The Winter Ball is Coming [Crafting/Dumah]

[Isolde]

Things weren't all bad in Elder Tale. Sure, it seemed like they were no closer to finding a way out or even knowing why they were stuck here, but it didn't seem like they were in any actual danger, what with the game following the rules of a... well, a video game. Things could still be scary, certainly, and hurt, too, but it was actually safer than the real world. There was no reason to put a stop to life just because she was somewhere else, so the young Fox Tail girl decided to try and make the most of it. It was different, and she missed some modern conveniences, but there were things to compensate, but it wasn't as bad as she'd expected things to be at the start.

Like, right now, for instance. She'd be making a dress to wear to the Winter Ball, a big event coming up. Even now she was carrying silk, fabric and thread to the stall that she and Dumah had borrowed. They'd decided to attend together - it was a ball, after all - and naturally they'd need something suitable to wear. He would be making a suit for himself, while she had an idea for a light azure dress, to go with the theme, with ruffles at the bustline and a hemline down to her feet with lots of fabric. She'd also have detached sleeves to cover her arms. It was a little daring, with her shoulders and part of her back exposed, but it was for a ball. This didn't happen every day.

"Ah, Dumah, can you help me find somewhere to put this down?" Isolde asked as she struggled to find a clear spot. It seemed like whoever had used this place before hadn't cleaned up after themselves, and as such there were a lot of things lying around and cluttering up the work environment. She was also on the small side, despite the increased height of her character compared to her real life self, and was having difficulty seeing past all the silk that she was carrying. Still, she was looking forward to this. It would just be a nice and quiet moment, free from stress, where she could just do some work to create something that she could be proud of, as well as see her ball partner's work develop as he created his suit. There was something nice and peaceful about the art of creation, whether it was a dress or a meal or a piece of art. It bothered her that the game didn't allow for people to take multiple crafting classes - it just wasn't realistic for someone to be able to either stitch or cook, but not both. It was definitely one thing she missed about the real world.

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Word Count: 466

[Deleted]

Dumah had been following closely behind the short Fox Tail girl who would be his date for the upcoming Winter Ball. In his arms were boxes filled with many sheets of fabric, as well as dozens of spools of thread and many sets of tools suitable for a tailor like himself and his partner, such as needles, scissors, and pins. He had decided that he may as well buy far more than was minimally required; after all, it is not as if he could ever grow tired nor bored of sewing and tailor work, right? Right...? Right! He passed the buck on his partner's request to a much smaller, and younger, adorable girl behind him. "Alette, would you please clear some space for our materials?"

The brown haired little girl, secretly a Person of The Land, nodded and cherubically ran ahead of her father and the Fox Tail girl in front of him, into the room they had planned to make their suit and dresses in. Alette cleared most of the left over materials out of the room as Dumah and Isolde laid their sets of materials down on a fine wooden table.

Dumah stretched a bit, relieved of the heavy load and weight of his box. He began to pull out a sewing pattern for a nice and fancy, stylish suit with long coattails, whilst also using his other hand to pull out a sheet of black fabric. After placing both down in a small area of the table, one he had unconsciously claimed to be his own, he retrieved another sheet of fabric from the box, but this sheet of fabric was purple, not black. A dark purple, with a sort of... Elegant dark magic sort of mytical aura about its hue. Dumah had made a sort of stack of his materials, including several folded up sheets of black fabric, numerous folded up sheets of purple fabric, and the soon to be unfolded sewing pattern for his suit. Beside his somewhat unstable stack of tailoring materials and resources, Dumah began to line up a series of several spools of thread, half of which were black, while the other half of the spools of thread were purple.

- 368 Words -
- Total: 368 -

[Isolde]

"Thank you, Alette. ...Haah!" Isolde put down the heavy bundle of materials and tools and wiped her forehead. She was carrying a lot - more than was needed, in fact. Despite the work, though, her tail was wagging in pleasure. She was looking forward to doing this. She also had a little surprise for the two of them. Dumah treated Alette like she was his own daughter, and was a demon when it came to her safety. No father wants to see their daughter come to harm, after all. By the same token, they also wanted to dote on them as much as they could. To be fair, Isolde wanted to as well - the girl was adorable and was doing really well for someone even younger than herself stuck in such a world. As such, she had a cunning plan to give them a nice surprise.

"Oh yes, and Alette, if you don't mind, could I borrow you for a second?" The Fox Tail girl asked as she sorted out her tools for the job - pattern, needle, thread, fabrics... and measuring tape. "It's a little tricky for me to measure myself, so I was wondering if you could help me out with that." She leaned in a bit closer to whisper in her ear, "Can't have a boy doing that, can we?" Isolde said with a bit of a giggle. "I'll show you how to do it by taking your measurements first. Don't worry, it's easy."

In truth, this was mostly just a way for her to sneakily get Alette's measurements so that she could make her a cute dress for her to wear to the ball. It was going to be a surprise gift for her. She had an idea for it, and it was going to be incredibly cute when it was done, but she still needed a few things from her before she could get started. This was the most important, though. It just wouldn't do if she just guessed and made something ill-fitting, or compromised the design to allow room for failure. Isolde wanted to make something that she could be proud of, and that Alette would be proud to wear. 

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Word Count: 366
Total: 832

[Deleted]

Dumah began to unfold his sewing pattern for his suit that he had planned to wear to the Winter Ball. After it was unfolded and set out in a place he could easily see while he sewed and tailored his suit, he took one of the thin sewing needles he had prepared for the little crafting endeavor he was about to undertake with his daughter and his date. With skill, he managed to accomplish what most people would struggle for hours at; he had managed to successfully, and with plenty of ease, feed the black thread through the small, thin needle.

As Dumah prepared to begin his suit, Alette had smiled and nodded excitedly. "Okay! What do I need to do, miss?" Alette was clearly very excited and eager to help in any way she possibly could.

Dumah smiled at the two girls seeming to get along, as well as Alette's eagerness to assist Isolde. Dumah turned back to his sewing pattern, his smile not fading even a bit. He grabbed some of the black fabric he had bought in bulk before they began, and grabbed some of the tailoring scissors he had prepared also, and with very swift and dexterous movements, the handsome black haired Half Alv man began to cut the black fabric into numerous shapes and pieces all necessary for his suit. He organized each piece, looking them over and making sure everything was prepared and ready for him to begin making his suit. He nodded with a soft "Alright," to himself, confirming to himself that the black fabrics were all set. However, the one thing that was not prepared was the purple fabrics. He took another look at his sewing pattern before he grabbed a sheet of purple fabric, cutting it into several pieces and shapes just like he had done to the black fabric not long ago. Once he had finished with the purple fabric, he had organized the pieces similarly to the black fabrics.

- 330 Words -
- Total: 698 -
Tags: Isolde

[Isolde]

Alette turned out to be quite easy to measure since she was so well-behaved. Her youth also meant that some of the difficulty of measuring girls was alleviated. She was also pretty good at measuring Isolde. She only had to make a few small corrections, and after that the girl has accurately measured her. "Thank you, Alette, I couldn't have done this without you." The Fox Tail girl said with a smile as she wrote down the last numbers. Her tail slowly wagged as she cut out the pieces of fabric and silk she'd need and threaded the needle with easy. Isolde had some experience with tailoring from the real world, so it wasn't all that different from what she'd already been doing, asides from the scale of it.

As she started to make her winter dress, she struck up a conversation with her friends. She also slipped in enquiries to Alette throughout in the name of both getting to know her better,  refining her own design and simply getting her involved in the process so she wasn't bored. Things like "What's your favourite colour?", "What do you think of this design?" and "How would you improve this?" All of this she'd use for Alette's final dress design. It'd be too obvious if she made it here right now, but she'd be able to work on parts of it while doing her own so she could properly finish it in her own time with easy. Every time the girl went over to see her adoptive father, she did a little more work on the secret dress. Sometimes, if it was a particularly innocuous part, or simply drawing up plans, she'd do it in plain sight. After all, it made sense to come up with new ideas while working on something. It was part of the creative process.

Eventually, the last stitch went in, and her dress was finished. Isolde lifted it up and held it against herself. The girl beamed in pleasure - it had turned out just how she wanted. She'd have to try it on properly when she had some time to herself - it wouldn't be right to spoil it by showing them her wearing it before the ball. "There we go! How's yours coming along, Dumah? Almost finished?" She enquired after his own efforts with his suit. Unlike her own dress, he had to make lots of smaller pieces to fit together, instead of one, seamless outfit. Hopefully he was doing alright, and wasn't counting on Alette for help, since she kind of monopolised a lot of her time. Still, Dumah was a capable individual, so she was sure he was managing just fine. 

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Word Count: 448
Total: 1280


A picture of the completed dress

[Deleted]

Just as Isolde had made the final stitch in her own dress, Dumah had been lagging far behind. It was, after all, a far more complicated and intricate design than that of Isolde's dress. Dumah had just finished the black blazer that would go over the dark purple shirt that had yet to be completed. He sighed and laid the completed blazer down as he spoke. "Well, not exactly. I have just finished the blazer, but the shirt is still left. And not only that, but I will then have to sew the pants as well..." He sighed, feeling a bit overburdened by all of this work just for a simple suit. He offered a fake smile and recovered, looking to Isolde. "Nevertheless, so long as you and Alette stay here with me, I will be able to focus." He picked up the cut up pieces of purple fabric, sewing and stitching them into the shirt that would go under his blazer. "I did a bit of sewing before the Apocalypse. I worked in stage production and play writing, and I often had to make or mend the costumes or props. I picked up tailoring as a hobby, and I enjoyed it quite a bit." His experience was quite obvious as he made each stitch of the fabrics, sewing them with swift, dexterous movements of his hands and beautiful needlework. After he had completed his work, he smiled excitedly as he held his newly completed magnum opus in his hands before his vision, excited for the upcoming social gathering that is the Winter Ball. He had felt lucky to have such an eventful life in Elder Tale thus far: The founding of the Boston Tea Party, the many people he had helped, and now the upcoming Winter Ball. He smiled at his partners. "Great work!"

- 305 Words -
- Total: 1,003 -