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It's been days since the Xavier MedBay Crew (TM) had come by Macy's to pick up Kitty's package. Despite Piotr's offer to get it on his own, Kitty had this vague sense that she should probably come and see whatever gift her parents saw fit to send her after that last phone call.
The moment the pair enter the glossy floored store, she can feel her lips purse and her nostrils flare irritably. She notes plainly, "This place is awful." It's the polar opposite of Pom's — where she'd gone and painted earlier in the day. "And it smells like an elevator full of old ladies," she notes as they walk by the perfume counter. "Let's just get the package and go," no lingering. "In and out. No reason to peruse or browse." Kitty wouldn't shop here anyways.
A glance is given towards the women's clothing section, "Maybe we should've invited Illyana or Jean. Jean likes shopping sometimes… and Illyana needs more clothes." There's a big sister tone to her voice.
*
"If we had brought them, Katya, we would not be in and out," Piotr points out in a very reasonable tone of voice. "We would be here for hours. Days, maybe. It would be terrible."
For this return visit, Piotr is sticking a touch closer to Kitty as they move through the store — and he makes sure that when they go past he perfume counter, he is between her and the women who work there. Not today, villains.
"Besides, this store is so expensive," the Russian notes in a low grumble, rubbing at the back of his neck with a mildly self-conscious glance at one of the racks as they pass it. "I could not even afford a tie. How can people afford this?"
*
There's a shrug that follows the comment. "It's true," Kitty can allow for that. "I don't actually like shopping," she admits with a faint tick of her eyebrows. "There's something weirdly mechanical about it. Like everyone needs things. But do we really need things?" she squints. "I need stuff to wear once in awhile." Her nose wrinkles, "And school supplies. After that?" she shrugs. "Maybe moving just changes your relationship to stuff."
She levels a glare towards the perfume villains before reaching for Piotr's hand and tugging him towards Customer Service for her parcel.
"Stores are stores," she mutters with a shake of her head. "And the shinier they are, the pricier they are. All in the vain hope they can get you to buy stuff. For no reason than to own it." She grins at him, "Besides, you don't need a tie. They just trick into making you think you need a tie~"
*
Piotr's hand is easily taken and he has precisely zero objections to quickly moving along towards Customer Service. "I do not think I need a tie," he muses in a tone of feigned defensiveness, lips drawn back into a grin. "I just think I might look nice in one. It would be nice to look better for you every so often. Is that so wrong?"
Without waiting for a reply, Piotr squeezes her hand and leans around a corner to get a look towards Customer Service. Last time, there was a line.
*
Kitty doesn't even try to fight the ridiculously girlish smile that draws over her features. Dimples, teeth, and crinkles around her eyes all give way to the incredible delight that Piotr has struck with his assertion. "I…" her lips twitch and she fights the speechlessness that so easily consumes when she gets tongue-tied. "You always look nice," her cheeks feel hot. "I'm not suggesting that you wouldn't look nice in a tie just that you look nice without a tie and that it's not the clothes that make you look nice not that I'm envisioning you without — " stop TALKING KITTY. Her lips clamp shut. And after a beat, she notes, "This place is evil," because clearly Macy's is the problem. Not Kitty's tendency to ramble.
She follows him around the corner. The line is short, just one person ahead, granting her a smaller smile. In and out seems apt and likely. Score one for the good guys!
*
Normally, Piotr might feel bad for laughing at her, but in this case? In this case, there is not a lot he can do about the laughter that comes bubbling up when he manages to get Kitty babbling. "I do not know," he muses cheerfully, releasing her hand so that he can briefly wrap his arm around her shoulders instead. "It is growing on me."
One person barely even qualifies as a line. Excellent. Smiling broadly, Piotr leads the way so that they might join what can now possibly be considered a queue.
*
Piotr's laughter causes Kitty's cheeks to become even hotter with blush, but she leans into him as his arm hugs her shoulders. Her ears redden. Her eyes bashfully turn downwards. "You just wait. This place is way eviller than you give it credit," she lifts a single finger to tap against his chest, which hilariously causes her chin to drop again. She may be getting less shy, but having just suggested that she may have thought about him without his shirt makes her all the more awkward about the touch. "Especially because if you were going to buy something in here and I'm not saying that you would a person would have to spend eons just waiting to get service — " annnnd they're up to the desk. Oh.
Huh. "Hi," there's a nearly apologetic air to Kitty's tone. "Uh, I'm here for a package. Something for Kitty Pryde?" Her eyes squint.
The woman behind the desk disappears for a spell and returns a few moments later. "We don't have anything for anyone who has that name."
Kitty's gaze cuts up towards Piotr as if saying see? evil!
*
Oh, it's their turn. Piotr should probably stop teasing his girlfriend and try behaving like a respectable adult now, shouldn't he? He quietly clears his throat and tries to fight back his smile as he steps up to the counter with her, lifting his chin. Dignity. Always dignity.
When the woman returns with no package, he exchanges a brief look with Kitty. Hm.
"Perhaps… Katherine Pryde?" Piotr suggests hopefully, leaving his arm around her shoulders. He isn't sure how her parents feel about the nickname, but it's worth a try, right?
*
Kitty's eyes narrow at the suggestion that Katherine could receive a package, but then the woman disappears and returns with a brown paper package. "Th-thanks," the brunette levels back at the clerk as she plucks the package from the table. Her head turns to Piotr for a few beats and her expression becomes almost pained. "They only ever called me Katherine when I was in trouble…" this actually prompts a frown.
Her fingers trail over the brown paper, and there's her name Katherine Anne Pryde. "They even middle-named me," she glowers. "I swear if this is still about not calling for two months, I'm going to lose my marbles. Those two! I didn't tell them about everything," Louisiana, "because it would just worry them. It's better they think I'm flaky than in trouble somewhere."
The brown papered box, no bigger than a standard shoebox has her name inscribed across the centre, and a general delivery location (i.e. Macy's NYC). In the top left hand corner is where it came from: Ohio.
*
Piotr lifts his shoulders in a shrug, offering the clerk a quick smile before he turns to start guiding Kitty away from the counter. No sense sticking around if others need to pick something up, after all, and besides — in and out.
"Give them time, Katya. They will come around," Piotr says confidently, using the arm around her shoulders to hug her up against his side. Idle curiosity draws his eyes to the package, and slowly, his brow furrows.
"I thought you were from Illinois. Am I misremembering?" Piotr seems troubled by this possibility.
*
Even as Piotr asks the question, Kitty's fingers have begun to work along the seams, lifting the tape until she becomes irritated with the sheer amount of tape and rips across the brown paper. "I am from Illinois. Nowheresfield, Illinois," she looks up at him. "Why?" She didn't even notice the address.
With a puff of breath, she turns the box over to look at it, but it's just as boring as the brown paper. With a small shake of her head, she opens the side of the box and reveals… a small wooden jewelry box. Her eyebrows draw together and she cants her head at Piotr. "You know, in the world of weird things the Prydes have thought I needed over the years, this one may take the cake." She turns it over in her hand, noting the wind up function on the box with a vague lift of her eyebrows. "They gave me one of these when I was like… thirteen and away from home for the first time." Her head shakes slightly and she opens it to see a small wind up ballerina in the inside of the box. "Go figure. I was really taken with it at thirteen because I actually took ballet." She smirks at the thought, and passes the box to Piotr to hold for a few beats while she trails off to throw out the paper and brown cardboard box.
*
Piotr is much too polite to interrupt Kitty once she starts talking. He may need to get over that. He smiles wryly as he listens and, without thinking, accepts the box from her when she passes it over. "The package, Katya," he explains in a slightly distracted voice, giving the music box a curious looking-over. Hm. Pretty. "Sender's address was Ohio. Do you know anyone in Ohio?"
*
Kitty's face scrunches at the question. She trails back towards Piotr and keeps thinking it over, and finally answering with a very resolute, "No?" she shrugs. "Weird. So weird. No note, right?" Maybe she's going to have to call dear mom and dad again. But then maybe that was the purpose in the first place. She chews her bottom lip absently, "Maybe they just shipped it from Ohio?" which still seems strange.
*
That earns a low, pensive rumble as Piotr brings the box up for a more suspicious inspection. "…no. I do not like it," he finally grunts, tucking the box under his arm. Did Kitty want it back? "I will hold onto it until you find out if your parents sent it. And if they did not, I am taking it apart," he declares, narrowing his eyes in thought. "…possibly with large hammer…"
*
"Wait, what?" there's a moment's confusion as Kitty cants her head to look up at Piotr. There's a skeptical arch of her eyebrows. "I could just look at the mechanism anyways? I do ghost things now and then. Honestly, it looks… normal. And it came from the department store." Pause. She glances over her shoulder, "Right?" Isn't that how Customer Service works? "But honestly, if it makes you feel better," she groans, now convinced this was somehow her mother's doing on purpose, "I'll call my parents and find out for certain."
*
"If they sent it, I will apologize profusely and give it right back to you," Piotr promises, looking down at her as they walk. "But with everything that has happened lately, having you get a package like this from Ohio, where you know no one..?" He raises his eyebrows pointedly before he shakes his head, looking forward again. "Makes me want to punch entire state of Ohio, to be safe."
*
A fond smile draws up across Kitty's features. "Why Piotr Rasputin, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were sweet on me?" she flutters her eyelashes in a series of ridiculous over exaggerated blinks. But in all seriousness, she allows her chin drop, ascent to sage wisdom. "Yeah, I don't remember much from my time… away," because thats all it was, time away, "but I don't know how they'd know where to find me so easily. And mom and I kind of had it out when we last talked." She frowns slightly. "But I'll call again. I'll check." She taps her nose once, "More caution," it's what they'd agreed to, "right?"
*
Piotr keeps his face forward but his eyes slide over to her at the accusation, the corner of his mouth twitching into a smile. "Maybe small crush. Nothing serious," he assures her, returning his free arm to its place around her shoulders. He nods once. "Right. We have been seen by their people since you came home, remember," he notes, the smile fading to a more concerned frown. "The Park. Coney Island. So… I will indulge in paranoia. And if I am wrong, I will make it up to you."
*
"It's not ticking, it's not obviously off." Kitty hums indecisively. "I'm fine with exercising caution, I'm just saying. It seems fine." She shrugs lightly and leans against him slightly as they walk. "I feel like the paranoia is well earned, to be honest. Feels like the world is spinning ridiculously fast and out of control." She swallows hard. Her head turns towards him, "And how do you aim to make it up to me," Pause, "when you're wrong?" there's an all too familiar glint of mischief in her gaze at the question.
*
"That, I will leave up to you." Oh, Piotr is a very brave man. "If I am wrong, you can name anything -" He holds up a finger. He isn't that brave. "- within reason. And it is yours. That seems fair," he murmurs thoughtfully, smiling to himself. He adjusts his grip on the box so that he can peer at it some more as they walk, catching his lower lip in his teeth. Squiiiint. "…if I were a bad man, what would I have done to this box…"
*
Piotr may have just made Kitty's day, until there's a caveat on her desires. She taps her chin lightly. "What," she begins already starting to think about her prize to be claimed, "if I think something is wholly reasonable and you disagree? Then what? Third party opinion?" She laughs lightly, "We could ask Yana. I'm sure that'd turn in your favour~" she's all too aware of Illyana's penchant for chaos. She grins brightly until she catches him squinting. "I think you may be considering it for a long stretch. Just remember, nothing bad happened when I opened it," because she did actually flip the lid open.
*
Piotr is so intent on squinting at the box that he doesn't even respond to the proposed tiebreaker vote. He just makes a low rumble in response to her note about having opened the box, one of his blue eyes narrowing further. "That is true," he allows, his words coming slowly. Then, his gaze seems to focus. Ah! "But you did not turn it on."
*
Kitty shoots Piotr a small smile and then nods. "You're right. I didn't wind it up." She smirks, "I didn't really see the need. I've seen dancers spin and I'm sure it just plays one of those old classics using a tinny metal sound. Probably Brahm's lullaby or something else a person would hear in an elevator. Not exactly the kind of music a person listens to every day."
*
"No turning it on. Not until you know who sent it," Piotr says firmly, his nose wrinkling as he prods at the box with a finger. No, he does not like this perfectly innocent, not-at-all-tampered-with music box one bit. "Maybe if I am with you. Maybe. But probably not." He slides his eyes over to her again, pursing his lips. "…I sound like a lunatic."
*
The comical grin that crosses Kitty's features only encourages the lunacy. "No," she offers quietly — in a tone that doesn't at all match her facial expression. The smile subdues and her gaze turns downward, "You sound like you care." Pause. "I don't like being overprotected," which is very true, "but I like that you care enough to think through this. Honest. And, I'm thinking of great ways you can make it up to me when we find out it's just a music box. All perfectly reasonable."
*
"I am not being overprotective." Piotr's protest is fairly weak, borderline plaintive. He lifts the box slightly, along with his brows. "If I had just smashed it, then, then I would be overprotective. Yes?" Even so, he gives her shoulders another little snug with his arm. "…I am sorry, Katya. I am sure it is probably nothing and you can laugh at me later. Thank you for humoring me. I am looking forward to your very reasonable demands," he muses, the last drawing another little grin from his lips.
*
"If you had just smashed it, I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be speaking right now," Kitty offers plainly. "And it's okay. It is! I might think it's unnecessary, but caution is okay. No more MedBay~" it's virtually a chant. She hrms quietly and sidles a bit closer to him as the pair finally exit the store. A few more paces and she sinks against him further. "You're such an amenable person and even more so as a boyfriend," she doesn't even realize she used the word. Her eyebrows lift. "Makes it hard to think of something to use my favours," that she hasn't even earned yet, "on."
*
"Probably not. And I would deserve the silence." Piotr nods once, smiling to himself at the chant as they continue on. There is no protest made when she moves closer to him, just an agreeable shifting of his arm to cozily hug her in place as they walk. "You are a clever woman," he notes, his smile broadening. He didn't miss her use of the word. "I am sure you will think of something."
*