Back to Empire Comics

[Martha Villiers]

Returning to the Empire's Comic Vault!

Arguably the best comic shop in Sacramento.

Ben, the owner, is reading a new manga compendium.

A bright eyed pug serves as the mascot of the store and dreams in his bed in the corner. As usual, this careless hound, thankfully, appears un-fazed by the arrival of a Vampire...

Once darkness had fallen tiny Martha began a patrol.

But, wishing to be attentive to the currents of popular culture, she decides to her regular short break from the Elysian Field and pop into the comic shop.

Martha is neatly attired in her usual modest English 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 legs mid-thigh...her zombie blue hair is tied into two very long twin tails, each with the red ribbon bows.

A swift glance would reveal that most of her left leg is obviously a modern, if not full functional, C-Leg prosthetic. She wears a black stocking on her flesh leg and a pair of carefully polished black Oxford pattern shoes, a crisp white blouse is obvious where the Edwardian style gymslip reveals it, as is her red necktie tucked neatly into her gymslip. She wears a useful looking school satchel and carries a simple metal walking cane. Though smelling of minty toothpaste and lemons, she's shunned more obvious cosmetics.

She emits no Beast, but has sensibly invoked her Blush of Life [-1 Vitae for this privilege].

Her petite presence exudes sweet and innocence.

Martha had entered and hobbled around the gaming tables close to the main entrance door.

The regular gathering of tabletop game players were huddled. Discussing the urgent tactics of a small urban gun battle between neatly painted space marine figurines of undetermined fighting allegiance.

Martha smiled a friendly greeting as three of the gamers looked up before making her way over to examine the latest comic arrivals.

She smiled, again, and again relished the comfort of flat terrain and open space...here she felt unrestricted...able to hobble about with relative ease.

Her plan was to take a look at a newly released 1:24 scale model of a 1911 Model T Ford...

[Aurora]

Hey, comic book store, cause why not! It was some place she hadn’t been, and you never know if any interesting or odd people would turn up. Not to mention she still had an interest from Pepper, who she missed. Who knows, maybe Fate would bring her back into town someday.

That night she wore jeans and a fitted white tee. She had her leather jacket on and her hair up, not to mention these cute booties she had found the other day!

Walking into the brightly lit store, she takes a quick look around. The gamers looked interesting, and she walks near their table, looking at the miniatures with curiosity.

Out of the corner of her eye she catches a familiar petite form. It was Martha! She had fond memories of their evening over Absenthie, and mad her way over to the Gibson girl looking woman.

A huge smile, “Martha?!” she greets, eyes sparkling with excitement.

[Martha Villiers]

The gentle hush that fell over the gamer's table was what initially caught Martha's attention. Carefully inspecting the Model T's box, she glanced over to see what had caused the stillness at the table and saw a familiar face!

Smiling, she offered a wave as Madison chirped a greeting. Gripping her cane with one hand, placing the box down with care with the other, she skipped, hopped and limped over to offer a hugged greeting. Her C-Leg stiff and her gait uneven, but Martha was clearly delighted to see the dazzling lady.

Martha's excitement was such that, for a moment, she even forgot to study Madison's legs!

"Miss Madison! G... Goodness, what a delight to see you again, Miss! I do hope you are well!" Martha enthused in sincere greeting and query and, to reinforce her question, Martha looked Madison up and down for signs of obvious ill health... If she lingered her gaze on her long and slim legs, well... Martha hoped it didn't show.

Leaning on her cane, tiny Martha offered a small and bashful smile; "Golly! I do hope the contortions are keeping you fit and healthy too, Miss!" she smiled sweetly. Bright eyed, she recalled the incredible array of skills Madison had spoken of.

She hoped to hear lots more about Madison this evening!

[Aurora]

The offered hug was a welcome surprise, and Faye gladly hugged Martha back.

“Well I defiantly can’t complain. Just got back into town a couple weeks ago actually.” She explains with a smile.

Laughing, “Oh they keep me pretty fit, so I can’t complain.” Her daily routine was as much a part of her as her magic at this point.

“But enough about me! How have you been? Have to say, I love the new hair color, very exciting!” she says eagerly. “And who would have thought we’d run into each other in a comic books store. Find anything interesting?”

[Martha Villiers]

"Just got back...?" she echoed, clearly keen to hear about any adventures; "I'm delighted you're back! One can only imagine the sort of dazzling, exotic and fascinating adventures that a beautiful...graceful, tarot reading cotrontionist can get up to!" she adds with a happy and sincere smile.

"Oh, but...indeed!" she adds, dizzy with excitement, her cane waves to the models, "...I'm often here. Inspecting new models..." her eyes move to study Faye's legs as her words tumble out, eyes flicker back to study Faye's as she adds, "I have found a Model-T I might purchase and assemble! I ordinarily hate automobiles, but it's such a charming vehicle and detailed model..." she giggles, nodding to the models box close by.

"H...h...have you found anything of interest yet, Miss...?" tiny Martha asks merrily. Her mind filled with thoughts of the lady's long, long legs.

[Aurora]

“Yeah, I had some family things to take care of. Then sorta took my time coming back, stopping at various side shows and whatnot. Picking up new material.” She says with a smile and a wink.

Faye’s eyes look at the cars, “That must take a lot of patience! Cause I have to admit, it looks fascinating, but I think I lack the patience.” She says with a laugh. “Are these models a new hobby or something you’ve always liked doing?”

Looking around she shakes her head, “Not really. See an old friend I met when I first moved here loved comics, and she let me borrow some. They were fun to read, but she left town. So I wanted to keep reading them, but I have no idea where to start! There’s just so many!” and that was true. "Don't suppose you know anything about comic books and could recommend some?"

[Martha Villiers]

Martha's mind raced at thoughts of the potential new material now available in Faye's repertoire.

"Oh, my! If...if I can h...help you with any rehearsals..." tiny Martha gulped, wondering at the wink and mentally picturing Faye's legs hard at work.

"Patience? Well, yes...I daresay it does. I took up the hobby oh, about two years ago. I needed something to help calm me down. Steady my nerves....something...meditative and, well, ultimately something Creative." she blinked and smiled. Hating how her thigh stump suddenly ached and her hip burned.

"I've made several dozen now...but each presents a new challenge!" Martha tried a shy smile. She was about to nerd-out with talk of the differences between molding processes, the relative advantages of the superior manufacturers...but Faye, Martha sensed, wouldn't have wanted to hear such prattle.

"Ohhh...." the pain in her thigh demanded attention and Martha rubbed hard, blinking, she waggled her cane towards a rack of Batman graphic novels.

"I see! Well, I can recommend several books for you! Perhaps you'd be happy to follow me, Miss!" she giggled and adjusted her posture to begin limping towards copies of 'Arkham Asylum'.

"I began by having some of these recommended to me..." she added cheerily while en route to the shelves. Her C-Leg dragging hard and solid.

[Aurora]

“I’d love to have you see a rehearsal!” Faye exclaimed, “And you could help by giving me feedback. What I should change, do differently and all that!” she knew her show was good, but there was nothing like honest feedback about how to improve. The recommendations Star had made had been a huge hit, so maybe Martha would have some good ideas. “I haven’t had someone watch me rehearse in a while, wow, way too long actually.” She says with a chuckle.

“Sounds like it was a good hobby for you then. My ways of calming myself and destressing are less interesting. Mostly yoga and I’ve recently taken up ballet.” She wasn’t very good at the ballet, but it had been fun thus far. “Do you keep and display the ones you make? Cause if you do, I’d love to see ‘em sometime!” it was honest. Seeing one of the models complete would be neat.

She’d have to blind to not notice Martha’s discomfort. But was it ok to mention it? Or would it be rude not to? This was where being able to play with Time came in handy. Try the situation one way, and if it backfired, rewind and try again! But the store was too crowded, and she couldn’t always rely on her magic.

Following behind the tiny woman, she looks at the books pointed out.

“Well, if you recommend it, then it must be worth checking out!” she replied, picking up one of the books and looking it over. "This wouldn't happen to have Harley Quinn in it would it? If I remember right she is from a comic book, and well, I just think she's awesome!" plus her costumes were fun!

“Wanna sit down and talk about it more?” she asks, looking around to see if there was any seats available.

[Martha Villiers]

Her leg dragged. But not for long. Talk of ballet and the invite to watch a rehearsal brought Martha to a halt!

Wide eyed, she blinked and gripped her cane. Imagining ballet and contortion, it was simply dizzying.

"Ballet...?" she squeaked. "Oh! I just adore ballet! I...perhaps..." she wanted to ask about ballet classes, but dare not over reach herself just yet. Clearly Mesmerized by Faye, Martha timidly adds;

"Ballet and yoga! Yoga must be so good for stress! I never thought of that." she sighed. Wide eyed, tiny Martha made sure to study Faye's eyes, rather than stare at the dancers legs.

"Ballet! Goodness! Imagine your performances including elements of ballet!" she gasped, her excitements momentarily getting the better of her.

Once more pain burned through her stump and Martha rubbed hard at her hip again. Wanting to sit down, she first had to gather several comics. "I...well...Harley Quinn is most exciting as a character! She's very popular!" she giggled, her twin tails bobbing.

"Oh, well...indeed...I...I shall locate some Harley Quinn related material for you too! Oh, please, Miss! If you'll excuse me a moment, I'll gather up several comic books and join you over there..." she risks leaving the security of her cane and briskly gestures with it towards a quieter area of the shop. Somewhere they might sit.

Briefly taking her leave from Faye, Martha makes a limping tour of the shelves and hurriedly finds a dozen classic copies and reprints of essential Batman, Harley Quinn and the first volume of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen...

Returning to Faye, her C-Leg uselessly dragging behind her, Martha makes her way towards the seats.

Wincing with brief pain, her C-Leg creaking, she sits with an almost embarrassed blush and gently hands the first, a copy of Mad Love, to Faye.

Watching Faye's eyes with her own, Martha, her gymslip rising up her flesh thigh, bashfully stammers; "T...this..." she gasps, "i..is one of the first comic books to fully establish the character of Harley Quinn...it won a comic book award in 1994 and was declared the single best story of that year!" she enthused. Suddenly finding Harley Quinn more appealing than ever before...

[Aurora]

She quickly nods, “Yoga had been amazing for stress! I used to be skeptical about it, but once I tried it, I was hooked. You should try it sometime, or we could even met up sometime and do it together.” She offers. It was an honest offer, she really enjoyed being around and talking to Martha. It just seemed like she could learn a lot from her, and you couldn’t argue with how pleasant she was.

Ballet and her show combined? Her eyes light up, “You know what?! That sounds like it would not only be fun, but very different! I’m going to have to step up practicing ballet and figure a way to work it in.” maybe she should look into taking a ballet class.

She wanted to protest to Martha leaving her cane and gathering more comics for her. It felt wrong to let the petite woman, who was clearly in pain, get books for her.

Watching Martha return and her leg dragging, Faye decides to make it up to her. She wasn’t sure how, but she would do something.

Accepting the copy, she smiles to her before looking down at the comic, eyes eagerly taking in the cover.

“Oh, just the name and cover scream exciting!” she gushes. “And best story of the year?! I had no idea.” There was a whole world to comics that she had no clue about. Setting the book down, she leans forward, “Ok, now I’m confused about something I read online. I read it last year as I was getting my Harley costume together. But was she a doctor of some type? Cause that has to create some awesome story lines! Like, does her medical side with training get in conflict with the other side?” her eyes were wide as spoke, excitement laced her voice.