Ruins Raiders
Chapter Two, Let's Go Shopping!
By Relm
Lina evilly chuckled as she mentally plotted plans.
"Miss Lina what are you going to wear?" Sylphiel asked breaking Lina from her thoughts.
"Wear? Why does it matter what I wear?"
"It's a formal party Miss Lina. You can't just waltz in there wearing jeans and a t-shirt."
Lina frowned. "What should I wear?"
"Well if you want it to look convincing that you're there to attend the party and not to raid their library you should dress up."
"Dress up? As in a dress?"
"Yes, a nice elegant dress. And your hair should be done up nicely and you should wear jewellery and make up."
Lina paled. This was starting to sound worse and worse. "What if I don't have any of that stuff?"
"Then we go shopping!" Sylphiel cheered gleefully. If there was something she loved more than anything, it was shopping. Even if she wasn't shopping for her.
Lina groaned. She loathed shopping. "Do we have too?" She whined in discontent.
"We'll have to check what you have first and then we'll see. We'll leave for your place right after school hours."
"Today? I just got back from my trip! I'm tired and I wanted to sleep! Can't we do it tomorrow?"
"The sooner we get it done the better. And how come you didn't just sleep on the plane? It was a long flight wasn't it?"
"Too long. And how could I sleep? I was too mad to relax. Besides I was right next to that idiot Gourry who was snoring loud enough to keep the whole plane up." Lina huffed.
"Well if we get it done today then you won't have to worry about it later. The party is a little over a week away and there's no telling what dresses are left to buy. I've heard from my friend at Suzy's Boutique that it's been just a madhouse in all the clothing stores. The party at East Rixx is supposed to be very big and everyone invited is scrambling for something to wear. If we wait till it's too late there might not be anything good to wear. And seeing how picky you can be Miss Lina you probably won't like any of the choices. It's just one day Miss Lina. Why don't you take a nap right now? Then you'll be rested before we shop." Sylphiel suggested.
Lina sighed. "Sounds nice but I while I'm here I have to teach."
"Don't forget Miss Lina, you're back two days early. And you weren't supposed to come straight to school after getting off the plane. I don't think they'll care given the situation Miss Lina. Besides it's just more tests and I'm pretty sure I can handle that easily enough."
"But-"
"No buts, get some rest, I'll wake you up later." Sylphiel insisted getting her stuff ready for class.
Lina admitted defeat and went to get into a restful position in her reclining chair.
...
"Miss Lina?" Sylphiel gave Lina a gentle nudge.
Lina groaned as she attempted to open her weighted down eyelids. But gravity wasn't kind and her energy was low so opening her eyes was a chore. "Don't want to get up too sleepy…" Lina grumbled.
"C'mon Miss Lina. You and I have to go shopping now."
Lina opened one eye to glare at Sylphiel. "What do you mean now? School can't be over with already! It's only been like ten minutes." Lina closed her eye again and attempted to go back to sleep.
"Miss Lina it's been two hours. We need to get shopping now if we want to find something before all the stores close. And don't forget we still have to go to your place first to see what you have. We really need to leave now." Sylphiel picked up Lina's stuff.
Lina groaned. "Fine." Lina managed with great effort to get herself up and open her eyes. But she wasn't standing still. Her body teetered a bit.
"Okay Miss Lina let's go." Sylphiel pushed Lina forward.
Lina groaned yet again.
...
With Lina's directions Sylphiel drove Lina home in her car. It's a good thing Sylphiel is very good at following directions or otherwise she would have gotten lost; Lina fell asleep during the car ride.
"Wake up Miss Lina, we're at your place."
Lina opened her sleepy eyes. And sure enough her apartment was before her in all its yellow peeling paint glory.
It was an ugly building. It hadn't been repainted in years and it was very weather beaten from the seasons. The only spots that had fresh paint on it were to cover up the graffiti that had been on the sides of the building. It was a three-floor apartment but only had four suites on each floor. Lina's was on the first floor.
Though the apartment was a real sad sight Lina didn't care. After going through the hell trip that she had that old shabby apartment looked like paradise. A paradise with a nice wonderfully comfy bed. "Home…" Lina's voice was far off.
"Miss Lina stay focused." Sylphiel helped Lina out of the car. She nearly had to drag Lina to her door.
Sylphiel fiddled with the keys and opened the door to reveal the worst mess that she had ever seen. "Miss Lina I know you aren't the neatest person but isn't this a bit much?" Sylphiel laughed with a sweatdrop.
"What the hell happened here?" Lina yelled with sudden rejuvenated energy. Anger will do that to you.
"You mean it's not normally like this?"
Lina glared at Sylphiel. "No! Someone has ransacked the place!"
"Do you suppose they were looking for something?"
"Probably trying to find something on the eye. I bet it's those bastards from East Rixx!"
"I doubt it Miss Lina, this doesn't look like something they would do."
Lina frowned. "Yeah you're probably right. But this still makes me really mad!"
"Well we don't have time to clean it up now. Let's go check your room out for something you could wear to the party." Sylphiel commanded.
Lina shook her head at the mess but lead Sylphiel to her room. Unfortunately it wasn't much better than her living room. All the drawers had been pulled out and the contents dumped on her floor and her bed frame. The bed mattress was flipped over on its side and her desk and filing cabinet had been cleared out.
Lina picked up the contents of jewellery box that was spread out on the floor.
The jewellery box now was pieces of broken wood. "Well these weren't common thieves. Otherwise they would have taken this stuff. This jewellery is worth a fortune." Lina showed Sylphiel her collection of jewellery.
"Oooooh!" Sylphiel admired the pretty chains and jewels. "Well you certainly don't need any jewellery then. What about makeup?"
Lina pulled out a tube a lipstick out of her bag.
"Well makeup I have. Now about a dress and shoes?"
Lina frowned and pulled her mattress back properly on its frame, moving all the junk around it. She went to her closet and started throwing stuff on the bed. Most of the closing she threw over to Sylphiel was wrinkled from when the room was trashed.
Sylphiel crinkled her nose. Most of the dress weren't dressy enough or they looked like they would be way too small for Lina. Not to mention they were pretty outdated too. And the shoes weren't much better.
"Miss Lina when was the last time you had to dress up?"
Lina frowned in thought and was very silent for a long time.
"Never mind, forget I asked." Sylphiel shook her head.
"So you're telling there's nothing good here?"
Sylphiel shook her head.
"Nothing at all?"
"Nothing."
Lina let out a heavy sigh.
"Let's go shopping!" Sylphiel cheered.
Lina groaned.
...
Sylphiel wasn't joking; the clothing stores were all mad houses. There wasn't a single store that wasn't busy.
'This must be some party they're throwing…' Lina thought overwhelmed by just how crowded it was in Suzy's Boutique.
Alaya, Sylphiel's friend worked at Suzy's Boutique and had insisted that they come to her store first. Sylphiel had called Alaya in-between classes at school.
"Sylphy, Miss Lina! Over here!" Alaya called to the two motioning for them to come over to the changing rooms.
"Hi Ali, how are things?" Sylphiel asked her friend.
"It's been crazy here. It's a good thing you called first or otherwise I wouldn't have anything left in Miss Lina's size. Miss Lina go into the fourth changing room I've got it all set up for you." Alaya started pushing Lina towards the said fitting room.
"Huh? What do you mean you have everything ready for me?" Lina asked firmly planting her feet down.
"Sylphy told me your size and I grabbed everything we have. It's all in there for you to try on. Sorry I don't have more. I could only find like twelve dresses."
Lina's eyes went wide. "Only twelve?" 'What does a normal woman take in? A hundred?'
"Again I'm sorry. I did my best. Now hurry up before my manager finds out I hid stuff from the other customers." Alaya shoved Lina into the fitting room.
Lina stared at the dresses laid out before her. She didn't try clothing on much but these dresses sure didn't appeal to her at all. 'God these things look ugly!'
"Miss Lina make sure you show me all the stuff you try on!" Sylphiel called out from outside.
Lina groaned. 'I hate shopping.'