Astrid took a seat on a ledge, frowning slightly as her skirt caught on the rough cement. She made a mental note to not wear tulle when she played in the subway again. It got in the way and it was incredibly uncomfortable to sit on. But it looked so cool. It was probably best to save it for other occasions.

She straightened her spine and fluffed out her wings a bit as she positioned her cello between her legs. Her case sat in front of her, an invitation for people to drop money in it as they passed. She pulled her bow from it and slid it across the strings, closing her eyes to focus on the sounds.

The g was little flat, she decided. Her fingers moved automatically up to the pegs, where they turned a certain one until the g string was raised to the proper pitch.

As soon as the instrument was ready, Astrid let her fingers fly up and down the finger board as her bow slid across the strings. The sound echoed down the subway station, the sound reverberating off of the wide corridors.

A crowd had begun to gather as they always did. Drawn in in part by her peculiar appearance, and also by the music. Astrid smirked as she played. The money has begun to flow.

One person bent down and dropped a dime into her case with a plunk. Astrid's black eyes narrowed as she watched. A dime? A dime? She deserved more than that. Bach deserved more than that.

Her face lifted slowly to make eye contact with the person. She glared cooly at them and coughed subtly. She knew they could do better. She was going to make them do better.

Abby was just letting the subway take her wherever today. It was something she did when she wanted to find new places in the large city. She always paid attention to the train times and stations she passed. She even carried a small notepad in her purse for times like this.

She was checking the list of stops and trains when she heard the sound of music. It wasn't uncommon for musicians to play down in the subway. In fact, it was probably as common as finding artists in the park. This however wasn't the sound of drums or guitars. It was something else. Something like her Mommy played when she was little.

Leaving the board, the little blonde moved through the crowds towards the music. She got jostled a bit but it wasn't too difficult to find the musician. It was a girl. Probably only a few years older than her, but she was dressed really pretty. The dress and shoes were something she knew some girls would love. But what got Abbigail's attention were the large black wings.

Taking a moment to listen, Abby decided she could spare some money for the fellow mutant. Opening her purse, she went looking through for any money. She found two dimes and a penny. So she dropped a dime in the case in front of the girl.

Pure black eyes met hers. Abby knew a glare when she saw one. Then the girl coughed. In response, Abby raised her eyebrow and opened her hand, showing the last of her change. Eleven cents sat in her palm.

The little girl who had dropped the dime opened her palm, revealing eleven more cents. Astrid raised an eyebrow and shook her head. It made sense that that was all she had; she was only a little girl, and a short one at that. Impossibly small, like a little munchkin. She didn't want the girl's punny change, though. Eleven cents wouldn't do much of anything for her.

Astrid finished up her song and placed her cello away, motioning to the crowd to move out of the way for her. The subway had become too busy for her to be able to play in comfort. She hated to be crowded. Wings made thing difficult sometimes.

Her eyes kept seeming to fall on the little girl, drawn to her for some reason. It was probably the outfit. Bright yellow and blue everywhere, topped off by a batman t-shirt. Astrid raised a pale lip to a scowl at the thought of how tacky it was. The munchkin really needed someone to tell her how horrible she looked. Down right horrible.

Not that Astrid would be the one to do it, of course. Why should she help the cheapskate? She hadn't even given her a full dollar. Plus, evil people didn't help little girls with poor fashion senses, and Astrid's track record of evil hadn't been going well of late. She needed to go steal something.

That was it. She would steal stuff for the little girl. That was evil, right? Or was that a more Robin Hood type thing? Whatever, she would find a way to make it evil. Somehow.

Astrid turned back to face the munchkin full on. "Ey, little girl," Astrid's accent piled thick onto the words. "Come with me."

Abby stood back after their little exchange. She could at least stay to listen to the whole piece, since she didn't actually have any money. She could probably ask her Aunt and Uncle for an allowance. Or at least something like it. Her grades were probably good enough to warrant that.

"Ey, little girl. Come with me."

Lost in her thoughts, Abby was a little shocked when the girl spoke to her. The blonde hadn't even noticed her move. She may have been a friendly enough person but after being glared at by the older girl, she wasn't so sure of her. "Why should I?" she huffed and crossed her arms.

>>"Why should I?"

Astrid scowled at the little girl. Ungrateful, cheap little girl. Silly little girl. But why should she follow Astrid? She had given her no reason to. She vaguely remembered being taught about 'stranger danger' or something similar.

Astrid smirked at the girl and grabbed her little munchkin arm. "Because look as-" she struggled to find a word to describe it, before her eyes fell on a cylindrical object "-garbage. Look as garbage. I fix."

She dragged the girl down the crowded halls, her heels clicking on the pavement and her wings bouncing with each step. She was going to make that girl look incredible. But evil at the same time. Very evil.

Before Abby could react the girl had grabbed her arm. In response, Abby drug her feet. She knew her legs were actually really heavy from swimming. This strange girl, even if pretty, would not take her. If all else failed she could-

>>"Because look as - garbage. Look as garbage. I fix."

What? Garbage? What was this girl talking about? Abby dug her heels in to try to stop the girl. "It's not like I dressed myself!" she yelled at the black haired girl. "If I had my way I'd wear tank tops and skirts all the time," she muttered. The only reason she let the older girl's dress her up was so they would leave her alone the rest of the time.

"And how will you 'fix' it? I don't have any money to buy new clothes."

>>"And how will you 'fix' it? I don't have any money to buy new clothes."

"Silly girl. No buy," she laughed softly at her.

The little girl was digging in her heels in protest. Astrid sighed and shook her head. She had dealt with annoying little girls before, many times in fact, and she had ways of making them do what she wanted. Usually, she could just pulled them along, but this little girl would not budge. What was with her legs? They were incredibly strong - nothing like Astrid's impossibly skinny ones.

Her black eyes narrowed at the girl as she protested. There was an easier way to do this. She turned and scooped the little girl into her arms. If she hadn't been such a munchkin, she wouldn't have been able to do it, but Astrid was in luck. She flapped her large wings, hitting several people as she did.

She took off immediately, causing people to move out of the way as her legs dangled where they walked. They soon exited the subway station, where Astrid flew to a clothing store that she had never been to before. It looked like they had some of the things she was looking for, and it was better to start fresh. It wasn't difficult to pick her out of a crowd.

>>"Silly girl. No buy."

What? Before Abby could think any further on the winged girl's words, the girl had turned and picked her up! She screeched a little at the sudden change and wrapped her arms around the girl's shoulder. "I would much rather be on the ground thanks!"

Abby closed her eyes so she could pretend she wasn't being carried by a black winged angel through the New York crowds. Give her land or water and Abby would be fine. But she'd like to never be suspended in the air like this again.

"Just tell me when it's over," the little shark shifter groaned.

>>"Just tell me when it's over."

"Over," Astrid announced as she put the girl down. It was a little rough, which she was quite proud of. It was an evil landing.

She turned to face the store in front of her. It looked sort of vintage, and there was a lot of black just in the window alone. She smirked slightly at the situation. "Inside," she told the girl as she opened the big glass doors. The store was filled with racks of dresses and shirts that Astrid eyed. Some would definitely fit the munchkin.

She held up a black dress and handed it to the girl. "Try."

>>"Over."

Abby opened her eyes as the girl set her down. It was a little bumpy but the little blonde was just happy to be on solid ground.

>>"Inside."

The shifter glared at the older girl but followed along. Might as well since the girl had just picked her up and brought her to some clothing store. At least if she followed along the girl might not touch her again. She was usually good with the pain that came but if it was sudden she couldn't block it as well. "Just don't touch me again," she groused as she went in to the store.

>>"Try."

The little blonde blinked at the dress but listened. She went and found the dressing room and changed. She left her shirt, skirt, jacket and hat on the bench, leaving her leggings to cover her discolored legs. Then she walked out. "Judgement, Oh Dark One?" she sassed. Just a little.[/font]

>>"Just don't touch me again,"

Astrid grunted and smiled, finding it easier than mangling her way through English words. It seemed that the girl had experienced pain, which was good, That was what she was supposed to be doing. Inflicting pain, that is.

The girl took the dress and went to get changed in the change room. Astrid waited outside and rifled through some Victorian-style dresses. She pulled out a few of them and slung them over her arm to keep. She also pulled out a few more in the blonde's size that were similar in style to the one she was trying on.

>>"Judgement, Oh Dark One?"

Dark One. It sounded like some sort of reference, but Astrid couldn't place it. Americans had a never-ending revolving door of references that would take years for her to fully comprehend. But from the munchkin's connotation, it sounded bad. That made her smile.

"Good," Astrid nodded. The dress was much better than the atrocious ensemble that the girl had donned pior to her intervention, but it wasn't perfect. She didn't fill out the dress quite right, and the leggings were much too thick under the thin fabric. Astrid didn't tell her that, though. There wasn't a lot more you could expect from a girl so young.

"Here, more." She handed the girl another stack of dresses, all of them black.

>>"Here, more."

Abby rolled her eyes put took the mass of dresses. She hung them up in the dressing room and looked through them. There were a few she knew wouldn't fit. Or rather wouldn't look good. The girls at school always seemed to comment on her "lack of figure" whatever that meant. She still hadn't found an adult she could ask about it at the Mansion and asking her Aunt would just get her "you're beautiful as you are" again.

She did find a few nice dresses she thought would work. The one she liked best looked like a princess dress so she put it on to show the other girl. She also grabbed the ones she knew wouldn't look good on her before leaving the little stall.

"These won't look right," she stated as she handed them over. "What do you think?" she asked with a twirl.

"Nice," Astrid nodded at the girl. She glanced at the pile of clothes that she had when they came in, and decided that it would be better to leave them. They were, after all, horrible. Simply horrible.

"Come," she commanded, grabbing the girl's arm as she walked quickly towards the exit. They soon attracted the glances of the store workers, which only spurred Astrid on. Her heartbeat quickened as she weaved her way through the store.

The alarm set off as Astrid stepped past the doorway, looking back to make sure that Abby was following. They needed to go quickly if they wanted to avoid being caught.

>>"Nice. Come"

Abby hissed at the contact on her arm. What was this girl doing? Then the blonde realized she was being pulled towards the exit. "Wait! I didn't pay for this!" she yelped and dug her heels in. It had kind of worked last time.

>>"Wait! I didn't pay for this!"

Had Astrid not made it clear? They were not going to pay. Yet, the girl was still resisting.

The workers had begun to circle around them, starting to block the exits. They needed to get out, and fast. Astrid grabbed a few packs of pantyhose off of a rack near the door and then scooped the girl back up in her arms with the pile of clothes that they had aquired. She took off quickly, flying through the doors with the girl with her.

She flew about a block before landing again in an alleyway. She set the girl down and handed her the clothes and pantyhose. "There. Much better." The French girl announced. "No need pay."