As Fiona had been in the mansion for little over a day, she decided that if she was going to stay there she would need to add a bit of personal pizazz. After deliberating with those tiny little people who worked everything in her head (a.k.a. her thoughts) she decided that she was going to head to one of her favorite places in the world, Times Square, to find what she would need. Her other belongings should be arriving from the hacienda any day now, and with what she would buy the whole room would tie in together nicely.

Taking a moment to look in a mirror near the main door, she checked her appearance: fitted black skinny jeans with her signature belt and pewter buckle, as well as a tight spaghetti strap top accented by her other signature piece, a black cord necklace with a rectangular prism that hung from it. Fiona barely looked at her face when she heard a miniscule beeping--the cab was out front. Quickly running out, she almost ran into a little girl and stopped for a split second tp apologize.

"Sorry hunny!" she gasped, and kept on her way.

Reaching the cab, she climbed into the backseat and watched the window as they sped off. "Where are you going darling?" asked the cabbie, who kept eyeing her face and cleavage. "Times Square..." she said seductively, knowing that the cab driver would forget to ask for fare (but she would pay anyway). After having spoken to him, he immediately began to drive faster and his maneuvers became that of an experienced stunt driver. He was clearly trying to get Fiona to her destination as fast as possible. Now, most people would be scared at this point, but Fiona knew he would never let any harm come to her as by now he would probably be in an extreme sense of love for her.

Reaching her destination, she found herself dropped off in front of Madame Toussaud's. "Thank you, sir..." she said with a sexy smile and a wink, and waiting to hear if he would ask for his fare. "You're very, very welcome..." was his reply, with hints at a stupefied grin at the corners of his mouth. After a few moments, there was no mention of cab fare. Smiling to herself, she looked at the fare meter and paid it all, with a tip. "Here you go, for that lovely ride." she said, handing him the money. Now was the hard part--getting him to let go.

"Alright, now I must be on my way, so you go about your business." she commanded with a slightly stronger tone. The cabbie nodded once and and soon sped off. "Thank God." she whispered, and looked up for the first time. All around her were giant neon signs bearing advertisements for anything to everything, from cell phone plans to even male dysfunction remedies. Soon enough, after a bit of walking, she headed slightly off Times Square and ended up at Central Station. After taking a right towards the shop area, she walked into a quaint but amazing furniture shop with all sorts of things lining the walls and floor displays.

"Hello, how may I help you ma'am?" asked the store owner, as she quickly strolled over to Fiona. "Hmm... Just looking, thanks." As soon as she spoke to the woman, Fiona's powers soon charmed the saleswoman, and Fiona was quickly informed of the flaws of certain items and the merits of others.

This is going to take a while... she thought.

After three long hours looking over various lamps, loveseats, bedframes, and all sorts of kooky tables (a glass table shaped like the distinguishing male bodypart wasn't exactly sheek for the mansion) she finally decided on three lamps and a bedframe. Two of the lamps were identical floor lamps, chrome, with flexible arm-like sockets for bulbs. The last lamp was a bit more serious, black metal, with beautiful ivy-esque designs all the way down in the form of leaves that housed bulbs. In total, the black lamp housed about twenty-seven lightbulbs, which would illuminate very efficiently. The bedframe was of similar design, however it was blended black metal and chrome in an ivy design that would sprawl across eight feet above her bed in swirling patterns.

All of these things came to only about $475, as the very willing shopkeeper had informed her of the best deals right off the bat. "Thank you so much!" she said in a very gratituous tone and paid in full. She had plenty of money saved from all her life earnings, and had recieved quite a bit from her grandmother as to have a small fortune in her bank. After setting up a delivery time, she set out to walk the streets to see if she found an eccentric little home decor shop for a few color schemes.

"I wonder if I'll run into anyone around here..." she mumbled to herself, after passing the Laugh Factory and Villa's Pizzeria. After walking about, she finally came across a little place known as Francine's. "Yes! I knew this place would still be here... But I wonder if Francine will recognize me...?" she wondered aloud. Strolling in nonchalantly, she looked around for the small woman named Francine who would most definetely be able to help her with her selections. Finally spotting a woman with blue hair, various tattoos, and the most rockin' latex outfit, she approached her.

"Francine..?" she mumbled. Immediately Francine turned around and looked Fiona straight in the face. "Fiona? Oh my, Fiona! How are you? Where have you been? And wow, look at those knockers..." she finished, taking Fiona's left breast and giving it a heary squeeze. "Hey!" Fiona exclaimed, and blushing laughed along with the other woman. "What brings you around here?" asked Francine, pulling Fiona into a strong embrace. Both women had known each other for years, and had even had a romantic interest back in their teens. Emotions still ran strong, as Fiona found herself blushing as Francine pulled her close. "Where have you been all this time..." Francine whispered, which most definetely pulled on Fiona's heartstrings. But then, the most horrible realization came to mind: what if the only reason the other woman had just used that tone of voice was due to her powers? Fiona pulled away and smiled earnestly. "Well I'm here to find a couple things, like mini lamp shades and a nice color of paint for a new room." she answered, hoping her answer was innocent enough.

Francine turned to Fiona and smiled. "Of course. Come this way." Something about her seemed deflated, but Fiona found herself instead of making a move wondering if Francine's tone of voice was simply her imagination. Finally arriving at the section that Francine intended to show Fiona, she waved her hand over the many paint choices that Fiona could choose from.

"What style are you looking to recreate?" asked Francine, and seemed oddly distant, as though she had gone into auto-pilot sales technique.

"Well, something modern and industrialized. I'd like to buy some plaster so that I can make a brick like design on the walls and then I can paint over them with a dark red, having the "grout" black. Then I'd like to accent the coloring with dark yet intensely colored lamp shades, to fit bulbs around this size." said Fiona, and pulled out a small box that contained a solitary light bulb within.

Francine nodded and within the hour Fiona had everything she needed. She would schedule the driver to stop by the store with the delivery of the lamps and bed frame so that she could pack everything in and be done with it all in one day. "Kay, that should all come to $200, but I'll give it to you for $90. Consider it a token of my affection, in monetary form." said Francine, and looked at Fiona earnestly.

Fiona found herself quickly submitting to her emotion, and leaned in toward Francine. "Just how far exactly does that affection stretch?" she asked tentatively, and Francine took her by the hand. Leading her to the back room, she sat Fiona down and pulled out a chair for herself adjacent to the mutant. "It stretches very far. I've missed you so damn much these years Fiona! Where have you been?" she asked, and the emotion that spilled from her clearly transcended her feelings in an almost palpable way.

Fiona sighed and looked to Francine. "Well, I hope you don't hold it against me... But see, I left the show lights and the glamour to get an education with my grandmother in Spain. Now, when that happened, I came across information that would help me. I know you're wondering why I might need help, and the reason is... I'm a mutant. You know, those people you hear about on the news who everyone deems the freak in the group... And I've been admitted into a special academy where they cater specially to mutants. It's even run by mutants, and the headmistress there is one of the nicest people I've met in long while..." she finished, and looked at Francine. "I never meant to leave you without any word at all. I honestly didn't..." she trailed off. Fiona was never one who could take making others feel badly.

Francine looked toward Fiona and tilted her head, making her blue eyes sparkle and her porcelain skin priceless. Her choppy hair shined in the light, and Fiona couldn't help but smile. "It explains quite a bit though," said Francine, "You always were odd. What's your power? Can you manipulate fire or something? Fly? Make people do things?" she laughed. Fiona shifted in her seat and nodded: "Yeah, I can make people do things."

Francine quickly raised an eyebrow. "Do things?" she asked, and Fiona leaned in, mustering any ability she could to possibly make the other woman feel something. Before she knew it, Francine found herself moving closer and closer to Fiona's face. Fiona bridged that gap, and felt Francine's lips against hers. It was more passion than she had felt in so long, that she ended up intertwining her fingers into Francine's almost baby-like choppy blue hair. After a few moments, Francine pulled back as though in shock. "I-I'm sorry, I have no idea what that wa-- Wait a minute... Was that you?" she asked shakily. Fiona nodded, and began to explain just what it was she could do.

After about fifteen minutes, a very astounded Francine started back at Fiona with an expression of almost anger to her delicate features. "Have you been using that on me this whole time? Have you been using that on me all of our lives? How am I supposed to know that you didn't just charm me into liking you?" spat Francine, making Fiona wince at the disgust that was dripping from the word 'charm'.

Francine looked over Fiona and waited. "Well? Aren't you going to say anything?" she shot out, and stared. "What do you want me to say?" asked Fiona, in a low tone. "I honestly never meant to use these powers on you, I never asked for them, and if I did use them on you, it was entirely unintentional up until this point, which was to demonstrate. I can't even control my powers." Francine nodded and turned away. Then, with an almost broken sound she said: "I honestly felt like I was falling yet floating, and like you were some kind of goddess that I needed to be with and touch... I felt hypnotized, I felt sexual, I felt alive. You did that..." whispered Francine.

Fiona looked away from Francine's tiny frame. She had never had her powers described to her before from the viewpoint of the recieving end. Looking back to Francine, she stood and walked to her, pressing her body against Francine and nuzzling her face in Francine's neck. "I care for you." she said softly, her breath directly in Francine's ear. "I still want you." said Francine, and turned to face Fiona. The women looked into each other's eyes, and read all the feeling that was evidently still there. Fiona grazed her nose against the tip of Francine's and kissed her lips lightly. "You can't just come in here and whisk me away like nothing ever happened, like you left for just a week or something, or like we were on break. You once told me you loved me, Fiona." said Francine, and kissed Fiona again. This time, their kiss lasted a long while, before finally the women submitted to primal instincts and let each other's hands run free over the curves that they had missed so much.

As things began to heat up, Fiona found herself infusing so much of her powers into Francine that her body was almost pulsating. She felt as though she might even be able to predict what the woman was going to do next as she felt a part of Francine, like a part of her thoughts. "Love me.." she heard in her head, and pulled Francine closer to her. Now, Fiona found herself feeling everything that Francine felt, and it was almost scaring her. She had never had this effect happen to her, much less with a woman. As the moment culminated with an explosion of emotions, words, thoughts, and actions in passions that only two women can share, Fiona returned to her normal state immediately. She could no longer feel anything like what she had felt before, no matter how hard she tried.

Francine approached Fiona's leaning form against the table that they had just corrupted, so to speak. "What's wrong?" she asked, and looked upon Fiona with such a look of concern that Fiona felt compelled to calm Francine. "Nothing sweetheart... Nothing." she said, and the two pressed themselves to each other skin to skin like a sort of back up reaction. Looking over at the clock on the wall, Fiona realized she barely had an hour to get back to the furniture shop so that she could meet with the driver--but before she could say anything, Francine had pulled away.

"This can never happen again." she said, blankly.

Fiona looked at Francine's turned back with a seriousness that befitted her strong personality. She was slightly hurt, as she had opened herself up to the woman as they shared their passion. However, she understood why Francine would feel that way. Why would anyone trust someone who could simply charm them when the time was right? For all Francine knew, Fiona might cheat on her and charm her to mend the suspicions... Fiona could lie and make Francine believe it. Francine would be nothing but a mannequin that Fiona could play with and love when she felt like it. And Francine would have none of it. However, Fiona had no idea how to make Francine feel better as, well, Fiona might just do those things if she felt that Francine had hurt her or taken advantage of her, which a lot of people liked doing.

Looking again at Francine, Fiona began to get dressed. "Fine." she said, as she did the buckle on her belt. Suddenly Francine turned around furiously, with tears in her eyes. "Fine?! That's it? No question why?" Fiona looked at her fleetingly as her eyes searched the floor for her bra and top. Deciding to look for those items last, she set to lacing her knee-high combat boots. Fiona was always comfortable in her own skin.. Francine thought, and looked the woman over. Porcelain skin, a beautiful angular face, almond shaped eyes, and full sensual lips. Not to mention the smallest, and daintiest waist; veluptuous breasts and a behind to make a Botticelli angel cringe with envy--all hers. Yet inside was such a fractured soul that Francine dried her tears and walked to Fiona.

"Fi, why are you so cold sometimes?" whispered Francine, and placed her hands on Fiona's sculpted waist. "Weren't you the tough one who wanted to end things right now?" said Fiona, and looked down at Francine. Compared to Francine, Fiona was a giant (Francine was only 5'0") and her harsh way of taunting Francine made Francine wince. "I didn't mean for it to sound that way," mumbled Francine, and placed her hand above Fiona's exposed left breast. "See, underneath this image of perfection," and Francine traced around Fiona's breast with her index, "Lies a heart that thinks no one loves her." Tracing to Fiona's belly button, she looked up at Fiona. Fiona found herself staring at Francine in fascination, but she was staunch when it came to someone who attempted to reject her. Taking Francine's hand by the wrist and removing it from her body, she spotted her bra near the table's leg and quickly put it back on. Tangled in it was her spaghetti strap top, and soon enough Fiona looked like nothing had happened. Fiona then looked at the clock again. She would have to call from Francine's so that the driver could just make his way over there. Dialing, she encountered the shopkeeper on the other line who still remembered her by name. Smiling, she gave her details and hung up, knowing she'd have to wait for about ten minutes.

Looking over Francine only once, she began to hand the woman her clothes. Francine got dressed a lot quicker than Fiona did, and soon both came out into the store again. Looking back one more time, Fiona nodded at Francine, and began to descend the stairs to meet with her driver who was ready to return her to the mansion.