Dress [2430-2-1 Thur 2:00 pm]

[Persephone Ruspoli]

It had been a busy week for Persephone. She'd finished a commission for a friend, packed up a few of her sculptures to be included in a travelling exhibition of modern artists, and attended a meeting with her father where she took notes for him while he and his partners discussed the costs associated with overhauling the old smelters, and what available land could be purchased to build new smelters.

After all of that stress, what she really wanted to do was have a few glasses of red wine, and spend a repulsive amount of money on cute shoes and new dresses to wear.

And that's how she found herself dropping by the apartment unexpectedly, letting herself in. She wasn't sure Skye would want to go shopping, but she was going to make the offer. After all, she could probably use with some new clothes, since she was sure Titus wouldn't think of it. He always managed to keep himself well-dressed, and he would undoubtedly buy things for Skye, but sometimes you had to pick them out yourself.

"Hello!" Persephone called out as she let herself in, slipping out of her shoes and hanging her purse on the coat rack. It smelt like carpet cleaner by the door, but she didn't bother to say so, since Titus only broke out the carpet cleaner when he'd come home messy from a job. "Anyone home?"

[Skye Thompson]

The day was warmer than it had been recently, and Skye had been unable to resist opening a window, though by Top standards it was still quite cold out. She sat, as she so often did, watching the city move around her like a gigantic ocean. The air smelled so fresh and clean in the Top, and the wind lifted strands of her hair up and down. The sensation of air moving against her skin was one that Skye was still getting used to, but she very much enjoyed it.

The sound of a voice from downstairs startled her out of her reverie, but a grin spread across the young girl’s face as she realized it was Persephone who had spoken. Skye stood up hurriedly, and slammed the window shut, tripping over her own feet as she ran out into the hall. “I’m here!” She called excitedly, racing down the stairs. “I’m here Persephone!” She reached the ground floor and bounded across the living room to throw her arms around her friend. “I missed you!”

[Persephone Ruspoli]

Persephone grinned as she saw Skye running down the stairs. It was so good to see the girl again, and even better to see how happy she looked. Titus had said that Skye seemed to be doing better lately, and it seemed to show on Skye's face. If Titus had come home from a bad assassination attempt, then Skye hadn't seen it.

"I've missed you too! I'm sorry I've been so busy. Life got busy, as it does." She flipped her pink hair out of her face, giving Skye a friendly smile, "But I'm on my way out to do a bit of shopping, and I thought I'd stop in and see if you'd like to get something new to wear as well. If not, my afternoon's open, so I can always stay and visit for a while."

[Skye Thompson]

“Shopping?” Skye though for a moment, trying to remember where she’d heard of the word before. Persephone had mentioned getting new clothes, but having spent the last month absorbing network media like a sponge, Skye had come up with a rather different definition. “Is that when women with strange voices go about laughing and talking about things that make no sense? Why would we do that?”

But there was another problem. Skye hadn’t been to a public place since she had lost control for that fateful moment at the University. She was more than a little nervous to give it a second try. But however much certain things made her want to, Skye knew she couldn’t spend the rest of her life behind Titus’ apartment door. Not when fate had been kind enough to give her the kind of life that was worth living. What had happened to her was more than just luck. There was something else there. As though someone out there was rooting for her, trying to give her a chance. And Skye was going to take it.

[Persephone Ruspoli]

Strange voices? It took Persephone a moment to realize what Skye was talking about, and then she had to bite back her laughter. She shook her head, amused grin creeping on her face, "Titus really needs to monitor what you're watching, before you start getting strange ideas about how women act."

"It's not exactly like that. Shopping just means buying items." Persephone felt a little sorry for Skye. With her controlling father, and the poverty she'd grown up in, Skye had probably never worn anything her father hadn't gotten for her, or anything she hadn't been forced to steal or get from a donation box. That was going to change today, if Persephone had any say in the matter. "I need some new clothes, and since shopping is boring with a friend, I thought you might enjoy coming along! We can find you some clothes too, if you feel like it."

[Skye Thompson]

A blush crept up onto Skye’s cheeks and she ducked her head, embarrassed at Persephone’s amusement. It was clear that she had made a big mistake, but she wasn’t sure exactly what that mistake was. Looking back up, she tilted her head and fixed Persephone with a quizzical stare. “I don’t understand. You… you mean the things we watch on the Network are… are lies? Why would they lie to us like that?”

People told lies, Skye understood that well enough, but she’d never seen the Network that way. It had never been a person to her. People had one face and one voice and one personality, whereas the network had many. No, the Network was more of an entity, a collective consciousness, the universal ‘they’ of her world. And if they didn’t tell the truth, who did?

[Persephone Ruspoli]

"Not exactly lies..." Persephone thought about the best way to explain it to Skye. She had enough friends who did act like that, so it wasn't exactly a lie. But it wasn't the truth either, and it wasn't reality for everyone. "It's complicated."

"The Network hosts all sorts of content. There's two major types though. There's the stuff that's about real things, like the documentaries about Terra, or the news. And then there's the entertainment stuff. That stuff is more about having a good story than telling the truth, so they'll distort things, or make things up. Remember when we watched the cartoons, Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast, and Rapunzel? Those were just stories and they were meant to be entertaining, and make you feel good when good things happen."

She brushed her hair out of her face, "The shopping show was an entertainment one. There are women who act like that, but not all women. But a lot of women enjoy watching it. I think they like it because they want to be like those women, and be able to shop and gossip and not have any real worries. I hope this makes sense. This is one of those things that gets easier to understand the more up see it." Persephone wasn't holding out a lot of hope. After all, it took children years to realize how they were being manipulated by the Network programs they watched. And Persephone was hoping Skye could grasp at least a little of it in less than month.

[Skye Thompson]

Although Skye nodded, she was still rather confused. She understood the difference between stories and facts, but how did you know which was which if no one told you? She had heard plenty of fables from Adrian growing up, as well as true tales of things he’d experienced on other planets. But it had always been easy to tell what was true and what wasn’t.

Now it seemed truth was disguised as fact, and fact as truth. What was she going to do? Skye was going to do the only thing she knew how to do in a situation like this. Pretend there was no problem. “Okay.” She nodded once more, smiling at Persephone. “I guess I’m ready to go.” Suddenly Skye felt rather awkward. She reached up with one hand as if to tuck her hair behind her ear, but let her fingers rest there as she shuffled her feet, looking at her toes. “But I- I don’t think I can go with you. I don’t have any money.”

[Persephone Ruspoli]

Skye seemed to get it. That, or she was just agreeing with Persephone. If it was the latter, then it would probably come up again later, and they could talk about it more. Maybe by then Persephone would have thought up something more useful to say.

"Sweetie, I hate to break it to you, but you've got plenty of money now." Persephone knew it was going to take time for Skye to realize that her brother's riches were her riches too. Maybe it would be best if she spoke to Titus about making sure she had her own credit card. There was a chance she would blow her money on meaningless things, but Skye didn't seem like that sort of girl. "I'll cover your purchases for today, and whenever Titus manages to get around to giving you your own credit card, you can cover mine the next time we go shopping."

That was a bit of a white lie. Persephone had no intentions of making Skye pay for anything. After all, Persephone had more money than even Titus, and she hardly wasted any of it. But it would be easier to convince Skye to let Persephone cover her purchases if she thought she would get a chance to pay her back some day.

[Skye Thompson]

“Oh.” Was once again all Skye could think to say. Her head was spinning. She had never really understood money, except that she’d never had any. Her father had made sure she knew that. The money that she had used to buy their food, extra blankets for the winter, and any other things they’d needed, that had been her father’s, not a cent of it had ever belonged to her. Even the shares of his wages Adrian had given her had belonged to her brother alone, never to her.

Skye understood the concept of worth, if she held a credit in her hand, it was worth perhaps, a loaf of bread. But one or two credits was all she’d ever held, all the money her father had ever had. Titus had mentioned giving Skye a bit of money to support herself when she was old enough, but she had never imagined it would be on the scale Persephone was suggesting. All Skye knew of so called ‘credit cards’ was that Adrian had once told her they were used by people who had so much money they couldn’t store it in credit form. For a moment, she worried that Titus would have no money if he gave so much to her, but quickly reminded herself that they’d already had that conversation.

But what could she say now? Skye knew Persephone expected more of a response from her, but her mind was still computing the idea that money in such vast quantities wasn’t some sort of myth. Unable to think straight, Skye simply said the first thing that cane into her head. “Okay. I… guess we should go then.”

[Persephone Ruspoli]

Persephone could see Skye still digesting the idea of money. She felt a bit bad for the girl. It would probably be difficult for her to see how much clothes cost, particularly if she was used to the Below. But you had to start somewhere, and clothes were an essential. "Get your shoes, and a jacket, it's chilly out!" She reminded Skye, not wanting her to end up catching a cold.

She waited until Skye was properly dressed, and then stepped out of the apartment. "There's a fantastic little block of shops a dozen levels up. I've been there a few times, and they should have something for the both of us." Persephone glanced up, looking at the solid square far above them, where the shops were located. "Right up there!"

[Skye Thompson]

Persephone’s command startled Skye out of her trace, and after blinking confusedly for a moment, she ran upstairs to get her things. She still wasn’t quite used to the idea of wearing shoes everywhere. Shoes were for long, hard journeys, and while life in the Below was hard, it was usually neither long, nor a journey. No one in the Below traveled. When Skye had left home, she’d taken a pair of Adrian’s old shoes, because for once someone from the Below was setting out on a journey. They now resided under her bed, resembling more a pile of rubber and dirty grey fabric than any sort of footwear.

But Skye didn’t need to wear those shoes, because Titus in his foresight and benevolence had bought her a new pair. Though it felt strange to wear them, it did give Skye a certain pleasure. She had never seen anything that looked so obviously new. The jacket however, was more of a problem. She didn’t have one. The best she could do was to pull the thickest sweater she had on over the dress she was wearing. The colors clashed hideously, but Skye neither knew nor cared.

She dashed down the stairs as always and followed Persephone out the door, looking up to where her friend was pointing. Higher up yet. The though made Skye smile.

[Persephone Ruspoli]

Persephone held back a smile at Skye's outfit. She would be sending Skye home with a real wardrobe today, and some easily matched outfits. No point in making things harder for Skye than they needed to be.

Instead, she headed down the walkway to the elevator at the end of the building. Persephone kept pace with Skye, making sure not to go too slow, or too fast either. "So what sorts of fun things have you been doing lately? Besides watching programs on the Network, I mean."

[Skye Thompson]

As Skye followed Persephone down the walkway, she couldn’t help but feel slightly on edge. She mustn’t think about the Below, about her father. But just in trying not to think of him she was in fact thinking of him. In trying not to picture his face, she thought she could almost feel his eyes on her. Stop! She told herself sternly, just stop it! This was her chance to prove, more to herself than anyone else, that it was safe for her to be out in public. The last thing she needed was to prove just the opposite.

On that note, she was very grateful for Persephone’s question, though she wasn’t quite sure how to answer it. Watching the Network had taken up most of the past three weeks. “Well…” she began, still unsure of what she was going to say. “I’ve been… drawing some and… I cooked a little bit.” These meals had been made only for herself, when Titus wasn’t home until late. Skye wasn’t even sure if Titus knew she could cook, and she wasn’t sure she wanted him to.

On more than one occasion he’d come home so tired that Skye had thought about offering to make the meal, but there was one thought that always stopped her. Skye knew she had no skill with food. She didn’t burn everything or anything like that, but her meals were plain and mediocre. Titus was used to his own cooking, which was very good, and Skye was afraid the food she made would disgust him. But perhaps she could learn how to make a meal worthy of her new guardian. “Persephone… do you know anything about cooking?”

[Persephone Ruspoli]

Persephone nodded as Skye listed off the things she'd been doing. Drawing was good, very good. Cooking... well, in a way that was good. It gave Skye a little independence. Persephone just hoped she was cooking because she wanted to, and not because Titus had forgotten to leave her something to eat. He was a considerate man, but it wasn't like he was used to living with a sister. And when Persephone had lived with him, she'd taken care of herself... and always had her own apartment.

"I'm glad to hear that you're drawing." She said, mulling over Skye's question. "As for cooking, I'm awful. If it's more complicated than toast, I order in. But if you want to learn a little more, I'm sure we can find you a few cooking tutorials on the Network. Lots of people watch those shows in order to learn new recipes."

They reached the elevator. Persephone swiped her card and waited for the lift to arrive. You could hear it coming, the steady building hum as it zipped up to meet her. She waited for the doors to slide open and stepped inside, selecting the level, and the number of passengers. "And I think Titus could should you a few things, if you felt like asking him. He's a wonderful cook. Sometimes I wish he would have stuck with it..."