Shape wakes up with the blanket loosely covering her, and the light coming from the windows has been all but boiled away by the passage of time. Silver is nowhere to be seen. She says, rubbing her eyes, "Silver? Silver." And she walks outside the living room in idle wandering, finding Nina in the kitchen. Shape leans against the counter. "Hey. Where'd Silver go? And what's that smell?"
Nina stirs a reasonably sized pot, looking up and turning around at Shape's voice. "Oh, you're awake. Silver is in her office, checking on the files I sorted in and doing some paperwork." Her expression seems very briefly puzzled, but it's dismissed quickly. "Considering how long you were asleep, she thought it'd be kind to include you in the dinner planning, so feel free to stay around for that. She wasn't sure what exactly would be in your taste and settled on a very classic spaghetti and meatballs. You can rarely go wrong with that." She pushes the mentioned orbs of flesh around in a pan.
"Oh, alright. I could probably meet up with her in a second. For now, how are you feeling? I think you're doing an amazing job with the spaghetti, based on what I smell here yeah, so I hope you enjoy it too later. Thank you for your work in general, too. I just think you're pretty cool, like I've told you before. It's got to be your orange hair or chill attitude or something." She puts her elbows on the counter, and she watches Nina. "I could help with something if you like. Did you have a good olive oil out yet?"
Shape gets a rather intrigued look from this array of questions. "Good cooking is a necessary skill to a proper personal assistant. I've taken good care to expand my skillset so a household like this can stay upright on just my efforts instead of requiring several staff and being horridly expensive as a result. Silver is quite orderly and not too invested in having many possessions so she's certainly one of the easier people I've worked for, which gives me time to put attention to detail." She sighs deeply, at the mention of orange hair and chill nature together. "I do try my best to have a smooth resolve. It's a bit of a chore to maintain that nature but it just feels right to me, even through the occasional pains... To your left, top shelf second from the left. Olive oil."
Shape smiles at Nina and she leans awkwardly forwardly and snatches the olive oil from the shelf. She places it beside the stove, which includes the pot with pasta noodles and the pot with sizzling sauce. "I'd love to learn to cook a bit better sometime. I've been around in this world for quite some time and have only managed to make some pretty basic stuff in general; I think pasta is one of the only reasonably complex things I can make consistently well. Bit of a shame. But, yeah, I think Silver is very orderly too. I even find her awfully pretty. Not a bad job at all..." She laughs, and then nods. "I'm sorry you sometimes have the pains, yeah. Hmm. You know, it'll happen to any of us, pains. I may look competent, but it's really just a façade at any given moment, it's not necessarily an accurate reflection of how I really feel."
A wave of heat passes through Shape, rather uncomfortable but not quite enough to be painful. "Have you ever felt what it's like to be burning on the inside? I do, regularly. I didn't mean it in a figurative manner; it besets me with a searing ache to keep up my 'cool' nature for too long against the will of my powers. This isn't your everyday blues, but I have chosen to endure it." She's radiating more of a heat herself now, and she pinches the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "I really need to keep an eye on this food, try not to push an outburst right now. I'm already feeling quite touchy on these subjects."
Shape takes a few steps backwards from the maid and her cooking. She rubs the back of her neck, cleaning sweat beading down. "Hey... I'm sorry, genuinely. I didn't know it was... Yeah." So perhaps this is along the lines of what Silver meant by Nina having to expel her 'excessive energies.' She sighs, and shrugs. "I misunderstood, is what I mean. That's definitely a different can of worms than anything I've had. If there's anything I can do, you know, just know I'm happy to chat about anything and, yeah, I'll keep things on the down low. I'm not really as pompous as you might initially believe."
There's a long sigh, and the air around Nina's mouth seems to waver slightly with ripples of heat. "Food should be done fairly soon - You could choose to notify Silver about it. Upstairs, first room to the right. You'll want to knock and be asked in; she does not like unannounced visits in her office at all." She takes three rather pricey looking bowls out of a cupboard and starts pouring off the water for the spaghetti.
Shape gazes to the stairwell that's barely visible from this angle of the dining area, and she glances sometimes back at Nina. She rubs her hands together and says, "Alright, I'll let Silver know then. I really appreciate the directions, and the meal, I'm pretty lost here. Sorry again..." She walks up the stairwell, sighing to herself, and she triple knocks on the door of Silver's office. "Hey. Food will be ready soon... May I come inside?" Shape wondered what all these rooms in the hallway would be for. How many of them are even regularly used.
"One moment, Shape." There's some slightly loud rustling of papers and folders. "Please, do come in."
The office is fairly large and there's a pair of heavy metal drawers with several locks on them along the wall behind her desk. She seems to be very defensive about the contents. "Good to see you awake again, apologies for leaving you but I am a very busy lady after all. You looked comfortable enough without me. I could do with some food and anticipated you would too, so feel free to join us - Oh, I take it you talked to Nina already since you've come to tell me, so she probably already told you can join. Silly of me." She brushes together a few papers on her desk and picks up a pair of keys from her drawer. Probably for this room. "How did you rest?"
"Cool, sure." Shape looks at the office's less clinical elements, namely the very same painting that Silver bought the day of the festival. She admires where it sits on nails. Yet she still thinks about how she upset Nina, a distracting thought while she speaks. "I don't mind that you had stuff to do, I understand, yeah. But, well, I'm glad we can hang out again for dinner especially, I really have been enjoying our time..." She faces Silver, but her eyes are lowered sometimes. "I rested pretty good. I really like this manor, it's very comfortable, you know. Sure, it's not quaint, but it's got the same comfort as my place, maybe."
Silver gets up, and quite distinctly shoos Shape out of the room ahead of her, locking the door after leaving as well. "I'm glad you find it comfortable, I quite enjoy it as well. Sometimes I have to make do with the first thing that's available, though of course I have at least the luxury, privilege even of settling for something too big and expensive for my preferences." The dining table in the living room is startlingly ready for dinner considering how briefly Shape was upstairs, and Nina indicates a chair for the guest. It's a table that reasonably seats six; Silver has one end while Nina has the other, and Shape is placed to the right of Silver.
Shape takes a seat at the designated guest chair, then, and she twirls her fork into the red sauce spaghetti. Certainly not a store, box brand of the sauce or probably noodles, either. At least the sauce is clearly homemade. She takes a nibble and says, "Wow, this is really good. Thank you, Nina. It's exceptional." And she quietly slashes away at her portion of the pot at her plate. She sips the choice of water today.
Later, she says, "Your earlier thing you said, Silver, kind of reminded me of this one time I spent a few weeks with some friends over at some house in the woods. It was a very long time ago. They were complaining the house was too small when it had like eight bedrooms or something, so I guess it was sort of like the opposite problem. But yeah. Sometimes I think about my old friends like that."
Nina accepts the compliments but stays quiet, probably a habit of being a servant at the dinner table. Not often do they partake in conversation then, after all. "Oh, curious. When you say some friends, how many are we talking of eight bedrooms isn't enough? And what does such a large group of people even do in the woods?" Silver chews on a meatball. "You make me curious, you seem to have met and engaged with so many intriguing souls throughout your time. Maybe I have a small bit of envy, even. Were these many people nice?"
Shape's managed to smear her glasses with a speck of sauce. She simply removes them. "Well, that's the thing, there was like maybe 7 of us, we just had people over a lot too and, well, the owner of the woodland place was kind of picky about always making sure there was room and avoiding 'sleep overs'... They were all basically from the same faraway place, I don't really remember what it was called, and really the only reason I got to be friends with them was some misunderstanding an even longer time ago that kind of put me smack dab in their friend group. But it was kinda forgiven by this point and I just ended up being a lasting presence with them, you know?"
She places her fork down. "Well, it's sort of over now. I only really know where one of them is now from that group. And I've met a lot of people, sure, but it's been ages from most of them. Don't envy me... They were very nice though, yeah." She puffs her cheek.
Silver chuckles after swallowing down a mouthful of noodle. "That misunderstanding doesn't involve shapeshifty mishaps, does it? Sounds like some truly awkward things can happen being the wrong person at the wrong time. I have seen an occasional movie on things like that, body swaps and the like." She carefully wipes a spot of red sauce off the table and Nina gives it a slightly longer look. It'll have to be properly washed off anyhow so honestly it's easier to attend to when you can still see the spots. But she doesn't complain.
"You've got a dignified youth to you so I have to admit it often falls hard on me to realize you're... Probably well older than me? I forget if you mentioned anything of the sorts. Who is this one person? Anything exciting?"
She struggles to conceal a grin. "Yeah... It did, actually. But it's not always because of that, you know, it just happens to be this time." She lifts her fork again for more, and then continues. "Oh, I have so many opinions on body swap media and ones with shapeshifters, you have no idea. Don't even get me started. Another time. But yeah. I am old. I guess it's only fair I tell you that I'm fifty. I'm really cheating death, I guess." She examines Nina and Silver's eyes, and shuffles back in her chair. "She's called Jae-eun. She's dreadful. She hates me. Has eight tails. Is half fox. Last I heard she's got into the lousy business of potions."
Silver does give an eyebrow raise at the age, and she smiles. "You both make me feel young and old at the same time, honestly. Between actual age and our comparative looks. Soon, you might start yelling at kids to get off your lawn." She pushes her plate slightly aside, and meets eyes with Nina in confirmation. Shape gets a similar look, asking if she's done with food.
The idea of 'lousy' potions does quite strike Silver, and she can't resist prying. "Potions, you say? You hear so much about them in fantasy but they're so incredibly all over the place and vaguely described. I'd be highly curious to see what an actual real life equivalent of that would look like. If it's hazardous gloop or divine elixir in truth."
"Mm, please don't say that." She sighs, tilting her clean plate forward to Nina. She pushes away the age stuff from mind. "Potions? Oh, yeah. Potions. They're definitely more of column a than column b, like basically liquids by nature are much more volatile than say the rune stones. You're not going to get much out of them in the real world, no. In fact, uh, they were always more of a drinking game than a tool." She's not willing to be made fun of, too, for forgetting her original name through one.
"And people can make a business off that, still? Surely there must be more to it. I'd like to go, sometime. If just to sate my curiosity." Having already been distinctly derailed from the uncomfortable age statements, she sees it unfitting to rewind for the sake of an apology. Nina takes all three plates and vanishes off to the kitchen to do the cleanup. "Would you take me there? Or at least help me find the way. Please?"
"Sure, in the same way you can make a business selling snake oil." She slumps now, and she says, "You can't be serious. I really don't want to talk to Jae-eun anytime soon, and it just isn't worth the hype even if I can locate a different potion vendor..." She blinks slowly, and she rubs her temple. "But I know you don't like no for an answer, and I don't want you getting yourself in trouble going by yourself. So how about we reach a compromise, and you give me something in return that's a bit out of the way? It's going to have to be good..."
"You speak my language, Shape. If you need some money to throw at a problem to make it stop, or have people that need an, ahem, talking to? I could surely arrange such. But even other, less direct matters I'd be willing to participate in." There's a glint in her eyes, one that the sense of a good business deal would provoke in such a person as Silver. She might be softening up under the presence of Shape, but. She's been part of business for many years. It sticks with you, at that point.
"Eh, I just needed the bit of money you were already agreeing to offering me, which I'm very grateful for I'd like to say again, and I don't need to have you affect anyone like that, no." She's rubs her temple some more, and she stands up from the dining room table with her glass of water. "I think instead... Ah, how about this for an idea. But first-- does anybody help you fashion your outfits, or do you just kinda do that all yourself, putting the pieces together and putting it on I mean?"
A puzzling request, and Silver really can't tell where this could possibly be going. "Um... I have taken some pointers from people in the business in the past, but by now it's largely habitual. I can find the pieces I need, have them tailored for me as needed, and I tend to not be too diverse in my looks - Oh, thank you, Nina." A second plate appears for both of them, a reasonably sized serving of tiramisu for each with some strawberries on the side.
"Oh, that's kinda neat. So you'd say you've definitely got quite the talent for assembling outfits from different tailors and such, at least for yourself, yeah. Well... I humbly request, if you want us to meet Jae-eun and her potions and have me fake a smile about it, you become my personal-- uh, whatever the term is for people whose job is to help people design or advise the outfits that suit them? I have all this power to change my body and adopt clothes, and yet I feel you have a much, much better sense of fashion. I tried to look elegant today, but even then... I feel I always end up just a bit amateur."
Shape takes a greedy chunk of her tiramisu, and smiles at Nina.
"That is... Quite vague, I must admit. The logistics of that are complicated to say the very least, since you can create the clothes but need my advice and adjustments. We could manage, but it'd be an effort depending on how easily you can visualize my input. Anyhow... As I said, just being that is a very vague request. Would I advise an outfit and you just do your best to memorize it for later? Several? Would this be for any specific events, or over a period of time? Would it be for special cases or just an everyday task for me?"
Silver takes a moment to realize how much she's rambling about this request, and pauses. "...You get my point, hopefully. I need concrete details to judge such a thing."
"God, you sound like Vera," Shape muses to them. "Alright, look, I just think it'd be kinda fun if... it was for a number of special occasions where I request your assistance. Let's say 20 times. And, sure, there'd be a more mild form of it on normal days where I just wear some particular outfits by your suggestion that aren't necessarily in that special list of 20 special outfits... Like a rotation of 'normal, but Silver recommended' outfits I'd maintain for normal daily use. It's going to take ages to find Jae-eun, and learn about her potions and show them off later maybe, and recover from having to pretend to care about her, so." Shape cuts a strawberry in half on her plate.
Silver scoffs a fair bit at the comparison, but decides that elaborating is a bad idea. "When you said you wanted something in return, I expected something a bit more reasonable than a month's worth of work. You do know people get educations in looking good? It's an art, a science, and I think you're undervaluing how much time and effort actually goes into it. I hope not on purpose." Silver takes a moment to pry at the dessert, taking a few forkfuls. Deliberately not giving a counteroffer. Shape has to earn that, still.
"It's less about undervaluing it and more about wanting an excuse to do neat new things with you, if I'm being honest. It's not like I'd ignore you or discredit you, I'd be super grateful and excited, yknow?" Shape joins Silver on eating tiramisu for a while, and then says, "Twelve. Twelve special occasion outfits and the additional daily outfits. I'd love to see you prove your work is more than black on white."
"Don't forget the silver accents. They're very important." Silver rubs her temple slightly, fearing her business sense is making it hard to evaluate this in a 'friend' way. "I do suppose it would be a fun exercise anyhow. I can settle on ten, take it before I have second thoughts." Being offered twelve and countering with ten is purely a bargain trap, she's sure of that, but she just doesn't want this to continue and people to get more upset than they need to be.
Shape's eyes widen, briefly, and she reaches across the dining table to shake Silver's hand. "Then it's a deal. Deal done. I won't ever forget about those silver accents, no no no. Oh, and it would be very fun, I'll make sure of it. Thank you so much!" She smiles again, both genuinely and with the vague flavor of cars sales representative. She hums, "I'm glad we were able to work something out for both of our reasons, Silver."
"So, Shape dear, when do you think we'll be able to go there? I really do think 'as soon as possible' is my preferred time, though not today. The curiosity and lack of knowledge will hound my memory until then." The deal has been made, and now Silver should just make the best of the outcome rather than lament it being a rushed one. She slowly finishes her dessert, and her glass of water. "I might have not planned in a movie and dinner with guests today so I am afraid my goals for the rest of the day are turning a bit cramped."
Shape says, "Alright, yeah, tell you what-- since I pity you having to wonder about these potions all on your own, or at least the thought of it, and I have nothing going on lately, let's do it tomorrow. Unless you got any plans then? Just, yeah, let's make time first tomorrow at your or my place for maybe like my first 'daily outfit,' like a non-special occasion one if you remember... Would you prefer to drive or should I, after that?" She picks the last of her dessert as well, and she sighs. "Yeah, I guess I'll get going, I definitely bothered you long enough today. It was a lot of fun, though. Tomorrow will be besides Jae-eun..."
"That being said though, it's been enjoyable having you around. Well done. And tomorrow does sound good; I'll stop by your house. I should take a look at what you usually wear to somewhat accommodate your comforts and habits after all. Do have some thought as to, well... How you'd want to present towards a potion shop, and Jae-eun. Casual or comfortable, colors, the likes. And speaking of. How much emphasis can go into making your personal look? I never asked. How trivial or effort is it to make changes, how much can we tweak and play with it along with the outfit. Or even just the effort of making a new outfit in the first place. Ah, there's so many things to keep in mind."
"Oh, fun, I'll show you my closet. You'll probably think I dress like a cartoon character, I happen to have the same beige V-neck like ten times just because I keep generating new copies of it and then not throwing it away. But there's other stuff too, yeah. I'll show you it. And, yeah, that's a good idea, I'll think about how I want to look to her." She takes her glass of water and walks beside the dinner table but not leaving the room. "Oh, thankfully, it's not nearly as exhausting as using my abilities to change my whole body. I can change my body like three times a day max; I can change my clothes with magic maybe like fifteen times a day."
"That's is somewhat limiting, hmm, but not overly. So I'll have to adapt the outfit to your looks, and we can't be extremely fussy on the details all the way through. Rather clean up after we have a base idea... Ah, I'll be thinking about this all evening. I should try to get some work done alongside it. Let me show you out, and I look forward to tomorrow." She stands up as well, and stretches just subtly.
"Eh, it's sort of like 20 Questions, if you ever played that. I think we can nail the look in that amount, probably way less. If we have to do a couple days of attempts for it sometimes though, that's fine," She says. The tall ShapeShifter walks ahead to the front entrance with her phone, purse, and shoes. "I look forward to it too. I really appreciate you thinking about it even this evening, that's honestly like-- incredibly kind of you. I'll be calling you my stylist, Silver." She saunters out into the cold night.
"I am familiar with the concept, at least. Educated guesses and efficiently narrowing things down." Silver waves off Shape, and once the door is closed, she grumbles slightly. "Several days for an outfit. Calling me a stylist. Why do I like this person?" But then she smiles, thinking back at the evening. Maybe she's somewhat okay after all.