Survival Of The Fittest

But the population is largely reprobates and you need to appeal to their vote, even if you don't like it.

Naomi wouldn't say that out loud, however. She didn't want Jaquilyn to know that she agreed with Mara's assessment. While she doubted that Jaquilyn would consider voting for her in the future anyway, seeing as she was most likely associated with Mara in the girl's mind, it only took a bad comment being passed on to taint many other people's visions of her. And she couldn't say the opposite because... well, Jaquilyn was a reprobate. It would be lying.

Naomi didn't lie. She just avoided offensive truths.

So she stayed silent. In any case, the fight seemed to be settling down. Mara smiled and grabbed Naomi's arm, flipping her hair as she did so.

"Nouveau riche, honestly."

Odd choice of insult. Naomi had always considered being thought of as 'new money' a compliment. Meant they'd worked their way up to wealth, much more impressive than being handed the money in a neat, little package.

Again, Naomi didn't reply to the sentiment. Being silent was the safest option.

She did notice Jaquilyn's eye twitching as Mara flipped her hair. Mara had won this little conflict. She hadn't gotten annoyed or drawn into a fight, which seemed to be Jaquilyn's goal. Of course, Jaquilyn would consider Mara not getting into a fight as a victory because it would make Mara a p-word.

Considering this, it seemed smartest to convince Mara to leave. Both girls would consider it a victory and thus wouldn't pursue petty revenge in the future. Hopefully. And if they did, Naomi would at least know enough about both girls to make herself scarce.

"Yeah, and Bill Clinton didn't fuck that bitch."

Hm. Technically. Ah, technicalities. The best friends of any person who likes to be inventive with the truth.

Naomi used her free arm, as Mara was clinging to the other, to put away the moisturizer she'd been holding and pick up her usual brand. She didn't need any brand besides it, and wasn't one for experimenting when what she used was already fine.

"I believe I have what I need. I'm going to go and pay for these," Naomi said casually. She hoped Mara would follow her. And, more importantly, that Jaquilyn wouldn't come after them.

Mara walked along with Naomi, still with her grasp on the other girl. Her hips switched as she walked a pounding walk with her step a bit of a stylized stomp. Naomi picked up a bottle of moisturizer and said she was going to go purchase it. She walked with Naomi away from the make up displays and to the line to wait for the cashier.

"Can you believe her?" she said in a hushed tone, so as not to be heard by the others waiting in line.

As if someone had flipped a switch, Mara smiled a genuine smile and laughed a bit.

"We're not having a good day with people, hu? First Owen and his bike thing and now this.

Her laugh was full and not very fitting of someone as delicate looking as her. Her laughing trailed off and she smoothed out her pashmina again.


"Ohhh goodness," she sighed. "Let's go get manicures or something after this. No better way to brighten a mood. My treat."

She watched the two walk away, arm in arm. She's not your friend Blondie. First she wanted to leech off your good reputation, and now she's using you as a human shield.

She forced herself to calm down. She half walked half marched over to her mirror. The bottle labeled "sample" was just where she left it. She looked into the mirror.

You're better than her. You don't use people. Better person, better friend, better looking.

She moved her face closer to get a better look at her eyes. Her face was in the process of returning to a less red color. She bit her lip as she examined the make-up. Not bad, but not much better than what I already have. And mom knows where to get the best, I'll just ask her when I get back from karate.

She watched her cat eyes widen.KARATE! She was testing for her red belt tonight, and she wanted to arrive early and stretch.

She snatched up her wallet and hurried out. "crapcrapcrap" In the corner of her eye she saw the devil with her puppet. At least I have steam to blow off and a face to pretend I'm punching.

She walked through the beepers and went on her way.

(Jaquilyn Locke continued elsewhere)

Now that Jaquilyn definitely couldn't hear her, Naomi could at least be a bit less careful about her opinion of the aggressive girl.

"She was rather uncouth and pugnacious," Naomi muttered. "I just hope she never sees fit to procreate with any of the football players she's fond of being with."

Alright, maybe a lot less careful. But Mara wouldn't judge her for it.

Mara mentioned the bad luck about people, laughing as she did so. Her laugh didn't really fit her image, but Naomi liked it well enough. Little things like odd laughter tended to make people seem more genuine and human. It made it more obvious that they were being honest with you. It was something Naomi appreciated, even if she tried to avoid letting slip any 'human' touches. She liked to be as close to perfect as possible, and the definition of being human was near identical to being flawed.

She just smiled in return. "It has been a terrible day where that's concerned. Accusing thieves and aggressive cheerleaders? What will be next, I wonder? I suppose a large crowd of anarchists and republicans would be sufficiently disastrous."

She paid for her merchandise as Mara started talking about manicures. Naomi took a glance down at her own nails. They didn't look terrible, but it had been a while since she'd done any extensive work on them.

"That does sound lovely. Can I have my bags back, please?" she asked the person at the counter politely. When they were handed back to her, Naomi struggled a moment to pick them up. They were still extremely heavy. "Urgh. ...Alright, manicures it is. Provided that I can leave these in the car first."

Mara giggled a bit at Naomi's comments about the other girl. She was smiling a real smile, something which wasn't all that common of her to do as of late. She twirled a piece of hair around her finger, and eyed down the pile of books Naomi carried. The other girl was struggling.

"Sure. Put them in your car. You can't carry all of those with wet nails anyhow."

Quickly she checked her phone again and continued walking with Noami out to the parking lot.

"It'll be nice to get pampered. We can feel human again," she said spiritedly.

((Amaranta Montalvo continued in High Fashion, High Prices))

"Wet nails would make it difficult. And I'd hate to get nail varnish on any of them."

Naomi walked out of Sephora, wobbling just the tiniest bit under the weight of the books and products. Mara walked with her, checking her phone as they went towards the parking lot. Once she was done, Mara spoke again.

"It'll be nice to get pampered. We can feel human again."

Funny how the promise that manicures would make her feel human again made her want to turn and flee. Feeling human was a dangerous business. If she felt human, she might act human. And if she acted human, she'd act... well, flawed. And people wouldn't like her for it, even if they were just as bad or worse.

But it was a silly compulsion to run, anyway. How would manicures make her feel more human? Like any form of physical maintenance, same as the lip gloss and moisturizer she was carrying, manicures just helped to hide the physical flaws. Just like etiquette and the avoidance of offensive truths covered the behavioral flaws.

For some reason, the mental image of a caveman hiding in a china doll materialized in her head. But she shoved the image away, now aware that she'd probably stayed quiet too long in response to such a simple statement.

"Yes. Human again. That'll be nice."

((Naomi Bell continued in What Is A Hero?))