The girls were awoken shockingly early by PA’s the sun not even having risen yet over the London skyline. As they groggily made their way towards the club part of E’s, they were greeted by Drake sitting at a large table with a rather simplistic pancake breakfast already laid out for them.

     “Good morning girls!” Drake said, with the same nervous energy he normally reserved for big events, “I’m sorry for getting you all up early this morning, however our midweek guest is a very busy woman, and with her incredibly packed schedule, she’s only granted us a small window of time to film. So eat up! You’ve all got a busy day ahead of you!”

~~~

The Trampery Fish Island Village

     The group of contestants and Drake went outside Mister E’s, where two black taxi cabs were conveniently waiting to drive them to their destination. They split up three in one cab (Drake, Kacie, and Paxton), while the remaining two contestants went in the other (Natalie and Dahlia). Drake was gracious enough to take the seat facing backwards to allow the girls in his car a better view of London as the morning sun just barely started to peak over the skyline in the distance and the cars headed towards East London.

     Eventually, the cars stopped at their destination: a collection of brick buildings that seemed to mostly be nestled into a tight space by the Hertford Union Canal. The buildings were shockingly spartan for what they contained, mostly being comprised of simple, rectangular brown brick structures.

     The girls had lined up in front of one of these buildings. The first story was comprised of simple black bricks with large glass windows that were preventing them from seeing inside, a plain black set of double doors situated in the middle of these windows. Drake smiled, “Girls! I’d like to welcome you to the Trampery Fish Island Village, one of the newer fashion hubs that has popped up in London’s East side in the past couple of years. Today, you all will have the distinct pleasure of working with one of the crown jewels of this humble little fashion district.”

     Drake held the door open, the darkness of the doorway seemingly swallowing the girls in.

     No matter how many times it had already happened, the contestants (and really Drake too) always had a small look of amazement whenever they entered a building and it seemed to be significantly larger than the outside would have suggested.

     The fashion studio the girls had entered was simultaneously extremely minimalistic, with very few actual pieces of furniture or equipment, and yet strikingly jaw dropping. The flooring of the entire space was a dark green marble, flecks of white marble interspersed, and almost seemingly swimming about in the green ocean, leaving the floor resembling a slow moving galaxy of abstract shapes and colors. The walls, in contrast, had an almost more earthy feel, being constructed of black planks with the distinct whirls of cypress wood present throughout. Despite the dark-on-dark color scheme, the room had immensely powerful bulbs lighting up everything, creating an amazing contrast between any lighter shade color and its environment. The bulbs were dangling from the high ceiling via sturdy steel cables that almost seemed to blend in the walls based on the angle they were being viewed at.

     In the far corner of the room, a woman was fussing about with another woman’s outfit, making small tailoring adjustments or quick prods or pulls in order to try and get the pure white dress to fit against her exactly how she wanted. In front of them, a woman sat typing away at a computer. At least, the sound of typing could be heard, as the woman had absolutely no arms to speak of.

     “Hello,” Drake smiled, as the woman looked up from her typing, “We’re with ANGA… We have an appointment today.”

     “Yes,” the woman said confidently and coldly, wheeling back in her chair slightly, and with an amazing amount of flexibility, turning the monitor around with her bare foot, pointing at the schedule on it with her big toe, “It says here you’re not scheduled for another five minutes. I’m afraid you all will have to wait while Ms. President finishes up.”

     “That’s perfectly fine,” Drake smiled, raising his hands defensively, as the secretary turned the monitor back around.

     They waited patiently the girls shifting around awkwardly on the black, leather seats that made up the illusion of a waiting room, trying their best to watch the special guest and her model from afar. After a couple of minutes of waiting, the secretary stood up, better showing off the gray, armless turtleneck she wore, as well as her black skirt and flip flops. “Follow me,” she said in a monotone voice.

     As the girls approached, the secretary said, “Ms. President, the ANGA people are here for their appointment.”

     The fashion designer nodded her head, making one last adjustment and sighing, “Alright Stella, dahling. You can go and take your break now.” She folded up some glasses she was wearing, allowing them to dangle from the silver chain she was wearing.

     Now that they were up close, the girls could see that the fashion designer and her muse were not as normal as they seemed from a distance. For starters, the model (Stella), looked like one would expect a model to appear, almost unnervingly thin, a perfect complexion, in as imple but elegant white gown that probably cost more than any of the assistants had earned in their entire lives. However, now that they were up close, they could see that the entire upper half of her head was completely missing, her ‘head’ now having a bowl like shape with her mouth (which had striking red lipstick) being her only recognizable facial feature.

     The fashion designer, likewise, was mostly normal save for some strange oddities. She had long, platinum blonde hair, a spectacular figure, and was wearing a gorgeous black dress that ended right above her knees. Which, speaking of, were an inhuman white porcelain color, were clearly made out of some strange alloy, and had the knee’s completely reversed, causing her stance to appear odd, despite how fluidly she seemed to move.

     As they lined up, the girls could tell immediately that the fashion designer was eyeing them up, her face remaining completely emotionless so as to not reveal her thoughts on them, as Drake announced, "Girls, it is my pleasure to introduce you all to World Famous Fashion designer, Devon Moreau”

     “Oh please, Dahling," Devon smiled, “The pleasure’s all mine. And these must be the lovely assistants that I will get the pleasure of working with this afternoon,” She waved her hand at the girls, who most of whom blushed.

     “That’s right,” Drake smiled, “Speaking of working together, why don’t you go ahead and explain the challenge you have planned for them?”

     “Oh absolutely,” Devon smiled, nodding at her assistant, who gave a polite curtsy (well as close to one as she could with no arms) before walking off to set some things up.

     “You see Dahlings,” Devon began explaining, waving her hand around as she talked, “One important aspect of the magic show that always seems to go to the wayside is that of the lowly costume designer. I’m afraid that people are simply too content with the idea of a magician in a tuxedo and their assistant in some sort of leotard, with nary a though put in place for how the assistant’s going to look after the magic’s been done. And frankly it just simply bores me,” Devon smiled.

     “So, when I was contacted by ANGA about a potential collaboration, I knew that I would have to do something about that. So, for this midweek challenge, each of you will be designing a costume specifically with an altered form in mind.” From behind him, Drake produced a large bowl with little slips, which he watched as each contestant drew one of.

     “Now, obviously I don’t expect any of you to be particularly great with this, which is why I reached out to the London College of Fashion for some help,” through a back door of the studio, four college age appearing people. “These four will be your design buddies,” Devon explained, “There going to do their best to help bring your vision to life, all you need to do is make sure you steer them in the right direction.”

     “Oh, and remember, I’ve got a meeting in a few hours, so we need to get all of this done in under two hours,” Devon smiled a cheshire grin, as she said, “Well then… Get to it!” The studio broke into a frenzy of activity as the girls introduced themselves to their new partners for the next two hours.

~~~

Phase 1: Design & Create

     The design and create phase was an absolute mess of activity, everyone trying their best to match the insane deadline set by Devon, and as such, the editing jumped form perspective to perspective.

     “So,” Dahila smiled at her partner, a rather well built man named Ted, “I want my dress to look like outer space.”

     “Outer space you say,” Ted grinned, “Okay… How about,” he pulled out a little sketch pad, drawing a little doodle on it.

     Dahlia nodded along, until he did something she didn’t like “No… It should be longer.” He erased whatever he drew, drawing it again, “No… Longer…” he nodded his head, but the next two attempts only resulted in similar complaints

     Over at Paxton’s table, she blushed nervously as she asked her female dryad partner named Hilda, “So… I think I might have an idea of what the dress should look like.”

     “Really?” the dryad sounded impressed.

     “Y-yeah,” Paxton hid her face, “but uh… I mean… You’re the one with all the experience so maybe you should draw it too…”

     “If you think you can draw it Paxton, I’m sure you have a better vision of what you’re going for than I do,” The dryad smiled reassuringly.

     “So, do you know where the materials are?” Kacie asked her male, centaur partner, Rhod.

     “Well, it depends on what sort of fabric you want. Devon’s got her bolts stored in that store room,” He pointed towards one door, “but she prefers her yarns, and threads to be stored separately,” he pointed towards another door.

     “Okay, I’ll start gathering materials then,” Kacie was practically about to run away, when Rhod stopped her.

     “Wait! You haven’t told me what we’re doing.”

     “Oh, okay, it’s really simple,” Kacie sat back down.

     “I just don’t think I’m model material,” Natalie sighed, placing her head against the table, “Why even bother trying?”

     “Hey now!” her partner, a blond named Billie, “Come off it! You totally have the body to pull it off, Natalie.”

     “But not the face,” she mumbled.

     “If that’s the only hang up, there’s plenty we can do regarding that too,” Billie smiled.

     “Be careful,” Ted explained to Dahlia, “We don’t want it to be too long that it causes the dress to rip.”

     Dahlia was rolling out the roll of fabric they were using for her outfit, “Don’t worry, this fabric seems rather sturdy.”

     “Wow! Paxton this is really good!” Hilda smiled as she looked over the detailed sketch Paxton had made.

     “T-thanks,” Paxton blushed.

     “Yeah! We can definitely work off this. You have a pretty good eye!” Hilda stood up, making her way towards one of the various storerooms leaving Paxton blushing at their workbench.

     Rhod was busy with the sewing machine. As he did so, Kacie had rolled up her sleeves to show him her tattoos. “But you see, it’s not a perfectly straight line, it goes up and down a little bit.”

     “Mhm.” Rhod said, concentrating on making sure not to mess up the stitching on the leather.

     “See,” Billie held up a mirror, “What do you think?”

     Natalie was stunned, “Oh wow~… I look~”

     It was a rather stressful two hours, but thankfully, the outfits were completed, and after thanking them for their time, the students of the London College of Fashion were invited to take a seat with Devon and Drake.

~~~

Phase 2: Wear & Strut

     The studio was calm and cleared once again, the lights dimming so that they only illuminated a perfect runway strip. The girls had been helped into their outfits, and it was finally time to reveal them to the world.

     First up coming down the runway was Paxton. Her topic having been ‘Headless', she had decided to produce a strapless dress in a silver, almost muted periwinkle color. The dress had two almost sleeve like attachments that barely covered her forearms, and a slightly deepened V-cut in order to show even more skin to emphasize the lack of any sort of bump in between her shoulder blades. The dress unevenly went slightly below her knees, the right side just a few inches lower than the left, leaving the bottom edge at an angle.

     She walked down the aisle of light with a middling level of confidence, that seemed to grow the further she got along. At the turn, she struck a pose, holding her arms up and grabbing her opposite elbows, the movement looking even more natural without any head in the way.

     She turned around, swinging her hips confidently as she walked out of the light, the next contestant taking the stage.

     Next coming down the aisle was Dahlia, who was walking with poise down the aisle, her chin raised in the air as her dress dragged on the ground behind her.

     Dahlia’s topic was ‘Armless’, and so, she had designed a dress that had no armholes whatsoever. Without any shoulder blades to support it, Dahlia had gone with a rather form-fitting dress design, the material seeming to be made of an almost satin-like, dark-purple material, small little specks of something white causing it to look almost like a nebula. Starting from her neck, the dress’s collar was fitted with shiny clear gemstones, which seemed to slope evenly downwards, hugging her body and looking a bit like a tube with her complete lack of arms.

     The dress continued hugging her curves perfectly, until slightly below her knees, where the back suddenly extended backwards in a tail that dragged along the ground behind her for nearly twice as long as she was tall.

     When she hit the turn, it was obvious how thin her profile was thanks to her removed arms. Dahlia was by no means a wide person to begin with, but the way she held herself and the confident look she gave the audience, it seemed to cause her figure to appear that much tighter thanks to how she owned it.

     Dahlia even managed to avoid the potential pitfall of accidentally stepping on the tail of her dress on the way out, the ridiculously long addition slowly being pulled back into the darkness for quite a bit after Dahlia had left the stage.

     The third contestant for the evening was Kacie, and unlike everyone else who had gone so far, rather than going elegant, she had chosen a more casual, almost sporty outfit. Her theme had been ‘Cut in Half’ and so, she stumbled down the aisle slightly as she did her best to balance her upper half on top of her lower half with her arms. Her lower half was currently wearing a rather plain looking pair of black skinny jeans, black converse hightops squeaking down the aisle.

     For her upper half, she was wearing black, fingerless gloves, a designer black t-shirt, and a customized black leather jacket that had stripes of see through material along the sleeves.

     Once arriving at the turn, Kacie posed, sticking her arms out and flashing her tattoos a variety of rainbow colors, the lights being visible thanks to the alterations she had made to the upper half of her outfit. She then proceeded to climb down off of her legs (a rather slow process due to not wanting to ruin her outfit), striking a quick individual pose with each half of her outfit, before she proceeded to walk back down the aisle bisected, her legs leading the charge while she walked her upper half on the pads of her hands.

     Natalie was the final contestant, and when she walked out on the catwalk, it was almost like she was an entirely different person.

     For starters, there was the obvious physical changes. Her theme being ‘SWB’, her entire torso was missing, her neck smoothly and seamlessly transitioning right into her hips, which were currently decked out in an emerald green skirt, while she walked down the aisle on a matching green pair of flats.

     Then there was also the fact that she had taken off her glasses, her face appearing much less mouselike without her eyes being enlarged from her glasses. Likewise, with her frizzy hair being kept in place thanks to a copious amount of hairspray, the Natalie that strutted across the stage was nearly unrecognizable.

     She approached the turn with a real swagger in her step, a commitment to maintaining a neutral face like a model managing to make all the difference in her demeanor, as she executed a demi-plié at the turn before turning around and strutting off stage.

     With the final girl having gone, the lights slowly turned back on in the fashion studio, Drake and Devon standing up and giving the girls a round of applause as they came back into view, still wearing their various outfits.

~~~

Final Verdict

     “Well girls,” Drake said, looking over the scoring sheets that the audience members had produced, “we’ve gone over the results… and, well,” Drake bowed a little bit, gesturing to Devon, who smiled.

     “The winner of my little challenge is…

     Paxton!”

     Devon smiled, as the headless girl, jumped up a little in shock. Kacie (who was balancing on her lower half once again), patted Paxton on the back, while Natalie and Dahlia, lacking any arms, gave a little ‘hooray!’. Hilda seemed beyond ecstatic, and her classmates were celebrating her achievements just as much as Paxton’s.

     “Now, to the rewards, go the spoils,” from her pocket, Devon produced a golden ticket, Paxton shakily accepting it, her chest visibly moving up and down quickly, “regardless of how you end up performing in the overall competition, I would be absolutely honored to have you featured as part of my upcoming show in Milan. I’m sure we can work it all out after the competition has settled down.” Paxton seemed frozen in place, although it was hard to tell why without her face there. “And of course, whatever clothes I design for you, you will be more than welcome to keep.”

     “Now, as for you three,” Devon smiled, at the other contestants, “I won’t be letting you go home empty handed. In fact, now that I’ve got your measurements, when the audience makes a selection, I will gladly produce a Devon original for each of you based on the theme.” The other girls squee’d with excitement at this news, the excitement coming off of them only fueling Devon’s own.

     It was at this moment that the camera focused away from the girls and on Drake, “Well everyone. You heard Devon, feel free to pick what sort of present Devon should give each of the girls,” a seemingly innocent smile crossed over Drake’s face, “In any case, I want to thank you all for watching. Goodnight everybody!

Sorry, Voting is Closed!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

& Question Corner &

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To the Girls: “Well, my my, you made it, I'm so proud of you all, also Olive told me to let you know that she's doing well, she is pretty happy with her reward.

Anyway, as I keep repeating like a broken record, you girls are all winner in my eyes. And you better keep Drake's words in mind about verbal contracts. Believe me, I had to, in my Position as member of ISAG, help a British Guy with being accidentally wound up in a contract.

Besides that enjoy your stay, and if you need company let me know I just need an hour long flight to get to Heathrow.

Good luck~” -Andrea (@@Jeanue)

 Kacie: “Hey Andrea! Thank you so much for the kind words! And I still think it’s really cool that a contract with the ISAG is being given out for every elimination. Hopefully it means that even if I lose, I’ll be able to keep in touch with all the awesome people I’ve met along the way,” Kacie smiles, “And don’t worry about flying out to Heathrow, I’m sure with how much you’ve done for us last week, you deserve a break to relax and recharge. We can handle ourselves for a bit, and don’t forget! We’re definitely going to meet up at the after party!”

 Natalie: “It’s definitely one of those weird anomalies of history that the UK still honors verbal contracts. I recognize that it’s a different culture, and that there’s definitely people fighting against it, but verbal contracts just gives way too much power to people who know how to twist words to get exactly what they want. At least with a written contract, there’s a chance for a third party to review the terms and make sure there’s nothing shady going on. I’m just really thankful that everyone else this season seems to be pretty smart about making sure to avoid them.”

 Paxton: Paxton seems relieved, “I’m glad to hear Olive’s doing well. I bet she’s pretty busy trying to get things ready for her cruise ship. And it’s good to hear from you again Andrea! But don’t feel like you have to fly out,” She blushes, “After all, I’m sure you have enough on your plate already with your train job and trying to be an assistant. And then there’s having to deal with customs and everything,” Paxton blushes even harder, “J-just… don’t worry about us Andrea! We know you support us a lot. But I think we can handle it!” She tries her best to look confidently at the camera, “I’m pretty sure anyways.”

 Dawn (and Julia): Dawn looks lovingly at Julia, “I guess we might be staying as Dahlia a bit more here then, if that’s okay, Jewels,” Julia nods appreciatively, her hand already margining a little bit with Dawn’s before Dawn seems to stop it, patting her with her other hand. Dawn goes back to addressing the camera, “After all, even in the UK, there’s some pretty strong protections regarding merged people and contracts. So no need to fret, we should come out of this fine.” Julia still looked nervous but managed to nod her head once, before trying to merge with Dawn once again.

To Kacie: “I love the music [of England] too! I can't wait till we have a jam session.” -Genie Schutter (@@James-MacCloude)

 Kacie: “I’m really excited too! There’s just literally so much music,” Kacie gushes, “I don’t think it got into the episode, but I tried so hard to try and help Paxton find something she would like. Like, they had some of my all time favorite albums there like ‘You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby’, ’18 Months’, and ‘F.A.C.T 2’… But she didn’t really seem to like any of those. But hey, if she wants to listen to Spice Girls, far be it from me to try and stop her…”