Samantha had assumed that Raven would enjoy shopping, she really had. The slight pressure that she had put on the woman to follow her â€" including that command from Aiden himself â€" had been truly for the girl's benefit. She wanted to bond with her, to thank her for everything that she had done in helping Sam the night she'd first came to the Ark. Samantha was truly grateful for everything that Raven had done for her that night â€" from helping her inside the Ark, to bandaging her up, to offering her clothing and a shower. She knew, to an extent, that she'd done it more for Aiden than for Samantha herself. That Alpha and pack bond being what pulled Raven to help. But that didn't mean that Samantha couldn't be grateful, and what better way to show her thanks than to spend time with her? She'd barely noticed the book that Raven had been reading, instead pleading with the girl to follow her.

The young empath was hardly oblivious to the way that Raven felt inside the taxi, the nervous girl rattling on about clothing and things she would buy in a way that was surely fueled by the anxiety. Perhaps, she allowed herself to think for just a moment, this was a terrible idea. She'd wanted the day to be fun for them both, but it was clear that Raven was having anything but fun, and she'd clearly intruded on the woman. The rambling that she displayed was just nervous talk, and either Raven felt no need to answer it, or chose not to. Samantha hardly needed the validation, however, though she had to admit that she was relieved when Raven actually got out of the car in front of the boutique with her. After the dread the woman felt â€" and Samantha felt along with her â€" she was positive that it wouldn't be easy to get the woman to follow her.

Unaware of the two women and their personal lives, Samantha had mentioned Nadya without a thought, sure that the two of them must be friends. After all, they were in the same pack. The faerie had no idea the turmoil that had existed between them, and if she had, she would have left Nadya out of it. Nadya was her boss, slowly becoming her friend. It was true the faerie girl felt loyalty to her, though that made no difference in how she felt about Raven, either. To Samantha, the loyalty was left in the hands of those who showed her kindness, and to the faerie girl, she was equally as loyal to Raven as she was to Nadya. She gave a small smile at Raven's words, thankful for them even if the wolf was clearly uncomfortable. "I think she's just far more confident than either of us can ever hope to be. I can't be in that tight of clothing. It freaks me out."

The faerie wasted no time in holding shirts to the woman, easily deciding that the fitted shirts would likely be not only be incredibly flattering on the woman's body, but also something that the wolf would feel comfortable in. It was those thoughts that had the woman offering up compliments, something she could tell immediately made her companion uneasy. Sam quickly offered up the shirt against the woman, claiming that the type of shirt would certainly suit her. "They don't have to be tight," Samantha explained gently. "Normally they're just tailored a little so that they fit you a bit more... flattering?" She shrugged a little, putting the shirt back on the rack.

Samantha pulled her hand back almost instantly after touching her, biting her lip out of nervousness. "Sorry... I..." She started. "I'm sorry. I..." She stumbled over her words, turning back to the rack to look through the mounds of clothes in an attempt to distract herself. It was becoming increasingly clear that the faerie girl had overstepped a line in dragging Raven along with her today. She'd wanted â€" hoped even â€" that the pair could be friends, though she wasn't sure that this was the proper way to do so any more. It wasn't until Raven questioned the ability to show off legs in jeans that a smile appeared once more on Samantha's face, the girl having a renewed sense of faith in the outing at the wolf's interest.

"Can I show you?" Samantha asked, abandoning her search through a rack of maxi skirts to head towards the back of the store, the racks of jeans certainly appealing to her. There were ways that Raven could show off her body, even if she wasn't comfortable actually showing it off. She held up a pair of jeans to Raven, eyeing the size before she finally spoke again. "It's all in the cut of the jeans. Again, all in tailoring it to suit you. These clothes," She gestured with her hand towards the racks. "They don't have to be the kind of things that Nadya wears. You don't have to show off more than you want to. But you can still look very pretty. And you should look pretty, because you are absolutely gorgeous." With that, Samantha handed Raven two pairs of pants.

"If you trust me in this, go try those on. I'll get you a few tops to try on, too. But if you don't want to, we can leave, no questions asked." The girl smiled at the Were, her expression entirely genuine as she offered up the shopping trip, this time choosing to ask instead of demanding it. "If you don't want to, we'll skip straight to the sweets part. But I was really hoping we'd get some time to bond just the two of us."