(Untitled)

[island_anne]

It simply could not be put off any longer. While Anne could and had been altering the clothing she already owned, the fact was that there were only so many seams she could let out before there wasn't any fabric left to accommodate her. Two weeks ago she had only been showing if you knew her intimately enough and knew precisely what to look for.

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[new_ophelia]

"I can sew," Kate offers after standing there for a moment. "I mean if it only gives you weird things, I can sew and let seams out and all that stuff." It is one of her few, very few, useful talents.

[island_anne]

"I have a sewing machine," Anne said, looking back over her shoulder and giving Kate a warm smile, "but even that would not have helped to make that particular garment any less hideous. Why, I can't imagine anyone would be able to do anything with it, unless they were particularly desperate and there were no other options."

[new_ophelia]

Kate nods in agreement as she looks at the horrid, over-sized caftans the box has offered up. "You look really cute," she says, unable to help herself. She does.

[island_anne]

"I am astonishingly large," said Anne, though in truth she wasn't particularly large at all yet, just visibly pregnant. "I swear, it happened nearly overnight."

[holdthebucket]

Gordon Cutter, too, had been having increasing difficulties with the dreaded box. His current wardrobe consisted mostly of Jerseys for the heathen sport of Hockey, over sized teeshirts baring maple leafs in red silhouette, and psychedelic teeshirts with mushrooms in glow-in-the-dark ink.

He descended the steps to the basement outfitted in a mixture of national pride and deadhead obsession. It didn't help that he was down to his last few magical mushrooms, kept safety in his back pocket.

"My god," he said, seeing the girl bent by the clothing box. "This place has proved itself capable of many things, but this monstrosity putting you in such a state is admittedly a new one."

[island_anne]

"Oh!" said Anne, startled by the arrival. "Well, I cannot hold the island wholly responsible, but it did turn my wife into a man so I feel as though it should bear some responsibility for the welfare of the child. For instance, not forcing the child's mother to spend the next five months in shapeless swaths of purple and blue flowered fabric."

[holdthebucket]

Gordon's eyes got moderately wider. There were a few things going on in that sentence which told him he could not simply write off to the effects of his Little Friends. He pursed his lips speculatively, weighing the information with his new definition of normal.

It was not a bad fit.

"The island had returned my son and the rest of his rink to pre-pubescence when I arrived," he intoned. "However, there was markedly little difference in their behavior."

He bent beside her, "Do you need help, my good woman? It wouldn't do to stress yourself too much, as you are."

[island_anne]

"I don't think a little stress will hurt me at this point," insisted Anne, "though perhaps a little help to encourage the box to give me something decent would be nice. Oh! Did you say that you know the rink?"

[jdick]

"That was sexy, Anne, you should fuckin' wear it," Joe announced as he headed toward the washing machine, opening the lid and pulling out his wet clothes. "Seriously, that's the sort of shit I hear makes mermaids go crazy."

He hadn't heard that, of course, but he was pretty sure that there was no one on the island who was more fun to tease than Anne.

[island_anne]

"Perhaps, if you find the fabric so appealing, then you could wear it," said Anne, holding up the piece of clothing again before it was lost forever in the box. "I could make you a shirt from it. In fact, I could probably make you five, and still have scraps left over."

[jdick]

"Do it up," Joe said brightly and there was a chance he was forcing himself to sound more cheerful than he actually was, but Bucky had left him alone for almost two days now and he was feeling pretty good. "I hear that pattern drives FBI Agents wild, too."

[island_anne]

"You are positively incorrigible," said Anne, but she did set the garment aside to see what she might do with it, if only to tease Joe as much as he was teasing her. Perhaps she'd make him an apron from it. "But this doesn't help me at all. Oh Joe, I do need to find something to wear."

[toshiko_san]

Tosh had been thinking similar thoughts to Anne. She was still at the stage that the differences could only be seen if she was naked, or perhaps when swimming, but she knew that she would need new clothes soon.

The thing that Anne was holding up though made her blanch, "What IS that thing?"

[island_anne]

"I haven't any idea," said Anne, shoving it back down into the depths of the clothing box, "and I'm not at all sure that I want to. Perhaps it was a failed attempt at a tent."

[toshiko_san]

"Possibly." Whatever it was, Tosh was glad to see it gone. "Is it alright if I join you in trying to make this thing work?"

[island_anne]

"Oh, of course," said Anne, sitting down cross legged on the floor and reaching into the box blindly. It couldn't, after all, be any worse than what she pulled out while she was looking. "I intend to remain right her until I manage to retrieve what I need."

[sickof_swimming]

"That's an awful color," Ariel said, a look of distaste upon her face. "I'm not even sure you can call that purple."

[island_anne]

"It's terrible," agreed Anne, tossing it back as quickly as possible. "I couldn't possibly wear anything even remotely resembling that, not unless I absolutely had to, and I certainly don't have to right now."

[sickof_swimming]

"Well, if you did, I think you would still look beautiful in anything you wore," Ariel said matter-of-factly, joining Anne at the box.

[island_anne]

"I'm not entirely sure anyone could look beautiful in that," said Anne, but she gave Ariel a soft kiss for the compliment. "I do desperately need some new things to wear. I almost couldn't get into my favourite skirt this morning, the one with the lacy hem, and it's elastic."