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…You weren’t fully awake or something, because you could’ve sworn you saw…
Never mind. Maybe the shrink saying you had “severe underlying psychological trauma” was right about exactly one thing, and it happened to really be about sailor suits. No time for that load of shit in your life though, this was more important.
The outfit wasn’t something you’d go anywhere near on your own volition. You didn’t know if you wanted to take scissors to it or just blow it to smithereens with a cannon, but it might just be the thing you needed now. It had been a gift- men seemed to have some inexplicable compulsion to put you in fancy dresses, without any compensation at all besides getting to see you in them. Can’t complain about somebody’s lost <span class="mu-i">bierock</span> if it’s in your belly now, as Schweinmann used to say. Would Mag be into this? You thought you looked like cheap arm candy that spent every pfenning she had on trying to look better than she was, to try and lure somebody without the good sense to tell when a wrapped gift smelled like shit.
You’d definitely need help getting shoved into it. There were as many laces as a suit of plate armor on the thing. You didn’t really trust too many people <span class="mu-i">to</span> help you put it on. Not here, at least, though the guy who gave it to you probably would do it without needing a knife to his tenders.
Karel Van Halm. You didn’t know how he got your measurements, either he had an eye way too keen for you to speak kindly of, or he got them from Richter’s mom. Whatever the case, he had randomly gifted you this ensemble of red silk and lace, that probably cost as much as your retinue’s stipend made over <span class="mu-i">months</span>. He was at the Academy like you, for another reason. Said he owed Richter Von Tracht still, for saving his brother in the war over east in Netilland, the same one you ended up both against and alongside Magnus in. But you weren’t born yesterday. You’d bet gold on him just testing the waters to see if the fish were biting, and you’d already fallen for that hook once. Back when…
…
That wasn’t what he was trying to do. Karel was nice. You didn’t need to be so prickly with him like you’d had to be for years, in the wastelands of Sosaldt.
You went over to the vanity- no matter what you went with, you had to brush your unruly hair. That was when you noticed them- right at the bottom of the mirror. A brass and wood glasses case. A present from Magnus that he’d sent. You’d made the mistake of telling him that you were nearsighted, only by a bit. Even if your eyes were fine you’d have to use binoculars in the positions you served anyways, so what did it matter?
The truth was that you hated how glasses looked on you, so you never put these on, not even when you went to the range, or did academy maneuver exercises. If Magnus was coming back around, though…should you wear them? Even though they looked like crap and you didn’t need them?
