Amelia's friends get more and more nervous as her laughter grows along with the outfits I'm making for them. I'm, of course, keeping everything hidden behind a large tarp that only Amelia is allowed behind.

"Amelia, you know that this isn't necessary." Lauren pleads with the vindictive blonde. "We were just playing around. Right, girls?"

"So, you don't want to wear 'any' of the clothes Sorrel is going to make?" Amelia stresses the word.

"..." The poor elf's face falls.

"Give it up Ren-Ren." Delilah pats her cousin on the back. "We're not getting out of this one."

The four of them all blanch a moment later when the big reveal happens. At first glance, it almost looks like I just piled together a bunch of dandelion petals, but no that's just what the dresses look like. They're modeled after the bridesmaid dress from that one episode of 2 Broke Girls.

Ankle-length ruffled skirts, a feathery, scoop-neck top with mesh over the cleavage. There's also puffy, mesh sleeves and, of course, the dress comes with a matching choker. Altogether, it is a canary yellow nightmare.

"Oh, I almost forgot the headbands." Four bouquets of yellow roses attach themselves to matching veils meant to hang off the back of their heads.

"Run for it, girls." Lauren breaks first and tries to run away.

"Get 'em, Sorrel." When Amelia gives me the go-ahead, I send the dresses flying off of their stands to chase down the fleeing women. "You girls have one more chance to put them on yourselves." Amelia cackles when they all get wrapped up by the dresses and dragged back.

"What did we ever do to deserve this?" Helen cries.

"Remember that date you set me up on, and the outfit you all picked out for me?" Oh, if looks could kill.

"..." "..." "..." "..." Four identical 'oh, shit' faces meet Amelia's words.

"You want me to make with the magic, or should we just let Apricot manhandle them into their new clothes?" I don't know what makes the turn more pale, the fact that their tops started coming undone on their own, or the gleam in the pixie's eyes.

"We'll change, we'll change." Lauren tries to hold the side of her blouse together.

I materialized our tent for them to change in and had to hold back Apricot from trying to follow the four inside. Amelia even bopped her on the head when she tried casting farsight into the impromptu changing room.

"You four are taking an awful long time in there." Amelia says a moment later. "Do I need to send in Apricot to help?"

"Not a word." Lauren states in a huff after throwing the flap to the tent open.

"But, you're so pretty now." Amelia dances forward to place the headbands on each of them. "There, perfect." I can't help but play 'Yellow' by Coldplay just as Amelia steps back to admire her work.

"I hate you. Good song, but I still hate you." Delilah grumps and the other three nod along.

"So, you like songs about the color yellow?" I smirk back. "I must know dozens of songs with that in the title, maybe hundreds if you include every song that mentions it in the lyrics."

"Amelia, help." Helen looks up at her wide, pleading eyes.

"No need to go that far, Babe." I grin, but switch over to my [Generic Party Music] playlist.

"I need a drink." Lianna walks over and grabs the pitcher of applejack, the other three quickly follow suit.

"Don't go getting drunk just yet; you still need to pick out what outfits you want me to make. And, what you want for dinner for that matter." I add after a short pause.

"Meat." Lianna states after slamming down the now empty pitcher.

"Well, that narrows it down." I chuckle. "How about some fried chicken? Y'all look to be in the need of some good ol' fashioned southern comfort food." I pull off the best drawl I can in Varecian.

"As long as there's a lot of it." The beastkin nods.

"I'll go all out then." I nod right back. "Collard greens, hush puppies, succotash, some pecan fried okra for Amelia, green bean casserole, buttermilk biscuits, fried green tomatoes, bacon baked beans, potato salad, mac and cheese, coleslaw Hmm? I wonder if I can speed up the making of sauerkraut. Probably not, but I should make a batch for later anyways."

"I have no idea what half of those were, or even if they're real words. But, yes please." Her friends laugh when she wipes up a string of drool that was just starting to form at the corner of her lips.

"Well, come and pick out the outfits you want; I need to press out some peanut oil for the fryer." I bring out a pre-made planter box and start growing some stuff for tonight's feast.

"Mind distilling some more of this stuff for me too?" She asks.

"Sure, I can make some party punch out of the rejects." Her eyes go wide as several liters of pure ethanol gets pulled out of the less palatable wines and into a large pitcher. "It'd be better if I had some proper rum, but I might be able to fake it."

I start filling a cheesecloth with some spices to soak in the alcohol. Vanilla, orange peel, cinnamon stick, allspice berries, cloves, black peppercorns, ground nutmeg, ginger, and I'm about to add some anise seed when Apricot crinkles her nose.

"Nnh. No anise, please." She goes from crinkling her nose to pinching it shut when I wave the aromatic seeds in her direction.

"You don't like anise?" I make it vanish back into storage. "To sharp for your nose? Wait! Does this mean I can make some black licorice and have myself a candy that you won't just steal and eat immediately?" It's not my favorite sweet, but the real homemade stuff is leagues better than the crap you get at the store. Especially the black jellybeans, those things should just be outlawed.

"Hahahaha." Amelia busts up laughing when the pixie's eye starts to twitch. "Don't worry, Sweetie, you can enjoy it through me."

Smiling at their antics, I mix up the pseudo rum until I get something that smells and tastes close enough. The flavor will be buried by the fruit juice anyways; it just wouldn't have been the same without that little extra spice to counterpoint the sweetness.

The other girls look interested in the punch too, so I make another, slightly less alcoholic version for them. Pretty soon they don't even seem to mind the ugly outfits that Amelia stuffed them into. And, after getting the punch made, I go back to making food and clothes in equal measure.

...

"Amelia, you marry this man, and you do it quick." Lianna was too busy stuffing her mouth during dinner to say anything, but started ordering her friend around during the small break before I bring out the dessert. The copious amounts of punch she drank affecting even her beastkin physiology.

"And, I haven't even brought out the star of the evening yet." I add onto the teasing, having had a few sips myself. "Let me present to you Sex in a Pan." Amelia's cheeks are already pretty pink from the effects of the alcohol, but turn scarlet when she sees the dessert.

"Wait, how would you even do that position without something to keep you from falling over?" The drunken beastkin tilts her head to one side trying to make heads or tails of the images -straight out of the Kama-Sutra- that I stenciled in chocolate on top of the whipped cream.

"I'd offer to show you later." Apricot replies with a wink. "But, I think I'm going to be busy helping Amelia punish Sorrel." This statement has her blonde lover hiding her flaming face beneath her hands.

"Even discounting the artwork." Delilah comments after taking a bite. "This is well-deserving of the name."

"Oh, just wait until I make you some proper chocolate desserts." My eyes twinkle with the promise of future treats.

"Nng. Li-Li may be drunk, but I think she has the right idea." Helen adds after tasting it for herself. Lauren is too busy savoring the snack to comment, but she throws in a nod of affirmation.

"Alright, quit teasing Amelia." I come to her rescue. "We're together now and that's good enough. There's no need to rush any more than we already have." I say that but I have no intention of letting either of my girls go, I'm more than happy to wait until they're ready.

She sends a grateful look my way when I squeeze her knee under the table. The rest of dessert is enjoyed in silence and Delilah proposes they leave shortly after.

"We should get out of your hair." The dark-haired beauty says after sipping the last of her strawberry wine. "We wouldn't want to get in the way of that punishment after all. But, I do hope we get details later."

"..." Amelia just purses her lips.

"Looks like the main gate is still open." I say after peeking at it with magic. "Why don't you girls take Flicker and the carriage? Lauren said she's coming back tomorrow anyways, she can return it then."

"Oh, that's perfect." Helen agrees. "I was afraid we'd have to load up Li-Li just to get our new clothes back home. But, the way she's looking now, she's more likely to trip and drop everything in the middle of the road."

"Hey!" Lianna points her finger at Helen and then has to blink a few times to focus her eyes. "I'm not that drunk. I'm just pleasantly happy."

"Yeah, happy enough that I bet you'll pass out halfway home." Lauren adds with a snort.

"Thank you girls for coming out today, I really was missing you." Amelia pulls them all into a big group hug while I hitch up the carriage to Flicker. "Even if you all are a pain in my butt."

"We love you too." Helen messes up Amelia's hair before climbing into the driver's seat. "Now, you go be the best guardswoman you can be." I expected Amelia to blush again at that, but she just had a happy little smile on her face.

"I'll be sure to enjoy my new silk while you four ride home wearing that." She howls with laughter as they remember that they're wearing the eyesores she stuffed them into.

"You bitch." Delilah says that, but there's no heat in her voice. "We'll get you for this."

"You should know that revenge is a slippery slope." I interject with a wicked smile. "If you get back at her, then who knows what she'll do with this painting she had me make of the four of you." Their faces fall when they see a recreation of the 'oh, shit' moment from earlier.

"Bye girls, have a safe ride home." Amelia waves them off as I coax Flicker into leaving with a bit of magic. "Okay, that almost makes up for the teasing from earlier." She adds after they're out of hearing range. She was as surprised to see the painting as they were, but hid it well enough that they didn't notice. "Now, give me that; we need to hang it up in the house."

"Yes, Ma'am." I already finished the outfits earlier and cannot wait to see Amelia in hers.

***