The blonde hadn't been shopping in quite some time. Too much time. She was finally in the time of year that she had the free time she needed to do stuff she wanted and catch up on stuff like T.V shows, go out and exercise more often. It had been a wild ride, NYU classes and essays handing in, even now it resided in the back of her mind as she pondered what to do for her dissertation project in her final year.

She felt a little giddy truth be told, especially with the turmoil that had been going on recently, there were some things in the world that remained constant for her. The way that a cup of tea, or phone call to a friend could just immediately mellow her out or energise her depending on what she needed, the way that malls and shopping centres were just filled with so many happy people. From young couples to teens with money to burn from their weekend jobs. Clothing stores, video games, music, coffee shops.

It was the little things in life. She stood in one of the wider courtyards of the centre, looking around from side to side at all the people passing her by, probably coming across to anybody who stopped to actually look at her as slightly odd. She didn't care. This was fun.

The golden haired blonde spotted something out the corner of her eye, and took a second to stop and do a double take. A mischievous grin spread itself across her lips. She pulled the headphones over her head down to rest on her shoulders. The blonde, clad in a blue and pink sleeveless top, and skinny jeans approached the welcome sight and practically pounced the brunette that was lurking without company near a clothing store. "Hello there stranger!" she proclaimed in her typical British accent, moving to envelope the brunette she hadn't seen for some time in a hug.

It was a good thing she had already graduated from college. It gave her plenty of free time to get loads of training done, studying for police exams, and myriad other things. Like shopping. Since she'd been so focused on burning through college the past few years, she had sort of vanished from the whole 'life' scene. She'd lost track of friends, and cut back on her shopping and free time. It had really boiled down to seeing how far she could push herself and how many credits she could take before she broke. Amelia had come out on top. Now, she had a lot of shopping to catch up on, and a smart outfit to buy for the verbal portion of the police exams. Or did they make you wear a uniform for all of that? They probably made you wear a uniform. But she'd still buy something nice.

Amelia had not dressed up for shopping. She was wearing a pair of blue jeans, a black Aerosmith T-shirt, and a light jacket over that. Her hair wasn't special, either. It was pulled back in a ponytail. Who was she dressing to impress? It wasn't like she expected any cute guys to walk on by. She even had her Yankee's cap. Though she was more partial to the Cubbies and the KC Royals, these days.

The window in the clothing store had some mannequins displaying some recent styles. It gave her some ideas. She had just stopped to look at them when she was suddenly accosted by an old friend.

What was the name again? Sara? Serena? Oh yeah. Memories came back like a flash flood as she returned the hug. "Hey Serena," she smiled. "Long time, no see! Sorry about that. I've been dead."

The last time she could really remember them hanging out had been-- She remembered ice skates and red cheeks. Hm. That was right. She kept smiling, even though the memory had suddenly reminded her of the fact that she'd never called back after what some might have considered, what, a date? Awk to the ward.

Serena did often feel bad for falling out of touch with friends, but as she'd learned. That was often the way of life. Except for her one best friend in the world, hopeless awkward nerd that he was. She just couldn't stop keeping in touch with him. She'd bored him with stories of crushes, deadlines and how much she wished she could speak to family, ect. All of the normal stuff.

That didn't mean that she didn't crave more consistent contact with other friends though. Especially as of late with all of the depressing events like the bombing. The blonde's smile widened as the other girl returned the hug. She found herself wishing she had kept in better contact with the other girl. She remembered around her birthday a few years ago, they had a day of ice skating where Serena had what she realised now was her first real crush, and afterwards they had kind of fallen out of contact.

She nudged the other girl playfully, but friendly. "Hey yourself, Amelia!" She was fairly clearly in an extremely good mood. "Trust me I know the feeling." She smiled and rocked on her heels a little bit. "My goodness, it's been so long! How have you been? Do you wanna hang out? I assume you're here to shop." She grinned after the barrage of quick questions, adjusting her hair.

"Too long," Amelia agreed gravely. She let that sink for a second, the dark tone and serious face held as long as she could, then smiled widely. It had just been a joke. "I've been good. Graduated from college. Science and business stuff. That was the 'me dying' part of the past couple years. And now I'm training to join the NYPD."

The girl paused for a second, then nodded to herself. "You can help me shop. I'm not sure if the interview portion of a police exam is in uniform, police academy uniform, or civilian clothes, but I wanted to buy... something."

She did not get the chance to dress up much. Maybe she needed to change that. But the something here wouldn't be very fun. "Probably something a little masculine, that shows I can take charge, and am not a huge girly girl. Got to impress cop jocks." She said with a small smirk.

It was true, Men were from Mars, women from Venus. Men had their own language of grunts and looks. It was amazing what all one could say with a grunt. Women had their own language, too. Theirs was often more visual, though. Men usually missed cues like that and settled for inflection and body posture. These were things she would all have to learn. Growing up with an older brother had helped worlds in giving her a grounding. The actual job would be a baptism by fire.

Serena nodded in agreement. More than a few months was too long to be out of touch with somebody that she considered pretty cool. She couldn't imagine being out of touch with James for that long, or the trouble that he would get himself into while she wasn't looking out for the sod.

The blonde was intrigued. She didn't know what the other girl had taken at university, though from what she knew of the girl it wasn't surprising. It kind of cemented the image of the kickass mental picture she had always fostered of Amelia. "I'm glad to hear that, this city could always use more awesome cops. Not to discount the ones on the force right now obviously, there are some great ones. But you get what I mean."

The blonde nodded with excitement. She had intended on coming out shopping anyway (obviously) but doing clothes shopping with other people was always more fun anyway. "I'd love to!" She responded gleefully.

She nodded as the other girl spoke, tilting her head slightly with a giggle as she took in what Amelia was currently wearing. "I think they tend to judge character more than dressing. Not that it doesn't stop applicants trying. I remember my brother asking me on advice for which of the three suits he bought for the interview he should wear. Now that was funny." she snorted.

"Yeah," she said. She had got what Serena meant. She had got it in full. After those cops beat up that mutant... Even if they might've been proved innocent, which she didn't quite remember, and wasn't believing 100%, even if it was true... The force needed good cops, as she had put it. And with the further embarrassments caused by the bad press and the robots, they needed all the help they could get. She didn't share any of these thoughts in the brief second they passed through her head. Too much of a downer. Instead, she had finished her agreement with Serena. "I get what you mean."

Happy thoughts. Shopping. Backing away from political topics that could get heated. Amelia had smiled and nodded at the blonde girl, and asked her to shop. Serena had been ecstatic.

It had been a while. She wasn't sure if Serena had ever spoken with her about her brother, so the fact that she hadn't remembered that Serena's brother had been a cop... Or was a cop... Was a little less embarrassing.

She smiled and even laughed a little with the other girl, though she hadn't been a part of the brotherly scene. "I've had that very same sort of scenario with my brother Aurum," she said. "So I can relate. If they want character... Well, I try to live by example and do the right thing." She was modest enough not to walk around singing "I'm awesome", at least. (Like a boss).

"So, what do you think? Empowering pantsuit? Shoulder pads, probably no. This is not the eighties." Amelia said with a small sideways smile. "Tell me he didn't wear shoulder pads."

Amelia definitely had a good head on her shoulders. She always seemed relatively open and receptive about things, which was one thing that Serena herself (quietly) prided herself in. She smiled and nodded along with Amelia as the brunette seemed to agree with the blonde. She never held a bias against police officers. Well.... once upon a time she had an irrational dislike of them, but that was more to do with a misplaced blame of her older brother's passing.

She rocked on her heels and gestured for them to move into one of the clothing stores that generally sold pretty good clothes for that interviews and that sort of thing. Serena looked around racks nearby and smiled at the all the clothes. She felt like she should get a new summer dress or something, she really didn't have enough in the way of that style of clothing, she seemed to wear mostly jeans these days.

She smiled at the other girl and turned. "That must be fun. I grew up in my early years and most of my teens with an older brother and dad, no women in my life. Both cops. Got very used to a the lingo and such." She peeped.

Serena let out something between a giggle and a snort. "Luckily for him, I was there to advise him one way or another." She paused for a second. "I would suggest something that's neat, but not necessarily 'manly' looking organised and firm is a big part of what makes police officers carry authority."

The girl followed the blonde into the store as they talked.

She hadn't realized Serena's father was a cop. Amelia listened as Serena spoke fondly of her family, and fashion. Then, she transitioned to more fashion. Amelia stayed on the topic of family for a beat.

"That's a good idea." She nodded at the fashion suggestion, then turned it back to family. "I had my mom and my dad and Aurum. No cops in the family, but Aurum's a defense attorney, and mom's a cook. So he had two women giving him tips on clothes. He is the lucky kind of jerk that can pull off anything because he has the good looks of Ryan Reynolds, so... he did not really need our tips that much. And he can cook, so he had no problem with the opposite sex." She glanced off towards the other clothing racks with a small sigh. "Some people get all the luck. I chase off most of the people I date." Whoa. Since when had this fashion talk conversation gotten deep and introspective. "But we were talking about clothes."

Serena eyed a few pretty looking scarfs as she passed them, wandering how they would look on her, before shaking that from her brain as it was mid summer and not the time to be buying scarves. Besides that, she wanted to focus on getting Amelia kitted out for her police stuff before she looked at clothes for herself, it was more fun helping other people pick out outfits anyway.

Serena chuckled, quite amused. "My brother was.... I don't know? Rugged. You know when you read a book, about some kind of detective or PI, that tries to be the stereotypical old fashioned noire cop. Long coats, scruffy hair and cigars? He was sort of like that but without all of the gross bits like drinking and smoking. He just kind of pulled off a scruffy look so well." She smiled to herself.

"Dad dressed boring. But the pictures I saw of my mother always made her look so beautiful." She mused outloud, her eyes fixating on a passing dress for a moment before continuing.

The blonde smirked and shook her head in amusement at the other girl for a moment. "You just need to find the right person whose quirks fit your own." She giggled again. "Well I'm not one to talk, I'm a romantic who happens to have practically zero track record with romance." She added.

Scruffy noir detective? He sounded like her brother would love him. Murder mystery Sherlock Holmes rapid fanboy. She found herself smiling, too. Talking about family could be fun.

"Aurum loves mysteries. He probably would have thought that look was cool." She said.

Serena kept talking about her family. Her dad. Her mom. Being beautiful.

The pep talk was nice. She smiled and Serena, nodded, looked away.

Amelia was looking at dresses to, and not Serena. Her mind was elsewhere. "Yeah," she said wistfully. "I can see that. I got my looks from my mom, too." She stopped, and looked at Serena a moment later when she realized what she'd said. "You'll find someone," she added hastily. "Is what I mean."

Serena chuckled, shaking her head in a mixture of disbelief and amusement. It was great that she had come far enough in dealing with everything that she could have a laugh at fond memories of her older brother. "Well I suppose someone has to find that look appealing." She responded with a cheeky smirk.

The blonde found Amelia's outlook on things to be intriguing. She was still surprised every day by how much variety there was in other mutants. There were the sassy kind like Mirror, the sterner kind like Sam, or even playful silly types like Carrick. It really goes to show how silly listening to things like tabloids was. She couldn't even fathom a time in her life when she was scared of mutants.

A slightly embarrassed shrug later the blonde responded. "Well thank you. But I'm in no hurry, and under no illusions. The percentage of people who can put up with mutants, and happen to have my preferences slims the potential pool quite a bit." She didn't sound disheartened, as she had claimed she was indeed, in no rush.

"Besides, there is more than enough chaos going on in my life as it is, without throwing a romantic wrench into the works." She smirked.

"Yeah," Amelia agreed. "Yeah, same." She was busy enough without having a relationship. That hadn't worked in college. There had been a boy or two. They hadn't stuck around and nothing had gotten serious. And no girls like Mirror. Because that had been complex, and also, because none had come up. She supposed finding someone that met her preferences was hard for her, too. "No need for wrenches. I'm not even looking right now, anyways." She touched a dress on a rack, and felt the silken fabric. It was probably way too much. "What I am looking for."

A woman walked by, dressed like an employee. Her head turned slightly as she heard Amelia's comment. Her ears perked almost visibly.

"Is a nice pantsuit." Amelia finished a moment later.

"They're over there, honey. Talk to Susan, if you need to be measured for it." The woman said.

"Thank you," Amelia said, as if that was exactly what she had wanted to hear. "They're over there," she told Serena, and pointed and led the way.

Serena was a little surprised as she nodded in response to Amelia's comments. When she was younger she'd developed a crush on the other girl pretty rapidly, though she supposed maybe the Brunette's preferences were specific. She wasn't one to comment anyway, she didn't exactly have much experience with any kind of romance. Just the occasional crush and one or two friends at parties while drunk.... Yeah, that wasn't happening for a while.

Serena gave the attendant quite a nice smile as they pointed the two girls in the direction of the clothing that they were after. She nodded and moved over to them, musing in her mind what she would look like in a pantsuit. She preferred to look casual most of the time. The most formal she ever really went for was elegance where she opted for something closer to a dress, and even then that was a rare occurrence.

The blonde looked around the racks for a bit, moving around and looking at various pant suits. There was quite a nice black and navy one. She pulled it out and held it a foot or so away from Amelia looking at it next to her. "Hmmm. Possibly a little too school uniformish?" She paused for a second and smiled. "My English-ness showing again, I forgot for a second that most schools here are more casual."

Clothing. There. Much better than thinking about relationships. Why she was suddenly conscious of that, and why she had reacted how she had, were anyone's guess. She was moving on. They were done with that topic. She didn't need no man to define her. Girl power.

And now Spice Girls were playing lightly in the background of the store. Funny. But not the best music to shop to. Who was she kidding? Best music to shop to.

Amelia smirked. Her in a schoolgirl uniform. Now there was a thought. "School girl uniform, Maybe." She said. "Missing a mini skirt. I like navy, though. And black. Definitely getting close. I don't think brown pants would look good for this. I'm better in black and blue. How about this one?"

There was another suit on the rack beside her. She stepped away from where Serena had been holding the pantsuit up next to her to pick the other one up off the rack. It was a similar color, but a different cut. It was sleeker, with a bit of a flare in the legs of the pants... but not a severe flare, like something out of the 70s. It had defined lines down the legs. Pleated, did they call that? A typical v-cut down the breast, with gold buttons. It would look good with a black dress shirt underneath it. Amelia held it out towards Serena, and looked at it and the girl, sizing her up against the suit.

"This might be your color." She said.

Not too far behind her, there was another two piece suit hanging. It was darker, with two buttons on the jacket part, and a simple pair of slacks that went underneath the flared jacket bottom. The jacket was almost a skirt? Whatever it was, it looked good on the the mannequin nearby. Underneath the jacket, the mannequin wore a black dress shirt. It would probably fit Amelia's style, too.

The blonde smiled inwardly as she resumed browsing the other clothes. She was surprised at the sheer volume of pantsuits. She always found it funny that people valued them, they seemed to be designed to be slightly manly a lot of the time, at least in her opinion. And that struck Serena as odd.

Oh well. She put down the school-ish suit with a playful smirk. She hadn't thought of it with the word 'school girl' until Amelia used that particular phrasing, which now amused her. As Amelia held another suit up towards her and observed it might be more Serena's style the blonde chuckled. "The most formal thing you'd catch me wearing most of the time is a dress, and that's if it's a special occasion." She smiled. "My publisher commented once that I was her best dressed client, actually I believe the phrase she used was 'most' dressed." She was aware of the tropes.

While still wearing a fairly broad smile she peered behind Amelia to another style that was being displayed on a mannequin. She hummed for a moment imagining it on her. Then reached next to it to pick it up off of a hanger, holding it up to Amelia's chest. She grinned. "That's fairly perfect, actually." Serena thought it over for another second or two. "It's very you, what do you think?"