riverviewlogs | she's looking at everyone with a secret smile

She's thankful he gave her an address and a time - it gave her a little while to plan a place to change her clothes, grab coffee and a little bite to eat since she'd finished some work in the office not long before. Soon those days might turn in to some kind of work from her home office, but she had yet to figure out just how for the moment. Maybe a conversation or two more with Chloe and she'd figure it out totally, but for now she's sticking to careful planning.

Since Re-L is a bit more susceptible to the heat she's decided to dress a little more lightly, even foregoing her usual heels for once for sandals. It's not because she thinks Otabek will feel better if she does without them, just.. it's a little easier to vent heat in sandals if she's honest. Plus, it's a style she'd never been able to have before, so someone might have gone a little ham on a shoe section or two.

So she arrives with a cup of black cold brew in hand, waving to Otabek as she spots him. She's running a little bit on sleep but mostly lots of coffee, but is always eager for a little spot of shopping for her expanding (and ever black) wardrobe.

"And I thought I might be a little early. Any preferences for where we begin?"

If Otabek were to think about it, he's not really a morning person. But years of forcing himself to get up early to train had helped him gain this habit. Although he would never pass on a day to sleep in. Waking up early didn't mix well with his late nights out at work as a DJ. He had already accomplished a lot before he even had met her for shopping for the day. He even had made a mental list of things that he needed, too. He wasn't here just for himself, though. He was there to spend time with Re-L, as well. And he made sure that he wouldn't invite her out unless he knew he had plenty of time to enjoy himself.

"I'm almost always early," he noted. That was pretty much true. And - in reference to where to start, he found an easy answer. "You wanted me to show you where I found those pants. So I think we can start there." They had a lot of variety, really, and a lot of things that appealed to him. Leather, dark colors and neutrals. Otabek liked a nice, straightforward look when he dressed. He didn't like standing out in a crowd, either.

With having said where to start, he started to lead her there. "If that's alright, of course."

Re-L flourished more in the wee hours of the day, a night owl by nature even if her schedule often demanded early wake up times. Her regimen in her home Dome had been a bit more stringent, but here in Riverview.. she'd found herself sleeping in later and staying up just as long as of late. Not horrible, considering her work could be done at any time provided it was done, but perhaps a bit of a way to ruin her sleep schedule. Thankfully she wasn't getting up for morning runs anymore, or she might be completely wrecked.

"A good habit." She shrugs, though, finding herself fine with not having such a strict schedule anymore. If it worked for Otabek, she wasn't going to go after him about it. The prospect of expanding her wardrobe would always be something she jumped on, no matter the hour of the day, and as Otabek suggests they start off where he'd bought his pants, she's all too eager to go.

"Sounds like a good plan to me. Though, at one point, I'd like to go to a shoe store. There's a certain style I'm lacking that I want to get a pair of."

It naturally worked for him. He even preferred it. It helped him to organize his busy life. He would have no hope of maintaining a relationship with Yuri if he couldn't keep himself together. Not only that, he hoped to make at least a few new friends here. It would be impossible with the busy life he led. There were no complaints about how busy he was, though. Otabek liked to fill every hour of his day with an activity if possible. While it exhausted him at the end of the day, he always felt so accomplished.

"I've been told it's a good one to have," he started walking down the street. He had a couple of places in mind that he knew he wanted to show her. Black and leather seemed to be within her tastes (like himself) so he figured that this would be the best place to get started. But the new information she shared meant that she had something she was looking for, too. And since he had done so much exploring here, he thought he'd at least ask to see if he could help her.

"What style?" he asked. He wasn't sure if he would know what it would be, but he figured it couldn't hurt to ask. After all, if he knew, he might know a place.

Re-L's structured schedule had mainly been at the behest of her grandfather, through Iggy, but the structure had been necessary to keep her on track and not digging in to things she shouldn't. The second Ergo Proxy had fallen in to her life via the destruction of her roof, things had been thrown off, her curiosity peaked, and there was no turning Re-L Mayer back from a case of the unknown once she was on it. And now.. Now she was free to live how she chose to, and for the moment that meant sleeping in a little later and living a little bit more like a 'normal' twenty year old would.

Or at least how she imagined they would, anyway. It wasn't as though she'd ever gotten a taste of normalcy, even now. The effort is still there, though.

"I've never really been able to sleep in before or .. had a reason to stay up late other than being too far in my own head. The change, I think, is needed for right now." Who knew, maybe in a few weeks she'd go right back to her old habits of sleeping at nine and waking up at six or something, but, for now it was working out to change things around.

"I want a pointed toe, and at least three inches in the heel. Not opposed to taller, but definitely not shorter." Sure, Re-L was already a tall woman, even in flats, but she liked to accentuate her height, appreciated the way a good pair of heels made her legs look (as if they needed to look longer). For a girl who's very in to appearances having the right shoes was all a part of the entire 'show' so to speak. "And black, of course."

Otabek would love to sleep in. When he was young, he had always been a difficult person to wake up. Now, he had to wake up early. In order to maintain the life he wanted here, he had to make sure he didn't sleep in. Which meant he'd have to be asleep by a certain time. If he didn't, something would have to be sacrificed, and he was not keen on it being sleep. He didn't function without it. He was glad for factors like jet-lag not being a problem here.

When he hears her answer to his question about the shoes, he takes a moment. He doesn't stop walking, but his attention diverts to her. He glances at her - up and down. She is tall, so tall. And he imagines her with a few extra inches, and his eyes go above her head, as if he's figuring it out. Otabek is accustomed to people being taller than him. Most of his friends were taller than him. Many of his competitors were, too. He doesn't say anything about her height, though. He's sure she's heard it.

"I think the place I got a pair of boots I have has shoes like that." He's pretty sure, at least. He has a decent memory, so he doesn't think he'd remember wrong. "I think it's on the way to one of the stores, so we can stop there."

Really, she's used to this kind of reaction to her love of heels by now. She's heard so much, here in the Quarantine about how tall she is, why exactly she needs to wear heels when she's already so tall.

And, of course, her personal favorite : that she probably wore them for the attention being a tall woman got her. Really, none of it had been a problem until she'd come here. Everyone in Romdeau was (apparently) reasonably tall, which wasn't very surprising considering that they'd all been genetically engineered. Maybe Romdeau's Directors of Health and Welfare had preferred those with height - hell if she knew. Still, she feels a need to respond.

"I know I'm already tall." Thankfully not as bitey as she might've been with other people, probably because he didn't put words to it, which was better than some. She can hear his thoughts almost loud and clear, though, but isn't irritated at him about it.

"I don't mind in which order we stop, really. I just realized the other night when I was getting ready to go out that I needed a pair like that. Sometimes they look better, depending on the outfit."

Otabek was trying to visualize how much taller than him she'd be. He was relatively short, compared to others his age, which never really bothered him. And no one ever made him feel like he was short. Still, he was used to being around people taller than him for the most part. So Re-L's height didn't much bother him, which is why he didn't speak up.

"You are." The way he said it was so straight-forward and matter of fact. It was void of any judgment over the fact. It didn't bother him that she was tall. It was just an observation. He shrugged his shoulders. "They'll look good," he said finally, referencing the heels. He was being honest, of course. "I'm used to being shorter than most people."

He continued forward, until he noted that they were close to one of the stores that he wanted to stop in with her. This one, in particular, had some of the leather pieces they liked. It wasn't anything showy (nothing with real details or things), but the things here were nice, well constructed. He had gotten motorcycle gloves here. He shifted, turning, "Here," he said, and then he propped open the door for her.

"It's odd - no one ever pointed it out to be as much as people here in Riverview have at home or on the Eluvio." Maybe it's just a coincidence, who knew, it may be, but she's beginning to see a pattern. It wouldn't stop her, honestly, but if Donov Mayer couldn't stop her then there's no way anyone in Riverview Quarantine would prevent her from her favorite shoes. Thankfully Otabek wasn't one who had pointed it out in a .. much more abrasive manner, though his comment on his height -

"You aren't that small, really. Average height isn't small compared to anyone but me." Or Gladio, or anyone else who's taller than most, really. "Most people in Romdeau were my height so it was never.. something we noticed. But fellow citizens were also heavily genetically modified, so... "

She shrugs, as if saying they shouldn't be an example for anyone. People made too 'perfect' shouldn't be the basis of measure. Re-L nods her thanks as she steps in to the store, the smell of leather hitting her immediately. "Hopefully they have a size to fit me."

Edited 2017-10-03 19:52 (UTC)

She could say that all she wants, but that didn't mean he wouldn't think of himself short. That's the way it was when one was an eighteen year old male around several people who were taller than he was. Still, it wasn't like he felt bad about his height. No one ever made him feel bad about it, either. He was bigger, broader than others. Still, he was impressed to hear that this was normal for her back home.

"It doesn't bother me," he said. He was sure to let her know that much, at least. "I don't look short when I perform." That much was true. He never looked short when he was on the ice, or when he was on a large stage working as a DJ. He was always in charge, he was always the center of attention.

It didn't matter.

"They should," he noted. But it wasn't like he knew what size she wore. "They have a decent variety." Once she was inside, he let the door close behind him, taking a few steps in to browse around. He guessed it was because they were used to accommodating a different crowd - people from off world.

He loved the way this place felt, and he immediately shifted to start browsing the racks of clothes.

"Then you're talented as a performer." Granted, there's very few people who do performing as a profession where she's from, but they were all long and small in build anyway, like most people around her. Still, if Otabek managed to look as long and graceful than he was more talented than they were, if she's honest. It's one thing to be born with the natural finesse, it's another to not have the 'ideal' shape and make it work anyway. Then again, she is very much the non-ideal woman who had to force her way through anyways herself, so..

Maybe it's a little ego stroking there, too.

"There's nothing a little decent tailoring can't fix, either." Now that Re-L had the option of her own style, her own everything? She's damn well going to take every chance to make her own style. Rack upon rack of clothing she can pick through is more than enough to switch her away from conversations of height, at least, as she's instead flicking through a rack of skirts, holding them up to gauge length. Most.. well, tend to be what would be considered 'too short' at home, which means Re-L is about them both for the style and the rebellion. There's a particular one she happens across that laces in the front a little, not revealing as there's leather behind the laced parts as well, but -

She holds it to herself, looking in a nearby mirror as if this is the biggest decision she'll make in her life.

"Otabek, what do you think?"

He takes her compliment when it's offered. He appreciates the compliment. Truly. Though he's never been one to boast about what skills he has, there is a reason he is considered among the best in the world. At the very least, he's one of the best in his country at figure skating. He's still working his way to popularity at his work as a DJ. He was glad to have that skill, though. It was a good back-up plan since he wouldn't be able to figure skate forever. It had helped him here.

He was always about being successful despite not being conventional. He was good at working with what he had. Always had to, so he figured it out. "Thank you," he answers, before stepping away from her to go their separate ways and browse through clothing.

He figures she might want to be left to her devices to look for a little bit, so he browses through a few jackets. He sees some things he likes for himself, and a couple things he considers picking up for Yuri. He'll have to ponder them, which is why he welcomes her question.

He looks her over for a moment, and considers the skirt briefly. "It looks good," he answers with a small smile. It does, too. He was a fan of leather and laced up details. "It has good details." He was sure to let her know he noticed.

"Not too short, you think?" It was worth the question. Re-L is a rather leggy girl (hard not to be, at her height) and many skirts that weren't conventionally short tended to appear as such. Generally as a rule of thumb Re-L isn't at all as body conscious as others from different iterations of Earth may be - on her own Earth bodies were never, ever sexualized enough for the length of a skirt to matter in anything but her grandfather's over blown idea of their "image" as a family. A regent's granddaughter wasn't to dress like some common woman who hadn't been made for a very specific purpose - he would look and act proper at all times -

Except she'd blown all of those ideas to hell, and had now ended up in Riverview, where her freedoms were much expanded, but...

She was still coming to grips with new social norms, and all of them sucked.

"Not that it matters all that much, but... it seems worth asking so I can gauge what reactions I may get out of it, right?"

Otabek considered he concern for a moment. Short skirts weren't ever something he thought about, not that he ever really noticed them either. He never really looked at girls, but when he worked as a DJ, the skirt she picked out didn't seem any shorter than other things he had seen. He looked her over, and then to the skirt. After a few moments, he shook his head. "Not at all."

He has no reason to think that she would get any sort of negative reaction from the way that she's dressing. He knows that not everyone thinks like him, of course, but he doesn't think she'd get any comments worth caring about wearing it, at least.

But maybe it is the fact that he only cares about what other people think when he's competing or doing his job. Outside of that, he's not particular.

"I don't think anyone will say anything. I think it'll look good."

"Honestly this isn't something I've ever had to consider until I arrived here, oddly enough." She shrugs, but seems set on the skirt - even if Otabek had said it might be a little too short. Of course, it requires a little saying, too, as if Otabek needs to know why she was consulting him about the length in the first place. "In the Quarantine it's like those kinds of things are exponentially more important. Which is strange, considering everything was regulation or what grandfather chose previously." Re-L and her appearance were all part of Donov's 'brand' after all - his master plan for Romdeau Dome and the last paradise on a destroyed Earth. She'd been left with little left to do other than follow (some of) his directives, a dangerous game of giving in when she needed to, other times dancing around her instructions to do what she wanted.

"Of course, here people are a bit more..." She pauses, makes a vague motion with her hand, long fingers making a circular motion. "Open with just about everything."

Otabek has no point of reference, really beyond girls at clubs. His family was fairly conservative, so he is sure that it wouldn't be appropriate at home. But here, here is different, and he has no reason to think that there is anything wrong with the skirt. He tilted his head after a moment of silence, hearing her say how things were for her at home. "He picked out your clothes?" he asked. There was nothing but curiosity in his voice. He had been pretty much on his own for awhile. He liked it that way, though.

"They are, aren't they?" He noticed it, too. It was nice to be around people who were so open and free about so much. He liked it. It was different from what he was used to. He also found that while he still made a lot of his life about work while here, it didn't have to be.

"I like it." It was a simple answer, really. But he did.

she's looking at everyone with a secret smile

HERE I AM, LATE AF -

I MEAN.....LOOK AT HOW SLOW I AM /stumbles in

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