Pippa

[borgiafatale]

"May I see that one, please?" Lucrezia asked, pointing at a watch in the case at the men's jewelry section of Herrods.

"Ah, you have very good taste," the saleswoman said as she brought it out and laid it on a velvet box on the counter. "And quite a steal for this brand, at under five thousand pounds."

Lucrezia picked up the watch, considering how it might look against Cesare's skin tone.

"A gift for your husband?" the saleswoman asked brightly.

Lucrezia laughed. "No," she said. "In fact, what do you have that is not so much of a steal?"

While the saleswoman, a bit flustered now, began to look for other options, Lucrezia turned and leaned against the counter, re-applying her lipstick.

Comments

[pippa_flynn]

Pippa was on the hunt for a gift for a man that said I'm sorry I might be pregnant but if I had to choose a father I think you're a good pick. It was proving to be a difficult search. She paused at the counter and looked at watches, then sighed.

"I'm shit at picking gifts," she said to the woman, not shy at all about striking up a conversation with a stranger.

[borgiafatale]

Lucrezia put her lipstick back in her purse and smiled at the woman. "Well if you're looking at these - " She gestured at the expensive watches. "It must be for someone you like very much."

The clerk returned with four watches laid out on a velvet board. "No, no, and no - " Lucrezia said. "That one I would give to my husband, because it's just his kind of ugly. But no. The first one, I think. The one that I found on my own."

The clerk left again, and Lucrezia said to the woman, "What are you looking for?"

[pippa_flynn]

"I really don't know. There's a lovely man in my life and we're going through a rough patch and I just want him to know I care. And I think a watch would send the wrong message. Time isn't what we want to think about right now," she said, then sighed softly. "I know what I don't want to buy him, but I'm shit at thinking of what might be right."

[borgiafatale]

"Oh dear, that is a tricky gift situation," Lucrezia conceded. "Would it be terribly forward of me to offer to help? I'm afraid I have no complicated lovers of my own to buy for, but I do enjoy the challenge."

Before the woman could respond, the clerk returned with the first watch in a box, and Lucrezia handed her a credit card before turning back.

[pippa_flynn]

"I think I'd actually love some help," she replied with a smile. "I'm Pippa. Pippa Flynn." And she offered her hand.

[borgiafatale]

"Lucrezia Borgia," Lucrezia said, taking Pippa's hand and shaking it warmly. "How lovely. I was just beginning to grow bored."

"Here you are, Ma'am," the clerk said, handing her back her credit card and a bag with the watch.

"This is for my brother," she said to Pippa after taking it. "I do not find him difficult to shop for."

[pippa_flynn]

"Borgia? Is your father..." she started, then quit. Of course he must be, With the kind of cash you could just buy that sort of a watch, and the fact it wasn't a common name in London, Pippa was sure she knew of Lucrezia's family ties.

[borgiafatale]

Lucrezia was unbothered. "He is," she said with a little smile. "And you can only believe half of what you hear of him - or any of us for that matter." She winked, as she slid the bag with the watch into her purse. "But the other half is true."

[pippa_flynn]

"That only makes me wonder which half," she said, smirking a little. She paused and with a glance got the shop girl to go away. A glance and a bit of magic, that was.

"So where should we start. What says 'I'm sorry' do you think?"

[borgiafatale]

"Well, tell me about your gentleman first," Lucrezia said, and hooked an arm around Pippa's speaking to her as if they were lifelong best friends.

[pippa_flynn]

"He's wonderful. Older than I am by a bit. More than a little," she said, laughing lightly at the fact that she was sure was a bit of a sore subject. "He runs a shop, and he's a bit quiet, but he has a rather wild side in private."

[borgiafatale]

Lucrezia smiled at her. "Oh, isn't it lovely when there's a side of him just for you?" She led Pippa away from the jewelry section. "What kind of shop?"

[pippa_flynn]

"He owns a book shop," she said with warm affection. "I like that there's more to him than meets the eye. I like that part that's mine."

[borgiafatale]

"Oh, a bookshop!" Lucrezia looked delighted. "He must be a reader, then. I know a wonderful antiques shop a few blocks from here that has a fair selection of rare books. The last time I was there I spied some love poems."

[pippa_flynn]

"Really? I think that would be much more appropriate than jewelry or clothes," she replied. "Let's pop in there, and if we can't find anything we can stop for drinks or a coffee and make a new plan."

[borgiafatale]

"An excellent plan indeed," said Lucrezia cheerfully. "I am glad to have run into you, Pippa. I'm afraid I was looking down the barrel of a dull day. I dread becoming some socialite housewife since I'm not working at the moment. But I woke up in a poor mood and thought that spending Allan's money might make me feel better."

[pippa_flynn]

"If we can find a gift for Akeem, Allan can but that too if it'll make you feel better," she teased.

[borgiafatale]

Lucrezia laughed at that. "Well I am feeling a bit better already. That was a very expensive watch, and Allan hates my brother." Her lips quirked into a small smirk before she led Pippa out of the store and onto the street.

[pippa_flynn]

Pippa laughed. It was a little revenge, but it was very much something she herself would have done in Lucrezia's circumstances.

"Why does he hate your brother?" she asked.

[borgiafatale]

"Cesare is very protective of me," Lucrezia said. "And his distaste for Allan has always been obvious. He thinks he does not deserve me - and Allan is a man who does not like being belittled. And I think it bothered him that I would always love my family more than him." Now, she doubted he cared so much.

[pippa_flynn]

"But that's only right. I love my brother far more than I've ever loved anyone else...though, to be fair, I doon't think I've ever actually loved anyone else," she said, thinking nothing of how that might come across.

[borgiafatale]

"Love is a rarer thing than people assume, I think," Lucrezia said.

[pippa_flynn]

"I would definitely agree with that," Pippa said. He tucked her hands into her pockets to keep them warm. "If I ever love anyone as much as Fin I'll think I'm lucky. Or that I've lost my mind. Either way..."

[borgiafatale]

Something that Lucrezia liked already about Pippa was that, despite Lucrezia making it obvious how unhappy she was with her husband at the moment, the other woman had asked nothing about him, or whether her marriage was happy. There were, obviously, more important things.

Like brothers.

"We have that in common, dear Pippa," she said. "And our brothers, they are so lucky to have us, are they not?"

[pippa_flynn]

"They really are," she agreed. She was lucky to have Fin, that was true, but all his life she'd looked out for him...until he'd gone off. That was so obviously their mother's fault. She'd hated her mother from then on, though they had a tenuous peace right now. Peace because Pippa didn't actively hate her, though refused to talk to her.

Arriving at the shop shook her out of those thoughts.

"I should buy something for Fin, too, I think. Since I'm shopping anyway."

[borgiafatale]

"Tell me about him," said Lucrezia. "And perhaps I will work my magic again."

[pippa_flynn]

A smile lit up her face.

"He's my baby brother. He's an artist- actor, writer, poet...he even writes lyrics sometimes. He's the kindest, most caring man I've ever met. He's selfless in a way I don't think I have the capacity for. He's had a very rough go of it, health problems, work problems, love problems, but none of that seems to get to him. He perseveres and he's always a joy to meet. In fact, I don't think he ever really gets angry with anyone, even when he ought to be dead mad. Except me. He gets angry with me...but we've always been like that. Bicker and make up. I just love him with all my heart," she gushed.