To get a new, more appropriate look.

As the carriage came to a stop, the messenger that had been riding with Liam and Ralli hurried to get the heck away from his two riding buddies. The kid might not get it, but... that woman he was traveling with... something was seriously wrong with her. Could he really not feel her dangerous aura? Shortly after stepping out, he hurried off into the alleys, already growing dark from the setting sun.

Liam, on the other hand, led Ralli out of the carriage by the hand with a casual smile. "Tsk, tsk, Teach. I know what you were thinking. 'Baldwin, you bastard, you're going to parade me naked through the street?' Of course not! What kind of guy do you take me for? I'm a fine young man from a noble family! I've got a little more class than that. No, far from that... As your date for the evening, I'm going to treat you right. How would you like to go shopping?"

Ralli growled at him in response. "I do not want to shop with you, Baldwin. I wish to tear your spine from your shoulders."

"My, how's that for a thank you? Still, I'm a gentleman, and I know how ladies love the finer things. Well, we're going to pay a little visit to a shop that I hear tell has recently become very, very popular in Merridan. We'll get you looking right."

The sergeant continued growling with enough menace to clear the path for them, as others walked on the other side of the street, but Liam hardly seemed bothered. In all likelihood, if he wanted her to keep quiet, he could probably make her. If she was still allowed to voice her discontent, it was probably because that was what he wanted.

Eventually, the two arrived in front of his destination. A signboard outside seemed to suggest it was... what? An armory? Ralli barely had any familiarity with the town, and she couldn't understand the carved symbol (she could at least sense it, since it was carved instead of painted)... but something about the heavy curtains that obscured the storefront window gave her an ominous feeling.

"Oh, you noticed those, Teach? Well, they can't exactly show this place off until its dark. Kids could be around, you know?" Without giving her much time to process that, she led Ralli inside.

Ralli had never sensed a place like this. It was definitely a store for selling clothing of some sort. The reason she wasn't immediately able to place what type of clothing was she couldn't sense color: otherwise, it might mean something to her that nearly everything in the store was either pink, some other neon color, or some exotic pattern. She could, however, tell that for as much clothing was on display, each individual article was... Small. Or stringy. Or thin. Some had zippers in strange places... Some, frankly, seemed more like fistfuls of lace than articles of clothing.

"Welcome to Nuns vs. Plain Whites!" Someone who Ralli couldn't possibly identify as a nun stepped out from behind a curtain at the back when she heard the bell ring for new shoppers. She seemed about the same age as Ralli, but that and her gender were where similarities stopped. The woman had straight, mid-length black hair with pink extensions, long enough to take it to her lower back. She had what looked like a lime-green nun's uniform on, complete with a habit and gown... only, each piece was panelized to reveal skin, connecting at discrete buttons, so that a generous amount of skin was shown just about everywhere: at the shoulders, above the breasts, at the stomach, alongside the hips... Speaking of the hips, the outfit ended well above the knees and gave way to fishnet leggings, which continued down otherwise bare legs and into high-heeled pink pumps. Her nails and lips were painted hot pink, too... Perhaps most bizarre of all, was her jewelry. As one would expect from a nun, they were crosses... it was unusual to see them dangling from the ears of a nun, though, and even stranger to see cheap ones painted a bright bubblegum pink. Funnily enough, the only thing that looked respectable on this woman was her oval-framed glasses, and even those seemed out-of-place in front of her dark, curved eyes. She wasn't making any effort to hide the way they roamed over her new guests.

"Well, hello there!" Liam returned her energetic greeting, his natural squint doing a good job of hiding the way he was checking her body out. Not bad... a little better in the chest than Teach, but a little thin in general. Not worth drooling over when the young man already had a bird in hand. "My date here is a knight. She's eager to generously spend some time with me on behalf of Lady Dyna's new initiative, but she's, well, rather new at this. Show her what I mean, would you?"

"What do you-?!" Ralli started to question, before her body answered for her. Unable to stop it, Ralli shrugged off the cloak she had been wrapped in. As it fell to the floor, her dark body in plain underclothes were revealed to the room. The articles were pretty conservative, but they were definitely underclothes, and the sergeant's already indignant face burned an even brighter red.

"You see what I mean? I want to treat her to a makeover, and I'll spare no expense. I want her looking fine for our night on the town... Why, just as fine as you, good shopkeep! Have you got any clothes appropriate for a fetching knight such as herself?"

"Ahahahaha!!" The shopkeeper giggled brightly, fanning her bright nails in front of her smile. "Can do, honey! In this shop, I won't let any nun or any knight leave this place in yesterday's boring old whatever! Here at Nuns vs. Plain Whites, the future is bright! What's your name, girlie?"

"... Ralli Hellknox..." The sergeant growled it through her teeth as though trying to prevent its escape.

"Well, Ralli, I'm Candy Elmlighter. Can you believe that during most of the day, I'm a plain ol' nun in a black habit doing work at the abbey? But, finally, the town has embraced my passion, awakened to my unique fashion! And you, my girl, have got plenty to work with. Trust me, I'm going to have you looking like a wet dream for your boy toy there. Not judging, by the way! Age is just, like, whatever, right? As long as he's legal, am I right?! Hee hee!"

Ralli had a million things she wanted to say to this woman, but gave a simple "thank you" instead.

"Don't mention it! Now, we do serve knights, but you oughta know that, like, everything spent here goes towards the glory of Geod. So if you do spend here, it's going to the church! Ooh, but I've got sooo many designs with the knight emblem I'd love to show you! Trust me, knight or knave, Geod wants you to flaunt that boy-teasing body of yours!"

"Isn't that great?" Liam clapped his hands together with an endlessly amused grin. "I'll leave her in your capable hands, Candy. I don't think you can disappoint me."

"You'd be the first, kid," Candy winked at him. "You wanna witness the transformation, or would you rather be surprised?"

"I do love a surprise, but I have to admit I'm eager to see it in person. That's okay, isn't it?"

Candy realized the question was for Ralli, so instead of answering, she turned to the knight with a giddy, expectant smile.

"... Yes..." Ralli muttered against her will.