Dress [2430-2-1 Thur 2:00 pm]

[Persephone Ruspoli]

Persephone was so glad to see Skye had given the dress a chance that she barely noticed she was still wearing her pants. Oh well, one step at a time. And with a dress cut like this, it didn't matter all that much.

"I love the colour on you!" She felt like fussing over Skye. The dress was far too big on her, but the cut was flattering and the colour was more than fine. Persephone waved one of the salesgirls over, "Can we get this about... two sizes smaller? And anything in a similar cut or colour would be good."

As the saleswoman left, Persephone got Skye to do a little twirl to show it off. "What do you think? Do you like the colour? I think it really puts colour back into your cheeks."

[Skye Thompson]

The dress seemed to please Persephone, so Skye smiled too. But she couldn’t help examining her toes as much as possible. Somehow, she felt embarrassed in the dress. Giddy, euphoric even, but embarrassed all the same. She heard Persephone speaking to another woman, and then to her. She spun around in a circle per her friend’s instructions, and inexplicably found herself giggling in delight. The skirt of the dress lifted a bit as she spun, melting for a split second into an orange and gold blur around her.

But when asked for her opinion, Skye looked at the floor again, her cheeks reddening. “I dunno…” She said, glancing up at Persephone and then quickly back at her shoes. “It makes me feel… beautiful. Like… like a princess.” Looking up again, she gave Persephone a tentative, shy smile. No one in the Below would ever have worn this dress. Skye knew that much. It looked like a rich person’s dress, which could get you jumped, but there was another problem. The way it was cut, the material it was made from, there was no way it would have kept you warm. But perhaps those things made Skye like the dress all the more. It was a dress for the Top. It was part of that place, and maybe if she wore it, she too would finally belong here.

[Persephone Ruspoli]

Persephone laughed a little with Skye as she giggled. It had been so long since her shopping experiences had included this, instead of cutting criticism and complaints about how the shop was wrong and they really were a size 4, no matter what the tag on their clothes said. It was really a refreshing change of pace, even if it was clear that it would be hard to get Skye to admit it she didn't like something.

But she seemed to genuinely like this dress, and that's what mattered. "You look like a princess. We'll just have to get you a little crown." Persephone was joking, but somewhere in the back of her mind, she thought that it wouldn't be too hard to get a small tiara made for the girl. After all, she really was living a fairy tale.

The saleswoman returned, along with a few other dresses. Persephone picked out the colours she thought would look best on Skye, and gave her three dresses, including the one she was wearing, "Okay, try on the smaller size and we'll make sure it fits right, and then you can start on the others."

[Skye Thompson]

The thought of herself in a crown made Skye smile. Mostly because the idea seemed completely ludicrous, but also because, somewhere in the back of her mind she remembered a day when she was six years old and had spun for Adrian in the center of their room, wearing a tiny tiara he’d made for her out of broken glass and rusty wire. Adrian had laughed and smiled, telling her she was the most beautiful princess he’d ever seen and hiding his bandaged hands behind his back to keep her from wondering where the little cuts that decorated them had come from.

She took the three other dresses from Persephone and headed back into the changing room, already wondering how many more times she was going to have to do this today. But then, it was what people did in the Top. The place where you tried clothes out before you bought them, because it actually mattered whether you liked them or not. The place where, she’d been amazed to discover from watching the network shows, there were hundreds of replicas of the same garment available for purchase and made to specific sizes. The dress she was putting on now, for instance, was the same one she’d just taken off, but smaller.

She slipped it over her head and let the fabric settle around her, looking at herself in the mirror. It was not something she’d done very often in the Below, and though the novelty of staring at her reflection had worn off after about a week in the Top, it still gave her a bit of a thrill. The dress fit more perfectly than anything she’d ever worn. It was a strange sensation, the way it hugged her body gently but at the same time was not at all tight. Skye slid back the latch on the door and stepped out again. “I think… this one fits better…” It felt so strange to care. Her eyes fell on the dresses Persephone was still holding. “Are those for you? Are you going to try them on?”

[Persephone Ruspoli]

The dress was a much better fit on Skye, and it managed to give her a bit of a shape. The cut was flattering as well, and the colour was good. Even if they didn't find much else, at least she could send Skye home with one nice dress. "It fits a lot better. The last dress made your shoulders look way too wide." Persephone nodded with some satisfaction, "We'll get this one for sure."

She glanced at the dresses, "Yeah, I'll be trying those one. I just want to make sure we find your right size before I pop in. And I think we have." Persephone sets her dresses inside the dressing room beside Skye, "Try on another dress, and I'll try on one too! Then you can tell me how I look, and I'll return the favour!"

[Skye Thompson]

Skye blushed under Persephone’s praise, but she couldn’t help smiling just a bit. Did it feel awkward to be here, trying on expensive clothing, with a woman who thought she looked pretty in a nice dress? Absolutely. But it also felt really good. She nodded to Persephone and slipped back into the dressing room. It had been about five years since a sober person had complimented her, not counting the past month, and never, ever in her entire existence, had she been complimented by another woman.

Most of the girls had been in gangs, even at an early age, and somehow, Skye had never wanted to be a part of one. She had never wanted to fight, she had always been a coward. And in the Below, cowards had no friends. They were useless after all. In less of course, they were either extremely intelligent or extremely unintelligent. But Skye was neither. So she had remained lonely and alive. Skye slipped another dress over her head, dark blue this time with cap sleeves and a long skirt. She stared at herself in the mirror for a moment before opening the door again and stepping out to wait for Persephone.

[Persephone Ruspoli]

As Skye stepped back in, Persephone stepped into her own dressing room. She quickly sorted through the dresses, and decided on a lighter shoulderless frock. It wasn't exactly warm enough for this yet, but it was never too early to be thinking ahead. There was a dozen parties this would be just fine for, and it was a lovely light yellow. Persephone carefully hung her other dress off the hook and slipped into the yellow dress.

It looked good on her, but it was always a good idea to get a second opinion. She let herself out of the dressing room, where Skye was already waiting. Persephone smiled at Skye's choice, which was just as pretty as the first. "I love it! It makes you look so elegant! This would be the perfect dress for a dinner party or something." The colour was a bit dark for Skye, but only because Skye was so pale. Living up in the Top would change that soon enough, and in another month or two, nobody would notice the colour had ever been anything less than perfect.

[Skye Thompson]

“Oh Persephone! It’s beautiful!” Skye gushed, her eyes wide as she admired her friend’s dress. “It’s so…” But she wasn’t sure what to say next. She was quite sure that she liked the dress, and that it looked beautiful on Persephone, but she didn’t know just what it was that made her feel that way. “I love the color. It’s like… like the sun. Like the color of sunlight. It reminds me of this video on the Network. There’s grass and trees and lots of sunlight. I think it must be on Anthiea somewhere.

“And there’s people. There’s a girl, wearing a dress like that one. She’s dancing, and everyone’s smiling and laughing, they’re happy. And there’s so much light, it’s much to bright but that just makes it more beautiful. And everyone’s happy.” Skye smiled. “It made me happy.”

[Persephone Ruspoli]

Persephone was a bit taken by Skye's attempts at flattering her own dress. She was so used to the usual "if would look better if"s and "maybe in another colour"s, that she honestly wasn't expecting Skye's anecdote. It was charming though, and sweet, and Persephone smiled because if Skye thought that, then she probably did look excellent in the dress.

"That's a beautiful way of saying it looks nice sweetie." Persephone smiled, glancing in one of the many mirrors again. She really did like this dress. And despite the weather, she just might wear it out of the store. It wouldn't be the first time. "Alright, show me that last dress! Maybe we'll get lucky and we'll have three for three!"

[Skye Thompson]

She must have said the right thing, because Persephone was smiling. Skye relaxed a bit. “Thank you.” She said, “And thank you for saying my dress looks nice to.” She gave her friend yet another blushing smile. “I’ve never looked elegant before. But I’ve always wanted to.” Shopping sure was a lot more confusing than it seemed on the Network shows, but then, those women had lived in the Top all their lives. Skye wondered briefly if anyone else from the Below had ever set foot in this shop, and suddenly, she felt very lonely.

But the feeling was brief as she looked back at Persephone, as she remembered everything she and Titus had done for her over the past month. Though life in the Top was more complicated than in the Below, she was no longer alone. And that made a world of difference. Pulling her grin back onto her face, Skye nodded to Persephone and slipped back into the dressing room.

[Persephone Ruspoli]

Persephone slipped back into her own dressing room, quickly trying on a few other dresses. The other two were nice, but not right. One brought all the wrong attention to Persephone's hips, and the other colour just didn't work out against her skin tone. She was a seasoned pro at shopping, and it didn't take her any time at all to disqualify the other dresses.

She decided it wasn't worth showing them to Skye. Skye would probably say they were nice, and then Persephone would have to explain why she was wrong, and really, today wasn't about making Skye feel bad. Today was about them being normal girls who shopped for dresses and talked about pointless things. Persephone slide the yellow dress back on, giving herself another once-over and exiting the change room with her clothes.

A saleswoman was already waiting around and Persephone flagged her over, "I'll wear this out. Pack these up for me." She handed the woman her clothes, and when the saleswoman held up the scanner, Persephone flashed her charge-card over it. That would take care of the dress, and then whatever Skye decided to leave with could be added quite easily.

The woman hurried off, and Persephone waited for Skye to show her the other dress.

[Skye Thompson]

Persephone was already waiting outside when Skye stepped out of the dressing room. She was wearing the same yellow dress as before, and Skye wondered why she hadn’t tried anything else on. Skye’s last dress had much the same cut as the first one, sleeveless, with thick straps and a scoop neck. But the skirt was shorter, coming only about to her knees, and the fabric was much heavier. The dress was green, and there was a big yellow faux flower attached to the left strap.

And with this dress, came Skye’s first experience of preference among clothing. The other dresses had been nice, but this one felt as if it had been made for her. It fit perfectly, hugging her body in all the right places, it was her favorite color, and she had already fallen in love with the flower. “I really like this one.” She told Persephone earnestly, “It’s like… someone took all of my favorite things and made them into a dress.”

[Persephone Ruspoli]

Persephone pressed a hand to her lips, just to keep from laughing at Skye's obvious joy. It wasn't a dress Persephone would have picked for herself, especially not with that flower. But there was no denying, the dress was very Skye. Not only did the style compliment Skye, but the fit really accentuated Skye's body, much better than the others had.

"I think they must have because it looks completely fantastic on you." Persephone made the spin-motion to Skye again, and nodded as she got a good look at it. This dress was just the perfect thing. "How do you feel about wearing it out of the store? I know it's slightly chilly today, but we won't be out for too long."

[Skye Thompson]

“Thanks. I- I, yeah I’d like that. I mean I’d like to… I don’t really care if it’s cold.” It was quite an accomplishment for her. Skye had always hated the cold, and although when she’d first arrived in the Top it had felt like a warm spring day compared with the temperature in the Below, the feeling had quickly passed. Winter felt cold again, but Skye didn’t care. She grinned at Persephone, her cheeks flushing a deep pink.

Skye was aware that she had spent the majority of this excursion either ecstatic or embarrassed, but now she was feeling both emotions at the same time. The dress made her feel beautiful, but along with that feeling came a strange sort of ache, a feeling of awkwardness and unfamiliarity. She wasn’t sure what to do with this newfound emotion. What did beautiful people do? Skye made a mental note to watch Persephone more carefully from now on.

[Persephone Ruspoli]

Persephone waved over the saleswoman again, handing her the two dresses and pointing to the one Skye was wearing. "I'll be taking these three too. Wrap them up with her clothes, she'll wear it out." She handed over the dresses, and let the saleswoman gather up Skye's things from the changeroom.

"Let's see... dresses done, that's one thing accomplished. I feel like a nice cup of something warm for the journey home would be good." Persephone was thinking about coffee for herself, but it occurred to her that Skye would probably enjoy hot chocolate. Then it occured to her that maybe she'd never had hot chocolate before. If that was true, then it could be easily remedied. "What do you think about some hot chocolate?"