A dress shop on the mainland [Wednesday afternoon]

[pasunereveuse]

This was the second time in a week that Celia had donned her blue jeans (and critically examined her hips in a mirror for no less than fifteen minutes, once she had done so) and headed off the island. This trip, however, held far less promise of education, and far more expectation of glitter. Yes, Celia could make her own dress (and Eleanor's, for

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[nobloodymessiah]

"Considering this school, I'd say both," Eleanor laughed. "It's so odd, seeing you in modern garb. Not that it isn't very flattering."

She imagined it would be just as strange for Celia, if Eleanor were to put on a proper Victorian gown.

"It's especially strange to call it 'homecoming' when this seems like an island full of transients," she added. "We pass through here, but it isn't home for most of us."

[pasunereveuse]

"It's the closest I've got," Celia said softly, vaguely looking at one chartreuse-colored minidress with distaste. She glanced over, adding, "This is about the most modern I'm willing to go, by the way. This -- " She flapped the dress a little, "is beyond the pale, for anyone."

It was like a dress for pixies! She wouldn't be able to sit down in the damn thing.

[nobloodymessiah]

"It leaves very little to the imagination," Eleanor agreed, reaching out to touch the material. "Why not simply wrap bands of material around the requisite areas and call that a dress."

Was it too much to ask for a little elegance? Really.

She pulled a black sequined number out and held it up critically in the air.

"There's nothing wrong with this one," she mused, "but it's not striking my fancy, either."

[pasunereveuse]

"I'm not sure I see you as a black sequin person," Celia admitted, frowning thoughtfully, though she eyed the length. "Joker might like it, though."

Joker would probably like it if she turned up in a burlap sack, but point stood.

[nobloodymessiah]

"Should I go for colors, instead?" Eleanor asked. "Or are the sequins the problem? I quite like beading, if it's sufficiently geometric."

She had absorbed some of Rapture's fascination with Art Deco, it would seem. It just seemed so logical and yet elegant.

"And what sort of dress would Ichabod like?" she asked, adding, "How is he, may I ask?"

[pasunereveuse]

"No, no, I like you in abstracts, those sequins just seem a bit haphazard," Celia assured her, shuffling hangers around and shooting a, "We're quite fine, thank you!" to a salesgirl on the approach.

"Ichabod," she added to Eleanor, glancing over with a slightly shy smile, "is wonderful as always, and he seems to have little to no preference as far as what I wear. Or don't wear."

It had been a few weeks since she and Eleanor had caught up, yes.

"But what about something like this?" she offered, as though she'd said nothing of note at all. "You're so tall, we ought to put it to use."

[nobloodymessiah]

"And what have you been not wearing around him?" Eleanor asked, unable to keep from grinning at that. "It sounds like you've news for me."

Speaking of news -- "Joker left some videos on my phone."

Nothing. Totally not important. They should ignore that and move onto ...

"I didn't realize being tall meant I ought to wear long dresses," she smiled. "Does that mean you wouldn't want this? The colors seem like you."

[pasunereveuse]

"I just don't wear...slinky as well as you do," Celia admitted, though the color was eye-catching, and she draped it over her arm. "You've got so much length to you, it makes it easy."

And that remark, about videos, got a raise of Celia's eyebrow. "...videos like we watched with Gwen that one day?" she asked.

That was much more interesting than what Celia had not been wearing, on any given occasion. Or all week in Skyrim.

[nobloodymessiah]

"I never knew you envied my height," Eleanor said. "All this time, I've been regretting how unfeminine and awkward I am. You and Elsa are tiny and delicate. I'm the proverbial bull in a china shop, knocking over displays with my hindquarters."

"You completely side-stepped your news," she said, raising an eyebrow. And then, because that was seriously a question that ought to be answered, "... yes. Rather like those, indeed."

[pasunereveuse]

"That," Celia said, lifting her brows, "is because your news is much more interesting. Why would he do such a thing?"

And because she couldn't hold out forever, she added -- addressing a dress she was considering, even as her cheeks grew pink -- "And my news is that Ichabod and I shared a room in Skyrim. And a bed."

And it had led to...things.

[nobloodymessiah]

"A bed?" Eleanor asked, with an excited laugh. "How is that not interesting? Did he insist on taking the floor? Or did you press close for body heat? I hope you know that my salacious interests will be disappointed unless I hear that body heat won out."

She held up another gown, thoughtfully. "I like it," she said, "but I'm not sure about purple. You?"

And for the rest, she added, "He ... bet me that he could find videos of that sort that wouldn't seem ridiculous, but that would appeal to me."

[pasunereveuse]

"I adore the sleeves," Celia said, tapping her chin. "You should absolutely try it on, at least."

And then she was back to staring at rows of chiffon and silk on hangers as she shyly added, "He tried to take the floor, I told him he was being ridiculous. But the first night, we went to bed with me as a boy, if you'll recall. So in the morning...well. Everything was much...freer, than how I normally keep it."

Not that she would have slept in a corset, anyway, but she might have taken some sort of precaution towards the freedom of her breasts had she had them to consider at all, the night before.

But that was not nearly as interesting as -- "And did Joker succeed?" She hadn't objected entirely to all the videos they'd seen in that common room, but then Ichabod did not boast a collection like Joker's for her to compete with, either.

...that she knew of.