As the door shut to the bathroom, Tses ruefully started undressing in the living room. She felt like she was back at the mall, being forced to play dress up for Chyrs. She didn't understand why females enjoyed this, but she would deal with it and try to appease the girl. It wouldn't take too long anyway, and it took her mind of their troubles.

Putting her clothes on the couch, Tses slipped the red dress over her figure, and the smooth fabric slid down just shy of her knees. It felt soft, and she liked it in a way. But then she saw the scars on her bare legs and arm and remembered why she never dressed this way. The collar went up to her neck, but her shoulders tickled with the cold, as did her feet as she pressed them into the carpet.

As Butterfly called out from the bathroom, Tses jumped slightly, then called back. "Yeah, sure, go ahead. And yeah, I'm dressed." She wished she had a mirror to look at to at least see how bad it was. Stores always made you look better than you did anywhere else, with their special lighting and mirrors. She ran her hand across her bare arm, tracing the uneven pattern of scars, some newer, some older. The repetition and reoccurrence reflected her past. Battle after battle, struggle after struggle, it was a endless inescapable cycle that had consumed her life.

Butterfly grabbed the brush and walked out of the bathroom as she heard Tses's reply. She started to brush hair over on one side as she walked back to where Tses was. As a glimpse of the red fabric and Tses's figure came into view, Butterfly gasped and was in awe at how well the dress looked on Tses. "Oh my gosh, Tses. That looks so good on you. You should so wear that for Ty sometime when he comes back. I'm sure it'll make him completely speechless. He won't know what to do with himself. You have such a great figure. You should show it off more often." Butterfly said smiling.

Butterfly stood there just smiling as she saw Tses in that dress, walking around to see the back of the dress as well. "Besides, who said that you have to be girly to wear dresses. I'm not that girly and I wear dresses. Speaking of which, now try on the other dress. I'll even turn around and close my eyes." she said, doing so.

Tses felt her mouth open and close soundlessly for a moment as Butterfly started talking, then rubbed her arms sheepishly across her skin. "I just... I don't know if I will. I don't feel comfortable in clothes like these... I hate my skin." Tses said with a sigh, and pulled off the red dress, putting the black one on instead. Her legs were covered now, but her shoulders were bare and that gave her goose bumps.

"There, black one is on. And I still think dresses are girly...Well, at least these two are for me. Chrys was having much too much fun making me wear them for them to be any type of cool.... Maybe if I had a more 'punk' style dress I'd consider it...with arm bands and fishnets..." She added, pocking at one of the longer scars on her arm.

Butterfly listened as Tses spoke about not liking her skin and said, "Everyone has something about themselves that they don't like. I've never really shown off my wing pattern that's on my back, but it's a part of my body and have came to be okay with it and not let it take away from the happiness I could be having or being able to feel "sexy" for someone or for myself really. If you always let it bother you, then you'll never have any confidence and you'll shut people out. Even those who love you for you."

As Tses tried on the black dress, Butterfly smiled from ear to ear. "You look so elegant. It's really nice and it fits you so well. Tses, you are drop dead gorgeous. I see why my brother loves you so much." And as Tses explained about the dresses and wanting something a bit more of her style, Butterfly nodded her head and said, "I agree. But you could always find a dress you like and make it your own or one that's almost what you want and alter it. And dresses are only girly if you make them seem that way. I'm sure you could rock out any dress and people would still know that you were badass."

Tses felt that what Chloe said was valid, but she didn't know how to actually change what she saw in herself. It just always seemed like her reflection was something disappointing, but she didn't know what she wanted to see there? Smooth skin? No scars? Or just... something happy? It was hard to really understand what she felt she was missing. Whatever it was, she hadn't found it yet. "Thanks, I'm not gorgeous though. And... you really think I meant that much to him?" Tses said softly. She couldn't imagine that he did... he'd left, she was sure she had left... he had been so angry with her, how could he ever put up with her again.

"Doesn't really matter I guess. I don't know, maybe someday I'll find a dress I'd actually wear. Not today though. I'm still learning to just wear jeans and a t-shirt again. It's hard to dress just to hang out and not be fight ready all the time. Back on the streets clothes weren't something you wore to look good in. They were something practical and needed to be comfortable enough to fight in." Tses shrugged. She picked her clothes back up from where she left them, and had a little trouble bending in the black dress. "Good grief, I can barely breath in this thing. . . look somewhere else or something so I can change k?" She gasped, straightening up.

Butterfly retorted with, "Of course you're gorgeous. If you're not gorgeous, then I'm a monkey's uncle. And the last time I checked, I wasn't a monkey and I'm definitely not a man. So by that logic, you must be gorgeous. And my brother adores you. You can tell by the way he talks about you and the look he gets when he thinks or speaks about you. And have you not seen him blush? I'm sure if you flirted with him or did something sweet. He'd be as red as a cherry. That's because he likes you. ALOT. And if he likes you that much, then he obviously thinks you mean something to him."

Butterfly turned around at Tses's request and as she was waiting, Butterfly spoke and said, "But clothes can be comfortable and look good. And you're not living out on the streets anymore. Sure there may be a rough spot every now and then, but you should still be able to wear something and look good in it, even if it's not for anyone special. Wearing clothes that are practical, but ones you don't find pretty or like makes a big difference. Especially in how you view yourself and your self-confidence. Besides how awesome would it be to wear a dress that makes you look incredibly sexy and be able to kick someone's ass in it? The clothes you wear are only restricting if you let them be." As she continued to wait, Butterfly began playing with her hair, pulling it to one side and braiding it.

Tses blinked ever so slowly as Chloe spoke, and ran a hand through her hair as she talked about Ty. She hadn't noticed him act that way before, but it made her feel a bit better. Amidst her doubts, there was a small glimmer of hope, and it had enough strength that she stopped feeling angry for a moment. Maybe he wasn't gone forever. Maybe he would return, and then maybe she'd really understand what Chloe was saying.

As Butterfly looked away, Tses changed back into her jeans and t-shirt, and rubbed the bare skin on her arms as she set the dress on the couch. She shrugged slightly, although Chloe couldn't see it, then sat down and sighed. "Maybe someday I'll be comfortable. I think it's just something that has to be built with time." She remarked slowly. She stared at the scars on her arms thoughtfully. "You can turn around now." She added, then poked at one of the recently healed cuts from her confrontation with the police.

Butterfly turned back around and looked at Tses. As she looked at her, Butterfly spoke and said, "Yeah, it'll grow on you, but you gotta actually start doing it and go somewhere with it. Maybe one day we can go shopping and you can find some stuff you might actually like to wear. I won't torture you like other people have. I'll let you pick for yourself and I'm not into fads or anything. I believe you can wear what you want and create your own style. Oh, thanks for the shower by the way. I really appreciate it."

Butterfly sort of looked down at her feet and thought for a moment. She didn't know what to do or say next really. "Hey Tses, would you mind if I stayed with you tonight? Since there's so much snow and I kinda don't wanna be alone. If you don't want me to, I'll go back to the apartment. I just thought it would be nice to actually be around someone for once. I don't like to be alone." After she asked, Butterfly sorta stood there, feeling insecure and embarrassed. She hope that what she had asked for wasn't too much.

Tses blinked slowly, a little surprised by the request. She rarely had people at her apartment, and it was odd having people there, in a way. It was like there was life here for once, instead of just a place to sleep. She rubbed the back of her neck, and shrugged. "Yeah, I guess you can crash here. I mean, I just have the couch, so hopefully you don't mind that, but Ty has crashed there before and he's never complained, so it can't be that uncomfortable." She shrugged, and crossed her arms. She glanced around the little flat, and it seemed surprisingly small now that there were two people hanging out here instead of just her. But there was no television, and nothing really interesting to do, so she wasn't sure what exactly things would be like with Butterfly staying.

"I really don't have much for entertainment. I got some books over there if you want. Don't know if they're any good though. Can't... Well, I don't know if they're any good." She was still touchy about her problems reading, and she glanced away from Chloe for a second then back. "If you get hungry you can help yourself to anything edible in the kitchen though. Not sure what i have, but there should be enough to eat until tomorrow."

Butterfly could sorta tell by the way that Tses answered that the idea of Butterfly being there was uncomfortable. When Tses mentioned the couch, Butterfly nodded her head. And as Tses talked about not really having entertainment, Butterfly said, "That's okay. I could check out the books. I could help you read some if you wanted. Or we could just sit and talk, unless you're tired or something. I'm pretty sure that carrying me all that way was difficult. I don't blame you if you're tired....I'm starting to ramble. I'm gonna hush now." She started to fiddle with her hands and tried to avoid contact with Tses. She felt kinda awkward. She didn't know what to say around Tses really. She wished her brother were there. It would have made things so much easier that way.

Tses blinked slowly at Chloe's suggestion. Reading was always a sore spot for her. Part of her wanted to be defensive, and reject the idea of learning to read completely. But part of her knew if she never let go of her pride a little, she'd never learn much more than her name and words like 'bank', 'money', and 'jail'. While those were useful, in a long term view of things, they would never get her far. And she had tried more than once to read those books without success.

"I... well, I... maybe just like, a page..." The look on her face was almost sad in a way. It was evident how much she wanted to read the book, but she was uncomfortable with the idea of asking. Her pride was one of the largest things getting in her way, and she didn't know how to just push it aside and let Chloe help. She was a brick wall of emotions when it came to people, and the invisible barrier she put up against people was hard to drop at times. "I'm not tired quite yet..." She added with a shrug, trying to act more nonchalant about the situation.

Butterfly smiled as Tses gave her permission to help her read. Even if it was just a page, Butterfly was happy to be able to start somewhere and help. Butterfly saw the look on Tses's face though and said "Don't be sad Tses. I'll help you learn how to read. And I'll help you for however long you want me to." She walked over to the dresser and looked at both of the books she had. One was Alice in Wonderland and the other was I Am Number Four. Butterfly opened both and looked at the wording and compared their levels of difficulty. She wanted to start Tses off by reading something relatively easy so that she wouldn't get so frustrated. After comparing them, Butterfly decided on Alice in Wonderland. As she thought about it, she came to conclude that would be the better choice and also, it was a book that most children read when they were young. She walked back over to the bed and patted a spot next to her for Tses to sit. She opened the book to the first page of Chapter 1 and thought for a moment about how she wanted to start teaching Tses to read.

As the thought came to her mind, she looked down at the passage before her:

"Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, `and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice `without pictures or conversation?'
So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.

There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, `Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!' (when she thought it over afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural); but when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge."

"How about we take a sentence at a time? I'll read one and then you. And as you feel more comfortable and confident, you can read more and more of them."

As Butterfly brought the book over, Tses felt a wave of dread hit her gut. She hated trying to read. It was one of the few things that terrified her, and with someone watching it was torture. But because she hated it so much, she was determined to conquer it. Fears were flaws, and they were the few flaws that she could actually fix. As Butterfly turned the page, she looked down at the words, and they all swam together.

"I'm really not so sure about this." Tses said, her voice low, and resembling the tone of an animal who was cornered and distrusting. She wanted to learn, she did, but there were so few words she knew, it was likely any sentence she read would come out sounding like a blender had chopped it up. She was 22 years old. She should know how to get through a sentence of a book by now. But she had spend her time elsewhere. Give her a line of code and she could decipher it easily. This may as well have been gibberish to her.

"I ... you start. And we'll see if I can follow." She finally said, letting herself give in to the silly but helpful lesson.

Butterfly looked over at Tses, hearing her uncertainty and fear in her voice. "You can do it, Tses. We'll take it really slow and easy." She tried to reassure Tses and help her overcome the fear of reading.

As Tses asked her to start first, Butterfly nodded and began to read the first sentence slowly, making sure to enunciate her words properly. "Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, `and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice `without pictures or conversation?'" Butterfly smiled. Alice in Wonderland was one of her favorite books to read as a child. Along with the classic mystery novels of Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden and countless others. "Now it's your turn. Start here." Butterfly said and pointed to where the next sentence started. She smiled up at Tses. "You can do it. Just take your time with it and try to not get frustrated."

Tses stared at the words on the page, and they all seemed to blur together. Her heart rose up to her throat, and she tried to take deep breathes and calm down. One breathe, then the other. She just needed to think of it like anything that scared her. It was a challenge, something to overcome. She just couldn't let it get to her.

After Chloe finished the lines, Tses looked at the next words. Taking a deep breathe, she started sounded them out as best she could. "S...so she was con....cons...ih...deh-er...ring. consihderi.." Four words in, and she was stumped. She bit her lip, and mentally tried to think of a word it could be. She could speak fairly well, and her vocabulary wasn't bad. It was just the reading that got her confused. Finally, the word came to mind. "Considering. in her own m....mind. A...as w-eeelll as she c....coh....cuud....could, for....this is ridiculous." Tses snapped, and turned her head away from the book, an angry red tint filling her cheeks. She frowned, and glanced back at the book, feeling hurt but upset. "I sound like I'm ******* five years old." Ironically, she was acting like it as well. She pressed her arms against her stomach as she hugged her arms tight against her body protectively. This was a dumb idea.