it was a poor time financially for penelo. she never had much money in the first place, but the rabanastrian orphan had been unable to even get an odd job from migelo in the past few weeks. migelo had been busy, yes, but there hadn't been much for her, vaan, kytes or anyone else to do in the store somehow.

vaan and kytes had ratcatching and pickpocketing to earn a few extra gil for their own pockets (though vaan kept getting his own pockets picked as well), but she couldn't catch rats or pick pockets. well, she could, but she didn't like to steal from other people. and even when she tried catching rats every other ratcatcher around either beat her to it or the rats ran away. she thought there was something very wrong with that, the rats were afraid of the girl..

migelo had promised her that if he had any odd job soon it was her turn. that had been a week ago. she was getting bored as well as a little depressed at the fact she only had a handful of gil, a few buttons, and some sand in her pocket. as she sat bored in the store while vaan and kytes were off ratcatching, pickpocketing, picking rats out of people's pockets or pickpocketing rats, migelo approached her.

'penelo, a friend of mine might have a job for you, m'girl.' the blue bangaa said.

'really? what kind of job?'

'it's a pretty simple job in her store up by the palace. one of her normal workers has a family emergency and can't work like she's supposed to.'

'what store is it?'

'madame lufaines.' migelo said.

'the one with the statues wearing the dresses and suits?' penelo asked. it was a dressmakers that sold fine clothes that cost more money than penelo could earn in a year and not a place she'd ever expected to work at never mind buy from.

'yes, that's the one. but you see, they ain't statues. not as such.'

penelo remembered there had been rumours about that, but they were just kids urban myths, the little stories that seemed scary but impossible when you were younger and silly when you got older. instead of statues, she had kidnapped people to stand as dummies to make clothes around them and put them on display. then she'd heard a more logical rumour. they'd been employed to do it. that made more sense, but the dressmaker seemed to not want to admit if it was true or not. after all, it seemed the fear of being turned into stone kept the younger orphans far away from the place, and far away from causing any problems.

'oh, right. they're real people acting as...' penelo said.

'i see you heard that story too. at least you ain't like kytes and his friends, thinking she's turning people into stone to get herself cheap mannequins. no, she pays all her models well. and you don't need to do much.' migelo admitted.

'wait a second, what job does the usual person do?' penelo asked.

'she's... she's usually one of the, er, dummies. she didn't explain much but she says if i knew any pretty girls looking for some extra cash who didn't have much planned for a month i was asked to send them along. that's pretty much you.' migelo said.

penelo had to admit it was worth at least going along to see.

'what do i do?' penelo asked.

'go along after noon and tell them i sent you. madame lufaine will explain the rest.'

***

penelo went along later on, and felt some nerves upon seeing the statue in the window. it was a real woman turned to stone wearing the fine silk dress, but that didn't really worry penelo much. what did bother her was self-doubt. the statues in the window were always very pretty. pretty enough to make her feel self-concious about her own looks. she paused outside before deciding she had nothing to lose by going in.

'good afternoon.' a tall dark-haired woman said as she entered. the woman was as finely dressed as her display items, and had an air of nobility around her.

'um, hello. my name's penelo...'

'ah, yes, the girl migelo said he'd send along. i trust he didn't explain much?' she said. she had a posh accent to go with her fine dress and aura of richness, so penelo assumed she was madame lufaine.

'no, he just said one of your... models wasn't able to work and you needed help.'

'yes. he did at least explain about the models?'

penello glanced to her right and noticed that the model there was in fact a man in a suit standing beside a woman in a wedding dress. both statues and clothing were beautiful. they were both in their early twenties, obviously meant to be posing as a newlywed couple.

'yea... yes, he did.' penelo replied, still looking at the two.

'rals and kulin. thier idea of a joke, to pose for our wedding tailoring. in two months they're getting the suits and dresses free of charge at their own.' the woman explained. penelo looked back at her.

'nervous?' she asked.

'well, not really, but...'

'oh, that's right, i haven't introduced myself. i am lara lufaine.' madame lufaine said.

'i'd assumed so.' penelo said sheepishly.

'anyway, i suppose you've heard the rumours about my employees who model the merchandise. probably the ones the children hear and the ones you hear when you are older, yes?'

'uh, yes.' penelo said. lufaine smiled.

'and tell me, when you were younger did you or any of your friends ever wander up to the shop to try and find out the truth?'

'no. uh, well, i was going to once, when i was ten, but my friends were convinced i'd be a statue in the window the next day.' penelo admitted.

'well, they might have simply been a few years early. you'll be paid 5000 gil for the whole month. i'd explain what it entails but i've found it's easier to let you ask the questions.'

'uh... what exactly happens?' penelo began.

'that one is simple. me and two of my assistants will have you pose, we'll cast a magic spell on you to turn you into stone and then make a dress around you. we have to make the dress around you after you petrify or it will turn to stone too.'

'does that mean i need to be, um, naked while...'  came the nervous question. lufaine smiled.

'not at all, at worst we'd want you in your underwear. we sell outer clothes at this store, not underthings. don't worry though, both of my assistants are women as well.' the dressmaker explained.

'does it hurt to be turned into stone?'

'not at all. in fact it hurts less than having the dress made when you're not stone. needles are sharp, but statues aren't bothered by pinpricks.'

penelo hadn't quite thought of that.

'this one might sound rude but...' penelo began.

'why make the dresses on petrified models? simple. it's better than some dull mannequin, the clothes contrast better, and it's easier to have a display that can simply undress itself when you turn it back. it may be a little expensive, but people who shop here don't regard price as an issue, and often we earn enough from a few good dresses to pay for a dozen displays.'

penelo noticed that there were currently only three, the window display and the engaged couple posing as newlyweds.

'will i be a statue the whole month?' penelo asked

'oh, you won't be a statue the whole time, darling. it's not good for you. we'll let you loose every day the store is closed to stretch your legs, move about a little and have a rest, but yes, most of the time you're just there to be a pretty face in a pretty dress. any other questions?'

penelo had none.

'good. are you interested?'

penelo thought for a moment. it was 5000 gil for doing nothing at all. the most she'd ever earned doing favours and odd jobs for migelo was 250 gil over a whole month. sure, it might be a little dull standing around, but it was easy money. the 250 gil had seen her work from dawn until dusk most days

'oh, and if you wish you may keep the dress at the end. it's not going to be sold off you. all our material is tailor made, and when you display the dress, it's made for you, so it's not going to fit anyone else in the first place unless they have a figure like yours.' lufaine said.

'i'll do it.' penelo agreed.

'good. come back in the evening when you're ready, after six.'

***

'you're getting paid to do nothing?' kytes eventually realised. penelo was sure kytes was probably disapointed to learn the rumours of kidnapped models petrified in shop windows weren't true. then he'd just have to stick to urban myths and scary stories that might have actually been true.

'pretty much.' penelo replied.

'so what do we say to people who wonder where you are?'  vaan realised.

'make something up. they find the rumours handy around there because most people think the pickpockets are kids, and anything to scare them off is a good thing.'

she finished making sure she was ready to be gone for a month, even if she'd just be on the other side of the town. she didn't realise that though vaan had figured claiming she had been hired to work in the palace for a while would convince anyone asking, kytes was already making his own story up for his friends to hear...


***

when she went back, the window had curtains drawn over it, and when she went into the store, the statue that had been there was gone. the engaged couple stood in place, and madame lufaine and her two assistants were waiting for her.

it wasn't really as bad as it could be, penelo thought. it had been a little embarrasing to stand in just her underwear while they got the spell ready, and a little claustraphobic to have them building up the dress around her. they had planned to assemble a full length ball gown around her where she stood petrified as a tailor's dummy. her hair had been set long and some items of jewlerry, necklaces and earrings, had been put on her as the pink satin dress was made up. it was done quite quickly, she thought. madame lufaine held a mirror in front of her, letting her see herself in the gown, albiet staring out with petrified eyes. penelo barely recgonised herself and imagined that even unpetrified she'd have the same problem.

'we're just going to move you out into the window now.' lufaine explained. penelo felt the assistants carefully lift her by the arms and guide her into the window before they opened the curtains.

as she stood there while the assitants and madame lufaine cleared up behind her, a few passers by gave her a glance. most of the males looked her over closely, most of the women were looking at the dress. most seemed pleased either way, but since it was late, there were few people around. it would be dark soon, and a strange thought occurred to penelo. she'd never seen what happened up here at night....


***

penelo now knew why she hadn't tried to see if anything intresting happened overnight in this part of town. because nothing did. she had stood and watched the handful of people leave the streets after sunset, and then all she saw were the moths fluttering around the lanterns.

even when the sun came up things weren't too interesting. nothing really happened until about eight in the morning as shop owners arrived to open their stores. nearly every store here sold something expensive, and so there were not many people here to buy, but there were plenty of window shoppers. that was why every store had something on display in the window, though most of them simply had things like cabinets and paintings. madame lufaine's had a dress. the wearer was secondary.

penelo realised the irony of it all. a dress was something to make a woman look pretty, and statues were works of art. in this case, she had been turned into a statue to make the dress look pretty. it was a little less flattering to realise it though. it meant that most of the people looking in the window were probably looking at the dress.  

by noon, penelo was convinced that she had a boring month ahead of her. not many people passed by at all, less than a hundred so far she guessed. it would continue for a week, a dull cycle of watching moss grow on the fountain and seeing people stare through the window not at her, but at the dress. at least it was good money for next to no work at all.


***

unfortunately for her, kytes was already starting his prank.

'hey kytes, have you seen penelo lately?' filo asked. kytes shook his head.

'no. not since yesterday. i don't think vaan and migelo know where she is either, when i asked them they didn't say anything...' he lied.

'she's missing?'

'i don't think so, just no one's seen her lately.'

'that's what it means for someone to go missing, dummy! we need to find her.'

'well, maybe we should wait, i mean she's only been missing since yesterday. she's probably just away on an errand for migelo that's going to get her paid well.' kytes said. that wasn't a complete lie...