“Yey! Okay. I need something…nice, but formal. And stylish, but not like I'm trying too hard? Kindof airy, but not too airy, you know? And I like that thing you did, you remember? For my masquerade dress?”
Pencil hovering over the paper, Rosela struggled to digest the contradictory parameters as well as recall which of the hundred masquerade dresses she’d made was Ialia’s. Instead of revealing her confusion, she kept her face solemnly pensive.
“You know, the thing? This…whole…” The Konti’s hands were waving generally around her bust area, which didn’t help much. Rosela was starting to piece together the dress in her memory; it had been blue, with at least a million sequins, and a built in corset –
”Yes, the sweetheart neckline. The heart shape here?” Masking her triumph at remembering as an indifferent comment, she mirrored Ialia’s miming on herself, which was, to her credit, a semi-accurate representation of the neckline.
“That’s it! So yeah…what can you make me?”
Turning to her paper, Rosela hummed softly to herself as she quickly sketched a female outline in her usual, exaggerated style: long legs and arms with a small, oval head. Before anything else, she added two arcs above the bust, the sweetheart neckline. ”If it’s at the art gallery, we don’t want anything too much like a ballgown – it’ll take up too much room.” She spoke half to herself, half to Ialia, explaining her thoughts. ”So how about we make this a sheath with-“
“A sheath? Like a sword?”
Train of thought broken, Rosela struggled to find how to define the term. ”It’s a dress that’s…form fitting. Don’t worry, we won’t make it too tight.” Seeing the protest on her customer’s lips, Rosela cut it off before she could begin. ”So we’ll do this…” Sweeping the pencil down, she drew a floor-length dress down the length of the figure, adding a slight flare at the bottom.
“It looks a little boring…”
Choosing to ignore the comment before she’d even finished, Rosela continued the design. ”Then, to make it more fluttery, we’ll add some layers of chiffon underneath.” She began adding light layers of scribbles under the hem of the dress.
“Underneath? You don’t think that’ll make it…I don’t know, won’t it be kindof…” Ialia gestured ambiguously with her webbed hands, clearly trying to find the words.
”It’s okay to say you just don’t like it.” The line was well-practiced and said without any undue undertones. People rarely had the words to express why they didn’t like something, and Rosela had to make due with that. ”So no underlayers. What about over?” Taking a moment to erase the scribbles under the dress, she drew out from a point at the center of the hips in wide, waving lines.
“Oo, I like that.”
”And we bring it up to layer over the top as well…” The pencil stayed loose and wavy as she outlined the torso.
“Umm…I’m not…”
And the lines were quickly erased. ”Okay, we’ll keep them at the waist. Maybe make it in the style of a wrap?” She added a quick line about the waist to end the chiffon there and went to add a decorative piece at the front.
“On second thought…”
The pencil hesitated.
“Maybe I shouldn’t go too airy? You know? I don’t want to be, you know, the airy one there. Maybe we should just start over.”
Professional mask firmly in place, Rosela nodded and moved to another section of the sheet. ”Certainly.”
She’d have to make her soap another day.
Pencil hovering over the paper, Rosela struggled to digest the contradictory parameters as well as recall which of the hundred masquerade dresses she’d made was Ialia’s. Instead of revealing her confusion, she kept her face solemnly pensive.
“You know, the thing? This…whole…” The Konti’s hands were waving generally around her bust area, which didn’t help much. Rosela was starting to piece together the dress in her memory; it had been blue, with at least a million sequins, and a built in corset –
”Yes, the sweetheart neckline. The heart shape here?” Masking her triumph at remembering as an indifferent comment, she mirrored Ialia’s miming on herself, which was, to her credit, a semi-accurate representation of the neckline.
“That’s it! So yeah…what can you make me?”
Turning to her paper, Rosela hummed softly to herself as she quickly sketched a female outline in her usual, exaggerated style: long legs and arms with a small, oval head. Before anything else, she added two arcs above the bust, the sweetheart neckline. ”If it’s at the art gallery, we don’t want anything too much like a ballgown – it’ll take up too much room.” She spoke half to herself, half to Ialia, explaining her thoughts. ”So how about we make this a sheath with-“
“A sheath? Like a sword?”
Train of thought broken, Rosela struggled to find how to define the term. ”It’s a dress that’s…form fitting. Don’t worry, we won’t make it too tight.” Seeing the protest on her customer’s lips, Rosela cut it off before she could begin. ”So we’ll do this…” Sweeping the pencil down, she drew a floor-length dress down the length of the figure, adding a slight flare at the bottom.
“It looks a little boring…”
Choosing to ignore the comment before she’d even finished, Rosela continued the design. ”Then, to make it more fluttery, we’ll add some layers of chiffon underneath.” She began adding light layers of scribbles under the hem of the dress.
“Underneath? You don’t think that’ll make it…I don’t know, won’t it be kindof…” Ialia gestured ambiguously with her webbed hands, clearly trying to find the words.
”It’s okay to say you just don’t like it.” The line was well-practiced and said without any undue undertones. People rarely had the words to express why they didn’t like something, and Rosela had to make due with that. ”So no underlayers. What about over?” Taking a moment to erase the scribbles under the dress, she drew out from a point at the center of the hips in wide, waving lines.
“Oo, I like that.”
”And we bring it up to layer over the top as well…” The pencil stayed loose and wavy as she outlined the torso.
“Umm…I’m not…”
And the lines were quickly erased. ”Okay, we’ll keep them at the waist. Maybe make it in the style of a wrap?” She added a quick line about the waist to end the chiffon there and went to add a decorative piece at the front.
“On second thought…”
The pencil hesitated.
“Maybe I shouldn’t go too airy? You know? I don’t want to be, you know, the airy one there. Maybe we should just start over.”
Professional mask firmly in place, Rosela nodded and moved to another section of the sheet. ”Certainly.”
She’d have to make her soap another day.
