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Tweak says, "shake that laffy taffy"

Lydia Martin personifies (eunoia) wrote in paradisolog,
@ 2016-04-22 16:35:00

Entry tags:

~lydia martin (eunoia), ~mikhel rayt (nameless_one)

WHO: Lydia Martin and ~~OTA~~ Mikhel Rayt
WHERE: Far side of the main camp, out of the way of construction
WHEN: Friday afternoon
WHAT: Trying to make herself maternity clothes. Poorly.
WARNINGS: TBD
STATUS: OPEN, Incomplete

I feel the air upon my face, forget the mess I’m in. Hold me again, don't count mistakes; I lost track of them.

After the last comment she'd made in the conversation with Scott, Lydia tore her comm bracelet off and threw it onto the bed, snatching up the fabric and palm cord she'd been working on before making the mistake of taking a break to see what was on the network. “Thanks for having my back,” she muttered snappishly under her breath and she wasn't sure whether it was directed at anyone in particular. Probably not, since literally no one had stepped up, to her knowledge, to call out the fact that it was nobody's fucking business when she, Malia, or any woman on the island decided to become pregnant. She left the shelter she shared with Stiles, deciding that putting physical space between herself and the idiocy happening on the stupid network was probably the best, and maybe only, way for her to bite her tongue and not end up making it infinitely worse than it already apparently was.

Shut up, Lydia, no one wants to hear from the crazy pregnant teenager, even if she’s actually right for a freaking change, she told herself, face burning and hands shaking. Without making eye contact with anyone working on the construction, Lydia skirted calmly around the site to keep from drawing unwanted — read: any — attention to herself. She held the front of Isaac's shirt out in front of her a she did, because she'd rather they got a peek at her panties than at her ever-growing baby bump, and she headed up across the camp to settle on the sand in a spot as far as physically possible from everyone else without ending up in the rain.

Lydia plopped herself down on the sand and she started to lay out in her lap the fabric she'd cut yesterday from the white bolt. She was careful to keep her midsection covered, because in spite of the fact that everyone knew she was pregnant, she was still uncharacteristically and deeply self-conscious of the way her middle was expanding to accommodate the growing baby.

Yesterday, she'd measured and cut fabric for little belt loops after basically wrapping the fabric around herself, placing pins, and sewing the bottom half of thing quickly shut, with a few minutes at the sewing machine, into a completely shapeless dress with an open back and no sleeves. Today, she planned on giving it shape by sewing the little strips into place to thread the palm cords through.

Lydia intentionally closed her eyes while she smoothed the fabric out on her lap, threaded needle between her teeth, to give herself a moment to push everything from the network out of her mind so that she could properly focus on the task at hand. Maybe, she thought, if it took her long enough to accomplish the goal of completing the dress, she would be more calm and she could let it go like a big girl. She wished her mother was here with her, not for the first time since conceiving, to guide her through the tough parts without Lydia having to feel like she was depending on other people. It was a mother’s job to take care of her child.

With that in mind, Lydia pressed one of her hands against the bump while taking the needle out of her mouth with the other. “I’m trying to chill out, baby,” she whispered, bowing her head as if to direct the barely-there sound of her voice to the fetus, “I promise. I’m sorry. I’m trying to chill out. I’m going to chill out. I know stress is bad for you — for us — so I’m going to chill. I am.”

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nameless_one
2016-04-22 10:38 pm UTC (link)

He had promised to check out the supplies and see about helping with the sewing. Believe it or not, it was one of those skills he had developed quite thoroughly. He'd be able to use as much of the fabric as possible and make some patterns, ones that would hopefully work for the majority of the people. He knew all of this, because he had a little sister. One he had to provide for and he didn't always have the money or the club to support them. That all came later. So what started out as pure necessity had driven him to learn so that even if she had to have handmade clothes, she wouldn't be a laughingstock because of it.

As he hadn't met everyone yet, he wasn't sure who he would find or how they would work together but he was willing to give it a shot. On his way to the campsite, he saw a rather attractive young woman with flaming red hair, sitting with fabric and looking rather unhappy. As he turned to approach he heard her whispering to herself and got close enough to realize, she was probably pregnant.

"I hate to interrupt, but I'm looking for the sewing so I can help set up. I see you are already in progress of a design, but we have a machine now. Any way I can help? With the sewing or perhaps with the stress?" He smiled.

Walking around he knelt in front of her and offered a hand. "Mikhel."

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eunoia
2016-04-22 11:19 pm UTC (link)

Not expecting to be approached, largely because she was starting to wonder if sooner than later, their whole group from home was just going to end up a bunch of pariahs because they couldn't stop bickering publicly with one another — and certainly she was no exception to the rule — Lydia startled a little at the sound of the voice, a tiny gasp escaping her as she looked up sharply. It took her a second to catch up with what he was actually saying, because she'd sort of lost herself in her own mind briefly, but understanding registered on her expression a few seconds later.

"Oh, Lydia," she introduced, removing her hand from her middle and offering it to shake. "Sorry. I kind of lost myself a little. Um, I just kind of...I could've used the machine for the rest, but I kind of wanted to force myself to have a bit of focus," she admitted, giving him a small smile. Cute guy. She couldn't help wondering whether he was gay, by reflex, because he was offering to help her with her sewing and then she immediately silently scolded herself for jumping to a stereotype like that. Little things like that were things she didn't realize about herself until they happened and she disappointed herself a little with said realization. Lydia, for all of her interest in remaining open-minded, was apparently no less susceptible to her old society's view of gender roles than anyone else. She made a mental note to rewrite those assumptions or, in this case, curiosities, as soon as possible in her mind.

"Also, I didn't want to hog the machine," she added, wrinkling her nose a little and looking down for a moment before looking back up at him. "I'm not really sure who has the sewing stuff right now...I grabbed these yesterday. I'm just trying to...I don't know, make this not look like I'm wrapping a sheet around myself, while also hiding my stomach," she said, the latter admission coming out quite a bit quieter than the rest. Her eyes averted from his and fell back onto the fabric, in fact, as she said them before shifting back up to meet his. "I don't remember you from the bonfire...are you new?" She'd made her rounds at the last bonfire, mostly just listening quietly and asking no questions before finally deciding to speak, and she hadn't made it to everyone, but she was fairly certain she'd seen everyone, at least in passing, who'd been in attendance. Sydney had posted about having another one tomorrow. Lydia would probably accidentally-on-purpose go to bed early tomorrow night.

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nameless_one
2016-04-22 11:56 pm UTC (link)

He obviously caught her off guard, which he was sorry for. Obviously she needed a moment and he wondered if he should go and leave her be. However, her large bright eyes, and full mouth turned down at the corners puled at him and he felt badly enough to wish he could make her smile. He'd startled her, he wanted instead to help her.

She offered her hand and he smiled taking it. With a shake of the hand he shook his head at her apology. "No please, I was the one intruding. I simply thought you could use a hand or direct me." She was young but beautiful. He automatically put her in the category as a friend of his sister would be. If only because right now she was pregnant and needed help bot to be hit on.

Sitting back he nodded. "I understand needing the focus. Sewing does do that. I, have a little sister. I was responsible for her and that meant learning to sew. I can perhaps help you? Maybe an empire waist. Looks rather period but works on any body type including when you get bigger, and when you are back down again. SO good for any time. Plus, you have the benefit of looking elegant." he added with a quick raise of his brows.

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eunoia
2016-04-23 12:50 am UTC (link)

"It's okay," Lydia assured him. Really, she ought to be more in tune to her surroundings even when she was lost in thought. "I don't mind, I just wasn't paying enough attention," she added.

I had a sister, she almost said, but just because Allison felt like it didn't mean that it was true, so Lydia held her tongue. "I learned how to make a scrunchie in home ec sophomore year, even though no one's worn a scrunchie in twenty years unless they were dressed up for Halloween," she said with a huff. "But that's kind of what I was thinking, yeah. Empire waist," she agreed, giving him a little smile. "I don't think it looks period all the time, and they're so adorable." She left out the part where she'd never actually worn anything with an empire waist because she always figured they were designed for fat girls. ...now she kind of was one and she was ashamed of herself for how shallow she'd always been.

"I was trying to put these little strips," she said, holding the fabric out to show him where she'd already pinned the strips of fabric meant to be the belt loops through which she'd thread the palm cord, "and then I have this cord I made out of palm fibers and I was going to use it as a high belt..." she sighed and pursed her lips. "I'm not very good at this," she admitted. She didn't seem to be good at much of anything on this island so far and for someone who prided herself at being the best at everything, that was a tough pill to swallow.

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