the family discount. [gianna]

It was April now which meant the snow was melting and it was starting to get warmer outside. It was one of Nessa's favorite times of the year because it meant she could say goodbye to long cloaks and hello to summer dresses. Today she was on a mission to get some less than knee length dresses and also a little something special in Chinatown. Earlier in the week she had told her younger sister they could go shopping together but part of her was starting to hate the idea. When they were younger Nessa rarely had anything to do with Gianna and since they'd gotten older not much had changed. Gianna always had Carr and Ness always had Torr back then, with Kerr bouncing between. As she grew older though she started trying to spend more time with her other siblings. She wasn't entirely sure why, maybe it was Etain's attitude toward family loyalty, maybe it was their Grandmother's words finally reaching her ears, but it certainly wasn't regret. Nessa didn't regret things. No absolutely not. She got ready quickly and then exited her little flat, locking the door and reapplying all of the wards she had in place. The war was over but that didn't mean Nessa wasn't still just as paranoid as ever. The Dark Lord had lost but many of his canon fodder were still around with a vengeance. She had helped the dark wizards, but that didn't mean they wouldn't come a knocking one day to settle some kind of score. A lot of them were known to be petty like that.

Wearing her typical pair of boots she looped her large bag over her shoulder. Even though the sun was shining it was still a bit chilly so Nessa was happy she had worn her jacket as she walked toward the lot behind her flat to apparate. It was easy enough for a witch to get around London if she knew where to apparate and Ness knew exactly where to go to get to Soho. Luckily the neighborhood was full of pubs and brothels even if the tour magazines said differently so back alleys were easy enough to find. With a pop she was a few blocks from the flat Gia shared with a friend so it was a quick walk there. As she walked she kept her head high and never moved out of the way for people who weren't paying attention, she had strong shoulders after all these years. When she reached Gia's flat she thought about turning around and leaving but decided to go through with it. They were to go dress shopping but Nessa would chose the stores, so at least she had that. Knocking on the door she grew impatient quickly. "Gia get out here you were supposed to be ready! I told you I'll not wait." She wasn't yelling exactly but there was a certain annoyance in her tone. Even if Gia had been perfectly on time it still wouldn't of pleased Nessa, she was difficult to please.

When the door opened she quickly reached for her younger sisters forearm and basically dragged her onto the stoop. "We're going to China town before we go shopping I need to pick something up." She didn't elaborate, mostly because she knew how to be discrete but also because Gia wasn't part of the other life that many Regan's had. She looked around the neighborhood and even though a lot of the businesses looked upstanding there were the faintest reminders of Soho's not so long ago past. For near a century this area had been known as the beating heart of London's sex trade. Across the street and down a few numbers there were neon lit silhouettes of women dancing in the window. She stuck her nose up and shook her head a little. "Really Gia, I know times are tough but did you have to move into the Red Light District?"

On the to-do list for the day: nothing. Check.

There was nothing better than snuggling in bed and sleeping the day away without worrying about whether she would be late for her shift later. Days off were luxurious and lazy and Gianna treasured these rare days she had for herself. What friends? What date? Her bed was her one true love and nothing was going to break them apart… Except for that pounding on the front door and what sounded like her sister’s ‘I’ll give you five minutes before I start getting annoyed then you’ll really be sorry’ voice. She groaned and sank further back into the bed, pulling the covers over her head. Shit. So today was the day for their shopping trip; she so wasn’t ready for this.

With monumental effort, she managed to drag herself out of bed, and threw on some clothes over the t-shirt she wore to sleep. Her stomach was feeling the effect of the drinks- two! She only had two! She was slipping ugh- she had last night, and it took all the mental strength she had not to cancel on her sister and go back to bed. It wasn’t everyday Nessa wanted to go shopping with her, in fact, try never. Despite being the only girls in the household and close in age, the two never got along much when they were kids. No, Gianna amended as she pulled her hair into a semi-respectable bun, they never even spent much time together to know if they got along.

So with half anticipation and half apprehension, Gianna opened the door, “Hey Ness, can you just wait a while for me to grab my–“ The word ‘keys’ was swallowed when she was dragged out forcefully, a resigned expression on her face as she watched the door click shut in front of her. “Ok well, never mind then.” Looks like she and the steps would be spending some time getting reacquainted later; it’s been too long anyway. Her ears perked up at the mention of Chinatown and slim eyebrows pulled into a slight frown. What business did Nessa have at Chinatown? It was normally a place she avoided because of how noisy and generally confusing the place was, but if she needed to go… The ex-Hufflepuff just shrugged her shoulders in assent good-naturedly.

“Oh come on, that’s not fair.” Gianna protested. She was a waitress. She worked on shifts and survived on tips, and she wasn’t proud of it, but even then half her rent every month came from her parents’ pockets. It’s not like everyone had a great job that paid galleons every month fresh out of school, although haven’t you been out of school for a while now? The twenty-one year old wrinkled her nose at her own insecurities and at Nessa’s words, which she was convinced had judgemental undertones because it wouldn’t be her without it. “If we’re done judging me and my poor life choices can we please go now? I thought you said you had something you wanted to pick up first?”

Her voice was tense and she wanted to toss in an eye-roll, but somehow she thought Nessa wouldn’t appreciate that, so she decided against it. And she wasn’t about to start off the day on the wrong foot with her sister. So she just kept her mouth shut and pulled her jacket tighter around her as she waited for Nessa to take the lead; she could never seem to get warm enough no matter what she wore. Damn London weather.

Nessa didn't even notice that she had dragged her sister out before she was completely ready, she was demanding that way. Had she realized that Gia didn't have her keys on her she might have waited, she was impatient but she wasn't illogical. It was too late to change the fact now though as Nessa let go of her arm and commented on her younger sisters choice in neighborhoods. Gia's defense was weak but Nessa was never the sort to leave something unsaid, she had pretty much zero tact. "I wasn't judging you Gianna, I was simply asking you a question." She rolled her eyes even though she had actually been being a bit judgy with her statement. She did not understand why Gianna didn't live in Cork, a lot of their family did and it was a nice little city. Well actually it wasn't that nice but being a Regan meant you didn't have to worry about who might be lurking in the dark shadows of creepy alleys, at least not in their city. "Why don't you live in Cork anyway? Why did you move out here?" Nessa asked because the thought had crossed her mind and suddenly she just had to know. She looked both ways before leading them across the street to the alley behind the building with the dancing ladies posted on the windows. They needed a safe place to apparate because she was not about to walk across town, not in these shoes, and she certainly wasn't going to take a taxi.

Grabbing her sisters arm once more she pulled her close enough for the two of them to apparate side by side. In a swift swirling motion the two were whipped through time and space and reappeared the main room of a condemned Dim Sung restaurant building. It had been long since abandoned and that was clear by the faded peeling floral wallpaper and the garbage that had collected in the corners. It was far grungier than most places that Nessa frequented but it was a discrete location for a witch to aparate into without being seen by any muggles so it would do. "So there are a few things you need to know about Chinatown." She gave her sister a look that showed what she was about to say was important so the younger girl better listen. "I'm assuming you've never been here before?" Kicking a piece of old newspaper away from her boots as she walked toward the front door and pushed it open Nessa began to explain proper etiquette for improper places to Gia. "First off be careful how much eye contact you make, too much and you become a predator who needs to be challenged, to little and you become prey." While Nessa might not be very affectionate on the outside she does value family above most everything else. Her little speech was the closest Gia was going to get to warm and fuzzy from her but after twenty years of being sisters they probably both understood that.

To an outsider Nessa might of seemed harsh, cruel, and like a downright brat but the way she acted usually wasn't personal. She lacked the sense to treat people with common courtesy. If she saw something wrong she acted on it, if she heard something she didn't like, she commented on it, and not even her siblings got special treatment. As she cracked open the rusty front door of the abandoned building she pulled up the hood on her leather jacket, it was a shady area after all. "Secondly, if someone offers you a golden dragon they are talking about drugs and no not the good kind." The area of Chinatown they were headed to was connected but separate from the muggle location. This Chinatown was a small wizarding community of black market imports, homeopathic recipes that could paralyze or heal, and strange customs. "Its this way," she said leading Gia down a small set of stairs that got darker and dirtier as they got toward the bottom. "Finally, please do not touch anything." Much like the dark shops in Knockturn Alley there were many things laying about that could fatally harm someone if handled in the wrong way and Nessa didn't much fancy telling Carrick how she killed their little sister. As they reached the landing of the set of stairs the entered a small underpass, stoned in, and much like a tiny version of a subway station. Nessa moved forward and tapped her wand on the stones, just like at Diagon and suddenly they began to change shape and a new passageway was revealled.

"Ah, here we are." She said, scrunching her nose at the familiarly unpleasant smell of greasy egg rolls, bad herbs, stale fish, and dirty old men. The street opened in front of them and curved toward the end. There were shops lining both sides and they were smacked right up against each other with the exception of a few narrow alleys leading behind them. The stores were constructed like traditional Chinese buildings, pagoda roofs and all. Strange symbols hung on signs and paper lanterns floated above the street to offer a little extra light. Street vendors peddles their wares with fervor as the street bustled with all kinds of shady individuals. Taking a step forward Nessa waited for her sister to follow, they could shop around a little if she wanted to but the shop Nessa needed to visit was down at the end and covered in a thick ivy plant that seemed to have a mind of its own as its tentacles slowly waved toward customers.

A highly derisive snort escaped her before she could stop herself, and Gianna sneaked a look at her sister tentatively. It’s not as if she was scared of how Nessa would respond, because the snort was extremely called for in this situation. She didn’t know if her sister did it intentionally, but even if she didn’t, she still managed to do a pretty good job at making her feel like shit sometimes. “And that question was as loaded as grandma’s jacket potatoes.” She accused in return, because it was. That was all she had left to say about it, but then Nessa had to go on and ask her why she didn’t live back home anymore. It didn’t matter if she meant the house they grew up in or Cork as a whole, it felt the same. “Things just happened.” She answered truthfully. “I was ready to stop leeching off mum and dad, and a friend found a place too much for her own. It was all very quick, the whole process.” She brought a finger up and rubbed the tip of her nose a little self-consciously. She was earning her own keep (mostly) now, so why was she still feeling like she did something wrong?

There was no time for her to elaborate in her defence, and once again she felt herself being dragged by the arm, this time for side-along apparition. “You have got to start warning me when you do that.” She said once everything stopped spinning around her. Witch or not, the twenty one year old hated apparating and the way her innards squeezed together every single time, like she was being forced into a packet of Gianna sausage. Yuck. She shook out her limbs sullenly, nodding along as Nessa began to lecture her about Chinatown. Of course she’d been here before, if only to get food and chat with nice old ladies with shops that had goods on bright displays. She had no experience with the Chinatown Nessa was depicting for her, nor did she have any idea about why her sister was familiar with this side of the area. It didn’t seem like a place normal people, aka her, would be frequenting. And obviously Ness came here often enough to know the best place to apparate to without being discovered by nosy muggles. But if there was one thing she was quickly picking up on her day so far, it was not to ask too many question and go along with it.

While she had been fiddling with the cuffs of her jacket previously, Gia looked up in panic at what her sister said, her voice distant as she was already a few steps ahead. “Drugs? Wait, nobody said anything about drugs! What in Merlin’s name are you picking up?” She toddled after her sister, the alarm bells in her head ringing louder with each step. Her decision to wear boots like her sister’s proved to be a smart choice because everything was filthy. Everything. If she ever came back here again -Merlin forbid please no- she was going to bring gloves with her as well. “You can bet I’m not touching anything, I want to keep my hands around for a long, long time.” She muttered darkly, keeping as close to her sister as possible as they moved through twists and turns and cobweb-ridden passageways. She shivered again as she waited for Nessa to tap the correct stones on the wall, and Chinatown, well, wizarding Chinatown, was revealed to her.

It was different. Gianna couldn’t decide if it was the good kind of different, it was just a lot of things to take in all at once. The ground was covered with rough, uneven stones that had bits of fish scales stuck in the cracks. Tents from the stores spilled out onto the streets, making the already narrow way even more cramped, and goods of all kinds were laid bare on tables. Some stalls had dried meats, that looked and smelled dubious, and some had herbs and- what was that, seaweed- strung up on display. Tiny, old Asian women that smelled of medicinal baths hollered at the top of their lungs, pushing her aside with their pointy elbows. They were vicious! One slapped at her knuckles sharply when she bent over to pinch a bit of candied fruit, her nails blood red and filed to a point, jade bangles clinking on her veined wrists. “You don’t have to be so mean, it’s not like I wasn’t going to pay for it.” She wasn’t, not really, but she still stuck her tongue out at the lady when she yelled something unintelligible back. Nessa’s advice now forgotten, Gianna went from shop to shop gleefully, poking and jabbing at shiny things, pocketing whatever bits of food she could.

When she decided she had enough, she trooped over to where her sister was waiting, now with a bag of gelatinous pastries filled with an almost sickly sweet paste. “Want one? The person selling them gave it to me for free when I stole his money pouch from him. Said he admired my skills.” Gianna cackled happily. It had been her intention anyway, she was just going to use the money to buy more food, because why keep the money when she could have something to eat? Considerably more cheerful with some sweets in her, she popped another pastry in her mouth, not pausing in her chewing as she spoke, “Where to now, oh sister dear? Home of the incredibly creepy moving plants?”

As the passage way opened and the pair of witches was assaulted by the smells of wizarding China town Nessa smirked a little. She enjoyed going on shopping trips of this nature. She wasn't all bad, but there was a certain rush one got from doing something illegal. She was very meticulous, very organized, and doing things that broke or bended the rules of society was her form of release. Torrence fought in the pits, Kerr blazed, Gianna stole things, they all had their little ways of escaping and this was Nessa's. She pulled her purse further onto her shoulder firmly and watched as Gianna took to the streets. She was actually a little impressed by the way her baby sister behaved. Sure she completely forgot rule number three, but she did it with flare, and Nessa could respect that. For a half second she even smiled as Gia stuck her tongue out at an old woman for smacking her fingers. It was a bit amusing to watch even if it was potentially dangerous.

Her sister continued to browse and Nessa turned toward the first shop on her right. It was a small stand with all kinds of trinkets on little displays and chains hanging from the top. The man behind the small counter started showing her rings with butterflies on them as if she would ever wear something like that. She held up the chain she had around her neck, showing that she had plenty of rings, and instead moved her eyes toward a charm necklace that was hanging in front of her. The necklace was made of leather and the bronze charm hanging from it was a symbol Nessa had seen before in her enchanting books. It wasn't specifically Chinese in nature but she was still impressed to see it here. Pointing to it she spoke quickly, "How much?" Nessa ran her fingers carefully down the leather strap and felt a familiar buzz when her fingertips made contact with the charm, it was enchanted for sure. The shop keeper either had no idea what he was selling or was trying to get rid of it because she didn't even have to haggle over prices before paying for the item.

Just as sickles were exchanging hands her sister bounced back down the alley and offered her some food. Nessa shook her head, but let out a soft laugh when Gianna explained how she had acquired the treats. "You know when I apparated us here I was scared I would have to explain to Carrick how I got our baby sister killed, but I'm beginning to think it's going to be the other way around." She laughed once more as she took a pastry from her sisters hands. Instantly she regretted it as the sticky ooze got on her fingers, she hated being sticky, it was yet another reason she would never be fit to be a parent. She plopped the pastry in her mouth quickly and tried to get all of the jelly off her fingers as the two of them began walking down the street. People walked past but Nessa stayed the course, she rarely moved out of the way for other people. "That incredibly creepy plant will strangle you if you trash talk it..." Nessa teased, slightly, and then cracked yet another uncharacteristic smile toward her sister. It turned out this day wasn't all bad. Nessa was usually very tense but something about her sisters light hearted attitude made her feel sociable.

After she had finished chewing she held her hand up toward her sister, showing off the item she had just purchased. "Its enchanted to keep away bad dreams. I bought it for Kerr, do you think he will wear it?" Nessa knew her brother had been having trouble sleeping ever since he was taken and tortured last year. It was a tragedy really and the whole family had been ready to start a war in his name, but none of that made the youngest of their little branch of Regan's feel any better. She hoped the necklace would. As she grew older she found herself actually caring more and more for the siblings she didn't really have time for as a child. She had grown closer to Kerr after the accident and she was quickly learning that Gianna was more than just a pretty face. "Old man didn't even try to up sell it, I don't think he realized what he had actually. It was practically a steal..." Nessa finished explaining as they reached the end of the corridor and the shop she had come to the alley for. She gave the plant a look and then gave Gianna another, one eyebrow arched, hoping the younger witch would remember her previous warnings.

She waited a moment and watched the movements of the vine that seemed to guard the entrance of the shop before an opening appeared and Nessa moved forward. She wondered silently if the plant was somehow enchanted to keep out strangers or unwelcome wizards. It would be a smart way to do it. As they enterred the shop she was greeted with the familiar sights of endless jars on shelves and cauldrons bubbling. It was a potions ingredients shop on another level. They didn't sell the regular stuff found at any run of the mill apothecary. This particular shop specialized in the rare and highly illegal. Not only that but at least half of the items for sale hadn't been properly tested by the ICW and therefore were not fully regulated. You wouldn't find most of these herbs listed in the potioneers textbooks but that was just what Nessa needed. She was looking for a particular root that would serve as a living valve when she attempted to repair Blo's heart. It had taken her months of research to find something that might work and even longer to find a shop that was able to acquire the strange and somewhat forsaken plant.

"Please don't steal anything here..." She whispered to her sister as they entered the shop, the last thing she needed was for that ivy to strangle them to death when they tried to leave. She would never be able to get the knots out of her hair if it did. Turning away from Gianna she began to peruse the shelves lined up along the wall. Some of the things inside of them moved and some of them looked rather sinister.