[OTA] Shop Til You Drop

[falsepretences]

The trip to the outposts - they went to both Diamond and Spade - with Sophie had yielded a few sketches of buildings through a strange mist, but mostly it had cleared Jordan's head and made it clear to him that he was just so damn tired. Of being serious all the time, of keeping his head down, and of basically behaving more like he was forty six instead of twenty six.

The cure for this, obviously, was shopping.

Specifically the cure for this was hat shopping, though Jordan might also be getting distracted by a display of pocket squares too.

Comments

[falsepretences]

"It works as long as there's a common color," he tells her. Some people just know how to dress, instinctively. Some people just like fucking with the genuine populace; it's hard to say which one Jordan really is.

[heartvestment]

She raises her eyebrows at him, then grins. "I'll take your word for it. So are you looking for pocket squares for any reason or did you just wake up this morning with a craving?"

[falsepretences]

"Everyone wears suits in the Spades." Some Spades seemed to wear nothing but, but Edie would know that; her cousin was marrying one of them. "If I have the burning urge to conform one of these days, I at least want to throw them off with accessories."

Like lavender pocket squares. And coordinating ties.

[heartvestment]

She snorts. "Don't say the word like it's poison, Jordan. You'd look like one classy mother... person in a suit. Though... accessories are always good. Especially floral ones."

[falsepretences]

"I don't mind suits," Jordan says, grinning a bit. "Remember a few years back when I wore them to work, and everyone asked me who died?"

Apparently full three piece suits in Heart Library were odd.

[heartvestment]

"Yeah, well, that's because you went all out, man. We hillbilly Hearts are all about the denim, don't you know?" She sticks her hands in her jean pockets - at least, as much of her hands as will fit - and sticks her tongue out at him playfully.

[falsepretences]

Eyes go up and down, at what he thinks of as the Huntly Girl uniform. There are variations - Edie's is particularly floral - but they all end up in pretty dresses with long, waving dark hair. "Riiiiiight," he drawls out. "I see you in so many pairs of jeans."

[heartvestment]

"There are always jean jackets," she insists with a sniff. "And overalls." She's kidding about the latter. Probably.

[falsepretences]

He stares at her a moment, and then clutches his hand to his chest and staggers back. "Christ, Evangeline," he says. "I think I feel faint at the thought."

[heartvestment]

"Oh, stop it," she protests, waving a hand at him as she laughs. "You're ridiculous, with your paisley pockets and your dramatics. Remind me again why Hadyn's the one in theater?"

[falsepretences]

Because it was so decreed by their mother, but that's hardly a pleasant thing to say. Or think. So Jordan just shrugs. "He's just outlandish in an entirely different way," he says. "And, unlike me, has acting skills. The best I can do is be a believable second sentry in Hamlet."

[heartvestment]

"Man, he is a really good actor. Tell him I miss working with him. Henry just never let me do what I really wanted to do." She shakes her head a little wistfully. "No problem. One day I'll be a world-famous Eponine, I'm sure."

[falsepretences]

"Henry has a slight Shakespeare obsession." But given that Edie had been dating poor Alasdair DeWitt during the prime battle years, she probably knew that even better than Jordan did. "You were a beautiful Juliet, though. He probably would have tried to cast you as Cosette, anyway."

[heartvestment]

"Slight? I've been Juliet, Desdemona, Titania, Ophelia, and Lady Macbeth, Jordan. Trust me, I know just how slight Henry's obsession is." She giggles, pressing her hand to her heart. "Thank you very much. And good lord, no. I can't hit notes that high."

[falsepretences]

"I have seen you die tragically several times on stage." It was just as well Zoe refused to go on a stage, he thinks. She and Hadyn as Juliet and her Romeo would have retrospectively been incredibly creepy. "Eponine's more interesting, anyway. I always found Cosette a little...dreamgirl." Not real. Just a little too fluffy and perfect.

[heartvestment]

"Yeah, you must have. I'd like to think I'm pretty good at it." She laughs. "Oh, definitely too dreamgirl. And Eponine has the most beautiful line in the whole musical. I almost got a tattoo of it before deciding on something a little more, uh... optimistic."

[falsepretences]

"Which line was that?" He raises a brow at her. "Not that Eponine has any particularly cheerful ones."

[heartvestment]

She pauses for a moment, then says, "Without him, the world around me changes. The trees are bare, and everywhere the streets are full of strangers." And now just being very interested in this hat, yes.

[falsepretences]

His smile falters a little bit, and he looks at...nothing before looking at her again, at her bent head. He wonders if she's thinking of Alasdair.

It's not quite what he thought of Meghana, so maybe that wasn't quite love.

"It's a beautiful line," he says. "I can see why you thought of it. But I don't know if I'd want that much tragedy inked on my skin." He pauses. "I've got a tattoo, you know."

[heartvestment]

"Yeah, no. I didn't. I ended up with 'keep moving forward' instead, so all's well that ends well." She huffs, then looks back up at him, smile firmly back in place. "Do you, now? Am I supposed to be amazed at your badassery? I have two."

[falsepretences]

"Oh, but I bet you didn't get yours after Leona Matthews got you roaring drunk. It's surprisingly unembarrassing, considering the provenance."

[heartvestment]

"I was drunk when I got my first too. I don't know, I'm embarrassed by it, though." She lifts her chin at him. "Show me yours."

[falsepretences]

"Can't." He smirks at her and nods at the shopkeeper. "I think he might object to me stripping off in the store, mm?"

[heartvestment]

"And you're going to let a little thing like that stop you?" She asks, raising her eyebrows. "Fine. You can show me later." And before he can think about that, she winks and goes on. "What is the tattoo anyway?"

[falsepretences]

"Just this once. I've been a bad boy, you know." Clive was not happy about his challenge, and probably wouldn't be happy about the way he needled the new Queen of Hearts.

He was silent a moment, though.

"'Now in another world I could learn to forget.'"