The mall was busy, a surprising fact, seeing as the holidays were long over. People milled about, decidedly not buying presents for loved ones... except for the ones that sneakily crept around, buying valentines' day gifts for their loves ones. They sneaked about, silently humming to themselves whatever stealthy theme song was best for their missions. Pink Panther, sure. Mission Impossible or Metal Gear Solid? Okay. Just... Taylor Swift. Any Taylor Swift. A unique choice, but whatever! Alright! Of the people not buying gifts for others, Amelia was first and foremost.

Her love life, as of late, was nonexistent. That was just fine by her. Her job had been absorbing, and she had had to work hard through that first probationary month. She'd had to learn to write tickets, and check meters, and enforce parking laws, and so much more. It had been a bore, but an educational bore. Now, she was off-duty, and it was time to utilize this free time for something absolutely worthless and unfulfilling. Clothes shopping.

The shop was filled with all sorts of things. Mannequins wore dresses that looked designer-chic. They wore suits, both pants, and not. Her section had jackets. After the cold winter, she could use something. Her jacket had worn a bit thin. With better pay, she also had room to buy a leather jacket. She had had her eye on one. Also, a duster, but that was an entire other thing. Still...

Amelia held up a leather duster. It reminded her of a book character in a series she had read. Maybe when she made detective?

Serena certainly wasn't shopping very often this time of year, she didn't know what had possessed her to come and wander the mall once again. Maybe it was the work stress load ontop of her other work, this was such a different environment to her usual ones. It was bustling with people and occasionally a little social interaction was exactly what the doctor ordered, so to speak.

Serena couldn't remember the last time that she'd actually hung out with friends, she needed to make more of an effort. She'd felt quite down about falling into a theme of just occasionally dropping off the face of the earth where they were concerned.

There was a lot of Valentines day shopping going on. And while she was a very romantic soul, she also wasn't in anything of the sorts, so she strayed away from all of the giggling couples browsing things, or the others buying things for potential lovers and the like.

She walked past a music shop, peering through the window at all the instruments, lots of guitars and drum sets. She glanced over at another shop with interesting things on display, before spotting a familiar face and spreading into a broad grin. Serena snuck up behind her, gently tapping her friend on the arm from behind. "We really have to stop meeting like this~"

"Oh, hey Serena." Amelia turned to face the blonde, with a smile. It was true. They did seem to meet in malls very often. It was kind of a recurring thing. Suffice it to say, they both liked to shop. Maybe it was a 90s kid thing.

She realized she was holding up the leather duster in her arms, and laughed at herself. "This is not what it looks like. I am not going into the private investigator business. And this belongs on the set of El Dorado."

It had been a while since she had seen the girl. She wondered what the girl had been up to since then. If asked, Amelia herself certainly had a list. Become cop. Fight crime. Write tickets. Talk with Sam about potentially joining the X-men. Etc. Etc. People got busy. And the holidays made everything even harder.

She had gone home for the holidays. Aurum had given her the coolest gift. A stein from MacAnally's pub. A book-themed gift. It was really cool what fans did with their time. He had gotten a nice vest, and a mug that said 'Do not talk to me until this is empty.' His girlfriend had gotten a nice top, and a scarf. Lots of Christmas shopping had been done in that very store, in fact.

Serena's smile only got more pronounced as she was in the vicinity of Amelia. She also wasted absolutely no time wrapping her friend in a tight and enthusiastic hug. Before giving her some breathing room Serena's eyes flicked between the large leather duster and Amelia, a certain spark of mischief dancing around her gaze. "Hmmm"

Her brain hadn't made the connection to a certain prominent urban fantasy series until Amelia had made a joke at the coat's expense, which elicited a burst of giggles from the blonde. The other girl's sensibility in books and humour was certainly complimentary enough for Serena to enjoy her company. Well, that and Serena found her very attractive. That helped.

"So what have you been up to? I heard you'd passed your exam! I'm so sorry I didn't bring anything over to congratulate you, I've been so swamped with work recently." It was a pretty poor excuse as far as she was concerned, but at least there was some validity to it. She'd just recently finished a bout of exams, so she was ready to hang out with people and inject a little more fun into her life.

Curiosity continued building on multiple topics. "So how was your christmas? Did you get enough time off to hang out with your family? They've always sounded nice I thought. Did you get any nice gifts?" Serena had sent a card, at the very least.

Amelia had shifted the duster to one hand as the blonde had sprung a hug on her like a trap, and she, the mouse. What that made the cheese in this arrangement was anyone's guess. Her returned hug was warm, if brief. Smiles abounded. Old friends needed to keep better contact with one and other in this day and age of electronic mail and cellphones.

"Yeah, I passed it. It's cool you didn't send anything. I've been swamped too, doing my probationary time. Finally finished that. Can you believe they make you write parking tickets and check meters?" She added the last part conspiratorially, glancing around.

"I got your card," she said. "Thank you. It was really cute." Serena had a way with cute. It was almost a mutation, in and of itself. "Yeah. I got to spend Christmas with family. Aurum is snobby as ever, with his comments about criminal justice and every person deserving fair trial in court, the charming monster." She joked.

Her brother was a defense attorney with a talent for sticking his nose in where it did not belong, and defending those many thought guilty beyond reasonable doubt. He was making a name for himself in the papers as an accomplished magician in the courtroom. He could make the jury's doubts about his clients supposed innocence disappear. He always seemed to find the contradictions in arguments that pulled the threads that tore apart the prosecutions case.

"My dad got a new book printed. Not by a big printing company, mind you, but printed. Moms restaurant is still going strong. As is her insistence on trying to hook me up with a nice man, so I can settle down and start a family and give her grandkids. Since Aurum obviously has not." There was no heat there. No. None. Well, maybe a smidgen. If he wasn't going to take her mothers attentions off her, then what good was he? As for gifts. "Got some good gifts. Clothes, mainly. A cool beer stein. Some geeky cups that keep things hot or cold. Tickets to a few ball games later this year. You know? Useful stuff."

"How about you?" She deftly changed the subject. "How were your holidays?"

Serena liked hugs. It was one of her things. She just had a naturally snuggle based personality. And Amelia's hugs often made her happy. She smiled a lot at Amelia's comments at passing the test. She did feel kind of bad that she hadn't managed to send her anything to commemorate the occasion or at least kept up with her. She had helped the girl pick out her outfit for the interview after all.

Serena's grin widened at the mention of the brunette's brother. "Sounds like a fairly typical Christmas then?" The last few years had been a hard time during the holidays for herself, but she was getting much better with them, and she'd spent this year's Christmas mostly taking a much deserved break from work.

Serena's eyes twinkled excitedly at the mention of the book being printed. "That's fantastic! It is a really long process. I'm glad to hear it." She herself had a book scheduled for distribution in August.

Her gaze shifted slightly at the next comment. "Ah, that sounds like... A Handful." She paused. "Did anything come of the attempts then?" Serena asked, trying to inject as much innocence into the question as possible.

She smirked. "Geeky mugs are the best mugs." She stated matter of factually. She did however pause before giving her answer. "They were- Hmm. Mostly nice? I spent them on my own taking a break from all of the work and stuff. My Grandmother tried to get into contact with me, and sent me some presents. I suppose trying to mend the metaphorical fences." She snorted.

There was something there when Amelia mentioned her mother trying to hook her up with men, something about the way Serena reacted that, had Amelia been paying attention, she probably would have noticed. But it's far less fun for detective-to-bes to notice every little thing, and she was complaining. She had her own focus. She was momentarily self absorbed. So she noticed no such thing.

"One of her friends has a son who was supposed to call me after the holidays... and someone she knows from work has some son who's a cop... Riddick, or something? Reminded me of a name I'd heard from some movie somewhere. But I'm doubtful anything will actually come of it." Amelia said quietly, as she looked away. Her eyes settled on a well dressed mannequin as she considered the whole prospect of blind dates. It just hadn't worked out for her much in the past.

She moved on to much better topics. And Serena talked about her own Christmas holidays. "Breaks are good." Amelia agreed. "And family is important. Even if you lose touch."

She hung the duster back up on the rack. "I'm looking for a leather jacket, but this is too much. I'm kind of tempted to start saving up for a motorcycle. Cars are great. But New York traffic is a beast." At least with motocycles, you could swing in and around traffic if you were careful.

The knot she didn't realise was in her stomach melted away. "Ah. That's a shame." She replied completely insincerely. Her mind had been dragged away from Christmas. She'd felt something kind of stressful when Amelia had mentioned being try to set up... Holy crap, was it jealousy? She totally still had a thing for the brunette. She smirked inwardly, she hadn't realised until they'd started chatting.

She nodded in agreement. "Well I didn't even realise how much I was sorely in need of one until I actually started with the whole taking a break thing, and found how exhausted I'd been." She giggled. When the topic of family came up again her face became a little more impassive. "I love family, but there are some situations with them which can leave you quite annoyed for a long time." She still couldn't bring herself to forgive her grandmother for 'losing touch' for quite as long as she had.

Serena smirked at the mention of leather jackets. "You would look pretty attractive in a biker jacket... More than normal, I mean." She added with a mild blush. She perked up. "I'd be happy to help you look for something~"

---
Serena talked about family... and how there were many things people could do that could leave one annoyed in perpetuity.

"Yeah," Amelia agreed. "There are." Family was great. One could hate them and love them at the exact same time, disagree and still unconditionally trust them until the moment they lost trust. You could argue with them for hours, and at the end of the day, even if they frustrated and annoyed you, at least for her, there was forgiveness. She couldn't hold it against them. She imagined it might be harder for people with bad relationships. Some men never knew their fathers, for instance. Some people came from broken families. People aren't perfect. There are many things one can do to lose another's faith. Amelia came from a good home. She could never expect to fully understand another persons situation, only try to understand. A trying thought.

She nodded at what Serena had said, but didn't push the woman. Personal family stuff was personal. If there was more to it than losing touch, she could speak of it in her own time.

That smirk Serena gave her, paired with memories of ice skating, and that comment about her being pretty... more than normal, she meant... spoke volumes. This, the detective-to- be could see. Amelia had a feeling that Serena had felt a reason to blush about a perfectly reasonable and innocent compliment. There weren't too many reasons one could reason in to that.

It was weird how often Amelia felt like she could read people. It was something she had worked on strengthening, and something she had learned from her brother. In his job as a lawyer, people didn't always tell the truth... and sending when someone was hiding something or drawing attentions away from a crucial contradiction was an important skill. A skill that applied just as clearly to police work. It was a really unfair advantage, on the scale of Mom Sense. It was something she would apply in her professional life. But in private life? It felt like cheating. Or, as they say in RPG circles, God moding.

Amelia decided that it could have been her reading too much into something, and that it wouldn't do to pounce on the theory like a lion on a wildebeest, if she wasn't 100% sure. It had the potential to be true. It also had the potential to be wrong, and awkward, and lose her a friend. And she hadn't even gone into thinking how she herself felt about things. So in typical Amelia fashion, she just took a lead.

"More than usual, huh?" Amelia said. The corner of her mouth dimpled as she smiled a half smile at the blonde.

A man with short, shaggy brown hair walked past them in the window behind the girls, outside the store front in the mall. He was drinking a orange Julius, held up in front of him as he sipped casually at the straw. A glint of something like metal flickered at wrist and hand level as he passed. A moment later, a woman in too much eye shadow and too little skirt followed, like an ad for hot topic, complete with dirty blonde hair tied in two messy short twisted tails on either side of her head. Her purse was clutched tight against her side as she walked, like she needed to get somewhere, and needed to be there yesterday.

Serena wasn't sour about the whole business with her Grandmother... Nope not even a little. It wasn't like she'd only gotten into contact with Serena nearly 2 years after what she was aware as being her only living relative had died. She knew she wasn't being entirely rational over the whole thing, but she didn't like the older woman's attitude towards things either, combined with her own personality and past she found it hard to not bring out the sass in any conversation they had.

Amelia's smile made Serena's chest flutter a little. She took a moment to respond, opening her mouth very briefly, no words escaping her before she succeeded on the second attempt. "Well duh, you'd suit it." She smiled back brightly, making an effort to keep her smile even and not blushing anymore. She looked past Amelia a little and noticed a man with a woman and catching a glint of something metallic and slightly reflective.

Her eyes narrowed on that spot, trying to make out exactly what it was as he turned. Serena tended to be fairly observant and being a female resident in New York city from a family of law enforcers she both knew how to protect herself and how to recognise knives and firearms, she couldn't quite make out what the man was holding but it did look bigger than a watch that was for sure. Her eyes then fixed on the woman following him along. "Hmmm."

It took Serena a moment to respond, a moment Amelia noted in the back of her mind. Amelia returned the smile. "Well, thank you. It's nice to be appreciated." If that comment had not forced Serena's hand, then...

There was something about Serena's face that made Amelia pause and consider her. It was as if she had noticed something, something suspicious. Probably a look Amelia herself often wore. The woman's hmmm hung in the air.

"Did you see something?" Amelia asked.

Serena probably wouldn't have been able to realize what the glint was. It wasn't actually in the man's hand at all, truth be told, merely at hand level. But he had already passed, and whatever it had appeared to the woman as was something entirely unto her to understand. Amelia had not seen it. Her back had been to the window. The woman turned, to look at the window as she followed Serena's gaze.

Serena's interest in the pair was fairly fleeting as when Amelia spoke her gaze turned back to her friend and she grinned. "No, just some unusual looking shoppers." She paused before a sly grin spread on her lips. "No problem at all, you deserve it." Serena's nerves were jittering a little bit, she wanted to say more, in fact the valentines day nearing provided a perfect timing to actually ask something... But her nerves were messing with her.

She tried to change the topic and give her time to gather herself a bit more. "So! Would you like my help with looking at leather Jackets? I don't think you really need the help, but it could be fun none the less~" the blonde suggested sincerely.

She glanced around some of the other lines in the store smiling at the variety. Amelia always had a natural affinity for style in Serena's opinion, it was one of the first things she'd really noticed about the other girl.

Strange people. Hmmm. Amelia would have to be aware. Strange people existed in New York. She made a mental note about unusual looking shoppers and potential problems with the cop side of her brain, then moved on with her life. What had she been thinking about before? That was right. Tripping Serena up. Because friends didn't let friends lie to themselves. And something was up.

Clearly, she was a humanitarian.

It was a shame she wasn't more sure about anything. The last time she'd had a theory that involved a friend being more than they let on... she had called Maya's bluff. About being Gawain's sister. In a changing room. At the mall. With a kiss. But that just would not be acceptable here. The consequences if she were wrong were simply too great. Greater than the alternative to that other scenario if she had been wrong back then? Yeah. Kind of. That scenario had opened up so many cans of worms. She had tried to move on from then. So if she hesitated, it wasn't due to remembering any past events, no. It was simply wanting to put the best foot forward, and not make mistakes.

Tripping Serena up...

"Yeah. We can look at some leather jackets. Also," she glanced at another part of the store. A part with pants. "I could use a new set of jeans." She said, without interest. As if getting a friend's opinion about jackets and jeans were totally the most average thing. Amelia smiled at Serena. "Probably don't need much help finding what I want, but you can let me know if I look fat in them or whatever." She laughed, one brief "ha." Almost a snort. Charming.

Serena was fairly brave all things considered, she could face down something like a scary roller coaster or a mugger without a problem, but for some reason when it came to girls she liked, her courage just melted away. Though some recent things in her life had given her a little more confidence. Her affection for Amelia had been going on for a long time, all things considered.

She hadn't exactly spent years pining after her, but every time they got back into touch, that fluttery feeling started to flair up again.

The thought that her brunette friend would look bad in clothing was actually kind of laughable. Serena wandered idly if Amelia could use her power one clothes that she was wearing... Was that why she pulled stuff off so well? The more likely truth was that Amelia was just good with clothes, and extremely attractive so Serena was biased.

"I somehow doubt that you-" Serena paused for a moment, contemplating what she was about to say. Commenting on Amelia's body might come across as odd, or creepy. "Unless they were like, really really tight jeans, like size zero or something. Which is gross anyway~" Unrealistic body expectations were indeed, quite gross.

A brown eyebrow arched, ever so slightly. The trap had been sprung, and while Serena had not gotten caught in it, it had been sprung. The cheese had been disturbed, and the trap showed all the signs of having been tripped. Which meant there was something out there.

"I thought that was a style now." Amelia said. Her tone didn't betray whether she was joking or telling the truth. "Tight pants, tailored to show off curves. Maybe a jacket that does not go all the way down, so it doesn't cover hips." Or was that just a style with breeches in a Wheel of Time book? Her lips curved slightly, as if amused by something. It wasn't clear what. The character in those books that dressed that way, Min, had style. Style enough to change the styles in several cities in a fantasy book setting, from medieval style dresses, to cut breeches and flattering jackets. It was possible Serena had not read the book series. It was a long one, almost as vast as Tolkien in its world-building. Probably vaster, seeing as it went 14 books, 9 more than the Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit, and the Silmarillion. "If it isn't, it should be. I can imagine the outfit, now."

There was a leather jacket a few steps away. It was a feminine take on the classic biker jacket with its asymmetrical zip closure and folded collar. There were zippered pockets on either side, buttons on the folded collar for flair, and a hood hung down the back. The hood was removable, jersey style. The jacket had Gusseted cuffs, snap tabs at the waist, and hip pockets. It was made of lambskin. The brand was Mackage. The type of jacket was Yoana. As expected, it was expensive, but it was on sale. And the sale was significant enough to make her consider spending a paycheck's worth of money on the jacket. It would last. And to be fair, she had yet to spend any christmas money. She could afford to waste some cash on a good leather jacket. Unless Serena found something better, their search was likely at an end. She strode forward, without preamble, to stop in front of the jacket where it hung on the wall.

Amelia gestured to the jacket on display. If they talked to someone, they'd get the high price item down. "What do you think?" Amelia asked.