crystal.

[elegiaque]

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Gwenaëlle Baudin
RECIPIENT: You lot.

( this might be the soonest that she's ever begun a crystal message for the gallows after having done one within a month or so. gwenaëlle's voice, again, briskly businesslike: )

Before we all fuck off to parts unknown, if you're within a few inches of my height and happen to wear mostly or ever dresses, and you're in need of something suitable to wear out in the cities, I am clearing a great deal of my old wardrobe. I can help with on the spot alterations, but anything that's going to need to be properly taken apart for you will obviously have to wait.

If you don't need a dress to look presentable in Nevarra City and you just want to rifle through my old clothes for something you might like, that's also fine. I'm doing my prep before we leave, and if I'm not on the boat, Guilfoyle will be. He's a dab hand with a needle.

( on the boat, a profusion of mostly creamy, neutral fabrics have taken over the gallery that opens out from her entrance hall: sorted loosely by styles, fabrics, colours, patterns, the cushions that usually occupy the space shunted into a corner, some dresses that need hanging put up over the top of the art that hangs between the wide windows. there are shoes, some placed with the dresses they were bought to match, others just lined up along the narrow walkaway that rings the room around the conversation pit; several grand hats, a few cloaks and coats.

some of it will be familiar, if you've been here for long enough, but she suspects most of the probable handful people who might be interested won't have been; will not recognise her in the things she is giving away. )

Comments

crystal;

[aberratic]

How many dresses can one claim at once?

[ ness is in such dire need, it's not even funny, really, but she doesn't want to take more than her share. ]

[elegiaque]

( doing some very quick math on the spot and trying to think of how many people might actually take her up on this— )

Not more than five, but I don't imagine I'm going to get swarmed so I don't rule out a second pass.

[aberratic]

[ nodding to herself, ] That's fair. Would you be willing to let me know when you'll be allowing a second pass? It's just I've got the Riftwatch uniform and what I rifted in with and nothing more, so I desperately need to build up a wardrobe, here.

To that end, I'll be making my way to the houseboat shortly!

[elegiaque]

Certainly. Honestly, I don't think the venn diagram of people in Riftwatch and people who are going to want my old dresses is a very large overlap, so— at the very least, before I see about finding somewhere suitable to donate the remainder.

[hassaran]

We're always in need of more options for the Scouting closet, though for my own use it will depend if they've hems that can be let down a few inches.

[elegiaque]

Oh, I can definitely generously donate to Scouting — some have hems enough for that, some of them were a bit long for me in the first place, and I know I have unused fabric from some of them lying around that I'd be happy to part with as well.

( there were a few sweeping trains on gwenaëlle that might just be adequate length for yseult. )

[aberratic]

I appreciate it very much, [ entirely earnestly and with audible moving about noises.

an hour or so later, no more, ness comes to the house boat. she's got her head hidden by a scrap of cloth she's fashioned into a kerchief, under which her hair is... well, it's not terrible. it could be worse, at least, she's brushed it out well, and it's clean—but it's clearly not styled in any way, and what it shows is frizzed in a way that suggests she hasn't looked to its proper care in a bit. ]

Gwenaëlle? May I just start looking through things? I don't want to stick my hands all over things without checking, first.

crystal

[undergrunn]

( She’s a good half foot taller than Gwenaëlle, and almost doesn’t reply. )

I don’t suppose you’ve anything with enough spare fabric that the skirts could be long enough for me?

( Abella immediately huffs out a sheepish sound, embarrassed by herself. )

Tailoring isn’t really my area of expertise.

[hassaran]

Thank you, that's helpful. The budget for gowns suitable for society is limited, and we'll need more options if we expand operations.

[ she's not really that much taller anyway, she just has deceptively tall energy. ]

And it will save me reworking the ones we have so often.

action ∞

[elegiaque]

Go ahead, ( is absently said, only glancing up from what she's doing — which, if glanced back at, looks like some creative rearranging of the guard schedules for the foreseeable future to account for the work they're doing very much not in the gallows.

a beat.

she glances up again, and after a slightly longer look: )

Don't forget to do something about your hair.

[elegiaque]

If you need another pair of hands for that, I'm frequently already sewing in the evenings anyway,

( because the world might end if she see something she thinks she could be useful in and doesn't volunteer for it, probably, )

but I've definitely got more than enough excess to keep you going. ( thoughtfully: ) I'm going to take some things to my grandfather in Orlais, I might be able to bring back some of my mother's old things — my stepmother's — she was taller than I am, and most of it went back to her family. Do you want masques?

[elegiaque]

( in a tone of consideration, )

Probably not to full appropriate length, but we could pin some up and make a knee-length hike look like it was the purposeful style— I'm assuming you won't take offense if I guess you're not urgently going to need to look suitable in a salon.

With the right pair of boots, pretty and practical. Those I can't help you with.

[undergrunn]

Oh.

( ‘Pleasant surprise’ in a single syllable. )

You’re far better informed on fashions here than I am. If you think it could work, I’d love that.

( Perhaps she wishes she had more qualities that made her seem more someone who’d be going to a salon. Realistically, though, she’s got no interest in drifting into a salon. That isn’t really on her radar right now. )

And if you know a good cobbler, I can figure out the boots eventually.

[elegiaque]

I can ask Guilfoyle, ( is slightly more tactful than not one in your price range, ) that isn't any trouble. As for the fashion, well— it's a practical thing. I have particular hikes that I use for a variety of dresses, ( thank you to abby for one of her most frequently used satinalia gifts, ) something like that might suit, or just tacking the skirt up directly, since it isn't as if it'd need to be let down again.

It's practical, more than fashionable, but it won't mark you for strange.

[undergrunn]

( Abella laughs softly. )

Yeah, but you know what’ll pass for “practical and nice” instead of “practical, but don’t let her outside.”

( Having seen how nicely Gwenaëlle dresses, honestly, she’d take no offence to the bluntness. She’ll appreciate the tactful approach later once she’s had a chance to mull it over. )

I— to be honest, I feel more comfortable in my overalls, usually, so something that’s practical is probably a good baby step.

[aberratic]

[ ness has already moved on to looking through the available dresses, immediately passing over some as too fancy to be of practical use to her, and then passing over more, and—oh dear. she may have to heighten her standards in order to get anything fruitful out of this; she hasn't got very many other options, after all.

she's about to start over, look back through what's on offer with a much less practical eye, when gwenaëlle speaks up. her hands stutter on a floral skirt, and she pauses, fighting against a rise of shame. ]

Yes, [ she adjusts the kerchief, tucks a wayward strand back under it. ] I will.

[elegiaque]

( what gwenaëlle has considered casual in her time has very little crossover with what any other person might also consider practical; it's relatively safe to say that there's probably nothing here that would qualify for most other people's definition of either. )

If you haven't already,

( maybe she's just not had the time, or other priorities; it isn't immediately obvious to her that ness would need any more help than the reminder, )

I'd recommend asking Gela where she gets what she uses on hers.

[elegiaque]

( it is going to become clear upon seeing these dresses that she is grading practical on a heavy curve. however, )

Well, you can save your coin for longer if you have a few more things, and then get trousers that are properly fitted.

[aberratic]

A useful suggestion, [ she agrees, though the tone is wrong, and she knows it as soon as she says it. the realization is enough to make her loose a deep breath, rolling her neck and squaring her shoulders. this is overdramatic, and childish besides—if she's going to be so obviously upset, she shouldn't force gwenaëlle to ask her about it. ]

Truthfully, [ said slowly, carefully, ] I don't find it easy to do much that requires looking in a mirror, anymore. I don't look like myself.

[ it's difficult to explain, the vertigo that comes over one when one looks in the mirror and is faced with a stranger. ness hasn't found the words for it yet, and so hasn't tried; she's just muddled through, as best she can.

her best isn't very good, when it comes to this. ]

[undergrunn]

I like that. Women wearing trousers other than when they’re working isn’t common where I’m from, maybe here I can get something fancy.

Well— not fancy, but you know what I mean? Something that isn’t just for absorbing grease and oil or getting through mud.

[elegiaque]

( wryly, ) I have a strong suspicion that I don't own anything you wouldn't consider fancy, Abella.

( her idea of plain means one colour and one fabric type; it's incredible how plain that can not lead to a piece of clothing being. )

I didn't start wearing trousers into my twenties, but that wasn't really because I'm a woman.

( they were always an option; she still prefers a dress when it isn't wildly impractical. )

[undergrunn]

( It’s true, and Abella’s laugh says as much. )

Mm. It’s interesting how different our worlds are. You know, there are construction features here that would seem more at home in a historical era from home, and then there’s so many social elements from home that would seem archaic here, just from what I’ve seen in the past month. I can’t imagine how patient people here have had to be just dealing with culture shock.

What I’m trying to say is I’m pretty excited about trousers.

[youwonscience]

If other people have more of a need, it's not urgent, but I might take a look at some of the extra fabric if you don't mind. Even if I'm mostly working from the Gallows, I'll probably be taking some meetings now and then with people who expect more of a nod to local standards than a chance to say "wow, I met an exotic rifter." [The latter of which she's been actively capitalizing on for years. Still, other than her boots, the things she arrived in are starting to wear out and her day-to-day wear is more practical Thedosian these days.]

[elegiaque]

I really don't think it's going to be an issue of not having enough to go around, ( is ruefully self-aware. ) If there's fabric in the dresses you like, too, I don't mind taking them apart and giving you the parts.

[brennvin]

( For obvious reasons, Astrid’s managed to avoid any Scouting mission which might need her to clean up and be less of a grubby goblin, but that won’t be forever. So she finally, grudgingly admits: )

I guess I need something which isn’t the Riftwatch uniform or pelts. Y’know, just in case.