Ficlet: Collections
For poisonivory, who asked for a ficlet about Mercedes.
Mercedes Griffin was a collector. It was a natural side effect of being able to buy basically everything she wanted from the time she was big enough to point at it and stomp her foot.
When she was really little -- like, four -- it was unicorns. Mercedes loved unicorns. She had stuffed animals, lampshades, wallpaper, pillows and sheet sets, statuettes, paintings and posters, clothing, everything she could find with a unicorn on it. She'd even cried and cried until her father had gotten the whole Globalnet-Sanyoid genetic engineering working to actually grow a horn on a pony.
It hadn't just been the stuff she collected, though. She loved unicorn stories. Myths, legend, folklore. Even before she could read, she had entire shelves full of unicorn books. She organized them by color, and flagged all the pages that had pictures she liked with construction paper. She had her nanny read them each so many times she knew which story was in each book and could find any she wanted within a matter of moments.
When she was eleven, very sophisticated for her age, she was all about fashion. Her mom helped her hone her fashion instinct, and it didn't take long for Mercedes' wardrobe to get complicated and huge, and they had to convert three of the guest bedrooms in their mansion to additional closet space for her. It was a lot to keep track of, but nothing Mercedes couldn't handle. She not only had her whole wardrobe organized -- it went season, clothing type, color, texture; proper organization made everything so easy -- she also kept tabs on her favorite designers. She knew when their new lines were due out and noted in her day planner, usually a month ahead of time so she'd have plenty of time to convince her parents to let her fly to wherever the lines were showing. She was organized, she was detailed, and she was by far the best dressed sixth grader in her school.
At thirteen, Mercedes collected sycophants. That was as easy as math: wealth plus fashion, multiplied by an aggressive attitude. She'd learned that from her father. He talked about business a lot, and she listened, even though she had no interest in running a mega-corporation. But when he talked about walking into a room and dominating it, well, that wasn't all that different than dominating her table in the cafeteria. The girls did what she said because they were scared of her, and the boys… boys did what she said, too, for entirely different reasons.
Finally, by fifteen, she collected music. It started out by accident, when there was a girl at school who for whatever reason didn't just bow to Mercedes' whims. Mercedes couldn't stand that, so she'd tried to get into the girl's head, learn everything she could. What she'd learned was that her nemesis was one of those girls. The kind who intentionally dressed badly and dyed their hair weird colors and who listened to obscure music as a way to show what free spirits they were or whatever. That sort of thing didn't impress Mercedes, so she'd started doing her research. The next time Indie Girl dropped a stupid reference to some band she thought was cool, Mercedes had shut her down by citing all of that band's influences and inspirations and all the reasons they weren't as good as everyone thought.
The thing she hadn't counted on was that she ended up actually caring about music. Not just what she looked up to show up her nemesis, but everything that led her to, too. She'd listen to almost anything to see if she liked it, and when she found something she enjoyed, she inevitably bought the artist's whole discography, read up on the musician's life story, and find out absolutely everything she could. Mercedes was a mediocre student because she didn't care -- it wasn't like school was going to pave her way in life -- but when it came to the bands she loved, Mercedes wanted to know everything.
Which was probably why, at sixteen and a half, she started what eventually became the collection she was most proud of. Her father put her on staff at Globalnet-Sanyoid's music division, letting her pick and choose which bands they signed and which bands they passed on. From then on, Mercedes collected number one hits.
Mercedes Griffin was a collector. It was a natural side effect of being able to buy basically everything she wanted from the time she was big enough to point at it and stomp her foot.
When she was really little -- like, four -- it was unicorns. Mercedes loved unicorns. She had stuffed animals, lampshades, wallpaper, pillows and sheet sets, statuettes, paintings and posters, clothing, everything she could find with a unicorn on it. She'd even cried and cried until her father had gotten the whole Globalnet-Sanyoid genetic engineering working to actually grow a horn on a pony.
It hadn't just been the stuff she collected, though. She loved unicorn stories. Myths, legend, folklore. Even before she could read, she had entire shelves full of unicorn books. She organized them by color, and flagged all the pages that had pictures she liked with construction paper. She had her nanny read them each so many times she knew which story was in each book and could find any she wanted within a matter of moments.
When she was eleven, very sophisticated for her age, she was all about fashion. Her mom helped her hone her fashion instinct, and it didn't take long for Mercedes' wardrobe to get complicated and huge, and they had to convert three of the guest bedrooms in their mansion to additional closet space for her. It was a lot to keep track of, but nothing Mercedes couldn't handle. She not only had her whole wardrobe organized -- it went season, clothing type, color, texture; proper organization made everything so easy -- she also kept tabs on her favorite designers. She knew when their new lines were due out and noted in her day planner, usually a month ahead of time so she'd have plenty of time to convince her parents to let her fly to wherever the lines were showing. She was organized, she was detailed, and she was by far the best dressed sixth grader in her school.
At thirteen, Mercedes collected sycophants. That was as easy as math: wealth plus fashion, multiplied by an aggressive attitude. She'd learned that from her father. He talked about business a lot, and she listened, even though she had no interest in running a mega-corporation. But when he talked about walking into a room and dominating it, well, that wasn't all that different than dominating her table in the cafeteria. The girls did what she said because they were scared of her, and the boys… boys did what she said, too, for entirely different reasons.
Finally, by fifteen, she collected music. It started out by accident, when there was a girl at school who for whatever reason didn't just bow to Mercedes' whims. Mercedes couldn't stand that, so she'd tried to get into the girl's head, learn everything she could. What she'd learned was that her nemesis was one of those girls. The kind who intentionally dressed badly and dyed their hair weird colors and who listened to obscure music as a way to show what free spirits they were or whatever. That sort of thing didn't impress Mercedes, so she'd started doing her research. The next time Indie Girl dropped a stupid reference to some band she thought was cool, Mercedes had shut her down by citing all of that band's influences and inspirations and all the reasons they weren't as good as everyone thought.
The thing she hadn't counted on was that she ended up actually caring about music. Not just what she looked up to show up her nemesis, but everything that led her to, too. She'd listen to almost anything to see if she liked it, and when she found something she enjoyed, she inevitably bought the artist's whole discography, read up on the musician's life story, and find out absolutely everything she could. Mercedes was a mediocre student because she didn't care -- it wasn't like school was going to pave her way in life -- but when it came to the bands she loved, Mercedes wanted to know everything.
Which was probably why, at sixteen and a half, she started what eventually became the collection she was most proud of. Her father put her on staff at Globalnet-Sanyoid's music division, letting her pick and choose which bands they signed and which bands they passed on. From then on, Mercedes collected number one hits.