A funny thing happened on the way to the ball [Vi]

[William Talbot]

Ruby had been very well behaved, playing with her toys, and watching her DVD's, and eating her lunch without fuss, and that had made things easier on Will, to the point that he had a sneaking suspicion that something else was afoot, but he couldn't think as to what...


Oh well, it was almost noon, Ruby was watching another DVD, and Will was cleaning things up from lunch, so that when Tim and Olivia got back, he and Violet (who he guessed was on her way there to now) could go down town for their own lunch, and then off to the mall for shopping... For formal wear...



Sure enough, Tim and Olivia where back at five after, and ten short minuets after that, Violet showed up at the back door, where Will had been waiting.

"Hey, all ready for some lunch?" Will asked as he stood and greeted her with a hug and a smile, the tickle of steal winged butterflys starting up some place near his liver again...



Some time later they where downtown, walking from the small sandwich shop they had stopped at, and where walking towards the mall, moving along the sidewalk in realitive quiet, the early afternoon crowd was sparce, and that suited Will just fine, as he was having enough issues dealing with his own emotions, and didn't need the extra background noise...

[Violet Schultz]

Her patrol was uneventful, which was a little surprising, given the fact that she was expecting an army of robots to come around every corner. However, she was probably just projecting her own anxiety over the coming day onto the streets, confusing her sense of danger. For once, luck seemed to be on her side, and nothing happened, even though her nerves suggested that it shouldn't be the case. Still, she arrived punctually at the safe house, having stored her Spitfire back in the Tower and teleported her way there.

She smiled as he greeted her, breathing a slow, calming breath as she nodded.

There was very little said in any of the time that they spent together at the food shop or on the walks to any of the places. She was too unnerved by the prospect of dress shopping, and he was too nervous from the date itself. What did she know about this sort of thing? She hadn't worn a dress since she had been a child in France. She was completely at a loss as to how it was supposed to go. She wasn't used to this sort of insecurity. Usually, she was comfortable with herself the way she was, and she could accept it. But she had never been the girl to hang out at the mall, or the one to go to dances. She hadn't thought much about it.

She was almost hoping that something would happen, just so that she could get out of the situation.

But another, smaller part of her wondered. What would she look like in a dress?

[William Talbot]

Lunch had been…

Nice. Quiet. Uneventful.

And that was just fine by Will, it meant that there wouldn’t be anything else to distract him from Violet, so he was able to pay almost total attention to her.

Never mind the fact that the conversation they had at the sandwich shop, consisted mostly of how quiet things had been the last few weeks, gratuitous amounts of talk about Ruby, and… That was it.


Now they where walking to the Mall, and the quiet was starting to make him even more nervous, but he held it in check, until they where in the mall, and he realized they where staring at one of the large sign like maps that listed all the stores and showed where they where.

What had been the name of that store Olivia had suggested?

‘Lexy’s Laundry’s’

“Here… Let’s try that place first.” He suggested as he remembered and found it on the list, showing it to be… all the way on the OTHER side of the mall.


Oh well…


Walking around the round shaped mall, Will forced himself to relax, and the biggest factor in that, was in fact, Violet herself.

Reaching over slightly, he took her hand in his, and laced her fingers between his own, a small smile being cast at her as they walked around the large central hub of stores (the new design layout was meant to be easy to evacuate, while looking nice and having even MORE stores than before) the din of people interacting was interesting, the scents, sights, and the emotions where washing over him in waves, but holding her hand seemed to steady him and give him an anchor in the not so small storm of information he was being bombarded with.


Did she understand just how much he had come to need her?
More importantly, did he?

[Violet Schultz]

Violet didn't often do malls, but she had always been good in large groups of people simply due to her confident demeanor and her general disinterest in what others thought of her. No, it wasn't the mall itself that made her nervous, or the crowds. Paradoxically, it was Will himself that made her anxious, just as she was calming him from the overload on his senses. She cared very much what he thought of her, far more than she cared for the opinion of any of the other nameless faces that walked by. He seemed happy to be there, happy to be doing what they were doing. It was probably the sensory overload that kept him from catching her own emotions in his empathy.

She held his hand in a steady grip, moving through the halls of the mall with well-feigned serenity on her face. If Will didn't have his empathetic powers, there would've been no way of knowing about the undercurrent of nerves that she was harboring. Of course, it would've been equally difficult to realize how much information she passively gathered on her environment when she walked through a new area, unless the observer knew Violet as Will did. Every casual sweep of her eyes was checking people, distances, escape routes, potential threats, improvised weapons... Although she wasn't expecting trouble, force of habit compelled her to notice everything she saw.

They walked by dozens of small stores, each with it's own narrow specialty. She glanced at each of them, appraising the items by force of habit as well. Jeez, this place was just a terrible place for people like them to be. Will's senses were driven wild by the sheer number of people and the amount of smells and sounds. Her own mind was going a hundred directions by the combination of a confined space and valuable items which, in the past, would've been prime targets.

At last, they reached the store Will had chosen.

[William Talbot]

Walking through the mall had been less of an ordeal than he had expected, and he owed part of that to Violet and the calming effect she had on him, but then even so, it was rather loud, and full of people, and scents and sights and smells, but he endured, with a relative amount of ease until the got to the shop, “Lexy’s Laundry” which was, in spite of it’s size, a fairly nice, and simple store, the floors hard woods of various shades, the décor vintage items, pictures and posters, artistically arranged to give the place a nice, cozy and yet hip atmosphere, the music some poppy light bubble-gum euro-rock low in the background so as not to be obtrusive.


“Hello!” Called a short bearded man with thick round glasses, and long, dark ginger hair that was pulled back under a bandanna, his t-shirt a worn and faded black AC~DC tee, his jeans worn and old, yet not ripped, and his small chubby feet in leather bound sandals, his old denim vest had more buttons and patches on it, then fabric it seemed.

Stepping up, he smiled pleasantly, and looked at the two of them and greeted them; “Hi, welcome to Lexy’s Laundry, I’m Marty, if you need anything, just let me or any of the others wearing a nametag to help you.”
He pointed to a simple round tag with his name, and stylized L’s embossed on the top in silver.


Will nodded and smiled, then blushed slightly before clearing his throat he spoke; “Ahh hi, thank you, but is Lexy herself here today?” he asked as he unconsciously gave Violet’s hand a slight squeeze, and fidgeted some as he went on; “We’re uh… We’re here for some formal wear and Olivia told us to see Lexy herself about it.”


Marty blinked and then smiled big at them; “Oh the boss? Sure thing! Say I haven’t see Olivia in here since she had that little baby of hers… Uhh whats’er name?”

“Ruby?” Will offered as Marty waved them to follow him from the front desk area into the main part of the store, the various racks holding things from jeans, and shirts, to skirts and swimsuits, and all manner of accessories, one half for girls, the other half for guys, as clearly spelled out by the hanging signs over each half of the store.

“Yeah, I seem to remember that last time she was here, she was returning an ensemble she’d bought some time ago, it was almost minty it was in such good shame, Lexy gave her a full up refund because of that, but then they had gotten to be pretty good shopping buddies before she had her baby. Olivia, not Lexy of course, who is just now expecting.” he said with a slight twinkle in his eye.


At that point, Marty pointed towards the back wall, where dress shirts and suits for both sexes could be found, a slightly short, curvy young woman with naturally tanned skin that was a shade or two darker than Will’s and long slightly curly dark hair, her clothing casual, yet very trendy, a lightly floral scarf hanging from her neck, over her small, curved, yet strong frame. As they walked up, she turned and then wrestled a full sized mannequin into place before throwing the clothing she had in a cart on it, and with small expert hands dressed the plastic figure in a manner of moments the male figurine going from bare to clothed in a manner of moments, the first thought that came to Wills mind as he watched her work, was that she looked not unlike a slightly shrunk down version of Wonder Woman, with dark brown eyes instead.


“Marty, can you get me the screwdriver from the tool kit up front? Annie’s Arm is loose again.” Lexy said as she fiddled with the right forearm on a seemingly matching female clothing dummy before looking back and smiling at her soon to be newest customers; “Hi! Welcome to the store, are you finding everything okay?” she asked as she turned and extended her hand, her slightly cherub, yet soft and pleasant features lighting up at the attractive, if not plainly dressed couple before her.


Will shook her hand first, and replied: “Hi, I’m Will, and this is Violet, we’re friends of Olivia’s and she sent us here because… We both need formal wear, and we’re both pretty clueless as to what to look for, or how to look for it, but Olivia said you could help us.”


Lexy tilted her head and screwed up her face as she looked them both over then smiled a sunbeam at them; “Hmm… Yeah, I think I can fix you up… Just how formal are you looking to be here buddy?” she asked as she went back to the Mannequin to adjust the skirt on its plastic hips.


“Uhh… Pretty formal… Very Formal? Yeah, something you would wear to like… An end of the year party, like an awards ceremony.” Will offered as Lexy put the last few touches on everything but the long sleeved shirt on the dummy, with a nod; “Ahh, Red Carpet stuff, okay… I think the big challenge is going to be finding something for Violet, since there are simply TONS of options for her, and for you, a good tux or at least a really fancy suit and tie are in order, although finding something that fits right, might be a challenge in and of itself… But then my husband Caleb is a great tailor and can fit you two up in a snap, but he’s off making a delivery, so he’ll be back in later.”

She gave the plastic model one last look then shrugged as Marty showed up with the screwdriver and went to work on the small screw in the dummy’s elbow.


“Wow, thanks a lot!” Will said as Lexy moved around, the faintest pooch of a baby belly showing under her mildly flowy gray shirt, which was extra long and had tiny flowers on the hem.
She glanced away and then pointed them to the far corner of the shop, where three large double racks hung with countless dresses…

[Violet Schultz]

Violet glanced around the store as Will spoke, having a hard time focusing on a conversation when the embarrassing part was just about to begin. Lexy hadn't been kidding. There were more dresses here than Violet could imagine looking at, and she didn't have any idea where to start. She supposed that she would know when she saw it, as some of her old high school going friends had explained the one time she'd ventured to ask. Most of the people she'd hung around had no inclination to go to school functions, or no school to go to, but there had usually been at least a couple who had saved enough money to get something moderately priced.

She followed as the store owner brought them over to the dress racks, and just by looking at what the store had to offer, she felt conspicuous and out of place again. She couldn't picture herself wearing any of those dresses, with the neon colors or the unnecessary frills. Some of them looked almost like wedding dresses colored in. Others looked as if the intended customers were trying much too hard to be fancy, over the top and conspicuous as they were. All this, she realized by looking without touching. It felt unnatural and awkward to sort through the racks.

She looked uncharacteristically shy about it, her uncertainty written on her face.

[William Talbot]

Once they all had arrived at the rack, Lexy pulled a fabric tape measure from her sleeve and then reached up to Violet's shoulder and let it fall to the floor, then she deftly moved it from the vertical, to horizontal across her shoulders, and then holding it a bare inch from the other girls skin, she slowly waved it down her figure, noting Violet's rough proportions before she nodded and moved to the middle rack, and then looked back over her shoulder at the taller, more slender formed girl, her lips twisted and pursed in thought; "Hmm... You're a mild fall to steady winter... So... It strikes me that simple would be best... Any preferred colors?" Lexy asked as she moved to more simple and classy styled dresses, the shear volume of clothing packed into each rack seeming to bend the laws of physics more than a little, and yet every dress could be seen, from the almost disgustingly retro Victorian to the futuristic and simple, and all flavors in between, Lexy's hands picked and pawed through the fabric items until she plucked first one dress, then another, from areas on the same rack some place near the middle.


"Here, what do you think of this?" she asked as she held the two dresses out, the first a simple, single strapped off the shoulder satin dress in a dark red, that flowed down long, almost like a crimson mobius from top to bottom, the lower back part of the single strap being the twist in the otherwise smooth and simple design.

In her other hand, was an even more simple, sleek black dress with slightly less shine, two narrow straps that crossed over the deep plunging back, the slight dip in the neck line curved the top outward just slightly, the dress clearly cut to tastefully show off someone of Violet's figure and stature, the hem coming to about her knees as the garments where held out level with Violet.

"We also have this one," Lexy said as she gave the black one a light shake; "In deep Plum, Lavender, and a faded Sapphire, as well as a muted Cream."

[Violet Schultz]

Violet shook her head at the question, but it didn't seem that she really needed an answer, as she was already moving, thankfully doing some of Violet's job for her. She examined the offered garments with a barely discernible blush, trying to imagine herself wearing them. When was the last time she'd worn a dress? Oh, right, that was about twelve years ago... She'd never been ashamed of her body, as there was nothing to be ashamed of, but she could hardly picture herself wearing a dress, much less imagine herself looking good in a dress.

The first dress seemed simple enough, but the shoulder strap gave her pause, since it was inconveniently placed over the left shoulder, rather than the right. It would show her ugly gunshot scar all the more since the other shoulder was covered. She turned her attention to the next dress, not really wanting to linger on her thoughts. It was simpler still, with the cut of the top suiting her taste. But the bottom... She didn't really want to have something cut that high. Aside from the jagged scar on the inside of her thigh, she was sure that it would be difficult to feel comfortable in a dress in which she was always checking to make sure that nothing untoward was showing.

Strange that someone such as she should be considering modesty into their calculations, but she rarely wore anything aside from long pants...

"Do you have anything like this, but longer?" she asked quietly, looking at the black dress.

She didn't meet the saleswoman's eyes, still feeling out of place.

[William Talbot]

Lexy looked from the dress that was indicated and then to Violet, and then over her shoulder at the rack again, her mouth in a constant state of twitching, her eyes big and bright with thought.

"Hmm... Yeah I do in fact, but I've only got a few of them in your approximate size... Yeah I have four of them, two black, one dark red, and one in a sapphire... Hmm..." Lexy looked to Violet again, and then tilted her head slightly, as she caught a glimpse of Violet's eyes, and then beamed at her; "Oh my god! I love your eyes! Oh wow, okay that settles it!"

Moving quickly, she put the dresses she had in hand, back on the racks, and then she vanished around the end for all of five seconds before she came back with the faded sapphire dress, its long lower half just a hand full of inches off the ground as Alexis held the hanger up level with Violet's shoulders, the soft sheen of the fabric matching the violet blue hue of Violet's eyes perfectly.

"PERFECT!" Lexy exclaimed with a smile that could light a room up for a year, her brown eyes shining with joy, her face already aglow with the tiny life inside her body, but now that was just boosted by the simple joy of making someone look their best with a garment, like a patching game of sorts, only... Better!



Will watched with interest as everything transpired and then he arched his eyebrows at the girls and looked to Violet as the dress was held up to her, and the exclamation of perfection was broadcast through out the store.

"You need to try it on, now, and I'll make any notes of any kinds of alterations you may need or want for my husband to make." she said as Will blinked again and then suddenly wondered if his now pending experience would be anything close to what had just happened...

[Violet Schultz]

Violet almost jumped as the woman suddenly shouted, her enthusiasm far outshining Violet's own, but then fashion was not really her thing. Lexy was right about one thing, though. The color was exactly what Violet would've chosen for herself. It was a nice change from the flat black she usually wore, and it did match her eyes... She took the offered garment and looked around the store for a moment before heading for the dressing room, glancing back at Will with something like nervousness in her eyes before she headed away.

The room itself was slightly claustrophobic, but well-kept, and it was only a few dozen seconds before Violet was in the dress, examining herself in front of the mirror. She had to admit that she liked it. She didn't immediately look out of place or awkward in it, as she feared she might, but it brought out the color in her dark eyes, as well as appearing to give her black hair a blue shine. It fit her curves perfectly, and turning to look from the back angle, she was relieved to find that it didn't show all that many of her scars, and the severe ones were not showing. It revealed her sinewy back nicely, and although the dark color didn't help how pale she naturally looked, it fit her complexion well enough.

With a light sigh if resignation, she opened the door to show it to the bubbly shop-owner, her eyes tentative but her face deceptively calm. Her feet were bare, walking along the carpet while she tried to figure out the range of motion that the dress would allow. It was just short enough that she didn't have to worry about stepping on it.

[William Talbot]

Will gave Violet a small smile of encouragement as he felt a small warm and soft hand grab at his and then tug him back the way they had first come, Alexis being much stronger than he would have first given her credit for, her sturdy, yet curvaceous frame gliding ahead and pulling him after her towards two tall racks stuffed with sport coats, dress slacks, full suits and tuxedos, the ends covered with ties and belts of all shades and types over lapping, almost like armor or roof shingles...


Before he knew what was what, Lexy had her tape-measure out once more and was checking the length of his arms, the width of his shoulders and breadth of his his neck, waist, and upper arms.

"Okay... A forty-eight or a fifty long, with a bit of extra wiggle room for your shoulders... Hmm, you're built like my husband, so... A fifty-two long would be best, and he can take it in anywhere, if needed... Hmm... Faded black, and Burgundy fits your skin tone, but you're eyes are an even more unique shade of blue soo... Let's go old school Vegas, Dark charcoal, and stark white, with a thin black tie!"

As if by magic, she turned her back to him, and then spun on her heel and tossed three hangers to him, loaded with a white shirt, and a tie, a pair of dark charcoal slacks, and a matching suit coat.

Will blinked at his arm fulls of clothing and then shrugged as he turned to head back to the dressing rooms where Violet had walked into moments ago, but instead of walking, he was stopped dead in his tracks by a vision of... Stunning beauty and grace.

Violet...

"Wow... Vi... You look..."

"SEXY! Oh my god I'm good... Violet honey, you own that dress, you in that dress... Wow, just incredible! And I have the PERFECT shoes for that!" Lexy said as she all but bounced and wiggled across the room to Violet and looked her over with a proud knowing smile before she tilted her head and thought for a moment and went quiet, her face again contorting with thought.

"Hmm... You have a very pretty neck, but to leave it bare... Ahh, idea!"
Alexis turned and rushed past Will to another rack that was covered in various accessories, which she passed over as if she had laid it all out perfectly for this moment, her hands filled with three items, a small simply sheer red scarf, a necklace with small black glass beads, and a silver chain with a tiny heart shaped pendant.

"Hmm, Babe, what do you think?" she asked as a tall (at least two inches taller than Will, and about as wide, only more stout or thick over all) man with messy brown hair tucked under an old style black cap, a faded blue Superman logo teeshirt, and worn jeans black and gray sneakers and small round wire framed glasses that almost hid his blue gray eyes and the faint smile on his face.

"Hmm, I think you're having too much fun with this." the large man said as he walked up behind Alexis, and then bent down and kissed her cheek gently, a hand gently resting over her just showing stomach, as she blushed and beamed a smile to the universe before she turned her head slightly, and lifted an empty hand to his cheek to hold him there a moment longer, so she could kiss him properly, a soft sigh slipping out from her before she giggled and pushed him away; "Maybe... Oh yes my manners, they haven't forgotten us all, Violet, Will, this is my husband Caleb, Babe, these are some of Olivia's friends, Will and Violet, they're here for some formal wear."

Caleb nodded and smiled to them giving violet a tiny bow at the waist before turning and shaking Will's offered hand; "Ahh nice to meet you, Olivia's been a good friend and customer for some time, we miss her here." he then looked down to his wife and smiled slightly as he spoke to her directly; "I need to get that jacket done for Beverly by tonight, so I'm going to head to the loft now, then be back to help close and take you home okay?"

Alexis nodded and smiled as he kissed her hand and then started to leave, then she gasped and reached out, tugging on his arm; "Oh, babe! They may need some adjustments on their clothes, when;s the soonest you could get to that?"

Will then spoke up, raising his hand and clearing his throat; "Oh that's okay, we won't really need them for a few months yet, we just wanted to make sure we could get what we needed, thank you for your help..."

Lexy and Caleb smiled and then she shook her head; "Oh well that's fine, but you can go ahead and get your things now, and we'll have them ready for you whenever you need them, sound fair?"

Will nodded as he stepped over to the dressing room, pausing next to Violet as he did and replied; "Oh that sounds perfect... Thank you again, Violet looks amazing, and I like how this outfit looks... Let me try it out and see what's what though okay?"


Lexy smiled at nodded; "Alright dude, sounds good, Okay Violet, lets get you some shoes!"