Life isn't so hard, in the capitol [OPEN]

Abby rushed through the store. She had to find something for her mother's birthday. Something expensive. Something sparkly. Suddenly, she saw a purple and gold dress at the front of the store, sparkling like the sun. It was perfect. She glanced down into the pocket of her dress just to make sure her credit card was still in there. She looked back up and saw a man handing a woman the same dress that Abby had just saw. It was the last one. Too late.

"My name is Abby," she replied, still staring at the dress, "I really want to buy that for my mom." She pointed at the dress, watching the man's eyes as they sparkled with joy. She felt the dress being handed to her, and excitement rushed through her body. Maybe her mom will love it so much that Abby might get a chance to sneak out again tonight. Abby smiled at the thought.

Abby skipped out the door, waving to the man on her way out. She had just paid for the dress with her credit card. She skipped down the colorful streets, hoping so much that her mother would love the dress.

Finn Calloway
Age: 19
Wearing: Comfortable black pants and a loose black shirt with pink, green and purple swirls. Casual black sneakers.

Finn grinned as the short, frazzled woman barely made it across the street, stumbling inadvertently into his arms. "Sorry," he said. "I must have distracted you with my uncomprehendable good looks. But seriously, you okay?" She didn't look okay. In fact, she looked very shaken. It called to mind his art.

A fear-stricken tribute, running from the cornucopia after seeing her brother slaughtered before her eyes. Finn felt he had captured the fear in her ice blue eyes perfectly, the harried glance over the shoulder, and the grip of a near-death experience fresh on her mind.

His art, yes. The look this woman had was unmistakably the look of one who had just had the scare of her life. "What's your name?" asked Finn, in an attempt to be friendly.

“Thank you for catching me, even if it was your naughtily amazing good looks that caused me to almost get killed in the first place.”

Finn grinned. "Hello Kristen, don't worry about the catching thing. It's not terribly often women fall into my arms. I usually have to work a bit harder than that. I'm Finn Calloway. I too had a run as a stylist. Once. Painter at heart though." He shook her hand. "Terribly sorry about the near-death experience thing, of course. "

He studied her face. He noticed the circles under eyes that kept flittering annoyingly from his face to the coffee shop. There was a ravenous, somewhat desperate glint in them that Finn had rarely seen in Capitol citizens. Suddenly it clicked in his mind. The lady needed her caffine.

"Perhaps," suggested Finn, his eyes twinkling, "it could be made up to you with a latte?" Perhaps it was wrong for someone his age to be flirting with a woman who was probably much older, but hey, you only had the one life, and the woman seemed to really wasnt that coffee.

The man grinned. "Hello Kristen, don't worry about the catching thing. It's not terribly often women fall into my arms. I usually have to work a bit harder than that. I'm Finn Calloway. I too had a run as a stylist. Once. Painter at heart though." Finn shook Kristen's hand warmly. "Terribly sorry about the near-death experience thing, of course.”

Kristen smiled warmly, but her eyes kept darting toward the coffee shop. I wonder if they'd let me get one, and pay them back later? She wondered distractedly.

Kristen wasn't watching Finn until he spoke. "Perhaps," suggested Finn, Kristen lookup up to see his eyes twinkling, "it could be made up to you with a latte?"

Could it ever! Kristen felt like doing a cheerleader cheer, but that would have been totally random, not to mention impossible while wearing this dress. Kristen smiled at him. So, he'd figured it out. I feel like a ravenous monkey, gobbling up ever banana, or in my case latte, in its path. I must seem totally rude.

"That might possibly make up for it." Kristen nodded teasingly. "Seriously though, thank you. I've been up all night with no caffeine, having once been a stylist I'm sure you know what that's like." And she was sure he did, every stylist knew the crazed-monkey-needing-lattes feeling. Although most undoubtedly did not describe it as such.

Kristen was about to ask more when suddenly someone screamed "Boo!" right behind her. Kristen (not quite literally, but close) jumped five feet in the air, screeching in surprise like a wounded owl. Jumping in a dress is a bad idea, not to mention difficult, and trying to land in one while screaming is extremely difficult. In other words, Kristen pretty much ended up falling into Finn's arms again, because it was either that, or the pavement.

To her surprise, when she looked to see who had shouted, there stood the same little girl she'd seen carrying the dress, staring at whom had almost caused her to become road kill. "Oh!" She exclaimed, although it sounded more like a giant sigh of relief then an intelligible word. And then, slightly more intelligibly, “But…why…?” she trailed off, too out of breath to actually ask the girl why on earth she’d screamed right behind her.