A Three-Cheeses Tall Order

Tae, the Baroness Wake's significant other, would have received a flowery, rose scented envelope delivered by dove. Inside is gilt-edged paper, dyed pink. The letter is as follows:

"Dear Tae,

I have thought of our encounter as a fondest of memories. When you gave me a chance to perform my craft for you, I was elated; this letter is to inform you that I am finished, and I shall deliver unto you a treasure that is worthy of your beauty. Please let me know when you will allow me to be by your side, and I will race across the heavens to be with you.

With all my love,

Borywick 'DosBox' Rockborer"

Comparing the writing on the inside of the letter, cursive and flowing, the writing on the envelope, which states Tae's name and address, is blocky and exact. It is obvious that one person wrote the letter and another the address.

    There aren't many doves in the Eas area, so the appearance of one is very strange, indeed. Fortunately, the local crow population does not take it amiss or the delivery of the letter may have been impeded! Also fortunate the letter was not too shiny. Crows like shiny things.

    Tae is not at her 'address'. She's outside, in the arcade, drawing pictures of Lander children at play. No problem, though. One of the servants (a graceful, feline cait sith) has brought the dove and letter to her.

    "A message for you, Lady Tae," she says.

    "Ah, thank you, dear! I... that's a dove, isn't it? I almost fear to ask who sent me such a thing. Hopefully not some oddball who is proposing something inappropriate."

    The servant holds the bird so Tae can claim the envelope. "If it is someone saying such, rest assured I stand ready to send them a most direct response. If you will it. For now, I will go back to the castle and leave you to this critical... missive."

    And so it is, that Tae opens the leader. She sighs. "Really, Borywick? All your love? You are certainly a trouble maker."

    But if one thing is true about Tae, she can rise to the occasion. And so, she sends a chim message in response to the gnome.

    "Most treasured and beloved Borywick, I have received your dove. Your sweet script is in my hands now, and I read it again and again. Fly to me, my sweet, for I pine for you so!"

Several hours later, a small gnome, barely recognizable as the creepy little bearded thing that was stalking Haru and Uta so long ago, enters the Arcade with a familiar nervous expression. Lacking the beard and potato sack-looking clothing that he once wore, the Rock gnome now wears a shop apron and a Turban. His once frizzed up and curly patches of hair are treated and neck length. His comically large gloves have been replaced with thin, white work gloves, and he wears various earrings, necklaces, and bracelets demonstrative of his work.

For a picture: https://wiki.eldertaleonline.com/images/2/2f/Jeweler_Dossy.png

Despite the fact that he LOOKS a great deal better than he did, his mannerisms are the same, so anyone who knows him could recognize him in an instant. He carries with him two small boxes, one blue and one green.

    Since Tae has a day to kill, she takes her time. She rather enjoys sitting outside. She's taken a walk or two, played tag with children, drawn more, went inside and worked on some choreography for her show (just need to get a piano made and she'll get set!), and came back outside, where she currently sits on a bench, enjoying a late lunch.

    When she sees the gnome, she raises an eyebrow. Tae waits for him to get near, then bows deeply, "Master Borywick, it's remarkable how good you are with words!" She is, of course, teasing him. He may or may not notice.

    "The dove was lovely. As was the letter! I would caution you, though, against shiny objects. After I removed the letter, I set the lovely envelope down and then a pair of crows swooped down to claim it. They managed to tear it in half while fighting over it. I imagine it's hidden somewhere, or is part of a particularly lovely nest by this point."

A pause as she looks Borywick over.

    "You look good, by the way. How does it feel?"

Dosbox waddles his way in a semi-hurry (he is very short, and he usually moves at this pace to keep up with the 'tall folk'), his nervousness increasing a little with each step, "Ah... Miss Tae. It is nice to see you again." He gives a very japanese bow, forcing him to move one hand to his turban lest it fall off his head. "The image change is... refreshing, I guess. I didn't realize how much the beard was restricting my breathing until I got rid of it, to be honest..."

He clears his throat, "I am going to be honest here. I hired a bard to write the letter for me because I wanted it to look impressive. I told him what to say, and he wrote and sent it. Um... so..., " He gets a little pale, "Judging by your- ah - reply, I think it might have said something different than what I said to put in the letter."

    Tae nods thoughtfully. "Well, it is good that you can breathe more comfortably now. And you look professional. That's important. Even when I was on stage shaking my butt in a little more than underwear, when it came to business negotiations, I went into full formal mode and entered battle."

    She then breaks into a fit of giggles over the origins of the letter. Apparently this is normal for her, as the children barely even pause to look her way.

    "Well, let's just say that it sounded like you were offering me more than jewelry. I don't often have a craftsman end a letter with 'all my love', you know. You had best be careful. A girl could get notions and then have her delicate little heart broken when she finds out it wasn't sincere."

Fear washes over the Jeweler's face as he looks over his shoulder for any Catgirl Ninjas making the move to take his life. "I... Ah... Must assure you that I would not, for my own health, ever purposefully end a letter to you, or Uta, or any of yours, with All My Love. We have more than one mutual acquaintance that would see to it that I disappear if ever I were to do that and it were discovered." He swallows hard, "You said... It was torn to shreds, right?"

    "The envelope was. The letter I'm keeping. And I assure you, nobody is going to protect me like that. I won't let them! I just think it's funny. And since you sent it, I assure you, I will tease you about it for the rest of our friendship."

    Tae is delighted, obviously. "It reminds me of old fan mail. You got me feeling nostalgic for all those early days. Sleeping in a dormitory with eight other girls, having to label my lunch and dinner and treats, having no idea if we were making it or not and then... the first concert sells out, and then the next. And then I am on TV and Louis Vuitton wants me on a billboard and everyone wants to make perfume with me. It was stressful, but I am happy it all happened, too. I made so many good friends."

    She pauses there, staring off into space for a while. "I hope they are okay. Though.. hm, you know some of them played games. I wonder if they are playing?"

Dosbox looks a little melancholy at the mention of acquaintances playing video games and such, "Yeah, I mean, none of them were playing in Korea or China servers, right? You probably would have met them by now if they were on the Japan servers..." He clears his throat. "So ah... Miss Tae, you were a successful idol, then? I mean... That sounds pretty fun...?" Dossy is the king of small talk. He's doing so well!

    "Borywick, I'm Korean, you know? My friends are all in Korea. If they are playing.."

    She looks away. Bad subject. So very bad subject. Adventurers in the Palace Lands are not envied, after all.

    "In any case. It's not likely. And my girls would probably have taken the whole damn server over. Stupid Palace Landers couldn't hold a candle to them. Especially Tiffany. You don't cross my bestie and survive."

    She laughs at herself. Still, the thought is concerning. Would she like to have them here? Is she that selfish to wish for it?

    "So let's see what you brought for me, Borywick. I'm eager to try it on. And yes, I was successful! I retired, though. It got to be a lot, and let's be real, I got a bit too old for the scene."

Dosbox nods quickly, scampering closer as if he would as a king or judge commanded him to approach. He hands her both of the boxes, putting one in each of her hands. The boxes are color-coded: The sapphire, cut into a three-dimensional teardrop shape, is housed within an earring setting of white gold, as is the square-cut emerald.

Picture of the Emerald Earrings: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/654326946636759071/1091478296308486284/Emerald.jpg

Picture of the Sapphire Studs: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/654326946636759071/1091478296736313507/Sapphire.jpg

    Tae finds that exchange amusing. But then again, Borywick always amuses her, it seems. She now has two hands full of boxes. Which naturally leads to something of a problem. Hard to open either of them with no hands free.

    "We'll work on your delivery together," she says playfully. She sets the box down in her left hand and opens the other. As it turns out, this box contains the sapphire earrings.

    "Hmm, you know, these are so pretty. I may have Elly wear them. Blue is her best color. Well, vivid reds, too. It just pops on her pale skin." She grins, "If I get too descriptive, though, she will get saucy with me, and then we'd have trouble! She seems to think she's the boss."

    After inspecting the sapphire earrings, Tae sends them into her inventory. Now it is time to look at the other pair.

    It is immediately obvious that she loves emeralds more for herself. There's no hesitation. She puts them on immediately. As expected, with a slightly yellow skin tone, the green gems look amazing.

    "Do you have a mirror, Borywick?"

Dosbox, upon realizing that he did not bring a mirror, starts to panic for a brief second before blinking once or twice, and nodding, "Well, ah..." He wiggles his pudgy little fingers in front of him, and they shimmer an earthy brown color. Magic from his hands coalesce into a reflective surface which appears in front of Tae at a fixed point in space. "Will this work?"

    "Very fancy," replies Tae. Granted, it's probably not quite the same, but it works pretty well nonetheless. She takes her time, looking them over. It's a bright day, so there's plenty of sunlight for the gems to catch. She looks thoughtful after a time.

    "You are an enchanter, as well, are you not? How hard is it to make it so I can use a little light arte on them to keep them sparkling no matter the light situation?"

    She pointedly sends the box into her inventory, but keeps the emerald earrings on. She is satisfied, clearly!

Dosbox gives an embarrassed blush, "I apologize. Light magic... really doesn't like me very much." Dossy speaks about magic as if it were a sentient entity rather than some kind of natural force. "I can't really get it to do what I want most of the time. If you can convince it to behave, I could enchant some luminescence into your earrings though?" He ends that statement with a question, as if he is uncertain about it's possibility.

    "Ohhh, a collaboration?"

    Tae gives Borywick a once-over, as if sizing him up. "Well, you are dressed for the part now. Not sure about your singing or dancing, but I think we can work it all out." She's probably kidding, but she makes no sign of it.

    "But certainly I can help with the light! It's not going to be super demanding. I'm not raid healing here, after all."

    She shrugs it off. "Either way, we can worry about that a little later. I want to wear these today!"

Dosbox smiles warmly at Tae, commenting, "They really do look good on you," It almost feels like he was complementing the earrings on their choice of human... "We can work on the enchantment at a later time, then... I suppose this means that you are pleased with my product? If so, please leave 5 stars in my Yelp." He gives her a thumbs up with a very deliberate wink and cheesy smile.

    "I'm very satisfied, thank you!"

    Tae pauses and points out, "We need to deal with the matter of payment, though, don't we? Or did you send the bill with another bird?" Yes, that's a bill-bird pun. She loves bad jokes. She also is idly fixing her hair to make sure her earrings are easily visible.

    "If not, please send it my way. Or I could pay now? I am sure I can cover it."

Dosbox shakes his head waving his hands in front of himself, "No no, don't worry about it. I -ah- I figured I would be paid in exposure for this one. I mean, most artists can't feed themselves like that, but my other job is adventuring, and that makes bank, so... Ah haha." He grins shyly, "I don't suppose you would take the line, 'Your smile is payment enough'?"

    "The smile, then. For now. And I'll advertise! I can send more work your way. I will need to get my hands on more gems, though. I go out from time to time, myself."

    She is almost giggling again, though. "Careful with the word exposure and a lady, though! We might get the wrong idea." She is horrible, honestly. Totally horrible!

    "I imagine, though, that you are reading to eat. You want to go the Inn? The castle is crawling with maids in racy outfits and I imagine you wouldn't ever want to see /that/, right??"

Dosbox does turn red at Tae's teasing, in spite of himself, "I - ah - Right. I should be going. I have a dinner appointment with an acquainance of mine! Heh! Take care!" DosBox takes his leave, scurrying away a little faster than usual. The THREAT of scantily-clad maids is more than he could probably handle...