Picking Pockets [Open]

[Nathaniel Essex]

Nathaniel waited in the main hall for about thirty minutes, and then finally a knock came at the door. A crooked grin crossed his lips as he stood up from the stairs that he had been sitting on, and then he went to let in whoever was outside. He of course knew who it was, so he didn't bother asking, he simply opened the doors, and waved them in.

"I grabbed every dress I had in my main office zat I thought would fit." Monique, a slender woman in her forties with a blonde bob-cut, a freckle at the left corner of her mouth, and fair skin said to Essex as she entered with people moving about five racks of dresses behind her.
"It is appreciated, Monique. You can setup in the ballroom." He said somewhat pleasantly.
"Merci." Monique responded, and then clapped her hands twice before leading her people into the room to Nathaniel's right.
"Oh, I think undergarments may be in order as well."
"I had a feeling you might say zat." Monique replied, stopping in the doorway and getting a sort of confused look from Dr. Essex. "A designers intuition." The French woman said with a slightly impish smile. Monique continued into the ballroom to supervise the setup, and raised her voice to continue talking to her client. "So, Dr. Essex, are you in zee business of picking up strays, now?" A verbal jab not appreciated by Nate, which was made clear when he shut the doors without answering. "Hm... Seems I hit a nerve."

A little while later Nathaniel heard Tesser calling to him. He casually walked up to the second floor, and stood by the banister post. He looked at the child with a warm grin, and then waved her to him. "Come on, I have something waiting for you." He said, and then slowly started back down the stairs so that Tesser could catch up. Once the child was near he placed a hand on her moist shoulder, and gently guided her to the ballroom doors, which were slightly ajar. "Go on in."

Beyond the doors were dozens of dresses, some were simple sundresses, while others were grand ball gowns, and then there were evening gowns, themed dresses, virtually every kind of dress one could imagine. There were a great deal displayed on small mannequins, and even more hanging up on the racks. Monique and her assistants were stationed at various points in the rather large ballroom, ready to help the young girl try on dresses.

[Tesser]

Tesser felt the presences of other people before she had entered the room. Her blindfold had never left her during her bath, and she squinted behind it, sniffing curiously at the air. "Who...?" she started, but stopped when he ushered her towards the door. He was obviously very proud of whatever he had set up, a little excited even? She didn't want to ruin it for him. She thought he maybe didn't have fun like this often. And so she walked, sticking close to his leg, just in case. The doors opened and her mouth opened in a perfect 'o'.

All around the room were beautiful dresses, on racks, on hooks, on mannequins. They filled the room to bursting with color. Memories of parties and balls that hadn't happened yet swirled around them and standing around were tall people in pressed clothing. They were curious, though not as curious as the one in charge. Only, her doctor wasn't happy with her. She looked at her curiously, she didn't look bad. She breathed in deeply, as if smelling a bouquet of flowers. Then, trailing away from her Doctor, she went to the nearest rack of dresses.

She was small enough to almost get lost in the mass of fabric. She would pull out a bit here, holding it up and oohing over it. Soft silks and velvets she would stroke gently, not wanting to mess it up. Others, like light gauzes and tulles, she would pull around herself, giggling. In this manner she went from rack to rack, slowly making her way around the room. Occasionally when she came to one of the assistants, she would weave through their legs, almost as if they were part of the display, smiling openly up at them.

At one point, she turned back to her Doctor, raising one eyebrow expressively, and said seriously, "You know you can't wear these, right? They wouldn't suit you at all. I think you ought to keep on wearing your..." She gestured vaguely at his suit, "Things." She disappeared momentarily under a dress made of peacock feathers. When she reappeared, she continued, saying, "Besides, you're a boy." She said this factually, in case he hadn't known. "Boys only wear dresses if they're not really boys, and then they're girls that look like boys, but only on the outside." She broke off again to inspect something that looked like a fishtail before saying brightly, "They're are surgeries to fix that though, don't worry" She smiled brightly at the attendant next to her, who was looking down at the child with the most concerted expression on her face.

Then, in the back of a rack, Tesser saw a flash of green and gold. There were, of course, other green dresses, but when she saw this one, she exclaimed "We match!" Skipping over to it, tugging the huge towel along like a toga, she hugged the dress gently. It was a light summer dress with a short skirt made of hundreds of pleats that would fan out when spun. Gold embroidered knot work edged it and sparkled against the lamp glow. "Hello." She whispered into the fabric softly.

[Nathaniel Essex]

Essex felt quite proud of himself as he watched the girl’s reaction to his surprise. She ran by, around, and even through the many dresses he had brought to the ballroom for her. Monique seemed shocked by the child’s behavior, but quickly composed herself, probably worried that if she offended the doctor any more he would kick her out.

Nathaniel walked into the room slowly, remembering the grand parties that once filled this place. The doctor’s ballroom was truly a vessel of memories. Although most of the parties held in Nate’s manor were to keep people from getting suspicious about him, he had to admit he did enjoy himself from time to time. In the days of prohibition Dr. Essex was a man outside the law, but hid it quite well. Fine wine and champagne flowed at every party, and of course a few men from Al’s gang were always welcome to stay and enjoy themselves, so long as they didn’t get too wild. Then there were the women… Now, usually Nate would have no time for such distractions, but every now and then he thought it good to keep up appearances, so he would flirt a bit. However, there was one woman who he always found to be quite dazzling.

The large man found himself pulled from his memories when Tesser stopped to tell him he couldn’t wear the dresses as if he didn’t already know. Was she unaware that these were for her? Had he not made that clear enough? Well, considering the child’s mental state, that was entirely possible…likely, even. Then she went on to seemingly suggest, though it was probably unintentional, that Dr. Essex was a homosexual. But, he didn’t become angry, offended, or even annoyed. No… Instead, Nathaniel simply laughed. ~What an amazing young girl. No fear of me… How strange, and oddly refreshing. Have I secretly, unbeknownst even to myself, been waiting for something like this? Was I waiting for a…~[/color] He dared not finish the thought, and then approached Tesser from behind as she gripped a green dress. “You like that one, don’t you? You know, you can have any of the dresses in this room, including that one.”

[Tesser]

Tesser stroked the embroidery gently, holding the soft fabric up to her ears as though listening to it. She hummed softly to herself, the sound muffled in the folds of the dress. She didn't move when her Doctor walked up to her, nor did she react when he spoke. However, she nodded to herself a moment later, saying audibly, "This one." For a moment, she paused, letting the words sink into the air, before finally looking up at her Doctor. Smiling up at him contentedly, she hugged the dress to her.

An assistant removed the dress from its hanger, but Tesser didn't even see the woman, not even reacting when it finally hung limp in her arms. She breathed in the scent of cleanly washed fabric and starch, marveling in the newness of it. "Thank you, Doctor."

((OOC - Sorry it's short, I wasn't really sure what to do...))

[Nathaniel Essex]

"Very well." Mr. Sinister said with a soft grin. "Monique, we'll take this one, and I'd like two more just like it." He said, just barely turning his head to address the fashion designer.
"I'll have zem ready before the end of zee week." Monique said with a modest smile as she approached the large man and the little girl. "Will that be all, Dr. Essex?"

Nathaniel turned from Monique to Tesser, still smiling. "I believe so..." He paused briefly before saying: "Unless you want something more." Honestly, he doubted she would say yes, but he figured he would offer anyways. He wished to give this child so much, and probably would have bought every rack had she desired it. Although, he wasn't sure what he would do with all those dresses; where would he store them? Well, it was a large manor, so he could surely find somewhere to put them until she wanted to wear one of them.

(OOC: By the way, feel free to take control of some assistants to help her get dressed if you want)

[Tesser]

Tesser listened attentively to her Doctor's conversation with the boss lady, and smiled adoringly up at him when his face was turned away from her. He was getting two more dresses, and surely they weren't for him. She disguised her face with its usual expression of benign contentedness when he looked back at her, though, shaking her head. "This is all and everything, until we all go home to die." She stated with a calm smile, hugging the dress tightly.

At a motion from the boss lady, two helper ladies walked up to Tesser and began towing her away to a connected room made up for changing. Tesser went without complaint, but looked excessively confused, casting several unsure glances back at her Doctor. Behind the door there was some muffled conversation while the two helper ladies tried to make conversation with Tesser. They soon found, however, that she neither responded to the coddling tones used on young children, nor could she carry on a sensible conversation like an older child. At her clear lack of knowledge about such things as undergarments and laces, several confused and pitying looks were shared between the women. The child, however, was entirely oblivious. She murmered on and off to herself about senseless odds and ends while alternately asking question after question. What was that, why were they doing this, did she have to do that? Why?

By the time the process was done, the two assisstants were exhausted and extremely confused as to the nature of the young charge. They opened the doors back into the main room with sighs of relief, allowing Tesser to re-enter.

Several slight alterations had been made to the dress and it fit her like a glove. Her hair had been combed until it was shiney, though her blindfold was still stubbornly in place. Likewise, they had not been able to convince her to wear shoes. Walking with uncharicteristic care, she looked around her at everything and everyone, coming to stop next to her Doctor. "Everything looks different." She said wonderingly. "It's like green glasses to turn stone to shiney. Is this how you always feel when you wear fancy clothes?" There was a broad smile on her face. "I like it."