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Junko hummed cheerfully as she went about getting things together in her room. Had to clean up, had to get ready for company. For once Sayuri and Kuro were out and about, given permission to roam free as long as they behaved and stayed on the floor while Junko neatly folded her currently unused fabrics. All of her dress forms now had dresses on them...well...four of them did, the last one had a half-finished dress and two sketches; one sketch was the half-finished dress, the second one was one last dress to thank Riley with. It wasn't anything special, but the effort was there, right? And she thought it was cute. Hopefully Riley would like it.

To be honest she was more excited than she expected, and also fairly nervous! While she knew Lizzy, it was still more vague and in passing. They had sewing in common! But she'd never hung out with her one-on-one! And she seemed so nice! To be honest it kind of surprised her when the demon had been nice enough to offer her silks for her prom dress, and even more surprising that she had asked to come by and see the sketch. Hopefully it would be nice. Junko always got so nervous showing people her unfinished work; they couldn't see it the way she saw it when it wasn't finished, they couldn't read her mind.

Well, except for Riley. Maybe.

Junko looked at the time, humming thoughtfully as she opened her wardrobe to put away her fabrics. Some of them were scraps, but the majority of them were still usable. Junko always made sure to make the most of her materials, she needed to always get her money's worth. It was probably why she enjoyed this project so much. It was something different, it was a fun experiment. "Alright, you three." Junko finally said, turning away from the wardrobe and closing it behind her. Her gaze turned over each minipet. "I expect you all to be on your best behavior or you're going in the pen. Got it?" She said sternly, though not sounding mean. Kuro yipped, Aoi snorted and curled up under the table, and Sayuri kind of just...stared, with her head tilted and one ear flopped down and one ear perked up.

Two out of three wasn't so bad...

She was expecting a knock, so when she instead just heard her name being called Junko blinked and looked up from her minipets to give a curious look to the door. Had Lizzy knocked and she didn't notice it! Oh, Jack! Sayuri started to yip excitedly at the sound of another's voice, skittering across the room to the door...and promptly slamming into it, as was her customary greeting to those who arrived to visit her owner. Junko winced, watching as the fox sat there stunned for three seconds before shaking it off and standing with her front paws on the door, yipping and yapping excitedly. Kuro sat on Junko's bed, panting and tail thumping against it with his eyes trained on the door. He was listening! He was being good! See? See? Aoi couldn't give any less ********. Junko chuckled and sighed, rolling her eyes at Sayuri's antics. She walked across the room, sliding Sayuri out of the way with the gentle push of her foot so she could open the door.

"Lizzy! Hi--whoa!" Junko's eyes widened and focused on the bolt of fabric in the ghoul's arms. She..she really did it! It wasn't that she didn't doubt the ghoul, she'd been so nice over groanspring and she'd been told such good things about her by Kasumi, but to actually see her do this she was honestly impressed! And rather touched. Lizzy didn't have to do this for her, and yet she had. And she wasn't expecting anything in return as far as Junko was aware. "Come in, come in!" She said warmly, stepping aside and holding the door open for her. Sayuri darted out from behind the door, hopping around and occasionally spinning in circles for their new visitor. Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Lookit me! Lookit me! I'm dancing! I'm dancing! Pet me! Pet me! Pet me! PLAY WITH ME! Junko closed the door behind Lizzy, chuckling at the pygmy fox. "Don't mind her. If you need me to I can put them back into their playpen.." Though she had promised them they didn't need to go in there if they were good. And so far, two of them were being very good.

"Jimmy?" Junko asked as she picked up the excited little purple pygmy fox, holding her as she squirmed and wriggled. Down! Down! She wanted down! Must play must play MUST PLAAAAAAAAAY! Playplayplayplayplay! Plaaaaay! Aoi snorted and skulked away to hide in the very small space beneath Junko's bed; he liked it there, strangely enough. Junko wasn't quite sure why but she would let him have his space. Kuro sat still, tail thumping. "I do have something from Professor Malcolm that does wonders to calm her down, I'll just have to set that up for her to play with." Junko was already making her way to the other side of the room to get said item as she spoke, holding Sayuri against her with one arm so she could pluck the 'whip' from a shelf in her wardrobe, putting the little fox down. But she didn't hit her with it, she never did and she refused to do so, instead dangling the end of it just out of Sayuri's reach to tease her into wanting to play with it. Once she managed to get the fox's attention she lowered it enough for her to bat and grab at it, giggling as she nommed on the end and began to slowly flop onto her side. Sleepy fox was sleepy~.

Hmmm! Where to put that...! "It should be safe on the table. They don't jump up there." Junko gestured to the table sitting near her bed. It was small and low, but it would fit the bolt of fabric. Speaking of which, it was very pretty. Junko couldn't help but admire it, putting the handle of the whip down on the floor and allowing Sayuri to roll around like she was stoned or something. The fox was pleased. "It's so pretty! This is for me?!" She couldn't believe it! Eeeeeeeee! Junko reached out a hand to touch the fabric, sliding her hand along it with a happy little gasp. And so sleek and smooth! It was real silk!

Oh! A reigndeer...

...She had a reigndeer?! From Christmas Town!? Junko's eyes widened as she just stared at Lizzy, looking mildly horrified. How did a reigndeer even survive in FEAR-filled Halloween? Didn't they live off Joy like the rest of Christmas Town's inhabitants? She was absolutely baffled. At least she had a whip from Professor Malcolm to help calm him. But still...a reigndeer?

Junko shook away the thoughts. She would wonder about this later, for now she wanted to focus on the important things. Things like fabric. Oh, goodness. This fabric. It was so pretty. She could definitely make what she needed to make out of this! "Like it? I love it! It's perfect! Oh, sketches? Of course! Let me go get them!" Of course the offer still stood! Junko quickly got up and hurried across the room to where four modest-sized dress forms were lined up against the wall. Each one had a different dress on it; a long black dress with orange ruffles, a white dress with red and purple designs on it, one had a blue dress with a plunging neckline, and finally the last one had two dresses on it, one of them a red wrap dress and the other a simple black and white dress hanging carefully from the form by an arm she had attached to it. Next to these forms was a corked bulletin board that had several sheets of paper pinned to it along with small swatches of cloth, fabrics she could only afford the scraps of for now until she was sure what she wanted. She just wanted to see what the colors and patterns looked like together until she was ready to do that project. She picked through the sketches until she found the one she wanted, picking it off the board and hurrying back to Lizzy. She was quite excited to show it off. She was proud of it!

"I thought about making another kimono like I did for Scarentine's, but...this is prom. This is bigger than that dance, right? Soooo I decided I'd make an actual dress! But I still wanted that flair to it...so...ta da! The ribbon for the obi is slipped in through the inside and can be pulled and adjusted, kind of like strings on a corset, you know? Same basic concept. And I figured a mermaid-style silhouette would be a nice look on me, I've never had a dress like this. What do you think? I had fun with making Riley's dresses..." She gave them a proud look before turning back to the demoness. "So I figured I'd be ambitious for myself as I was with her." Hopefully it would pay off.

Junko could relate to inspiration cropping up during class. Her notes were often full of design ideas, scribbles that she usually never did anything about. Had she more money Junko would make a lot more than she already did; she wouldn't have to worry so much about carefully spending, bargaining, finding quality things for the lowest price she could or just not being able to get them at all. She was so lucky to have friends that would help her, and she was going to do the absolute best she could not to take them for granted or seem ungrateful. She had to make the most of everything she was given, and she also had to not rely on her friends in a way that sounded so...needy? Junko wasn't friends with a person because they gave her free stuff...

Every year, huh? So...they'd be doing this again next year. Oooh this was so exciting! Junko giggled excitedly, looking down at the sketch and offering it to Lizzy to get a closer look at it. Even the approving grin made her giddy. Lizzy approved of her work! The dresses weren't exactly her style herself, except for the black one? But she was very proud of how well she worked the variety. She hoped Riley would enjoy them. She'd seemed so flattered and impressed to hear Junko was making so many dresses, she just hoped she didn't disappoint the mindflayer. She wouldn't know what to do if she managed that. Ugh. All the hype and praise and gratitude only to have her not like the designs? No..no! She couldn't think that way! Stop it, Junko! You can do this! Riley would love them. She had to. No, wait. She didn't have to just...shut up!

Her face lit with pride at Lizzy's praises, a light blush dusting her cheeks. "Thank you! I couldn't find anything in stores that looked how I wanted, but I figured why not see if I can take elements I love and turn them into one design? I had to leave out the sleeves. They were a bad idea at the last dance," Junko was recalling when she and Malodore danced for all of three seconds. It was fun to think about now, but she didn't want to repeat that embarrassing moment. Plus this dress would look strange with sleeves. What disappointed her was she didn't have much in the way of jewelry...she wished she did. Yaya had beautiful jewelry, and while she was sure the marid would allow her to borrow some of it whenever she wished she wanted her own jewelry. She didn't have the money for that though.

What she did have was knowledge. Knowledge on kimonos. Junko's hair perked up as she expressed interest in kimonos, even mentioning that she was interested because of her. Her heart fluttered. "R-really? Wow! Um..I could teach you how to wear one, if you like! Ohoh! Or I could even make you one! I've done it before!" No, duh. "I made one for Sin, and Kasumi, I'm making one for Tomo-chan, I've made countless for myself..I'd be happy to make one for you!"

Junko smiled. "Mhm! And I can make it exactly what I want and not have to worry 'Oh no, will it look okay? I should check on how they're doing. What if it isn't how I want it? What if it isn't how I imagined it? It won't be perfect!' or have to settle on something not completely how I like." It made perfect sense in Junko's head. The hard part was finding the right patterns and textures and fabric types, but Lizzy had done splendidly! They were so lovely! They were perfect! When asked what happened last time she sighed and gave her wardrobe a glance, her lips pouting. She'd fixed it well enough, the hole hadn't even been that bad and it was along where the stitching had been anyway so it was barely noticeable that she'd had to fix it...but...sigh. "I asked Malodore if he'd try the dance contest with me and we..were out almost instantly because his tail got caught in one of my sleeves." And so that sent the two of them straight to the floor. Junko left that part out to save her own dignity. At least she'd had a better dance with Seiji before the night ended. A soft blush spread across her cheeks as she thought about him. This would be their second dance together, and this time he'd make it on time. With her on his arm. The thought actually got her giddy. "It has to be perfect." It just had to.

Had Lizzy called her friend Junko would have happily accepted it. They were totally friends now. It was official. They didn't even need to say it, it just was. She squeaked as her hands were suddenly held and squeezed, blinking and looking down at their hands and then to Lizzy's face again. Hands, face, hands, face.

....A..and she'd...love a kimono.

Best. New friend. Ever. You could almost see the stars in Junko's eyes, her hair puffed out around her head with absolute delight. Lizzy wanted a kimono! A kimono made by her! She'd be more than happy to, but before she could give an answer to any of her questions she was suddenly pulled down for a hug. She squeaked, flailing a bit until she realized what was happening. Hugs! Yaaaaaaaay! The hug was happily returned, giggling and squeezing Lizzy affectionately. "Noooooo! Thank youuuuuu!"

"It's okay. I repaired and learned. It was still a good night anyway." Junko said with a small smile, her cheeks flushing a faint pink as she thought back on it. He'd arrived late, but it'd been the first time she and Seiji had been together in person. Even if it was only for a few minutes. She was torn from her thoughts by the look on Lizzy's face, how the smile grew and grew...and seemed to take over her face. What? What was that look for? Her eyes widened and she would have run of not for the fact that she had nowhere to go, this being her room. Had Lizzy voiced her thoughts on finding her soul mate Junko would have been very confused; she'd have been flattered but confused. Soul mate? What? Her?

But there was no time to get worried, there were more important things to discuss! Namely, kimonos. And the fact that she was being given artistic freedoms with this. She could decide it all? Fantastic! Junko grinned. "I'll do my best to make a design you like!" What to make, what to make! Would spiderwebs be too cliche? She'd done spiderwebs for Sin, she didn't want to look like a one-trick epony. She'd have to really think hard on this one. The hug was happily accepted, not even trying to pry herself from it as Lizzy refused to let go of her. That was okay! She loved hugs!

"Yes! I'll need measurements! I can do those while you're still here?" Ohhh? People didn't usually make things for Lizzy? Well! Junko would be honored to be one of few, then! She knew the feeling of not having anyone make something for you, since it was only herself or her mother who made clothing for her. Junko had to slip out of Lizzy's tight hug so she could step across the room again, picking up her measuring tape and holding it with a grin. She was so excited! So much pressure though, making clothes for another seamstress.

The question had her blushing more and she turned her eyes away, scratching at her cheek and trying to fight back the smile. "Not..not really. Just.." She stopped fighting the smile. "That was the night Seiji and I first met. In person, I mean. We'd been talking over Groanspring for weeks..." The measuring tape had somehow managed to become wrapped around both of her hands as she explained why she was blushing, and still blushing more, but she didn't seem to pay it any mind. She needed to find a way to turn the subject back to sewing, not wanting to get all lovey dovey and dreamy when she needed to focus on getting Lizzy's measurements and discuss her kimono. Junko distracted herself by searching for a piece of notebook paper and plucking a snake pen off her table, allowing the pen to wrap around her wrist and settle there while it waited for her to use it.

Kimonos! Kimonos! Keep your mind on the kimonos! "R-really? Thank you, Lizzy! I'll try to think of something different for you. I could go with spiderwebs, but that'd be too cliche...and I already did spiderwebs for Sin...oh! Um, is there anything I shouldn't include under punishment of death? Like, certain colors you hate? Or shapes? Or cuts? Do you want it off the shoulder or more traditional like mine? Do you like lace? Frills? Weaving? Embroidery? Belts? Sashes? Is there anything it has to have?" She was speaking at a mile a minute, wanting to make sure she got this exactly right. She idly stretched out the measuring tape, snapping it a little. She had so many ideas stirring in her head, she just needed tiny details of what it could and couldn't have. She didn't want to make something Lizzy would dislike.

At the question about a skelephone she nodded, grinning again and bouncing on her toes. "I do, I do! It's how I check groanspring since I don't have a computer. Here!" She nudged the snake pen to give it its pen nib end, scribbling her skelephone number onto a corner of the paper and carefully tearing it off to hand out to Lizzy. "Just send me a text and I'll save it~."