Project: Socialize

Even though no ropes fettered me, I still felt as if I am confined to this seat. Sitting before me and laying out her makeup equipment on the tabletop was Erith who had a rather amused smile on her face. I looked over and at the girl who was handling those small makeup instruments that I do not know the name of except for what I believe is lipstick. A confused feeling of uncertainty populated my mind as I sat there, waiting as I became the doll that the other girls are getting ready to decorate and accessorize.

"Um," I started speaking, making noise so that I could grab her attention. However, she did not stop with what she was doing. "So what're we doing now?"

"We're gonna make you look the best you've ever looked," Erith said without looking over at me.

With my left hand in Irina's right hand, I am dragged by her and towards the fitting rooms that were against the back walls of the store. Even though they're technically called a fitting room, they are nothing more than a booth with black curtains to shield the customer while they tried on the clothes they had picked out. It would appear that there isn't much of a lock mechanism in place, in fact, none were present at all. I assume that is due to the fact that 99.9% of customers here are females and if you were a single male roaming in this store, then you would be considered suspicious and be either followed by a store employee or asked nicely to leave.

"Try this on," Irina smiled, handing me the outfit she had picked out and held onto it until she made sure that I was in possession of the clothings.

Looking down at what she had pressed into my arms, I saw the familiar black, long wool coat that appeared to be a size smaller than the one Irina had showed me earlier. Amidst the neatly folded pile of clothing was also a beige knitted sweater and a pair of black skirts. The design of the articles of clothing were excellent, and it was obvious that they would be as they were chosen by Irina, a famous celebrity that is often decorated with the most stylish raiments in the empire.

"Those look quite nice," Luna smiled as she walked over. Standing next to her was Erith, and trailing behind them was Muria, who had her arms crossed before her chest.

"Try it on," Erith said, placing a hand on my shoulder and looking over at the fitting room. "While you're changing, we'll go look for some more clothes."

"What about you?" I frowned, leaning to my side somewhat so that I could take in everyone with my eyes.

"We're accompanying you today," Luna explained. "So we'll get you taken care of before we start looking for things for ourselves."

What Luna had said, combined with the silent looks of agreement from the others, made my eyes start to water somewhat. At that moment, I felt a sudden sense of warmth, a sense of caring that is so alien to me.

Touched by their friendly gesture, I slowly made my way over to the fitting room and entered, sliding the curtains over such that it a barrier formed between me and the outside world. With no one able to see me, I looked down at my clothes and took a deep breath.

Let's do this, I sighed.

I first unrolled the muffler scarf that was around my neck and placed it down on the little table in the fitting room. Then, I started unbuttoning the buttons on my blazer, and as I did so, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror framed against the wall in the fitting room. Upon seeing my figure and its pose, I immediately stopped what I was doing. My face slowly turned red as I blushed at the idea that I am watching a girl strip, but...what's weird is that the girl is technically me.

After gathering my thoughts and calming myself, I continued with the undressing process. I hung my blazer up against the hook on the wall, and then removed the cardigan that I wore underneath the blazer before folding it and placing it on top of my scarf. Next came the more...embarrassing part of undressing: unbuttoning the blouse. Underneath this shirt is my bra, and that is all. Once these buttons are undone, the first thing I will see is the smooth skin on the top of my breasts as well as my bra. Underneath my breasts will be my stomach and slender waist. To be quite honest, I'm still not used to seeing that as well, which explained why I felt quite flustered while stripping myself of my blouse.

After I finished changing into the outfit Irina had picked out, I tentatively reached a hand out to the curtain and slowly pulled it to the other side, revealing myself to the outside world. Muria was the only one standing outside the fitting room as the others went to gather pieces to piece together an outfit for me. Her eyes weren't focused on the direction to the fitting room, thus meaning that she did not see me yet. Instead, her eyes were surveying the different sections of clothing in the area as her profile was facing me. I took in the beautiful lines of her face, admiring her nose as well as the outline of her lips. As expected, it was a face that could trap the attention of many.

"Finished changing?" She noticed me and looked over. "It looks pretty nice."

"Does it?" I nervously asked while looking down to check out myself in this outfit.

"Wow!" Irina exclaimed when she returned from her hunt. "You're so pretty."

"T-thank you," I awkwardly smiled, unsure as to what to say or do during situations like these.

"I think it's a bit too modest," Erith said as she walked over with Luna while both carried clothing in their arms. "You should try something more revealing."

"It's winter time..." I awkwardly laughed.

"But that doesn't stop you," Erith replied, walking over with the mature and teasing smile on her face. She leaned forward, bending at her waist, and stared at my legs. "Your skirt can be somewhat shorter, and these socks don't have to be so long nor come up this high." Then, she looked up from my legs and then at my torso. "The cut can be a bit lower, but once you wear a scarf, I guess that doesn't really matter...But you can still go with one that is even slimmer of a fit so that it shows your curves even more."

"T-thank you for the advice?" I said, my voice trailing off in the end as I wasn't sure whether or not this was the correct response.

"Hm..."

Erith did not respond to me. Instead, she stared at my face. There was a frown on her face as her eyes gazed and studied my countenance. Slowly, she leaned in even more, causing her face to become closer with mine. This sudden behavior from her caused me to lean back somewhat on my back as I tried to create a separation between us.

"I've been wondering since the first time I've saw you," Erith said. "How do you look like this despite not wearing any makeup?"

"Right," Irina nodded. "Alvelyn, you don't wear makeup."

"I thought there would at least be a light layer," Luna commented.

"That's what I'm thinking as well," Erith finally backed away and returned to her usual standing pose with her hands on her hips. "But there's nothing there."

"Natural beauty?" Muria asked.

"That's definitely a major part of it," Luna nodded. "If she looks like this without even trying, then what would she look like if she tried?"

"That's a scary thing to think about," Erith sighed, but a smile soon reappeared on her face. "But it would be interesting. Alvelyn, do you ever put on makeup?"

"No," I answered, seeing an opportunity here to come up with an excuse for one of my major concerns and weaknesses: my lack of knowledge on the makeup materials and process. "I've never touched them in my life."

"That's rather hard to believe," Erith frowned.

"Never once?" Luna appeared to be in a state of disbelief.

"That's so not fair," Irina whined and pouted her face somewhat.

Their reactions were...above what I had anticipated. In fact, it was even to the point that Muria, who initially acted as if she didn't care and simply stood in the back and away from the main group, cast a curious glance over towards us.

"You girls wanna see what she would look like if she actually tried?" Erith looked over at the other girls.

"Sure," Irina nodded in a determined manner. "I'm quite curious."

"Me too," Luna nodded.

"I'm somewhat interested," Muria responded with a blush.

"Then it is decided," Erith smiled and looked over at me with a countenance of determination. "You're our canvas for the day."

"Canvas?" I asked, somewhat confused and nervous about what they're scheming.

"You need your hair done and...heels, huh? Let's get her those," Luna started discussing with the others.

"Right," the others responded.

Then, they started going their own ways, venturing out in search of a pair of heels that would suit me as well as other articles of clothing. All this occurred while Erith pulled me over by holding onto my hand and over to a nearby table in the walkway of the mall wing. On the tables, there were all mirrors placed on top of it, probably because it's mostly used by a woman who needed to fix their makeup.

"Let's get started, shall we?" Erith said with a smile as she began placing her makeup tools from her school bag onto the table.