----------------------------------------------
LOUMAY'S HOUSE - LATE AFTERNOON
----------------------------------------------
Maybelline stands in the center of the living room, arms held outward, fabrics hanging over her as she lets her sister do her fitting work.
Maecy takes some measurements, then pins a bit of fabric in place. She's holding several pins in her mouth, wearing a ruffled top and a skirt, looking every bit a seamstress at work. She pokes another pin in.
Maybelline eeps, "Gah! Careful! That one pricked me! You did that on purpose didn't you?"
Maecy mumbles around the pins in her mouth, "M dmm nmph!" She reaches up to take another pin, moving the rest from her mouth as she carefully eyes May. "I did not! You're squirming. Stop squirming and be patient."
Maybelline hmphs. "I'm not squirming. You're squirming."
Louma slithered through the front door a few minutes ago, not calling out on hearing the two voices coming from the living room. She closes the door quietly, letting out a chuckle listening to the two going back and forth, though her thoughts turn back to her discussion with Nesseth earlier. She pushes that frown off, poking her head around the doorframe with a laugh. "If you are anything alike, you were both squirming. Hello again, Maecy."
Maecy turns, putting a hand on Maybelline to stop her from rushing over and ruining all her work. "Hello, Louma! Is it bad luck to see your bride's outfit before the wedding in Orela?"
Maybelline grins, starting to move forward but is stopped by Maecy's hand, shifting back into place and holding her position. "Welcome home, love! Don't mind her. I wouldn't mind your input on this. My tastes aren't exactly... uh, traditional anyways."
Maecy sighs, "She means awful. Her tastes are awful. But I will make do."
Louma grins at Maecy's forethought, slithering over to them and leaning over one stoat to plant a kiss on the other. "It may be, but I don't think it counts as an outfit just yet. Besides, you could be standing at the altar dressed in your grimiest jumpsuit and I wouldn't be concerned at all."
Maybelline blushes, kissing back. "I hope to clean up a little bit better than that~, at least. You deserve at least my clean jumpsuit~."
Maecy rolls her eyes. "Yes, well, 'suit' is the operative word here, as Maybelline isn't thinking of a dress, but for a tuxedo suit. Just a little outside my expertise."
Louma gently pats Maecy on the shoulder, before starting to slither slowly around them toward the sunlight streaming in. "Oh yes. I agree, May should be as comfortable as possible, no need to put an awkward dress on top of the other excitement. I think you'll do fine, though. It's good to get out of your comfort a bit once in a while."
Maecy shrugs a bit, but gives Louma a soft look, "Yeah, I mean, it's fine. It is your day afterall, so you should both get what you want. Speaking of which, I can help you with whatever you want once I'm done with May. If you don't have any other dress in mind, that is. Now straighten back up Sis." She turns back to May and starts to adjust the pins again.
Maybelline straightens up, letting Maecy do her work. "I just don't like big dresses... So, how was your day, dear?"
Louma sighs with a dramatic sadness. "Oh darn, my dress was going to be the biggest I could find. Ah well, I might take you up on that offer, Maecy, thank you." She watches the two sisters for a bit, considering that last question. "Well, I thought about my sisters for the first time in a while, so there is that."
Maecy pulls a pin out, shifting some of the fabric around before replacing it. "Big dresses I can do. If that's what you want, no problem."
Maybelline tilts her head slightly towards Louma, 'Your sisters...? I don't think I've heard you talk much about your family, other than uh... you know... the reason you're here in Respite."
Louma hums quietly, curling her tail up to maximize her scale to sunlight ratio before coming to a relaxed 'seated' pose. "That would be because the farther out of my life they are, the better chance we'll be left undisturbed."
Maecy eases up on a few of the pins, "...I don't really know the circumstances, but I'm guessing it falls into 'complicated.'"
Maybelline frowns, giving Mae a short nod before looking back at Louma, concerned, "What made you think about them today?"
Louma nods as well. "Complicated is a good way to put it, yes. As for why, well... According to Nesseth it seems dear Lana has stumbled into our quaint little town. Illegally, of course. She''ll be dealt with tomorrow, of course." Her tone is even, she clearly would rather not meet with any of her family face-to-face at all.
Maecy blinks, "Illegally? Holy crap! Did she like... storm the gate?" Her eyes drift over to that nastly looking spear that Louma has set aside.
Maybelline gives Mae a flat look. "Probably just didn't do her paperwork, sis. I doubt she was leading an armed rebellion at the gate." She sighs, "Could you ask one of the other Captains to deal with her instead? You look like this is weighing on you, scoops."
Louma giggles at the mental image of Leana storming anything. "It always comes back to paperwork when I'm involved, Maecy. " She mirrors Maecy's glance towards the spear. "As for the other captains... Well. They'll let her stay. She only skipped announcing herself at the gate, after all."
Maybelline slumps a little, "So you're gonna have to deal with her one way or another, so I guess it makes sense to face her when you've got the edge over her. ...can you exile her like Elizabeth? Would she follow such a decree?"
Maecy looks between the two. "...I mean, there's always just 'talking'... if she just showed up by chance, maybe it'll be fine?"
Louma laughs one humorless bark. "When it comes to my family, coincidences do not apply as often as they should. But I will take your advice, Maecy. We'll talk, but the barest hint of what I think she is here for and she'll be free only to leave."
Maybelline shifts a bit awkwardly in the fitted cloth, wanting to go give Louma a hug, "Guessing you'll have Nesseth and some others backing you up. Just be careful."
Maecy shakes her head, continuing to work as she takes a few measurements (Despite May's measurements being identical to her own), "What is this 'Lana' even like?"
Louma shrugs a bit. "She was more interested in putting paint on a canvas than she was in attending maths. You'd swear that being in the snake military was akin to torturous deprivation, the way she complained about it. Like me, of course, she's a hybrid, or... 'Lesser coatl' as Nesseth so generously puts it. Her feathers are black, though. We were good friends as children." Louma takes a moment to chuckle, speaking a little quieter. "She said otherwise whenever she couldn't catch me in sky tag."
Maecy giggles, "See, now that sounds a little more familiar."
Maybelline snorts. "I always let you win, Sis." She glances back at Louma and winks, "Black feathers? Ahh, not nearly as beautiful as yours then, so that's nothing to worry about."
Maecy snorts back. "Let me win. Pah. Sure."
Louma laughs, grinning at May and Maecy. "Nesseth tells me she seems to have dyed some of her feathers a rainbow of colors, so I'm not so sure." She sighs. "Growing up was nice. As soon as we'd grown, though... Well, us going our separate ways was Father's fault. To put it in 'it's complicated' terms, I do not have much reason to trust any of them."
Maecy laughs softly, pulling out the pins from one side and tapping May's right arm. "Well, maybe this is a chance to grow closer again?"
Maybelline hums, putting her arm down as Mae's finished with it. "Mae's not usually right, but sometimes even she speaks wisdom, I suppose. She's been with your family this whole time, so I guess who knows what's she's thinking."
Maecy nods, "Yep! I-hey!"
Louma nods. "Nesseth said she's come out of Sarn, but that doesn't mean anything to me. She obviously didn't present any paperwork to prove it. She was still home in Orela when I left, and we only exchanged a handful of letters in the first year."
Maybelline: "It does sound pretty suspicious when you frame it like that. Ah... sorry, dear."
Maecy pauses to think. "Out of Sarn...? Huh..."
Louma shakes her head, offering May a soft smile. "It will all be resolved one way or the other tomorrow. Until then-" She begins uncoiling, heading toward the kitchen "-I will get dinner together. You'll be dining with us, Maecy?"
Maecy: "Oh, uh, sure! If you want me?"
Maybelline smiles back at Louma, "I hope so. Until then, I'll just have to find a way to help you destress... err... after dinner, yes." She shrugs at Mae, "You say that like you wouldn't be welcome, sheesh. Of course you are."
Louma brushes May's calf with the end of her tail as it passes by her. "Of course we want you, Maecy. Besides, I owe you something for all your help, and we can discuss what I could wear over a hot meal."
Maybelline blushes at the feel of Louma's tail, watching her lover go by with an adoring stare.
Maecy watches May's expression and rolls her eyes again before smiling at Louma as well, "That sounds like a pretty good plan. Just let me finish up with my distracted sister here."
Louma nods, turning at the doorway to wink at Maybelline. "Mhm, take your time. it will be a bit before the hares are roasted." She turns, heading to start working on dinner, her thoughts moving to a less favorable cloud of reminiscence while alone.
Maecy nods, turning back to May. "Okay, now just stop squirming and let me..."
Maybelline mrphs! "I'm not squirming!" The two sisters continue to fret over one another as Maecy continues her work, until they have a suitable design for May's suit, and the two move to join Louma in the kitchen.