Winter is no place for a butterfly...

[papillion_de_resistance]

Who: Gabriel Agreste (and potentially Nooroo) and you
When: The early morning hours of the day of his arrival, then more reasonable morning hours
Where: Various locations in the school
What: A very confused superhero arrives
Warnings: Gabriel's world is kind of terrible, but other than that, shouldn't be any.

In hindsight, Gabriel would be glad there was no one present to witness his rather undignified arrival for more reasons than simply the preservation of his secret identity. He'd been in the middle of patrolling the city, leaping from rooftop to rooftop, when abruptly, there was a flash of light and the entire scene changed. Gone were the rooftops of Paris and the mild air of a late spring night. In their place, the snow covered roof of what looked like a castle and the biting chill of midwinter darkness.

Unfortunately, this transition happened in mid-leap, and due to a combination of shock and the unexpectedly slippery surface, he landed badly, his feet sliding out from under him and momentum sending him sliding over two meters across the frosty stonework. After a moment of just laying there in complete confusion, he sat up, not for the first time extremely glad for how durable his transformed state was. Spotting his cane next to him, he picked it up from where it had fallen, careful to blur its outline in the snow with a brush of his hand before he stood up.

A quick scan of his surroundings revealed nothing at all familiar, and no lights of a town or city visible anywhere. In fact, the only light in the immediate area came from the stars and the moon, which while not quite full was on its way to becoming so. As his eyes adjusted, he was able to make out the dim shapes of buildings in the near distance, though all of them were eerily dark. He frowned; something about this wasn't right, far beyond his sudden change of surroundings.

Standing around on a rooftop likely wasn't going to get him any information, however, and since he could feel the chill of the air even with the protection of his costume, he decided that any investigation would likely best be done indoors. And in less conspicuous attire. Thankfully it didn't take long to find the entrance to the stairwell, and almost shockingly, the door proved to be unlocked. Once it had closed behind him and he'd quickly glanced around to make certain he was alone, he said, "Light wings, fall."

His costume vanished, replaced by his normal clothing, and Nooroo reappeared. He pulled a honey caramel out of his pocket and gave it to the kwami. "What happened, Gabriel?", Nooroo asked before taking a bite. "And where are we?"

"Both very good questions," he said. "And ones we need to find the answers to. In any case, you should likely stay hidden until we have a better idea of what's going on; as helpful as you can be in scouting and observation, we can't afford to potentially be separated in an unknown location."

Nooroo nodded, and once he'd finished the caramel, ducked into Gabriel's pocket, safely out of sight as Gabriel headed down the stairs and into the building proper. The building, as it turned out was a school of some sort, and Gabriel poked his head into several classrooms. he didn't expect there to be any students or teachers about at this time of night, of course- since a clock he'd spotted had shown that it was well past midnight, just as it had been in Paris-, but there might still be a custodian or a night guard about. He did keep an eye out for any rooms that seemed to have lights on, however, just in case.

If he didn't find anyone during his nighttime explorations, however, the next morning the current residents of Auradon Prep would find an unusually tall man asleep in one of the comfortable armchairs in the library, his round glasses slightly askew due to how his head was resting, reading lamp still on. Several reference books sat on the table next to him, and another lay fallen open across his lap. Someone should likely wake him, if only so he didn't miss breakfast.

Comments

[queen_butterfly]

"Mallia," she said, managing a little more of a smile for him, though it faded a bit as she continued, looking down to where she was idly playing with the fabric of the mostly-sewn coat in her lap. "You must've just been brought here, same as most of the rest of us. I had just come back to my own world from... trying to retire... finally found a friend of mine. We'd rebuilt my home... and then he stepped out to fetch the forest to go around it... and I was looking to see what else I ought to set it up with, to host guests again... and found myself here. Someplace called Auradon, that's been taking people from other worlds, as of late. There's an explanation being given about some other form of magic here that was misbehaving quite badly, to do it...."

She chewed her lower lip a little for a second as she debated on the next thing, and then finally sighed and looked back up to him with an apologetic shrug. "One of those here wrote a bit on it, to be handed out to those that showed up going forward, but it's probably for the best that I don't carry it with me; I'd just end up losing it somewhere. We could go fetch it, if you'd like? I could do with a change of scenery; this whole coat is a most embarrassing testament to where my mind has wandered, I'm afraid."

Making a face at it, she began to gather it up, careful of the needles tucked into it. "Though I'd prefer the situation to be a bit less involuntary and inconvenient in general, it is nice to meet you...." She stood, gray coat in her arms, to put it carefully over the back of another nearby chair, looking to him and putting on a little smile again, pausing, waiting for something from him. He had her name; his would follow, yes?

And standing now, the coat folded over the back of a chair instead of partially obscuring her lower half from view, it was clearer that her dress was possibly a little more interesting than one might have assumed. He would know fabrics, but what even was hers? Something thin and light, based on how it moved, but definitely not cheap; its thread count was anything but apparent, what with its seemingly almost but not quite velvety sort of texture, but perhaps that was a trick of the lighting? It even managed to hide the seams within it... assuming it had any. It draped relaxedly under its own weight, dark black all the way down to where it faded into a deep purple toward the bottom of her skirt and lower parts of those large outer sleeves.

It was how the purple was interrupted that might have caught his attention a little more, though. Those seemingly-random lines that interrupted that rich color were anything but. It was a regular pattern, though only a very small sample of it, enough for most people to miss what it actually was... not a nod to stained glass, but to the panes in a butterfly's wings.

[papillion_de_resistance]

"Your friend went to... fetch the forest?", Gabriel said, not certain he'd heard correctly. Then cleared his throat a bit awkwardly, getting back on topic. "Though yes, a written explanation would likely be helpful. Not that what you've said hasn't cleared up a few things, but it's generally good to have a reference."

"I wouldn't say there's anything embarrassing about your sewing work, however. It looks quite well done. And if you don't mind my saying so, as a fashion designer by trade, I wish I had needles that could work on their own. That must be quite the useful trick."

At the tacit request for an introduction, he continued. "Gabriel Agreste. And while yes, I'm fairly certain we could both wish for better circumstances, it's good to meet you as well, Malia." Should he offer a handshake? Bow? What were the proper greeting customs for her race? In the end, he opted for a polite nod, as he thought it the best and safest option; respectful without seeming insincere or fawning.

And yes, once he got a proper look at the fabric of her dress, he very much wanted to examine it more closely and in detail but that wasn't something to ask of anyone you just met, regardless of their race. So for now he had to content himself with mentally noting down every detail he could see, in hopes that he might be able to find a way to replicate it later. Given his surname, butterflies were a frequent design element in his work from long before he'd ever adopted his superhero identity, if he could manage it, it would open up so many design possibilities...

"Should I bring the food with us?", he asked. Partly because he genuinely wasn't sure and partly to distract from the fact that he was likely staring.

[queen_butterfly]

"Oh, ah... if you want? I can always make more, either way." A dismissive little gesture to it, and she returned to folding the coat's panels into a neat pile there where it draped, the needles on top. There, now it wouldn't be likely to wrinkle up while she was away from it... assuming the thick fabric it was made of could wrinkle. Which it likely couldn't, at least meaningfully, but she wasn't taking chances. "A bit more, on request, is nothing." She turned to leave, and paused as her sleeve nearly pulled the gray coat right back off the chair; it had snagged on one of the needles. She made a face, but rather than reach over to take it off, she merely eyed it and pulled her sleeve again, and it came away as though it had never happened. Had it just... gone right through her sleeve? Because it looked like it. And her cheeks were turning a bit pink as she one again moved the gray garment-in-progress back to where she'd put it. She could pretend she hadn't just done that, right? Right.

"Oh, I really am distracted...." And, well, she was clearly plenty fussed about... whatever it was she was so fussed about. "And... it isn't the needles. It's just me. It's... I'm trying to keep myself busy, so that I don't do silly things like... recreating a friend's coat, while making coats for others here." Now thoroughly sheepish and not even addressing the topic of whatever fetching the forest meant, she stepped away from the chair -- successfully, this time -- and absently smoothed down the sleeve that'd caught before, and a bit of her skirt, as she turned to lead out to the door. "Not that there's any reason not to, I suppose. But...." She rolled her eyes at herself, shrugging. It was a symptom and she was annoyed at its source, that's what was going on here.

[papillion_de_resistance]

He nodded, but after a moment's consideration, opted to bring it with them. Even if she could make more- seemingly out of thin air-, it seemed impolite to just leave it sitting there when he was uncertain when they'd be coming back to the room.

And while she was free to pretend she hadn't done that, Gabriel had certainly noticed. But was it some quality of her dress, the needle, or both, that had allowed the trick? He was curious, but kept it to himself for now, as it seemed she found it mildly embarrassing. "Keeping busy is rarely an issue for me, at least back home," he said as he followed her out the door. "Between designing, raising a son, and running a major fashion brand, I generally have quite a full schedule." And that wasn't even counting his illicit superheroing and work with the Resistance. "Though if you don't mind, I'd be interested in taking a look at that coat when it's finished. I do have something of a professional interest in historical styles."

[queen_butterfly]

"'Historical styles'? Oh, it's far from an exact recreation. More that I... had it in mind on some level, I suppose. Their coat looked far less... ah... hastily constructed." Smiling despite the admission, she gestured to a ways down the hall, off to one side, and from the shadows, a dark shape quickly became solid... and even brighter than the hall's lights would account for, for the sake of being easily visible.

He was a little on the tallish side, though hardly remarkably so, with long, silky-looking white hair, moustache and beard matching what lay over his shoulder and down his chest. It was impossible to see his ears, under his hood, but judging by his eyes, the same larger-than-humans' irises as hers, if in a bright, icy blue instead of a deep purple like hers, he was almost doubtless of the same apparent species. The gray, hooded coat was fairly unremarkable at a glance, probably not made of any sort of impossibly luxurious fabric. It was even rather simple in cut and shape, something like one might pick to wear as part of a wizard costume on Halloween or for a party or convention. But it wasn't some simple, cheaply mass-produced costume. There was embroidery at the hems, the colors subtle enough to be missed at first glance. And the belt he wore over it was finely woven, perhaps of some sort of cord... but its buckle had some sort of shine to it, a few little jewels set into it, as one might have more expected of a leather piece. And where the coat lay open in front, something finer peeked through, a deep, dark jewel-like blue color, the fabric thin and fine, falling all the way down to nearly the floor, darkening to black at the bottom and sparkling with... what was it? Metallic threads peeking through the weave here and there? The tiniest of tiny beads? It was hard to say, at a distance, but it was a rather lovely night-sky sort of effect, the false stars winking in and out as the image moved, stepping backwards to keep pace with them. The old wizard-looking figure smiled a little, as though there were some sort of joke he wasn't sharing, but said nothing, holding his arms out to show his large sleeves, and doing a little turn for them.

"...What is a 'fashion brand'?" She didn't exactly want to cut short his moment to inspect the image she'd given, but curiosity was getting the better of her.

[papillion_de_resistance]

He smiled and was about to comment further about the coat, when all of a sudden a shape appeared in the hallway catching his attention. And when that shape solidified into a man, lit with lighting that Gabriel could tell was designed to show off his outfit to best effect, that attention solidified as he took in every detail, approaching closer without realizing to get a better look. Gabriel almost started to address the man, to ask him for details about the outfit, particularly that false starfield effect, before he caught himself, realizing that the man was almost certainly an elaborate illusion of some sort. One thing was certain though, between Malia's dress and the illusion man's outfit, he wasn't going to be short of inspiration for some time.

"Hmm? Oh." It took a moment for what she'd asked to register, but when it did, he finally managed to tear himself away from the illusion to answer. "A fashion brand is a type of large company, though I know that that doesn't really explain a great deal in itself. I'm a fashion designer by trade; I design and create high-end clothing. That's where I began and is still the core of the business; any clothing I create is sold under the Agreste brand, which is a sort of trademark. But the company sells more than just clothing; shoes, belts, bags, jewelry, perfume, cosmetics, even things like glasses frames and certain home decor items, all are sold under the Agreste brand."

"Now, I don't personally have all the skills necessary to produce all of those items- I'm not a leatherworker, a jeweler, or a perfumer-, so I hire people who are experts in those fields to develop and produce those things according to my designs and specifications. The finished products- and often several intermediate stages- are sent to me for final approval. If I'm satisfied, then its approved for full production. The brand- the company- manages not only all those various experts and their teams, but also advertising Agreste products, managing the boutiques that sell the products, the workshops and factories where they're produced, making sure finished products and raw materials get where they need to go in a timely manner, making certain all of the employees are properly paid, and managing numerous other aspects of business that most customers rarely think of."

"That is, in the technical sense, what a fashion brand is. But in an artistic sense it's essentially selling a look. Or even an idea. Products from designer brands, like mine, tend to be expensive. So a fashion brand sells an idea of wealth, of style, and often of sophistication. People who shop at my company's boutiques, who regularly wear and use Agreste brand products, do so because on some level they want to be seen. Seen as stylish or wealthy, seen as fashionable or beautiful, or just to be seen in general. To stand out. It's one part art, one part commerce, with a bit of practicality thrown in to make it all work."

"...And please do stop me if I'm not making any sense. Conversation has never been my strong suit, and I've frankly never really had to explain the concept of a fashion brand to anyone before."

[queen_butterfly]

"No... no, I think I follow. It's a bit like... if I were to make the sort of things I would wear myself, but to others' sizes as well... and because of my own particular preferences and tastes, it would be fairly simple a matter to identify whether something was of my work?" It wasn't the most difficult concept, really; he'd laid it out fairly well. And she'd seen somewhat similar things before... sort of....

[papillion_de_resistance]

"Somewhat...", he said. "You're partly right in that the designer's own sense of taste and aesthetics plays a significant role in their work, but the fashion industry is simply too large and too broad to rely on your products being recognized by a signature style alone. And that's even assuming the designer keeps to one specific style; generally, I release a new set of clothing designs every year, as do most other major designers. The release of other new products tends to be on a bit less of a regular schedule, but fashion- as both an art and a business- is always changing, and designers like myself need to both anticipate new trends and help to create them."

"Most fashion brands have the brand's name or logo somewhere on the product to make it easily identifiable, and mine is no exception. Usually it's simply the name 'Agreste' in a particular style of ornate lettering, but I also sometimes use a specific stylized image of a butterfly. Not only are butterflies a well known symbol of beauty and elegance, but 'Agreste' is actually the name of a particular type of butterfly in my native French. Butterflies also tend to be a recurring design element in my work, especially when it comes to jewelry and eveningwear."

[queen_butterfly]

"....I see." She couldn't entirely hide the little smile, but she wasn't really trying that much, either. "I admit to being rather a fan of them myself. Those, and roses. The former in particular has... a bit of personal... ah... sentimentality to it?" Well, it would explain the pattern at the bottom edges of her dress, and her hair's ornaments. But such was all a bit understated, rather than than blatantly obvious; perhaps she just liked being more subtle?

...Or not, but that would remain to be seen....

"I think I should quite like to see examples sometime." Absently, she waved a hand, dismissing the image of her friend, and continued leading them down the hall.

[papillion_de_resistance]

Gabriel nodded. "Roses are a classic bit of symbolism as well, though one that tends to be somewhat overused in fashion," he said. "Partly because they're relatively easy to create with cloth or ribbon to make accents. Patterns of thorns like those in your ensemble, tend to be worn by those who wish to be seen as 'edgy' or a bit dangerous, particularly young people. Though their iterations of it generally don't have the same elegance or subtlety as yours."

He paused, staring at where the image had been for a moment longer before following her. "Assuming there's time, I'd be happy to show you a few sketches. Sadly I don't have your... imaging talents."

[queen_butterfly]

"Sketches are perfectly fine," she said, smiling a bit more. "Despite being able to call up illusions like that, I rather enjoy drawing and painting, as well. It's all quite a great deal less... ephemeral."

She didn't mind staying a step or two ahead of him, since she was leading, but if he wanted to step up beside her, he certainly could. It wasn't as though she was hurrying off, after all. Just walking. Juuuuust walking... and her dress was doing what dresses do, its skirt swishing around near the ground as she stepped... except for what looked quite a lot like a sort of cape, right behind her. It looked... vaguely a little stiff? It seemed to be of the same material as the rest of her dress, coming down from her back, near the back of the collar of her dress, under her loose hair. Maybe it had little loops, to attach at her wrists, which she simply wasn't wearing, at the moment? Really, her dress didn't need that. She had those second sleeves, big outer draping shapes that they were....

"But it's also possible you've a talent for it and don't realize yet, if you'd be interested in a little experiment...?" Since it seemed far more likely for people here to be able to do something with her sort of magic than not... honestly, she was starting to lean toward the notion that it was the humans of her world that were lacking, somehow, to be unable to use it in any capacity, most of the time. Perhaps their disbelief was more of a hindrance than they'd ever understand....