July 25th
Ana's House - Early Evening - Clear
Anastasia Asher
"Okay, so... this is what we have," Ana said, flipping open the lid of the trunk. They were in her bedroom, which was spacious but largely unremarkable. Her fashion sense didn't really extend to decorating, minus a few touches, and her bed linens and things were all in shades of cream. She liked the clean feeling, but there was a world of difference between cream and white, and it mattered to her.
Inside the chest were over a dozen yukata, all of them well-maintained and new-looking. She suspected most of them had only been worn once or twice before; they'd come from an assortment of relatives over time, but mostly arrived in her belongings by means of her aunts Miranda or Lydia. Pulling out one of the stacks, she started laying the folded garments out on her neatly-made bed so that the pattern of each would be visible. "Really it just comes down to picking whatever you like, in terms of pattern and color. Most of them are around the same material. Sizing will vary a little bit, but most of these should fit either of you with no problem. They're a little more forgiving than kimono in terms of the tailoring not needing to be perfect or anything."
Honestly even kimono weren't that bad, until one considered the really expensive kind. Even then, they could be pretty reliably passed in families and things. Her family had some things like that, but she wasn't anywhere near important or central enough to the main line of it to have any chance of inheriting something so important herself. She supposed it was kind of... clan-like, in that way still.
“Oh, wow, they're so pretty," Nev stated lightly as she leaned over the options. Cyrilla huffed lightly, shooting off a text, apparently, before turning her attention towards the yukata Ana had placed out. “Are you sure it's okay if we wear one, Ana?" she asked almost hesitantly.
“I don't think Ana would have offered if she wasn't sure, Nev," Cyrilla spoke with some amusement in her voice. “Nev is right, though. They are very beautiful," she added, running her hand across one of the darker colored ones before turning her attention towards Ana. “What is your favorite color, Nev?" she asked. Nev turned towards Cyrilla and hummed a thoughtful note in the back of her throat.
“Purple, but the really light shades of the color. Like lavender," she answered, causing Cyrilla to huff lightly.
“Do you have any in that color, Ana?"
"I think so, yes. Let me see here..." Rummaging around in the chest, she came back up with two garments and made a satisfied little sound. One of the yukata was a soft, slightly reddish lilac with a white pattern on it. The other, however, was actually a slightly deeper purple, more on the blue-periwinkle end of things. "This one has a lavender obi, so I figured it was also an option," she explained, unfolding them one by one and laying them out spread on the bed so Nev could see the whole pattern of each. The lilac one had a pretty traditional arrangement of flower branches on it, but the periwinkle had clouds and flying birds.
"Of course if you don't like those you can always wear another color, but that's what we've got for light purples. What are you thinking, Cyrilla?"
“I really like this one, though," Nev stated as she reached for the perwinkle one. Cyrilla hummed slightly as if she were thinking about Ana's question.
“Well, I've always done the richer, darker tones. White hair doesn't always compliment a lot of the brighter colors, so I've usually stuck with like dark greens, reds, and even black. Rich purples, too," she stated, listing off a few colors, at least. “What do you have as far as rich purples and reds?" she asked, tilting her head in Ana's direction.
Ana could sympathize; at least white was a neutral color. Pink looked awful with certain tones and shades. To a certain extent, the range of options was skewed with this in mind, since most of her female relatives shared the hair color that had been their trademark for ages. "Well, there's a couple already laid out here, and..." Returning to the trunk, she pulled a few more, along with a couple darker blues and greens, just in case. They had a range of possible accent colors and patterns, but as a rule this kind of yukata weren't usually made that dark. Not womens' ones anyway. They were designed to be bright and festive, but at least some of these colors were a little richer.
"Feel free to lay out or try on anything you like," she offered, with a little smile, heading back to the chest to retrieve the lavender obi that went with Nev's choice. She'd still need to try it on for fit, but if Ana recalled properly, that was one of Aunt Lydia's, and they were about the same size, so it should be fine.
“Thanks, Ana," she stated as she glanced at the choices. She seemed to be narrowing down the choices, coming to a dark red one that had white cherry blossoms on it, and a dark green one with white lilies on it. She pursed her lips together as she regarded both choices. “Alright, I need input. Nev, Ana, which one?" she stated, glancing in both of their direction. Nev blinked slightly and pursed her lips together.
“They both look really pretty, Cyrilla. Either one would look lovely on you, but... well I like the green one just a little more," Nev spoke first, causing Cyrilla to grin lightly.
“What about you, Ana? Which one do you think would be better?"
"Um... I think the green, too? It'll make your eyes stand out a lot more," Cyrilla's eyes were an interesting shade—not the brilliant red of Eryk's, but a softer, almost floral pink. They might get a little lost with a strong red shade of clothing, but the green would accent them nicely, Ana thought. "The obi for that one's gold, too; I think it's an elegant combination with your coloration." She shrugged, though, hardly an expert in the matter.
“I guess I'm wearing the green one, then," Cyrilla stated, picking it up from the pile and holding it out in front of her. Nev smiled as she held her own yukata before turning towards Ana.
“How do I put it on?" she asked, looking a little confused. “It looks like I just drape it over and then... tuck it somehow?" she continued, causing Cyrilla to chuckle lightly. She made her way over towards Nev and held out the green kimono she had chosen.
“Watch me," she stated, folding out the yukata a bit. “It's really not that difficult. Think of it as putting on a robe. You're going to slide your arms through the sleeves, first," she continued, demonstrating what to do first. Nev watched as Cyrilla continued demonstrating before she was finally done, and she'd managed to pull on her yukata.
“Of course, I have to change so I have to do this again because I'm not wearing my blouse and shorts underneath. You could, of course, but it might be a little uncomfortable for you since you're wearing jeans, Nev. I brought a spare tank top and leggings to go underneath, but I bet you didn't bring anything at all, did you, Nev?" she stated, glancing in Ana's direction for a moment. “Do you think you have something she can wear under it?" Cyrilla asked.
“Oh, it's fine. I can run to my apartment and grab something. I don't want to impose on Ana more than I already have with the yukata and learning how to put it on," Nev replied, smiling softly at Ana. “It's only a few minutes away."
“A few minutes away if you use Farfetch'd or Gogoat, but it's about a twenty minute walk from here, Nev. It would be about the same amount of time if you used either car service."
"It's really fine," Ana agreed easily. "These days most people wear things like camisoles and shorts or t-shirts and leggings under, but there's a really light juban in here that won't show that should fit fine." She dug it out, snapping it a few times to help any wrinkles out, then handed it to Nev. "This goes on over your underwear, just like an actual bathrobe. The tie is very basic, so there's no need to do it any special way. You can duck into my bathroom if you'd prefer and come back when you have it on so we can do the rest."
“Thank you, Ana," Nev replied as she ducked out of the room. Cyrilla shook her head lightly, though, already out of her yukata as she went to grab the small bag she'd brought with her. She pulled the tank top and leggings from it, grabbed her yukata, and turned towards Ana.
“Guess I'll just change real quick, too," she stated, making her way out of Ana's room as well. She was probably going to use Eryk's room since he was currently out getting his own yukata with Kasimir. It was Nev who returned, first, though, looking a little disorganized. Her hair looked slightly out of place as if she'd had trouble putting even the juban on.
“I, uh, couldn't get the tie on just right," she stated, laughing nervously. “So... I just slip this on over it, right?" she stated, grabbing the yukata she'd chosen. She slipped it on, first, before pursing her lips together. “I don't recall the next step. I have to pinch something to fold something somewhere..." she trailed off before glancing towards Ana.
“I hate to ask, but... help?"
Ana found herself laughing softly, but stepped forward obligingly. "Okay so... we go left over right here..." She folded the sides of Nev's yukata in towards her body, tuckng neatly but not tightly. It was important to leave enough room to move after all. She'd probably do well with an obi board to keep that part straight, but... that did take away some flexibility and probably wasn't the best thing for a first time wearer.
She went slowly, describing each of the steps as she undertook it before reversing it and having Nev copy her, so that in the end the whole thing would be her doing. Yukata usually used half-width obi, and this particular one was no different in that respect. Tying that was the most complicated part, so Ana guided her through each individual step, finishing with an obijime cord to dress it up a little bit.
"Oh, and I've got a few types of netsuke, too—if you want one and maybe a small purse for money or something? If you'd rather carry an actual bag around that's fine too, of course." Crossing to her dresser, she removed one of the tiny drawers from a small wooden box on top of it, bringing over the drawer with its little collection of netsuke. A few of them were flower-shaped, one was a buneary, and there was also an eevee one and one for each traditional starter pokémon for the Kanto region.
“What about kanzashi or pins? Do you have any of those?" Cyrilla spoke as she entered Ana's room. It looked like she didn't have any trouble with her own yukata, and arched a questioning brow towards Ana.
“Oh, I'll take a flower one if that's alright," Nev spoke as she took one of the flower-shaped netsuke. “And what would you need kanzashi and pins for, Cyrilla?" she asked, turning towards Cyrilla.
“For your hair, of course. We're not going out until everyone's hair has been pulled up accordingly, especially you. You have a tendency to throw it in a tail, and a festival calls for something more lively," Cyrilla replied, grinning lightly. Nev blinked before her eyes widened slightly.
“You can do that for me?" she asked, causing Cyrilla to snort softly.
“You and Ana if she wants. But you are getting it done one way or another. I'm just leaving it up to your preferences to how."
"I do have a couple kanzashi but..." Ana hesitated, unsure if they'd be receptive to the idea. "If we want something a little more, um, seasonal, there are a bunch of flowers in my garden. We could use those to decorate our hair instead?" Ana offered the small drawer of netsuke towards Cyrilla, retaining the eevee-shaped one for herself. It was her favorite, and a gift from Edgar, so it had a lot of sentimental value to her and she tended to wear it whenever she had occasion for a netsuke, which was... pretty much never, honestly.
"I think I actually have some periwinkle flowers still in bloom, for example, or we could use a slightly deeper color, like purple freesia. And I think rosemallows would look really nice on you, Cyrilla—they're kind of this mellow gold color that would be really nice in your hair?" She cleared her throat, halting a bit awkwardly. It wasn't exactly traditional, and she reminded herself they hadn't agreed to it in the first place, much less asked for her suggestions on flower types.
“You know... that's actually a great idea. We can do that," she stated, taking one of the netsuke at random, it seemed. She snorted softly when she saw which one she'd taken and glanced back at Nev. “What do you think? You're not allergic, are you?" she asked the other woman. Nev shook her head, though.
“I'm not, actually, but I do think it's a good idea," Nev seemed to agree as she smiled.
“Alright, well let's go get some flowers before I do everyone's hair. You're getting periwinkle, though. It'll match your yukata," Cyrilla stated before turning towards Ana. “Let's go see what you have. Don't forget you'll have to pick a flower that'll match the yukata you're wearing. Otherwise it'll just throw the whole thing off, even if it's a flower or color you really like, but won't match."
Ana smiled and rolled her eyes, supposing that this was sort of an obvious thing to be reminded of. She'd suggested the rosemallow for her because it matched the detailing on her yukata, not just because the color was pretty. But she couldn't blame her for being excited, honestly—Ana had never been the kind of person to be enthusiastic about this sort of thing, but she found it was a very different experience with friends as compared to with family. Or with her family, at least.
"All right, this way then!" She led the way down the stairs, down he hall, and through the kitchen to the back door, which put them almost right out in the garden anyway. With a broad gesture, she smiled at both of the others. "Take your pick, really. There's a lot in bloom right now since it's the middle of summer and everything."
Cyrilla immediately went towards the rosemallows, glancing at a few of them before making a selection. Nev, however, seemed a little hesitant on some of the flowers. She was looking at the periwinkle flowers before she finally seemed to make her selection, and both women made their way back to Ana.
“Which ones are you choosing, Ana?" Cyrilla asked as she tilted her head in a questioning manner.
"These," Ana said with a slight smile, clipping a trio of amaryllis flowers from the patch of them in the garden. Her particular yukata was actually black and white, but the obi made up for it by being layered red and purple, which prevented the rich colors from clashing too much with her hair. The red flowers would look nice enough, she thought, without blending in or being too opposed.
"I've got some pins and things we can use to put these together back upstairs, and then I think I can get changed while Cyrilla does your hair, Nev." She'd gotten so into their choices and such that she'd rather forgotten that she actually still needed to get ready herself. It was, honestly, still kind of strange to think that she was going to a festival with friends. It had always seemed like the kind of thing that other people did, and Ana just read or heard about, or vaguely recognized sometimes happened.
“Let's get to it, then," Cyrilla stated as they followed Ana back to her room. Once they'd managed to get the pins, and set about a workable space, Cyrilla turned towards Ana and made a vague shooing motion with her hands. “Go get dressed while I work my hands with Nev's hair, because you'll be next," she stated winking at Ana before turning towards Nev. “Alright, Nev, you ready?" she asked as Nev took a seat in the chair that had been provided.
“As ready as I can be!" was her response, causing Cyrilla to huff lightly.
Nodding, Ana moved into her bathroom and folded herself into the yukata. It was interesting, she thought, the things that people learned or didn't learn just because of their families. She could tell just from today that Nev's was far less traditional than her own or Cyrilla's, and she wondered what that was like. They all seemed to have come from completely different worlds, really, and yet something about this meant they could all have fun together with something that had never been very fun to Ana before.
Smoothing the line of the garment in the way she'd been taught, Ana tied her obi traditionally, the red-embroidered purple not too bright against the black and white butterfly pattern of the yukata itself. Her netsuke was made from a pale whitewood, and she hooked a small satchel to it for her belongings and tied the thin obijime with automatic hands, before stepping back out into the bedroom.
When Ana returned, Nev looked slightly in awe at her hair. Cyrilla had pulled it into a bun with two braids on the left side of Nev's face tucked into it. She'd used the flowers to pin it in place, though, and one that seemed to be tucked behind Nev's ear. Nev's bangs looked to be too short to pull in, though, and Cyrilla had left them down to frame her face. Seemingly satisfied with her work, Cyrilla turned towards Ana and grinned.
“You look really nice, Ana," Cyrilla stated, causing Nev to turn in Ana's direction as well.
“Oh, that does look lovely! Especially the color scheme. It really works for you!" Nev added as she smiled brightly at Ana.
Ana huffed softly, feeling herself flush just a little. "Thank you," she said, clearing her throat. Returning the compliment was much easier, since it was entirely true. "You both look wonderful as well." She was sure Cyrilla got loads of compliments on her hair all the time, but Nev's was pretty, too, a bright, sunshine-blonde that went really well with the pale purple she'd chosen. Cyrilla was just too pretty to be believed, really, like some kind of fairy from a story or something, and it really didn't have much to do with her hair color, though that certainly didn't hurt her case.
She wondered for a moment how she'd wound up in the company of such people, but shook it off. That was hardly the most important thing, and interesting as they were as people, they were still people.
Ana pulled the ties out of her hair, shaking it out a little and running her fingers through it a few times to make it easier for Cyrilla to manipulate. "Feel free to do whatever you want," she said with a shrug. "It tends to behave, at least."
Cyrilla and Nev both huffed a short laugh before Nev stood from the chair, and offered it to Ana. Cyrilla pat it at the same time and waited until Ana was situated before she ran her fingers through Ana's hair. “It's so soft and fluffy," she spoke, running the brush through it a few times. “It's like cotton candy, almost," she added, earning a light chuckle from Nev.
“Are you just saying that because of the color?" she asked, causing Cyrilla to snort.
“No. It feels soft and fluffy like cotton candy does, only better and without that sticky feeling." Once Cyrilla finished combing it, Ana could feel her pulling and tugging at her hair, occasionally putting some of the strands over Ana's shoulder. It took at least fifteen minutes before Cyrilla hummed a satisfied note, and turned so that she was standing in front of Ana. Nev handed her the mirror, and she held it up in front of Ana.
“So, what do you think?" she asked. Cyrilla had pulled Ana's hair into a waterfall style braid that was half-up and the rest of her hair was allowed to remain loose. She'd tucked two of the amaryllis flowers into the band that held the braid at the back of her head, and had tucked the other one behind Ana's ear.
"Oh." Ana's eyes widened a little; she had a fair bit of hairstyling in her repertoire, so to speak, but she'd never gone to much effort to learn to use it on herself, so she wasn't even aware her hair could look quite this nice. "That's—thank you, Cyrilla!" She handed the mirror back and stood, gesturing to the seat. "If you'd prefer to do your own that's fine, but I could help too if you like?"
“Well, considering that my hands have worked on two hair styles already, a third might be a bit much for me. I'll gladly take the help to give my hands a bit of a rest," Cyrilla replied, taking the chair Ana had been sitting in. Nev chuckled lightly as she stood on the other side of Cyrilla.
“Is there something in particular that you'd like, Cyrilla?" Nev asked as Cyrilla pursed her lips together in a contemplative manner. She shook her head, though, and glanced towards Ana.
“Not really, so... surprise me," she stated.
Ana hummed, running thin fingers through Cyrilla's hair and smiling at the smooth texture of it. "Yours is so silky," she said, almost absently, with clear admiration. Realizing that might be a little weird, she cleared her throat. "Um, anyway. The yukata's got a sort of complex pattern, so I think maybe simple will be best here. Maybe a feebas-tail braid on one side, into a ponytail?" She glanced at Nev, curious what her thoughts were.
Cyrilla chuckled lightly at Ana's earlier statement, but hummed lightly. “I think it would look really nice," Nev answered. “And it's not like it has to be anything too elegant, right? We're going to a summer festival, after all," she continued. Cyrilla nodded her head once in agreement.
“Agreed. It doesn't have to be too fancy or anything of the sort, and I did say surprise me, so..." Cyrilla trailed off with a light smile.
“Oh, this is going to be so exciting," Nev stated, clearly enthused about going to the Camellia Festival.
Ana might not be much to write home about, when it came to strength or agility, but her fingers were nimble and deft, and the hairstyle didn't take long at all to form. She wove the flower into it, just behind the ear, at the place the braids became a ponytail. "There!" she declared, stepping back and patting Cyrilla's shoulders with her hands once before she let them fall away. "What do you think?"
For a moment, the expression on Cyrilla's face was soft. She was smiling, but there seemed to be something like melancholy tinged to it before the smile brightened. Almost as if the melancholy was never there to begin with.
“I think it looks really nice, Ana, thank you!" Cyrilla stated, standing up from her spot. The smile turned into a grin, though, as she glanced between Ana and Nev. “Well, now that we've mostly taught Nev how to wear a yukata, how about we go find the guys and get ourselves to a festival!?"
“Didn't they say they were going to meet us, here? They were out with Eryk helping him find a yukata since he didn't have one, right?" Nev spoke, causing Cyrilla to snort softly.
“Something like that."
Ana was not exactly surprised Eryk didn't have a yukata—more surprising was the fact that he'd consider wearing one for something like this. Kas, she could see—he was kind of flamboyant in a certain way, and wouldn't mind the slight showiness of traditional clothing.
In any case, she lifted her shoulders a little and smiled. "I suppose someone should probably text Kasimir and tell him we'll meet them under the festival arch? It's kind of like the front gate, and pretty easy to see: it's decorated with loads and loads of camellias."
“On it," Cyrilla spoke just as Nev opened her mouth to do the same, it seemed. Cyrilla grabbed her phone and sent the text quickly before turning back towards Ana and Nev. “Done, and done!" Cyrilla seemed just as excited as Nev had a moment ago.
“I wonder if they'll have any deep fried twinkies there," Nev mused out loud, causing Cyrilla to shake her head.
“Won't know until we get there, now let's go!"