Shopping is a safe activity.

Effie found herself in need of some new clothes. Not like the Matchmaker hadn't supplied her with everything she could possibly need as a wife and a lady... but considering how things worked out, she felt like she needed something... closer to herself. Something colorful. And shiny. And expensive.
If you don't have money - spend some.

The blonde girl stood in a small downtown shop, sorting through blouses and skirts. None of them looked like something Effie would wear, and even less like something Sveta wouldn't toss right out the window. The girl frowned to herself, and moved on to the next row.

Oooh. Gloves.

She was getting used to wearing gloves; long sleeved ones, now that the weather was getting warmer, and she was not wearing coats and sweaters anymore. She only had a few that she bought right after she found out about her powers... it was time to shop for fashion.

Taking off the blue gloves she had been wearing for her trip downtown, she decided to try some of them on. She glanced around, making sure there war no one around her within arm's reach.

Just in case.

Shopping. Why did everyone in New York seemed obsessed with stuffing their wardrobes? Admittedly New York had some of the biggest names in fashion, but New York storefronts didn't come cheap. Big names in big stores meant big ticket prices. Lori had money now with her Order exploits but that didn't mean she felt comfortable around such opulence.

It was a pity she had to go in at all.

In a crowded city like New York, following someone unnoticed wasn't the problem. Loosing your target in the crowd was. Lori just wanted to talk to the girl. Ask for a favor. There was no way to approach the girl out of the blue without being a total creep about it.

Lori checked her cargo pants pocket. She was under dressed for this kind of store, but she did want to be prepared... just in case she had to use force. Gloves, check. Marble, check. Should only take one.

A deep breath and she walked inside. Immediately assaulted by bright patterns and overly helpful employees, Lori frowned. Maybe she could just stalk out the girl and jump her in an alley somewhere. Why hadn't she just brought chloroform? Lori shrugged off the attendants and poked through the skirts. The girl was in here somewhere. Lori had seen her go in. But where was she now?

She scooted down the aisle lazily. That price tags here made her want to hurt someone.

Effie pried the blue gloves off, and replaced them with a pair that cost half a fortune (in her book, anyway), and looked like it too. These gloves were made of black lace, went all the way up above her elbows, and had thin blue ribbons on them. They looked pretty.

Holding her arms out, Effie admired the gloves. She couldn't afford them, and even if she could, they had no use for her. Too much skin showed through the lace, she wouldn't want to risk that.
But that didn't mean she couldn't walk around in the store with them, looking for a mirror.

One of the ladies who worked at the store immediately walked over to her, chattering about how great she looked, with the gloves. Effie smiled a polite smile, and tried to ignore her. She hoped the lady would move on to another guest. Maybe the blonde woman down the aisle.

The gloves did look pretty though.

Madonna. That's what these clothes reminded her of. All they were missing was the giant conical bra-- oh wait. What was that over there? Lori scooched past the obnoxious attendant who didn't know when to shut her yap and went to investigate.

Aww. It wasn't Madonna's black ziggurat cone bra, it was a bra made of two rockets. Maybe more protruding than Madonna's sense of style allowed. She couldn't resist. She held them up and turned around to see a mirror. Instead, she saw her target and realized she'd gotten off task.

She dropped the bra (the price tag called it a novelty shirt) and it clattered against the tiled ground. "Oops!" Well now that was embarrassing. The attendant clucked ehr tongue and abandoned her flattery tactic on the target with Madonna lace gloves and came to inspect the novelty item for damage.

Oh crap. What if she had to buy it?

Effie's wish came true, the attendant stopped complimenting her on the gloves when the blonde woman dropped something on the floor. Judging from the sound of it, it was something not designed for humans anyway.
(Or mutants. Effie, for example, would have never even touched anything that was sold in a clothing shop and made a sound like that upon impact with tile floor)

>>"Ooops!"

She glanced at the woman. Yes, it was very embarrassing. Especially because ladies who worked in places like thes tended to go all glarey and b*tchy about their customers dropping things. Effie flashed a smile at the woman over the attendant's shoulder.
We've all been there.

Peeling off the gloves, Effie returned them to their place, and made sure her own pair was safely in place before she moved on towards the skirts.

The girl made eye contact. Perfect. Spectacular. Now she was getting pity from the girl she'd come in here to threaten into submission. This was exactly how she'd planned on this day going. Rocket bra and everything.

"I am not buying it." Dead pan was as good as the woman would get from Lori. Dead pan was better than angry. Angry meant the metal frame racks would start coming off the walls. No one wanted that.

When the woman pointed out a small scuff, Lori rubbed it off with her thumb. Well, all except the part that was damaged by their spiffy, trendy floor. "You don't want stuff damaged, don't make it with a faulty clasp."

The woman protested until Lori pulled the clasp off with a quick jerk of her arm. Shock! Righteous sputtering. She would have to pay for it now! Except that she was walking away. Lori tossed the clasp over her shoulder at the woman and it bounced off of her forehead. Lori knew it had without ever turning around because there was more righteous, indignant sputtering.

"I hope you don't work on commission."

Lori paused by the other blonde in the store. "I wouldn't buy this stuff." A few steps to the other side of the girl. "It's cheap even if it does cost an arm and a leg." She was also tempted to shove something in her pocket before she left, but... oh hell. She grabbed the pair of lace gloves the other girl had been eyeing and then walked out and kept walking.

Screw it. Lori shoved her hands in her pockets along with the lace gloves. She could grab the girl later. Send a team or something.

Well, the blonde woman was officially nuts. The sassy, entertaining kind of nuts, which, in Effie's opinion, was just what the world needed, from time to time. She used to do stuff like that. Long ago. Sometimes. Before she took the piercings out.
She wouldn't do it now.

>>"I wouldn't buy this stuff. It's cheap even if it does cost an arm and a leg."

Effie arched an eyebrow. She was not sure what the blonde meant by that, but it seemed to piss the attendant off even more, if that was still possible.
Also, she took the gloves.

"Hey!"

She wouldn't do anything like that either.
...
All right. Let's not bring up the past...

Trying to get out of the line of fire of righteous sputtering, Effie held up her hands to make it clear she was not taking anything with her, and that she definitely didn't have anything to do with the other blonde. Then, she walked out with dignity. No one wants to shop in a store when the clerk is pissed off anyway.

She caught up with the woman outside, as she was stuffing the gloves into her pocket. She didn't really mean to catch up with her... but there she was.

"More fun dan buy stuff, huh." she smirked, glancing at her; she was ready to keep walking, and leave the comment at that. Not like she wanted to make friends with her or anything, anyway.

Lori glanced over her shoulder at the girl she was supposed to kidnap... and laughed. She hadn't meant for her little screw you to attract the girl to her, but it seemed it had worked even when she hadn't meant it to.

"I haven't done that in a few years. Here." Lori dug out the gloves and tossed them to the girl. She didn't want them. She'd only taken them on a whim because the target had been looking at them and they were a low enough ticket item that they were not ink tagged. Magnetic tags were no problem. It was the ink tags that were dangerous to her.

"If you don't want them just throw them away, though I would rather see them put to good use."

It was play dumb or play her hand time. She wasn't sure which would be the most effective. She'd gotten maybe 6 words out of the girl and only just now learned she was a foreigner. Maybe her intel wasn't as thorough as it seemed.

"You're a mutant, right?" Well, there was only one way to be sure this was the girl Lori even needed. "The gloves." Lori pointed at Muse's hands. "Nobody but mutants or people in love with the 80's wear gloves that long."

Lori's hands went back into her pockets as they walked. No chloroform in there... unfortunately. Just hands.

>>"I haven't done that in a few years. Here."

Effie took the gloves, and didn't comment on the comment that accompanied them.
I haven't either.
The gloves were still pretty though. She put them in her handbag.

>>"You're a mutant, right? The gloves. Nobody but mutants or people in love with the 80's wear gloves that long."

So much about 'pretty'. Effie flashed and all-knowing smirk at the woman, and decided not to answer the direct question right away.

"Maybe is fashion where I come from." she said. Truth is, it wasn't. People didn't wear gloves like this in Russia either. Not on the streets anyway.

Smirk, meet smirk.

"If that's the fashion, touch me skin to skin." It was a dangerous offer considering what Lori thought the girl able to do. Even more dangerous if the girl knew she was dangerous enough to keep gloves on at all times.

Lori didn't offer any easy skin for the girl to touch. She didn't think she would take her up on the offer. It was a challenge neither of them wanted the girl to win.

Smirk.

>>"If that's the fashion, touch me skin to skin."

Effie stopped, and her eyes narrowed. Did she... was that... but how did she...
Damn.

A perfect smile formed on her lips and she folded her arms, looking at the blonde woman. She either knew something she shouldn't, or she was very lucky at wild guesses.
Effie was good at wild guesses too.

"Sorry. Not touching people I don't know. You can be a mutant."

And we wouldn't want me touching a mutant skin to skin. We really don't.

The girl stopped and there was an edge of defiant anger in her eyes. For half a second, Lori thought the other blonde just might do it.

Yep. It was her.

That would certainly teach them both if she did. Lori stopped too.

"Of course I'm a mutant. It doesn't take a genius to pinpoint the glove thing. Just experience." Lori had gloves in her cargo pocket. She was tempted to pull them out, but she didn't want to spook the girl that she'd come prepared for this very situation where there was a threat of touch. "You're not the first touch-is-dangerous mutant I've met." Her tone said that she was sorry to disappoint, but Muse wasn't super special in that regard.

"So keep the gloves. You'll need 'em more than me apparently." Lori turned to keep walking. The more distance between themselves and the store, the better. Also it was better for keeping the girl engaged in conversation rather than looking around to what part of town they might be in.

>>"Of course I'm a mutant. It doesn't take a genius to pinpoint the glove thing. Just experience. You're not the first touch-is-dangerous mutant I've met."

Of course she was a mutant. Of course? How should she know? He could pass for human, easy. Effie bit back a frown. It was not fair. If Mother Nature gave her a power that ony works with other powers, she could really have given her the ability to spot other powers. Being blind, she had to stick to the 'no touching' policy, and it kinda sucked.

"Good for you I not touch you den" she pointed out "You can not ask mutants to touch you. It hurts."

You and me both.

"Tank you, I guess" she added after some thought. The woman gave her a pair of gloves, well, they were stolen, but she didn't steal them, did she.

"If you are mutant, what do you do?" it was just curiosity. They were already in a conversation, and Effie was having trouble believing the gloves were what gave her away. Maybe the woman had some way of sensing who had the X-gene. That would probably make Effie envy her. A lot.

"If you mean mutation, I do electromagnetics. There's a lot of that in the body, you know, so a lot of my powers are touch based too. Just not all of them harmful for people. I can't deal with technology, though. No matter what I try it all... poof." Every power had its ups and downs. Her power made her low tech Lori. Every mutant was traceable by their odd behaviors. Some were just harder to identify then long gloves on a warm spring day.

Lori turned their seemingly aimless wandering down another road. They couldn't walk to the Sanctuary. It was on another island and would take a ferry or walking along a major high way to get there. She didn't think that she could distract the other blonde that much or that long either. It would probably be to the subway, then.

"If you mean job, I help run a hostel for mutants, free room and board for those that need it, and I work at a pharmaceutical company to keep the bills paid. What do you do?"

It was all true in some light.

>>"Just not all of them harmful for people. I can't deal with technology, though. No matter what I try it all... poof."

"Poof." Efie echoed with a small smile. Poof she could understand. Poof she would do too, occasionally. It might not be the same kind of poof, but it was the same 'don't touch me' poof none the less.

>>"If you mean job, I help run a hostel for mutants, free room and board for those that need it, and I work at a pharmaceutical company to keep the bills paid. What do you do?"

And then, the first alarm went off.
It was only in Effie's head, and it was still much louder than the one that failed to go off at the store.

>>"I am not sure if they know about you yet, but once they do, they will come after you... The company is called Faust Pharmaceuticals. The leader of the evil mutants is a blond girl named Lori Faust. She's about this high."

Effie missed a beat, falling back a half step to hide the look on her face.
I can't be that unlucky, can I.
Only one way to find that out.

"Nothing." she answered the question "I not having work yet."
By the time she finished, there was a smile on her face again.

"My name is Sveta, by de way. And yours?"

Where are we anyway?...