castlenim | I saw rise in the heat settle soft and as pure as snow

I saw rise in the heat settle soft and as pure as snow

[This, honestly, took a lot of work. More work than some of the battleplans, but admittedly the machinations of the Victorian nobles are predictable. The only thing Talulah knows about the northern territories is what she's gleaned from her father's journals.

Edward Artorius apparently had a decent enough relationship with the ruler when he'd been alive, and since the wendigo race of Sarkaz live for a very, very long time, perhaps any goodwill towards her parent might be extended to her.

She has also gleaned the northerners are not unreasonable; they've crossed paths during various skirmishes at the border, and they ignore all rebel forces once their own task is complete. Talulah has made it very clear no one from her side is to engage with any other party that isn't either obviously Victorian, or strikes first, and it seems the courtesy is returned.

That said, isolationist policy is hard to overcome, and what she's asking isn't a mere favor. To be embroiled in civil war in another country is an idea most people would scoff at, but...the north has undoubtedly seen the writing on the wall for what will transpire after the dust settles. Victoria's appetite is ever unsatiable.

The Gaulish castle she walks through is a testament to that. It's nothing but ruins now, good for little else besides neutral territory. She's brought two members of the rebels with her, two with a calm rationality suited to negotiations. She'd be fine going in alone, but, well...if Talulah saw another group's leader sitting all alone during a meeting that was meant to be a peaceful talk, she'd think there was an ambush waiting.

Still, no matter how rational one is, curiosity tends to win out, and she can hear her escort party gossiping even behind their masks. They're wondering if the northern princess is as beautiful and strong as the rumors say. If she's half as strong as that Cautus she'd seen once during a border skirmish, then her alliance would be more than a boon.

By her estimation, the meeting time is near, so she supposes she'll find out soon enough.]

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Well, maybe I will too. I haven't really done a lot of shopping like this before. But you don't know until you try, right?

[When she had a group of friends that went out and did ordinary things together, she'd been too young for their activities to be things like clothes shopping. And her time in Victoria didn't really allow for much freedom or fun outings.

Once she's finished with lunch, she wipes her hands off and sets her napkin aside before scooting out her chair.]

Let's go, then.

[ with no excuse of a tight crowd this time, Yelena isn't brave enough to reach out for Talulah again as they take care of the check and head out of the restaurant. she can faintly sense the temperature rising as they head away from the water and back into the city, the ocean breeze blocked by looming high-rises and dampened by wide concrete streets.

the upscale department store only has a lazy flow of customers coming and going by the time they arrive, which could be due to the hour, or both Talulah and Yelena's security teams machinations to secure the place before they arrived. the woman's clothing section is large, with a generous subsection devoted to beachwear. the large displays are mostly dedicated to trending styles with bold cutouts and revealing designs. Yelena frowns immediately, moving into the rows to look at their other offerings. ]

Do you like one-pieces or two-pieces better?

[The air does get warmer the further they move away from the ocean, but the air conditioning in the buildings is practically freezing. Talulah has her arts to mitigate the blast, but she has to wonder how those who look like they just came from swimming at the beach are faring.

Once they're in the right clothing section, her attention goes over to the swimsuits and accessories instead.]

If you mean for me, I don't have much of a preference. [She considers Yelena, thoughtfully. It's definitely not weird to picture her in either option. That's what they're here for.] If you mean for you...I think you can pull off a two-piece, if you want.

[ like she said before, Yelena doesn't have much of a preference when it comes to these things. it goes faster when she's with someone who can direct her, and she's trusted Talulah with far more important matters.

not that she's trying to dress specifically for Talulah's taste, even if that's the inevitable end point for this whole exercise. ]

Some of the one-pieces look like the use the same amount of fabric as these bikinis. [ there are a lot of bright colors and busy patterns placed front and center. Yelena picks out a plain black top and holds it over her chest, considering. her chest is well covered up by her sweatshirt, but she can still visualize the rather generous amount of side-boob she'd be showing off. ]

I don't usually wear a lot of bright colors, but this would be place to try it.

Extreme cutouts are trendy, I guess.

[Some of them are borderline ridiculous, but that means those styles can easily be ignored. So can the ones with extra-cutesy patterns. Not that Yelena wouldn't look good in bows and flowers, but that kind of thing never struck Talulah as her style.]

I can't talk. My swimsuit is black. But I think you'd look good in blue or red, and some of those shades aren't so bright. Or, hm...

[Talulah plucks a top from one of the racks and holds it up in front of her, looking at Yelena behind it thoughtfully.]

Jade green?

Oh, that's pretty.

[ Yelena's eyes widen with interest at Talulah's suggestion. it's a more intense color than she usually wears, but not obnoxiously bright like many of the neon shades on display. there's a soft sheen to the fabric, and while it's in a slightly more revealing triangular style, it covers enough that Yelena doesn't feel too daunted by it.

she finds a matching pair of bottoms and tosses them into the basket that had materialized at the hand of a very discreet shop girl not long after they'd arrived. Yelena's already tossed a few white and black swim suits in varying styles in, and looks at her phone now that she's secured a few options for her first objective. ]

Okay. Now I just need to find a few things I can wear during the day that don't look like this. [ she gestures to extremely casual get-up she's currently wearing, what some in the palace often to refer to as "her highness' convenience store run apparel". ]

[Talulah is probably more pleased than she should be that Yelena really likes her suggestion, but it's fine. She'll just hand over the swimsuit with a bright smile and move on to the next target.]

Yeah, I think we should have a "no hoodie" rule. But if you don't like anything that shows too much skin, you can get cover-ups like this.

[She tugs at the sleeve of her own outer layer, nearly sheer and made of linen.]

They match no matter what you're wearing underneath, as far as I know.

I'm fine to wear them some of the time. They're good for sun protection.

[ Yelena's face twitches as she tucks the basket into the bend of her elbow, shuffling away from the swimsuits and over to the coverups and sundresses. there are plenty of shawls and robes like the one Talulah's wearing, predictably choosing one that more like a shirt-dress, short but baggy around the torso.

the proper dresses she's less mercenary about, taking her time in picking through the styles they have available. ]

I mostly want something that's easy to move in ... I'll take too short over too long. [ a red dress with a strawberry print she hold over her body, considering, goes stops just past her thighs. ]

Do you really burn that easily?

[Yelena had practically porcelain pale skin, so Talulah never expected her to be out in the sun without any covering at all. She doesn't really buy the protection has to be as thick as the hoodie she's wearing, though.

But she won't argue. Yelena will naturally wear other things if she likes them, and that's what they're shopping for. Talulah absently touches the edges of some of the dresses' skirts, feeling the fabric. The one Yelena's chosen has a pretty cutesy pattern.]

Too bad those maxi dresses seem popular. You could always wear shorts.

If it's really sunny? I can get boiled in twenty minutes.

[ without sunscreen, at least, and part of her staff's mission for this trip is to ensure she doesn't forget it.

Yelena puts the dress back and pulls out another, plain dark blue in color with a square neckline that flares out more in the skirt. ]

I already brought some shorts with me. They're too functional, according to the image coordinators.

[Well, it's certainly sunny enough for that to happen if Yelena's not exaggerating. There's barely even a cloud in the sky today.

That said, it doesn't mean what Yelena uses to avoid the sun has to be a sweatshirt. For now, though, Talulah just wrinkles her nose and echoes the other's words.]

"Too functional"? I don't think I get what that means. But if you have to go with a dress...is there anything else besides the skirt length? Like sleeves or not?

[Most of the dresses styled for summer had thinner straps or, in some cases, none at all.]

I think it was their way of saying 'running shorts'.

[ she lifts the hem of her hoodie to reveal what she's wearing underneath, a plain gray pair that are more suited for exercise than looking stylish poolside. ]

You can just throw on a dress without worrying too much about if your top and bottom match. That's their main advantage right now. If you find something else that you think would work, I'll try it.

[ there are plenty of plain pale linen dresses that will do the job fine, she figures. white always works out for her. ]

Ah. That makes more sense.

[So trendy options are still on the table, but if Yelena doesn't feel that strongly about it, then Talulah won't immediately dart over to another part of the store.

She picks a dress off the rack and considers it. Well, if the only thing that matters is simplifying the coordinating process...

She gets an idea right then, and it's probably one she should dismiss, but. Friends do this sort of thing. She saw it online. It's fine.]

Well, I only brought one dress myself. Should we get two that match? If we pick a color, it would narrow things down.

Oh, you want to dress like we're twins on picture day?

[ she cracks a smile as she teases Talulah for suggesting something that cute. it's not like she hasn't done it before— there's been a couple of times where her friends decided to do a group outfit theme for an event. hearing the suggestion is surprising, though she can't really say why. they've rarely spent time together without the pressure of international politics hanging over them before. there's a lot she still doesn't know about Talulah, and she might as well take this opportunity to learn. ]

Sure. It's not like I have a better idea. What color were you thinking? [ Yelena rifles deeper through a few options on the nearest display, mostly in warmer shades. ] Orange seems like it's popular.

Hey, it's popular online, too.

[She doesn't sound put out at all by the teasing, and besides that, Yelena agreed, so she can't actually be against the idea.

She might protest being called cute for the suggestion, though.]

It depends on the shade. I don't think I look very good in pastels...what do you think about the gradient fabrics?

[There are a few dresses that go from orange to red to purple at the hems, just like a sunset.]

They're fine. I've never worn a lot of bright colors, but we're at the beach. You're supposed to dress like you're a tropical fowlbeast, yeah?

[ in Yelena's humble opinion, if Talulah doesn't want to be called cute, she shouldn't act like it.

the gradients Talulah pointed out seem like they're trendy, considering the variety of designs the store has out. she finds the tricolor ones a bit overwhelming, gravitating towards the type that graduate between two closely related shades. ]

Red and orange, or yellow and orange .... you'd look good in either.

Or like you're covered in flowers, yeah.

[The sheer amount of floral patterns is overwhelming, from sunflowers to something dizzingly fractal with what appears to be every summer bloom under the sun.

The dual gradient fabrics are much less busy, despite how bright they are.]

I think I prefer red and orange. Are you fine with yellow then? I think the shade on these looks nice in general.

[ floral patterns are around where Yelena draws the line— she gets draped in enough of the real thing for traditional celebrations back in Ursus. the warm palettes of the gradient fabrics here would all suit Talulah well, she thinks. the strong association to fire that's been cemented in mental view of the draco is probably doing a lot of legwork, but Talulah's pretty enough without her arts to pull of a range of different colors. ]

Yellow's fine ... [ another idea comes to her, arguably as cutesy as the one Talulah proposed just moments ago. ]

If we're getting matching set, why don't we pick them out for each other?

[Yeah, who is being cutesy now? But Talulah doesn't mention it and is instead already looking at the array of options. There is a whole rainbow of shades, including yellow, but she's mentally filtering the ones that look practically neon.]

Sure, that sounds fun. Your only condition is that it's easy to move in, right?

[Longer skirts do seem to be trendy, but if Talulah doesn't have to pay all that much attention to sleeves or necklines then there are quite a few options still.]

[ she's played this game with her friends before, though she's never the one to start it. that makes it a perfectly acceptable thing to suggest to Talulah, and also explains why she already finds herself thinking her choice over more seriously than any of the times she's done it before. ]

Yeah, I'm not that picky otherwise ... I guess I'd prefer something with straps, but if it's got structure in the top to keep it up, that's fine.

[ while she's not fond of the some of the more risque cut-outs she's seen on the bathing suits and dresses here, some of them have less outlandish ones on the sides, around the waist. it's a demonstrably bad idea to start considering if that style would fit Talulah, but she's too far in to back out now. ]

Mm, alright.

[Talulah is also puzzling over this more than she probably should, but that's fine. It is definitely a normal and fun friend activity, so if she's overthinking this decision for certain reasons, that's her own business.]

My requests are pretty similar to yours. Nothing too long and at least some kind of sleeve.

[She doesn't like having to be overly-conscious about leaning over or moving around. Some of these have some pretty severe necklines. And backless dresses, although she can't help but think Yelena would look good in one of those.]

With sleeves? That narrows down my options.

[ she's not joking. more than half of the styles are sleeveless, the designers clearly expecting anyone in Siesta's climate to prefer as little fabric as possible.

deciding to grab something before she can continue to overthink this, she picks one off the rack. it's an ombre of bright red to dark, burgundy hue, with a tier skirt that stops around the knees. the high-waisted bodice has a v-neck cut and flowy half-sleeves, and a back that dips just low enough to show off the wearer's shoulder blades. ]

Here, this should work.

Oh, that does look nice.

[Especially the color. Although, as pretty as the dress is, Talulah is probably happier that it's something Yelena chose for her more than anything else. She decides to hand over what she'd plucked off of the display before she overthinks her choice, or dwells too long on how inordinately pleased she is.]

Here, let's trade.

[The dress Talulah holds is white along the sleeveless bodice, dropping into sunflower yellow and blood orange at the hem of the asymmetrical skirt. It's shorter in the front, above the knee, to allow better movement, and ruffled just enough to resemble showy tropical fins. She turns the hanger around to show the raceback cutouts, before offering it to Yelena.]

[ seeing Talulah's reaction makes any lingering embarrassment over the exchange blink out of Yelena's view. she can't regret playing into some typically girly activity if it leaves Talulah looking unburdened for the first time in months. ]

Thanks. [ she drops the dress in her basket, hiking it up into the crook of her elbow as she glances around the store, trying to locate her next target. ]

That covers all my bases. Did you see the changing rooms when we came in? Let's head over.

[ because of course Talulah is going to come along to see her try on swimsuits, right? that's half of the reason you bring a friend along in the first place. ]

[Well, what else is vacation for besides doing ordinary fun things? And trying on swimsuits, since it is a beach vacation specifically. Talulah will come along, because that is what friends do, and she wants to see how her own pick turned out. Nothing else, surely.]

That way, I think?

[There's a corner nearer to the back of the store with a stylized sign pointing to the right. When Talulah follows its direction, she finds several stalls with tall doors and several full-length mirrors in the hall.]

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