The living room floor was chaos. Fabrics spilled from their bags in soft gray folds, lace trimmings coiled like snakes, and Mei's notebook lay open in the middle of it all, its pages covered in sketches and notes.
Mei sat cross-legged on the floor, a pair of fabric scissors in one hand, determination in the other. Hana lounged nearby with a bag of chips, watching like it was a live show.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Hana asked between bites.
Mei looked up, eyes wide with fake confidence. "Of course. How hard could it be? People sew all the time."
Five minutes later, the first cut she made was completely crooked.
Hana burst out laughing. "Oh wow. Lady Veyra's going to look like she crawled out of a laundry basket."
Mei groaned, holding the uneven fabric against her forehead. "Why didn't I practice on something smaller first?"
"Because you're impatient," Hana teased, tossing her a chip. "Relax, it's your first try. No one nails it the first time."
With a deep breath, Mei lined up the fabric again, this time carefully following the chalk lines she had sketched. Slowly, deliberately, she cut again. The sound of the scissors slicing through the cloth was oddly satisfying, calming her nerves.
"Better," Hana said, peeking over her shoulder. "At least Lady Veyra won't look like she fought with a lawnmower."
Mei shot her a glare, but the corner of her mouth twitched upward.
---
Hours passed as they worked. Hana helped pin pieces together, though she admitted her sewing skills were nonexistent. Mei wrestled with her small sewing machine, the whir of its motor filling the apartment.
The first seam jammed almost instantly, the needle tangled in a mess of thread.
"Ugh!" Mei cried, yanking at the fabric.
"Calm down, you're scaring it," Hana joked.
"It's not a cat, Hana, it's a machine!"
But Mei forced herself to breathe, carefully rethreading the needle, and tried again. This time the stitch held. Crooked, uneven—but a stitch nonetheless.
She held up the piece proudly. "Look! It's… something."
Hana clapped exaggeratedly. "The cosplay queen begins her reign!"
Despite the teasing, Mei felt a small burst of pride. The gray dress wasn't even close to finished, but every seam, every cut brought her closer to Lady Veyra.
---
As evening settled in, the apartment looked like a battlefield of fabric scraps and thread spools. Mei wiped sweat from her brow, squinting at the partially assembled dress laid out before her. The neckline wasn't even, the skirt was shorter on one side, and the stitches looked like they were running away from each other.
"It's awful," she muttered.
"It's perfect," Hana said firmly, reaching out to tug at the hem. "It's the first step. You'll get better. And honestly? It already looks like the start of something amazing."
Mei stared at it again. Messy, imperfect—but hers. A real, tangible beginning.
Her fingers brushed over the fabric, and her chest swelled with a mix of exhaustion and excitement. "Okay… tomorrow, I'll fix the skirt. And then the lace."
"And then the world," Hana added dramatically.
Mei laughed, collapsing backward onto the carpet. The ceiling blurred above her as she closed her eyes, letting herself imagine the finished costume—the dress flowing around her, the wig framing her face, the choker resting against her throat.
It wasn't perfect yet. But someday, it would be.
And for the first time, Mei believed she could get there.