xp_logs | Shop 'till you drop continued.

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Paige keeps shocking herself by looking at her reflection in the store window. She's not pretty, with all the angles in her face and the dark colour of her eyes, and this is not why she's looking at herself. Instead, it's her hair and the very non-her sort of cut it seems to be in. She tries to remind herself that good will come out of this but then remembers that there is no good coming out of this, and sighs.

Alison finally gives in and reaches out to ruffle the hair a bit - the cut is made to be flyaway in reality, even though Jacques had a blast styling it within an inch of its life before setting his prey loose. "You can wash it and set it like you want when we get back," she advises Paige as they stand in one end of the mall. She looks Paige over a few times, eyeing some of the stores and dismissing them out of hand - not her style at all. "How about we start here?" She waits until Paige follows, lugging the bag of hair care products Jacques insisted on giving her while muttering to Alison that the hair just had to be saved.

"Remind me one more time why my hair was in such peril?" Paige asks, slinging the somewhat very heavy bag over her shoulder. She follows Alison somewhat docily, figuring she'll save her energy for when Ali attempts to put her in a corset or the like.

Alison gives her a side long look and grins. "That's just Jacques. He does that for people he likes. The fussing and all. Makes him feel good about giving away stuff." She walks towards one of the stores, cutting a swath through the crowd, people seemingly moving out of her way without even being aware of it. She ducks into a store, moving aside so Paige can step inside in front of her. "So. Look around. Is there anything in here you like?" she asks absently, already noting a few items that'll look good on Paige.

"You're not going to let me go if I just scowl and say nope are you?" Paige asks, poking at a blue lace... thing that looks as if it's been attacked by a wild animal. When Ali gives her a look, she smiles sweetly. "I'm making sure the bear's still not hiding in there. The very, very tiny bear."

Alison gives her an eerie smile and raises an eyebrow. "You know, little bears hanging from the sleeves of a blouse could be arranged if you want. Five stores down, specialty store." The smile grows a bit wider, and perhaps a bit more predatory too.

Paige's nose twitches, and she backs away. "Look, we both know I have horrible taste, just pick something, I'll try it on, I'll hate it, you'll love it, and we'll all go home, okay?"

"Wrong," Alison mutters, turning to grab a few pairs of cotton slacks from a nearby display, and then after a pause, adding a light blue pinstripe blouse to the lot. "You have to at least a bit like them, or else you won't wear them. Besides, wearing clothes you don't like is just not good." She turns and nods to herself, certain she's picked out the right sizes, and adds a plain white snug t-shirt before handing over the lot to Paige. "Dressing room. Over there. Go. That's all I want to look at in this store."

Paige is somewhat surprised that there are no corsets or lacy things, and doesn't bother to hide the fact. "Oh... okay. Would you like to see them?"

"Yep," Alison says, refraining from rolling her eyes. Never been out girl shopping - no kidding Sam! "I'll fend off the salesgirls too so they can't try to foist off some of the scarier stuff on you," she adds, giving a nearby skirt a disdainful look. "Shoo! Go change."

Paige smiles shyly at Alison, feeling very stupid and uneducated all of a sudden. "Thanks, Ali." She closes the change room door behind her and locks it with a secure click.

Surprised by the genuine smile, which although she's seen often has usually never been directed at her, Alison just nods as the door closes behind the young girl. She waits for Paige to come out, shooing off another lurking salesgirl without remorse.

Unlocking the door, Paige slowly steps out for inspection, a flush high on her cheeks. "So?"

Alison grins as she steps out, turning briefly to give the still lurking salesgirl a sharp look to fend off any unwanted suggestions. She nods at the striped blouse and white capris in satisfaction, noting the sizes are good - the capris might stand to be a size smaller, but she suspects that might just make Paige uncomfortable, and lets it pass. "Perfect. If you like those, we're taking them for sure. Why don't you take a look in the mirror?" she steps to the side and reaches to close the changing room door, allowing Paige the chance to view herself in the mirror.

Paige tilts her head, a glimpse of a smile on her face. "I... kind of like it. Actually." She seems confused, before smiling a little brighter, her voice more sure. "They're good."

Alison nods to herself, standing to the side and a bit behind her, so that Paige can't see her reflection in the mirror. "Good. Sold," she declares, finally allowing the salesgirl to sidle closer. "Go try on the rest of it and see if you like it, and hand me those," she gestures at what Paige is wearing, "so this nice young lady can carry this to the counter for us."

~*~

Paige takes the bags the sales lady hands to her, still marvelling over the fact that Alison managed to convince her to purchase not only those abnormally flamboyant pyjama's but a dress no less. She peeks into the one of the bags, and yes. She wasn't dreaming after all. The sun dress sits next to a polo top. At Paige's proclamation that she can't feel her feet from the great amount of walking, they head for the food court where Paige makes a great show about taking up half of the aisle with her bags.

"Why don't we get something to eat - there's a few places that aren't too scary in the food court. Burger joint that has nothing to do with McDonalds, among other things. I could do with a burger," Alison mutters almost to herself as they head off, not carrying any bags with Paige insisting on carrying her own things. The reach the food courts and find seats, Alison sending Paige off to get food first while keeping an eye on the bags so she doesn't have to juggle them while trying t carry a tray of food at the same time. She keeps an eye on Paige and the people around her, idly wondering at herself until she realizes that she's actively scanning the crowd for potential trouble. I'm getting paranoid in my old age, she thinks wryly, without stopping what she's doing.

Paige swiftly returns with food and plunks it on the table with as much grace as she can muster. She opens the bottle of water she ordered and drinks from that, muttering about how she rather doubts that this water came all the way from Germany or where ever.

"Thanks," Alison says, pouncing on her share with little ceremony. She slows down after about half of the hamburger has been consumed, offering Paige a sheepish grin. "It's all the extra training - I mean, I used to train to keep fit before, but the regimen Scott has me on is a tad bit more intensive. I've been eating almost twice as much as usual lately to keep up with that."

"Oh, I understand," Paige replies. "When Sam left I decided to take it upon myself to self teach myself gymnastics. Stupid, I know, you don't have to tell me. Anyways, that, combined with all the chores I did at home, I figured myself pretty fit, but even I am finding that I eat more now, and I don't train every day." She pops a cherry tomato into her mouth and chews.

"I did, before," Alison mutters aggrievedly. "And it's still been something and a half - don't get me wrong, I'm loving it, but still..." she shakes her head, resisting the wild impulse to flex an arm and do an Arnold Swartznegger impersonation. She demolishes a few fries, pausing from scarfing down her food to breathe a bit.

Paige picks at her sandwich, apple tuna on egg, amused and somewhat nauseated all at the same time at watching the usually so graceful Alison eat. "How is the training going, anyway? Must be bloody insane-" She cuts herself off and blushes, realizing she's using Jono vocabulary again. "Must be very hard. Yes."

If Alison notes the slip, she gives no outward sign of it - opting instead to keep eating, if at a slower pace now that she's at least had the chance to eat a little bit. "Well, I think. Scott's so focused and intense it'd be scary, if I weren't used to that kind of teaching already," she shrugs. "Music teachers are the scariest," she adds at Paige's puzzled look. "And no one is scarier than Madame Dovietsky. No one," she grins at the memory of her tyrannical piano teacher.

"Ah. I'll just have to take your word on it." She munches on her sandwich, her thoughts skipping off track while she's supposed to be responding with polite conversation.

Alison grins at the oh so very polite response, noting that Paige seems to be getting her balance back quickly now that the shopping is done with. Ah well, it was fun while it lasted, she reflects, reaching for her drink, thoughts drifting off. She seems to like what we got her, at least.

"So," Paige says suddenly, as if she's never really left. "How long have you been madly infatuated with my brother?"

There's a choked sound as Alison swallows the soda wrong, and starts coughing, trying to regain her breath. I am not infatuated! I'm in lov- is the first response that goes through her mind, but she quells it, deciding that it probably gives away more than she would like if Paige really thinks it's just that. And then wondering if it's not teenage cooties kicking in with Paige preferring that over the "L" word.

"I give up," she mutters darkly. "Soon the entire world will figure out, except for Sam. And he doesn't think of me that way in the least, Paige," she adds, far more calmly than she would have even the previous week.

"Oh, don't make me give you The Look," Paige says, tipping back some more of her water. "You know I will."

Alison takes in a deep breath, having no clue how to answer without probably saying too much that Paige might not know about. For all I know. Which I don't. Well shit. "A while now," she shrugs it off, carefully eyeing her drink and deciding to wait on that a bit before trying it again. "It's not an issue," she adds, chewing on a fry half-heartedly, appetite all but gone.

"Oh." Paige turns away, trying not to look hurt at what she assumes to be an obvious 'I don't want to tell you'. "That's fine."

Alison groans and hangs her head. "Don't. Gah, that's almost as bad as when Sam does that," she whimpers. "Only he actually halfway pouts and then I-" she groans again, managing to cut off the rest of the sentence which was likely something Paige wouldn't have been too thrilled hearing about as it involved her older brother and precious little clothing.

"I," she pauses, looking lost. Paige darling, talking to you of all people about this is just bizarre. "A while," she finally says, dropping her napkin on her tray and giving up on eating. "He just needed a friend more than anything else even then, and either way, I didn't stand much of a chance," she says simply.

Paige sighs and throws one of Alison's fries at her forehead, bored with being mature. "Would you please just stop dancing around the whole Piotr thing? Innuendos and mystery were never my strong suit."

Alison stares up at her forehead crossed-eyed for a brief moment, and then shrugs. Well, that answers that. She takes a sip of her drink pensively, smiling faintly at the thought of Paige wearing a Sherlock Holmes ensemble and solemnly saying 'Elementary, my dear Jono.'

"Mmm," she sets down her drink, giving the girl sitting down in front of her a calm smile. "So, of course, I figured it out around that time - the whole thing with Piotr I mean."

Paige munches thoughtfully on a cucumber. "Awkward time to fall for my brother, I guess. Guess as in educated guess." She looks up at Alison. "I think you do 'stand a chance' by the way. Not that my opinion means much, but I do."

Alison frowns slightly at her words. "I know we seem to grate on each other's nerves at the weirdest moments Paige, but it doesn't make your opinion any less worthy of being heard - no matter what it's about." She waits to make sure her words have sunken in, before going on. "As for Sam well - at this point it's just," she pauses, searching for the right word, "saner for me, to just be there."

She rolls her eyes. "That made no sense at all even to me."

"No no, I think it makes perfect sense. And not only because Sam is my brother and the idea of him dating anyone is revolting." She chuckles and begins peeling the skin off a grape, not really sure if she wants to look Alison in the eye yet. "Sometimes it's just easier to not take the step. I understand that, somewhat. As long you never regret your decision, it's fine. Just don't let yourself begin to wonder."

Alison shrugs, having already been through that very thought process the previous week and knowing she'd not risk losing Sam's friendship for anything in the world. "Well, things should stay the same, as long as he doesn't make it a habit to greet me wearing only boxers when I knock at his door. A girl only has so much self-restraint," she adds, sliding an amused look and anticipating Paige's reaction.

Paige's face falls, as she gives her a not quite decipherable look. "Please Alison, don't make me plug my ears and start singing in public."

A downright cheerful grin greets her words, and Alison takes another sip of her drink, glad to be able to steer the conversation in another direction. "Little blue stars," she nods solemnly, hoping Paige might actually do what she threatened before.

Paige resists rising to the bait, quipping back, "Oh. He must have bought new ones for you then. I certainly don't remember those the last time I did laundry."

Alison laughs out loud, enjoying the rejoinders, and settles down to the task of trying to get a rise out of the younger Guthrie with determination.