DCW: What Should I Wear?

Writers: Avery, Yvonne
Date Posted: 6th April 2015

Characters: Ikalis, Alina
Description: Ikalis helps a picky Alina find a Gather dress
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 13, day 1 of Turn 7
Notes: Backdated because Yvonne's inbox ate it.

Alina

"Thank you _so_ much for coming with me." Alina stared at the rack of dresses before her with a mix of trepidation and desire. She'd given away her Gather clothes when she'd Impressed, but with another Hatching coming up the only thing she had to wear was the peach dress that the Headwoman had insisted she keep. But it was a work dress, suitable for scrubbing dishes and changing linens, not for dancing.

"Not a problem. I'm excited to pick something new out for myself as well. I've been wearing my sister's for two Turns now," Ikalis confessed.

Alina wrinkled her nose. "I can't thank you enough for getting the Headwoman to let us do this."

"What can I say, I'm charming." Ikalis flashed a broad grin at Alina. "And now you're a senior weyrling, you'll be able to lord it over the new juniors."

"Somehow I think we'll be too busy." The weyrling stepped closer to the dresses to begin her search. They were arranged by colour, then by size, and she found herself drawn toward either the pale blues or the peachy pink tones. "Do you know what kind of dress you want?" she asked Ikalis.

"I'm thinking something with bare shoulders, but not too low of a neckline," she said, wondering if it would shock Alina. "I'm tired of the men flirting at me all the time. And something that sets off my eyes."

"Bare shoulders will bring the men running," Alina said dryly, somewhat surprised that she wasn't more surprised by Ikalis' choice of dress. Perhaps Weyr living was beginning to rub off. "And maybe something in green, then. Or a rich purple. I bet that would make your eyes look really green."

"They can run all they want but they're not getting me. Oh, a rich purple sounds lovely."

"Hmm." Alina moved a little further along the rack to the purple dresses and began to sort through them. Maybe Ikalis was as tired of all the _looking_ as
she was. It was exhausting to always be on display for someone else's pleasure. "Purple... purple. What about this one?" She pulled an amethyst purple dress with a simple neckline off the rack. "It has covered shoulders, but that might be all right. It's a pretty colour, don't you think?"

"Oh, that's a pretty one. I like the trim on the skirt part too. Pass it over, would you?" Ikalis looked over at the corner. There was a panel she could use as a changing screen, preserve modesty. "I could try it on while you look for you."

"Show me when it's on!" Alina grinned and turned back to the dresses as Ikalis headed toward the screen. "I've never actually had a _choice_, you know? Elana and I always wore whatever Mother could scrounge up for us." She paused, her hand on a hanger with rather short skirted dress in a minty green. "I wish my family could come to this Hatching. I missed the last one with them..."

"Do you want someone to get them, or do you think they won't want to?" Ikalis asked as she disappeared and started trying it on.

It was actually a nice dress, hanging below her knees but above her ankles with a gentle drape. She popped out from behind the screen and twirled. "How is?"

"Oh! You look beautiful!" Alina sighed as she looked Ikalis over. Light hair fell across her friend's shoulders in gentle waves, and she was all curves and pretty hazel eyes. No wonder she had to beat men off with a stick. "That colour is fabulous on you. If you are really set on a dress with no shoulders, I can help you modify that one. Although if you do you won't be left alone, I can tell you that!"

Ikalis swallowed twice before she answered. "I guess I'll have to take this one then. And the sleeves aren't so bad - maybe if we added ribbon to make them fancier?"

"Hmm." Alina marched over and began to fiddle with the fabric, pinching it to see what she might be able to do with it. "We could do that... if you really want no shoulders, we could sort of do that by making the neckline wider. We could open it to here." She touched Ikalis' shoulders a few inches from where the neckline sat at the moment. "And we could just take the sleeves off, if you want. And you need to take it in at the waist a bit. I can help you pin it."

Ikalis considered the possibilities and tried to not blush. "The couple inches wouldn't make too much more attention. Are you going to have time to help me alter this and work on your own as well?" She felt guilty at the idea of taking all of Alina's limited free time up.

"Depends on if I can find something that doesn't need much work." Alina shrugged and let go of the fabric. "And we can spend a rest day sewing, if we need to."

"That's true. It's not like I have anything more important to do." She smiled again. "Speaking of finding you something, what color?"

The weyrling sighed as she turned back to the rack of dresses. Finding Ikalis something pretty had been so easy... she had the sneaking suspicion that she wouldn't have the same luck. The sort of dress she wanted probably wasn't in the Weyr, and the worst part was that she wasn't even entirely sure that she wanted that sort of dress anymore. High necked, long sleeved, too hot for dancing but clinging in all the right places... she'd used to want male eyes on her at a Gather in hopes that one of them might be her future husband. But now? "I don't know. Something pretty. I really love peachy pink colours, but this is pretty too..." her hand stopped on a dress with short sleeves made of a froth of pale lace. The dress itself was seafoam green, and fell in thick folds to mid-calf when she held it against herself.

"That's a nice color. Oceany, pretty...it's really a Dolphin Cove kind of thing, I like it."

"Maybe." Alina sighed and hung it prominently on the shelf. "I think it'll be tight in the shoulders. Throwing firestone has... changed how things fit." And changed them in rather un-lady-like ways. She let her fingers wander down the racks until a dusty rose gown caught her eye. There was a small rip on the neckline, which could be covered by a ribbon. The dress had loose sleeves that would fall to around her elbows, and a bodice that looked a
little big. The skirt was edged with lace, and here and there a bead caught the light. "This is a nice colour. What do you think?"

Still wearing the one she'd tried on, Ikalis wandered over. "I like the trim, and the color's soft and pretty." For someone like Alina, it'd be perfect.

"Hmm." Alina hung it up next to the seafoam green dress and continued to sort through the dresses. "I just don't know. There are so many to choose from! This is _hard_."

"Makes me feel lucky for growing up here," Ikalis said. She held up a dress of a powdery blue. This one was a simple sheathe in shape, with sleeves that were caps over the shoulders and a scalloped neckline that didn't duck too low. "This?"

"Oh, that's nice. I like the neckline." Alina sighed. "The sleeves are so short, though..." That much bare arm was sort of... scandalous, which made no sense because she was currently wearing ugly trousers like a boy. The blue was a pretty colour, and it would probably look good against her tanned skin and black hair. "I don't know. Maybe with a belt or bodice or something? Or maybe I could add some tucks so that it's a little more shaped. I think I want a fuller skirt, too."

Ikalis tried to juggle those suggestions in her mind. "Not sure if this one can have the skirt fixed, but if you accented it with a darker blue belt that could look lovely." Maybe a wide belt, if they could find one in here.

She rested that dress over a box and kept walking down the line. "How about this one?" This one was brown, but a rich brown with a red tone to it. It had sleeves and bright embroidery around the bottom of the hemline.

"That's pretty too." But maybe too brown. "Whoever did the embroidery had neat stitching. But it's sort of... farm girl." Alina sighed, then went back to running her hands over the dresses."I don't know what I want anymore, Ikalis. I... oh, what about this one?" She pulled an orangy pink gown from the racks, the colour of a muted sunset. It had soft, capped sleeves and a scooped neckline, a fitted bodice with a bit of flowery embroidery running down the middle, and a flared skirt. She held it up against herself and was pleased when she saw that the skirt's fabric fell to mid-calf. "I think I love it. Does it make me look sallow though?"

Ikalis looked at it and smiled. "I think that's a pretty color. And I like the embroidery. It looks novel...but how does it fit?"

"Hang on..." Alina headed behind the screen and pulled off her tunic. The hated pants were next, and she pulled the dress over her head with a happy smile. She suddenly felt more like herself than she had in ages. "The back's got buttons. Can you do them up for me?" she asked, coming back out into the main room. She turned around so that Ikalis could do her up, holding her braid over one shoulder to keep it out of the way. "Hopefully we don't clash. Wouldn't that be tragic?"

"It would be," Ikalis agreed, assisting Alina with it. "There you go."

"Hmm." The weyrling ran her hands over the bodice to straighten it, then turned to the mirror. The dress was a little loose at the waist, but that would be easy enough to take in. The top and shoulders fit perfectly, and the skirt flared flatteringly around her legs. She tipped her head to one side as she examined herself, then smiled and looped her arm through Ikalis' elbow. "I like it. Look at the pair of us! Ready to go to the Gather!"

"We look pretty great. And we can reuse these later on!" Ikalis could just picture fun places for them to go all dolled up.

"I hope so. Maybe once I can take Imarith between, we can go to a _real_ Gather at Emerald Falls!" Alina's face lit up. "I could take my sister too!"

"See, that would be a ton of fun, wouldn't it? The kind of light at the end of the tunnel to look forward to."

The weyrling shrugged, although the idea did sound appealing. It was everything else at the end of the tunnel that she wasn't looking forward to.

Last updated on the June 26th 2015

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DCW: What Should I Wear?