This comfort must have lasted all night. Once she finally started to slowly ascend from slumber, she still felt the warmth wrapped around her. It felt securing. At least, that's what a tired mind could interpret it to be: a subconscious comfort that your body felt after a long night's rest.
It wasn't until she was more awake did she realize that warmth wasn't just her. And that comfort was actually a pressing weight on her body. She opened one eye and looked above her. Just a ceiling.
She then opened her other eye and tried to shift from her side to her back…. And her elbow collided with someone's chest. She heard a soft snort.
She froze. Then, slowly, she glanced over her shoulder.
Mau5, quite cozy and content, was sound asleep next to her. His arms and legs were wrapped tightly around Raven's body and his face was buried into her pillow. He gave off soft sighs in his sleep.
Raven felt her whole body become shaky with discomfort. She tried not to scream. The last thing she wanted to do was startle Mau5 and make him jerk violently awake. She fought back the panic.
"…Damnit.." Raven cursed softly. She tried to slowly sit up and wiggle her torso free from his arms. As if in response, his large tail suddenly curled up in a natural reflex. The tip of the plug on the end batted her face and she flinched. "Fuckin…" She began, but shook it off.
She easily slipped away from his grasp and got out of the bed. You lil rat… think you're clever, don't you? She thought, leering down at Mau5. He now lay sprawled at an angle from Raven's adjustment. He looked very much at peace. His tail continued to coil slightly and his large ears twitched to the side.
Raven stared for a bit, and then couldn't help but smile. More human, or not, he still was very much like a mouse. And mice were adorable when they slept.
Raven turned to the door and immediately hunger hit her again. Might as well let the giant rodent sleep and go fetch some breakfast…
She lingered out into the hall way and dragged her feet towards the so-called kitchen. It took her a few false turns, but she eventually remembered where it was. Bloody layout of this place looks all the same.
Raven waltzed into the cold room, and immediately became surprised by a visitor. Marie was sitting at the table, staring back at her. A content smile was on the woman's face.
"Oh.." Raven began, suddenly remembering the last time she saw Marie. She tried hard to shake away the thoughts of cables up the woman's vagina, so that she wouldn't say something she'd regret later. "Good morning."
Marie nodded. "Sleep well, Raven?"
"I guess so."
"How are you fitting in with this place?"
"It's, uh…. It's a lil difficult."
She laughed. Her laugh was very witty, but pleasant. "It's okay. You are in the company of a bunch of circus animals."
Raven chuckled awkwardly, giving Marie a fake smile. She tried hard not to seem obvious, since she was pretty sure Marie was unaware of Raven encountering her with Guy.
"Oh, speaking of which… Thomas had mentioned to me that you needed some Shampoo." Marie leaned to the side in her chair and picked up a paper bag. She set it down on the table.
"I didn't know if you had a preference on hair products, so I got you three different shampoos to see which you like best. I also got conditioner, hair spray, gel, and some basic eye liner and mascara."
Raven blinked, a bit surprised. "Gee, thank you!" She was actually very relieved. Her hair could use a washing.
Marie nodded, giving her a very friendly smile. "Not at all. Oh, and you know.. I'm also here because I was asked to take you out clothes shopping. I can tell you need some variety."
Raven looked down at her current outfit: her several day worn tripp pants and Mau5's baggy shirt. "More options would be nice."
"Okay. Well, Raven, why don't you get yourself some breakfast, take a shower and we will head off to the mall?"
…
The second, sudden change in environment and atmosphere kind of had Raven shivering. She felt slight unease, but she was very grateful to actually be out of that building and into the real world again. It had only been about 2 days ago since she was out, but it felt much longer than that.
She sat very tense in the car seat, looking out the dark, tented windows. She didn't recognize at all where she was. It looked nothing like Essex. She was pretty sure she wasn't in England anymore, anyway. How'd she know? The several signs on the buildings and streets that were mostly in French gave it away…
Marie sat in the seat next to her. Their chauffer had dark clothes and dark shades on. He was driving them in a limousine. Everything about this situation felt strange. She appeared to be in the place of some celebrity that was popular for who cared the reason why.
"Have any ideas on your outfit you want to wear?"
"Hm?" Raven asked, breaking her trance from the window, looking over to Marie.
"Your outfit for the tour."
"Oh. Yeah, I actually had thought of a design of some sort."
"Well? Care to share?"
"Uh…" Raven knew she was bad at explaining things. "Got a pen or pencil and some paper?"
Marie took out a clipboard that was tucked in the pocket of the chauffeur's seat. She handed it to Raven.
Raven took the pen off of it and began to quickly sketch her idea.
She actually had a dream about wearing an outfit like this many years ago. She always liked the idea of building an alter ego for herself… and wearing this outfit would definitely be the base of one.
For the face, she would wear a slim fit mask that was white, with a black heart on the face. Then she would wear an electric blue bob wig over the mask. The shirt would be a hot pink tank top with blue mid-length sleeves as an under layer, tight and slick electric blue leggings with hot pink mini shorts over that, and last, some elevator black boots with hot pink trim to complement the theme.
The Cotton Candy Raver. Raven smiled at her crummy illustration when she finished it and handed it back to Marie.
"Oh very interesting."
"The themed colors are electric blue and hot pink. I can write down more of the details of it later, if you need." Raven said.
"You'll need to. I have a feeling I won't be able to find this specifically anywhere. We'll have to get it custom made."
Raven liked the sound of that. Having that exact design would be brilliant.
The car eventually stopped outside of a giant mall/gallery building. The structure of it seemed to be themed old fashion, beautiful gothic cathedral designs of blue and yellow traced the entire upper half, and a huge sign was above the entrance that read 'Galeries Lafayette.'
Raven stared in awe at the sight of it. She had only been to one mall in London, and it was nothing in size comparison to this one.
"Come along, Raven." Marie was already out of the car.
Raven stepped out of the vehicle and continued to stare at the giant mall.
"Welcome to Galeries Lafayette. Or… The Galleries of Lafayette."
"Wot does it mean… Lafayette?"
"It's just a name. Où vos rêves deviennent réalité."
"Wot?" Raven asked, surprised by sudden French.
Marie giggled. "Where all of your dreams come true."
The two of them began to walk into the giant department store's metal doors.
"I didn't know you could speak French. You hardly have an accent."
"I'm fluent in many languages. English is my primary language, however, I did grow up in France."
Raven smiled. She didn't know how to speak French, but she knew a little bit of German. "Kein Deutsch?"
Marie grinned. "Ja, tatsächlich. Deutsch ist meine dritte Sprache, die ich gelernt habe."
Raven laughed. Perhaps Marie wasn't so bad after all.
…
Raven looked about the different stores, desperate to find some place that sold tripp pants. Or, in that fact, anything that looked gothic, cyberpunk or retro. To her disappointment, the only stores they passed were nothing but high-in fashion, prepy or vintage.
She did consider just settling with something basic for now, at least until she could find the type of clothes she was really looking for.
"Nothing catching your eye?" Marie asked.
"Nope.." Raven said, glumly.
Marie looked around, her black hair flipping on her shoulders. "I could have sworn this place had all styles. Let's keep looking."
The two of them continued through the large groups of shoppers. Raven had a thought come to mind. Are we the only two people here? Is Marie the only one with me? No guards or anything?
Bollocks… There had to be someone watching them. It seemed ridiculous to leave one woman in charge of watching a teenage girl. She continued to scan around casually, but saw no one.
She tried not to smile, so she wouldn't look suspicious. Who's to stop me from sneaking away?
"Oh, how about here?" Marie said, pointing into one of the smaller shops. "This is where I buy most of my clothes."
Raven looked into the display window. It had a mannequin wearing a bright baggy pink top that looked very 80s. It was long and almost to her knees, with solid black leggings. Looked like it could be interesting.
The two of them went in. Immediately, Raven saw bright color mini shorts that drew her closer. She found a pair of purple ones and smiled. "A pair of shorts would be handy to have."
"Oh definitely. If you like that brand, I'd get more than just one. At least three or four."
Raven nodded. She picked up the purple ones, along with a pair of black, blue and red ones.
"Do you like tank tops?" Marie asked.
"Mhm. Especially when I'm working out or building somethin'…"
Marie gestured and walked over to a rack with bright colored tank tops and spaghetti straps.
Her back was turned to her now. Raven felt her heart rush. She looked over her shoulder and out of the store.
If she were to run for it, she would be pretty much lost. She knew she was somewhere in France. Perhaps Paris, judging by the size of the city. She had no way of getting herself home. However.. she could always run for a Police station. They were bound to help her out, at least contact her mother and let her know they had found her. She was just about to set down the shorts and rush for the exit when two men caught her attention. They were very tall, buff men and wore the same formal outfit that the chauffeur had on. They were looking right at her, through there dark shades. She shuddered.
Marie and Raven were being followed. She had a feeling they were apart of the government, like Marie. They were making sure she didn't try and get away. Bloody hell…There is no way I'm gonna be able to get away this time…
"How about this top?"
Raven turned to look as Marie held up a white spagetti strap that had a cute illustration of a field mouse in the right corner of it.
Raven grinned. "That is a very cute one. I think Mau5 would get a kick out of it too."
Marie beamed, showing her bright white teeth. "You're right, he would!"
"Okay. We'll add that to the pile." Raven said, taking the top from her and draping it over her arm with the four pair of shorts.
Not this time. Today, just enjoy shopping and getting some new clothes. You might have a chance to get away later on.