Alexandra slowly wound her way through the slowly dispersing crowd back to her ship. The balloon that guided her vessel floated in the sky: heavy blue fabric covered in patches of silver and gold shaped like stars. Symbols from the zodiac spiraled their way around the balloon, matching the fortune teller’s ship which was also covered in stars, moons and mystical symbols.
The fortune teller pushed the door open and brushed past the ribbons that were draped from the lintel within the threshold. Unhooking her scarf draped belt, unlacing draped cuffs from around her biceps and shrugging off her short jacket, Alexandra hung them on an old carved coat rack. She unlaced her waist cinch with a sigh and tossed it onto a side table before flopping into a large, overstuffed armchair.
“What a terrible day,” Alexandra murmured to herself, “but at least Marguerite didn’t loose all of her clothes.” She leaned over the side of the armchair and hauled a large basket of clothing needing mending into her lap. After a few minutes of digging around, the fortune teller pulled out a moderately chewed on spare lab coat, a set of too long full black pants, a riding skirt in need of patching and a bodice missing buttons. Slowly, she fished out her sewing bag and fabric scraps and began to repair her friend’s clothing.
Alexandra finished her sewing just as the sun slipped beneath the horizon and the lanterns suspended from the ceiling were the only source of light inside the ship. She carefully folded Marguerite’s clothing and set them aside. A bright shimmer of fabric caught Alexandra’s eye in the scrap pile and she pulled out a long swath of gold brocade. In her mind she could see the how perfectly the textured fabric would match a certain purple snakeskin tailcoat, especially as a full cravat secured by a delicate onyx and gold pin.
The fortune teller began to carefully shape and fold the cloth; her needle flickering in and out of the fabric. Alexandra hummed softly to herself as she bound her creation together with shimmering purple thread. When her project was finally complete, she straightened up in her chair, working out the kinks in her back. Carefully, Alexandra folded the gold and purple cravat and wrapped a silver ribbon around it to keep the folds in place. She slowly rose from her chair, opened up a small box in her closet and placed the newly made cravat inside it, next to a pair of black satin gloves trimmed in gold and a handkerchief embroidered with an elaborate A.
Alexandra sighed to herself as she replaced the box back on a shelf in her closet. “Another present that I will never work up the courage to give to that magician,” she murmured to herself. Closing the closet door, Alexandra drew the curtains and began to put her costume on for the evening show. Despite the explosions, she knew Colette wouldn't cancel tonight's performance. Especially as the ringmaster was famous for saying "the show must go on."
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