Realistic or Modern The Conman and the Sneak Thief

[Araellion]

Rosy let out a soft laugh. That was all she allowed herself when she was working so she wouldn't accidentally stab someone with a pin. They were quite sharp after all. "I've never known her to enter a competition she didn't think she would win, so you must be pretty good to have won."

Hera finally made her way out of the changing room soon after, happy that she had managed to keep all the pins in. It had made undressing take bloody ages, but at least it was done. "If you're done soon we can leave."

Rosy gave her an amused look at her impatience. "Do have some patience, I'm almost done."

 

[PauciloquentPumpkin]

If Persia weren't trying to be nice, she would make a jab about how because she was so good, Hera was one of her strays. But she kept silent, letting Rosy's comment hang in the air. She was quickly finished and shooed off to take change back in the same manner as Hera.

Persia took a long while changing. This was an unfamiliar task to her. She had eventually come back out in her previous clothes. The pants came off fully intact, though half the pins from the top were in Persia's hand. She had poked herself several times trying to remove the shirt, failing miserably. She held them out, showing what she did wrong, without uttering a word or changing her expression.

 

[Araellion]

Rosy took the pins from Persia's hand with a tut, already mapping out what she could remember of the way the fabric fell in her mind. "Usually I would need to redo everything and put the pins back in, but if the two of you are in a hurry..." She let the question trail off.

Hera looked at Persia, letting her decide. Hera had plenty of patience, but she definitely wouldn't blame Persia if she wanted to leave. "Up to you."

 

[PauciloquentPumpkin]

Persia wasn't about to make it seem like she couldn't handle being here. Just because she doesn't like many people doesn't meam she can't be around them. "I just have never done this before. I'm not in a rush." She looked expectantly for further instructions.

 

[Araellion]

Rosey looked at Hera, who shrugged. With pursed lips, Rosey turned to Persia. "Well, if you put the clothes back on and I put the pins back into position, will you be able to take the clothes off properly? Because there is really no point otherwise."

 

[PauciloquentPumpkin]

Persia looked sheepish at Rosey's question. "I'm... not sure. It's... difficult." Persia wasn't sure how to proceed, so she resorted to simply staring at Rosey in her usual manner. She thought the whole process of getting fitted was stupid and not worth the effort, but she was willing to out up with it for Hera. She told herself she'd never visit a place like this otherwise.

 

[Araellion]

Hera huffed a laugh, agreeing very much with Persia. "I know how you feel. I still mess it up a lot." The fact that she managed to get it right today had been pure luck. "I don't know about you, but I'd really love to leave."

Rosy shook her head at the both of them. "You can leave. I have everything I need to do the fitting. The lack of pins makes my job harder, but that's alright."

With an almost theatrical frown, Rosy turned to Hera. "And you're paying extra for this being last minute. Honestly, I should just refuse the order."

With an equally theatrical smile, Hera bowed her head. "Of course madame."

They both knew that Hera wouldn't pay extra. And that even if she tried, Rosey would refuse the payment with an offended huff.

 

[PauciloquentPumpkin]

Persia gave a respectful nod of her head in a slight bow. She was more than happy to leave. Keeping what Hera said earlier in her mind, she offered an apology for making a mess of the pins. Something she's not prone to doing. She then turned to Hera, ready to leave.

 

[Araellion]

Hera gave Persia a smile, for once not letting any emotion show on her face. "Would you wait outside? I have something to discuss with Rosy, shouldn't take more than a minute."

Rosy raised an eyebrow at Hera, both at the unusually informal address and at her having more to discuss.

 

[PauciloquentPumpkin]

Persia gave Hera a long look before obeying. It was cold outside. The chilling air attacking viciously caused Persia to pull in her coat as tight as possible. The air carried with it a faint smell of gasoline, evidence someone was fueling at the nearby gas station. A smell Persia quite enjoyed.

Her mind wandered, the smell bringing back memories. Her old crew's driver often smelled of gasoline. Persia hated him, but he was a fantastic driver, so she respected him. She was remembering one of their craziest nights. They were being chased by cops, and their driver jumped over the highway barriers using a mound of dirt from a construction site. Persia thought she was going to die, but ended up enjoying the thrill tremendously as they landed without more than a vigorous bumb.

 

[Araellion]

Hera let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding. A part of her had been expecting Persia to argue, and Hera wasn't sure if she was disappointed or grateful that that hadn't happened. She waited for the bell above the door to stop ringing before turning to Rosy. Just in case. Not that she had any reason to be so careful, it wasn't like she was doing anything wrong.

Before Rosy got a chance to ask, Hera cut in. "I want to order a dress for my friend. I trust that you will be able to make something with the measurements you have?"

Rosy rolled her eyes. "Not in two days I can't. I'm good, but I'm no miracle worker."

"Take your time."

Rosy huffed a laugh, looking at Hera with a curious glint in her eyes that never meant anything good for anyone. "You know, had it been anyone else I would have doubted them ordering something so nice for 'a friend'."

Hera's smile sharpened into something dangerous. "Insinuating, madame?"

Rosy raised her hands in a placating gesture, a small smile spreading on her face despite herself. "Nothing, nothing. I'll give you a call when it's done. Now shoo." Rosy waved her out of the store, before disappearing back into the back of her shop.

Hera let out a huff as she was unceremoniously thrown out, going to stand beside Persia, still tense from the encounter. "God I'm glad that's over with," She said to no one in particular.

 

[PauciloquentPumpkin]

Persia heard the chiming of a bell behind her. She turned to meet Hera. She knew Hera had wanted to speak in private, so she settled on giving Hera a questioning gaze, but never said a word. She was curious, as anyone would be, but she didn't absolutely need to know, and would easily drop it and forget it. Secrecy is a trait she's used to dealing with among people.

The chilling air cut Persia's gaze short, "Let's go. It's cold." She didn't wait for Hera. She was ready to get the car heater blasting.

 

[Araellion]

Hera met Persia's questioning gaze with a calm smile, not willing to tell what she had done. It wasn't that she thought Persia would be mad at her. On the contrary, a part of Hera figured she would be pleased. And yet, she wanted to keep it as a surprise. She had no idea when the girl would ever actually need a dress, but that was of no importance. If Persia liked wearing dresses then Hera would give her one, at least.

She hurried to follow Persia, glad that she would soon be able to relax. Her posture was still stiff, but not quite as much as it had been earlier.

"It's not that cold." At least Hera didn't feel it. Her coat was pretty thick, and even if it hadn't been, Hera was used to dealing with the cold. No, it was the heat of summer that she couldn't stand.

"Did you have anything planned for the rest of the day?" She asked, purely out of curiosity.

 

[PauciloquentPumpkin]

Persia gave Hera an incredulous look. It was certainly cold. She couldn't understand people who could stand the cold.

Persia's breathe caught when Hera asked her if she had anything else planned. She gave a slight shake of her head. Her body tensed, hoping Hera would ask to spend more time together. She had even forgotten about the cold as they approached the car.

 

[Araellion]

Hera gave Persia an odd look. For someone who enjoyed her plans, she certainly didn't have a lot of them. Then again, Hera was the exact opposite. She never planned her jobs, but did always have some idea about what she was going to do any given day.

"Well, I have some work to do. Actual work, believe it or not," Hera said with a laugh. She still found it absolutely hilarious that the police agreed to work with her. At some point she had wondered whether she had a criminal record. Hera had never asked or looked it up for herself, but surely she must have?

"That's what I was doing earlier when you called me. Doing some work with one of my best friends." She still felt a bit guilty about leaving Jamie, but then Hera hadn't exactly been particularly helpful anyway.

 

[PauciloquentPumpkin]

Persia let out her breathe with a heavy, frustrated sigh. Hera's answer was not the one she wanted and she let a flash of that anger out before returning back to her default. "Fine, where am I dropping you off at?" She couldn't help letting a little bit of an attitude seep through her voice.

Persia started the car, now in a foul mood, though she tried not to let it show. Hera still confounded her and it was a frustrsting ordeal for her. She doesn't understand why things can't be easier, simpler, and why she feels like she has to walk on eggshells around Hera. She can't help but recall Hera's earlier rejections of her advances, despite her later intimate moments. She knew she wanted to avoid the look on Hera's face that filled her with dread though. Persia didn't deal well with rejection.

 

[Araellion]

Hera gave Persia another odd look, tilting her head in thought. The girl's moods were difficult to make sense of, especially since they seem to change at the drop of a hat. She wanted to ask what the matter was, but decided not to pry for once. As much as a part of her believed otherwise, Hera didn't have a right to know everything that went on inside Persia's head. Besides, she had had more than enough heavy conversations for today.

"Could you drop me off at home, please?" It would have been more practical to go directly to Jamie's place, but Hera would use the walk to digest everything that had happened today. Besides, Jamie might be busy with something else and Hera didn't want to assume that she was always welcome, despite knowing that she was.

 

[PauciloquentPumpkin]

Persia let her mood sour for the drive. She was upset, unrealistically, at what she was was a misleading question. Her expectations were shattered. Though it was a reasonable conclusion, since the day was drawing to a close. Unless Hera said something, she didn't plan on speaking for the rest of the drive.

 

[Araellion]

Hera spent the drive incredibly bored. She studied Persia's profile for a while, unabashedly letting her eyes wander over her figure, trying to memorise as much as possible. While reading something about prisons back in the days, she had learnt that instead of memorising faces, the guards memorised the prisoners' body builds, since that was harder to hide. Hera had been trying to do the same, but she is just as terrible with that as she is with faces.

Seeing that the girl wasn't in the mood to entertain her, Hera quickly ran out of things to do. She wouldn't try touching any of the buttons—lesson learned. So she settled on curling up in her seat as much as possible, leaning her head against the window, and letting the sounds of the car and the outside world lull her to sleep.

 

[PauciloquentPumpkin]

They had made it to Hera's home. Persia regretted her silence during the drive. A wasted opportunity, though now that they arrived at Hera's, Persia wasn't sure what to say. "If you need a ride in the future, call me." Better than she expected to come up with. She was pleased with her response.

 

[Araellion]

Sadly, Hera didn't manage to sleep the entire way. She didn't know how long she had been out, but it must have been a while since the surroundings started to look familiar. When her apartment came into view Hera gave the building a sleepy smile. She had planned on getting some work done, or at the very least updating Jamie on what had happened since she would no doubt be curious, but she figured she would just go to bed and do all of that tomorrow.

Hera turned to Persia, a part of her sad that the day was over. It had been exhausting yes, but fun. For the most part. Her face was open and honest, her smile soft as she ignored what Persia had said. "Thank you for humouring me today."

And God she must really be tired, because she considered kissing Persia on the forehead as a goodbye. She shot that urge down immediately. The last thing she wanted was to confuse the girl. Though, her staring was probably doing a good job of that. With a shake of the head, Hera collected her thoughts. "Good night, dearie."

Hera didn't exit the car. Not yet. It was warm and comfortable in here and she just knew that the cold air will be very unpleasant.

 

[PauciloquentPumpkin]

"Thank you for humouring me today," said Hera. Persia's cheeks flushed as she turned her head, "Whatever," came the reply. A meaner sounding reply that did not convey her feelings. Persia turned back, noticing Hera's gaze. If they were standing next to each other, she'd be tempted to move in for another kiss. The tempation was still there, but the middle console was in the way.

Hera wished Persia a good night, earning another redenning of the cheeks. Though this time Persia did not avert her gaze. They sat there for a while. Persia couldn't help the thoughts running through her hand. She reached towards Hera's hand, but jerked it away before she touched her, remembering the earlier rejection. She was so confused, unsure of how to act.

 

[Araellion]

Hera tilted her head, pleased at Persia's reddening cheeks. There was an immense sense of satisfaction when she got the other girl to blush. Not that Hera was doing it on purpose, but she could admit to enjoying it when it happened.

Her good mood evaporated when Persia reached out to touch her, then jerked her hand back. It sent Hera's mind spinning. They hadn't been touching a lot this afternoon, and she was almost sure that she had been the one touching Persia and never the other way around. Her smile turned sad at the thought. That would definitely need to be rectified.

She looked at Persia with a pleading gaze, looking apologetic. "You can touch me, it's fine," She said carefully. God, if she had made the girl think otherwise then she had clearly messed up. "I'm sorry if I made you feel like you couldn't."

And god, tears were welling up in her eyes now because it was late and she was tired and emotional and what even was this day. "I'm really sorry." Her voice was quiet when she said that, speaking more to herself than Persia.

 

[PauciloquentPumpkin]

Persia felt her heart begin to race. Was Hera giving her permission to make a move? She was beyond confused. Her blood pumped harder and harder as she listened to Hera. Upon apology she reached back for Hera's hand. Her eyes followed her hand intently, as if it required her full attention, her breath held in concentration.

On the way she changed course. Her hand now reached for Hera's face. She wanted to caress her cheek, similar to how Hera held Persia's head in her hands just earlier that day, stroking her cheek with her thumb. Thud thud. Her heart beat. Thud Thud. She thought she was going to have a heart attack. THUD THUD. Her heart beat furiously against her chest, threatening to burst out. She gazed at Hera with a hardened look as she tried to guage if what she was doing was OK. She was both terrified and exhilarated at the same time.

 

[Araellion]

Hera watched Persia's hand move, and her heart clenched at how uncertain the girl was. Oh yeah, she had definitely messed something up. They were so having a proper conversation about this later. But all of that went on in the back of her mind. Hera was too focused on staying still and not scaring Persia away to really think about anything else.

She leaned into the touch with a relieved sigh, feeling some of the remaining stress from her act draining away. Hera had originally planned on cuddling with Jamie to relieve some stress, but this worked just as well. Slowly she reached her hand up, pressing Persia's hand against her cheek so she wouldn't try to move away. She opened her eyes, not sure when she had closed them, and looked at Persia with absolute calm.

"It's alright. This is alright," Hera said, soothing. Just because she had a feeling Persia could do with some encouragement to undo whatever damage Hera had done that had led to this.