Jill Mastrano Dragomir (surpriseroyal) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-02-21 21:42:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, !partner thread, hanna marin, jill mastrano dragomir |
Who: Hanna and Jill
What: Meeting
When: Recently
Where: Boutique where Hanna interns and sells her designs
Warnings: Low
Status: Partner Thread | Complete
Shopping therapy was a time-honoured way to lift the spirits - at least in Jill’s experience. It had been that way ever since she'd been the child of a struggling single mother and the rare shopping day was full of joy and potential new outfits. Now that she had money, she took advantage of being able to shop whenever she needed a pick me up.
And turning into a vampire definitely warranted a pick me up.
Whenever she did shop, she tried to buy local. She liked to support the community, and the small shops tended to have more interesting clothes.
At the moment, she was browsing the shelves of a store that claimed to have samples of designs from UCI’s best and brightest.
Hanna was admittedly not as okay as she was trying to say she was. The vandalism of her car had her shaken, but it wasn’t like she was about to stop her life because of it. No, both here and in the dreams, the blonde had a tendency to try and just move on. So that was what she was doing. Moving on.
And being completely stressed out because she’d been given a last minute assignment of putting together a modeling shoot. While some of the outfits she could wear if absolutely necessary, she had the scars on her back from the dreams that meant she wasn’t an option. She didn’t want to answer questions.
But that didn’t really matter right now. Right now, she was on the phone at the shop, trying to convince a model not to back out. So far it wasn’t going so well.
Meanwhile, Jill had picked out a dress to try out. There was no label on the dress itself, but it was under the section titles HM.
A quick change later, she was admiring herself in the mirror. Jill had never considered herself beautiful, even if she'd been told that a few times. She figured she was more on the cute side of the spectrum. But this dress! This dress made her feel like the princess she secretly was.
Groaning in frustration as she failed to get the model to stay on, Hanna hung up the phone and ran her fingers through her hair. It wasn’t like working with Claudia, no. But it was still stress and with the way her life was going at the moment, it wasn’t like she wanted to mess this up.
But right. There was a customer and so she went to see if she could help. All things considered, she was so distracted that she hadn’t even realised that she had picked up one of the designs Hanna had on display. At least until she came up to her at the mirror. Well so much for a proper response.
“Ohmigod, you look amazing.” And she did. While Hanna was confident in her designs anyway, seeing someone actually wearing it? Yeah. She lost her professionalism.
Jill grinned at the other woman in the mirror. “Thank you!”
Holding the skirt of the dress, she twirled around experimentally.
“This is soooo pretty,” she gushed. “I don't think anyone could look bad wearing this. Do you know who designed it? It's like wearing moonlight.” She said it all in one breath.
Who wouldn’t want to hear that about their work? Smiling brightly, Hanna just twisted to and fro in spot, hands clasped together.
“You think?” Well that was what she had been aiming for. “I did actually. Hanna Marin.”
Jill’s eyes widened in surprise, and then she let out a squeal of excitement. “Omigod! Hi! I’m Jill. It’s very nice to meet you. You have so much talent, I can’t even. Is this for sale? Please tell me it’s for sale because it would be cruel to let me try it on and then not let me pay you a lot of money for it.”
Well, at least Hanna was good at knowing how to respond to rapid sentences with no break. Mostly because she could be just as excitable and say whatever came to mind without taking a breath and giving someone else a chance to answer.
“Thank you, it’s nice to meet you too! And yeah, it is actually.” While Hanna had known that some of her designs had sold, she had never been in the store when those sales had happened so really, this was like a dream for her. A good one, not the Rosewood dreams.
“Great! How much? Just let me know and I’ll make it work.” Jill didn’t really have to make it work. She - or her family, really - had enough spending money that she could probably buy out this whole store. But for the sake of secrecy and appearances, she pretended it otherwise. It wasn’t hard: Jill had spent more of her life without money than with money; it was just a matter of remembering what it used to feel like.
Naming the price, Hanna paused for a moment. She knew how it could be to have to try and find a way to make finances work. How sometimes no matter how much you wanted something, you had to give it up because you just couldn’t afford it.
“You’re totally free to say no, but we’re actually doing a modelling shoot for some of the new designs here and I mean, you look so amazing and would be great for the shoot. If so, the cost would actually be discounted.”
Jill’s eyes widened. Her? A model? But that was for glamourous people and...and people who weren’t in hiding.
“OoooooOOOooohh,” she said, and in those several drawn out syllables, she managed to inject all the longing and disappointment she felt about the offer. “I’d love to, but...um...my...family...they’re, uh...very private.”
Oh dear. Jill knew she was probably making a hash out of that excuse, mostly because she didn’t want to make the excuse - she just wanted to agree - but also because she was a terrible liar when she hadn’t been prepped for it.
Hanna quirked a brow at the reaction. Honestly, she could get the in hiding part well… sort of. Dealing with A, the way two fashion shows had gone for her and the girls thanks to A… well, Mona and Charlotte given the ridiculousness of Charlotte ‘stealing the game’ from Mona.
“Are you sure? You don’t sound sure.” And like it or not, Hanna was a liar and could sort of pick up on that type of thing. “Like I said, you don’t have to. You’d be helping me out because we lost one of the models and you’re perfect for it, but if you can’t then that’s okay too. It just sounded like it would help if we could give a discount. Your choice though.”
She’d find someone, even if she had to pout at Emily and Spencer to do it until they gave in.
“I...um…I'd have to ask,” Jill said reluctantly.
She really did want to do it - it would be so cool - but to get her face in pictures was to undo all the work her family had done to hide her.
“Would you have to show my face?”
The reluctance and then the very specific question about having to show her face gave Hanna pause, making her concerned. So she just quirked a brow.
“Typically, yes…. Are you sure you’re okay? You’re not in some sort of trouble are you? Because if you are then really, forget I said anything. I can ask my friends if they have the time.”
Dealing with A, constantly being stalked and never knowing… of what Ali dealt with on the run. She knew those signs, the need to hide. Even with all that Ali had put them through, the fact that it felt they couldn’t trust her half the time…. They had all gone through so much in the dreams and no matter how air headed she might appear, Hanna could read people.
“No, I'm fine!” Jill lied, badly. She shook her head quickly to emphasize her reply, but her face was crestfallen.
“I really shouldn't. Thanks for offering, though. It was really nice of you.”
And if she could ask her friends to help out, Jill wouldn't feel so bad about letting her down.
Jill was a really bad liar, which was why Hanna just quirked a disbelieving brow at the outburst. The girl clearly was not fine but there wasn’t much that she could do besides offer some support.
“Okay, well if you do find yourself in trouble, here’s my info.” At least she had her own cards, “I know my way around trouble and getting out of it. If you need it.” Okay so her ways didn’t always work out perfectly but she was still used to dealing with it.
“But of course. I’ll ring you up then?”
“Yeah, okay,” Jill said softly, and followed Hanna to the cash register. In general she tried not to be too bothered by the need for secrecy, but sometimes, like this instance, it really sucked.