From: spider@Orb.Nashua.NH.US (Spider Boardman) Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: [LH] prom night? Date: 15 Oct 1993 00:48:18 GMT Message-ID: References: Selna stood before the mirror in her room. "So," she said to her reflection, "you accepted an invitation to a party. What _are_ you going to wear, hmm? Your Low Town rags are definitely not appropriate. Nor are your riding leathers. The best clothes you brought are a foresting outfit. No jewelry, either. If I'm going to do 'party dress' for tonight, I'm going to have to get busy!" She shook her head at herself and sighed. She crossed over to the bed, and started scratching M'arrella between the ears. The cat slowly stretched and started purring, coming out of her slumber. [[Hmm. You must want something.]] "Yes, I do. I'd like you help me make some jewelry the fast way." M'arrella flattened one ear, and opened an eye just enough to cast a baleful glance. [["The fast way" indeed. What is it you want me to do this time?]] "Don't worry. We don't have to go find the gems. I have enough with me for once. I want you to be the reality anchor for the Void work I'll be doing to shape the stones, though. I'll also need a gate to metal to handle the quickset when I have things arranged the way I want them." [[Sounds like I get an easy enough job this time. Fine.]] "Good. It'll be a while before I'm ready for that, though. I have to do some smoke-and-mirrors work first." Selna picked up her staff, and stood before the mirror again. "Time to see what the local fashions are for ladies' formalwear." Smoke issued forth from the staff, and coalesced around the elf's body. "Ack! How utterly medieval! I feel like I'm falling out of the top of this dress, but there are enough underskirts and such that I can barely walk! They definitely haven't had their Charles Dana Gibson yet. Nor their Paul Poiret. I _refuse_ to wear something that so clearly defines my role as 'sex object'! If this is their current fashion, I'll just have to work on starting a new one. "First, we lose the brocade. I don't need the sash, but I'll keep the shirt-tapered waist, and its vee in front. The skirt should be gathered at that seam, but it doesn't need to flare out much. That way, a half-slip is enough underskirt. Bring the hem up off the floor. Ankle? Try it. I'll need matching sandals. Will this work? [[Do I get to chase the white flashes when you move?]] Selna looked at her feet and sighed. "You're right. Why can't this work out with flats? I'm already tall enough." She raised and lowered herself on the balls of her feet, watching to see when her feet looked right with the gown. "All right. I guess I can stand a two-and-half inch heel. Time to drop the hemline again. A full length skirt works fine with the heels. "Now, about this neckline. Maybe changing it to a sweetheart will do? Hmm. Most days, I'd be happy with that, but I've been getting too much ogling of late." [[So whose fault was that?]] "Mine, of course. I know that. I still don't want to be making myself the bait for that kind of trouble tonight. No, I think I'll round this neckline, and raise it a bit. There. Sorry guys, no cleavage tonight. "What else? These sleeves are practically Edwardian. How about making it sleeveless? Hmm. Might be too scandalous for the locals. Cap sleeves, then. What about the back? Almost right. Round it a bit more. Fine. It's not my scapulae that I mind showing, after all." [[You people are sure funny about what skin you will and won't show.]] "True enough. Must come from not having enough fur. All right. Now that I have the shape of the dress, I need colour. Basic black? Usually good, but it could be too formal. Might be misunderstood. Traditional party red? Another one with a potential for being misunderstood. Too long a secondary tradition with red-lantern districts." [[That's one I hadn't heard about.]] "It's probably restricted to the theatre. I know about it, though, so it bothers me. So, I should use something to bring out the hues in my complexion, then. Green? Hmm. Too many humans wouldn't understand the look on elvish skin. They'd think I looked sickly. Blue it will have to be. Sapphire blue." "Now, how about texture? What fabric can I use? Hmm. Let's try it in taffeta." She swirled her skirt, and shook her head. "I don't want to make that much noise whenever I move. Especially not if there's going to be any dancing." She sighed. "Too bad. It's awfully pretty that way. Oh, well. Satin doesn't seem right, either. Neither does velvet." She pursed her lip a moment in thought. "Aha! I'll use duvetyn! I'll have to add some extra enchantment so it'll stay clean, but it's worth it. [[You better. I'll shed on it otherwise.]] "Uh, oh. Now the hemline is too plain. Try some lace? A second band an inch or so higher? Better, but the white is wrong with my skin. Make it match the dress in colour? No, make it a shade or two lighter. Almost right. It needs some silver edging. Now it looks like waves with sea-foam. The rest of the skirt seems to need more decoration to match it. More lace? No, it ruins the simple lines of the gown. Hmm. All right, run silver threads through it, like a net in the sea. That works. Still needs something. The net should be catching something? No, that doesn't match. Emerald sparkle accents for the 'water'? Yes, that's the right touch. [[What, no fishies?]] "Wrong effect. Sorry." She turned, examining the gown's reflection from front, sides, and back. "The gown looks done. What should the accessories be like? I should have a belt. A silvery one. Once it's real, silver will probably be too soft, though. Platinum filigree. Set a ruby in the clasp." [[Is that a target or something?]] "Yeah. It looks too much like an exposed belly button. Forget that, then. Use a plain clasp. More platinum filigree for the necklace. Put the ruby there. Set it between the points of the collarbone, right above the neckline. "Oh, my hair! I can't leave it down like that." She sighed. A glance and a gesture served to keep her staff standing in place as she let go of it to start brushing her hair. Once she had the tangles out, she began putting it up in a chignon, holding it in place with clips. When she was satisfied with her coiffure, she began to contemplate how to hold it in place for real. [[Why ARE you primping so much for this, anyway? It would be a lot faster if you just used fur.]] Selna laughed. "True. I'm not sure why I'm putting so much into this. I guess I'm making up for missing my senior prom." [[?!? Does 'senior' prom relate to 'junior' high somehow?]] "Yes. Ask me later, after I've finished preening." [[Right.]] "A tiara is too regal. Even a circlet sends the wrong message. I can't keep clips in it, though. That looks too tacky. Combs. Needs gems to match the dress. Put sapphires in the crests of the combs. They should be silver. Check that, too soft again. More platinum, just to be sure. "Now my ears look too plain. Do I wear earrings, or let some of my hair 'escape'? What are illusions for, dear. Check each way. Hmm. A bit of escaping curl in front of each ear works. That's good, since I'd have to re-pierce the ears otherwise. That's the one bad thing about regenerating." [[Poor baby.]] "I know. 'I can't complain, but sometimes I still do.'" She carefully extracted just the right amount of hair from her chignon and convinced the strands to curl the right way. "That's done. Any other jewelry needed? A bracelet, I think. Emeralds set in silver. How about rings?" She smiled. "Just one. As long as I'm betrothed, I may as well advertise the fact. A diamond solitaire in a silver band, on the traditional finger." [[I'm sure Julienne will love to hear how you explain your intended WIFE to people.]] "If I have to explain it, I'll give an explanation that covers at least the basic facts. For the most part, I figure I can avoid having to give that much detail. "Well, now that I think I've checked all the trees, how's the forest looking?" She took a deep breath, and looked at her reflection as a whole for the first time in over an hour. "Oh, my--I think I went too far...." M'arrella sniffed at that. She leapt up onto Selna's shoulder, and looked over the woman's reflection. [[Nonsense. You're a beautiful elf. What's the matter with letting people see that?]] She wound behind Selna's head to perch on her other shoulder. [[There's only a balanced elegance here, nothing kitsch.]] M'arrella hopped onto the dressing table and began to wash herself. [[Besides, anything worth doing is worth overdoing.]] Selna laughed. "I suppose you're right. Besides, what good is dressing up for a party if you don't really dress up? Well, then, are you ready? It's time to put some reality into this illusion." [[I'm ready. Let's do it.]] Selna closed her eyes. Silver and platinum coins from various realms started unraveling in threads that wound across the room and into the corresponding places in the illusion. Rough gems dissolved into mists that flowed into place in their new settings and in the phantasmal skirt. When the metal and gems were in place, Selna opened her eyes. She started her staff spinning, and began to chant. As she wove the spells together, the staff rose slowly into the air. At last, with a final word of power, she slammed the staff down to the floor, arresting its motion. As it stopped, reality twisted in response. The gown was no longer anything but real. "Whew! That was sort of fun, but remind me not to lose this dress. I'd hate to go through that much work before every party." M'arrella blinked at her and went back to washing herself. Selna spun her staff up her arm. As it proceeded past her wrist it seemed to be speeding away at right angles to everything. It vanished into infinity before it reached her elbow. She then started putting everything else away. The bags and chests were then stowed in the void along with the staff. "Well, M'arrella, is it time for the bejeweled elf and the chrome-clawed cat to drop in at a party? It's just beginning to get dark, and that seems like a good time to arrive." [[Are you sure I was invited, too?]] "I don't see how anyone could expect an invitation to an elven sorceress not to include her familiar. You weren't explicitly excluded. I think there's only one obvious conclusion." [[It works for me.]] M'arrella jumped onto Selna's shoulder again. "Hmm. I almost forgot. I need a hospitality gift. Someone who calls up elementals at least as easily as I can, and who lives under Ley lines, is in even less need of a practical gift than am I. So, what impractical thing can I produce? A bottle of wine is traditional, but seems rather prosaic coming from me. I know! I've been saving some bottles of Sparks. This is the right occasion for one of those." A bottle zoomed in from infinity, materialising in her hand. It looked like a winebottle, but it was filled with a scintillating blue fluid. "Is everybody ready?" [[Jump, already!]] A wrenching sensation, a feeling of falling, being nowhere at all and everywhen at once. >FLICK!< It was over almost before it could be felt. They were on the path before the lighthouse, about thirty meters away from the garden wall. Selna started walking. She spotted the red metallic door, and went up to it. She looked at the metal of the door, and at her knuckles. She stiffened her fingers in a talon-like curve, and rapped on the door with her fingertips. A moment later, the door opened to reveal Lex. "Hi! I hope I'm not too early." -- Spider Boardman spider@orb.nashua.nh.us speaking only for myself ...!decvax!orb!spider