Log: Layla and Sarah, Saturday afternoon in NYC (1/2)

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Layla plays tour guide for Sarah, going with her into the city and helping her pick out her Hallowe'en costume. Fun and embarrassing times were had by all!

Warning for the mention of various adult, er, toys in the store in which they enter, I guess!


Following Layla's directions, Sarah continued walking down a random street in New York City. Well, it was random to her, at least; Layla knew where they were going and pointed her in the right direction, then lagged behind her a bit to see if she looked like she was lost or not. So Sarah was doing her best to look like she belonged. Her map that she always took with her into the city in case she did get lost was stowed away into her purse, she didn't look around at every little thing like some tourist (she especially didn't look up, even though her really-kind-of-a-tourist mind was crying out to admire the skyline and towering buildings all around her), and she didn't move slowly as if she didn't know where she was going. Of course she didn't know exactly where she was going and didn't want to lose Layla, so she walked at what she hoped was a moderate, don't-hassle-me-I'm-local pace.

From back here Layla could admit that she was appreciating the view. Of the street, that is. Not of Sarah. Of course not of Sarah. Okay, maybe a little bit of Sarah. It wasn't like Layla had a crush or something. And the view was better from the other side of the girl anyway. Layla insisted any and all attraction was solely based on those huge, too blue eyes Sarah had. Really. Somehow she suspected part of her wasn't buying it.

She let Sarah wander alone for a good two blocks. Every now and then Layla would wait for enough clearance and drop her skateboard and skate along so Sarah would know Layla hadn't ditched her. That would've been a dick move but Sarah had no real reason to think Layla wouldn't be a dick. Not yet anyway. After two blocks she dropped her board again and this time closed the distance between them. When she pulled up next to the brunette Layla popped her board's nose up and grabbed the truck while shooting the other girl a bit of a smirk. "You're too tense, kid. Like, you make it obvious you're trying to look like you belong. You need to relax, I've got your back." The blonde grinned at her. "Tension coulda been you not having any idea wear you're going, though. That's an issue we should work on. Overall, I have you a C-plus. You've got potential but we've got some work to do on you before people mistake you for a local."

Though it probably didn't help with her attempts to blend in, Sarah did look back once or twice to make sure Layla was keeping up with her. She wasn't walking too fast but with so many traffic lights and people around she wanted to be sure. At the sound of skateboard wheels crunching up the pavement behind her getting louder, she slowed down and turned to face her blonde pseudo stalker. Before she could ask how she did, however, she got the run down. Sarah frowned a little, then shrugged it off. "That's not too bad, I guess. You should see me in DC though, I walk around like I own that place." Or maybe she didn't but she'd keep telling herself that. "And I'm a year older than you, too." She was a year ahead in school at least, so she assumed that she was. Giving Layla a questioning look, she continued. "Did I walk too fast, or was that good? And I thought not looking around so much helped."

"What's you being older than me have to do with anything?" Layla was so not following that train of thought. Instead she just sorta patted Sarah on the head. "Yes, yes, you can have 'hot older woman' status, happy? And moving on, the not looking around thing helped except you were like a drone, eyes forward unless you were looking at me. You didn't look at other people enough, didn't check what shops you were passing by. Yeah, if you know where you're going you can bee line it but that doesn't mean you can't look around. If we're ever in DC together you can totally be my mentor but you're in my backyard pretty much so you're just gonna have to trust me on this. I mean, we could improve on your blending, I'm-not-prey skills but it could take a lot of trips to the city."

"You said kid, that's all." She blinked as Layla patted her on the head, not sure what to say to that. Before she could think of a response, however, the phrase 'hot older woman' was brandished, rendering her speechless for another little while and bringing about a little more redness to her cheeks than what the cool fall weather had already brought out in her. "Hot?" was about all she could manage, said quietly as a rhetorical question, wondering whether she'd heard the blonde correctly. "Yeah but... hmm. You're right, people still look around, huh?" Sarah watched some other passers by and saw that they too were looking into shop windows and each other as they went about their daily routines. "Oh, definitely, you'll have to come visit some time. And it might take some time, yeah, but I don't mind. I love the city, don't you?" She smiled at Layla and then looked upward, now that she had dropped the ruse of trying to fit in.

Layla raised an eyebrow to Sarah's question of her own hotness as if the expression should answer that question entirely. Of course she was hot, had she looked at herself recently? Maybe the mirrors in the bathroom of Sarah's suite were really dirty or covered in pictures or something. The blond shook her head and pushed Sarah lightly from between her shoulder blades as the light turned green for them to walk. "In case you didn't know, I'm a foster kid. I don't go anywhere pretty much. And now Xavier's technically my guardian or whatever so I probably won't be visiting DC in the near future or anything unless he randomly decides I need to go on vacation to the capital to, I dunno, see politicians in their natural habitat or something." There was other stuff in DC but Layla's awareness of it stopped at the Smithsonian which, as far as she knew, was a giant museum.

"But, yeah, I love New York. I grew up here, did you know that?" She wasn't sure how much Sarah read or remembered of her introduction on the journals. "I spent most of the last, uh, six years in Queens but I've been in Manhattan the rest of my life. It's really bizarre being out in Salem now, actually. Like...foreign planet. Too many trees outside of a park area, for one."

Sarah had never really thought of herself as anything before, until recently, and she was still wrestling with exactly that was, so hearing anything of the like was a bit confusing for her. It was a positive thing to hear, though, of course, so the pinkness remained visible in her cheeks. She chuckled as Layla pushed her slightly. "Ok, ok, I'm going." Looking over at Layla as they crossed with the light (still looking out for traffic because, hey, it was New York City after all), listening to the blonde. "Well, we do field trips sometimes, and maybe on holidays if, like, you don't have anywhere to go... I could ask my Mom, maybe. Or Dad." She wasn't entirely sure which parent she'd be with at what times, at least not closer until the actual holidays, but it'd suck to be stuck behind if others were going home.

"I think I remember you saying that, yeah. Hell's Kitchen, right?" She may have remembered a lot about the other girl for some reason, though she hoped that didn't seem odd to Layla. "I've never been to Queens, just Manhattan, which is awesome. I'm sure Queens is nice too, though. And Salem is ok, it really is different though." While New York and DC certainly weren't alike, there were many difference between Salem and DC too.

"Queens is pretty awesome if you know where to go. Pretty much like that for anywhere, though, right?" Layla tugged on Sarah's arm to get her to stop walking so they could wait for the light to cross the street to the left. "The Ramones wrote a song about Rockaway Beach and that's out in Queens so there's cred for awesomeness there or something." Layla shrugged. "Sometimes the Queens art museum has cool shit. But, y'know, everyone likes Manhattan better. I'm probably biased anyway. But you should go and check it out or something. The Bronx is pretty awesome, too. And Brooklyn." That was a lot of ground to cover for someone who needed a map to get around Manhattan, though. "You need to get out more or something. And, uh, I'm probably not the kid parents want you to bring home with you from school."

"Yeah, if you know where to go... oops, which I don't." She stopped at Layla's tugging, moving back against the other girl and bumping into her slightly as she turned to face the direction they were supposed to go. Sarah moved away almost as quickly, stepping back so she wasn't invading Layla's personal space or anything. "The Ramones, oh, ok." She knew of them but didn't know them that well. "That does sound cool, and museums are neat. I love this one in DC called the Newseum, it's great!" Her favourite part was the newspaper display outside from papers the world over that was updated daily, it was pretty interesting to her. "Maybe, it could be fun, if you wanna come with we can try it sometime." If she stuck out like a sore thumb in Manhattan as Layla pointed out then she was sure she'd be even worse in the Bronx or Brooklyn. Sarah frowned at her last comment. "What? Why not? I'd take you home. I mean, my parents would be ok with that, I think." She liked being around Layla, she felt... it was hard to put words to it, really.

Layla was still a little startled from having Sarah momentarily against her when the other girl had stopped talking. The light changing helped shake her out of the daze and get her moving again, though. As they started across another street she glanced down from Sarah's eyes over what she was wearing, then to her own feet and back up. Layla had her usual short denim skirt and tights, though today she had black tights on under layers of neon fishnets that had acquired various holes over the months. There wasn't exactly anything "refined" about her. She wore her wallet on a chain so she could keep track of it, her hair was pretty much always in some level of disarray and she stuck out in stark contrast to the well put together brunette at her side. "Parents don't really like kids with mouths like sailors who are more likely to say what they think than be polite. Some parents love me and a lot of them give me this look like 'who let her out of the trailer park,' which I've never lived in for the record. So, yeah, your parents might take one look at me and label me the bad influence they don't want around you. 'Cause, seriously, look at you. You're all...cute. And you don't swear. And you seem pretty polite. And I'm willing to bet you get really good grades. And I'm the kid with a skateboard and pretty much everyone who doesn't skateboard thinks we're all like a nuisance or whatever." Layla frowned and looked down, more to let her hair fall to hide behind than to actually look where she was going.

Without looking up she abruptly changed the subject back. "But if you wanted to go out to the Bronx or check out Brooklyn I could take you. If I can con someone into taking me to the DMV in a couple months I can trade out for a senior license and we wouldn't have to wait for the Saturday bus run thing. Y'know, just something to keep in mind."

Following Layla across the street, Sarah paid attention and considered what she was saying. Her eyes gave Layla a once over as well while she listened. It was true that they weren't exactly the same - her own wardrobe was considerably different, made up of a simple nice pair of jeans and a thick, warm sweater that was a cool shade of blue not unlike her eyes. She carried a purse that was more like a satchel or a messenger bag - it could hold her laptop on those occasions she wanted to take it with her, not today however - and she made some effort to look after her hair, if not as much as some other girls. "I don't think you're a bad influence, though, and I don't think they would either. And even if they did, who cares what they think? They should be happy I'm making friends and hanging out with people I like. And I bet my twin sister would like you too." Sarah knew Layla's words were meant as compliments, hopefully anyway, but she didn't want to appear like some goody two shoes either. "Hey now, I swear sometimes, when I get angry. And I don't think you're a nuisance. And you're... you're cute too, and shit." See? Swearing.

"That would be nice, yeah, I should take advantage of someone who knows the city like you while I can, I think." She really should get out more, and spending more time with Layla wouldn't hurt either. "Oh, that'd be good! I'm hoping to get my license soon too, actually, it'd be great if we could drive ourselves."

Most of what Sarah said was drowned out once she said Layla was cute. It caused a faint, pink flush on her cheeks. She looked up, brushing her hair out of her face, and gave Sarah an amused smirk. "Okay, you swearing? Possibly the most adorable thing I've ever witnessed. Seriously. Baby kitties have nothing on you." She managed to keep her expression together for all of a half second before she started to giggle. "And it's cool, you can totally take advantage of me whenever you want." And there was that delay between when the words came out of her mouth and when her brain piped up to point out what an awful idea they were. Layla flushed a darker pink. "For directions! Obviously. And food. I know where awesome food is. And museums, obviously." She was scrambling for a way to recover that whole taking advantage thing desperately. "What's a newseum?"

Sarah grinned back at her, brushing some of her own hair back behind one of her ears. It was true, Layla was cute, and she thought she was kind of fond of her blonde hair. Part of her had always wondered what it might be like to be blonde, what with all those sayings - blondes have more fun, gentlemen prefer blondes, what have you - and Layla was definitely fun to be around. She giggled along with her, shaking her head. "See, that giggle, that's cute too." It was her turn to start blushing again at the offer to take advantage of her whenever she wanted. The blonde girl's own reaction only hastened her own similar one, and she was just as eager to right the ship. "Yeah, directions are always great, and good food, and museums!" Thank heavens Layla asked about the Newseum, that was something she could easily go on about. "It's a museum of news." Or, you know, maybe not. "I mean, it's an awesome museum that focuses on history as it was reported in the, uh, in the news. And outside every day they post the front pages of daily papers from all over the world. It may sound kind of geeky, I guess, but I love it."

From dark pink to red. Layla was never going to be normal colored again if she was around Sarah, was she? She sort of felt like squirming, but on the inside if that made any sense. What she needed to do was stop focusing on things like how Sarah was cute when she blushed and focus on...things that did not get described with the word cute. Like news. News was totally safe. Layla could handle news. She hoped. "So it's a newspaper museum? Yeah, that sounds kinda geeky. Why do you love it, though? Do you have like an obsession with current affairs? Or you're just secretly really nosy and that's how you get it out of your system? News is always so...." she trailed off, shrugging a little. "I like stories and the news kinda forgets the story some of the time. You know what I mean?"

Neither of them seemed to be able to hold onto their normal shade of skin colour for too long whenever they were together, it seemed. Things that were not cute would definitely make it easier to avoid the awkwardness and blushing, or it should in theory at least. "Well, yeah, that's part of it, but not just newspapers. All forms of news are in there in some way, shape, or form. Part of the Berlin wall is in there too." Sarah shrugged. "I don't know, I'm not obsessed with current affairs, I just like it. I mainly use the 'net for that kind of thing, but I guess... the Newseum is sort of a historical look back at what people did before the internet to me, in a way. And I love the internet so... not sure if that makes sense but there you have it." It wasn't for everyone but she got a kick out of it. "You need to see it to get it, I think. I will totally take you there some time, if you want."

"Sure, if I'm ever in DC you can take me and show me the awesomeness that is the Newseum. But how does the Berlin Wall count as news? Like, did people write stuff on it that was going on or something? 'Cause it sorta seemed like that is the thing news was about so it should be in a history museum. Aaaaand, speaking of museums, have you ever been to the natural history museum here?" Layla's eyes got wide when she mentioned it, her expression turning excited. "It's enormous and they have a full sized replica of a blue whale. It's insane. You like walk into this room and bam! There's this giant whale suspended from the ceiling and however big you imagine whales are in your head? It's bigger. It's so insane. You should go see it. They have dinosaurs there right now. I dunno if they have giant replicas like the whale but they might."

"I will, promise!" Sarah thought about the question for a minute. "Well, there was all kinds of coverage of it, both when it went up, over the years, and when it came down. One of those global news stories I guess, you know? It's interesting to see anyway." It certainly would fit into a history museum too though, now that she thought of it. "Oh, no, I haven't." She smiled and listened as Layla got visibly excited, it was... no, she wasn't going to say or think cute, but it was. Her own eyes went wide at the mention of the whale. "Wait, it's really a replica of a whale, like to scale and everything? Holy crap.. I mean, um, holy shit, that's crazy!" She frowned, cursing really wasn't for her, apparently. Ah well, it was worth the shot. "Maybe I will sometime, and ooh, dinosaurs, that'd be awesome too." Sarah looked down at her steampunk watch. "Well, if we finish shopping early enough, hmm." She had no idea where the museum was, though, nor how long they'd need to find everything for her costume.

"Yes, to scale. It's almost a hundred feet long. I think the Smithsonian has a legit blue whale skull if you wanna compare next time you go home." Which would probably be for Thanksgiving. Or Christmas. Definitely Christmas. Layla hadn't cared much about holidays since her parents had died. They didn't really mean much anymore. And Christmas just sucked more because then there was her birthday and then there was New Year's and she still practically couldn't function on the night of New Year's Eve. Removing her mind from that train of that, Layla continued on about the museum, "You need like an entire day to go through the natural history museum. Maybe two depending on if you're one of those people who go through stuff fast or slow. So, um, yeah, not happening today. But if you come into the city early some other day you could check it out."

"Ooh, yes, that's not a bad idea, actually." She hadn't been to the Smithsonian in awhile, but now she had a reason to go there and compare things. Well, it'd be a comparison once she'd seen the replica in the museum of which Layla was speaking. Sarah would likely be home for Thanksgiving, though she wasn't nearly as big on the holidays since her parents had split up. She still looked forward to seeing her sister, however, and already had it in her mind to inquire if she was allowed to invite friends to come home with her. "Wow, it must be pretty huge. No time for it today then, but ok, maybe some other day when I'm coming in. Or if you're ever going and want someone to bug you with questions, hehe, I can tag along, if you want." Speaking of which, a question popped into her head. "So, how far away is this first place we're headed again?" She wasn't getting tired or anything, she was just curious since she had no real idea where they were going.

"I ask people like eighty million questions at once when they pop into my head so I don't really have an issue with you asking me questions. And you'd probably have to put forth like real effort to bug me." A lot of serious effort, really. Layla was growing more and more partial toward Sarah and she had a really high level of patience and tolerance for people she was partial to. Someone else could do something that totally annoyed the fuck out of Layla, and then Sarah could do the same thing in the same way and the likelihood of it even vaguely bugging her? Slim to none. Not that Layla was going to tell the brunette that. That was the sort of thing people tended to exploit. "Oh, it's not far. So you remember when I told you to have an open mind?" Layla grinned and tried really hard to look innocent.

"Ok, that's good, because I probably will have a ton." Like how did they keep that huge replica whale hanging from the ceiling, it must weight a ton, and what did they make it of? And many other questions that she was going to save until they were actually at the museum some day. "I wouldn't want to bug you, promise." Sarah smiled at Layla, readjusting her bag over her shoulder as she did so. She was growing rather fond of the other girl so bugging her was pretty much the last thing on her mind. One of Sarah's eyebrows raised a little at the mention of having to keep an open mind, however. "Um... yeah, I think so... why do you say that?" The blonde was smiling and Sarah suddenly wondered what was about to happen next. She bit her bottom lip and looked around to see where they were, maybe they had reached their destination.

"Well, there's only so many kinds of places that sell some of the stuff you need for your costume. Especially the corset. And, well, you're not exactly after a bridal corset in white satin so..." Layla stopped and looked up at the sign outside of the shop they were in front of. It read: Dragon's Lair. Fairly innocuous, really. The display window had three mannequins in it. One wore a leather underbust corset with a matching short, leather skirt. The second wore an elaborate silk brocade Victorian overbust corset with an intricately embroidered long, silk skirt. The last wore an overbust corset with a sweetheart neckline in what looked like heavy cotton with buckles up the sides. Instead of a skirt the third mannequin wore pants with buckles and straps like a higher quality version of something you would find in Hot Topic. "They cater to...uh...varied tastes." Without letting Sarah have enough time to squirrel out of it, Layla grabbed her by the hand and pulled her into the shop.

It was true, she would need to find some kind of specialty store to find a red corset, especially one that'd fit any kind of steampunk configuration. "Well, yeah, it has to be red..." Sarah looked up at the sign. Dragon's Lair, huh. That didn't sound that bad at all, actually. It probably had tons of medieval things, she figured. Looking at the mannequins one by one, she nodded her head. "Yeah, they might have something in here, I think..." She wasn't sure but they'd come that far and she was totally trusting Layla at this point. Her eyebrow went up again at the pause and the mention of varied tastes, but before she could say anything to that Layla had grabbed her hand, rending her speechless, and pulled her inside the store. Sarah looked down at her hand, which felt nice and smooth in her own, and warm. The warmth was what she noticed the most, likely because it was chilly outside and her own hand was cold, she told herself.

Once she was inside she took in the shop, surprised at how much stuff they were able to store inside. Some of the fine art on the walls, most notably the BDSM pictures, caught her eye, making her squint until she realized what she was looking at, which warmed up her cheeks a little. There were all kinds of corsets and skirts and the like around them, however, so much to look at, which was great. It was all overwhelming, however, and in the overload to her senses she forgot that she was still holding onto Layla's hand, whoops.

The woman behind the counter greeted the girls with a smile. Layla noticed that she glanced down as she did and the blonde's eyes followed the woman's. To their hands. Their hands, as in their still clasped hands. Oh shit. Layla wasn't entirely sure what to do. She never got herself in this situation. She could let go but Sarah could get offended or just wonder why Layla was being weird. Girls held hands all the time, right? It didn't have to be a...uh...well, a lesbian thing. It could just be a friend thing. And if she freaked out over it or like dropped Sarah's hand suddenly then Sarah could think it was personal and think she did something wrong, which Layla didn't want.

Despite all her inward panic the blonde kept her cool on the outside and smiled at the woman at the counter. "Hi. We need a corset. A red corset. Probably with buckles. Definitely not leather. Do you...have...anything like that?" Somewhere in the middle of her question Layla decided she would just sort of loosen her hold a little and then Sarah could let go on her own. That would work, right? Sure. Then it would Sarah's decision and Sarah would manage to do it way more naturally than Layla could.

"Sure, sweetie. A lot of our pieces come in different materials and something can always be custom made if you want. I'm afraid the styles are fairly interspersed so there's no one section, you'll just have to browse through them all," the woman replied.

Sarah was still unaware of the hand holding as she looked around, then turned her attention to the sales clerk as Layla spoke to her and the lady spoke back. It was a kind of intimidating store to her, not the kind of place she'd even really been in before and certainly not one in which she knew what to do or where to go. She was just going to have to follow Layla's lead and go with the flow. That's when she looked over to the blonde and realized that, yes, they were still holding hands. Sarah wasn't sure what to say and she sure as heck wasn't sure what to do, because Layla wasn't letting go and, well. It wasn't a bad thing that they were holding hands, people did that all the time, so she wasn't too sure if she wanted to let go either.

Listening to the clerk, Sarah nodded and thanked her for her help. "I guess we'll have to look around ourselves then, huh?" She wasn't sure which way to go, there was so much to see and she hadn't the foggiest of where to start. Looking to her left, Sarah started to move in that direction, and when she did so her fingers slipped from Layla's loosened grip, brushing against the blonde's palm and fingers as their hands came apart. She opened her mouth to say sorry or something along this lines, but she wasn't sure what if anything she should say so she just played it off nonchalantly.

Some of Layla's panic over the hand holding subsided when Sarah's hand slipped out of her own. That made it so much easier to figure out what to do where all of that was concerned. See, Layla? Just random, totally platonic straight girl hand holding...except you're maybe one straight girl short for that classification to be accurate,, she thought. She shook her head a bit to snap herself out of her thoughts and went trailing after the brunette. Layla wasn't an up close and personal person, but she found herself trailing the other girl a bit more closely than she normally would have with someone else. Realizing this, Layla slowed her pace until she increased the distance between them by another step. No need to raise questions or look weirdly clingy. Which she wasn't. "So, when you picture your costume in your head, what does the corset look like, exactly? Y'know, other than red?"

Once her hand was free from Layla's - no, free wasn't the correct word, that made it sound like it had been trapped or held against its will which was certainly not the case, apart was a better word - once her hand was apart, she calmly clasped both of her own together in front of her. She didn't move them quickly, because she didn't want to make it look like she was anxious to move her hand away from Layla's or anything, and then she was wondering why she was worried so much about what either of them were doing with their hands. She walked ahead with Layla behind her, reaching out to touch the fabric of a black corset in front of her. It wasn't the right colour or style but she was curious to see how it felt, then returned her hands together in front of her.

"Kinda... steampunky." Alright, that wasn't helpful at all. "Maybe with some metallic finishings, like, small chain links or studs, that kind of thing. You think?" She looked over her shoulder for Layla's opinion, an eyebrow raised expectantly.

Oh shit, she needed to have an opinion? "I like chains? And buckles? Maybe not the studs. Seems kinda...pseudo-punk or wannabe punk or whatever you actually call those people who listen to Fall Out Boy and think they're deep and tormented and shit." Layla had her hand securely shoved into her pockets now that she had no idea what to do with the free one. Besides, it helped her ignore that at least one palm was warmer and possibly sweatier than it had any right to be. "So're you looking for the kind that goes all the way up or the kind that stops under your..." her eyes moved down a little as she tried to think up a better substitute for 'bust' than 'tits.' She quickly diverted her eyes back upward and amended, "around your ribs?"

She most certainly did, just wait until she started trying things on and asked for opinions. Sarah considered that. "Hmm, yeah, I think you're right about the studs." They did seem to suit a punk motif more so than a steampunk one. She almost mentioned how she had a Fall Out Boy album but thought better of it after hearing the rest of Layla's sentence. Walking a bit further, Sarah found a red one that may be suitable, one of the underbust varieties, with black ribbing on either side and black lacing around its edges. "I don't really know, which would you think is more comfortable?" She had never worn a corset before, though maybe Layla had. And that thought made her blush a little so she pulled the corset she had been eyeing off the rack, holding it in front of her to get an opinion. "Does this look ok?"

And now Sarah wanted Layla to use her imagination and picture her in things. This was either the best day ever or the worst day ever. The jury was out. "Is lace a steampunk thing? I'm not the most, uh, familiar with it. But I usually think of it being less...girlie? 'Cause, you know, steam and Victorian it was all messy and dirty and shit, right? So lace seems like not a great idea? But you could try it on. I mean, it's your costume and it'd probably be hot anyway so..." she shrugged. "But I dunno what's more comfortable. I think lacing something with metal boning is totally never comfortable but you could probably just not lace 'em up as tight and make either work." Layla nodded to the one Sarah was currently holding, "but I think that kind looks better."

It was why she wanted the other girl to come with her, after all, for her expert opinion and help in looking for this kind of thing. That was the only reason, of course, none other at all, that's what she told herself anyway. "Well, not so much the lace, I guess. I do like the red and black though, maybe something a little... rougher, I guess?" Did that sound bad? She hoped not, and she turned around to put the corset back on the rack to move on to something else. "Oh you." She smiled a little at Layla over her shoulder, and was still smiling as she turned around to look at another one that had caught her eye. "It's true, I don't think any of them are really built for comfort, but it's just for one night, not even a whole night, I mean, I don't have to wear it the entire night or anything. And yeah, I don't have to lace them too tight, or whoever does it for me." It looked like it'd be tricky to do some of these up by one's own self, she was just sayin'. Er. "Ok, I like this type too. So maybeeeeee... this one?" This one had no lacy or frilly acoutrements, it was a pretty basic underbust model, with some metal rings here and there and a nice black design threaded throughout and around the garment.

Layla looked the corset up and down wearing her serious consideration face, which she hoped masked her picturing-Sarah-in-that face really well. Because that other face? Soooo obvious. The blond reached out and tugged on a ring. "Someone might tie a rope to you or put you on a leash and try to drag you around part of the night. But it's kinda cool. I like it. Which probably doesn't speak highly for it's genre. Seems sorta goth. Maybe a little...uh...bondage-y." Was she allowed to say bondage-y? Was Sarah going to be squeamish about that sort of thing? And oh my god now Layla was picturing her in the corset and some sort of intricate rope system and....moving on!

Looking down at the corset that she was holding in front of her, Sarah considered it and twisted and turned a little bit, this way and that. She frowned and then giggled at that, not quite making the connection at first. "But why would anyone want to tie a rope on me? I... oh." Layla was totally allowed to say that but only if Sarah was allowed to blush in kind, which she was doing at that exact moment in a shade to rival the garment which she was holding. "I wouldn't want that. Not that there's anything wrong with that! I just don't think it'll be, uh, that kind of party." Putting it back on the rack, Sarah led them even further back into the store now. The corsets and various clothing all seemed to be getting pretty elaborate now, but maybe that was what she needed. She stopped in front of one that looked like it'd be perfect, only it was an overbust model and there were two zippers in the front of it. "Why would they put zippers there for? What could..." Oh. Huh. There was an underbust model of the same design, which thankfully didn't require zippers, and she instantly gravitated to that one, leaving the other one behind her.

This little trip was definitely going to help perfect Layla's I-don't-know-what-you're-talking-about innocent expression, because that was exactly the one she was wearing when Sarah questioned the zipper placement. The fact that the brunette shifted over to the underbust version that was lacking the oh so conveniently placed zippers was more than just a little relieving. "I like that one," Layla offered, partly to distract herself. "I like the darker red. With the dark hair and the pale skin...it'd look good on you." And the it looked amazing in the mental image Layla had, too.

She was getting plenty of practice with using it, that much was certain. The one with the zippers was behind her now, both literally and figuratively speaking, so she was trying her hardest not to think about it. "It is a darker shade, isn't it? Which makes sense, I think, a steampunk Red Riding Hood should be darker, don't you think? More mysterious or something." It made sense to her anyway, and she did like this particular one. Sarah smiled and blushed a little at the compliment. "Oh Layla, you're too sweet." She was really happy that the blonde girl had come along with her, she was really enjoying her company, even if it did result in copious amounts of blushing at times. "Ok, I think I'll try it on then. They should have changing rooms here somewhere, yeah?"

Layla turned and pointed to where a heavy dark material covered a rectangular protrusion from the wall closer to the front. She could have pointed to it without turning around but she really needed to look at something other than Sarah or she would start blushing and match the girl's shade of red in no time. Oh Layla, you are filled with dirty thoughts. None of that! That is all way too complicated and we don't want any of it even if it's really nice eye candy.... "Up there. You probably have to be let in or something, I assume."

Sarah followed her gaze to where Layla pointed. "Ah, ok, thanks. You're right, I'll let someone know I'd like to try it on." The sales clerk was still milling about up front in the store so she could find her or one of the other staff around to get let into the changing area, she figured. Turning to go and do just that, with corset in hand, Sarah stopped and turned to Layla again. "So, uh, do you come with me inside? I mean, not inside inside while I change, but to see what it looks like after? Or do I come out and get you or wave you over or something? And do you need two people to even put it on?" So many questions, so much blushing.

And Layla's brain totally checked out the first time Sarah mentioned inside. Her brain sort of wandered off, had a bath, splashed around in a pool and had a damn good time until Layla shook her head to clear it and re-focus. "You can probably get it on alone. I think. It'd be a stupid piece of clothing if you needed other people to help you put it on. But, I'll, uh, loiter? Outside the dressing room, I mean. So if you don't wanna come out you can just like open the door and I'll come in for feedback and stuff." Yes. Stuff. Like pulling her brain out of her ass and her foot out of her mouth. Sure, that was going to happen at some point.

She wasn't sure how it'd work but Layla made a good point, it'd be an odd piece of clothing if you couldn't put it on by yourself. Sizing up the corset, she seemed to see how it worked and should be able to get it on after awhile. "Ok, yeah, I'll go put it on then." She nodded at Layla's suggestion to wait around, and Sarah figured she'd call her over once she put it on. It was true that the goal was to wear it in public with her costume, but she wanted to make sure she had it on properly and that it looked alright, so for that she'd want Layla to see it first. "I'll wave you over, I guess?" It wasn't that far away so she should have no problem seeing her do so. And with that she headed to find the clerk to get permission to try it on.

As Sarah walked off Layla gave her a small salute. And then she promptly went wandering because she really did need something else to focus on other than her brain going "hey, you can do in too!" Her brain was so not helpful today. Layla sighed and shook her head. Once Sarah was safely tucked away in her dressing room Layla let herself wander further up front and look at the various photographs. If she kept looking at corsets and stuff she'd picture the brunette in them and then her brain would be a little preoccupied and then seeing Sarah actually in a corset would be a world of not helpful. Yeah....that needed to be avoided.

The sales clerk happily assisted her and unlocked one of the changing booths for Sarah, and she scooted inside with the corset to try it on. It took her several minutes to figure it out, since it was a pretty tricky garment for someone who'd never tried such a thing on before, but after awhile she thought she had it. There was a mirror inside the dressing room itself so she gave herself a good look first to make sure she had it on properly and that it wasn't going to fall off of anything - just the thought made her want the ground to swallow her whole, holy crap - and then decided it was time for Layla's opinion.

Pulling the curtain aside, Sarah looked around until those familiar blonde locks came into view across the store. "Psst! Hey! Layla!" She didn't want to shout so her voice was attempting to sound hushed yet loud enough to be heard. Sarah stuck her arm out, beckoning Layla to come over. She looked back over her shoulder into the mirror while waiting for the other girl's arrival, she really liked this one herself, hopefully Layla would approve as well.

She caught the stage whisper beckoning and spun around, careful to not knock anything over with her skateboard. That would be embarrassing. Of course, all there was to see was an arm flailing in her direction. Good enough. Layla headed over and tried to look as innocuous as possible when she passed the sales clerk which, frankly, probably failed horribly. She was not pulling off this whole cool and casual thing. There was a, well, a really fucking hot girl in a corset on the other side of a door who wanted Layla to come in, check her out and rate the corset or her in the corset or something like that. Yeah...casual was so not getting pulled off here. But she got to the door and tapped on it with the back of her hand. "You decent?"

It seemed to fit alright, and she'd done it up as tight as she could by herself. The underbust corset fit snugly against her, nice and firm without being too constricting, or so it seemed to her. There was definitely an unusual feeling in how it, well, acted like a corset should, but it wasn't uncomfortable or anything. Sarah turned to face the mirror, her back to the door, when she heard the knocking and Layla's voice. "Yeah, come on in." She bit her lip a little, hoping it looked ok. She turned around to face the door as the blonde girl came in, smiling awkwardly and hoping she looked alright. "Well, what do you think? I hope I'm wearing it right."

Sarah looked...damn. Yeah, damn was the only word coming to mind. Layla's eyes went a little wide, eyebrows darting upward and her jaw fell just a bit. There was a huge difference between Sarah in that I-wanna-cuddle sweater she had been wearing and the corset with just a camisole on. Especially since corsets had that effect of pinching inward and pushing everything else upward and downward. Most noticeably, she now had the sort of cleavage people got boob jobs for. "Uh...you might wanna bring a stick. To beat guys off you with. Just sayin'..." She glanced into the mirror's reflection of Sarah's back. "The lacing's all loose on the top and bottom though."

She smiled and fingered one of the curls in her hair as she waited for Layla's opinion. It looked alright to her, and the exaggerated increase of cleavage was not lost on her either - it looked weird to her, looking down and seeing a much different view, not that she was unhappy with her non-corseted self but this was different - but it seemed to meet the blonde's approval, which was good. It was important to her that Layla liked it, she wasn't sure why, but it just was. A big smile and more blushing came at those words. "Maybe I should have some kind of weapon, though I won't need to keep the boys at bay or anything." She was pretty sure she'd be ok, anyway, none of them had noticed her before and she hadn't really noticed any of them either. For a brief second she wondered if Callie would be there, then she looked over her shoulder to see what Layla was talking about. "Oh, huh. I tried to get it but it's tough." She turned around, her back now to Layla. "Do you maybe..." She wasn't sure if that was an appropriate thing to ask so she kinda trailed off there at the end.

"Yeah, I got you. Just tell me if I make it too tight, okay?" It was so much easier to focus on Sarah's back. Okay it was kinda hot from this side too, but less distracting and now staring was necessary and not as weird. Layla dropped her board and started with the top, following the lacing and pulling it tighter until it was snug, then keeping the lacing taut as she moved down further. She was careful to not pull it tight enough that she exerted real effort to tighten her and hoped that would be good enough to not squish Sarah. Layla had an image of Sarah's popping off her neck if the corset was too tight. She wouldn't look nearly as good without a head. Layla liked her head. Well, she liked her eyes and those were in her head. And maybe her smile. And kinda the way she blushed. Aaaaand moving on with the focus!

In the middle of the corset Layla had to undo the bow Sarah had tied so she could feed the extra slack from tightening the top down to stop it from loosening on it's own. "Gimme your hands? I need you to hold something for me so I can do the bottom." The lacings made a loop with how they were laced through the eyelets and Layla held them out taut by the top part of the loop. "Take these and just keep 'em tight for me?" There was way more slack than there had been and Layla wasn't really sure how she was supposed to tie Sarah back up but, hey, it was like a really big shoelace, right?

"Ok, I will." Sarah stayed turned back on to the blonde standing behind her, and reached back to pull her hair over her shoulder and out of Layla's way while she worked on the corset. She tried to stand as still as possible so that she wouldn't interfere with the tying and all of that, and she watched her and Layla in the mirror as she stood there. Tilting her head slightly to one side, she watched the reflection of the other girl's arms moving back and forth as she worked on the laces. When she pulled them outward to tighten the laces and then moved them back in, it kinda looked like she was reaching out and about to hug Sarah from behind. Part of her wanted to lean back a little each time that happened, but she didn't, not too far anyway; she may have rocked back a little once and lost her balance for a second, taking a half step back by mistake. "Oops, sorry." Layla was taller than her and when she looked back at the mirror she could see her face, looking down at her back as she was intent on the task at hand, and she watched a few blonde strands of her hair hanging down in front of her forehead, bobbing up and down with her movements.

She broke out of her gazing with a little jump at the request to help out. "Ok, can do." She reached back, her hands open, reaching for the laces that Layla was holding. She felt around and found Layla's warm hands again, then quickly moved down them to find the laces and held onto them tightly. "Keep them tight, gotcha."

Layla waited until Sarah's fingers had a firm grasp on the laces before she slid her hands out from under them. She found herself staring at her right hand as it moved out from under Sarah's. Stupid things like how Sarah's skin was darker than her own stood out in her head. Why was she bothering to notice that? Or that her hands were still cold. Still? Layla's hands were at the bottom of the corset back at work when she realized what her frame of reference was for Sarah having cold hands. Right. Their entrance. She cleared her throat and her eyes flicked up to the mirror to lock onto the reflection of Sarah's for a moment. "Are your hands always cold?" She wasn't even sure why she asked. Without waiting for the reply she dropped her gaze and continued tightening. "A weapon's probably a good idea, though. For the guys, I mean. I'm pretty sure you're underestimating yourself. Or maybe them. Or both. Plus, I hate how red riding hood's always such a pussy. You know she gets eaten and that's all she wrote in the first version of that story that got printed? But in some of the older versions she realizes it's the wolf and not her grandmother and gets away by being sneaky. It's pretty lame that she gets eaten and then rescued by a hunter when he cuts open the wolf's stomach. I mean, hello, since when do wolves swallow people whole? She eats her grandmother in one version, just thinking it's meat. How fucked up is that?"

As she spoke she finished the lacing and her hands slid down the length of the lower half of the looped portion until her hands came to Sarah's again. Her hands paused, then slid over the other girl's until they were encompassed by Layla's, the blonde's fingers reaching out beyond Sarah's to grasp the lacing. "Thanks, I got these now." She waited until Sarah pulled away her hands before figuring out how to tie these super long things into a bow. "Anyway, point is, I think Red Riding Hood should be a badass. And you would make a kick ass badass riding hood. I'm just sayin'. I think you need a whip." With each long loop folded in half Layla managed to tie a slip knot and then make a bow. Once she was sure it was secure she stepped back to admit her handiwork. Her head tilted as she looked over the back of the corset all laced up, then her eyes moved to look at Sarah's reflection in the mirror. The blonde grinned. "It looks awesome. Is it too tight?"

Holding onto the laces tightly, Sarah thought about the question before answering. "Not really, I don't think, it's just chilly out there today, I guess." She couldn't really tell herself, and other than Layla she hadn't really held hands with anyone in awhile. And now she was thinking of how warm Layla's own hands were, earlier when they came into the store and just now. "Sorry if they're too cold, they're usually warmer." The thought of Layla finding Sarah's hands uncomfortable made her a little sad for some reason, she couldn't put her finger on why exactly, but she hoped that wasn't the case. Talk of weapons was a welcome change of subject, and she nodded at the general suggestion. "Yeah, a weapon would be kinda cool, I don't think steampunk Red Riding Hood should be a, you know, pussy." She should kick ass and be an awesome superhero! That made her think of her fencing lessons with Kurt and maybe she could incorporate that somehow, but a sword wasn't really steampunk. Looking into the mirror at Layla, her eyes went wide at the description of some versions of the fable. "Ewww, he cut her out of its stomach? And she eats her grandmother?! What the heck?!" That was beyond messed up, especially for a kid's story.

Sarah took a sharp intake of breath as her pondering of the bizarre stories was interrupted by Layla's warm, soft hands again. She was glad that she was facing the other direction since her cheeks warmed up as well, though she'd forgotten that there was a mirror there too. "O-ok, thanks." Like the blonde girl had done earlier, she waited until she was sure Layla had the laces and then she withdrew her hands somewhat hesitantly. Just to make sure she had the laces, yes, better safe than sorry. She frowned at the mention of a whip, however. "A whip? Really? I... I guess that's steampunk." It was definitely different and a kick ass weapon, hmm. Maybe if they found one with a cool handle it'd work, yeah. "We can look at some I suppose." There was no harm in looking, right? Speaking of which, the alterations were done and she met Layla's eyes in the mirror, smiling. "It does look ok, doesn't it? And no, it's not too tight, it's ... not loose, but a little tighter wouldn't be bad either." Her camisole, which was by its own nature a little loose anyway, made it seem loose, but it wasn't that bad. Sarah turned to face Layla, looking down at the corset and not meeting her eyes right away. "Yeah, no, I think it'll be perfect."