Laura and Yvette - Halloween Costume talk, backdated to October 24

[x-penance.livejournal.com]

Yvette has a favour to ask of her roommate and a discussion on the role fashion plays in identity follows.



"Laura?" asked Yvette, poking her head into her suitemate's room. "Are you being busy right now? I have the favour to ask."

Over the past few days Laura had been doing a lot of suitcase staring, which basically involved that; staring at an empty suitcase. She wasn't startled at all when Yvette called though, as she was trained well enough to know where were the people around her. "Busy? Nah, just thinking about stuff." She turned around and gave her a careful look, wondering what was this about. "Need anything?"

"Actually, I need the advice. About fashion. And you are the most fashionable person I know that I like, so I was hoping..." Yvette cut off the babble. "I need the help. For the Halloween costume."

"Oh. Oh! I'm...honored?" Well she was fashionable, but being held in such a high regards... "So it's a costume thing, alright. What are you thinking to use? Or what sort of idea you had in mind at least."

"Well.." Yvette came in and perched herself on Laura's desk chair. "I was thinking perhaps something more... grown up?" She squirmed a little. "I am tired of seeming to be the little girl. I cannot make myself taller or give myself more..." Her eyes flamed blue as she made a vague movement towards her fairly flat chest. "But I thought maybe the Halloween costume could be something different for me?"

Laura sat on her bed as she listened, getting a bit more serious. "Hey, you are pretty, alright? And I don't mean it on the condescending way. You really are. But I get the idea. I mean, people tend to assume things without really giving them much thought." She made no comments on the chest part because there wasn't really anything else to add there. Maybe all that hard skin was pressing there too? No, that's a horrible thing to say, thought as she shook her head.

"So you want to get rid of the little girl image some people think when they see you. I guess it's like trying to convince your parents of using mini skirts or going out late, heh. Do you have any idea of what would you like to be this Halloween? Go all out girl, I promise to be as receptive as I can."

"I would like to change some of how I dress on the normal day too," Yvette confided. "But I thought the Halloween costume would be a good start." She squirmed a little, then confessed. "I was thinking about one of the Lady Gaga outfits, perhaps?"

"Oh we can surely come up with something about your everyday clothes. How good are you at, you know, not shredding stuff these days? There's a lot of options with more or less loose clothes too, if you want to keep the bodysuit and all." Laura blinked a couple of times when Yvette mentioned Gaga out of all people. "Well, she does give some ideas for Halloween, I'll give you that. Not so much for everyday clothes. Any in particular?"

"The body suit helps a lot and I can control my hair better, so there are more options, but looser is still better. And buttons on the shirts." Pulling shirts down over her head tended to reduce them to rags. "But at least I do not feel the cold, so I do not need the layers so much? And for the costume, I was thinking the red one?" She grinned a little. "After all, I can make my hair spike straight up already without the gel."

"Yeah! I'll totally take you out to buy stuff alright?" For all that it was worth, Laura could see a challenge in there, as well as a chance to be nice to Yvette, who had apparently been close with Logan. All in all seemed like a good deal. "The red one...the red one...oh you mean the red one! Yvette! So bold!" Laura stood and drew closer to her, sitting on her desk next to her -but never too close, of course- as she gave her a particularly childish grin. "Yeah, I can see it working. But last time I saw that dress I think that Gaga was in her undies under there. I'm sure it can be arranged though."

If Yvette could blush, her face would have been scarlet... except it was any way. "Not so daring as Lady Gaga," she admitted. "I will have to wear the body suit underneath any way, so I do not tear up the dress. But I thought it would be something different enough, yes?"

Laura nodded energetically. "Yep! But Yvette, and I'm not trying to dissuade you or anything, because God knows I lack the maturity to pull that one, I want you to do what makes you feel comfortable, not only what will make you be noticed. There are a lot of ways to make people change the way they look at you."

"Like what?" Yvette asked, tilting her head to the side curiously. "I have been trying hard to improve my English, but it is a very sneaky language."

Laura stared at her for three whole seconds. "Okay you got me. I guess I'm the worst person you can talk about this stuff; I've never really failed at stuff I get my mind on and people always looked at me like an older and completely legal version of myself." That...was probably too much information, but it was done already. "Hmmm...you could tell people? The clothes change will help a lot, trust me. Eh, I'm sure someone might be able to help you with your English, but that's certainly not me."

"Oh. Okay?" Yvette was confused - and a bit curious now - about what Laura had been getting at, but was too polite to press. "But the clothes, they are the start, yes?" she asked hopefully. "Fashion does seem to be very important at university, I have noticed. I would like to fit in better." As well as she could ever hope to, any way.

"Sure, if you can improve your looks it's more likely that people will treat you differently. But it's not only the clothes, you know; you need to have the right attitude to face people so they know who they are dealing with." But Laura was sure it was better not to get too ahead on the line, so she smiled as she tried to guess what would be a good equivalent to a pat on the back. It was more difficult than she had thought. "But let's focus on the clothes first! And the costume. How about we go out and look for it? We could also bother our resident sewing crew if you want a custom made."

"That sounds like the plan, yes," Yvette agreed, eager to start on things now she'd gotten someone's expert opinion. "Where does one buy lots of red lace, any way.."