Wearable Art (Open)

[Elderflower]

Lilac Briolette was nothing if not polite. She might struggle to express her kindness, being born with a face that had a natural iciness to it even if she was in a particularly warm mood, but she was always polite. The smelly one was certainly putting a strain on her, however. Oh, his personality was certainly pleasant enough. But that smell, the lack of hygiene…and on top of it all, he had just sent a swarm of flies off to deliver a letter.

It wasn’t that she was judging him – all she required to get along with somepony is that they show manners. But dirt, flies, odours...Lilac was so very worried she’d make a face and paint a picture for them that made her seem like a rude mare. The puff of dirt almost cracked her façade, too, causing the slightest little twitch in her lips.

"Pleasure to meetcha, ma'am,"

Somewhat awkwardly, the crystallize mare cleared her throat so she could speak.

“No, no. Th-the pleasure is all mine,” she managed to squeak out at the dirty stallion, nodding at the elderly pony behind him as well before the shop owner came to her rescue.

"Good day, and welcome to my shop, Wearable Art. My name is Diamond Cut, owner and operator. And what is your name miss?"

“Good day to you too, sir,” Lilac said (with a little less tension, this time), “My name is Lilac Briolette, the prima ballerina for the Trillion Ballet company. I am interested in browsing your creations to complete a number of ensembles for my travels, but please do not let me interrupt! I am perfectly content to browse your selection while you serve these gentlecolts.”

[Mojo]

"Oh, that's alright, Miss Lilac," Mr. Waddle said to the ballerina mare, "my friend and I have already made our purchases, isn't that right, Pigpen?"

"That's right, Mr. Waddle," the shaggy, unkempt stallion answered as he smiled at the newcomer. "This is a great gem store, and Diamond Cut here certainly has a lot of great items for sale. We'll just stand out of your way while I wait for my pet flies to return."

Now Mr Waddle and Pigpen move towards a far wall of the store, giving Lilac the complete view of the store. Every once in a while, the shaggy stallion would glance up at the open window, waiting for his loyal flies to return to him.

[Lux]

Hearing that the pony was interested in some jewelry to complete some various wardrobes and seeing that the other two customers announced that they were done with their purchases and were just staying to talk more, Diamond Cut felt pleased to help the new customer.

"Well it is an honor to meet you Miss Briolette. I have to admit that I'm not as knowledgeable about ballet as I'd like to be, but one day I hope to perhaps see a few performances. Anyway, I do have several of my wearable art that might compliment your ensembles. Are you looking for a certain type of jewelry, metal type, or type of gems?"

[Elderflower]

Lilac nodded her thanks as the two visiting ponies moved away from the counter to allow her to speak with the shop owner. She took a moment to let her gaze slip over a few display cases, a small smile playing in the corners of her lips as she admired the craftsmanship of the collection of lovely jewelry.

"Well it is an honor to meet you Miss Briolette. I have to admit that I'm not as knowledgeable about ballet as I'd like to be, but one day I hope to perhaps see a few performances. Anyway, I do have several of my wearable art that might compliment your ensembles. Are you looking for a certain type of jewelry, metal type, or type of gems?"

“Well, I have ensembles for just about every colour of the rainbow,” she began, before tapping her hoof lightly to her chin in thought, “Though my sense of style usually favours softer colours. I think perhaps my best option would be to avoid too many jewelled pieces in order to better match with my outfits. I would like pieces in silver, white gold, yellow gold, rose gold, and one in platinum. Necklaces, preferably in a collared style for the golds and braided chains for the silver and platinum. I would also like a handful of brooches in these metals, as well as a rose gold neck piece jewelled with freshwater pearls, a yellow gold with rubies, and a silver with amethysts and opals. If you have any pieces which meet these requests, would you be so kind as to show them to me?”

After speaking, the elegant mare took a moment to consider her request and piped up again, saying, “Ah, and please, sir, if you have any pieces you are particularly proud of I would like to see those as well. If I travel, I would like to wear the finest pieces that the creative elite of the Crystal Empire have to offer Equestria to showcase the talents that live in our antiquated home.”

The prima ballerina revealed her first natural smile at that, eyes shining. Ice queen though she might seem to others, the mare certainly didn’t mind a bit of playful, mocking humour. Just like she didn't mind laughing at her own jokes!

[Mojo]

As Mr. Waddle and Pigpen stood by, watching the elegant ballerina mare shop, a familar buzzing sound was heard nearby.

"They're back!" Pigpen shouted as the swarm of flies flew through the window and back to their usual orbiting flight patterns around the shaggy, unkempt stallion's head.

"Oh my," added Mr. Waddle, "I wonder if they were able to deliver the invitation?"

"Guys, you heard the question, did you succeed in your mission?" Pigpen asked. Hearing this, the flies swarmed above the two ponies and then hovered in a formation to spell out the word, "YES."

"That's great! Hope Princess Cadance comes to this shop soon! I know she'll find jewelry she'll love here!"

"Indeed!" added Mr. Waddle as the elderly stallion put on his newly purchased tie clip. "I certainly do love what I bought here!"

[Lux]

Diamond Cut was surprised by the laundry list of types of jewelry she liked. Most of the time customers would have a general idea of what they wanted and would wander the store until they settled of a particular piece of jewelry. To his surprise, the ballerina had a clear picture of what she had in mind.

"You have good tastes and I can see that you have a clear idea what you want. I certainly do have a wide selection of necklaces in silver, white gold, yellow gold, rose gold, and platinum as well as some brooches. So let's start with the necklaces, shall we?"

As he directed the mare towards the one section of the store, he heard the telltale buzzing of Pigpen's flies, signaling their return. He then heard the good news that the precious letter had indeed reached its destination at the palace.

"Wonderful to hear! Thanks to you Pigpen and of course you flies for helping me."

He then approached the case of several necklaces, each arranged according to their metal type.

"As you can see miss, there are several types of necklaces here including collared, braided chain, small chain link, large chain link and other types. For the necklaces are you interested in a simple chain to place charms or brooches on or something more ornate like with jewels already attached to the chain?"

[Elderflower]

"You have good tastes and I can see that you have a clear idea what you want. I certainly do have a wide selection of necklaces in silver, white gold, yellow gold, rose gold, and platinum as well as some brooches. So let's start with the necklaces, shall we?"

“That sounds positively lovely,” the crystal mare cooed, tossing her mane a little to send a stray wisp away from her eyes, “Let’s start with the necklaces, yes.”

"They're back!"

Lilac tried to keep herself from shivering. No doubt that meant the flies had returned. Horrified at the thought of their presence yet deathly curious about them all the same, Lilac turned her dusty-pink gaze towards the dirty stallion and his teensy, winged companions just in time to see them…spelling? Huh – that was pretty clever.

Clearing her throat a little, Lilac Briolette found herself blushing ever-so-slightly as she turned to properly address the smelly one.

“Pardon me Pig Pen, but I fear I have been frightfully rude. Those flies of yours had me totally appalled and a little, well…put off,” she admitted, cheeks reddening further, “But they really are clever little things, aren’t they? I’m sorry, er…how should I address you all? Surely I shouldn’t simply call you ‘flies.’ Either way, you have my sincerest apologies! Strange though you might be, you’re lovely little critters in your own way, hm?”

With an artful bow, she turned back towards Diamond Cut as he presented his necklaces to her. They truly were skillfully-crafted pieces, and she smiled slightly as she peered over them.

"As you can see miss, there are several types of necklaces here including collared, braided chain, small chain link, large chain link and other types. For the necklaces are you interested in a simple chain to place charms or brooches on or something more ornate like with jewels already attached to the chain?"

“Collared types for the golds, please, and braided chains for the silver and platinums,” she replied smoothly, “In fact, that yellow-gold collared piece to the left is one I am certainly interested in purchasing. As for the rest, I would like to keep any jeweling to a minimum if possible, so that these pieces might match multiple outfits. If I introduce too much colour they won’t be so versatile, hm? But as I said earlier, I am look for a rose gold piece with freshwater pearls if you might have it, as well as yellow gold with rubies and silver with amethysts and opals. If you have anything which fits these categories I will be glad to see them!”

[Mojo]

Both Pigpen and Mr. Waddle turned to listen to the elegant crystal pony mare.

"Oh, that's ok, ma'am," Pigpen said with a smile, "think nothing of it! You've been kinder to me than a lot of ponies I've met. Did you know that some ponies try to avoid being around me altogether? Why would ponies act like that?"

"Some ponies can behave strangely, kid," Mr Waddle answered, wanting to keep things polite.

"And thanks for you kind words about my fly friends. I don't know why they follow me around, but I'm glad they do. They can be very helpful and very smart too. I wonder why there seems to be no flies around in the Crystal Empire? Do you know why, Miss Lilac?"

[Lux]

Diamond Cut smiled when Lilac Briolette apologized about her initial reaction towards Pigpen's trained flies. Admittedly the jeweler was unsure how to react with the unusual pets.

"Well since Miss Briolette was so nice to admit her opinion, I must confess that I didn't quite know what to make of your flies Pigpen, mainly because I never heard of a pony who had them as pets. Living in the Crystal Empire without getting the chance to see what else lay beyond the border and meeting other ponies has made me realize how much I have to learn! But hopefully I was hospitable towards you Pigpen and you as well Mr. Waddle."

The Crystal Pony set to work trying to find the jewelry that Lilac was looking for, keeping a detailed mental list of the various types. Being a jeweler and a geologist, Diamond knew the almost limitless combinations of metals, gems and styles that made up each of his wearable art pieces and how if something wasn't perfect a pony may not want it. After all unlike most art that was found in a house or building, jewelry was essentially part of a pony as they wore it, and this demanded an extra set of attention.

"Well I can understand that you want a few very nice pieces of jewelry to accent your ensembles. So, let me start with your first item, a rose gold necklace with freshwater pearls. Unfortunately pearls are something I don't have access to yet as I haven't visited a sea port for them. Perhaps I will venture out soon to find these as I've heard that they can be just as sought after as rubies or emeralds. As far as a gold with rubies, I do have this one."

With that Diamond Cut took out a necklace that had rubies that were embedded into the chain rather than hanging from them.

"As for a silver necklace with either amethysts or opals, I have a few of those."

Diamond brought out a silvery one that was more of a collared type with a triangular part formed by a spider's web of intricate silver chains and amethysts. Another which had orange brown opals was simpler with a delicate chain and a round pendant that held nine opals.

"Please feel free to try on any of these necklaces. I find that if a certain jewelry is meant for you it will almost call out to you."