Triptych

Chapter 12

Mac

Mac gives Lana a last encouraging smile before exiting the car after Orion. They enter the establishment together and Mac enjoys other girl's eyes widening comically for a moment before the sales droid takes away her attention. Orion presents their appointment number and the droid bids them to follow it to the backrooms. The stylist is already there, along with her managers who are poring over the halo sketches of the outfits she'll be trying on. Everyone looks up when they enter, eyes moving from her to Lana with curiosity. Mac spots Lana trying to hide behind Orion and grabs her hand to pull her by her side instead. "Katherine, we were just waiting for you." They beckon her forward, "Look at these. Mr. Kwon has really outdone himself hasn't he?"

"He sure has." She mutters, studying the detail work on the clothes and wondering how she's supposed to carry them. Lana seems to be on the same wavelength because she whispers, "do they know you're not made of metal?"

Her words cause everyone's eyes to shift to her and Lana fidgets under the narrowed eyes. "What was that? Girl I don't know" Mr Kwon asks haughtily.

Mac steps in. "Excuse my lack of etiquette. Mr. Kwon meet Lana Candor, FOCUS' most brilliant prodigy and a dear friend. Lana, Mr. Kwon is the one who makes me look good on the daily."

"Pleasure." The stylist replies, his tone slightly softer. Lana offers a nervous smile. "So the sample is ready Kat, you ready to try it on?" Kwon rubs his hands in excitement. Kwon is a special case, and there is a reason Mac prefers him to others in the industry. They go way back, when Mac was first starting out at fourteen. Kwon used to work independently from the big fashion houses, had a natural eye for color and aesthetic details before a disease took both of his eyes. Now armed with artificial compound eyes, his work was unmatchable.

Mac steps into the changing room and waits for the dress to be rendered on her body. All seems to be going well until the dress is zipped up behind her back and she shifts slightly to relax her posture. All Mac hears is a loud pop behind her as the dress rips, completely exploding from the back and all she can do is stand there in shock as the dress falls at her feet. Mac stares at it for a moment in shock before looking at her body in the full length mirror. Her petite that couldn't fit in a dress made for her specifically. She picks up the torn garment, trying not to scream in frustration.

"Katherine dear, is everything alright?" Her manager calls out.

Mac knows what will happen if she goes out there. If they find out she couldn't fit into the dress. She remembers those long months of living on supplement pills and water, of losing her knife to lose that stubborn skinny fat. Her breathing turns shallow and she crouches down in panic, at a loss for options.

"Mac?" A different voice asks this time, seemingly inside her head. "You ok?"

She doesn't know, she doesn't know if she's ok or if she's already spiraled into a panic attack but she needs someone else to tell her what to do for once because she's at a loss.

"I'm gonna check on her for a second." She hears distantly.

And then Lana's there, crouching in front of her and taking her hands. They're shaking, notices. "Breathe. Slowly" Lana speaks to her the same way as before, directly through their neural comms. Mac meets her eyes slowly, gradually matching her breathing to hers.

There. Lana smiles, Can you stand up.

They both straighten together, hands still clasped between them, buried under the heavy sequined dress. What happened?

Mac looks down at the ruined dress.

You tore the dress? Lana's alarm rings through her head.

I couldn't fit in it

You mean its too small. Well just tell them to recalibrate-

No. I - I've gotten too big for my own size. I can't- I really can't go starving again.

Lana finally seems to understand as her eyes widen in shock. "You won't" She says out loud, sounding determined. She takes the dress from Lana's hands and holds it out so Mac can step back into it. Lana eyes her in confusion but follows her lead. Lana wraps the dress around her frame and studies the edges of the tear at her back.

"According to my calculations, you're measurements are perfectly on track with your last year records. This dress on the other hand, the design doesn't take into account the weight of the metal work around the sides. That's why it tore like that." She explains finally.

Mac snorts despite herself. "Really?"

"Yep" Lana rolls her eyes at her. "So you can actually tell Kwon it's his technician's fault."

"I don't know, he won't take my word for it." Mac deflates.

"He'll have to take mine."

And so Mac waits inside the dark chamber as Lana argues with her staff. Her voice sounding stronger and more confident than she's ever heard as she proves Kwon had definitely made a calibrating mistake. Long minutes pass until finally Lana joins her with a recalibrated dress. It fits her like a glove, feeling lighter than the first one. Lana smiles knowingly at her curious look. "I might have put some input into the new design. Hope you don't mind?"

Mac giggles fondly. "Not at all"

They step out in the room where everyone waits and Mac lets out a shriek as her silver dress transforms into an explosion of colors. The shades change from hues to blues as she turns, looking down at herself in surprise. Kwon guffaws happily, Orion gives Lana a proud high five and all mac can do is gawk at herself. Kwon takes her hand to give her a twirl, showing off the different colors transitioning into each other. "Brilliant" He proclaims, "Absolutely inspired."

"Thank you" Lana acknowledges from the side.

"What did you do?" Mac manages to ask.

"She changed the metal we used in the sequin inlay to a different compound." Kwon informs her proudly, "some kind of a-"

"It's a light reflecting alloy, sometimes used in artificial eyes" Lana explains, sharing a smile with Kwon. "It's also ten times lighter."

"What do you think?"

It takes Mac a moment to find her words as she looks at Lana's smile, excited and anticipating her response. She stares at her so long Lana stills and looks away, causing her heart to lurch even deeper. They leave shortly after, Kwon singing Lana's praises and Lana looking livelier than she's ever seen her. Orion pulls up the panel to reroute the car and Mac makes a decision. "Cancel all further appointments for today."

Orion looks at quizzically for a moment before nodding in understanding. "Where to now?" he asks as his fingers hover over the panel.

Lana looks to her too, waiting for her response. "You ever been to the ground city Lana?" Mac asks with a grin.

Lana shakes her head bemusedly. "Isn't it kind of dangerous down there?"

"Not if you know where to go" Orion interjects politely. "Would you like a tour?"

Lana seems to hesitate a bit, looking between them both before answering. "Sure. Why not"