• ((I feel like we're RPing a scene from Stardust, the movie...DeNiro as the gay costumer/captain of the airship))
  
  She smiled and looked around. It seemed that her clothes were on a mannequin...well, whatever had been sewn so far, which was a basic skirt. But she knew it was hers, considering the color and detailing. She trailed a finger along it, with hand-stitched sequins in a little floral design on the corners. There were belts arranged similarly to the way Squall wore his, crossed over. Aerith turned.
  
  Squall had been looking at the other clothes, and she noticed his uneasiness at some of the items for sale. "Don't worry, there's bound to be a few things here that you like," she reassured. But she had no idea what his style was, other than the dark clothes he normally wore. And Aerith herself did not want to be caught in more girly clothes. That just led everyone to believe she was just this little delicate flower, which by now, she was anything but...or at least trying to be.
  
  When the shopkeeper tailor walked into the main shop room from one of the other rooms, she smiled with recognition. "Yes...I'm back to buy some more clothes." Upon hearing the remark of "boyfriend," she laughed. "No, no, he's just my friend, my roommate, Squall Leonhart. He's the one looking for something new, actually. Well...I do need some more clothes too."
  
  "Dark and gloomy?" She eyed Squall up and down. "I guess that is his style, but he does look nice in dark clothes. Do you think you can freshen his look up better a bit though?" Aerith asked.
  
  "Darling, I am a master designer," the clerk said. "I can do anything!" he said, cheerfully looking like a butterfly about to flounce around.
  
  Aerith couldn't help but stifle a giggle. "Well...do please show my friend around. I'll just watch you two see what you can find and then I'll look around for more clothes for myself."
  
  The clerk looked to Squall. "All right, where shall we start?" he chirped.

((Are we done with this RP?))

((x.x; No, sorry. I read the post and had to get off, so the next time I checked, this RP had no little red page thing, so I didn't come back here. I forgot I hadn't posted. I'll do that in a bit; sorry.))

A quite uncomfortable look plastered upon his face, Squall followed the clerk as he buzzed around the store, pointing and raving on about his work.
"It's nice, but not me," Squall would say when he could get a word in.
The clerk, seeing that there was no avail, took Squall to the back of the store to fit him for something that was his style. Complying, the brown-haired swordsman did as he was instructed in order to get his measurements as quickly as possibly.

"Alrighty! All done," said the store's employee. "You have decent measurements, so it should be fairly easy to tailor an already-existing piece to fit you perfectly. This should be fun, don't you think, sir?"
Squall grunted a 'yes'-like sound, following the clerk into the main part of the store again. Eyes of pleading blue searched for Aerith to see if she could help, so that this would go by much faster.

• ((Well we're only human so okay.))
  
  She looked up to Squall, "Hm?" also kind of enjoying how her companion was getting tortured by the flamboyant designer. At this point, Aerith couldn't really do anything to help him. Menswear wasn't her thing. Her arms were crossed, and she paced the length of the room and caught up to Squall and the tailor. "Do you think you possibly need a woman's touch for this or do you have this all figured out?" She was teasing at this point, but Squall wanted new clothes and so did she, though she hadn't found anything of interest that was already ready-made as of yet.
  
  In any case she did interpret the look in Squall's eyes as a plea for help, but she couldn't do anything for him -- he had to be measured for clothes, just like she did, and they had to select some actual clothes for him as well.
  
  Her mind had to think fast. "Uh, I still need some extra clothes! I know it's only been a couple of days but well, my whole wardrobe's pink and I'm trying to get rid of all that! So...I need to borrow my friend for awhile." Aerith gripped Squall's arm, tightly, to make a point she was trying to help him.
  
  The tailor nodded and decided he would select something for Squall Aerith dragged Squall away and looked elsewhere throughout the shop.

"Wow," Squall said as he was yanked away from the clerk. "You're good. And I thank you."
He smoothed his hair back as she released him, and he looked through the women's clothes, actually interested in what she was going to wear.
"So," he began again, tilting his head as he checked a price tag. He exhaled in disbelief, and released the item. "Getting rid of the pink, huh? Why? It looks good on you."

Squall acted as if that wasn't an awkward thing to say, and started thumbing through the clothes once more. Eye contact after saying something so sickeningly odd wasn't an option. Eyebrows of brown raised as he looked at a slightly promiscuous top, and, noticing Aerith's odd look, he released it quickly.

Boots of charcoal black thudded against the hardwood floor as he continued to look, but he lingered around Aerith. Women's clothes were so complicated, Squall decided. There were high-rise; low-rise; boot-cut; boyfriend-style... gah, all this over a pair of jeans? Some even had little sparkley things on the back pockets! If women didn't want men looking at their butts, why would they have distracting designs on them? Squall shook his head, keeping quiet, and crossed his arms.
"Anyway, what kinda look are you wanting to go for?"

• "You were having a hard time there. I had to get you out," she explained. At his comment about her getting rid of her signature color, she sighed. "It's too bright and those dresses make me look like a little kid." At least that's what it made Aerith feel like. Sure, she was pretty feminine, but it hadn't made her feel any confident. She blushed though, when Squall said it looked good on her.
  
  "So you haven't found anything you like yet?" She looked at him, but then laughed because he was looking through women's clothes, and realized it was a very strange thing to say at that exact moment. Looking at the item he'd picked up and just as easily put back, she thought she liked it and decided to have a second look. "What's that?" Pulling it off the rack, she headed over to the mirror and placed it over herself. Tilting her head, she made a small "Hmm," sound. 'Cute but I'm not sure about this one.' Aerith went back to where Squall had first obtained it and put it back on the rack. "Not for me," she said.
  
  Aerith wanted a nice dress though. She didn't have any formal ones or any that would be "the perfect little cocktail dress" in her armoire either. After a failed attempt to look through most things (getting tired of looking through things she liked/didn't like/couldn't affordd), she decided to help Squall look for clothes for him. "I think I'm done here for now, but do you need me to help find something for you?"
  
  She decided she'd pick something later, at least. But still, Squall wanted to shop, and both of them did get their clothes shredded by Heartless earlier...so why not?

• The tailor had approached the couple with a few selections on hand. There was a black suit (more of a tuxedo), a longsleeved, collared dark blue shirt accompanied by a burgundy tie and a good pair of slacks. Lastly, a black male's tank-top and "fishnet-style" shirt that was supposed to go above it, and a pair of vinyl pants that resembled Squall's original ones slightly...with less zippers and belts.
  
  "Sooo, my dears, I've got a few things here that Monsieur might be interested in." He obviously didn't know Squall's style. He'd especially picked the tuxedo, if for some possible reason the "couple" (he refused to think they were just friends) were to go out to a nice place one night.
  
  ((And I have no style in guy's clothes either...hahaha!))

"Um, thank for the thought," Squall said as politely as his pride would allow him to. "But I'm not really a formal type of guy, I guess you could say. I'm more focused on-" he looked down at his current outfit. "-this type of thing, ya'know?"
Stealing a glance at his companion, he actually smiled a bit at her. This was an odd, awkward situation, but the look on her face almost made him chuckle. She looked just about at defeated as he felt, but he wasn't planning on drawing any attention to it.

Squall nodded to the clerk as he dismissed himself to pick out a new, "grungier" outfit. Pleased with the choices he could see the clerk making across the room, he turned to Aerith. His smirk was gone, but the glint in his eye was still violently apparent. It suited him well.
"So, are we gonna humiliate you anytime today? 'Cause that was the whole mission in my mind," he let off a small smile as she begun glaring at him. "I'm, actually, thinking of making you try this on."

As the word "this" exited Squall's thin, pale lips, he held up a completely hideous sequined, gold, metallic minidress.
"I know you like it."

• "Humiliate me?! With that thing? Oh hell no!" she said, as she backed away from Squall. "Nonono...I'm not gonna do THAT!" She picked out something random from the racks without looking at whatever it was. "I think I'm gonna try this on," she said, running into the dressing room in the back.
  
  Aerith locked the door behind her and breathed out a sigh of relief. 'What the hell was he THINKING?! Seriously!' she wondered. "Let's see what I have here." She still had whatever it was that she picked out. "Oh...what the hell have I pulled out this time?" Well...it was a much better choice than that nightmareish gold metallic dress. And silver would have been MUCH better too! 'Humiliate me?' she repeated. 'No. Just...no!'
  
  She sat on the stool that was provided in the dressing room, and the whatever-the-hell-she-picked-out-but-it-was-black-and-slinky dress was hanging on a nearby mini-rack.

Squall sidestepped the panicking girl as she ran away. It was a pretty horrible dress. Aerith still confused him, though, and he wasn't completely sure why she was acting so oddly around him. He'd just joked around with her a bit, but, apparently, it was driving her away and annoying her. He smoothed back his hair as he shoved the dress away from any wandering eyes (for fear of pupil erosion).

The brown-haired "tough guy" moseyed over to the clerk, peering over his shoulder at the items that were slung across his forearm.
"Like what you see so far?" asked the man, briefly looking back at the nosy Squall Leonhart.
"Yeah, I do, actually," he said, looking back at the dressing room doors Aerith had locked herself away in.
"What happened back there?"
"I've no idea. I have yet to understand women; much less Aerith."
"Nor have I," said the clerk. "But that's not really my problem anymore."
Squall actually was quite amused by that statement, smiling cheerfully and excreting a small laugh.

Sooner than later, Squall sat down in a bench near the dressing rooms. He sighed a bit, checking the doors to see if Aerith was, by any chance, peeking out to check for him.
"What's taking so long?" he finally whined.

Aerith pretty much heard the conversation going outside and kept silent, especially with Squall asking what was taking her so long. Well, for starters, it was still a weird feeling being around him. She didn't know whether to let her guard down or keep her cool. There usually was tension between the two of them because they never actually bothered to even get in each others' lives until Yuffie had left, leaving the house to Squall and Aerith. Lately, however, she worried about getting too close to her new "best friend," possibly even getting a bit jittery when he was around, which was a lot now.

She brought herself to stand up from her seat and looked at the dress. It was pretty much floor-length. She made a face and put her hair up in a makeshift bun first (having to literally tie her hair in a knot to make it stay).

She quickly took off her regular clothes...of course everything she bought was from this store, she noted, and took the black dress down from its hanger. "Well, I guess we all wanna know how this one looks," Aerith murmured. "Now how do I figure this out?!" There was a small zipper on the back of the dress, but she didn't know whether to put the dress over her head or step into it. Considering the back was supposed to be bare, Aerith just stepped into it and pulled the dress up.

"Halter-style, tieback, dark, long. Pretty good," she said aloud. "Squall? You still out there?" she asked him, smoothing down her dress. It was quite low-cut, and with her hair still up, she turned around and looked at the reverse side in the mirror. There were a couple of slits, mid-thigh pretty much, though she felt rather awkward if she had to step out and show off the dress. "Hm, at least it's in my size," she concluded. "I'm not going out anywhere to use this, though," she chuckled to herself. Well, unless Yuffie came back to Traverse Town all of a sudden, she wouldn't have anybody to go out with to someplace formal. Then again Yuffie wasn't down for that kind of thing anyway.

Not hearing an answer, Aerith pushed the door open and stepped out of the dressing room. "Squall?" she called out again, only to find him sitting on a bench. "I guess you didn't find anything you like yet."

She then waltzed herself over across the room to speak with the tailor. "Excuse me, sir?"

"Yes, miss?--ah!" he yelped in astonishment, which surprised Aerith.

"I-is there something wrong?" Aerith asked, looking down the dress and around herself, wondering if she did something wrong with the dress.

"No, no, not at all! That dress! It fits you so perfectly! I've had that dress for years, and no lady has fitted into it as perfect as you! Mademoiselle, I would like you to have this dress. A gift from me," he explained.

"Are you sure?" she questioned.

The tailor nodded. "I still have your other clothes to sew, but I promise they will be ready soon. But tonight...tonight you promise me you take this dress out on the town. Enjoy yourself with it. It is one of my most prized creations."

"But, I couldn't...if it's really special to you!"

"No, I insist! Keep it, it's yours now."

"A--alright," she said, looking down, and blushed. A pale arm trailed up from her side and held onto her other arm.

"Go show your friend. I still have other things to work on for him as well."

Aerith's eyes widened as she turned slightly pinker.

((Should we have a contact system like email or something so I know when you're available or w/e?))

((I'm not available much anymore. I'm so swamped with school and tutoring little kids that it's gotten ridiculous. I will be able to post today, though, and most of Sunday. :]))

Squall had left the store shortly to get two bottles of water: one for himself, and one for Aerith. Pushing his hair out of his face, he stood at the door with a sigh. It seemed as though he was having trouble figuring out the doorknob, but that wasn't the case at all. He was delving deeply into his mind in order to find out where his feelings were coming from, and, for that matter, what they were.
"I give up," he muttered aloud, swinging the door open. He was hit by a cold, crisp burst of air, inhaling deeply. It was so muggy outside that Squall could barely breathe; the air in the shop was much more tolerable.

"Aerith, I hope you're outta that dressing r-- Ahem," Leonhart cut himself off as he noticed the girl standing in the middle of the room. The florescent lighting was bouncing off of her form like a spotlight; her very presence enticed Squall, making him forget all about what he was saying; even what he was thinking about four seconds ago.
Holy... he thought, not even able to talk to himself in complete sentences. That can't be...
It was. The girl, in all her beauty, turned around to face the door. Gorgeous locks of brown, satiny hair framed a face of perfect pale peach; eyes of deep bluish green made his heart skip a few beats.
"...Aerith?"

((Aww, well, take all the time you need. I'm back in school now too so my time on here's pretty limited, so I understand. Good luck on tutoring, though!))

She had heard the bell chime, expecting another customer, and turned to the source of the voice calling her name, when she realized it was Squall. Not noticing the look on his face, she just plainly smiled. "Oh, there you are. I was wondering why you were so quiet."

Aerith twirled in her dress, showing it off to her companion...not sure if she should be turning to him as a friend for fashion advice, but still, better than no one. "Soooo, what do you think? The owner's giving this to me as a gift. Do you think it looks good?" At this point, she noticed the look on Squall's face. "Squally..." Aerith started, and tilted her head. "Is it THAT bad? Well, I can stuff it in the back of my closet and you wouldn't have to see it. We don't even have an occasion to use this dress either."

She caught herself saying 'we.' It wasn't meant to be caught onto as a date of some sorts, or so Aerith thought. Her smile turned to a small look of helplessness. It would be nice to have someone to go out with, but Squall's not that kind of guy. Besides, he wouldn't usually be up for that kind of thing.

It seemed obvious to her. She couldn't see Squall dating, much less accompanying her to some kind of formalwear party. Squall rejected the suits the tailor brought to him, anyway.

Feigning a look of indifference next, she looked to herself in the mirror. Putting her hands on her hips, head tilted again, she shrugged. "I'll go get changed then. We can go someplace else if you like." She figured he was getting bored staying in a store that he could barely find anything in, although the very few selections that Squall and the tailor WERE able to make, were quite enough.

"Do you wanna get some ice cream or something?" she offered. "Personally, I prefer gelato."

He tried to come up with something in order to compliment her, but everything he thought of sounded creepy or out of place. Could someone that he thought of only as a friend look this good? Was it possible? With a sigh and a swallowing of his nerves, Squall approached Aerith, standing behind her as she stared at her reflection. He locked eyes with her mirror image, tilting his head as she did. Noticing his hair was in slight disarray, the man ran his hands through it until it was about as right as it would ever get.
"Yeah, you probably should take it off," he finally said. "There isn't anywhere for you to wear it... but you do look really amazing in it; no lie."
At this point, his back was turned to both Aerith and her reflection. Silently blushing to himself, staring at the condensation on his bottle, Squall crossed the room.

"I mean, unless you can think of a place where that kind of dress would be suitable," he hinted, not speaking up; nor was he whispering. Twisting the cap off of the water bottle, Squall gulped down half of the liquid, sighing heavily afterward. His throat still felt dry for some reason; he figured it was due to his nerves. Slowly, he turned to face his friend.
"Can you think of any place?" he cooed, still not looking directly at her.

Blue eyes off in a daze, the gunblade-wielder caught sight of the tailor admiring Aerith-- or his work, rather-- over a pair of pants he was measuring and hemming for Squall. At first glance, he almost got jealous, but remembered the man's sexuality. He thought of himself as completely ridiculous; what right did he have to be jealous of anyone? Aerith wasn't his girlfriend, his daughter, nor was she anyone that he would be interested... His thoughts were cut off by an odd feeling in his stomach. It was the type of feeling you get when you stand in front of a crowd and make a complete ass of yourself; a feeling you get when you know you're a liar. Balling up his fist and rubbing it against his eye, Squall finally looked at Aerith in full, plain view. Now that was a view, alright.

She giggled, looking at him. "You really think it looks good? Aww, Squall!" She rushed over to hug him. "I didn't think it would but I guess I needed a second and third opinion," she concluded, indicating Squall himself and the tailor.

"I'd say we could go out dancing...but you're not into that, huh? If we did, I'm sure you'd be the cutest guy there," Aerith laughed. "It's up to you, though." Noticing her position, she blushed, afraid to let go, but at the same time, it seemed awkward. 'I shouldn't be this close to him.' Letting go when the hug was long enough, she cleared her throat.

"Sorry about that, heh." Her face was quite pink as her blushes never faded right away. She stood in her spot, her right hand holding her left arm in front of her, forgetting for the moment she was supposed to be doing something.

"Nah, I'm not one to dance," he said, scratching his head as she released him. He halfway ignored the 'cute' comment, and kind of didn't notice it at first. "Uh-... Well, I mean..." he cleared his throat. "We should still go somewhere, though. We can't let this dress be kept between you and I; you deserve to get out there and show it off."
He slid his hands into his pockets, feeling just as uncomfortable as she did. He wasn't sure what else to say to the girl, due to the both of them being a light shade of pink and stunned silent. Something was moving along, but Squall wasn't sure what it was. They were both acting strangely, and it was making him... nervous.

"Uh," he started, his deep voice cracking slightly. "If you can think of something else, I'd be glad to accompany you. Maybe a fancy restaurant or something? Do they have those here?"
His brow raised and his head cocked, Squall pondered to himself in silence. He couldn't come up with anything on his own, and was waiting for a chirp from one of the two other beings in the store with him. They would know better than him anyway, right?

"Well," chimed the tailor. "I do know of a place.. but it's only for couples!"

Squall knew he was lying through his teeth; this man had always been a "matchmaker", never successfully pairing up anyone in his wake.

"Okay, okay, don't look at me like that, sir," he said, looking back down at the clothing and needle in his skilled hands. "It's for just about anyone, but it's rather fancy.. and there's no way you're getting in looking like that."
The man looked up at Squall as the last word exited his lips, jumping up from his idle position.
"May I suggest one of my suits, hm?"

Narrowing his eyes, Squall turned to Aerith, who seemed to be frozen in time. He tapped her on the nose once, smirking at her.
"Wanna go?"

She blinked back to reality. "I dunno, I'm not that hungry. You really want to go to a restaurant?" Aerith was surprised that Squall would let her show off the dress -- she still thought he didn't like it.

Aerith giggled a bit about the tailor suggesting a place that was for couples. "No, it's okay, we're only friends." 'Though it would be nice to have someone to call my boyfriend,' she fantasized.

The tension seemed to rise a bit higher, and she fanned herself with her hand. "Is it just me or is it a bit too warm in here?" She sat herself on a chair. "You can try on the suit if you want. I'll wait right here," she reassured. Leaning back against the wall, she closed her eyes.

Her eyes fluttered open and she wrinkled her nose as she felt a poke on it. "Go as in go to the restaurant or head on somewhere else?"

"Doesn't matter to me," he cooed, taking the suit from the tailor's awaiting grasp. A sigh that he'd been holding back for quite awhile now exited his lips, and he slowly made his way to the dressing rooms. Relieving himself of his other clothes, Squall buttoned, zipped, and tugged at the new suit. The 360-degree mirrors made him feel awkward; he wasn't sure if he looked 'good' or not.

'I do want to let Aerith get out there, though,' he thought to himself. 'But I really don't wanna make an ass outta myself while she's being asked for dances and nights alone.'
He knew he was thinking too vibrantly about things, but he couldn't help it; it was his persona. He cleared his throat as he looked himself over once more, clipping on the tie that had been thrown over the door to the dressing room.

Unlatching the door, he removed himself from the confines of the small square-shaped room, immediately staring at Aerith. She looked as though she had been waiting for him to emerge for a century: bright-eyed and eager. He scratched his head in wonder as she and the tailor both stared at him, not sure if it were a compliment or in confusion. Squall was red- not pink- red in sheer nervousness and embarrassment.
"So, uh," he looked down at himself. "How's this?"

Looking at him, her tired facial expression slowly turned into one of complete giddiness. Aerith beamed and stood up. "That looks wondeful on you!" she exclaimed, clasping her hands together. "Do you like it?" she asked Squall. Of course it needed his approval - Squall himself was the one wearing the suit! "I like it though, I really like it."

Sauntering up to him, she poked the side of his face. "Though we could do a little bit without this," she teased. "Calm down, Squall, it's only me and the owner here. There's nobody else here looking." Aerith started making funny faces in front of him to see if he would react.

Chuckling a bit as she made a complete fool out of herself, Squall, after a moment or two, pushed her away from him.
"I don't know," he said, looking down once more. "I mean, I guess it's alright."
As he looked up once more at Aerith, who was still smirking, his blushing cheeks had faded into a more realistic color- pink. A twinge in the corner of his lips almost resembled a smile, but that assumption couldn't justifiably be made.

"I guess if you like it, then it looks good, huh?" he said, smoothing down the slightly-wrinkled front of the jacket. He shook his head accordingly, though, and looked back up at Aerith. "I'll buy this, but you have to promise me we'll go somewhere that has nothing to do with dancing."