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]

"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."

[call_me_phobos]

"You make an extremely valid point, Brooke. Conflict only occurs when one side refuses to bow to the wave of the future that is certainly coming at them." Alexander said.

He'd told his grandfather as much many times when he was in Olympus. Zeus would hear none of it, though.

"But perhaps humans will see what's best for them in the future and accept it. After all, there are plenty of other areas where tides of change have had their day and been successful." Alexander said.

"I like it when you blush. There's something about it that's endearing." he said warmly.

"What is your favorite food?" he asked.

[hellfire_empath]

"Perhaps," Brooke said. Some days, she didn't have hopes for humans turning the tide towards accepting mutants wholesale. Other days, she felt positively infected by Xavier's dream and believed that humans and mutants would be able to form a peaceful co-existence.

One in which she could be a society queen over all.

"I'm not picky, really," Brooke said. "As long as it's cooked well and made with the best of ingredients, I'll eat almost anything. How about you?"

[call_me_phobos]

"Honestly? I love Vietnamese food. It's very spicy and usually cooked right in front of you, but only those with strong stomachs can watch it." Alexandr said, remembering Roxie's discomfort at having many of the chicken's body parts placed before her.

"I'm partial to seafood as well. Blowfish when I can get it, lobster otherwise." he said.

[hellfire_empath]

"Vietnamese isn't bad, though I find the cooking of food in front of me a bit unsavoury, personally." She liked having her food prepared where she couldn't see it, and then brought in front of her, presented wonderfully on a plate with lots of blank space.

"I've never had blowfish either, come to think of it." But lobster? Oh yes. Brooke quite liked her lobster.

[call_me_phobos]

"What other restaurants do you like in New York? Perhaps our next outing will see us at one of them." he said.

[hellfire_empath]

"Well, my favourite restaurant since high school has been Butter," Brooke smiled. It was true. There was a time back then when it seemed as though Brooke and her friends had lunch on the steps of the Met everyday, and then met at Butter for dinner.

Good old days, those. "I have to confess, I haven't been there in awhile."

[call_me_phobos]

"Butter? I don't think I've heard of it. I'll have to try it soon." Alexander said.

"How do you feel about dinner there tomorrow night?" he asked.