Shopping on a budget

[Martha Villiers]

The day had been hot and very dry. The evening promised the same.

The night air hung dry and heavy and Martha, smiling, leans on her simple cane outside the Nox; watchful for automobiles, snipers, The Witch and Diana.

For any who see her, Martha is neatly attired in an English style school uniform: a neat straw boater, a black blazer... a pair of scholarly... yes, she'd admit it..."Hipster" style spectacles are perched daintily on the end of her nose, she wears a short gymslip which shows her single leg to mid thigh. Her raven black hair is tied into two very long twin tails, each tied with a scarlet ribbon bow.

A swift glance reveals she's wearing a simple metal peg leg, which probably extends high up her left thigh.

She wears a white knee sock on her flesh leg and a single carefully polished black Oxford pattern shoe, a crisp white blouse is obvious where the Edwardian style gymslip reveals it, as is her red necktie tucked neatly into her gymslip. Though smelling of minty toothpaste and lemons, she's shunned more obvious cosmetics.

Her petite presence, however, exudes an almost tangible sweetness and innocence. She emits no Beast and has invoked her Blush of Life.

Their first meeting had gone well and, to judge by the brightness in her eyes, Martha was eager to enjoy Diana's fascinating company again.

-1 Vitae for Blush of Life

Violet

[Violet]

Everyone Diana had met so far had been a more powerful predator than herself, so she was relieved to be meeting Martha again, where there was much more mystery. A night out shopping with the tiny Villers should be interesting..

She's blushed and looks ready for a summer night out on the town. She is wearing a pink romper patterned with palm trees, it is belted with a black belt and she wears a blazer. Her shoes are also black, and she carries a black clutch. Anyone with a discerning eye for fashion would be able to tell that these items are not overly cheap for the most part, but are certainly not what one would consider expensive.

Her hair looks the same as it did the first time she met Martha, a pastel rainbow placed into loose but even curls. She is wearing modest makeup, but she does have a popping bright pink lipstick.

It doesn't take long to find Martha out outside of Nox. She was dressed very neatly, but certainly stuck out, especially if you were looking for her based on her peg leg. She shouted at her once she was half a block away, "Hey girl! You ready to hit the town?? I'm parked not far from here!" She has a big smile on her face.

-1 Vitae for Blush of Life

[Martha Villiers]

Diana's Beast was noticeable. Martha's inner Beast growled and complained.

Gripping her cane, her hands clenched. Her eyes narrowed and immediately shot to study Diana's exposed legs and shoes...

Strange and uncomfortable thoughts buzzed in Martha's mind as she wrestled to study her friend's legs and grip her Beast.

Limping and skipping over to greet Diana, her smile returned and became genuine. "Good evening, Miss!" she chirped, still holding her cane, she opened her arms in friendly greeting.

"Goodness, yes, I'm ready to hit the town! Oh... I do hope you are settling in well, Miss!" she offers a smile, clearly uncertain of how best to phrase the 'hit the town' , she's wide eyed, briskly studying Diana's attire, adding, "How stylish!" her eyes flicker to the pink lipstick. Martha had never even considered pink lipstick of that shade as an option. "Most arresting, Miss!" cheerily, she adds, "Your automobile? Oh, goodness! How exciting!"

Hoping to greet Diana with a brief, sincere, hug, Martha is unsteady on her peg and foot...

[Violet]

Diana, still a bit far away, has to nearly run to close the distance in time to steady the wobbly Mekhet. She giggles and gives her a little hug. She takes a step back and playfully gives Martha a once over, "Are you sure we even go to the same stores?" she jokes.

Partially out of the feeling of friendly camaraderie in the air, and partially because she's afraid Martha may almost fall again, Diana links arms with her and starts to head back the directon she came. "Yeah, I drive a Mazda 3. Its from 2007, so it isn't like... new or anything. When I got it, it was, but I was making payments on it for pretty much forever." she rolls her eyes and laughs. "Are the places we're going to far from here?"

[Martha Villiers]

Martha giggles and, joining in the camaraderie of the moment, cheerily nods, her twin tails bob. "Oh... " she actually considers Diana's question.

"Oh, but where do you shop, Miss? There's a Marshalls. That shall be open at this time of the evening. Oh, we have a large shopping center at the Arden Aracde...oh, and a simply huge Thrift store too. Very useful for sourcing some fascinating attire!" Offering Diana a sweet smile, Martha adds, "There's a late night, very useful, military surplus store too..." Grateful for the help walking, Martha huddles closer to Diana, clearly grateful for the help walking;

"Oh, thank you, Miss! Goodness, it is good to see you again! A Mazda?" she asks, wide eyed, she looks around for signs of a Mazda, but is keen be led along by the Daeva.

"I shall happily follow your lead!" she giggles happily, limping along, she wanted to skip and hop and shared a sweet smile with Diana.

[Violet]

"I'm kidding Martha, don't worry. I shop everywhere. Sometimes you find the best stuff in the weirdest places! Why don't we just start at the Marshalls? Although following my lead isn't going to serve you well here, because I don' t know where anything is!" She walks with Martha a few more steps before pointing to a white car near them. The car is a bit dirty, but otherwise in relatively good shape.

She smiles at Martha and lets go of her arm, so she can walk around to the passenger side and open the door for her. The interior is all black, and looks pretty standard for this kind of car.

"Well, lets get going!" she says with a smile while waiting to help Martha climb in.

[Martha Villiers]

There was something strange, almost unearthly, about modern automobiles that Martha found appealing. Smiling, she nodded and listened to Diana. Limping close to the car, she nodded an appreciation of the car. "Ohh" she coos enthusiastically

"It is a fine automobile, Miss!" Carefully, she looks at the tyres and then, nodding her sincere thanks, assesses the amount of leg room she'll have and the struggles inside. Showing a little more thigh than she'd have wanted, her metal peg leg occupies a clumsy amount of space. Nodding, twin tails bobbing, tiny Martha takes care to use the seatbelt and adds;

"Oh, of course! I shall happily direct you to the stores, Miss! The Marshalls I had in mind is the one in North Natomas, not far from the Sleep Train arena..." resting her cane at her side and satchel on her lap, she hums happily to herself for a moment as she begins to rummage within her satchel and nods to Diana, as if hinting she's looking for something first. After a few moments, Martha gently hands Diana a small gadget that resembles a keyring fob.

"I wanted to give you this before we started, Miss!" a sweet smile follows, "It's a keyring, but also a simple punch tool, you see there's a spike on the head. It's to help break the toughened glazing in automobiles. There's a razor blade too, which is designed to cut through the strong fibers used in seatbelts. I hope you never need it, Miss; but I'd feel simply terrible if I failed to offer you one!" opening her hand, the keyring rests in it, she closes the flap to her satchel as she offers her hand, showing her peaceful intent with her open and unhurried gestures. Wide eyed, tiny Martha seems sincere.



(The multi-use key tool! )

[Violet]

"I'll take it, but I think you're paranoid." Diana says with a laugh, hoping her playfulness comes across. She takes the multitool and attaches it to her own key ring before looking down at Martha again. She notices her peg leg is practically pushed up against the front of the car. "Here, let me see what I can do about your situation here."

Diana bends down, almost uncomfortably close to Martha, her hair is no doubt touching her. She presses a button on the seat and it slides back a bit, giving Martha more leg room.

OOC

I'll pause here in case Martha would react badly to such a thing.

[Martha Villiers]

Martha giggles and smiles, playing along with Diana's reaction. But as Diana leans over to adjust the seat's position, Martha has no idea what's about to happen.

Her first thought runs to Diana taking off her peg leg. Blinking, her eyes widen. With a tremble, Martha readies herself to have her peg leg actually removed... "Er..." she is about to say something to query Diana's action, but as the entrancing Diana's exotic hair drapes over her flesh thigh, Martha holds tight to her seat belt. For the briefest moment Martha wonders if Diana is going to kiss the few inches of exposed thigh...

Watching as her seat is shifted and Diana's work is done, tiny Martha lets out a relaxed giggle.

"Goodness! I... I thought you... how simply thoughtful, Miss!" she enthuses, sincerely.

Waggling her peg leg to physically express how much new room she now has, Martha smiles to Diana.

"I would hate to have inadvertently damaged your lovely automobile and its interior, Miss! Thank you!" she smiles again, hoping to meet Diana's eyes to show her delight at this development.

[Violet]

"Oh, I wasn't worried about you damaging my car. I was worried you'd be uncomfortable. Anyways now that you're sorted we can get going." Diana replies warmly.

She makes sure Martha is seated properly before shutting the passenger side door and heading into the drivers seat. When she starts the car, Bad Blood by Taylor Swift comes blaring out of the speakers. She turns it down as quickly as she can and gives Martha a sheepish smile, "Sorry, I was listening to the pop station when I came to pick you up, and I couldn't help but turn it up when a song I liked came on. I'm afraid I must have forgotten. What kind of music do you like?"

While waiting for her tiny passenger to answer, Diana starts heading down the direction she thinks North is. Figuring out her bearings has never been her strong suit, but she has a 1/4 chance here. All the same, she looks to Martha after a block or so of driving and asks "Am I even going the right way?" with a laugh.