RIP Story: October 4th, 2024
The ceremony was here, and all the girls were ready to show off the outfits they’d been putting together since the close of last year’s ceremony. Rita had planned her entire year around this outfit. She broke the outfit into multiple pieces and spent an entire month working of finding the perfect piece to fit the look she was going for.
The first four months were dedicated to spending all her free time in the warehouses where prior costumes were kept. She was not the only one with this idea and the pieces being removed from different costumes were obvious to Rita as she was spending so much time in the warehouse. The first two months of her search were filled with the screams and clamor of other girls, and some of the boys, who were excited to find what they were looking for. After two months most of the teens had lost interest and started making their way to the showrooms where the full costumes were on display for the first six months of the year. People would put their name on the list for when the auctions started. All the showroom costumes were given to those who wanted to wear them, but they were not eligible for the main prize at the ceremony. It was the easy way out to take a prior winner and besides, the free time the kids had to pay with was already planned for something else in Rita’s mind.
She was going to take the seamstress classes and learn how to make the feather accessories she had for her costume. The base of her costume would have the look of costumes past, but her accessories would give them all a fresh look. Rita was surprised to find that her favorite accessories were the jewelry making classes. One day, when working on a chest piece, she had all her fabrics and stones out on the table. The fabric and stone sparkle gave her an idea. “Why not put the jewels in the fabric?”
This concept had not been taught in any of the classes. She didn’t like working with the tedious metal loops and tools, but to mount a jewel in fabric, this she could get into.
The morning of the ceremony arrived, and her costume was assembled. She was proud of what she had built and while she didn’t know it; she had a new set of skills that would get her through the next chapter of her life. Rita spent the ceremony thinking about what she learned and how she would help her younger self get started. She was pleased with her approach, but there were things she would have done differently.
She decided then she would get involved with the classes after she got back. For now, on this day, she would enjoy the pride she felt with her costume and enjoy the moment with the rest of her friends.
Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow.
EPILOGUE: I like the concept; the execution was meh. I’m on three nights in a row of abbreviated sleep and my head is in concept mode, not detail mode. Felt like I jumped through points of this story when I wanted to smoothly move through it. I didn’t have a “reason to tell” this story. Felt like I bolted on the “feeling proud” at the end to insert some lesson in the tale. There is a hit of world building in here with the warehouse and the showroom and why is there a ceremony. That’s the part I like most about this RIP. There are a lot of questions the reader can ask if they want. There is room to grow this concept, but again, my tired brain does not have it today.
