(Open) New Old Fashion

The only boutique Belle trusted with wardrobes was Willow's. Every other place made her picky. The dresses there were too plain, or too fancy. Here, the styles fit just right. Her walk with Flynn and overhearing other students' enthusiasm for the winter ball made her curious. Did Belle plan on going? Possibly not. Back in the ocean, her favorite pastime was sitting in the green Mediterranean, watching icebergs float by; sometimes Belle would ride them. But here she was, looking at a bolt of a cobalt colored gown, trying to picture herself in it.

Terra wasn't sure if she actually wanted to go to this ball that she was hearing about. She hadn't exactly made any friends yet. But, she figured she might as well buy something nice since she had some money on her. Besides, she needed a nice dress in her wardrobe. It may not be effective traveling clothes, but if she needed to sneak into some place fancy, then it was something good to have. She walked into the first shop she saw, not really knowing if it was better than the others or not. She bit her lip nervously though when she spotted the racks of dresses and fancy clothes around her. She had forgotten how noobish she was when it came to things like this. She couldn't even remember the last time she had worn a dress. Maybe I should just leave, she thought, starting to inch backwards towards the door.

Ignoring the blue bolt, Belle moved on to the next rack. Standing next to her was a very thin blond girl, who looked nervous. A word of encouragement would perhaps ease her expression. "If it helps, I'm still getting used to the thought of fancy dresses."

"Huh?" Terra turned her head when she saw a girl talking to her. She looked a little bit older than her, but still young enough to be considered a teenager. Or maybe she was older. One could never be certain when it came to the supernatural. "Oh, really?" The girl seemed to be more at place here than Terra did. Or maybe that was what her social anxiety wanted her to think.

"Yes. My last experience with balls was..." she thought about what to say, "not very pleasant if you catch my tide." Belle picked up a white dress cut in a Greecian pattern, holding it out, looking at the blonde. "You'd look pretty in this. It'd bring out the color in your face."

"Oh. Sounds...icky." Terra had never really been to a ball before. Most of the parties she went to were the urban ones: dark clubs, lots of alcohol, and plenty of boys looking for some fun for the night. Sometimes Terra indulged in them, sometimes she didn't. But either option always left her feeling a little empty inside. She was surprised when the girl seemed to pick a dress at random that seemed to fit her style. "You think so?" she asked, trying to picture herself in it.

"Absolutely," Belle smiled, "it's elegant but appears to have a fun side in it. That and it's easy to move in," she played with the skirt to emphasize her point.

"Oh, well, that's definitely a plus," Terra said, finally smiling a little. Being able to move around in formal wear was always a perk in her book. Of course, in the past, she always liked it because it meant that she could still make a clear get-away without tripping over the hem. Hopefully, she wouldn't have to do the same thing here. "So, what kind of dress are you looking for?" she asked curiously.

"To be honest," Belle pawed through the racks. "I was just browsing. If I see something I like, I can touch it up with some beadwork or painting or...something," she pushed back a big ballgown that could've swallowed ten people, "if I love something, I won't touch it up and leave it the way it is. I have yet to find one."

Terra just nodded, although it seemed Belle was ready to do her own work if she couldn't find the right outfit, which was good in her book. Terra was helpless when it came to craft-like stuff. "Oh, I don't think I said my name," she said, brushing her hair out of her face. "I'm Terra. Do you, happen to go to Blanditia Academy?" Terra assumed she did, since the date of the ball had been announced and everyone was looking for outfits, but maybe she was just a local breezing through.

"I'm Belle. And yeah, I do go to Blanditia," Belle replied. She beamed as a creamish-gold color caught her eye. She held up the gold pick-up skirt with the strapless sweetheart neckline. "Perfect," she sad with a smile. "But, to be fair, Terra, I'm usually in the back corner."

"Oh, cool." Terra smiled again. Who knew that she would meet someone nice that happened to go to her school? Talk about luck. "Ooo, wow, that's pretty," Terra said, oogling over the shimmering color. It would definitely go with the bright brown shade of Belle's hair. Brown and gold were good color combinations, after all. "Really?" Terrra was surprised at that. She figured someone as nice as Belle would always be surrounded by people.

"To make a long story short, I lost some trust," Belle confessed walking up to the counter after confirming the size. "As a result, I don't open up to a person unless they seem trustworthy. That, and," she lowered her voice, "I'm a Nereid, so listening to the wind kind of helped me find this place."

Terra just nodded, although she felt like she and Belle were kind of similar in that retrospect. Slade, the only person Terra had ever trusted, had ended up betraying her. She felt it was a pretty good representation of her luck up to this point. "A nereid? Is that like a mermaid or something?" Terra thought she had heard the word before, but she couldn't remember exactly where.

'Sort of," Belle explained. "We're like a combination of mermaids and water nymphs. We have the fish tails, drown or help sailors, but unlike mermaids, Nereids have the ability to shift into anything. And we can manuever water." She picked up her bag. "If I had water, I could demonstrate, but...last thing we want is everything getting wet," she laughed.

"Whoa. Sounds kinda cool." Well, except for the drowning sailors part. But manipulating water sounded a bit interesting. It almost reminded Terra of her ability to control the earth. "Yeah, the shopkeeper would probably have a heart attack if all these dresses got wet," she said, laughing.

Belle laughed. "It would stink paying for these. Especially if you don't know the price."

"Well, at least I can afford the one you found for me," Terra said. While she may not have had much cash on hand, Belle had managed to find one that actually fit her price change. It was probably just luck, although it made Terra wonder if Belle was secretly psychic or something.

Belle lanced at the tag. "Wow. Talk about luck. That dress is half off. I'd hate to see what the original price was," she shuddered at the thought.

"Ew, let's not," Terra said, making a face. Expensive things always gave her an ulcer, and it didn't help that they always reminded her of how low she was on money half the time.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to torment you with however many midens...uh," she stopped herself. She had to stop bringing in her Greek terms if she was going to make friends, "sorry, that's 'zero' in Greek. I need to stop using my Greek terms otherwise I'll get people lost."

"Oh, you're from Greece?" Terra asked curiously. Despite all her wanderings, she had never gotten that far. It sounded like a pretty place though. She vaguely remembered seeing some island set in Greece in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. The movie had made the place seem so beautiful.

"Kind of," Belle replied. "My fifty sisters andI are scrambled all around the oceans of the world, but I preferred the Mediterranean. It was always nice down there. The only bad time was the Trojan War and when my brother-in-law got mad at Odysseus," Belle smiled, thinking back to relaxng on her favorite cove, watching the blue and the white buildings of Athens. Her brother-in-law Poseidon would've ruled them, but he lost to Athena's much more fruitful - no pun intended - gift.

"Wow. Sounds like you ended up right in the middle of a Greek epic or something." All that kind of stuff reminded Terra of the stuff she would have to read sometimes in school. It never interested her too much, she preferred watching movies about them rather than reading the epics first-hand.

((I say we end the thread here. I lost inspiration. They just went out laughing, LOL))