Chapter 7

Economic Upturns.

Alex still felt weird leaving the door open for Cordelia to follow him in, she had even made it a point to ask Jenny earlier if it was alright and was half hoping that she would say no.

"Okay Cordy, we're here. Now what kind of thing were you looking for? I can make most anything as long as it doesn't require modern equipment to manipulate it. I'm not so familiar with modern plastics and stuff, so polyester and such might be possible, but you could find somebody better to do it. Personally I would rather work in natural fibers, leathers, silks, that kind of thing."

Cordy thinks for a minute. "Well, you made Buffy leather armor, what would it take to get a one-of-a-kind leather jacket? Something unique, and of the best quality?"

Alex nods. "Wouldn't be tough at all. How do you want the fit? Loose? Tight? Skin tight? Pockets? Buttons or Zippers? If buttons, sewn on or riveted? Do you want the cut to conceal or accentuate any particular assets? How long? Biker length or are we looking for more of a duster or a greatcoat? Is standard black okay or are you interested in a more colorful experience when wearing this? I'll probably go with a removable liner for cleaning purposes, would you rather go with silk and have to use a dry cleaners, or would cotton be okay for you? Inside pocket? Special places for phone, time piece, compact? Any other items you carry around regularly? Do you want a soft look or a stiff one? Do you want to put people at ease or be intimidating? Are there any other considerations I should know about such as keeping buttons or rivets from catching on things you use regularly, such as car seats? Are you interested in any kind of additional water or weatherproofing or would you rather handle that yourself, and finally... Don't spread this around, but I can enchant stuff. So if you want to spend a lot of money, there are a few things I could do to this that might interest you."

Cordelia's eyes have been getting wider and wider as Alex rattles off all of these questions, not even bothering to wait for a response to any of them and instead jotting down a shortened version of the questionnaire which she hands to Cordelia at the end along with a pen for her to fill in the answers.

"Like what?" She asks, looking between her and the list in almost a daze.

Alex shrugs. "I am guessing you won't be getting into a lot of combat, but a basic defensive enchantment will help keep it in good shape and is pretty much the required buy-in to get anything else anyway. The most obvious ones that I could see being useful to you are "Called" which allows you to have it appear on you no matter where it is in relation to you on the planet, and incorporating a crystal of adaptation somewhere on the design, hidden or not as your choice, which would make it always comfortable to wear no matter how hot or cold it happens to be where you are."

She looks at Alex incredulously. "You mean I could wear this thing in Death Valley or the north pole and be fine?"

Alex shakes her head. "There are extremes that can overcome it. But assume that if you could be there naked with maybe shoes on for a few minutes without taking damage than this could keep you comfortable indefinitely."

"How much would all that be?"

Alex leans back on the couch. "I won't know for sure on the coat itself until you finish up with that. But unless you think of something you want that I haven't, I can't imagine my material costs going much over a hundred bucks, so call it three hundred maximum? Probably closer to two? For you, at least. I may not be so polite to your stooge crew if you send them my way. The enchantments will run me a couple thousand in materials, so call it three grand to you. No worries if it's too much. I just wanted you to know it was an option so I could design for it if you were interested."

Cordelia puts down the pad of paper. "Why are you being so nice to me?"

Alex looks at her. "You and I have always been at each others throats in one way or another, but you've never taken it beyond a certain point. You always respected the line. Not too long ago, you had an opportunity to crush me into the dirt in ways that could be a cautionary tale for freshman for the next thousand years, and you've never touched it. I think you are a selfish, rich, bitchy little stuck up brat most of the time, but when the chips are down, you're good people. I respect that. So, I am trying to be nice. No promises, I might backslide. We got history, after all." This last bit is said with a smirk, and Cordelia's clear laugh rings out.

"Yeah, yeah I guess we do. Three thousand plus the coat is a lot to put up front. Can I pay two thousand now and make payments for a couple of months on whatever is left? I need to keep some cash around. It is neither easy nor cheap to be me."

After considering for a minute, Alex gives her the go ahead. "Yeah, that will be fine. Finish up the questionnaire and I'll introduce you to the girls, we'll get your measurements and stuff. Then if you want to stop by tomorrow, we can do a final fitting and stuff. Just so you know though, it's going to be a couple of weeks before I can get the enchantments done. I'm backlogged at the moment."

"Yeah, I figured when I heard you in the lunchroom. I take it Buffy is getting the full meal deal then?"

Alex shakes her head. "Not really. Right now I am just getting off the ground, so I am trying to get her in something. I'll work on something more substantial down the road. But it is important to me to get her in something better than a t-shirt before she gets hurt out there, you know?"

"Yeah. So, no chance to spend an extra hundred bucks to jump ahead in line then?"

Alex almost gets mad until she sees the impish grin on Cordy's face. Then she offers a grin of her own. "Sure. But it's not 'bucks' it's 'dusted vampires' and I'll only accept my hundred dead in advance, thank you very much."

Cordelia laughs again and then busies herself with the paper in front of her.

A few minutes later the two of them are walking back towards Alex's room.

"So, part of my Halloween thing is that I can make little automaton kinda things that help me with my work. Don't be too shocked when you see them. I won't say they are harmless, but they are part of me. They won't hurt you. Okay?"

Cordelia nods as she walks along behind. "Sure. They're not like, ugly or anything are they?"

Alex offers a shrug as she opens the door. "I think they're cute as hell, but I designed them so I could be biased."

As soon as she walks in she is assaulted by high speed hugging from the three Things, who she has started thinking of as Red, Yellow, and Green. Cordelia is shocked for a few seconds, then peers a little closer and realizes that the three strange hard hat wearing pixies are not actually attacking, but instead showing a love and devotion that far exceeds any dog she's ever owned.

"Okay girls, I need measurements on Miss Chase here. We will be making her a coat tonight."

The three fly back over to the table to collect their tapes, and then begin the measuring, much to Cordelia's amused smile. Alex begins sketching while she is doing that, based on her answers.

As soon as they are done and bring the measurements over, he erases a bit and redraws some. Then hands her the rough sketch.

"So, we are looking at a long coat, but not a greatcoat. It will go down to around mid thigh, will be pretty damn tight above the waist, cinch tight at the waist, and hang somewhat loose bellow that. We're going with reinforced riveted buttons, and lots of them. With as tight as you want it, zippers might be a bad idea. Buttons are more forgiving of that extra piece of cheesecake. Silk liner, you'll like that this stuff feels amazing. I am currently working on a potential device that could maintain and clean clothes magically, I'll let you know how much it is when I get the bugs worked out. We'll be adding a high collar, and the design will make use of both black and crimson leathers with diamond patterns on the arms and a heart on the back. The red suits of a deck of cards, basically, lost in a sea of black. The crystal for your endure elements I am going to make as part of the right breast pocket button, and I'll offset with an identical but not enchanted crystal for the opposite. You went for intimidating, so my plan is to build up the shoulders a touch, and then add some ribbing to the chest and stomach, giving it the general appearance of a corset without the discomfort of one. I also plan to lightly weigh down the bottom of the coat, particularly the back. It will effect the way it hangs and stop it from flaring around your ass under the waist cinch. Anything you can think of that you would like to add?"

Cordelia looks at the well done sketch and measurements in something akin to awe. "No, looks great to me. You can have this done by tomorrow?"

Alex gestures her homunculus, who are already getting out supplies. "They don't sleep, they love making stuff, and they have complete access to my skills to do it. The only reason it is going to take until tomorrow is because I am probably going to need to stop by the craft store in the morning before school to pick up the buttons. Otherwise, this would take the three of them maybe three to five hours at most. I really need to get a real workspace so I can be making my own buttons and stuff. Buying off the shelf is hurting my professional pride."

Cordelia frowns. "So why don't you?"

Alex shrugs as she steps toward the door. "Costs money. Right now all my money is going back into equipment for Buffy."

Cordelia follows her into the living room and then sits while Alex puts a kettle on for tea. Jenny walks in about this time, and smiles when she sees the girls.

"Hello all! How goes the great clothing business venture?"

Cordelia has her brow furrowed and doesn't respond right away. Alex looks up. "Not too bad. I was making some tea and we were going to talk and stuff. Interested?"

Jenny nods. "Yes, please."

Cordelia does look up now, but rather than acknowledge Jenny, turns to Alex who is just now sitting down in the living room.

"I'll need to see what this coat looks like tomorrow to be sure, but if you are as good as Buffy thinks you are I know how to get you your professional workspace. When you go to the store in the morning, buy an extra set of measuring tapes to carry with you to school and after we do the final fit on the coat, I'll probably have you make a second one for eventual enchanting and I'll just wear this one as is. If we are careful, we can make you a bespoke tailor really easy if your skills are what you think and I am beginning to believe they are. For a small percentage, maybe ten percent of net, I can filter you customers that actually have money and taste as well as see to it that anybody who's anybody wants to wear your stuff. Assuming this coat is the cat's pajamas, does that sound good to you?"

Alex looks at her confused, then smiles. "Why are you being so nice to me?"

Cordelia gets a wicked grin on her face. "Because you are a poor, loud mouthed, holier than thou smart ass with barely more brains than money but at the end of the day you defend the weak, and would die for a friend. I can respect that."

The two laugh.

Jenny looks like she got halfway to upset and then got sidetracked into confused. It isn't a flattering look, but fortunately neither of her guests notice.

Two weeks, eight coats, three dresses, and one three piece suit later Jenny and Alex are planning to take the weekend to move into their new lodgings, a three bedroom house that includes a high ceiling two car garage that Jenny will be renting with Alex paying half the bills. To say that Cordelia was happy with her coat was something of an understatement, and it brought in considerable business for Alex.

Getting the crew together to help the move is handy, and the fact that Alex once again lives only a couple of blocks from Willow is a thing that keeps a smile on her face.

Alex looks around at the friends that helped them move while Jenny is offering thanks all around.

"I think that's everything. Man this place looks empty. Hey, Buffy. Your armor and shirt are done if you want to try them on again and stuff. You can wear 'em tonight."

Buffy jumps in place a little with a huge smile on her face. "Woohoo! Good times!" She follows Alex into the house and they find the suit and shirt hanging in her closet, where the Dedicated Wrights put it while they were unpacking everything. Buffy, apparently embracing the whole "Xander is a girl" thing more than she wishes her friend would, strips down to her sports bra and panties, then starts putting on the suit. "So, what all did you do to it?"

Alex thinks for a minute. "I assume you want that in like real world terms, not game terms, right?"

Buffy rolls her eyes. "Yup. That would be correct."

Alex nods and get her notes. "Okay then. Well, first I added to the armor. It should help deflect blows better than it would without the enchantment as well, due to a second enchantment. I added a small crystal to the suit that is encased in the chest padding that will see to it that you are always comfortable wearing it, regardless of the temperature. Always an important one in Southern California. The armor is also set up to accept a "called" enchantment that will put it on you instantly wherever you are as long as it is on the same planet and a "glamored" enchantment that will allow it to look like, but not behave like, normal clothes. I kinda ran out of funds, but I can add those later. The silk under shirt will give you some better defense against magic and mind mojo and such, as well as hardening your skin some, natural armor like. Hopefully the silk still feels nice. You were so happy about that I was a little worried." At her smile and nod, Alex continues. "Honestly, I am kinda still operating on a shoestring budget here, but I wanted to give you an out, in case things were truly going to hell for you in the field. The cheapest thing I could do is make the silk shirt a "Bolt Shirt" before I added the other things. So once a day, recharging at dawn, if you look at any point within sixty feet and say "Blitz" it'll teleport you there. Remember, one use a day. Also, it'll leave a trail of electrical sparks, so hit the ground running when you get there, the bad guys will know where you are. Okay?" Alex sits on the bed while Buffy is bouncing around the room getting a feel for the suit. "Just so you know, most of these enchantments are at their most basic level. I just didn't have the money to do more than that. But I can upgrade it all later, maybe during summer when business slows down for you. Also, think about what you want to do about a weapon. Because once I get a couple of combat minions online, maybe four or so,that is going to be the next priority. Month and a half maybe. If I was you I would talk to Giles. See what he says."

Grinning like a madwoman, Buffy turns to give Alex a hug, speaking as she does so. "You know, I had almost given up on reaching twenty. But now? Maybe not so much. Thank you. Can I test the telawhatzit?"

Alex rolls her eyes as Buffy lets go and steps back. "Teleport. Sure, but if you want to show it off to everybody else we should go in the garage and call everyone in there or something. Remember though, only once a day. So if you use it now it won't be there tonight."

"Its okay. I wouldn't want to use it on a patrol if I hadn't experienced it before anyway."

Alex has a hard time arguing with that, so within a few minutes Alex, Jenny, Giles, Willow, and strangely enough Cordelia, who offered to help ostensibly to keep track of her "golden goose" are in the garage, and Buffy stands on one side in her dark green and purple armor for the first time in front of anybody but Alex. She smiles, looks at the far side of the garage, and whispers "Blitz."

With the sound of a crying fuse box, she instantly disappears from where she is standing and reappears on the far side of the garage, in exactly the same pose, though she does back up a pace startled, not realizing how close she would be to the wall. The trail of electrical sparks takes almost two second to fade, and she can still see some of them when she turns around to see that Giles, Jenny, and Willow have all dropped their jaws as though they have fish hooks with lead weights on their lower lips.

Alex looks back at Buffy. "You didn't tell them what it did, did you?"

Buffy is completely unashamed in her glee, and snickers. "Nope."

Giles is looking at her strangely and then turns to Alex. "What was that?"

Alex shrugs, explaining the properties of the shirt again to those that don't know about it.

Giles shakes his head, his wonder causing a smile to spread across his face, likewise with Jenny and Willow.

"That is an amazing gift, even only being able to use it once a night I can see it doing much to increase her survivability. These things you are able to put together are truly exceptional."

Alex just laughs. "Giles, that was just about the cheapest thing I could put together that would do her any good. Wait until I have the time and money to actually get creative."

The look on all their faces makes her wish she had a camera.

It took the full week she had left to get her tools worked out for the attempt at getting Joyce back on board. Along with her tools, she brings a few four inch by four inch and six foot long boards, a large box of scrap cloth and wood from various other projects, some sandpaper, a few jars of quick drying paint in an assortment of colors, and a table to set up on. Joyce meets her at the door of the shop when she opens on Saturday, and helps Jenny and Alex bring in her stuff.

"Look, Alex, my daughter kind of told me why you wanted to do this and I want you to know that regardless of what happens today, I am sorry I didn't just go to you directly with these concerns."

Alex grins at her. "No worries Mrs. S. You have a business to run. If you gotta know, you gotta know, I get it. Now you'll know."

Joyce laughs. "Fair enough. So what were you planning to do with all of this? Every time I ask Buffy, she just smiles and says that I'll love it."

With a laugh, Alex and Jenny set up the folding table. "Well, I have kind of a side business now as a tailor for a lot of the kids I go to school with, and when they heard about this some of them asked if they could come, maybe bring their siblings so they could see how it is done. So I figured I would make puppets, you know, the old school Punch and Judy type only without any Punch or Judy because violence in the home, not of the good. But that style, anyway. I figured if I did something like that I could take requests and give 'em away. It isn't like anything I could put together with this many distractions would be worth selling in a gallery this nice anyway. I'm just hoping to put your mind at ease and maybe have a little fun."

As the first customers are walking in to the very pristine location, Alex is in the process of using a small handsaw to cut squares off the four by four piece of lumber. Instead of it taking minutes, it is taking her between four and six swipes with the saw.

At Joyce's look, Alex shrugs. "It pays to have good equipment."

By the time she is ready with her sewing kit out, carving tools handy, and the store is beginning to fill with close to fifteen children and maybe twenty five teens and adults, she sets out a sign that simply says, "Free puppets, requests please."

The next seven and half hours, a full days work less a half hour spent eating lunch and playing with the children and their puppets, makes a believer out of Joyce. The girl has no wasted movement. Everything she does furthers the task, as though no matter what they ask of her she has done it thousands of times before. The three or four times somebody asks for something she has never heard of, she has Jenny look it up on the store computer and handles another child's request while she is waiting for an idea what she is doing. Then once she has seen a few pictures, she handles the request with a smile as though really, she knew all along and was just kidding around.

She averages an expertly carved, dressed, painted puppet about every twenty minutes, and she lied to Joyce. Any one of them would have easily sold in her shop. Not for the thousands her other pieces would. But for fifty to a hundred and fifty dollars depending on the subject as an expertly crafted wall hanger? No question.

For Joyce, the entire experience that is currently being caught on tape is absolutely humbling. Baffling, but humbling.

When the day is over and a laughing Alex and Jenny are cleaning up sawdust and packing up for the trip home, Joyce is beside herself. Not only does she now have video evidence of the skill this woman possesses that she can show people if they balk at so young a person being a craftswoman of this caliber, but she had her best sale day ever. Granted, none of the truly pricy stuff sold. Many who visited the shop today didn't have that kind of money. But unlike a normal day where on average the shop was lucky to have a dozen customers, today there was over two hundred, and at any time there was only two or three that were tied to the puppetry table. All the rest were asking about pieces, and sometimes buying them.

"Alex, I think it is safe to say you have made your point." Joyce says as she is packing away the video camera that has been going all day. Four tapes on high resolution worth of amazing. "If you are still interested, I would be thrilled to accept your pieces. Though in an effort to avoid problems before they start, I might ask for only one every couple of weeks. Would that be okay?"

Alex just smiles. Selling through the shop will be fun. "Sure thing. I'll bring something to you in a few days. Any requests?"

Joyce flashes a grin of her own. "Surprise me."

Author's note.

Holy Crap. Are you ready for Kendra? I sure as fuck am. I feel like I've been spending entirely too damn long getting this train out of the station. Hope you enjoyed!