It was the shortest dress she owned.

Francine stared at her reflection for a very long time, inspecting her incredibly visible bird legs from every possible angle. Apparently horizontal stripes were supposed to make you look wider, and the closest thing she had was zebra-print tights, but either those weren’t working or her brain was too set on seeing scrawny little toothpicks. Either way, she felt incredibly exposed. But she didn’t think wearing a longer dress or skirt worked for the occasion; Lucien said to dress up, and it didn’t really count as dressing up if she wore something she would wear on a normal day. To that end, she had shed her usual converse as well, instead opting for ballet pick mary jane pumps. Francine very rarely wore heels, and even these were only two inches at most, which was good because any more and she might pass her boyfriend, which she wasn’t inclined to do. She pulled on a fur-lined white overcoat atop the short pink dress - because, y’know, February - and with one final nervous glance to her mirror, she was off.

She twirled her fidget ring the length of the walk from Cetus to the elevator, but when she got close enough to see Lucien there waiting for her, her hands separated and tucked into her jacket pockets. She might have run the rest of the way, her eagerness getting the better of her, but for once she had actually gotten her hair to not look like a total disaster, and she was afraid that the accelerated movement might wreck all of her hard work. Francine beamed as he greeted her in French and offered her a flower. She felt her insides go all funny like they always did when he spoke French to her, and she might have attributed the weakness in her legs to the tightness of her tights if it wasn't also fairly routine. “It’s beautiful,” she gasped, pulling off the bow, which was, of course, no bow at all. “Why, Lucien,” she teased, “planning for an eventful elevator ride?”

Not above laughing at her own jokes, Francine giggled a little as she leaned in to allow him to tie it on. “Seriously though, don’t let me walk into anything, okay?” she smiled. “I trust you. So lead the way.”