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(( This occurred ICly before Halloween, just being posted now for growth credit. ))

Normally Audrey Collins was thrilled and delighted to be dressed by anyone and everyone that would put themselves to the task. Fallon, Pasha, even Jada had been given a chance at bending the vivacious young woman's style to their own and the result was more than a little eclectic and firmly Audrey's own. Certainly she would have been more than happy to let one of her best friends, and beloved cousin Vicky dress her without a thought! The only problem was that they were standing in the center of Victoria's Secret and the Courtland girl's roving blue eyes were taking in the petite girl from head to toe. "Rosie, when I said we could go shopping at the mall, this was not what I had in mind!" Mortified, her voice was barely a whisper.

Mortification was justified, to the darker bluenette, in that she was not at all built like her cousin. Victoria Collins was tall, buxom, with pale blue hair and almost the same ocean blue eyes that Elzo had. Elzo. This was more than a bit a shopping trip for the boyfriend Audrey had so recently acquired after a particularly interesting date when Audrey had refused to go home until he told her exactly what he wanted from their friendship. Now Vicky was apparently determined that her baby cousin of four months had to 'liven things up a bit' - so there they were, in the land of the risque.

Suffice to say she was not happy.

Audrey could have, and probably would have in that moment, happily have killed her cousin. Heads turned and more than a few male heads turned in the shop - the heads of men who were not attached to women and were just there to be creepy. Audrey's face was as red as the most fire-hot lingerie in the store, her golden eyes full of murderous intent and shame towards Victoria. But this sort of joke, with the lovely Rosie, was a tale as old as time. Wrapping an arm around her cousin, tickling her side in repayment for the comment, Audrey drawled in her most lazy voice. "Well Rosie love, I can't imagine he wouldn't want to share with a lady as fine as you." It was the oldest game they had played as soon as the pair had hit puberty and gotten away from Courtland long enough to find boys that had no idea they were cousins. Though sometimes, it didn't matter that they were cousins, and those boys were ones they watched out for.

Especially the ones interested in Kinkade.

Looking down at the scrap of nylon shoved into her hands, the teen held it away from her body and slowly her eyes widened into horror. There was no time for anything, however, because immediately she was dragged by the taller and stronger Victoria into a dressing room. Somehow, even though the lock was on her side and Linarite far overpowered Petalite....Audrey was not about to leave that dressing room without trying the little scrap on. It was, after all, the perfect size. And sexy. But she wasn't sexy! Or pretty. Or anything.

Slipping from her clothing, the black was scandalous and stark against the paler parts of her skin. Looking in the mirror was almost a crime, with blue curls tumbled everywhere, wide doe eyes, and the stark contrast that made her look like some sort of waif in a wet dream. "Rosie, I am not coming out. You can't make me!" Though she so could.

What?! WHAT. What guy?! "Victoria Rose Collins, I will call your ma and pa and tell them exactly what you are spending your allowance on if you bring a boy anywhere near me!!" The voice was sharp and shrill and one fist banged so that the plastic and metal hanger rattled noisily against the door. This probably brought more attention than it should have, and the saleswomen were glaring with irritation at the pair of teenagers. What were girls like that doing in this store anyway? was written all over their faces. After all, both Vicky and Audrey were under eighteen, though the former was closer to the age of majority than the latter.

Nonetheless, she took a deep breath and tugged lightly but futilely at the hem of the thing, before sighing and calling out softly. "Alright, I will come out if it is just you and no boy, okay? Or anyone else. I like that one." Laughing and trying to make light of it, she rattled the door lightly again. "I'm for your eyes only, Rosie love." Fingers tangled in blue curls and letting her breath out slowly, the door slowly creeped open.

There should have been at least some expectation, anticipation, sheer knowing that on the other side of the door would be her beloved cousin with some sort of camera device. Audrey had made sure that there had been no actual camera involved, but in her happiness to have outwitted Vicky in a real camera she had neglected to remember that the poor country bumpkin had recently acquired a cell phone. A rather flashy cell phone, with a camera. So there Audrey was, arms spread to stand in the doorway, her hair tumbling down over the black lace and dotted sheer to make her look as if she was so very ready to be tumbled. No doubt the camera had captured it perfectly, and somewhere Elzo Xanis was about to thank God for technology and promiscuous cousins.

Really, Audrey wasn't sure what was more shocking, the idea that Victoria might actually pounce on her in public or the fact that no doubt a picture of her in lingerie was mysteriously speeding its way towards her boyfriend. Deciding that pouncing was the lesser of two evils, the bluenette did it herself, grabbing her cousin and hauling her into the little area. It wasn't hard, she hadn't been expecting it. Fingers mercilessly tickled the young woman's sides, amber eyes hard. "Rosie that is so unfair you should know better you are going to pay for this!!"

In truth, she couldn't have been more pleased. Victoria didn't lie and if Audrey hadn't looked good there would have been no picture and no comment. Pausing in their giggling fight for a moment, she fidgeted a bit. "Do I really look good, Vic? Please don't coddle. If I have to do this...I wanna look good." It was the conundrum for any girl. Pleasing your man with sexy things was fine, but Audrey just wasn't sexy!

Giggles erupted and shoulders straightened back as a hand piled curls on top of a heart-shaped face and twisted either way in the mirror. Satisfied with the look to a point, cheeks still lightly pink with embarrassment and self-doubt, Audrey nodded and hooked her arm through Victoria's. "I admit defeat, Rosie, you're brilliant. I'll buy it, but I have no idea when I'd ever wear it. Elzo doesn't really seem interested in that kind of thing from me." Not that she'd offered. Not that they'd ever even gotten past kissing and hands on clothes. Ever. That was minorly distressing sometimes to Audrey, who had been used to Khaldun and his clumsy seeking hands in the places she'd put them. It was making her wonder sometimes if she was right, and wasn't that pretty! But that was normal for Audrey.

Laying her curly head against her cousin's shoulder, the teen foraged on. "Besides, you've owned me since I was born, Rosie..how could you steal me? I'm all yours whenever you want me!" She looked hesitantly in the mirror one more time and shook her head. "But isn't there anything in a brighter color? I understand black is sexy and all but it's not really...me." Better to go along now with the momentum and get into it before the mood was ruined and two grumpy cousins didn't talk to each other for a week! It was never pleasant for their third and male wheel, after all!

One of these days she was going to strangle Vicky, hide the body, and go on like nothing happened. It was a thought that all siblings had, and really the vivacious and easy young Crystal student was the closest thing Audrey had ever had to a big sister. Kinkade was her big brother, whereas Pasha was more like her baby brother. It brought a little bit of a happy glow to the teen's face and the light smack on her bottom was brushed off as just something that sisters did to annoy their siblings. Though really, it wouldn't have surprised Jojo to know that Rosie did that to any boy or girl that had caught her eye. Kissing cousins...a laugh echoed in the dressing room as Audrey leaned against the cool wall.

Considering what Rosie had said, Audrey wondered. Did Elzo actually want sex, but was just being super nice so that he didn't scare her off? Well...it would be nice to be thought of in that way, but they weren't really at a point to where that was okay. If it was ever okay! After all, Audrey had been raised on Midwestern Morality that had somehow passed over her two older cousins and gone straight for her and to do that without some serious commitment was dangerous. "Rosie, make sure it's blue." That was important. Blue like her hair, like his eyes. Very important.

Holding the scrap of semi-sheer fabric up to the light, Audrey couldn't deny that the color was perfect. It was a lighter blue than Elzo's eyes, more the eye color of his brother - but that was not a problem as it also meant that it was a shade or two lighter than her hair and would not make her look like some sort of woolly hair mammoth. The ivory lace on it was more like something that the girl might actually wear had it not been sheer and come with perhaps a pair of pants and a set of sleeves instead of the strapless little cami and boyshorts. Probably somewhere the thing came with a thong, but Jojo had been very specific with her cousin when it came to undergarments - she didn't need to floss her a**, it was rather clean all by itself!

There was relief when the black lingerie came off and the softer lake blue came over, being tugged into place with a smile and a little twirl. This was entirely more her style, and having already been embarrassed in horrible fashion, it was without hesitation that she opened the door with a wide smile. Audrey knew about the camera now, the least she could do was take a good picture being sent off to Elzo. "I admit Rosie, you had me worried with your strange country girl taste...but I think you've won back my vote of confidence." It belled nicely around her hips, and she moved them from side to side now to demonstrate how absolutely adorable it was.

Audrey was so pleased with it, that her next words were fairly cute as well: "Do you think I could wear it to sleep in? Do you think they have one in purple?" Victoria had scored.

The mention of 'more stuff' immediately shocked her into all but slamming the door in Victoria's face, a giggle trickling through the door as Audrey gratefully resettled her clothing. It was lovely that her big sister cousin was taking time to be interested in her romantic relations, but somethings were a little out of the bluenette's depth and she definitely did not feel that comfortable strutting around in public wearing lingerie. Even if that public was comprised of women who worked at the store and saw much more ugly than Audrey Collins could muster. Of course, this was also the tamer end of the scale - no doubt that within her first week of being in Destiny City, Rosie had been able to find the naughtier shops in dark corners that catered to more interesting tastes. Going to the Secret was definitely for Audrey's comfort, and she loved her for it.

Stepping back out in her rather conservative, if ridiculously bright clothing, she had the two pieces of nylon crushed against her body almost furtively half-hidden behind her hoodie. Only Audrey would have a sweater in the middle of July, but she never really left home without it! The purple was snagged and shoved in after, but the cashier was eyed with apprehension. "Okay, I'm cute, but do they ID for this stuff? Is there like...an age? I'm not eighteen yet, and you're not either!" For a few weeks, at least. Normally she had at least a modicum of common sense, but apparently that vanished in the face of Buying Unmentionables. And well, when you shopped at Target for them in bright packages of five, you didn't worry much about those things.

Turning to Vicky, Audrey pinned her with an amber gaze. "I'll tell you what. You go pay with my money, make it look totally natural, carry the bag the rest of the day...and I'll buy lunch or a snack or whatever you want to eat." It wasn't much, but any meal that Rosie didn't have to buy was just a few dollars more that she could save towards something else. Audrey's budget was a little more...flexible. Elzo was always willing to buy lunch if she kissed him enough, or she could beg Fallon for food. Fallon was always willing to cook and impart her wisdom onto the tiny seventeen year old. It worked great.