thenearshore | [closed] one perfect day

Entry tags:

[closed] one perfect day

Who: Maria and Barry
When: July 19th
Where: Various fashion/beauty shops in Dublin.
What: Prayer #47, making someone stand out for their school formal.

[It's an odd prayer for Maria to receive given her role here - a request from a private school student who wanted to look her best for her months-away debutante. But she had sounded desperate to have this one last chance to shine, and Maria can't help but take pity on such a sincere and innocent request. Organising something perfect to be executed on the night when it comes is more than within Maria's means, after all.

Given Barry is another resident expert on making people shine, she's brought him along for this one, as well as the student herself, who had seemed quite excited at the prospect of being invited out to explore the possibilities. Maria watches her study the dresses in the nearby shop windows with a rather fond smile before turning her gaze to Barry and giving it a more serious edge.]

Alright, this will be her last chance to shine to the people who know her, and we have to set it up perfectly so she can debut the look when the dance comes in a few months. Where do you suggest we start? I have my eye on a few shops already.

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Fair folk...

[Barry thinks for a moment, trying to place that.]

...Oh! Yeah! I get it. Don't worry, we'll make ya look like a fairy queen!

[He heads in with the girls, letting Maria take point. He knows about idol costumes, but she's probably the better choice to pick out a normal dress.]

The legends here are quite a bit different to the ones in the rest of the world, I've found, but I think that's still the general idea, yes. [Maria smiles little. A fairy queen in the style of the legends here would probably be more of a beautiful-but-deadly look than anything...

As their charge starts looking around the store herself, seemingly not having been to a dress shop this fancy before, Maria considers the selections for a few moments before heading over to peruse a display of various long dresses running just about the entire gauntlet of shades from blue to green.]

I think something this kind of colour might be good for a natural look. Maybe a blue-green that leans a bit more towards green...

[Barry isn't really familiar with the faerie legends of the emerald isles, so he's just going on what he knows. Which is, of course, anime depictions of those sorts of legends.]

Yeah, definitely gotta keep it mostly green. I wonder if there's any fancy jewelry or anything we can pair with it...

[There's a thoughtful hum from Maria at that as she continues browsing the rack, isolating one or two dresses along the way that fit the kind of idea they're going with right now.]

I'd find it hard to believe there'd be no jewellery stores around here that dealt in that sort of thing. We can take a look after we're done here.

Right! Then we just need some shoes and she should be good to go, right? And a good place to get her hair and nails done, I guess, but I dunno much about that.

[He laughs a little, holding his arms out for Maria to hand him things.]

That's right. I think the hair and nails are probably going to be the most difficult part, because it's much harder to judge someone's work in that area without seeing it in practice.

[Hopefully some of the hair and nail places around here keep portfolios of their work...

Since Barry has his arms out, Maria pulls the two initial choices of dress off the rack and rests them carefully over the top, adding a third one a few moments later as she continues through the shades.]

I'll leave that one to you ladies, then.

[He keeps walking along after her, looking around.]

Where'd she get off to, anyway?

[The store isn't too big, so Maria figures their charge can't have gone too far - nonetheless, she looks over her shoulder to peer past the central display further into the store. Even as she does, though, the girl heads back towards them, holding another dress.]

Can you add this one to the ones to try? I think I saw some other nice ones over there as well. [The dress in question is a more earthen green, heading more towards the yellows than the blues, and Maria nods and getures to Barry.]

Just leave it with him, and we'll take them all to the dressing room when we've picked.

Pick out whatever ya want, it's on us today!

[Barry grins at the girl, giving a little thumbs up from underneath the growing pile of clothing.]

Just think of me like a pack mule, okay?

[That makes the girl laugh, and she carefully lays the additional dress on the pile.] Okay. I'll be back in a minute, then.

[With that, she heads off to continue scouring the racks, Maria smiling fondly after her before shifting through a few more dresses and picking another one out to add.]

I think we're going to be a bit spoilt for choice here.

Better to have too many choices than not enough, right? At least this way we can be sure we picked out the perfect outfit.

[Barry grins, following along after Maria.]

That's right. And we really do need to know what the main outfit is going to be before we get into the finer details, so spending a lot of time on it is a must.

[Just trying on one dress and going with that is borderline unacceptable, unless the dress truly is outstandingly perfect.

She's much closer to the end of the rack now, and though she does pull out one more dress, the others are probably a bit close to blue for what they're going for. Nonetheless, she still checks over them.]

I think that might be it for this rack.

And hey, here she comes with a couple more!

[Which Barry gladly adds to the pile. Thank goodness he's tall.]

Awright, time to head to the dressing rooms, yeah? You can help her make sure everything's a good fit and narrow it down to a few, and then we'll choose from there.

[In other words, he's going to stand outside the dressing room for a while and wait, and then provide helpful thumbs ups or thumbs downs.]

[Maria glances up and smiles fondly again as the girl sets down her other few choices.]

Yes, I think it's a good time for that. You might fall over if we pile too many more on you.

[Their charge laughs a bit at that, and goes to give him an encouraging thump on the back.] Sorry to make you the mule, but I really appreciate it, and I think she does too.

[With a smile and a nod, Maria beckons them all to the back of the store.] Alright then, bring them over here and we'll see what we can try first.

You can pay me back by havin' the time of your life at the dance. Do we gotta deal?

[Barry's all too happy to help someone look and feel their best. Inspiring others is what being an idol is all about.]

[There's a confident nod from the girl. It seems even having them there to help has improved her determination to pull this look off.] Deal! We just have to find what works best.

[Nodding along, Maria stops outside the changeroom, looking over the pile of dresses.]

There's around a dozen options there, so we might have to take it in a few groups, maybe by style or colour.

Good! That's what I like to hear.

[Confidence is half the battle, really.]

Sure, just lemme know.

Alright. In that case, we might start with the mermaid cut ones, since those are a little tricker to get into. Best to get them done first.

[On that note, she leafs through the pile and slips four of the dresses out, all of them with that kind of skirt cut. It's a solid start, and Maria nods to their charge.]

Come on, I'll help you out with it, if that's alright with you. [As the girl nods and heads into the changeroom, Maria raises a hand to Barry as she heads in after.] We shouldn't keep you waiting too long.

I'll be right here!

[Probably watching magical girl videos on his phone by the time they come out.]

[It takes them a few minutes to sort out the first dress, since there's a lot of fasteners at the back that need tightening along its length before it can be considered properly done up. Once it's all sorted out, they come out of the changeroom, Maria coming first so there's more space for the girl to follow. This dress is green and white with some flower accoutrements rather than an overall natural look, but it still has some element of the idea they're going for.

The girl circles on the spot.] This one's nice...but I'll probably be saying that about all of them.

[Maria nods a bit, looking her over.] I think I'd put that in the final selections, though. It does suit you quite well, and the patterning fits what we're going for.

[Good timing. The episode is just ending, and Barry is singing along loudly to the closing credits when the girls come back out of the changing room. Barry looks up from his phone, whistling and giving a thumbs up as the girl spins.]

Definitely! You look like a fairy queen already!

[Maria smiles in faint amusement at Barry's obvious enthusiasm for his choice of time-sink between changes, and she nods in agreement with Barry's summation of the first dress.]

It is certainly a nice one. [There are others she suspects might fit the aesthetic better, but that still leaves the question of how well they'll suit the girl.

Still bouncing a bit, their charge grins and heads back into the changeroom to try the next one, Maria following. This time, when they come out, it's the rare blue dress Maria picked out, with a neckline reminiscent of plants and flowers.]

I prefer this kind of design for what we're going for, myself. I'm not so sure about the colour, though.

[The girl hums a little.] It's pretty, but the blue doesn't really feel as natural.

[Barry hums, nodding along with each of them as he looks the outfit up and down with a critical eye.]

Yeah, I agree. I like the flower-lookin' stuff, but I think we really wanna go more toward green with this. Keeps the overall look tighter.

So we're all agreed on that. I think we can call that the first definite "no", then. [With a short nod to each of them, Maria leads the girl back in. This time, when they come out, the dress is of a slightly different skirt style, looser and flowier, but still keeping a similar kind of look to it, and with flower decorations up one side of the bust.]

This is one of the ones I picked. [The girl looks excited to be wearing it, and Maria turns her around with an approving little smile.]

It's more subtle than some of the other designs, but it still has the right effect to it, I think.

[Barry lets out an appreciative whistle, nodding back at the girl.]

Lookin' good! You can really tell it's one the ones you chose - you're practically glowin'! A big smile and lots of confidence is important, so if that dress makes you feel confident, I'd say it belongs on the yes pile too.

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