Discover Inside

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Going out in public was hard for Penelope. She didn't much care for people, and when she had to, the Brit usually got whatever she needed as quickly as possible. But this was different, she was there.

Penny walked beside the Australian silently, her shoulder occasionally brushing against hers. The Brit couldn’t believe she had spent the last half hour in a video game store. Or that she had actually stepped inside one at all, but Lucy had somehow managed to get her to agree to go.

It was just something Penny didn’t understand, nor did she think she’d ever understand.

But now it was her turn to choose a store. She didn’t have to look over at Lucy to know she wasn’t fond of the idea. An antique store.

Despite her psychometry, Penelope absolutely adored antiques. She just didn’t enjoy touching them unless she had to. There was so much history in the various items; how could she possibly resist?

As they reached the store, Penny pushed the door open, holding it for her counterpart as she raised her eyebrows in curiosity. “Are you sure you can handle this?” She teased lightly.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Sniper Elite V3 was a pretty graphic game, as far as Lucy'd heard. The choice to display the skeleton of a target before taking a shot in tandem with showing the impact in slow motion wasn't new, but on a next generation console it was something worth checking out anyway. It'd only been out for a few weeks, but she wasn't keen enough to make a trip to pick it up until now. When she suggested the psychometrist come with her into town, she was partially joking. There was no way she'd actually agree to it, right?

So there was a compromise of sorts. It was a thing they were trying out.

Game in hand, Lucy begrudgingly took heavy steps alongside her British counterpart. She knew exactly where they were going, and she knew she'd agreed to it, but she wasn't overly happy about the choice. Compromise, she reminded herself.

As her shoulder brushed against Penny's while they walked, she recalled the first and last time they'd tried to go out in public together. They lasted all of ten minutes before Penny was pushing to leave and Lucy was driving back to the dorms. It wasn't long after that that Penny was being the ample distraction she was.

Lucy pressed her lips into a line. She could do this.

"Yeah, I can handle it." She cringed as the words left her mouth, her free hand holding the door back to let her walk in. Truth be told, she really couldn't handle it. At least, she couldn't handle being in her company without making some kind of contact. As the psychometrist brushed past her she let the door go, her free hand moving to run fingertips across the back of her hand lightly. Just for a second or so before she retracted. "Do your thing."

[Arlene Baines]

Arlene heard the bell tinkle softly and looked up from the old ledger in her lap to observe two women entering her shop. That felt a bit strange to say now, 'her' shop, not her grandfather's shop. It made her feel good and sad at the same time, she supposed that there was truth to the word bittersweet and what it meant to other people. She set the ledger down on the old countertop and used the rungs of the stool she was sitting on to pull herself slightly higher over the clutter lining the counter. "Hello! Feel free to take a look around and if you need help finding or reaching anything, please let me know," she smiled before sitting down again. There were signs all around the store to ask for assistance when needed, Arlene hated when things were broken by carelessness. She picked up the ledger again and tucked a piece of loose hair behind her ears, lips being bit in concentration as she tried to find something her grandfather had wanted to leave to someone.

Along with things in his will, her grandfather had apparently set things aside for certain customers who frequented the store or people that he knew around town. The ledger detailed what the item was, who it went to and where it could (hopefully) be found. To that end she was attempting to find anything for Hammel (the list was not in any sort of order) after finding a box full of old photographs from when her grandfather was a boy. After the box had been located she had looked in the ledger to discover that there were actually several things that were supposed to go to the school....there was a nice pile developing behind her. She’d also found a few things that were supposed to unofficially go to her brother-in-law and nephew along with a few other family members…that was the second pile growing behind her.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Penny couldn’t understand why Lucy seemed to take such issue with going to an antique shop. As she stepped past the Australian, she raise her eyebrows once while her counterpart cringed. The corner of her mouth twitched upward with a hint of amusement as she walked past the ink manipulator.

The moment she felt her fingers brush the back of her hand, the Brit instinctively moved to take it, her fingers wrapping around Lucy’s hand as she gave it a light squeeze. Even the smallest amounts of contact made the Brit want more. How she had gone this long without kissing Lucy, Penny hadn’t the slightest idea.

Her dark eyes moved towards the woman that had called out to them, and she offered a polite smile in her direction. “Thank you.” She replied, giving a small nod. Taking purposeful steps, the Brit started browsing.

Briefly, she glanced over at Lucy, glancing down the Australian’s form before meeting her gaze. “Isn’t this interesting?” She tried, gesturing around. With a love of history, Penny was genuinely fascinated by the store’s contents. She moved towards the book section, taking in the various titles. Her eyebrows shot up upon seeing a particular book, and her fingers twitched as she contemplated reaching out for it. There was a moment where she began to, but quickly brought her hand back to herself before moving onward.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy exhaled a short sigh akin to relief when she felt Penny take hold of her hand. Really, it was the very thing she wanted, but the one thing she didn't have the nerve to take.

The Australian glanced at the woman behind the counter, her cheerful demeanour raining down like woah. But once they were out of sight, she immediately leaned in towards her counterpart's ear. "How's she find anything in here?" She whispered, pausing for a moment as her thoughts caught up, "How does anyone come looking for a certain thing here?" They were rhetorical questions that forced her to grin, but she wouldn't have been surprised if Penny gave answers.

Still, she watched the way Penny inched towards a book in particular. Her eyes crossed the titles, but she had no idea what the hell she was looking at or why books were so interesting, so she skipped past the facts of what end concerned herself with the why. Or rather, the why not.

"Do you kinda stalk the shit outta people's lives here?" Lucy asked, raising her eyebrows and her voice in what appeared to be genuine curiosity, "I reckon this'd be a bloody field day for you. I mean, fuck."

[Arlene Baines]

Arlene's focus had drifted from the ledger to something else on the counter. The antique cash register sat beside her, wise and well-loved for all the years it sat on this counter and on various other counters in its life. Arlene had learned to use it by viewing its past and how to ring up every kind of transaction. Also, this was an antique shop she so had to actually use something otherwise it didn't seem so legitimate. As she hopped off her stool to paw through another ledger on a nearby shelf she hear the first tones of swearing nearby. Arlene really disliked when vulgar language was used for no reason. There were, of course, certain situations she would forgive but in the middle of her shop for no reason other than you lacked the proper vocabulary to express yourself was unacceptable.

To that end she turned towards the offender not standing too far away and assumed a kind smile that held a hint of disapproval. "I'm sorry, but there's really no need for that sort of language in my shop. I'd really appreciate it if you refrained from using it," she asked politely in her soft voice before moving away again to fetch the book she was looking for. She crouched down to pull the large volume from the shelf and began to carry it back to her counter.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Penny felt her back straighten as Lucy leaned into her, not because the action wasn’t wanted, but because it was wanted. Maybe too much. She took in a slow breath from the sheer proximity between them. It was impossible to ignore Lucy’s breath against her ear. Instinctively, she squeezed her hand again, only then realizing that she had actually taken it in the first place. Her fingers twitched, not being used to displaying affection in public, but with the way she held on, Penny chose not to let go. She didn’t want to, either.

Rhetorical or not, the Brit still felt the need to answer Lucy’s questions. “It’s organized.” She explained shortly. Of course, it was hard to organize such things, but it was still possible. “When you go into an antique shop, you don’t go looking for specific things.” That wasn’t the point of it, at least not in Penny’s mind.

Although she loved these types of stores, the psychometrist still struggled to actually reach out and touch anything. The older an object was, more memories became associated with it. They became harder to suppress and ignore. It was easier to appreciate their value from a distance.

Her counterpart seemed to have noticed as well, and Penny snapped her head in Lucy’s direction as she questioned her. Genuine curiosity or not, Penny felt her eyebrows furrow together. But before she could reply, the shop owner had stepped in and the Brit’s expression shifted. Immediate amusement. Someone other than Penny was calling her out for her use of language.

She raised her eyebrows, the corner of her lip twitching upward as she looked at Lucy expectantly.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

The very way Penny reacted to her proximity was something Lucy took on board. So was the way she squeezed her hand. And then the way she decided to answer. Of course, the Australian rolled her eyes at the fact. "Is it, though?" She asked, crinkling her nose. "And why would she bloody well tell you she'd help you if you need help finding something if you don't go here to find something." Satisfied with her one-upping sentence skills, Lucy nodded and finally squeezed her hand in return.

What she was more curious for was the answer to her generalised questions about psychometry. Given the rough ride she'd had with Penny's ability so far, it was the first time she'd found the means to ask.

But she was interrupted. In a nice, albeit passive aggressive way. She didn't even bother to look at Penny as he head tilted slightly, taking in the suggestion. Which she would take as a suggestion. "Right. Touch of a cultural barrier interference-type deal." She gave, only then glancing at her counterpart when Arlene had walked away. Again, she leaned in, "Where I come from it's not second nature to get a serve over how you talk." And she raised her eyebrows once, because really, she was strangely twisted up in the way this woman had spoken to her, not the request itself.

"While I've got you, could I chuck a bit of a Q at you?" Her hand slipped from Penny's when she took necessary steps to follow the chick who worked here. "How old is old before it's considered worthy of an ass-load of money?"

[Arlene Baines]

Arlene was momentarily lost in her volume and didn't realize she was being addressed until the woman she'd scolded came up to her and asked her question. Arlene frowned minutely and decided not to scold again because it seemed that at the very least effort had been made to tone it down. Arlene shuddered to think what the woman's normal conversations sounded like and took a breath before she answered with a small, albeit strained smile.

"Well, not everything in here is old enough to fit the standard definition, but to answer your question, usually something has to be at least 100 years old in it's original and unaltered condition," she quoted from a textbook she had read years ago. "I also have rare collectibles and pieces of art in this store, mostly on the second floor," she explained. Most people tended to get confused as to what the "curio's and curiosities" in the title meant. At that point Arelene was usually forced to indicate a few stuffed animal heads around the shop, she was going to sell them soon even if it was a pain in the ass, she hated those things. "Also, and I am honestly trying not to be rude, but what's your definition of...a lot of money?" she asked quizzically, avoiding the use of the word "ass". “Were you looking for something specific? I have a lot of the same things in various conditions and ages for budget purposes,” she added, smile losing its tenseness and widening.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Penny kept her eyes on her counterpart, waiting for some sort of reply she knew was inevitably coming. Really, though, the Brit was curious as to Lucy’s initial reaction. Someone not Penny was scolding her use of language; it was amusing to say the least. However, she found herself surprised by the way Lucy initially responded. Her eyebrow twitched upward, expecting some sort of curse to come out the Australian’s mouth. Or nine of them.

But nothing of the sort.

Penny couldn’t hide the surprised curiosity in her expression as Lucy looked back at her; she believed Lucy’s statement about her convict country, but before she could say so, Penny felt Lucy’s hand slip from her grasp.

Her lips pressed together into a hardened line the moment Lucy continued. She was half tempted to leave her counterpart to it, but Penny soon found herself following a few steps behind. And there it was, the first swear. Penny felt her jaw clench on instinct, but she remained quiet as her gaze turned to the owner who handled surprisingly well. “I believe she’s just curious.” She spoke up finally.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy listened as this woman spoke to her. As she genuinely tried to answer the disjointed question Lucy offered to her. She raised her eyebrows at the things she found relatively interesting, because even she couldn't help the changed in her expression. Did she expect a total tangent? No. But that was okay.

She glanced above, unaware that there even was a second store. But something about art had flagged her definite interest, given the change in her expression.

"Oh, I'm very curious." Lucy replied, glancing back at the psychometrist who decided to speak for her and offering something of an agreement, brushed with sarcasm as it no doubt was. "I dunno. More money than anyone with a bloody brain is probably willing to pay for something they have no real connection with?"

To each their own, Lucy Serrano figured. She wasn't judging, but she was curious. "So you're saying not everything here is in fact an antique." Lucy denoted. The definition was a little hazy, but the Australian knew she could at least take that. So she didn't phrase it as a question. It was a total statement. "Me? I'm not looking for a damn thing. I'm not here for me."

With that, she reached around and pressed her palm to her counterpart's shoulder, forcing her forward with a quick jolt. This stop was totally her idea.

[Arlene Baines]

Arlene's smile lost some of its previous warmth as it locked into "polite shop keeper mode" and finally fell away to a more neutral looking expression. She realized with one of the other woman's comments that she hadn't even bothered reading the sign outside her shop and yet somehow it was Arlene’s fault that the objects she collected and sold didn't live up to whatever expectations were being had. But the woman did say she wasn't here for herself which meant the woman with her was either browsing or looking for something in particular.

Except now Arlene was far less excited or willing to assist. She felt, that perhaps any other interaction she might have with the woman at her counter might prompt yelling or more obscene language and Arlene wasn't wearing water-proof mascara today. Yelling always made her cry, she hated yelling. "Well, as I said, there are other things upstairs and of course if you need anything or have any more questions just let me know," she smiled briefly again before the two women had moved away and she fetched a box of items she needed to age and catalogue before putting them on display. They were all small things that she thought would be easy to shift through without any side effects, next to it she placed a pad of paper and took up a pen before delicately choosing something from the box and closing her eyes.

A handful of seconds later she opened them again and wrote something down on the pad of paper before choosing another small item and repeating the process.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Penny watched silently as this scene unraveled, although she spoke for the Australian, it was barely so, and her counterpart’s sarcastic remark only made Penny’s lips press into a hardened line. She knew her brash counterpart was exactly that, and she loved her dearly for it. And she also knew there was no power in the universe that could stop Lucy Serrano once she started.

With the sudden pressure to her shoulder, Penny took a quick step forward to keep herself balance, but even as the attention shifted to the Brit, she was thankful it didn’t last long. The shopkeeper seemed keen on dismissing them, and Penny was perfectly fine with that. She wasn’t looking for anything in particular, so she really didn’t need to be assisted in any way as it was.

“Thank you.” She replied politely, giving a small nod before turning her gaze to Lucy with raised eyebrows. She was hardly done, and the expression she gave Lucy was exactly that, although there were no signs of definite irritation over her counterpart’s moves.

Instead she simply stepped away to continue browsing. Having finished her conversation with the apparent owner, Penelope’s attention left her completely, unaware of whatever she was up to.