CH 84: My Dress-Up Warrior

Despite her best efforts to finish this quickly, Ursa found herself holding a pile of clothing in a completely different store. Two sets of eyes were beaming at her with bright smiles, expecting her to try them all on. She wouldn’t have guessed the assassin to be so into cloth shopping, but yet here she was picking out outfits for Ursa.

“I think this one would be pretty cute,” Jasmine said, holding up a red-colored dress. The idea of wearing it made Ursa cringe. She recoiled away from the dress only for it to be added to the pile in her arms. “Aww… Ursa would look amazing in that dress.” Claire added. Her enthusiasm for dressing Ursa up was evident from her bright smile. For a reason she couldn’t quite understand, Ursa had the urge to try it on. Only for a moment before it transformed into annoyance.

“Seriously. It’s been an hour of this.” Ursa grumbled from behind the pile. She just wanted to lie down and sort through her emotions of that day. “And I already have the clothes I need.”

“Nonsense. Four pairs of clothes is not enough.” Jasmine said, adding another dress to the pile. She giggled to herself after finding a bonnet she snuck into the pile. She couldn’t wait to see Ursa in it. “We’ll be done as soon as you try these on.”

Ursa let out a sigh. “Why? I don’t need them.”

“Because you’ll look cute in them,” Claire retorted.

“That’s it? Because I’ll look cute?” Ursa said, exasperated. She forced herself to ignore the compliment and get to the root of her annoyance. “Do we really have time to-”

Jasmine silenced the woman by placing another dress over her head. “Shhh, have some fun.” She whispered to her. Jasmine surely was. She didn’t realize how much she missed by not joining outings like this. “Let loose for a little while. You can be grumpy later…”

Ursa bit back her rage that bubbled up. Her annoyance was swiftly turning into acceptance as both women were adding to the pile. She didn’t know how much longer she could put up with this. The fact she hadn’t stormed out yet is a testament to her discipline training.

“Ahh… They’re probably almost done with the tour!” Claire’s voice cut through Ursa’s anger. A shining ray of hope for the end. “We should finish up here. Ursa, we’ll need you to try these.”

“Won’t fitting take too long?” Ursa asked, standing up with the pile of clothes. “It took twenty minutes for the previous store to fit them to me…”

“Right, but these are different. They use sizes and general body types instead of fitting the clothes to the woman.” Jasmine clarified. “That’s what these numbers next to the clothes mean.”

“Mhmm! Just need to see if they fit properly by trying them on.” Claire said, pointing to the dressing room. “That’s where you try them on apparently…”

“Oh, um, okay. I guess that isn’t too bad.” Ursa said a bit more meekly. Claire had wrapped her arm around her to turn her towards the dressing room. It was affecting her ability to think.

“But you have to show us each one,” Jasmine added.

Ursa let out a muffled groan as she tightened her grip on the pile of clothes in her hands. Part of her was irritated at the thought of showing off the outfits to the two. Why did she have to try on these outfits that were useless in combat? But, there was a small part of her that looked forward to what they thought.

She let out a sigh, “Fine… but we make this quick.” She grumbled before heading towards the dressing room. Once inside, she threw the pile onto the ground and soaked in the little moment to herself.

After another sigh, she started going through the pile of clothes. She found a mix of skirts, blouses, and dresses that she’d never thought of wearing in her life. She could tell some of these would cling tightly to her body and it made her nervous. She sorted the clothing into tight fitting and looser fitting and decided to try one of the better ones. A simple sleeveless tunic with matching pants.

She threw Claire’s old clothes off of her, feeling it was slightly easier to breathe now. Then she put the tunic on, feeling the soft material as it covered her body. It was far softer than the leather or pelts she was used to. It felt a bit foreign at first, but by the time she put the matching pants on, it started to feel more comfortable. After adjusting it to fit her better, she checked the mirror inside the stall with her. Ursa’s reflection surprised herself, the tunic fit well to her body and showed her toned arms off nicely.

“How’s it look?” Claire asked from outside the stall. Ursa was snapped out of her thoughts by her excited voice.

Ursa panicked for a moment, looking at her reflection again. She was searching for anything out of place and checking to make sure she didn’t look bad. “It’s okay…” She said, her voice cracking a bit.

“Come on out then! We want to see.” Jasmine said with a giggle.

Ursa’s face heated up as she took a deep breath. She steeled her nerves before opening the dressing room door. The moment she locked eyes with Claire, Claire commented on her outfit. “See Jaz? I told you that tunic would look amazing on her!”

Jasmine smiled and nodded, both of their eyes on her made Ursa’s face redden. “It’ll be good everyday wear. Something to wear when you’re not fighting.” Jasmine added.

Ursa just nodded and looked down at the tunic. The fabric was really growing on her as it gently rested against her skin. “I-I guess…”

Ursa turned, still red-faced, and entered the dressing room again. She picked from the pile of looser clothing again as she tried on a simple blouse. Upon exiting the dressing room, both women were ecstatic to see her in it. The praise was slowly overtaking the irritation as Ursa tried on more from the more acceptable pile.

But, then she ran out. She stared down at the dress Claire had picked out as it lay on top of the more form-fitting clothing. It was the first dress she’d be trying on. She hadn’t worn a dress in ages. Skirts she could do as she’d worn battle skirts in the past, but a dress was different. She nearly threw it to the side before remembering how Claire had smiled when she saw it.

She pushed herself to put on the red dress, doing her best not to think too much about it. It surprised her how well the dress fit her. Its soft fabric gently clung to her toned torso before flowing down past her knees. She unconsciously gave the dress a little twirl before coming face to face with her reflection again.

“It’s taking awhile… thinks she’s okay?” Jasmine’s whispered voice barely registered in Ursa’s ear. She couldn’t believe her eyes.

“Ursa? You okay? Need any help?” Claire’s worried voice was what pulled Ursa out of her trance. Ursa was filled with the urge to show the dress to the woman who picked it out for her. She spun and reached for the door, but hesitated. This dress was so unlike her. Would she even like it?

The handle turned before the door cracked open slightly. Ursa was frozen in fear as she expected Claire or Jasmine to enter the room with her. But the door stopped after only a couple of inches. “You okay?” Claire whispered to her from behind the door. “I can help if you need-”

“Yeah… I just, I’m not used to this kind of clothing.” Ursa said, reaching for the handle. She pulled the door back to reveal herself. Any fear she felt evaporated the moment Claire’s eyes lit up.

“Jaz come look,” Claire said beckoning with her hand. Her smile widened as her lover moved to stand next to her. “She looks beautiful…”

Jasmine blinked for a moment before cracking a wide smile. “Yeah, she does… give me a second though.” She entered the dressing room with Ursa and asked. “Mind if I do a bit of adjusting?”

Ursa just nodded as Jasmine got to work. She pulled the dress to fit her shoulder better before moving on. Ursa recoiled back when Jasmine reached for her head, but Jasmine just gave her a look. She produced a hairpin from somewhere and adjusted the woman’s bangs. After a moment and a bit of movement, she pulled back from Ursa and presented her new look to Claire.

Claire beamed upon seeing Ursa’s previously messy hair pinned back and tidied up. Ursa’s face was shown off more and Claire discovered two new scars on her forehead. “Damn…” That was all Claire could say.

“I know right? Imagine if we had her try makeup.” Jasmine whispered to Claire. Claire just idly nodded while Ursa shifted in place. “I highly recommend getting the dress,” Jasmine said to Ursa.

“I-I… when would I ever wear it?” Ursa got out. “It’s useless in combat and-”

“But it looks so good on you.” Claire interrupted her. Ursa stopped and stared at Claire. The woman’s compliment quickly made Ursa’s fighting spirit dissipate. She truly was dangerous to Ursa.

“Um… okay,” Ursa said meekly. “But… I… we keep this a secret from the annoying one.”

The two women burst out laughing before both nodding. “She’ll kill us, but, it’ll be worth it when Ursa wears it for the first time,” Jasmine giggled.

“Yeah… maybe she’ll be shocked into silence for a little while,” Claire said. She took a deep breath and turned back to Ursa. “Thank you for going along with this… I just wanted to have a bit of fun with you.”

Ursa gave her a weak nod before catching herself in the reflection. Even she had to admit that she looked beautiful.