A second skin [Rosela]

[Fade]

Fade watched silently as Rosela quickly sketched a female figure and as she added a ponytail she grinned. She marveled at the design so swiftly created by Rosela who produced pencils and in the mean time spoke of herself and of her trade. “It certain is lovely” Affirmed Fade glancing wistfully at all the very fashionable clothing and fabrics that the shop held. “And Riverfall is a very beautiful city, Its my second time here, and I'm thinking about staying here.” “Which would be the silk part and which would be the cotton part?” She asked picking up the finished design. She liked it, it was what she had in mind but...Fade voiced her only suggestion “I really like the arcs of gold” She said a pale finger tracing the leotard design “But the silver, well I'm not entirely sure about it actually” She put the design down pointing at to her own torso trying to find the right words “I was thinking more of a mingling effect, no real sharp outlines...like paint when swirled together!” She pointed at the neckline “The low neckline could be ok for some silver though...” She bit her lip “Its the only place where there should be a clear separation and outline. But all in all clear outlines make me think about a more geometrical and rigid design...” She trailed off waiting for Roselas verdict on what she had just said.

[Rosela]

”It is a beautiful city, isn’t it?” Rosela mused, twirling a pencil between two fingers. She was thinking more of the beautiful men wandering around, but the scenery was nice too. ”Your second time? Where are you from?” She wondered where a contortionist might pick up her trade. Syliras? Ravok? Probably some big city with lots of people to perform for. ”How long have you been doing your..contortionist…thing? Seems like it’s something that takes quite a bit of time to develop.” Humming thoughtfully, Rosela took the paper back and tapped her yellow pencil on it for a moment. ”On this one, the white would be cotton, and the gold and silver would be silk. That’s probably a good format to stick with for all the designs, actually. Here, let’s just start a new design so we can have something to compare it to.” As she quickly drew out another female figure, again with a pony tail and dark eyes, she bit her lip, and made yet a third in the third quadrant of the page. ”Lets make two, actually, I’ve got another idea you may like.” In the first new figure, she duplicated much of the original design, with the white background and arcs of gold/yellow. Instead of adding the silver, she pulled out a pale, seafoam green pencil, and a light blue. Continuing on the gold arcs, she made additional arcs and twists, continuing them around the costume to swirl together like smoke. Humming again, Rosela nodded once at the design. ”There we go. And we can add a few dark accents to make it really pop, if you want.” Moving to the next design, she a thin patten of diamonds in light gray/silver that tapered off at the limbs. Moving again to her bundle of colored pencils, she hovered over the bright red before picking up the blue instead. ”Red will just look like blood, that’s not what we're going for…” She muttered, more to herself than to Fade. On top of the diamond pattern, she made a design of stylized diamonds, marks, and swirling lines, looking almost like brilliant snake markings. A couple marks as afterthoughts, and she held the paper up to Fade again, eyebrows raised and blue pencil still in another hand. ”What about either of these? On the second one, we’ll have to do a bit of embroidery, or maybe use some sequins, around the marks. We’ll use less silk, so it’ll all balance out anyway.”

[Fade]

Fade smiled slightly “Yes it is, certainly beautiful…” Though Roselas question innocent as it was a simple one Fade was short of answers…where did she come from? Fade opened her mouth and hesitated “I was born into a travelling circus, I’m not sure where I was born and have trained all my life” She sighed “It takes a lot to remain as flexible as a child, avoiding salty foods…training every day or at least stretching” She trailed off, making conversation “You have to be naturally bendy of course, and even contortionist come in two kinds, back benders e and front benders, I’m a back bender…” She continued a hint of pride in her voice "So I can bend backwards with more ease than forwards" She watched Rosela sketch out two separate figures, the first one was similar to the first design and the green and blue were beautiful add ons but there was something in the other design that caught Fades imagination. It was somewhat more alluring, the pattern of diamonds almost likes a snake skin with swirls and the mention of sequins made Fade smile. “The first designs were good, but this one” She pointed with a long pale finger “This one is just perfect” Fade let lose her hair, blonde almost white hair, now grown long and tied it up into a rigid bun, if they were going to take measurements she didn’t want any hair in the way.

[Rosela]

Rosela looked up and blinked in surprise. ”Born in a traveling circus? You must have had quite an exciting childhood?” It also sounded like a life in poverty, but the sheer novelty made up for that. Her eyebrows rose in interest and she put a hand to her chin. ”I never realized you had to pick a way to bend. Is one way to bend harder than the other?” ”Fantastic, that’s what we’ll go with then.” She noted the waves of blonde hair, but didn’t say anything. Her own hair was always down, especially now that winter required a little extra protection around her ears and neck, but she’d always wished it would be fuller. Thin, straight hair made dying easier, but volume was always good. ”Thank you, that’ll make measuring around your shoulders easier. You wouldn’t believe how many Akalaks come in here with long hair, but get all awkward when I ask them to hold it up. Now, just step up on the measuring box and we’ll get started.” She jerked her chin at the white measuring box to their right as her hands busied themselves tidying and gathering her instruments. Measuring tape, new sheet of paper, and pencil; and she circled the final design on the design sheet before tucking all the pencils away. ‘Fade’ she wrote across the top of each sheet in Arumenic script, taking the tape in two hands, and the pencil and paper in another pair. ”We’ll just start from the shoulders and work our way down, okay?” Looping the ends on the measuring tape around her fingers, she stepped in front of Fade, her shoulders now at eye level.

[Gossamer]

Character: Rosela
Experience: Business +1, Persuasion +2, Communication +2, Planning +1, Teaching +1, Sewing +1
Lore: Handling Customers Expertly, Assisting Customers To Help Them Know What They Want, Upselling, Fade: Nikali Marked, Knowing What A Customer Needs

Character: Fade
Experience: Observation +3, Listening +1, Teaching +1
Lore: Knowing What Kind of Costume One Needs, Being Plain Spoken/Outspoken,


Additional Note: Nice thread. It would have been nice to see it progress. But I understand when thread partners disappear.