Pixie Dust, Monday, Jan. 21

[withoutverona]

Stalling on the phone calls he needed to make to his father and his bank, Romeo opened the shop a few minutes late and began meticulously arranging new items by brand, size and color.

Soon, though, that good intention fell apart, and he was back to spinning on the stool, writing the odd line in his notebook, and staring at the ceiling as he wondered what fate had lead him here.



Pixie Dust was open.

Comments

Mod your shopping

[withoutverona]

It'll probably go faster without the emo guy, anyhow.

Re: Mod your shopping

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

At this point, he had a good idea of what he was looking for and merely made his purchases quickly. He wasn't in the mood to chat much... after this weekend especially.

Shop with Romeo

[withoutverona]

On the other hand, he does still have good taste.

Re: Shop with Romeo

[the_merriest]

As much as she wanted to stay in bed and never, ever come out again, Rikku had a stash of things to return. And people probably needed their wallets back pretty quickly, so it was kinda selfish of her to hide in bed first. She was gonna return stuff, and then never get out of bed again. Good plan.

She peered in through the window of Pixie Dust and, recognizing the boy behind the counter, stopped in.

"Um, Romeo?" she said bravely, wishing she could drop through the freaking floor. "I ... um. I think I have ... some of your stuff."

Re: Shop with Romeo

[withoutverona]

By this point, Romeo had gotten off the phone with his father and was in an even worse mood, though he did manage to be marginally polite to Rikku.

"Well met, Rikku. What of mine could you have?" he asked. "Not enough dosh to last the semester, I would wager."

Re: Shop with Romeo

[the_merriest]

"Dosh?" Rikku asked, blinking a few times. "Uh. No. You, uh ... you got robbed this weekend, yeah? By a ... really annoying ... little ... fairy-thing?"

She lowered her voice on the last bit, in case the shop's proprietor thought she was accusing her and got cranky.

Re: Shop with Romeo

[withoutverona]

And recognition dawned on Romeo's face, though he also kept his voice low.

"I thought that a trick of memory," he said. "I knew my wallet taken, but the weekend was so odd I could not conceive how. And, as my accounts are all emptied, little in my wallet is of any value now. But you have found it? That at least is luck."

Re: Shop with Romeo

[the_merriest]

"Your accounts are emptied?" Rikku stared. Her fairy self had seemed entirely too dim to pull off something of that magnitude. "But how could they ... that's terrible."

She pulled the wallet out of her leg-pouch, blushing furiously. "It's ... not so much that I found it ... as I, uh ..."

Why didn't the earth ever reach up and swallow people whole any more? Damn it all anyhow.

Re: Shop with Romeo

[withoutverona]

"The ... person I was, these last days," Romeo said, his voice dripping with distaste. "He saw me as easy prey, and wired every cent he could get his hands on elsewhere, beyond my reach."

He eyed Rikku during her explanation, guessing what she was getting at. "So, if you took it, you robbed the man who robbed me, which would be only just."

Re: Shop with Romeo

[the_merriest]

"No way." Rikku clapped a hand over his mouth. He'd robbed himself? That was even worse than anything she'd done. At least her fairy-self hadn't spent any of her treasure stolen goods.

"Do you ... do you, um ..." She bit her lip. "Do you need money? Until you figure out how to get it all back and everything? I know your family's rich and all, but ..."

But if he wasn't talking to them much, that wasn't quite the same thing.

Re: Shop with Romeo

[withoutverona]

"Way," Romeo said, nervous energy driving him to begin pacing around the store. "Were it not myself, I should challenge the thief." Pace, pace, pace. "But I have what Miss Bell will pay me, and my tuition is paid. I think that should be enough for now." His pride demanded it was.

"I already spoke with my father," he added with a grimace. "He said if I were fool enough to waste his money so quickly, it was no concern of his."

Re: Shop with Romeo

[the_merriest]

"I have a lot. Money, I mean," she said quickly. "It's ... we had it to save the world with and selling back weapons and then it was over and now nobody wants it and I don't either? So I ... if you need something?"

She didn't like spending that money on herself. It felt wrong.

"And, um, if you ... need to ... beat the crap out of a thief, you can totally ... uh." She gestured to herself, flushing bright red. "I kinda didn't ... steal from ... the guy who stole from you. Except I kinda did, 'cause I took the wallet from the guy that wasn't you, that wired all your money away? But. Um. That was me. Not-me, but ... yeah." Wow, could she suck harder at words right now? At least she wasn't flailing.

Re: Shop with Romeo

[withoutverona]

Romeo was new enough to the idea of poverty that it still struck him as more romantic than anything else. "I will go to you first should I need anything," he promised Rikku, not expecting to take her up on the offer.

"And as you have returned my wallet, beating you should solve nothing, any more than hitting myself, now. I can only hope I meet him on another field. Do you know how you became..." It was too hard to put into words, so he made a vague gesture that was supposed to signify tiny and flying "not-you? Not-me thought himself my relative."

Re: Shop with Romeo

[the_merriest]

She nodded, quickly. He'd probably be all stubborn and not ask, but at least if some kinda emergency happened, he'd know it was okay to. That was good, right?

"I, uh. I have no idea. There's gotta be some connection, though. I mean, she thought her name was Rikku, too, and she was looking for Yunie and Paine. I know who Yunie is, that's my cousin, but I don't know anybody named Paine at all." She sighed. "This happened a year ago, where people turned into weird other people, and I was her then, too. She steals stuff, and I have to track down people and give it back. Not a fun game."

Some strange slip of memory was tugging at the back of her mind, but she couldn't place it yet. Hmm.

Re: Shop with Romeo

[gobrookeyourself]

In truth, Brooke didn't have much to be ashamed about this weekend, so she was kind of looking around town just to see whether anyone would avoid looking at her. And if she happened past the store she just couldn't resist going into, she was just here to look anyway.

"I love it when the walks of shame aren't mine," she said when she saw who was working.

Re: Shop with Romeo

[withoutverona]

Romeo eyed her carefully, not sure why she thought he should have shame. "Because of our game, or because of who I was this weekend?" he asked. He couldn't remember Frank talking to Brooke, but he wasn't sure that meant much.

Re: Shop with Romeo

[gobrookeyourself]

"I mean in general. I heard radio, got to hear what everyone else did and how everyone should be hung over and back again, and none of it's me," Brooke said happily. "Why, who were you this weekend?"

Re: Shop with Romeo

[withoutverona]

"A thief, a cowardly sort who took my money and ran from a fight." No matter if the fight was against someone twice his size and wearing armor -- Montagues still did not run when challenged, and that bit stung. "I believed all sort of mad things, trying to make sense of Fandom. Were you yourself?"

Re: Shop with Romeo

[gobrookeyourself]

"I was a blonde Brooke. Apparently someone else was me. That was weird," she said, looking over one of the racks. "Did you steal anything good, at least?"

Re: Shop with Romeo

[withoutverona]

Something about the way Brooke said that got Romeo to smile. "Aye, or I should think so if I still had it," he said. "He emptied my bank account. But it was only money, I suppose."

He considered her. "You would look wrong as a blonde."

Re: Shop with Romeo

[gobrookeyourself]

"Is that a roundabout way of telling me I'm hot as a brunette?" she asked, totally and shamelessly fishing for the compliment.

Re: Shop with Romeo

[withoutverona]

For as smooth as he usually is, Romeo sure can blush. "I meant ..." he flailed, unable to come up with a better way to put exactly what he had been trying to say.

Might as well go with it, then.

Steadily: "Would you be offended if I said yes?"

Re: Shop with Romeo

[gobrookeyourself]

She beamed. "Not at all. And thank you. Not so bad yourself, you know."

Whether she was trying to make up for being good all weekend or not, she didn't know. Not that it mattered, or that she wouldn't say it anyway.

Re: Shop with Romeo

[withoutverona]

...and now we have a Romeo who is blushing and smiling like a dork. "It is only true, and thank you, as well," he said.

He came out from behind the counter to move closer to her, using the pretense of his job. "Is there anything I could show you?" he asked.

OOC (1/21)

[withoutverona]

I will be on and off today, so expect some SP.