Chapter 70 The Dress

Five minutes later, Meira came prancing over with a dozen dresses of various colors and styles floating behind her. As soon as Evernya saw all the dresses, she went into full nope mode. “I am not trying on that many dresses!” Evernya refused.

“Oh, come on, they would look so good on you,” Meira begged while floating all twelve dresses in front of her kitten.

As she focused on Meira’s face, refusing to even look at the wall of dresses in front of her face, Evernya negotiated. “No, let’s narrow it down to three. It would take forever to try on the twelve. Don’t you want to maximize our shopping time?”

After a moment of contemplation, Meira reluctantly agreed, but not without a cost. “Fine, but in exchange, I get to pick out your shoes.”

“As long as they aren’t high heels, I am fine with that.” Evernya agreed.

Meira threw a childish tantrum at Evernya’s refusal to wear high heels. “Oh, come on! You’re only 160 centimeters! You need at least eight more centimeters. You have perfect balance. Why don’t you like heels?”

Evernya’s eyes scanned the curious onlookers drawn by Meira’s loud voice, prompting her to compromise to avoid more attention. “I don’t know. I just find them uncomfortable. If you insist, I’ll try on a few, but I can’t guarantee I will like them. Let’s get the dress chosen first, then deal with the shoes.”

“I would prefer to choose both at the same time to match them. What if you find the perfect shoes, but they don’t match the dress?” Meira insisted.

“Well, the thing is, I don’t care about shoes at all. I enjoy walking barefoot, so confining shoes of any type isn’t my first choice.” Evernya admitted, glancing down at her currently bare feet.

Upon following Evernya’s gesture, Meira’s eyes widened. “Oh shit, I forgot to give you shoes! Why didn’t you tell me!”

“Damn, I was hoping you wouldn’t notice,” Evernya mumbled.

“Despite the toughness of your feet, it can’t be good for your foot to walk around barefoot so much,” Meira stated, looking worriedly at her kitten’s slightly dirty feet.

Evernya leaned back and lifted her feet, showing Meira her dirty but unhurt soles. “If I was human, probably not, but I am pretty sure I will be ok. I stepped on something sharp in the portal station, but otherwise, I’m fine.”

“I suppose if you ran kilometers a day on my treadmill barefoot, you would be fine walking around town. But at least for appearance’s sake, could you wear sandals?” Meira attempted to compromise with her barefoot-loving kitten.

Evernya went silent for a few seconds in contemplation before responding. “Fine, walking around barefoot probably doesn’t look good. Though I doubt wearing shoes will have much effect on the people who love to look down on me. They see the ears and tail, disregarding everything else.” Evernya fumed.

“Did something happen while I was gone? You seem upset.” Meira questioned, catching her kitten’s souring mood.

“Oh, nothing much, just the typical racism. I offended some rich lady and her minions by being in their presence, so they called security. Don’t worry, I took care of it. Fortunately, the security guys were nice. They escorted the ladies out of the story a few minutes before you came back.” Evernya recited, trying to hold a nonchalant expression, but Meira caught the anger hidden underneath.

“I am sorry you had to deal with more racism.” Meira apologized, wincing at her failure of protecting her kitten.

Evernya shrugged her shoulders as she said, “This time wasn’t too bad. I mostly ignored their squawking while talking to the nice security guys. It just sucks that it happens where ever I go.”

“I will let the store know that those guys did a good job. Do you know their names?” Meira inquired, wanting to reward her kitten’s saviors.

“Actually, I don’t. I never asked. They were Air sorcerers though.” Evernya admitted as she ran her mind through the sequence of events trying to find a name tag, but she remembered nothing showing their names.

“Hopefully, they don’t get in trouble for helping me over a group of humans. They looked like they spend a lot of money.” Evernya added with a hint of worry.

“Oh, they definitely won’t once we buy our outfits,” Meira stated with confidence.

“How much are these dresses anyway?” Evernya questioned as she scanned the wall of dresses still floating in front of her with worry.

While stealthily cutting away the price takes Meira replied, “I won’t tell you their exact prices because it will affect your decision, but the cheapest is 2000 crystals.”

“Please don’t spend over 10,000 crystals on my outfit. That is already a ton of money if my conversions are right. You already spent enough on me today for this stupid, demeaning collar.” Evernya begged, despite knowing the futility of it.

“I can’t make any promises. I want you to look perfect for your first formal event.” Meira replied with a vague smile.

“Well, that would be impossible with this stupid collar,” Evernya grumbled

Meira eyed the gaudy, oversized chunk of silver encasing her kitten’s back, trying not to wince. “It doesn’t look that bad. At least it is silver, not some dull material like iron. Fortunately, I have a few ideas on your outfit that will make it less noticeable without covering it.”

“I’m all for less noticeable.” Evernya agreed, nodding enthusiastically, straining her neck against the collar.

Eager to leave as soon as possible, Evernya turned her attention to the dresses, prompting Meira to do the same. They spend almost fifteen minutes narrowing the dresses down to three. A Dark red ball gown, a Light gray A-line, and metallic silver with a blue tint modified A-line.

“Aren’t the dark red and metallic silver a little too flashy? Why don’t we just get the gray one?” Evernya questioned, trying to narrow the list down to one prematurely.

“Hey, you said you would try on three, so no going back now. Besides, flashy is good. I want you to blow everyone away. The gray dress looks nice and is of excellent quality, but it doesn’t stand out enough.” Meira refused her kitten’s attempt.

“Why are you so insistent I standout? I stand out enough as it is. I bet I will be the only shifter at this auction.” Evernya questioned.

“You probably will be, but that’s no excuse to dress boring.” Meira defended, refusing to budge.

Evernya gave in, knowing Meira would force her to dress up whether she wants to or not. “Fine, I will try them on. Which one do you want to see first?”

“Let’s get the gray one out of the way first.” Meira decided with a tone giving away her low opinion of the dress compared to the other two.

“You were just humoring me when I chose that dress as one of the three, weren’t you?” Evernya commented, a little annoyed.

“I wanted you to have at least one dress in the final three. That was your choice,” Meira admitted.

“So it’s really just a two dress race then,” Evernya commented, tempted to skip the dress.

Meira guessed her kitten’s thought process, so she changed her stance, if only to see her kitten in one more dress. “Hey, you never know, maybe the gray one will look perfect on you.”

While grumbling at the unfairness, Evernya telekinetic levitated all three dresses and walked to the changing room, a few dress aisles to her right.

“You want me to help you get them on? Some dresses can be tough to get on yourself.” Meira offered.

“No, I’ll be fine. If I can’t reach a zipper, I will use telekinesis. Either way, If I could contort out of the training suit, I can get these dresses on.” Evernya declined before continuing her journey to the changing room.

Around five minutes later, Evernya came out wearing the silky light gray A-line dress. She stopped in front of Meira and rotated. The dress had a fitted bodice, with a long skirt flowing out to the floor. Long sleeves covered her arms while leaving her lower back uncovered, allowing her tail freedom.

“As I thought, you look beautiful, but it just isn’t flashy enough. I may buy the dress anyway for a different occasion though.” Meira concluded within seconds.

“I think I look perfect in it. The color even blends my collar in with the dress, making it less noticeable.” Evernya argued her case.

Unmoved, Meira vetoed her kitten’s choice “So would the silver dress and the dark red one will divert attention away from the collar.”

“Let’s move on to the next dress. Try the dark red on next.” Meira directed, shooing her kitten back toward the changing room.

“Still, my vote is on this dress. I know you think it isn’t flashy enough, but I love how it feels against my skin. Comfort is more important to me than flashiness, especially if I have to wear it for a long time.” Evernya continued to argue.

“Vote noted,” Meira stated before sending a gust of wind blowing her kitten toward the changing room.

Another five minutes later, Evernya emerged wearing the luxurious-looking dark red ball gown. Like the last dress, she rotated in front of Meira for her opinion. The dress had a fitted bodice similar to the gray dress, but the skirt was much fuller. The sleeves traveled down to her elbows while it left her back from the bottom of her shoulder blades to just above her butt bare.

Meira scanned every nook and cranny of the dress with a critical eye before stating, “Hmm, I think you need to wear heels to make this dress work. The skirt is just too overpowering for your short stature. The rest of the dress looks nearly perfect on you. With your pale skin and dark hair, the red pops.”

“I don’t like this dress. The color looks good, but the skirt is just too puffy and the material doesn’t feel as soft as the last dress. Plus, I don’t know how I’ll sit with a skirt this puffy. I think a dress like the gray one in this color would be perfect. You get your flashiness and I get comfort with practicality.” Evernya argued, still holding out hope for the gray dress.

“I was looking for a dress like you described, but I couldn’t find it. I figured you would hate the skirt, but I wanted you to try it anyway. If you wear high heels, this dress will make you the center of attention, but I agree it isn’t very practical. However, it is the cheapest dress of the three, so it has that going for it.” Meira admitted, throwing a little bait at the end.

Evernya glared accusingly at Meira with her hands on her hips. “You just want me to choose it, so you have an excuse to put me in heels.”

Unfortunately for her, the dress did her little favor as Meira covered her mouth to suppress a squeal overcame by the cuteness.

After taking a few seconds to recover from her cuteness overdose, Meira decided, “I don’t care what you say, I’m buying you that dress!”

“You can buy it if you want, but that doesn’t mean I’ll wear it.” Evernya shot back with a scowl.

With a determined glint in her eyes, slightly puffing her kitten’s tail, Meira said. “Oh, you will wear the dress again. It’s just a matter of whether it will be voluntary.”

Scared of future dress-up sessions, Evernya speedily retreated into the dressing room, nearly tripping over the oversized puffy skirt in her haste.

Nearly fifteen minutes later, Evernya finally emerged hesitantly wearing the last dress. Despite her hesitance, Evernya unconsciously gracefully glided toward Meira, leaving the elf’s mouth agape with awe. With every step, the metallic silvery blue shined brightly, accenting her body with its formfitting design. The shining dress started with a halter top, hugging her every curve down to her hips before flowing out into a floor-length skirt, leaving her arms bare. She spun in a circle, revealing the open back plunging to just above her butt.

“Yeah, I don’t care what you say. You are going to the auction in that dress. However, we will need to find some jewelry to add a little more color, maybe some sapphires to match your eyes.” Meira decided with a tone stating the decision was final.

“I do like how open this dress feels with my arms and back uncovered. It doesn’t give the suffocating feeling the other dresses gave me. I can barely feel I am wearing the dress with how light it is. It startled me when I re-sized the dress because it kinda just stuck to my body on the front.” Evernya gushed, forgetting about the gray dress.

Meira’s face brightened as she described the dress being an expert on dresses and enchanting. “This dress has multiple enchantments, or it would be impractical. As you probably noticed, it has a built-in bra enchantment and the typical re-sizing enchantments. Added to this, she enchanted the top to stick to your body to achieve the body-hugging look. The other enchantments are to reduce weight and durability. She also enchanted the dress to feel near weightless. Without the enchantment, the dress would weigh more than the other two dresses combined with less fabric. The dress has pure platinum, and mithril threads woven into the fabric to achieve the metallic look and allow for so many enchantments.”

Suddenly, the dress felt heavy as the true value of the dress dawned on her. “This dress must cost a fortune! Why didn’t they use imitation metallic threads? It would look the same.”

Meira rambled about the dresses designer, ignoring Evernya’s remark about the cost. “She could have, but this designer never uses imitation materials. If she wants a metallic gold dress, she will use real gold threads. Rachel Milne has a rare combo of Omni-metal sorcery and enchanting abilities that are normally only found with dwarves, but instead of making weapons, she decided to make dresses. Most of her dresses are similar to this, with extremely thin metal threads woven into the dress. Her dresses are famous around Sespina for their toughness despite having delicate feeling fabrics. When I saw the stress on the rack, I nearly fell over in shock. I’ve never seen one of her dresses for sale outside of tier 1 cities and even then, they are rare.”

“Don’t you think it’s too flashy? I know you wanted me to stand out, but isn’t this overkill? I do like how it looks on me and it feels amazing on my skin with how soft it is.” Evernya questioned, no longer as entranced by the dress, knowing it had to be way above her imposed budget.

“Yup, that’s the dress. I just had to have you try it on when I saw they had a dress by Rachel Milne. I didn’t expect it to look this perfect on you though. I planned to bribe you into wearing the dark red ball gown.” Meira declared.

“Fuck that ball gown. I’ll take this dress.” Evernya decided instantly.

“Good girl,” Meira praised with a giant smile.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Evernya grumbled, knowing she got played.

“Whatever are you talking about?” Meira questioned, as her smile somehow widened.

“Just because I said I liked this dress doesn’t mean I will wear dresses regularly,” Evernya protested, knowing a slippery slope when she saw one.

“We will see,” Meira replied with a hint of certainty.

“I refuse!” Evernya exclaimed, before spinning around, gliding back to the changing room.

“Where are you going?” Meira inquired.

“To change out of this dress and grab the other dresses,” Evernya replied without turning around

Out of nowhere, a gust of wind blew her back toward Meira. “No, you aren’t. Now it’s time to find your shoes and accessories. Your clothes will be fine where they are until after.” Meira ordered, practically bouncing in excitement.