Merriment At The Fair

[Kate Miller]

Kate hadn’t really planned on dancing with anybody in particular – maybe a certain outlaw if they showed up. Obviously Luke would be there for a dance, but she would most likely be leaving him for the majority of the time to Sarah. But one dance couldn’t hurt. He was after all ‘the boy that she was living with but not betrothed to’. That still made her chuckle. In a way she felt sorry for Luke at the mistake. He’d dread having to be married into her family; her father wouldn’t allow it anyway. He hated Luke – with good reason – he didn’t see the point in redemption. Once somebody had done something wrong, there was no going back. How wrong the stupid little man was. He should hate himself if that was his attitude. He could forgive himself, but not others. What sort of a man believes in that?

Her father obviously.

”I’ll probably leave Luke to my sister. “ she chuckled as she fidgeted more with her mask. It really was irritating. The sooner she was given a reason to take it off the better. Maybe it could ‘accidentally fall off’ whilst dancing and she’d fail to put it back on. Most people she could tell who they were, so it would make to distinct difference.

”Well, maybe one dance won’t hurt. But my sister carries a mean hit in her. So I’ll just have to wait an see! Probably just see where the night takes me. Where the wind blows so to speak.” she didn’t really have a lot else to say. As sociable as Kate was, she still found new people hard to get talking to. Unless there was some sort of major similarity between the pair. Or something happening that merited such a riveting conversation. Like when Allan had been forced into hiding in her home. They’d mainly spoken about Will and she teased him, him her, and she’d given him some new clothes. That flowed. This was more difficult.

[Lily Waters]

Lily sighed, drumming her fingers on her knees. This conversation was incredibly disjointed. It seemed they had to keep thinking of things to say. And she couldn't bring up the boy she lived with but wasnt betrothed to again. And from the way Kate acted, Lily guessed she thought the same too.

She looked down, pulling the seam of her dress. Something she really shouldn't be doing. The thing was falling apart enough as it was! She tried to pull the thread off, so it couldn't on anything and rip her dress in two. That would most certainly not be good! But the thread wouldn't snap and it kept pulling.

The girl cried out in annoyance. "Uh! This stupid dress!" She flapped her arms about in distress before trying to calm herself. "It's falling apart at the seems. I really need a new one, but I can't afford a seamstress. I can't even sew to mend them myself!"

Thn she noticed Kate's dress, it looked customised and tailor made. Her brows knitted together. Did she know the Knighton seamstress? "Do you know who the Knighton seamstress is? I hear she's really good. I mean, your dress is amazing. Did she make it?"

Lily grinned sheepishly. She could have asked questions until the cows came home, as her Pa often reminded her. When she spoke too much at home he'd cover her mouth and tease her. With no Pa around, she had to sut herself up before she scared Kate off with the amount of questions that could pour out of her mouth.

[Kate Miller]

Kate watched as the girl pulled at the thread. She cringed. Don’t do that, don’t pull it! she was screaming inside her head. If there was one thing you didn’t do to a loose thread – it was pull it. It just crumpled the material together gave you less thread in the dress and cause it to fall apart. You could either ignore it, cut it with a pair of scissors or thread it back in with a needle.

Kate jumped slightly at the girl’s outrage, and dodged her flying arms. ”Do you know who the Knighton seamstress is? I hear she’s really good. I mean, your dress is amazing. Did she make it?” God that’s an awful lot of questions!” but Kate laughed, the coincidence was huge. ”I do. She did.” Kate smiled, it would be too mean to not tell the girl, but she still found it fun to be illusive.

”I know her extremely well in fact. One could say were the same very person. Seeing as well… it’s me… and thanks by the way. Nice to hear my work is being appreciated. Basically, you pull that thread any more, and it really will fall apart at the seams. You need to cut the thread, not pull it. If you want it tailored bring it to be after all this” she flicked her fingers about around her head to indicate the party, ”And I’m sure I can arrange some sort of ‘reasonable’ price. By which I mean do it without my father knowing for free. It’s always a pleasure to find somebody nice to talk to that’s not Luke or my sisters.”

[Lily Waters]

Lily could not believe her luck. She stared at Kate, wide eyed and astounded. She'd been sat with the seamstress all along?! She instantly put her hands to her side, like a naughty child that had just been scolded. The thread lay, half poking out of her dress. Her old... worn... tired dress.

”And I’m sure I can arrange some sort of ‘reasonable’ price. By which I mean do it without my father knowing for free. It’s always a pleasure to find somebody nice to talk to that’s not Luke or my sisters.”

Her eyes widened even more, if that were possible. "You'd do that?" She was so surprised. They'd spoken for only a while and she was offering to tailor her dress for her! She started to mumble and mutter before she could stop herself. "Well, it only needs lengthening if that is actually possible. And taking out, I've grown a bit since it was last, ur, edited? I have some money to put towards it. And we can pay for the rest in bread." She posisbly shouldn't have promised that - last time she'd promised bread as a trade her Pa had gone crazy. He didn't like just giving his products away, especially not when the trade was his bread for a service of some sort.

He wasn't around though, and who's to say that she couldn't make the bread. She was a skilled baker, some people even preferred her bread to her Pa's. She decided that she could make the promise. If Pa went mad, she'd use some of her money to buy the ingredients.

"Or if it's easier, my Ma left some dresses behind and you can savagely attack them with a needle." Lily had even tuned out of her own wittering, she wondered how Kate was fairing. And savagely attack them with a needle? She pulled a face, to show that she was confused with her own words. Some weird things escaped her mouth sometimes, but usually only when she got carried away. Or didn't know the proper term.

She made a mental note to learn the proper words, it may come in use in the future. Being able to read and write wasn't enough sometimes if you didn't know the correct words.

[Kate Miller]

”Don’t see why not.” Kate smiled and congratulated herself. New business… well kind of. She didn’t really want to charge the only person who had spoken to her at the party. It wasn’t her style. She hadn’t charge Allan for his bed, nor did she intend on doing so. Friends did favours for friends. Some sort of unwritten unspoken rule.

”There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of material there to lengthen it. So your mother’s dresses would probably be a safer bet.” she didn’t want to ask, or pry as to why hr mother had left them. If she had died or otherwise it was none of Kate’s business. ”It would be easier to make them smaller than bigger. And I can always leave the material there so it can be made bigger in the future. Which you can always do with a pair of scissors when the dress gets to small.” Kate smiled. She’d talk forever and a day about the different things she could do to things But at the end of the day, the girl wanted clothes that fitted and didn’t cling or hang. So she’d just leave that there. She could get creative with it, make it all weird and wonderful, but she’d have to charge for that, otherwise her father would go insane. Not that he wasn’t already.

”Give me a few days to recover from the party. And bring the dress round, we can have a quick look at them for you. I’m sure I can spare a few minutes. And Attack them with a needle as you say.” Kat chuckled to herself, and swung her legs beneath her. There was only so much she could do for people. She couldn’t read, or write or sing*. She could do clothing though. That was one thing she was good at.

(* - ALSA! Eheh XD)

[Lily Waters]

Lily nodded as Kate spoke, half getting the jist of what she said. It made sense, sort of. Mentally, she looked through her Ma's wardrobe, trying to pick out which dress she wanted to use. For the first few days after her Ma'd left she'd stared at her wardrobe, it was the only piece of her Ma she had. But then she noticed that some of her dresses were missing, that's why Lily was certain her Ma had left though she hadn't said a word to her Pa. And part of her didn't want to believe her Ma had left this world for good. It was easier to believe she had run away.

Lily grinned at Kate's useage of her terminology. She obviously found it funny... or endearing. Either way, it appeared to make her laugh. Lily liked to laugh. "When's good for you? I'm pretty much free all week, except Tuesday. Tuesday is the Merton Market and Pa says that I have to run the stall." She rolled her eyes, acting every bit the 'hard done by' teen. "Not that anyone has any money to buy anything anyway." She muttered to herself under her breath.

The girl hooked her finger in one of the ribbons attached to her dress and twirled it around. She hadn't even noticed that she was doing it, it was a habit she just did. It usually happened while she was doing something, like reading or listening to someone. And particularly when she was nervous or anxious... those were her excuses. In reality she twirled her ribbons pretty much all the time. When her hands weren't doing anything they went to the ribbons.

Which was true of now. She'd finished her sandwich, Kate had pretty much told her to stop tugging at her dress and she was listening to her. Had her Pa been here, listening to her reasoning for twirling, he'd have laughed at her. She was being rather silly.

"Can you work it Monday?"

[Kate Miller]

Kate nodded at her suggestion; ”Yup, Monday sounds good.” Kate smiled at she swung her feet. The competition should be starting soon, the crowd around the sign up table was quickly dying down. She spotted Luke across the green.

”I shall see you on Monday then. Hopefully a little more sober than I am now. And a lot more sober than I will be later.” she said closing one eye and looking into her now empty goblet. Great! she thought to herself as she put it down on the wooden bench next to her. She let out a long sigh and planted her feet firmly on the ground before her. Pushing herself up out of her seat.

”I’ve got to go and see ‘the boy-who-lives-with-me-that-I’m-not-betrothed-to’ wish him luck for the competition.” she smiled down at her new friend. ”Talk to you later, if not I’ll see you on Monday. In that house” she raise her hand and pointed at her house, ”That house right there!” She gave a wave and one final smile, offering a bright farewell as she left in the direction of the youngest Scarlett brother.

Luke was a good archer. He was no Robin Hood, but he could hit a target, not far from the centre either. Still, she could do luck giving, and cheer on. He didn’t have the highest confidence in the world. So with support he’d more than likely do a lot better than without. Feel his worth.

On her way over she grabbed another goblet of ale. Tomorrow was going to be a barrel of laughs, a involving a lot of water and avoiding her shouting father.

[Lily Waters]

Lily nodded in return, happy to be finally getting her dress. She'd waited so long! And she had definately earned it. Kate said that she'd do it for free if her Pa didn't catch her - but even if he didn;t Lily would pay at least something. Money was so hard to come by these days, and though she could do with every penny she had - and Kate looked like she could too.

Lily wasn't too sure if she could laugh at the 'slightly more sober' comment or not. she braved a quick grin. But she did laugh when Kate said, ”I’ve got to go and see ‘the boy-who-lives-with-me-that-I’m-not-betrothed-to’ wish him luck for the competition.” Lily had to wonder if that name would stick. Probably not, it was a very long nickname...

"Wish him luck from me too. I hope he wins." Lily returned Kate's smile, happy that she'd made a new friend today. Her eyes followed to where Kate pointed. The house was a little hard to make out - with all the people milling about - but Lily was fairly certain she knew where it was. And if not she would just have to ask. She didn't really have much trouble with strangers. A polite smile went a long way sometimes. "See you later, don't get too drunk!" Lily joked as Kate walked away.

She tried to get a glimpse of ‘the boy-who-lives-with-her-that-she's-not-betrothed-to’, though she wasn't entirely sure who she was looking for. She gave up with a shrug and decided to walk around a little more. She'd have to find her Pa soon. But there was no harm in wandering round a little longer. Who knows what could happen?