for Jyn

[andhiswife]

It's meant to be a relatively quick trip to Bardolf's. Greta's looking at cufflinks -- for herself, this time, though no one needs to know that -- and trying to resist the easy temptation of just buying a second pair of the ones she most recently got for Thomas. They'd be sure to match that way. But she doesn't want to diminish what had been a gift by simply copying it; nor is she certain she even wants to match perfectly as much as she wants to compliment.

She's beginning to wonder if they have a women's cufflinks selection, and if she has the nerve to ask a salesperson about it, when she spots a familiar face a little ways off. She hasn't seen Jyn since New Year's, when they were both a mess and coming off the tail end of a party that had ended in crumb-covered ruins. It would be nice, she thinks, to say hello now that she's feeling refreshingly presentable. And now that the nearest party is on the horizon and not likely to end in any sort of disaster. The city can't be trusted, but Magnus at least likes to make sure his guests enjoy themselves.

Abandoning her hunt for accessories, she makes her way over until she's close enough for a polite speaking voice to carry. "Hello, Jyn. You're looking well." 'Clean' might be the more operative term -- she'd looked well at New Year's, too -- but she can hardly greet someone like that.

Comments

[nextchance]

Jyn has felt out of place since she first walked in. There's a reason why she doesn't usually shop in upscale stores like these, even now that she can technically afford to. But her boots are just about worn through, and they're one thing she won't skimp on if she can help it, in no small part because she's had to before. She needs something sturdy, something she can fight or run in, and something that won't result in her toes freezing if she wears them outside in the sort of weather they've been having lately. The first store she went to was out of stock in her size, but the salesclerk surreptitiously suggested she come here if she didn't want to wait for them to be ordered, and so reluctantly, Bardolf's is where she's gone.

However, she hasn't actually managed to locate the shoes yet, mostly wandering around, looking a little lost as she takes everything in but waving off any offers of help, as unapproachable as ever. That, at least, changes at the sound of a familiar voice, Greta's nearby presence admittedly a little relieving. They may not know each other very well, but it still makes Jyn feel a bit less lost in the midst of all of this.

"Hey," she says, actually something like friendly. "You too. And no killer cookies running around this time."

[andhiswife]

"Darrow does have a way of making you appreciate the moments when you're not fighting off enchanted pastries," she quips. "Or toys." They might count themselves lucky that the clothes themselves aren't shimmying off the racks and attempting to throttle them. She won't be saying that one aloud, though. Darrow has enough beastly ideas on its own; it doesn't need her help.

"Are you readying yourself for the next party?" she asks, eyebrows ticking up curiously. She doesn't want to assume -- New Year's is a safer bet than a Magnus party if you're more interested in a ruckus than a ball -- but it's early February in an upscale clothing shop. It does seem like the most obvious explanation. "That's what I'm doing. Or attempting, at any rate." She shrugs haplessly; most of her preparations have already been made, so the matter of the cufflinks doesn't seem like anything to get anxious about.

[nextchance]

"It really does," Jyn agrees, nodding. She might not mind a fight — which, really, is an understatement — but she prefers her opponents to be of the human or at least humanoid variety. Fighting cookies and toys, things that shouldn't be capable of such things, is just unsettling, and it requires her to take a totally different approach to the kind of combat she's experienced in. She's always said that she'll eat anything, far from picky, but she does have a feeling that it might be a while before she's entirely prepared to eat gingerbread again.

Greta's question comes as a bit of a surprise, mostly because she hasn't been thinking about the upcoming party or the holiday with which it's associated at all. She went to the last Valentine's Day party, even wore a dress to it for what might well have been the first time in her life, but no such occasion existed on any of the planets she's lived on, and she mostly just goes to the parties here for the hell of it.

"I was only here to look for new shoes, actually," she says, wiggling her toes slightly as if for emphasis, the leather of one moving a bit more than it should. "These are about worn out."

[andhiswife]

"Ah." Greta looks down at Jyn's boots and nods her understanding. She can tell that they're a good pair -- or that they were, when they were bought -- but the leather's going a bit thin in a few places. And cobbler is one of the professions that doesn't seem to have stuck it out, for all that people still wear shoes. It's just that they all show up in shops like this, pre-made. You can't just take some boots that have almost had it to someone who will fix what needs fixing and leave what still works.

"Well, the shoe section is just over this way. Here, I'll show you." She's already explored it a week or so ago, looking for a pair of shoes that will go well with trousers (something she's never had to consider before), so the layout is still relatively fresh in her mind.

As she steers Jyn towards the boots, she continues, "I hope I'll see you there. It's nice to attend a party that almost certainly won't turn into some sort of brawl." Not that she expects anyone to make an effort in that vein. Goodness knows how Magnus's magic might be turned toward breaking up fights, though she imagines he'd work something out if the need arose.

[nextchance]

Jyn is as grateful for the company as she is for the guidance that she doesn't have to ask for. Admitting to a salesperson that she needs help finding her way around seems like making too much out of her presence here, drawing attention to how very much she doesn't belong. Letting Greta assist her unprompted is far easier, allowing her to go along with it without highlighting how necessary it is. In a store this size, she could probably wander around all afternoon and not find what she's looking for, and come across a dozen things that she doesn't understand the function of instead.

She would probably have given up already, except she really does need new shoes, and she prefers not to accept such an easy defeat like that. So she'll get what she needs, and that will be that. It really is nice to have run into Greta under less dangerous circumstances than when they first met, anyway, even if she's personally more comfortable in a battle than a high-end department store.

"I might go," she says with a nod, following along in the direction of the boots. "I did last year, I think. And to the one last summer with all the paint. They're not bad, as parties go. And the food's always good."

[andhiswife]

"He does put out a good spread," Greta agrees, considering herself a well-qualified judge -- at least as far as baked goods are concerned. "Though I've heard he likes to sow magic in some of whatever's on offer, just to make things interesting. You have to choose carefully if you mean to keep your wits about you."

And she can't bring herself to approve of that. Magnus doesn't mean any real harm, but something about mixing magic and food rubs her the wrong way. That's how you end up with massive beanstalks and Giants and so on, or trapped with the fae for a thousand years. Just because it's harmless fun in Magnus' halls doesn't mean it wouldn't be dangerous anywhere else.

They reach the shoe section, and then the little subsection dedicated to boots, and Greta waves her hand in an indicative 'ta-da' gesture. "Honestly, it's worth going just to see how he's done the place up," she adds. "And the dancing is great fun."

[nextchance]

"I don't think anyone wants me to try to dance," Jyn says with a huff of a laugh. "I'd probably break someone's toes." For all the different things she may be and have pretended to be, a dancer isn't one of them. She may have her moments of gracefulness when she fights, but nothing that extends beyond that. Even just going to parties like that seems like pushing herself enough. She's never quite comfortable, but she has come to find that she doesn't really mind them — a far cry from the first significant occasion she spent in Darrow, when she couldn't leave the Founder's Day celebration quickly enough.

A lot has changed in that time, though. Perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that her tolerance for parties has, too, even if she still can't imagine herself getting out on the dance floor anytime soon.

Taking a careful look at the boots on display, she eyes a pair similar to the ones she has on, though of course in better condition. The leather seems sturdy; the sole, when she picks the display shoe up, doesn't seem like it will start peeling off too quickly. The price nearly makes her wince, but she reminds herself that she can technically afford it, and that sturdy shoes aren't a frivolous purchase. Once, they might well have been a luxury by her standards, but not anymore. "And yeah, I usually wait and let other people try everything first, hear what they have to say. Just in case."

[andhiswife]

"A good teacher can do wonders," Greta says, a small, fond smile spreading across her face as she thinks of her teacher, in particular. "But Darrow's definition of dancing is a bit... broad." And she understands how intimidating -- or simply unappealing -- that can be. It's different when there are simple steps you learn as a child that carry over into adulthood, which is how dancing generally was in the Village. Ballroom dancing hasn't been too difficult to pick up because it, too, has rules and standards and is only open to so much interpretation. But a complete absence of structure is off-putting even to her, and she enjoys dancing. It's probably even worse if you aren't inclined towards it in the first place.

She lets Jyn assess the boots in peace for a few moments, then asks, "Do you have your outfit all decided?" It's a slightly cautious question; Jyn had dressed more for a skirmish over New Year's, and while that had been a sensible choice for that occasion, Valentine's Day is rather different, she thinks. Maybe she shouldn't presume everyone feels the needs to fuss over such things well in advance, but she is curious to know if Jyn's considering something a bit fancier than the usual.

[nextchance]

"A lot of it doesn't look like much of anything," Jyn agrees. The same was true enough before, of course, the sort of thing she noticed in nightclubs and the like, but she still thinks Greta is right. Mostly, what people consider dancing seems to amount to bouncing up and down, trying to have sex while clothed, or standing in place and swaying slightly. That much might be easy enough, but she still thinks it's not her strong suit. She's not very musically inclined, if only because she's never had a chance to be, and while she's coordinated enough, she's used to it being in an entirely different context. Going to the parties at all typically seems like enough for her. The dancing, she can leave to other people.

At Greta's question, she pauses for a moment, finding it unexpected if only because she never really considers such things. She went out of her way to find a dress for one, once, but it wasn't anything special, and it's sat in the back of her closet ever since. Usually, she just wears whatever is comfortable, clean, and easy to move in. She doesn't need to try to make herself look pretty; she probably couldn't manage it anyway, and that's never been a priority of hers. So she shrugs, because it's not like she's still trying to find anything, but she definitely hasn't chosen an outfit yet. "I was just going to throw on something I have at home," she admits, trying to ignore the creeping suspicion that her answer is the wrong one. She doesn't actually think Greta would judge or berate her for it or anything like that, but she seems better suited to those parties than Jyn is herself. "Do you?"

[andhiswife]

Greta hums in noncommittal acknowledgment. The answer doesn't really surprise her, both because of what little she's gathered about Jyn so far, and because she doesn't otherwise know Jyn well enough for surprise to be justified in the first place. She doesn't know that she can relate to that sort of sartorial indifference, but she's in no position to object to it.

"I do, yes," she answers. "I thought I'd try something different this time -- or different for me, anyway." She shrugs, aware that this might qualify as boring and not wanting to delve too deeply on that account. But she’s grinning a bit, too; it’s exciting to imagine what kind of reception she might get. "It's sort of nice to have a party as an excuse, otherwise I don't know that I'd've had the nerve." A suit is only worth investing in if you've got someplace to wear it, after all.

[nextchance]

"Something you need the nerve for? Just what are you wearing?" Jyn asks, grinning a little in turn. Fashion may not be a subject on which she has any sort of expertise at all, but the way Greta mentions this, it's hard not to be intrigued by just what something different might entail. For her, just getting dressed up at all would require a specific occasion, nothing that she would even see a reason to try under other circumstances. It's apparent enough, though, that the same isn't true for Greta, and with no real gauge of what might or might not amount to different under circumstances like these, she'll just have to hope that she can get a little more information about it.

"If it's a secret or something, don't worry, I won't tell anyone," she adds. For her part, she's not sure why party attire would be something to keep to oneself, but the vague description makes her think that might be the case, so it's worth offering. Better, too, than focusing on her own cluelessness when it comes to such things. At least she hasn't been turned away yet just for showing up in whatever is comfortable.

[andhiswife]

"Well..." Greta chews her lip for a moment, considering. To her slight shame, it's the fact that Jyn is a fan of the show that stays her for a moment, her own instinctive trust butting up against reminders from Emma to maintain a certain distance if you didn't want your whole life overrun. But Jyn isn't a local, and she doesn't seem like the sort to turn around and put their whole encounter up on Suddengram or something (if she was, she would have after New Year's). And it's not as if showing her a picture of something Greta plans to wear in public qualifies as divulging something too personal.

Honestly. She's the one who flagged down Jyn in the first place.

"All right," she relents, digging out her phone, "but do keep it quiet. I want it to be a surprise. For some people, anyway." She thumbs open her photos and scrolls until she finds some from her last fitting, where the suit was pretty much perfect. Krem had made a few more tiny adjustments, but nothing anyone would notice in a photo. "Here." She turns the phone so Jyn can see, biting back a grin.

[nextchance]

"I won't say a word," Jyn promises as Greta takes her phone out, and she means to stand by that. Given the attention that some people pay to television shows and those who are on them, she would guess that there are more than a few people out there who'd love to know what Greta is wearing to the next party, but she sees no sense in playing into all of that. Besides, different as the circumstances are, she knows a little bit of what it's like to be on the receiving end of all of that, remembering how Poe looked at her when he was still here, a character from stories he was told rather than a real person. It's not a sensation she would wish on anyone else.

Seeing the picture, then, she grins, pleased and a little conspiratorial. Though a woman dressing in a suit like that would hardly have been noteworthy back where she comes from, she knows the same isn't true for everyone here, and anyway, Greta looks damn good like that. Even if fashion has never been a concern of hers, she can still tell that much. "That definitely seems worth branching out for," she says. "And I bet whoever you're surprising will love it, too."

[andhiswife]

"Well, Thomas already knows," she admits with a tip of her head. Not that it wasn't still a surprise for him, it just wasn't one she was trying to save for the party. "But I like the idea of surprising the people who haven't seen it already. The ones who know me well enough to know I'm not normally the suit-wearing sort."

She banishes the photo with a swish of her thumb, then hitches her shoulders in a cheerful shrug as she tucks her phone away. "It'll be fun, I think. Defying everyone's expectations." She layers enough good humor into her tone for Jyn to know she's not taking herself too seriously, but it is still rather exciting.

[nextchance]

"It's a good way of doing it," Jyn says with an approving sort of nod, though she knows it's not as if her input is strictly necessary here. She knows so little about fashion anyway, and perhaps less still specifically about deciding what to wear to get dressed up for a party. But it seems like a fun, safe way of doing something a little different, of surprising people. If there's one thing she does know, it's the enjoyment that can come with a change like that. Though hers were always out of necessity, she still got satisfaction from shedding one identity and taking on another, altering her appearance just slightly each time.

"I think I might defy some expectations just by going to those parties at all. Or maybe just mine."