driftfleet | Libuscha IV System Mingle (no. 1)

Wh- you bastard! Heels in snow, heels in snow!!

[She may not be wearing the new red boots, but the ones she's got on now are built for style, not track and field. Between her staggering and skipping through the slush, and his initial head start, he definitely has the upper hand in getting to the shop first.

Good thing she still has a decent backlog of earnings after their last heist...]

Gotta be prepared!!

[He zips on ahead, heedless of the snow since she's got nice shoes on and he was smart enough to wear flats. The only problem? He's too busy looking back over his shoulder to make sure he'll get there first and he absolutely misses someone coming out of a shop.

And he collides right into them like a goober and spins around, sliding to a stop. He's got enough dexterity that he doesn't go down, but if she needed an opening, there it was.]

Shit! Sorry! Watch yourself!

[Lup's decreased speed and fumbling in the ice suddenly becomes a perk, and she straightens up her posture to glide across the slippery part like a champ instead of crashing the way he did. She smirks and waves at him as she passes by.]

Thanks for the heads up~!

[...And then proceeds to misstep and slide a little too far, the heels proving detrimental to the whole concept of stopping on the ice; she makes a last-second grab for a signpost near the shop entrance, but her hands slide over the frosted metal surface and she sails right past the door. Try again, Taako!]

Fuuuuuck-!!

[Why are they such disaster children? Taako whips around and starts running again as the person he crashed into reaches out in protest. As she slides past the door, he feels a surge of hope and puts a burst of speed into his step as he busts for the door.

And steps on a ice patch.

And trips.

And falls.

He hits the ice hard and slides through the snow, head over heels, toward the store. But by the hand of Istus or someone else, he spins and ends up hitting the side of the store, right by the door. This is what happens when you roll a five on the attempt but a twenty on the landing.]

Oh gods, I'm gonna die. Why is snow so shitty?

[Lup isn't so lucky; she manages to stay off her ass, but she can't recover in time enough to beat him to the door. With a scowl she shuffles her way back to the entrance, her eyes trained on the path to avoid any more ice.]

Smooth moves, Koko. Hey, hurry up and learn that Fly spell- I don't want a repeat of that disaster, especially in public.

[Nevermind that she could just cast it herself. It's the principle of things!]

[Ugh, his ass hurts so bad. He feels like he's broken something even though he knows he hasn't. Taako blows a raspberry at her and starts pulling himself up off the ground, clinging to the side of the building to give himself purchase.]

I'm not even proud of this victory.

[It wasn't even cool. He just got a sore butt and wet clothes out of this.]

I'm gonna be studying up on that Fly spell once I get back.

Proooobably for the best. The good news is we're buying new clothes, so maybe they'll let us wear them out.

[She raps her knuckles against the doorframe.]

The bad news is, you won, so I guess I'm paying. Try not to break my bank, will you?

[He puts his hands up in a wet somewhat unenthusiastic approximation of jazz hands.]

I had to help you earn most of that back, so yeah, fine. I'll rein in my spending habits just for you.

[Feel special, Lup! He shakes himself a little, carefully of course, to get some of the snow off. Then he motions her inside.]

You get first pick though - how about that?

I'll take that trade-off. [But she grabs the handle of the door and holds it out for him, giving him a flourishing bow.] After you, sir!

[Once they're both inside, Lup takes a moment to cast her gaze around the shop, eyes roving from rack to rack until she picks one that features a set of fancy dresses of varying colours.]

Ooooh, check these out. I see red...!

[Might not be the right shade just yet, but that's her primary goal now, so it's what she wants to find first.]

[Taako strides in and gives the shopkeeper a tip of his hat before wandering over to the first rack. Lots of nice shirts in here at least. He's not sure if he wants to wear something more practical since he'll be cooking and serving, or something fancy because it's a wedding. He peruses through while Lup goes for the dresses, then follows after her.]

You better hope your hair doesn't clash with red on the day, yanno.

[He pulls one dress out though, a nice red - not quite the right shade.]

Hella better sense than the last place we went though.

When's the wedding? The colours change in a pattern, so I can figure out what shade I'll be at.

[She checks his held dress, mentally comparing it for a moment with the shoes in her bag, then shakes her head and starts sifting through the rest to find a better colour. There's a cute gradient through the whole rack, so there's a few better options.]

Thank all the wacky gods that this place has better options.

I think sometime toward the end of this month... Uh..... [He rifles through his bag, looking for the invite he was sent. It takes him a bit because Taako carries so much stuff with him at all times, but after pulling out some random trinkets and baubles from his bag, he gets the invite out and hands it to her so she can check the date herself.

Then he goes back to perusing the rack. There are a lot of different styles in here, but a few are too casual for a wedding. Great for clubbing though - if they ever find a place that has a decent nightlife scene.]

You really wonder why we had to arrive during a garbage planet, huh? Couldn't they have given us something nicer? Like this? Or, I dunno, a beach? Someplace warm?

Dunno. Bad luck of the draw? They're not all gonna be winners.

[After a hundred years of going from random planet to random planet, she's surrendered to her fate of some of them being complete write offs.]

The beach, though… mmm, that would have been amazing. I could have used a vacay for sure.

[Lup accepts the card and checks the date, doing a quick bit of math to figure it out. Ooh, dark purple? That's not a terrible match, comparatively.]

Have you got dark purple nail polish? And we'll need some accessories, too… yeah, I can make this work.

We all could have.

[Taako wanted one to be sure. He'd just come off a mission where he died over and over again, and apparently? They'd all been real deaths. He's just lucky that they hadn't stuck and that Kravitz had been willing to hear him out and bargain for the lives of everyone in Refuge as well.

He flips the card around once she's gotten a look and slides it back into his bag.]

Uh...doooon't think so. I can buy some though. Might as well start stocking up on them since we don't know how many planets will carry the right colors.

[He pulls another dress out, checks it, then lets it go. Nope, too much like an actual wedding dress.]

Why's it cycle like that anyway? Funsies?

In part for funsies.

[She draws another dress down from a rack, and-ooh, nice design, but too short for her purposes here. Probably inappropriate for some stranger's wedding, and not great to move around in a lot, for the kitchen work. File that one away for "buy in a different colour", to be worn elsewhere.]

You remember all the planer systems line up with different-coloured gemstones, yeah? Like in that guy's lab back with the Philosopher's Stone. And how that research was my whole jam way back when? I was messing around with a spell back in grad school, trying to rainbow-up my hair for a party. It misfired when I must've had the planes on the brain, and my hair's cycled through those colours ever since. A real Gogurt situation.

[Lucas' lab and the planer systems? Yeah, he remembers that. Kinda hard to forget, especially since he's here right now among all the ice and snow and Candlenights throwbacks. It's like he's gone back in time again, but this time without a purple worm bursting up through the ground to devour him.]

I mean, I'd rather have magically changing hair than Gogurt, but sure.

[He still has no idea how to reverse that particular curse. It's been like this so long though that he's just gotten used to it. Vodka will taste like Gogurt, wine like Gogurt, everything. Such was how it had to be, he guesses. At least he had enough sense to know how things should taste.

He turns around and starts browsing a different rack from Lup. Too many dark colors up in here, but you never know. He flicks through the clothes idly as he talks with her, head turned slightly toward Lup.]

You know it's still weird how much you know about shit that people aren't supposed to know about, right? No judgment, just sayi--- OH MY GODS.

[Taako stops and pulls two dresses from the rack, whipping around as whatever he was just saying escapes him completely. One is a sleeveless sunset red and the other a purple and red ombre.]

Do you see these?!

[Lup turns at his shout, following his path as he pulls the dresses down off the rack, and her eyes immediately go wide, a hand clapping over her mouth. She scampers over to reach down and draw the fabric of the red one out, getting a feel for how it moves.]

What the fuck, those are gorgeous! We have to get 'em, no choice in the matter. They'll be murder on the dance floor!

[They'll need something to cover them up in the kitchen if these end up as the upcoming party selection, because there's no way she's risking ruining them during the catering gig, but daaaaamn.]

[And murder in the kitchen. All this flowing organza? That's just asking to get caught on fire. But she's right in that he can't just let them go either. They're too good. It would be a crime against fashion to let them-- yeesh. Taako pales a little when he sees the price tag on the two dresses.]

Ugh, good fashion never comes cheap, does it. I wonder if we can get a discount.

[Lup peers over and- oof.]

I mean, hella worth it, but... maybe if we buy enough. I don't wanna burn our bridges here, so cheating them out of it isn't gonna work. I'd like to come back here for more later.

[And she doesn't especially want to end up with a thief reputation entirely, as fun as it is to swindle. Living honestly can be good! Just not as, uh. Rich.]

[And that's the problem, isn't it? If he didn't have to worry about coming back to this city, he'd just rip 'em off and call it done. But he actually - dare he say it? - likes the people here. They're earnest and kind to a fault and just seem to be in the mood for celebrations. It'd be a shame to do them wrong.

Taako sighs and fingers the price tags. Can he afford even one of these dresses? Probably...but he'd need to either barter some things away or seriously dip into his savings. Then again....considering what he has in the works, maybe having savings here wasn't going to be necessary soon.]

Hey, why don't you go ahead and keep lookin' for stuff and I'll go smooth talk the shopkeep and see what kinda deal I can get set up?

[Lup quirks a brow at his expression- it's rare for him to give a shit about being deceptive, but it's known to happen. Just means that they've managed to dig themselves into his good graces enough for him to keep it that way.

She turns back to the dress, hiding a smile. Well, good. She likes this planet, too, and she wants to enjoy it here as much as she can.]

Sure thing. I'll see if anything else catches my eye- worst comes to worst, we can find something less expensive and come back once we've got more cash. With prices like this, I doubt they'll disappear overnight.

Oh fuck no, I'm not letting these babies escape us. If I have to, I'll Charm 'em.

[Aaand off he goes. High price or not, he is not going to let this leave his possession. He finds the shopkeeper and starts chatting them up, trying to figure out how best to wheedle for a deal. It's boring having to care about someone else's life, but after a few minutes, he manages to impress her with a few magic tricks. Prestidigitation and then a Minor Illusion, followed up with him turning an apple to an actual golden apple. The shopkeeper is delighted, but it doesn't seem to be convincing her.

Taako is about 2 seconds from just blasting her with Charm Person when he pulls out a ribbon he got from a local recently. He changes it so it has a holographic sheen on it and presents it to her. "A gift for a gift, right? Isn't that how this holiday of yours works?"

That seems to convince her, but she hems and haws over it, before accepting the ribbon and sliding two coupons over to him. Taako quickly snatches them off the counter and heads back to Lup. As he approaches, he holds one coupon out to her between two fingers.]

I haaaaaaaaate having to be nice. Remind me to never do that again.

[Lup laughs, accepting the offered coupon. Both dresses are draped over her arm so they don't accidentally lose track of them or have their sizes bought by someone else while they browse.]

Nah, I don't think I will. It's a good skill in case of emergency like this- you ought to have some practice with it!

[Practice your charisma and not just your intelligence, dingus.]

I think I can afford the dresses with this, but not much in the way of accessories. Hope you've got a few stashed away for it.

Nope, I'm already going to strike it from my character sheet. X that riiiight out.

[It was tiring having to care about people he'll never seen again. The only reason he did was because they wanted to come back here so he actually had to, for a short while at least. Once either his spell worked or they were leaving this system, he could give this magic planet a middle finger and do whatever he wanted.

Until then? Play nice.]

But of course I do - duh. Who do you think you're talking to? I stole a fuckton of them from that last dump. Not like anyone notices when you walk out wearing three or four more bangles than you walked in with.

[She sniggers and shakes her head, holding out towards him the dress that obviously suits him better.]

Yeah, same here. Well, if we're sold on these, we should at least see how they look on us, first. I'm gonna go try mine on.

[She can already assume that it's going to be stellar, judging by the shape of it, and alterations can be made too, but for this price? No way she's just going to trust her eyes. This ain't the garbage heist where they can steal first and work out the kinks later.]

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