Story time! So, I'm a fan of the city builder game, City Skylines. Over the weekend they had a publisher sale on Steam, so I was able to pick up the Campus DLC. In this DLC, you get to create a university/college campus space using unique buildings in a painted area. After loading up a game and getting a good look at the buildings, you know what I realized? I could actually do a rough mock up of how Daybreak Academy's campus looks like. Nifty, right?

If I had a blog for the story (I'm still debating on whether to do it not) I'd post the mock up there. But for now, I've got some planning to do!

Thank you for reading!

Anora absently pressed a hand on her shoulder brace as she looked at the dresses on display. If it wasn't the price tag that scared her, it was the vast selection of dresses on offer. Pyra and Nin had already tried on several dresses so far. Well, Pyra had. Nin was looking for dress suits tailored to a feminine form than actually degrading herself with skirts- or so she said. At this point, Anora was just so overwhelmed that she was unsure of which dress to try first.

"Is there something I can help you with, miss?" one of the salespersons -her name tag labeling her as Giselle- offered with a sweet smile. Anora shrunk a little at Giselle's kind gaze.

"Are you looking for a dress?" Giselle then asked, not meaning to sound like she was probing. When Anora gave shy nod, Giselle reached into a pouch she wore at her side and pulled out a measuring tape.

"Do you mind if I take your measurements for a moment?"

Anora quickly shook her head- then she proceeded to hold out her arms so Giselle could measure her. The saleswoman didn't waste any time in doing so. Her long red hair falling over her shoulders as she measured around Anora's waist and hips.

"Hmm, let's see…" she even mumbled to herself. "Equal hip and bust size… no clearly defined waist… You have a pretty androgynous body, huh? Hmm..."

When Giselle was finished with the measurements, she stood up and looked Anora over with a thoughtful hum.

"Tell me," she then mused, "What's your favorite color?"
Anora gave a small sigh of relief. Something she knew how to answer! She had even prepared for it, pointing to the headband that she was wearing today. Giselle was a bit confused at first; the headband was mostly metal with a five inch blue flower on the side.

"Oh!" the saleswoman realized. "It's blue, isn't it?"

Anora happily nodded her head. It made the saleswoman smile back in amusement.

"Follow me," Giselle offered, gesturing to the back of the store, "I think we have the perfect dress for you in back."

Anora gave another nod and did as she was told. Giselle guided her to the back of the store, passing by the dressing rooms in doing so. Anora gave a small glance over to see what Pyra and Nin were up to. Pyra was admiring the cream colored, two piece gown she had on- two other saleswomen were doting over her. Or, rather, the two saleswomen were arguing with each other.

"She'd look better in blue." the shortest of the two saleswomen, dressed entirely in blue, argued.

"No, she'd look better in pink." the other saleswoman, dressed in red, countered with a huff.

"Blue."

"Pink."

"Blue!"

"Pink!"

Pyra let out a sheepish grin, scratching the back of her head, before carefully saying, "I kinda like this color..."

"No you don't!" both ladies snapped, causing Pyra to jump a little in surprise.

Not far away from them was Nin with another saleswoman, this one dressed in green, as the two looked over Nin's suit.

"How does this one feel, dearie?" the saleswoman politely inquired. Nin didn't answer right away- instead she lifted and lowered her arms, turning every so often to see every angle of herself in the mirror.

"The sleeves feel a bit too tight." she finally decided. "But I like the style of the double breasted jacket."

"Would you like me to find a different size jacket for you? We can take it in if we need to."

Nin gave a thoughtful little noise as she looked over herself again. "Yeah." she agreed. "Let's do that."

Happy for her friends, Anora turned her attention back to Giselle, who was now offering for Anora to go into the back room first. The girl obliged, stepping into the dark room before Giselle switched on the light. A small buzz from the overhead light filled in the otherwise dead silence.

"Now," Giselle mumbled to herself. "Where did I see that dress?"

As Giselle rummaged through the extra stock, Anora took a step to the side as looked around the room. Most of the dresses back here were either folded neatly into boxes, wrapped in a protective plastic lining, or simply being hung on a clothes rack. Giselle was shuffling through most of the boxes, opening a few then replacing the lid to set them back down again. Almost unaware that Anora was with her, Giselle mumbled things to herself as she tried to find the right dress. It was rather amusing.

"Ah, here it is!" Giselle declared as she pulled out a certain dress. Anora looked it over and almost felt a compulsive urge to touch it. Even in the rather dim overhead lighting, Anora felt herself gawk at the beauty of the dress.

The dress was light blue and floor length. The bodice had an open backed halter top, the skirt only seemed to flow down like a river with the higher cinched waist line. Wasn't it called an empire waist? Anora didn't know, and she was too enamored with the dress to even really consider it. The material also seemed to flow a like water- a nice, flowing fabric that seemed to catch every breeze in its wake. Anora looked up at Giselle with pleading eyes that only requested one thing.

"Of course you can try it on!" Giselle laughed. Anora's eyes grew wide in wonder, leading the saleswoman to laugh at her again, before the two headed toward the dressing rooms. Giselle placed the dress into one of the dressing rooms in between the ones Pyra and Nin were using. Pyra, who was about the change, happened to notice as Anora entered the booth.

"Did you find a dress, Anora?" Pyra asked. Anora nodded. Her friend gave a light smile as she then said, "If you need help putting it on with your brace, let me know, okay?"

Anora gave one last nod before hiding in the dressing room booth. It wasn't that hard to put the dress on with the shoulder brace. Over the past two weeks, putting on and removing the brace had only become another routine. She usually tried to keep it under her clothes; it helped to stop people from staring and asking her how she had hurt herself in the first place. As Anora adjusted the brace and put on the dress, it quickly became apparent that she would have no way of hiding the brace during the formal.

Making sure that she had zippered every zipper and nothing embarrassing was showing, Anora stepped out of the changing room booth and over to the mirrors. A small jolt of fear coursed through her when she saw Pyra waiting there for her.

"Oh, wow!" Pyra immediately responded when she saw Anora. "Anora you look great!"

A small blush crossed Anora's face before she turned her attention to the mirrors. It wasn't a bad fit, that dress and her.

"Do a little spin." Nin suggested, somehow appearing next to Pyra in the span of a few seconds. Anora had jumped in surprise, but did as she was told. The dress billowed out from under her- the dress lifting to a bell shape at the apex of the spin, but immediately settling down when Anora stood still. The impressed approval from Nin, Pyra, and Giselle made Anora's ears heat up.

"I think we found a winner!" Giselle announced with a happy clap of her hands. Pyra and Nin couldn't disagree, nodding their heads and even urging Anora to keep the dress. Anora herself bit her lip as she did another, much slower, spin. She couldn't help but wonder what Ephemer would think of it. Of her. The brace didn't blend in with the dress well- looking like shoulder armor than anything elegant. Would Ephemer notice or even care? Anora's fingers absently laced themselves into the dress's skirt.

If Ephemer was only a friend, then why was she so nervous?

"I'll take it." she finally declared.