Putting a pin in it

[Faith Augustin]

25th Saun, 718
Augustin's

"I like it," Faith said with a smile, "It suits you."

Alissa, Faith's friend and bodyguard, looked at her with a completely unamused expression. "I am wearing a dress," she said, deadpan. "I do not wear dresses. Ever." Faith raised an eyebrow, kneeling next to her as she pinned said dress, fussing over final details. "I beg to differ," she said with an amused expression. "I have, in front of me, scientific and irrefutable proof that you do wear dresses." Alissa glared down at her and Faith tried not to chuckle. Mostly, she concentrated on the work she was doing. Alissa huffed in disapproval and on things went from there.

Meanwhile, Hana was sitting on the floor some way away from Faith and Alissa and she was putting the final touches to a dress worn by Tiori, the receptionist here at Augustin's. Faith glanced over at Hana and Tiori and she smiled and nodded her approval. "We're doing well. I'm sure the clients will be pleased." Faith hoped so. They'd landed a commission and, to be entirely frank, it had rather taken her by surprise. There was going to be a large wedding and they were making the dress itself, the evening dress and clothing for the entire bridal party - including aunts and all sorts. It seemed that this particular family really enjoyed a good wedding.

Which was, Faith supposed, very Rharnian of them. It was a time for celebration, for living life and for celebrating love and family. That was what Rharne should be like, to her mind. Of course, after her meeting in the Order of the Adunih, Faith knew this not to be the case right now, but she was determined, absolutely determined, to do her best and to fix things. Fixing things was what she had beent asked with, what it was her sacred duty to do and it was entirely her instinct.

So, that was what she was going to do. But to do it, she knew, charities needed money. Money came from this place and this place's reputation would rise as a result of this wedding. So it would be perfect.

Still, this wedding was in early Vhalar and so she - they - had a lot to do. She had realised, as soon as the commission came in, that she couldn't possibly meet it with the shop space that she had, or the equipment and so Faith had done what she would always do. She had put more money into the business so that they could provide what this customer - and the customers after them - wanted.

So, in typical Faith fashion, she'd extended the shop, buying the lot next door. It was much smaller, but that was fine, she didn't need a full store front. This was going to become Augustin's Bridal Boutique. Upstairs, in the new part, there would be wedding dresses. Just wedding dresses, veils, shoes and so on. Everything for the woman who was getting married. From plain and simple to outlandish, traditional Rharnian, understated elegance, all sorts. Then, downstairs would be grooms wear, formal menswear - a boutique for the bride and groom and the main store for the rest of the bridal party. It had also, however, given them a lot more space for storage and for working areas, which Faith had equipped. Once that had happened, they were more then able to meet the order which had come in and it was that which currently had their attention.

[Faith Augustin]

25th Saun, 718
Augustin's

The bride's dress- the one that Faith was currently working on was, she had to admit, beautiful. the woman who had commissioned it had a very good eye for detail and she knew what suited her. There were tiny embroidered flowers trailing up the skirt, which was full and fell in lots of layers. That trail of flowers wrapped around the dress and wound around the shoulder. Just the one shoulder had a thin strap of delicate, shimmering flowers along it. Then, the back of the dress was plunging, almost to the waist which pulled in tightly before falling to the floor. She had the basic design down, but having spent half a break pinning the dress on to Alissa, Faith wasn't happy. While her friend and bodyguard got dressed, Faith moved back over to the design board she had on her desk. Parchment in front of her, she had to get the bodice right, she knew. The bridge loved the design and it would look good, but Faith wasn't convinced that it would hold and support in the way that it should.

So, she needed to reinforce it, without losing any of the softness of the pattern itself. Once upon a thousand lifetimes ago, Faith had been given as a gift, a sign of good will to Marcus Krome, who had been holding Lady Elyna hostage. Of course, in truth, Faith had been part of the rescue operation and so, on the journey there with Lord Alistair, around tending to the camp and cooking his meals, she had sewn a knife into the bodice of her dress. Not for herself, as a slave she was not permitted weapons, but for Lady Elyna. This meant that Faith had to make sure that knife got to where it was going and to ensure that she did not get detected with it. So, she had learned then how to bone a corset.

Looking back, it had been a shoddy, novice job but it had done what it needed to. Now, she needed finesse and more than anything, she needed planning. So, Faith lowered her head to the parchment and began to sketch. The trick would be to identify places where the bodice would naturally fold or bend and to put the support in there. Also, Faith realised that what she had done with her dress on the way to Krome had been to put the bones in horizontally - vertically would allow her to shape it much, much better.

So, Faith kept looking at the design and she carefully measured where there was going to need to be support. Partly, she could follow the trail of the embroidered flowers and that would hide any minuscule unevenness. Even tiny details were important, especially on a woman's wedding day and particularly when she was spending this much money. Faith knew that this investment into the business had been a lot, but she needed to make sure that, if she was running a bridal boutique, it would be the best one in Rharne. In Central Idalos, in fact. And it would cater not only to brides, but to grooms as well. The full package and every detail sorted. Which meant that, once she had this done, she needed to pop out and speak to the shoemaker and the leatherworker. Faith considered that, in the future, that would be what she would do - add their own shoemakers, leatherworker and, of course, jewelcrafter. Those would all be additions and might even be the beginning of an almost Beacon-esque endeavor, Faith thought.

But, she didn't and wouldn't need to provide housing. The Dust Quarter was enough and rather than provide new housing, Faith had a meeting tomorrow to start looking at ways to start community initiatives there. But, that was tomorrow.

[Faith Augustin]

25th Saun, 718

The design would work, of that Faith was sure - she had been careful with it and she was of the opinion that adding the structure to the bodice in a vertical way would give it more shape. It was strange, she supposed, to be making dresses for other people. It had never struck her as odd in Scalvoris when she was cooking for them, but then that was meeting a need. Although, Faith considered, no one needed food at the prices Cally's sold it, any more than they needed clothes at the price Augustin's sold them. It was odd, ironic she supposed, that she sold things at such prices but the former slave was very clear - she gave people a reason to part with the money that was needed in order for Isonomia and the Order of the Adunih to do the good they needed to do. That was how she saw it, anyhow, and so she worked as hard as she could, as hard as she did and always had, to serve.

Now that the design for the dress was done, Faith wanted to make sure that the outfit that the groom was wearing. Specifically, she wanted to focus on his shirt, which he had asked to be made from the silk of the dress that his soon-to-be wife was wearing on their first date. It was a sweet and romantic gesture, but it also made her job a little trickier. That was fine, but the rest of the outfit really didn't go with the silk of the shirt, nor the shade of cream it was. She'd gotten around that on the bride's dress by also making some small flowers, tiny applique silk flowers which followed the embroidery and blended in. But this damn shirt, Faith was fairly sure, was going to be the death of her.

As romantic as Padraig could be, Faith thought with a smile as she looked at the design for the shirt, he wouldn't be caught dead wearing a shirt made out of a piece of her clothing. She'd gone, in the end, for using the silk to make the button band and cuffs - that seemed to work quite well and allowed the final piece to be more in line with everything else. The colours they were working with, muted green and dark red were very reminiscent of Vhalar and would blend in perfectly with how the trees would look in the open area where they were getting wed. "Copper for your thoughts", Hana said. Faith smiled at the woman who was working with her and she realised that she had been completely far away. "It's Vhalar next season," Faith explained. Her employee nodded, assuming there would be more to that statement.

"Padraig and I will have been married for an arc in Vhalar. It's... time is such a strange experience, isn't it?" Hana nodded, thinking about her employers words. "How did you meet?" She wondered and Faith's eyes took on a rather far away look. "He was my tutor. He taught me mathematics and chemistry and he made me tea." Hana grinned. "He wouldn't like the shirt?"

Faith couldn't suppress the chuckle which escaped her. "No, he wouldn't. But I think we've got it working, what do you think?" Handing the design over, Faith watched as Hana studied it and nodded. "Looks good. He'll see enough of it to be happy, but not so much of it that he looks silly. Which he would. Tiori came over and looked at the design, then wrinkled her nose. "He'd look bad in all silk. Especially that colour. What was he thinking?" Faith shrugged and commented on it the most honest way she could. "It's about memories. Remembrance, love. They make you see things differently, things become sentimental. You see them with different eyes, then."

Looking up, she glanced at the two women she worked with and she rolled her eyes. "It's true. Don't look at me like that. Or, do, but you're wrong." The pair of them gave her deadpan expressions and Faith got back to the design with a slight grin which she did her best to hide. "So come on, then," Hana said with an expectant raise of her eyebrows. "It's your wedding anniversary. What are you going to do for it?" Faith looked up, considering the question and then, of course, the answer hit her. Looking up at the women who worked with her in the area they had built to expand the business, she told them all she was prepared to.

"I'm going to put a pin in it," she said and she explained no more than that.

[Tristan Venora]

Faith:

Knowledge:
Business Management: Running an exclusive boutique
Design: Fashion: Consider the line of a dress
Design: Fashion: Cover irregularities with a feature
Design: Fashion: Colours can match seasons
Design: Fashion: Fabric choice can change a design
Design: Fashion: Consider the practicalities of what you're designing

Loot: N/A
Injuries: N/A
Renown: N/A
Magic XP: N/A

Points: 10

- - -

Comments: You apologized because this was an investment thread which was absolutely unnecessary in my opinion. This was a very entertaining and nicely written thread. I especially liked the scene with Alissa and Faith and the description of the dress that Faith is making. The bride is very lucky to have a wedding dress made by the famous Faith Augustin!

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