Gilleana goes to the Theater!

[Jezerai]

Gilleana stood in the small dressing room in a daze.  Visions of purples, reds, greens, and golds swirled before her in a psychedelic dream as Missa tossed gowns over the edge of the partition. 

"What do you think, Jilly dear?  Satin or silk?"  Missa called gaily from the other side of the petition.

"What?  How should I know?"  Gilleana's mood darkened.  "Is all this really necessary?  Surely you can just give me a dress as I asked and have done with it!"

Missa poked her head around the edge of the partition.  Gilleana jumped and hastily grabbed one of the gowns to hide behind.  "How can I tell what dress is the perfect one for you if we don't try them on?"  Missa pouted prettily, a trick Gilleana suspected she had picked up from one of her silly friends.  "That color is lovely on you, by the way.  Did you like it?"  Gilleana threw the dress down in a huff.  Missa shrieked. "Jilly!  What are you doing in your armor still?  Off with it!  Off!"  Missa's head popped out of sight as she went to the back room, mumbling to herself.

Gilleana sighed with resignation, thinking of the storm she had unwittingly unleashed when she had mentioned to Missa, oh so casually, that she needed a dress to go to the theater.  Her sister's shock had held her speechless for only a moment before she erupted in shrill squeals that still had Gilleana's ears ringing.  Gilleana realized that she should have suspected that Missa would not simply hand over a dress at her request, not after all the years that Missa had hounded her to pay more attention to her appearance. 

Gilleana herself wasn't sure why she had agreed to anything so preposterous as an evening at the theater.  It could have been that her sister's nagging, followed so quickly by Sir Janthos prodding her to try out the simple pleasures of civilian life had softened her some.  But she really blamed the coercer, Lux.  Something about the little mage had convinced her and now, out from under the girl's influence, Gilleana found herself caught by her own promises.  Try as she might, she could not evade the silken trap spun around her now and remain true to her creed.  She had given her word and thereby set the demons free.

The demon poked her head back around the end of the stall.  "Armor off!  Jilly, really!  You don't want to be late for your spa treatment!"  Missa's head popped back out of sight and another gown came sailing over the edge of the partition.

Grumbling, Gilleana removed her armor and hung it from pegs strategically placed for such a purpose.  She stood for a moment, unsure of where to start.  Picking a gown at random, she bent to step into the colorful swirl of material when Missa popped her head back around the partition.  "Jilly!  What about ..."  Whatever Missa was about to say evaporated in the air between them as she caught a glimpse of Gilleana's back.  Criss-crossed scars covered her sister's slender frame, from slight silvery ones to ridged, gnarled tissue that pushed up from her body like an obscene range of mountains.  "Sweet Tunare!"  Missa exclaimed on a soft whoosh of air.

Gilleana jumped and turned to face Missa, her brow pulled together in a thunderous scowl.  "What did you think, Missa?  That we had tea parties in the youth camps?"

Missa's eyes welled with tears.  "I just never ... I didn't imagine ... Oh, Gilleana!"  Missa embraced the ram-rod body of her sister.  "You never said a word!  Does it hurt?"

"Does it hurt?  Of course it hurts!"  Missa's stricken expression drained Gilleana's anger like water running down a drain.  "Oh, Missa, don't go on so!  It was a long time ago and no need to talk about it now.  It only really hurts in the morning.  When I work out and limber up, I hardly feel my back at all."  At Missa's pale expression, Gilleana's eyes flashed, anger springing forth again.  "Do you think I want people to look at me as you are now?  With horror and pity?  To say, "Sweet Tunare", when they see me?  Leave it, sister."

Gilleana roughly pulled the gown up over her arms and turned her back so that Missa could hook the gown closed.  Missa traced the angry welts with a gentle finger.  "Have you had someone look at them?  Perhaps it can be healed?"

Gilleana sighed.  "I got them when I was a child.  There is no cure for old scars."

Missa fumbled with the gown.  "Perhaps Lady Bou ..."

Gilleana's anger exploded anew.  "So now you want to parade me before others?  Did you consider that there might be reason I hadn't talked of it?"

"Please, Jilly," Missa's voice broke.  "Lady Bou is a healer.  She will know if anything can be done and she has seen worse.  She would never say anything you didn't want her to!  Nor will I!  I promise!"

The last of Gilleana's rage dissipated, leaving her feeling suddenly tired and much older than her scant years  "Very well, Missa.  If it makes you feel any better.  By all means, bring Lady Bou."

Missa hugged Gilleana closely.  "Thank you, Jilly!"  Missa finished hooking up the gown and brought Gilleana to the mirror.  "What do you think?"

Gilleana shrugged.  "It would not turn away a dagger, much less a sword.  Really, Missa, I don't know.  What do you think?"

Missa cast a critical eye over her sister's reflection in the mirror.  "I think that color makes you look too pale.  Besides, it's Frostfell!  Let's try some holiday colors!  But first, I'm going to reschedule that spa treatment and go find Lady Bou."  Missa sat Gilleana on the couch.  "Wait right here.  I'll be right back!"  Missa thrust a box of chocolates at Gilleana, which her sister looked at, wondering what they were for.  "Oh, and take a look at these color swatches!  Maybe you will see something you like!"  Missa tossed a book containing numerous small squares of material and took her portal back to the guild hall to find Boudeccai.  Gilleana sighed again and tentatively took a bite from one of the chocolates, wondering if all this fuss would ever end. 

[Jezerai]

Boudeccai examined Gilleana's back in an upstairs room of Missa's home.  Her large, rough hands were surprisingly gentle as she focused on the life energies running through her patient.  Gilleana's grumbling was ignored as Boudeccai concentrated her efforts in order to sense the extent of the damage done.

"This ain't lookin' like battle scars, lass.  'Less o' course ye be runnin' away a lot more than I be thinkin' ye do."  Boudeccai chuckled and Gilleana relaxed at the no-nonsense tone of her voice and lack of reaction to her scarring.  "Aye. Not much.  These I be thinkin' be verra old."   

"See, Missa," Gilleana said "nothing much to be done for old scars."

"Well, tha ain't 'xactly true.  Tha scars be old, aye.  But tha skin be tight and in places tha muscles unnerneath be tight too, from tha twistin'. " Boudeccai pulled a small jar from her bag.  Opening it revealed a pungent but pleasant-smelling salve.  "This be a recipe me motha' gave ta me.  It be verra good fer muscles an' scars.  I'd be right glad ta give ye some if ye'd like, Jilly.  Would nay want yer fightin' skills ta be lessened cause o' tightness."  Boudeccai winked at Missa over Gilleana's back, well aware of the reasoning most likely to convince the girl to accept help.

Gilleana considered a moment, then shrugged.  "It can't hurt, I suppose."  Boudeccai took a dollop of the liniment and smoothed it across Gilleana's mid-back where the scarring was worst.  Missa watched closely as Boudeccai showed her how to best massage the salve into Gilleana's skin, warming the ointment and filling the room with the scent of herbs. 

"This aught ta be worked inta yer back a couple a times a week or more.  Missa can do it or I kin if she ain't able."

"I can do it!  I'd be glad to be able to visit with Jilly that often!"  Missa smiled at her sister, who could not help but smile back.

Gilleana sat on the edge of the bed and stretched, a look of wonder on her face.  "I have not felt so limber in ... well in forever!"  Unexpectedly, she threw her arms around Boudeccai and gave her a tight squeeze.  "Thank you, Lady Bou!  Thank you for me, and for your care of Missa too!" 

Boudeccai patted Gilleana's hand.  "No thanks be needed, lass."  She said gruffly.  "I jes be glad I were there where I were needed.  Now as I unnerstand it, ye got a date with a tailor."

Gilleana scowled.  "I was assured that this involved one evening at the theater.  Now I discover that I am expected to spend days getting ready to go.  Between fittings and spa treatments and hair dressing appointments, I barely have a moment to train."

"Yeah, well lass tha trainin'll be there when ye're done.  But Frostfell will nay last ferever.  Enjoy it will ye may or ye may find yerself gettin' visited by ghosties like ol' McScroogle."  Boudeccai chuckled.  "I'll leave ye ta Missa's tender mercies an' be headin' home afore she be gettin' any notions 'bout me as well."

[Jezerai]

Although selecting a gown with Missa took much longer than her sister had estimated, Gilleana bore it all with surprising calm.  Indeed, she was simply enjoying the sensation of being entirely free from pain.  That, and the chocolates that Missa kept for her clientele were the closest thing to bliss that Gilleana could ever recall experiencing.

"What are these, again?"  Gilleana asked.

"Chocolate bon bons, sister and you really should stop eating them."  Missa laughed at the expression on Gilleana's face, and the smudge of chocolate on her chin.  "If you keep going at that pace, you will outgrow your gown before I can finish it!"

Gilleana set the half-empty box of chocolates down with clear reluctance.  Missa giggled again.  "If you are going to pout, you might as well have another.  You will just have to work harder to take off the pounds you gain!"  But looking at her sister as she took her measurements, Missa thought that there really was no danger of Gilleana becoming fat anytime soon.  There was not a spare ounce on her frame and muscles rippled under her ivory-pale skin as she moved.  Missa wondered if polite society was quite prepared for this young panther to be set loose in its midst.

Missa pulled out one of the more popular styles of gowns, hopefully showing it once more to Gilleana.  "Jilly, this would be absolutely stunning on you!  Won't you think about it?" 

Gilleana looked at the gown, which consisted of little more than a brightly colored loin cloth and chest wrap, with a raised eyebrow.  "Surely you cannot expect me to wear something like that?  If I did, why should I bother to wear any clothes at all?"  Missa sighed and put the gown away.

Gilleana pulled out a mage's robe.  It's plain lines were concealed by brightly colored panels, which were in lovely shades of purple and lavender.  "I like the colors in this.  What do you think?"   

Missa shook her head.  "The color is nice, but really!  How very dull that one is.  Don't you want to wear something a little exciting?" 

Gilleana shrugged.  "You want me to, and because I want to make you happy, I want to also."

Missa handed her a gown which was also of very stylish design, with flounced sleeves and slitted, full skirt.  Gilleana tried it on, but both girls started giggling.  The style just did not suit Gilleana in the slightest, hanging on her slim frame with its ruffles and ribbons appearing oddly misplaced.

Missa sat for a moment, thinking.  "I have an idea!"  She went to the back room where a special order was waiting to be picked up and brought out a gown.  "This is in the new style we are just seeing from Paineel.  I think it might suit you very well!"  She held up the gown, which had a slightly militaristic look to it, panels hung from the waistband and fell over the top of soft pants.  It was quite lovely, and both girls looked at it thoughtfully.  "I could make it for you in lavender, if you like."  Missa said.

Gilleana looked at the gown and a slow smile spread across her face.  "I like it!  I like it very much!"

[Jezerai]

Gilleana tried not to squirm under the critical gaze of the self-titled Beauty Consultant, a wood-elf scarcely older than Gilleana herself, and boasting a perfectly styled coif and manicured nails.  Missa and Jasmine, the name of this paragon, talked freely about Gilleana as though she were not there, leaving the subject of their conversation free to follow her own train of thought.  Gilleana scowled at Jasmine, imagining how long she would survive on the battlefield against the troops of Freeport. 

"She is very hairy, isn't she?  I mean really!"  Jasmine raised an eyebrow at Gilleana, whose smooth skin was inherited from her elven mother and was covered by no more than a light scattering of hairs.  "Those brows!  She's a veritable ape!"

Missa smiled at Gilleana's tormentor, causing Gilleana to grit her teeth and clench her fists.  "I knew that this was a challenge you could not resist, Jasmine!"  Gilleana resisted the urge to sock her sister in the jaw.  "She's a blank canvas, so to speak!  A cygnet to turn into a swan!"  Jasmine eyed Gilleana doubtfully.

"She does have nice eyes, of course.  But then every wild animal roaming the plains has nice eyes."  Jasmine stared at Gilleana, who stared back.  "You say she is going to the theater?"  Jasmine sounded doubtful.  "Well, in any event we must start with a waxing.  That hair!  Really!  It must go!"

Missa gripped Gilleana's arm with surprising strength and led her to a dressing room.  She thrust her sister behind the curtain and handed a soaking suit in to Gilleana.  "Put this on," she whispered.  "It is quite a coup that Jasmine is taking such an interest in you!"

Gilleana looked at the soaking suit doubtfully, but dutifully changed, reminding herself sternly that she had given her word to Missa to place herself in her sister's hands in this matter.  As she stepped out, Jasmine exclaimed in horror.  "Those legs!  Sweet Tunare!  The girl is an animal!"  Gilleana clenched her jaw tightly and glared at Missa, who refused to meet her eye but called her earth golem out of the elemental planes.

Gilleana lay on the cushioned table where Jasmine indicated she should, while Missa smiled at patted her arm.  The heated wax actually felt very nice as Jasmine used a brush to paint some on her brows.  "This may hurt a little, sister dear," Missa murmured.

"Hurt?  I assure you that I am quite used to pain as I ..."  Gilleana shrieked as Jasmine tore the wax off of her brow, tearing a hunk of eyebrow with it.  Missa's golem intervened as Gilleana's instinctively threw a clenched fist towards the Beauty Consultant's nose, grasping her arm in a gentle, but irresistible stone hand.

Jasmine waved the fabric covered with wax and imbedded with hairs in triumph.  "An ape!  I have never seen such hair!"

[Jezerai]

Gilleana glared into the mirror before her.  Her brow, upper lip and cheeks were red and stinging fiercely.  Jasmine, who was approaching the status of Lucan in Gilleana's estimation of menaces to the world as we know it, eyed her critically.  Jasmine appeared supremely indifferent to Gilleana's loathing.

"Her face is presentable, I suppose.  But what am I supposed to do with this hair?"  Jasmine screeched the word "hair" as though being mauled by Rujarkian war-hounds.  Gilleana smiled at the thought.

Jasmine picked through Gilleana's hair as though expecting to find it covered in excrement.  "Who ever cut it?  It looks like it's been hacked off with gardening shears."  Gilleana smirked.  A lot the Beauty Consultant knew ... it had been her dagger.  "And the condition!  Sweet Tunare!  Straw!"

Jasmine whisked Gilleana away, and began to wash her hair in a basin.  The water was warm and the massaging of her scalp lulled Gilleana into a doze as Missa and Jasmine debated their next move over her body. 

"We could add some color!"  Jasmine announced.  "What color did you say her gown was?"

"Lavender," Missa replied, uncertainly.  "But I don't think she'd much care for color ..."

"Bah!  She cuts her hair with gardening shears!  What could she know?" 

"Actually," Missa said, "I think it was her dagger."

"Sweet Tunare!  The girl is a barbarian!"

"Not even half a barbarian," Gilleana interjected sleepily.  "Half-elf.  Half wood-elf, half human."

Jasmine led Gilleana back to her chair and left her there while she went to make her preparations.  Gilleana was not sure what preparations were being made, but hoped they would take a very long time.  Much too quickly, Jasmine returned, a foul smelling concoction in hand.  Gilleana started to object and Missa placed a box of chocolates in her lap.  Distracted, Gilleana unwrapped a chocolate and started to eat happily.  Jasmine made use of this lapse of vigilance to apply the concoction to sections of Gilleana's hair, wrapping the locks of treated hair in strips of tin paper.  Gilleana stared at her reflection when the process was complete.  "I look like a gnomish clockwork!"

Missa smiled, though her expression was worried.  "You'll be lovely!  You'll see!  Jasmine is the best!"  Jasmine nodded, accepting the adulation graciously.

"I'll be back shortly to take it all down!"  Jasmine sauntered off.  Gilleana started to scratch, and Missa grabbed her hand. 

"Don't touch!  You'll mess it up!"  She remonstrated.

Gilleana sighed heavily.  "I hardly think it can be messed up worse than it is."  Gilleana popped another piece of chocolate in her mouth and then gasped as the earlier conversation began to sink in.  "She's not making my hair purple, is she?"

Missa patted her arm and gestured to her earth golem, who stood by ready to intercept Gilleana if she were to make any untoward moves.  "There, there Jilly."  She said.  "It will be lovely!  You'll see!"  The fact that Missa was wringing her hands, a classic gesture of Missa-distress, did not soothe Gilleana in the least.

[Janthos]

((Love the story Bou , but somehow I feel Janthos is going to pay for all of this >.>))

[Jezerai]

Gilleana was relieved to see that her hair was not some bizarre shade of purple.  Indeed, she had to admit, if only to herself, that her hair looked better than it ever had.  She blinked at her reflection in the mirror just to make sure that it was really her she was looking at.  Jasmine may be Lucan's cousin, but perhaps, Gilleana reflected to herself, there was some benefit to be gained from listening to her.

Missa's dimples were even deeper than usual as she beamed a smile at her sister.  "Oh Jilly!"  She gushed.  "You look absolutely stunning!  Don't you love your hair?"

Gilleana scowled, though her heart wasn't in it.  "It's hair, what do you expect?"

Jasmine looked on in indifferent amusement.  "I still think lavender would have been lovely."

Gilleana's scowl deepened into real anger as she glared at Jasmine.  "You can't really believe that a real man would want a woman to have hair that matched her gown, do you?  I am a fighter, not some high society fashion queen!"  Having worked up a head of steam, Gilleana unleashed her pent up hostility.  "What does a lady like you know about the forces that threaten us, even as we sit here worrying about highlights in our hair?  But it's my kind who will protect you frilly society princesses when Lucan marches!"

Jasmine blinked, "Who are you calling princess?  I am a real man!  And I think lavender would be absolutely divine!"

Missa's breath let out on a soft O of astonishment and she clapped her hand over her mouth, as if to call it back.

Gilleana stared into the outraged and kohl-lined eyes of the Beauty Consultant, eyeing the coifed and polished vision in amazement.  A snicker escaped, and, before she could catch herself, the snickers turned to loud guffaws. 

Jasmine stared back, anger melting into amusement as he considered Gilleana.  "You really are a simpleton, aren't you?"  He said and chuckled.  "Ok, dear!  Off for a good long soak and then we will take a look at your hands and feet!"

[Orrernoeth]

((lol, that was a surprise))

[Jezerai]

((Me either!  lol  Hello Noehy!  Miss you!))

[Jezerai]

Gilleana eyed the slowly bubbling ooze with a skeptical brow raised.  "I am to sit in that?"

Jasmine gave her an amused smile.  "It's the latest fashion.  All the ladies are hot for warm mud!  It's an old Halasian remedy ... supposed to suck out toxins or something like that."  Jasmine shrugged delicate shoulders.  "Whatever, but it feels marvelous!  You'll love it!  Or, well maybe not, but Missa has insisted that you try it."  Jasmine smirked as Gilleana removed her robe, revealing her soaking suit underneath.  "Modest, are we?"

Gilleana chose not to respond to the barb and stepped tentatively into the pool.  The mud was of a thick consistency, but gave way easily as she waded in.  A bench around the side of the pool was provided for the comfort of the patrons and Gilleana sank into the muck tentatively.  The sides of the pool had scalloped edges, allowing soakers to lean back comfortably and Gilleana settled in.  After a couple of seconds, she had to admit that the mud was quite pleasant.  It was a comforting temperature and smelled unexpectedly of herbs.  Gilleana was not sure if this was magic or due to the substance of the mud itself.  The warmth of the bubbling mud soothed her mind and she found herself drifting as she soaked, her thoughts lazily wandering from one topic to the next.

Before she knew it, she was startled awake by Jasmine gently patting her shoulder.  "How are you dear?  Have a nice snooze, did you?" 

Gilleana blinked up at the face hovering above her, uncertain for a moment of where she was.  "I never snooze!  I was ... I was thinking!"

Jasmine gave a knowing smile.  "Of course you were!  That's why there's drool on your cheek, eh?"  Jasmine extended a hand to help Gilleana out of the pool.  Gilleana thought to refuse the assistance, but truth be told, her body was so relaxed that she thought better of defiance.  "Let's have you rinse off in here, shall we?"  Jasmine showed Gilleana where the stall for rinsing was and two attendants took turns dousing her with cold water.  Gilleana shrieked and Jasmine chuckled.  "Tightens the pores, dear!"