Taylor, sporting a new look!

You open the door, letting in the outside world for the first time today... And catch yourself blinking with surprise. Because standing in front of you is Taylor... With medium length hair, a nice shirt, a skirt that reached just above her knees, and a bit of light makeup. The Taylor of last night, writ small.

"Um, hey," Taylor cuts through your stare, blushing, "I thought I'd drop by, see how you're doing. Any progress with, um, the Ms. Devlin situation?"

"Ah, yes..." You say, shaking off your surprise, "But are you sure you don't have anything bigger to talk about?"

Maybe it was indelicate to bring up, when she was clearly trying to avoid calling attention to her changes, but... You were curious! Really curious!

"N-not really, no..." She answers, blushing, "Though, um, I guess I do have a few more questions for you, now that you mention it..."

"About makeup?" You ask, privately noting the flaws in her technique.

"No, not at all..." She shakes her head, "No offense, but you can get a bit intense, and I'd like to learn on my own. Just... If I'm, um, going to make more of an effort with my appearance... I thought, I should probably ask about longer-term care..."

"Oh, of course," You beam at her, "Let's start with your shampoo and conditioner... I'm guessing you're probably using an all-in-one at the moment, right?"

An hour later, and you'd gotten a solid routine worked out for Taylor. She'd been insistent on keeping everything under an hour for "normal" days, split between the morning and evening... But you thought you'd been able to cover the most important points. With this, her skin should be kept healthy, and her hair would definitely end up looking gorgeous as it grew out. In a world where anyone could become attractive by selling their souls, she was probably going to need the edge; she was hot, but she was normal hot, not demonically hot.

...That said, you should probably find out what's going on.

"So..." You ask, "Are you sure there's nothing bigger to talk about? Because you just let me talk to you about moisturizers and soaps for an hour."

"It's so not a big deal!" Taylor sighed, and leaned back, "I just... Thought I really enjoyed how Elizabeth looked at me. How you looked at me. And I thought, hey, it wouldn't hurt to take, like, ten minutes a day to be looked at a bit more often. Kind of sucks that other people look at me too now, though."

"Ah, yeah..." You nod, understanding, "You'll get used to it, though. Just appreciate the ones you don't mind as a sign that you're doing well, and ignore the creeps."

You don't say anything after that, but... You let your eyes drift down to her skirt, and up to her hair. Taylor would get what you meant.

"I thought the skirt would be a good compromise..." She said, grimacing, "It's supposed to look nicer than my old jeans while still letting me walk normally, right? Except, now I feel like I'm flashing everyone whenever I sit down..."

"You'll get used to it," You smile at her, "Cheerleaders wore them all the time, and they can certainly move, right?"

"Oh God, I'm so not becoming a cheerleader, am I?" Taylor said, burying her face in her hands.

"Hey, hey, watch the makeup," You wince, "And hey, school pride might not have ever been your thing, but you still got along well enough with the cheerleaders back in high school!"

"Because I was into Amanda!" Taylor rolls her eyes, lifting her head again, "But... You're right, I'm being a bitch, aren't I? Cheerleaders are a lot cooler than the stereotypes give them credit for. Sorry about that."

"And the extensions?" You ask, finally just asking outright.

"Elizabeth likes long hair," Taylor shrugs, "I don't, but shoulder length is fine so long as it doesn't get in my eyes. I don't mind growing it out, but I figure... Until then, some clip-on extensions would be a nice compromise."

You nod, understanding.

"I'm just glad you're getting more into this kind of thing," You smile at her, "Over the years, I've had a lot of ideas for things that you could try; it'll be nice to put some of them into practice."

"Ah, wait, no..." Taylor replies, raising her hands, "I said it before, right? You can get a little intense. I mean, you were still holding back last night, weren't you? I don't mind being your doll on a special occasion, but I still want to be able to move, and I don't want to waste half a day without a good reason. I can put in a little effort to look a lot nicer, but I don't want to put in a lot of effort just for appearances."

You start to pout a bit... And then catch yourself. Because that's who Taylor was, wasn't it? A person who appreciated the practical, who loved doing things for herself. If she'd really gone all the way down the makeup hole... Yeah, she just wouldn't be the same Taylor. This compromise, that she'd made for the sake of her best friend and her girlfriend... That was probably the best you could have hoped for.

And so, you give her a smile instead.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that," You say, "Special occasions are more than enough. Maybe a little tip here or there, if it's something simple. It's just... Nice to be able to share this part of my life with you at all."