[PP-F9] A Fitting Arrangement

[Telrenya 0]

Telrenya's body materialized in the middle of Yōgan Village, instantly greeted by a wave of volcanic heat. "Ahh, I really don't like this place..." She muttered, already wanting to fan herself with her hand. The woman had tried her best to prepare herself for the environment, having equipped the yellow, black, and white dress that Ruby had helped her shop for during their last excursion on the mountainous floor. Her hair was tied up into a ponytail as she had grown into the habit of styling it when paired with the sunny dress. She had received a message from the blonde healer not long ago, asking her to come back to the shop owned by Sapphire near the edge of town. She wasn't sure what the hurry was, or why they specifically had to meet at the Tailor's shop, but she only hoped that it meant Ruby was in better spirits after the events of weeks past.

Hurrying along to the Tailor's shop, the blonde slipped in and closed the door behind her, letting out a small sigh of relief as the temperature-control of the indoors allowed her a reprieve from the intense heat outside. Wiping the back of her hand across her brow, Telrenya looked around the room until she spotted the familiar figure of the woman named Sapphire, giving the shop's owner a shy smile paired with a small wave. "Hi there. Ruby asked me to meet her here, have you seen her around?"

[Jomei 0]

Jomei stared out of the large window on the second floor of his house, looking at all the view had to offer. Aside from the players walking around and enjoying the crisp autumn air,  the few trees that sprouted along the streets of Taft began to change color as well. The month was slowly but surely nearing an end, meaning that Halloween would be coming up soon, and with the holiday coming up, another batch of events for the players. The man turned from his window and stepped over to his desk. Next to an old picture he had of him with his old friends, Lowenthal, Piera, Lee, and Carmine, the founders of The Velvet Room, was a small pin that the members of the guild would wear to identify as part of the guild. Jomei stared at the purple and black symbol, gently brushing off the small layer of dust with his thumb. Last year, his guild were the ones responsible for throwing a Halloween costume party. The turn out was phenomenal, however, Jomei heard rumors that this year, the event would be completely NPC ran. The man smiled, and in the same moment, he received a private message. The message was from his friend and guild mate Ruby. She was inviting the man to the Ninth Floor to go shopping for a costume for this party. The man chuckled, imagining her just trying on different costumes to get a reaction out of Jomei. Shaking his head, the man let Ruby know that he would meet her there, before heading out the door to his house. As he stepped out the door, the brown owl that sat atop his roof swooped down and landed on his shoulder, deciding to take the trip with the Irishman to the store. After a short walk, the two warped up to the Ninth Floor to meet Ruby.

Immediately, Jomei was hit was a blast of hot air, from being above a dormant volcano. "Gah.. I definitely didn't miss this floor." the man said, already wiping beads of sweat from his forehead. The shop Jomei was looking for was a tailor's named Sapphire, which he was actually able to find quite easily. As he entered the door and closed it behind him, his body immediately felt cooler, and he let out a sigh. To his surprise, the woman that stood with her back to him near the tailor was not Ruby, but rather Telrenya. The smile on Jomei's face brightened as he walked up behind the girl, placing a gently hand on her shoulder. "Well, Ruby didn't tell me you were going to be here too. I'm happy to see you." His smiling eyes looking down, lovingly at the girl. 

[Ruby 0]

Sapphire had turned her back from making clothing to see that a woman had entered the store and asked for Ruby, she had offered Telrenya a smile "Well hello Telly, welcome back. How have you been?" she waited a moment after her asking if Ruby was around, she had let out a chuckle and yelled out "Ruby! Your friend is here!" then she had looked to Telrenya and said "She'll be down in a moment, ever since you gave her permission to have her pick costumes for you that girl has been here ever since trying to find the best ones." she had let out a laugh and went back to her work hearing Ruby come down the stairs. Ruby had opened the door and went out to see Telrenya and Jomei in her maid outfit she had chosen for her costume. Ruby had smiled and hugged Telrenya and said to her "I have picked the best costumes ever! Jomei you wait here, I want them to be a surprise." she grabbed Telrenya by the arm and dragged her upstairs where she had picked three costumes for her.

@Telrenya

[Telrenya 0]

'Telly...?' The woman smiled shyly, not having expected Ruby's nickname for her to spread. At that moment, she felt the weight of a familiar hand upon her shoulder, blinking in surprise before she looked up and over her shoulder to see Jomei's face smiling down at her. Her heart fluttered briefly at his unexpected appearance, before the reality of the situation started to hint at itself. "Jomei!" She started with a smile, but in her voice, slight confusion began to creep in. "Wait, Ruby invited you here too...?"

Before she had time to question the contents of Jomei's invitation, Ruby's footsteps sounded from the staircase nearby. Telrenya looked over to spot the healer with a wide grin on her face, though she barely recognized her in the costume she donned. Nearly frying Telrenya's ability to process the situation, Ruby had wrapped her arms around her in a hug before pulling her along. The woman stumbled to follow after her as she was dragged up the stairs and out of sight, stammering her protests. "W-wait, what--what's a surprise? Ruby!"

[Jomei 0]

Telrenya turned to look at Jomei, the usual sparkle in her chocolate-brown as as she looked at him, though her voice trailed off into confusion when she asked if Ruby had invited him as well. Jomei nodded his head, "Yeah, she said she needed to come here to pick out a costume, so she asked if I wanted to tag along. I needed to get a new costume anyway.. so I figured I wo-" As jomei was finishing his thought, as he was usually interrupted, he heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. Looking past Telrenya, he saw a blonde haired woman wearing a maid's outfit. He soon realized that it was Ruby in her costume. His eyes went wide for a moment, the thought of Ruby trying to get Telrenya to try on costumes similar to that. Ruby.. take it easy on the girl. Jomei thought to himself as he gave them a sheepish smile, waving the girl off. Once the two were upstairs, Jomei turned around to the rest of the shop "Well.. might as well try to find something for myself while I'm here." Walking through the shop,  Jomei began to look for his own costume to wear. 

[Ruby 0]

Ruby had giggled as she had dragged Telrenya upstairs, she had looked down upon Telrenya as they were walking upwards saying "Don't worry about it! I have three outfits picked out for you Telly! Don't worry its not too revealing." she had chuckled as they walked upstairs to a room, in the middle was three female mannequins with a different costumes put onto them and around the room are scattered costumes here and there and there is a door that leads to a changing room. Ruby had stood next to the mannequins and pointed at each of them, "This one is a very cute Supergirl that I think you would look SUPER cute in! This one is a outfit from the anime Sailor Moon that I think you would look rather beautiful in, and the other one is a Tinkerbell outfit because... lets be real, you cant go wrong with a disney movie costume." she had giggled telling out to Telrenya about each one. She had bowed and said to her "Behind me is the changing room, feel free to try them on"

@Telrenya

[Telrenya 0]

A mixture of shyness and unease was plastered all over the girl's face as they came to a stop at the top of the stairs. The bubbly woman's attempts to quell her nerves were largely unsuccessful. Past Ruby's frame she could spot the three mannequins and the outfits they were wearing. At first glance, she couldn't deny that the costumes looked rather cute, but then the thought of her wearing them populated her mind. It was true that she wanted to wear a Halloween costume during this time of year, and she couldn't deny Ruby's help in finding one for her, but now that she was actually standing before the woman and a set of outfits, a knot took up residence in her stomach.

Knowing that protests would get her nowhere, the woman's nervous expression lingered while she slowly walked up to the mannequins. After a few times repeating in her mind that she needed to just go ahead and pick one, the girl strengthened her resolve and tapped on the vibrant green material that represented a Tinkerbell dress. A small menu pulled up that allowed her to pull the item from the display into her inventory. "I really hope it looks okay..." She mumbled with uncertainty under her breath as she walked to the changing room and slid the door shut behind her. With a few more menu selections, her other dress disappeared and her dirty blonde hair fell down to spill over her bare shoulders. Swallowing down her hesitation, she chose to equip the green dress, and it soon materialized over her body in a flash of light. Seeing her reflection in the tall mirror the changing room housed, her cheeks instantly turned a bright shade of pink. The low-cut dress left her décolleté exposed, and the short, leaf-styled hem left much of her legs bare as well. A pair of thin, translucent wings stood behind her, causing the girl to twist her torso and give a half-turn towards the mirror. The dress fell to her lower-back, allowing the wings to display as if they were brushing up against her bare back. The girl was so flustered at the thought of being seen in the outfit, she hadn't even adjusted her hair into the iconic bun before her shy voice spilled out.

"R-R-Ruby!" The girl almost sounded as if she was pleading from behind the changing room door. "I mean, i-it's a cute costume, but I can't go outside like this!" The door slowly slid open as she faced Ruby with red cheeks.

[Jomei 0]

Jomei slowly walked around the tailor’s shop, admiring all of the work she had put in to the outfits she had on display. When it came to costumes, there was not a very large amount, however the majority of them seemed to be tailored more to a male fit. He assumed that the upstairs portion of the building was where all of the female costumes were. As he ran his hand against the fabric of a shirt, he heard muffled voices coming from upstairs, each of which he could distinguiah between Runy and Telrenya. Jomei chuckled to himself as he took a closer look at the men’s costumes. “hmm..” The costumes ranged from a variety of types, some being based off of scary monsters, while others seemed a bit more humorous. The first the man looked at was a one piece suit with a zipper up the front, meant to look like an animal. The skin was dark brown, almost black, and the hood had two large tusks, a snout, and red eyes. Jomei could not help but let out a belly laugh, “A boar, scariest costume in Aincrad.” He looked over his shoulder at the stairs where the two women had retreated up. He wondered just what Ruby was having Tel try on.
 

Spoiler

 

[Ruby 0]

Ruby had offered Telrenya a friendly smile, she knew that she was a little uncomfortable with how some of these look, however she knew that some of these she would look cute in. And before long Telrenya had grabbed the Tinkerbell outfit and mumbled to herself while sliding into the changing room. With a chuckle, Ruby had looked around and sighed... she has to clean the mess she had made today, she shook her head and started to clean. After a moment Telrenya had opened the door calling out her name saying that she couldn't come outside like this. Ruby had rolled her eyes and closed the door behind them and locked it so no one not even Sapphire could enter. She had said out calmly to her with her hands faced out and said "Its okay to come out to get a different outfit now Telly. I doubt you look that bad, I just thought it would be fine... I guess I was just wrong, you have my apologies." she had tried to calm her down to step out to show at least Ruby what she had looked like, she doubted that she looked that unpresentable, however she could be wrong.

@Telrenya

[Telrenya 0]

With the door to the changing room slid all the way open, Telrenya stood nervously and ran her hands over the front of the dress as if by habit. "Y-you don't think it's too much?" She sounded a bit unsure in her question. She took in a deep breath to steady herself, the color slowly beginning to drain from her cheeks as she displayed the outfit in front of Ruby. Still wearing a nervous expression, the woman gave a small turn, looking over her shoulder as she did so. "Sorry, I'm just not used to all this." She gave a weak chuckle when she turned her attention back to the healer. Her hand raised to run her fingers through her hair down to her shoulders, averting her gaze. "I appreciate you putting this together for me, though. I never really got to do anything like this with a friend before, s-so..." She trailed off, a small smile resting on her features while a faint pink tint lingered on her cheeks.

She let out a small sigh, as if to urge herself past her insecurities. "W-welll... If you don't mind then, can you help me fix my hair?"

[Jomei 0]

He heard voices from upstairs, and a door close and lock. Turning his head forward again, Jomei shrugged his shoulders. Seemed like he was going to be alone for a bit longer. He shoved his hands into his pockets and continued to walk past all of the costumes on display. Some of the more details pieces were on mannequins for all to see, while others were simply hanging on racks. Jomei looked at the humanoid figures with the costumes on, one was dressed in a long pink and white dress with gold accents, like some sort of princess. To create something as such in the real world would have taken hours upon hours of work. The next was some sort of demon, Jomei was not entirely sure which parts of it were even fabric, when a lot of it looked like fake muscles and horns. He scratched at his chin, a costume like that was not necessarily something he would wear. The next costume was a black pinstriped suit that made the wearer look even thinner, with a bat-like bow tie. Jomei recognized it as very similar, if not exact, to the costume he had worn last year. The man stood in front of it for awhile, remembering what he looked like with the costume. Thanks to Piera's potions, he was able to temporarily dye his hair white, and with contacts he was able to make his eyes completely black. Part of him considered if he should just save the col and wear that again.. but a new costume would be fun too. 

[Ruby 0]

Telrenya had looked extremely cute when she was blushing, it really started to hurt that she got with Jomei because she just looks so cute, however she had eventually stepped out and did a spin. Ruby had whistled taunt her to see if she could blush more, however Ruby had known that this might just be a little too revealing, however she wanted her help putting her hair up to show, Ruby had smiled and told her to turn around so she could. While putting up her haird she had started a friendly conversation with her "So Telly... how has Jomei been? Have you two had any fun yet~?" she had winked behind her and nudging her with her elbow. Before all this Sapphire had been leaning forward on her counter placing one hand on her cheek looking out to Jomei that had been looking out for clothing, she had said out to him "So... what kind of outfit is a hot man like you trying to go for?"

@Telrenya

[Telrenya 0]

Telrenya stepped out of the changing room, the pair of green slipper-like flats that each featured a white pompom covering her feet. The woman took a few short strides to approach Ruby, and she took a seat in a nearby chair so that the taller blonde would be able to tie her hair up into a bun. With her back turned to Ruby, she let out another breath to calm herself. She'd never had a sister, and James didn't know the first thing about styling hair, so it felt rather soothing when the healer ran her fingers through her dirty blonde hair. Her moment of calmness was prodded with Ruby's light conversation, and quickly shattered when her suggestive question caused the girl to falter with another deep blush that reached to the tops of her ears.

"W-w-what?!" She stammered, her right hand instinctively rising over her heart as if she could use it to steady her quickening heartbeat. "Rubyyy, you're terrible!" The girl whined when she realized Ruby was getting thorough enjoyment out of teasing her. She took in a deep breath, her lips pursing slightly before her shoulders fell with her exhale. "If you have to know, then no..." She admitted with plenty of lingering embarrassment. "I mean, I'm new to this dating thing, okay?" She pouted slightly, her hand falling to join her other as they rested in her lap. "But, well... Things are good." She finally answered while a small warm smile pulled at the corners of her mouth.

[Jomei 0]

A soft him began to emit from Jomei's throat as he continued to look at the costumes on display in front of him. The tune was that of a song that he had been working on recently, one that he had the opportunity to play with Telrenya on the violin. One day, he hoped to finish composing the the song in two parts, so that he could record it with her. His eyes had moved up to the next costume in line, which was a sharp looking tuxedo. Jomei looked at it for a second before chuckling to himself, I can only imagine someone showing up this party dressed as the Hero of Aincrad. As Jomei found himself lost in his own thought for a moment, he heard the voice of the shop keep asking, "what kind of outfit is a hot man like you trying to go for?"

Jomei's cheeks turned pink before turning to the woman, who was leaning on her counter and looking over at Jomei, a smirk on her face and partially closed eyes. Jomei  cleared his throat before putting his eyes back on the costumes in front of him, "Just looking for something for Halloween. You some pretty nice stuff here." 

[Ruby 0]

Sapphire had let out a chuckle as she had left her desk and walked over to the man, she had placed one hand on his shoulder as she had stopped to say to him before walking towards another direction "You're not gonna find anything stunning here, follow me... I just got the thing to hand you." she had let out a chuckle. Back upstairs Ruby had fixed her hair into a bun and she had let out a laugh for a bit when Telrenya had gotten so flustered, eventually after she had finished Ruby had turned Telrenya around and said to her before hugging her "Oh you are so easy to get flustered, Jomei is definitely one lucky man." she had let go and looked at Telrenya and said "I am glad that things between you two are alright Telrenya, I just care about ya is all and if he's harming you then I gotta do something." she had let out a chuckle before walking to the door before bowing slightly to Telrenya and said "So... shall we show Jomei Telly?"

@Telrenya

[Telrenya 0]

Telrenya let a tired smile cross her lips after parting from Ruby's embrace. She gave the woman a reassuring shake of her head before Ruby offerred for her them to go downstairs to show the costume off to her boyfriend. She couldn't help her cheeks from taking on another light pink hue, but she took in a breath through her nose while she mustered up her courage yet again. "Yeah, since you called him all the way I suppose it's only fair." She let out a small chuckle.

The blonde woman opened the door that revealed the spiraling staircase to the lower floor. Her lips pursed, trying to mentally prepare herself a moment. 'C'mon Estelle, if you can get through one, the rest will be no problem!' She urged herself, taking careful steps down the wooden structure. When she appeared at the bottom of the staircase, it didn't take her long to spot Jomei's tall frame beside Sapphire as she seemed to be leading him to a section of costumes on display. When her eyes met his the woman's face immediately flushed again, and she could only pull herself a couple of small steps further before she shyly averted her gaze. "W-what do you think...?" She asked in a quiet voice, bringing her hands in front of her torso so that her fingers could fidget amongst themselves.

[Jomei 0]

Sapphire had stepped out from behind her counter and walked up to Jomei, telling him that he would not find anything of interest in this part of the store. With a hand on his shoulder, the azure haired woman led him to the opposite side, where more costumes lined the walls. Jomei could not deny that Sapphire was right, there were many more costumes on this side of the store that drew his attention. As they neared, one in particular caught his eye. However, before he could take a closer look, he heard the soft voice of Telrenya behind him. Jomei turned around to look at her with a smile on his face, nearly forgetting that the two were upstairs finding a costume for her to wear. She wore a strapless green dress, which was much shorter than anything he had ever seen her wear before, with flats of a similar color, and small partially transparent fairy wings on her back. Her hair was also tied up into a bun above her head, her bangs still crossing her forehead. Jomei's eyes widened, his cheeks turned pink, and his mouth opened slightly, before slowly turning into a grin. "Tel, you look so adorable!" he said as he took a few steps towards the girl. "I think it looks great on you." he said with a smile, though in his mind, he knew any costume, even the boar onesie, would look great on her. "Do you think that's the one you're going with?" 

[Ruby 0]

Sapphire had went through some of the clothing that was on the rack upon the wall, she had a good eye and she knew that one of these would look exceptionally great on him, if not all of them. Before she could really pull out the costume she had in mind, Telrenya had stepped down in front of Jomei asking about his thoughts upon it. Eventually she had heard only great things to come from his mouth, she had smiled, she had knew that the man was with the woman, at first she was confused why he was here, however it became a little more clear. Ruby had chuckled as Jomei had only given her compliments about the outfit, she had stepped up to Telrenya and nudged her and said "See? It's not so bad is it?" she had chuckled before looking at Jomei and then back to her "Leeeets not get to conclusions so quickly, I pulled out two more out and I wanna have her try them all on before deciding." 

@Telrenya

[Telrenya 0]

Her blush deepened with the man's reaction, a shy smile decorating her face. When he had asked if she thought that would be the costume she'd decide on, her girl brought up a hand to rub at her opposite arm. "Ahh... I dunno, it's a bit--" Her foot instinctively moved a few inches forward to catch herself as Ruby's nudge had caught her off-guard. She spoke up on the matter herself, explaining that she wanted the other blonde to try on all of the costumes she had picked out beforehand.

She had to admit that the contrast between the clothing she typically wore and the pixie dress she currently stood in was a bit too strong for her comfort. "I-I'm gonna go try a different one." She announced shyly, turning and slipping past Ruby to hurry back up the stairs. She assumed the woman would follow her back to the room upstairs, and she let out a small sigh as the color slowly drained to return her cheeks to a normal shade. She walked over to the other two displays, her eyes glancing between the two. The one of the left featured bows and what she thought looked like a rather short skirt, and the one of the right was split into two pieces, meaning it would expose her midriff. Figuring it couldn't be much worse than the short, backless dress she currently had on, the woman tapped on the blue fabric of the Supergirl costume and pulled the item into her inventory. She brought a hand up to tug lightly at the ribbon that had been fastened in her hair, turning to address Ruby over her shoulder at the same time. "I'll try this one next." She informed the healer while her dirty blonde hair fell back down past her shoulders.

[Jomei 0]

Jomei could not smiling while looking at Telrenya, though he noticed a small bit of discomfort in her face with the costume. Though he would not call the outfit 'revealing', the dress was still shorter than any she had ever worn around him. Once she stammered out that she was going to try a different one, Jomei nodded his head and took a step forward to Telrenya. He placed a hand on her arm and grinned, "You wear whatever makes you comfortable." Jomei then looked up to Ruby and smirked, wondering just what other costumes she had in mind for the girl in between them. "You two have fun, I think I may try on some costumes down here myself." As the two retreated back upstairs, Jomei turned back to Sapphire, "Alright. Lets see what else is over here." Jomei followed the woman back to the other side of the store, where other mannequins were set up with costumes. He slowly walked the wall, his eyes looking the attire on the plastic human figured up and down.