The finest fabric [Quinn]

"Ta daa!" Nagisa exclaimed as she opened the door of the small apartment she has been renting. "This is my new atelier. I couldn't keep using my mother's if I wanted to become independent, though I'll admit I'm going to miss the fancy equipment but at least this one is going to be totally mine." She said as she gazed at her little workshop, a singe white desk with a sewing machine on top of it along with several pieces of fabrics all around, several headless nude mannequins were placed all around the place. Other than that the apartment had a small kitchen connected with the atelier, a bathroom on the right side and corridor which lead to a simple bedroom. The mountain was visible from the window though the house itself lacked balcony.

"Reminds me of my dorm back in high school. It's still hard to believe that two years have already passed. Seems like yesterday when I would try to arrange school events." Nagisa added as she removed her coat and then simply placing on the counter on her left. "Ugh college is so much tougher. I wish I could go back to elementary school, everything was so much easier back then don't you agree? She headed at the fridge and as she opened ask her friend. "We have some catching up to do. So, Quinn what are you having. I have both red and rose wine...and...ummm... aha! I still have some cheese left. Roquefort, mozzarella, and emmental. I hope you like them."

Quinn had found some time in their busy schedule to finally visit the new place that Nagisa had been talking about so much. They both traveled together, and now stood at the front of the door. Their friend opened the door excitedly, introducing them into the new place. They looked around slowly, smiling a bit. "Oh Nagisa, I love it! It's so cute and tiny." They moved towards an area to sit, holding their dress in place as they took a seat. "Plus you live close enough that we can hang out more. I miss you guys, I haven't seen Jack in at least two months. It seems like everyone else is busy with their lives, and if any one of us can hang out it's a miracle." This was one of their only friends from the event that they even hung out with anymore, the others seemed to sink into the darkness. "I know what you mean, I just recently graduated but it feels like a life time ago. High School was a better time in hindsight." They weren't really complaining, but this entire meeting was making them nostalgic. "Ohhh Rose Wine. I haven't drank that since my mother came to visit a year ago. And if you really wanna catch up we can, but it hasn't been too long since you last saw me." They smiled, adjusting their had slightly as they crossed their legs over each other.

"You'd be surprised at how many things can happen within 5 days. Especially in college campus, I'm telling you people are crazy there. And to think that this was supposed to be a prestigious college" She complained as she served two glasses of wine and placed them on the table, after that she took the various cheeses out of the fridge and after cutting them to pieces using a kitchen knife forgotten on the roquefort since yetsterday, she placed them on a wooden plate

"A weird girl who probably didn't shower tried to covert me in her cult, oh and I saw one of the athletes naked, such a funny tale. Generally this place is wild" Nagisa picked one of the glasses as she placed the plate on the counter. "And not let me even get started on this whole 'hipster' thing, so many crimes against fashion. Those clothes are against the Geneva Conventions!"

"Tell me about it, I didn't know how hard it would be to deal with needy people all day. Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but some people push me over the edge." They laughed, listing to Nagisa and letting her finish before they spoke up. "Like this one woman walks in, and she starts yelling at my staff 'running an organization that converts cis people into trans people.' I had to step out and ask her to leave, and a day later she comes back with an army of conservatives. I don't understand what people think I am, but that's defiantly not what it is." They grabbed one of the glasses, taking a sip slowly as they thought of what else had happened. "Right! And one of my trans youth, he's almost 18 mind you, has been flirting with me non-stop for the past two weeks. I don't know what's gotten into him, though I think it's all the testosterone he's been taking." They smiled, taking a sip. "Plus, it's not like I'm even remotely attractive; he must just have that hero complex thing with me." Talking like this made them feel like a mom talking shit about other moms, and they loved the feeling that they got from getting this off their chest.

"Sounds like you had a wild week." Nagisa replied as she took a sip from her glass. "Now, I think you should simply ignore the hatters, they're everywhere and there's no reasoning with them. People with way too much time in their hands have nothing better to do than to complain. Trust me on that, you could give them a briefcase filled with money and they would complain it was heavy!" She took another, more intense, sip from her glass and continued.

"Unfortunately I'm not sure I'm the best person to give romantic advice, Blaez is my first boyfriend and he lives in the same house with me for almost 2 years. If we keep it like that I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up getting married." She paused for a brief moment imagining herself wearing a wedding dress, climbing the stairs of Notre Dame II with Blaez clad in an expensive black suit waiting for her. A faint smile rose on her face. "Nevertheless! I don't see why not flirt a bit, maybe he's getting his self confidence back. The transition must be working great. I remember being in a terrible state when I began mine, oh my poor mother had to endure so many tantrums. She watched the atelier. "And now here I am. Making my first steps towards my own path. Amazing isn't it? How quickly time passes and how many things have changed since... since the rifts appeared."

"You have a point there friend. The human race will always find something to disagree with, which is why total peace isn't even possible at this point. The best we can do is learn how to coexist without stepping over our boundaries." They took another sip, laughing slightly. "You better make me your person of honor. I will be highly offended if I can't stand up there with you. Blaez will be one lucky man to have you all to himself." They thought for a second before continuing. "I don't know, I think I've moved on but I still feel like I'm in love with Jack. Niel is sweet and all but maybe I'll give it a little bit. I kinda miss the crazy Jack brought into my life, but he's not ready for a relationship so I have to respect his wishes." They began to move the glass closer to their lips before they pulled it away, looking into the pinkish liquid as they moved the glass in small circles and watched it spin along with it. "... Yeah, I know what you mean. That entire... Whatever it was, changed my life drastically. The only thing that sucks about it, is that I barely understand what happened. I remember fighting your shadow in that dungeon, past the blue door, and then everything seemed to be over. I was a kid, and barely understood what I was getting into, so I was just happy to see the sun back after that whole mess with the weather. But now, I wish I had stayed for more answers; I even find myself lying awake at night wonder what these answers are. Hell, I still carry that evoker of mine around everywhere just in case something pops up, and I still sleep with it close by." They smiled a bit, looking up at their friend. "But enough about that, we're here to celebrate!"

Nagisa stared at her glass before she replied. Just like Quinn she too wished she could find out more about the whole ordeal, perhaps she could device a way to save Hyde. "You are right. There's no need to keep beating ourselves over it. Times passes and we can't afford to stay behind. This is the day that I'm starting to become my own person. I will start my own collection and with any luck my designs will be sold at stores by the end of the year. Isn't it glorious Quinn? It's not going to be an easy way, especially since I decided not to use my mother's name, but it's something I want to try for myself"She replied as she raised her glass for a toast. "Let's drink. A toast for the past and for the future!"

They listened to Nagisa, raising their glass as  as she made the toast. "Here here!" They took a sip when their friend would, completing Nagisa's toast. It made them happy that they could watch one of their best friends move on to a better life, and it was great that both of them had grown up over the years. "You know, I can always remember the last thing Jack said to me the day the sky returned to normal. He said that we're persona users, and we'll always be sworn to protect this world from shadows. I do wonder sometimes if I'll hear Genovea and Fedlimid once again, I haven't talked to them in a year at least. I think they're trying to let me live my life, but I do miss them. That being said, if anyone dares disturb the 'peace' we've had, I'll make sure we stop them before they do any more damage than the last event did." They said this with a smile, downing the rest of the wine as the placed the glass on the table. "Pour me another friend, we haven't gotten drunk together since the night you graduated, and that is unacceptable."

"I can't say that I don't miss those days but frankly my life has been a lot less stressful without this whole armagedon aesthetic. As long as my persona remains quiet I take it as a good sign, I have no mood to go through another ordeal, I'm getting too old for this kind of staff" Nagisa picture herself as an old lady changing down shadows with her walking cane. "Damn you disrespectful shadows, get out of my property" She said trying to alter her voice in order to sound like a grandmother who's angry at the neighbor's kids while she made a gesture by shaking her clenched fists and raising it over her head. "Back in my day, shadows had the decency to disappear."

After finishing her little charade she finished her wine, however instead of pouring some more she spoke once again. "Before we get wasted, I wanted to give you something first." With that Nagisa rushed to the bedroom, her voice could still be heard as she opened her closet. "I finished my first piece of attire, it's nothing too fancy and I was thinking about wearing it myself but... let's just say that it's not for my size." Nagisa returned holding a hanger, a black corset with a pink ribbon and a pink skirt attached to it was hanging from it.

Spoiler:

"It's yours if you want it."

Quinn laughed slightly. "I'm picturing us sitting on the porch of our old folks home, hitting shadows with our walkers and slowly trampling them." They shook a bit at the thought, smiling. "Let's hope that never happens, cause when I'm old and saggy I just want to settle down and not care about anything but my family and friends." Nagisa finished her glass, placing it down and eventually holding out the dress. They took it from her hands, laughing like a little kid as they hugged it. "Oh god Nagisa! I love it. This means so much to me. It just kinda sucks, cause I can't give you the first thing I accomplished with my job, unless you want to adopt a trans kid?"

"I can't take care of another kid, I'm already in charge of Blaez and my younger brother isn't exactly a responsible adult. I wish I could have someone to help me with this but gifting me a trans kid to assist me with my works is called slavery and not widely acceptable in Azores." Nagisa said as she massaged her temple. "In all seriousness though, you don't need to get me anything, you have helped me a lot and even though you might not realize it. This dress is my way of saying "thank you"... plus it's really cute and I think it fits perfectly your new style." Nagisa said as she watched Quinn's body, they have changed since she first me them at the radio tower. For Nagisa that change was an improvement. "Now let us drink some more. I'm sure that a new adventure awaits us this year, hopefully with less shadows and more partying." She said as she raised her class once again.

[Ending Post]