self_composed: (grin)
Author: self_composed
Bella packs light. (She can conjure whatever she wants, mooch off Alice for anything she wants to buy. She's wearing her riding gear and riding Tegu and only has a few other favorite-things she'd like to retain in their original forms. The black dress is one of them.) Her swag goes in saddlebags and she goes to Stanford.

It's a road trip; she wants to be able to account for her time, and besides, she likes her motorcycle. She checks into crappy little motels and once spends four minutes watching someone try and fail to disassemble her bike, from her window. (The fellow gives up eventually. Tegu does not want to come apart or move.)

At Stanford, she is there before her new roommate, who is reportedly named "Janine". Bella unpacks, and since no one's there yet, she wishes up some decorations too. She introduces herself to the RA, Maureen, and then loiters in the hall lounge, waiting for more people to meet.
edgeofyourseat: Dancing wildly, grinning. (⑹ ride it where I like)
Author: edgeofyourseat
Meanwhile, Alice is combing the area invisibly, looking for a good place to put his magic door. Preferably near Bella's building; ideally in Bella's building.

[Ooh,] he says musingly over brainphone. [How about the bottom of the stairs?]

Not that many people take the stairs in a building with elevators anyway, and the ones who do probably don't head down to the basement that often. The space under the last turn of the stairs is plenty wide enough for a magic door; hell, it's wide enough for two.
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
[Nice. If you make the door itself invisible so we can just walk through, then you won't even have to wait till the place is empty, if you're invisible.]
edgeofyourseat: Grinning, friendly. (⑵ extraordinarily nice)
Author: edgeofyourseat
[Yeah, that's the idea!]

He pulls up his memory of the lair in Forks and chooses a section of wall there - in the main room, beside the door to the bedroom. He decides that the magic door will exist only for himself and Bella; nothing else will pass through it unless by specific exception. He decides that from either side, they (and only they) will be able to see through the magic door as though the relevant bits of wall were almost transparent, with just enough wall left to serve as a visual reminder that it is a wall to most people. He decides that they will be able to bring stuff through the door, including people, but only exactly who and what they intend to bring when they walk through it.

[Double-check me?] he requests.
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
[So we can't throw things through?] Bella asks. [If other things go only when we walk through? Also, what if we trip near it?]
edgeofyourseat: Sarcastic or disbelieving. (⑺ back into your place)
Author: edgeofyourseat
[Do you want to be able to throw things through?] he inquires, but he edits his intention accordingly, and also stipulates that only-passing-through-when-meant-to applies to themselves as well as to what they are bringing or carrying.
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
[Might be useful if I wanted to surreptitiously stash something without disappearing myself. Otherwise, looks fine, long as "stuff" includes sound and breezes and such.]
edgeofyourseat: Smiling, possibly fake, mildly creepy. (⑸ playful as a pussy cat)
Author: edgeofyourseat
[Yeah? Like, if you really want to shout through the magic door, you can, and if you don't, you won't.]
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
[Cool. Go for it.]
edgeofyourseat: Grinning, friendly. (⑵ extraordinarily nice)
Author: edgeofyourseat
Alice wishes.

Then he steps through the magic door.

His Bella-compass informs him that Bella is quite a ways south.

When he steps back through, suddenly she is not very far at all up-and-thataway.

[Cool,] he says happily.
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
[Very nice,] Bella approves. [Now if you don't feel like telling them your mom and Hilary don't need to know that you're probably going to be visiting me all the time.]
edgeofyourseat: Smiling, affectionate or amused. (⑶ your wish is my command)
Author: edgeofyourseat
[Hell, I can stick another door in my basement if I wanna be lazy,] he says. [I think I'll go do that.]

Back through the door, and zoom!

[How's your residence stuff going, anyway?]
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
[Janine, my roommate-to-be, isn't here yet that I know of. I've got my room set up and a parking permit for my bike and I met the RA and now I'm hanging out pretending to mess around on my laptop in the hall lounge.]
edgeofyourseat: Smiling, conspiratorial or challenging. (⑷ wanna try?)
Author: edgeofyourseat
[Aww. I don't know why that's cute, but it totally is.]
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
[I can't imagine why that would be cute either,] Bella laughs. [What are you planning to do with yourself while I settle in here?]
edgeofyourseat: Dancing wildly, grinning. (⑹ ride it where I like)
Author: edgeofyourseat
[Dunno,] he says. [Go back out your door and fly around, maybe. Get to know the place.]

In the meantime, though—ah, there's his house. He drifts in the open back door and zips down to the basement. Halfway there he realizes that he could have just made the door from the other side, but what the hell, this way's more fun.
self_composed: (disquiet)
Author: self_composed
[Why was the back door left open?] Bella wonders.
edgeofyourseat: Grinning, maybe licking lips. (⑴ you say bark I say bite)
Author: edgeofyourseat
[Ask Hilary; it's her kitchen.]
self_composed: (disquiet)
Author: self_composed
[I can't ask Hilary, I'm in Stanford and have no way to know that the door was open. Don't you have air conditioning? Is she even there? Are you being burgled?]
edgeofyourseat: Smiling, possibly fake, mildly creepy. (⑸ playful as a pussy cat)
Author: edgeofyourseat
[I guarantee you we are not being burgled,] he says, sets the door to work just like the other one did but attach to a wall that's in his bedroom, and zips back up to the top of the stairs. When he peeks down the hall, Hilary is just wandering back into the kitchen.

[See?]
self_composed: (calm)
Author: self_composed
[Well, ask her why the door was left standing open like that, then.]
edgeofyourseat: Sarcastic or disbelieving. (⑺ back into your place)
Author: edgeofyourseat
[Do you care enough about that answer for me to fly out of the house, un-invisible, walk back up to the door, and ask why it's open?]
self_composed: (thoughtful)
Author: self_composed
[Bah. Nevermind. It's going to bug me, though.]
edgeofyourseat: Grinning, friendly. (⑵ extraordinarily nice)
Author: edgeofyourseat
He laughs.

[Okay, then yes, you do.]

And he flies out of the house, un-invisibles, walks back up to the door, and sticks his head through it.

"Why's the door open?"

"Aren't you halfway across the country or something?" inquires Hilary.

He laughs, gesturing down at himself to indicate his obvious presence. "Do I have to answer that?"

"Yes."

"Got bored, came back. Why's the door open?"

"Because I felt like it. And if you're so bored, you can help me bake cookies."
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
Bella introduces herself to various new neighbors in the lounge as they wander in and out. She makes a point to learn all their names.
edgeofyourseat: Grinning, maybe licking lips. (⑴ you say bark I say bite)
Author: edgeofyourseat
Alice helps Hilary bake cookies. See, things like this are why it's sometimes more fun to do stuff the long way around.



A short, nervous-looking girl with long blonde hair shuffles past the lounge door, dragging an absurd quantity of luggage—four duffel bags and two enormous plastic packages of what appear to be styrofoam packing peanuts, all tied together with bungee cords and stacked precariously atop a comparatively tiny suitcase.
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"Do you want some help with that?" Bella calls, closing her computer and tucking it into her bag and getting up. Being helpful is a good way to be positively remembered, and this is part of her project, and she is starting today. "Where are you headed?"
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"Oh—thank you," she says, looking up from where she has been gazing determinedly at the floor and flashing a tentative smile. "Room 314."
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"Oh, you must be Janine. I'm Bella," says Bella, helping herself to half of Janine's stuff and heading for the room. "What're the packing peanuts for?"
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"Beanbag chair!" says Janine. "You must be my roommate! Are you my roommate? Hello, my roommate!"

The packing peanuts come loose easily, as do the top two duffel bags, leaving Bella with about two-thirds of the volume and Janine with about two-thirds of the weight of the whole ensemble. She trails Bella down the hall.
self_composed: (eyebrow)
Author: self_composed
"Guess so," says Bella, amused. She opens the door with her foot. "Home sweet home. Beanbag chairs don't come... assembled?"
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"Not this one!" says Janine. "I will have to assemble it. I have never done that before. It will be an adventure."

Is it possible to be anxious and high-spirited at the same time? Because that is Janine.
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"I've never assembled a beanbag chair before either. It looks like it's going to be really enormous," says Bella. She plops the stuff gently on the floor of the room.
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"The size of the packaging may be deceptive," Janine allows. "Or we may be in for a very interesting logistical challenge."

She pulls the suitcase up to the unclaimed bed and leans it against the mattress. It teeters. She tugs it out, swivels it around, and leans it the other way. Then she dives into one of the duffel bags on the floor and produces a flat rectangular package containing, if you believe the label, the folded shell of a beanbag chair. Which she proceeds to rip out of its packaging and shake out and pore over in search of a zipper.

"...Would you like to help?" she asks after a moment.
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"Sure, why not." Bella seeks a zipper, and finds one, and unzips it. "I'll hold, you pour?"
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"Works for me!" says Janine. She picks up one of the big packages and waits to tear it open until Bella has the beanbag chair in a more receptive state.
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
Bella holds the mouth of the shell and says, "And, go."
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
Janine goes.

Packing peanuts galore! All but a very very few of them end up in the chair. She picks up the second package and repeats the process; this time it requires a little more finesse, because the chair is becoming genuinely full.
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
Bella may or may not triangle for luck on the success of this project once it becomes clear that its tidiness is not a foregone conclusion. She doesn't want to pick peanuts out of her hair for weeks.

"If you grab those last couple, we can zip it up," she says, still hanging onto the open chair, when the second bag is empty.
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"Okay!" says Janine, and she does that.
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
Zip zip.

"Nice choice of decor," Bella says. "What's in all the duffel bags? Tanks of helium with which to fill balloons, maybe?"
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"No!" she says. "Clothes. And several clever storage options in the event that there is not enough room for my clothes. There is never enough room for my clothes," she confides.
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"You can use some of my closet space if you need it. I don't have many clothes myself," Bella says. "I got all the way here with all my stuff on my motorcycle."
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"You have a motorcycle," Janine observes, repeats, and/or confirms. "That's cool. What kind?"
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"It's a custom kind. I named it Tegu, though, so I guess it's a Tegu."
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"Where did you get a custom kind of motorcycle?" inquires Janine.
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"It was a present from my boyfriend" ([I have decided to just refer to you as my boyfriend to random people,] she informs Alice) "after he came into some money. He got it made by some guy on the Internet, I think."
edgeofyourseat: Grinning, friendly. (⑵ extraordinarily nice)
Author: edgeofyourseat
[Cool,] Alice says cheerfully, swinging his feet where he perches on the kitchen counter. The word is just a word. It does not have any inherent effect on what passes between them. He doesn't mind her using it and he wouldn't mind her not.

"That is cool," says Janine. "Yes, I will use some of your closet space if necessary, thank you. Would you like to have the inaugural sit on the beanbag chair?"
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
Bella flops into the beanbag chair. "I approve," she announces.
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
Janine applauds.
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
Bella laughs. "So what classes are you taking?" she asks, in the time-honored tradition of College Students Making Conversation.
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"Calculus and linear algebra and symbolic logic and physics and electrical engineering," she says. "Because I am going to be an electrical engineer!"
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"Nice. I'm still undeclared. Taking a bunch of things with 'introduction to' in their names," Bella chuckles.
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"Well, I am also taking a bunch of things with 'introduction to' in their names," says Janine, "because it is my first year and that is how that works. The symbolic logic course is second year, though!"
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"I'm in Bio and Calc and Operating Systems and Politics, and I guess I get credits for orchestra too, but not for soccer."
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"Gosh, you're busy," says Janine. "What do you play? In the orchestra, I mean, soccer... is soccer."
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"Flute," says Bella, picking up the case off her desk.
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"Oh." Janine observes the flute. "So that is what a flute case looks like. And now I know!"
self_composed: (go on)
Author: self_composed
Bella laughs. "What about you, what do you do apart from academic stuff?"
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"Alienate my peers with accidental displays of frightening intellect," says Janine. "And drop things."
self_composed: (eyebrow)
Author: self_composed
Bella tilts her head. "Well, I don't think you're particularly scary or alienating. Maybe a top-tier college will be a better environment for your intellect. Also, dropping things, not a hobby - have you hobbies?"
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"You say that only because you have not seen the frequency with which I drop things," Janine asserts. "I also read science fiction novels with embarrassing slowness."
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"I used to be really clumsy until a car crash knocked something back where it belonged in my ear," Bella volunteers. "I don't think we should try anything like that for you, though."
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"No that would be a bad idea," Janine agrees. "Please do not crash any cars into or near me."
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"Don't have a car," Bella says, winking. "Have a motorcycle."
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"Please do not crash your custom motorcycle into or near me!" she amends.
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"I won't, I promise," Bella says, crossing her heart.
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"Thank you! I can see we are going to get along," says Janine.
self_composed: (grin)
Author: self_composed
"That's good. It'd suck to not get along with my roommate," Bella says.
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"Yes it would!" agrees Janine.
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"Anything else you could use help unpacking?" Bella asks.
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"Hmm," says Janine. "If you would like to help me find somewhere to put my books and then put them there, you are welcome to do that and I would appreciate it very much!"
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"We don't seem to have bookshelves here, but I bet someone has a box they're not going to use any more that we could stand on its side and use for one," Bella says. "I'll go look. If I can't find one you could also use the legs of your bed as bookends."

And she heads out and starts poking her head into open doors, seeking boxen. Eventually she gets ahold of a long, short box that will suit and also fit under the bed, and returns with it, tucking the flaps inside the box for sturdiness. "Where's the books?" she asks.
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"The books are here," says Janine, with a demonstrative gesture to one of the four duffel bags now open on her bed. It does indeed contain a long row of neatly stacked books. She accepts the box and starts tranferring books from one container to the other.
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
Bella helps. "Lotta books. I'm more of a library book person myself. That and the Internet."
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"They are comfort objects," Janine explains. "So is the internet, for that matter, but differently."
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
Bella nods. "Anything in here you particularly recommend? I've always been more of an I-actually-read-the-assignments-for-English-class girl but perhaps I should branch out."
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"Well, I do not know which ones you would like," Janine says reasonably, "because I do not know you very well!"
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"Fair enough. Some people recommend the same thing to everybody, but I'm not in a hurry to pick through your book collection," chuckles Bella.
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"If you would like to read some of them later, you may, but please ask me before you borrow any," says Janine.
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"Sure, no problem."
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"Okay, great!"

Janine smiles brightly, which she hasn't done a lot of since Bella first saw her.
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"Any other things I should keep in mind if we're going to be sharing this itty bitty living space?"
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"Well," says Janine. The cheer in her voice fades a little, and the nervousness in her posture takes an uptick. "You checked the box on the residence questionnaire that says you are comfortable having a transgender roommate, right?"
self_composed: (calm)
Author: self_composed
"Yeah?"
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"That is good," says Janine, "because I am. I would prefer if you did not mention it to anyone unless you are sure they already know, because not everyone on our floor checked that box."
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"Sure," Bella says agreeably. "I can keep a secret."

Boy howdy can she ever.
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
Janine relaxes a little. "Okay, good."
self_composed: (skyward)
Author: self_composed
"Do I need to do anything else besides not-tell, like, I don't know, conspicuously loan you tampons in front of people? Because I would like warning before being called upon to do that."
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
She quirks a smile. "No. Thank you."
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"Okay then." Bella stretches her arms after placing the last book. "I don't think I'm too hard to live with. Ask if you wanna borrow something, don't play heavy metal at four in the morning, that sort of thing."
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"Those are reasonable guidelines to which I will happily adhere!"
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"Excellent!"

Bella flops onto her bed. "I think we're supposed to go get our student IDs in an hour or so."
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"Yes, I had heard a rumour to that effect," says Janine. "I think I will spend the intervening time unpacking my clothes."
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
Bella sets up her laptop and goes through the rigmarole necessary to get on the school Internet, and watches clothes march out of Janine's bags.
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
There are a lot of clothes thusly marching! She does end up needing some of Bella's closet space, and also pulls a collapsible storage unit made of poles and fabric out of one of her bags and tucks it in between her bed and her desk.

"There," she says at last. "All set."
self_composed: (eyebrow)
Author: self_composed
"Is this going to turn into one of those sitcom plots where you decide my wardrobe is too small and you have to take me shopping?" Bella asks.
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"It will not turn into one of those! If you had as much clothing as me, neither of us would have enough space for it!" she says reasonably.
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
Bella laughs. "Good, then. Because I've never gotten the appeal of shopping."
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"It is not the process I enjoy so much as the results," says Janine.
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"I do like having nice clothes, but three pairs of nice jeans and a handful of shirts and one rocking set of motorcycle riding leathers does it for me. Plus, you know, socks, underwear, the boring kind."
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"I enjoy variety," says Janine. "I think I would have a very hard time living on three pairs of jeans and a handful of shirts. Even with a rocking set of motorcycle leathers."
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"I also have a dress," Bella adds. "I've only worn it once, months ago - my boyfriend made it for me to wear to a dance. I almost forgot about it."
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"Your boyfriend sounds very generous," Janine comments. "What's his name?"
self_composed: (skyward)
Author: self_composed
Bella thinks about for a second.

"Well," she says. "He has me call him Alice. He'll take 'Laney' from random people, though, which is closer to his legal name. And I am pretty sure that 'he' pronouns are fine, if you were liable to wonder."
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"If I ever meet him I will ask which name he would rather I use," concludes Janine.
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"Sounds like a plan. He's not going to be around much for the first week or so, so I can settle in, but after that he'll probably visit a lot; I imagine you'll see him around."
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"For some reason," Janine says thoughtfully, "your descriptions of him lead me to picture him with pointy ears and sparkly butterfly wings, making mischief and pollinating flowers."
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
Bella considers this.

"You're not far wrong, except in the literal sense," she concludes.

[My roommate imagines you with pointy ears and sparkly butterfly wings, making mischief and pollinating flowers,] she informs Alice. [I told her that except literally speaking she wasn't far off.]
edgeofyourseat: Grinning, friendly. (⑵ extraordinarily nice)
Author: edgeofyourseat
[...I think I love your roommate a little bit,] says Alice, laughing.

Janine also giggles.
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
[She's pretty cool.]

"But yeah, he's weird. In a neat way, but weird."
edgeofyourseat: Smiling, affectionate or amused. (⑶ your wish is my command)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"I like neat-weird," says Janine.

[I wanna meet her,] Alice declares.
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
[Come visit in a week, then, after I'm settled in.]

"Then my boyfriend will be your favorite person, I imagine."
edgeofyourseat: Dancing wildly, grinning. (⑹ ride it where I like)
Author: edgeofyourseat
[You betcha,] says Alice.

"Is he the most neat-weird person on Earth?" inquires Janine.
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"Maybe," Bella says. "Quite probably. I'll give you a dollar if you find neater-weirder, at any rate."
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"I will keep an eye out," Janine says gravely.
self_composed: (grin)
Author: self_composed
Bella grins. "I'm not sure I know where the place we're supposed to fetch our IDs and orientation packets is. Want to come with me to look for it now so we don't show up fifteen minutes late and wait a year in line?"
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"Yes!" says Janine, with another, smaller smile.
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
Bella gets up off her bed. "I'll see if anyone else wants to join the expedition."

Ultimately a total of five girls from the hall make for the building and arrive slightly early, but not early enough to be very first in line. Bella feels that this is the correct amount of early.
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
Janine concurs!

IDs and orientation packets are acquired. She immediately stows the former in her wallet and heads back to their room to peruse the latter.
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
Bella sticks around, because there is a food court here and she wishes to be informed about it, but presently she too returns to their room, by another route so she can see more of the campus. She is equipped with a burrito at this time.
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
Janine is still absorbed in the introductory literature. She doesn't look up from her spot on the bed when Bella enters.
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
Bella doesn't bug her; she toes off her sneakers under the bed and reads her packet and eats her burrito.
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
Eventually, out of nowhere, Janine says: "Your boyfriend is very good at making dresses."
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"Wouldn't have worn it in public if he weren't," agrees Bella.
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"Does he do it frequently, or was that a unique event?"
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"He made one for himself, too," Bella says. "He's toyed with the idea of being a designer. Why, want a custom dress?"
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"I suspect that I do," says Janine.
self_composed: (skyward)
Author: self_composed
"Lemme call him up and see if he wants to expand his dressmaking activities," Bella says, and she pulls out her actual phone and actually calls Alice.
edgeofyourseat: Smiling, possibly fake, mildly creepy. (⑸ playful as a pussy cat)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"Hi!" says Alice, from his bedroom in the stupidly huge house. "What's up?"
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"My roommate got a look at the little black dress. She wants to know if you'd make her stuff, too. For that matter I could imagine you being popular among people here in general. Want?"
edgeofyourseat: Smiling, affectionate or amused. (⑶ your wish is my command)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"Ooh. Very want!" he says. "I probably won't make 'em for everybody, though. Will that piss people off and do you care?"
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"If you mean you don't want to be deluged in orders, the solution to that is called 'raising your prices until you have the amount of business you want'," Bella says. "If you mean you want to refuse to make dresses for certain individuals you take a random dislike to, that will piss people off and I will care a little."
edgeofyourseat: Sarcastic or disbelieving. (⑺ back into your place)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"I mean I won't make a dress for somebody I don't wanna make a dress for," he says. "Maybe 'cause I don't like them, maybe 'cause I just can't think of anything good."
self_composed: (go on)
Author: self_composed
"Oh. In that case it's called 'being eccentric and requiring the muse to command you' or something like that," says Bella. "That will only piss off annoying people and I will not care."
edgeofyourseat: Grinning, friendly. (⑵ extraordinarily nice)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"Awesome. In that case, you can pimp out my sewing machine all you want."
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"Spiffy. What shall I quote as a ballpark figure when asked?"
edgeofyourseat: Dancing wildly, grinning. (⑹ ride it where I like)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"Pick something you think they can afford," he says. "I don't actually care about making money."
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"I know you don't, but there's that 'deluge of orders' problem - there are more than enough people here to keep you working twenty-four hours a day if you charge only what you spend on materials." [What you spend on materials. And we don't want anyone wondering where you get such cheap fabric or how you can make so many clothes as a one-person operation.] "How does a round hundred sound?"
edgeofyourseat: Smiling, conspiratorial or challenging. (⑷ wanna try?)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"Yeah, sounds great," he says. And also: "I love you."
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
"Aww. Okay, I'll put word out. See you next week!" says Bella cheerfully.

"Hundred bucks," she tells Janine. "Ballpark, could vary depending on exact design, I assume he'll need measurements and some information about your preferences."
edgeofyourseat: Grinning, friendly. (⑵ extraordinarily nice)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"Bye!" says Alice.

"That is surprisingly affordable!" says Janine.
self_composed: (skyward)
Author: self_composed
"He doesn't care about making money," Bella says. "Like, at all."
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"In that case it is unsurprisingly affordable!"
self_composed: (Default)
Author: self_composed
Bella laughs. "Yes. So think about what you want, and I can tell him."
edgeofyourseat: Lurking. (Default)
Author: edgeofyourseat
"I will do that," Janine says happily.