A Picture of Sophisticated Grace (IC)

[Electra]

Jessie cringed as the elevator passed the lobby and moved underground, hugging herself and making a soft noise a little like a whine. "I don't want to go down there," she whispered, but by the time the doors opened, she seemed entirely fine again. Slightly glassy-eyed and affectless, the way she usually got when things from her past tried to bother her, but definitely not afraid anymore. "Food is a good idea," she agreed, following Aquaria through the mall and dodging people the way she might have wended her way around traffic cones. "We might have to make two trips, there's a lot on the list." 

[Fox]

Indira Singh was a relatively common sight down in the mall, though she only very rarely bought anything. A normal young woman in her position probably wouldn't have had the free time to loiter, what with school, part-time work, and stalking around the city stopping crime - but then again, a normal young woman would have to sleep for large parts of the day. Being free from that particular chore bought her back no small number of hours.

And so, when she had some quiet time and wanted to relax, she liked to head downstairs to the mall and just...watch people. An inveterate voyeur, she found a certain sense of peace in walking hidden and unnoticed among the humans, observing what they did, what they talked about, how they went about their lives.

Even if some of them smelled very strongly of fish.

[Avenger Assembled]

Ugh - I forgot how much Jessie hates the underground. I hope this'll be okay-hey wait a minute!

Aquaria tensed, her crest rising inside her hoodie, and looked around - sniffing the air with her big nostrils. Aquaria's face wasn't quite shaped like a human's; her nose and the forward part of her large mouth were pushed forward like a snout. She had, as Jessie knew well, an excellent sense of smell. Unable to turn her head, she wound up turning her whole upper body back towards a young woman who looked about Jessie's age. The dark-skinned Surfacer was standing by the entrance to the mall's movie theater, studying the scenery just as Aquaria herself might have done without Jessie in tow. Except...she sniffed the air. That wasn't a Surfacer at all. "Jessssie," she whispered. "Doesss that one look funny to you? Not becausse of her sskin!" She didn't need another one of _those_ conversations. 

Edited August 14, 2015 by Avenger Assembled

[Electra]

Jessie turned her head slowly and studied the woman Aquaria had indicted with a flat, blank stare that made no effort at subtlety. "I don't know," she concluded. "She doesn't look like she's going anywhere. She's just standing and looking at people." Which was exactly what Aquaria and Jessie were doing at the moment, but that fact didn't seem to have much impact on her. "Do you think she might be dangerous?" Right now Jessie didn't sound worried, or even curious. "If you think we should, I can go over and stop her." Stopping somebody covered a lot of ground in Jessie's lexicon. 

[Fox]

And now they were looking at her. Were they the ones who smelled like fish? Probably...though she couldn't be sure without changing her form to better taste the air, and she couldn't do that in a mall without causing a panic. Still, the outfit on the one was rather suspicious, and the other looked...familiar, but she didn't move right, and Indira was having difficulty placing her. A friend of Eve's, maybe?

That she had been noticed at all was disconcerting, and a bit of a blow to her pride as a predator. Her face was almost completely impassive as she stood there, unmoving in the crowd, watching her watchers, sizing them up as if cautiously unconcerned. She blinked, and then blinked again, but between the two her eyes were gone - replaced with empty voids of utter, featureless black.

[Avenger Assembled]

Aquaria blinked herself - then made her decision, shooting a nervous look over at Jessie and rocking anxiously from her heels to her long toes, an uncomfortable feeling in her big shoes. "N-no, we'll do thiss...diplomatically. Follow me." She was tempted to tell Jessie to punch the woman if she gave them any trouble; but that would just get them both in a whole lot worse trouble. And maybe take off that dark-skinned woman's head if she wasn't a tough super-person instead of just one with crazy eyes. She slowly walked over to Indira, her big shoes awkwardly thumping along, her every footstep hollow and loud in her ears as she approached the other woman. She sniffed the air again; definitely not a human being. The woman approaching Indira, who definitely did smell like fish, was keeping her head down and her hands in her front pocket, barely making eye contact from behind her big sunglasses. 

"Excuse me," she said in a clear, calm voice, just as she'd learned in therapy. "Are you a person?" 

[Electra]

Jessie tagged along after Aquaria, dodging passers-by without looking at them, her full attention centered on the stranger. When she moved like this, not thinking about it, not self-conscious about it, she moved like a hunter, like a trained soldier. She moved like she was thinking about all kinds of possible ways to incapacitate Indira if it seemed necessary. The resemblance to her double was suddenly a lot more striking, despite the different hair color and clothing choices. Jessie drew up next to her friend, ready to intervene if necessary. "Are you evil?" she asked Indira.

[Fox]

Indira briefly (if inappropriately) hoped that the other half of that battle couple was here before frowning and squashing that thought. There was still something off about this one - the same, but different - and that was a whole line of fantasy she didn't need to follow right now.

Instead, she flicked her eyes across the unlikely duo for a moment before smiling. "....no, I am not evil," she answered in a pleasant accent to match her complexion. "Though if I were, I would perhaps lie about it, so I do not know that my word alone can be trusted. I am a person, however," she added. The smile tightened a little at the corners, as if the answer was a little more complex and frequent than she'd have liked. "My name is Indira. It is a pleasure to meet you."

[Avenger Assembled]

Aquaria bent her knees, forward, and inclined her upper body. "I am Aquaria. This is my friend Jessie." Tentatively, she took her hand out of her front pocket and gave Indira a little wave - one look at that gloved hand, with its three thick fingers, immediately told Indira why she was keeping it in her pocket. She put her hand back and said, "Can you help us hunt for food and supplies at the grocery store?" She suspected that Indira was probably a Grue, as those were the shapeshifters they'd talked about the most at Project Freedom. But she wasn't about to bring that up, not with so many Surfacers around. Angry, violent Surfacers, who...She shot a look around, then stepped closer to Jessie. "We just moved into the DuTemps Building," she said, carefully pronouncing the last word - and the next sentence. "We are new arrivals in your community."

[Electra]

Jessie looked only somewhat appeased by Indira's assurances, but she followed Aquaria's lead and raised a hand in a halfhearted wave. Other things were starting to attract her attention again now, passing people, moving signs, so that her eyes flicked back and forth trying to take everything in. "You don't have to help us," she assured Indira, "we have a list. I made it so we'd know exactly what we need and we could shop more quickly." She flinched as a passing moviegoer brushed against her shoulder, her fingers flexing closed and open. "It's our first trip."

[Fox]

"If I had to help you, it would not be very satisfying," Indira pointed out, smiling. She clearly hadn't been quiet sure how to address Aquaria's unusual emphasis, as it had earned raised eyebrows and not a lot else, and she'd apparently decided to give it no mind. The hand had gotten distinctly less reaction than it probably ought to have. "I would be happy to assist you, even if you do not need it. In the worst case, I am familiar with the layout of the mall and am quite a bit stronger than I look."

She smiled again, gesturing at the others to lead - or at least continue on with their task, with her in tow. "To be honest, I would probably have followed you anyway because you have made quite curious and slightly cautious. I would feel bad if you became paranoid, though, so it is likely easier for us all if I am simply where you can see me and I can see you - that way we can get to know each other."

[Avenger Assembled]

"You can be our friend and show us where things are," croaked Aquaria. Feeling more confident about the crowd with her best friend at her side, and strangely enough with Indira at her back, Aquaria led the way back into the fray, doing her best to keep the crowd from overwhelming Jessie as they went. Her long, limber body was gawky on the surface, but she was still fast enough to steer herself and Jessie through the crowd without bumping into anybody in a way that would unseat her disguise - or scare Jessie. "Come on, Jessie, let's look at the list!" she suggested, peering over her friend's shoulder. "Jessie's very good at making lists and planning!" she offered back to Indira, turning her body at the waist rather than turning her head. "What do you do?" she asked Indira before turning back to their shopping expedition. She let Jessie pull a cart free as they headed inside the grocery store. "Let's get the fish last," she suggested. "So it will be fresh." 

[alderwitch]

Phantom at least wasn't lurking all cloak and cowl, immaterial in the frozen foods freezer but she was at the market on semi-official business. Naturally, not her actual day job official sort of business - translators didn't generally care about how dimensional refugees were adjusting to their life - but the inter dimensional guardian of the Pact did. Taylor might have been dressed in her civvies but she wasn't pushing a cart and she was following the two girls once she'd picked up the particular tang of Jessie's dimensional signature. 

The physical potency of Jessie was of less concern than whether her presence was causing a dimensional anomaly that could rip things apart. That was the sort of scale that Phantom generally concerned herself with. Of course, that still meant that she was meandering after the cluster of young woman looking like she was going to try and boost one of their wallets like some sort of disreputable teenager in her bomber jacket and torn jeans, a battered hat shielding her eyes and half of her face. 

[Electra]

Jessie took the list and held it in both hands as they walked into the store, then balanced it on the seat of the cart to keep it close by. Aquaria was not good at pushing carts. "We should get lots of canned food," she told Aquaria, "especially things that are high in protein for you. If anything ever happens, it's important to have food put away. We need to get dry milk and powdered eggs, freeze-dried fruit..." She continued down her list, which sounded as though she were preparing for an especially arduous hurricane season, or an extended camping trip. "And we should also get some fruits and vegetables," she concluded with a nod. 

"Some" fruits and vegetables actually consisted of quite a lot of fruits and vegetables. When faced with the wonders of a well-stocked produce section, Jessie appeared ready to try a little of everything, filling nearly half the cart before they even neared the frozen food aisles. It was actually kind of fun, enough to get her smiling here and there. But the more they shopped, the twitchier Jessie became. She hesitated in front of a display of hashbrowns, rubbed her neck, looked around indecisively as she tried to spot what was bothering her. When nothing was immediately obvious she began pushing the cart again, but glancing over her shoulder every few moments as she did so. 

[Avenger Assembled]

Aquaria steered Jessie towards the spice aisle, where for lack of a better idea she had Jessie pick up a small 'starter' spice rack that came with the standard Surfacer spices all packed in together. From there came the seafood section, where she nearly lost her disguise when she pressed her face against the glass to stare at the incredible bounty laid out before them. "Oh, Jessie, there's so much of it!" she said, her voice full of rapturous awe. Pictures of grocery stores, even tours, hadn't prepared her for this. She stepped close to Jessie, turning her head from the seafood section so she wouldn't give herself away from excitement "We should get the white fish, and the greyscale, and the shrimp..." She turned to her friend and said, "Can we please get a lobster? I haven't had one in forever! I promise I'll eat it outside." The big lobsters in the tank looked like they'd take a while to eat, and sometimes Jessie thought the way she ate was gross. This close to the fish, Aquaria didn't seem at all concerned about who or what might be following them. 

[Fox]

"Be careful that you do not get so much food that you cannot use it before it spoils," Indira cautioned, glancing at their cart. Not that she had a terribly solid idea of how much food a human went through, much less whatever Aquaria's species could go through, but she knew it was a concern for people who...ate. "Other people must eat as well, and I cannot imagine your food budget is without limits. Perhaps you could acquire a large freezer, if you plan to store some things long-term?"

It was gradual and easy to miss, with all the talking people were doing and the general ambient noise of the shop, but Indira had been making progressively less moving around noise as she went - her step was quieter, her clothes seemed to shift less than they ought to have. In fact, she was nearly silent by the time they turned into the spices...which made it terribly easy for her to still be standing unnoticed around the corner of the aisle's exit, rather than over with the other two by the seafood, when Phantom came through. "Hello!" she greeted, all smiles. "I am afraid that you are not very subtle. But...ah, what is the phrase? 'That seems to be going around'?"

Edited August 21, 2015 by Fox

[alderwitch]

"Subtelty isn't much my strong suit. But occasionally, I make an effort," Came the response, oddly hollow and echoing and too deep as Phantom's head came up. The face didn't match the voice as even with the heavy jacket up high and the hat down low, what could be seen of Phantom's features were surprisingly young, college student or there about and with dimples that flashed in her cheeks when she talked. Her tone was conversational, deliberately casual. See, she didn't always just bust into people's lives all angry and cloak and wrath of the cosmic. At least, not anymore. 

Her gaze travelled towards the girls at the case of frozen goods, her hands still in the pockets of her oversized jacket. She watched them for a moment before turning her attention back to Indira, her expression thoughtful but apparently not concerned with having been found out. "It's not a good effort, but it's the thought that counts, right?"

[Electra]

"Oh no, no, that's bad," Jessie demurred, shaking her head at Aquaria's shiny-eyed suggestion. "We don't even have an outside, you can't be doing that on the sidewalk. Somebody would get mad at you. If you want to eat lobsters you've got to cook them first, and they cost a lot of money. Can't we just buy you some more goldfish? You liked those." She checked her list again, selected a bag of frozen fish filets, then twitched again. "Something weird is going on," she muttered. "Somebody's watching us." Jessie looked around, and this time she noticed Indira talking to the strange girl. She sidled in that direction, still holding the bag of frozen fish, but now instinctively clutching it like a cudgel. 

[Avenger Assembled]

"No, it's okay, I'd take it up the walls and smash it open on the..." Aquaria turned her body to follow where Jessie was looking, then awkwardly tromped after her, fighting the urge to vault her way there right over her friend's head. "Jessieee!" she whispered. "It'sss probably okay." She knew that look on Jessie's face and knew she'd have to act quickly if she didn't want things to get very bad indeed. And on their first shopping trip on their own. "That's probably some friend of Indira's!" she declared loudly. "Let's just pay for our food," she said, speaking in a normal tone so her hissing croak wouldn't betray her to the passing Surfacers in the store. "We've still got to buy the massaging foot bath at the other store." she declared, raising her foot straight-legged nearly to eye-level, reminding Jessie of her giant clompy shoes. "

[Fox]

Indira winced a little bit as Aquaria demonstrated borderline-inhuman flexibility, but she neglected to comment. Instead she seemed to be balancing her attention between sizing up Phantom and sizing up Jessie and her makeshift weapon. She'd have taken a deep breath, but oddly she didn't seem to be breathing at the moment - like she'd simply forgotten to in her distraction and mounting, if well-concealed, concern.

Her smile came back after a beat or two, at least, though it was a little tighter than it had been. "Purchasing the food would be a good idea, I think," she agreed, glancing casually down the aisle they'd come from to make sure nobody had drawn any additional attention...and perhaps wondering if she was going to find a fourth person hanging around in the cereal at this rate. "And then, may I suggest we all sit somewhere quiet and talk? Spying has not worked for any of us and I do not believe a fight would get us anywhere useful, either. Certainly not in public." 

[alderwitch]

Phantom watched Indira kick her foot up to her nose with the same sort of interest that she eyed Jessie and her makeshift weapon, "I would really prefer you not beat me with a fish in the frozen foods isle," Phantom said, her tone as polite and conversational as that hollow, echoing voice really could sound. Her hands remained firmly in her coat pockets and she resigned herself to the possibility that she might be spending a few minutes having conversation incorporeal as something was waved through her torso. It wouldn't be her worst day ever but probably not her best either.

"Please." Look at those manners. No one appreciated how much she'd softened on her 'so I hear you might cause a dimensional catastrophe' approach these days. 

Her attention shifted back to Indira, the amulet in the hollow of her throat glinting once. "I'm not even dressed for a fight." Phantom pointed out like that should mean something to anyone. She sighed, the sound an odd echo. "I am reasonably certain that any version of 'Jessie' will not be soothed by going some place alone with an unknown, potential threat'."

"What if I buy the girl who needs a foot bath, the lobster?" Phantom suggested. Social skills might not be strong but she had a wallet. "Will that make people feel more calm?"

 

[Electra]

"How do you know my name?" Jessie demanded, apparently unmoved by the appeal to her roommate's sore feet. She kept her hand clenched tight around her chilly weapon, but at least she hadn't started swinging yet. "Why were you watching us? What do you want?" Subtly, perhaps even instinctively, she eased forward and angled her body so that Aquaria and Indira were at least partially shielded behind her. If the stranger wanted to do something bad, she would have to go through Jessie to do it. Not everybody needed to dress for a fight in order to be dangerous. 

[Avenger Assembled]

"I could use a lobster," said Aquaria uncertainly, obviously wanting to trust Phantom. This probably wasn't Pathos - Jessie hadn't started screaming and curling up into a little ball or become violently enraged, either of which could happen when she was really upset about something. "But not until we know who you are and what you want with us," she said after a moment's indecision and a look at Jessie to try and figure out her mood. "You're making my friend unhappy, and we are just law-abiding citizens like you trying to go about our business." She said the last sentence like she was casting a magic spell, nodding her head with great confidence. If they kept talking like this, people would start staring, and asking questions, and then maybe throwing things and screaming "Die, fish monster hellspawn!" Die!" "I know Mizz Wainwright doesn't send people to snoop on us, and reporters don't smell like you. What are you?" she asked. 

[alderwitch]

Phantom glanced up about the comment about her scent, seeming perhaps startled before she glanced down at herself almost reflexively. She sighed, it was a hollow, rattling sound, more suitable for a haunted horror movie. "My name is Phantom." She offered, briefly bemused that even her kinder, gentler tactics were about to get her whacked. Still, Jessie's 'sister' had watched JJ during one of the worst periods of Phantom's life so she felt as if her inter dimensional twin certainly deserved a bit more than the usual professional courtesy. 

"And I know your, ah, 'twin'," she hesitated there, the pause clear before she settled on a word of choice. "If you'd like to call her while I'm getting the lobster..."

She let the offer hang, fairly confident she could find them again even if there was bolting going on, her dark gaze taking in the surrounding environments as well thoughtfully, "Because your friend here probably has the right idea about checking out sooner than later if you're looking to avoid attention being drawn."

[Fox]

"Yes, please," Indira sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose - a human affectation, and one she'd picked up only recently. She could see the appeal. "It will not do any of us any good to discuss these things in public, and it will only complicate your time in your new home.There is...."

She frowned, eyes unfocused as she thought about the state of the mall. "....there is a shop that is being replaced; they have blocked the windows and emptied the room but have not yet begun construction. The door is locked but I can get us in very easily, and it should be both quiet and...neutral ground."

She gestured toward the front of the store, toward the registers. "Please?"