Heart of Ashes

Avoidance

As soon as I woke up the next day, late in the afternoon due to staying up so late with Rae, I began looking through my fabrics and taking notes on the page where I had written down their friend's measurements. It was a shame I had not been able to see the man's eyes and only had Rae's vague description of "Dark. Really dark." to go by in trying to make something that could help make his eyes stand out. After all, eyes could be so attractive with the right outfit.

Maybe next time I would ask the man what his eye color was. Or maybe Rae could bring me a picture! That could work! And if they refused, then maybe I could get the man to bring a photo I could keep on hand while working on his new wardrobe.

Nodding to myself, I pulled out a few of the fabric scraps I'd kept to help keep track of what fabrics I had on hand, running my fingers over the different wool blends and linens that I had in black and dark grey tones. Based on what he'd been wearing before, I had a feeling he would prefer the quality of the wool blends more than the linen and quickly put those back. I knew I couldn't go with anything but my best fabrics for this project.

With that thought, I looked toward the closet where I kept the rolls of cloth from auctions, including the ones I'd just recently won. There was still some of that nice navy blue silk left from the auction before. I'd planned on saving it to make a skirt with, but I bet it would look amazing as a dress shirt if I added a few... Yeah, that could work!

Taking a few notes on the idea, I moved on to the next batch of fabric scraps. I had a lot of outfits to plan out if I was going to get this done before I ran out of time.

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"And if I can just find a few more of these buttons, I'll be able to have just enough for the shirt I'm planning to go with the suit! What do you think, Rae? Wanna go with me and see if we can find some in one of the antique stores? I bet we can find something for you while we are out," I practically sang the last bit, hoping to get them to agree to come with me.

I really didn't want to go to that shop this late in the day, knowing the kind of people that tended to start gathering around once it started getting dark, but I also knew that this shop tended to be the one to carry the most selection in sewing related antiques and the buttons I had couldn't be found in modern fabric stores. After all, I'd checked already after I first found them last year. Similar, yes, but not the exact same in either color nor quality.

"As long as you let me pick the coffee shop before we go," I heard them say and the sigh that followed did nothing to stop me from cheering loudly into the phone.

"Wherever you want, Rae! Thank you so much! I have a great feeling about this trip! I just know we're going to find something there! I just know it!" Nothing could stop the smile that spread across my lips, not even hearing Rae's choice of meeting place.

I really hated that coffee shop, but right now I couldn't care less if they served me the most bitter, watered-down coffee in the world.

~~~~~~~~

He stared dully at the sight before him, a quiet sigh leaving his lips. How boring this one was. He should have just sent a Shadow to do the job. This was a waste of his time, just as the last several souls he'd gathered were a waste of time. He'd thought they would help to distract him from the thoughts that had been plaguing him today, but no. If anything, they just made them worse.

Leaning down, he sat the polished wood across the chest of the first body before turning to the next. What a hassle this was. He really, really should have just sent a Shadow. This was so boring and it wasn't even doing what he'd wanted it to do.

Rubbing at his chest he grabbed the tool from the body he'd just placed it upon, not even bothering to snag the soul along with it, and turned away as darkness pooled at his feet.

"Finish this job and return when you are done," he told the figure forming behind him, not bothering to see what form it took since it didn't matter to him.

No, the only thing that mattered was the Shadow doing the job so he could leave and try to find something else to distract him from these... feelings. Why hadn't they gone away already? He'd locked the memories up again, pushed everything back into the darkest corners of his mind where they belonged, and still that warmth kept trying to return.

It was becoming... bothersome.

Several minutes later, he was seated once again at his desk, a stack of papers in front of him. Maybe if he got this done quickly, he could go find Rae and see how the clothing was coming along. Surely the female had at least gotten something started by now? He really wasn't sure how long it took humans to make clothing these days or if this particular human used a machine to assist her or not.

Not that it mattered, so long as she made the clothing as he'd requested. He refused to pay for substandard clothing so she had best put in the effort like she obviously had with Rae's clothing. If she pulled it off he would order more.

Quality and quantity, why have only one when you could have both?