Petty Woman [Open]

[hellfire_empath]

Fashion porn.

That's what it felt like to Brooke whenever she entered Lanvin's New York flagship store. Everywhere around her there was just fashion. The young woman reveled in it, her high heeled basic black Prada pumps digging into the plush zebra-striped rugs as she slowly walked around the three-story shop. She wasn't looking for anything specific, mind. It was simply that the weekend had come and as per Brooke's agreement with Rachel, weekends could be spent in the city, at Brooke's own apartment, doing whatsoever she pleased.

This usually included shopping, with Brooke's maid Sharona accompanying her with all of Brooke's necessities for the day.

Brooke's raspberry-lacquered lips curved into a triumphant smile as she came across a sleeveless white blouse with a cute little bow-tie collar. She reached up and touched the tie on her own peach coloured sleeveless blouse - a Lanvin creation itself - and snapped her fingers. The blouse, she decided, would pair beautifully with the black textured pencil skirt that she'd just picked up at Opening Ceremony. Sharona reached out to pluck the blouse from where it hung - there was only one left in Brooke's size - when another woman reached out and grabbed the same size, giving Brooke a particularly catty grin as she did so.

Brooke recognized the girl immediately. Candida Archer. She'd been a former student at the Spence School, one of Woodbridge-Robillard's chief competitors and a girl that Brooke had particularly despised for a perceived slight done to her at her debutante ball.

Wordlessly, Brooke gave Candida that look. One which she'd perfected in high school, but one which she hadn't yet gained the ability to add her empathic powers to back then. Today, that was no longer the case. Brooke raised her chin ever so slightly, and her eyes narrowed just a little. She stood a little more taller, maintaining eye contact with Candida as she effortlessly manipulated the other girl into terror and subservience. The blouse was hers and Candida inexplicably felt inferior to Brooke. She rushed past the empath and out onto Madison Avenue.

Triumphant, Brooke handed the blouse to Sharona, who was already saddled with many other clothes that Brooke was purchasing from the shop that day. As she made her way to her favorite salesperson to make her purchases, Brooke faltered just a little bit. This is what Rachel was telling her about, what Rachel was warning her about.

A sociopath. Manipulating a girl's emotions for a blouse.

She froze for a moment as something akin to guilt started wriggling its way into her heart. No. She suppressed those feelings. It was the last blouse in my size. I was absolutely justified.

Still, no matter how hard she tried to convince herself that it was true, somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that it wasn't.

Comments

[hellfire_empath]

Silently, and without another word, Brooke reached across and took Alexander's hand, shaking it.

"I'm trusting you enough to make this pact with you, Mystery Man," she said. "That means something."

[call_me_phobos]

There was a sound in the air above them not unlike rumbling thunder and Alexander nodded solemnly.

"So it is sworn and so it comes to pass." he said, shaking her hand.

"When you feel I'm ready to know more about you, Brooke Wyngarde, I will tell you a bit more about me and we will see where we stand from there." he told her.

The car stopped at the entrance to the Empire Room and Alexander leaned in gently.

"For now, my muse, we are arrived at our destination." he said, as the driver opened the door.

"Will you join me?"

[hellfire_empath]

"A futile question, given the pact we just made, wouldn't you say?" Brooke asked, taking Alexander's hand. The rumbling thunder-like thing just then had surprised Brooke, of course. She couldn't help but feel as though it was somehow tied to this mysterious man whom she felt strangely drawn to.

"Though, I suppose, if I am to be your muse, you'll have to know everything about me." She raised an eyebrow. How would that possibly go over?

[call_me_phobos]

"I suppose I would need to know that. But as I said I already wanted to know everything, you don't need to worry about what you might tell me." Alexander said.

"And once you tell me what you think I need to know, I'll tell you something of equal value." he said, leading her out of the vehicle. The pair walked up to the doors and Alexander spoke to the host to inform her of their reservation.

She looked them up and hastened to escort them to their dining area, the most intimate and secluded in the establishment, away from the other patrons.

Once they were seated, the hostess provided them with the wine list and menus, then indicated that their waiter would be with them shortly.

"What else should I know about the beautiful, yet aloof, Brooke Wyngarde?" he asked.

[hellfire_empath]

"They always say that you should play your trump card last," Brooke said after they were seated. "Hold on to it the longest, you'll have more power." She raised an eyebrow. "Me, I'm more curious to see what your idea of equal value is," she said. "So, you want to know something more about me? Fine." She gently folded her arms on the table in front of her and gave Alexander a somewhat challenging look. "I'm a mutant."

[call_me_phobos]

When she said she was a mutant, Alexander smiled brightly. He knew there was something special about her. Was that why she was drawn to him?

"Truly I chose well when I went to Lanvin's this morning." Alexander said, once again looking upon her with new eyes. She was much like a diamond; turn her one way and you saw the facets that showed why she was worth choosing. Turn her another and you saw further facets that only enhanced that beauty.

"Very well. I will tell you something of equal value. My name is Alexander Aaron, and that is true. But in Olympus, home of the Gods, they call me Phobos, God of Fear. I am child of Ares War-Maker and grandscion of Zeus Lightning-Thrower, king of all the gods of Olympus." Alexander told her.

He looked at the wine-list.

"Red or white?" he asked.

[hellfire_empath]

"Red," Brooke replied. "But sweet," she then amended. "You're Roxie Danvers brother." It wasn't a question so much as it was a statement. She knew of Roxie's bizarre parentage - most people did, even if some chose not to believe it. Brooke did. You didn't get to be a mutant, read up on the X-Men and other heroes, and not believe something like that.

"What a small world."

[call_me_phobos]

"Yes, Roxanne is my dear, beloved sister." Alexander said.

"Yes, the world is small but she didn't tell me about you, if that's what you're wondering." Alexander said.

"May I ask what you can do? Perhaps if you do, we can talk about what it is to be different?" he suggested.

[hellfire_empath]

Brooke nodded and let it go. Even if Roxanne had mentioned her, it wasn't as though they'd parted on bad terms. The two girls had simply drifted apart after having roomed together for a semester or two in college.

"I'm a tele-empath," she said. "Manipulate emotions is what I do. And, when it comes to mutants, if a power is used offensively against me, I'm able to tap into the mutant's energies and use that power back against them." So if someone had lobbed a fireball at them, she could have connected with that person and sent the fireball back their way.

It was a handy power to have.

"What about you? What do you do?"

[call_me_phobos]

"As I said, I am the God of Fear. I understand fear on an instinctual level. I can sense a person's fear and then show it to them, usually to their detriment." Alexander said.

"Or I can instill fear in a being, which usually doesn't turn out well for them. Fear comes in so many vintages and flavors that one can almost identify a particular phobia by the vibrations it leaves..."

Alexander's sentence abruptly dropped off as something in Brooke's words occurred to him. Fear was an emotion. A very basic emotion.

She could sense and manipulate fear.

She was like him.

"When I entered Lanvin's this afternoon, there was a girl that nearly ran me down on the way out. I felt an undercurrent of fear in her escape, as though she'd encountered a being greater than she and been found wanting." Alexander said.

"Did you have any hand in that?" he asked neutrally.

[hellfire_empath]

"Pretty, plain Jane blonde? Yes, that was me," Brooke admitted. "But the girl had it coming. She was going after my blouse." Yes. She was petty. Normally, Brooke might have tried to hide it, but Alexander was Olympian, and Olympians were generally the most petty people around. Due to his family, she was sure he'd understand.

[call_me_phobos]

"I see no crime in defending your property. Isn't that what most Americans say their country was founded upon?" he asked with a smile.

"I see similarities in us, Brooke. I see where we could forge a friendship if we allowed it." he said.

And something more, if we dared. he left unsaid.

[hellfire_empath]

"Well, yes, but if we're being honest, we pretty much pushed the natives away and took over." She smiled at Alexander. "And now that same society is scared that mutants will do the same to them. Well, what goes around eventually must come around."

"One can never have too many powerful friends," she agreed. "Me, I'm all for forging ahead."

[call_me_phobos]

"Then we will forge ahead, Brooke. I find that I enjoy your company." Alexander said.

[hellfire_empath]

"You're one of the few to truly say that and mean it," Brooke smiled. Most people tended to run the other way when it came to Brooke and her rather special personality.

[call_me_phobos]

"And if I see you smile more often, I'll say other things that I truly mean." Alexander told her.

"Now, I understand there's a lot that goes into the entire modeling thing, and you can say no if it doesn't suit you. But will you still consider being my Muse and...sitting for me, in private?" he asked coyly.

[hellfire_empath]

"I was once told that I was too stiff and self-conscious to be a model," Brooke said. "Apparently, I can't loosen up." Still, a shiver of anticipation crawled up Brooke's spine, causing her to shiver. "Are we talking Mona Lisa or Rose-aboard-the-Titanic?"

[call_me_phobos]

"Oh, I don't believe any of that. I believe you can loosen up. I just think you haven't been given the right...impetus to do so." Alexander said as the waiter returned.

He ordered the red wine for both of them and the waiter hastened to obey. At Brooke's second question, he cast a very slow, very raking eye over her form from head to toe as she sat before him, noticing her shiver. One might get the impression that he was deciding which of the two ideas he favored most but he gave nothing away except for his approval of her dress and her form.

"Whichever you feel most comfortable with, my Muse. I will take what you give me and earn the balance of your trust from there." Alexander said, even as he imagined her sitting before him on a throne of onyx that complimented her skin.

She was already inspiring him. He wished he'd brought his sketch pad to draw her now...but he would have to hold this image in his mind until he could commit it to paper later.

[hellfire_empath]

God, the way he looked her up and down. She'd never experienced that before in her life, ever. She shivered again and took a very long drink of wine. "I'll have a better idea of how comfortable I'd be as this evening draws to a close, I'm sure."

[call_me_phobos]

"We shall see. In the meantime, there is more that I would know of you, if you'll allow it." Alexander said as the waiter returned.

"But first, you should order." he suggested.

[hellfire_empath]

Brooke put her order in - the lobster salad tartlet - and waited for Alexander to order.

"What else do you want to know?" she asked, then.

[call_me_phobos]

"Please tell me your favorite color. Or your favorite day of the week. I would like to know Brooke Wyngarde as a human being as well as my muse, if you'd allow it." Alexander said.

"My favorite color is royal blue. I love Saturday because it feels longer than any other day of the week." he said.

He ordered a rare steak and mashed potatoes.

[hellfire_empath]

"Somehow, I'm not surprised that your favourite colour has the word royal in it," Brooke laughed. "I'm partial to red, personally. I think the colour does wonderful things for me." Though, when it came to lip colour, Brooke favoured a certain shade of raspberry lip gloss, always. "I don't really have a favourite day of the week as such, but when I was younger, it used to be Saturdays. You know, since those are the days that I thought I was visiting my father in jail." The joke was on her, there. He hadn't been real at all. "These days...well, the weekend in general, I suppose. Gives me a few days off from training with the X-Men." Which meant that she had a few days off from trying to be so nice all the time.

Not that she tried all that hard.

[call_me_phobos]

"Yes. Red would look fantastic on you. Then again, I'm certain you could wear /anything/ and it would fantastic on you." Alexander said.

When she mentioned the X-Men, Alexander didn't comprehend.

"Who...are the X-Men, if I may ask?"

[hellfire_empath]

"A band of merry mutants who believe that one day, baseline humans will stop being scared of mutants and embrace them as part of society," Brooke explained. "You know, the same way that heteronormative society has entirely embraced anyone and everyone who isn't, insert other examples here," she said, waving her hand. "I'd like to see it happen, but realistically, I doubt it ever will. If they'd succumb to their fears and our wills, their lives would be smoother, but they haven't entirely realized that yet." She stopped speaking and blushed. "I don't know if I entirely believe that, either, but sometimes it seems to be the easier route."