Ask About the Dress Already
Anise: “We’re all here to pursue a Vocation, right? Are we… all… Dressmakers, then?” You’d figured that you would be put in a House with people pursuing a variety of Vocations. But a garment like that must be the work of a master. Someone far better than you, obviously. You are beginning to wonder if you are doomed to be the laggard in a House full of geniuses working in your chosen art form, making you regret ever becoming interested in it, let alone thinking you could ever truly excel at it. Even within that worry, though, you find yourself thinking the strange thought that even if you end up having to live in such frustration, it would be worth it to have gotten to see Nolle, in this Dress.
Nolle, noticing your obvious stare: “Ohh, I’m just an Algorithmist. This Dress, ah, it’s Charmed. I should have warned you. It captivates anyone with a strong aesthetic sense. Säve had a similar reaction this afternoon. If you’re a Dressmaker, of course it worked on you!” A bit of a bubbling-over of pride and embarrassment at the end, there; the most expressiveness you have heard from Nolle yet.
You’ve only encountered a handful of Charmed Artifacts in your life, that you know of. Several times you have suspected that a Musician passing through Towne was using a Charmed Instrument. Perhaps on that Disk you recorded lately, even. This one almost seems directly aimed at you. It almost had you convinced that it, and Nolle in it, represented everything you aspired to in your own Work. It’s okay to call it your “Work”, right? Now that you’re officially a Cræfter? That isn’t too pretentious? Nolle is looking at you. You should probably say something.
Anise: “Oh… It must have a name, then?”
Nolle: “The Lacedæmonian."
Anise: “…And who made it, then, if not you?”
You find yourself being more forthright than usual. Perhaps it is the influence of this… Lacedæmonian.
Nolle, after a beat: “It was, ah, a gift, of sorts, is I guess the way I have come to describe it.” And then nothing. You are prelly sure you sense Fatigue and Reluctance. This may be a topic too personal for Nolle to share tonight.