act the fool

[Delphi Renaud]

Legs kicked onto the wobbling table of this outdoor dining area, languidly knocking both feet together in a rhythm that was sure to annoy surrounding patrons if there had been any. Instead it was just her - just Delphi - and the present buzz of a bee in her ear, one no amount of swatting had been able to stop. The nature of some matters was simple persistence. She distracted herself instead with the pitter-pattering of the light rainshower gifted by the grey skies, a respite for her closed eyes to see - finally - darkness, loosing the tension in her muscles.

A lolli hung from a swirling pink tongue, dying it pinker still with every lick of strawberry until she thought her mouth might numb from the sugar. This was her third in the preceding hour alone, and a fourth was being unwrapped by delicate fingers that danced along the rim of the plastic. She liked the sensation of crumpling it within her hand, rolling it back and forth … It was further stimulation, only punctuated by her teeth catching on her sucker with another turn that cracked it. Crunch. The nature of some matters was simple persistence.

“Aaaah …” 

It wasn’t her voice to catch her attention, the fragments of candy stalling her teeth from grinding into each other until they could break through the sugary coating. She forced a smile until it felt real, a flash of teal the indication for her eyes scanning the countrymen going about their days on the sidewalk around. No… no… no. “Okay, okay.” 

She slid up, relinquishing her protection of the quickly dampening chair she had occupied. She was slower in these movements than when tending to the candy now edging between her thumb and forefinger, taking a moment to stretch and blink up at the droplets to wet her face. She followed a single bead that cupped her cheek until it hung at her jaw and fell to the ground, a breath trembling the rivulet left behind.

She then left to follow a figure she had picked out, ducking into the crowd and lifting an arm in approach when mere feet away. “Hey there, cowpoke~.”

[Meridith Sheppard]

It was SUCH a RUSH! She couldn't stop her heart from racing with excitement. She had made a clean break, for over a day she had been absent and nobody had found her, nobody had tracked her down just yet. Her phone was absolutely blowing up, she took the time to answer, to give them some understanding of what she was doing. They'd worry, but they were going to worry no matter what she told them. Then her phone literally blew up and she felt the last little chain on her vanish and she was free.

There was so many emotions in that moment. There was the joy in the possibility of what lie ahead of her, the excitement of knowing how much trouble she'd be in, the small tinge of grief that reminded her how worried they'd be, and the anxiety of the trouble she might be in. So far, however, excitement was winning out in spades.

So there she was, in a country she could manage the language in with some serious effort with nothing but the clothes she was wearing and a strapped messenger bag over her shoulder which held the rest of her world possessions. Thusly dressed, in a long draped set of beige trousers with a thin black belt, a plain white button up and a short black jacket and, gosh she just couldn't help it, a little beige beret. She made her way through the crowds deep in thought. Part of her wanted to take a moment to enjoy the sites, but she also had to find a place to stay and well there was all that monster hunting ahead of her...

She almost leapt entirely out of her skin when the figure approach and raised a hand to her. The panic might have registered on her face for a moment, passing her expression in a way that might have signaled to the observant that she was expecting someone worse than she had just found. A warm smile found her face moments after. French. French. French. It took her a moment before responding.

"Oh, hello~" she replies with a little wave, moving to a stop. They were an interesting picture, the explosive pink hair was absolutely lovely~ Enough that the rest of the ominous red was lost on her. "Can I help you?" she asked with a little hint of sincerity that wormed its way into her passable French.

[Delphi Renaud]

She was cute. That was the first note Delphi could make, pearly whites flashed in the backdrop of pink and red that adorned the rest of her presentation. She was quite jealous of the stranger’s fashion -- Delphi only really shopped when she wanted to play pretend, like a nurse, or a corporate executive, or museum curator… the little odd jobs she could slip into for an afternoon. It was hard to feel comfortable outside of her uniform, otherwise, like a safety blanket of identity. She knew who she was, and the girl she was wore this shade of red.

Still, this girl… well, girls were always easier. They never went over as poorly. The hand that had reached out retracted to toy with the end of the lolli’s stick in her mouth, pulling it from her lips with a pop and a swish of the candy wand in the air as she waited for the surprise to finish registering. Abject shock was not the common response to Delphi’s approach, but she always liked a taste of something new here and there, and it let her read the disposition of her mark before things went further.

Her first impression of this mortal was positive so she continued unguarded. She rung a lock of hair behind her ear to stifle the earring now glittering behind it, a blink of her eyes re-centering her own train of thought and dispersing anything that would dampen the smile she wore. The point of her canines gave her a slight snaggletooth to greet with, hanging her candied prop from between her fingers like a lit cigarette.

It was adorable to pick up on the other’s rudimentary grasp of French; and while politeness dictated she slip into something more familiar to her new acquaintance, well… she could have a bit of fun, couldn’t she? It made her feel young again. “Oh thank goodness, a native. I was hoping you could, darling. I seem to have taken too many wrong turns and I have no idea which way it is back to Venice. I am sooo turned around.”

“Could you help me? ♡”

[Meridith Sheppard]

She giggled and shook her head, wondering if she was being teased. Even still Meridith was all smiles she looked back towards the candy focused woman and waved her hand dismissively. "Oh no, I'm no native!" she exclaimed as if there was a chance the woman thought it was so. Her eyes flitted around the crowd for a moment and wondered what it was that set her aside. A quiet signal of warning flared in the back of her mind but it was far from enough.

"Oh, well I don't know the area well but certainly I can help you," she replied without thinking. Perhaps it was that her brain was still processing her modest French lessons but she looked away and checked down the street, looked a street sign before she stopped. Wait. There wasn't a Paris, Venice. Right?

She shook her head, a little heat in her face made her blush as she looked back towards her. "Um, do you mean the Venice in Italy? How did you wind up here?" Turned around indeed.

[Delphi Renaud]

An easy step took her around the side of the girl she had chosen out of the crowd, looping an arm through an arm until her shoulder pressed to the other's. She was casual, languid; not specifically gentle nor firm but going through the steps exactly as you would a close friend and not a stranger off the street. There was a hum akin to a purr in Delphi's throat as she listened, nodded, rolling the lollipop from cheek to cheek with the thoughtful gliding of her tongue. "I see, I see. My mistake. You really look the part, you know? I couldn't imagine a more fabulous vision in Paree than this one." Her tongue would slide out from under the candy to poke fun at the girl, tone not losing its genuine touch. Delphi's eyes, brimming with blue and green, peeked over the rim of her sunglasses to catch hers.

"Oh, you know...," and she was walking, hoping the entrapment of her touch would guide the stranger to go along with it. She smelled of lilac and sweets, the pink of her hair fanning out in the dreary winds, slickened lightly by the dusting of rain. She loved the warmth of the other pressed against her body like this, arm in arm. She could almost brush the heat of her hand, a pinky extended to wistfully imagine so, her skin far too cold to touch without alerting. She was no longer looking at her companion, gaze instead lost to the skylines, not seeming to scan so much as take them in. She counted the windows and doors of each building they passed in her head as they passed them, relaxing as moments stretched into moments. "You take a train here, get off a train there... I just have, like, nooo sense of direction. You get it, right?" She didn't put thought into anything she said, her eyes closing for a moment to drink in the petrichor. 

"Anyway, my friends call me Vix. What about you? You look like an... Abigail? Lisabet?" A conspiratorial grin, tooth present once more when trying to catch the other out of the corner of her eye. "Anastasia? I bet you're a fancy one." She wasn't giving the girl much room to speak until she'd make a point to stop Delphi, each tap of her boot against the sidewalk so light it was as if she was gliding along the ground. "Well, Anastasia, darling, if we're already lost in Paris, we might as well grab some lunch. I don't know about you, but I am famished."

[Meridith Sheppard]

Meridith wasn't exactly sheltered. She had the run of the village, she was very social and outgoing when she went off to school. She made a lot of friends! Even in her village she had children her own age. But she had never in her whole life been so absolutely bulldozed by another person. She found herself giggling at the compliment, shifting her gaze away coyly and then before she knew it they were moving together arm in arm.

Such a mark! But it's fun...

A journey started with a single step and the lovely scent of lilac and sugar. "Sounds nice, just hop on a train and go? I think that's what I'm trying to do right now actually," she said quietly, perhaps the comment was lost in her companion's own stream of consciousness. She tried to offer her name twice before flushing just faintly with the effort and smiling politely. Abigail? Lisabet? No! Absolutely not!

When they stopped at last and the offer of lunch was made Meridith paused, taking a moment to look behind them and back. The hesitation was written on her face, but she studied her lovely blue-green eyes through the dim screen of the sunglasses and nodded. "Lunch, lunch sounds good." How long had it been since she had eaten? Guess she'd been subsisting on a diet of mostly excitement and fear and at the mere mention of food her entire body threatened to revolt if she didn't agree.

"It's Meridith though!" She insisted firmly, making sure that she said it out loud! "Anastasia is a very pretty name though, perhaps it's yours?" she replied playfully. "Do you think your sense of direction can find us a place to eat or is that up to me?" she posed. Some normally quiet part of herself demanded she assert herself, even if just so.

[Delphi Renaud]

It was lovely to see the lack of resistance put by the other - Meridith, she might have said? Delphi found life was much easier when she was left to lead. Her dance partners could rarely keep up in time with her steps, after all, and she'd hate to see them left behind. Her arm squeezed tighter, linked them as a colliding figure that space had to be made for on the busy, dreary streets they crossed. Her hand would imperceptibly hook its fingers into Meridith's forearm, a reassurance Delphi herself didn't notice. It was nice enough to walk and talk like this, old friends. She had successfully planted herself into this role.

"Oh, love, that's all I do. Oh my god, could you imagine? Being in one place for, like, ever? Not me, no no no. I wouldn't be caught dead being seen in the same place twice." She had to keep the strain from her voice. She didn't enjoy sticking around. "It's like outfits, except I look good in everything I wear and the backdrop is the really important bit. You know, for the lighting? Yeah, you know. I mean, look at you." She was appraising her from her place at her side, not slowing in pace nor looking where they were heading. "Oh my goddd, look at you. You're so pretty I could die." Ahahaaa.

She started herself when Meridith stopped, almost falling from the awakening of their physical bodies physically moving through a physical plane. She often found herself forgetting that was an important thing to take notice of, but the anchor of Meridith's arm was sturdy enough to ground her feet once more. She righted herself with pealing, unabashed laughter, catching an eye or two that quickly passed the two. There was that name again - hers? - and Delphi just nodded along, lips pursed around the final shreds of the stick that remained before she spit it over into a nearby trashcan. The motion was immediate and fluid, continuing the discussion as if she had never moved. "Oh, dear Anastasia, I know just the cutest little place." She nodded to herself, gossip in her tone, scanning up at the skyline again before being hung up on a cloud parted in the rain.

"Hrm, wait, no, actually. I don't know anywhere. Oops! What did you have in mind? My treat, of course. You're doing so much to help me already."

[Meridith Sheppard]

Easy going was a good way of putting it right? Meridith was fine with it all because it was pleasant, and fun and because she was irredeemably curious by nature. She touched the stove because even if she was pretty sure it was going to hurt sometimes you -really- had to know.

She grinned almost certain now that she was being messed with but not in a way that she found unpleasant. The kind of chaos that matched the vibe radiating inside her skull. "I'm envious," she said freely. "It's a big wide world out there, be a shame not to see it all right?" She gestured around them then paused as the woman, whom Meridith had firmly noted had yet to share a name! Appraised her closely. "Oh gosh, you're teasing, it's the clothes here I love them! I've been a big student of-"

Come now, she's an absolute stranger. Save something for when she knows your name! She stopped herself letting it trail off naturally.

Unbelievable! Anastasia! Again! She giggled and just shook her head freeing herself of the physical contact of the woman and she stepped away to look around the busy street. She was just too much.

"Hm, well.." She let the thought linger. "I must say you must be blessed to have found me. I actually know the cutest little place to eat and it's not far either." She let the mischievous look fade as she wheeled about and stepped back towards her new companion and extended a hand to her and strove to meet her gaze directly.

"I'm Meridith by the way. It's very nice to meet you."

She was pretty sure she'd find somewhere nice before long, it was PARIS after all. How hard could it be?

[Delphi Renaud]

"My dear, never waste your energy on being jealous when you could simply go out and take what you want. You're, like, way too pretty for that." She regarded Meridith with a matter-of-factness that solidified the lines of her features, cheekbones seeming sharper in the moment the first rays of light broke through the haze to frame her. She tossed back her hair, cocked her hip, and watched each little mortal scamper by to hide from the vestigial rain or race toward their daily chores now that it was clearing. "The world is out there. What are you going to do about it?"

Her lips popped as if to clear the last drop of sugar from her gloss, putting a period at the end of Meridith cutting herself off and the façade of seriousness Delphi wore. She giggled, leaning forward with her back extended and her feet pointed at each other for balance. Her arms - now freed from Meridith's person - met at the small of her back in a clasp, a devious look through a winning smile and the rim of sunglasses staring sidelong back at her. "I figured this was a blessing since the moment I saw you, darling. You don't need to also be the most learned and fashionable person in Paris for that -- but, well, color me continually impressed anyway." Her tongue poked between the play of her teeth, wiggling briefly in the air and catching a raindrop in its antics. It popped back into her mouth.

"I don't usually let my partner lead, but, well... since we're such good friends and all..." She trailed off, looking at Meridith than around the street then back again. A single eyebrow quirked, an accessory to conspiracy. There was that name again - it couldn't have been the girls if she had said it so many times, so she must be speaking on an acquaintence. Vixen's sunglasses found themselves slipped off her face as she moved a step or two away from the other, twirling the banded frame around and around a finger. She stopped the rotation, in thought, twisting the very end the eyewear's temple. "Of course, Anastasia darling, completely enchanted."

"Oh, and if you're so fond of this Meridith you should invite her on our next outing absolutely. Deal?" See, she listened when others spoke.

[Meridith Sheppard]

The question was a good one, what was she going to do..? She went to speak but the second thought came quicker, and why was she talking about these things with a stranger? A stranger with a name certainly but someone so...strange. Compliments given sincerely delivered with such warmth, they felt good but they didn't mean a lot from a purpose she didn't know, couldn't really trust.

Warm smiles and lilac scents and sugary sweetness. A saccharine flavoured interaction, but you couldn't just subsist on sweets could you? They were treats. Meridith was never much for desert. She liked substance. Still...

There was something there, wasn't there? Something to it for its own sake. Overwhelming in the way of intoxication. A mysterious yet intriguing stranger, a foreign and lovely place, the soft and delicate rain. So if she had a problem with it, maybe it was just about the expectations? You're Meridith, she reminded herself, but does it matter if you're Anastasia for a moment?

She giggled and shook her head, her eyes wearing amused disbelief easily. Incredible, she wasn't even sure it was a joke.

"I suppose I'll have to," she replied to her good friend Vix and twisted about to scan the streets as she began to lead her enigmatic new best friend along. There were plenty of options, small restaurants, and bistro's and cafe's aplenty. But which one was right? She considers briefly, perhaps some garish chain restaurant with menu's on the wall she could do her best to sell! Something, anything, to see what could provoke a break in what felt like a very persistent facade.

"So, what awaits you in Venice?" she asked to pass a moment while she searched.

[Delphi Renaud]

Her grin was real - so easily it perked the curvature of her cheeks, pushing fragile bones out of the way of the trajectory of her joy and avarice. They were in Paris, the city of love, the city of light. Why waste so much time on worries and shadows? Why waste any time at all in questioning yourself or the tiny perfect moments you get lost in? That's what they were all searching for, weren't they? Respite. Understanding. A difference to the norm; something other than what they've all experienced before. A dull taste had no place on this table of sweets.

"Aaaah..." No shadows, she reminded herself. Not under these streetlights. Not with the brightness of the redheaded she rotated to cling to once more. Arm and arm, lit up. Meridith was the lantern and for today, for today, she would be a lightningbug, flickered alive and mirroring the glow that so that enraptured her. She settled on Meridith, head on her shoulder, pink a river of feathery down that would paint her side. Her left arm looped securely through Meridith's right, her own right lifted across her chest to curl her fingers in against Meridith's already entrapped limb. She held onto her, casual, giggling, molding into her form with a blissful hum. "Aaaahhh..."

She felt the blood in her mouth and swallowed it away. A dull taste had no place on this table. She was a girl of gold, not copper. "Anastasia, my love, you are such a lifesaver. Oh my god, could you imagine? Me, alone, wandering lost through these cruel streets? Only the wind as my guide beneath my pretty pink umbrella, oppressed by the rainfall... the horror, honestly, Anastasia, the horror." She looked up at her, eyes wide, glittering with specks of light within the bottomless ocean. Her tongue was already out of her lips, wiggling in the air, teasing her. "Of course, I don't have to worry about that now. My hero, really. Strapping on your white horse."

She perked higher, taking a quick step to lead only shortly in front of Meridith with both hands still fixed to the other. She was beaming, incandescent. "Are you to be my prince then? Come to save me from my drab grey tower? I can see it already; the stories they'll tell, Anastasia. Our very own fable is being written as we speak."

"Venice? Eh?" She blinked, head to the side before rotating to look up at the sky. She was walking backwards ahead of Meridith, the sidewalk not so full that many had to dodge out of her way but any that needed to do so did without her attention being paid. "I had a dinner date, if I recall? It couldn't have been that important. Now, tell me, this place we're going. Tiramisu, yes? There's nooo way they wouldn't carry it."

[Meridith Sheppard]

A note struck her in a way that chilled down her spine. What was that? For a moment she was distracted, her arm in Vix's she turned her gaze to the side, away from her and her entire body suggested that Vix had been, for that moment, forgotten.

It lasted a second, a flicker of wondering what it is she had just heard. Not a literally sound, drowned as it would be by the sounds of life around them, but a note that carried itself on the wind in a way that was almost impossible to notice. The kind of sound you noticed because you could just barely hear it.

The ticking of the second hand passed and she was back like it had never happened.

Anastiasia smil--

MERIDITH smiled. "Oh goodness, what an awful an undeserved fate for such a beauty as you~" She said with a playful lilt of her voice. Provoked as such she stuck her tongue back out at her in a return of fire. The words she spoke and the actions she took were so unfamiliar to her. Perhaps stranger than the role she found herself playing was the ease at which she found playing it. What did that mean?

Someone who doesn't know the steps to a dance can pull it off with the right person leading. Maybe that was it...or..?

She paused, as Delphi swept in front of her, gliding gracefully. She found a rush of thoughts threatening to disrupt her footing in the dance. Was any of this real? She thought to pinch herself. So strange, the dreamlike quality of the encounter, she was so...strange. So absolutely bizarre and yet the way she felt disarmed by it. So what if it was weird?

Meridith would pull away and shake her head and tell her that she had to go. Serious work to be done, after all. She had to get started on her journey, after all.

But...she wasn't Meridith right now was she?

"I'll be your prince for the day at least," she said thus as someone other than herself. Perhaps for more to come? One of many lines she thought to say, but not even the person she was beside herself could manage it. She was happy for her question about Venice to breakthrough helping to refocus her brain. She giggled at the carelessness of it all. "Oh please, don't make me participate in depriving Venice of your company," she pleaded and proceeded to be led by Delphi down the sidewalk once more.

Hey wasn't I supposed to be the one leading? A thought without much chance of expressing itself.

"We'll be sure they do," she assured her. Tiramisu~ That sounded just lovely. She followed along with Vix down the sidewalk, spying at last their destination. She had, of course, swiftly abandoned her ploy before. She just couldn't bring herself to try to derail things like that. "Right there, best Tiramisu in all of Paris," she promised as if her insistence alone could make it so. A small place along the street, a simple sign on the wall outside.

She moved to take the lead at last, pulling her companion along. If Vix loosened her grip on her arm, she'd reach to take her hand as she moved to cross the street to their destination.

[Delphi Renaud]

Sugar and spice and everything nice, the composition of Delphi's features in response to every word Meridith writ across the page. It was no longer a game - was it ever? - but a fairytale, the story they were creating together with each deft stroke of their feet on the pavement. Fashionable boots led the rhythm of Delphi's dance, swaying to and fro with a lead she wasn't leading. They alternated in step, Delpi guiding Meridith guiding her. Delphi didn't care, despite herself. She didn't need to be in control of every step; just take me away, sweet prince. Free me from this tower. I'd even let down my hair, for you. Please? I'm beg_{ging you, please, my prince. You can rescue me, can't you} --

Laughter that was as nervous as it was heartfelt, stolen in the span of one beat from the next. She hadn't even noticed when Meridith took her eyes off her, when she thought to look back and return to the senses of her hands grasping cloth, the sounds that surrounded her, the scents that filled her nose -- she was still there. Relief a palpitation. "High praise from your radiance, my prince." Her brow lifted with a cheeky smile, wagging her tongue shortly behind the point of her incisors while her eyebrows followed suit. "I knew you were here to sweep me off my feet. The moment I saw you, I said - I did, I really did - that you were going to make this day so much more interesting. Now look where we are! ... Somewhere! Very interesting! I love Paris!" She squealed, hopping from foot to foot, close to pulling her hands back in her excitement for a display of how wide she could throw her arms but far too scared to release her grasp.

"You've got it completely backwards, Anastasia. Look around you. All around! Look at me. Now at yourself. Okay, do you know what Venice would be missing if I was there right at this very second? ...Well, the weather would be nicer, I'd hope. But! Not the point I'm making." She chattered on, prattling faster than the rain could fall. She could hardly take note of the direction they were moving while within her sugarrush. She was lagging behind, even, enough for her hands to slide from Meridith's forearm and give enough leave for them to then be caught. "Venice doesn't have you." She had sparklers in her eyes, fireworks that lit up and shook out her locks of pink. Color, she had so much color.

"My life is in your hands, darling. Nothing will stop me from getting my hands on every dessert this shop has to offer! Waiter," she hollered to no one in particular, loud and even and far too playful. There weren't even any servers outside their destination. "Bring me twenty of your finest Tiramisu! I heard you have simply the best--" Fingers betwixt fingers, warmth to steam the touch of ice, frigid, alone, that hadn't felt the sun in too many years.

That is to say, she had only now realized. She was holding Meridith's hand. Her ears were redder than her coat, her neck nestled in her lapel and hiding the blush that kept along it. Time stopped all at once, lips pooling over each other, biting, quieting her squeak of surprise. Instantly was she cast as guilty, a sinner, far too depraved to manage a word louder than a whisper. A whisper? She could barely hear it, not now. Not the with the squirm of her digits burrowing into Meridith's, squeezing all too gently. A treasure.

[Meridith Sheppard]

"I think you find yourself somewhere wonderful regardless of where it happens to be," she said. Perhaps teasing but certainly, it was sincere regardless. Someone like her could light up a room and transform it around them. She felt a little envy at that. Then why not just become it yourself, she asked.

Because she decided. For reasons she'd explain later.

She blushed deeply at the compliment about Venice. She thought of many things she might say, and a few things she should, instead all she found to put her voice to was "I like the rain." Sombre, peaceful, quiet. It brought upon reflection. It made the hearth feel cozy. It brought people together, warmth and companionship when the world outside wasn't fit to travel. Or, in a light rain like this, she liked the way it felt against her skin. A thousand tiny drops and the chill to follow. All of it came together to remind you of how pleasant it was to be warm again.

No no no, she chided herself. Meridith likes the rain.

Well what do I like then if not the rain?

Her vision was filled with pink, the sparkle of bright eyes and she smiled.

They made their way within, theatrics to follow as Meridith found herself swept up, but just so. "Why not a hundred," she replied, wisely toned down a bit to be certain she wouldn't regret it. Excited as she was leading them to a table past a sign which asserted 'Veuillez attendre qu'on vous place, s'il vous plaît' she didn't notice the abrupt hush that fell over her partner was she realized that her hand was gently held but was stopped when her hand was squeezed gently.

She turned back towards Vix and returned the gesture with a casual firmness and fixed her gaze. "Your seat, princess~" she offered moving to pull the chair for her.

[Delphi Renaud]

"It's the person that makes the place, Anastasia. That's why I know being here with you is so much more fun than what Venice could offer." She continued to nod along as she spoke, a pop of her lips signaling that no further discussion was needed on the matter. She continued. "Nobody just makes magic with a wave of their wand and a wish for something more. It's the company that the magic comes from. That's why Witches belong to, like, covens or whatever, right? We're stronger together! This is magic happening. Right now. All the time. When you're with someone else. Like this, right? Don't you feel it?" She met Meridith's eyes, her smile a little less intense, a little more soft. Truly, she was going to get this Anastasia to like herself as much as she was coming to li--

She had noticed something long before they had made it to the café that she kept locked away in the back of her mind. It's nothing to worry about for now. Besides, this daydream... this fairytale... the clock hadn't yet struck twelve. She wasn't going back to being Cinderella. They still had a dance to dance. "The rain? You don't think it's too...," she trailed off, glancing up and around them before they left the rain behind for the warmth of Meridith's choosing. Her eyes caught on the clouds, stalling her for only the moment it took to tug on the lock their hands had made. The feeling of her fingers is what brought her back down again, into her body, into her mind. "It makes the sky so dreary, don't you think? I don't hate the sound it makes... but a world devoid of color, well, that's not really a world at all, is it?" Another grin, bashful this time. She was being silly, the hand not coiled around the other girl's lifting to turn into her cheek. Teehee.

"Oooh, a hundred? Anastasia, you're insatiable. God, I love it. Let's get more than we can eat so we can leave with like, twelve bags on our arms. People are going to think we're so cool." There was a light of mischief within the smolder of her eyes, as if she wasn't kidding. Of course she was! But, imagine the glamour. Still, unlike Meridith, she could read. She just chose not to!

It was her companion acting as attendant that stole another breath from flushing lips, worried her heart might all but stop between her senses being so overwhelmed by the way Meridith played along. She wasn't really playing, though, was she? As far as Delphi wasn't. There was truth to every word in a story. You don't get something from nothing. "R-right! Why, yes, of course, my prince." She swallowed, reasserting herself with a runway walk to the chair presented where she could gracefully glide into its seat before crossing a leg over the other. Her lips were pursed, smug and giddy. She didn't let go of Meridith's hand.

Ba-dum.