Time: June 1st
Place: Savile Row, London
Status: open
Asa had decided that he liked London. It felt like a city he might fit into, in some other lifetime- a city rich with history and tradition, a city filled with buildings designed for royalty. Even on an errand, searching the tailor shops on one of the market streets, Asa felt a little bit more like the version of himself that had been stolen from him twenty-six years ago.
Shopping for a masquerade ball costume was very different than the usual clothes shopping Asa was used to. There were far more things to consider- more fabrics, more colors, more designs- and he had only a rough idea of what costume he was supposed to be looking for. The rules about what a gentleman should wear would be somewhat relaxed, so that was one less worry. But there was still one very important reason why this errand was a frustrating one.
Asa hated the very idea of masquerade balls. Not all of them, of course. But ones like this, when everyone was invited no matter what their standing- they grated on his nerves like nothing else.
“It’s a stupid idea,” he complained as he stalked from display to display. “Shove a bunch of people together, and let them all have at it, dancing and drinking without a care in the world who they’re dancing and drinking with. This? This is where you get ridiculous and impractical situations such as chambermaids waltzing with counts and dukes.” He ran his hand over a bolt of fabric. “And of course they’re all masked and costumed so no one knows who they are. Right. Yes. Brilliant, whoever came up with that idea. Some young lord could fall hopelessly in love with a masked maiden only to find out she’s a kitchen maid who borrowed one of her mistress’s dresses, and then it’s a big to-do and no one knows how to fix it, and the young lord ends up broken-hearted and the kitchen maid has no idea what she’s done and goes on her merry way. It’s a recipe for disaster.”
The tailor shop floor creaked as he moved to a new section. “What’s the point of it, anyway? I tell you, all this modern drivel, trying to foster camaraderie between upstairs and downstairs, it’s going to lead to no good, no good at- hey! Are you listening to me?”