[PRP] push-up (maebe x astrid)

[Rejam]

Astrid had, clearly, taken Maebe at her word: only a couple of minutes elapsed before she turned up at Maebe's door.

She looked much as she always did. Trailing around in Peyton's shadow or bent with a furrowed brow over a desk in the life labs or even (maybe especially) on the training fields, Astrid looked little. There was a tooth-aching naivete in her big green eyes, in her knee-high socks and furry bear hats, even in the somewhat careless way she applied her lipgloss--a twelve-year-old preparing for the homecoming dance. Peyton looked every inch the punky teen. Astrid looked every inch (however few they were) the shy kid sister. She looked no different when she presented herself at Maebe's door, knocking timidly, a stuffed-full drawstring bag printed with clouds and rainbows slung over one shoulder.

"Maebe?" she assayed tentatively. "It's Astrid Creedy."

Nio Love

 

[Nio Love]

When Maebe opened the door, she took stock of what was in front of her immediately. She could see what Astrid was going for - but she had to wonder if the whole kiddie look was on purpose, or simply an accident. She took the drawstring bag as the final straw to tip the girl firmly in the accident corner.

"Hey." Maebe replied, shooing the girl in. "You uh, came to the right place, I think. A girl like you needs a special touch if you're looking for a makeover. Not some fancy high class s**t that you'll never be able to maintain, you know? You need something sustainable."

And if anybody could create sustainable underage-sexy looks, it was Maebe.

"Creedy. How are you related to Pey again? I'm sure she's told me but I don't listen when people talk, I just stare at their assets and wonder how long it'll take me to get them undressed."

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[Rejam]

Nio Love

There was an awkward pause before she answered, during which she turned to assess that they were, in fact, alone.

There was still some shyness there, but it had developed a certain prickly edge that made her seem a lot more like Peyton than anyone might originally have guessed.

"I'm her sister," she said flatly. "And all you have to do is be a boy and sympathetic but kind of an a*****e, if that's what you're after."

And then, unceremoniously, she upended the bag onto the floor, and out tumbled--well. A certain amount of slink and black and bright red, and with a clatter, a pair of spike heels that looked, somewhat surprisingly, like they'd seen some use.

"High class isn't so bad to maintain," she said. "I need..." and here she paused, and maybe, just maybe, some of that kid-sister shyness was sincere, because she went a little red, and her voice dropped to what wasn't but was almost a whisper. "I need something slutty. And I can't figure out these stupid fake eyelashes."  

[Nio Love]

Maebe stopped to stare at what had just fallen out of Astrid's bag, and her head tilted slowly as she took it all in. It was like watching green ooze drip out of a jelly doughnut.

Then she laughed.

It wasn't a cruel laugh, but it was still a laugh, and therefore a little cruel. It was one sharp sound, and then a handful of small, throaty giggles.

"Okay." She murmured, re-assessing her situation. "So, way more like me than I thought. Okay. I can work with this. I mean, I'm going to be honest with you, red and black is not my scene, but slutty I can do. The right kind of slutty, though. But we're not starting with eyelashes. We're starting with wardrobe."

She plopped down to the ground and began to filter through what Astrid had dropped onto her floor. The little black dress was a staple in any situation, but when she pulled up the red lace, she realized what she was looking at, and her eyebrow rose.

"Is this.. a garter?" She tried to ask without sounding amused as all hell about it.

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[Rejam]

Nio Love

"It came free with the nightie," she said defensively. "Anyway it keeps falling off."

This was unsurprising, as it had clearly been designed with a certain variety of curvy bombshell in mind, and Astrid was the poster child of the thigh gap.

A pause. "If you tell Peyton about any of this I will spike your drink, and I work in the Life labs."  

[Nio Love]

"Trust me, honey." Maebe did not look worried about Astrid's threat as she put the garter over her head and let it fall to wrap around her neck. "I'm in the business of secrets. I could tell you a thing or two about some of your fellow hunters that would turn your head - but I won't. So don't ask." She picked up a hand mirror, and surveyed her work. It looked frilly and ridiculous.

"So. Who are you trying to bang? Or am I not allowed to know? I mean, if it's me, then I'm flattered, but I've been a good girl lately." She touched the garter around her neck thoughtfully, and then pulled it off of her with a frustrated yank. "Mostly."

But this wasn't about her. She continued to search through the clothing, and found nothing of interest - not that she was surprised. Other than the bra, which actually was kind of pretty, Maebe was disappointed at the more typical depiction of sluts. There was so much variety being ignored.

"What's your favorite color? We'll start there and work backwards. I just have one rule. You might be dressing up to get laid, but just remember that it's still about you getting some. Not about being good enough for someone else."

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[Rejam]

Nio Love

This caused a flicker of uncertainty, and Astrid folded up her coltish legs to sit on the ground in front of her loot.

There's a pause before she answers.

"I don't like messing around with Hunters too much," she confides finally. "Too much risk of it getting back to--people I don't want it to get back to. But I have leave coming up and I'm going alone this time..." she left the thought hanging.

A girl's got needs.

"Anyway," she adds, "guys who hit on me 'cause they think I look twelve are freaking creepy and gross, god, so gross. So I'd rather not, you know. Look twelve. I'm aiming for at least nineteen here. I'm not doing a super great job. Sometimes I smoke, that helps, but to be honest it's really disgusting and I hate it and mostly just pretend to inhale." She twists her lip nervously between her fingers. Presumably the Rilakkuma manicure would be going away as well. "I like green. But I kinda think if you wear a lot of green and try to look, um," the blush returned, "available, you kinda look like you forgot what month St. Paddy's day is in."  

[Nio Love]

Maebe's demeanor did not have enough expression in it to change enough, when Astrid began to preach the disgust over looking for men who were into the young look. But it was there, reflected in the flatness of her eyes. She wasn't impressed with the naive judgemental attitude, especially since older, creepy men were Maebe's biggest fans. So she just let the girl talk, and tried, very hard, not to pack Astrid's stuff back into her bag and tell her to get out.

"The first thing you're going to want to do is make your legs look longer." Maebe just jumped right into the advice, because if she said a single word about anything the girl had just said, it was going to be sharp and scathing. She chose otherwise. "So short skirts and heels were the right idea. But you always want to make your torso feel longer, so the little black dress isn't exactly going to work here. We'll figure something out. In the meantime, you're going to need to work on your posture and attitude, too. Half of any look is what you're putting out yourself. Stand up, and look at me as if I was beneath you. As if I was some kind of common nobody, and you were the person everybody came to the club to see. Look at me like - " Maebe paused for a moment, pursed her lips, and shrugged. "Like I'm looking at you right now, basically."

Well, she couldn't keep her tongue completely in check.

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[Rejam]

Nio Love

She'd looked incredibly skeptical and uncertain--as one might, suddenly being told to essentially audition for a role--right up to the moment Maebe said that.

There was a little ripple of expression, unreadable save that it was ferocious, and then she stood up as directed, and then--also as directed--fixed her with a look.

There was this to be said for it: it was pretty much exactly as described. It was also somehow managing to be simultaneously vicious in a way that most men might find offputting and hilariously incongruous. It was like a fluffy baby kitten hissing: enough to make you dance back out of the reach of its claws, maybe, but also probably while laughing.

"This is easier in heels," she said loftily*, and maybe she meant to get in the right mindset, but maybe she was also referring to the fact that even standing it was a little hard for Astrid to look down her nose at anyone, physically speaking.

* it's a pun!  

[Nio Love]

Maebe tried so very hard not to smile, not to think that it was adorable, and not to belittle how much the girl was trying. Her lips pursed unevenly, and she nodded.

"Okay. Makeup can help with looking older, but really you have to remember that if you try too hard, it gets too obvious. So let's find a nice balance."

She liked green, and unfortunately, Astrid was right. Too much green looked garish, unless you picked darker greens, at which point you start to look depressed, and washed out. Green was not a sexy color unless you were careful with it.

"You can accent with green, if you're using white, black, or denim. A really light blue-green is nice, too. But those are usually for like, summer sunny outings. You're looking for something sexier. Which means you want to accent with red, not green. Let's see."

She pulled out a slinky red silk slip, and held it up for consideration. "Slips aren't going to work here unless I fit you with some breast padding the way I did for your sister." She threw the dress back down and kept looking. "Okay, mind if I look in my closet for a minute? I'll find a few options, and you can pick out something to borrow. Then we'll focus on the makeup, since you mentioned those eyelashes."

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[Rejam]

Nio Love

Astrid was simply gaping, apparently not having heard half of what she'd just been told, because she suddenly clapped with an expression of raw delight.

"You padded my sister's bra?"  

[Nio Love]

Maebe had literally just proclaimed the glory of her ability to keep secrets, and somehow still managed to let that slip by without even realizing that something like that should have been a secret at all.

She paused, and gave Astrid a quirked smile. "You're not the only one who wants to look sexy sometimes, Astrid." She replied, never missing a beat.

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