Come Into My Parlour.... [Asuka, Paper Dolls]
The day Kureno had officially been reinstated as a jounin - like, officially officially, not in-name-only - was the day Asuka had promised to take him out somewhere fancy. He'd named the place, and she'd made the reservation only a day or two later for a month in advance: the first Saturday of September. It was at a set time, a set day, a set place
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Ten days. Asuka was giving her ten days to design and make an outfit, assuming Izume had the fabrics she needed in the shop. And this on top of other special orders, the shop-running, and Tsurude-sama's work.
Most special orders could take a month minimum unless customers were willing to pay considerably more to make up for the money she wouldn't be making by not working on current orders. Most people couldn't afford the higher price, therefore forcing them to decide if they really needed the outfit that fast, or if they wanted to go elsewhere. The increase was in place for other reasons, mostly to do with the fact that while Izume liked doing special orders for the job well done as well as customer satisfaction, she did not want to give up her free time for rushed jobs. She counted it as overtime and charged accordingly for herself as well as Kochan, because rush orders needed more than one person working on a project. And now, with the Hokage having hired them, the office plus the shoppe plus after-hours business (special orders for Izume, inventory and account management for Kochan) meant they worked fourteen hours a day, five days a week, and they usually put in an additional eight hours split over the weekend. Izume liked her weekend free time and resented having it encroached upon. She loved her store, but she knew the value of getting away from it all even for only about a day and a half.
"Ten days," she enunciated clearly to be sure she had heard correctly. Her voice was flat, the flirty playfulness buried beneath pure business. "You want me to make an outfit for you, in ten days. That's going to jump the price, sempai." She studied Asuka with narrowed brown eyes. Sometimes, though, not all compensation was in coin. Information was a valuable currency, as old habits die hard. "Unless you're willing to strike a little bargain~ ♥"
So not all of the playfulness was gone. Again, old habits die hard.
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Crossing her arms and leaning back against the wall next to the dressing room, the older kunoichi just shrugged, not rising to the bait lingering in Izume's last question. "How much are we talking about?"
Izume named a price. Asuka pursed her lips, considering how bad that really was against whether or not she was going to be getting a good deal out of this. Honestly, she expected to drop quite a chunk of change at the dinner (already had, as a matter of fact, in order to secure that a special something arrive in time for the dinner), and after seeing the kinds of dresses women wore to the Crane, expected to pay a lot for a dress, too. Paying more for a tailored dress, on short notice, would obviously cost more than a pre-made dress.
Was that really a lot of money? Well, yes. But was it more than she expected? Was it enough to pitch a fit over? If she knew more about dresses and what they were worth, Asuka probably would attempt to haggle it down. But as long as Izume came through and made it worth it, it wouldn't be too much.
"I'll pay you half today," she settled on after a moment, "and the rest when I get the dress, as long as you make it worth my while." That should ensure that Izume would do her best and not piss her off in the final result, she figured.
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Very well; she could adjust, she could adapt. (At the very least, they would be paid well over the expected amount.) She would get what she wanted from Asuka, come hell, or high water.
But she wouldn't let Asuka see the disappointment. Even if Izume had been looking forward to a good round of haggling. "Very well," she replied after a period of not-feigned internal deliberation, "though I should tell you that the price I quoted is more of an estimate than an exact figure."
She then went onto explain about the fabrics and how change in price was mostly dependent on what she had in stock and what she had to order if necessary, as the delivery would take time that frankly Asuka hadn't given her much of in the first place. "I hope you haven't waited this long to make the reservations at wherever you're going."
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She handed the little clipboard to Izume - all the measurements noted down in the table, as well as a quick sketch of all the scars and tattoos.
And then, just because, she eeled back, not quite 'accidentally' brushing across Asuka.
"You know, Izu-kun," she said thoughtfully, "Don't each of the restaurants kinda... have a different sort of... dress code? Very subtle," she assured Asuka, "But it can be quite telling."
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"It's been made," came the defensive reply. "That's why I know when I need the dress by." Otherwise she wouldn't have bothered telling them a date. Did that not seem obvious or something?
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"Just making sure, sempai~" Izume almost sang. "After all, this being a new experience for you. Only a fool would leave such little details to chance~" Like not knowing the name of the place they're going to. Izume didn't have to say it; the implication was enough.
Asuka had to know the name of the restaurant; otherwise how would she be so confident as to the state of the reservation? Izume knew she wouldn't get the answer now; she accepted that. But Asuka would have to come back for fittings, and once she did... Well. "So, we'll see you back in, say, four days?"
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"Half now, then," she said, pushing away from the wall and digging her wallet out of her back pocket. "And in four days you can tell me how much this'll really cost."
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"Come in at..." she glanced to Izume, "Five, in four days."
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Asuka surrendered her credit, imagining all the little ones and zeros flying away as Kotetsu rang up half the estimated cost. It was an awful lot of money to place on what was, for all extents and purposes, nothing more than a bet, but the paper dolls were confident. They felt confident, which was a lot different from acting confident, and surely they would have been eaten alive by now if they weren't capable of living up to their promises. She had no idea how long they'd had this shop, but it must have been long enough. Asuka would just have to have faith that they'd come through with something decent, if not spectacular.
A reservation, a present, a dress. With receipt in hand, that meant there was nothing left to do but wait. Twelve days and counting, soon to be eleven. The bells jingled as she exited the store, and Asuka paused there on the step to exhale in exhaustion and stress. This would all be over soon enough. She just had to be patient.
And go see if Rin would let her start smoking again...
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