&& just a victim. [all welcome!]

[Celeste Sparks]

ooc; This is not an awesome post, but I'd love it if you'd be awesome and come roleplay with me anyway. <3 <3

bic;

The shopping trip had not been her idea of a “perfect day.”

In fact, shopping all day was about on the top of her list of how to make a day exactly the opposite of perfect. For that matter, it was a couple steps ahead of torture, mostly because the words “shopping all day” walked in hand in hand with the words “with her mother” and those two should never be close to each other. Close meaning, you know, within five hundred miles. There were times she loved her mother more than she could express, but it was moments like these that made those times more and more difficult to recall. Especially because said mother was swinging open the door to her dressing room stall and tramping out in what looked like an outfit someone might have worn as a parody of the sixties. By this point, all Riley could do was slump against the wall (but even she wasn’t brave enough to lean against it without inspecting it for whatever remains people had left behind—and she purposefully avoided the conspicuous yellow spot because not being a complete girly-girl didn’t mean she had to like burying herself in other people’s germs) and hope to God that it would be over soon (or hope that this same God would smite her right and then and there if He was going to do it).

Unfortunately, that didn’t seem likely. Instead, her mother seemed hell-bent (no extended metaphor/pun intended) on keeping here there for as long as possible (and just as unfortunately “keeping her there” didn’t only mean literally making her stay but also meant making her critique whatever the hell outfit she decided to try on). For the most part, people would consider her mother a trendy woman—of course, if all they’d seen were some of the outfits she pulled when she was in the dressing room, they might’ve sung a different tune. Then again, people had a habit of saying she could pull of anything because she was just that gorgeous and she just had that look and apparently people were willing to let her get away with murder. Riley had never been interested in fashion; she’d never been literate when it came to matching or clashing clothes. She was lucky if she managed to get up and pull on jeans rightside out in the mornings and find a T-shirt to pull on over it. So maybe America’s Next Top Model wasn’t exactly her dream job and maybe she shouldn’t necessarily be judging her mother, but she hadn’t really been given a choice. Hours stuck in a single room had a habit of creeping up behind you and stealing away your options no matter how hard you protested.

“What do you think?” her mother (because when she was acting like this, she was always mother) asked, twirling, Riley guessed, so she could get a better look. All it really did was make her dizzy—as if the patterns on the shirt weren’t dizzying enough already. Shrugging, Riley mumbled something along the lines of “it’s great, mom” which didn’t seem to satisfy properly because the lady was already going off on this diatribe about how she needed to be honest and tell the truth and just critique it all. It would be best for everyone. All Riley could do was look down at her own clothes—plain blue jeans, black nikes, a black T-shirt with some logo or other thrown across it in what might have been in her artistic style—all just as she’d suspected. But apparently she needed to find reassurance that she hadn’t magically become some kind of fashion genius because surely her mother and her weren’t looking at the same person if her mother assumed she could critique all of her outrageous fashions. (Granted, Riley had watched a runway show one year and was less inclined to use the word “outrageous” to describe things. All she’d been able to manage throughout the show had been “what the fuck?” because how those clothes were clothes at all was just beyond her.) Somehow Riley managed to mumble her way through some kind of explanation about how she wanted to go check out this thing that was on sale some place at the other end of the store and could she do it now because he didn’t want to forget please? It never took much for her mother to agree to these things; if they involved fashion, she was generally flexible. Actually, if they involved almost anything Riley was interested in, she could often get her mother to acquiesce. Maybe that was the benefit of having young parents that actually understand your language when you spoke.

She’d ducked out as quickly as possible, breathing something that might have been a sigh of relief along the way. Shopping had never been the painful that it was with her mother. No, it wasn’t her favorite activity (she’d seen the quick self-labeling of the many “shopaholics” that went to her high school, for instance) by any means, but going out with anyone besides her mother wouldn’t have been half as bad. Riley absently ran a hand through her hair, not once glancing back. By the time she paused, she judged she was somewhere between the men’s section and the shoes and also judged that the shoes would probably be more reasonable. Anyone watching her wander through men’s clothes might find it a bit odd and today she wasn’t particularly in the mood to deal with people, especially people that were going to ask her a million questions and demand answers that she didn’t feel like giving. If they’d wanted her in a giving mood, they could’ve tried eight hours ago when her mother had first demanded she accompany her for “an awesome day of shopping—I promise, Riley, it’ll be great.”

It had not been great. [/color][/font]

[lex]

Lexy was feeling especially nostalgic today - yearning for the days she had in Australia where she could be around millions of wonderful shops that had what she was looking for. She didn't particularly like shopping although of course knew it was necessary if she wanted to acquire the things she needed. If she didn't have to spend time by herself, maybe it wouldn't be so bad, but she was indeed by herself, and that was something she hated - to be alone. However, Lexy was well aware that she had to go shopping today whether she liked it or not, as she was searching for fabrics that she could use for some of her newest projects. Recently, she had managed to actually finish a project, despite her lack of commitment. She hoped she could take this time to finish something else before she lost her ability to finish things. It wasn't that she didn't want to finish the many things she started, and she usually did, but after long pauses of forgetting about them after getting bored or annoyed. Port Angeles was certainly not boring for shopping, but doing it alone when she knew where nothing would be, it made her frustrated. She hated to waste time, if she couldn't waste it in a more beneficial way such as being with a friend. After while of searching for a fabric store, she went to a shop where there were already made clothes available. She knew is she searched enough, she could get inexpensive and utterly plain outfits. With them, she could turn them into something spectacular. This was her favorite thing to do. Not so much making clothes or things from scratch, but instead using things already made and making them so spectacular that no one else can seem to believe how horrible it might have been before.

While in the store, she did notice and hear different little things, from all the people inside. She didn't exactly mean to eavesdrop or to even pay attention, but she found herself enveloped in the people around her, yearning to have someone shop with her as all the people here seemed to have. One conversation and shopping trip caught her attention most, so as she searched blankly for something, she listened and watched the two people shopping closest to her. It seemed it was a girl and her mother. Alexis envied the girl who had time with her mother, remember the times she had spent with her own. It burned her in her heart to be reminded of her mother, but the burn was almost worth it for the calm that was felt in the bottom of her heart, where her mom seemed to occupy whenever her thoughts drifted towards the times they had together. The real reason Lexy stuck with making clothes was the fact that her mother had taught her how and had spent much of her early years before death sewing with her daughter. Her mother always believed in her, and loved that she loved painting, but since her mother didn't know how to paint, she willingly spent most of her time making clothes, trying t spend time with the one person she had ever felt truly close to, besides her brother. It was a thing inside of Lexy's heart. She didn't like painting when her mother had been alive because it wasn't something she could do with her mother. But at least sewing was something she could do at that time, and whenever she did it now, she felt close again to her mother.

Lexy was pulled from her thoughts as the girl who had been shopping with her mother managed to get away from doing so. It wasn't her actions of leaving her mother that got Lexy's attention - no - it was that it had been the first time she had actually set eyes on the girl. She was stunned by how beautiful another girl could be. It didn't make sense to her why the thought about this girl came to her mind, because as far as Alexis knew, she was definitely straight, but she had to admire the beauty this girl had. Her beauty was almost innocent and undetectable unless you were use to seeing wondrous things in unusual places. But it was there, obvious in all forms that you couldn't help but stare. As she did so, the girl was walking away, and for some reason, Lexy felt she had to follow, so she did. She walked behind her still basically staring for a few minutes before she caught up to her. She didn't know exactly what she would say to the girl, but she felt like she needed to talk to her. "Way to get away from a situation. Sorry to bug you. Guess you didn't want to shop with... your mother?" she guessed, asking her although she assumed she was correct. Mind if I bug you a little? I am not use to this area and I hate shopping alone. Plus.. you seem like you wouldn't mind someone else to shop with for a little while."

( Way to seem like a creeper there. ) She wanted to slap herself. How would it not be considered creepy to realize someone was watching you and then came up and started a conversation with you, and pushed their company on you. And this someone was a complete stranger. "I'm Alexis, by the way. You can call me Lex or Lexy." she said. (Or whatever you want. ) The thought kind of came in on its own without her conscious awareness. Basically this girl kind of pulled her. Besides, Lexy wasn't just shopping for fabric (because honestly she didn't NEED it, she could always use her scraps) but she wanted to get her mind off of her somewhat pushy boyfriend. She liked him, sure, but she knew he was that type of person who wanted to get into bed. She had been told a million of times that he wasn't the best guy to date, but she felt like not being alone any longer, and she didn't exactly know if he only wanted her for sex or something else, because for the most part, she has this thing for trusting that people always had good in them, even when they didn't treat her right. It was hard to lose her trust, but easy to gain - the very opposite of most people.

Then again, Lexy isn't like most people.