Could Be Worse [Awesome x Mayah]

[Its Smiley]

Alcott just grunted and thought of it as a suitable punishment, at least in Cole's style. He followed her out and looked over at the city, staring at the giant buildings, the sea of people, the constant traffic. Where to begin...?
He looked around and paused when he thought he saw a shine of silver from amongst the crowd. Yes, there were many people with silver and white hair, but this was... No, he was just imagining it. "Alright, so my very first job here was stacking books at a bookstore. I hated it, but it was a living." he muttered. "It's not even a famous kind of store, so I don't know if it still exists. It was called Cover to Cover."

((gtg for a bit))  

[Mayah Playah]

"Sounds cute," she replied, glancing around. "Where was it?"  

[Its Smiley]

"You know the kind of part of town that's filled with those homey stores nobody's ever heard of? It was around there."

 

[Mayah Playah]

"Okay then!" Grabbing his arm, she rushed off, eventually finding herself in an alley. "Wrong turn...very wrong turn...let's go ask that homeless man for directions!"  

[Its Smiley]

"No, that's just rude." Alcott hissed at Michaela before looking around at the familiar alley. "Besides, we're on the right track. I've been here before..." he drifted off as the memories came in. Yeah, he came here a few times. It was where he and his brother used to stay all the time, mainly because they got lost all the time and found themselves in this exact alley all the time. It was because they kept ending up here that they called it the Returning Alley. It was also where.... Alcott frowned at the memory. It was where he got sold to his first and worst master.

"Oh my, my, my!" came a shrill voice that turned Alcott's face pale. The young man paused for a moment, as if hoping the voice was fake, then slowly turned around to see a woman walking towards them. She looked around her mid-40's, but Alcott knew she was much older. The only sign of aging on her beauty was the few streaks of gray in her platinum blonde hair.
"I thought I saw you a while ago!" the woman smiled as she made her way towards them, her hips swinging and her heels clicking. In one hand were bags from famous shops, in her other were the sunglasses she was just now taking off to show off her long eyelashes and her sparkling gray eyes. "Alcott Northwind. Long time no see." she said as she stopped, putting the tip of one end of her sunglasses to her ruby lips.

 

[Mayah Playah]

Michaela wrapped her arms around Alcott's arm, her eyes wide in fear. "Alcott?"  

[Its Smiley]

The woman glanced down at Michaela in slight agitation before looking back up at the still man. "Professor? You teach now?" she said with a wide grin and laced her fingers together. "Oh, you'd make such a great teacher! After all, I did teach you a lot of things." she smirked with a hint of knowing and walked up to him, setting a hand on his cheek, feeling his bone structure, smiling further when pale Alcott stopped breathing at her touch. "Well?" she whispered. "Aren't you going to introduce me?" She glanced back at the girl for a second before looking into his eyes.
Alcott stayed staring at the woman with a mixture of emotions swirling in the sea that was his eyes. After a minute he remembered how to breath, another minute and he remembered how to talk. "Michaela," he said slowly, as if just learning the name for the first time. "This.... This is Harmana. An old.... friend." he introduced hesitantly.

 

[Mayah Playah]

"A p-pleasure to meet you, M-Miss," she stammered, hiding behind Alcott's arm. "And h-how do you know Al-my-the professor?"  

[Its Smiley]

Harmana, looking at Michaela distastefully, decided to think happy thoughts again and looked to Alcott's gorgeous face for help. "Oh, we go back a loooong time. Isn't that right, sweetie?"
Alcott looked as if he were stung by a wasp when he heard the pet name given to him. He quickly recovered and opened his mouth to protest, but pride and shame pulled his original saying back into his throat and pushed out, "Yeah. Back before I met your parents."
The beautiful woman just smiled and put her sunglasses back on. "So tell me, what brings you back to this dainty place?" she asked as if Alcott was the only one there.
"I'm helping a friend's daughter." Alcott said, nudging Michaela but really trying to get her away so he could get his cigarettes.

 

[Mayah Playah]

Taking his nudge as a need for her to leave, Michaela let go of him reluctantly, then backed away. "I think I left my...shirt...on the...tram...bye." She took off down the alley, immersing herself into the heavy traffic of people. Soon enough, she found herself in a bookstore, where she slumped against the wall in a fit of tears.  

[Its Smiley]

Alcott glanced over his shoulder and felt his heart sink when Michaela ran off. Where the Hell are you going? he yelled in his mind before turning to the woman the grinned at him and licked her lips. Don't leave me alone...

"Hello! Hello! Hello!" cackled a voice from Michaela's left. Standing in front of a table with cards facing down, just on the other side of the entrance to the store, was a cloaked figure holding out a celebratory fan. It waved it around in order to gain attention, but even with the cloak covering its eyes could one tell that it was staring at the teary-eyed girl. "There's something on your mind, isn't there? Isn't there?" the figure seemed to smile.

((Pic to be added soon...... gtg for a bit))  

[Mayah Playah]

Michaela's head shot up. "Who said that? Who are you? What do you want?"  

[Its Smiley]

The figure waved one of its fans in front of the girl to catch her attention. "Ack, so many questions! I'm not Einstein!" the figure griped before waving her over. "All I want is to play a game, is all." It spread its arms out to emphasize the passing by people. "See? Everyone's walking away, not even giving this booth of mine a passing glance. Booooring! I need some excitement, and you just might be able to help with that." the figure said with a hint of mischief and delight in its tone. The cloaked figure paused and put a fan to its face even though the hood already hid that, but it looked as if it were studying Michaela. "Oh... You've got that boy from so long ago's aura on you." it noted.

 

[Mayah Playah]

"Boy?" she whispered, standing. "You knew Alcott?"  

[Its Smiley]

Cloak hunched over and giggled. "Oh yes, I have all the answers you seek. I'll tell you everything if you can beat me at a game. Care to play?" it asked with a tilt of the head.