“Shay... what the hell are you wearing?” Raia asked.

“Garbage!” Shay admitted-- far too easily.

Raia rolled her eyes, “I had a feeling this would happen? Follow me.”

Shay was prepared for more mockery and acid, but super-secretary Raia Latorre walked off without another word.

Out the common room. Across the grounds. Up a set of stairs.

Raia produced a white card, waving it in front of the blocky door handle. The door produced a loud click noise, after which she opened it and walked through.

Magic.

(Or maybe it was extremely advanced technology. It was magical, either way.)

Shay saw clothing racks. Lots of clothing racks. They had wheels.

And mannequins-- the dress-form, not-creepy kind. They were basically just torsos.

There were fashion magazines on the coffee table. One had a page open, marked with circles and notes in pen.

A work table with a sewing machine faced the entrance. Behind it, the whole wall was covered in clothing designs. (And the whole floor was littered with scraps of fabric.)

Shay looked around in wonder, “Whose... room is this?”

It wasn’t Tyvan’s. That’s what her heart was telling her.

“It doesn’t matter,” Raia said. “We have permission to be here.”

It didn’t sound like the room belonged to her, either.

She grabbed a measuring tape off the desk.

Oh. Oh, no.

“Arms up... Stop holding your breath... Turn around...”

Raia took her measurements without saying them out loud. That was for the best, though. Shay didn’t want to know.

From there, one of the portable closets got unzipped and she basically got a full wardrobe change.

Slightly stretchy black slacks. Designer belt with a big, (and exQuiSite) golden buckle. A sinfully comfortable tan-gold sweater vest with a cable-knit pattern. (That went over her school shirt.)

Then, her flats got switched out with something more leathery and... mature. The name and logo were hidden on the inside of the shoe, but anyone in-the-know would probably be able to tell it was a high-end brand.

Everything was part of the Eorzea fashion line-- a name she’d heard thrown around but had never seen. It must have been supremely expensive.

Shay also got all her makeup removed and reapplied under a series of blazingly bright light bulbs.

...It looked much better after. It looked more natural.

She checked the wall clock, in the adorable shape of a black cat with a swishing tail. The whole process took less than 30 minutes.

“Raia,” she said... “why are you doing this for me?”

“This isn’t about you,” Raia said.

Fair enough.

“Thanks,” Shay whispered.

“I hope you learned something?” Raia groaned as she spritzed something nice.

Ooh, the bottle said Eorzea too.

“I learned that I suck at makeup,” Shay said.

“You’ll get better someday.”

That was probably meant to be offensive... but Shay couldn’t help feeling motivated instead.

“Where’s your pin?” Raia asked.

Shay automatically glanced at her bag on the nearby table.

“Oh... I left it on my old bag.”

That was a shame. It was a really pretty pin, so it’d really finish off her look and let her match with Tyvan.

Raia turned to leave, “Let’s go get it.”

Shay grabbed her back, rushing after, “Um. Do we have to?”

“Yes, we have to get it,” Raia said, clearly annoyed. “Why? Is there a problem?”

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Uh-- there is a... little problem?”

Raia kept walking, her pace a little scary. She was in heels.

Walking out to the car park, she clicked open the doors of a sleek, black, mid-sized SUV. The name of the model, Gallivanter, lined the front of the hood.

When she got inside, she expected new car smell, like in Tyvan’s car. It smelled like a pine forest. That was fine, too.

“So where is it?” Raia asked, “If it’s in your room, go get it. Boss likes it when we arrive 15 minutes early.”

“That’s the problem,” Shay said.

She sucked in air through her teeth, “It’s... at my aunt’s house.”

Raia started the car, “That’s not a problem.”

She turned right out of the lot.

“It’s um... the other way,” Shay said quietly.

“I know that!” Raia snapped-- “We’re losing like 30 seconds? Calm your tits.”

Shay folded her hands in her lap, focusing on calming her tits. Her aunt would be home. And she’d certainly have questions-- on her attire, on her company...

She didn’t spend too much time at her old place of living, only going back to sleep. And every morning she left, she took one or two of things to bring back to Elysium.

She ran into her aunt only once in the last two weeks... and she was too busy watching late-night TV to do anything besides look over her shoulder to glare at her disapprovingly.

Her aunt didn’t know that she replaced all her part-time jobs with just the one. She didn’t know how screwed up her headspace was after James died. She didn’t know that she made a bunch of new friends and they were all adults-- adults that treated her with basic kindness and respect.

Shay wasn’t looking forward to going back there-- not at all.

Raia parked her fat Gallivanter in the middle of the road before turning on her hazard lights.

“Get going,” she said.

“O... okay,” Shay nodded.

She unbuckled her seat belt. She got out of the car.

She had to hurry... and she felt Raia’s frustrated glare on her back as she shuffled to the door of the last place she wanted to be.

She got her house key out of her bag.

She opened the door.

The old, musty smell of the place that never felt like home made her want to retch.

But the way the door creaked open alerted her aunt to her presence.

“Oh good, you’re home,” she said, “Make yourself useful and clean up your uncle’s mess. He’s drinking in the yard.”

She didn’t even bother sitting up from the couch.

Shay kept her head down as she tried to power-walk to her room, “I’m actually in a hurry~”

“Where are you going?” her aunt half-groaned, half-yelled, “And why are you dressed like that? Are you going out with a boy? Aiyaa~ focus on your studies and don’t bother with that nonsense.”

“Okay,” Shay muttered, “I will.”

She rushed up the stairs and entered her room. She snatched her old bag off her desk.

“Hey! Are you listening to me!” her aunt full-yelled up to her. “You useless child! Where are you going, hah?!”

Shay glanced at the window in her room. Could she escape that way? The window screen was torn and patched up with tape, so tearing it fully open wouldn’t change much.

No... the last thing she wanted was to break her leg and miss Tyvan’s event.

She took a breath and gathered her courage before going back down the stairs.

And... her aunt was waiting for her.

“Go clean up after your uncle,” she said.

And she actually got off the couch to say it.

Shay felt her face twist up-- which was a mistake.

“Don’t make faces at your aunt, you useless brat!” her aunt yelled, “Is this how you treat your family, hah?! Who taught you to make faces? Did you forget that I raised you!!?”

Shay shrank back at her words. She had plenty of things to say-- so many things running through her mind.

But... it wouldn’t be right.

The easiest thing to do was to just... do as she was told.

“I’ll do it,” she said. “Just... I’m sorry.”

“Hmm. Okay. Go.”

Her aunt gave her a last glare before she went back to her couch-- “What are you waiting for, you USELESS child?!”

“Okay, I’m doing it. I’m doing it~”

----------------------------------------

Beer cans-- not all of them empty.

Bottles. Broken glass.

Old man vomit.

Shay was caught between working quickly and trying not to get anything gross on her borrowed clothes.

As a tiny act of defiance, once she had everything picked up and everything was 90% clean, she left out the gate in the yard.

Raia was waiting outside her car, not at all pleased. Her glare, though, seemed to soften as Shay got closer.

“Sorry I took so long,” Shay mumbled.

“Just get in the car,” Raia said.

The drive was quiet. And awkward.

Raia was scowling the whole time... and when they got to the freeway, she weaved through traffic like laws were optional.

She was definitely speeding.

Shay was all sorts of scared, ashamed, frustrated, and annoyed.

But Raia was not someone she could share that with.

“Fucking FUCK!” Raia screamed, “I HATE living in Archangel!”

They’d hit traffic. Archangel traffic-- especially on a Friday night, was a cruel, heartless bitch.

“Raia, I’m sorry,” Shay whispered.

“I know you are,” Raia groaned. “Doesn’t change the fact that we’re gonna be late.”

Her expression eased up-- maybe a tiny bit? It wasn’t by much.

Shay quietly moved her employee pin from her old bag to her new one. She had a hard time getting it to line up straight along the strap in the dark.

But suddenly, the interior light turned on.