strange texts

Who: Medea and Skye
Where: The Mall
When: Early Afternoon

Skye'd gone to the mall in a fit of boredom - for all that she could've been doing something useful, there really wasn't anything useful to do today. So she'd gone off and wandered. At this time she was examining a pair of shoes that looked interesting (though horribly uncomfortable) that had a price tag she was sure must've involved hunting down a unicorn for the leather that was obviously sprinkled liberally with pixie dust or something. Personally, Skye wasn't overly interested in such a high heel, though. She could probably stab someone with something that thin.

Medea was at the mall, though mostly she was window shopping. Getting ideas for things she could possibly make herself, since yeah. She didn't have the money for anything. Even with her job, half the things in the shops were too expensive for her. No, she didn't have sixty bucks for jeans. Or a shirt, in some cases. she didn't have half that, even. She did, however, notice a blonde girl in Payless, and she wandered that way. She recalled that she'd been one of the late Chrissy's crew. So, she walked up, and looked over the girl's shoulder. "I think I'd kill myself in those." she opened up, smiling.

"One good hit and you could kill someone else with one these." Skye nodded, and put the shoe down. "I have no idea how to walk in something that tall without breaking an ankle - hey!" She looked at Medea and smiled. "You were at that party." She snapped her fingers, trying to remember what the name of that club that had the masquerade party.

She laughed, smiling brightly. "I was!" she agreed. "I don't know if we got names, but I think I know yours anyhow..Skye, right?" she asked, giving the girl a warm, inviting sort of demeanor. Medea always wanted to have people around who could give a good impression of her to others.

"Yeah!" Skye smiled at her, and her brain got approximately as far with her name as it did with that place with the party. "M-m-maddie? I think? I am really terrible with names today." She blushed, and rubbed the back of her neck. "Sorry."

Medea laughed good naturedly. "Oh don't worry about it, I don't even know if we were properly introduced. I'm Medea." she introduced herself. "I was thinking about getting a slushie or something, want to come with?" she asked. It was about all she could afford at this point. But she was willing to spend it on that, and maybe a pretzel or something.

Skye thought for a moment, trying to remember how much money she had on her. About ten dollars, she figured. So Skye nodded. "Yeah, I can get a slush. Where can we get one in here?" Skye glanced over her shoulder like she'd see a slushie stand right there, though of course there was none.

"There's the poor excuse for a food-court-thing which is just like, one little snack shop up that way." Medea said, pointing. "Bet they've got pretzels too, want to share one with me?" she asked. Really she could eat it all herself--she had to eat a lot in general, but sharing was a good way to get people to be relaxed and open.

"Sure." Skye nodded. "I'll get the pretzel." That seemed fair. Medea had asked her pretzel-and-slushie, so Skye could at least supply the pretzel part. Or the slush. One or the other. "Do you like a lot of salt on yours or no?"

"I'm actually good either way." Medea said, smiling. "I'm easy. Cheese, no cheese, salt, other things, whatever you're good for, I'm game." she added in an easy going manner. "So, I know I see you around school and all, what're you into? I don't think we have classes together, but you're around."

"I'm not into much, I guess." Skye grinned and shrugged lazily. "I like being outside, and I like math, and I have no objections to hanging out with people who want to hang out."

"Sounds like a positive way to look at things." Medea said. "I...I don't mean to bring up a bad subject or anything...but you were friends with Chrissy, weren't you?" she asked. Then appeared to rush forward with her speech. "My sister and I are kind of new in town, and she's a cheerleader, and knew her, so I just...sorry for your loss, if that's the case." she said, sounding genuine. Mostly, she figured if anyone had anything to say to Skye on it, it had been something nasty about Chrissy, so she was hoping to play the odds on being one of the few with 'real' sympathy.

"I considered her a friend." Skye nodded, then smiled faintly. "I think she more considered me a project, though. But thank you. I appreciate it." Actually, no one had said anything nasty to Skye's face, though she knew a lot of people weren't fans of Chrissy at all. But maybe people were showing a little sensitivity for once. "May I ask who your sister is?"

"Isabelle Donovan." Medea answered Skye. "We only got here a few weeks ago, really. Haven't been in town long but we're from the U.P. originally we're from Iron Mountain." she explained. "Getting used to Marquette's been interesting. It's largely the same, only we have to get to know everyone all over again."

"I think I was told you were from Iron Mountain at the party." Skye said musingly. "I think so, anyway. It's still weird to me, if it helps - I'm not used to not seeing the same people every day."

"No?" Medea asked. "You're newish too, I'm taking it? I'm really sorry if I should know all of this already, I'm kind of an idiot, I guess. But I'd like to get to know you. Hmm...have you met Porter?" she asked. Not that Porter was mr. popularity. He wasn't, but that was generally the idea. He wasn't meant to be. He was meant to be someone who was just malleable enough to server her purposes, and so far he was.

"No, I don't think I have. I know I know the name from somewhere... probably school, actually. I know I haven't met anyone named Porter, though." Skye quirked up an eyebrow, and completely failed at suppressing a grin. "Would that be someone special to you?"

Medea put on a show of looking shy for a second, then she broke into a happy smile. "He would be." she admitted. "My boyfriend, actually." she said. "He's a sweetheart, you should meet him. I've never met anyone like him." she said, playing it up so if Skye did happen to run into Porter, she could most certainly tell the guy that Medea was very taken with him.

"Awuh. That sounds entirely sweet." Skye grinned at Medea. "Though, I suppose if you had met someone like him before, you'd be dating the before guy and not this one." Skye looked at the ceiling, thoughtful for a moment, then back to Medea and shrugged. "Never had a boyfriend before, personally."

"Well, I recommend it." Medea said, moving up to stand in the short line for the laughable excuse for an eatery. "I never really dated a whole lot or anything, nothing that would even be considered a real 'boyfriend' I suppose, but I'm glad that I've got Porter. Just kind of makes everything nice, and especially with as much strangeness is going on lately..."

"This place is definitely weird." Skye agreed. "I mean, how do you really expect the world to explode into ghosts?" She shook her head, still confused about all that. "And how do you use them for terrorism? You can walk through them. They're kind of cold, but..." She shook her head.

"I don't know. I confess, I didn't understand that, really." Medea admitted, giving her order when they were up to the counter. "But apparently you can. I haven't really seen any spirits, even though I know it's a thing now, everywhere. I'm kind of curious and at the same time...have you seen any?" she asked.

Skye thought about that for a second, and ordered the pretzel that they had discussed earlier. "Not... recently." She offered cautiously. "But I haven't been really looking, either. Maybe I should?"

"Not recently, but at some point?" Medea asked. "What have you seen?" she asked, putting the money down on the counter as she grabbed her order, and she waited for Skye. If the girl was trying to cover, she was doing a piss poor job of it. But then again, that just suited her own cause, so all was well.

"Ghosts?" Skye sort-of asked, unsure exactly what this conversation had turned into. She paid for the pretzel, and when she recieved it she tore it in half so that Medea could have some - and offered her the choice of which half of pretzel to get. "Of people? Like the rest of the world? Uh... unless I've been very confused the past few weeks?"

"Just curious what you saw." Medea said, taking part of the pretzel then going to choose a spot to sit down. Doing so, she kept her attention on Skye. "I think I've been a little too wrapped up in everything else lately to see much. I was just curious."

"They just sort of... walk around? Sometimes they don't walk around? Um. They're kind of see-through, and they're chilly? That's really about it for me." Skye shrugged. Really, it was true. They were ghosts, but they really didn't do anything. To Skye, anyway. "Maybe you could check them on the internet? I'm sure there are a lot of sites about them now, if there weren't before."

"I suppose. I was more interested in first hand knowledge, that was all." Medea said. Then she paused. "Oh, hold on a moment." she said, pulling the phone Porter had gotten for her out of her bag. She pulled up a text message, and blinked. "Hm." she said. "There's no sender." she noticed aloud, and she leaned over to show Skye the message. "Should I answer?" she asked, smiling a little. "...seems a harmless question, just...how am I?"

"Always be polite to strangers! Unless they've got an old beat-up van and are offering you candy to get inside. Then just run." Skye nodded, because that was an entirely appropriate response, of course. "It's your phone. How comfortable are you with the fact someone just anonymously texted you?"

Medea laughed at that. "I'll keep that in mind." she said. Then she thought about it. "I don't know, I'm kind of new to the cellphone thing. Porter got it for me in the first place. I never had one before." she explained. Then she shrugged. I'm good, how are you? she sent back to the person.

She got another message back right away. I'm good as well! Thanks for asking! :)

"Well, they seem friendly enough." Medea noted.

"Er. Hm. Maybe they think you're someone else." Skye figured, since that would make sense. "So you have a great opportunity here to make a new friend that you might never actually meet. Or, alternatively, you could be a coyote and make them think you're whoever they think they're texting. Oooor you could tell them they have the wrong person. I don't know, people don't really text me."

"They don't with me either, almost no one has this number." Medea said. "But who am I to buck fate? Maybe it's meant to be or something." she suggested, teasing a little. She scooted her chair over so she was next to Skye, so they could both see her screen. You're welcome. Who is this? I can't see your number. she typed in response.

A friend! You can call me B.

"Um. Do you know anyone named B?" Skye scratched the back of her neck curiously. "Because not seeing their number with them claiming to be a friend is a little on the creepy side. Or maybe I'm just a wuss."

"No, no one I can think of." Medea said. "And I don't know about creepy. I mean, what's so sinister about a text message? Maybe it's someone I knew from Iron Mountain." she suggested. Do I know you, B? Or are you just a friendly mystery person?

I just wanted to say hi. :)

"How would they get your number if they didn't know it before?" Skye asked doubtfully. But she wasn't sure, so she decided not to voice doubts after this. It was entertaining, really. And if there was an issue with a stalker, well, that could be dealt with by police. Between werewolves and ghosts, Skye was reasonably sure they could deal with a bloody stalker. Right? Right. "Maybe it's just someone who randomly picks numbers and texts them."

"I don't know, there's tons of information out there, floating around." Medea suggested. "And as far as surprises go, this one's nice. I mean...could be worse, right?" she asked. "I don't think it's anything to worry about." Well, hello! Nice to meet you! :) she texted back. "It never hurts to be friendly, Skye. You never know who you're dealing with."

"I find it easier to be friendly with someone when I can see them." Shrugging again, Skye licked a stray salt crystal from her fingertip. "Usually, anyway. But hey, if it's a stalker that's what the police are for. Until then, I guess he or she's been pretty nice, too."

Medea glanced up from the phone. "...do you always assume the worst about someone?" she asked, not pointedly. It was kind of a gentle tone, one that seemed a little troubled. As if she was waiting for that judgment to be turned around on herself, which, social status taken into account, was a reasonable assumption. Skye had been Chrissy's little friend.

"Oh, no. Mom was very clear that I should watch out for city people though." Skye grinned. "I don't know, it's just weird to me that someone would randomly want to say hello on your phone without you giving out the number to very many people and then not telling you... it makes me edgy." She shrugged again. "Maybe I'm paranoid?"

"I'd vote on paranoid." Medea said, not unkindly. "And this is hardly the city, sweetie." she added. Sure it was the biggest place in the U.P. but it still only cracked out at like twenty thousand people. "Now New York, that's a city. And besides. Mystery Caller could be texting from anywhere. He could be in a little country house all by their lonesome." she added, smiling at the girl and winking.