Today is Day 26 of NaNoWriMo! Happy Thanksgiving for those in the US. For those, Happy Thanksgiving for the day your country celebrates, if they celebrate at all! My total for day 25 of NaNoWriMo was 1,181 words, and that's with me getting some online gaming time in ;)
All passages were in order from yesterday's post, so here's what I wrote:
I dialed into a new signal and waited for the line to be picked up.
“Aiya, this is Zalrish,” a smooth, elvin voice answered.
“Zalrish, it’s Rinneth,” I said.
“Rinneth!” he said excitedly. “How are you, love?”
“I’ll be better if you can do me a huge favor.”
“You know I love doing you favors. Need a new dress designed?”
I laughed dryly. “I wish it were just that.”
“Well, stop teasing me, and spit it out!”
“My father moved up the press release for our big project without telling me. It’s tonight and I need something to wear and”--I looked at me team--“and my team needs some serious help.”
The guys looked at me with offended stares while Nazre chuckled quietly.
“How many men on your team?” Zalrish asked.
“Four,” I replied. I looked at Ramos and he shook his head. “Ramos won’t need anything new. Someone will be bringing him his suit..”
“So, four suits and a knock-them-dead dress for tonight?” Zalrish chuckled. “Love, I thought this was going to be a challenge.”
“You may not say that when you see the height discrepancies.”
“Come by my studio and we’ll see about that.”
He hung up, leaving me to deal with the guys. “Alright, let’s get moving.”
“To where, lass?” Thuldren asked.
“To Zalrish’s studio,” I explained as I spun on my heels. “We need to make sure everyone is ready for tonight. Thanks again Nazre. I really appreciate the work you and your team put into the projects.”
“My pleasure, Miss Rinneth,” Nazre said. “Good luck at the press release.”
I grunted. I’m going to need it.
****
Ramos pulled the car up in front of a stone building with black brick accents around the large windows and entranceway, and an elegant sign that read, New You in common and the elven equivalent below in smaller text. I remembered when I was young, it had been the other way around, and my mother had to really hammer it into Zalrish’s head to swap it since he had struggled to get clientele. Every since he had given in, I had never seen his salon empty or heard him complain about money. Of course, my family paid him well, so I doubted he’d have that problem for some time.
Rial pulled up next to us in his vehicle, and everyone filled out and followed me inside the salon. Like the outside, the inside walls of the open concept room were made of stone. Set up in the front of the room, where we stood, was a lounge with luxurious chairs and couches, as well as a few coffee tables with style magazines laid on top. Hair styling sinks and chairs lined in rows on the left and right side of the room, few of which were empty.
“I thought we were getting new clothes, not our hair done,” Rial murmured.
Vamir quickly shushed him and I was grateful. I didn’t need them insulting anything Zalrish did professionally.
A beautiful short, olive-skinned woman and long dark brown hair finished speaking with a young hairdresser and rushed over to us, her wide hips accentuating her gate. Wish I had hips like that…
“Shush, you do,” Rashta scolded.
“Rinneth,” the woman said excitedly. “Zalrish said you were coming.”
We kissed each other on both cheeks. “It’s good to see you, Leigh.”
“Come with me,” she said as she turned around. “Zalrish is in the studio working on some masquerade dress for a client.”
“Sounds interesting.”
“If you think millions of peacock feathers are interesting, then yes, it’s a very interesting dress.”
I giggled. “Has he started cursing yet?”
“No, but I’m pretty sure it’s start soon.”
Just as we swung a left out of the salon and into the studio, a string of evish profanities were heard. Leigh and I laughed and Vamir scratched his head. “Quite the vocabulary he has.”
“Your poor virgin ears,” Vesser joked.
Vamir pushed him and Vesser shoved him back in retaliation, nearly knocking Vamir to the ground.
“Hey, easy,” I said. “I need you guys in once piece tonight. You can break each other tomorrow, once the press release is over.”
“That sounds like a lot of fun,” Zalrish said as we entered his studio fill with torso mannequins with half created clothes or nothing at all, racks filled with finished pieces, and shelves and tables littered with tools and supplies.
“Not the kind of fun you’re thinking of,” I said.
“Oh, well, that’s no fun, love, so I’ll pass.”
I shook my head and joined him by his side as he looked at a drawing of a white dress with vibrant feathers. On the table, he had large and small peacock feathers scattered about, and what looked to be a large fan with some of them glued on. I looked at the mannequin that held up a white dress, but have very few feathers on it.
“What had you swearing up a storm?” I asked.
“This stupid dress,” he said.
“I figured that. What about the dress?”
He pointed to the vertically fanned out feathers in his drawing. “I can’t get this to stay on the dress without falling over or nearly ripping the dress.”
I looked at the real dress and then walked behind it to look at that side. I even played around with the clothing, but my expertise in making clothes was nonexistent. Luckily, I knew someone who did know quite a bit.
“Rashta, I know it’ll take quite a bit of energy out of me, but can I tap into Atria?”
Rashta chuckled. “She was hoping you’d ask. She would like to mess with Zalrish’s head by taking over your body for a moment.”
“It’ll mess with the boys too. I’ll allow it since I’m sure their reaction will be fun.” I looked at Zalrish. “I’ll work on this as part of my payment for my last minute request. I really need you to focus on the guys.”
“Rinneth, you don’t need to help with this,” Zalrish said. “I’ll figure it out.”
“Now, is a good time, Rashta.”
A sweet voice giggled. “I’m already waiting.”
“It’s all you, Atria.”
A tingling sensation fell over fell over me and my ability to control my body faded. The world around me slowly slipped away and it felt as though I was seeing my actions through someone else’s eyes. The brief glimpse of the mirror conveniently placed behind the table Zalrish was working in front of, showed my features had been replaced with a tall, voluptuous woman with olive skin and long, slightly wavy black and red ombre hair. Her sapphire eyes sparkled with mischief as she focus on Zalrish who looked confused. The boy behind him looked even more bewildered.
Atria walked over to Zalrish and bonked him in the forehead with her palm like I would have. “Don’t tell me not to help. Do as Rinneth said. I will help her with this.”
She then turned around and as she walked back behind the mannequin, she gave me my body back.