In the silence that filled Sonata Tailoring, Candace sat off in the corner of the shop beside her sewing machine, mulling over the tattered cloth in her hands. She monotonously slid her index finger in and out of the hole she had accidentally torn in what was originally intended to be a scarf but now barely passed as even a washcloth. The floodgates of her eyes felt ready to burst as she looked out upon the hollow interior of the shop.
The establishment wasn't exactly devoid of any product; in fact it was quite the opposite. Lines of fabric still adorned the shelves and a wide variety shirts and dresses were scattered about on display atop the numerous counters and racks within the room. It was how long the clothes had been sitting out ignored and unpurchased, however, that made it feel empty to her. The land of Castanet had slowly been fading away for years now and its remaining residents were holding out for a miracle. They were far too preoccupied with keeping themselves afloat in these pressing times to worry about something as insignificant as their wardrobe.
As logical of a reason it was to explain the lack of sales the shop had been experiencing as of late though, it was the truth after all, Candace refused to put the blame on anything other than herself. In her mind nobody was coming to buy clothes from them because everything up on display now consisted of only her designs and not those of her sister Luna. She felt that her work wasn't up to even the lowest of people's standards and that she lacked the remarkable sewing skills that ran through her family, the torn fabric in her hand served as a testament to that theory.
With her self-esteem absolutely destroyed Candace proceeded to raise the cloth up to her face in an effort to conceal both the tears dripping out of her eyes and to hide herself from the countless eyes she felt fixated on her. She could feel the nonexistent stares of the town's residents locked upon her from all angles of the room, casting down a harsh and judging gaze.
"Are you even trying?"She can hear them ask. "Why can't you ever do anything right? Why didn't you leave instead of your sister?You're just no good…"
At that moment as she further pressed her face into the soft fabric Candace wished for more than anything else to simply fade away from reality so that perhaps the disappointment she believed her very existence brought could vanish as well. Despite knowing that the voices she heard in her head were in fact not real and probably not the actual opinions of her fellow Harmonica Town residents it did her no help in trying to feel like any less of an inconvenience. While everyone else was out attempting to preserve a sense of fun in the region by celebrating the firefly festival she had instead chosen to remain at home with hopes of finally crafting something people could be impressed by.
Those dreams might as well have been torn up with the scarf now.
Her muffled sobbing continued to echo throughout the room until a sudden knock at the door sent her into an immediate state of disarray. Just about jumping from fright she quickly spun in her seat towards the direction of the door. The beating of her heart matched the rapid rhythm of the knocking that continued for only another moment before the sound of the doorknob clicking caused just about every inch of her body to freeze up.
"G-G-Grandma…?" She nervously questioned, hoping that it was simply Shelly returning home.
"Grandma? Well I'm not that old yet." An unfamiliar voice answered from the doorway with a laugh, nearly giving Candace a heart attack. Granted, she didn't even want her own grandmother coming across her crying like a baby over her latest failure but that seemed like a much better alternative than the stranger who now appeared to be entering her home.
She desperately wanted to shout something along the lines of "We're closed!" or, "No one's home!" but all she managed to do was attempt to hide herself in the torn scarf once more as a frightened whimper escaped her lips.
"Is anyone here?" She heard whoever had entered the shop ask, seemingly unable to spot her hiding in the back. "I thought I heard someone…"
Candace sank further into her seat, this was her chance to just lay low and hope that her mysterious visitor would just leave without ever noticing. For a split second it seemed as though her plan might work but once she heard what sounded like one of the clothing stacks being knocked over she jumped from her spot yet again.
"Oh no!" Both her and her guest virtually shouted in unison.
Candace sprang up from her seat and looked out towards the doorway to spot her visitor kneeling before a pile of clothes scattered about the floor in front of her. She was a young girl with short brown hair and an interesting ensemble of a yellow tank top over a plain white t-shirt tucked into a scarlet colored skirt.
"No, no, no, no, no." She muttered aloud to herself as tried to gather up the mess.
Candace shifted her position slightly to try and get a better look at the scene which caused the floor beneath her to let out an audible creak. The brown haired girl instantly looked up at her and as soon as their eyes met Candace let out a gasp and slid back behind the nearby display in an attempt to hide.
"I'm so sorry!" The girl apologized while completely ignoring Candace's antisocial gesture. "I didn't mean to knock everything over, honest!"
Candace partially exposed herself from her hiding spot and watched as the girl continued to form a sizable pile out of the mess among the floor.
"They belong down there anyway…" She thought to herself. She hated this moment of weakness and self-loathing she found herself in but with things in Castanet as they were she found herself growing more and more vulnerable to depression each day.
Her attention drew back to the girl as she wrapped her arms around the mound of clothes she created and lifted them up off the ground before just about falling atop the counter in front of her.
"Argh, there we go." She huffed while wiping the nonexistent sweat from her brow. "Was there any way you wanted these set up?" Her sights fell upon Candace once again.
Accepting that trying to hide from this mysterious visitor was now futile, Candace sheepishly shuffled from her spot behind the store display.
"T-There is fine." She answered softly.
The girl gave somewhat of a pout and placed her hands on her hips, her eyes scanning the barren counter. "Oh come on, I'm sure you want these displayed someway. I messed it up, I'll fix it."
Candace began to scrunch up the damaged scarf that still remained in her grasp, bringing it up near her face. Personally she didn't care about how the clothes were laid out since no one in her mind would ever consider buying them but Shelly might have other plans.
"Oh, that's neat…" The girl remarked.
Candace looked back at her as she began to sort through the various designs that had just been set down, taking her time to examine each one carefully.
"Oh! I really like this one." She chirped while bringing a dark colored Victorian dress up to her chest. Her eyes scanned the room for a mirror facing her direction but eventually settled upon Candace when she spotted none. "What do you think?"
Candace's response was an awkward smile as she slowly lowered the scarf near her chin. "She… she likes it…?"
The girl giggled and smiled back before setting the dress back in the pile. Her hand glided across the collection of clothing while her expression appeared absolutely captivated by every single detail in the garments.
"Did you make all of these?" She asked, picking up another dress and examining it as she did so.
A faint gasp came from Candace as she clutched the scarf against her chest and took a step back. "This is it, she's going to say they're awful…"
"You work here right? I think that's what," The girl's eyes suddenly lit up. "OH! I'm so sorry! I haven't even introduced myself yet here I am barging into your house and knocking over all your hard work. I'm Molly, I just moved into town a few days ago." She said with another smile.
Candace managed to pull herself together just long enough to form a genuine smile back. "I-I'm Candace. Pleased to meet you…" She replied quietly.
"Oh, so you are Candace? I ran into your grandma at the festival back in town and she said you'd be here." Molly explained. "I thought it'd be nice to pop in and introduce myself."
Candace tightened her grip on the fabric tangled between her fingers and shut her eyes. There's wasn't a doubt in her mind that she was trying to nicely explain the fact that Shelly had in fact asked her to check up on her.
"So did you really make all of these?" She heard Molly ask.
She opened her slightly wet eyes to see as Molly began to sort through the pile once more.
Candace began to quietly stutter. "N-N-N…"
"They're really beautiful." Molly observed as she picked up another dress and held it up against her body. After a moment she gently set it back down on top of the counter and looked over the heap of clothes before staring back at Candace, patiently waiting for a response.
The poor seamstress's heart felt like it was about to explode any second now. The tender smile painted across Molly's face told her that her previous comments were spoken with the upmost sincerity but her own crushing sense of doubt refused to let her take the compliment. To her surprise, however, she soon found herself giving a nod.
"Y-Yeah." She answered.
"That's so cool!" Molly beamed. "It must have taken forever to learn how to make stuff this good."
"Please… I d-don't wanna distract you from the f-festival outside…" Candace muttered as she found herself quickly relapsing back into her unenthusiastic behavior.
"Oh nonsense, it's fine." Molly said as she started to wander off to a nearby display. "I want to see what else you've made. Besides, that festival out there seems more for couples really." She paused for a moment. "Is that why you didn't go?"
Candace let out a very distressed gasp and quickly spun around on her heels. Facing away from Molly she brought the scarf up to her eyes in preparation for the tears that seemed ready to burst out of them. It was an honest question if her tone was any indication but all Candace could hear was another person who knew of the lack of romance in her life.
"No! I didn't mean it like that!" Molly pleaded as Candace could hear her rushing over to her.
A moment later she felt as Molly placed her glove covered hand atop her shoulder. She peeked her eyes out from behind the scarf and saw as Molly looked at her with intense concern.
"Please, I didn't mean to offend you." She explained. "It's just that everyone else in town was there and you were here all al- Oh I'm just making this worse aren't I…?"
Candace lowered her arms and wiped eyes with her sleeve. "N-No… its f-fine…"
In truth it did upset her that with all her years of living in Castanet not a single one of the boys in the area seemed even slightly interested in her. It felt like just yet another ability she lacked that her sister had in spades. In some of the letters she'd sent since leaving Castanet, Luna had talked about some of the attention she had been receiving and would playfully invite Candace to come and share it with her, unaware of the effect it had on her sister's self-esteem. Sure, there was Julius, the accessory king, who would come and visit her from time to time in that flirtatious manner of his but it never really resonated with her. She hadn't the slightest clue what love felt like outside of family and it seemed easy to just write it off as something she might never know.
"If it makes you feel better I'm not having any luck in that department either." Molly nervously laughed, hoping to cheer her up.
Candace gave her a weak smile. Her comment really didn't help her mood as much as planned but it was clear that she was trying her hardest to cheer her up.
"Look, I'm sorry. I should really think before I go and say something like that." Molly apologized.
"I-It's… it's alright, really." Candace said.
Molly's gaze drifted back to the patterned clothing that surrounded them. "These designs really are amazing though." She told her in an attempt to change the subject.
"They're n-nothing really…" Candace muttered.
"Oh but just look at this." Molly argued as she walked up to a dress being displayed on rack. "I doubt I could ever make something this beautiful in my life."
All Molly's compliments seemed to slowly be reaching her as Candace began to feel her cheeks heat up with a slight blush.
"N-No, it's nothing at all…" She repeated. "Really…"
Molly looked back at her and smiled. "Well I think what you've managed to make here is incredible. I've never seen designs like this back at home."
As Candace silently fumbled with the scarf still in her hands Molly finally seemed to take note of it.
"I haven't been interrupting you while you were trying to work did I?" She asked.
Candace looked at the red cloth in her hands then back at Molly before gripping it into her stomach. "N-No! I, I was just…"
Slowly she found herself reverting back to her original state just before Molly had shown up.
"It was nothing…" Candace whimpered.
"You were making something when I barged in weren't you?" Molly asked. "I didn't mess you up… did I…?"
Candace seemed to either have the option of owning up to her own failure or pinning the blame on some innocent girl she had only just met.
"No… I… I screwed it up before you showed up…" She admitted. Strangely it didn't feel all as soul crushing as she thought it would.
"Aw, I'm sorry." Molly apologized. "What were you making?"
Something about the way Molly talked to her made her feel oddly calm the longer they conversed.
"It was just a s-scarf…" She answered quietly. "And I still managed to ruin it…" She said that last part just quiet enough that Molly couldn't hear her.
"Well… I bet it's not completely ruined." Molly said. "I bet you could fix it right up, good as new. Heck, I bet it's probably better than the scarf I have for the winter. It's all torn and full of holes. Hm, I guess I know where to come to get it replaced now, huh?" She finished with a laugh.
Candace's lips trembled for a moment before forming a slight smile.
"I guess I'm distracting you though, I should probably leave." She told her.
"Well… you… you d-don't have to… But…" It was hard to admit but while she was technically distracting from being able to salvage her scarf design now that her head was starting to clear up she didn't want her to leave just yet.
"No, no, it's fine. I still have some unpacking to do back home anyway." Molly told her as she started to head over towards the door. "Maybe I'll stop by later on in the week or something. You can show me some more of your amazing designs and hey, maybe I'll buy one instead of just fawning over it."
The edges of her mouth began to slowly curl upwards again.
"It was nice to meet you Candace." Molly smiled. "I'll see you later."
As the door slowly came shut Candace remained still near the center of the room. Looking down at the scarf in her hands she brought it close to her chest and smiled.
"Thank you…"