Say Yes to the Dress

"What do you mean this dress makes me look like a cheap highlighter? I think it looks fine. Also it's the most comfortable dress I've tried on so far, which makes it the best choice," huffed Auricularis, folding her arms aggressively.

"No," said Calorie, with a dismissive wave of her hand and shake of her head. "A hot pink dress with your hair color? I think not. Next dress."

"It's not that bad, right Bolita?" The princess turned to her fellow noble for support.

"Huh?" Bolita's head popped up behind a rack of silver dresses that she was judging. "Oh, um, well I think there are dresses that might suit you better…"

"We've been doing this for days, please, I just want to be done…"

Indeed, one day hadn't been enough to decide on a dress for Auricularis, and the curtain was closing on a third. The three were in a new room, this one with only cool-toned gowns lining its walls, and while Bolita was swimming in dresses to her heart's content, Calorie was perched on a wooden stool judging Auricularis, who stood in the room's center.

"Maybe if you didn't pick ugly dresses we wouldn't have had to do this for days. Like girl, some of those earlier dresses, I'm embarrassed on behalf of whoever made them because I know I wouldn't be able to call something like that a creation of mine without wanting to shrivel up and die."

"They weren't that bad, you just have high standards."

"Those dresses were a crime against clothes. A sin, even."

"Dude, the only criminal here is you forcing me into dresses against my will."

"Auri, if you were like Bolita and able to pick out a dress that wouldn't make you an instant laughing stock, we wouldn't be having this problem."

"All this talk but I don't see you helping me pick."

Calorie shrugged and looked at her nails. "I don't think you'd like the dresses I'd pick."

"What about this one?" From the depths of clothes she was submerged in, Bolita emerged with a strapless piece that had puffy sleeves and an open front, with layers of tulle piled onto each other that fell and were shaped like a wave of water. To match it's liquid-like form, the gown was a pale blue that shimmered as it caught the room's light.

"Ooh she's pretty," said Calorie, even leaning forward in her seat.

"Very," nodded Bolita. "You'd probably need a petticoat for this one though."

Auricularis wrinkled her nose, and at the mention of a petticoat grimaced. However, she couldn't resist the pressuring gazes of the other two who were staring at her with eyeballs practically bulging out of their heads.

"I guess I'll try it on," she sighed.

Beaming, Bolita handed over the ballgown, and a defeated Auricularis shuffled to a corner of the room where she could change in peace, leaving Bolita and Calorie to talk.

"So did the duke drop any new information about the engagement today?" asked Calorie.

"Nothing beside the time we'll be arriving at the ball."

"Yikes. I'm guessing he didn't mention, ah, any future plans either?"

"No, and thank goodness. If he mentioned a wedding I think I would pass away on the spot. I suppose with an engagement a wedding is almost inevitable, so hopefully we can figure out getting home before then."

"How old is Mr. Processed Meat anyways? Doesn't he need to go to school too? I don't think even these nobles are crazy enough to marry their kid off while they're in school."

"He's probably older than Auricularis since her mom is the current queen. But by how much? I'm not sure."

"Wow, seems like you're in the loop with these things."

Bolita shrugged, but wasn't able to hide the smile of pride that crept up her face. "I did some studying before the tea party because I thought the princess was going to be, err, a real princess. The duke told me to make a good impression."

"Got lucky there, eh."

"Yeah, definitely."

Their conversation cut off as Auricularis re-entered the scene, and the two turned their judging eyes toward her.

"I guess it doesn't look that bad," she sighed reluctantly. "Though I don't know if I'll feel the same if I try it on with a petticoat."

"Hmm." Calorie looked her friend up and down. "I think this could work. We'd have to find you some nice accessories and shoes though because though this dress is nice and all, you need to look like you're dripping with wealth."

"I don't think a petticoat will make it too much harder to move in," added Bolita.

"So this is it?"

Bolita and Calorie nodded. Auricularis heaved a great breath of relief.

"I think I'm going to go hang with the knights after this."

"You still have the energy for that?" said Calorie incredulously.

"Exercise is energizing, I don't know what you're talking about. In fact you two could join me."

"I think I'll pass," smiled Bolita. "I should probably be on my way back home before it's too dark."

"Alright then, I guess we'll be seeing you again the day of the ball?"

"Yup. In two days."

Bolita waved goodbye before pushing open the door to leave, and the door took long enough to close that trusty Marie could be seen escorting Bolita out.

"She really didn't have to wait out there the whole time," remarked Calorie.

"She really didn't," agreed Auricularis, who had changed out of her blue ball gown back into a more casual white dress and relocated to the floor, where she was lying down. "I even gave her permission to come in and sit and all that."

"I hope I haven't accidentally broken any servant etiquette rules, though it's probably too late to be worrying about that now."

"Worst comes to worst, I think I have a good amount of authority so I could probably keep you from getting beheaded."

"Very reassuring. Thank you."

"I think I'll spend three more minutes here on the floor before seeing what workouts the knights are up to."

"Wait." Calorie's eyes narrowed.

Auricularis gulped. Even in her old body made of pure brawn she doubted she'd be able to take on Calorie. That girl hadn't commanded pretty much their entire grade by pure coincidence.

"We've picked a dress for you, but what about shoes and accessories?"

"We have all of tomorrow to do that…"

"How long did it take for you to pick out a dress again?"

"But I-"

"Think about it this way," smiled Calorie as if she were presenting Auricularis with a gift, "If you finish picking everything out today, you can spend all of tomorrow working out to your heart's content. But not too much, of course, since you don't want to be sore for the ball."

"I hate to say this, but you make good points."

"Of course I do.

Auricularius pulled herself off the floor and smoothed out her dress. "Okay, I'm ready."

"Let's pick out accessories first since there's more of those we have to go through."

"Yessir. Oh, but I don't know where the accessories are."

"I'll give you directions from behind. I'll have you know all my hard work cleaning has paid off in more ways than once."

"Good for you," grunted the princess. "Not like you were complaining about it at least half the time I was picking out dresses or anything though."

"You know what? Start walking."