Summer Spending || Dora ||

A new wardrobe was definitely a requirement these days. Dora’s figure hadn’t bounced back as quickly as she had expected it to. She’d tried on a few of her figure hugging dresses this morning but opted for something looser, still not pleased with the excess belly she’d been working hard to lose. There had never been a need to exercise before Pansy. Dora was naturally thin and graced with a high metabolism that allowed her to eat almost anything she wanted within reason. It had also been easier for her to forgo a meal pre-pregnancy, but now the idea of skipping lunch just made her even more tired than she already was. Pansy wasn’t a great sleeper, at least not at night. She was loud and fussed, and thought she needed to eat every thirty minutes or else the world was going to end. In the day, however, Pansy was an angel. Sleeping in her pram during a shopping trip was practically a given, though if Jovi was lucky the tiny brunette would wake long enough to show off her gorgeous eyes.

Whimsic Alley was the perfect place to pick out a few new dresses while simultaneously showing off her new little love and catching up with her cousin. Dora was simply over the moon that Jovi and Fin were dating, and there was so much gossip to discuss over their still new relationship, but she would of course allow the redhead to gush over her baby and herself first. Pansy had truly been a gods-send to the attention-starved single mum. She loved having strangers come up and gush over the cute little outfit she’d picked out for Pans, or the adorable way her stick-straight black hair stuck up like a little hedgehog. A little time away from the baby was not only welcomed but a huge relief, but she’d not gotten much of that just yet. Still, if she couldn’t have time to herself then at least she was the center of attention.

Greeting Jovi with a hug, Dora positioned Pansy’s pram at just the right angle to avoid the direct sun but still be easily visible to her adoring second cousin…cousin once removed? Dora didn’t know but exactly how the relations all worked out, but Jovi was some sort of cousin to Pansy and would need a good view of the baby for the obligatory ‘awws’ and ‘ooohs’. “I know. I would have arranged something sooner but this little one has taken up all of my attention. She’s darling though, so it’s hardly a bother.” In true Dora fashion, she kept hidden as much of her real thoughts and feelings as possible. Only a few very select people were burdened with witnessing Dora’s darker moments, of which the new mum was having plenty these days, but she had spent her entire life pretending everything was lovely that it was almost like second nature now. Even family wasn’t privy to all her ups and downs, though they probably could see a bit more than Dora thought she was letting on. “It’s just been fabulous. Really, it has. She practically sleeps all day long and just makes these adorable little cooing sounds. Its brilliant, I’m sure you’ll hear it soon enough.”

Jovi’s remark made Dora grin. Pansy was so much like her. Yes, of course she was. Dora was gorgeous – everyone knew it, and Pansy was gorgeous, too. She was a little chunker but Dora managed to disguise the baby’s pudgy little rolls with frills and sparkly accessories. Dora knew all the fashion tricks Pansy would ever need to know, but she’d been assured by the healer that babies were supposed to by pudgy and that Pansy would likely grow out of it. That was a reassuring statement, as Dora was still reeling over her extra post-partum belly weight. They were both chunky at the moment, but could hide it with a cute outfit until they shed the weight.

“Pans has more clothes than I do,” she said in response to her cousin’s question. “Not that I’m lacking, by any means.” Dora laughed lightly, beginning to push Pansy’s pram down the cobblestone alleyway toward some of the nicer robe shops. “But I would like to get a few more dresses for summer before all this lovely sun goes away. I can’t allow my daughter’s closet to be better stocked than my own.” Shopping was going to be tricky in her current state. Dora’s typical attire was short and skimpy, showing off enough leg that she looked six feet tall despite being a petite five foot, three. Five foot, eight with her shoes on. How was she supposed to wear summer dresses when she was currently a self-proclaimed erumpent? Needless to say, she wouldn’t be telling Jovian that she needed to go up a dress size. “I don’t really have anywhere particular in mind though. What are you thinking?”

Absolute Fontaine was precisely the sort of shop Dora would have been overjoyed to spend her uncle’s money in a year ago, but the idea of ‘getting formal out of the way’ with her current weight problem wasn’t the dream shopping trip she’d been hoping for. Nevertheless, shopping at any size on another man’s coin purse was infinitely better than no shopping at all. “You’ll have to send my thanks to Uncle Ti for me!” she said excitedly, handing off Pansy’s pram to her cousin as the pair made their way to the shop.

Once inside, Pansy was all but forgotten as the girls began directing the shop staff. It wasn’t as if she could run away, she couldn’t even roll herself onto her stomach yet. Dora was sure she’d be fine in her pram, a spare shopwitch stopping to shake a shiny something or other at her while making baby talk.

In no time her fitting room was stocked with gorgeous dresses of every color and style and Dora was hopping behind her curtain to shuffle herself into a dress that seemed determined to point out Dora’s belly roll. “So… don’t make me wait any longer. I’m dying to know!” Her voice was raised so that Jovi could hear her clearly, completely disregarding the employees or any conversations they might be in the midst of. “Tell me about you and Fin! He’s been suspiciously mum about the whole thing, which means he definitely likes you.” Finally having squeezed, shook, and shimmied herself into the dress and pulled up the zip, Dora smoothed out the wrinkles on the front of the skirt before pulling back the curtain and stepping out of the dressing room.

They were cousins and understandably Dora knew plenty about her cousin that others might not have. But they weren’t as close as Jovi had been with Theon, and no one would confuse their relationship for that of sisters. It was for this reason that Dora didn’t understand the gravity of Jovi’s confession that Fin had been introduced to her mum and dad as her boyfriend. Jovi had plenty of boyfriends, nearly all more serious than Dora had ever had. The brunette’s longest relationship lasted hardly over a month and it was mostly just sex. There had been one boy at school that Dora thought her father might like to meet, that perhaps he’d be proud of her for settling down with someone from a respectable family, but that relationship didn’t make it a fortnight before he lost interest. Dora would never be used to being alone, but she had plenty of practice. Jovi, on the other hand, seemed to jump from boyfriend to boyfriend without much effort or downtime. Dora assumed at least a handful of them had met the Rowles.

Fin bringing home a posh witch like Jovi, however, would have been big for Daddy Avery. “Mery’s alright,” Dora remarked of Fin’s mum, stepping up onto the runway and strutting down the catwalk as if she were made for it. “We get on well enough and she’s always lovely.” Dora reached the end of the catwalk, turned, and strutted back down. “I’m curious how Aurelius took the news. Did he cream himself when Fin introduced you as his girlfriend?” Dora chuckled at her own joke, knowing full well how much pressure had been on her best friend to find an “appropriate” witch to settle down with. She wanted something different, but if Uncle Ti was footing the bill, she’d get this dress, too.

Back in the dressing room she wiggled out of her clothes once more as discussion turned to jealousy. Dora laughed. “Merlin, no. I don’t think you’ve anyone serious to look out for. Fin’s not really the sort to settle down.” Her remark had been off the cuff, and it wasn’t until the words had left her mouth that she realized how they might be interpreted by his new girlfriend. “Until you.” She pulled a purple cocktail dress over her head and twisted the seams into the proper position. This one fit her new figure better. She turned in the mirror, giving her backside a look and smile pleasantly. “There are probably loads of jealous witches out there who’ve not dated him that you ought to be worried about, though. Everyone wants my Finny Bear, and you’re the lucky witch who nabbed him.” She pulled back the curtain once again and headed toward the runway. “I’d watch where I set my glass in public for a while,” she teased, only half serious. Finley Avery was by far one of the most attractive men their age. His family was well off, and he was the owner of a successful nightclub. He was a total panty dropper, and a bit of a Lothario if she were going to be honest about it.