Welcome to Gaia! ::

Gwendolyn Caspian would never, ever admit to anyone that her favorite time of the month was the tail end of it, as it not only meant that she could start preparing for the holidays and events coming from the approaching month, but that also meant that she received her monthly allowance from He-who-she-named-her-pet-rat-after. She may not have liked her stepfather, but she did appreciate his pretty hefty paycheck, as he not only gave her mom the financial support she needed, but he had enough to throw her a couple of bucks as well.

She never knew how much exactly he sent; it always went to Maddy first to pay the bills. She only cared about what was left over after that, which meant it went straight into her pockets. For a whole whopping ten minutes, though her personal record was a week.

The biggest question on Gwen's mind was how she planned on spending that extra money today. There weren't any video games that she desperately wanted right now, and there were no movies she wanted to go see, nor anyone to go see it with. She was stocked up on her art supplies... which meant only one thing left to spend her money on.

Costumes!

So it was there that Gwen had decided to spend most of her day, and that is where she'd drop a good lot of money as well. At a fabric and crafts store! It took her some amount of research to find the place, but now that she was there, her mind was filled to the brim with all of the many costume ideas that she could indulge in.

'Maybe I can finally do that Rum Tum Tugger costume? Or something from Tim Burton... or Starlight Express? No, too complicated, even Maddy wouldn't help me with that.' Gwen thought to herself, rummaging through the clearance section and feeling every piece of fabric she came across, careful not to breathe on it in fear of passing on her germs from this lingering cold. She paid little attention to the people around her, not realizing that she was getting awfully close to the person next to her. 'Or maybe I can make a replica uniform from another school and use that to sneak my way into the other schools? Yes, that'd be perfect! But which school, which one...'

She saw a light blue satin and immediately went for it, the thought of successfully sneaking into Crystal Academy bringing a rather mischievous smile on her face.

When Gwen was in her zone, there was very little that could distract her from her task, and like a heat-seeking missile to its target, Gwen reached for the light blue satin fabric, just as someone else had grabbed it. Both of them had grabbed it at the same time and Gwen pulled instinctively, not realizing that someone else had tried to claim it until she felt some resistance when she tried to pull it closer.

This finally forced Gwen to look at the one that she would have to 'fight' with to claim the piece for herself, her words already out of her mouth before ever setting eyes on her, or the adorable little dog that was in her hands. "Excuse me, but I really ne..."

The moment she set eyes on Cotton, any anger that the young teen had been preemptively building up was gone, and while her grip on the satin didn't let up, she couldn't help but swoon at the sight of the puppy. To say Gwen was an animal lover was a gross understatement... "Ohhhhhh, a puppy! How absolutely adorable you are!"

She didn't go to pet her, yet, and she looked to its owner, not even caring that they were still holding on to the same piece of fabric. "Can I pet her?"

Gwen was a real go-getter and usually kept her focus on the prize, but animals were always her greatest weakness. She dropped the fabric the moment that Candice gave her permission to pet the adorable little dog, and she gave Cotton a gentle scratch behind the ears.

"The name's Cotton? Well, hello there." Gwen said, addressing the dog as though it here another human, perhaps a small child. She's already talked to a talking cat; what were the odds that dogs could talk as well? Gwen could certainly hope. "My name is Gwendolyn, and I absolutely adore you!"

She gave it a few more pats before looking to its owner, and her mind was completely distracted from the silk fabric and her quest to make a different uniform. "You're lucky that you get to have a dog. My sister's apartment won't let us have pets... though I do hide Minah from them. What are the odds of me hiding a small dog like Cotton here?"

"Aw, well, she may be small, but that only amplifies her adorable levels into overdrive!" Gwen said, giving the little dog another pat on the head in hopes of keeping it quite. There was no need for the two of them to be kicked out of the store now. When she had mentioned needing clothing and accessories for her pet, Gwen wasn't really sure what to think. She didn't want to judge another for accessorizing their pets, but perhaps that was simply her own jealousy of not being able to own a cat or dog herself TO accessorize that bothered her.

Yes, it was definitely the jealous part of her, as she was more than eager to look around for a color to go with the tiny dog. She brought the satin that they had been both tugging at to Cotton's side to see how well it'd look against her fur. "Well, I'm no artist, though I do sketch every now and then, but I think this blue would fit her just fine. Like, the blue eyes of a white tiger, you know?"

She was trying to envision what kind of clothing would look best on the dog when it occurred to her that she didn't get her name, and she asked, "What's your name? How rude of me, to ask the dog's name before yours..."

"Candice? That's a nice name," Gwen said, and any and all plans that she had for the fabric was simply gone from her mind, replaced with the idea of how many cute accessories one could make for such an adorable little dog. Gwen waved off the very notion of wanting or needing the fabric, the rare, girly-girl side of her exposing itself after many months of solitude, a rare occasion for the rough-and-tumble tomboy indeed. "And don't worry about that. I was just going to make a uniform for Crystal Academy and see about sneaking my way in to escape St. Mag's. It was stupid idea that wasn't going to work anyway, and besides, I doubt there's enough of this to make it."

She wasn't lying; it was a silly idea to begin with, and in truth, Gwen would have rather have spent her money on fabric to make costumes for herself, which she was long since overdue for another costume anyways. It was very easy to let go of the fabric, especially when she saw who it would be going to. "Besides, that color looks better on Cotton anyway. So, what do you plan on making with it? A vest? A cape? Maybe a hoodie?"

"If you knew St. Mag's, then you'd know why I'm trying to escape." Gwen snickered at the thought of her inevitable escape, whether it be temporary or permanent, and she grabbed various garments that were lying around, pulling them up and observing how they'd look against Cotton's fur. She explained, as she tried to imagine various clothing and garments in her mind. "School full of emotionally unstable girls, some with criminal records, all the while being watched by hawkeyed nuns and sisters... it's stifling, and the religious zealots are just as frightening as the ones that hold records already!"

No, Gwen did not like St. Mags, not in the least, and she felt the need to clarify her standings on the school, for Candice's sake. "Not that I'm a criminal, or a religious zealot or anything. I'm only there because I don't exactly come from a prestigious family and it's the closest to my apartment so that my sister doesn't have to drive me there or pay a bus fare."

She had gotten that a lot; strange looks from others when she mentioned having to go to that school, but with the exception of the occasional act of truancy, Gwen was a regular citizen who simply had no money or means to attend even Meadowview.

"I'd hope she'd not be a compulsive chewer! It'd be tragic if you spent all that time and effort into making her a hat and she ate it!"

Gwen knew what it was like to have a destructive pet. "Micah chews just about everything he can get it tiny little snout on. He eats everything, too, which is why he's so fat. But that's okay... I love my rat to be fat! He's also easy to please..."

Then Gwen gave the piece of fabric a look over, then looked at Cotton and the blue silky fabric that they were both pining for. She had to admit that she preferred the blue one to Cotton, but the pale green one seemed to be growing on her. White and black did go with everything...

"I think the green one would look great on her, actually. Normally I wouldn't care for green, but this shade of it seems perfect for your dog! It's also not a color you see often, so Cotton will be unique, too!"

It seemed like a good impasse for Gwen; she's get the chance to make her Crystal Academy 'uniform', and Candice would get the chance to suit up her precious dog. Everyone was happy!

Gwen scoffed at the very idea of making a costume for her pet rat, though it wasn't out of spite towards Candice. "Nah, anything I may for the little rat would immediately turn into new bedding. He's a shredder- one time I was wearing these long sleeves and stood too close to the cage, and the little guy nearly dragged my entire arm through the bars. He sees farbic and all he thinks about it 'Look at that, it'll make for excellent nap time!'"

She did inspect the fabric that Candice brought in front of her, though, getting a feel for it and pursing her lips in concentration. She might not have been able to use this for Micah, but she could definitely see about using it for another project, especially in her Crystal Academy disguise. She accepted everything that Candice gave her, inspecting each one and nodding triumphantly. "All of these can work! Push comes to shove, I can see about dying them, or maybe running these darker ones through the washer a few times to see if they'll fade to the shade I want."

Gwen wasn't the best when it came to this kind of stuff, but she was always eager and willing to try anything once. She was likely the type of person that believed that putting the car in reverse in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" would have worked... but she was willing to give anything a shot. "Thanks for all your help. My quest might not work, but I have a good feeling that I can still make something out of these."