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

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Part two of Layla and Sarah's shopping trip to NYC. This got long, y'all.

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


Layla grinned, the expression broad and sincere. "Awesome! And now you just need a cloak. And a whip. Because they didn't have guns and if someone's going to wrap a whip around your throat it makes you think twice about putting your hand on their ass." She nodded firmly while she fought off a mental image of her hand on Sarah's ass. Damn uncooperative brain again. "You could be like Little Red Indiana Jones. There was some weird steampunk shit in those movies, right? Oh, and you know they have whips here, right?" The question was delivered casually and nonchalant even though Layla was almost certain Sarah didn't, in fact, know that.

She grinned, that sounded so bad ass indeed, this really was a fantastic idea. "I do, a nice, thick one would be great, something that matches this shade." Sarah giggled at that comparison. "Oh wow, that is an awesome way to put it, Layla. There was, yeah, totally! I need to watch those again. And oh, they do? That's great!" She really didn't have any idea that they sold whips here, or what else they sold there, other than the corsets she'd already seen and the one she had on at the moment. "Let's go look at them! Er, after I take this off, I guess." She really shouldn't wear it around the store, but she was sure it was the one for her. Maybe the sales clerk, who may be wondering what they're both doing in there, would hold onto it for her at the counter or something. "I, uh." She reached back to test the laces, and found they weren't too tight for her. "I think I can get it off." Sarah turned around again, tugging on the strings to start loosening it just to make sure before she lost her extra set of hands.

Little Red Indiana Jones was, as far as Layla was concerned, a complete stroke of brilliance on her part. And wow, Sarah in that corset with leather pants and a cloak? Layla totally had a new mental happy place and that was so it. "Think you can get it off or know you can?" She watched Sarah tug on the lacing for a minute, then shook her head and batted the brunette's hands away with one hand and started to spin her around with the other until Sarah's back faced Layla again. "You're going to take eight years to do that. Stop, I'll unlace you." And wow, did that come out wrong or was it just all wrong in Layla's head? Her hands worked quickly to untie the bow and loosen the lacing until it was as loose as it got. She was even careful to make sure it was equal all the way down so Sarah didn't get it mostly off and then get stuck and have to re-loosen part of it.

"See?" she asked as she stepped back. "It was way faster and easier for me to do it." Layla stuck out her tongue, grabbed her board and grinned. Then she opened the door of the dressing room just enough to literally slide her way out of there and guard the door. The sales clerk was giving her a suspiciously amused look. Layla narrowed her eyes.

It really was brilliant, Layla should become a fashion consultant or advisor or something. She'd need to look for leather pants too if that was the plan, since Sarah didn't have any, but while she was there she might as well get it all done at once. Maybe they'd give her a discount or something too. "I think... no, wait, it's..." She grinned as Layla batted her hands away and moved in the same direction in which the blonde girl was spinning her. "Ok, ok, thanks." At least she hadn't said undress. Sarah watched Layla's reflection as she undid the corset, once again watching her hair as it moved to and fro. "I really like your hair, by the way. I meant to tell you before but didn't so I'm telling you now."

She held the corset tight to her chest as Layla finished, not wanting it to fall off. It shouldn't be a big deal since she had a camisole on underneath (even if, being a camisole, it was a little flimsy), and it wasn't like she had anything Layla hadn't seen before. That was the wrong thing to think, because now she was thinking of Layla seeing her or her seeing Layla or wow, ok, distraction please! She nodded wordlessly as Layla scooped up her board, not able to make eye contact. "It was, thank you. I'll just be, um, I'll be out in a sec." She grinned at the mirror upon seeing Layla sticking out her tongue in the mirror but she was going to need a minute to both change and cool down a bit.

It didn't take her too long and she came back out in her comfy sweater, corset in hand, cheeks still a little pink. "I forgot how warm this thing is." Yes, that was it. "So, what else did you say we can get here?" She was still a little distracted, and looked around the store for the most part instead of at the blonde girl.

While Sarah had de-corseted Layla had stood outside self-consciously tucking her hair behind an ear, then untucking it, then retucking it. She shoved her hand in her pocket when the door to the dressing room had opened which had left her hair hanging as it usually was. Layla recovered pretty quickly and immediately smiled, the expression clearly making it look like she was up to something. In a very helpful tone she replied, "A whip? And technically you could get leather pants, too. Just make sure they have an ass before you take them into the dressing room. You might give people the wrong idea."

"Oh yeah, a whip, ok. And leather pants too?" That seemed to make sense, in matching the corset and all. Sarah frowned at the mention of making sure they had an ass in them. "But why wouldn't they have one? That makes no... oh, um, yeah, I want ones with the butt in them." She continued to frown, looking around the store. Why would they sell those things in here anyway, what kind of a store was it? "Alright, let's go find those things then, I guess. Should we check with the store clerk or just wander?" She had no idea where they might find those things but if they weren't in a hurry they could just meander, plus it'd spare her the embarrassment of having to ask the sales clerk where they kept the whips and the pants with asses in them.

"Pretty sure we can find them on our own." Layla headed off toward the back of the shop where she had seen chaps and pants hanging up. "Do you wanna find your whip first or your pants? It's all about priorities here, kid, so you've gotta choose. Weapon or pants?" She shot a grin over her shoulder, then spun around to face Sarah. After a few backward paces she stopped and waited, one eyebrow arched and hands on her hips. Her expression was very expectant, as if this was a very important piece of information she was waiting on.

She nodded in agreement and followed Layla towards the back of the shop, looking around at everything as they walked through the merchandise. "Um, I guess... the weapon?" Sarah came to a halt quickly when the other girl spun to face her. "I mean, push comes to shove I have lots of pants at home, yeah? Or a skirt or something, hmm." She wondered if they had any of those there too. Having answered the question, Sarah grinned and mirrored Layla's pose, hands on her own hips, both eyebrows raised to see if she had passed the apparent test, and her head slightly tilted to one side.

The serious expression held for a few moments of silence, then cracked and Layla was grinning again. "That's my girl, prioritize weapons over pants. I knew I liked you for a reason." She spun back around and headed to the far back where there was a doorway wide enough to accommodate double doors despite the lack of any doors at all. Racks of corsets became racks of skirts and pants and vests and very odd strappy things that Layla was pretty sure were meant to be worn like a harness or something but that made no discernible sense while hanging limply on the hanger. She turned at the end of the racks and headed into the room at the back as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

The room had a wall covered in paddles, whips, floggers and cat-o-nine-tails. Another wall had blindfolds, rope, handcuffs and spreader bars. Racks of very dirty lingerie stood in the center of the room. The last two walls had various...accessories. Sex toys ranged from nipple clamps to vibrators to speculums to things that looked suspiciously electrically conductive. Layla made a bee line for the whips and tried her best to ignore the rest because sex toys were not in her comfort zone but she sure as hell wasn't going to make that obvious. She gestured to the array of hanging whips with a flourish. "Viola! Your weapon awaits."

She grinned back at Layla, glad that she had given the right answer. "Pants are overrated. Or something." They should have asses in them though, of course. Relieved to be moving again, she walked behind Layla, looking around as they moved. It really was quite the sight, as she saw the skirts and pants (she made a note as to where they were so they could come back to them after getting a whip), then they were walking past harnesses of some sort, and then all the lingerie and sex toys. Uh-oh. They really weren't in her comfort zone at all, either, which was pretty obvious in her case. She walked to the whip section, trying to focus on just them and not anything else in the immediate area. "Ok, um. How about this one?" She just reached out and grabbed the first one she saw, not really anxious to hang out there any longer than they had to.

Layla shrugged, the picture of unaffected nonchalance. "Up to you since it's your weapon. I thought you wanted it to match, though?" Layla nodded to the whip in Sarah's hand. It was purple. The other teen was obviously uncomfortable and was possibly turning a new shade of red altogether. Layla could understand that and she wasn't out to intentionally make Sarah's life hell. It was just that the blonde was apparently a lot better at ignoring the stuff that made her uncomfortable. Sorting through the whips with one hand, Layla started trying to give Sarah options. "You could go for black. Or brown. Depending on your pants. Steampunk seems more brown to me, is that right? Oh, hey, here's a red one, does it match your corset?" Her hand came out from near the wall with a dark red whip dangling from it.

Sarah looked down at the whip, seeing that it was purple. "Oh, yeah, I do, I think. And this is purple." She looked up at the wall, again trying to maintain some tunnel vision and not letting her eyes wander anywhere than over the whips. Layla really was far better at that, and Sarah's face was matching both the corset and the dark red whip the blonde had taken down from the wall. She held up the corset along side of the whip, nodding as she compared the two. "I think that's a good match, yeah. We can go with that one then." And then they could retreat back to the more comfortable part of the store, because holy crap. "Let's just grab and it check out the pants, yeah?"

"Aye, captain." Laya put her board down for a second so she could wind the whip into a few loops so it didn't just get dragged everywhere, then picked her board back up and headed out of the room. She caught sight of the mouth gags on the wall in front of them, quickly shut her eyes and then diverted them before opening them back up. Yeah...this was going to be memorable for everyone. Back in the main room, Layla didn't stop until she was well in the thick of leather pants. "So, what color did you want?"

Following Layla out of the room, Sarah was practically stepping on the back of the other girl's feet, and kept her eyes fixed on Layla's back. It was easier that way, even if it probably looked odd to any other customers in the store, but she didn't really care at that point. When they reached the main room Sarah stopped, almost banging into Layla, putting her hand up and touching her back for a brief second to stop her momentum. "Sorry, I just... yeah. That was weird." Her eyes darted around the room cautiously, and when she saw they were back in less uncomfortable territory she grinned awkwardly at Layla. "Well, I guess red's the theme, so probably that?" She looked at some of the pants around, feeling them as she walked past them. "Or maybe black, would that work ok, do you think?"

The hand on her back had Layla glancing over her shoulder at Sarah quizzically to see what was causing the contact. When Sarah apologized and stepped back Layla just shrugged. "Too much red's a bad thing. 'Cause the shades probably won't match exactly and then it looks kinda off, y'know? Black works. Or brown. Those're my suggestions anyway. Which one are you more likely to wear again? 'Cause there's no point getting a color you'll never wear 'cause then you spent all that money for one night and that's kinda dumb, y'know?"

Her cheeks were coming back to a somewhat normal hue again now, and she nodded at Layla's comment. "That's right, they wouldn't match up completely and it wouldn't look right. So, hmm. Maybe... maybe brown?" Black might be too contrasting with the red, brown could potentially work. She took a pair of brown leather pants off of the rack, double checked them to make sure there were bottoms in them, and then she held them up in front of her legs, with her other hand holding the corset up just for reference.

Layla now had a very vivid mental image of Sarah in the corset so with her holding that and the pants up against her the blonde's brain filled in the blanks to picture her in the ensemble. It wasn't really BDSM and it certainly wasn't biker chick chic, but it was something...and it was hot. Layla found herself nodding before she convinced her mouth to actually speak. When she did speak she managed to steadily work up to a ramble. "Yeah, brown works. It looks good with the red. Not as...vampire slut as black woulda been, y'know? Almost kinda more...I dunno, functional? Why does brown look functional? I dunno, anyway, brown looks like you're not trying so hard. Everyone's always all with their black leather pants trying to look like a sex kitten or a badass or whatever. But brown is more subdued. Like you'd underestimate it. Like you wouldn't realize they were leather pants at first but then you'd break out the badassery and people would be like 'Oh, I totally see it now.' That make sense to someone other than me?"

Sarah opened her mouth a few times to try and get a word in edgewise but wasn't able to penetrate the blonde's wall of words. Once Layla stopped, she waited for a beat or two before trying to speak again. "That makes sense, yes. And I like brown and would be more likely to wear it outside of the costume, I think." She double checked the back of the pants again, just to be sure, and nodded. "I think this does it then, unless there's anything else I need to get. Or do you think I should, like, try them both on before buying them?" The corset would be a pain to get on again but the pants should be alright, as long as she got the right size, so maybe they could just skip that.

"You should probably try the pants on just to be sure because Halloween's like barely more than a week away so..." she shrugged. Layla said this after weighing the options of a speedy escape, seeing Sarah in the pants or the actual, practical point of it being a pain in the ass to come back if they didn't fit. And whether or not Sarah would be willing to walk back in here after her many shades of red she had been today.

She considered that and then nodded. It wasn't like she had any other planned trips to the city between now and then and if they didn't fit or if something was wrong with them then that'd just suck. "Yeah, you're right. Could you hold onto these for me, please?" Sarah held out the corset and whip for Layla, taking the pants in her other hand. "I, uh, I got this one." Which should have went without saying yet she said it anyway. She turned to head back to the dressing room, where the sales clerk, who had been watching them with what appeared to be something of a smirk, was waiting for her.

Layla tried to salute Sarah but with her hands full she only managed to sort of nod and make this really awkward motion with her elbow. Man, that was slick. "Have fun. Make sure there's room for baby powder since I think you're supposed to use that to not, uh, chafe?" Wow, that wasn't exactly helpful advice. Oi.

It wasn't bad advice, however they probably didn't let you use baby powder when trying on clothing before buying it. Sarah tried them on in a much quicker fashion than with the corset, checking them out herself in the mirror inside the dressing room, then getting back into her plain old jeans and coming back out. "Yup, they fit ok. I was gonna come out but." She shrugged, taking the corset and whip back from the blonde girl. "Gotta leave something for a surprise, right?" Sarah was pretty psyched about how the costume was going to look, so much so now that she'd just about forgotten all the things they'd just seen in that other room. "I guess we're done, unless you wanna look around?" Maybe Layla wanted to get something, the world didn't revolve around Sarah Vale after all.

"Nah, I think I'm good." She handed everything back over to Sarah and happily shoved her free hand in her pocket again, because that was a much better place for it than anywhere it might want to be. "But I'm thinking food? You pick the type and I'll find a place. With or without needing to hop the subway at your preference. But... word on the street - and by 'street' I mean 'Yelp' is that down by Times Square there are some street vendors who make some jewelry you might be into. Lots of gears and skeleton keys and clocks?" Layla's smile distinctly suggested she was up to something, but the mischievous look was entirely innocent. Other than maybe solidifying herself as the single most awesome person in the world. At least for today anyway. "Can be had before or after food or not at all, up to you."

Taking her items back, she headed for the check out counter, walking beside Layla as she did so. "Food would be great, definitely, I'm starving." She laid her items on the counter and smiled at the sales clerk as she started ringing things in. Thankfully Sarah had saved up all of her birthday money, though even considering that this would be a significant dent in her savings. Still, it was a kick-ass costume, and Layla seemed to really like it, and part of her wanted to make Layla happy, so it was a done deal. "Oh yeah? That sounds pretty awesome, for sure, let's go! We can do it before food if you want, I can wait a little while." Especially if it meant looking at cool jewelery like that!

With a flourish of a hand and a bow just as cheesy to match, Layla said, "You're wish is my command, m'lady." She stood up smiling and gave the whip a significant look. "Even I know better than to challenge a chick with a whip."