Solo Business as Usual pt.3

[Rosela]

Timestamp: 12th of Summer, 515AV

”No, NO, this is not-“

“Yes, is! Is on your sheet!”

“Miss Rosela, maybe you should-“

”It was misspelled! How was I supposed to-“

“Is order, you take!”

”I am not paying for this!”

“Is order! You pay, you take!”

The Akalak’s meaty hand came down on the miza bag, clutching it in a grip Rosela would never be able to break. Rosela’s breath came in ragged pants as she glared up the man who towered a full head over her. Courlut’s tentative hand was on her shoulder again and she shrugged it off.

"The baby-" he whispered anxiously.

”Where’s Lunnis? LUNNIS!” She nearly screamed around him toward the cloth-draped door to the back room. The sound of clacking looms slowed for just a moment and quickly resumed. She knew that wretched man was avoiding her. That could be the only explanation as to why she was dealing with this ill-bred lump instead of the man in charge. ”He knows good and well I’d never pay for this disaster of a color!”

“Is order! You TAKE! No refunds!” The Akalak bellowed in Common that was barely understandable though his thick Tukant accent, thumping his hand on the hideous bolt of fabric between them.

“Miss Rosela, calm down, please…” Courlut’s pleading voice infuriated her.

On the other side of the desk, the Akalak crossed his great arms, the bag of mizas in one fist. His jaw jutted out defiantly as he stared her down.

A muscle suddenly spasmed through Rosela’s midsection and she grit her teeth against the pain. This anger wasn’t good for her and showing physical weakness now wouldn't help the situation. When Courlut’s hand gripped her shoulder again, she didn’t shrug it off. Dragging her nails across the desk between them, she finally stepped back. ”Courlut,” she spoke in low, dangerous tones. ”Be a dear and load this atrocious material. Lunnis!” She yelled again towards the back area. ”If I ever have to deal with this barbarian at your counter again, I’ll spend every miza I own taking my business anywhere else.” Neither Lunnis nor his desk-thug would know what she called him, and it gave her a small twinkle of satisfaction against the fury. Courlut quickly did as he was told and packed the bolt back into the crate it came from.

Rosela gave one last glare to the man behind the desk before storming, as much as she could with her enormous belly preceding her, out of the shop. Courlut followed dutifully behind, crate in tow.

~

Back at the shop, Hudon was finalizing a sale when Rosela entered. She smiled sweetly at the Akontak as the woman passed out the door, hiding her anger deep under her mask of professionalism. ”Courlut, go put the crate in the back room, please. Hudon?”

Oblivious, Hudon smiled over at her as he straightened the front desk. “Welcome back. Is that the new shipment of violet?”

”No, it’s the new shipment of violent,” she spat in unleashed resentment.

“Violent?” Hudon’s nose wrinkled in confusion.

”Yes, violent. An atrocity against fabric, fashion, and color itself that we apparently ordered an entire crate of.” Fingers trembling, she unbunched the copy of the order sheet in her fist and shoved it in his face. ”How many times have I told you to check your spelling when doing orders?!”

Hudon’s face paled to a light lilac. “I-I, uh…”

Knowing there was no excuse, Rosela threw the paper at him, which sailed harmlessly over his shoulder to the desk. ”So send a message to Madame Ka’iana to reschedule her fitting, I will be spending the day figuring out how to use this crate of-of hideousness.”

[Rosela]

There were a million things Rosela would have preferred to be doing in that moment. Bottling more body scrub, continuing her perfume research, even stitching together sweaters would be preferable to this. It needed to be done though.

In front of her was the manikin. To her right, the crate of violent, with a single bolt removed and partially unraveled. To her left, her work desk with pencils, design sheets, and various sewing accoutrements. She had to make this fabric work, one way or another. Too many mizas had been spent on it to let the moths have it.

She would make this work if it killed her.

Taking a deep breath, she pulled up the partially unraveled bolt and took a long look over it. Violent was a hideous new color Lunnis must have been drunk while creating, because the only thing violent about it was that it reminded her of having been violently ill. Despite the name implying some manner of red, it was near-flourescent pea soup green, with streaks of slightly darker green throughout. The streaks had a shabby-chic look to them, being intentional imperfections likely intended to add character. It looked simply awful.

Not knowing where to start, she draped it casually over a shoulder of the mannikin, hoping seeing it lay there would inspire her. Without a doubt, anything she made with it would have to take pains to downplay the color itself. Overlays, perhaps? Lace, chiffon, even thin silk would do the job. Perhaps it could be used as a trim for darker affairs, or as an underlayer strategically displayed at points. Were there any holidays in which such a color may be useful? Taking the fabric off the mannikin to wrap it around in another style, she couldn't think of any such holidays.

Sighing, she unwrapped the fabric once more and folded it back onto the rest of the bolt, hefting it up to sit next to her on the work table. She didn't have this color pencil, she realized with dismay, and drew up her green and yellow pencils to experiment with getting it pretty close. First, a layer of green, then she gently colored over with the yellow, increasing the pressure on the pencil until she got the right amount.

Colors and approaches decided, she moved to the larger portion of the paper, took up her lead pencil, and began to draw.

[Rosela]

Rosela started small, drawing a female croquis, a plain model figure, in a lower quadrant of the page. She could make it work easily in women's wear, and decided to start there. She drew a woman's sundress, strapless and knee-length with a few extra lines around the lower half to give the dress some flutter.

One hand reached for the green pencil, but she stopped herself, intending to plan first. She could not approach this the same as her other creations, not when this one had such a strong possibility of failure. Instead, she stayed in gray for the moment, adding secondary lines at the bust and lower hem. The violent could peek out around the edges, teasing color where the dress should otherwise have none.

Satisfied with the simple changes, she took up the green pencil and colored in the slivers of space, then went over it with the yellow to achieve the proper color. Against the white of the paper, she green stood out sickeningly, as she suspected it would. Taking up her black pencil, however, she began to slowly color in the sundress, making it more dour, but at least working color-wise. She held the black pencil lightly, making the drawing of the dress less bold than the final version would be. Before the black was complete, she paused at the empty midsection, feeling mildly confident. She took up the green pencil again, and drew a series of slits at the waist, intending to be cuts in the black overlay to the dreen underneath.

As soon as she finished the last slit, she realized she'd gone too far. Crinkling her nose in frustration, she added the yellow layer to the green, hoping somehow the true color of the fabric would fix the idea. It didn't, she she realized she'd turned a modestly interesting idea into one where a woman's midsection appeared to be splitting open with green slime. Another darker color may have worked, particularly any of the jewel tones, but in her confidence, she'd ruined the design.

Tapping the end of the pencil on her paper, she tried to think of ways to fix it - adding a belt, adding buttons to each slit, making them smaller, but nothing would work. Sighing, she placed a small X to the upper right of the design, indicating her displeasure with it. It had been some time since she'd created something she so quickly disliked.

[Rosela]

With grim determination, she moved to the quadrant next to it, hastily redrawing the croquis, the sundress, then the initial additions of color. This time, instead of adding the awful slits, she didn't add the black of the dress yet and played around with her pencil. She could make a slit of color work somewhere in there, she knew it. There was too much darkness at the center of the dress and it needed something to break it up.

She made an X at the stomach area, erasing it soon after. That would only emphasize any stomach that wasn't perfectly flat, a thought that made her glance in depression down at her own stomach. She redrew the X at the hips, then erased that as well. In bright green, it would seem too much like a warning marker - not something a woman would want splayed across her womb.

A V was drawn below the bust, which worked better than the previous two at least. She still wasn't quite happy with it, and doodled lacing along the slit, imagining black laces containing the green there. There was merit in the idea, but not quite in this execution. Lacing immediately brought her mind to the collar, and under where she'd already ran a line of color at the low neckline, she added a low V, dropping the collar of black nearly down to the navel. To hold it together, she added the lacing as an afterthought, considering what it would look like finished.

Her mind couldn't imagine anything wrong with it, so she ran with the idea and began coloring. First the green, then yellow, then the final layer of black for the majority of the dress. It wasn't bad, she though, holding up the paper to consider it from another angle. There was a brashness to it, a bold carelessness she liked. If she could add just a hair more color though...

With heavy marks, she added a series of yellow dots around the perimeter, allowing the thread itself to add some pop to the overall dress. With this, the black of the dress was not nearly so dominant, and she felt a glow of satisfaction that the design was finished. Maybe things weren't as hopeless as she thought.

[Rosela]

Pairing the violent with black was the obvious way out, and as much as Rosela wanted to do an entire line of it, she needed more options. Slowly heaving herself out of the chair, she waddled to her fabric storage, bring a few select bolts back with her.

Dropping them all on her chair, she drew up the violent color again and wrapped it around the mannikin. She then took up the first of her experimental bolts and unravelled it, draping it loosely over the other fabric. It was a fine white silk, perfectly made for overlays with it's fluttery consistency and thin make. The violent was still vaguely visible through the white, as expected, but the color was still just not...pleasant. Her idea had worked exactly as expected, but the result was still not usable.

Rolling the silk back up, she took up her next idea - black lace. It was mildly cheating, she felt, to continue with black, but it was still an idea worth exploring. Draping the lace over the violent didn’t dilute the color much, but when she folded the lace back to drape it in a second layer, it didn’t look half bad. Humming in thought, she put down the bolt and waddled back over to the stockpile of fabric, sifting through the stacks until she pulled out a stack of bolts. If not for her other arms, she would have had to make multiple trips, but she barely made it back to the chair with her load.

Draping red lace over the violent was hideous, as she expected, but it had been worth a shot to at least see.

Yellow lace made the look more summery, but still too garish for mass use. She made a mental note to try to use it as trim in a spring look.

Sea green lace turned out quite well, to the point where the considered making an entire sheath dress from it.

White lace, like the black, she found, needed a double layer to hide enough of the color.

For nearly half a bell, Rosela tested various overlays, trims, and color pairings, trying to figure out what would mute the atrocious color. After that much time, she gave up, her aching ankles insisting she stop testing and get down to actual design.

[Rosela]

Rosela started with the basic female croquis, and added a few quick lines to create the basic sheath dress: a short arc at the neck, one at each shoulder, and one across the thighs. While she had her plain pencil in hand, she repeated the shape in each quadrant of the page. As the violent would also be repeated in each dress, she got out both her green and yellow pencils and colored in each of the dresses.

In the upper left, she laid her sea green pencil on its side and lightly shaded over the yellow-green. After the dress was shaded, she went over it in tight scribbles, imitating the look of lace, albeit messily. She repeated this same procedure in the other four quadrants, with white, black, and yellow lace-scribbles. Nibbling on her bottom lip as she looked over them, she approved the idea one last time and put the page in her stack of completed designs.

Moving to the next idea, she pulled up another sheet and drew two female croquis on one half and two males on the other. She was still a bit vague on the male ideas, but hoped working out the females’ would refine it for her.

Pulling away from her inclination towards dresses, she instead outlined the top female figure in angular lines – a pantsuit. She initially added a pair of large lapels, erased them on a second thought, and redrew them on a third. It was an old-fashioned look, but something retro may work for the bold look she’d need to pull off the violent. Tapping the end of the pencil, she considered whether she could get away with something so outrageous as making the whole suit in violent – was there anyone in the whole of Riverfall who could be talked into such an outlandish look? A quick glance over to the crate reminded her of how horrid the color was, and she had to acknowledge no personality was bold enough to pull it off. Instead, she went for a summer look, quickly shading in the majority of the suit with white. The shirt underneath, she added a few lines with the pencil to give it a little drape, and then colored in with the two pencil to make it the violent color. As an afterthought, she added a small rectangle of the color at each wrist, making the undershirt long-sleeved. She touched her pencil to the legs, wanting to add more color there, but deciding to leave it be. A pair of bold heels would accentuate the look, but limiting the violent would be her best bet here.

In the female croquis below, she created another women’s suit, but with an abbreviated jacket and capri-length pants, repeating the use of the violent undershirt. Satisfied, she moved to the men’s side.

[Rosela]

Despite what she’d hoped, the women’s designs hadn’t given her any inspiration at all for the men’s. She loosely doodled a pair of baggy pants on one of the male croquis, holding her yellow and green pencils over the paper to imagine them with bands of the color. It was a horrifying look, and she sighed as she put down the pencils again. If she could get the color on a dark blue Akalak, it would be ideal. Red, green, or, Akajia-forbid, purple skin would look terrible. It was a pretty hard limit on the number of customers she could sell the style to, but every sale would get her mizas back out of this investment.

Leaving the pants for later, if she could make them work at all, she sketched in a basic men’s long sleeved shirt, opting for a V-neck. She wanted something that emphasized the V-shape of a shapely man, and doodled in a matching V across the torso. It didn’t quite work, making it look a little too much like an arrow towards the crotch, something she was sure some Akalaks wouldn’t mind, but it wasn’t good style. Something less obvious, perhaps?

She then drew in an X across the torso, which she realized worked nicely. Holding her pencils up, she knew right away having the entire shirt in violent was not an option, but having the strips of the X in the color was not too overpowering. Quickly coloring in the X, she hesitated on colors for the rest of the shirt before deciding on a midnight blue.

Looking at the pants again, she considered various possibilities for colors. Stripes? Chaps? Pocket accents? Holding up her yellow pencil, she pictured making the insides of the pockets and the folded hems violent. She knew it wouldn’t look good even before she drew it in, but hesitating over every option wasn’t getting her anywhere. She colored in the pockets first, then added an extra loosely drawn rectangle at each ankle, intending for the hems to be folded up, which she then colored in violent.

She didn’t like it, but she persisted, hoping she could save the idea somehow.

She loosely doodled ties at the belt loops, dangly bits of fabric to draw visual interest to the crotch area. Crude, artistically speaking, but a popular style for men looking for what she called ‘third date attire’. Stylish, casual, with just a hint of sexuality. She colored the dangly bits in with violent, still unhappy with the look overall. Wrinkling her nose down at it, she gave up and colored the rest of the pants in with midnight blue, going over it with a thin layer of black to darken it further. It wasn’t terrible, she thought with some optimism, but just not something she knew would sell.

Indicating her decision to nix the idea, she placed a small X to the upper right of the pants, clarifying her thoughts on the shirt with a small checkmark further up. With a heavy sigh, she dropped the side of her head in one hand and looked sidelong at the crate of violent on the floor behind her chair. She had a very long day ahead of her.

[Konrad Venger]

Hey, Rosela! Once you get back and deduct your Winter Seasonal Expenses, I'll grade this up, no problem. PM me when you get back!