Give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world

Teddy’s ale sloshed onto his hands as someone knocked into his shoulder. Thankfully, not too much spilled before he realized who the culprit was and the fact that she was apologizing now, “in a rush somewhere, Aalis?” A bit of sarcasm in his tone but he wasn’t upset and the small smile on his lips said as much. “You alright?” She looked frazzled and while he knew it was rude to comment on her appearance, he couldn’t help but ask, “you look pale…” and frazzled but they weren’t exactly close friends–– just close enough for him to feel comfortable pointing out the obvious. 

After being disowned and relinquished by her family, Pandora didn’t like coming to big events like these. Being anywhere where there were plenty of people that knew her and her family made her anxious, wondering if they were talking about her and the embarrassment she was towards her family. The scarlet-haired girl stuck to the sides, seeing as how her family did show up the festival and she wanted to avoid them the best that she could. She barely knew exactly where she was, coming out of any thought process she had after bumping into a stranger. She yelped, out of shock and not pain before regaining her footing. Pandora looked at the woman in front of her and offered her a small, reassuring smile. “No, it’s okay. It was my fault for not paying attention.”

“I should have been more careful,” Aalis still insisted, feeling as though she should have been more aware of what was going on around her... she just... felt as though she was having some sort of experience when she left her own body and was in someone else’s. But she took a deep breath and put on a smile, “You aren’t enjoying the party?” she asked her.

Instinctively, the doctor placed her hands on the woman’s shoulders to steady them both. “Honestly, it’s fine,” Natalya reassured, giving the young woman a light smile. “Are you alright, though? You seem a little flushed,” the shapeshifter commented, absentmindedly looking the girl over. She could easily hear the elevation in her heartbeat.

“I... I’m fine,” Aalis reassured almost too quickly as her heart slowly began to return to normal. It must have been something she ate... or maybe she needed eat more. “I just thought I saw something that turned out to be silly,” she tried to clarify, attempting to at least brush it off a little. 

“They’re just books Aalis. “ Quinn replied shaking his head. He as tring not to feel so alarmed at her finding out more about his past, but this was someone he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. it would all have to come out at some point. He grumbled at her response to the spare room. “ If that were the case, I’d move back to my one room apartment” He replied shaking his head before wrapping an arm around her. 

Quinn continued to stare at her through the piles of books. A playful smile had settled on his face, despite the fact that he was a little shaken by the fact she was somewhat digging into his past. It was really the only evidence he had alluded to the fact that he did sort of have a life before moving to New York. “Why is that so fascinating? They’re just books” He replied raising a brow. He knew where he got all his books from. He knew the path he had traveled well and he knew most of those places he wouldn’t have been welcomed back. He didn’t need a map for it. However, as much as he was hesitant about that, he did find it sweet that his girlfriend cared enough to do something this time consuming. “ That sounds like were two people who met in an ad.” He joked. “But still hello”

“ That do have a free seven day trial and they do play some shows on it too. Old movies? Okay like the classics. Have you ever looked into someone like Maya Deren. She’s like a combination of both our interests. She was one of the first experimental filmmakers who was also a woman, but she had an eeriness to what she made and it was in a time where not a lot of creativity was being shown, A lot of modern cinema has utilized her style” Jay smiled 

“Yes like the classics,” Aalis confirmed before making a mental note of the name, “I’ll be sure to look her up because I’ve never heard of her. But anyone who pushes boundaries is interesting to me,” she smiled widely.

“Honestly, I’m not entirely sure what it was.” She groused, brow furrowed as she attempted to catch a glimpse of it before it disappeared. Shaking her head, Joanna stepped back and clasped her hands together in front of her, smiling at the younger girl. “It did not look pleasant though. Are you okay? I’m sorry I scared you.”

“I think we might be better off not knowing... it looked like it had too many eyes and legs to be something I would call friendly,” she laughed despite herself; spiders or those sorts of creepy crawlies were not things she liked. “Oh I’m fine, I’m pretty easy to scare so don’t worry about it”. 

Quinn felt a little weird about moving in with Aalis. He loved her and wanted to be with her, but he hadn’t lived with anyone since he was 16. Since then he spent all of his time by himself so this was a huge change. He knew he wasn’t easy to be around a lot of the time, but if her wanted to try with anyone, he wanted to try with Aalis. She was worth him going through all of his slight angst about thing’s. 

By the time he had returned to their apartment, he realized how strange that felt as the thought went through his head. He  was quickly pulled out of his thoughts though at the sight of Aalis sitting on the floor surrounded by his books and a map. He didn’t have much to his name, but he had amassed a pretty large collection of stolen books over the years. He never finished high school, so most of his education came from the library. From novels to books on mechanics, and wood working. He had to pick up skills to be able to move around as much as he had. “ What are you doing in here?” He replied with an amused grin on his face. “ I can barely see you”

“God, some people are just so starved for attention. I walked into Strand and another customer flat out said to me ‘wow I didn’t know rich people like you knew how to read’” Delphine replied rolling her eyes. “ That was a bit of a reach and I told them that. What were they even trying to say?” She laughed. She handled the situation but she found some people’s attitudes about the socialite Davenport a little ridiculous.

Aalis’ brows furrowed when she heard what Delphine had said, “Why would anyone be so rude for starters?” she clacked her mouth in disapproval, “To be honest with you, I don’t even know where they were going with that...”

“Shit!” Hand to her chest, Joanna willed her heart to stop racing as she glanced down and turned, watching as an animal darted past her and she exhaled slowly. She wasn’t scared, of course. She loved animals, even the kind that might not necessarily love her. But she did startle. She hadn’t expected it and, admittedly, Jo had been on edge more often than not recently. “That… okay  –” she laughs sheepishly, looking up with a slight blush to her cheeks, and a nervous laugh. “– sorry.“

It was more the woman’s reaction to the animal that made her jump with her rather than the little creature. “ No no it’s fine, really. I just dreaded what moved after seeing you jump,” Aalis confessed with a chuckle. 

“Yeah, best to keep the countryside intact then. “ Jay mused. “ It’s like Netflix but just for horror. It has new and old thing’s on it. It’s kind of great especially for a lot of lost or indie horror”

“Oh I see! Well to be honest I’m not sure how much use it would get since I doubt I’d watch a lot of horror unless it’s with my boyfriend or someone...truth be told I love really old movies”.