Head to Toe, She's Dressed to Kill

[lillian grace midwinter]

* baby, you're a firework

COME ON, SHOW THEM WHAT YOU'RE WORTH *

Lilly had always been a girl who knew what she wanted. At sixteen, Lilly already knew that she would like to see her brothers - her whole family, really - situated in their own happily ever afters before she even saw to her own. She knew that she adored Starbucks and would never go near a McDonald's if she could manage it. Lilly knew what she liked to do on the weekends, which was train or, on the sociable occasional, spend some time outside of the Institute with one of her family members - normally her twin or Ash, but occasionally Victoria. But most importantly, Lilly knew what she liked to wear and who she was, at least, as much as a sixteen-year-old could know under any circumstances.

The same, unfortunately, Lilly had learned could not be said about Victoria. From what she could tell, Victoria was in the midst of finding out who she was. It reminded Lilly an awful lot of her twin brother, which just endeared her more to her cousin's plight. Lilly had decided to leave her brother alone for the day, so she had decided that she should take Victoria up on Lilly's long-ago offer to help Victoria out, which was Lilly!speak for "dragged Victoria out of her townhouse and to the Institute." Though, Victoria had to be used to it by now. Lilly was stubborn enough to rarely - if ever - take no for an answer.

Lilly loved the girl to bits and pieces and would do anything for her, which was why they were currently in Lilly's room with Lilly rummaging through her closet. "Okay, so, we've already tried the dark Gothic look, right?" Lilly asked as she rummaged through her closet. All of a sudden, she felt like she owned far too much black. Of course, Lilly loved the black. Most Shadowhunters wore black, yes, but Lilly liked to consider it her signature color. Either way, almost everything she had in her closet was something that they had already decided wasn't exactly Victoria-esque. At least, she was fairly certain they had. Maybe they could go shopping. Lilly hadn't gone in a couple of weeks and it would be fun to go again. That was when Lilly found a dark red plaid skirt.

"How about a Catholic school girl style?" she said, half-jokingly as she held up the skirt. It was shorter than most schools would have allowed their girls to wear, but Lilly wasn't one for keeping with the rules when it was too much fun to break them.

TAG. VIC/JAMI. WORDS. 426. OUTFIT. THISS.

[victoria scarlet lightwood]

Victoria awkwardly stood in Lilly's room, clad in her darkest clothing. It just didn't look or feel right to her. Her original clothes that she wore to the Institute were lying on the bed. She looked at them longingly. The clothes she was wearing now didn't fit her right. She was sure they fit Lil just fine; Vic and Lilly had slight differences in shape and size. Vic was a little bit more petite than Lil was. That was just another thing to envy. Tori didn't like being so small, but there was nothing she could do about it. So she stood in silence, mentally cursing herself for even agreeing to this. She felt stupid.

"Right." Vic said, nodding enthusiastically as she did. That meant she was getting out of this costume soon. It was hard for her to contain her excitement. She turned to the mirror and looked at herself once again. It didn't look that bad, after all. It just didn't feel right. Black only suited her when she was training or doing something related to being a Shadowhunter. It looked weird when she was just dressing casual. However, she did like gray. It was neutral and modest, like her. And here she was, analyzing why she liked colors. No wonder she was so awkward.

Biting her lip and giggling silently, Victoria shook her head. "No way. Well, I don't know. I could probably pull that off." Tilting her head, Tori got a better look at the skirt. It looked flattering enough. Whether or not she would wear it outside of Lillian's bedroom was the question. "Yeah, I don't know about that." She smiled softly and looked down at herself. If she was in a dark alley, she would just blend in if she hid her head behind something. Her fiery red hair could blow that in two seconds. And not to mention, she wasn't even Catholic! She knew that didn't matter, but it was another excuse not to wear the skirt. Tori sat down on Lilly's bed and pursed her lips, biting the bottom one idly as she waited.

She knew where this was leading. They would go shopping. Fun! Tori mentally grinned. She just hoped she wouldn't have to go to the mall in the outfit she was in now. Her original one suited her much, much better. Reaching over, Tori smoothed out her clothes so they wouldn't wrinkle. "We could go shopping if you're out of ideas. I have some money on me."

[/color] Tori perked up and grinned at her cousin. Yes, she considered Lilly her cousin. She knew they weren't related by blood, but they practically were, and that was enough for her.[/justify][/blockquote][/blockquote]

tagged; lilly/kalie<3 words; 449 outfit; here! notes; lalalala.

[/size][/font]

[lillian grace midwinter]

* baby, you're a firework

COME ON, SHOW THEM WHAT YOU'RE WORTH *

Lilly had never had this much trouble dressing before. Then again, she was always dressing herself rather than someone else. In all honesty, Victoria was technically Lilly's first doll, which was exciting but made her plenty anxious as well. The outfit would have to be perfect. Even if Victoria didn't care, Lilly would never allow herself to dress someone in something less than perfect if she could handle it.

"All right, let's see," Lilly tossed the plaid skirt on her bed before turning back to her closet as she listened to Victoria speak. It made sense, really. The Catholic school girl look wasn't one that Lilly could see Victoria pulling off. She was certain she could find something. Maybe something...no, that was far too boyish. Victoria's tiny figure called for something more feminine. Like...a dress! Lilly had to wonder, though, did she have any dresses that were not black? Or at the very least, something that would fit the Victoria Lilly imagined she was? The redhead wasn't sure who she was, but Lilly had a vague idea. Girly, but not too girly. Not at all

The sixteen-year-old squealed excitedly as she pulled out a slinky t-shirt dress in teal. The only problem with having ginger cousins was that Lilly was never really sure if her clothes would be the right color and wouldn't turn them yellow or something. As she held the dress up to Victoria as if trying to figure out if that would work or not. It looked like it could, and she had seen Ashlyn wear teal once. At least, she think she did. Maybe that had been Aunt Clary. Or even Victoria. Either way, she had once seen a ginger wear teal and it hadn't been too terrible looking.

"Shopping is always a good plan," Lilly said, trying to hide her excitement as she held the dress out to her cousin. "You could wear this so we can try out the "elegant, cute, and effortless" look," she added, her tone telling Victoria that it wasn't really an idea that she was going to be an option. When the girl took the dress, she grinned and turned to her shoe closet. Rummaging through it for a while she pulled out a pair of heeled boots. "These should work. Add some sass to your outfit," she said as she pulled out a studded belt and held out both to Victoria. "And don't worry about money," she said as she grabbed her purse off her bedside and turned towards the door. "Five minute to change and then we're off," Lilly said matter-of-factly, trying to keep herself from skipping as she stood outside the door to wait. Of course, Lilly wasn't terribly good at waiting so her

TAG. VIC/JAMI. WORDS. 456. OUTFIT. THISS.

[victoria scarlet lightwood]

Victoria felt like a doll, being dressed up like this. It was almost.. flattering, really. It wasn't expected of Tori to like things like this, but she did. Maybe she was girly. Or perhaps she just liked the attention. It was all a mystery to her, but it felt like she was getting a little closer to knowing herself. Jumping at Lillian's squeal, Tori tilted her head to see what she had pulled out. Please don't be something black or Catholic. Please be something cute. Please. Not that what Lilly had pulled out prior wasn't cute. It just wasn't Victoria.

A dress? Well, a t-shirt dress. It was cute, at least. And a bright color! Tori was relieved to see something come out of that closet that wasn't black. Teal was a nice color. It'd bring out Vic's bright blue eyes, too. And, it looked comfortable. She could deal with that. Smiling softly, she watched Lilly turn around and start talking. She reached out and touched the fabric of the dress. Yes, this was going to be very comfortable, as opposed to what she was dressed in now. She felt like she was wearing cage clothing or something. Restriction and bulkiness had never been her thing.

"Elegant, cute, and effortless."

[/color] She mumbled, repeating what Lillian had said. Tori was holding the dress in her hands now. She supposed that's what the dress portrayed. As Lilly rummaged through her shoe closet, Vic held the dress up to her body and looked in the mirror. She ultimately decided that this dress could work out for her after all. When Lil held up the heeled boots, Vic raised her eyebrows. Holy crap. "Sass is good and all, but I don't even think I can walk in these."[/color] She said, laughing slightly.

The studded belt she could work with, though. She'd probably need it, anyway. After all, she was 5'6" and 92 pounds. Her waist wasn't going to be defined in slinky dresses like this one. Once Lillian was out the door, Victoria took off the gothic clothing and laid it on the bed politely so it wouldn't wrinkle. Then, she put on the dress and stared at the boots. This is going to be fun. She put them on and zipped them up. Looking at herself in the mirror, she reminded herself of her aunt and her mother put together. Tori put the studded belt on and cleared her throat nervously. She was already sort of clumsy, so these boots were going to be an adventure. Taking a deep breath, she crossed over and opened the door. "How do I look?"[/color] She grinned bashfully.[/justify][/blockquote][/blockquote]

tagged; lilly/kalie<3 words; 440 outfit; here! notes; lalalala.

[/size][/font]

[lillian grace midwinter]

* baby, you're a firework

COME ON, SHOW THEM WHAT YOU'RE WORTH *

Lilly was glad that Victoria was being very cooperative about this whole debacle. She knew that she could be...diffiulct at times, especially when she couldn't manage to get her way and became almost impossible to talk to. Having so much trouble dressing a person was throwing the brunette off more than she liked. She hated admitting she didn't know what to do. Which is why she just had a determined look on her face rather than actually talking about how flustered she was at not being able to help Victoria.

She bit her bottom lip as she waited for Victoria to respond to her choice of dress. Vic seemed to like it well enough and that made Lilly happy. So, that was Victoria's style: elegant, cute, and effortless. It was amazing how hard "effortless" was, really. She laughed and rolled her eyes as Victoria seemed nervous about the boots.

"Don't worry; it'll take a bit to get used to, but I'm sure you'll learn quickly. That's what we Shadowhunters do, right? Adapt and survive," she said, not really expecting an answer. Victoria was sure to catch up to that fact...though, maybe, slamming the door behind her would also hint the girl to just do as Lilly said and get dressed. Of course, Lilly didn't do well waiting and she paced the hallway, messing with her hair - up and down, up and down, and again over and over.

Finally, Victoria opened the door and Lilly practically jumped to attention, grinning as she studied her cousin. The dress fell nicely on her frame and the belt did it's job: it defined her waist quite nicely. And the boots...well, they'd have to work on Victoria's posture, but it was doable. "You look good! Really good, actually," she said happily before grabbing Victoria's wrist and dragging her cousin down the stairs. Lilly was quick on her heels, though, and Victoria was not so experienced with them. She realized this as they took a few steps down the stairs. "Sorry; I forgot you're not used to heels," she said sheepishly as she slowed down her pace.

"Obviously we hit the mall first. Though, I think we should definitely stop by the thirft stores too. They always have really great deals!" Lilly said excitedly as they walked out the door. Oh, this was going to be lots of fun. Lilly adored shopping, even if it wasn't for her own clothes. Actually, shopping for other people was even more fun because...well, Lilly didn't really have any more space in her closet and her mother would kill her if she went shopping for herself again. This way she could shop without getting hurt.

TAG. VIC/JAMI. WORDS. 442. OUTFIT. THISS.

[victoria scarlet lightwood]

Vic knew she could be difficult. She was trying hard to be somewhat obedient when it came to stuff like this. Being dressed up was fun and all, but it was hard to get her into a style that she liked. The t-shirt dress was alright, a little longer than she would've liked but it was decent. The boots were what was setting her apart from the outfit. They were slick and knee-high. It might've looked good to someone who didn't know her all that well personally, but to Victoria, she just felt stupid. Heels already made her feel weird, but boots were icing on the cake. They were more Lilly's thing. She didn't want to hurt her cousin's feelings, though. So she obeyed.

"That's what Shadowhunters do, right? Adapt and survive." Nodding and grinning shyly, Victoria had to agree. She'd only fought a real demon once in her life while on a walk through New York. She'd gone in an alley and boom, there it was. A Raum demon. The ugliest thing she'd ever seen by far. It was hard, but after a while she beat it and killed it. Ever since, Vic's steered clear of demons. She's sort of lucky that she hasn't seen any since. She didn't want to see anymore. Was she a bad Shadowhunter because of that? Vic was sure she'd grow to become a better warrior of sorts, and she was rather talented with close-range fighting with daggers, but was she really... prepared? At all?

Smiling at Lilly's compliments, Victoria accepted them. She'd never been good at that, either, so she stayed silent as opposed to disagreeing. Her wrist was grabbed and she was soon being drug downstairs. Luckily, she was good at being stealthy. That could help her in the Shadowhunter field. She'd had to skip a few steps to keep up with Lil, but then she'd noticed that she had been going too fast. Sending her a grateful smile, Victoria continued at her own pace behind her. This was going to take a lot of work. Yikes. Once out the door, Vic grinned. "I love thrift stores!"

[/color] It was true. They always had nerd-related stuff on sale. Victoria hadn't necessarily thought about it, but she was rather nerdy, herself. It could've been the influence of her friends, but she'd always been drawn to her Uncle Simon. He was technically a nerd, right? They'd always gotten on together exceptionally well and had a lot in common. Huh.

[/justify][/blockquote][/blockquote]

tagged; lilly/kalie<3 words; 414 outfit; here! notes; lalalala.

[/size][/font]

[lillian grace midwinter]

* baby, you're a firework

COME ON, SHOW THEM WHAT YOU'RE WORTH *

In Lilly's eyes, family helped other family members out. It was her main driving force, if she was honest. And despite the fact that the Lightwoods weren't actually related to her by blood, they were still family. Uncle Jace had still grown up with her mother and Uncle Alec, and Aunt Clary and Isabelle were close. Which only further cemented Lilly's ideas that family was family and one helped out family no matter what.

Victoria was, if anything, just like Max and Lilly couldn't simply ignore the girl's insecurities just because. She knew that she had been lucky in the genetics department - and definitely lucky in the self-esteem part - but she had manged to accept that it wasn't as easy for everyone else. It had been a bit hard at first, wondering why Max didn't get on so well with as many people as she did, but she eventually got to that point. Somehow, Lilly had managed to convince herself it was her life goal to help out the awkward. Which was the main reason why she had called Victoria over to find her "look" - that and the girl had asked, but that was beside the point.

Lilly grinned as Victoria told her she loved thrift stores. Okay, good. That was something to add onto her checklist of things to keep in mind. Cute, carefree, elegant, simple, Lilly decided would be the style Victoria needed. One would think that it would be easy to accomplish, a simple grab of things from stores that weren't brand name should suffice, but doing that was, in Lilly's opinion, was taking the easy way out. And Lilly never, ever took the easy way out if she could help it.

She stopped walking when they ended up in front of the Institute, looking around them. It would have been easy to go straight left to head to the mall, but at the same time, she knew the outlet stores to her right were also a very good place to shop for thrift and brand name stores. Lilly took a deep breath as she thought, about to ask Vic where she would prefer to go when she remembered exactly how hot it was in New York this summer.

"I was thinking outlet," she started explaining, but shook her head instead. "But we're going to need to actually survive this shopping trip, so I think the mall is our best bet right now," she said matter-of-factly with a huff. Lilly liked shopping, but not enough to let the stifling heat of New York City suffocate her.

"All right, let's go!" Lilly said excitedly, as if she were a child at a toy store during Christmas, before grabbing Victoria's hand and pulling her cousin down the street to their left.

TAG. VIC/JAMI. WORDS. 462. OUTFIT. THISS.

[victoria scarlet lightwood]

As was widely known, family was very important to the Lightwood and Midwinter families. They seemed to revolve around it like their lives depended on it. And to them, it did. Both families were very family-oriented and had always been that way, especially the children. They were always so protective of one another that sometimes it could be rather intimidating. Victoria, though she was the baby, was very protective and defensive of her family. She couldn't do much physically, but the girl had a sharp tongue. Although she would probably feel a little guilty afterwards, Vic could talk someone down in a heartbeat if they ever messed with her friends or family. They always came first.

Victoria and Max, Lilly's twin, had always been super close, ever since childhood. They'd been best friends for years, and still were. They connected on levels that other people couldn't understand. One of them was the social awkwardness. Neither of them were very good with people, but they were good around one another because they knew they could be themselves without getting judged. That was always something they'd bonded over, among other things. Vic missed Max. They hadn't hung out in a week or two and she wanted to hang out with him. Lilly was good too, though. They'd been close as children as well. Not as close as Lily and Max were, granted, but close enough.

Thrift stores were so cute to Victoria. They had such vintage things in them, along with old clothes. Some of the clothes were awesome though, and they were at a reasonable price. That's what Tori liked the most: the prices. She could buy an entire wardrobe there for under two-hundred dollars versus that getting her a few articles of clothing at the mall. Following Lil, Vic had to keep looking at the floor to make sure to not fall. When they got outside, she had to keep from bumping into Lilly because she'd been looking at her feet the whole time. She winced at the bright light and a little at the heat. She wished for a breeze or something to make it bearable, but she knew better than that when it was summer in New York.

Victoria nodded, a bit sad that they'd have to go to the mall instead. She wasn't going to complain, though. She was never one to do that. At least she had the opportunity to go shopping in the first place. Smiling at her cousin, Victoria nodded and let Lilly grab her hand to drag her alone. She was willing, though. She strolled along with her, a little bounce to her step as she walked. She was getting somewhat used to the boots now, which was more than a good thing. It was revolutionary! Maybe heels weren't so bad after all. Let's just hope she doesn't ruin that assumption by tripping or something, ultimately embarrassing herself in front of the entirety of the New York population. Yikes.

tagged; lilly/kalie<3 words; 496 outfit; here! notes; lalalala.

[/size][/font]