Aeric slumped into his chair behind his workbench, putting his materials on his desk and looking at the needle, the measuring sleet of wood, the various scissors. He then looked over at Xii, Hurma and Yisillia. Treeka was at the counter and Lshrkr was off doing something else, probably some important ambassador type stuff. The fact that he didn’t even know rubbed him the wrong way after the conversation he had with Grant.

Xii glanced over at him, “What’s got you so down. You left in high spirits then come back an hour later all gloomy. Did someone touch you where they weren’t supposed to?”

Aeric glared at her, “I met Maddick’s grandson, guy called Grant. He was pretty great so don’t go thinking he did something wrong.”

Xii widened her eyes and looked all innocent, “Whatever do you mean.”

Aeric rolled his eyes, “Everyone knows you're the big sis that slams down anyone who bullies your kindred.”

Xii grinned, “I’m proud of it too.”

Aeric sighed, but then smiled slightly, “As you should be. I’d probably do the same. Just as non-violently as possible.”

Xii sniffed, “As if they’d learn their lesson that way.”

Aeric grinned, tapping his finger’s together and giving his best villain chuckle, “Not if you utterly destroy their reputation. Most people fear that much more than a mere beatdown.”

Yisillia raised an eyebrow, “I don’t really see you as the type to go that far.”

Aeric shrugged, “I’m not, ussually. But if someone really crossed the line? We have a saying back home. Never push the nice guy till they get angry, no one is more scary than and angry nice guy.”

Xii grinned and put a hand on Hurma’s shoulder, “This one is live proof of that saying so I can’t say I disagree.”

Hurma rolled her shoulders, then eyed Aeric, “You still haven’t told us what had you so gloomy.”

Xii gasped, “Oh you sly little demon you, changing the subject right down under me.”

Aeric smirked, then sighed. “I just realise I’ve been kinda shitty. Socially I mean, haven’t really talked much with you guys other than just some small talk. Grant made me realise that I knew very little about the people I’m living with.”

The girls glanced at each other, Xii shrugged. “Are we in a rush?”

Aeric blinked, “What?”

“Are you in a rush, to know everything about us? We have time you know, not like we’re going anywhere.”

Aeric narrowed his eyes, “If you were leaving on an expedition soon that would be such a deathflag.”

Xii laughed, “Well if a little jinx was enough to kill me i’d be long dead. I do hope it sends something fun my way though.” She winked at him.

Yisillia smiled, “I really hope it doesn’t, I’d have to actually work for my money.”

Xii smirked, “The point being, don’t be in such a rush Aeric. We live together, we work together..”

Aeric interupted, “And we’ll sleep together?” He said with a precocious grin.

Xii laughed, “Eventually!”

Yissilia groaned, “What’d I say about all the sex talk!”

Aeric looked at her with wide eyes, “Who even said it was about sex, we’re talking about cuddling here. Gods… You’re such a pervert.”

Yisillia reddened, “I didn’t, that’s n-not. I’m not!”

Xii shook her head in fake dissapointent, “It’s always the quiet ones you gotta be worried about.”

Aeric nodded sagely, “Luckily she has us, to teach her if she ever decides she wants to.” He winked at Yisillia in an as over the top manner as he could manage.

Yisillia just grunted and ignored them, though both had noticed the slight red tinge on the edge of her ears. They grinned at each other but let the matter rest. Aeric looked at his materials and ran his hand over the slightly rough fabric. It felt mostly like a mixture of cotton and wool, he looked at the other girls and realised something. He frowned down at the cloth and mulled the thoughts in his head.

Hurma interupted his thoughts, “So what are you all worried about now.”

Aeric raised a finger then dropped it a bit, the corner of his mout twitched down for a beat. He sighed then opened his mouth, “I was thinking about how I hadn’t even thought to ask you guys for any help. On the previous project and on this one, that’s… It’s kinda selfish right?”

Xii groaned, “Aeric stop being so bitchy, it’s just a job for us. Or a hobby in the case of me and Yis. None of us are as passionate about it as you are. It’s not selfish to thoroughly enjoy a project you can throw yourself into. Just get to work and stop whining!”

Aeric flushed, she did have a point. He was being whiny today, he rolled his shoulders and got his thoughts in order. First he had to figure out what he wanted, the every day clothing he would stick to the standard gnoll fashion. He’d just make sure the pieces were of good quality.

The most important piece was the business piece, he was going to for a yukata, but one with only a single sleave. Pulled horizontaly from the hip to the left shoulder. Leaving the right arm, chest and shoulder free. The sleeve would be wide, and instead of the thin sash around the waist that the traditional Yukata used, he’d go for a larger more Arabian style sash, wide around the right hip and narrow at the left. The yukata itself would be a dark brown, he’d thought about green but using green for a gnoll that had reddish fur was just… no. So a brown with white embroidery, the sash would be yellow with some streaks of orange. He might add some streaks of orange or yellow tints at the bottom to break up the monotomy.

He nodded to himself, he now had an idea for what he wanted to make, he looked up and grabbed a quilll, he grabbed some paper and started writing down the various measurements any idea’s he had. He thought about the width of the sleeve and what would be most comfortable, where to put the cut into the hem so the dress part of the yukata wouldn’t stifle movement. But cut it just so that it wouldn’t be imediatly noticable, the cut should hid in the shadows of the folds when worn. He nodded, the sash was the piece that would add a splash of colour to draw the eye. Large enough to be noticeble, not so large as to draw attention away from the embroidery.

He tapped his chin, he thought about embroidering the entire left sleeve in a pack of hyena’s. Swirling with wind like accents from the shoulder onto the sleeve. He held the brown of the yukata next to the yellow and orange he planned to use, he frowned. He’d need the orange to be a little lighter. Honey-golden-yellow would be fine for the sash. He nodded, the colours would accentuate Varush’s warm tinted fur well without clashing too hard. He blinked as Xii leaned over his shoulder to look at his worksheet.

She tilted her head, “Are you making him a dress?”

Aeric hem and hawed his hand, “Off a sorts, the primary work this is based on is called a Yukata. Traditional dress clothing from a country in the east back home. I changed it a bit so it left a shoulder free, since Varush is right handed he should be able to draw a blade and defend himself just fine without the clothing getting in the way, see the cuts in the hem here?”

Xii nodded and raised a questioning eyebrow at him, “Well it will leave his mobility almost fully intact, but because it’s put here where the cloth will crease?” She nodded again, “Well that will hide the cut in the shadows of the folds in the cloth. Or it should at least.”

Xii looked at him with widened eyes, “How do you even know that’s where the cloth will fold?”

Aeric opened his mouth to explain then closed it. How did he know where the cloth would fold… That wasn’t normal was it? Did it have something to do with the Artistic Impressions skill? Wouldn’t really make sense if it was. He shrugged, “I honestly have no idea, thought it might be one of my skills but I’m not sure. Not really worried about it so, whatever right?”

Xii snorted, “Sure, so what’s with the colours. Why white thread and not golden?”

Aeric nodded, “Well golden was a bit too eye catching for what I wanted. Are you familiar with a colour wheel?”

Xii squinted at him, “Never heard of it.”

Aeric grabbed a quill and drew a circle, then he put a piece of red to the left, a piece of yellow just slightly to the right at the top and a piece blue just slightly to the right at the bottom. “So red, yellow and blue are the primary colours, you can make any colour if you have these three. Plus black and white ofcourse.”

Xii turned at him, “What? No you can’t.”

Aeric grinned, “You can, watch. So if you mix yellow and blue you get green, yellow and red is orange, blue and red is violet.”

Xii nodded, “So far that’s true.”

“Well if you add say, two portions yellow and one portion green you get blue green. Add a good bit of white to it and you get mint, a little less white and you get glacier. Add black on the other hand and you get a darker version. With me so far?”

Xii nodded, as she looked at the colours. Hurma and Yisillia had stopped work for a bit and stood behind him looking over his shoulder as well.

“Those are called hue’s, add a bit of black and it’s called a shade of its primary colour, add a bit of white and it’s a tint. You can make brown with yellow, red and black. Now red and yellow are warm colours. Warm colours are basically this side of the wheel.” He pointed to red and then to yellow green. “All the colours between these two are warmer colours, the other side of the wheel from green to red-violet are what we call cold colours.”

Hurma turned to him, “Is this common knowledge where you are from?”

Aeric wiggled in his chair, “Kind of? Only to the people who care about that sort a thing, I doubt most know actually.”

Yisillia looked over the wheel which now had various colours of string pulled around, “So what does that have to do with the colours you chose.”

Aeric nodded and then pointed at the red, “So Varush has a red fur, not the brightest but pretty close. He’s a warm colour, so if i pick something at the opposite end of the wheel.” He put his finger on the green, “The colours clash, making it a combination the eye is not a fan off, brown is on the warm side of the scale. But it’s not very vibrant, so I add a bit of yellow and orange.”

Hurma nodded in understanding, “Which is also on the warm side of the scale so the colours don’t clash and the eye enjoys the combination.”

Aeric nodded, “Basically, and I chose white embroidery because I didn’t want the combination of colours to become too much. White and black are neutral and could work as accents with any colour really. They don’t immediately stand out, which is what the vibrantly coloured sash is for. But once the attention has been grabbed and they look more closely they’ll notice the finely embroidered sleeve and shoulder. Which makes it not as gaudy or ostentatious.”

Xii shook her head, “Is that all the things you hold in consideration when making a custom piece?”

Aeric laughed, “Just a part of it, colour is important cuz it’s the first thing people notice, but you have to make sure it fits properly and is suitable for the body type of the one wearing it. Extra folds or clothing that is too baggy, would detract from the parts of the wearer that we want the eye to notice. You can pull a lot off with the right use of clothing, hide the things you don’t want others to notice, highlight your good parts.”

Xii snorted, “I never really paid attention to any of that.”

Aeric grinned and winked, “That’s cuz you don’t need to, you only have good parts!” Xii smirked and gave him a light punch on the shoulder and rolled her eyes. Yisillia just sighed while Hurma gently shook her head.

Hurma tapped the worksheet and the explantion of the clothing Aeric was making for Varush. “So what colours did you decide on specifically?”

“Bark brown as the main colour for the yukata.” He then laughed as the other’s looked at him with raised eyebrows. “Get it? Bark brown cuz its the colour of bark and because it’s the sound dogs make?”

Yisillia groaned, “That is a horrible pun, gnolls dont even bark, they howl or yip.”

Hurma smirked, “All good puns are bad.”

Aeric chuckled and fist bumped Hurma, “See? She gets it.”

Yisillia rolled her eyes, “I’m not getting into this, get back to work idiot.”

Aeric saluted, “Yes mom!”

Hurma and Xii snorted, while Yisillia just groaned.

They got back work, the day ended and the week passed by as usual, with Aeric getting the normal pieces done first. He choose mostly warm colours, with some neutral white’s and grey’s. He avoided black, black and red always looked slightly ominous and agressive when put together. He didn’t think that it was a good idea to make and already large and slightly intimidating gnoll look like a super villain.

When the weekend arrived and it came time to go onto his tour of the city the one that he would be traveling with for the day was Lshrkr, who was going to take him to the embassy. She stood outside his door when he woke up in the morning and walked with him to the kitchen. She was wearing a simple blue dress, something he was used to her wearing. With her pale white chitin she almost always wore something blue or violet or its various shades or tints.

He cocked his head and looked at her, “Do your people normally wear clothes? It doesn’t really seem like something you would normally wear since you don’t really have any dangling vulnerable bits.”

Lshrkr opened and tilted her mandibles slightly, something he knew from experience meant she was smiling. “We do not, but we have been informed that walking around without clothing might clash with the sensibilities of some cultures. The clothing is not a hindrance and it can be… nice to wear something well made. Both my own people and the golem’s don’t regularly wear clothing. But adapting to the place where you live in makes sense. If wearing some cloth makes my job easier than it is simply efficient to wear something.”

Aeric smiled, “I can already see male members of your hive wearing dresses as well because it’s the most efficient piece of clothing to wear.”

Lshrkr smiled, “I have already informed my hive of fashion standards, so I doubt you will see such a thing happening.”

Aeric pouted, “Damn, would have been fun to see.”

Lshrkr smiled, “I will keep it in mind if I ever need people to see us as less of a threat.”

Aeric groaned, “Ugh that’s such a politician answer for something that was supposed to be funny.”

A chitter answered him, “Well I am primarily a diplomat after all.”

They sat down at the table together when Xii put a pair of plates infront of them, some kind of cruncy looking omelet for Lshrkr and for himself some bread, cheese and bacon. “Thanks Xii, you’re the best as always!”

Xii smirked and winked at him, “As long as you remember that!”

Aeric turned to Lshrkr, “So we’re visiting the embassies? Can we even just walk in there?”

Lshrkr turned to him and tilted her head, “I’m the main diplomat for my race, I am free to enter and will always be entertained whenever I arrive. You are a worldwalker and a talented tailor. That is a connection that any diplomat would be happy to make. I understand diplomacy is much about first impressions, of which a large part is made with clothing.”

Aeric nodded, “We are to diplomats, oraters and politicians what a smith is to a warrior.”

Lshrkr smiled, “Aptly put, I do not believe our visit is any cause for issue.”

Aeric smiled, “I still feel kind of weird, an embassy is something I never really imagine visiting back home. It was something for people that were… influential? Just didn’t feel like something I’d ever be involved in.

Lshrkr nodded, “Time and circumstances change, and so we as people must adapt and learn.”

Aeric chuckled, “I’m pretty good at the adapting thing, if I do say so myself.”

Lshrkr chittered, “Yes you do seem to have taking to the worldwalking with impressive aplomb.”

Aeric snorted, “Aplomb, I’ll have to get used to fancy words if we’re going to be hanging out with people whose use of words is their primary function and job.”

Lshrkr smiled at him, “So are you ready to go visit the embassies.” She cleaned off her plate with a last forkfull and glanced at Aeric’s plate. He assumed she was glancing at it, kinda of hard to notice when she had near omni-directional vision.

“Ready! Let’s go on a trip.”