The train rumbles into the ornate station, where everyone disembarks. The crowds outside are a mix of tradespeople, tourists and those that dress better than both, even though black seems to be the predominant color there, as if everyone of means were in mourning. The hats are also very tall and narrow on the men, perhaps to make them seem more intimidating. But none of them are pointy, like a witch's hat. And everyone knows that's the only hat you have to respect in Sylvania.
Eve has already changed into her city clothes, which are frillier and more layered than her usual attire. Of course, the others don't travel with clothes for all occasions in their private railway car, leaving Lin, Aviri and Trilup looking like swamp-country bumpkins - except perhaps for Lin's vintage pirate hat.
Despite himself, Aviri can't help but feel like a bumpkin. He tried not to gawk at all the clothes, and general fanciness of the people. "Why all the black?" he asks Eve.
Lin digs her scarf out of her bag and puts it around her neck. She leans out the window of their train car and waves excitedly at the passers by.
"It's just traditional, I think," Eve explains. She's wearing black as well, but with some white and grey, since she's got white fur to begin with. "Gaunt Chic. Also I think to annoy the Gallisians somehow. A sort of fashion war."
"Only witches should wear black," Trilup claims. She looks a bit daunted by the city. Some of the buildings are four stories high after all.
Somehow Aviri had managed to get used to downtown Stonebarrow, and by now could probably even go through the gypsie camp without shivering. But here, he felt the fears coming back, and tried to keep control, his hands wringing tightly together as he stuck close to Eve, as though for protection. "S-so, where to?"
"They look kinda incomfortable with so many layers." Lin notes, retreating from the window. "Big place though! I'll bet they've got all sorts of snacks here!"
"Well, there's the Museum, the Capitol, the shopping district," Eve rattles off, counting on her fingers, "the Winter Palace Hotel, the Hall of Atrocities, the League of Extraordinary Undertakers.."
The Lapi flinches with each item, his mind whirling with the number of things there'd be to see. "Here for one day, right?"
"Hall of atrocities? So, they've got a whole bunch of stuffed monsters and stuff like that?" Lin asks. "Shopping sounds good too. swords would be nice. Maybe a staff for Aviri? Ooh, or a staff with a sword in it!"
"Or clothes that aren't ..." Aviri starts to say, looking down at his tunic. "Stand-out-ey."
"How can staff have a sword in it?" Trilup asks. "You wouldn't be able to use it."
"Make it so the sword's sheath is part of the staff or something. Then you could pull the sword out an' still have a staff?" Lin waves her hands a little then settles down. "Maybe we should see if Gunther would make somethin' like that for Aviri when we get back. He just seems the swort who needs a sword but he'd totally deny it so it shuold be hiden in a staff."
"We can go to the tailor I use," Eve says, and heads for the door. "Better hurry, it's still early so the crowds aren't so bad yet."
Aviri follows Eve with a nervous gulp. He does manage to peer at Lin, though, through narrowed eyes. "Don't need a sword," he says, though the tone of his voice doesn't make it clear whether he's only saying that because she said he'd say it.
Linyala giggles but resists commenting and bounces along next to Eve.
Trilup takes Aviri's hand, since she's also intimidated by the city. At least that way they won't be separated, and Aviri can look down more often with a seeing-eye otter.
The Lapi starts at first, but calms down when he realizes it's only Trilup.
Eve leads them through the crowds. The otters get some attention, but nobody gawks. There's a certain urban indifference at work - but the place is pretty mixed. There are humans and Cervani and Korvs and others that are never seen in Stonebarrow, including the reptile people (who wear big fur coats). There are occasionally armed soldier types - or else very fancy looking town guards - but they aren't harassed. Some of the Lapi that pass way give Aviri odd looks.
The roads are divided as well, mostly. The edges are for pedestrians, and the centers for carts and other vehicles. Nobody keeps to the separation though, so there is often quite a bit of shouting about who has the right of way.
"Watch your step," Eve warns. "I don't trust the taxi carriages here. They are all driven by madmen."
"Yeah, I've already been soup once. Don't want to be a pancake next." Lin chirps and walks a little closer to Eve. "Food, atrocities, shopping? Where do we start?"
Most of Aviri's mental faculties are dedicated to not observing all of everything, in an attempt to not overwhelm himself. However, his head still darts to and fro as people and carriages seem to go every which-way with no concievable ordering system.
One of the head-darts reveals.. flower selling stalls! Although they might also be lunch stalls for vegetarians. Eve eventually gets them onto a road leading upwards to the next area of stores, and that one seems less busy. "There it is, The Little Debutante.." Eve says, pointing to one of the shops.
"A store for getting ants out of your butt?" Lin asks, not sure what to make of the sign. "How is that about clothes?"
Aviri manages to sneak a peek at the sign between ensuring they don't get run over and/or mugged. "Think it's a court thing," he says.
Eve takes a moment to figure out what Lin is asking, then seems to get it. "Ooohh.. that's not what debutante means," she explains. "It means.. uh.. debut.. which is like being shown off for the first time.. and ante is.. uh.. girl. Yeah, I think that's it. Probably Olympian. Most words that sound made up are after all."
Lin cocks her head at the explanation. "So," She starts after thinking over the sign, "it means The Little Show Girl? Kin Aviri even get clothes here? Would they be any good fer anythin' besides lookin' prissy?"
"It's pronounced 'pretty'," Aviri corrects absently.
"The whole point of fashion is to look fancy," Eve says, and leads them into the shop. There are a lot of clothes on dummies, and some paintings and fancy couches. The being in the center of the room does not look prissy or fancy. It towers seven feet tall and looks down at the potential customers with huge predatory eyes astride a curved, raptorish beak. It's feathers are white, but hooves stick out of the pants and have black fur around them. The vest it wears is very, very shiny, with lots of pins and buttons and baubles sewn into it, along with pockets full of measuring strings and other tailoring tools. "Rawrk!" the Vartan squawks in greeting, then clacks its beak and looks down at the youngsters. "Ah, Duchess Kurai! Welcome back! How may Gustavo attire you today?"
Trilup squeaks and hides behind Aviri.
Oddly enough, now that they're out of the streets and in relative isolation, Aviri is calmer, more confident, even standing before the giant Vartan, even putting out his arms slightly as a gesture of protection for Trilup.
Lin smiles at the vartan and gives a little wave, then she starts looking around at the manequins.
"Well, I just need some suitable town clothes for my friends here," Eve notes.
At the mention, Aviri gives their host a sheepish wave.
Gustavo looks them over, and suggests, "Two Kavi handmaids, and Lapi assistant?"
"Well.. maybe not uniforms," Eve says. "They're my traveling companions, not servants."
"Yeah, we're scouts an' he studies plants." Lin chirps, "An' together, we're all adventurers!"
"Rawrk.. perhaps student garb work then?" the Vartan suggests again.
Eve looks to her companions and considers. "I don't think the girls would be able to wear dresses, so.. that may be best."
"Maybe no dress for me, either," Aviri says with a chucke.
"Oh, you a boy bunny?" Gustavo says. "And others are girls?"
"Yes!" Trilup says.
The hippogryph removes one of his measuring strings, and pulls out a stool. "Who first? Stand up on stool please."
Lin steps forward. "Kin I?" She asks.
Aviri looks to Lin, the Lapi still busy guarding Trilup from the giant.
"Yes, up up, Kavi lass," the bird says, gesturing with a taloned hand.
Lin sets her pack on the floor next to Aviri and steps up on the stool.
The bird moves quickly, taking just a few measurements: shoulder width, arm length and shoulder to hip length (although he has to pretty much guess at where Lin's hips are). "Very straight, easy to work with," Gustavo claims, and scribbles something on a scrap of paper with a scrap of pencil.
Aviri watches this carefully, eyes narrowed in warning to the hippogryph as though daring him to hurt Lin.
"Who next?" Gustavo caws.
Lin steps down. "That's it?" She asks, surprised. Apparently she was expecting calipers and devices more strange than a measuring tape to be involved in taking her measurements.
Aviri gulps and nods, stepping away from Tril and up onto the stool. "I'll go next," he says.
Shoulders, arms, shoulders-to-hip, and this time also around the middle and length from hip to knee. "I no bite," Gustavo assures Aviri while he works. "Nagas not bite either, but they swallow whole, hehe! No eat Kavi though."
Aviri isn't sure quite what to make of that. "I'm Lapi," he says as though to clarify.
"Which means ye should be worryin'." Lin chirps.
"I know, just teasin'," the Vartan notes, and pats Aviri on the head. "You wound up too tight. Relax."
"Oh," Aviri says, a bit ashamed. "Is difficult for me."
"Lapi boys all like that," Gustavo claims, and then gestures for Trilup to come over. The Akwavi is still reluctant, and has to be reminded to 'stand up straight' for the measurements. Like with Lin, there aren't many. "You wait here, yah? I no has tea ready.. assistant is late. I get clothes." And then the Vartan vanishes through a door in the back of the room.
"What was he doing, some sort of spell?" Trilup asks once the Vartan is gone.
"Just measuring things," Eve says. "He doesn't have to make everything from scratch, just find stuff nearly the right size and alter it a bit."
Aviri suddenly gets a thought and gulps. "Er, how much'll this cost?"
Eve blinks. "I.. have no idea," she admits. "They're student clothes so.. uh.. probably not too much."
Aviri doesn't look assured at Eve's assurance, but smiles and nods to the best of his abilities.
"That's a good point thuogh. 'Viri's been paying fer everythin' this whole way already. Mayhaps it isn't fair to ask him ta buy us clothes too." Lin says as she examines the variety of outfits on the menequins.
"Well, you're my guests so I can pay for the clothes," Eve points out. "I think I have an account or something here."
"Oh, I couldn't ask you to do that," Aviri says.
"There, it's settled then," Eve says and grins to Aviri. "Don't ask."
"That's easy for otters," Trilup claims.
Aviri opens his mouth to say something, pauses, then shuts it and deflates a little. "Alright," he says quietly.
It isn't that long (well, not long enough for Lin to resort to undressing the dummies) before Gustavo returns, carrying three short boxes. "All done! Perfect fit, guaranteed, or I fix for you."
Lin mooshes her paws into her cheeks. "Aww, he's becoming more like us every day." She says in the most bubbly, adorable voice she can muster.
Eve signs something rather than actually pay with money. Rich people apparently don't use real money if they can avoid it.
Aviri takes the boxes with a thankful nod to Gustavo.
"Thank you, Duchess," Aviri says to Eve as she signs.
"Yeah!" Lin chirps, "Thanks. What did we get?" She scoots over to Aviri and lifts the lid of the topmost box with a claw.
Aviri bends down a bit to give Lin better access to the box.
There are basically just three items of clothing in the box. A white, somewhat frilly and poofy blouse (which she can pretend is a Pirate Blouse, a black waistcoat with silver filigree designs (it isn't Sylvanian without fretwork and filigree) and an odd skirt.
"Is there a place we could change?" Aviri asks the Vartan.
Lin pokes through the folded clothes gingerly. "How do we know which is for who?" She asks.
"Oh.. well, there is the changing room of course," Gustavo says, gesturing to the door he came through. "Only one at a time though. Each outfit will only fit one of you, and only one comes with the pants, and they are all different color schemes as well."
Aviri tilts his head and looks into the second and third box, looking for the one with pants.
There's a green set, with floral patterns.. and that has pants. The final box is a bit pink, so must be Trilup's.
"Oooo, flowers!" Aviri says with a grin. Using a bit of pseudo-juggling he manages to distribute the boxes to their respective new owners, somehow managing to use his foot in the transfer process. "Who wants to change first?"
Lin takes the box with the black and silver waistcoat. "Ye seem pretty excited, why don't you go first?" She suggests to Aviri.
Aviri grins at the suggestion and with a nod to Gustavo almost trots into the changing-room.
The curtain closes, and Aviri still has decent light from a gaslamp and a high up window. But the mirror! It must be worth a fortune, since it's so clear. It must have real metal behind the glass.
The clothes are pretty straightforward, except for the pants. They seem to go up almost to the bottom of the ribcage, covering the stomach with a sort of built in girdle instead of just using a belt. It also has very large buttons up the front, but the tail flap is adjustable.
Even with the simplicity of the clothes, Aviri takes his time in changing, ensuring everything is done up properly, and using the smooth mirror to triple-check himself. Then, with a nod and a paw to smooth his ears, his old clothes folded up and hidden in the box, he returns to the outside world looking very pleased. "Fits quite well!" he announces.
"Matches yer scarf too!" Lin chirps. "Tril, you wanna go next then?"
"Okay!" Trilup chimes, and runs through the back into the changing room. "Oh wow you gotta see this mirror!" she calls out. When she returns, she's in a pink version of Aviri's outfit, except that it has a simple knee-length skirt instead of trousers, while still having the belly-band bit. With the blouse actually tucked into the band, Trilup looks almost respectable. "It's not waterproof," she laments, while still wearing a big smile.
"Well, we shouldn't be getting wet here anyway," Aviri says to Trilup with a chuckle. "If we do ... things have gone horribly wrong."
"You do look nice, though," Aviri says to her.
"Alright," Lin giggles, "You two look way too fancy. I've gotta get in on this." With that she ducks behind the curtain. "Ye weren't kiddin' about the mirror!"
The silver and black of Lin's outfit, along with the extra frilly front of the blouse works well with the pirate hat. She just needs a saber on her hip and a Creen on her shoulder.
Before leaving the changing room, Lin fidgets with getting her arm sheath to work with the blouse, eventually opting to have some of the poofy fabric above it to match the other arm better. She reties the rope belt as well to play up the pirate look. Her leather clothes go in the box and the purple scarf gets lightly tossed around her neck so the ends fall behind her left shoulder and hang just past level with her waistcoat. After she's quite sure she looks as awesome as she can be, she sweeps aside the curtain and swaggers out to face her friends.
Aviri lets out a chuckle when he sees Lin, if only because the sight of her so well-dressed was completely antithesis to Lin. "Aww, how cute," he says with a smirk.
"You look like trouble, but.. cute trouble," Eve claims.
"All look very shiny, yes," Gustavo says proudly.
"You do very good work," Aviri tells the hippogryph, as though a swamp-bumkin like himself would know anything about urban fashion.
"That's precisely the kinda trouble I aught to be." Lin chirps with a wink, "Nobody ever expects cute trouble."
"Unless they know you're an Oggton," Trilup claims with a grin.
"And thank you very much, Duchess!" Aviri says to Eve.
Lin makes hurried shushing motions. "Nobody here knows us yet!" She hisses quietly.
"So.. food or hotel next," Eve asks. "Did I mention the hotel will serve you food too?"
"You did," Aviri says. "Called it 'room service.' I vote hotel." He casts a wary glance out onto the street. "Not sure I could ... city, for much longer."
"Hotel sounds good." Lin agrees, "But that hall of atrocities you mentioned sounds like fun fer later."
"It's all about the history of Sylvania," Eve says. "I've never been allowed to go to it before though. But Aviri is our chaperone, so that should be fine."
Aviri blinks, gulps, and nods. "S-sure," he said, and clears his throat. "History is always fun."
The Winter Palace Hotel is.. impressive. It looks like a fancy manor, because it probably IS one. It's also the biggest building any of the Sylvanians have ever seen, being five stories tall and covering an area almost the size of Stonebarrow village (although a lot of that is the inner courtyard and gardens). Eve apparently has a suite in the name of the Trans-Nordikan Railway on reserve, and notes it'll just be an overnight stay. The suite is at the top of the hotel, in one of the tower-like corner sections. It has two bedrooms, a really big, fancy bathroom (with a big fancy bathtub) and a lounge, sitting room, office and covered veranda-balcony that looks out over the city.
"Here's the menu for room service," Eve says, holding up a booklet once they're all inside. "It's got more than food, even."
Until Eve mentioned food, Lin had been exploring the suite and loving it. Everything's so clean and shiny and new-feeling. She scoots back to Eve and starts reading the menu.
Aviri is just thankful to be off the streets. While the plush luxury of the suite is nice, it pales in comparison to the luxury of being with just the girls and not a thousand strangers as well. He leans against a wall, near a window, his head back. "This is nice," he coos soflty before looking at Lin. "Anything good?"
Most of the dishes sound foreign.. or are just fancy. There doesn't seem to be anything simple. And there are desserts, finger foods, snack platters and other non-meal options, plus another section on Services that includes laundry, nannies, lecters, tutors and massage therapists, along with personal grooms.
Lin humms and ponders at the menu for a good while before responding. "They've got massages and grooming! The food is complicated though and most of it doesn't even sound like food. Maybe we should let Eve order or just pick randomly."
Aviri looks horrified at the thought of picking randomly. Or maybe it was the massage--his last one involved necromoss, after all. "Might be best to let the Duchess decide," he says.
"I know what I like to get," Eve says, taking an order card from the booklet. "They've got my favorite fish dish here! I'll get a few of those.. and a fruit platter.. oh, and the sweets platter.." She marks this off with a quill pen from the desk, then puts the card into a nearby slot in the wall.
"How does the slot know what you wanted?" Trilup asks, trying to looking through the slit.
Aviri laughs and pushes off the wall to also observe the hole. "I think it goes somewhere," he says. "Specifically, to someone."
"Oh.. it just goes down to.. someplace.. and someone reads it and makes it all happen," Eve notes, waving her hand. "Like a restaurant. Only you fill out the order yourself instead of having the waiter do it.."
"Nifty!" Lin chirps, "An' what kinds of tutors are there?"
"I suppose they all know everything," Eve guesses. "Like.. math and writing and languages. I think they're mainly so parents can leave their kids here and go do grown-up stuff in the city."
"That sounds strange," Aviri says. "Odd that you'd leave your kids with strangers."
"Well.. they're professional strangers though," Eve points out.
"Aww. I thought it would be cool stuff like hand to hand combat or better sneaking tricks." Lin pouts then returns to exploring the suite.
There's a cupboard full of games, and another full of bottles of booze and wine, and there is plenty of writing material too. "The lecters are neat," Eve says. "They come and read you the news, or tell stories or jokes or even sing and play music."
Aviri tilts his head at the alcohol, though more out of curiosity, probably concering what things went into them than anything, before switching to the game. "You mean, people come in and just ... talk?"
"Yeah," Eve says, using some of the writing paper to doodle on. "About stuff going on in the city and such. Special events or gossip or business stuff. Or to tell bedtime stories. Sometimes they even do different voices for the characters."
"Huh," Aviri says. "That sounds ... and that's a job they have? Like, get paid for?"
"Sounds pretty swanky!" Lin's voice echoes from the bathroom. "Get paid to gab about stuff. This tub is awesome! I think they even have hot water." The sounds of running water can then be heard as she tests the hot tap to see how long it takes for warm water to come out.
A bell rings at the door, and a voice announces, "Room Service." Eve bounces up and goes to open the door. Several humans enter, carrying covered platters or rolling serving carts. These are the 'appetizers' apparently: bowls of fruit and bread, plates of cheese, a platter of little cakes, some sort of fancy bowl with shrimp in it, carafes of water and juice, and an entire cart just with salad makings, along with someone to make the salad.
"Lin, you gotta come see this!" Trilup says.
Aviri's eyes go wide at the entourage of humans and carts. He scrambles to his feet and shrinks away at first before realizing that, for one, Eve wasn't scared, and for another, they didn't appear to be dangerous.
Most of the servers leave, except for a woman who starts preparing tea, and a man that manages the salad bar. The latter smiles to Aviri, and asks, "What sort of salad would you like, sir?"
The water shuts off in the bathroom and Lin hurries out moments later, the fur on her paws all fuzzy from drying them off. "Kewl!" She chirps as soon as she lays eyes on the wealth of food. She puts three shimp on one of the little cakes and gives it a critical eye before eating it.
The salad bar has several types of leafy vegetables, from lettuces to cabbage and spinach. There are familiar and exotic vegetables, nuts, something that might be chopped up, hard-boiled egg and a variety of sauces.
Eve demonstrates to Trilup how to eat a shrimp, and the young otter is soon stuffing her face.
The Lapi freezes upon being directly addressed, and it takes him a moment to recover enough to look to Eve for help. "Uh ...." he says, and takes a tentative step toward him, eyes shifting to the cart's contents. "S-spinach," he says, pointing to the leaves. "And lettuce. Carrots, too...." The wealth of options begins to push out the fright of the humans. "Some of those, and those look tasty, and ... a cabbage. Please."
The salad is assembled in artistic layers, and the man asks, "Would you care for any dressing?" He lifts the covers off of the various dressing cups so Aviri can see and smell them. There are creams, mustards, something that must be ginger, and mixes of oils and vinegars and even wines.
"Oh!" Aviri says, stepping closer and sniffing at them. He peers at his salad, then at the dressings, and points to one. "Thank you!"
"Ooo, they've got bananas!" Eve says, grabbing one of the oddly shaped fruits. "We usually only get these on Rephidim. It's hard to ship stuff to Sylvania by air.."
The salad is finished and handed over to Aviri. It's certainly big enough to serve as a meal on its own.
The water in the kettle begins to hiss, and the tea-lady begins asking what sort of tea people would like - or if they'd rather have hot cocoa.
Lin chuckles at Eve's comments on shipping. "We don't get many things like your dragonwagon back home either. Somethin' about the magic muddlin' the mechanics. Or was it gremlins?" She asks nobody in particular as she works her way around the carts, trying one of everything.
"Oh, the Titanians have ways of tricking the gremlins," Eve claims, and asks for mint tea with lots of cream.
Aviri takes the salad gratefully and finds a place to sit where he can nibble at it leisurely. "Jasmine for me," he says to the teay-lady, happily chewing on leaves.
"I would like to try the cocoa," Trilup says.
"How about... Nettle and ginger?" Lin asks of the tea server.
"You must be from the east," the lady says to Lin. But she does have nettle.
"More just curious." Lin repplies, "I saw you had them an' wondered what they'd be like together."
Once the tea and cocoa have been prepared and served, another chime announces the arrival of the entree. This is a large, silver-scaled fish (called a 'Vykarin Sea Bass') which has been poached, presented on a bed of lettuce with some sort of dark mushroom shavings and a boat of unfamiliar, clear gravy. The salad-man produces knives, and expertly fillets the fish, placing portions onto three other plates, garnishing them with the mushroom - which turns out to be Bromthen Truffle - and then covering them with the Truffle Oil gravy before serving them to Eve and the Akwavi.
The Lapi is perfectly content with his salad and flowery tea of deliciousness as the girls get their dead-thing-food. He does wrinkle his nose, though, recalling that time they switched bodies.
"Would you care for some truffle for your salad, sir?" the man asks Aviri.
Aviri looks at the man and shakes his head. "It's perfect as-is, thank you though!"
Trilup looks dubiously at the red-fleshed fish, but takes a bite. Her eyes go wide. "Oh wow.. this is the best fish ever.." she whispers.
Lin tastes hers as well then digs in. "Y'ffnt wffng." Lin proclaims with a mouthfull of bass.