apocalypsehowcomm | [log] Catch-all for March [closed]

Who: Donna and Others
When: Throughout February and March
Where: At ADI HQ and Gloucester Town Center
Summary: A little shopping trip to get a mermaid a nice dress for dancing, and dealing with the TDM events
Warnings: altered mental states, breathing difficulties, imprisonment, victim-blaming

For Katrina
"Here we are!" Donna stops outside a little boutique along Glouceter's main drag, motioning for Katrina to look in the big windows where mannequins are modeling the latest fashions. "What d'you think of that one, then? Nice and loose around the legs and arms for moving. Color'd be a nice match for your eyes, too. Why don't we go inside? We can see if they've got anything like it on the sales rack."

For Meredith
It starts with a certain odor in the air, something musty, old... something that reminds her of the Library. She'd just stepped into the breakroom to grab some tea, and she'd heard the door close behind her. Odd. There's no one else in the room and people don't usually close the breakroom door, but she's focused on her cup, so that's a problem for future Donna. It rapidly becomes a problem for present Donna when the air seems to grow thinner, when the scent of coffee fades, and is replaced.

Very suddenly, the bright sky outside is gone and the windows are shuttered in... metal. What? What the hell?

"Hello? Hey! What's going on?" Fear starts to ramp up in her chest as she moves to the door. Locked. Her hand goes to her pocket, but her phone is back on her desk. She hadn't thought she'd need it. "Hey, this isn't funny!" She jerks the handle a few more times. "Th-there's something wrong with the air in here. Let me out!"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Buildings with glass walls like tanks. Human-shaped sculptures in dresses and other clothes. All these colors. It's so completely different from the ocean with its shadows and dark color palettes. Katrina supposes that the markings sirens bear on their bodies— the number and color of scales, ridges, and fins— are the closest equivalent to humans' obsession with covering their bodies. Certainly, Katrina suppresses her birth coloring to fit better with her adoptive tribe. But clothing isn't innate to humans the way a siren's coloration is, and anyway, why cover up at all? At least they're not set on only restrictive clothing.

Humans are odd, but not senseless. It's an importa t distinction.

"Sales rack." Donna had mentioned sales before. Good bargains. "Yes."

Katrina walks inside. A bell jingles overhead, like in Helen's shop. She stands just in from the doorway for a moment, scanning the shop. The people on staff greet her, but all Katrina does is meet their gazes briefly, gaze as hard as ever. She reads the signs on the racks, spots "SALE" and "CLEARANCE" over by the back, and starts right for them.

At the sale rack, she pulls out a long dress with lightweight blue fabric. It reminds her of the shallows near the shore, in sunny days, further south, toward the warmer waters.

"Too long. Color is good. You cut dress to make fit?"

Edited (typos smh) 2022-02-22 17:26 (UTC)

It's nice seeing Katrina seek out the sale rack like a... sale-seeking mermaid? It's fun. She's a quick learner, is what Donna's getting from this, really, and willing to try new things. It makes her fun! More fun than a lot of people Donna's known in her life. She follows after the other woman, taking the opposite side of the rack until her attention is drawn over.

"Can't say I'm much of a tailor. It'd be better to find something we won't have to alter. Here. What about this one? You'd look cute!"

Still holding on to the one she pulled off the rack, Katrina eyes the one Domna shows her. She likes it, and has been on land and wearing human clothes long enough that she can imagine herself wearing it.

"Yes." She looks at the dress in her hand again. "I learn to cut dress." One day, maybe. But not now. She puts it back and scans the rack for something golden-orange, like the accents of her natural coloring.

"This. I buy this. You buy dress also. We go dance. At night club."

That's not really a clubbing dress. It's very cute, though. "Hmm... yeah, all right. But we're getting you a belt to go with it. Maybe a bracelet and necklace, too, if we can find something cheap. What d'you think of this for me? Nice and shiny."

The dress is purple with a rather sheer look about the top.

"I'm keeping this one I picked out for you, too. You can try them both on. Pick one out for me? Something that'll help me win, yeah?"

Belt, bracelet, necklace. Humans put so much effort into picking clothes for going to dance clubs. It's not like combat at all.

Katrina looks at the purple dress. Shiny, yes, almost like scales. "Yes. Good dress for you."

So, now it's her turn to pick out a dress for Donna. That seems fair, since Donna picked out a dress for her earlier. She looks through the rack, eyes skimming the fabrics and colors, and then reaches out for a blue one.

Wordlessly, gaze as serious as ever, she holds the dress out to Donna.

"Ooo! I like that! Good eye, Katrina." She offers the mermaid a bright grin. "Now, come on. Let's make sure these fit before we make a purchase." Donna will motion Katrina toward the back where there's an employee returning clothes from the racks outside. It's a very small space with only a pair of changing rooms, but that suits Donna's purposes.

"All right. I'll meet you back out here in a few minutes. I'll try on the one you got for me. You try on this one." She hands over the one she'd picked for Katrina. "Make sure you come out here in it so I can see, yeah. We can model for each other! Gotta impress with some flash when you're dancing."

All of this seems so complicated. Going shopping for club clothes. Trying them on. Buying them. Putting them on. Going to a club. Dancing. Victory? Combat is so much simpler. Fight. Kill or maim. Win.

But she's in human territory, and Donna is showing her how this works, so she nods and follows, taking the dress and going into the tiny room to get changed. By now she's very familiar with the ins and outs of clothing, so she's done quickly. She looks in the mirror, sees that it fits quite well, and stands tall and proud, like the warrior she is, the alpha she was.

She looks ready for a fight. Good.

"I am ready."

She steps out and stands in front of the changing room, waiting for Donna.

"It fit. I buy."

"It's not enough just to fit," Donna calls as she finishes zipping up. "It's got to make you feel fit!" As demonstration, she makes her own entrance with style. She's delighted by sequins as she steps out, putting one hand up and the other on her hip. Her chin tips up. "I feel amazing. Retail therapy? It's real, let me tell you!" And she turns her attention to Katrina.

"And you?" She drops her hand to point up and down the mermaid's form. "This? Bombshell! You're gonna kill it at the club." Wait. "With dancing, not weapons."

It is extremely and very good that Donna clarified just what she meant by killing it.

Now. Feeling fit. Fit, like in fitness. Strength, endurance, physical power. Katrina looks down at the dress. She always feels fit, if she's honest. And Donna looks like she could clobber someone easily with the right weapon. The height helps. The sequins... If Katrina unfocuses her eyes for a second or two, she can picture Donna as a siren, one from the deepest depths, bioluminescent tendrils of hair that glow like the red-gold of the setting sun.

Okay. Back to the present, to this shop in Gloucester. A wicked smile curves Katrina's lips.

"We buy. We go to club. We dance. We show we lead."

She's a little off, but she's got the spirit.

"Now you've got it, girl!" She's beaming. "Okay, try on the other dress just to be sure on the fit, then we'll get all these and head back home. Best time for clubbing's after 9 PM. We'll get our dresses on, I'll do your make-up and hair, and we'll take every single person down at that club.

"They won't know what hit 'em! Hah!"

Approval. It feels good to get approval from another group, especially when that group is an entirely different species. Donna may not represent all humans, but she certainly represents a class of them. Strong-willed, unafraid, fierce in her own right.

"Yes. Surprise attack is good."

So she goes and tries in the other dress, and she comes out again to have Donna make sure this dress also looks appropriate for dancing.

"Dress you wear before, look strong. Fit." Fighting fit. Siren fit. "That also look fit. Other one better."

But she's biased, of course. She picked the other one, after all.

Donna makes a considering sound as she looks down at herself. "Yeah, all right. I think you're right. Sequins tonight. I'll save the other one for one where we're not going on a surprise attack." She winks at Katrina. "How about you wear the other one, too. I still like this one; good for an every day, I'd almost say. Or a more summery party.

"Right. Back in our regular clothes, we pay, and we get moving back. Oh, this is gonna be so much fun! I saw a place in town called Drift. Right on the water with big windows looking out. We'll have the ocean right there for the dramatic backdrop we need."

[log] Catch-all for March [closed]

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