"That could work," Lotus mused. "I would have to work from the bottom up to have them overlap properly..." Opening the container, she sifted through the gathered scales and pulled a few out, placing them on the bottom hem and moving them around. "Like so?"

"Exactly," Elea said, nodding her approval. "Just start out like that and have gradually fewer and fewer as you work your way up. It should work well."

"Cool," Lotus replied. She gathered up the scales again and put them into the container. "They're small enough I'll have to sew them on by hand, but it shouldn't be hard."

"No, just time consuming." Elea grinned. "You'll probably need to work on it soon, so it gets done before you want it done. Because I can guarantee it'll take you a lot of time."

"I'll see about setting aside a couple of days," Lotus said. She stretched a bit.

Elea nodded. "Sounds good to me. Go on, you may as well go get some rest."

"You're not turning in for the night?" Lotus asked. It wasn't too unusual; she knew Elea sometimes couldn't sleep, but it hadn't happened in a while.

"Nah. I think I'll stay up and read for a bit." Elea shrugged. "You go on to bed."

"Alright," Lotus said. She gave her friend a quick hug. "Just be careful if you go out for a swim again. Never know if that thing is still in the area."

Elea nodded, hugging her back. "Don't worry, I'm not going out again tonight." She grimaced. She didn't want to risk it.

Lotus nodded and went up to her room to head to bed.

She got up a little earlier than usual the next morning and went down to see if Elea was up and to start some coffee if she wasn't.

Elea was sort of awake. She was dressed in clean clothes, and curled in an armchair, but she wasn't quite awake yet. She was still yawning.

"Morning," she murmured.

"Morning," Lotus replied. "Should I start the coffee, or did you do it already?"

"No coffee yet." Elea yawned briefly. "Definitely need it, though."

"I'm on it, then," Lotus said, going into the kitchen. She could make coffee as well as Elea could. When it was ready, she brought a mug to her friend. "Here it is."

"Thanks." Elea smiled a little and took her mug gratefully. "Thanks," she said quietly. "Hopefully you slept better than I did."

"What happened?" Lotus asked, sitting down next to her friend. "Nightmares? Or just couldn't sleep in the first place?"

"No, I just couldn't sleep." Elea shrugged. "I guess I've had too much on my mind recently."

"Maybe you should take a day off of work," Lotus suggested. "It couldn't hurt. Maybe you just need a day." She grinned a bit. "I'm setting a sale today, anyways. Good stuff~!"

Elea snorted. "Yeah, I think I might just call in sick," she admitted. "One day won't kill me. Besides, I've only missed like two days of work in four years."

"So you have like a month of vacation stored up," Lotus translated. "You're fine." She nudged her friend a bit. "Make sure to come shopping, then. We just got in a bunch interesting new things to look through."

"Pretty clothes are always good," Elea said with a grin. "And yeah, I've got the vacation time. And the sick time."

"Well, take the day off, then," Lotus said. She glanced at the clock. "And I need to get out of here if I'm going to have enough time to set the sale before doors open." She gave Elea a quick hug. "Just relax for a while."

Elea nodded. "I'll visit you later, after you've got things in some semblance of control." She grinned briefly. "Good luck."

Lotus nodded and headed out the door. She barely managed to get the sale set in time for opening, but she managed, and she was able to work steadily and not think about Rory or Leto for a little while.