"Mokey, this dress won't suit me," Jessa said to her while looking at the dress in her hands. "It's not my style."
After learning about Jessa having nothing to wear to the solstice, Mokey took her shopping. While Jessa was grateful for this, it became clear that they both had different clothes tastes. Still, they both enjoyed themselves.
"You won't know until you try it on."
"Alright," Jessa replied, not in the mood to argue.
In the fitting room, Jessa removed her tube top and cargo jeans to try it on, only to be repulsed at what she saw in the mirror. Not at herself necessarily, but at what was on her body. The dress Mokey had her try on, it was gaudy. Tacky. At least to Jessa. The dress was too conservative, covering up her midsection, and from the waist down the dress poofed out.
"Yuck," she murmured.
"Come on out, Jessa. Let's see how the dress looks."
"Or you can come in here and see for yourself. I'm not going out there."
Mokey walked in to have a look, only to regret choosing on Jessa's behalf.
"This is a no," Jessa said before Mokey even had the chance to speak.
"It's such a lovely dress though."
"Maybe on you," Jessa replied before turning back towards the mirror. "But this makes me look and feel like a grandma."
Mokey stepped out to give Jessa some privacy to change back into her other clothes.
"For what it's worth, Mokey," she began while tossing the dress aside and slipping into her cargo jeans. "At least we're expanding my wardrobe a bit."
"Yeah," she replied. "And we're learning about each other's styles."
Jessa smiled weakly before putting her tube top back on.
"So are these holiday celebrations always formal?"
"Only the ones that have to do with season change."
Jessa came out and continued her conversation with Mokey while they looked around. Jessa was having a hard time finding something she liked until she saw a dress that would make her look elegant and bring out her personality at the same time.
"Finally, something decent," she said while holding it up to get a better look.
It was a teal one-sleeve mermaid ball gown. The sleeve was long and on the side of the dress that would hide her bandaged arm. It was perfect.
"I think I found the one," Jessa said to Mokey.
Mokey looked to see the dress that Jessa had picked while also holding one for her.
"Ooh, that's very beautiful," she gushed.
"And if it fits, it's mine," Jessa said before going into the fitting room, leaving Mokey to find another dress for herself.
With all the privacy of the fitting room, Jessa took off her tube top and cargo jeans and put the dress on, which she was able to slip into easily. The dress fit Jessa like a glove, though it needed to be hemmed to better suit her height. She then looked carefully at her figure. Jessa had managed to get back up to a healthy weight due to eating the food that Boober cooked. Her skin also appeared much more vibrant and she didn't look so frail anymore. Jessa almost cried, not able to remember the last time she looked so lively, if ever. Did she always look like death? Jessa ran her hands down her hips, which were now filled out and not so bony.
"Holy Ragnarök…" she breathed.
Even her face, while it still had contour, had filled out. Maybe losing access to the Terrible Tunnel was a good thing after all if it meant looking like a picture of health. Had she still been underweight, the dress would have looked ill-fitting on her. But now that she was a healthy size, it fit her perfectly.
"Did you get it on?" Mokey asked her.
Jessa hadn't realized how long she had been staring at her reflection until Mokey spoke, and she inhaled and exhaled before stepping out.
"How does it look?" She asked, her tone casual and nonchalant.
Mokey, as well as a few other fraggles, voiced their approval.
"Great, now I can take this off and take it to the hole."
Jessa changed back into her pants and top and paid for the dress. Mokey remained looking at the other dresses while Jessa headed back. She ran into Gobo and Wembley on the way, who were walking to yet another cave he wanted to explore.
"Hey, did you buy something, Jessa?" Gobo asked her.
"A new dress," she answered while holding it up.
"Cool," Wembley replied.
"Wembley and I are going to see the Singing Flowers. You want to come along?"
"I'll pass on the trip, but thanks."
"Come on, Jessa, don't be such a buzz kill," Gobo said to her in a joking manner.
"Me? A buzz kill? Never," Jessa joked back.
"You've been hanging around Boober too much."
Jessa merely blew a raspberry at Gobo before continuing on her way, but he just laughed. Red was sprawled out in her bed when Jessa returned, who laughed upon seeing her exhausted and sweaty.
"You look like crap," Jessa teased before receiving a middle finger from Red.
Jessa only rolled her eyes and chuckled proudly.
"I thought you and Mokey went to pick out dresses," Red said to her.
"I've already picked mine out, but she's still looking around."
"You're not much of a shopper, are you."
"I don't mind looking around, but once I see something I want or need I like to just pay for it and get out."
"At least Mokey can take you in place of me."
"I take it you're not big on shopping either?"
Jessa had started to plan alterations on her dress as she took out a tape measure before Red continued.
"No. Why do that when I could be creating new stunts? That's a better use of my time."
"Speaking of which, did you ever convince Gobo to do that one you and I did?"
"No," Red grumbled. "He's too chicken."
Jessa snickered before making chicken noises.
"Bock bock bagock indeed."
"Can you do me a favor real quick?" Jessa asked her. "I need you to hold that tape measure to where my ankles are."
Red got up from her bed and helped Jessa while she held the dress close to her body.
"If you didn't want a long dress, why did you buy this one?"
"Because it was the only one I liked, for one thing. And it needs a few adjustments."
Red gave her a bored hum in response.
"Plus, I'm in no mood to spend all solstice trying not to trip over my clothes."
"That's why I wear knee-length dresses."
"To each their own."
Jessa grabbed her sword and morphed it into a pair of scissors and began cutting the excess length off at the bottom.
"What else do you plan to do to it?" Red asked.
"I might add a few clear quartz crystals here and there, depending on how the dress comes out."
"Speaking of which, I saw that geode on your bookshelf. It looks amazing."
Jessa smiled before extracting some loose thread out of the scraps and tossing them aside.
"It's my reward for killing bloodwraithes."
"I still can't believe you touched Orzie's corpse."
"It's nothing I haven't seen before."
Red shuddered at the memory of Jessa walking over to pick up Orzie's bloody and mutilated arm. She may be confident, but she wasn't willing to make physical contact with dead bodies.
"It's a wonder you and Gobo aren't related," Red commented, causing Jess to stop hemming her dress and shoot her a confused look.
"Excuse me?"
"You have the same mannerisms, and both of you are purple."
"As if that means anything."
"You think I'm wrong?"
"I know you're wrong. Gobo is orange with purple hair. And it's not even the same shade of purple as my skin."
This was true. Jessa's skin was a much darker purple than Gobo's hair.
"I don't know why you're so convinced that I have any relatives here."
Red didn't say anything, but she could tell for a fact that Jessa was the female version of Gobo. They had to be related!
"And besides, I doubt Gobo would even touch a dead body like I did."
"True."
Jessa continued hemming her dress just as Mokey arrived with her new dress.
"Hey Mokey," Red greeted her.
"Hey, Red."
Jessa greeted her with a smile just as Mokey did.
"Did you finally pick one?"
"I did," Mokey said before presenting a boho-style tank top and skirt.
"Now that suits you," Jessa complimented.
"Thank you."
Red sat back down on her bed and watched Mokey admire her new clothes.
"Have you picked out anything, Red?" Jessa asked her.
"I'm just going to wear the same dress I wore last year."
"You don't want a new one?" Mokey asked.
"What's wrong with the one I have? It's only been worn once and it still looks new."
Jessa didn't have any comments to throw out and continued hemming her dress, but listened to them talk. Jessa rejoined the conversation minutes later when Mokey commented on her progress with the dress.
"I can't wait to see how your dress turns out."
"It's going to look better than when I first bought it," Jessa replied proudly.
"She's going to put crystals on it," Red added.
"I'll have to be wise about where to put them though. I was going to do the collarbone area, but it's a one-sleeve dress and one side is going to be under my armpit."
"Just make sure it doesn't inconvenience me when I wash it."
The girls turned to see Boober standing in the archway of their hole, his hands behind his back.