Young Writers Society

Megara glanced around, "Formal wear for my world might be different from yours. Even now, I can tell that all of you wear significantly fewer layers than is normal for my world..." she trailed off. Did she have anything they could borrow at her place? She was several inches shorter than most of them, but some of her dresses were made to be worn with heels, so maybe...

She shook her head, "Let me see what you have. My b- former boss will be suspicious if it's too far off." She had to stop tripping up like that.

James and Rose both nodded.

"If you're unsatisfied with what we have here," Sabrina said, "we can try to find images of what you're talking about and buy them online."

"I could also go out and get them," Wally said, grinning. "I'd be here one second and gone the next!"

James gave him a suspicious look. "You just wanted to see me in formal wear."

"...Maybe," Wally relented. "Just a little bit. I haven't ever seen you wear it as you, James! Is it too much to want to tease my best friend?"

James rolled his eyes once more at Wally's antic, but still rose to his feet after finishing his meal. Rose quickly did the same.

"On..." she shook her head. Whatever 'online' meant didn't matter, not compared to everything else that was going on today. The point was, they could get what they needed quickly. She finished eating quickly and stood, "I may have some dresses that may work as well if there's nothing here," she offered.

The group dispersed.

As the others lingered in the main room and prepared whatever they'd need for rescuing Eddie, James, Rose and Jason all went into the depths of the house. It wasn't long before Wally came darting after them, practically clinging to James with how close he was.

They stopped in the first room.

"This is the room Sabrina uses whenever she's here," James said. Rose moved over to the dresser and opened it up, revealing a vast array of casual and formal wear.

She glanced back at Megara. "Does any of this look good?"

Megara looked over the collection of clothing, all unfamiliar in material and cut. She shook her head slightly, piecing together outfits in her head, testing out if something might work to get close.

"No. Honestly, most of these look like elaborate undergarments to me. Do you even own a corset?" Corsets might limit movement, but they were absolutely necessary for any given gown that would work.

Jason, Rose, James and Wally all exchanged looks.

"Corsets have been out of style for awhile here," Rose gently said, not quite sure how else she was supposed to break it to Megara.

Jason, meanwhile, was already pulling up pictures of dresses with corsets on his phone - trying to find one that matched the style that Megara was talking about. Once the search had been googled and the first image pulled up, he held the phone out in front of her.

"Is this what you're thinking of?" he asked, showing her a dress.

She looked at it, ignoring the oddness of the device for now. It was unimportant and she was in a hurry.

She frowned slightly, "That's an older style, but it has the fundamentals. Though, for formal wear, the hem wouldn't be hitched up like that."

Jason scrolled through the other pictures, looking for one that matched Megara's description. It wasn't long before he thought he saw one. Giving it one last glance, he held out his phone to her again.

She nodded, "Yes, like that." She looked it over again, counting the places where weapons might be hidden. Her father wouldn't search her, nor would he search her guests. That was impolite, and he was confident. Confident that Briar could beat her, confident she's come alone, confident she wouldn't be able to hide anything on her other than perhaps a set of throwing knives and a dagger or two. He was still unaware of her reliance on a cane.

Rose opened her mouth to suggest that they looked in other parts of the house for clothing that could be turned into a dress like that, but she never got a chance to - Wally sped off and appeared a second later with two dresses and a suit in hand, all perfectly matching the style and time period that the depicted dress was from.

He placed them down on the bed.

"Here," he said. "One set of formal wear."

Megara nodded, "Those'll do." She assessed them again. They could be modified to hide a few knives of various kinds, that was good. She'd have to work quickly, though, if they were to be ready in time.

"Do you have sewing supplies?" she requested.

"I think Alfred does-" James started to say. Once again, Wally saved the day: he ran out of the room and skid back into it a few seconds later with a sewing kit in tow.

"He does," he confirmed. He held out the kit to Megara. "Need anything else?"

She shook her head as she took the kit and grabbed one of the dresses, "No, this is all. I can modify the gowns to conceal blades, for emergencies. If using them is not absolutely necessary, don't, but if it is, it would be nice to have something besides this," she tapped her cane.

Wally nodded, lingering behind James as they waited for Megara to make the necessary adjustments. When she was ready, they would be, too.

She finished quickly and looked up, "Alright. All we need is to get changed and get Ciel to perform the spell. Is there anything else you people need to do before we leave?" She purposely drained all emotion from her voice, keeping her tone as flat at Briar's at any given moment. She had to get back. She had to get Eddie.