fandomtownies | Demon Marcus, Saturday

You know what you want, and you want it now.

So. Eleanor had clothes, but every last thing she owned was very wintry in nature. Long trousers, light sweaters, her coat ... all of it was designed to have her survive the winter without developing frostbite. And none of it was suitable to Bali.

And so Eleanor had decided that a shopping trip was absolutely necessary, and that she was utterly willing to part with some of her saved up cash in order to fund it.

Bali. It wasn't Ireland or India, but it was going to be an adventure, nonetheless.

"I've never purchased a swimming suit before," Eleanor announced. She had convinced Celia and Elsa that they needed new clothing, too -- or at least, that they needed to accompany her and help her discover clothing suitable to the tropics. Preferably both. "I'm not even sure what they ought to look like."

"At home they have pantalettes and a tunic, that sort of thing," Celia offered, feeling very conscious of her layers of lace amongst this much modern clothing. "I'm fairly sure that's not what most people will be wearing in Bali."

She would be quite pleased if that were the case, but it didn't seem likely.

"If what I've seen so far on the television is any indication," Elsa said, taking up the rear and looking with a mixture of curiosity and horror at some of the clothing on the racks around them, "the modern idea of 'proper swim attire' involves not actually wearing much of anything at all."

"I don't think I could parade about in a strip of cloth," Eleanor admitted., fingering one of the samples on the rack. It appeared to be a few triangles connected with dental floss.

Seriously? People wore this? In public?

"How would you swim in it?" Celia asked, staring in horror at the atrocity Eleanor had found. "I hardly think you'd stay...that the cloth would remain where it ought to, should you actually put any effort into your strokes."

"I... I don't know that a person would even be able to make it so far as the water," Elsa added, gaping at it. "I think this shop is selling underwear that covers more than that. And that's still more revealing than any of mine."

Because you wore more layers of underwear than most, dear.

"Okay, none of these," Eleanor said, tossing the red ... object back onto its rack. "There have to be more modest swimsuits somewhere. Surely people who aren't rank exhibitionists go to the beach."

Eleanor had never seen The Jersey Shore, no.

She pulled out a dark purple one-piece a few racks away. "This at least features enough material to count as clothing," she said.

"This one has a skirt!" Celia volunteered, holding up a dark green one-piece with a big of...fringe. She supposed that counted as a skirt. "Oh, but wait, it's got quite a...plunging neckline. Never mind."

Celia was probably in for a bit of disappointment, if she thought she was going to find much in the way of covering up entirely.

Elsa, meanwhile, was gaping at a little blue number that came in two pieces.

"At least it has a neckline," she offered, lifting the 'bathing suit' from the shelf and holding it up in front of herself. "People actually dress like this? How warm does it get in Bali?"

"The average high in February is 86 degrees," Eleanor said, "while the low at night is 72. That's Fahrenheit; I don't remember the equivalent in Celsius."

Yes, she'd looked it up. That was what had convinced her to go shopping.

"Too many layers would be a burden in the water," she added. "There's no excuse for something like that, but old-fashioned heavy dresses with separate bloomers were more likely to bog you down. I wonder how many people drowned in those."

"Probably more than a few," Celia said, making a face. "The problem develops when trying to find a happy medium between a habit and bits of yarn that cover your private areas." She browsed through the racks, perking up a bit. "Most of these at least cover one's abdomen. Some even have tiny little pants!"

She wasn't sure to think of the fact that tiny little shorts were considered a victory, here.

"I can't actually imagine me spending much time in the water," Elsa noted, putting one swimsuit back just to go rummaging through the contents of the racks yet again. "I've never been swimming before. I don't think drowning is going to actually become a concern for me now."

"Better safe than sorry," Eleanor said, browsing through a rack that seemed to have longer two-pieces. The top piece was almost a shirt, in several of these. "Surely it's better to have a suit that won't drown than to get one that's unwieldy and hope not to go into the water."

She stopped on a turquoise and blue (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/Rellyjean/eleanor/hobiefringetankini.png) fringed two-piece. The top was a simple halter, and the bottom were shorts -- though they were much shorter than she had thought when she first picked them up.

"This ... is probably too much, isn't it?" she asked, regretfully. The suit was so fun.

"I love it," Celia sighed, eyeing the fabric thoughtfully. "It feels tropical. And those colors would go marvelously with your coloring, Eleanor. Try it on."

And meanwhile Celia would keep hoping she could stumble across some sort of lightweight swim-dress for herself. But she was tempted by how lightweight and airy and fun Eleanor's selection seemed.

Elsa looked between Celia and Eleanor and that swimsuit and managed, somehow, to go just a little more pale than before.

"I... suppose I could get something to swim in, while we're here," she hedged, while contemplating making a swift exit all the same. "What harm can there really be?"

She could get it out of solidarity with her fellow time-tossed ladies, and never wear it.

Edited 2014-02-22 22:49 (UTC)

Celia was encouraging, and Elsa was horrified; she had possibly struck the right balance, then. Just enough, but not too much.

"I'm trying it," she decided, setting her chin. If she couldn't bring herself to leave the dressing room, then she'd go for something with a few more layers. But the warm tropical sun was begging for something fun, so she had to at least give it a whirl.

She found another rack (http://www.reyswimwear.com/), and looked over it closely. "You know," she said, "a number of these really are quite ladylike. The little skirts help."

"They're almost like little dresses, some of them," Celia ventured, timidly plucking up a frilly little black (http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/pasunereveuse/66082012/702/702_original.png) suit. "I want to blend in, but I'm not sure how much of my skin I'm willing to bare. How objectionable do you think this would be?"

"Try it and see," Eleanor suggested. "I wouldn't think it would be. You can see how it appears on. It does cover a tremendous deal more than those other suits we were seeing."

So did most handkerchiefs, so perhaps that wasn't the best argument to be taking.

"I like the ruffles," she added, with a smile.

"Well, it's... not in several tiny pieces," Elsa offered, gaping at it for a moment before coming, at least, to that conclusion. "I think so long as we're looking here, that might be as much skin as you can cover."

Very tentatively, she reached for a swimsuit (http://www.reyswimwear.com/products/caroline-in-mint) as well.

"This... is meant to be worn into the water, right?"

"It is," Celia said, tilting her head. "That's darling, Elsa. And honestly, I'm rather excited to go in the water. I've not been swimming in ages, and -- really, if nothing else, the water will add a little modesty if we're regretting our suits, right?"

"I've never been swimming without my diving suit," Eleanor admitted. "Maybe that's why I'm so happy about something being lightweight."

Diving suits were designed to keep one on the ocean bottom. She knew how to kick, and propel herself forward; she had never tried it on the water's surface.

I'll send you a postcard from the beach, she had vowed, when splicers had raised their weapons and crowded in close. Now it might be happening. She could hardly wait.

"Dresses," she declared. "We'll need dresses. We'll be there a whole week."

Oh, dresses! Elsa knew her way around those! She nodded, while reaching for a sarong (http://www.overstock.com/Worldstock-Fair-Trade/Butterfly-Blue-Floral-Sarong-Indonesia/7650458/product.html?refccid=DGPN5Q63CGBISHSNFJLYNJIKDY&searchidx=116) that she was certain she could hide behind while wearing the swimsuit, and then nodded toward the dresses.

"Clothes to wear that aren't made for winter weather," she agreed. "Something with a lighter fabric, perhaps?"

She wasn't even thinking about dresses without sleeves and with more extreme cuts than she was used to, yet.

"Lighter in color, too," Celia said, eagerly plucking up a white and teal dress (http://www.modcloth.com/shop/dresses/have-the-dance-floor-dress-in-teal) that looked to be only a bit shorter than what she'd normally wear. "I, for one, will still have my parasol, though. And several enormous hats."

Eleanor was browsing through the sundresses, now. Avoiding any that were long, white shifts. She'd had enough of those to last a lifetime.

"Parasols sound so delicate," Eleanor laughed. "I don't think I could manage 'delicate.' I'm far too tall. I'd look like an oaf lumbering about with a tiny umbrella."

"Perhaps a hat for you as well, then? Something to offer some protection from the sun?"

Elsa was a pale that most pale people stopped to worry about. She was going to take all of the protection from the sun that she could get her hands on. A parasol didn't sound like a terrible idea, actually.

Eleanor shook her head quickly. She was herself a milky sort of pale, though not as translucent as Elsa.

"I won't burn," she said, not meeting anyone's eyes. If she did burn, it would hardly last long enough to matter. "I might buy sunglasses, just to see how fetching they are."

Much safer topic. She produced a long black and white patterned dress (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/Rellyjean/eleanor/_8619504.jpg) and squinted at it.

"I love it," she decided. "It looks like feathers. Or flowers, very close up."

"Like daisies," Celia agreed, leaning forward to examine the dress. "That's beautiful, Eleanor. We'll have to come up with a reason to go out in eveningwear, I think."

She hesitantly picked up a glossy black and red (http://www.modcloth.com/shop/dresses/perfect-perennial-dress) dress, biting her lip before she shook her head and put it back. "A touch too daring."

"More daring than your swimwear?" Elsa smiled faintly as she poked through the dresses on the racks, looking for something in blue, perhaps. "The summer dresses all seem so... short, don't they?"

As opposed to the equally short winter ones. Were women in this day and age just morally opposed to clothing?

"It's the fitted form," Celia explained, "that makes me unsure, more than the length. I don't mind wearing a short dress -- or, well, I do, but I'll set that aside. It's the -- I don't know that everyone needs to see every particular curve that I possess."

She selected a short, green dress made of remarkably shiny fabric. "I'd really prefer to not have the fabric...cling, quite so much."

"No?" Elsa glanced, briefly, down at her own very snugly fitting dress, actually looking a little relieved that there was something that she was less conservative about, so far as clothing went. "Well, for what it's worth, I think you'd wear that dress very well, if the length isn't what bothers you. It wouldn't be quite as easy to hide your curves in, granted, but..."

She looked at the green dress that Celia was holding and blinked.

"... I had no idea they made fabric so... glossy."

Yes, that was a bit of a topic swap.

"You should have seen the grand balls in Rapture," Eleanor said with a light smile. "Women in long, satin dresses that brushed the floor as they danced. Though satin is glossy in a decidedly less ... tacky way."

That dress left little to the imagination. Eleanor was beginning to feel that imagination was an underrated asset, in today's clothing.

"Do we all have enough to try on?" she asked. "For a first go, that is. We can come back for more."

"Enough to get our toes wet and send us running if needs be?" Celia offered, smiling as she wound her way towards the fitting rooms. She was already realizing, slowly, that she'd probably have to invest in new undergarments as well -- a corset and bloomers would look awfully foolish with some of her selections. She'd figure that out in a moment, though.

Celia chose a fitting room, figuring the lock out fairly quickly. "Don't anyone go running without the others, now."

You want Sparks, 'cause he's Mr. Vain.

I have Culture Beat stuck in my head make it stop.

Demon Marcus, Saturday

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Talk to Sparkle!

OOC!