[D5 LA] Tiff's Tiff and other Miscellany

[Tiffani]

She stays in there for quite some time as she has to shift from one outfit to another to another. She falls into silence unless Jack says something, busying herself with this task and trying to hurry as best she can. The resulting rush caused her to jab herself several times with an unseen safety pin - which invariably elicits a short stream of curses.

After what probably feels like a lifetime or two, Tiffani comes out with two piles of clothing, one of which she hands off to a clerk who takes it to the front of the store. Even though it's been a little while she resumes the conversation as if no time at all had passed.

"I suppose I can see the difference. For some, though, they'd never pick up another tool again after being enslaved like that. Hence the strength I was talking about." She adjusts her hair in the mirror, fluffing it up a little. "What made you choose the name Jack?"

[Jack Doyle]

"it's common." he shrugged. "Especially for toys or fairy tales. I could have gone with John, for Watson, I suppose. But, that still leads to Jack. Sherlock would have stood out too much."

[Tiffani]

Tiffani chuckles at the thought of Jack being named Sherlock instead. She then walks at a slow pace toward the cashier where most of her purchases were piled.

"Well ... I suppose there isn't much use in asking why you wouldn't want to stand out. At least a little bit. Me, on the other hand, well, I'm sure half the people who hear my name think I'm some kind of a stripper or something." She giggles at the thought of something so absurd. "But my name is the only thing I have left of my parents so ... I'm not about to change it."

At the cash register, she pulls out her wad of cash again and frowns. "So many stupid little things to buy - like some kind of wallet and a handbag or two. I can't keep carrying around money like this."

She waits silently as the clerk bags all of her clothing purchases while another rings up the order. Even after she paid for everything, the bagger is still carefully stowing things in big shopping bags with the store's name and logo boldly emblazoned on each one.

"Are you really that curious about me? Or are you just bored and wanted to get out of the house for awhile? It's not as if you're asking me anything, after all ... not that I have anything all that interesting to tell. I do have to give you credit again for traipsing around with a teenaged girl shopping."

She grins at Jack and begins heading back into the mall.

[Jack Doyle]

"I find I learn more by not asking." he explained. "There can be a lot of meaning behind information that is volunteered. Besides, there are only so many questions you can ask of someone you don't know and expect candid responses."

[Tiffani]

"I always give candid responses," she earnestly says. "I figure that if someone cares enough to ask, they deserve an honest answer. Heh, don't worry, I'm not going to go full-on PTSD mode if I talk about bad memories."

She steps up to a jewelry kiosk set up in the middle of the mall's concourse and starts perusing the various baubles - most of which are under glass. She scowls briefly at being unable to pick things up and look more closely at them.

"Do whatever makes you feel comfortable, I guess, but I feel like I'm just rambling like some old Chatty Cathy doll that won't shut up. Questions give me a direction for the conversation. So ... do you like studs or something a little more stylish like earrings that dangle? Back in the 80's some girls were wearing these earrings that dangle down past their shoulder. There was this girl in trigonometry class who wore earrings like that. The guy who sat behind her used to pretend like he was getting whipped with her earrings everytime she turned her head. My god, I kept laughing - of course I was the one who got in trouble ..."

Her voice trails off. "See, I ramble like that. I'm sure you're not learning much by hearing about high school antics. It's just been ages since I've been around someone I don't already know."

[Jack Doyle]

"I never went to High School." he shrugged.

[Tiffani]

Tiffani gives Jack an askance look as she leans in to get a better look at a pair of earrings in the shape of cats in a sphinx-like pose. "Oh you haven't? Hmm, yeah I suppose you were too young for high school."

She straightens and asks the kiosk clerk to retrieve the cat earrings from the display case.

"Did you go to school at all? I know that in your time, not all kids really went. Some were just put to work. A terrible time, if you ask me, without any child labor laws."

She uses one hand to hold her hair back as she examines a set of gold bangles.

"Anyway, if you did go to school, high school really isn't much different - just harder work and more classes. And in 1985, the schools are a lot bigger. No more one-room schoolhouses. You only go to class with people in the same grade as yourself. Every school is different, of course. Some are run like prison camps. Others feel more like a big extended family. My high school was like the latter since it was pretty small. Everyone knew everyone else. Our teachers gave us a lot of latitude for things like pulling pranks and goofing off."

She adopts an amused smile as a memory or two come flooding back to her. "There was this time when we pranked Mrs. Wilkinson, our English teacher. Oh my god - first we put all her files in reverse alphabetical order, then we found this old graduation robe, so we put it over a trash can and ..."

She stops talking in mid-sentence as she side-steps down the length of the kiosk, now looking at an array of different necklaces. "Well, never mind. You probably wouldn't find it all that funny anyway. You just had to have been there."

At that point, she simply goes silent as she continues looking, her breath occasionally fogging up the glass of the display case.

[Jack Doyle]

"I was in junior high school." he explained. "It sounds like you had fun. I wonder what it would have been like for me."

[Tiffani]

"Well," she begins in a more subdued tone, "if you would have been with me, I'm sure you'd have had as much fun as I did. Like I said, though. Every school is different. Most, I'd wager, would be far too strict to allow the kind of fun we had."

Again, she resumes her silence until she has the kiosk clerk retrieve a few necklaces and a new charm for the charm bracelet she always wears on her left wrist. The little silver charm appears to be a little magic wand complete with a little star at its top.

"Didn't you ever pull pranks when you were in junior high?"

[Jack Doyle]

"I don t think so." he shook his head. "It was only a few months. I think I may have convinced another student that it would snow. "