we built this city on broken glass

How curious it was that a woman like this, spirited, firey and perhaps even talented had so seemed to resign herself to some life of domestic drudgery in a bakery. Perhaps she enjoyed the work like so many claimed too and yet Frost had long since considered such ideals a delusion the vast majority of beings had convinced themselves off in order to simply continue to exist without calling into question why they did to begin with. Still, there was an exception to every rule. This woman perhaps one of those very exceptions. That she took pride in her creations was clear even if the stallion was uninclined to understand why one might harness themselves to a store day in and day out to sell them. He meet her own gaze levelly, that singular moment affording her a taste off his own silent authority, the pair perhaps near on equal terms in this moment. She was no Alpha and yet this was her territory. Were's, in any form, often so decidedly defensive of that and yet he hardly found himself inclined to dislike her for it. She was merely behaving as nature intended, after all and yet- why not press her a little? Why not see how much spine she truly had? How intriguing she might be. How rare it was anyone proved to be worth his time. Perhaps this one might be. Her calm, authoritative words were met with his own equally cool and yet civil response. The woman seeming almost surprised and yet she was quick to recover, her hand gesturing to a sign by the counter that seemed to support her very words. Frost allowing his own gaze to linger on for several moments. A simper of sorts near suddenly finding his lips, that faint chuckle rising within his throat before his attention returned to the pie before him. Frost taking another mouthful, that sweetness readily appealing upon his tongue.

"English is not my first language, perhaps I cannot read the sign. Does it lose all meaning if the one it is intended for cannot read it? That seems a weak law."

Whether or not he truly expected an answer or indeed such a consideration was rhetorical remained to be seen. That point made all the same. How enforceable was a law to those whom did not know it existed? Frost hardly caring to admit to whether or not his ability to read it existed. The woman too, equally content to take matters into her own hands and remove that pie and fork from his very grasp. That, Frost was inclined to admit, was a far more potent form of justice. Perhaps this woman was intriguing after all. Such defiant authority rare among the women he knew and yet it was an appealing trait. Courage of conviction a lacking skill in this world. His own strange violet eyes continued to linger upon her as she ran that pie through her register before boldly declaring he owed her a sum he had no intention of paying. The rest of those customers hurrying from the store in the same moment to leave the pair entirely alone. Frost readily having become used to just that reaction. The Inner Sanctum cafe very much beneath his control now- perhaps he could add this bakery to his collection in turn.

Those accente, easy words found his lips once more. Frost offering her that payment she desired- upon his own terms. The woman seeming to consider that possibility for several long moments afterward, the war horse hardly requiring any glance into her mind to understand that veritable debate that surely raged. To give in to his demands was to yield to him and yet to refuse only resulted in a pie she could hardly sell and an unbalanced book at the end of the day. Was her pride truly worth such irritating consequences? Apparently it was not. Frost allowing that vague touch of a smile to find his lips again and yet that look was entirely fleeting. His utter lack of emotion near as infamous as that stark white hair that adorned his head. Frost a man of decidedly few words and fewer emotions. At least upon the surface. He shifted slightly upon that counter he lent against, one hand held out to catch that pie as it was slid back towards him, that fork following suit a moment later. The stallion effortlessly returned to the consumption of that treat, that fork neatly plucking a slice of apple from the mix to slip between his lips before Frost so allowed that praise of sorts to be offered. After all, the girl had proven sharper than most in picking apart his illusion, lower grade though they had been this time. The stallion curious as to just how. His attention shifting to those very cookies she declared had been distorted. How curious. His own words sudden then and yet no less coolly delivered in that same easy manner as always.

"You think differently to most. Most seeks flaws in obvious places. You found them in the background, so to speak. You are oddly observant."

There was a note of something akin to curiosity within that very statement, those words holding both appreciation and a wonder of sorts and yet the stallion hardly offered any more. His attention so seemingly returned to the pie again. Frost hardly inclined to find the woman's words arrogant, no, she was merely assured off her own work. That- was hardly a sin. At least not to him. The woman's own question prompting that pause within his actions. Frost frowning slightly in some measure of contemplation before another piece of pie crust found its way to his lips, that tasty treat swallowed before he continued. The stallion decidedly unhurried in any sense. His gaze meeting her own this time.

"They were lower grade then what I am truly capable off but in a space I am not familiar with attempting to create to many details is often what leads to flaws on my part, especially when attempting to elude someone whom know that space so well as you do. The better i know a place, a person, an object the more efficiently I can create it. Illusions are one of my stronger affinities. Tell me, would you care to see a stronger one?"

He paused in the very consumption of that pie, one eye lifting just so at that query before the emergence of the baker drew the young woman's attention away as she attempted to reassure her staff member that all was entirely well. A misunderstanding. Ah, but he had heard such words so many times before. Frost so choosing to take advantage of the momentary absence off her gaze to craft that new illusion. The woman querying whether or not he liked that pie as she turned back toward him and yet- Frost had so simply ceased to exist. The woman, in that moment, so face to face.....with herself. The icelandic man replaced with an all but flawless illusion of the woman before him. Each and every hair upon her head exactly as it should be, those flour stains on her shirt in the very same position even her eyes so neatly replicated to replace his own violet gaze and all but transform him into Tahlia herself. Frost smiling towards her with her own smile in that moment.

"It's very nice- actually."

That voice is no longer his own, but rather her's, replicated so effortlessly and yet even Alexander, in all his age, had admitted that Frost's illusions were...beyond anything he had truly seen. The stallion decidedly talented at crafting them and yet, with that affinity to so peer into another's mind in the same moment it was all the easier to have those illusions shift and change to meet the very expectations of the person viewing them. 'Frost' lifting his now green eyes to face the other woman, his head resting within his hand, the other lifting to brush a few strands of that brunette hair from his gaze in a mimic off her earlier gesture.Frost distinctly aware of just how unsettling it could be to be faced with ones own mirror image.

"What did you say your name was?

FrosT