Who: Belle, Poppy C and Tim P What: Poppy gets a mentor and a friend Where: A slightly crowded business street, near Bathos When: Thursday Evening Warnings: None!
- - -
Belle had nothing do to, and it was getting to the point where she needed to get out of the apartment. Dressed in dark wash flare jeans and a soft pink t-shirt, Belle walked the streets of Humanity without a care in the world. She wanted to see and explore, though she was fairly familiar with the area. There was a particularly busy street lined with shops whose windows were full of colorful and interesting displays. One in particular caught her eye and Belle had to stop to look.
- - -
Poppy had been walking around Seattle for an hour or so, watching for unsuspecting tourists and other such people. She was planning to hit up a club or bar later tonight, because it was much easier to sneak money from drunk frat boys than it was to try the same thing on sober adults, but the night was still young and she needed all the cash that she could get. Taking a turn onto a street lined with stores and boutiques, she noticed another tiny blond girl, staring through a window in awe, the zipper on her purse left carelessly unzipped. Too easy. Poppy made her way towards the girl at a fast pace and she was behind the girl in no time. Reaching her hand towards the open purse, she prepared to carefully feel around for a wallet of some kind.
- - -
Tim had just finished delivering some pieces to Cyril, and had decided to take a more scenic route home. One that included going farther out of his way than normal. He was dressed rather nicely, in slacks, dress shoes, and a button down shirt. The weather wasn’t quite cool enough to require a jacket, which Tim loved. He turned down a busy street, intent to do some window shopping. About halfway down the street, Tim noticed a short blond hurrying over to an even shorter blond. He had been expecting some sort of embrace between the two, but instead he noticed the taller of the two reaching toward the other’s purse. She was being so obvious that Tim couldn’t help himself. In three long strides, he was at their sides and grasped the taller girl’s wrist and deftly withdrawing it from the unsuspecting woman’s purse. “Ma’am, I think it would be best if you zipped your purse up,” he suggested to the shorter woman.
- - -
Belle had been so enraptured by the winter window display that she hadn’t even noticed the blond and the older gentleman until he was speaking to her. “Oh, sorry mister. I hate this silly thing anyway,” she replied, giggling slightly as she turned around to face them. The girl was so pretty that Belle smiled widely. “You’re very pretty. I love your hair. It’s just like mine!” she exclaimed, pulling on one of her curls and releasing it to let it bounce. She glanced between the blond and the older man. She stepped close to the girl and tried to be quiet as she said, “Do you know him?”
- - -
The second the man grabbed her wrist, Poppy pulled away sharply, glaring up at the man for a second before he started to speak. But before she had the chance to confront him, he’d already addressed the girl with the open purse and Poppy was forced to act normal.
A large grin snuck its way across Poppy’s features as the other girl complimented her. She never got real compliments, only sleazy ones from wasted boys who wanted to get in her pants. “Thanks!” Poppy played pretend like a pro, but she threw in a real compliment just cause she was so sweet, “Your hair is amazing, I love how curly it is!” The girl’s quiet voice was a stage whisper and that amused Poppy, especially since she had stepped closer to use it.
Poppy glanced up at the man who gave her a look of warning and she nodded at the other girl. “Yeah, that’s my uncle,” Boy, she’d been using the fake relative lie a lot lately. Reaching out a hand for the girl to shake, she introduced herself, “Hi! I’m Poppy, by the way.”
- - -
Belle grinned as the blond, Poppy, informed her that the older man was her Uncle. That made everything a lot safer, not that she often thought about how safe things were or should be. Belle took Poppy’s hand and shook it enthusiastically. “Thank you! I never have to do anything to it, too. It’s all natural,” Belle replied with a huge smile. She turned to Poppy’s Uncle and held out her hand to him. “It’s nice to meet you too, Mr. Poppy’s Uncle,” she said, and then turned to Poppy without waiting for the man’s reply. “I’m Belle,” she added with her hugest smile.
- - -
Tim held back the urge to roll his eyes at the short blond. She was far too naive for a young woman, and Tim estimated that she was in her early twenties. Poppy, the young woman he had stopped from pickpocketing, took his look of warning seriously and introduced him as an Uncle. He was mildly offended, considering he hardly thought he was old enough to be an Uncle.
“Tim,” he replied, holding his hand out to Belle, the bouncing blond. He smiled at the nickname, though the two girls no doubt thought he was smiling just to be polite. “Poppy and I were just doing some window shopping and I noticed your purse. Pickpockets love these types of streets,” he advised, shooting a sideways glance at Poppy.
- - -
The smile on Poppy’s face only grew as Belle went on. She must be new around here, nobody who had lived in Seattle for long enough would go on so enthusiastically to a couple of strangers. Especially not a couple of strangers who had just informed her of her open purse, and certainly not before she had a chance to check and see that everything was still in place. The girl was sweet enough for Poppy to feel a momentary spark of guilt for trying to rob her blind, a few moments earlier. But the moment passed quickly and Poppy was back to being Poppy, gently pulling her hand out of the much too enthusiastic handshake.
She resisted the urge to make some kind of indignant noise as Tim, the older man, mentioned the pick pocketing. Who was he anyways, some kind of cop? A vigilante? No, vigilantes wore masks and hid their identities with cool codenames. Most people would just walk on by or just plain not notice. And if he was a cop, why didn’t he out her? Maybe he was waiting for the other girl to move on, but if that was his plan, he was out of luck because the girl looked about ready to strike up a conversation.
- - -
Tim shook his head at the short blond, clearly amazed by her childlike behavior and complete obliviousness. He was pretty good at reading people, which helped him figure out that Belle was about to get really friendly with Poppy. He had no desire to stick around, especially since he wanted to drop off a surprise for Harry in a few hours and needed to purchase said surprise. Instead, he slid his hand in his pocket naturally and grasped his cellphone. It would be a loss, but one he could handle, especially if he wanted to stay in touch with Poppy, which he did.
In one swift movement, Tim pulled his phone out and put his arm around Poppy’s waist, expertly dropping the phone into her pocket so that she wouldn’t feel or notice a thing. “Well, as much as I’d love to stick around, I’ve got an appointment to keep. Be good, Poppy. I’ll see you later,” he replied, giving her a slight squeeze the way an affectionate Uncle would. With that, he nodded politely to Belle and walked away, intent on walking into the nearest cell phone store and purchasing a replacement.
- - -
Belle smiled as Tim said goodbye to Poppy. It was so sweet, watching a family interact. Her father would say goodbye like that sometimes, though he usually accompanied it with a kiss on the forehead. Maybe they weren’t that close. It hardly mattered, because the moment he was gone, Belle shifted her attention back to Poppy.
“Do you want to go shopping?”
- - -
Poppy forced herself not to flinch as Tim squeezed her into a makeshift hug. Being touched by strangers was not something she encouraged in her strange lifestyle. But that’s what uncles did, she told herself as she nodded and waved at the man who was most definitely not her uncle. She didn’t notice or suspect that there was a cellphone in her pocket. Tim was much sneakier than she was, and besides, she had never owned a cellphone in her entire life. No, she didn’t suspect a thing.
Turning her attention back to Belle, she was not really prepared to be asked to go shopping. Poppy wasn’t a shopper, mostly because she’d never had the leisure or the extra cash to, but she realized that it was something that normal girls did. Smiling sweetly at Belle, she nodded, “Sure! I’ve never shopped around here, should be fun!”
- - -
Belle was so glad that Poppy accepted her offer of shopping. She happily took the other girl by the arm, and began walking down the street again, though Belle hardly noticed that she was going back the way she came. “I’m not really much of a shopper, to be honest,” she explained, taking the time to glance at the windows as they passed, thinking she hadn’t seen them before.
“Much more of a window shopper. All the pretty things on display. It’s so much fun around this time of year, with all the holidays. The reds and greens, and blues! It’s just so pretty! I don’t know how anyone could not like them!” She glanced at Poppy. “You like them, right?”
- - -
Again with the touching, but Poppy relaxed into the looped arm, trusting that this bubbly girl had no malicious intent. Usually she’d be better at make-believe but she was still confused as to why this Tim man would call her out without actually calling her out. That was weird. And then he just left! Just like that, no consequences. But she was still half-listening to Belle talk and the mention of window shopping pushed the thought of the strange man right out of Poppy’s head.
“Oh, I love window shopping!” This was not a complete lie, Poppy did really enjoy the bright lights and vibrant colours in the store windows, “Especially around Christmastime! Everyone makes their storefronts all bright and sparkly!” She was starting to get excited, it wasn’t hard with such an excitable girl, right beside her.
- - -
Belle was pleased that Poppy was starting to get excited. Excitement was akin to living for Belle, and when people weren’t excited, well, they were boring to her. Thankfully Poppy caught on quick, so Belle hardly thought a bad thing about Poppy as they walked. “Oh good! Christmastime is my favorite, even though I don’t really celebrate. I just get the tree and decorate it, and my house. My parents love Christmas, and it always means lots of boxes to open from Santa. He always uses the best wrapping paper! And in all my favorite colors! It’s like he knows!” Belle’s voice had taken on a tone of awe and wonder as she talked about Santa Claus, a man she still believed in even though she was far past the age of believing.
- - -
A tree sounded lovely to Poppy, Christmastime was about family and for Poppy, her family was always the street kids. Even when she had a foster family, a short while ago, she never really felt quite at home with them. She’d never had fancy presents or colourful wrapping paper, so Tink’s little spiel was like a fairytale for her and she was captivated. “Tell me more!” She smiled, eyes wide with wonder. Poppy didn’t believe in Santa Clause, but the way Belle talked about him, she almost thought that she could.
- - -
Belle was so excited when Poppy asked her to keep talking! Hardly anyone liked it when she talked so much, and Christmas was such a talkative subject for her. She squeeled with delight and pulled the other girl closer, in a friendly was, as they continued to walk down the street, drawing some odd looks from passerbys.
“Well, I came here when I was ten or eleven, I forget, and these really nice people adopted me. It took a while for us to become a family, but Christmas was always special. Morrey and Celia loved Christmas, and it was easy to get really into it. Celia would always get me a pretty new dress for Christmas, and I’d get my picture taken, and then she’d taken me to the mall and meet Santa! And everything I asked for, I always got. Santa is the best. He always knows what’s going on. When I was younger, and I was throwing a temper tantrum, he would call and tell me I had better start acting nicely, or I’d be on the naughty list!” They came to an intersection and Belle wasn’t sure which way to go.
“Where to, bestie?” she asked, already decided that Poppy was her new best friend.
- - -
If Poppy had one word to describe Belle, it would probably be nice. Belle was nice and even as she pulled Poppy closer to her, Poppy felt a connection to this girl that she hadn’t felt with anyone in a very very long time. The taller blond smiled as Belle continued, the adoption process sounded familiar, but things in the back of Poppy’s memory tended to fade and blend and warp until they were only vaguely familiar and sometimes even less than that. Belle’s parents sounded amazing, not at all like parents were always made to seem in Poppy’s world. This, of course, only added to the fairytale effect of Belle’s story.
She smiled at the affectionate term that Belle used on her, she had never been anyone’s best friend, except for maybe the fearless leader of the lost children, back when she was still a child. But she could barely remember him now, and it seemed as though he was nowhere to be found. Poppy glanced in both directions and pointed towards the side they did not have to cross the street to get to. She was impatient and the light was currently a glowing red hand, meaning “don’t walk”.
“My family doesn’t really do gifts or trees,” Mildly true, she’d never had a tree but she’d also never had a real family, “But we get together at Christmas time and just spend time with each other and share stories from the past year. You know, adventures and all that.”
- - -
Belle nodded at Poppy, a sad sort of smile on her face. It was always sad when she found out someone didn’t celebrate the holidays. It only lasted a moment though, as her face lit up with the most amazing idea ever. “You should celebrate with us this year! Santa’ll know that you’re coming and he’ll send your gifts to my place! You must have lots of presents, since none of them ever got delivered.” She stopped dead in her tracks.
“Wow. You must have like, twenty years of presents that got lost! This Christmas is going to be amazing for you!” Belle was genuinely happy and excited for her friend, instead of jealous at the prospect of how many presents Poppy would be getting.
- - -
Poppy was genuinely amazed by how completely Belle believe in Santa Clause. And although she was not keen on the idea of spending her Christmas with a family who was surely not expecting their daughter to bring home a girl who had never had a proper Christmas, she smiled and nodded anyways, “Sure, I would love to!” There was something about this girl that she just could not say no to. The next statement only had Poppy shrugging noncommittally, “I’m sure that Santa has been delivering those gifts to other children, I don’t mind,” She wasn’t sure who had been delivering Belle’s gifts all these years, but she did not want to burden that person with having to buy her eighteen years worth of gifts, “Besides, I’m not sure what I would do with all those gifts. Santa would know that.” That seemed like a good enough cover for the other girl, and the two continued onwards, staring in awe at the beautiful holiday displays in the stores’ showcases. It was a beautiful time of year and Poppy was glad that she would have a new friend to share it with.