#i have to finish sewing then dye it then sew all the fall leaves onto it

[frmulcahy]

And if I got leopard print shoes what then

[bestfriendforhire]

Children of BFFH, Entry 62

 “We’re here.” announced Daddy as he parked the car..

 “Where are we?” questioned Mommy, looking around.

 Seeing the house, both of us exclaimed “Uncle Tom and Aunt Jamie’s!”

 When Mommy looked back at me, I could tell she was reading something on her glasses.  Looking surprised, she said, “Oh.  You’re spending Crystal’s birthday with her this weekend.  I hope we brought a gift.”

 I looked around and spotted a present next to me on the seat.  “We did, Mommy!”

 “And there’s another in the trunk.  That one’s from you, Ella.” explained Daddy with a smile.

 I nodded and focused on the blinking icon that had appeared on my glasses, which opened text and a picture to remind me that I had made Crystal a sundress this year!  Remembering designing and working on the dress was easy, but I rarely could remember which gift matched which year.

 Following my parents inside, I focused hard on remembering why I was here.  Momma Mila would surely remind me, but I did like to remember some things on my own.

 “Hey, guys!” exclaimed Aunt Jamie after she opened the door to see us.  “Come on in!” she told us, motioning us onward.  Then she turned and called “Crystal, they’re here!”  She hugged my parents and then me before saying, “Why don’t you go up and see what she’s doing?  Do you remember the way?”

 “No, but Momma Mila does.” I assured her.

 Aunt Jamie gave me a tight smile and nodded, motioning me along.

 “Oh.  I do remember.” I stated after Momma Mila had me turn a couple corners.  The living room had changed, but I could remember being here before.  Crystal and I often ran up the soft, light gray carpet over the stairs.  I remembered the nearly smooth texture of the baby blue walls before I touched them.  Yes, I had happy memories here, which made me grin and hurry even faster.   “Crystal?” I asked, poking my head through her open doorway.

 She didn’t seem to hear me, probably because there were earbuds in her ears.  Maybe she was really focused on what was on her phone.

 Sneaking up behind her, I maneuvered her present under one arm and tickled her foot.  With her suddenly kicking wildly, I had to block, moving back to avoid hurting her if she kicked too hard.  Crystal wasn’t like my friends and me, since she wasn’t descended from the fey or other mystical beings.

 She spun around, an angry look on her face that quickly turned to a smile as she threw a pillow at me, which I caught.  Then she pulled out her earbuds and said, “Ella!  When did you get here?”

 I blinked and stared as I tried to remember.  “Umm…”

 She giggled and hugged me, snatching the present from my hand as she released me.  “Is this for me?”

 I nodded after seeing a thumbs up and a picture of a dress I made her on my glasses.  “Yes!  Please, open it!”

 Grinning, she ripped away the carefully folded wrapping paper, tore back the tissue paper, and let the sundress fall down as she held the shoulders.  “Ella, this is beautiful!  Don’t tell me that you made this one too?”

 “I did!  I stared at dozens of sunsets to choose the prettiest one, planned out how to dye the fabric to fit the folds I had sketched, and even did the sewing!” I insisted, actually remembering the process.  “Do you like it?”

 “I do!  I really do.” she told me, hugging me again.  “Mind if I wear it tomorrow for the start of the party?”

 I shrugged and said, “It’s yours to wear whenever you want!”  Why was there a party…?  Oh.  Birthday party.  I was here for her birthday, so there had to be a party.  I was staying the night this year?

 “Thank you!  I’ve got to show Mom.  She’ll be jealous when she sees this.” insisted Crystal, grabbing my hand as she hurried out the door.  We were barely in the kitchen when she said, “Mom, look what Ella made for me!”

 “Crystal, that’s gorgeous.  You made that, Ella!?” questioned Aunt Jamie, looking surprised.

 As I nodded, Daddy said, “Yes, she did.  Spent hours just planning everything out.  Noelle helped some with the dyeing, but Ella did most of the work by herself.”

 Shaking her head in disbelief, Aunt Jamie said, “You make me believe you’re best suited for an entirely different profession every time you give a gift.”

 “If she doesn’t end up working for Mr. Somerset, I’ll be very surprised.” replied Daddy, smiling back.

 Mommy nodded and said, “Working for the Boss really is the best.”

 Aunt Jamie didn’t argue, turning to Crystal and saying, “Are you going to wear that when your friends arrive tomorrow?”

 “Well, duh.” replied Crystal, smiling broadly and spinning around with the dress held up to her shoulders.

 “Opening gifts without me?” asked Uncle Tom as he came out from the other room.  He bent down and hugged Crystal and me.  “Sorry that we couldn’t make it to your party this year, kiddo.” he stated as he looked into my eyes.

 “That’s okay.  Everyone gets busy.” I assured him, wondering which of my birthday memories were from this year.

 I smiled in gratitude, stood, and said, “The ribs should be done soon.  Is everyone about ready to eat?”

 “Yes!  Let me go hang my new dress, so it doesn’t get anything on it.” she told him.  “Come on, Ella!”

 I followed her, running up the stairs and watched as she put the dress I had made her for her birthday away.  How long ago was that?  Noticing the icons on my glasses, I exclaimed “Happy birthday!”

 She glanced back at me, looking amused, and finished hanging her dress.  “Thank you, Ella.” she told me with a smile.  Moving to sit on her bed, she said, “I heard you were in France just last week.  Can you remember what it was like?”

 France… I had memories of France.  How many times had I been there?  Looking through pictures that Momma Mila displayed for me on my glasses, I realized that the memories really were from this trip.

 “We actually went to England and Spain too, just doing short visits here and there.  In France…” I started, deciding which parts were safe to tell Crystal.  “I remember seeing a little of Montpellier, Nimes, and Marseilles.  We visited castles, museums, and such.  The trip was all part of history lessons.” I told her with a little prompting from Momma Mila.

 “Ugh… I get so jealous at times.  You get to see so many different places!  And where you live… ugh… It’s so pretty!” she insisted, looking like she was deciding whether to attack me or hug me.

 Nodding, I said, “The boss is good to everyone.”

 She laughed.  “That’s an understatement.  I was so mad that we didn’t make it back for your birthday.  I love visiting!  We had driven to Minnesota to visit my relatives there, and our stupid car broke down.  I bet you never have to deal with broken cars.”

 I shrugged and told her “I wouldn’t remember.”  There was no point in struggling to remember unpleasant things.

 She laughed again as she said, “True.”  Tapping over her eye while nodding at my face, she said, “Wouldn’t Mila remind you?”

 Mila wrote out “No need.” for me to read.

 Shaking my head, I said, “She says there’s no need.”

 Crystal opened her mouth to say something else, but Uncle Tom yelled up the stairs “Girls, food’s on the table!”

 We hurried downstairs together as I wondered if I was visiting for a special reason.  Missing a step as I tried looking through recent notifications, I was glad we were near the bottom, so I didn’t need to cheat, flipping off my hands and back onto my feet.  Even I remembered not to get caught using magic away from home unless threatened.

 “You must be hungry!” teased Crystal, maybe thinking I had jumped on purpose.

 “Of course!  It’s dinner time.” I told her.

 “Race you to the table then!” she exclaimed, darting toward the other room.

 Seeing the notification about her birthday, I let her win, though not by much.

 “Glad to see you two are hungry.” teased Uncle Tom as we took our seats.

 As we ate, I wished I had a better memory to take notes for Chef Marco.  He always loved hearing about the foods we ate away from home, and I thought he might like Uncle Tom’s grilled ribs, though I was certain Chef Marco could grill ribs too.

 When dinner was over, I was surprised that my parents were leaving without me.  I remembered Crystal sleeping over in my room, but not the other way around.  When we laid out a blanket to rest on while watching movies in the living room, Crystal explained to me that she was having a slumber party for her birthday tomorrow, and all of her friends wanted me to join the party again.  Hopefully, I’d be able to remember some of them this year.

[berrytaetae]

college!taehyung ♡

a/n: i was inspired by my favourite - @warmau - to start writing; if you want to read some beautiful imagines, please read her work if you haven’t alreadyㅠㅠ i love this boy very much so i hope i did him justice... since this is my first imagine, constructive criticism is much appreciated! also, please feel free to message me - i have no friends :) -🍓

being the fashion major that he was, taehyung was always around campus looking like a greek god

even if what he was wearing included a kilt and a pair of sandals, he was always turning heads wherever he went 

of course... his hair was no exception

it was basically his canvas, painting whatever new colour he wanted onto it

people would always ask whether he was worried about his hair falling out but taehyung just smiled his wide, rectangular smile and said that it was fine! he always wanted to try shaving his head anyway

and although the fashion majors were known for keeping to themselves, there was not one student who could say that they had never heard of taehyung

he was quite the social butterfly, always at college parties with his best friends, dance major jimin and film major jungkook

he wasn’t one of those people who went out to forget about their problems and wake up in some stranger’s bed in the morning

no, taehyung was always found dancing and laughing with some new friend he had just made

don’t get me wrong, taehyung enjoyed a shot of soju every now and then... he just knew how to control himself  

of course, you knew of taehyung as well - he was infamous for his good looks after all - but you had never crossed paths 

that was until one day, a friend from your study group had urgently called you because they had left their graphic design portfolio behind in the library and you, being the amazing friend that you were, had promised to pick it up and drop it off at the art building after class

after a long, emotional exchange of “you just saved my life” and “i owe you big time”, you had decided to wander around a bit... you had finished all your classes for the day anyway and you had never been to this part of the school before

so as you were walking around, listening to some music and admiring all the pretty paintings and sculptures, you hadn’t even noticed that someone else had joined you

it wasn’t until you had stopped in front of a particularly stunning watercolour painting that you had realised a boy was talking directly to you

taking your earphones out and apologising for your ignorance, you looked up to notice that this was not just some boy... no... this man standing next to you was the one and only kim taehyung... and wow he was even more attractive than you had imagined

stopping yourself from staring for too long, you stuttered, “i-i’m sorry... i didn’t quite catch what you were saying”

with a glistening smile, he repeated, “that’s okay! i was just asking what you found most beautiful about this painting?”

and before you could tell him that no, you weren’t an art major, taehyung started describing all the small details about what he believed the student was trying to convey through this form of expression

and you didn’t know what it was, but something about the way that he had captured the beauty of the painting in his words had prompted you to do the same

so you carefully explained everything from the colour, texture and composition to what you had interpreted differently about the symbolism of the painting to taehyung who was listening intently on what you had to say

and when you were done, he moved onto the next piece, doing exactly the same

you lost track of how long you guys had been talking for, but as you came to the last few displays, you noticed that the sun had already set and the cleaners were telling you guys to leave because they had to lock up the building

so taehyung and you went your separate ways and...

that was it

you hadn’t talked about anything else let alone exchange numbers... heck, if he wasn’t already known as the boy who caused way too many heart palpitations, you didn’t think you would have even caught his name

so you didn’t think much of your small encounter with taehyung until a few days later when you were grabbing lunch at the cafeteria

you were chatting with a friend, talking about the stress of exams and assignments, when you had reached out for the last bottle of banana milk

but instead of the cool plastic of the bottle, you were met with a soft, squishy object...?

and looking to your left, you had once again come face-to-face with kim taehyung for the second time that week

with a smirk, he snickered, “i see you can’t get enough of me”

“you’re the one who keeps following me around”

“and you’re the one who’s about to steal my banana milk”

and that’s when you began to rant about the shitty mess of a morning you had just experienced with someone spilling coffee all over your new white top and how your professor got angry at you for something you hadn’t even done when taehyung stopped you with a wink and said “don’t worry - i’ll strike you a deal. you get the milk if you help me with my next project”

and maybe it was the thought of not getting your banana milk that day or the way that taehyung had winked at you, but without a second thought, you had agreed to his proposal

so after handing you a napkin that he had quickly scribbled his number on, taehyung was gone as fast as he had appeared leaving both you and your friend dumbstruck in the middle of the cafeteria

“what was tha-”

“i don’t even know.”

that night, you had received a text from taehyung properly introducing himself and asking when you were free

and in a couple of minutes, you two had decided to meet at the cute cafe near campus the following tuesday

you couldn’t tell if something out there had decided to play tricks on you, but you swore that time moved infinitely slower in the days leading up to your date(?) with taehyung

but you planned out a super cute outfit for the day anyway

and when you got there, sitting down with your beverage of choice, you nearly choked when taehyung revealed what his exact plans for his next project actually were

“the fashion majors are holding a fashion show and i need you to be my model”

your first instinct was to immediately decline - you couldn’t walk down an entire hall without tripping let alone an entire runwary

but the excited look on his face stopped the words from slipping out and you were forced to nod your head with a sigh of resignation

so your next few weeks were filled with countless sessions of sketching, measuring and sewing

the hours would include taehyung groaning as he stained yet another one of his drawings with coffee as he worked on his project while you studied next to him until he needed to take his next measurement

but you guys got along well too well

taehyung would always make you laugh until you had tears wellling in your eyes and the people around you were annoyed from the amount of noise

and there was the small smiles and touches and the pink tint of blushing cheeks

and the moments of eye contact that lasted a little too long to be accidental

it didn’t help that taehyung was also a gentleman - he always offered to pay for your drink, brought you your favourite snacks from the convenience store and walked you to your dorm

but as much as you pleaded, he never showed you what he was working on, keeping everything as secret as possible

all you got were glimpses of fabrics and thread - nothing more and nothing less

and before the two of you knew it, it was the day of the fashion show

you, of course, were nervous

you had never done anything like this before and you didn’t even know what you were wearing for goodness sake

taehyung could have made you a clown costume for all you knew

but when you saw his bright smile greeting you and asking you to close your eyes, you suddenly felt the butterflies in your stomach become something more than just the thought of walking down a runway

with taehyung’s hands covering your eyes, making sure you wouldn’t peak, and a countdown from three, you were soon confronted by the most beautiful outfit you had ever seen

the white silk, adorned with the most intricate, fine details, caught the lights around it in the most beautiful ways

and the thought of taehyung working tireless hours to perfect this dress to fit every curve of your body made all your insides feel giddy

so in the spur of the moment, you threw yourself into taehyung’s arms, overwhelmed with the spectacular masterpiece that stood before you

but to your surprise, taehyung’s soft lips pressed against yours and you could feel him smile into the kiss

and in a soft whisper, taehyung asked, “before you try it on, i need to ask you something...”

and with a small nod of approval from you, he continued, “will you go out with me?”

“only if you let me keep the dress”

“i was going to let you keep it anyways”

“in that case, i’ll be happy to go out with you”

and that’s how you and taehyung became the most iconic couple on campus

like you guys constantly look like aesthetic couple pictures come to life with the matching outfits and everything

and you quickly come to learn that wow, this boy loves to cuddle

tbh he probably loves being the little spoon just as much as he loves being the big spoon uwu

when you guys are together, he always comes up from behind and wraps his arms around you, resting his chin on your head and shoulders

taehyung’s favourite place to take you out is the movies

he loves the feeling of the dark, open space

like he isn’t one of those people who gets bored halfway through a movie and starts making out with their significant other

no... taehyung is the type of person who will put all the armrests up and cuddle you through the whole movie AND the credits (”because what if there’s a post-credits scene that just makes everything perfect” he says)

once, taehyung had dyed his hair bright red and you refused to call him anything but ‘berry boy’ for an entire week

he eventually convinced you to dye your hair as well so it was a win-win situation in the end

his favourite place to kiss you is your neck and collarbones

“they’re made perfectly for my face” he says

and taehyung is honestly just boyfriend material™... like he would treat you riGHT

he would always buy you a bottle of banana milk and put it in your bag where you would find it with a cute note stuck onto it

and sometimes he would take you to fancy dinners where y’all would hold hands and enjoy a plate of spaghetti ‘lady and the tramp’-style with some glasses of wine

while on other days, he would take you on a picnic on the roof of some building so you could go stargazing

and sooner or later he would end up lying on your lap while you played with his hair, asking each other deep and personal questions about life

and taehyung would genuinely listen to all your answers because he thinks that your mind is just as beautiful as your face

and with closed eyes and a goofy grin on his face, he would tell you how much he loves you

and while you’re at it, give yourself a pat on the back because wow, you managed to score yourself a kim taehyung

[sushilabassyear1fmp]

Final and additional experiments

Hand embroidery (early sample)

This sample took a long time to do, perhaps 5 hours causally on and off which is already far too long to be worth doing for a final piece. For this experiment I wanted to layer the printed text with some embroidery to make the piece crowded and uncomfortable which I believe it successfully did do. Aart from time being an issue moving forward another issue is it is a bit too neat, while I wanted to hand sew so that It would be personal I and to be a bit freer with the text, when I hand sew it feels like it had to be perfect when I would want my text to be rougher to show a quickly written note, not a neat perfect note. Because of this I will try to use machine embroidery, I will have a lot less control of the machine which should help me create a rougher piece. On this sample I also tried out embellishing a gold coin onto the fabric, this worked but I will push it further in a future sample and experiment more with how much of it is covered and showing.

Advanced embellishments

Here I pushed what I did in my last sample further, I tried a few methods of getting the coins stuck onto the fabric, one of them is too neat and uniform I want them to be freer and much more random, they must be secure so that the coins don’t fall out but also have enough of the gold showing to make it obvious what it is which this sample shows well.

Machine embroidery

I wanted to basically recreate what I did by hand on the machine, this was a lot freer and rougher like I predicted but it was also a lot faster which will be a huge benefit going into my final making weeks. I will maybe write a bit smaller on my final as the text seems a bit large and maybe too legible right now, however this is easily fixable In my final.

Overlaying fabric choices and experiments.

I have 3 main options for an overlay fabric, netting which is white and has small but obvious holes in it. Tulle which would be either off white or white which is see through all over, soft and delicate or organza which is finer than tulle but less soft while keeping the delicate nature. I want to try the hand applique and sublimation printing on each fabric to test the use of these fabrics and weather they are useful for my final garment. The fabric has to show layers well as that is the intention for the final and it needs to take well to being hand embroidered on to be useful on my final.

The netting and organza took well to he hand embellishing, the method for hand embellishment which would be most delicate is when I sew only a small amount of the petal instead of going all around the petal with stitching, this still holds the petal without being bulky and ruining the look. This will also leave the petals hanging a bit which goes with the petals falling idea for my final. The tulle did not take well to the embellishment so it is knocked out of the running. Next I printed onto the 2 remaining fabrics, an idea which only occurred in the print room, both are synthetic which is good as technically the dye should stick but I was concerned that like with the big green nets that I put through the press a few weeks ago I was concerned that the fabrics would shrink or melt. However both of them did well when I put them in initially just to flatten them out, next I printed petal emblems on them. The netting had an interesting effect as there are considerably big gaps between strands it created and interesting negative space appearance which was not what I was looking for. The organza however did very well, it was delicate but oddly bold, you can layer more than one on top each other and it creates an effect with a lot of depth.

Final piece.

Making

What I thought would be a small task ended up taking 4 times as long as I thought it would. In practice I didn’t come across any major issues but when it came to the final everything went wrong.

The bobbin kept catching on itself which lead to a build up of thread on the inside of the garment, while this isn’t an aesthetic issue it did create some technical issues as the needle struggled not to get caught on it, this made the lettering a bit rougher than intended but as the idea of the text was a bit rough looking it isn’t too noticeable. To cover the roughed up fabric from the unpicking I add words over it so that is isn’t obvious that there is faulty fabric underneath.

A mistake I made In the final which didn’t happen in my samples was a oversight on my behalf, I sewed the top right of the bodice to the middle thought the embroidered lettering, this ruined the fabric when I unpicked it, the unpicking took about 2 hours as it was detailed and layered stitching which is not easy to undo especially when working with the fabric I was using. This set me back a day so I took 2 days of work (on and off) to finish the bodice machine embroidery. After that getting the machine embroidery done it is time to add the embellishment by hand, I add several gold coins wrapping in dark thread spread as randomly (and strategically) as possible to make it look natural and not have one side too gold heavy.

With the front panel of the bodice done I added the invisible zip into the back 2 panels before sewing the bodice all together (I will find out this is a mistake in the future) with half the zip in I then sew the darts for the back pieces and sew the bodice panels together, once this is done I do the same with the skirt panels. After the skirt panels are done I add the overskirts to the base skirt at the waist. Once that is done I am ready to attach the skirt to the bodice.

I notice that there is spare fabric in the bodice and it wont fit into the skirt, I thought I would overcome this by making sure I used my full seam allowance for the bodice however this didn’t solve this issue so I made the darts in the back panel bigger to use the extra fabric. Once I added the waist seam I then tried to add the bottom of the zip to the skirt which should have worked in theory however it was time consuming to make it match up and fit, it didn’t help that I was using a straight foot to sew the zip in instead of the zipper foot, the zip broke and I had to take it out which took a long time and messed up the fabric (as previously mentioned the fabric doesn’t take well to being unpicked) I decide to wait to see my tutor before putting another zip in and move on to the hem of the skirt, sleeves and neckline. While it pins flat, when I sew it all the hems pucker a bit (quite majorly on the neck) and I decide to hold off calling the garment finished until I can confer with my tutor.

Friday 14th May 2021.

14th of May 

Friday schedule. 

10-12 industrial machine induction. 

12-1 overlock seems and organza. 

2-3 add zip 

3-4 facing for neck and sleeves.

4-5 sketchbook printing 

5.30-7.30 blog write ups, plan sketchbook pages and scan in finished sketchbook pages ready for final submission. 

Of this list I achieved everything before 3pm, I also had help from the pattern cutting tutor to make a facing for Tuesday, I will cut the fabric over the weekend and I will bring it in on Tuesday so that I can be taught how to add a facing. I didn’t get any sketchbook work done but I will prepare images to print on Tuesday. I have also managed to scan the first few finished pages in ready to be put on the pdf.

 Additional planning 

To insure l stay on top of everting l make sure to makes small manageable lists to help motivate me and keep track of what needs doing and when

Finishing’s. 

As the edges were rather rough after a talk with the tutors we decided to overlock all the edges which meant undoing the original hem and we also added another invisible zip where the first one broke. After this was all done the piece looked a lot cleaner. In future I would overlock all edges on the inside of my seems and hem edges, this stops fraying and gives a clearer finish.

As my organza layers frayed a lot too I had those overlocked, the effect is prominent but it adds to the design. The effect of the overlocking is that the edges of the organza looks like a flower petal which matches the rest of my floral themed garment, the overlocking didn’t make the piece look too bulky as it was done on the mini overlocker which sews smaller. The stiches didn’t add too much weight to the hem either meaning the layers still float and are not held down by the hem which was another worry.

Last 2 weeks detailed schedule.

Friday 14th – After university – plan the next few weeks. Add to final evaluation.

Weekend – mostly blog and maybe look for photoshoot locations.

Saturday 15th – Blog day. 4 hours at least of intense blogging. Upload sketchbook pages to tumblr. Cut out facing.

Sunday 16th -  2 hours of blog making changes as discussed with tutors and 2 pages of sketchbook plus plan a few sketchbook pages.

Monday 17th – Official photoshoot plan with write up to back up decision. Prep images for printing for sketchbook.

Tuesday 18th – Get Paula’s help with sewing the facing in. Photograph final garment on mannequin and maybe shoot in front of university if there is a suitable location. Print images for sketchbook and scan in more pages for pdf.

Wednesday 19th – Food shopping so not much university work.

Thursday 20th – Photoshoot if not done. Finalise evaluation. Finish sketchbook.

Friday 21st –  Edit final photos. Hand in all physical work if done. Work on blog.

Saturday 22nd – blog

Sunday 23rd – blog  

Monday 24th -  hand in digital.

Making continued

Tuesday 18th

I sewed the facing in, had the hem finished, had the last of the seams overlocked. This was a fairly quick process. Now it is done i can begin to properly prepare for my photoshoot. 

Most of my blog was finished yesterday at home so today i printed images for my sketchbook and i will hopefully get around 5 or so pages done by 10pm tonight including pages with fashion roughs. 

As for the rest of the week l will take a break on the Wednesday part from doing the photoshoot. Thursday l will make progress on m sketchbook and prepare printing for my sketchbook to do on Friday. On Friday l will hand in my final garment and final sketchbook after scanning it in ready for my digital submission which l will have ready for Monday.  

[brokengem]

A Quick Fix - Hevie

Fandom: Descendants Word Count: 3039 Pairing: Evie/Harry Hook Other Characters: Gil and Dizzy Tremaine Request: Harry's coat gets ruined and he goes to the best person to get it fixed and he leaves with a crush on Evie - by Anon Notes: Finally. Geez, I’ve been stuck on the end of this for a little while so I’m finally happy to have it done. It’s cute and fluffy, though I’m not 100% thrilled with the end but I hope you like it! Also on: [AO3] and [FF.net link coming when I post it.]

[Masterlist of other fic] [Upcoming stuff]

“Bloody hell!” Harry cursed, tossing a red-leather sleeveless coat down in front of a surprised Gil.

The blond blinked, rescuing his tray of fries from being sent to the floor in the nick of time, “what’s wrong?”

Harry scowled down at the tattered coat, damn CJ and her trickery. What had started as a typical sparring match between siblings, ended with a sizeable tear in his favorite red leather coat. CJ won by default, the little blonde laughing wholeheartedly as she disappeared quickly knowing once he recovered from the shock it only meant grave things for her. She had every right to fear him. He’d get the little whelp back, revenge was always sweet.

“I see,” Gil mumbled through a mouthful of fries.

Harry’s head snapped up in time to see a greasy hand touching the tear. “Dun touch it!” His hook embedded itself dangerously close to Gil’s hand - right between his thumb and index fingers. The brawny teen gulped, coughing slightly when he choked.

“Serves ye right,” Harry mumbled, watching as Gil beat his chest to ease the pain. Uma slammed a goblet of water on the table next to Gil’s hand, slapping the back of his head with an affectionate eye-roll before she continued her rounds.

Eyes watering, Gil drank the offered water down in just a few large gulps. “I was-” he cleared his throat, “I was going to say I know someone who can fix it for you.”

“Why didn’t ye say so?” Harry’s fist slammed down on the table, jolting trays and goblets from the force. Gil opened his mouth to reply, only to quickly shut it once more at Harry’s pointed glare, “take me to ‘em. Now!”

Stale fries forgotten, Gil nodded quickly and stood, “I don’t think she’s home but I know where to find her.”

-X-

Harry scowled at the faded blue sign that read Lady Tremaine’s Curl Up and Dye - the final ‘e’ hanging dangerously, looking about ready to fall on the next fool to cross the threshold. This was the last place he thought Gil would drag him too. Did he expect the old hag to sew up his coat with a smile?

“She likes to visit Dizzy, so if we’re lucky she might still be here,” Gil stated, pushing open the wooden doors to the salon.

Harry growled. She might still be here?! For Gil’s sake, he bloody well hoped whoever this person was was indeed still there.

He waited a moment before entering, debating. This could be a waste of his precious time, a goose chase for some mysterious person with the patiences to deal with pirates. Harry stared at the hook at his side, if their person wasn’t there he could always scare Gil a little on their way back to the Lost Revenge. Uma wouldn’t mind too much if Gil came back with a bleeding scratch or two.

Entering the salon, Harry was greeted by the shrill sound of a child’s laugh and immediately found Gil in the ensuing chaos. His brawny friend held Dizzy Tremaine down on a battered couch, his fingers wiggling against the sides of her colorful dress. The little girl kicked out as she squealed in delight, her little hands reaching for Gil’s imposing fingers.

“EVIE!” Dizzy shrieked between giggles and sharp intakes of breaths, “HELP ME! HELP ME!”

A blue slip of a thing rushed forward, gracefully landing on Gil’s back as beautifully painted nails dug into his exposed sides. His friend stopped his attack on the girl, looking over his shoulder at the shock of sapphire hair - a wide grin on his face.

Dizzy saw her chance, now that Gil was distracted, and slipped out from beneath him. With a fierce battle cry - the sound coming from the little girl surprised Harry - Dizzy sprung forward and latched herself onto Gil’s arms, using all her strength to keep them together.

“Hey now, that’s not fair!”

“We live on the Isle. Nothing’s fair,” the soft spoken voice was sweet and teasing, the owner continuing their assault.

Curious by the sight but growing tired of being ignored, Harry cleared his throat finally alerting them of his presence. “Oi, interrupting something, am I?” Three pairs of eyes turned to face him, and bloody hell, was the sapphire vixen a beauty.

“Harry,” Gil gave his signature lopsided grin, “this is Evie, the girl I was telling you about. She can fix your coat up in no time.”

The blue-haired beauty stood, a small smile on her face as she closed the distance between them. He’d heard of her, a princess who’d been locked away in a forgotten castle for years.

“-daughter of the Evil Queen,” the beauty spoke, her hand held out between them.

Harry shook himself from his thoughts, the most charming of smiles on his lips, as he took her hand and placed a chaste kiss on the flawless skin. “Harry Hook, lass,” he didn’t miss the intrigued gaze that fell to the silver hook in his hand, “son of THE Captain Hook.”

Dizzy giggled from behind them, the colorful girl joining Gil as he teasingly Oohed and Awed at the pait. He’d deal with him later back on the ship, for now he was taking pleasure in the dusty pink hue tainting the vixen’s cheeks.

Evie slowly removed her hand from his, the teasing brush of soft skin definitely not his imagination going wild on him, “may I see the damage?”

Handing the red leather coat over, Harry watched as dark eyes carefully examined the item.

She hummed, looking up, “you got grease on it.” Harry’s eyes momentarily traveled to Gil, narrowing at the blond as he entertained Dizzy. Evie giggled, having followed his gaze, “of course but don’t worry I can remove the stains for you.”

“And the tear?”

Pretty brown eyes rolled at his statement, “That’ll be no problem at all. I still have errands to finish today,” she paused, tapping a finger against her chin, “do you know about the Castle Across the Way?” Of course he did, the castle famous for harboring the Evil Queen and her daughter for a decade. He nodded, earning a genuine smile. “Perfect, come by tomorrow. Mother will be out most the day and I’ll be able to work on it in peace.”

She handed the coat back, their fingers brushing when he took it. The dusty pink hue returned to her cheeks and Harry couldn’t help but smirk down at her. Her brow rose in challenge, dark eyelashes fluttering as a stray lock of blue was tucked back behind her ear.

“Dizzy, ready to help me?” Evie turned away with a wink, her arms extended towards the little girl. Dizzy promptly hugged Gil and raced into Evie’s arms, offering Harry a small smile before the pair left.

Harry barely took note of Gil as the blond’s arm came heavily down his shoulder, leaning against him. “Pretty great isn’t she?” Great? Maybe. Pretty? Understatement.

-X-

If he hadn’t been in need of getting his bloody coat repaired or that he wanted to see the sapphire haired goddess from the day before, Harry would have turned back and hauled right back to the Lost Revenge. Besides giving very questionable directions, Gil hadn’t told him about the maze of trees surrounding the castle. He survived as any proper pirate would, the castle looming before him, terrifying to any of the run-of-the-mill Isle dwellers. He had no doubts that the Evil Queen’s castle was once a sight to behold - back in those magical days all their parents loved to ramble about - but now it was nothing more than a rundown structure like the rest of the bloody Island.

He knocked thrice for good measure, whistling an old pirate tune his ma used to sing to him. The door opened just as he brought his hand up to knock a fourth time, the blue-haired beauty appearing just inside. A smirk formed on his lips, knocking gently on her forehead, “hollow.”

Her eyes narrowed dangerously, her grip on the door tightening. Had the Isle not been void of magic, Harry imagined electricity circling the girl, hair flaring up around her as though she were preparing to cast a life-ending spell on him. At that moment he thanked his lucky hooks for the magic ban. Evie would have cursed him in the blink of an eye.

Looking ready to slam the door in his face, Harry vamped up the charm, giving her a dashing smile, “I’m kidding, love.”

Some tension seemed to ease from her body though a forced smile played on her lips as she waved him in. “I have the materials in my room. This shouldn’t take more than an hour.”

With a flourish, Harry waved his hook,  “nothing but time, Princess.” He’d be bored out of his mind on the Jolly Roger and Gil and Uma had taken shifts at the chip shoppe. She hummed in response, motioning for him to follow.

Mirrors of all shapes and sizes decorated the walls, he didn’t know why that surprised him given who lived within the stone walls. Most were shattered, remnants of the broken glass littering the floor beneath. Harry found himself stopping in front of one mirror that had remained mostly in one piece - the glass split in half and nothing more. A finger reached out to trace the split, the black frame fascinated him - looking like woven thorns, dangerous and threatening.

“Mother’s always had a thing for mirrors.” Not realizing the princess had snuck up on him until her soft-spoken voice filled his ears, he startled. His finger ran over an uneven line, slicing the skin open, giving way to a little bead of blood. Hissing at the stinging pain, Harry pushed the digit into his mouth getting a taste of the coppery taste of his own blood. Concerned brown eyes watched him, a delicate hand reaching out, “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Pirates don’t startle easily, girlie,” he played coolly, despite knowing his claim was nothing but a lie. He had jumped at the sound of her voice, being far to enchanted with the mirror to focus on anything else. He was glad his crew wasn’t present, they would never have let him live it down. The concern melted just as quickly as it had appeared from those beautiful eyes, the blue-haired princess rolling them with a playful flare as she gently took his hand and tugging him forward.  

Her room was just as he expected; prim and proper. There was barely any sign of trash on the floor, the bed done neatly and tidy. Even the little vanity that housed her make-ups and jewelry was neat - no stains or spills. Everything seemed to be in it’s proper order, it was all a far-cry from his rooms aboard the Jolly Roger and Lost Revenge.

Evie lead him to the bed, sitting him down on the softest sheets he’d ever felt. Even Harriet’s bedding didn’t compare and his older sister prided herself in being able to acquire most of the finer things the Isle had to offer. The sapphire beauty could certainly teach her a thing or two.

“I can begin anytime you wish to part with that coat on your lap,” Evie’s voice declared, the blue-haired teen stood in front of him, hands on her hips. Though a teasing smile played on rose colored lips, the glimmer in her eyes told of her impatience.

She practically snatched the red-leather coat from his hand once he handed it over, a look of pure glee crossing her features as she took to the long table tucked in the corner. She began humming to herself, examining the coat in full before she settled it down with the inner lining facing her. A pair of scissors appeared in her hands and Harry scrambled to his feet, slamming his hand down before she took them to it.

“Are ye mad?” he demanded, eyes ablaze with fury as he leaned closer, “I brought ye me coat to fix, not te shred it.”

There was no sense of fear despite the intimidating glare he gave her as Evie calmly stared back,  “It’s already shredded,” pointing the scissors to the tattered back, “ I have no intentions of making it worse. You asked me to fix it and that’s exactly what I’m doing. I need to break the inner stem just enough so I can apply a patch to it.” She held the scissors close to his hand, the sharp tip poised and ready. “You can take it back and live with the tear. I highly doubt you’ll find anyone who would be able to do a better job than me. However, if you want it repaired, Hook, I suggest you move your hand and let me work or else the little cut you received from the mirror will be the least of your worries.” Her words were sugary sweet with an innocent smile playing on her lips, though her eyes shone with the silent promise to carry through with her threat should he tempt her.

“So the pretty gem does have bite to her,” he laughed, slowly removing his hand and being sure to keep a watchful eye on the seemingly innocent teen. He’d wonder how someone like her could possibly be a villain when she’d been nothing but cheerful smiles and soft spoken words. It pleased him to see the beauty with bite and little fear. She was all the more intriguing.

Satisfied, Evie took to humming once more carefully popping each inner stem from the inside of his coat. Harry continued to watch for all of two minutes, making sure she was being true to her word. His coat of one of his most treasured items and it had certainly seemed better days, but a beauty and with a sweet tongue was not enough to save her if she ruined it beyond repair. He grew bored not too long after seeing her put the scissors down, turning away to find something else to entertain himself with.

Her vanity seemed as good as any place to start. She had a collection of makeup Harriet would happily weep for; various rouge colored lip sticks, numerous colored eyeliners, used eye-shadow pallets. He hummed, gazing back to the vixen. Her back still turned away he easily took one or two or five and stuffed them into his pockets, nice little gifts for his sisters and Uma and if he happened to keep one of the eyeliners for himself, well.

A red heart shaped gem topped with a cracked crown on a golden chain caught his eye. He carefully took it from where it dangled, enticingly. The craftsmanship was questionable, his guess being one of her own creations but it was still better than most the jewelry he’d stolen.

“I don’t think that’s really your style,” the teasingly soft voice giggled. Chocolate eyes meeting his from the corner having caught him in the process of tucking away the necklace.

A cocky smirk came to his lips, gently toying with the chain in his hand, “perhaps not, Princess, but I know beauty when I see it and this is certainly it.” He was pleased to see her cheeks redden at his words, having understood he wasn’t just speaking of the heart necklace. “One of yer makin’?”

Evie smiled, “the barretts, the tiaras, earrings, necklaces and rings most of them are my creations. Some have been made by Dizzy.”

His brow knitted together, “the wee one from Tremaine’s?”

“One in the same,” the sapphire beauty practically beamed, looking all the part of a proud mother, “she has such a bright future ahead of her. Oh, this should be dry now,” she turned back to his coat taking it carefully into her hands. “I just need to sew the inner stem closed and it’ll be as if nothing were there.”

He hummed, watching her thread a needle. He turned away once again bored, venturing to what he assumed to be her closet. Dresses and skirts of various shades of blue filled one side of closet. Tops with splashes of other colors filled the other. They all screamed princess with their embroidered apples, hearts and crowns.

“Now those,” Evie’s gleeful voice chimed from behind him, “are all my design.” She plucked a dark blue halter top from her selection, the crest of the Evil Queen embroidered beautifully on the tops center. She held it up to her body, giving him a little twirl as she displayed it. “You can call it a passion of mine,” she giggled, placing it back with the others.

“Your coats done, at least I’ve repaired the tear.” She quickly retrieved it from where she’d left it on the bed. If it weren’t for Gil’s greasy fingerprints, he wouldn’t have known where the tear had been. “In order for me to rid it of the grease prints, I’ll need to keep it overnight.” His brow rose in question and she quickly shook her head, “it’s nothing bad. Just the solution has to settle in and it won’t work if you’re off doing who knows what while it tries. Besides, we can make sure the glue I used set and does its job to seal the tear. I will return it tomorrow. Is that okay with you?”

“It will have to. You won’t destroy it?” she crossed her heart. “Tomorrow then, lass, at Ursula’s chip shop.”

She nodded, taking an empty hanger from her closet for his coat, hanging it carefully from the door.

“How might one be able to commission a piece by ye?” Harry asked curiously.

“I think we can work out something,” she smiled, mischievously. He allowed himself to be pulled from the room, once more making their way down the hall of mirrors. “Tomorrow at noon?”

“Tomorrow at noon,” he confirmed. Evie gently pushed him outside, a shy smile on her lips as she closed the door behind him.

Harry grinned from ear to ear as he stared at the wooden door. She was certainly something and it made him eager for their next meeting. Turning on his heel, Harry whistled a merry tune playing with the necklace still in hand.