The unfinished dress now hung on a mannequin Hana had insisted they buy from a thrift shop, its uneven seams frozen in place like a half-completed dream. Every time Mei passed it, she felt both pride and pressure. The fabric was one battle. The next one, she knew, would be harder.
The choker.
Lady Veyra's signature piece: a black cage-like band wrapping around her throat, delicate yet commanding. It was the kind of detail that gave the character her aura of power. And Mei had decided—it couldn't just be fabric. It needed to be something stronger, sharper.
Which meant one thing: the 3D printer.
---
She set up the machine on her desk again, its square body humming faintly like a beast waiting to be awakened. The filament spool sat at the ready, gleaming like spun obsidian. Mei powered it on, the screen lighting up with cheerful beeps.
"Okay," she muttered, scrolling through her laptop. "Step one: find the design."
She searched cosplay forums, free model sites, and tutorials until she finally found it: a digital file of a gothic-inspired choker, strikingly close to Lady Veyra's. Elegant lines, small cage patterns, and space for a clasp at the back.
Mei downloaded it, her heart hammering.
"Alright, printer. Don't fail me now."
---
The machine whirred to life, its nozzle heating, the platform shifting into position. Mei loaded the design and pressed "Start."
The first layer went down, smooth and thin. Mei leaned close, hardly daring to breathe.
Then the nozzle sputtered. The filament tangled into a messy blob.
"No, no, no!" Mei yelped, slamming the pause button.
She sat back, defeated. The blob on the platform looked like a melted candy wrapper.
Her phone buzzed. A message from Hana:
"How's the queen's crown coming along?"
Mei snapped a photo of the blob and sent it.
"Like a disaster."
Seconds later, Hana replied with fifty laughing emojis, followed by:
"Try again. You got this."
Mei groaned but smiled despite herself. "She's right. Again."
---
Hours passed in trial and error. She adjusted the bed level, reloaded the filament, watched more tutorials. Each attempt was slightly better than the last—lines straighter, layers smoother—but not perfect.
Her apartment grew hot with the printer's constant hum, scraps of failed prints piling in a corner. But Mei refused to stop.
And then, finally, after nearly midnight, the printer completed the final layer with a soft chime.
Mei lifted the piece carefully from the platform. The cage-like choker sat warm in her hands, lightweight yet sturdy, the details sharp and precise.
Her breath caught. "It's… beautiful."
She held it against her neck, glancing in the mirror. Even without the wig, without the finished dress, the accessory transformed her. For a moment, she could almost feel Lady Veyra's strength radiating through her.
A smile tugged at her lips, exhaustion melting into triumph.
She snapped a photo and sent it to Hana with one word:
"Victory."
Moments later, Hana replied:
"Long live the queen."
Mei laughed softly, placing the choker on the mannequin's neck. The dress might still be rough, but now it had a companion—a symbol of her persistence.
Piece by piece, stitch by stitch, she was building Lady Veyra.
And piece by piece, she was becoming her.