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“When the heck did winter decide to show her ugly head?” Birdee complained under her breath as she jumped up and down on the corner of the street, while waiting for the bus stop. Her hands rubbed together to cause some friction in an attempt to keep them warm from the winter’s bite that threatened to freeze the tips. Birdee knew what month it was and that winter was inevitable, but she sort of forgot to prepare herself for winter. Like every other year before this one. Which was why she was standing on the corner, waiting for the bus that should be coming in a couple of minutes in the bitter cold. She needed to buy a scarf, mittens and boots, because somewhere between last winter and this one, those things had vanished. All but one mitten, but what good was one mitten to anyone?


“FINALLY!” Birdee said as the bus came into view; a bus that would eventually take her to the Veil tower shops. Birdee fetched out a few coins for the fare and leaped into the bus, then froze. People. Yikes! Usually Birdee would walk where ever she needed to go, but because it was nippy as heck, there was no way she was going to try and walk the seventeen or so blocks to the tower. Birdee pushed the coins inside the slot to pay her fee for using the public transit system, then carefully stepped around a child in an umbrella stroller, over the obnoxiously elongated legs of a couple of kids in their late teens and past the walker of some old lady, before going up the four stairs on the bus to claim a seat in the back of it. The very back where no one sat anywhere near her. She would try and not let the colors speak to her this year when Birdee got around to shopping for her mom.


When someone came up the stairs and threatened to come into Birdee’s space, the woman stuffed the phone in her pocket and stood. She held her breath and squeezed between a seated person and the person coming her way. It probably looked like some crazy woman with a phobia of being touched (which, she sort of was, wasn’t she?), her arms snaking around and over people, while she sucked her tiny stomach in, then shoved her butt out and looped around some bags of groceries stacked up besides a seat. When she managed to make it around things and people, Birdee let out a breath of relief and then stood right next to the back door that only opened to let people off. She had to get off, even if the towers were still four blocks away. She would do her best to haul ***.


When the door opened, Birdee flung herself out and started briskly walking towards her location. When she was half a block from the towers, Birdee tossed a few coins in the hat of some guy who looked like his luck had run out, figuring he had it rougher than she did-even though her life was rough. He looked up at her and wished her a Merry Christmas through parted lips that had once upon a time seen all his teeth, but at most held ten-maybe a dozen. “No problem, man! Get some coffee. It’s going to be a cold one tonight.” She intentionally left the whole ‘Merry Christmas’ ordeal out, because Birdee found the holiday more stressful than pleasant. When she went home for the holidays and had her mom, her mom’s sister and nieces and nephews there, along with her grandparents when they were living. That had all changed a couple years ago when her grandma died. Her granddad died about nine months later, her mom saying he gave up. Not knowing how to cope without the woman who did everything for him outside of working out of the house. He never had to cook a meal, do laundry, do grocery shopping, or anything like that.


Birdee entered the first store she thought might have what she needed first. A coat. She couldn’t believe she almost forgot she would need one of those bad boys. Birdee waltzed over to the men’s section, because the coats typically made for women were too form fitting and couldn’t allow for Birdee to wear the layers she usually packed on during winter. Plus, they felt like they were choking her all the time anyways. The first coat she saw that looked halfway decent, she unzipped, pulled off the hanger and slipped it around both shoulders. With a shake of her head, she took it off and moved on to a different coat that was similar, but a different color and made from a different type of outside material. Quick fingers danced over the hangers as she sought out the size she wanted (one size bigger for those layers) and then grabbed it off the hook, while someone grabbed it from the other side of the rack. “Woah! Totally saw it first.” She tried to yank it in her direction to put the person off the idea of getting it.

Birdee glanced at the guy as her hand slipped down the hanger, making a little more space between where his hand rest on the other side of the hook, and where her fingers rested. When she felt him yank, she held on that much tighter, her eyes narrowing as she listened to what he was saying, turning her head so that her good ear didn't miss anything he was saying. “You did, but I had my hand on it first. That means you should let go. It's shopper decency or something.” Birdee gave it another yank, but yanking it didn't do a heck of a lot. It seemed both people wanted this coat, and they both needed the only one that came in this size.

"Miss? Can I help you with something?" A young, male voice asked from behind her, right behind her good ear. Birdee's grasp on the hanger diminished as she whipped around and then backed away from the guy, backing right into the rack. “WOAH! You can't just creep up on people like that. What's wrong with you?" Birdee said through deep breaths as she felt her forehead start to perspire from the lurch her heart took in her chest when he crept up on her.

"I apologize. Hi. My name is Benny. Can I help you find something?" He asked again, this time standing taller and more perkier than before. Almost pushing his shiny name tag in her direction, like he won it at some fair or something. "Well, yeah. I had this coat first, but this guy is too busy eye ******* it to let me actually look at the thing I want to buy. Maybe you can help him find something else?" Birdee threw a thumb back in Louvel's direction, smiling at Benny. "I see. I'll help him after help you. You're the one I saw first." He smiled even wider and then turned to the left and extended a hand. "Maybe I could help you find something in the ladies' section. We have a great selection there. Something almost like this, but not as long. Rests fashionably at the hip line." He started going into the selling points and how similar the two coats were, minus the fact one was designed for women, while this one was made for men.

“Hey!" Birdee said after whistling, trying to get the guy's attention and steer him off repeating some selling points he probably familiarized last week to drive sales. “First off, maybe this coat would look ******* fantastic on my boy toy and I'm shopping for him." Birdee yanked at the coat again, tugging it more in her direction this time, but not enough for Louvel to drop it, unless he wanted to. “OR maybe, I just don't give a **** about labels and thought this coat looks like something I'd ******* rock the **** out of, even though I have a pair of knockers." She then let go of the coat with a roll of her eyes and a click of her tongue. Her eyes landed on Louvel, and gave him the once over before parting her lips to speak. “It's all yours. It's destined for a pretty boy, it seems." Birdee turned back to look at the sales rep and then flipped him off. “Keep your high class crap to yourself. Some kids in Ethiopia or some other third world country probably made this anyways to keep your boss fat and rich." She moved past the sales clerk, making sure she took a wide enough gap around him to proceed forward. She headed to the front door of the store, but stopped near a mannequin and smacked a hand at the hat it was wearing, then did a little shimmy, shake on it, before dragging her tongue on its cheek, then gave the guy another finger before slipping out the door.

Birdee Another PC Moderate Physically demanding Louvel von der Marck Yank the hanger back

Birdee hadn't gotten that far from the shop, before something else caught her eye in a different store. A 'sale' at a store she shopped at a couple times a year when she had some extra spare cash and she just happened to have some spare cash. Satine took good care of her in more ways than one. Satine paid her well and had even given her a bonus. Birdee was just about to go in and check out a t-shirt that caught her eye near the front window, when there was a voice from off to the side of where she stood. "Mam?" A woman's voice caught her attention, only to see a woman that was a security guard off to the side.

"Didn't see anything." Birdee said as she moved away from the window, eyes dropping to what was in the woman's arms. "No, mam. I have your gift you left at the counter." The woman interjected, holding it out at arm's length. "My what?" Birdee asked looking at the present like it was something that had been pulled out of a space ship from another planet. "Your purchase. From that store there." The woman turned around and pointed to the store Birdee had left a handful of minutes ago. "Some other customer said you left it behind. He must have been behind you." The woman practically thrust it at Birdee then and there, which had Birdee giving no choice but to take it, still holding it away from her. "It's not-" Birdee started to tell her, but the woman was all too ready to leave and stop playing messenger between Louvel and Birdee. "Have a good day." She said with a hurried wave that accompanied a firm smile before she was off, keys clanking with her as she bounded away. "Whatever." Birdee said with a shrug as she walked away from the store, the present being shifted around as Birdee shook it, trying to imagine what exactly was in the tree wrapped gift with the big bow of some material she had seen but didn't know what it was called.

With another shrug, Birdee decided to open it and see just what it was. If it was something she could use, she would use it. If it wasn't...maybe she could return it and keep the cash. Still walking, her fingers slipped under the first seam she could find and ripped the paper, bringing a long strip along with her. She tossed it in the shred in the nearest garbage, before she realized that the ribbon wouldn't just slide off when she ripped the paper off. Birdee flipped it over and untied the ribbon and then tossed that too, oblivious to what was going on around her or the present. She wandered around in a zig-zag pattern, more or less wandering between cars, people and fixtures like garbage's and signs telling drivers where to drive, how fast to drive and where to park. The only thing that drew her attention was when there was a high pitched squeal from in front of her, followed by the honking of a horn, when Birdee's fingers finally found a way into the box and felt the fabric of the coat she had touched not more than ten minutes ago in the first shop she stopped in.

"What the frick?" She asked, confused as there was another honking of the same horn, followed by a not reminder that she wasn't the only one out in the shops today. "Hey! Trying to drive here!" Birdee looked up to see a woman in a dark green colored car, and behind her, another car with 'pretty boy' behind it. With narrowed eyes, she moved around the first car, the woman in the driver's side who was hell bent on rolling up her window before Birdee came near it or her. "What's the idea of this?" Birdee asked, yanking the coat out of the box, allowing the box to fall on the ground as she approached Louvel's car and held it up against his window. "I can buy my own stuff, you know?" Birdee asked, her face pressed next to the coat that was still against his window, a bewildered look on her face.

The song that finally registered when the guy opened his window made her lips twitch a little. It was oddly fitting in that moment and couldn't have picked a better time, in Birdee's mind. Almost like it was destiny, or kismet. An example of moments like these would be something along the lines of thinking about your favorite song on the radio and after a commercial break it comes on. Or walking into a store, seeing all the check out lines jammed packed, then when you finish your shopping you happen to come at just the right time with a lane open. Moments like these happened to everyone, but people typically shrugged it off as nothing more than coincidence. But Birdee typically paid attention to those strange, but 'coincidental' moments. Her mother said signs were everywhere, but it was up to the person getting them to pay attention and tried to decipher what they meant. It was a daunting and frustrating task, and sometimes Birdee didn't put two and two together until the next thing happened and it made perfect sense.

While gifted, she was highly untrained due to the drugs Birdee was on and the fact that her mother had battled breast cancer when Birdee was in her teens, then had another scare three years later when they found something somewhere else, which wasn't anything more than a tumor-but Birdee imagined her mother was exhausted and didn't blame her one bit. So Birdee adapted and figured out a different way to deal with her 'talents' and 'gifts' in other ways. She numbed them as best as she could. So, the song definitely had her pausing, just enough to listen to the guy go on about nice gestures.

"Oh." Was all Birdee said as her eyes looked down at the coat. It was a very expensive gesture and while his truck seemed to be in good shape, it was old. The guy probably needed the coat more than she did. Life was rough, sure, but even Birdee had a newer car than this guy. By a few decades. "I could have got it if I really wanted it." Birdee followed up while the guy took a break to catch some air before he went on. As he talked, Birdee balled the coat closer to her chest, not breaking eye contact with the guy with green eyes. A lot could be said about people with green eyes. Birdee had heard a lot of things about people with green eyes. Some true and some, probably opinion based. True-it was the rarest eye color around. Opinion-people with green eyes are generally more trustworthy. How did people actually know that? "No, no crime. Unless you five finger discounted it." Birdee cracked a grin. "Did you?" She laughed lightly before shrugging. "Just fricking with you."

Her eyes didn't shift from the outside party that felt the need to interject. Birdee wondered what it was she was supposed to be paying attention to, but it seemed neither actually recognized the other. And truth be told, the guy seemed to 'square' to party in her scenes, but there was something she was sure Birdee was supposed to have figured out during this entire encounter. And then it hit her. She needed to return the 'kind gesture.' Duh, Birdee. "Hey!" Birdee called out as the guy started to get into his truck, while Birdee had zoned out for a few seconds. "I kind of skipped breakfast this morning." She started out, before her eyes finally left off of Louvel. "Since you saved me a crap ton of money, maybe I could do a random act of kindness, was it?" Birdee took a step back, the coat still balled to her chest. "There's this twenty-four hour grease pit about half a mile east from here. Go there a couple times a month. Their breakfast is amazing, but their burgers aren't bad either." She concluded, before expanding. "It's Canada's version of George Webb-anyways, I could buy you breakfast or lunch, or some pie." She shrugged her shoulders and took another step back. "My random act of kindness for the year." She lifted both shoulders, then dropped them before pointing behind her shoulders. "My car is back that way, if you're game, I can lead the way."

Birdee wasn't oblivious to what was stirring behind Louvel's vehicle, but she frankly didn't give a flying frickstick. Birdee wanted to make sure they were 'good,' in some respect, and wasn't going to let the guy leave until she had made it up to him. She saw him lean over, unlock the door and then offer to give her a ride. Everyone's been told as a kid 'don't get in a car with a stranger,' but Birdee can recall at least four different times she did that and it worked out just fine. Why would today be any different? "Oh, uhm, yeah. Okay!" She said with a nod of her head, heading around the engine of the vehicle.

She opened the door to the truck, and then used the top of the vehicle to pull up on with her right hand. Her left was tossed up in the air to give the SUV 'the bird,' before she slipped into the passenger seat. The coat was placed on her lap, before Birdee grabbed the seat belt and attempted to buckle up. She heard it click, which indicated she got it in the right place, after a few seconds before she looked in the rear view mirror. She saw the driver's side door of the vehicle behind Louvel's open, the guy with a less than amused look. Guess he didn't like birds. "I'm Birdee, and you should totally get going before Mr. SUV gets out of his SUV." She warned, as her eyes bounced to the guy in the driver's side. "I might have flipped him off." She proclaimed before turning to look ahead and to the exit. "There's two exits, just take that one there out and hang a right." Birdee directed, her voice calm and collected, as if there was no reason to be concerned about the guy approaching the truck she was sitting in.