"The Shoe Shrine...?"

Lydia regarded the peculiar shoe shaped sign outside the store as her brows lifted, curiosity piqued. It was a pretty nifty sign, created out of leathers most shoes were made from, and even had lacing along the edge. Essentially, it was just a two dimensional shoe sign.

"Yah huh!" The shorter, bouncier, very blonde elf to Lydia's left nodded her head a few times, sending the feather in her beret to swaying and bouncing. "This is the place I told ya about! It's super great!" She turned to face Lydia, a large, unnatural grin plastered upon her face.

The green haired elf returned the grin with a smile, not nearly matching Carley's levels of enthusiasm however. "It looks.. great." She nodded, pale blues wandering from elf to sign to the shoes on display through the windows. Smile dimmed somewhat as she caught sight of some of the price tags. "You sure we can afford to shop here though?"

The words had barely escaped Lydia's mouth before Carley latched onto her wrist, and started dragging her towards the door. "Of course we can Fire! The prices aren't that bad! Ya gotta be willing to pay more to look good anyways, right?" With her free hand, Carley tugged the door open, sending the bell attached to ringing, then dragged Lydia, who was suppressing a long suffering sigh, through the threshold.

Lydia really was trying to put on a brave face. Why she ever agreed to go anywhere, or do anything with Carley? She'd never know. But for the moment her attention turned away from the blonde, who still had a vice-like grip on her wrist, to the shoes and boots set out on display. There was a plethora of styles and colors: red, green, blue, orange, yellow, purple, turquoise, olive, violet... And over there in the back? She was seeing some mighty peculiar-

"Oliver!"

Startled from her thoughts by Carley's shrill greeting to another, Lydia turned away from shoes to look towards Carley, finally relinquishing her hold on her wrist. Rubbing absently at it, she watched the little blonde bounce over towards a man who seemed to be an employee working at The Shoe Shrine. Immediately she could see why Carley would take a liking to him. Firstly, he was tall. Not quite at Grem or Eddie's heights, but still at least a couple inches over six feet, if she'd have to take a guess. Secondly? The narrow frame, the wiry mustache, the suspenders, the slicked back black hair.. he looked very much like a more debonair version of Eddie.

"Miss CQ!" The man, who one could assume to be Oliver, flashed a perfect row of white teeth to Carley before leaning way on down to give her a quick peck to the cheek. "So good to see you!" Grey eyes, almost malefic in nature (he was a salesman after all), suddenly turned to the green haired elf. "And I see you've brought a friend!" Before Lydia could say much on that he was moving her way, leaning forward to give her a peck on the cheek as well. "It's so good to meet you!"

She blinked. Thrice. The resemblance to Eddie. The enthusiasm. The kiss to her cheek... "It's ah, good to meet you too. Oliver, yeah?" She forced a polite smile to the surface, nodding to him. "I'm Lydia."

Recognition found it's way to his features then. "Oh? Miss LL of The Stitch? I've heard much about you and your work."

Miss LL? Miss LL? That really had to be the worst 'nickname' anyone has ever given her. At least Grasstop made some semblance of sense compared to Miss LL... "Um, thank you." Pale blues drifted from the man too close to her personal space towards the little blonde elf, currently enamored with a pair of shoes that were entirely too far from her price range. Lydia coughed, ever so lightly then, in a lame attempt to get the little one's attention.

Bright blues snapped up and away from even bright blue shoes. The grin that displayed entirely too much happiness made a come back as she skipped over towards Oliver and Lydia, taking one of Oliver's arms in her own. "Oliver, ya gotta show me yer new wares! I heard you got a big shipment of new shoes not long ago." She bounced lightly on her toes in anticipation as she peered up at the much taller man.

Oliver smiled, an almost wicked thing, as he turned from the green haired elf to the blonde one. "I did, and they're all simply marvelous! I'll show you all the new wares myself, but we'll have to go to the storage room to see them. Of course..." Attention was back on the green haired one. "I'd not leave you alone out here with no help."

Shaking her head, Lydia smiled, about to say she'd really be okay finding her own shoes. After all, they were just shoes, right? However Oliver had other plans.

"Al! Get out here, we have customers!"

"A'ight toots, I found the perfect pair of boots for ya."

Lydia had been gazing out the front window of the store, out into the street, wondering a few things. Like why she would ever go anywhere with Carley. Or do anything Carley said. Whenever Carley started anything with 'I have an idea-' it usually ended up in some sort of mini-disaster, but time after time after time Lydia never failed to cave in to the little blonde. She never learned her lesson did she? But maybe this wouldn't be all that bad, maybe Al really did do his job? And he'd have a nice pair of boots in hand when she turned around. Yeah. That was a good thought right there.

So when he had interrupted her thoughts? She let the optimist in her show through as she smiled and turned around to check out said boots, however at the sight? Her smile waned considerably.

They had to be the most hideous, awful things she had ever seen. Clear, five inch pumps. Or was that six inches? She couldn't be sure. But wait, there's more! The heels were filled with water, and something in them was moving about. Squinting, Lydia leaned forward against better judgment to inspect, and saw what appeared to be small goldfish flittering about in the water. Save one though, which was just kinda floating towards the top, upside down. That couldn't have been a good thing...

"People actually wear things like that?" Incredulous and skeptical all at once, Lydia's gaze shifted from the goldfish up towards Al, who was busy wiping the remnants of some sort of food out of his facial scruff. She'd lean a little further away at that.

"They sure do! People in high fashion strut the catwalk in things like this all the time! Just pair it up with a peacock on yer head and you'll be good to go toots!" Al nodded encouragingly and confidently, holding the atrocity in his hand further out towards her. "Go on, try 'em on!" He grinned widely, waiting for Lydia to take them...

...which never happened. "Ah... they're certainly interesting. But they're a bit.. much, don't you think?" She nearly winced when she saw how quickly his smile diminished. "For me at least, they are. I'm not really what you'd call 'high fashion', I just.. I like simple things, yeah?" Smiling to Al, even if it was a bit forced, she pointed down to her own boots, simple and brown. "Something like these are more what I'm looking for. Maybe a little darker though?" Musing, she tilted her head, staring down at her feet. "And a black pair maybe, just for something different." She nodded at her words before glancing back up to Al, who looked less than thrilled as he regarded her boots.

"Something like those..." He spoke it almost disdainfully as his face scrunched up distastefully. He was obviously less than thrilled at such a choice. "No.. no no, ya want something that pops, something that's bold. If ya liked simple, ya wouldn't dye your hair such a crazy color toots."

That made Lydia frown a touch, as she self consciously reached up to run a hand through her hair. "I don't dye it, it's natu-"

"Let me find ya something else." Putting a finger up as he interrupted, Al shot her a wink as he clicked his tongue in a peculiar manner. "I'll be back in just a mo'" And with that, he turned to disappear back down the aisle of shoes and boots, scratching briefly at his rear as he did. Classy, that.

Once again, Lydia gave a long suffering sigh.