Mollianne and the Coldwater Twins, knowledgeable kids that they are,
lead from the diner to the eastern off-district of Viorar, behind most
of the businesses and general residential areas. Molly seems a little
quieter than she was before, and the faint tinge of crimson on her
face is persistent.

Meanwhile, Rae Beth and May Ann are chattering away incessantly,
finding stupid comments to make, crude remarks regarding breast size
and comparisons, and just generally acting like teenagers. They
follow an eastern route through a dingy sort of back way, past some
old-looking houses and toward a larger building behind them.

Crossroads follows behind the group, only half listening to the twins
chatter while looking around the area. She really hadn't visited this
part of Viorar so there was a lot of new scenery to take in. After a
while though, she hesitantly asked, "Where are we going again?"

Lorastine followed along side the group of girls, keeping to her self
mostly. She was taking in the sights even if they weren't exactly the
most luxurious of looking areas. She listened to the twins not really
wanting to engage her self with the topic.

Mollianne looks up from her thoughts at the query, raising her sea
green eyes toward the large building a short distance away. "You
would not know it because of where it is, but this is a really nice
clothing shop. They put themselves back here so that those who know
about it will pay mind to the poorer areas of Viorar." She pauses
briefly, smiling a little happily. "Like giving credit to those who
probably deserve it. Sometimes fortune does not favor everyone, all
the time. I set up my free clinic here, a couple times a month, for
that reason." She walks on a bit, and May Ann suddenly squeals,
hurrying on ahead. Rae Beth scratches her head, before getting a
worried look and hurrying after her sister. "No, that's not your kid,
May! Put him down before his mother decides not to take him back!"

Needless to say, the Twins have disappeared onward.

Crossroads nodded at the answer before watching, horrified, as May Ann
takes off after a kid and her sister following after her. She glances
at Mollianne and Lora, wondering if they should chase after them or
not.

Lorastine was rather intrigued by Mollianna's answer. It made sense
the more she thought about it. May Ann's sudden squeal caused Lora's
ears to perk up suddenly and watch her run off to hug a child. She
couldn't help but giggle a little. "We should follow them. It wouldn't
be good to get separated."

Mollianne smiles still, despite the faint blush on her cheeks. "It
will be fine. I am not sure if you noticed, but we are pretty well
known along the route we have been taking. We spend a lot of time
together, us three, and in the same places. It is a more comfortable
setting when everyone knows who you are, I like to think. Especially
when you set up a free doctoring service, you tend to get known pretty
quickly."

Molly seems happy, even as, a little bit of a ways away, May Ann is
reluctantly handing over a little boy to his waiting mother, who is
only laughing at this antic. Rae Beth is looking back toward Molly,
Lora, and Cross with a sheepish smirk, as if silently apologizing.
Close by, the store looms over head, with one of the double-doors
wedged open from the inside.

Mollianne nods as she nears the store. "It just shows that even when
you are poor, if you have kind people around, everyone can still be
happy. I try to help keep it that way, when I can. Who knows? Maybe
someone will follow my example at some point."

Crossroads looks a little relieved when she sees that the mother
didn't seem to object to the strange teenage girl running up and
suddenly grabbing her child. She smiles lightly, then turns her
attention to Mollianne "That’s awfully good of you to set up free
service in areas where a little extra help is needed." She says with a
nod.

Lorastine smiles and nods at Mollianna's words. "It certainly is
commendable of you to be some conscientious about everyone. Its
admirable to say the least." She replied. "I bet there are others who
follow your footsteps." With a smile, she looked towards the store
nearby.

"Oh, I know there are. I was speaking more in general than anything
else. There are lots of good people out there, do not get me wrong."
Mollianne pauses to grab May Ann by the arm on her way past, a bit
roughly, but also a bit motherly, as if dragging her kid away from
something too fascinating to tear herself away from. "Let us go see
what they have, shall we? I know you two, at least, could use a new
bathing suit since the last time we went."

May Ann squeaks as Molly grabs her arm, but composes herself and
follows along obediently, with Rae Beth in close tow. "Yeah, our
stuff gets worn out too quick. But y'know, living in a tree makes
SOME things a little difficult, too."

"Oh puh. It isn't any harder than anything else we do, May. Kyrk's
always lettin' us use his stuff when we need it; or did you forget
that part? It's like we're all one big family, sorta." She giggles,
glancing over her shoulder. "Though it helps that ol' Kyrk can't get
mad."

"I can imagine. I didn't even know you could live in trees."
Crossroads admitted as they stopped in front of the store. She thought
for a moment about what kind of things the twins borrowed from Kyrk.
Considering how these two seemed to be, she couldn’t imagine anything
was returned in good condition.

Mollianne all but leads the troupe into The Fashion Statement, a large
but still-looking building neatly ordered from floor to ceiling with
assorted garments meant for pretty much every occasion. Specific to
the season, a large display of swimwear and general beach-based attire
is set up in the corner by the changing room.

Mollianne adjusts her vision for a moment from the otherwise-dark
atmosphere she had been in up to this point, the lights of the place
forcing her to squint somewhat. "One of the things I like about this
place is that it never changes."

Nearby, the swinging of a door behind the counter registers an
employee leaving through it, perhaps to go and get something from the
back. Rae and May both grin at each other, before breaking off toward
the aforementioned summer section. Mollianne only smiles, turning to
nod at Lorastine and Crossroads. "Is this okay with you?"

Crossroads nods with a smile as her eyes land on one display of
clothing to the next, not knowing where to start but wanting to look
around for a bit. "Perfectly." She said, taking a few more steps into
the store towards a selection of summer dresses.

Lorastine looks around almost amazed at the selection of clothing
before her. She nodded agreeing with Crossroad's reply and made a
bee-line for the swimsuits. She had never really owned one before so
this was a completely new experience.

May Ann and Rae Beth busy themselves rooting through various clothes
in spinning racks and assorted shelves, but contrary to what someone
might expect, they actually DO put everything back in place when they
are finished looking, even going so far as to fold things up;
apparently, their public behavior doesn't play into an actual set of
manners they may yet possess. As well, Mollianne heads over to the
swimming apparel, but seems less enthusiastic about it than the
others. Predominantly, she more or less just appears to watch over
the Twins, not really making an inclination to go for anything
herself, idly adjusting the leather strap around her chest almost as
an afterthought; it doesn't seem that she ISN'T happy, just not
bonkers over it like the general demeanor of Rae and May.

Lorastine looked through the selections of swimsuits with curiosity,
not sure which one would look nice on her. She took several pieces and
held them to her body while looking in a mirror. It was hard to really
get a feel on how it was supposed to look with her normal clothes on.

Crossroads moves on from the dresses to some skirts, before slowly
making her way towards swimsuits where the rest of the group was. She
decided that she would have to remember this store's location for
future visits.

Mollianne watches quietly, either smirking or smiling off and on as
she watches everyone, seemingly keeping a specific eye on the Twins,
who seem to have found something, or a pair of somethings, that may
work for them; this is, at least, according to the pair of delighted
squeals that come from both of them. Rae and May both push their way,
together, into a single cubby in the wall to see how it looks on them,
at least on the outside; it is difficult to tell what it is, only that
one of them is predominantly red with some green on the edge, and the
other is green with a bit of red on the edge, both being single-piece
swimwear. Mollianne looks from them to Lora, then back at the Twins,
and finally at Cross; the redness in her face seems to have increased
a little bit, but she is doing a pretty good job of ignoring it, that
happy little smile still ever-present.

Mollianne says 'It does not really take a lot to make people happy,
sometimes, does it?'

from her mirror, Lorastine caught a glimpse of Mollianna looking over
at her. She turned and smiled at her, happily before responding, "I
guess not." she laughed and looked back in the mirror doing a little
pose with a swimsuit held over her. She wasn't all that comfortable
trying it on like the twins did. Looking back at Molly to get her
opinion, she noticed the redness of her cheeks. "Hm?"

Crossroads grins at the twins and starts browsing the rack of
swimwear, finding numerous styles to choose from. When Mollianne
speaks she simply nods to her, noticing that she was looking a little
more red than earlier. "You're cheeks are pretty red again. I know
I've asked already, but are you sure you're alright?"

Mollianne waves lightly, dismissively. "It is just a condition I
have, normally at the end of the month. Nothing serious, I promise."
Rae and May both peek out from around the cubby they were still
standing in, peering at Mollianne for a moment then back at each
other, their goofiness diminishing for just a moment before they bound
off again, going back to the racks but tightly clutching their chosen
garments.

A sales representative comes out from the back room at that time, and
waves at the group, cheerily. "If you folks need any help finding
anything, just let me know!" He takes a spot behind the counter, idly
looking through a couple of things behind it.

Lorastine tilts her head a little confused and curious on what kind of
condition Mollianna had that would cause her cheeks to turn bright
red. Going back to the rack she lit up when she found a perfect
swimsuit. Without even playing with it like the others, she went
straight to a cubby next to the twins and quickly closed the curtain.

Crossroads pulls a bathing suit from the rack and holds it up studying
it. At first she seems pleased with it, but after a moment she quickly
replaces it, blushing momentarily and looking for another.
"So-um...What kind of condition is it? If you don't mind me asking
that is."

The Twins seems to be fervently searching for something, something
specific, and don't even notice as Lorastine breezes past them into a
changing stall, shifting through swimsuit after swimsuit, brows
identically-furrowed.

Mollianne watches them for a few moments following Crossroads'
question, seemingly without the willingness to give an answer.
Though, she does walk over toward her at that time, peering quietly
down toward the swimsuit she put back, standing somewhat close to
Crossroads as she does.

Mollianne whispers, in a voice low enough to prevent the others from
hearing, "I wanted to ask something, but not... here. Maybe after we
leave the shop..?"

Lorastine pokes her head out of the curtain with a shade of blush on
her cheeks. The swimsuit was a nice fit, but still embarrassing to her
that she was wearing it. Not used to showing off as much skin as the
bikini did, she looked at the twins for their opinion. "D-does it look
ok?" she asked them as she revealed her outfit from behind the
curtain.

Crossroads tilts her head to the side a little confused at Molly's
reaction but she simply nods. Maybe she was just shy about her
condition and didn't want to mention it outloud. She lowers her head
to say something, then looks up at Lora as she emerges wearing the
swimsuit she selected, "That looks great!"

Rae and May both look up from their scavenging, the latter holding
onto the top-part of a large-cupped bright blue bikini, and toward
Lorastine. They are quiet for a moment as they study Lorastine, then
look back at each other. "Maybe..." "Should we go for a two-piece
instead of these..?" They look down at their chosen swims wear,
trying to decide. "If Lora can pull it off..."

With renewed hope that even Lora looked good, the twins go back to
shuffling, but seem to hold on to both their own swimwear and the new
blue top-half. Mollianne smiles faintly, though she does raise her
eyes toward the Twins, raising an eyebrow at the
specifically-large-sized top they now possess, but not saying
anything.

Mollianne says 'Is there something wrong with that one, Crossroads..?
I think it looked cute.'

Lorastine smiled lightly as she was approved and looked at herself in
the mirror once more. It was kind of like a remembrance of home with
the triforce style pattern on it.

Crossroads quickly goes through the same process with a few more
bathing suits some one piece, some two, each quickly being replaced on
the rack. "Um..it um..." Her voice becomes a little quieter and she
tilts her head down, "It was fine."

Mollianne smiles more fully, picking back up the one that was replaced
the first time, looking the top and bottom portion down before
offering it to Crossroads. "Why not go try it on? You might be
surprised at how it looks once it is actually on you. Lora seems
pretty happy with hers, even if she was scared to show it off at
first." She looks up toward Lora at that moment, with an approving
nod.

Mollianne seems to be implying something, but it isn't obvious what it
is, as she prods Crossroads gently with the hanger the swimsuit is
hanging from. "You never know until you try."

At that moment, Rae Beth holds up something with a loud "Ah-HA! Found
it!" In her hand is a silky, transparent miniskirt, decorated with
yellow and white beads along the bottom hem. In May Ann's possession
is the large-cupped bikini top from before, and the two seem to make a
matching set. It's at that point that they turn their attention
toward Mollianne, gleefully.


As she finished getting herself together she figured that she would
pay for the swimsuit or maybe look for others just in case. As she
stepped out of the curtain, she bumped into an employee to the store
with long silver hair. "I'm so sorry!" Lorastine apologized quickly
helping the girl up. The employee only smiled at her and shook her
head.

"I guess..." Crossroads looked nervously at the swimsuit in
Mollianne's hands. It was rather cute –especially with the little bows
on the side. Hesitantly, she took it from Molliane's hands and quickly
slipped into the changing stall.

Mollianne's smile abruptly fades into an uncertain look as the Twins
hold up their findings, and she holds up her hands defensively. "I
think I am fine how I am, right now. Besides, you know I feel about...
those... things." She stops, realizing something that sparks a note
of irritation. "And what is with that skirt, anyway? You can
literally see right through it!"

Rae and May advance pleasantly, but not threateningly, on Molly,
brushing past Crossroads as she hurries into a stall behind them.
Though THEY hadn't tried their swimsuits on (apparently they just
figured what they got was fine without needing to), they seemed
awfully eager for what they were about to enact. May seems a little
confused, as she follows behind her sister. "Wha? Why're you even
worried about that? It's not like you wear und--" She stops
abruptly, glancing around herself. "Oh. Whoops, public. I forgot."
The red streak on Mollianne's face only grows from this remark, as she
seems clear on what was intended.

Lorastine overhears the girls from her spot and couldn't help but
giggle slightly. Meanwhile the employee seemed to be examining the
swimsuit in Lora's arm. "Did you want to pay for That?" She asked, for
a moment. The girl's voice was shockingly familiar to Lorastine. She
blinked for a moment and tried to get a better look at the girl, it
was hard to tell, but she had definitely met this girl before. It was
kind of creepy.

Once the swimsuit is on, Crossroads examined herself in the mirror. It
fit nicely, however it was probably going to be hard to suppress the
urge to cover herself with her arms. She felt practically naked in it!
She makes a quick final adjustment of the strap, then peers outside,
wondering if she should step outside to have a look like Lora did
while everyone seemed distracted.

Mollianne pulls somewhat as May and Rae individually place hands on
her shoulders, attempting to guide her toward a separate stall, still
grinning from ear to ear, each. "Come on, it won't be that bad. You
could really use something other than that silly band you got. And
'sides, Kyrk'll probably love it!"

May Ann pipes up, looking over Molly toward her sister. "Hey, wait a
sec. No he won't. Like, literally." Rae shoots May a dirty look,
impeding their intent on their ambitions and not at all helping it.
This quietens her up, and they tug a little more. "Look! The others
went and did it!" Rae gestures, noting Lora going to pay for hers
already, and Crossroads peeking out from behind a curtain.

Mollianne struggles somewhat, but upon looking up and seeing
Crossroads' uncertain face, her resistance dies a little bit, as she
realizes that she shouldn't put up so much of a fight if Crossroads
went willingly, too. "Oh... ah. Well.. I guess."

As Lorastine went up to the register to pay for it, she got a better
look at the cashier. In turn the silver-haired cashier gives her a
smirk. "What’s the matter, shocked to see a friend?" she said as she
rung up Lora's swimsuit. Lorastine blinks and looks almost surprised
and confused. This was indeed Erica, the witch that she had met
before, but like before her soul gem and no one else’s seemed to
react.

Crossroads blushes as she notices the part of the attention being
directed back at her and she ducks back inside the stall. After taking
a deep breath, she steps out and takes a look at herself in the
mirrors, a small smile slowly crossing her face. Despite how she felt,
it really didn't look too bad. "I think I'll be sticking with this
one."

Still looking somewhat unsure of herself, Mollianne gives Crossroads
an attempted smile of approval as she slides the curtain back, too.

Not content to leave this as it is, and with an oddly sinister grin
from each, May Ann and Rae Beth allows themselves into the same stall,
taking care to slide the curtain back in place behind them. This
elicits a small yelp from Mollianne, distressfully. "H-hey! I do not
need any help putting things on! You guys can wait out there with
everyone else!"

"Nuh uh, we're just makin' sure. You can't back out now, after
everything else!" "Yeah, 'sides! We can give you pointers, since we
DID help pick the suit out. Don't worry about a thing~!"

Lorastine looks back at the sounds coming from the dressing cubby
occupied by the twins a Molliana. Erica laughs slightly and bags the
swimsuit, "You're friends are an odd group." she remarks. Lorastine is
being reluctant to really say much to her, she only nodded quietly and
took up her things.

Crossroads steps back into her stall to quickly change back into her
regular clothes, thinking that it might be a good idea to try to find
some accessories and some sandals to match, maybe even something to
help her feel a little more... covered. She had already seen a few
things upon her initial search for the bathing suit.


There is a display of obvious rustling behind the curtain with the
three girls, but Molliane grunts somewhat, indignantly. "There is not
even hardly any room to... hey!" All of a sudden, a leather band
comes flying over the top of the stall's curtain, landing just outside
the stall on the floor. Mollianne lets out a subtle whine,
accompanied by more rustling. "Th-that is not fair!"

"Easy Molls, it'll be fine. Jus' consider it an insurance policy.
Hurry up and put it on, we gotta see if it fits or not! Can't be here
all night." More rustling, maybe an elbow hitting someone else. "..
Good lord. Haven't you stopped growing yet, Molly? They're--"
"H-hey! Watch where you're putting those!"

"Gee whiz, that's kinda..." There is silence for a moment, an
uncomfortable silence. The sounds of struggling are heard,
accompanied with another whine from Mollianne. "You guys..!"

Lorastine listens to the ruckus from the changing booth and the flying
article of clothing. Erica noticed it too and sighed, "Hold on a
second." she says as she walks over to the stall, reaches behind the
curtain and pulls the two twins out of the booth. "One customer per
booth" she says in an annoyed tone. Lorastine was a little set back by
this display, but maybe even a witch has to pay the bills some how.

Crossroads steps out of the stall with her bathing suit draped over
one of her arms just as the clerk pulled the twins out of Mollianne's
booth. She was kind of glad for it as Molly didn't sound to pleased
with the twin's behavior. She smiles, then goes about looking through
the racks.

Rae and May yelp in surprised unison as they are pulled roughly out of
the stall, but in doing so, their retreat flaps the curtain open for a
brief moment of time; long enough for a beet-red Mollianne to be seen
standing inside, covering her ample assets from prying eyes in
absolute embarrassment. As the curtain flaps closed again, there is
an irritated sigh from inside. "Urgh.. I knew this was a bad idea.."

May and Rae stumble somewhat, casting aggravated glares at Erica as
she goes back to her post; May even goes so far as to make a face
behind her back, in standard immature-child fashion.

Erica returned to the counter and sighed. However she did gain some
valuable information. "Those girls. They are wishborn too, no?" she
says to Lorastine, who gives her a shocked glance. Erica's answer was
given without Lora even speaking a word, it was a complete guess too.
"Interesting."

"Could have been worse. At least the clerk wasn't a cute guy."
Crossroads said to Molly from outside the stall, hoping it would make
her feel a little better about the situation. She pulls a pareo off of
the rack and holds it up to her waist, looking at it in the mirror
before moving on to the sandals and accessories.

"Crossroads, can you... hand me my top?" Mollianne calls out from
behind the curtain, hoping to catch her before she moved too far away.
Her voice seems a little shaken, even beyond relative nervousness.

The Twins, childish though they are, take their swimsuits and go on
elsewhere about the store, milling about like a couple of, well,
teenagers. The browser through a few other articles of clothing,
though their still seem miffed out of having their fun taken from them
by a complete stranger. It didn't even seem to matter to them if she
was part of their flock or not.

Lorastine starts to feel a little uneasy being around Erica. "Um...
thanks for umm..." she says before wandering off into the store. All
she saw was Erica smiling and waving to her like a normal employee.
She didn't know what the witches’ intentions were, but this meeting
may not be a coincidence.

"Sure." Crossroads picks up Mollianne's top as she passes by her stall
and puts it through the curtains, careful not to look. Even if
Mollianne wasn't the type to mind such a thing, there were times when
a little extra privacy was good, especially after moments like what
had just transpired, "Here you go."

A hand takes the top from Crossroads as she slips it behind the
curtain, with a quieted 'Thank you' issuing there from. A bit more
rustling goes on from there, and only a moment or so later, a
considerably distraught Mollianne pulls the curtain back, holding the
swimsuit and skit in one hand, and covering her nose with the other,
behind which is a fairly noticeable red streak. Mollianne's dressed
as she was before she went in.

"I will take this one. It should be fine." Without fanfare, she
heads toward the counter and moves to pay for it, seemingly in a hurry
to go, all of a sudden. Acknowledging this turn of events, May and
Rae hurry on to join up with Mollianne, since she's apparently taking
care of theirs, too. They seem a little apologetic as they grow close
to her, Rae even going so far as to whisper something once in range.

As Molly came to pay for her swimsuit, Erica smiled and went through
the payment process much like anyone else would. Lorastine walked over
towards Cross unsure if she should relay her findings. Cross was the
only other person to really know who Erica was even if their meeting
was brief.

Crossroads is just finishing up making a couple of accessory
selections as Lorastine approaches her. "Looks like everyone is
finishing up here." She says with a nod looking over to the clerk and
the group of girls as they ascended upon the counter.

Mollianne doesn't look up as Erica checks in her and the Twins'
purchases, at least not completely. A bare trace of recognition
applies on her face for just a moment, however, as she seems to
recognize something, but she definitely doesn't say anything.
Instead, she keeps her eyes lowered and takes the bag, handing it off
to Rae Beth on her way toward the door.

"We should get going home, guys. I am feeling a little worn out, so
the sooner, the better. I will wait outside." And with that,
Mollianne makes her exits with utmost lack of ceremony, Rae and May
(now somewhat worried, but not excessively so) in tow.

As everyone was paid for and taken care of, Erica waved to the girls,
"Come back soon!" she calls out to them. Lorastine looks back at her
and receives a little smirk on Erica's lips. Lorastine quickly
followed behind Molliana, both happy to be out of the store and a
little confused on the urgency.