[Festival] The Show Must Go On (Penny/Donn)

The Festival Delle Arti had been everything that Nikola had hoped for, and more. She’d managed to find time to attend several events, enjoyed the music and shows, even purchased several pieces of artwork. Despite everything that she had obsessively poured herself into for the past few months, her first ever full collection, the costumes for the show with Artur, and of course the choreography for the show itself, Nikola found herself actually allowing herself to relax and enjoy what the festival had to offer as a patron and not a performer, or designer. She’d found time for friends, and even just wandered around with now plan, losing herself in the gallery for several hours, at least until the announcement for one of the Lectures she wanted to attend had snapped her out of her reverie. Merlin she’d needed this something fierce.

But it was already early afternoon on Saturday, and Nikola had business to attend to. As much as she’d been playing the artistic tourist, Nikola was here in her capacity as a fashion designer. There was no reluctance as she made her way to the prep area behind the main events stage, where she’d been last night with Artur, only to find it completely transformed. Her name, in violet lettering, was over one of the sectioned off portions, with elaborate wooden dividers set up between each designer’s prep area. She had of course, arrived a good half hour before the time that the models were told to make their appearance, just to be on the safe side. The two large trunks containing her designs were already in there, though Nikola didn’t bother with that for now. Instead, she settled down into one of the chairs, in front of a mirror hung on the divider, first checking that her make-up didn’t require any touch ups. She would be wearing one of her own designs for the final show-peice. What Edyta didn’t know was that her Draconian inspired gown was only half the piece de resistance, done up of course in Drakonya Krov colors. Nikola herself would be wearing the Klyk Vampira inspired piece, an homage to her alma mater. After all, she had thought Edyta would be far more comfortable if she wasn’t walking out on stage by herself in that elaborate gown.

Once done fiddling with her makeup, Nikola smiled, and dug through her bag of beauty accoutrements, setting down a potion, a pair of scisors, and a comb. Releasing her hair from the clip she’d had it up in, Nikola set to work actually making her hair look presentable, and not like it had been hacked off with a knife. Which of course it had… once it was more even, she worked the potion through and brushed it out, smiling as it began to curl while the potion absorbed in and dried. Admiring the new look for a bit, she had to admit it almost made her look… young. Pixie. Innocent. It was cute, and she liked it… but perhaps not on her. Well, she had a week or two of experimenting ahead of her before she decided to dunk her head in another potion and force it to grow back out again. Never having had short hair, Nikola was intrigued to see what could be done with it.

Sounds of footsteps echoed behind her as she looked up, smiling as a young brittish woman approached her area. “Penny! I’m glad you could make it.” at least this time they wouldn’t have the same trouble communicating like they had the last time they were together.

Penny was enjoying Italy. Well, really Penny was enjoying being on vacation, and leaving Britain for the first time in her life. She thought the sun was just a tad aggressive for January, but other than that she was exceptionally happy. When she had received Nikola’s invitation to model for her show she was shocked. Sure they had exchanged a few letters back and forth since their date-not-date back in November, but Penny never expected to actually model for the German fashion designer. 

Being a workaholic paid off in that she had ample unused vacation time, so for the first time in her (short) working career, Penny took a week off of work. She had been most excited to tell Donn. It was always Donn impressing her; with his castle, his dark books, his snazzy London flat. But when Penny came to Donn with the news that she was going to Italy to model for a rich German fashion designer, she liked to think that it was finally her turn to be impressive. When the subject of him accompanying her first came up, she hesitated slightly. Their relationship was going so well, especially after Christmas, but she also couldn’t forget the first time she met Nikola. That kiss. She often thought what would have happened if she hadn’t met Donn the very next night. Would something have blossomed between her and Nikola, despite their distance? If she hadn’t mentioned her upcoming date, would more than just a kiss pass between them that night? Penny was ridiculously happy with Donn, it was true, but she would be lying to herself if she didn’t say she had her fair share of fantasies about Nikola.

In the end, Penny agreed, mostly because Donn’s excitement had been infectious. And the more she thought about it, the more excited she was to share her first international vacation with him. But as her and Nikola exchanged more and more letters ironing out the logistics, she found herself neglecting to mention to the German woman that Donn would be accompanying her. Of course Nikola knew about Donn; Penny had so little friends that she often confided in Nikola (except about the blood curse, of course). But for some reason she couldn’t quite bring herself to tell her.

When she wasn’t thinking conflicting thoughts about Nikola and Donn though, Penny was having fun at the arts festival. She never held a big interest in arts before, but she had to admit that it was interesting to see all the different performances and booths. She had especially enjoyed Nikola’s performance with that older man. Seeing her sparring with a sword brought back all sorts of feelings that she probably shouldn’t have been feeling with her boyfriend sitting right next to her. For that reason she was happy that he didn’t insist on accompanying her to meet up with Nikola at her fashion tent.

Penny almost didn’t recognize Nikola at first. Her beautiful long hair was now short and somewhat curled. Of course she had seen it cut off during the performance, but the effect was still shocking. Somehow the short hair didn’t diminish her beauty; it only highlighted her features, sharp as her sword.

“Of course, thanks for inviting me!” Penny said, drawing Nikola into a hug. A friendly hug, right? But she couldn’t help but remember the last time she was close to Nikola in this way. She still smelled delicious; like the forest after a rejuvenating rain. Penny felt her body responding to this closeness, so she pulled away slightly, a blush starting to form on her cheeks.

“So…” Penny started, awkwardly. Girl, get a grip on yourself! “I saw your performance. It was beautiful!”

Writing to Nikola had always been easy. The words spilled out of her quill as she told her about life, about Donn, and vague references to her work. But now that she finally had the chance to see her friend in person, she felt shy and small in the face of Nikola’s tall and imposing beauty. Penny took a deep breath and reminded herself that she was here for a reason. And that reason was to put on pretty dresses and model.

“Right, so what do you need me to do?”

A smile graced the German witch’s chiseled features when Penny mentioned the show. She ran her hand across the back of her neck, fluffing out her short hair a bit, almost like a prideful bird. “It was a lot of work, but completely worth it. As was surprising just about everyone. I hadn’t even told my Grandparents.” she grinned. They’d been so proud when they’d found her later that night, though she did have to spend a good bit of time convincing them that it was just a performance and she was not having an illicit love affair with her mentor. Made even more awkward by the fact that Nikola found herself secretly wanting an illicit love affair with Artur. She pushed the thoughts abruptly from her mind. No. those feelings would fade. It was just the adrenaline and the high from the weekend. Yes. that was absolutely all it was. “I wish I could have been in the audience to see it, as well as perform it.” she added, still smiling as she leaned into the hug, holding her friend close, perhaps for slightly longer than was necessary.

It amazed her how quickly the shyness had faded when the two conversed on paper. Nikola of course had invested in a translation charm so she could read and write to her friend in much better english, though she couldn’t deny her own had been improving since they’d started conversing regularly. Even if the woman did wax on about her boyfriend. Honestly, Nikola couldn’t help but roll her eyes at it. Puppy love. It made her want to vomit. But still, she was happy that her friend had found someone nice, and wouldn’t ruin it for her. Even if she really had wanted to take the woman back to her hotel room with her that first night. And still did. But that shyness had returned, and it was part of the young woman’s charm to Nikola. She liked the shy ones, the demure ones, the hesitant and inexperienced girls. A complete one eighty from her taste in men. But true to her own morals, Penny was now off limits. After all, she had a boyfriend, even if Nikola thought he was a twit.

“So!” it was definitely best to move on from that line of thought. As quickly as was possible. “Like I said in my letter, I have two looks for you. Knowing that you work at the ministry made it easier for me to decide which pair I’d place you in. and only a few minor adjustments should be needed, after all, we’re practically the same size.” and Nikola had an extensive amount of practice in adjusting outfits with a few quick spells. She walked over to the garment rack and pulled off two of the bags, placing them on hooks near one of the tables. “The first is for every day. In your case, office work. And the second is a more formal piece.”

She’d start with the office look. After all, she’d completely re-designed the top with Penny in mind once the girl had said yes. And it would be totally worth it. She smiled, knowing that Penny had said that she often gravitated towards black, because she didn’t know what to wear.  “Now, I know this is going to seem quite different from what you normally wear. But trust me.” On one hand, Nikola wanted to accentuate her dark skinned friend’s features, and on the other, she wanted to help bring penny out of her comfort zone a bit more.

A pair of finely tailored white pants, the simplest piece of the ensemble came out of the bag first, creases pressed firmly into them. The pants were loose and flowing towards the bottom, but well tailored from about the thighs up to the high waistline. This was paired with a bright plum colored top almost peasant style in the sleeves, with laced leather bracers in a deep brown, from wrist to halfway to the elbow and meant to hold the flowy sleeves in, while leaving the rest of the arms free.  These were a piece she’d had fun working on, strips of leather crossed on top of eachother to still allow the color of the shirt beneath them to shine through. The dark brown, ankle high boots that came from the bag next were of Nikola’s own making, and matched the bracers; but there wasn’t really anything special about them.

The final piece that Nikola pulled from the bag brought a smile to her lips. A half-vest sort of piece that came down almost to the knee on one side, decorated with silvery metal embroidery and so dark a plum-purple that it was almost black, and somewhat military in style. “Trust me. You’re going to look amazing.

Their hug was sweet, too sweet, so Penny was glad when Nikola adapted a more businesslike attitude. Penny raised her eyebrow when Nikola said that her inspiration for the outfit included the fact that Penny works at the ministry.

“I hope you don’t dress me like the average ministry worker” She said, mostly teasing. She knew that Nikola’s fashion sense tended to be more bold and daring, and less “gray drab ministry robes”.

Her face brightened up more when Nikola told her that the outfit would seem substantially different from what she usually wore. Aside from seeing Nikola, the chance to wear daring outfits was one of the reasons Penny agreed to take this modeling gig. She flashed a smile to Nikola to show her that she approved.

Penny loved the first piece that Nikola revealed. The white pants looked comfortable and stylish, and the fabric felt smooth in her hands. She had a feeling that Nikola had picked the stark white specifically for her skin tone.

“This white will look beautiful on my skin” She said, eager to show her friend that she had learned from fashion advice from her.

She loved the top even more. Purple was of course her favorite color, but she loved how the fabric was flowing and the leather straps made it seem more edgy. Definitely Nikola’s style. A pair of boots followed that perfect matched the leather straps on the shirt.

Penny worried at the smile on Nikola’s face as she reached for the next item. What did she have up her sleeve?

Penny’s eyes widened as she saw the half-vest, having never seen anything quite like it. She wasn’t sure about it alone, but she could see how it would work with the rest of the outfit.

“Wow, beautiful, Nikola!” Penny said, now holding all the pieces. For a moment she sort of just stood there, unsure of what was going to be next. Then she remembered that Nikola mentioned something about adjustments, so she figured it was time to try on the pieces.

“So I’ll just get to putting these on” Penny said, somewhat awkwardly. She looked around the room they were in, and while it was sectioned off from the other designer’s rooms, it didn’t seem to have anywhere private to change. She glanced over at Nikola again, who seemed to be waiting for her. She remembered the first time they met, how she had been excited at the prospect of Nikola watching her change. Well, she got what she wished for. She was just thankful that Donn wasn’t here to see it, as she was sure that her attraction to the other woman was obvious.

Penny took off her robe and carelessly tossed in on a nearby chair. She slid out of her pants, and without knowing what possessed her, turned to look at Nikola, almost as if waiting for her approval. You don’t need her approval! You have a boyfriend! Penny thought to herself. And as expected, the moment she saw Nikola’s face, a wave of embarrassment swept through her so fiercely that she thought for sure the temperature had risen by ten degrees. The fact that she just knew she was blushing further added to her embarrassment, and she wished that she was back at the hotel with Donn at the same time that she was wishing Nikola was in the same state of undress as herself.