The Mask

by **Gemma Parker** on February 18th, 2019, 1:18 am

Winter 61st, 518 AV

Gemma opened her eyes and smiled. Today was the day she tried something new. She had already decided on what she would do, and had gone shopping for all the things she needed. She had even gotten a recipe from a neighbor. She got out of bed and get ready as quickly as she could. She didn't even bother throwing on her normal clothing, instead simply throwing an apron over her pajamas.

She poked her head through the door of her room into the kitchen to make sure no one was home. She knew no one would be. Her mom wasn't home, and her dad would be at the shop. But today was her day off! So it was time to get started.

She walked into the kitchen and cracked her fingers. It was time to get to work. She got out all the ingredients. She grabbed the bushel of apples and began to wash them. She got the eggs and cracked them into a bowl, whisking them together. She then set them aside. She measured out the oil, the vanilla, the cinnamon, the sugar, the flower, and the salt. And a few other things she planned to throw in. She then dumped the flower into a siv and tapped at the rim while holding it over another bowl. She didn’t know why this was important, but she had seen her mom do it, so she figured it was a good thing to do.

She peeled and diced the apples, putting them into a bowl in preparation for what was to come next. She got the oven started, running a stick of butter along a pan. She then combined the eggs with the sugar, the vegetable oil, and the vanilla extract. She then added the apples to the bowl.

She mixed the flower with the salt in the baking powder and the cinnamon in a separate bowl. She added that to the apple mixture and stirred. It took a while, but eventually she was able to make a thick batter. She poured the batter into the pan that she had greased, and check the oven.

The oven wasn't ready yet. She put a towel over the the pan. Then she started to clean what she had already finished with. She put all the items that she didn't need away. She wrapped up the flower, put away the sugar, stored the apples that she hadn't used, and then wiped down the counters of the flower and powder that had fallen onto them as she had been baking. She washed the several bowls she had used and set them to dry, wondering if she had needed so many.

I know, the oven was at the correct temperature. She kept the pan covered , But not with a towel. She covered covered it with a special material. She put it in the oven and close the door. Now she had 45 minutes to wait. She tried to remember when the last bell had chimed, but just turned another bell tolled.

During those 45 minutes, Gemma decided to go sit in her garden. She decided to just relax and do some meditative stretching. It was her day off. She didn't need to work the whole time. She took off the apron and breathed in the fresh country air, bringing her arms over her head as she breathed in, then bringing them down again as she breathed out. She got a little light headed as she did this, but it felt so good to have the sun on her skin and to finally have time to do this, she didn’t mind. The 45 minutes came and went in a flash. She could smell that the bread was ready before the next chime came, and when she went inside, her suspicious were confirmed. She opened the oven and inserted a toothpick.

It came out clean! That was a good thing, right? She got some towels for her hands and pulled the bread out of the oven carefully before setting it down on the counter to cool. The instructions had said to let it cool for fifteen minutes, and she had seen the effect of eating hot bread on an empty stomach. She did not want that. What was more, the plan was to enjoy the bread with her dad, and while she was sure he would let her off the hook if she ate some now, she decided not to.

She let it cool and turned off the oven. She let the oven door stay open to let the warmth into the slightly chilly room, then she ran off to get ready for shopping! Today was Aviakittis and she was going to treat herself to something lavish! She bathed and changed and was out the door, only stopping long enough to make sure everything was clean and the house wasn’t going to burn down.

WC: 819

by **Gemma Parker** on February 18th, 2019, 4:19 am

Gemma was frantic. Her free day was almost over and she had no mask! She had already handled the dress situation with Dev’Ania and had truly found the right match for her. But now she needed a mask that went with it! You couldn’t just go to the Azure Festival without a mask. It wasn’t done. Everyone who was anyone was going to be there, and as she had so fully reminded, she needed to learn to socialize and meet people or she would never meet her full potential. Her mom called it “networking”, whatever that was supposed to mean. Gemma understood the basic idea as it had been explained to her, but in the end it came down to her needing to do something she didn’t want to do and learn a skill she didn’t want to learn to do what she really wanted to do with the skills she really wanted to learn.

Her mother was a firm believer in letting children make their own mistakes after a certain age, much to Gemma’s chagrin. Of course, when everything was going great and she didn’t need any help, she boldly proclaimed that it was good that her mom wasn’t too hands-on, that she didn’t want her help anyway. But then days like this rolled around, and Gemma saw that she really did want help. She just didn’t want to ask for it. But as her mother had explained to her, “Konti lives are too long to be lived alone. And until you’ve found your soulmate, and maybe especially then, you need friends and allies. Mommy won’t always be around to help out.”

‘Yeah, thanks, mom, but that doesn’t help me right now.’ Gemma thought to herself. Gemma realized that that was just her mom’s way of doing things. In her own way, she really was trying to help Gemma. But that was longer-term thinking than the young Konti girl was capable of at the moment, because as she thought all this, the bells tolled once more, incessantly driving into her skull that time was ticking on.

She had made a list, even plotted the best order to go in, and was on her way to the next location. She even planned to visit the spa. But first, she needed her mask. She had three options. She could buy a mask that was pre-made, but none of the ones she had seen were working for her. She could get one custom made, but that was expensive and took time. And she was already having trouble figuring out how to describe what she wanted to do. She had also considered getting the mask painted on, but she wouldn’t know if it was good until it was on, and if she didn’t like it there was probably nothing she could do about it.

She was still holding onto hope that she would be able to find a pre-made mask that fit what she wanted. But at the same time, each shop she went to left less and less time for a custom or painted mask to be done well. She could potentially shop right up until the festival started and find nothing, or find something perfect in the very last moment. But if she didn’t find anything, there was nothing she could do. Each person she talked to and each person who saw her would see her dress from afar, but her hair and mask up close. Her dress would hopefully do the work of drawing in at least some of the young men at the party, and that was as good a start as any. But once they were close, she had to dazzle them with her looks and conversation skills. Small talk was probably like bedside manner, right? How hard could it be?

WC: 633

by **Gemma Parker** on February 18th, 2019, 5:39 am

She arrived at yet another shop and was greeted with a smile. Of course, with the Azure Festival on the horizon, the shops were absolutely brimming and overflowing with masks. But still, she held out hope that through the sea of masks she would be able to find the right one.

“How can I help you? Are you looking for something specific?” Asked the shopkeeper.

Gemma kept browsing, lifting layered masks to reveal anything that caught her eye. The stall was not big, but it still had a good number of masks on display.

“It’s hard to describe. I’m a Konti, obviously,” she said, gesturing to the scales on her face. “I would like the mask to somehow reflect Konti aesthetics, you know? Like maybe it could flow from my scales and make it look like the mask is part of my scales, or the scales are part of the mask, so you don’t know where one starts and the other stops, you know? And you see how my scales aren’t all the same color but they have like shades of color? It would be cool to have the mask be a continuation of that pattern that’s already there. But of course, I don’t know if that’s possible or available.” She said.

The shop keeper listened and thought. “Hmm, of course, you could ask for a custom mask to be made, but you don’t have much time. It might be more expensive, though.” She said.

“I know, that’s what I was thinking. I wish I’d have done this sooner, but I only just got my dress this morning and I didn’t even have this idea until I got the dress. And now this is my last free day before the festival.” She said.

“Did you ask the dress vendor what they recommended for a mask?” The woman asked.

“No, but they only sell dresses. I doubt if they have anything like what I’m looking for.”

“That makes sense, but they might at least know of a shop that could have what you’re looking for.” She said. “You’re welcome to look through the masks I have, but you’re looking for something very specific and I’m not sure I have what you need.” She said. “Maybe you could try on a few items that match the color but not the exact style, and then if you decide that you want to come back, they could be waiting for you.” She said.

“Yeah, maybe.” Said Gemma as she picked through the options some more, holding up her wrist to compare to the colors on display. She was looking for something between aqua and silver. Maybe a silvery aqua? She didn’t know if such a color existed, but that was what she was looking for.

“Do you have a mirror for me to see what I look like?” Gemma asked.

“Right here.” The woman said, holding up a hand mirror.

Gemma held the mirror at arm’s length and held up a few masks to test out the look. She wished she had her dress with her, but of course, it would not have made sense to bring the dress to the shopping center with no protection. Maybe it could have zipped into her swimming bag but then it might have gotten wrinkled, and that would not do.

She tried on several masks. One mask was completely white with a feather arcing across the brow. It has specs of silverish gemstones, but it was not what she was looking for. Another mask was more of an ocean blue, which did not have to be a bad thing, but the texture was more of a velvet and not scale-like at all. She reminded herself that she only needed to find a backup mask - a plan B. But in the end, she just couldn’t find anything she liked enough. So in the end, she thanked the woman and left.

by **Gemma Parker** on February 20th, 2019, 2:30 am

Although she had no skill whatsoever in arts and crafts, painting, cosmetics, or any other relevant field of study and skill, Gemma found herself walking with purpose into a dark and full to the brim with crafting supplies. Sure, she had occasionally ventured into such a store just for fun in the past, buying this or that to aid in decorating her room just so, or something like that. But she had never come in in search of inspiration. And that was exactly why she was here today, in the final hours before her free day was over.

She browsed through the tunnel of supplies, molds, examples, packages, etc. It must have been a nightmare to find anything specific, but she got the faint sense that maybe there was order beneath the chaos. After rummaging around for a little while, she decided to call out.

“Hello? Is anyone there?” She hoped this place wasn’t haunted.

“Yes? Who’s there? Buying or browsing? I don’t have all day. I’ve got a hot date!” Came an old feminine voice from lower than Gemma would have expected, though maybe the sound had reverberated oddly through the many items in the shop.

“Buying, I hope!” She called.

“Well, why didn’t you say so?” Came the voice as a diminutive woman flung back a curtain of ribbons and tape and beads and popped into existence right beside Gemma.

“Oh. Sorry about that.” She wasn’t sure why she was sorry. “I’m looking for a, uh, well, let me explain what I’m trying to make.” She said. She explained the mask idea in the same way as she had to the mask shop keeper.

“Do you have anything that can help with that?” She asked.

The woman paused for just a moment, then snapped her fingers and said, “I think I have just the thing.”

She came back a few minutes later with a small bag of reflective circles of paper, almost like large circular glitter. “Might this help?” She asked.

Gemma looked at the bag with hope but she wasn’t sure. She tried to imagine the flimsy paper sticking to her face and it just didn’t fill her with confidence. She scolded herself for not somehow being better at cosmetics. She could do basic makeup, sure, but this was too much for her.

Finally, she decided to go to Tain’s. She didn’t have enough time to keep messing around, and this three-dimensional idea wasn’t working out. The dinner with her dad was starting at dusk, and she still had to get back to the house to get changed. So off she went to Tain’s.

She arrived and found only one person working.

“Hello, I was wondering if someone could help me paint on a mask.” She said.

“Sure, what are you looking for?” The woman asked.

Gemma explained her idea.

“Well, I think it’s an interesting idea, but you want this for the masquerade in a like twenty days, right?” She asked.

Gemma nodded.

“Yeah, and what’s your budget?” She asked.

“I only have like six Kina left after the dress.” She said, scolding herself internally for buying the expensive Healer’s Kit when she had access to materials at The Catholicon.

“Yeah, I’m not really the right person for that. That falls more under Cosmetics. The Starglow Spa does makeup and they’re really good, but they’re not cheap. Even a normal cosmetic session is upwards of twenty Kina, and this would be a special request. Maybe next year?” She asked.

“Ok, I guess.” She said, sad. “Thanks for your help.” She said.

She decided to go back to the original shop to choose between the masks she had seen before. When she arrived, the woman was just packing up shop, but when the shopkeeper saw her walking up she practically beamed with joy. "Oh, you're back! I was thinking about what you described and I think I have just the thing! It'll need a little work to be ready for the Azure Festival, but I can do it. What do you think?" She pulled out a mask that Gemma had glanced over before. It had the scaled look she was searching for, but the problem had been that the base fabric was yellow, not aqua.

"You see, if I remove the base fabric and put the scales back just where they are now but with aqua fabric instead of yellow, it'll be just what you're looking for, and the perfect match for your dress. What do you think?" She asked.

"I love it! It's perfect." She said with a smile, pulling out her money to pay the woman. "So I'll be by before the festival to pick it up, right?" She asked.

"It'll be done by then. And you're gonna look great!" She said.

Gemma went home to dinner with her father, feeling great about the admittedly lavish, but just so perfect mask she had bought to treat herself.

WC: 822
Total WC: 2,107