Wanda, Ellie & Pietro; backdated to April 30

[om_ntw]

While the girls are putting the finishing touches on costumes, Pietro stops by to see their progress.


By now all of the costumes had been started and were well past the halfway point of being done. Minor hemming, stitching, and accessorizing were what was left, and Ellie was being mindful about the advice that Victor gave her: try to watch out for accessories that caused distractions. It was so tempting to make everything busy, flashy, and full on Gothic, and that sort of went against the distraction rule.

Luckily she had Wanda to help her out; the other girl was very talented and comparably reserved and because of that, Ellie was rather interested in her feedback, especially for those costumes belonging to the major characters. Lorna's outfits, in particular, had been both challenging and fun.

Currently Ellie was working on one of those, and was stuck on how high up she should take it. "Shall we hem this gown to ankle length, or leave it on the floor?"

"Ankle, I think," Wanda answered, slightly muffled around the pins she was holding in her mouth, and gave the dress in question a narrow-eyed look. "Hard to move in otherwise, and we don't want anyone accidentally tripping off the stage."

"That is what Victor would have said, yes," Ellie reasoned with a smile, and looked over to the other girl. "I have never worked on a school play before. Is it the same for you?"

"I can't say I have," Wanda agreed with a laugh, though at least she removed the pins first. "I think we're doing okay, though."

"Yes...okay. Mhmm." Ellie couldn't help but think that Wanda's laugh was like music; sometimes it felt so foreign to hear someone laugh while engaging with her, but when it happened it made her feel so delighted. The smile touched her lips a she looked back down to her garment, starting to stitch like Wanda had suggested.

"When and why did you learn to sew?"

"My mother taught me," she said absently as she slid the pins into place, a fond smile sliding across her face without Wanda realizing it. "I used to fidget all the time -- still do, really -- and it drove her crazy. So she taught me any crafts she could think of that used my hands." Once the hem was reasonably straight, she glanced over at Ellie. "What about you?"

Ellie couldn't help but giggle a little at the fidgeting comment if only because it brought her mind to Pietro. It was interesting and sweet to notice similarities between twins; she hadn't known any twins at all before coming to this place.

"The markets in Genosha did not have nice styles," she admitted. "I very much liked the styles I saw on TV! I wanted my own, so I made my own."

"Seems like a good reason to me," Wanda said with a laugh. "Handy, too."

"Uh-huh! I had a lot of time to learn," Ellie explained while measuring the new length of the dress just once more for extra assurance. "Though I wonder just how much sewing is common among young people here. They seem to prefer to buy, but style can be so expensive."

Wanda flicked her a quick smile before smoothing the skirt out flat to being sewing it. "I guess it depends on what style you're going for," she said almost thoughtfully.

Ellie looked down at her own clothes and nodded; her style was definitely costly and maybe that was why she ran into this problem? How strange! why was it that less common styles were more expensive than common ones? Or...maybe common styles were common because they were less expensive. Curious. "Did you and your mother make a lot of your clothes when you grew up, or did you buy them?"

"Buying mostly," Wanda said with a slightly sheepish smile. "I think they sewing was more meant as a hobby than anything necessary. We made some of the more unusual things, though. For the fairs and things like that."

Fairs? Ellie was not sure what the fairs were at all, and she would have to ask Wanda someday soon what they were like because she truly was interested. However, Ellie got distracted by a dream and knew that they would soon have company. She looked to the door and tilted her head to the side. "Oh does he ever love to sing."

The 'he' in question being Pietro, who was currently coming down the hall at an astoundingly normal rate, singing the d-da-da-d-da-da-dai-d-da bit of "Odi phenel cino savo", which he had for some reason got stuck in his head and couldn't get out (in spite of not knowing the actual lyrics part completely, which was annoying).

He bumped through the door into the costuming workspace, and was pleased to find it occupied. He started directly towards his sister. "Heyyyy, just the girls I was hoping to see."

Okay so he was always hoping to see Wanda and Ellie was awesome, but still, he had specifically come to admire the costuming.

She'd blinked momentarily at Ellie, but the second the singing made itself heard Wanda had broken off in favor of an amused eye roll. "No, your dress isn't ready yet," she informed her brother wryly. "Don't you have actors to be annoying?"

Upon seeing Pietro, Ellie grinned and clapped her hands with excitement. Oh, how she loved being right! About the not-bad-things anyway. "He would look so pretty in one!"

"I am absolutely the prettiest in one," Pietro assured Ellie even as he stooped to plant a kiss against his sister's temple--careful not to interrupt her work. Much. "And yes, I do have actors to annoy, but I wouldn't think of annoying anyone without giving you your fair share first."

"Thank you for that," Wanda said dryly, even as she tossed him a fond look. "Did you actually need something?"

Ellie watched them both with amusement and folded her hands under her chin; siblings were interesting.

"I didn't need anything," he assured both girls, standing straight but not moving from Wanda's side. "I just wanted to bother you--I mean see all the amazingness you two are up to. And I see you have been very busy." Yeah he knew his fake slip wasn't fooling anyone--that was the point!

"You mean you were bored and knew we'd be here to entertain you," Wanda translated with the ease of practice, not really bothering to hide the smile that went with it. "Though you do realize this means you might end up as a dress form, right?"

"We have plenty of skirts to hem," Ellie pitched in helpfully.

"Great," Pietro practically chirped. Bahahaha, he loved it! "I mean, if you don't mind that I can't hold still for two minutes together. And that I have no hips." He patted them in illustration. "And my shoulders are--well, not quite linebacker-y, but probably compared to--who's that one for?"

"You look nothing at all like a linebacker," Wanda countered dryly. "And it's for Lorna." Though the slight lilt at the end made it more of a question, as she cut her eyes to Ellie for confirmation.

"Lorna," Ellie echoed with a quick nod up and down. "She has all the prettiest dresses, yes! Perhaps you are not that much different than her?"

Said with a teasing grin, Ellie wrinkled up her nose at Pietro to show she was just playing.

"I said comparatively!" Pietro stuck his tongue out at his sister, reaching out to wrap a strand of her hair around one finger idly. And then to Ellie, "Why, thank you. I wish I was half as pretty as the girls I'm related to--but I'm not sure I'm worthy of this dress. Which is truly magnificent, by the way."

"He's a little taller," Wanda told Ellie, casting a critical eye over her brother that faded into plain satisfaction when his hand slid into her hair. Cheater. "It is good," she agreed with him, smoothing a hand over the skirt.

"Thank you," Ellie replied modestly, and hugged the fabric against herself before she could think otherwise. "Do you think she will like it?"

Pietro watched her with a smile, moving a little nearer to her unconsciously. "I do, if I know her at all. She has a good eye for fashion.

"But seriously, are you guys having fun with it?" He let the hair unwind from around his finger, then re-wound it.

Wanda just laughed and leaned into him a little. "No, it's horrible. Do you know how long it's been since I really got to sew? And Ellie's much better than I am, so I'm learning a lot. How can I possibly enjoy that?"

Compliments made Ellie's face very warm and for a moment she thought the shyness it gave her would cause her to suffocate. It was so strange to know such nice people in this school, still! "Wanda...she is a very good partner, too."

"Yes. She. Is." Pietro said emphatically, letting her hair go at last. Aw, Ellie was so adorable sometimes. And then, because he had to poke: "But she can always use some schooling."

She stuck her tongue out at both of them, for all that Ellie had actually been really nice. Wouldn't want to not include her. "Keep it up and we'll pin you into something and leave you here," Wanda said with an exaggerated sniff.

Ellie snickered. "Oh! But he might like that."

Before he could stop himself, Pietro burst out laughing. "Have you been talking to Tessa, or am I that obvious to any random telepath?"

What, girl was pretty adept at tying and/or pinning a guy down, okay.

Wanda opened her mouth, and then just closed it again. "I don't think I need to be hearing any more about that," she said after a moment of letting it sink in. "Possibly Ever."

Well Ellie couldn't blame Wanda for that; she was quite sure that if she had a brother she would not want to know such things, either. Whoops. Instead of suggesting that she knew too much about too many people, Ellie shrugged and gave Wanda a comically wrinkled up look. "It is good you are not a telepath, Wanda."

Pietro's thoughts had gone along much the same lines; he was already facepalming. "Soooooo sorry ohmigod." Because yeah. Not that he would actually believe it if Wanda said it about herself because that was not even a thing that was possible, but still. "That is traumatic. Please go back to threatening to put me in a dress. I like that."

He facepalmed again. Oh, great catch, fastbrain. "Not like that. Nevermind."

"I'm learning all sorts of new things about you today," Wanda said with a snicker, but took pity on him. "Maybe you should go get some rest? Clearly if I'm hearing too much, Ellie must be worse."

"I always hear voices, uh-huh." Ellie explained. It was nothing new or upsetting, but Wanda was not wrong. "He thinks very fast."

Pietro uncovered his face with exaggerated slowness. "Which means she gets to miss out on a lot, lucky for her," he said, with another apologetic look for Wanda. All the brain bleach, seriously. Whoooops. "But it also means we can have two conversations at once, one in our heads and one out loud.

"We're not now though. Seems rude." He smiled hopefully. He was totally forgiven already but still. A little tail-wagging never hurt, right?

"I can only imagine what a mess you must be to people who can hear you on multiple levels," Wanda said with a snort of a laugh and reached up to ruffle her hand through Pietro's hair as she glanced over at Ellie. "You have my sympathies, believe me."

Well, Ellie did have to admit that she liked the mental flexibility that came with simultaneous conversations. Not many people were actually very able to communicate on that level, so she had to give Pietro some credit for that! "I hear many strange things. The world would sound quiet if I did not!"

Pietro smiled, pleased to be getting Wanda-attention (see, he knew he was forgiven!) and just to generally be petted. "See, she doesn't need sympathies--my strange things are entertaining," he told his sister.

"Fine," Wanda said, entirely conciliatory if you ignored the amusement in her eyes. "But now you're being a distraction and it'll be on you if your pretty dresses aren't finished. Go bother someone else for a while."

Ellie knew that was the cue to get back to work. With another amused little squeak, she flopped herself back down at her table and did her very best to get back on track. Not side-tracked. If that was even possible, she was unsure, but it was fun to try!