The Search for Shinies!

[Coco]

Another cab trip and Mhairi and Coco were walking through the silver arch of the Quicksilver Gate, Coco trying to coax Mhairi into literally skipping along with her into the beautiful medley of boutiques, antiques, gourmets, and entrepreneurs galore! No store beneath the roof of the converted warehouse held the branding power one could find in a mall, but they all held an originality that was unmatched anywhere but the bounds of a Saturday market. In fact, it was quite like a Saturday market that opened perpetually, yet never lost the energy and ease carried by that weekend day.

Coco really had to start coming here more oftend Why, just look over there, at the stall of jewelry and sculpture made from silverware! Conceptually, it might seem gimmicky, but the sheer variety of form and function amongst the shop owners selection was astounding, and their workmanship excellent! Perhaps she could hang that mobile, there, from the light above her island counter?

"Oooh, or over there! Jewlery with hand blown glass!" Coco exclaimed, abandoning her skip to scurry over to the stall, dodging around the more sedate shoppers browsing around them.

[Mhairi Ankaa]

Seeing the silver arches again lit a bright smile upon Mhairi's lips. The thief in her, delighting in the sights and sounds of the crowd. Her mind working away at where to be, how to move, slipping in and out of the crowd her fingers pulling prizes from the unsuspecting. But no, her inner thief would have to be denied, as Coco's coaxing reminded the elemental that she wasn't here alone. Giving into the wasp's enthusiasm, Mhairi linked her arm through Coco's and joined her in literally skipping along into the market.

Mhairi too had thoughts on how she needed to come here more often. Perhaps alone, so her inner thief might come out to play.

Coco's call interrupted her thoughts on thievery, and brought her attention to the jewelry on display. "Oooh! Shiny!" Mhairi cooed as she followed after Coco, dodging the same sedate shoppers as the wasp had just a moment before. "Those look so-ah so pretty! Is there-is there a demo?" she asks, as her fell-flames search for the glass-blower who'd created these shiny shinies.

[Coco]

The vendor and glass blower (presumably), who was sitting on a low chair behind his stall and currently munching on a large sandwich he'd no doubt gotten from Pastoral for his lunch, swept a lazy hand outward to encompass the finished products on display and then went back to chewing, seemingly disinclined to do much else until he finished his meal.

"Perhaps a demonstration of a paid lunch hour," Coco commented with a snort, though her eyes were on the pieces before them. There were items of all sorts, everything from paperweights to ear rings, bracelets and necklaces, and even a few pieces best suited for display on a coffee table. What was more astounding, though, was the way the glass had been crafted, with fantastic, polychromatic sheens and swirling designs. A sign nearby proclaimed them to be dichroic glass.

"Mhairi! Look at this!" Coco next proclaimed, holding up a necklace with a brilliantly shining medallion of green glass. "This would complement your eyes beautifully, don't you think? Here, let me help you model it," she continued, stepping around behind Mhairi and holding the necklace for her so she could view it before the mirror on the side of the stall.

"So what do you think?" Coco's reflection asked, peeking out next to Mhairi's image in the mirror. "What would you think about the person you see in the mirror before you?"

[Mhairi Ankaa]

Mhairi snorts when Coco makes her comment, a smirk lifting her lips. "Ha. There's-ah there's people who actually pay to-ah watch people eat. A fetish or-ah something...and not-to-ah kink shame anyone...but not for me." she says dryly, before somewhat changing the subject. "Do-ah do you think that Ramona would know someone who dose glass blowing? 'cause-ah yeah I'd love to see a master ply their-ah craft. It's so cool. I might want to learn. Maybe." Maybe it would be a way for her to think of fires creating something beautiful, instead of them ruining her life. Plus what sort of 'ling-y magic could mix with glass...?

Her thoughts wandering as she looks on the multicolored hues of the beautiful pieces on display, who among the Autumn Court knew how to mix their magics with their crafts...with Terri gone again, Mhairi bit her lip and wondered if she'd need to look outside her Court for the answers.

"Oh?" she's brought once again out of her thoughts at Coco's voice. The medallion draws the eyes that it would complement, and she stands still as the wasp draws near, to help her model the necklace. "Hmm..." she draws out, eyeing it critically. Coco's face now visible next to her own in the mirror. "Ah...that's-ah that's two different questions isn't it?" she asks, her fell-flames alight with mischief. "What I-ah-I see in the mirror...is-ah pale, skinny bitch, with a fabulous sense of style, and even better shoes...and the-ah...necklace....I-ah totes think we could do better." she finishes with a full fledged smirk.

[Coco]

The reflection of Coco gave a rapid blink after Mhairi's answer, but then a sudden grin broke out over the Wasp's features, equally as wicked as the smirk upon Mhairi's own.

"Well, well, if you seek to do better, then who would I be to get in the way of that desire? Come, try this on," Coco said, whipping the small green pendant away and then bringing over the largest, heaviest necklace that the glass artist had on display. It was resplendent with with medallions of glass, each looking as though it contained the heart of an exploding galaxy amidst a backdrop of cobalt skies.

"Does this better suit your sense of style?" the Wasp asked, placing the jewelry once more before Mhairi's neck.

[Mhairi Ankaa]

Coco's wicked grin causes a fountain of giggles to spring forth, flushing Mhairi cheeks as she tried to stifle them. Unsure why she couldn't seem to stop. Then with the second choice held in place by the wasp's slim fingers, Mhairi couldn't take her eyes off it, the last of her giggles left her lips as she saw what Coco picked. Feeling a strange connection with the heavy glass creation.

"That is definitely better." she whispers entranced, her always present stammer, gone. Perhaps because for once she wasn't thinking of herself Lost in the crowd, a mouse's squeak trying to break through the din. "And it's coming home with me. One way or another. her fell-flames crossed as she tried to looked behind her at the wasp and at her double within the mirror. The flush returned. "Umm..." she bites her lip. "Right. This-ah-this is supposed to be an-ah-ah-umm....and not-ah...errr...." Mhairi fumbles, hoping that Coco understood the unspoken words. It really wouldn't do to talk opening of the possibility of stealing the shinies, when today was supposed to be above board.

"Well...if I'm to-ah-to get a glittering galaxy to wear, then-ah-then..." Mhairi's fell-flames dart around the booth, searching for something in particular. Slipping out from the circle of Coco's arms, Mhairi searched high and low for a glittering gem that she thought the wasp might like.

"Ah-ha!" she chirps, bringing back her find for the Dancer to judge. Nudging Coco back to mirror, Mhairi took over her place to display just what had caught her fell-flame eye. A simple thing in comparison to the heavy galaxy that Coco had found for her, it wasn't however a necklace.

Instead Coco was presented with a pair of earrings. A cascade of soft glass petals, light pink near the metal fastenings, and darkening the farther down the cascade the petals drifted. "When-ah-when we met last Winter...we both were-ah the same. Err. I mean with our clubs. But look at us now." Mhairi said, gesturing to the unseen mantels that hung over them announcing their allegiance to all that could see. Her soft breeze evolving into a sharper wind, and Coco's once cut grass and flowers, now a full blown bouquet. "I-ah thought you might wanna celebrate that. Plus, these are-ah cute."

[Coco]

A soft coo greeted the sight of the glittering glass earings, and Coco quickly held the up before her ears, turning her head so she could model the new pieces. Several shades of a smile were given to the mirror, first a joyous one, then a polite one, then a mocking one, and on impulse Coco improvised the next, slowly crossing her eyes above a lopsided smile.

She couldn't help but try to inspire at least one more round of giggles.

That little bit of foolery down, however, she turned back to the sandwhich snacking proprieter and thrust the earings out towards him.

"We'll take them! she boldly proclaimed.
The necklace and the earrings. Don't worry about the bag, however. We'll be wearing then," she added as she produced her wallet.

And, by the time the transaction was complete and Coco had swapped out her earings for Mhairi's selection, the Wasp turned to her autumnal companion and leaned in.

"An excellent choice, dear Mhairi, but it makes me realis I never did ask you why you chose the...club that you did. What made you feel connected to such a fearful group? Or should I not ask in such public company?

[Mhairi Ankaa]

Lips quirked at the soft noise that Coco made at the sight of the cascade of petals.

Looking over the wasp's shoulder at her modeling the earrings, each smile like it's own pose, and yes, the last sparked another round a giggles from Mhairi.

Bold as brass Mhairi found the wasp, but the elemental grinned along with her and quickly fastened the galaxy necklace in place. Earrings worn, and their shinnies purchased. They drifted away from the stall, and conversation began anew.

"My club?" Mhairi tilted her head. "No-ah it's okay. I didn't join because I was-was scared. That's for Green's right? Hiding away. And I-ah didn't do it to be scary...it was their legendary treasure trove of knowledge. The special skills only known to my club." Mhairi begins, "You-ah see when I-ah got back to my-ah home town from-uh There. I-ah found my evil twin. It was a sad day she was-ah-she was hit by-ah bus." that admission was delivered with a very innocent smile from the Ask-wee-da-eed. "She-ah was uh- older then me. Twenty years or-ah so. Husband. Kids. White picket fence and even her fucking cat and dog got along." Mhairi growled softly to herself and Coco hoping the din of the other shoppers would cover anything not strictly 'normal' that she couldn't cover with double speak. "But-ah that's not what's important here. See my mom died long before I got Back. Twenty years is a long time, I thought my uncle...he-ah dose paperwork typed stuff." Mhairi said hoping that her admission to her thievery would link to her uncle's work in fake IDs. "I thought if I wore a wig...some glasses he'd not realize it was me. But I wasn't expecting him to be apart of Green's club. And I definitely wasn't expecting him to tell me that the mom I'd-ah spent days mourning as I-ah sat next to her-ah grave...was an evil twin...and not you know my mom."

Mhairi lets her words vomit sink in, before she continues, "I joined my club for the secrets I thought I'd help my mom...rescue the damsel, but storming the gate that's a Ramona thing....now. Now that I know more about my club...I want to help her help herself. I got out. My uncle got out. Al of us have gotten out. Why hasn't she? I thought I'd figure out how to get some of those secrets to her and-ah...well...that's as far as I've-ah gotten." Mhairi finishes with a shrug.

"And-ah you. Why'd you pick flowers over-well...all the-ah others?" Mhairi asks, wonder what made a Spring a Spring.

[Coco]

Coco listened quietly as Mhairi spoke, walking along at the other woman's side with an expression of bland interest on her face. Not that she wanted Mhairi to assume she wasn't interested in what she had to say, particularly not when she was sharing something so personal, but Coco didn't want to tempt anyone with an inclination to drop eaves as they browsed amongst the Quicksilver Gate's various stalls with eyes and ears perked up for the next intriguing find.

At least, until Mhairi shared that it wasn't just herself and her uncle that had been taken, but her mother as well. Then, the Wasp ventured a gesture and reached over to gently rub the elemental's back as though they'd been friends for many years, rather than many minutes.

"Oh, Mhairi, I'm sorry," Coco said, abandoning the mask for a soft look as she guided Mhairi towards a small alcove between stalls that provided a respite from the walking and the crowd.

"I can't imagine what I'd feel if I'd loved my mother like you had, but then I'd realized I'd never known her. I can't think what I would have done with that kind of grief, but it's clear to me that you weren't beaten by it. Instead, you used it as the inspiration you needed to find your new place in the world. I really admire that. I do. I wish I could say my own guiding light had been as pure as yours, but the truth is I chose my club because I'm selfish.

"I'm someone who's always been driven by my desires," Coco elaborated, turning her words to Mhairi's own question. "My identity is based upon what I desire. Everything I do has also been in their pursuit. My lifeline, I suppose I would even venture to say, and so it was never even a dilemna for me. I have no interest in being quiet and unseen, or obsessing over the minutia of some obscure mysticism, or even joining the ranks of the sweating and the swearing. Not that I don't see a value in the other groups. I actually thought long and hard about joining Ramona's bunch for many months, but when the sun goes down it's not a volatile ember that guards me through the restless shadows of night. It's all the tantalizing, tempting, taunting desires I hold inside me."

[Mhairi Ankaa]

Her story told as they weaved their way through the crowd.

The elemental jolts at the wasp's touch before a quick look reveals just who was rubbing her back. Mhairi offers the women a crooked smile as she leads them to a small alcove. "It's...well not-ah okay...but it's...okay." Mhairi says with a sad smile and a shrug. "Family is very important to my-it's..." words fail the elemental, as she tried to imagine a world where a daughter didn't love her mother. "If I wasn't...strong enough to come Back...I wound't have been strong enough to dust myself off..." Mhairi whispers.

"At least-you're-ah driven. You know yourself enough to know what you want." Mhairi says, trying for optimism, it would be great to leave tear inducing thoughts behind. Mhairi'd hate to ruin her makeup. "Sometimes...I...feel listless. Ah-a lot of the-er-time...I sort of drift. Finding shinies and-ah moving on...maybe that's why I didn't think your club was for me. But-ah Ava and I-ah talked. About club stuff. She thinks I could be a-ah..." she frown trying to explain court positions in double speak. Mhairi draws blank, and then wonders if she should talk to Coco about her maybe eventually learning enough to become the Witch of the Bitter Winds. "Well...be-ah better then the welcome wagon." Mhairi settles for instead of tying her tongue in knots trying to find a way to say it.

"So!" Mhairi chirps, slapping a bright, and sightless forced smile upon her face. "Shall we?" she asks gesturing to the motionless crowd of shoppers.