Solo No Time Like the Present

[Rosela]

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OOCIf the people I owe posts to are reading this for some reason, this was all written during an internet shortage at my house. Replies are coming, promise!

Timestamp: 40th of Winter, 513AV

It was only midday and the hours had already stretched to near infinity, especially unusual given the shortness of the days in the winter season. Rosela knew it was moving slowly for one reason only: what she needed to do after she closed. She had plenty to do before that, but once she stepped out of that door, she had to be fully ready for the fact that her shop may be changed for the forseeable future.

She was finally hiring a desk clerk.

It had been on her mind for over a year, with her nearly hiring a customer the winter prior. Thank goodness she hadn’t; Rosela had no idea how the young Fade would have taken to being the face of Red Diamond Fashions. Had the contortionist even known how to sew? She’d only been open for a season herself, and she’d learned volumes since then.

Obviously her own face would be the face of the shop, but the face people would see when they came in would be more easily associated with the business. Therefore, it had better be a good face. One that was friendly, inviting, and fashionable. All that could be vetted out in the application process though, and she looked down again at the blank paper in front of her. It would eventually become her job posting, which would be dropped off while she…

She’d nearly forgotten. Half the reason she was going to the Labor Aide was to finally buy her shop back from the Council. It had been over a year that she’d run her business on the Council’s dime, and while she could have continued to skate by, letting them pay for her new hire, she balked at another’s hands having a hold on her business. While she owed the Council, her business was essentially theirs. That would change as of this evening.

She tried to think of the freedom this would give her, to finally put her anxiety to rest so she could concentrate on writing the job posting. The clerk would let her update inventory quicker, therefore freeing her up to pursue one of the many projects that would build her empire. She didn’t even know yet what she would pursue: weaving, makeup, perfume… The list, still pinned to the wall in her workroom, seemed endless. Paying back the Council, well that was more of a mental shackle broken rather than an act with physical benefits. She’d be free to expand with the burden on no other back than her own.

To build her empire, these were the first two steps. Over a season after making her grand plan, she was finally putting it in motion.

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[Rosela]

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’Good face’

It was the first thing she’d written down on her paper, and was essentially the only requirement she had at the moment. Whoever she picked had to look good. Not necessarily sexy or seductive, but…well put together. Fashionable. She considered putting that down as well, but wanted to see what the applicants wore on their own.

What about skills? That was usually a big determiner for who applied. That part she remembered thinking about already, when she first came to the conclusion she needed to hire someone.

’Good with customers (upsell, identify best colors)

Counting money’

The mention of her mizas caused the small hairs on her arms to bristle, wondering how she’d be able to trust this new person not to steal from her. The only person who ever handled her money was, well, her. She’d need to start keeping a stricter inventory, as well as a sale-by-sale tally on what was sold. That was something she could implement after the hire though.

’Basic Sewing’

She almost crossed out the ‘basic’, but realized that she may have to settle for someone she had to teach. Even if they could take the basic seams off her hands, it would take an enormous amount of work off her table. Pencil tapping on the paper, she bit her lip and considered what else she could ask for. She didn’t want another designer under her roof, not yet anyway. Someday, she may mold them to provide additional designs in her style, but it seemed to much at the moment to not only be bringing in someone to handle the customers, but to let them do the rest of her job as well.

Was that really all she wanted in a potential employee? There was so much she could discover in an interview, so it would likely be for the best if she vetted applicants at this level by skill. Her hypnotism would come in handy this way, as she could convince people to be honest with her.

It seemed the skills were done then. Limited, but functional, and Malin would send applicants her way. She didn’t want to be interviewing applicants during the day though, so after quickly counting on her fingers, she found the date of her off-day after next, the 52nd, and made a note of it as the interview date. Applicants would approach her before then and ask for a time that day, so she could get an idea for the number of people she had before the big day.

Thinking back to her own visit to the Labor Aide, she decided the only piece left was to decide on pay. A normal clerk would make about 3 gold mizas a day, but they’d also be doing sewing for her. It’d be helpful to retain people as well, by paying them slightly more than they’d find elsewhere. A large ‘4gm’ was added with a flair to the bottom of the note page.

A customer came in at that moment, an older-looking human with graying hair and brittle skin. Slipping the page under her desk, Rosela put on her professional face and moved to help her. ”Hi, welcome to Red Diamond Fashions…”

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[Rosela]

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Woman squared away with a pair of oversized sweaters and an apron, Rosela returned to her job posting notes. She could now start the actual job post, and pulled out a fresh piece of paper. Hesitating, she returned to her notes page and practiced her Common handwriting with the ink quill. She expected her applicants to be well put together, so her post had better be as well. Satisfied, she moved back to the final sheet.

’Red Diamond Fashions Is Hiring’ went across the top of the page, in neat, slanting Common. ’One employee is requested for full time work. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Greeting customers
• Handling miza transactions
• Making recommendations to customers on color and style
• Keeping the store front tidy
• Basic sewing tasks as requested

Lifting the quill, she considered if there were any others. That seemed to be about it, and anything in addition could always be requested when the time came. If they didn’t have the flexibility to do as they were told, then she’d be better off without them anyway. They should be grateful they had the opportunity to hook their wagon to her train while it was still small. Someday, they’d be breaking down the doors for that kind of an opportunity.

Also, the below skills and attributes would be helpful in this position:

• Basic sewing skills
• Ability to identify seasonal colors
• Attentiveness to detail
• A desire to help others look their best

There was so much more she wanted to add, but stopped herself. Not everything needed to be spelled out.

’If you feel you would be a good fit for this position, stop by Red Diamond Fashions to schedule a time for your interview on the 52nd of Winter. Walk-in applicants will be accepted the day of, though you may be required to wait if an interview is going on at the time.’

Dotting the final ‘i’, she looked down at the paper with a smile. It looked nice, punctual and straight to the point. However…there was no flair to it, no visual interest. She’d said her posting should reflect the position, well put together, so it stood to reason that it needed some visual elements. A design of some kind to the side, and perhaps some sort of mark at the top left, something to validate that it was hers.

The thought ran along for a moment, meeting a measure of suspicion along the way. She’d be taking measures to stop this person from stealing her mizas, but what about her designs? They were the lifeblood of her shop, and what if some unscrupulous soul decided to steal them and to recreate and sell in some gods-forsaken Zhongjie dump? Marking her clothing somehow would allow her to always be able to point out they were genuine. An ink mark was immediately tossed, as ruining the fabric was out of the question, even for her own security. A patch of particular fabric, sewn in some inconspicuous place? Even better, a small embroidered mark, done in some way that she would be able to point it out as done by her own hand. Smiling to herself, she pulled back her scrap sheet and began doodling.

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[Rosela]

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Two customers later, and she had only been able to write a couple ideas down, with no time to actually draw them out. It was starting to get late in the day, and she desperately needed to finish this posting. Ideas were listed down the side of the page: a gem, an outline of a sparkle, an outline of a dress, a silhouette of a six-armed woman… They all seemed too gimmicky, and she turned to calligraphic ideas. ‘RDF’ was a possibility, though seemed too long. She needed something short and easy to place, such as just an ‘R’. A single stylized letter could be placed anywhere, and could easily stand for Red Diamond Fashions, or more selfishly, Rosela.

Decisions made, she began to doodle out some options, wrist loose as she gave the ends trails and loops. She could have gotten up to go look at her Open/Closed sign at the front, but instead of actually exerting the energy to get up, she squinted at it from her desk. She could have gone back to the little turtle creature at the Messenger Square, but part of her wanted this mark to be entirely from her own mind, as her fashions were.

She started with a lined of basic ‘R’ marks, and began adding twirls to the ends, thickening certain areas, sometimes redrawing them underneath to change the shapes. She ended up with one favorite, though tried out a couple different variations to see if she couldn’t find something better. The one she decided on had a large swirl that seemed oddly musical. Redrawing it again, she tried to take care and make the swirl even. She experimented with adding a couple swirls on the ends, but realized they would be difficult to easily pull off when sewed.

One final iteration on the paper, and she grabbed her quill and slowly copied it to the right of where her little design would go. It added a splash of visual interest to the page, though was oddly noticeable with the lack of decorative elements elsewhere. She’d change that, and set the job posting once again to the side to figure out whatdesign to add lower on the page. Two young Akalaks came through her door at that instant however, and putting her pencil back down, she stood to greet them.

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[Rosela]

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Akalaks successfully chased out of the store, once she realized they only intended to make innuendos at her and elbow each other childishly, Rosela returned to her desk with a huff. It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence for men to come in just to talk to her, but she was usually able to guilt them into some manner of purchase. These two were clearly broke, and she didn’t have the patience to drag their few remaining mizas out of them.

The final element of the posting would be purely decorative, and something that embodied the style she was hoping to fish out of the pool of applicants. It would be a design, likely one that she didn’t want to use, drawn near the bottom of the page, across from the desired skills section. After brief consideration, she decided to go with a women’s formal dress, as she wasn’t lucky enough to sell a lot of them, and had a deluge of ideas she’d never use.

Three women’s figures were sketched out on her notes page, taking extra care to mind their figures. As in all areas of the posting, she needed this drawing to be exemplary of her own skill. She first drew the general boxes for the areas of the body, with slanting lines indicating the angle of the shoulders and hips. The ribs were indicated with a rectangle off of the shoulder lines, and the shoulders, elbows and knees were indicated with small circles. The bust, waist, and hips were outlined next, as that was, in her opinion, the most important part of the final silhouette of any formal dress. Figures drawn, she sat back and considered exactly what designs she would try out.

The first was a semi-formal affair, something one of the Kontis in town may wear to a nice dinner. She wanted a jacket and a fluttering skirt, maybe additional frivolous elements on the jacket to loosen it up. A high collar was drawn, and partway down the center buttonline, she left an open space, an intentional button forgotten, to add a bit of flirtation to the outfit. The sleeves were tight to the elbow, where fluttering ruffles exploded to billow down to the wrists.

Below the jacket, which went low over the hips, she echoed the flutter of the sleeves with a knee-length skirt. Pausing to frown down at it, she went over the bottom hem of ruffles again a slight bit lower, opting to create a second layer that was slightly tilted to the side. With the straight lines of the jacket, the contrast against the ruffles would look very attractive. Two crescents over the feet indicated small shoes, and she looked it over once more. It needed something extra… Putting her pencil down to the left side of the jacket, she looped it would in small arcs to create a large flower there. The outfit would look good with loose, slightly curly hair, and she realized belatedly that she could easily create and sell this outfit. Given the right colors, it could easily be an early spring or autumn outfit. Humming in thought, she made a note to that effect above the drawing, and moved to the second figure.

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[Rosela]

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Forcing herself away from a design she could actually sell, Rosela thought hard to put her mind in a more formal, dramatic frame. Something long, something one would wear to a ball. The silhouette would be emphasized, and she already imagined a long train.

Starting with the hips, she continued her pre-existing lines over the hips down to the knees, creating a dress that would be very slim and long. After the knees, she made the lines turn out gradually, giving the bottom hem a wavy flutter. Moving back up to the hips, she drew a line diagonally downwards to the side, indicating a long train that started from the backside. Back up at the bust, she drew two semicircles for a strapless bustline that was seductively low.

It seemed too low however, and moving her hand up on her pencil, she drew tiny, tight, bubbly scribbles around the neck, moving diagonally down to the sides of the bust. The scribbles were her shorthand for lace, and she continued the scribbles along the bustline, moving up slightly in the center to indicate the shadow between the breasts. Rather than hurting her hand by filling the entire collar area with the tight scribbles, once she connected the lines of the bust and back up to the collar, she made a series of light, parallel lines across that empty area, indicating that it too would be covered by the lace.

Looking it over, she added some slight fold lines at the top of the hips and under the bust, to emphasize the tightness of the dress. Overall, it was classy and sexy, and definitely something that wouldn’t sell in Riverfall. She doubted any but the most pampered women would stand for a trail on a dress, and it would have to be individually tailored to fit the buyer’s specific body measurements.

As beautiful as it would be, especially in a deep burgundy, perhaps in silk or even velvet, the design itself was too plain to use on her job posting. It was entirely accurate to her skill, but she needed to impress, not just show off her style. She liked the train, and decided to use it on her third design, but resolved to make something looser, less sexy and more…important. Something the successful matron of a large family might wear to a ball.

Glancing out at the sky, she warned her creative side that she needed to finish this already – the day was ending and she still needed to copy the design onto the job posting after it was finished.

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[Rosela]

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The hips and bust already drawn, Rosela once again continued the lines down to the knees, but left them a bit looser than the previous design. She added some small kinks in the line to emphasize that the dress was indeed loose enough to move in. The lines for the bottom of the dress were less severe and straight than the previous one as well, though she once again used the idea of the bottom area much more loose, and moving up to the side, she started the train from the back of the knees and kept it much closer to the body. The lines were angled with their folds, giving the impression of a heavier fabric than tight silk or satin.

The bust was also made strapless, but the line was made well above the line of cleavage, and arced upwards. To add some visual interest to the body of the dress, she made a trio of vertical lines from the bust to the bottom of the dress, reminiscent of the seams that would be inside. The line vertical lines would also streamline the body, important for a woman who may be carrying extra weight from bearing children.

She didn’t want to leave the shoulders and arms bare, and before she knew how it would connect, she draw loose, puffy sleeves from the shoulders to the elbows, adding a slight slit at the elbows and a couple swirls to indicate a ribbon tie. Moving to the collar area, she drew a high collar on the neck and connected it to the shoulders of the sleeves, giving the shoulders a bit of padding. The bottom of the neck area became an arc just above where the bustline stopped, revealing just a hint of skin. It connected to two arcs under the armpits to create an almost jacket feel to the top.

Still feeling the dress could use some decoration, she added fluttery lines low on either side of the hips, creating oversized flowers there. Keeping the flowers low would further deemphasize the hips, as having them higher would only made the hips appear wider than they were.

Sitting back and holding up the page, she felt confident that this was indeed the design for her posting. She quickly added dark, straight hair and a pair of angled eyes to complete the look. It was getting dark outside as well, and she pulled her posting back over to sit next to her notes page. Quill inked, she began the arduous process of slowly copying her design into the final form on the page. It was uncomfortable drawing in ink, something she hadn’t done since creating a design portfolio for Sava Chivan, but she kept her hand steady and drew in slow, even breaths. A bunch of children ran by outside and she lifted the quill from the page in case someone burst in and startled her. None did however, and she finished the drawing with slow coloring in of the hair.

She pursed her lips and lightly blew on the drawing to dry it quickly. There was no sense in doing all that work only to smudge it at the last minute. It dried slowly, but she couldn’t bring herself to roll it up, just in case. The moment the shop closed, she threw on her cloak and held the posting between four hands underneath. She was meeting Taskel closer to her home, for a little extra security bringing the 1400 gold mizas to the Labor Aide. Her heart fluttered as she locked the door behind her, and told herself to look to the future and imagine these steps as the first towards a greater future.

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[Gossamer]

Character: Rosela
Experience: Planning +4, Business +1, Writing +2, Drawing + 4, Fashion Design +3
Lore: Business: Anticipating The Needs Of The Future, Business: Knowing What Sort Of Help Is Needed, Drawing: Designing A Logo, Business: Incoorprating Fashion Design Into Ads, Drawing: Clothing and Fashion


Additional Note: Lovely thread. I enjoyed reading it and how Rosela put things together. As always, if there is anything I missed, let me know.