Shape brushes her hair, checking the result with the scummy bathroom mirror. And then she runs by her adjacent bedroom once more and plucks the yellow gem necklace from the desk that Silver bought her. This will do for their encounter nicely.
She hears the front door as she's heading down, and she opens it to Silver. Compared to their first encounter, Shape is significantly more touched up. She's wearing something of a knee-length skirt and dress, beige and white and modestly revealing her shoulders, breasts, and arms.
She says, "Hey, Silver. I thought for our hangout I'd try on a different look this time. I was thinking about even wearing lipstick, I hadn't done that in a while, but I wanted to maybe share a wine with you and not stain the glass."
There is a very brief look of confusion on Silver's face, but it fades and she giggles instead. "Ah yes. Shape. The Shape-Shifter. I don't think I ever specified but don't worry, I do appreciate guys and girls alike. So I'll gladly take you as you prefer. May I come in?"
In comparison, Silver has mostly chosen a similar attire to always, but it's not like her casual attire lacks the fanciness to be excused as proper eveningwear as well. She does have a bit more striking heels than before, which adds to her height advantage over Shape.
"Of course! Come on in, and thank you, yeah. I did figure maybe you were looking to rest your eyes on a pretty lady today~," She says. She immediately heads to the kitchen, where a pitcher of water and wine bottle and glasses already were. And she asks if Silver wants any of that. She continues, "It's a red wine. Are you a fan of those?"
She returns to the living room with some glasses for them, and she smiles with pleasant teeth. Her legs fold across one another, and she waves the television remote. "You look good too, Silver. See, yeah, part of the reason I'm dressed up too is I realized you're in, say, the country club tier of people? Given your wealth and valuable time. So I thought it'd be fun to play into that. I don't have television, but I could setup a movie or game if you like."
"I do fancy myself a smaller amount of wine on occasion, thank you." Her gaze does fall up and down the length of the new Shape as she walks away into the kitchen. Good features, certainly. Shapeshifters have it nice in that regard, Silver thinks to herself. She moves to take a seat but eyes the living room over with some hesitance. She's still vaguely conscious about getting too close to Shape, but she settles at the end of the sofa. "I have been on occasion to some country clubs, yes. Good arrangements can be made there. I never quite caught the knack for golf but it honestly had its upsides. Wealthy men do get a bit thoughtless around women they think they can underestimate safely... I don't mean to go too much into that tangent though. I'm curious, what manner of games do you play?"
She sips a bit of the water she poured herself. The wine glasses for both of them and Silver's water are still on the coffee table. Lady Shape says, "Yeah... Golf seems kind of dreadful. Everything I see on television about it seems designed to put people to sleep, I don't know. I guess there's got to be good money in it for those good at it, sure. Or at least good at manipulation." She rolls her eyes. "Anyway, yeah, I play... a few video games, sometimes. Like a fighting game. But when people are over I do own a few board games I play with them, or even just like social games that don't necessarily have a board. For the physical board games though, I have like a trivia board game. If you like answering trivia-- oh, maybe you're more into strategy though-- or I even have a cooperative one." She's managed to be kneeling inside an opened closet in this room, reading off the games.
"Video games really are not my forte, unfortunately. They go so fast and I am someone who enjoys a leisurely pace." She takes a small nip at her glass; quite certainly adequate, she's been offered some questionable swills in her past before so it's always nice to be pleased.
"You have my attention at cooperative games. I find that having a winner and loser gets a bit repetitive on occasions so a teamwork game sounds quite curious." She lifts her glass and eyes over the gentle silver sparkle of her own lipstick on its rim.
"Yeah... I'm not going to lie, I'm not the quickest on my feet about that either. It's very casual stuff. I agree about playing the cooperative board game, then, yeah." Shape hums, lifts the box from the stack, and walks over to the coffee table. She makes room for the board. It's the street map of a damp and sickly night city, not terribly modern. Colored dice, human pawns, and some small cards plop on top. "This game's called Murder on Cobblestone. Basically, yeah there's a bunch of rules you could read in this pamphlet, but the idea is our characters in it are investigators have some possible scripted events and tasks in the city that we accomplish with dice rolls, having the characters share information, maybe dealing with some villains..." She joins Silver and sips wine too.
"Murder on Cobblestone, a wonderful name for a game. I applaud whoever comes up with these." She takes yet another sip, and then sets the glass down to analyze the board more curiously. She takes a blue piece off the board and holds it between her fingers. "Are these any real significances to the colors or may I claim this one for myself?"
Her instinct is to read over the rules in meticulous detail, but wasting half an hour of their precious time doing that in silence seems very not productive to having a social evening so she'll follow along with Shape's leaning towards winging it, maybe.
Shape scans the rules, murmuring, "Don't see why not. You're the blue piece then. Is your character the kind that'd... hold a flintlock, or a knife, or maybe just sneak up and strangle with a rope?" Shape wasn't going to waste a whole the evening away to precise rulings, no. The gameplay loop was simple enough once it got going. But, indeed, there were preliminary steps. Shape shuffles the small card decks and she says, "I want a gun, in any case. I'll take a flintlock. And maybe this perk for adjusting a roll once every three turns." She points out the starting choices for character abilities and single tool. She pulls the table a bit closer to the couch with both of them.
"I think doubling up sounds not conducive to learning the varieties of gameplay, so I will let my dear Miss Blueston have a knife. If your rules say she can't be a Miss, those are bad rules." She scans across the list of perks. "Ah, yes. I think I will settle for the double move on rolling a one or a two. Sounds like excellent insurance for whatever manner of moving this game might need."
It's a peculiar change of nature for Silver to suddenly seem quite invested in playing a silly board game, but it suits her well and she doesn't seem to mind it at all.
"Yeah. I guess I'm doing green. I'll name her... Tea. Lady Tea." Shape giggles, and she plants their pawns at the starting position, a police station. "Yeah, no, modern board games are the darnest things, they'll even specify in the rules for ones like this usually that male and female characters are evenly attributed. We can be ladies, legally." She sips from her wine and reads off a card, and rolls a dice. "The crime was conducted to the beloved barber! He was cut into three pieces, and there's like this long trail of blood in some photos Tea can see that goes from the middle of the street to the alley they found him." She hands Silver a card and the dice. "Your character could probably get some more insight too, and maybe we can solve a puzzle at the crime or just snoop for witnesses?"
Silver feigns a quite shocked gasp at the revelation of the murder. "Oh no, not the beloved barber! Let's see here..." She rolls a dice and scans the card herself, raising an eyebrow. "So, it seems that some of the barber's tools are bloodied, but none of them seem large enough to actually commit the act of, you know." She makes a scissor cutting motion indicating the fact of how not in one piece he is.
"How recent is this, would you say? I think if it's quite fresh we must investigate the scene before it is too late. Certainly in the weather that seems to permeate this city as well." Silver gently puts the card back onto the table, face down. Shape should know what to do with it.
Shape simply discards that card and the previous card into a new pile, facing down still. And after a couple minutes of awkward turns passing buildings in the evening light and greeting the crime scene, Lady Tea and Miss Blueston have found a cypher rolled up in a paper in the barber's sleeve. Shape comments, "I would have not been that observant in a million years, but I guess that's what having a roll of 4 is like. But yeah, good idea to check the scene. I wonder what the... jumbled letters could mean. I guess we should see if there's something we could find like an encryption key?" Lady Tea, once she's finished showing Miss Blueston the original encryption paper, writes a copy on a slip of paper in her notebook, rips it out, and... puts it between her tits, to quote Shape.
Miss Blueston raises an eyebrow at her colleague's choice of storage, but it's as useful as any, surely. The two of them return to the barbershop, in case there's things to deduce about the purpose of the crime or how it was committed. "Say, what exactly are we racing or wagering against in this game? Or is this truly just a leisurely murder mystery we'll see through to the end?" She realizes she's finished her glass as she goes to take another sip, and seems a tad surprised by this. The entire edge of the glass is stained in small amounts of shimmering silver, but it looks more ornately decorated than stained at a quick glance.
Shape heads to the kitchen and returns with the wine bottle, saying in the meantime, "In this game, there's kind of a multi-layered losing condition, you can sort of think of it less like losing and more having worse and worse wins. The best possible win being maybe that we manage to stop the criminal from killing anyone else when we capture them quickly. We have like 40 turns for that or something, so a large amount of time still, yeah." She goes ahead and tips the bottle of wine for Silver's glass, not really expecting her to drink much more but wanting to present opulence in providing it. And, yeah, Shape drinks more from her own glass and pours into her own. Miss Blueston is the first to notice that one of the chairs is both the only chair pulled out from the barber mirror and hair products and the only chair with a large clump of black hair. Tea finds the hair spray is freshly opened, and the cutting tools are missing. "I guess the barber took the tools to the crime site," Shape says.
Silver doesn't have time to consider if she wants to object to more wine. Respectfully, she takes one more little nip at the liquid. "I see, then. Black hair— that should narrow things down somewhat, though... It's a shame this isn't the kind of time where people frequently have vivid and distinct hairs. A suspected killer with purple hair would be much more distinct." Miss Blueston pockets some locks of the hair, and takes Lady Tea's hand to lead the pair back to the scene. Probably not the most time efficient approach, but leads are somewhat linear so far and it seems obvious to her to pursue those.
Shape says, "Ah, you're a fan of vivid hair colors and stuff? I'll have to keep that in mind maybe. Maybe I could take a request." She seems to speak just a bit looser. Tea happily walks along Miss Blueston's side, even leaning on her a bit at the crime scene. Unfortunately, the hair and hairspray didn't shed a ton of light on the scene. However, a man from the police station at the scene tips them some of the suspected witnesses, including some bar guests across the street of the alley. Lady Tea walks closely with Blueston to the bar and inquires the bartender if he was there last night, too.
"Say, as we're doing such good parts being in character, I do wonder how green would suit you. You could be my very own Lady Tea, in person." She giggles, amusedly. The bar is quite dusty and stuffy, and Miss Blueston takes on Silver's confidence of being quite upfront, asking more broadly if anyone in the bar has seen anything pertaining to last night's happenstances.
The bartender had been working here last night, but was largely distracted due to two instances of patrons having quite some disagreements. Only one person of the second pair is mentioned to have black hair. Lucas something or other, his name, and he is distinctly not present today. Some other people second these scuffles, and one other person claims to vaguely recall curious sounds on the way home last night but was too drunk to have much detail or remember when this was.
"Green? Yeah, sure, I can do that. Give me just a second, Silver." Shape leans back into the couch and disassociates from the game and her surroundings. And Shape's head of hair develops a strange fog of sand-colored particles, and then her outfit also is wrapped in a thin layer of this dust. In just a few seconds, Shape's hair and dress are entirely the light green found in the game. And she adjusts her eyes afterward to fit that color, as an afterthought. "Lady Tea, at your service." She leans back into the board and smiles. Silver has a sexy giggle.
Lady Tea suggests to Miss Blueston that they should see if police records exist for Lucas and possibly the bartender. Then Tea suggests that the way the blood trail disappears into the street might be an indicator that the perpetrator owned a vehicle of some variety. Bar attendees, surprisingly, give a response about the vehicle Lucas drove. And so, excitedly, Tea asks if they passed a house or building with that vehicle. Shape drinks and shrugs. "It's totally Lucas."
Silver leans in, observing with a distinct amazement. She's so used to being underhanded, subtle, and secretive about her means and has little experience otherwise. Seeing someone else actually perform and lean into magical acts strikes her in a most peculiar way. She eyes the results very approvingly, and gives a smile in return. "That is... Hm. Wow. You did announce it and everything but it really isn't something I was quite prepared for." She takes an almost nervous sip of drink. "Is magic... Always so beautiful, or is that just you?"
Miss Blueston nods along with the comments and notes but she seems much more absent than two turns ago. When realizing that Tea asked about the car, she has to admit that she's not entirely sure what the premise of the question was in the first place.
Shape glances up from the board once more, and sits up. Slowly. She sips again and stretches her arms back. "Nobody's ever prepared for my magic. It's quality stuff. And it's not just the magic, Silver, dear. Thank you for your very, very kind words." A bit of the wine drips out of the cup. She brings it forward again on the table. And she continues to smile. "You're beautiful yourself. Like... Ivory, in business casual." She pushes the cup against the board, toppling over one of the card stacks, and she picks up after the small mess.
Miss Blueston simply continues to wait in silence for Lady Tea's response but the pair seem like they're frozen in time, somehow.
Silver, too, takes a small sip of the wine, seeming very struck still. "I wish I got to see magic more often, now. Even as someone with it, I tend to simply stick with the belief that it doesn't exist to avoid giving things away when I shouldn't. I have to pretend it's a secret to me too. It's almost like being ashamed of it, as if acknowledging it is a mistake. Not that I've met anyone else with such capacities before you. Maybe if I knew it was more proliferated from the start I'd have seen things differently." The various green details of the recolored Shape keep catching Silver's eyes, as if the fact that this is still the same person that was before here only minutes ago is repeatedly a major surprise.
Shape finishes the card stack, and she scoots on the floor a bit from her side of the table and more to Silver's. She nods, and says facing Silver, "Hmmm. That sucks. I don't like to pretend it doesn't exist to people that much, like sure I pretend right but like... It's only for my protection, when I know it's safe or I can enchant someone's life for the better I like to... Stick with me though I'll show you more magic. Lots more magic than even mine out there. You'll see." She sighs, and she rests her shoulder on the table. "I know I got totally mad the other day but. It's not a secret anymore. Your magic is safe here if you want to twirl... Any sorts of conjuring. What do you do again? It's like mind stuff and what else?"
"Lots more magic? You have my curiosity. What kinds of magics could you show me?" Silver stops to think. It's a little bit slower and less effective than usual. How much wine did she have already? More than intended, but whatever. "What I do is... Fairly diverse, in the range of thought alteration. But that's the only thing I have. I call it the Silver Tongue, and I can use it to speak directly into people's minds. The strength of it depends on how strongly I apply it; trying to hide it and make sure people do not notice means I can only be strongly persuasive in the moment usually. I can bypass this to some degree with eye contact. But if I raise my voice and let my magic really flow, I can do very severe things to people. Captivate them for longer times, override memories on a lasting manner lest they find a way to pry at inconsistencies and break the illusion. Being alone with someone or affecting everyone present means I have that freedom, since I can then amend their observations of the act... I got a bit carried away, maybe? You asked, and I've never had much chance to talk about this to someone else." She takes another drink to stifle her awkwardness- and then realizes she did intend to not do more of that. Oh well.
"Oh, you know, like there's witches and elves and dragons, maybe some gods, there's like weird objects that have magical properties right, but most of them are kinda specific and unruly, a rare couple aren't but usually those are safe kept yeah. Don't have great experiences over all with objects. But like say you wanted me to do weird mind or body stuff to a much more limited-- extent, I could probably figure a way to make that happen." She sighs and arrives at Silver's side of the table, and she rests her back partially atop of it. "Wow... The Silver Tongue. Even as focused of an ability as it is, that's very powerful and-- diverse yeah. Really cool, really wicked. I can definitely see how you're so persuasive. Have I've already been persuaded?" She giggles and shakes her head. "No, though, I'm pretty sure here it's your charisma. Your charm... I'd know otherwise because I'd sense the presence of your Silver Tongue... I'm glad you feel comfortable with the opportunity to share. Honestly, so much of your person is going to be also in your magic and how you use it. We are magic people. There's no avoiding that being a factor. In us."
"I haven't attempted to influence you past the one unfortunate and overly instinctive moment, so far. Not only because you seem one to notice if I were to, but... I did promise. If you are curious though, I could... Demonstrate."
The thought of Vera crosses her mind. She doesn't want to consider that right now, though, and shakes it off. Her hand moves closer to Shape, and ends up gently resting on her knee as that's the part of her Silver can currently reach. "Magical objects, hmm. I'd be very curious about such things. There's bound to be some that are awfully convenient and would be useful to have... Ah, I'm scheming again. I am awfully results oriented at time, as you may have noticed."
Shape shakes her head and grins. "Be curious all you want, then~. I don't have to show you any of the magical objects if I don't want. You'd have to make me. And, yes, there are some that are quite convenient and quite accessible. Hmm?" She stares at Silver from this skewered perspective, and adjusts her knee into the hand. She says, "Thank you for not having attempted since then. I am, though, just a bit curious... I have to admit, I have never felt cozier with someone so manipulative. Such a wonderful collection of features and skills you have."
"...Show them? Hmm. Does that mean you actually have some of them yourself? That's very interesting. Well, then, my dear Shape. Ahem." She adds just the slightest suggestion to her voice. "Please, sit up, I can't demonstrate well without looking at you properly."
Even if prompted, she feels a bit awkward at first doing so to Shape, but it's a very mild one. Not something she couldn't defy, just a strong inclination that it's a natural and good idea to sit up properly and look at Silver.
"...How does that feel? I've heard some various odd descriptors thrown about but not from anyone who expects it."
Shape hums, and she sits up onto the edge of the table properly. It... Should have enough support for old her. She looks into Silver's eyes, and shrugs. "Sure thing, boss... Tell you what, it feels like. I don't know, like an alternative voice of reason. Like you've placed yourself in the part of my head that makes subconscious ideas happen and then finally thoughts about what to do." She pauses, and she puts her hand on the one Silver has on her knee. "It feels imposing, warm like an electric lamp, sexy-- well, you know, more than mine."
Silver takes mental notes of this. She isn't going to let an opportunity to do actual science on her own powers pass unused. "Curious, and very insightful. Speaking of curiosity... You did say that you won't share with me your magical oddments but. Oh, I am so curious, I simply must see them. Magic is so beautiful, isn't it? Tonight is all about sharing this magic, it seems, so why don't we take a look at what other magical curiosities you may present~?" There's again a warm static connecting Silver's eyes and Shape's eyes, and she doesn't even try to conceal the magical aspect of it, though she's aware she laid on thick with the appeal to natural agreement as opposed to just commanding Shape.
Shape's eyes stay locked on Silver throughout her carefully worded poem of enchanted thought. It never truly became unwilling, and yet it never was something Shape wanted to give to her without casual resistance, access to these magical items "that she may present." But... From the ease of which Shape guided her influence into her mind for this one, Shape now agreed. She moves from the table, guiding her feet to a stand, and says, "I have to admit, Silver, I'd be delighted to share them with you tonight. All magic really is beautiful." She continues to hold Silver's hand, though, as she walks with Silver to the stairway. She smirks. "It's in my bedroom, dear."
Silver stands up, taking the lead she herself had guided, like a carriage following a horse. In the end, the carriage decides the way after all. The holding of hands is genuine, though, and while she's well familiar with people following her orders, this time it's so distinctly different. She had, in turn, been baited into applying this influence most deliberately by Shape, and there was no secret about it. Like a game, and not a business endeavor.
She does not know how to feel about this.
"I do suppose a bedroom is a good place to hide away toys you don't want anyone and everyone to see." She muses in return.
Shape leads them up the stairway excitedly, almost tripping given her faint buzz. And when they reach the bedroom, Shape closes the door behind them with a click. She says, "Yeah. I'd describe potent magical artifacts as toys, too. In this case, though, I have two kinds in my house." On the window frame under the beady night stars of the urban sky, a spear of a black, cold rod and green stony tip leans against the wall. A red ribbon wraps just below the stone, at the top of the rod. Shape walks over to it, holds it up, and keeps the tip away from Silver. "This was a gift. It will hurt, a lot, if you even so much as nick your finger on the green part of this. It's like being set on fire around the area of contact. I never got used to the feeling." Then Shape places the spear back and walks to the closet across from her dark-blanketed bed. She gets onto her knees and dials a combination lock on a safe, and produces three brilliant stones. Purple, red, and orange, differently jagged and glowing like salt lamps. She sits atop the bed with these strange rocks strewn about the cover beside her, and she plops her legs across the cover. "These are rune stones. The purple one lets you change bodies, the red one lets you change minds, and the orange one lets you swap bodies. Think Freaky Friday. Here's the thing though, it only works if both the person activating the change and the person receiving the change hold the stone at the same time. They also have to agree to the effect, basically." She blinks. "You never even asked I explain them, for the record. I'm just being helpful."
Silver watches the spear with a curious gaze, almost seeming a bit disappointed that it simply does not look largely magical from the outside. She has no intents of actually assuring herself that it's magically unpleasant and nasty, and takes Shape's word for it. The rocks, however, fill that visual gap much better - Silver sits down a respectable distance from Shape and leans in to get a closer look, though she's very wary not to touch them. She has absolutely no experience with artefacts, after all, so even Shape's description of its use doesn't immediately dispel her concern.
"Changing minds, changing bodies... What a coincidence that this is exactly what we two are already good at." She giggles notably more than she usually would, given her influence. "Changing bodies... I wonder, I really do. I never got to truly find out if my Silver Tongue is tied to the body, or to the mind. I know it gets much weaker if my voice gives out, or I have a cold." She would not have said such a thing on most days, but wine and newfound fascination for magic are a potent combination.
Shape starts climbing into the bed covers and sheets, of course entirely without prompt. She stows the rune stones under the covers, and she starts taking her green dress off, her white skirt intact. "It's too warm if I wear this under my blanket... Oh, the orange one, yeah, that one is something neither of us can really do, yeah. Or I guess technically the red one lets me change your body or, say, make you think I'm actually funny. But I'm not interested in that." She tosses her dress aside onto the ground, and bundles her bra-clad chest to the cover. She tugs the portion of it under where Silver is sitting. "You're welcome to join me if you like, Silver... And umm. I think your Silver Tongue, maybe, is tied to the body, if you struggle with a cold. I struggle to shapeshift under the weather, and it's in the blood. You don't want my powers, though; you'd have trouble with them."
Shape's transformation to a bedded state is unexpected, and Silver seems somewhat startled. Nonetheless, she does make herself comfortable by taking her heels and jacket off, using a short trip to Shape's desk for depositing as an excuse to let her pull the blanket in properly. "The blood? Hm. An odd place to keep magic, but I do suppose it makes sense. It's, in a sense, the very essence of your body." Silver allows herself into the bed as well, a respectable foot of distance to start. Her hair covers quite much of the pillow and she takes some effort to brush it into a useful position as she turns to face her company. "I'd almost believe you've been affecting me this time, I feel honestly much more comfortable than I'd assume after all this."
Shape smiles at Silver a most warm smile, and she honors Silver's space despite this blessing. She says, "Yeah. I wish I knew why my blood was that way." She rests her left ear on the pillow, and she doesn't bother adjusting her green hair, although there's much less of it. "I'm really glad you feel comfortable. What I've done is no magic, no spell, no trick. I simply am getting to know you, having a bit of fun with you, and showing my true colors-- to you." She closes her eyes slowly, and keeps them closed. "We are magic, but we are so much more than that too... You're not just an enchanted tongue. I'm not sure if I'm drunk and you're drunk, but I hope you remember everything, especially that." And say goodbye when she has to leave.
"I have to admit I didn't intend to get this much wine but I do suppose it may have helped some things along, for better or for worse. I'll care about that what the time comes to do so." She can't help but be amused at the mention of colors, emphasizing it with a short run of her fingers through Shape's hair. "I think I am some ways from being blacked out in the morning, don't you worry." She eases herself into a rest as well... The thought of forgetting the night brings her back to thinking about Vera. Getting drunk enough to lose memory would be somewhat of the same thing, she supposes.