Grant turned to Aeric with a raised brow, “Are you that flush with potential dates that you can turn down two lovely women asking you to come dancing?”

Aeric shrugged, rolling his shoulders. Xii smirked at Grant, “He’s been too focused with work to do anything other than some flirting, pretty sure all of it has been with me.”

She grinned and showcased her sharpened teeth to the new pair. Neither so much as flinched or reacted to the sight. Causing her grin to widen even further. Aeric just rolled his eyes, “I’ve just had a lot on my mind, and with my emotions being all over the place. I just don’t wanna do something I’ll regret later. Would be unfair to whoever I spend time with.”

Grant raised an eyebrow, “You do realise that some people want nothing more than a good time for a night, right?”

Aeric looked at him, “Course I do, I was never much of a one night stand guy though.”

Xii frowned, “A what?”

“Having sex at night and dissapearing in the morning. Basically.”

Grant shrugged, “Nightlife is pretty active here, pretty people of all genders looking for some company for the night. Some cultures don’t even do partners, just sex.”

The girl standing next to Grant spoke up for the first time, like Grant her hair was violet. She had it in a bob cut, her eyes however were lighter, a near pink. “I bet those are the cultures you wish you’d been born in.”

Grant just grinned, “You know it! No need to be all serious till we’re old enough to settle, we got plenty of years still in us.”

The girl folded her arms, “I think it’s much more romantic to not want to just bang a girl and then leave the next morning.”

Grant rolled his eyes and heaved a theatrical sigh. “Of course you do, you live off romance novels and expect roses and candles and the entire shebang.”

Aeric grinned, “Nothing wrong with being a hopeless romantic.”

The girl grinned at Aeric and pointed a thumb at him, “This guy gets it, I bet he’d do better with the ladies than you do.”

Grant scoffed, “No shit. He works for Aliami, he’s got connections. He’s probably got a pretty decent amount of coin to his name.”

The girl grinned and winked at Aeric, “Not to mention he’s handsome.”

Aeric grinned, “All I’m missing is a noble title and it’s the full bachelor bingo card.”

Xii smiled, “Actually, you’re kind of Aliami’s unofficial adopted sibling like the rest of us. Kinda counts as a noble title.”

Grant grinned, “And there we have it, the whole shebang. How’s a guy supposed to compete?”

“Well in that case.” The girl threw him a theatrical wink and clung to his arm, batting her eyelashes. The group chuckled, Aeric snorted and rolled his eyes. The girl just grinned back at him.

Grant smiled, “Anyway before the pair of you disappear into the sheets let me at least introduce you. Aeric, this is my sister Reina. Reina, this is the tailor Aeric.”

Aeric raised a hand, the one that was still free to move. “A pleasure.”

She released his other arm and smiled, “Likewise.”

Aeric turned to Grant, motioning to the back of the room. “So did you come for the guided tour?”

Grant shrugged and glanced over at Xii who did the same, he turned back to Aeric. “Sure, always curious what other businesses look like and how things work behind the scenes.”

Aeric shrugged, “It’s pretty much exactly as you expect, some people behind tables sewing clothing.”

Grant snorted, “Except these people could probably match a small army.”

Xii chuckled and slung an arm over Grant’s shoulder, “I could do that all by my lonesome.” She winked at Reina who laughed at her remark.

Grant snorted, “You laugh, and then you find out what she’s saying is true.”

Reine glanced at him with a shit-eating grin, “Then I’ll laugh even harder.”

Xii cackled, “I like this one, she should come around more often.”

Reina smiled, “How could I refuse such an enticing offer.”

“By saying no.” Aeric quipped.

Grant snorted and held up a hand for a high-five which Aeric promptly returned. Reina rolled her eyes and leaned over towards Xii, “Males, such horrible humour.”

Xii shook her head in mock disappointment, “You should not expect clever humour from the gender of brutes.”

Aeric snorted, “Pretty sure you have enough bruticism in you to out match all the dudes living in this city district.”

Xii grinned, “Just goes to show you men can’t even do that right.”

Aeric leaned over towards grant, “That's why I’ve become the best tailor in the store, the womenfolk can’t even do their housely chores properly.”

Xii’s jaw dropped, “Why you little runt, say that to my face!”

Aeric leaned in real close with a shit-eating grin. “So as I was saying.”

She punched him softly in the gut, causing Aeric to chuckle as she rolled her eyes. “Yea yea, keep it up. You're surrounded by women, maybe it's not a good idea to insult the lot of em hmmm?”

“Pot, meet kettle.”

She snorted and smirked at him, Aeric returned the smirk. The siblings merely rolled their eyes. Reina shook her head, “So I’m guessing this theatrical drama thing is something that happens often?”

Xii nodded with a pleased grin, “Owh yea, it got even worse when Aeric joined.”

Aeric smiled, “A bit of over the top stuff makes life fun, what can I say.”

Aeric led them through the door into the work area. Hurma, Yisillia and Lshrkr looked up from their work, eying the new additions. Aeric stepped forward and introduced the siblings as Maddicks grandchildren. The girls exchanged pleasantries while Aeric moved to his work bench.. The pair of girls had a point, it was high time for him to make some clothing for himself, he already had an idea in his head. He’d always liked suits, it was a really classy aesthetic.

He’d make himself a pair of slacks, fitted, in an off grey colour. A blouse of a solid, slightly darker shade of orange, a clean pure white vest that goes over it with a violet pocket-handkerchief. The tie would be the same colour as the slacks. He’d have to find some shoes in the same white as the vest, and he had an idea for a white bracelet made out of thread. All in all it should be a rather fashionable assembly, the true question was if he could get it done in time for the dance tonight.

He looked up and glanced at the others, “Hurma, could you help me take some measurements? It’s about time I make myself something to wear.”

The large woman looked up from her conversation with Reina, who’d been inspecting her work and shrugged, “Sure, let me get the lint.”

Grant walked over and looked at Aeric’s sketch, “That looks like quite the fancy ensemble.”

Aeric looked over and grinned at him, “It’s called a suit and I think you’d love one for yourself, I’ll make one for you if we have any time left over.”

Grant grinned, “Sounds good, I’ll pay and all that.”

Aeric shrugged, “I think I make Aliami quite a bit of money so she lets me mostly do whatever. First suit is on me.”

Yisillia snorted, “She really does. Although she does monitor all your custom work now. No more selling off things for a fiftieth of the price.”

Reina glanced at Aeric then looked back at Yisillia, “That really happened?”

Xii grinned, “Oh yeah, there was this girl that came to him for a wedding dress when we’d left him alone at the shop one time. She had twenty silver to spend on a wedding dress. Captain creative over here went on a total crafting spree, bought materials worth about two gold all together. Ended up making an absolutely gorgeous rare ranked dress worth at least fifty gold. Still insisted on selling it to her for twenty silver.”

Reina stared at him with wide eyes, “That’s some truly horrific business sense.”

Aeric grinned, “There’s a reason I won’t be breaking away to run my own store. I’m not a fan of all the managing and bartering and stuff. Now I can safely leave that to Aliami and do whatever I feel like.”

Grant raised an eyebrow, “Aren’t you worried that you’re only getting a fraction of the money you’re making for the store?”

Aeric shrugged, “Don’t care. If I wanna buy something Aliami will give me the money for it anyway, there’s just not much I actually want. Food is taken care of, clothing I can make myself so that’s also free. I got a roof over my head, again taken care of by Aliami, and I still get paid for the work I do. Which is money I don’t really spend and just piles up.”

Hurma tapped the desk, grabbing everyone's attention. “To be clear, Aliami pays well. We have a pretty cosy life here.”

Aeric nodded and the girls made noises of agreement. Lshrkr clicked her mandibles, “We each have our own set goals, Aliami knows this. None of us are all that interested in making money. Aliami makes sure we do have the money for anything we want to do, she’ll gladly give us extra if we need it.”

Aeric grinned, “We each have our own specialities, Aliami is only technically our boss. We see her more as the one of the group that’s in charge of all our money. We have a kind of what’s mine is yours thing going on. Except for the few personal items we truly cherish.”

Xii grinned, “Of which you have none.”

“So some things are not for sharing?” Grant said as he looked between them.

Xii shrugged, “My blade for instance, I wouldn’t let the others use it. It would be borderline sacrilege. Not that they have any interest in blades.”

Hurma smiled, “The gifts from Gorguvand, they obviously aren’t items I’d feel comfortable sharing.”

Aeric shrugged, “The items kinda speak for themselves, they really aren’t things we’d want to use anyway.”

Grant grinned, “So you guys are actually a family unit. The mom watches over the finances.” He pointed a thumb at Xii, “And the dad cooks and murders anyone who wants to harm the family.”

They laughed. Xii shook her head, “If anything I’m the big sister.”

Aeric grinned and opened his mouth. Yisillia glared at him and growled, “If you even mention anything sexual I’ll throw things at you.”

Aeric chuckled and raised his hands in mock surrender. Hurma chuckled and Xii grinned, Grant and Reina looked on in furrowed brows. Grant raised an eyebrow at Aeric, “Explain that one to me.”

Aeric nodded seriously, “Right, that one is called Yisillia. She’s an elf and a total cockblock.” He ducked as a roll of cloth was chucked at his head, “She’s sex shy, can’t stand anything lewd. So obviously like proper siblings, all Xii and I do is flirt constantly.”

Yisillia grumbled under her breath and folded her arms. Reina cocked her head, “Is flirting proper sibling behaviour?” She looked over at Grant and fluttered her eyelashes. “Why did you never tell me brother, I have been doing things wrong all along.”

Grant shuddered, “Don’t even start. That’s horrible, absolutely terrifying. Never do that again.”

The group chuckled, even Yisillia smiled and rolled her eyes at the byplay. Xii grinned and shoulder bumped Aeric, “So you do know how to make friends. That boy of yours fits right in, and he brought his sister so that's two for the price of one!”

Aeric smirked, “That boy of mine? Are you throwing in those innuendos on purpose? Lshrkr told you about the Harlan ambassador, I take it.”

Xii grinned from ear to ear, “A lovely man gets all flirty with you and you fail to tell us about it?”

Aeric looked at her in mock innocence, eyes wide and hands spread. “People are always flirting with me, being so handsome is a chore, truly. I’d be reporting to you constantly if that’s what you’re asking.”

Hurma snorted, “Yea just keep bragging about your looks instead of working on your clothing. You’ll be going to that dance underdressed, I’d love to see that.”

Aeric rolled his eyes, “I will have you know I have mastered the art of doing more than one thing at a time.”

He did grab a roll of cloth and get started, he grabbed a pair of scissors and started working on the pattern. He’d already settled on the colours and he wasn’t looking to make anything magical so mundane materials would do. Silk and suede were much cheaper in this world than they would have been in the other. Magical materials dropped the price of even the higher quality mundane ones, they simply didn’t stack up to what could be harvested from some monsters. Silk was nice and smooth, this was true. But compared to the things you could make from even something like the Cottonsoft Sheep, it paled in comparison.

As a result Aeric had no compunction against using high quality mundane materials for his clothing. Comfort and the soft feeling of silk on the skin was rather pleasant after all, he had never really worn or made a tailor made suit however. He wondered what the best material to use would be.