A Sturdier Signature

[Alydia Ettermire]

I'm setting this just after To the Bitter End (http://althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=18739), for my own timeline integrity.
Alydia Ettermire walked the streets of the Bazaar quite openly in the light of day. After watching a bullet go through the canvas of her favorite old coat, after having it weigh her down during chases with Shynt Aubrey, she decided that after thirty years, hundreds of cases and dozens of capers, it was time to give it up for something both sturdier and lighter.

Vlince was best made here in Corone, it was native to the island nation and its people had been working the fiber for centuries. It was light like linen, durable like light armor, and breathed, meaning it would be neither too hot almost anywhere out of Fallien or too cold anywhere but the roughest of Salvar winters. While she didn't know the tailor she was visiting, she didn't have the luxury of stopping off with the same man who had made the original coat or the ability to go back five years and have the old man in Ruka's hometown make her a new one. So she could but hope the coat she was able to purchase here would be adequate.

Aly opened the door to a shop of a tailor who seemed to specialize in vlince and looked around the shop, investigating the quality of the fabric and examining the stitches. Satisfied that it would do, she pulled an old pattern from an outer pocket. The pattern was over half a century old; she'd had it first made when she first signed to Ettermire's Police Force, and wore it in emulation of her mentor...although the color, she had to admit, was just for the drama of it all.

She walked up to the counter near the back of the shop, treading just heavily enough to be heard on the wooden floor. "Excuse me...but I have a request."

[Logan]

The young man was a stark contrast to the typical tailor and seamstresses found about in the Bazaar. After all, most of those he had knowledge of were either of the fairer sex or of the more wise of age variety. Still, Hi Jung was one of the best at working the Vlince material in the just the right manners and means to most any pattern, regardless it's depth of difficulty.

Hi heard the door open slowly and the sound of the woman walking across the hardwood floor of his shop. Her words caused him to pause the pattern he was working for a moment, but only long enough to gaze upon her. As Hi looked back down he commented in a fairly thick Far Eastern accent, "Ooh. Wha pwiddy wady wan? Huh? You in'rup me an thin you no say nutting?"

Surely, the woman would have a laughing fit at his poor accent.

[Alydia Ettermire]

A little bit of a smirk etched its way across Alydia's face, and she set the pattern down on the counter, spreading it out for the tailor to see.

"I would like this coat made in vlince; one side in the same color red as the one I'm wearing now, and the other in the deepest black you have. I'd also like the pattern modified a little bit so that the pockets are a little more handy."

She spoke slowly and clearly; after all, if his accent was that thick, he probably would have a difficult time with comprehending if she spoke too fast. She knew that if she encountered a situation in which it was necessary to speak Akashiman, or even the Concordian dialect of Raiaeran, she sometimes got lost if the speakers rushed their words.

"Can you do this, and about how long do you think it will take and how much do you believe it will cost?"

[Logan]

Hi looked back up at the lady as he lowered his specialized microscope glasses which allowed him to properly stitch the Vlince fabric more easily than any others. He took a look at the pattern and quietly thought to himself as he tabulated a rough cost estimate. As she spoke he looked her in the eyes with a confused look, "Why you spea so swow fow? I no stupeed." He shook his head as he grabbed two fabrics nearby.

The first was of the deepest most gaudy red anyone in Althanas had ever seen. The other was of a beautifully shimmering black which looked surprisingly like a shiny leather more than a dull matte Vlince. "I haf two fow you. One bwack, one wed. I chawge sis hunned an fifty go. Eencwude many many pocket. Pwiddy wady wan?"

[Alydia Ettermire]

The red one was good, but the black...that was not what she needed in the black side of her coat. It was shiny, it was cool, but it would also catch any light and broadcast her whereabouts. When she had the black side of her coat out, she didn't want to be seen.

"The red one is good," she told the tailor, "but I'm looking for something a lot less dramatic for the black side. It's pretty, but too shiny. A girl needs to blend in sometimes, you know." She gave him a smile to let him know she meant no offense...she just had to be careful about exactly what she wore.

[Logan]

Hi raised his glasses and nodded, "Oh, Hi see wha you mean. Pwiddy wady wan no be seen. Pwiddy wady wan bwend in. Hi haf jus a one." The young tailor reached around and flipped the black fabric over, revealing the duller far less shimmery side. "Siwwy me. I show you wong si. See," he raised the fabric closer to her eyes.

"Wess shimwee. Faw wess shimwee. Make pwiddy wady bwend in goo. I chawge same pwice fow eet," the heavily accented Hi said matter-of-factly. He looked the lady over, "Oh, an' Hi wi'uh nee pwiddy wady fow measuwing if no pwobwum wif pwiddy wady."

[Alydia Ettermire]

Aly nodded. "That side will be perfect." She checked to see that it still had pockets, and was satisfied that they existed. The new coat would really be a lot better for her than her old one...the only sad part about letting the old one go was that the Chief had bought it for her just following her ruining her first one in the sewers. But...a girl had to move on sometime.

Shrugging off the old, well-loved and slightly-abused coat, Alydia held out her arms.

"Measure away, then."

[Logan]

((Bunny approved by Aly in IM))

Hi nodded as he rose quickly and swiftly. The young man pulled a measuring tape from his pocket and a piece of chalk. He pulled the black fabric over next to him, just as he looked at Aly and asked her to raise her arms. "Awms up pwiddy wady," he asked politely. She obliged and he wrapped the tape quickly around her chest.

The young man paused as he held the tape around her chest. Simply computing certain numbers in his head to ensure the best fit for her, he then proceeded to write down the first number. Swiftly he wrapped the tape around one of her arms and then ran it down it's length. "Oh, vewy goo vewy vewy goo," he said as he shifted to her other arm and repeated the measurements there. He nodded as he wrote down four more numbers, and then proceeded to measure her neck. "Ahh yes. I shoo haf know it be tha," Hi nodded to himself.

A quick movement of his hands and he had wrapped the tape around her chest once more with her arms down this time. Once under her chest and once above it and then across it once more. Gripping the chalk as he computed measurements again, he wrote down three more numbers. He moved to behind her and measure around her midsection, then her waist. He measured once and then twice around her waist, and then once more around her backside. The tailor always wants to be sure of his measurements after all.

Hi looked down at the fabric and wrote three more numbers down and then did two final measurements around each wrist. "Vewy goo. I haf aww I nee. Pwiddy wady ca pick uh tomahwoh. Pwiddy wady pay now, awigh?"

[Alydia Ettermire]

"I'll pay four hundred now, and the rest tomorrow when I pick it up." She'd been prepared for the garment to cost around seven hundred, but she'd had no intention of paying full price straight up...even though she didn't intend on stealing the coat. It wouldn't serve any purpose for her to just take it. She'd had too many experiences where she needed something, paid for it, and then had to wait extra time because there was no incentive for the person she'd paid to do the work on time. Keeping a percentage of the payment assured that the time schedule would be met.

Alydia held out her hand over the counter and dropped four hundred pieces of gold seemingly from nowhere, then turned to go.

"I'll be back tomorrow afternoon with the rest of the money. I look forward to having the coat."

[Logan]

Hi smiled, "If pwiddy wady insist. See pwiddy wady tomawwoh." Sliding the gold into a small pouch which was hidden and inaccessible by others, the young man watched Aly leave his store his eyes glued to her backside. Hi thought to himself, "Vewy pwiddy indee."

[Alydia Ettermire]

Aly came back the next day, with the rest of her money in a pouch and everything else hidden away where only she could get to it. That would let her change coats quickly and then catch her boat. She was looking forward to getting back on the move; sitting sedentary was hard for the driven thief.

"Good afternoon," she greeted the tailor, setting the pouch with the two hundred fifty gold on the counter for him to take. "I trust the coat is ready?"

Hopefully she'd put the coat on, it would fit like a glove, and she could be right on out of there. That would be the best way.

[Logan]

Hi had worked a late night and it showed on his face and features. Slowly he pointed to a dummy in the corner which wore the new coat with many pockets and reversible fabric. "Hi done. Hi vewy tiuhd. Hi wouk vewy hawd fow pwiddy wady. Hi hope pwiddy wady come back soo. Hi like pwiddy wady. Pwiddy wady vewy ni'," the young tailor said with a tiny smirk.

Unsurprisingly, the lonely tailor had grown fond of Aly in the very short time they'd spoke, but Hi kept his feelings hidden as best as possible. "Maybe nex time pwiddy wady can haf goo discoun fwum Hi...," Hi said trying not to offend her.

[Alydia Ettermire]

"If I'm ever in Corone again and need some new clothes, I'll be sure to come to you," she told the tailor, picking up the coat, tossing her old one aside, and trying on the new. It fit well with the right side out, and then she turned it inside out to check how the black side was. He hadn't neglected to make the matte side the outer side, which had worried her a little the night before, but it would be perfect.

It was light, it felt good, it hugged her in all the right places and still had the dramatic WHOOSH! at the bottom.

"It's perfect. Just what I wanted. Thank you, Hi." She went over and palmed her pattern, so that just in case she needed it made again, she could have it made wherever she was.

"And...why don't you keep the old one? It could be interesting, someday..." here she paused and grinned.

"To say that you have the coat of Alydia Ettermire."

With that, she turned and left, and if the tailor looked for his chalk, he'd see that he was missing a couple of sticks.

But she hadn't even come near the chalk...had she?

[Logan]

Hi smiled softly as she tried to coat on. It fit perfectly in all the right places, especially in the more feminine features. The little extra coat length and width he'd added toward the bottom had paid off. One feature he'd added outside of her pattern was a thin belt that could be removed, and it was made with the shiny side of the black fabric. He knew she'd seen it, but he didn't hear her comment on it.

As she said her name he grinned from ear to ear, "Oh, vewy beau'uh'fuw. Vewy pwiddy name fow vewy pwiddy wady." He watched her as she turned to leave and all the way out the door. Once she was just out of eyesight, he ran to the door and watched her as she walked down the street and out of sight.

Hi was most certainly smitten, and there was no doubt he wouldn't even notice the missing chalk.


((OOC: Transaction complete. 650 gold for the coat and the belt. The chalk is awarded on moderator discretion. Thank you and have a nice day!))