"Safe!"

Panting... Daphne had run a good long while before she finally stopped to catch her breath. Finally releasing her captive, poor Velma, to recover from the dash.

"You know... I know you don't like pushing people around with being a Blake. But man! That was not worth it for just some clothes." Velma leaned against a nearby wall, enjoying the coolness that came off of it as she pressed herself against it to stay standing. Hands resting on her knees as she tried to collect herself.

"Just Clothes!" Daphne seemed to get all annoyed, but wasn't able to hold up the charade for very long. She as too tired from the stress of it all.

"Yeah, I know. The only problem is the fact that Daddy loves this branch. And Mom also comes here a lot. So, it's kinda a flagship store, and thus holds more weight since the founders are local. It's a real pain in the butt! I can't just order them against stuff like that. Maybe if I ran into another branch, but Daddy holds more power than I do here."

Daphne knew she was going to hear it from her Dad later. But she really didn't want to think of that now. Since the hard part was over, now she could go shopping to her hearts content! All she had to do was stray away from her store. Which was pretty easy, since the mall didn't tend to put the bigger clothing stores next to one another, rather spreading them out and putting other shops in between for better sales.

"Oh, I think I have a coupon to this store!" Chirping happily, Velma groaned as she noticed they were leaning against yet another clothing store.

"Really Daph, didn't you just get what you needed?" Velma whined, not really looking forward to crawling through more racks of clothing. Though this time not using them as cover, but just looking at them instead.

"But, this is now for fun! I want to keep my options open, since I never know when I will come across something cute to wear." Daphne gushed, loving to just look around and see what new style might have come out. "Or maybe we will find something new for you!"

Daphne said giving Velma an eager look. Earning another groan as Velma knew that Daphne was always itching to have her try new things and force her out of her comfort zone when it came to clothing.

"Mrrrr... Fine. Let's get it over with." Velma relented, knowing that Daphne would never really force her against her will... unless she was using her birthday or a lost bet over Velma's head to make her relent to the outfits.

The quicker we get in and look around, the faster we can leave. Velma thought in hope, knowing that her best friend would still take forever. And it wasn't exactly like brunette could leave without her crimson counterpart. She had the keys after all.

So, they went inside. Daphne immediately saw something she liked. Gravitating towards it, she looked it over and considered the piece. It was far to flowery for Velma's tastes. Then again, Velma over all was more interested in function, then fashion. She liked her clothing to be durable, and server her well on mysteries. Half of these outfits, even in the fall season they were in... seemed far to flimsy to withstand her and Daphne's lifestyle. And even the clothes that they did have, tended to go through a beating and eventually give way. Why they had just risked their necks to get the bag of clothes that her best friend hung over one shoulder.

Also, a problem Velma had, was the fact that she had a hard time looking at clothing and seeing it be something she would wear. Rather, she tended to see all of her aunts in the various clothing that hung on the racks. Since each woman on each side of her family, were very strong individuals and had their own look. Aunt Selma was a dog walker, and had similar tastes in colors that Velma did. Though Aunt Selma was far taller, and tended to have to buy things from a specialty store to suit her bigger frame.

Aunt Thelma loved long coats, and long sleeves. Being a marine biologist like her sister, she tended to be out in the water a lot. So, her outfits reflected that. She wore mostly whites, and blues. Things that would remind her niece of the ocean. Aunt Meg is a farmer. Though she loved all things that sparkled and dressed up in somewhat eccentric outfits from time to time, being very much her own personality. She also was partial to vests. So, whenever Velma saw a vest, she would think of Aunt Meg.

And Aunt Gretchen was the most extreme out of her aunts. Being once an owner of a renaissance fair, she tended to dress up in another of frilly and lacey things. And while most of her outfits normally belonged out of the fairs, she did wear more traditional outfits for fancy family events. And some of these outfits reminded her of that.

And Her own mother had her own look as well. Probably the most normal out of her sisters, and sister in law. But it was still distinct enough for Velma to be able to see her own mother in the store options.

So, it was hard, out of everything that she saw... to not think of one aunt or another, or her own mom. And other things were more Daphne and her cousins. Nothing that wasn't an orange turtle neck, Red skirt, or maybe a t-shirt really felt like her own, Velma look.

"Here, can you hold this? I want to try this on, to see if this fits." Having been looking around as Velma was dissecting the various outfits and seeing which person she knew would be wearing it, her best friend had found something that caught her interest.

"Oh, sure." Taking the offered bag, Velma swung it over her shoulder and watched Daphne skip into the changing room that she had steered them towards as she was looking.

"Hmmmmm..." Velma sighed, fingering a nearby outfit as she waited for Daphne to get back out. Not knowing how long it might take her to go through the few things she had plucked from the racks and thought to try on. The outfit wasn't really her, though it wasn't bad. It looked nice enough, but really wasn't what she liked or would find comfortable. Most of the cuts that were for women didn't really sit on her slightly wider shoulders. And what did seem to fit, would then be baggy around the middle. Which wasn't bad, but something that female fashion seemed to do. They made a lot of clothes for certain body types, and not much for others. Velma knew a few tall people, who always struggled to find the right waist to leg ratio, knowing that she suffered from the opposite issue, being so short.

"Hm?"

Wandering slightly away from the entrance of the dressing room, Velma had something catch her eye. It certainly wasn't her color at all, but it still drew her close enough to finger the edge of the piece. It was a shawl design, top half being a deep navy and the bottom was a nice gray. With little strings hanging down from the edges. It had no sleeves, but just sat around the shoulder, making like a little two pointed cape in the back. And two large black teeth buttons sat on thick cords that slipped into a loop on the other side of the piece to hold it in place. And it looked like the collar would be fluffy and thick around the neck.

Velma considered it.

It seemed pretty sturdy in design. Not something she figured she would take on a mystery, sturdy. But certainly, something she could easily wear around the house in. It didn't have straps in complicated spots, or mysterious buttons that she didn't know what they went to. Or anything like that. It was just a simple design, and would provide warmth around her shoulders when she needed something a bit more than her t-shirts, but less than her normal thick sweater. She only owned maybe one or two hoodies that Daphne had gotten her, and maybe one other kind of long sleeve that sat in that range between t-shirt and sweater. So, it wasn't something that didn't have a purpose. Though it would be limited to colder temperatures... But that wasn't a big enough issue to not consider the item. Then again, she wore her sweaters all the time, so this would be lighter than that.

"Oh, that is cute! Try it on!" Popping out of nowhere, Daphne had snuck up on the distracted woman. Amazed that something had caught Velma's attention long enough for her to be able to get that close without her noticing. Pulling the bag from Velma's grip, she removed the reason why Velma wouldn't be able to try it. Freeing her hands and nudging her towards the rack.

"... Well. It's not really my color." Velma dragged her feet, looking at the price tag. It wasn't as ridiculous as some of the prices that she had saw on their earlier wanderings. But she really didn't know if it was worth it.

"Oh, don't look at that." Daphne said, whapping the tag out of Velma's grip. "If you like it, I'll buy it for you!"

"What, you don't have to do that!" Velma bristled, not wanting her best friend to be spending money on her.

"I can and I will. Do you know how hard it is to shop for you? And the fact that you have actually shown interest in this, means that I would jump to expand your closet, even if it's just a shawl or three." Daphne chuckled, giving a nudge at the end. Heaven forbid Velma actually wear something else!

"And Navy is an Autumn color anyway. You'll look great it in! You have pulled off blues before. Remember that ice-skating dress? That looked nice on you." Daphne pointed out, inciting a groan from the other woman. "Ok, maybe bad example. But you have worn some nice blue dresses before, so you can definitely pull off a navy/gray combo. Just try it on!"

Letting her shoulder droop, Velma couldn't fight against Daphne. And it wasn't like she had grabbed the shawl and ran off to buy it on her. (Though she wasn't sure that wouldn't happen later.) But it at least gave her a chance to see if it even was a nice fit. Reading the labels, she looked at the various sizes the clothing line offered in that piece. Though it actually was a one size fits all, so Velma didn't have to sorry about it being too small.

Unbuttoning the top button, she had to move to grab the shawl before it slid off the hanger. Removing the other tooth, she flipped the cloth around in her hands and slid the material around her shoulders. It only took a second to center the garment to the right place, and fasten the teeth buttons back into place. It kind of felt like putting on a cape, which Velma secretly liked about the whole thing. And she was right, the collar was really fluffy and sat comfortably around the back edge of her neck. Not as all-encompassing as her favorite neckwear, but it was nice enough. And would certainly be nice on a cold night of star gazing, or hot chocolate weather.

"Mmmm, I like. I think that suits you perfectly. Goes great with your eyes!" Daphne praised the shawl, inwardly delighting in the small smile that she had noticed gracing Velma's face as she thought about it being like a cape. Though the red head didn't know why she smiled, if she knew she would have laughed.

"Not sure it goes with the orange t-shirt though." Looking down at herself, Velma didn't know how well navy and grey... though more of a blue grey then a real grey grey. "And my red pants."

"You look lovely. Don't worry about it. I don't think it looks that bad. Blue and reds go together, and at least it's a darker red and orange. It might look worse against a lighter red, or a bright orange. But your pumpkin and rusty red color scheme don't clash as much as like an apricot and salmon pairing." Daphne pointed out in her own way, helping Velma wrangle the shawl back on the hanger. While it was simple to take off, it seemed a bit harder to attach back on. Though it was easier with the two of them working on it. Tucking it over Velma's arm and leading the woman to another section of the store.

"Maybe we can find something else you'll like!" Tugging Velma behind her, Daphne led the charge for new outfits. Renewing her shopping energy since they found SOMETHING Velma liked!

Oh brother... What have I gotten myself into. Velma thought, but she didn't miss the happy look on Daphne's face at the promise of new options for her best friend. Which broke Velma's will to fight against it, a tiny part of her enjoying being doted upon by Daphne and making her feel pretty in something.