InsaneJournal

Who: Aurora and Margaery
When: Early December
Where: Mall
What: Random encounter whilst shopping
Rating/Warning: Low/None
Status: Complete



Having both, the day off from the diner and no stylist job that day, Aurora had decided to get a start on her Christmas shopping. She’d been so busy the last few weeks that she hadn’t even given much thought to Christmas shopping, but now there were only a few weeks left and she needed to get a move on. Aside from her family, she had Ruby and her grandmother to shop for as well as a few other friends and she wanted to try and get as much done in one go as she could. So, despite knowing that it’d probably be a mad house, Aurora headed towards the mall.

Margaery had also been incredibly busy, but she had handed in the work she had needed to do before Christmas and was now free until the New Year. So she had decided to head to the mall as well, hoping inspiration would strike. She needed gifts - especially for her brother, Renly, Olenna and Professor Weir. She had absolutely no idea what to get any of them yet so she was hoping window shopping would help. She had a vague hope that it wouldn’t be too busy with shoppers yet.

Aurora's one goal for the day was to avoid any makeup stores. Being a stylist, it never failed that she always wound up in Sephora or Ulta, looking at various makeups and things. She was wandering past store after store, glancing into windows, trying to decide on gifts for various people, looking completely lost.

“You look as confused as I feel” Margaery commented with a smile, “Apologies for interrupting but I felt you might be a fellow lost Christmas gift buyer”

It seemed that Aurora was running into random people left and right at the mall these days, but she never really minded; not unless there was a reason of course. “Is it that obvious?” She smiled, glancing back at the window display she had been looking at before the other woman had spoke to her, “It’s crazy how you can know someone so well, but when it comes to buying gifts for them, you have absolutely no clue what to get them.” Sure, with some people you knew right away, but with most people Christmas shopping was fairly difficult.

“Just a little” Margaery smiled in response, “Oh I know exactly what you mean” she nodded, “I love my brother terribly but buying him gifts get harder and harder each year it seems. At least it is not too busy yet”

Aurora smiled, nodding, “You’d think that certain people, like siblings, would be easy to buy for since you’ve known them for so long.” But that was not always the case. “Are you just buying for your brother?” She hoped that the question wasn’t too personal, but it was the other woman who had approached her.

“You would but it appears that is not the way for me” Margaery smiled, “Oh no, I need to buy for my brother’s fiance, my grandmother, my professor and a couple of friends. I am looking for inspiration really” she admitted, “And yourself?”

“My parents, my best friend, her grandmother and some friends.” Aurora always got something for Ruby’s grandmother, because ever since she’d known Ruby, the other girl’s grandmother had always seemed like a third grandmother to her. “I was hoping that with the sales and things I’d have an easier time of trying to figure out what to buy everyone. Well, my best friend is a little easier. She likes makeup and I’m a stylist, so that makes it a little less difficult for one.”

“Oh well in that case you’re definitely lucky with your best friend” Margaery nodded, “So are you working primarily on your own things or for television or something else?” she asked interestedly. Margaery had never been overly fashion conscious. She dressed well but she wore things she liked, never really noticing if they were in style or not.

“I do different things. Indie films, some TV and photoshoots.” Aurora would love to work on a big movie someday, but until then she was perfectly content with the jobs she did get. “And before you ask, no I haven’t met any real big name celebrities.” She smirked, obviously used to the question. The majority of the actors she met were lesser known actors.

Margaery laughed, “I was not going to ask but thank you for letting me know” she smiled, “It sounds quite varied, you obviously enjoy it. Is it something you have always held an interest in?” she asked.

Aurora nodded, “I’ve always been a very girly girl. Loved makeup and doing different things to my hair. So, I decided to look into it as a career.” It had been a lot more difficult than Aurora had thought, especially since in a place like California there was an over abundance of stylists trying to make it big. “What do you do? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“I’m a little uncreative in both areas I’m afraid” Margaery admitted. She wore make-up but tended to go for the more natural look with it and she curled her hair occasionally but that was about it. She had toyed with the idea of going blonde recently. “I’m studying Law and Languages at UC Irvine, second year”

Being a stylist, Aurora had a tendency to look at people and see what sorts of hair styles, colors or makeup techniques would work on them and this woman wasn’t any different. “Oh wow. That must be tough. A lot to learn and memorize about the various laws and things, right?”

“It is a lot” Margaery agreed, “But I am determined to succeed and I do enjoy it. Luckily the languages aspect is a lot easier” While some of the other students struggled Margaery was able to lead classes and do her job as TA with ease.

“Do you learn languages easily?” Aurora asked, curious about the other woman’s comment. Aurora had never been very good at picking up languages and had just barely passed Spanish when she’d had to take it in school so she was always impressed when she met someone who could learn languages easily.

“Fairly easily” she nodded, “Swedish is my first language but I also speak Finnish and Russian. A little French too but I am afraid that I am a bit rusty there. Sign language too, I learnt that when I was younger and had a school friend who was deaf. So you see I have a little bit of a head start compared to my fellow students”

"Wow. That's pretty cool." Aurora had noticed that the other woman had an accent, but she hadn't been sure where it was from until now, "Oh, I'm Aurora, by the way." If they were going to continue talking then they might as well know each others' names.

Margaery smiled, it was always interesting how speaking more than one language seemed to impress people. To her it was normal but then it was similar with people who she had met who lived in the UK, there wasn’t a lot of incentive for them to learn anything else as practically everybody spoke English. “What a beautiful name, I’m Margaery” she replied, holding out her hand to shake, “Pleased to meet you”

“Thank you,” Aurora smiled as she shook Margaery’s hand, “Yours is beautiful too.” She’d always thought her name was extremely uncommon, but she’d liked it none the less, because it was uncommon. It seemed like every girl was named Jessica or Michelle, but Aurora was always the only one in her classes, “It’s nice to meet you too. So, were you looking for anything in particular? I know you said you were looking for your brother. Maybe we could shop together. Sometimes it’s just easier when you’re with another person.” Sure, she didn’t know Margaery’s brother and Margaery didn’t know Ruby or her grandmother, but shopping was always so much more overwhelming when you were doing it alone.

Margaery’s name wasn’t as rare but it wasn’t common either, she’d always been happy with it. “At this point I am just looking for inspiration” she replied, “But I would very much welcome company, maybe it will help us both” she smiled. Sometimes it helped to have an outside view after all and Margaery liked this girl already, she would be happy to get to know her.

“What’s your brother like?” Aurora asked, figuring it might give Margaery some ideas if she talked about him outloud, but also it might give Aurora ideas that Margaery might not have thought of since Aurora was an outsider.

Wonderful, was Margaery’s instinctual response but that wouldn’t really be very helpful. “Loras is an MMA fighter, incredibly talented. A complete gentleman too. He and his boyfriend got engaged recently and they’ve moved in together” she told Aurora, the pride and love in her tone was obvious.

As Margaery talked about her brother, Aurora smiled, picking up almost right away how much the other woman cared about her brother, "That's fantastic for them. And you obviously love your brother a lot." So many siblings couldn't stand each other so it was nice to see a sister who really cared about her brother, "Have you thought of something for the both of them? Like is there something that they both enjoy?"

Margaery smiled and nodded, she was proud of her brother and loved him unconditionally. “I did consider sending them to a hotel or something for the weekend. Just somewhere nice, away from the craziness which can happen around here”

“That’s a wonderful idea. What do they like to do? There’s loads of themed hotels and things. Do they ski? Or ride horses?” Aurora didn’t even know Margaery’s brother or his fiance, but they already sounded extremely romantic. She briefly wondered if she needed to get her head out of the clouds, but she pushed that thought aside as quickly as it had appeared.

“A themed hotel?” Margaery latched onto the idea as her brain began to think, “Well in their dreams they’re a knight and a king so if I could find something along those lines I think they might enjoy it” Possibly even mend some of the not-so-good dreams with more lighthearted fun in the waking hours. “Maybe even a jousting show. I imagine my brother would enjoy telling Renly how they are doing it wrong” she smiled.

"A King and a knight? That sounds so intriguing." Aurora had heard a lot about these dreams, but had yet to have any herself, but she wondered what hers would entail if she did have them. "Jousting sounds exciting. I've seen it in movies, but never in person."

Margaery smiled, “It’s very exciting, at least in my dreams. And Loras is the best there is” she added proudly, “I rather enjoy my dreams, to a certain extent”

“I take it you have the same dreams as them?” It made sense since Margaery appeared to know an awful lot about what her brother and his fiance dreamt about. “I haven’t had any of these dreams that everyone has been talking about.”

“I do” she nodded, “It’s a little complicated but it’s a fascinating world” she added, “Oh they’ll come eventually, it happens to almost everybody. I soon learnt that when I first arrived”

"It seems like every time I go on Valarnet someone is talking about them." Aurora wondered if it was a Valarnet thing and how it worked exactly, "I suppose I'm just a little impatient."

“We all seem to vary in how often we have them and what they contain. Some people, like myself, enjoy them in general while others wish they’d never had them”

Aurora nodded as she listened, “Does anyone know what causes it? I mean, I assume they only happen to people on the Network, but I’ve never heard of anything like this happening. I mean, I’ve heard of people dreaming about past lives, but never anything like what I’ve read on Valarnet.”

Margaery shook her head "Not that l know of" she replied, "I think some people are looking into it but the rest of us have just kind of accepted that it's just something that happens around here"

“It’s kind of weird, but I can see how it’d be pretty cool at the same time.” Aurora said, tossing her hair over her shoulder as they continued walking through the mall, “I just hope mine aren’t bad. I used to have nightmares when I was little, so that’s the last thing I need again.” The nightmares were the main reason she hoped her dreams were good ones.

“They vary so much from person to person but in general I think they are good” Margaery replied, she looked over at her new friend, “I too will hope they are not bad then and that you find enjoyment from them”