♪♫Hardly Strictly Jazz (Nessa)♫♪

In the Lux household that morning there was a rare event going on. For the first time in particularly long time, the family were having breakfast together. Nessa had stayed in the night before, Richard had work but wasn't required to go in until mid-day and Edward, Nessa's cousin was on half term. So the three of them, along with Sebastian the exceed, and Arielle the fairy were all gathered around the dining table. Thoroughly enjoying a rare buffet-style breakfast with plates full of fried bacon, and eggs, some sunny side up, some scrambled. Grilled tomatoes and fried mushrooms, with toast and buttered bread. Truly a feast for the family, currently being enjoyed over a generic conversation.

"So this portal just appeared in front of the guild for no reason?" Richard asked his daughter, in response to the tale she was telling him about a recent experience. Nessa nodded, swallowing the bite of toast she had been chewing on. "Yep, not just in front of our guild, but apparently they appeared everywhere. There was a couple in Era, one in Midi, Peace Village, the Celestial Sanctum, literally Dad, they were all over the place. And on top of which all these strange Christmas related creatures came out of them which we had to subdue." She explained, he nodded. "Curious, it's a shame I was tied up at the office and couldn't head out to get any DNA samples. It would've been good to run some tests to see where they came from," He replied thoughtfully.

"You should have seen it, Richard, there was a walking Christmas tree that released these exploding presents and ...well when one hit Nessa..." Sebastian began looking at Nessa mischievious, Nessa shot him a glare. "Finish that sentence, and I'll call Markus and have him bring Hela here. She can join us for breakfast, the dish being you." She growled Sebastian, rolled his eyes. "I wanna know what happened!" Edward whined, glancing between the two, who were currently having a stare down, almost a battle of wills between the Starlight Maiden and Exceed to see who would crack first. Nessa didn't want Sebastian to tell the embarrassing story about how she had magically had her clothes disappear in front of a bunch of people, including at least two males, both of which were her guildmates.

It was then that there was a knock on the door.


Richard slid out of his seat, heading around the table he would leave the dining room and make his way to the hallway. He would open the door and see Arcadia standing there; he smiled politely. "Hello Arcadia, nice to see you again. Please come in; we're just finishing our breakfast." He said, stepping aside to let her in. "Nessa's just in the dining room," He would nod her to follow him, leading her through the kitchen to the attached dining room, where Nessa and Sebastian were still glaring at each other. Richard, did a little cough, drawing their attention. As Nessa's eyes left Sebastian's and landed on her best friend, her face lit up in a smile. "Oh, Hi Arca!" She said happily, getting out of her seat and walking around the table to greet her with a hug. "What brings you here?" She asked, Sebastian and Arielle would wave in greeting at Arcadia, while Edward, an eleven-year-old with messy brown hair and dark eyes. Still sitting there in his pyjamas, would blush at the sight of her, ducking slightly behind the table, only to peer over the edge at them.


WC: 593

Nessa tilted her head, watching the exchange between Arcadia and Edward. Edward, did not lift his head past the table, just nodded as she introduced herself quite sweetly to him. He said nothing, despite her niceness, it didn't do much to alleviate his shyness. "Don't worry about him, that's my cousin Eddie, he's a little shy." He poked his head up for a moment, "It's Edward! Not Eddie!" Nessa raised her brows at him, he looked at Arca once again before ducking back behind the table, even redder than before.

Nessa looked back at Arcadia, as she was hit with the full pelt of her words. Man, that was a lot of words to take it once. Nessa watched her lips carefully, trying to take in the details of what she was saying. Talking about her manuscripts, and lacrima-net videos, and how something was getting published. Or wait, no, something had been published and or was it? Nessa couldn't keep up. It then moved on a song, made for a Princess of Fiore. Apparently, it was part of the contract Arcadia had set up with them, and that the Princess of Fiore was...in a band? As the story when on, Nessa finally understood what it was Arcadia was getting to. She had been giving tickets to a concert, VIP tickers no less, she beamed as her bestie essentially invited her along to a concert. Nessa squealed excitedly, clapping, "Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. Oh my gosh, you have no idea how much I need a break right now.!" She replied happily. Nessa turned, scooping up a piece of toast.

"Okay first of all, when is it? and how long have we got to prepare? Oh my gosh, Arcadia, you know what this means?" She asked, the excitement rising in her tone. "We're going to need to go shopping!" Nessa squealed happily once more, "Okay, yes, sit down, have some breakfast with us. Once we're done, we'll head to the mall. Oh god, I'm so excited." Nessa returned to her seat as her Father pulled back a chair for Arcadia to join them. Nessa's mood had skyrocketed, after all the work they had been doing lately. Nessa felt like she rarely ever had any free time to enjoy herself. She was always running numbers for the guild, talking to clients or going out on jobs. She had hardly any time to hang with family, let alone her friends at the guild. Plus, there was so much Nessa needed to catch Arcadia up on, loads seemed to have happened since their job in Valhall. For one, Markus was back, out of the blue. Only Arcadia knew about what happened that night all those months ago and about the kiss they shared. But a hell of a lot had gone on since then, he'd come back and the first thing he said was that he'd missed. Not only that, he had been gone for years, instead of months. It was just so much, but boy was she glad her bestie was here because Nessa was in need of some real girl talk. Not just about Markus, about Aven too. Nessa needed to ask someone what to do. And Arcadia knew Aven, she just hoped she would understand why Nessa hadn't done anything yet.

Richard placed a plate in front of Arcadia, Nessa picked up her fork and scooped up some of her fried egg. She chewed for a moment, swallowing her bite she would continue. "So the theme is Jazz music? Or is it generic, we need to plan our outfits accordingly of course. Whatever we go for, they have to have wiggle room for dancing, because I have not boogied in months now." Sebastian scoffed, "Yeah, doing Fiore a favour," Nessa shot him a scowl. She knew he was only teasing, she was a skilled dancer, and she loved it. But her job didn't make much room for busting moves on the dancefloor.

WC: 663
Total: 1256

Nessa worked through the remainder of her plate as she listened to Arcadia explain to her the details about the festival. She could feel her excitement growing the more she learned. It had been so long since she had really let loose, the last time she'd gotten to have any fun was... probably with Mythal in Midi. But then, that had been maybe a little too much fun, the Midian's were crazy partyers. Even Nessa had struggled to keep up, and they'd only continued to travel from place to place. It had been quite the adventure but, she'd enjoyed it. There hadn't been any fighting or drama, and she had gotten to know Mythal pretty well. She liked him a lot, he was kind of like what she imagined a big brother might have been like. The time before that had... most likely been the time Arcadia slept over. Every others adventure she went on, even though some of them were fun, always seemed to be laced with chaos or fighting of some sort. It would be really nice to just let loose and not have to worry about that.

Arcadia's words about needing clothes only made Nessa feel more pumped up, that was another thing she hadn't had time to indulge in for the longest time. Fashion. One of her all time favourite hobbies was putting together gorgeous looks, and pairing them with various items to manifest something amazing. The idea of getting together with Arcadia to do something like that sounded so fun, it helped that Arcadia was a super cutie to. Nessa couldn't wait to help her find something amazing to try on, not to mention something pretty she could wear herself. Nessa laughed at Arcadia's comment on the cooking, she had never eaten at Fairy Hills so she wasn't familiar with it her. "Thanks, We all tend to chip in help, so it's a Lux exclusive breakfast you're enjoying. Normally Aunty Ann cooks but she's away right now, so we splitting the housework between us." Nessa explained. Antoinette was an amazing cook, she had travelled so far and learned so many exotic recipes. Nessa kind of missed her cooking, she would have to give her a call soon.

Arcadia went on to begin talking about the genre of music, answering Nessa's Jazz question. She nodded along enthuisiastically, "Sounds awesome, I can't wait to see what kind of performances there are!" She replied perkily, before finishing off the last bite of her toast. She picked up her glass of Orange Juice and gulped it down. "Oh boy, I am stuffed!" She said, smiling across the table at her family. Edward was still playing shy, semi-hiding behind the table, all the while reaching up to pick something off his plate, his hand disappearing under the table a moment later with some new piece of his breakfast. Sebastian straightened up as Arcadia dressed him, he unlike the rest of them was enjoying a tasty fish for breakfast. He swallowed his bite. "Thank you Arca, I've never been to a festival before. I wouldn't mind seeing what it's like." He said, the corner of Nessa's lip rose. He was so polite to Arcadia compared to everyone else, he didn't even tease her like he did Nessa. Maybe because she was so sweet? Nessa wasn't sure, or maybe he was just praying that she wasn't planning on dressing him up for the Festival too. "I'm happy to do both days if we can, but we'd have to make sure we don't burn ourselves out too much on the first day or we'll be too tired." Nessa said thinking over the best way to spread themselves so they could enjoy all of it without overdoing it. One thing was sure, she'd have to avoid any attempts of people offering her alcohol. She'd had too many silly moments recently, she needed to get a grip and learn to pace herself better. She also had to stop taking the bait whenever someone challenged her, her competitiveness was a really pain at times.

WC: 676
Total: 1932

Nessa listened as Arcadia mentioned the Rune Knights, she had never actually met or worked with a Rune Knight so she didn't know what they were like personally. But she could only imagine that they aspired to do good based on their stance in society. A policing force that took down bad guys? You couldn't really get more noble than that in Nessa's eyes. Plus if Arcadia knew a member of the Rune Knights and on top of which was friends with them too, then she couldn't imagine that they were bad people. Nessa trusted Arcadia's judgement. Sebastian nodded along, "Sounds interesting, I don't often meet others of my kind. Last time I saw one was... oh yeah, during that guild meeting with Basilisk Fang...she was dreamy." Sebastian swooned, Nessa sighed.

"Yeah but she belonged to a dark guild, plus you saw what they tried to do to us. It was lucky I was able to contain that situation. Else it could've ended in a guild war." Nessa said, she didn't think Arcadia had been a member of Fairy Tail at that point. "This was closer to when I first joined, there were negotiations of peace that...well didn't end very peacefully." She explained to the Dragon Slayer, in fact it nearly ended in one of the Basilisk Fang members poisoning them. Richard spoke up, "Still, perhaps it was for the best, would it have really been in Fairy Tail's best interest to ally with a guild as volatile as Basilisk Fang. There were classifiably dark." Nessa thought about it for a moment.

"No, I suppose it wouldn't be ideal, Fairy Tail is perfect the way it is." She replied to her father. She turned her gaze back to Arcadia as she talked about resting backstage, "Not going to lie, It'd be pretty awesome to hang out with a princess," She admitted, meeting royalty was just another thing Nessa hadn't quite gotten to experience yet. Nessa was going to protest when Arcadia offered to clean up but it really didn't seem like she had a choice. So instead of fighting it, the family simply went about it, getting everything tidied an organised before the carnage that was breakfast had erupted. When they were done everything looked back to normal. Ness watched as Arcadia went around hugging everyone aside from Edward smiling as she did so. Edward hid when he saw this, making it quite obvious that he was too shy for such an interaction with a girl he barely knew. Arcadia being Arcadia, seemed nice enough to notice and not pressure him into one. Following this, Nessa went over to Edward and give him a squeeze, before heading over to her father and placing a kiss of his cheek.

"I'll see you soon okay, we'll take lots of pictures to show you." She said, Richard held up his hand in a weight gesture. Disappearing for a moment, Nessa could hear him running upstairs quick, only to return moments later. He came back into the room, holding a Lacrima recorder, slightly newer than the one she had in her room. "I always considered that you might want to go to concerts like Cordelia did, so I bought this in advance, take it. So you can relive the fun you have in the future." Nessa looked at him before her face lit up in surprise. She stepped forward and gave him a big squeeze. "Thanks Dad." She said happily, before taking the Lacrima Recorder. She turned to Arcadia, moving over to the clothes rack, she grabbed her white satchel that had her purse and valuables in. She opened it up and carefully tucked the Lacrima Recorder inside of it. "Okay ready to go!" She said, Sebastian nodded in unison, he didn't really need to bring anything but himself anyway. Nessa waved goodbye before stepping through the portal that Arcadia made, reappearing in the streets of Fiore, Sebastian quickly followed suit. Nessa heard Arcadia's question and grinned, "Well there's 'Fiorian 21', 'The Beauty Barn' or 'Destination Dress.' There are a few more high-end ones we can check out too." She suggested, putting her retail knowledge to work, after all, shopping was her favourite pastime.


WC: 700
Total WC: 2632

After leaving her home to head out into the streets of Fiore, Nessa could help but bubble with excitement as the prospect of the days ahead. It had been far too long since she had gotten to strol around the streets of fiore and do some casual shopping with one of her closest friends. It almost seemed a little surreal, but then here she was walking alongside Arcadia and Sebastian looked through th windows of various shops in order to decide where to peruse first. This of course was a very important decision, going to a concert and having a great time was guaranteed regardless. But there was something exhilirating about getting all dolled up, and feeling good about the way you looked. Nessa rarely got to experiment and review the latest trends, it seemed she was always wearing her battle gear. Which albeit cute, and convenient, was always the same. It was exciting to look for something different, perhaps with a little more colour.

She turned looked look at Arcadia as she decided on what stores she wanted to try. Nessa smiled, she liked that way of thinking, squeezing in about as much stores as they could seemed like the best plan they could go with. Especially if they were going to aspire for something fabulous to wear. Nessa expression momentarily changed to concern as Arcadia began to tell the story about how she had recently been revoked of Fiorian Citezenship. "That's ridiculous!" She exclaimed in a tone that reflected her annoyance. Arcadia was well known in this area, being a Fairy Tail Ace came with it's merits, and popularity. So for someone to attempt to have her removed seemed ridiculous. Was she targeted because of her status? Nessa wondered. It was strange, as far as she was aware, Fairy Tails relationship with the higher up was okay now. It hadn't always been, not with that stuff that happened with Lucie all those years bad, resulting in Fairy Tail going dark for a little while. But surely the dust had settled since then, Fairy Tail hadn't had any run ins for a while. At least not that she was aware of.

As Arcadia explained that she had taken an exam and passed, Nessa's expression shifted once more. She beamed at her best friend, "Oh that's amazing, Congratulations Arca! I'm so happy for you, man, yeah we'll definately be celebrating that. Make this a big hurrah for your graduation!" She replied perkily, pleased to know that her friend's citizenship had at least been saved. "Congratulations Arcadia," Sebastian added, "You humans have such weird systems, no one ever questions my citizenship," He said in a bemused tone. Nessa grinned, "Probably because you're registered as a pet." Nessa explained, earning a loud  "WHAT!" From the little grey exceed, she grinned, but ignored his question. Instead, she would carry on listening to Arcadia as she continued about what was required next of her.

Nessa nodded at Arcadia's request, "Of course, I'll get one written out when we get back after the concert. I'll be sure to tell them in detail how awesome you are, I'm sure some of the others in the guild will be happy to write one too" Nessa said, making a mental note. She couldn't imagine it would be difficult, Nessa could easily talk for pages about how amazing Arcadia was. She hoped her word would matter, but then again, she was a Wizard Saint of Purity now, that had to count for something right? Nessa hadn't really enforced her status by any means, she was recognised a lot more these days, and was known for her attempt to aid the community. She had even recieved an interview for the Sorcerer's Magazine, which was a little embarrassing in her opinion. She hadn't joined Fairy Tail for this purpose, she just really wanted to help people.

Nessa followed Arcadia as she led the way to Fiorian 21 first, grinning as the girl began to babble excitedly about the clothes. "Yeah for stylish shoes you can't beat heels, but the only issue is how much they hurt your feet after a while. I can imagine we're going to be doing a lot of running around and dancing this weekend. It might be ideal to pack stylish back ups to swap into when our feet get tired. If need be, I can leave them in Valhalla and pull them through the portal when we need them!" Nessa suggested excitedly, "That is unless we find something that combines comfort and style, which would be a real treasure!" She said eagerly, as she walked through the shop's entrance. Her eyes scanned the racks, her mind going into overdrive as she carefully checked out each piece of clothing. Too short, Wrong colour, Poor fit, too lacy, too much fabric... She thought as she skimmed through the aisles. She heard Arcadia's question and glanced over, "Oooh that's cute, very summery." She answered. Before returning her gaza to the clothes, she moved around an aisle. Scooping up a basket, as she walked she soon began scooping articles of clothing into the basket. She was piling them up one by one, to build up a collection to try on in the changing rooms. It wasn't long before her basket was stuffed to the brim.


WC: 886
Total WC: 3518

Nessa laughed at Arcadia comment about graduating very late. She didn't actually know how old the girl really was. Nessa just assumed she was around fourteen from the way she looked.  "It's highly likely that becoming an Ace of Fairy Tail is what drew the attention to you. Fairy Tail has been around for a long time now, and we don't have the best history with the authorities. It's such a shame, I thought we'd be passed such pettiness at this point. Oh well, least it's settled now." She said to the younger girl. It really was strange, but even Nessa noticed the attention she was getting more of now as a mage. To think six months ago, no one outside of Fiore knew who she was. But even in Bellum, during that job with Markus, when she had informed Victoria who she was, even she seem to know who she was. Nessa nodded in agreement with Arcadia's comment on shoes, moving on to look through the racks.

"Oh I like this, what do you think?" She said, pointing to a mannequin wearing a full set. It was made up of a dress, with a pastel pink strip top half that made up the bust and sleeves, slightly over the shoulder. The bottom half of the dress, beginning just under the bust, almost corset-like in design, it was made up of little gold buckles, and then spread out into a frilly black skirt. The mannequin word black tights, black gloves and blue heels with black straps. "I'd probably swap out the blue shoes for some black boots though." It was pretty different from what she'd normally get to wear. "I'm gonna try it on." She said, reaching for the rack next to it, grabbing the assorted pieces. Before continuing around the store. As Arcadia spoke again, Nessa's head whipped around so sharply she nearly gave herself whiplash upon hearing the 'B' word coming from Arcadia's mouth. She had to stop herself from dropping the basket, as her jaw dropped. She didn't attempt to hide her surprise in the slightest. As her eyes widened and her face broke into an eager smile. Her voice could be heard from outside the shop as she suddenly squealed loudly.

"WHAT!?!" She rushed over to the younger girl, listening to her every word as she explained about her boyfriend. "Wait, Wait, Ruvel of the West Fiore Trading Company. AS IN THE CEO??" Nessa screeched, she had heard of him through her connections in the alliance. Her face split into a smile. "Oh my goodness Arcadia that's so cute, I'm happy for you! Oh boy, I can't wait to meet him. He better treat you nice!" She nattered on happily. She was genuinely excited for her younger friend's newfound romance. It was cute and if anyone deserved to be happy it was Arcadia. Nessa just hoped that this Rui was a nice guy; if he hurt her best friend. Nessa would certainly have something to say about it.. "So like how long have you known each other, and how did he ask you out? Or wait.. did you ask him? I gotta know the details!"

As Arcadia began to ask her about Aven, Nessa's smile faltered slightly. "Aven and I? We're just...friends." She said, although her eyes grew sad. There was something else, something she hadn't been able to share with anyone. The only person who knew how close Nessa and Aven were, was Arcadia. But things hadn't gotten complicated. The Starlight Maiden couldn't keep it in anymore. She needed to talk to someone, to get a second opinion. "Arca... I found out something and I don't know what to do. Aven wrote me a poem, and he kinda dropped it without realising... I think it means he loves me. I haven't told him about it yet, I have no idea what to say!" She said, her voice was sad. She really had left this so long, she really didn't know how to address it at this point. Would he be angry? Probably. She was scared, she would lose one of her best friends. As the girl mentioned Markus, her cheeks would flush pink. Sebastian snorted, Moving over to Arcadia, he climbed onto a dress rack. Moving up the clothes, before leaping out and landing on Arcadia's shoulder. "He's real alright. I actually met him this time around, he's not bad. Very edgy though, got a major 'bad boy' vibe going on. No wonder she's smitten." Nessa blushed furiously, shaking her head vigorously.

"I'm NOT smitten...I'm just... glad he's back is all." She said defensively. Her mind flickered to the kiss they shared in Bellum, even if it had just been to deceive Victoria, it had been nice. It had been playing on her mind often, she had even dreamed about it a few times. "Besides, Markus and I agreed that we would be just friends. It's better this way, seeing as he can't love anyone anyway. Plus I have so much responsibility these days, I don't have time to be dating..." She would ramble on, Sebastian nudged Arcadia's cheek.

"What you reckon Arca, are you buying this? She went on a job with him recently, and she won't tell us what happened. But whenever you bring it up, she smiles like all goofy like an idiot, there it is right now! Don't tell me that's not suspicious!" He said pointing to Nessa's face, she was indeed grinning, she raised her hand to cover her face. Damnit... She couldn't help it, whenever she thought about the moment they shared, she ended up grinning like an idiot. It was embarrassing at this point. Turning away, "It's nothing, we just did a really good job is all!" She argued. She hurried towards the changing room, "Anyways let's not dilly dally, we have clothes to try on." She said, grabbing a number and heading into one of the stalls to try on what she had gathered. Her face still a furious shade of pink.



WC: 1004
Nessa's WC: 4523
Thread Total WC: 8862

Upon hearing Arcadia's compliment on the outfit she chose, Nessa nodded happily, deciding that she would definitely get the set for herself. Maybe find another occasion where she could show it off. The outfit as Arcadia put it was totes legit after all. Nessa listened keenly Arcadia confirmed that Rui was, in fact, Ruvel, the CEO of the West Fiore Trading Company. Despite Arcadia's presumption, Nessa had never met that CEO, she had met Cirven, and all of the Vice Presidents at this point. But never Ruvel, he just didn't seem to be around whenever Nessa was. Kind of like passing ships. Still the older girl couldn't help but enjoy the site of the blush that formed on her friend's face, it was just so adorable. She was pleased to see her friends like this, although she hoped that this Ruvel treated her friend right. Because if he didn't, boy would he have hell to pay, CEO or not. As the ice dragon slayer continued, Nessa hung onto every word, it was such a cute story. One that made the Starlight Maiden happy. "Oh Arcadia, that's so lovely. I'm sure if it's meant to be it'll work out, I doubt you could screw up anything," She replied, hoping to reassure her friend.

As they moved onto the topic of Aven, Nessa cringed at the thought that the bar staff at Fairy Tail were gossiping about them. She nodded, cautious is what she was being at the moment, but her concern was being too cautious and never addressing the matter at all. As Sebastian brought up Markus to Arcadia, her reaction was to be expected.  "I care about Aven, I really do. I've never been such good friends with a guy before... but love him, I just don't know. He's handsome and charming, and any girl would be lucky to have him. But..."

But I just can't get Markus out of my head.

The thought flickered across her mind, causing the girl to flush once more. She sighed dejectedly,"I guess I need to figure out where my heads really out, then I can sit Aven down and at least tell him I found the poem. Whatever happens after that, I too hope no one ends up hurt." And she sincerely did, but a part of her doubted that would be the case. As they moved into the dressing rooms, Nessa was able to distract herself from the act of dressing up. An enjoyable feat, as always, back and forth the girls went. Parading their different outfits. Nessa squealed whenever Arcadia wore something especially cute, enjoying her friend and advising her here and there with certain features of each outfit. As Nessa got back into her own clothes, she had decided she would wear the black and cream set on the mannequin for the concert. It was cute, without being too risque. She did, however, pick up a few pieces for her own personal preference too. Soon, she lugged all the shopping to the til, paying her for collection.

Then with a satisfied grin, she turned to Arcadia. "So, what shall we do next? More shopping? Beauty Salon?" She asked, reeling off some choices to see what her friend was in the mood for. "Ugh Salon, miss me with that, I'd be down for some fish" Sebastian remarked, earning an eye roll from Nessa, they had just had breakfast not long ago. Boy, this cat could eat!

---

No life can escape being blown about, By the winds of change and chance,
And though you never know all the steps, You must learn to join the dance
Nessa Cordelia Lux

---

Nessa smiled at her younger friends words of advice about Aven, for a girl so young, Arcadia really had a lot of wisdom on her shoulders. It was one of the reasons Nessa got on with her so easily, they very much just clicked. "Thanks Arca, you're such a great friend!" She replied it was reassuring to know that however it all panned at Arcadia would be there to talk to at the end of it all. Nessa didn't have a lot of friends she could go to about such matters these days, it was a long time coming but for Nessa, it was nice to finally trust herself to be friends with people again, to trust others to be genuine with her.

As they finished their shopping, Nessa approved strongly of her friend's outfit choices, satisfied that they had done well, Nessa was pleased when Arcadia agreed to attend the salon with her. Nessa was very much in a mood for pampering after that, Sebastian grumbled at first but at Arcadia's comment he quickly perked up. "You're one of the good ones, you know that." He purred happily, clearly pleased that Arcadia was ensuring he got his fish. Nessa wondered if hearing that he was getting fish meant he had skimmed over the part about sparkly ribbons, or if in actually, he really didn't mind playing dress-up anymore.

Striding down the roads once more, Nessa would casually peruse the windows of that she passed by. Occasionally 'ooo-ing' and 'aah-ing' over certain things that stuck out to her. She loved doing this, it was kind of therapeutic, seeing what the world had to offer. There was no pressure for her to get anything either, so she could just enjoy. Compared to the laborious work that was being an ace and all the stresses she'd endured lately, this was a welcome change of pace. Finally, she stepped up the salon, practically skipping inside. The receptionist beamed at this politely, "Hello Ladies, how can I help you?" She asked in a friendly tone.

"Hello there, okay so, I'd like the deluxe pamper package displayed in the window please?": She asked, having spotted that on her way in, it seemed perfect for all her preparation needs; wash, cut and blowdry for hair, then a facial, manicure and pedicure. "Certainly Miss, please take a seat and we'll call you over shortly, would you like something to drink whilst you wait, tea or coffee?" Nessa short Arcadia an excited grin, this was one of the nicer salons on the street, but it was definitely worth it to up the glam of the experience. She looked back at the receptions,  "I'll have a tea please, milk, two sugars."

She took a seat in the plush pink sofa of the waiting area, although it didn't take long for one of the girls to saunter over with a tea and gather her for her haircut. She climbed into the chair, her tea placed on a side table as the chair was reclined. A mobile sink brought over and positioned under the back of Nessa's head so the hairdresser could wash and treat her hair. As soon as the hot water his her scalp, and the stylist began massaging shampoo into her scalp. Nessa's eyes closed shut in bliss,  "Oh man, I really needed this!" She said in a relaxed voice, there was just something about getting a head massage whilst someone washed your hair that seemed to melt away her stress. She was quickly reminded why she loved going to the salon so much when she was younger.

---

Handed in as the following Group Freeforms:
B Rank Freeform : 7000/7000
C Rank Freeform : 3000/3000
D Rank Freeform ' 1000/1000
369 Words Excess