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 Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 8:34 am
In under two weeks, Qiao had been working in the costume department using spare cloth from old tents, blankets, anything she could find until she ran out and had to scour local markets.
She'd made herself a new outfit to fit her job; a pink tube top, red vest, poofy white pants,some golden slippers that she had embroidered with tiny red sequins, and the bracelets she had bought back in the Earth Kingdom which clashed with her old gloves that she continued to wear. She also kept wearing the amber brooch that tied her old armor together, she'd never leave that out of an outfit as well as her flowered sash. Much to her dismay, however, no new hat ideas had come to her at the moment but all she needed was the right inspiration.
Today was special, however because she had finally finished the new costume Tingzhe had commissioned her to do for him.
Try and make it as awesome as me! he had told her. She really felt he needed a wake up call and was eagerly tempted to sew him a sparkly dress with flowers and dangly jewels. But that could've gone either of two ways: 1) She'd get fired or 2) He'd wear it and probably look better in it than she would and she couldn't have that!
By around sun set Qiao had begun to search for the young acrobat. After coaxing information out of a few sword-eaters, she headed toward the makeup tent, expecting him to be getting all primped up for the next show. Sure enough, he was there being doted on by the makeup lady, Huifen. She was brushing his hair and he was just sitting back, taking it all in, looking as smug as ever.
Qiao scoffed and wandered in, not bothering to mention why she was there. It didn't matter anyway. "You know," she began, "I heard that if you brush your hair too much you'll go bald faster. And you're no nomad so I don't think you could pull it off."
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Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 10:21 am
"Is being afraid to brush why your hair is so dull and tangled?" Tingzhe stuck his tongue out at Qiao. Lucky for him, Huifen hadn't powdered his face yet.
"Hush, you two." The cosmetic artist cooed. Her own heavy layers of blush and eye-shadow would have been distractingly bright, if her outfit wasn't heavy with gold embroidery and silk of every color in the rainbow.
She twirled Tingzhe's chair round, cupped her face in his hands to look for blemishes, and then gave him a big hug!
"Ooooh! Little moosey-lion is so cute toda~y!"
"Huifen!" Tingzhe squacked in protest, feeling the air squeezed out of his gut. "Why don't you do Qiao instead of me?"
Given Huifen's own tastes in women's cosmetics, this could only end in Qiao's face looking like it belonged to a flamingo-parrot.
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Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 10:31 am
Qiao shot Tingzhe the grossest face she could make without pulling at it. She wanted to punch him so badly.
"I'm too busy making YOUR costume, widdle moosey-lion. And for your information, my hair is beautiful.....when I brush it."
She quickly held out the costume to him so to end the hair part of their conversation.
"Makeup? Not for me, thanks. Too distracting. Anyways, try it on before you powder up because I don't want face gunk all over it if it needs fixin'."
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Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 2:02 am
Tingzhe had no idea why Qiao got mad at him for insulting her, when SHE mouthed off first. Wasn't insulting each other a game? He thought about it for a moment.
Probably it was because girls were all crazy. He had been informed that he'd think differently once his voice cracked, but he wasn't there yet!
"This is only for when my coat is dirty," Tingzhe warned Qiao, letting Huifen finish putting shiny gunk in his hair before he looked at the costume.
He felt very strongly about his coat. Unfortunately, white got all kinds of grass and dirt stains if he took a tumble while training.
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Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 8:38 am
Qiao looked his coat over only to find it was spotless. Damn. But she'd seen that thing dirty and it wasn't pretty. She also had the 'honor' of cleaning costumes as well as making them.
Smiling broadly she held the costume out in front of her like she was comparing it for size on herself.
The costume consisted of a dark red shirt with flowing sleeves and pants similar to the ones he already wore only dark red with a red trim along the knees. The shirt had the same trim but was also adorned with tiny white stars one the edge of the sleeves.
"Dirt is exactly why I made this! I used some old tent scraps for the outside so you could just flick it off. But the inside is made of cloth so you don't even feel the tent materials. So unless you flip it inside-out the cloth won't get dirt on it. Sweat, yes, but not dirt! Hmm...I should've thought ahead on sweat. That stuff's killer."
She tapped her foot and stared at the ground. Maybe if it was all tent materials?
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 8:18 am
Tingzhe hopped out of his chair, in order to take the set of clothes from Qiao and look them over. It went without saying that any costume of HIS had to be a superior level of awesome, in order to prop up his image. Looking cool was half his job. And what a tragedy it would be if his clothing wasn't as attractive as he was!!!
"Hm." He considered them for a moment, hen grinned up at Qiao. Wasn't like her to look at the floor like that when she should be yelling at him and punching air. Maybe she was trying to hide a zit? Pfft, he KNEW puberty was bad news.
"How's about you and I do a deal? You let Miss Huifen do your face, and I'll try this on."
He knew Qiao was trying to prove to the Head Seamstress that she could make costumes as well as repair them, by giving him one. And even though her gloves didn't match her outfit and that armor looked kinda funny on top of her new outfit, he had to admit that she wasn't half bad at her job.
"Oooh, yes! That would be soooooo much fun!" Huifen cooed, ushering Qiao into the vacant chair.
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 11:29 am
Qiao fumed a bit and looked off in a different direction, right foot taping violently as she plopped into the chair. Why should she have to make a deal with him? Stubborn brat.
But seeing as he was stuborn, she had no choice. And a little makeup wouldn't hurt. Besides, she thought, she could always sew some expletives on the costume before showtime after he tried it on.
"Okay, okay. You're the expert. But don't start crying if I end up looking prettier than you."
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 12:58 pm
"Don't worry, Qiao. I'm tough."
Tingzhe shed his jacket and then his belt, carefully hanging both on the back of a nearby chair. Years of getting changed in the busy backstage had cured him of any body shyness he might have felt as a young boy, so he didn't really care if Qiao saw him in his undershorts.
Scrawny and wiry was cute in an eleven year-old. Everyone said so.
"I don't cry when I have to see your face every day, do I?"
Huifen, in the mean time, snatched off Qiao's hat and began pinning her hair away from her face.
"Ooooh." The make-up artist examined Qiao's cheekbones. "How do you feel about flamingo-otter pink?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 1:32 pm
Qiao twitched as her hair as pulled back. It made her face feel tighter. And did Tingzhe have to get changed right there? She didn't want to stare but it was one of those things you couldn't look away from even if you wanted to. And she really wanted to.
"Flamingo-otter?" She squeaked fearfully. But if it had to happen if had to happen. Her job may or may not be at stake.
"Go for it! I loooove that color!" Oh, how she hated that color.
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 1:55 pm
"Yaaaaaay! I know the BEST look for you."
Huifen began to smooth foundation cream into Qiao's face. Meanwhile, Tingzhe stripped off his shorts, treating Qiao to a view of his bony undershort-clad butt.
When he noticed Qiao staring at him, he wagged his hips from side to side, then looked in a mirror to check himself out.
"Enjoying the show?" Tingzhe sniggered. "If you like flamingo-otter pink, I know where some old cloth is. You could have a whole outfit!"
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 2:03 pm
Oh, barf.
The girl tried to make a disgusted expression but her face was busy at the moment. Wrinkling her nose and sneering as best she could as she spoke.
"Not really. Maybe it's not your face that needs some color. Even I'm more tan than you."
Ugh, no more pink, PLEASE.
"I-I could probably make something out of that. Sure." She stuttered, making her face blank.
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 2:29 pm
Unfortunately, Qiao was not about to get her wish. Once Huifen was done smearing creamy gunk onto her face, she started dusting blush over Qiao's round cheeks.
"Why would I need a tan?" Tingzhe admired himself in the mirror for a while longer, before he picked up the shirt Qiao had made.
After the kidnapping, he'd been nothing but pasty bones. He was making a good recovery. His muscle tone was returning, and you couldn't see his ribs anymore.
"Being colored like this helps people see me better in the dark!"
He began to shrug the shirt on.
"Oooh, but your outfit is sooo pretty! But you could make a cute new hat. A pink birdy hat!" Huifen enthused. She knew enough to ignore Tingzhe when he talked about himself. "For a sweet little pink girl!"
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 2:44 pm
"Yes yes. It must be very helpful for the audience to think you're a ghost instead of a human. That must be what keeps them in their seats. Pure terror at your ghostly pallor!"
She waved her hands about energetically making moaning noises. At least she could express herself that way.
Pretty? Qiao liked the thought of that. She didn't like thinking about her looks that often but it always helped to boost her morale by thinking she was pretty.
"I like the hat idea! Good thinking!"
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 8:23 pm
"Qiao, I know you're in love with me and stuff, but don't you think you should tone it down around Miss Huifen?"
Tingzhe tugged the red shorts Qiao had made onto his waist, mercifully sparing her the sight of his bandage-clad a**. Not that it deterred Huifen from applying pink and purple eye-shadow.
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 11:10 pm
"Whatever, you're weird." She kept her eyes closed through the shadowing so she only guessed at what Tingzhe was wearing.
"Let me know if anything's too tight or whatever. I can hem them later."
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