ALL NOVEL 60. Le Papillon
Aurora gave Ben a sympathetic look as she completely understood his pain, even if he had it worse since she was stocking an entire wardrobe instead of trying on a few items. She considered, however, that had she not gained access to her innate stamina from inside Caelus, then she would be in a worse state than him.
With the main bulk of her shopping now completed, Aurora needed to solve the current issue with her attire, that being the distinct lack of any appropriate footwear and handbag to carry the now homeless items from her pockets, currently with Regina for safekeeping.
She knew that this would be a task that would take some time, but thanks to the ease of trying on footwear compared to clothing it would be far quicker. Additionally, she didn’t need to worry too much about the footwear other than its general comfort since as she continued to level up, any rubbing at the back of her heels would not cause blisters due to her defence stat, and if it did she could just cast some basic healing.
Walking into the first shop, Louis Vuitton, she browsed a number of their iconic red soled shoes, picking out a few pairs to try on. Conveniently, they had a pair of black sandals with a 3.5-inch heel that would fit her current outfit, the straps that wrapped around her foot were decorated by a line of black rhinestones that subtly caught the light.
It took her a bit of time to get used to wearing heels again, she had past experience when dressing up in heels for Halloween while she was at University, fully embracing the princess theme she and Tyrell had committed to. The main issue was her change of gait, while she was now used to walking around as a woman, wearing heels was still slightly different from what she was currently used to.
However, after adding a barely perceptible increase to the swaying of her hips as she walked, it began to feel more natural, and she quickly adapted. It seemed easier to move about in them than when she was a man, but she assumed it was likely due to the increased flexibility of her ankles and legs making the movement of walking less stiff and rigid.
With the final piece of her outfit sorted, the group walked around to get the final few items she needed, those being a selection of handbags and purses for her different outfits, some nice smelling perfumes and a couple of pieces of Jewellery to finish off her current look.
Aurora still had her mother’s old jewellery safely stored away and she wished to use some of the pieces for herself now she was a woman, just like how she used to occasionally use her father’s old cufflinks or tie pins, but for now, she wanted something new to wear with her new clothes.
The rest of the shopping only took an hour as she had retained her shopping sense from being a guy and not checked out every rack and shelf like Marie and Roxanne had tried to encourage. That brought them right up to the early evening where she would be meeting with Gareth Brewer, the most important person she currently needed to meet the most outside of the board of directors who she had scheduled for tomorrow morning. It was going to be an intense couple of days between managing everything in real life while dealing with a brewing civil war in Caelus, but she needed to push through.
With all of her necessary shopping done, the group of 6 made their way down to the underground car park. Ben, Roxanne and Marie joined Aurora for the short trip before the chauffeur, Baker, took them back to the Manor House where their cars were parked.
Aurora carefully entered the back of the Rolls Royce to see a slightly still sleepy Baker who had clearly just woken up. She could not blame him since they had been shopping for nearly 8 hours.
She sank into the comfortable padded seats, letting out a deep and contented sigh, the fatigue she had accumulated releasing slightly as she noticed how tired her legs felt. Even though she had only been wearing heels for just over an hour, she felt like it had been days. Thankfully they had not caused her any discomfort other than walking in a way slightly different from what she was used to.
A voice from the driver’s seat brought her attention back from the comfort sooting her body as Baker spoke.
“Are we heading over to Le Papillon for your meeting with Mr. Brewer, your Grace? Or did you wish to make another stop before that?”
Sitting herself up with a straightened back and proper posture from her prior slight lapse, Aurora gave a small nod.
“Straight to the restaurant, please. Given the time, if we don’t leave soon, we may end up caught in the early evening rush hour traffic.”
With a light nod, Baker put the car into gear as they pulled out of the car park and onto the early evening streets of the bustling city.
The journey took them around half an hour, thankfully getting quite lucky as the traffic lights were nearly all green or turned green when they got closer, so they didn’t spend much time in the usual standstill traffic. Aurora could only quirk an eyebrow after the sixth consecutive green light, wondering if it was due to her apparent blessing of luck, and if so, how much it was affecting the rest of the traffic within the city.
They arrived at the restaurant a good forty minutes early, so Aurora decided to sit up at the restaurant’s bar while she had some free time. Walking into the establishment, she consciously noticed all the gazes that started to notice and then kept glancing at her while she waited for one of the waiters to come and greet her.
While she was in Caelus Online, whenever she was in a public space her mind was preoccupied with making sure that she was keeping to her schedule while not forgetting to do anything, meanwhile earlier today she was in somewhat of a similar state as she single mindedly focused on shopping for clothing, her attention being drawn to the gazes of others a small number of times she could count on one hand.
As for now, this was the first time she had properly been alone without anything that needed to be done pressuring her. The freedom to think of other things in her current solitude now hit her as she casually glanced about, taking note of the people who were trying to subtly get a look at her. While she was not currently famous with her current appearance, her looks would draw enough attention as it was as she could see a couple of tables more enthusiastic at taking a peek than others, noticeably all comprised of men. Their discussions seemed quite intense as they kept looking her way even after she locked eyes with a few.
With an internal sigh, Aurora could feel her exasperation rising knowing that this would be inevitable. In her time as a guy, she had been in the kinds of situation like those tables of guys, but had thankfully had enough tact not to be as blatant. If their gazes were so obvious the person in question clearly noticed them while furrowing their brows, then they should have taken the hint!
Even as a guy she had experienced this sort of treatment, however, it was limited amongst the circles who knew of her position at the time, and the gazes had been noticeably more opportunistic in nature as people wished for the chance of business dealings instead of the gazes that seemed to be drinking in her appearance. It was a noticeable difference that stood out to her, and she was not completely sure if it was because she was self conscious of such gazes being within a completely different body, or if it was because her senses as a female were just that much sharper.
Eventually deciding it was a mixture of both, and that she knew this was something she would need to get used to, Aurora mentally tried to block the part of her attention that was being directed to those gazes, thankfully not needing to do so for long as a slightly hurried waiter came to greet her.
It was clear the restaurant was busy at this time with nearly all the tables in the main space being occupied, and that was without considering the restaurant's reputation for needing reservations in advance.
“Good evening, welcome to Le Papillon, how can we help you this evening?”
Aurora gave a smile, she knew that even if it was not the most glamorous job, the waiters and waitresses worked hard, so being polite while giving a smile would go at least a small way towards making their jobs that bit more pleasant instead of acting like the entitled and rude clients she had occasionally had the displeasure of meeting.
