Do you want any like...decor? Target has fun stuff with themes. There's a second bathroom too, it's got some basic stuff but if you want to personalize..." Jade trailed off with a shrug. Most of this was busy work, designed to keep both woman occupied until the dust had settled enough to continue working.
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Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2018 2:38 pm
To some level, Delilah felt like a child. She was twenty. She knew that. That was one of the few things Delilah had been able to figure out about herself on her own. But so far as she could tell, her life had started, at most, just a few weeks ago. Was it even that long? Having no conception of time made everything feel so slow, she realized. The enough jolted her, a bit, and Delilah looked a little surprised at the harshness of it. The statement was soon changed, and Delilah let out a quiet, "Oh," realizing that, no, she wasn't suitable at the time. Perhaps it made sense. She barely knew anything right now. Everything she did know had been gathered by what everyone around her had told her. It made her hard to be truly suitable for much. She wished she was better adjusted. She felt a pang of jealousy of those that did. Was recruitment this hard on everyone, or just her? At least Marcasite--Jade--was there to support her, though. She was likely right. It'd likely be harder on the others. "True," murmured Delilah, quietly, thankful for the distraction of decorations. She pondered, for a moment, before asking, "Maybe we could look into some bathroom stuff? Could get my own, uhm," she gestured vaguely, flushing as she forgot the word, attempting to visualize what loose image was coming to her head, what was it--, "shower curtain!" Delilah should not have sounded so excited about a shower curtain. How embarrassing. To muffle that down, she headed in that direction.
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2018 8:21 am
Jade didn't have to look directly at Delilah to take note of her expressions, to see the surprise and almost disappointment in reaction to her harshness. She waited until the girl was no longer looking, until she had begun to move forward to let out a sigh and resisted the urge to run her hand through her hair in frustration with herself.
She felt like some part of her had become unraveled over the last few months and now...now she was struggling to find the end of the thread so that she could pull herself together.
Taking a moment to breathe she nodded. "Bathroom stuff is a good place to start. We have time," she added, teeth digging into her bottom lip before she forced her long legs to stride after Delilah.
"We can get a matching rug, depending on which one you like," Jade offered, booties clicking against the tile. "They might have matching accessories too."
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Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2018 1:02 pm
Keeping her eyes forward in her determination to head over to the bathroom section before she did anything else embarrassing, Delilah missed Jade's reactions to her reaction entirely. It was only when Jade pulled herself to follow Delilah that Delilah turned back to acknowledge that she was there again. They had time? Good. She could take a bit of time to ponder what was actually available to decorate a bathroom. She knew there were curtains. Rugs, too. Maybe she could get a cute little soap dispenser, because while they seemed kind of unnecessary because soaps tended to come in dispensers themselves, soap dispensers were also really cute. Like that one shaped like an owl over there? Delilah plucked it up as she passed. "I'd love to have everything in the room match pretty well," decided Delilah, placing the little owl soap dispenser in Jade's cart. "I looked online a bit before we got here, at room designs? And I don't really have a color preference yet but I really liked the ones that matched." That was natural, probably, but it showed that she at the very least wouldn't go for a jumpy room in her own new-to-this behaviour. After thumbing through a few of the selections for shower curtains, Nembus plucked up a couple that were blue and showed them to Jade. "Maybe we could do blue for my bathroom? There's a lot of pretty blue ocean things." The owl wasn't exactly blue or ocean by any sense, but she liked it for some reason.
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2018 9:10 am
Blue eyes flicked to the owl soap dispenser and Jade could feel the smile tugging at her lips. It had been a long time since she'd been shopping like this, longer still since she'd had a companion to go with, and there was something utterly mundane about it that she liked.
"Matching is easy," Jade paused and wrinkled her nose. "Easy-ish anyway. Anything we don't find here, we can check online or at some other stores." Her own space was rather minimalist in nature but knowing that Delilah wanted themes gave her something to focus on.
"Do you want just blue or do you want a sea theme?" She asked, stepping forward to run her hands against the fabric. She shifted through them until she found one with anchors. "This is sea-themed, a little more fun than just blue but..." She shrugged. "Your space, your wants."
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2018 10:17 am
Did Jade smile at the owl? Delilah was fairly sure she saw her lips quirk, and that brought some relief into Delilah's posture. If Jade liked it, it must have been a good choice, right? Maybe she was doing something right... "True." Checking online was something Delilah was already familiar with doing. When she had no information about much of anything, having a treasure trove of information right at her finger tips certainly made it easier to manage. Once she had gotten access to a phone, when on her own, she spent a lot of time reading on it, articles, Wikipedia, e-books... Delilah watched as Jade moved over to some shower curtains herself, delighted that she came out from behind the cart. That relieved her further for some reason. "Oh, that's really cute!" She did like blue, admittedly, but the anchors were adorable. Delilah scurried over to join Jade, taking a closer look at the pattern herself. "Maybe we could go a bit boat themed then? I wonder if there's any bath rugs with like, boats on them." She wandered over to the rugs, thumbing through a bunch until she yanked two out: one with a large boat, and one with a bunch of little boats patterned on it. She lifted both up and showed them to Jade, silently asking for an opinion. It was definitely easier to focus on shopping for things than her lack of understanding of other things.
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2018 10:21 am
"Nautical, the theme can be nautical," she offered, letting the fabric of the shower curtain run beneath her fingertips a little longer before Delilah had her attention again.
She took a long moment to contemplate which of the rugs she liked more before she pointed at the one with the single boat. "That one." She paused, moving said finger to tap her lips. "I bet we can find a bath mat, y'know the ones that goes in the tub to keep you from slipping, with a similar design to the one with lots of little boats."
Already she was making a mental list of things they probably needed to pick up to go along with this. A loofa in appropriate colors, or even a few considering how frequently one was supposed to supposedly change them, toothbrush holder, towels, etc.
"If you want some like decor to put up, we can do that too."
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