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Ori was, quite frankly, uncomfortable.
In her comfy, ankle length skirt and baggy, homemade cardigan, she didn’t fit in with all the lace and satins and general extravagance that surrounded her.
Dwalin seemed to belong there more than she did, Ori thought glancing at the muscle-bound, tattooed hulk of a man her sister called a boyfriend standing next to her; looking for all the world like a security guard if it wasn’t for the Barbie pink shopping basket he held as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
Fidgeting with the cuffs of her cardi, Ori chanced a look around the shop again. She really didn’t belong there. It was a shop for pretty people, beautiful people, skinny, confident people.
She was none of those things.
At best she was plain, bookish.
At worst? Well, she didn’t particularly like repeating the things some of her classmates called her.
“What d’ya think of this one?” Nori asked loudly, emerging from a rack holding aloft a pretty lilac bra with delicate white lace detailing.
The flush that burned Ori’s cheeks was almost bright enough to rival the shopping basket.
“I…I…” she stuttered, eyes flitting round, somewhat convinced people were laughing at her blatant embarrassment, “Dori says-“
“No! I don’t want to know what the loopy old bat has been saying!” Nori interrupted, quickly covering Ori’s mouth with her hand, “We are here to buy you something nice.
“But Dori already took me bra shopping,” Ori whined, voice muffled behind her sister’s palm.
“And I’m going to go ahead and assume that everything you got was either black, white, or beige cotton and terribly, horribly plain and boring,” Nori accused, quirking a dark, pencilled eyebrow at her little sister.
“Maybe,” Ori grumbled.
“I’ll not have any sister of mine limited to such drabness,” Nori declared, a somewhat threatening finger pointing at Ori.
“But all Dori’s bras are simple.”
“Not they aren’t,” Nori snorted, “Look in the back of her drawers and you’ll find our Dori likes lace with the odd diamante, dig a little deeper and I’m pretty sure she’s got stockings and suspenders stashed away.”
“But…but these aren’t for me, Nori, they’re for pretty people that show off.”
“Nonsense, everyone deserves pretty underwear, even if they’re the only ones to ever see it.”
Tossing the bra into Dwalin’s basket, Nori practically dived back into the racks.
“I’d just do as she says if I were you, lass,” Dwalin’s deep voice rumbled beside her. “Just get it out of the way, like ripping off a plaster.”
With a resigned sigh and a helpless glare thrown Dwalin’s way, Ori hunched her shoulders and shuffled after her sister.
“Oh look at the bows on this one,” Nori cooed, holding yet another seemingly flimsy bra against Ori’s wool covered chest. “Green isn’t really your colour though, maybe a dusky pink?”
“When can we go, Nori?”
“Ori, sweets, relax,” Nori smiled softly, “I promise you that you have just as much right as anyone else to be in here. Buying nice underwear is nothing to be ashamed of, I mean the price is generally enough to give you an aneurysm, but the products themselves? No, there’s nothing wrong with getting them, alright?”
“Alright,” Ori mumbled, lacking any kind of convincing argument that her sister would actually listen to.
“Great, now come on, we’ll just grab a couple of push-ups then we’ll head over to the changing rooms for you to try them on.”
“What?!”
“We have to make sure they fit, Ori,” Nori’s tone suggesting her little sister was being purposefully dim-witted. “No point buying an uncomfortable, ill-fitting bra.”
“But I’ll have to take my clothes off.”
“Well yes, that’s kind of the point of a changing room,” Nori frowned at the horrified look on Ori’s face. “What has Dori been teaching you? Clearly I should’ve intervened before now, come on.”
Grabbing Ori’s wrist, Nori dragged her towards the changing rooms, Dwalin following sedately behind.
“You, sit, I’ll call if we need you,” she said, taking the basket from Dwalin and pointing at the seats set aside for those waiting.
“Nori…” Ori whined trying to twist her wrist out of her sister’s annoyingly strong grip.
“Nope, this is happening, Ori,” Nori huffed, tugging her forward and shoving her into a cubicle.
“Why are you coming in too?!”
“Because you can’t be trusted. Now off with the top.”
Reluctantly Ori shrugged off her cardigan and tugged off her t-shirt, revealing a rather unattractive beige bra that made Nori shiver in disgust.
“What is it with that woman and beige, no one likes beige,” she muttered, untangling a white bra with pretty little purple flowers from its hanger. “Try this on.”
“But…” Ori squeaked, arms crossing over her chest where she still hadn’t removed her own bra.
“Ori, trust me, you haven’t got anything I haven’t seen before, now come on, off with it and into this one.”
With trembling fingers and reddening cheeks, Ori unclasped her plain, boring bra, placing it on top of her clothes before gingerly taking the offered bra from Nori.
The silky fabric felt strange and cool against her skin, but not unpleasant.
“Definitely better than that atrocity you were wearing,” Nori hummed, fiddling with the straps as Ori blinked at her reflection in the full length mirror.
She couldn’t deny that the bra was pretty, she liked the purple flowers and the little purple bow in the centre, she liked the shape, much more becoming than her own bras, she even felt pretty herself in it. A small smile twitched at the corners of her lips as her shoulders went back and her spine straightened.
“You like?”
“I think so?”
“Good. Let’s try the rest out.”
Slowly Ori lost some of her self-consciousness in front of her sister as Nori got her to try on a seemingly never ending amount of bras. There were balconettes and demi cups, push-ups and padded. There was a dizzying array of colours and patterns, interspersed with lace and bows and glittering diamantes. She was made to jump and twist and wriggle, and for any that didn’t fit quite right Nori would stick her head out of the door and call to Dwalin with a “Next cup up, love,” or “Could you grab us the next band size, honey?” And Dwalin would trudge away into the shop only to return with the requested item, the colourful bras looking ridiculously delicate in his thick fingers, before returning to his seat to await further instructions.
She was starting to feel a little cold by the time Nori deemed them finished. Handing Ori her clothes, Nori huffed a laugh at Ori’s small nose wrinkle of distaste once her original bra was back in place.
“Makes a difference, don’t it.”
Ori could only begrudgingly nod, finally understanding what Nori had been going on about. She knew that it didn’t matter if no one else ever saw what she had on under her clothes, she’d know and that’s all that mattered.
“Thank you, Nori,” she said, offering her sister a sincere smile once everything had been paid for and Dwalin loaded up with glaringly pink plastic bags.
“Don’t mention it, kid,” Nori grinned, tugging her into a hug. “Seriously, if Dori asks, don’t mention it.”