tampered | Log: Complete

Log: Complete

When; Saturday, September 2
Rating; G
Characters;

glock30 Faye Valentine
Summary; Clothes shopping? You heard right.
Log;

Scarab sighed for what felt like the thousanth time in the last hour.

She looked like a pile of laundry.
Thankfully she had left her sweatpants at Frederick's during the blizzard, so she at least had something to wear besides a man's dress shirt.

She had no shoes, though, so she was hoping to get a pair first thing.

Her hair was at least being managable, and staying up in the assortement of needles she wore to keep the exceedingly long black hair from irritating her.
Thank god for small miracles.

....Actually, it wasn't her clothing, or her hair, or any of those things that bothered her so much just now.

It was her hand.

By nature Scarab was not a vain person, so the loss of her fingers should seem like a small price to pay when it could have been so much worse...but she kept looking at her right hand with disgust, even going so far as to unroll the sleeves on Frederick's shirt to cover them both somewhat.

"Your being silly...", she told her reflection in the bathroom mirror, but it didn't make her feel very different.

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She supposed she shouldn't have been complaining, but Faye felt kind of naked. She'd always had her sweater, and now that it was ruined from blood and over-enthusiastically ripping it apart to make bandages, and now that she didn't have it... well she did. She felt naked.

The feeling hurried her along to Frederick's apartment a little faster than usual, wondering if people would look at her funny or try to touch her inappropriately. It was just a scrap of fabric, but it had been kind of a big deal to her.

The prospect of going shopping--actually shopping, for real clothes--carried her even faster. It had been at least four months since Faye had bought something for herself other than bullets and guns, and the thought of having shoes and dresses and shirts and make-up at her fingertips gave her energy like she couldn't remember.

And she was going with another girl at that! Faye hadn't been in the company of another woman (one that she trusted and didn't eye suspiciously at least) in so long it was pathetic. Sure, she'd always had Edward, but that girl couldn't tell a mall from a bathroom. She thought about kissing Scarab the minute she saw her for asking Faye to go with her.

She got up to Frederick's door exceptionally fast and pounded heavily on the door, calling through it, "Someone let me in! Underwear and shoes are calling us, Scarab!"

A short moment later, the door flew open and Frederick stood there, giving Faye a whithering look.

"No bows, nothing pink, and if you bring anything back in my size I will burn it."

He turned on his heel, bottle and package of cigarettes in hand. "Your partner in sheer evil is about, darling," he all but deadpanned to the bathroom door, and then sulked his way into the bedroom muttering about team ups being unfair, and shut the door behind him.

Scarab couldn't help a bit of teasing, and Frederick's reaction just made the little evil voice inside her positively scream at her to needle him just a little more.

She laughed, and made no effort to stiffle it on her way out to greet Faye.

" He is just pouting." She said amiably.

Shoeless and a little rumpled would have to do until she and Faye could get somewhere to change. Scarab just hoped the city's shop owners accepted Yen.

" So, where are we going first?"

"He's such a pouter," Faye agreed, exhaling a deep breath of smoke. Faye gave her a once-over and called through the closed bedroom door, "We'll make sure to get you plenty of pink ones, Frederick! You can wear them all the time, just like we know you want to."

Faye led Scarab back out through the apartment, saying, "There's a nice place down the street from here, about two blocks away. We'll go wherever we see, really. That's the point of shopping! You never really have a destination. You just go until all your money burns out and you're satisfied."

Well, at least that was Faye's philosophy, which was probably the reason she had never paid off any of her debts. That and the casinos. She opened the door for Scarab and followed her out in the hallway, fishing around in her pockets for her money card and her cigarettes. "Want one?" she asked, feeling suddenly generous.

Scarab had never been the type to actually "shop". She always bought things with function over fashion in mind.
Most likely bcause she didn't like a lot of the clothing considered 'fashionable' in her time. The irony was the Circle of the Noh that set much of the trend.

Scarab had her own comic book series, and an animated show on Noh TV. The Agents of the Noh had infiltrated the subconscious of popular culture. People saw her face, and those of her fellow agents on billboards and commercials. They wore Noh iconagraphy as fashion sense.

She had been part of a fraternal order so secret, it was public.
A act of an act that was actually real.

Very Andy Kaufman.

This large presence made it easy for the agents to slip in and out of the public eye as pop culture icons. Doors otherwise closed to most operatives were opened for a famous name, allowing Scarab an easy completion of her mission time and time agian.

All of this rather soured her perceptions on clothes, shoes, makeup and other 'feminine' vices, and encouraged a preference to wear whatever she was given by her employers without much complaint because it saved her from braving the public eye more than was necessary.

She accepted the cigarette with a grateful smile, and silently thanked Faye for having the tact to light it for her. She was still becoming used to the fact her favored hand no longer functioned as she expected it.

Faye basically blathered on and on the whole way down the street, pausing every once and a while only to take a pull of her cigarette or light a new one, bumming the fresh off of the spent. Part of it was because she was so excited--like a little girl--and part of it was because she really didn't know how to act around Scarab.

She knew she was probably being annoying, though, and she was thankful when the duo came upon one of the shops that Faye had seen while wandering around the city the night before.

The shops at the city were nothing like the shops on Earth or even on Mars or some of the other planets she had been shopping on. After poking into one her first week here, she had found that she could randomly pull just what she needed out of a rack when the piece of clothing hadn't seemed to be there before. It made the giddy girl in Faye squeal with delight and pull so much nicotine into her lungs that she actually started coughing.

Glancing over at Scarab, Faye tried to size her up, from the tip of her dark hair to the soles of her bare feet. They needed to get her some new boots, first thing. It was a bit difficult to picture clothes on Scarab dressed in Abberline's clothing, especially since the outfit wasn't flattering. But Faye had seen her naked, after all, so she had a pretty good idea of what might look good on the other woman.

Then again, Faye's tastes always tended to run on the, well... revealing side. She didn't want Scarab to think she was going to parade her around like a whore. But Faye would cross that bridge when she came to it. She pulled a door open for Scarab and said, "After you."

Racks and racks of clothes greeted them, and Faye pounced on one with a happy little shriek. "Go on," Faye began. "Dig in! We'll save Frederick's panties for later."

Scarab was amused at Faye's reactions.
Having spent her whole life in the company of men or tomboyish girls, she didn't have much experience with this sort of entheusiasm for something ( she felt to be ) mundane.

Dutifully, she made her way up an aisle to what appeared to be a shoe section and half-heartedly poked through the boxes looking for a sturdy pair of boots.
She would need something with enough support to it to hold her bowie knife until she could make some contacts and get a new sheath.

True to form, the city provided it's prisoners with whatever they might want materialism -wise. After the second box, Scarab blinked and pulled out a near-replica of her old boots.

This is too wierd...

She sat and tried them on, then grinned when they fit without any trouble.
That had been easy enough.

Scarab went to show Faye her find, but regretted it the minute she saw the other woman's arms loaded down with clothes.

A little confused at Faye's choices, she didn't want to seem rude or ungrateful. So, after a bit of walking up and down racks and letting Faye hold things up to her chest or legs later, she had a fairly substantial wardrobe.

Most of it would do for every day wear, and some even for 'work', but some of it was just too wierd.

Like the little black dress Faye insisted "Every woman must have". Where in the world would she wear a dress?
Or the yellow latex tank top with a kitten on the front. What was that about?

Faye could barely see around the pile of clothes she had piled in her arms. She tipped a few pairs of pants and some colorful shirts onto the chair next to where Scarab was standing and peaked down at the boots that covered Scarab's previously-bare feet. She nodded her approval, and wiggled her toes in her own broken-in white boots as if they agreed too.

Scarab seemed doubtful about the black dress, however, and Faye was trying to hide how put out she felt about it. Who didn't want a little, black dress? It was the fashion piece every woman should be thankful for, should worship!

"Trust me, Scarab," she was saying, ignoring all the other clothes again--even the yellow top with the kitten. Faye just loved that, though--in favor of the dress. "This thing? Will work wonders. You have such a good bone structure, too! And the perfect body for this! You're shaming your figure keeping it wrapped up in the good inspector's wrinkled shirts."

Faye gave her a little smirk, throwing the dress in the 'We Will Buy This' pile. Scarab would own this amazing piece of fabric if Faye had to pay for it herself. Her smirk didn't disappear, though, and only grew when she said, "I'm sure that certain inspector would like the dress. Don't you think?" Faye continued smirking, this time over her shoulder as Scarab started digging through the Sensible Clothing pile.

Contrary to what Spike and Jet had always implied (or said), Faye wasn't stupid, and she wasn't oblivious. She could spot attraction a mile away. It was one of her many developed talents that she was rather proud of. It was right up there with being able to pick locks and tie a cherry stem in a knot with her tongue. Scarab was no exception. The way she floated around Abberline's apartment was testimony enough to how relaxed she was in his presence, which triggered plenty of other ideas in Faye's analyzing-prone brain.

She pulled out another cigarette and lit it, tapping the ashes in a flowerpot. God, it was good to be a woman.

Scarab Had picked up the dress to examine it, and couldn't help wrinklig her nose.

Maybe if she was under cover....but not by choice, surely?

Absently she held the dress by it's hanger and started picking through the T-shirts Faye had set aside.

Faye's innuendo-laden question caught her unawares and she dropped the hanger as though it were on fire.

" Thats silly!" she protested, bending to retrieve the hanger from the floor.
" He's far too victorian to go for something like this, and anyway....."
She trailed off and blinked.

" Sorry...the surreality of the moment just caught up with me."

She shook her head to clear it some and regarded the black dress.

" Where would I ever wear it, though? You could get away with it, but not me. I mean, really. Can you see me trying to do reconassance in this?"

She was talking a little too fast, and pretending to look very absorbed in picking out a plain white cotton T-shirt with a black trim on the sleeves.

When Faye heard the hanger hit the floor, she snorted very audibly. She glanced back at Scarab, who looked like she was having a seriously difficult time with that silly little scrap of fabric. "Victorian has nothing to do with it," Faye said, wrinkling her nose much in the same way that Scarab had at the dress. "Men are men. And even though Frederick seems to be a particularly nice one, all blood flows to the same region. But... if he complains about it... oh well. Feminism hit Earth at some point in time, didn't it?"

Faye had no idea. She couldn't remember a history class if she thought about it real hard. Shopping was easier. Men were easier. Even though Abberline had proved to be a bit different then the rest of the men she'd dealt with in the past. "Surreality?" she asked, honestly confused and taking another drag. "What's so surreal about him being attracted to you? If that's what you think is so surreal."

Getting to her feet, Faye started laughing, "You don't wear this on a mission. Well, maybe undercover." And that thought put her back into memories that both hurt and made her laugh harder. Mix that with the fact that Scarab's voice was a little breathless and a little fast and Faye felt like she had just spotted Cupid's proverbial arrow sticking out of Scarab's ass.

"T-shirts are all fine and dandy," she continued, offering Scarab another cigarette, "but you should be able to feel attractive outside of them, too." To Faye, this was beginning to feel a little bit melodramatic, so she chose to point out something. "What? You don't like the kitty shirt?"

Scarab scowled at Faye, but couldn't help the smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth.

" No, I don't mean that him being attracted to me is surreal...it's the fact that I was born almost two hundred years after he 'died', and I'm standing in a clothing store in a city that exists outside time and space discussing whether or not he would like this dress or not"

The battle to keep the laughter inside became a lost cause as Scarab heard herself saying these things out loud.
She couldn't help giggling about the whole insane idea.

" I think I just trained myself not to think of myself as 'attractive' unless on a mission." she shrugged. She wasn't upset about the idea, just stating fact to explain the situation.
When she assumed a false identity it was like a method actor submerging thier own personality into a characters.
She still felt like shy little Keico who went to the party, but always kept to herself and wrote poetry and observations about who and what was going on around her.

Maybe she was being the silly one?

Choosing to ignore the entire question about the kitty shirt, she held the dress up to herself and considered it.

" Well...it is kind of pretty. I still don't know where I would wear it, though?"

"Oh," Faye said, thinking that did sound a little bit more surreal than what she had suggested. But then again they were all from different time periods, different places. As stupid as she had initially thought it, it all kind of made a weird sort of sense now and was becoming familiar. "We all have crosses to bear," she only continued, sarcastically but rather offhandedly, still puffing away like a dragon on her cigarette.

But then Scarab was laughing, giggling, and the whole situation felt natural and hilarious--as if they had been friends since the beginning of time and had just been apart on very long business trips.

"Oh, well, that won't do," Faye said, sobering up a little and pulling a deep red halter out of the pile. "The Scarab with us today is looking for sensible clothes to run and jump and shoot shit in, and she's looking for something completely on the other end of the spectrum. People with great bodies," and here she stretched as if to emphasize the fact that she had a great body, thank you very much, "deserve to be able to show it off. You're no exception."

Faye noticed that she ignored her kitty-shirt-question, and she snorted as she tossed the offending article of clothing into the 'This Will Not be Bought' pile. "Hell," she began, getting to her feet, "wear it to walk around your apartment in. Of course you have to wear it out some time, but we can figure that out later. The point is that you have. Or will have it." She snorted, the mental picture in her head too precious to pass up. "Besides, maybe if you show Frederick your dress, he'll show you the underwear we get him. And then you can take a picture of it."

It was completely horrible of her to think such a thing, but she cracked a huge, evil smile regardless.

Scarab grinned at Faye's antics, and added the dress to the "we will buy this" pile.

Abandoning the sensible clothes pile, she started looking through the things Faye had picked out, now morbidly curious to see what else Faye thought of as 'essential'.

Mostly harmless stuff, it seemed. Some of which Scarab even threw into the purchase pile herself. ( a red tank top with a heart-shaped keyhole over the chest, a pair of black vinyl pants with zippers up both legs, and some velour shorts similar in style to the yellow ones Faye wore )

But the thing that made her stop, stare, and then hold up almost accusingly was the floor-length black silk nightie.

It was lovelly. Like something old film noir actresses would wear, but completly impractical!

"...And what, precisely possessed you to pick out nightclothes for me?", she asked, arching a brow and looking at Faye as though the other woman were some sort of mischievious imp.

Faye dug through some of the clothes along with Scarab, looking, subconsciously, for a sweater like the one that she had ruined. Scarab's comment, however, made her stop and laugh. "Oh, I don't know," she said, recognizing that the nightgown might be uncomfortable but that it--like the little black dress--was something she found supremely necessary and amusing. "I mean... staying in Frederick's apartment and all..."

She really needed to let that die. But it was too easy, and it was lighting the mood and making Scarab give Faye a pointed look that made her laugh even more. "I'm just kidding," she added as an after-thought, holding her hands up as if she were caught red-handed. "Besides, nothing needs to be practical when it comes to sleeping. You're sleeping in a man's shirt, that's not practical."

Faye thought about adding that she only slept in her underwear and a t-shirt, but that probably wouldn't have been a practical comment, and this seemed to be a conversation about practicality. She grinned at it anyway, and at the way Scarab was eying the nightie as if it might grow a head or two.

" His shirts are comfortable. Kind of surprisingly so.."

She cut that thought off before finishing, and gathered up the clothes she was going to buy ( sans the nightgown) and started looking for a shop owner.

There was a counter, a cash register, and a chair, but no shop owner.

She looked up and down the store, trying to remember if she had seen anyone else when she came in?
Thinking about it, she didn't think she had seen anyone aside from herself and Faye.

Shrugging, she left her own "to buy" pile on the counter and turner to her partner in crime.

" I think we should do some gift shopping. He has been awfully nice to us. So something with bows, and still says 'thank you'?" She said with a mischievious grin.

Faye shrugged as Scarab trotted over to the counter with all of her new clothes, and she followed the other woman over with a smirk. There seemed to be no one around, however, and Faye strummed her fingernails on the counter top before Scarab spoke again.

Returning Scarab's evil little grin, Faye said, "Oh, yes. There's a little display of very frilly and lacey things just back here in the corner." She started walking that way and heard Scarab following her.

Arranged before them was an assortment of different lingerie, all very puffy and girly and the general majority of them pink and embarrassing. She held up a pair of prissy lavender underwear with matching stockings, bows where the garter would connect the two offending pieces of clothing. "What do you think? Look like his color?"

Her face hurt from trying to keep the laughter in.

"Mmm. I think so, but no garters. Those things are the devil."

She had always hated wearing the stupid things during missions.

Satisfied with the selection, Scarab looked past the frills, and fluff to find a few plain pairs of painties, and a thong or two to go with those vinyl pants.

Handing Faye everything the two of them were going to buy, she started looking back through the racks of clothes, only this time poking through the men's section.

Luckily, wearing one of Frederick's shirts had given her a perfect excuse to not have to ask after his size, and instead be able to surprise him with something.
It felt supremly wierd to be shopping for a man, and one with his tastes, but she knew the underwear, while funny, wouldn't go over well.

Best to have a placation gift in order.

Returning to the counter with three selections, she gave Faye a look as if to say "Not one word." and pulled out what money she had.

((OOC: so'k ^^, sorry for delay on my end, I passed out.
Shall we wrap this up, then?))

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