I only own Marianne!
To my moronic guest reviewer: Mariposa is a PRIME by BIRTH, and she has ALREADY earned the TITLE by being through a life of hell on OLD EARTH. Bayverse quote: Primes are BORN, not MADE. Mari is a SPARKED PRIME, the FIRST for MILLENNIA, making her doubly special. She is a princess, but she is also BORN a PRIME. Also, Meanie, the reason I use Prime as a SURNAME is because it works. They're in HOLOFORM, and their COVER is the Prime FAMILY. As this, they are NOT looked at as SPECIAL or ROYALTY, JUST as NORMAL PEOPLE. ONLY Agent Fowler, General Brice, and the kids and June know who they REALLY are, and they use the surname/title as a QUIP when they're with the Prime and his family in the HUMAN population. It's kind of an INSIDE JOKE with them.
Shopping
Monday, 11-28, 9:00 AM
"Mariposa."
I groan and roll over. "Wanna 'charge…"
"It is time to wake up, Sweetspark."
I roll onto my back and look up. "Dada?"
"Good morning, Mari."
I smile. "Morning, Daddy." I sit up and giggle. "What're we gonna do today?"
"We are going to decorate the base." I squeal. "But first, we have to go to the store, so we have what we will need."
"Oh…" I squeal. "Yay! We getta go store!"
"Come on. You need your energon."
"Coming!" I bounce out of the bed and run after him. "Mommy! Mommy! We're goin' shopping!"
"I know, Sweetspark." She sets my energon at my seat. "Now, calm down and drink your energon."
"Okay…" I quickly drink my warmed energon, then bounce back up again. "Gotta get dressed, go shopping!"
Carrier chuckles. "Come on, Sweetspark. Let's get you dressed." We head into my room. I shift to my pretender form and pull on clean underwear, a white cami, white tights, and a pair of white dance shorts. She walks over with a black long sleeved sweater dress with a pink, blue, and lavender butterfly print skirt from the knee, white embroidered butterflies from there to the neck, and down the sleeves, a dark pink satin waistband, and two butterflies on the left shoulder: one pink and one blue, and helps me into it before leading me to my desk chair. She pulls my hair up into pigtails, then braids them, and clips butterflies on the ends before slipping my pink butterfly tiara into my hair. "Now, get your shoes on and grab your purse."
I run to grab my purse, and clip a pink and white butterfly pacifier clip to my collar before slipping a pink butterfly shaped pacifier into my mouth, then rustle through my purse to make sure I have everything I'll need: a stimmy, some fleece, chapstick, something for the asthma and motion sickness I have in my pretender mode, a first aid kit, and charger for my phone…music player…headphones… "Got everything!"
"Good. We'll be ready to leave soon. Grab a jacket."
"Okay." I run and grab my dark pink sweater, then pull it on before hooking my purse straps around my neck and over an arm. "Ready, Carrier."
She steps in, her holoform wearing a white Autobot T-shirt, flare leg jeans, and a pink hoodie with gray tennis shoes. Over her shoulder is a black purse, holding a pink wallet with a silver butterfly decal holding both checks and a debit card with butterflies, and about five hundred from an ATM in case a store won't take checks or the card. "Your Sire is waiting with your brother."
"Okay. Let's go!"
We stop to pick up Miko before we start for Tranquility. She's got a red and black leather jacket pulled over her Christmas outfit. "Hey, guys!" She turns to me. "Ready to go?"
I squeal. "Yes, yes, yes!" I start bouncing on the seat. "Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!"
"Calm down, Mariposa. We will get there in due time."
"Sowwy…"
We step into the Sears store in the mall, and Carrier turns to rent a single mall stroller for me while Sire returns from the camping section with a light pink package slung over his shoulder with a black canvas strap. "Daddy?"
"It's a wagon." He sets it down and turns to unfold it before nodding to Bumbee, who takes the handle and pulls it over to Carrier, while Sire takes the mall stroller and starts pushing it.
Carrier turns to us from where she's talking with Miko. "We'll start here, and see what we can find that we'll need for decorations. Miko?"
"Start with lights. You'll want a lot, so get…"
I pop my head up. "6 boxes little light for twee."
Miko raises an eyebrow. "How did she—"
"I was college girl on old earth."
"Ah…" She nods and looks at the list Carrier gave her as we step into the aisle for Christmas lights. "Six boxes of each for the main tree." She hands the list to Bumbee and climbs the shelves like she's climbing one of the bots before tossing six boxes of blue lights, and six boxes of white lights to Sire. "And I'd get about twelve to twenty-four boxes for the rest of the base—you know, to string around the railings?"
"That's what the garland's for…" Miko's face falls. "Wan' lights in kitchen, an' in game room, but garland goes on rails."
"Right… The doc wouldn't want lights in his face while he's working." She nods at me. "What kind of lights for those two rooms?"
"Wainbow!"
She tosses the previously stated twelve boxes to Sire, and they land in the large blue shopping cart Carrier's pushing. "And the icicles are for the doorways…" She tosses down six boxes of blue icicle lights before climbing back down. "There." She brushes her hands together before dusting her shorts off. "What's next?"
"Dada?"
"What is it Marianne?"
"I can has…own twee?"
"We're not getting a real tree…" Carrier starts. "But you can have an artificial one."
"Lights around room too?"
Sire glances at Carrier for a moment before turning to the teen, who's leaning back against the shelves acting like she owns the place. "Miko, climb back up and grab six boxes of the pink lights for Mari's room."
"Icicles?"
Sire looks at me. "Flu'erbys pwease?"
"She means butterflies." Carrier laughs. "Get two of the butterfly ones."
"Yes, Ma'am." She tosses them to Sire before hopping down. "All right, what's next?" Bumbee hands her the list.
Carrier smiles. "Let's get Mari's tree first, then we'll get back to the list."
We step up to a large display of Christmas trees. Most of them are green or white, with a "snow-tipped" one here and there. Tiny trees are framing the display, and some scattered among the taller. Sire boosts me out of the stroller before setting me on my feet beside the trees. I walk around the display, knowing Miko's following me but too excited to care. I'm about to give up and pick one of the white-lighted white trees when I spot it—the pink tree I could only dream of owning before now. It's pre-lit—with white lights—and taller than Sire's holoform by a few inches. "Daddy, I want that one!" I point up to it.
Instead of the usual "don't point, it's rude" that I got from my old Mommy, I get a kind-sounding "Of course, Sweetheart."
I skip beside Sire as he searches for the corresponding tan box, and hold my hands under my chin in excitement as he pulls the box off the shelf and puts it on his shoulder before starting back to the cart with my hand in his free one. He puts the tree under the cart before boosting me back into the stroller.
Miko looks up from the list. "Let's do garland now." She leads the way to the next aisle, where the large rack of garland is waiting. She hands the list to Bee and starts climbing.
"Get thirty each of pink, purple, and teal for the main tree." Carrier states to the climbing girl. Miko throws them at the cart, missing from time to time, until the cart is full of the sparkly substance. "Now get two of the dark pink for Mari's tree, and two of the white with the snowflakes." These fly down as well, one of the pinks bonking me on the head and making me giggle. "Now over to the right just a bit…there. We need at least twelve of the green, and ten of the pink—no, the light pink, Miko!" Bumbee and I share a laugh. "There. Now…"
"Beads?"
"Yes, we can have beads. Miko?"
"I'd say blue, if you're going with blue lights too."
"Get twenty of the blue, and two silver."
"Got it!" She tosses them down, then joins us and takes the list from Bumbee. "Now… let's get the ornaments done, then we'll work on the rest."
We grab a tub of large pink ornaments, one of purple, and one of teal, then grab a silver tub and teal tub of medium sized ornaments. "Now, anything special?"
"Chickmunks!"
"Chick—oh, Chipmunks!" Miko crouches to me. "You like the Chipmunks?"
"Woves them! Had almost all movies, old earth!"
With our cart and wagon both nearly full, we turn to wreaths. Miko runs over to grab them as Carrier thinks over where they're going to go. "One blue wreath…get the green with the poinsettia…green ornaments wreath…the one with the yellow ornaments—there…the white one with the red poinsettias…and the red ornament one…" She sighs. "The pink ornament wreath for inside Mari's door…and…"
"Aqua wreath!"
"The pink and aqua one for outside."
"Now for the Nativity scene."
"The large glass one for the base, and the smaller one for Mari's room." Carrier sighs. "We need to get Mari a stocking too, and—Orion, what is that?"
I look up to see Sire holding a pink Frozen® train set. "For the base of Marianne's tree."
"Cute! We used to have one of those in Tokyo!"
Carrier nods towards the cart before walking over to the tree skirts and stockings. She grabs a white-trimmed pink snowflake print tree skirt and tosses in at Sire teasingly before turning to me. "Mari, you need to pick a stocking."
I nod, and stand in the stroller so I can see better. I study them for a moment before pointing to a pink one that says "Princess". "That one, Mommy."
"Okay, then." She grabs it, then starts for the checkout.
"Wait!" Carrier turns to Miko expectantly. "You forgot the toppers." She waves toward a rack of stars and angels.
My eyes land on a pink-and-gold clad angel. "I want her!"
Carrier nods, letting out a long-suffering sigh. "Get the white one for the main tree please, Miko."
With that, we head toward the cash register.
Sire runs the decorations out to his vehicle mode before re-joining us to peruse the mall's selection of children's Christmas outfits. We head left, glancing in store window after store window, searching for children's clothes.
"The Disney Store! Can we go?"
Carrier glances over to the store skeptically. "Not right now, Sweetheart. We've got a lot to do today."
"Awww…"
Miko sighs heavily from where she's looking at a map a few feet away. "You'll have more luck finding children's Christmas clothes at The Children's Place, and that's at the other end on this side." She sighs. "Then we'll have to come back to Claire's for hair stuff, then we'll have to go all the way down to Shoe Palace, on the other side of the store, for her shoes."
"We need to find formals for her, too."
Miko rejoins us as we start for the end of the hall. "Kids are easy. Their formals are kept with the rest of their clothes. It's harder finding, say, a dress for the winter formal at school."
Carrier gives the teen a confused look. "Miko?"
"Jack asked me." She shrugs nonchalantly. "My parents sent me some money, but I can't find one I like…"
"You can look while we're here, if you want."
"Thanks…"
We step into the Children's Place, and Sire takes me out of the stroller. I reach up to take Carrier's hand, and start to look through the outfits. Each time I find one I like, I point it out, and Carrier grabs one in my size. Then comes the annoying part—trying everything on to make sure they fit. After we finish that, we pay for them, then head back out to the mall proper.
We make the trek back to Claire's for hair pieces to go with the outfits. Besides the new hair bows, we pick out three Christmas tiaras—two have snowflakes, while the third is red and white—a Santa hat with a tiara, and several red highlights to go with my favorite outfit we'd chosen.
We step around the first corner and into Burlington Coat Factory, where we head straight to the girls' dresses. She pulls out about twenty in my size and leads me to the dressing rooms. With my giving most of them a big fat 'NO', she sends sire to pick out twenty more. This time, I smile, and start slipping into the first one.
We leave the store with fifteen of the beautiful dresses Sire picked out, and head around the second corner to the formal dress shop. Miko chooses a strapless, knee length purple dress with a gold and black peacock feather embroidery on the right chest and skirt.
Our next stop is to buy shoes for my new outfits, and to buy Miko a pair of heels for her winter formal dress. After she pays, then head to the food court for lunch.
I look up at Carrier from my chicken strips and fries. "Where we goin' next?"
"Well…" Carrier sighs. "We need to go to a bookstore, and order a few things, then I think we'll be done here."
"Awh…"
"But…" She smiles. "We still need to go to a grocery store for cookie supplies and a few other things, so we're not going home quite yet."
"Okay." I blink when I realize something. "Twee?"
"Don't talk with your mouth full, Sweetheart."
"Sowwy." I swallow. "When we get a tree?"
"We'll get it tomorrow, Sweetspark."
I pout. I wanted to decorate it today! "Okay…"
I finish my food and Carrier throws the trash away, while Sire boosts me into the stroller and Bumbee takes the wagon's handle. Miko's still eating, but she knows where we "parked", so she'll meet us there.
"What now?"
Carrier smiles. "Now, we're going to place a few orders for things we can't buy, then we'll go to the bookstore." She smiles. "I'll let you get a book if you keep behaving yourself."
"Yay!"
We walk for about a minute, my mute big brother pulling the slowly-filling wagon behind us. We stop at a shop with a dressmaker's dummy in the window and rolls and rolls of cloth on the back wall. "Hello. What would you like to order today?"
Carrier steps up to the desk with a smile as Sire pulls me out of the stroller and leaves it with Bumbee. "I'd like to order a few dresses for my daughter."
The woman eyes me with a smile. "Do I need to measure her?"
Carrier gives Sire a nervous look. "For the glitz pageant dresses, yes…" The woman's smile falls slightly.
Sire sighs heavily. He hates using any of the codes Agent Fowler gave him when they found out about me. "PrimeRID3."
"OH!" The woman quickly puts out a "closed" sign and leads us back to the back room of the store. "Now, then… Y-you were saying?" She sounds nervous.
"Yes. Mariposa asked for us to have a Christmas party on the base, and she wants a dress for her normal form."
"Okay… I'll need you to measure her for me…" she pulls out a measuring tape. "I'll measure her for the pageant dresses first." She gives Carrier a "what the hell are you thinking" look, causing me to look up at her. "I ask for pageant. I wanna be star."
"Ah." Carrier reaches down to take off my sweater dress. "Ma'am—er—"
"Elita is fine…" Carrier glances at the woman's nametag. "Jessica."
"You don't have to undress her. I can measure her just fine." I hold up my arms as Carrier takes it off anyway, revealing my cami, dance shorts, and tights. Jessica sighs and leans down to me. "Okay, Sweetheart. I need you to stand really still for me, okay?"
"Yes, Ma'am." I watch as she measures me from my head to the floor, scrawls something on a table printed on the paper, then sets it down. "How much does she weigh?" Carrier rubs the back of her neck. "This form, Elita."
"32 pounds." Jessica raises an eyebrow. "She doesn't usually eat a lot of human food, and we've had energon shortages as of late. Orion and I skip as much as we can while still being active in the battlefield, but that still doesn't leave a lot for our Mari. Our medic makes sure she gets the best we have to offer, but it's still…" Carrier sighs. "We have more than enough American money, but she's such a picky eater when we give her human food…" Carrier shakes her head sadly. "It's so hard to get her to eat. We can't even get her to drink her energon unless it's been warmed."
Sire sighs. "Our medic is not too worried about her low weight. She gets the required nutrients, she's just…"
"Thin."
Sire nods. "She is never low on energy, either."
"Well, that's good." Jessica turns back to me and measures my chest, waist, hips, legs, arms, and neck, stopping between each new measurement to scratch out another number on her little chart. "All right, that's done." She pulls out a larger measuring tape and hands it to Carrier, who shifts to her normal form and kneels before taking it. "What's her height and weight in this form?"
"72 inches and 103 pounds."
"Okay…" She writes that down before looking up to Carrier. "Now I need you to measure around her chest, just under her arms."
Carrier wraps the tape around me. "60 inches."
"Now do the same for her waist."
"54 inches."
"Thank you. Now her hips."
"66 inches."
"Now do the hollow of her neck to the floor."
"102 inches."
Jessica peeks around me to look at my doorwings. "I'll have to make separate covers for those…"
Carrier smiles. "That's fine."
"I need you to measure them for me."
Carrier gently holds the tape to my wings, causing me to giggle. "You need to hold still, Sweetspark."
"Tickles!"
"I know it tickles." Her own doorwings twitch in annoyance. "30 inches long and…Mari, hold still."
"Sorry, Mommy! It tickles!"
"15 inches tall." She hands the tape measure back to Jessica and returns to holoform. "We'll need zippers on the ends of those so we can attach them to the dress once it's on." She pauses. "We'll need a coat for her, too."
"No problem." She starts for the door. "If you'll come with me, we can pick out what fabric we'll use for the dresses, and styles for the pageant dresses. I should have them ready in two weeks at the most."
"Would you be able to make "Santa hats" for the rest of our team?"
Jessica nods. "Just bring their measurements in when we do Mari's fitting in a week, and I'll do my best." She glances over at me. "Do you want one to go with Mari's dress, too?"
Carrier smiles. "Please?"
"Thank you, Ma'am." Sire nudges me. "Pretender form, Sweetspark. We have to go back into the mall now."
"Yes, Sire." I shift down quickly, and hold up my arms for Carrier to put me back into my dress. I then smile up at Sire as he picks me up. "Can I pick the fabric?"
"Yep." Carrier taps my nose. "And you'll get to help pick out the dress styles for your pageant outfits, too."
"Yay!" Sire sets me on the counter by the wall of fabric choices.
Jessica sets a large book on the counter beside me with a loud thud. "We'll look through the glitz pageant styles first." Carrier opens the book and starts flipping through thoughtfully. On the first page is a child's ball gown. "They don't usually approve of children under ten wearing ball gowns…" Carrier nods and turns the page. The next example is an off-the-shoulder number with a tutu skirt and cap sleeves. "Those are called cupcake dresses. They're the preferred dress for five-year-old girls."
I look up at the woman in shock. "They have boys in pageants?"
"Sometimes." Jessica smiles at me. "They wear tuxedos for beauty."
"Oh…" I shrug and turn back to the book as Carrier turns the page again. This one has one long sleeve and one strap. I tilt my head to the side. It's pretty, but I don't know if I like it enough. "Maybe. Mark it, pwease?" Carrier nods, and holds the page with a finger as she flips to the next page. This one is a halter neck. I shake my head. "Nope…" She turns the page, revealing an orange and pink sleeveless tutu. "Yes! Yes! That one! That one!"
Jessica looks at the dress upside-down. "That one costs three hundred dollars."
Carrier nods. "We'll have that one, and…" She turns the page. It's a one-sleeve dress.
I shake my head. "No-no…"
Carrier turns the pages slowly for a couple minutes, nothing really sticking out to me in the "beauty" part of the book until… "Stop!" It's a long sleeved, teal and white dress. "That one. It cowowful…"
"And this one."
Jessica nods. "Now, she'll need an outfit of choice…" She flips us to that section of her sample book.
The very first page is pictures of several cheerleader outfits in many different colors. "Wanna do cheers!"
Jessica nods. "All right. The full costume is 150." She pulls out her notepad. "What colors would you like?"
"Pink!"
Carrier smiles. "Pink and silver, please?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
She flips a few pages before I put my hand in the way. "Hoops!"
Jessica huffs. "You don't need—"
"I wan' hoops, Carrier!"
"We'll take a set of hoops for her." Jessica gives Carrier a look. "Even if she doesn't use them in pageants, she and her Father both love history." She glances at the hoops page. "We'll take an authentic dress as well, in dark pink, with white accents."
"Yes, Ma'am." Jessica flips the rest of the way to the talent section. "She'll need at least one costume for a talent portion."
"She's been taking ballet lessons…" Carrier flips a few pages to the dance section. "Let's get a blue and white snowflake leotard and tutu, and the blue and silver slippers." She turns to Sire with a slight smile. "And I think we can pay that Disney store a visit before we leave…"
"We can?"
Carrier only nods as she turns back to the book. "We can use that new pink dress in case she decides to sing…" She flips a few more pages. "And the snowflake cowgirl outfit in azure in case she chooses country instead…"
"She'll need swimwear too…"
Carrier looks at me. "One or two piece?"
I think for a moment. "Two!"
"What color?"
"Blue!"
She shows me a picture. "How's this one?"
"Yes! Yes!"
"Okay, you're almost done. What theme is the pageant?"
"Winter Wonderland."
Jessica flips to that section back in the "Theme" chapter. "We've got quite a selection of dresses for you to choose from."
I point to the first picture—a velvet dress with a snowflake. "That one! Snowflake princess!"
"You'll need to get her white patent leather shoes, and lace bobby socks. She's required to wear them for beauty. You can find them at Shoe Palace down the hall." She puts the book away. "Now, about the dress."
"Velvet please?"
"Of course, Sweetheart." She pulls down several rolls of the silky-smooth fabric. My eyes light up when I see the shimmery pink. "That one! That one!"
"That's a good choice, Little One. And your coat?"
"Pale yellow bubble coat!"
Carrier smiles gently. "With light and dark pink star print gloves, scarf, hat, and doorwing covers please."
"Can do." She smiles. "All right, I'll have the dresses and coat ready for a fitting in a week. I'll see you then."
Sire nods and boosts me into the stroller. We leave the store and head straight for the Disney store. Once inside, Carrier looks around the costumes before pulling out an Elsa robe with a hood. "This will work well with the ballet costume." She pays for it before leading us out of the store.
We head down to Shoe Palace again, and Carrier heads straight for the little girls white dress shoes. After grabbing a pair and trying them on me, she nods and grabs two more of the same size. "Just to be safe. They look like they could scuff easy." I giggle and nod. I used to scuff my shiny shoes all the time on old Earth. She pays for the shoes and leads us out of the store, and back to Children's Place, where she picks up a large pack of seamless lace socks and pays for them.
Finally, we step into the bookstore. Carrier grabs a copy of the book "The Night Before Christmas" and the movie "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" before turning to Sire. "What else was there…"
"Jack mentioned an Advent calendar…" She looks around for a few minutes before coming back with a "How-To" book about preparing an advent calendar, and picks up a castle-shaped wooden one as well. After they pay, we meet up with Miko outside at Sire's vehicle mode.
"Ready to go?"
Carrier nods. "We need to stop at the grocery store before hitting the base." She turns to me. "Mari, you need to eat more, Sweetheart."
"Tandy."
"No, Sweetspark. Healthy food." She sighs. "Orion, what time is it?"
"Almost five."
"We're stopping for supper before we go to the grocery store."
"Bob Evans?"
Carrier nods. "Sure." She sighs heavily. "But you're going to eat."
Sire looks down at me. "You can even get ice cream if you eat everything on your plate."
"Otay."
Sire pulls into the Bob Evans parking lot before boosting Carrier, Bumbee, and I out. He takes my hand and leads me inside. After getting me a booster, we find a table and sit down. The waitress leading us there sets a kids' menu/coloring book at my seat, then gives everyone else menus.
Sire picks up my menu like my old mommy used to do for the "babies", and walks me through it. "What do you want, Sweetheart. They have chicken, grilled cheese, mac-and-cheese, turkey—"
I look up at him with my binky in my mouth. "Turkey, wif 'tatoes, cawots, an' I wan' deir stuffin' too pwease, wif gwavy on i'?"
"I'll see what I can do, Baby." He sets the menu down, and I start to color while I wait for the waitress to come back. Sire orders our food—ordering the same thing I'm getting for him, Carrier, and Bumbee before asking for my kiddy order. He also orders me a hot chocolate, as the temperatures outside haven't gotten any warmer.
I eat the whipped cream off my hot chocolate, then go back to coloring. It's too hot for now, and I wanna color.
The plates come out ten minutes later, and Bumbee stares at my plate in surprise. They still have more food than me, but there's more food than I've eaten with them before on the plate. Carrier gives Sire a nervous look. "You're not going to make her eat all of that for ice cream, are you?" Sire nods, barely moving from where he's cutting my meat for me. "She'll make herself sick, Orion."
He slides my plate over to me before looking up to Carrier. "She will be fine, Ariel."
I look between the two before starting to eat. It's one of my favorite meals—one I haven't had in years—so of course I'm going to eat well. I start with my carrots, as usual, then the turkey, then my potatoes. Once they're gone, I turn to my gravy-covered stuffing. Slowly, but surely, I finish the plate. My tummy's really full, but I want my ice cream. My old mommy almost never let me get ice cream here, and I love their smiley face sundae.
Sire gives Carrier an almost-invisible smirk and turns to me. "Do you still want ice cream?"
I nod. "Reese's sundae."
"All right." He flags down our waitress and orders it before pulling me in for a one-armed hug.
I dig in as soon as my ice cream gets to the table, and I'm done with it by the time everyone else is ready to leave.
We pull into the lot outside the Jasper Grocery at 6 on the nose. Carrier holds my hand as we walk across the parking lot and into the store. Once we get inside, she gets a purple cart and starts leading me around the store, leaving Sire and Bumbee outside.
We go straight for the health and beauty aisle, and get my strawberry bath stuff, then get a Christmas scented conditioner to use as polish, since the normal stuff makes me sick. After we've stocked up on my soap, we head over to the baking aisle to get cookie mixes and a few cookie cutters, with Carrier letting me pick out the shapes. I grab some icing and sprinkles, then we head over to the Christmas aisle to get candy canes. I pick out several different flavors before following Carrier to the checkout.
