Don’t touch the horseshoes! Who: Ellie & Shimmer What: An impromptu invitation When: December 21, 2020 Where: The Aria Hotel Rating: Shimmery Status: Complete
There’s something sweet in the air
Christmas swiftly approached.
It’s a time of unity, preservation, family. This was no different here in Las Vegas than it was back home in Texas except for the fact that her family was not there. The idea of missing the holiday with her family sat heavy in her heart. Her mother also had not been thrilled to learn her daughter was staying in Vegas for the Christmas holiday when the rest of the family was getting together.
But Ellie needed to be by herself and detach from the drama of home. With the addition of her newly discovered ability and her still growing relationship with Flynn, rushing back to Texas seemed too much to handle. That, and she hadn’t yet saved up enough to travel back home.
She had sent gifts; things she discovered during her time away had been purchased, packaged, wrapped, and shipped in time to make it back home before the holiday.
Their house was not a large one but it always seemed bigger with the addition of the tree. Her mother was a fan of going all out for any holiday and so their house was always decorated to match.
Presently she found herself gawking at a display of lights. Ellie had heard about the Aria Hotel and Casino and stopped in to see what the buzz was about. She wasn’t disappointed.
Handed a paper cup full of cocoa upon arriving, Ellie found herself drawn to the display which boasted over 4000 pounds of sugary confections designed to resemble a Winter Wonderland. There was also a castle made from one ton of candy to walk through and view.
Gently she blew at the warm beverage clasped gently in her hands and she paused to stare at the wondrous things all around her.
One of those wondrous things was staring right back.
Or, more correctly, a wondrous thing in humanoid form. Not that the girl had any way to know that, because Shimmer looked like any other young woman. Albeit, one who was looking right at her with big eyes and an even bigger festive smile, ear to ear. There would have been mittens, scarf and a hat, but Vegas didn’t have those kind of temperatures. She was, however, wearing an obnoxiously festive top with bright LEDs causing her to look like a mobile Christmas tree with arms and legs.
Every time Ellie looked away and back, the figure had somehow silently shuffled closer. And closer. And closer… Not so much as a blink. Just watching. And smiling. And staring. And smiling.
Until…
“Hi!” And the figure stood there, rocking a tiny bit back and forth on her heels. The fingers clasped around her own cup were drumming excitedly. “I was given a cocoa-laced beverage, too! I haven’t drunk any, but it’s mixing with my aura and I feel like a teacake!”
A pause.
“So, how are you, friend-I-haven’t-met?”
There was a little feeling beginning to stir; that sensation of being observed, of eyes crawling over your skin and clothes like a flurry of hands. Ellie didn’t realize she had been being watched on purpose - sometimes that feeling came when you were out in public - until the woman greeted her.
Ellie blinked. Her hot chocolate shook a bit with pressure from her fingers. Cheeks flushed from the surprise. She smiled, slowly. “Hi,” Ellie greeted. “I like your shirt.” It was festive, there was no doubt.
"It's merry!" Shimmer's wide-eyed observational reply came across as alertly as she felt. Which was to say, a lot. "Also, a good few volts of electricity are weaving through me to achieve this effect, which I wasn't expecting!"
Lifting her own cup, the lukewarm liquid within sloshed about. “It’s so good,” Ellie confessed. “I don’t remember hot cocoa ever tasting this good.” Her accent weighed down a few of her words but overall she managed not to spill any of the beverage so she counted that as a win.
Friend I haven’t met.
A tip of her head. “Uh, good.” Her expression turned a bit shocked but she eased back into a smile, “How about you?”
Shimmer didn't answer for a few seconds. Instead, she seemed to be acting like a telephone set to vibrate, sitting in a glass table. "Energised," she spoke through gritted teeth. Then exhaled suddenly and slid a hand through hair with a, "Whew!" Her head shook quickly and the shudder ran down her spine.
Ellie arched her eyebrows just then, recalling something the woman said a moment ago. Electric current running through her? Volts? That sounded dangerous. “Are you OK?” The question was at least offered, although she suspected asking could send them into a tailspin.
"O-O-OK, so! Have you ever walked around with a wet sponge stuffed in your jeans? I-I don't think it's healthy, man, but I know this guy who's, like, a Mormon version of Luke Skywalker? And he told me - actually, it doesn't matter what he told me, 'cause..."
Shimmer's stream of consciousness went on for a good, solid minute or so. "Also, my person-name is Shimmer," she added on the end with a big, wide - albeit genuine - smile. She made to experimentally take a gulp of the beverage, but then thought better of it and tried to thrust it into the other woman's hands.
"I've got a thing for you!" And she fished around haphazardly in a pocket, tongue sticking out, before thinking she had striking gold and presented Ellie with... "No, wait, that's lint. Here we are!"
It was a crumpled piece of paper, upon which Shimmer had scrawled an over-excited, very colourful picture of dragons, barbarians, wizards and something which looked like a talk show host with wings.
"Behold! Does that get you going? Eh? Eh?! 'Cause that's right, lady! I am about to offer you a once in a lifetime special deal! Want to know what it is?!"
Person-name.
Ellie laughed a bit. “Glad to meet you, Shimmer!” She truly was glad to know the woman’s person-name, anyway. “I’m Ellie.”
With a blink she accepted the lukewarm paper cup of hot cocoa while Shimmer searched for something for her. And as the slip of paper came toward her, Ellie traded the other woman for the original cup.
“Um,” she managed, looking at the overzealous illustrations that weren’t half bad. “OK, what is it?”
"What is it? Ella, Ella, ehh... Ehhh... Ehhh... Under my umbrella," began Shimmer, half-singing Rihanna lyrics, to which Ellie began to sway back and forth to, delightedly. "I'll tell you what this is... It's a one-way ticket to adventure, is what it is! The theatre of the mind, Ellie! And you can't put a price on that!"
Holding the image up with one hand, Shimmer used the other to quickly swipe over the picture, like a glamorous magician's assistant presenting a bouquet of shiny throwing knives. Fingers waggled in the air and their owner's face was wide-eyed and full of enthusiasm.
"So, as an introductory offer to you, my chocolate-bathing friend, you get to turn up for free! Do you enjoy party games? And stage-based theatrical spectaculars? And tales of dungeons and, mm, say, dragons, perchance? Well, this involves all three! It's a sort of... Game, if you will. Involving dungeons and, indeed... Dragons! A sort of... Dungeons and dragons game... If you will. Except! Based in an actual wizard's lair! Filled with occult treasures!"
OK, so... Technically, Shimmer hadn't exactly told James about this idea yet. But a business model required demonstrated there was 'demand' before the 'supply' part could kick in. If she could convince him to rent out the shop to a role-playing group, she was pretty sure they'd be the types to want to put down money and purchase some souvenirs.
And the key to getting RPG enthusiasts involved? An allure of reasonably attractive female humans, of course!
Which made Ellie either the maidenly sacrifice to a kraken or chum in the water. Either way, Shimmer figured presenting it in more inviting terms would stand a better chance of success in gaining her co-operation.
"There'll be actual spells, real crystal balls and-and-and oodles of atmosphere, Ellie! Knights in actual armour! Or at least, a reasonably good facsimile! What do you say? Something involving agreement, I hope!"
Blue eyes observed the theatrics; was this an ostentatious invitation to play Dungeons and Dragons? Ellie had heard of the tabletop adventure rpg type game before but had never played. Her interest piqued simply because of a desire to want to indulge prior to the odd and random extension of an invitation.
It sounded like a lot of fun, regardless of whether or not it was in an actual wizard's lair. Refusing Shimmer’s overwhelming tidal wave of enthusiasm was challenging. “It sounds like a good time,” she responded, smile growing. “Okay, I’m interested.” Ellie laughed a bit, mystified and intrigued. She had not been expecting to bump into someone like Shimmer, much less be extended an invitation at random to play a game with strangers.
It wasn’t as if her own schedule was jam packed with anything pressing - a few half-completed paintings and the usual employer obligations - and she needed to get out more anyway.
“If I give you my number will you text me the details?”
“Great! Let me just… Aaand, here we are, if I can… Huh, that’s strange.”
Shimmer had fished out a mobile device, though it wasn’t of a conventional type. She enjoyed the ones with plastic segments which flipped out, like something from a James bond or ‘Matrix’ film.
The disadvantage with older technologies, however, especially the way Shimmer sometimes unintentionally knocked them around, was that they could malfunction or even select the wrong settings by accident.
Like no audio or vibration cues.
How many missed calls and messages…? Oh.
“Just a moment,” Shimmer excused, putting on her best air stewardess smile, before racing to the most important names on the list. Not that one, not that, not them… James, oh!
‘Stay away from Curiosities until you hear back from us. Dangerous. - Celeste and James’
Well, they were going to be super-impressed with her, that was for sure! She hadn’t turned up there for days! Maybe this was something she could wrangle some hazard-pay for?
Resetting her device, Shimmer handed it over for Ellie to type her number in and give a helpful little thumbs up gesture. Impulsively, her eyes darted between the girl’s face and the chocolate she had bequeathed her and, with a predatory sneer, she took repossession. Didn’t drink it, just… Held onto it, feeling the energy merge into her own and started to do a very good subtle Meg Ryan impression via a satisfied, “Ye-e-e-e-eah...”
There was a slight glow around her when she did it, but that had to be from all those LEDs on her clothing, right?
“I’m informed there might be a teesny delay in when we’re opening, but it totally has real occult items! And if the owner blows red powder in your face, it’s just to make sure you’re not evil, OK?”
Smile-smile-smile!
With a nod at the gesture to wait, Ellie took a moment to indulge in her lukewarm beverage. The cocoa still tasted good though it had lost the scalding heat leaving her with a satisfactory taste that shouted Christmas.
Ellie looked around. People shifted around them. While she felt a bit embarrassed for being in the way she did her best not to let herself be worried about it. Shimmer didn’t seem to mind being obstructive to the walkway and so Ellie mimicked that confidence.
Though when the phone was offered she accepted it and a few button presses later her information would be entered and saved. She handed the device back with a smile.
She nodded at the morsel of information about the delay, though her eyebrows would arch up slightly. “Red powder?” Did people do that? Perhaps they did - she wasn’t used to that but it seemed a minor inconvenience in the larger picture. “Okay.” The last comment felt more in line with the confidence she’d been shooting for.
“Yeah, but I’m pretty sure he won’t do it with you. And the pervy statue thing is mostly resolved. Well… I’m 90% sure it is. 87%... I mean, these things work themselves out, mostly. But look at you! Independent wo-man on the towwwn! In your chic whatevers! And now you’re gonna’ make some bitchin’ friends and - oh! You should come in costume! You don’t have to, but if you did! Oh, golly! Oh, man! We-we-we could make it a costume thing! And it can be just like Hallowe’en! You know how difficult it is to sing Lady Gaga with tentacles? ‘Cause, let me tell you, sister! That’s a talent, right there!”
Yep, Shimmer was on her astral version of a sugar-high, again. A million ideas rushing in at once, towelled down, organised, then tossed into a heap. It was only around pure water she seemed to somewhat settle down.
So, liquidised chocolate had been… Having effects.
“B-b-but tell me, relatively healthy human! Are you currently residing in Vegas? Or somewhere further afield? There’s a lake you can get to from here, but pirates live there and they’ll totally mutiny your ship and steal it. Is that where you’re from? Did you live on a boat and now you’re homeless? O-oh! Ooh! Is that why you’re looking at all this confectionery? ‘Cause you’re really hungry?”
The whirlwind of what Shimmer was saying was absorbed, or at least Ellie tried to take it all in. She nodded, then smiled brighter. A lot of friends, eh? Maybe this was more than she had bargained for but then perhaps she didn’t realize she was in the market for new friends until this odd woman had come along.
“Cool. Let me know if it’s a costume thing,” she added. What a costume of that sort looked like, she wasn’t sure, and asking Shimmer seemed like signing up for trouble she wasn’t sure she could handle. By the looks of that sweater, anyway.
“I live here in Vegas!” It was easy to divulge the information. Whatever surge her new friend was coasting on seemed infectious. “Do you?” And Ellie laughed, shaking her head. The end of her nose crinkled. “Not a pirate, and I came here because I saw an ad for it and I thought it looked cool. I love art, I’m an artist.”
Turn the entire thing into a costumed affair? Why not! “Sure thing,” breezed Shimmer with a visible nod and thumbs up gesture. She’d done her research. She knew role-players loved to, like, decorate themselves in wizard capes and such. It was a foregone conclusion that this would be mightily successful. She was in the midst of writing a reminder to herself on teh back of a hand when Ellie clarified her living arrangements.
“Well, chin up, little sailor… You could be a pirate if you want. Never stop believing and, one day? You’ll get a pegleg, too,” Shimmer reassured her and, from anyone else, it might have seemed deadpan, but judging from the sympathetic expression and body language, she seemed to honestly believe as much. “But, yes! Yes, I dooo... Have you seen the fountains? Off by the Bellagio? Don’t sit on them. I think it’s like a water cannon.”
Ellie wished for such an easy sense of confidence. Shimmer seemed to just radiate it, the woman was equipped to handle conversing with a random, total stranger in ways Ellie had never experienced before. Even now she felt like she had known Shimmer for longer than a few moments without really knowing why.
“Maybe I should dress like a pirate,” she suggested, trying to offer a bit of her own confidence though it came out more serious than she intended. “I’ll forego the pegleg for now, though. You know, for appearances and stuff.” Her free hand waved around in a gesture that suggested she knew what she was talking about and had the details down.
Then Ellie nodded, “I’ve seen those fountains. They’re real pretty.” She didn’t want to sit on them, looking at them was just fine.
“A… Pirate witch?” Then, narrow-eyes, Shimmer mentally catapulted over this intriguing new idea with a suggestion of. “A were-pirate! No… That’d suck. You’d just look up at a full moon and, instead of giving a howl, you’d just be all, ‘Yarrr!’ Then try setting sail. That or… Try to catch syphilis? I dunno’. Ooh! But you could be a pirate fairy! That’d be cool! Sort of flutter around and stick people with your sword!”
Shimmer rather like the thought of that, miming it for a moment. Then wondered if she could actually do it to someone. Hmmm...
“Anyway! You should think up a character. Like… A name and age and… A vampire. Or a dragon. Or a fuckin’ dragon pirate, yeah!” There was a little cross between a snarl and a smile, as Shimmer mentally entertained the idea, like a new video game. “You know, something you could find in a mystical, far away land. Or an ocean… And if it isn’t? You can still call people ‘landlubbers’. And I don’t know what that means, but it’d make you sound irascible, like a grumpy, drunk Santa. And he gets Everyone to sit on his lap around this time of year. So… Yay, popular!”
Suddenly looking around herself, Shimmer spontaneously began patting herself down with a free hand, then happily took out a roll of sticky-backed name-tags, tore a small number off and handed them over.
“For when you figure out who you want to be! Like…Myrmidon, terror of the seas! Or Trixy Hefferlump. Or Lady Meow-Meow, were-cat guardian of Deathly Chapel. Whatever feels, you know, ‘you’.”
“Like a tinker bell or something,” Ellie murmured. Her lips twisted as she pictured the image in her mind. She itched to sketch the form out on paper, already she worked through hues and bits of definition. A pirate fairy was not a bad idea at all.
“Dragon pirate? Like with wings but no sword and fire?” Or maybe a sword, too. One of those little plastic ones that came in Jello except larger. Were those still even cool?
Maybe this character concept idea was going to be more challenging than she initially thought. Ellie didn’t realize her half-consumed cup of hot cocoa was floating in mid-air. She was too caught up on the dragon pirate — did they shoot fire on a wooden boat? What if it breathed mist instead?
Then she realized she was being handed a name tag and she reached for it. “I’ll think of something.” It was a promise she would keep regardless of not coming up with an idea right away.
Her hand snaked absently back around the floating cup and Ellie took a sip, scrunching the end of her nose in thought.
Shimmer noticed. Noticed and was slowly tilting her head on one side, like a cat. Also like a cat, was the fact that it seemed to go to a right angle and beyond, before swivelling back on its axis and looking straight at Ellie. As caught up in the quirky new ideas as she was, levitation instantly caught the nymph's interest.
"Did you... How..." But Shimmer's line of questioning was cut off as she waved her hand under Ellie's, then, on a hunch, tried to push their cups together, wondering if it had been achieved by hidden magnets. "Was..." And she shook her head quickly, raising a smile of delight. "Are you a ghost? No, you're... A magician? Is that why you're in Vegas?"
Then she snapped attention back to the display of confectionery and back, again.
"Make that float, too!!! Smash it outside and feed the homeless people! But-but not the dogs, 'cause it's poisonous!"
“Hm?”
The surprise was evident as Ellie looked at Shimmer. At first, she didn’t realize what the other woman was asking her but then it hit her hard. Something must have been floating. Color swam into her cheeks. “Uh, no. I’m not a magician or a ghost,” or at least she didn’t think she was.
Ellie looked at the display of candy, then back at Shimmer with a laugh, “I couldn’t do that, someone worked really hard to put that together.” As an artist it seemed faux pas to destroy someone else’s work.
Shimmer's idea was a good one, though. Feeding people who needed it was never a bad thought especially around this time of the year.
"Well... At least sell tickets, the next time you do it! It's Vegas! You could probably donate millions to charity and still have most left over! One of those ones about the captive bears and donkeys," Shimmer urged with good-natured sympathy. Not all plights were human, after all. Still, the reaction was, tellingly, not overly startled, just enchanted. This wasn't someone for whom magic seemed impossible, so much as just unusual to witness openly in society.
"What I can do would probably just... Anyway," Shimmer interjected, realising she had probably just hinted at too much. Then decided to hurriedly push her cup suddenly at Ellie, making out as if it was going to spill at her. Trying to make the telekinetic's ability trigger.
"Ooh, watch out, watch out! Aww... It didn't happen! What if someone almost runs you over in a car? Do you lift it up or shove it aside? Oh! You could fly, maybe! Do you fly?"
Ellie laughed a little bit at the surge of excitement; she had only recently started to feel comfortable with her powers, they still crept up on her unknowingly as they did with her cup. “I wish I could use it for good,” she murmured. Every dollar would’ve been donated if that was the case, but she was too clumsy for magic shows and trying to upstage Chris Angel seemed like a real chore.
Her eyebrows arched a bit. What could Shimmer do? Ellie suspected a lot but she didn’t press. “Well, you’re really friendly, at least,” she offered in lieu of actually knowing.
And then Ellie stepped backward reflexively to avoid any spillage. Nothing seemed to come flying out at her though. She took a breath and her smile grew back. “I don’t think I can fly, but I did move a car once. A little bit.”
"But... You didn't move it for good? I mean, you don't have to use it for evil, if you don't want," Shimmer suggested, trying to be helpful. She had taken Ellie's regretful lamentation to heart, assuming the girl must simply be too tempted to use her abilities for ill, instead of good. "Or maybe phase it down, y'know? Go from murder or whatever to... I don't know... Practical joking? It's almost the same thing, if you look at it from a hobby point of view."
But then she remembered the compliment and immediately brightened back up. "I do try to be friendly, thank you!" And she gave a little playful tap to Allie's arm in the process. "There's not enough of it going around. Not, at all. People forget to fill the pot, then they get all bitchy 'cause there's no happiness pouring out when they need some. And, 'sides, it's better being a little cheery rainbow than a grumpy thundercloud with a turd up its ass."
Ellie shook her head, “Oh, no, no I don’t use it like that.” Who could imagine doing such a thing? She thought about John, the vampire who had surprised her in the alley - but then her focus shifted back to Shimmer and she let the memory of that night fade away again.
A soft laugh. “You sure have a way with words, Shimmer.” She finished her beverage, admiring the sweetness of the taste though the texture now resembled chocolate milk as opposed to the warmer concoction. “And you're totally right,” she added. “A lot of people would rather complain than contribute. We need more people like you in the world for sure.”
Mentally preening like a cat, “We do! We do!” Shimmer craned her neck and decided she would throw caution to the wind! She’d join in and actually drink the stuff. Couldn’t let Ellie be the one who was doing that on her own, right? The taste was registered with an, “Mm,” before a cocoa-coated mouth raised up and… No. No, she liked that. And descended, once more.
And swallowed and swallowed and swallowed…
“YEAH, WE DO!”
Those LEDs were now glowing so brightly, it looked as if they might cause miniature explosions and… Even Shimmer, herself, was giving a strange little glow. Almost radioactive.
“And we should… And we should… Like… Fly. Everyone should FLY! W-w-w-w-why don’t you fly, human?! Ellie… Ellie Fitzgerald. Y-y-you should fly! Grow wings! Why can’t you just… UGH!”
The now-empty cup was scrunched together in the very palm of her hand and Shimmer might as well have looked as if she had just crushed steel, not cardboard composite.
“You know what you should… The city! Float the city, Ellie! Then spin it around and around and around and make everyone projectile vomit!”
She probably shouldn’t have actually drunk the contents.
As Shimmer began to brighten - visibly and in cadence of word - Ellie’s eyebrows lifted. It was as if the situation had gone from zero to sixty in a split second. That didn’t deter the artist, but she did have a bit of concern for her new friend who seemed to be hitting some sort of sugar spike from the beverage. Was the cocoa that good? Ellie looked at her own up with surprising curiosity though she deduced that her brew was not the same ilk as Shimmers.
That palm crushed cup was an indication as to the surge of energy, anyway.
“Wouldn’t that be something?” Ellie replied. If everyone could sprout wings and fly there would be a sky traffic jam or something just as silly to worry about. “I don’t really like heights though, so I’m okay without being able to fly.” It was hilarious to consider though. And floating the city sounded dangerous. Wasn’t that done in a movie she saw recently? Avengers something?
She laughed a bit. “That sounds gross, but funny. We shouldn’t compete with the Earth for spinning. Things are just as good the way they are.”
It triggered the most incredulous look in the history of incredulity. One of those facial expressions shot by one heroine to another, when being held hostage by a gun and trying to signal the other to DO SOMETHING, damn it! Because why was Ellie refusing to... To...
What had she even asked her to do, again?
Mentally giving up, Shimmer sharpened up a wide little smile, suddenly tweaking and looking from left to right very suddenly. Her nose giving little chipmunk-like sniffs of the air.
"Yeah, you're right... Y-y-y-y-you're right, man! Like... If the police found out. And they never let up if they find out you downloaded a few songs, right? Like, just a few. A handful of thousands, that's all. Never get off your case!"
Suddenly whirling around in a fit of paranoia, Shimmer didn't see any police, but... Did that have to mean they weren't really there?
Bringing the conversation back to a different type of piracy, Ellie could only nod her head. Gone were the days of Pirate Bay and other illegal music streaming sites. She paid for her Spotify monthly like a good girl.
“Oh yeah, you know they would totally find me,” Ellie nodded, playing along with her agreement. Did police still track people down for that? She wasn’t sure she really wanted to know.
The other woman’s sweater was still blinking though she could’ve sworn the pattern of the twinkling lights was different now than it had been or was she simply seeing things?
"Right. Right, so... Right," Shimmer repeated, gathering thoughts together like so firewood scattered all over the floor. "I mean, it's... Like, i-i-i-i-it's a right. Napster died so we could have it."
Civic virtue and US Federal law awareness were not among Shimmer's strongest talents, but she knew when to bear mace someone and that counted for something. Then, suddenly, she turned on heel and took Ellie's hand, jerking it in a shaking sort of motion.
"So, congratulations! You will hereby be notified, the moment Fantasypaloozafest '21 kicks in! Just remember...! Don't touch those horseshoes!"
Granted, the didn't yet have that as an official catchphrase. In fact, it didn't have any slogans. The extent of its marketing campaign mostly amounted to the drawing. But, technically, it didn't have a name, either. And she'd just made that up, too. So, all was good!
Firing finger-guns at Ellie, Shimmer started walking backwards, nodding on her way. And then... Continued walking backwards, still smiling. In fact, walked backwards and turned the corner, wondering why things looked a little unusual, moving in the opposite direction to usual, but going with it, anyway.
Ellie shook Shimmer’s hand. It was an odd rendition of the gesture but she went with it. Her smile grew though. “I can’t wait. I’ll be there,” she said nearly finishing the sentence ‘with bells on’ but she stopped herself. Her new friend might take that literally or simply run away with it, so she kept it to herself.
A wave. She watched as Shimmer tucked around the corner then sighed though she felt warm on the inside. With that invitation she moved through the exhibit happier than when she had started.