Trust Machines - Even Stevens

Life had more or less returned to normal for Diana Stevens over the last six months. After being turned into an ice sculpture by her friend Joan and then accidentally melted, she had spent the next two months making herself useful as part of the cities water supply. That was not a situation she wanted to redo. Her colleagues had seen the funny side of it however, often offering her an empty glass to relax in or asking if she almost got flushed after visiting the toilet, Diana had blushed embarrassed at first, but had soon laughed along with them. Besides she had given Joan such a hard punch in the arm that her friend complained of a dead arm for three days. That would teach her for shrugging it off with a casual "well you got to go to the party, so it all worked out right?" after she got back to work.

She sipped her mug of coffee in the staff room trying to bring some warmth back to her numb fingers. Her latest work of art gleaming downstairs in the freezer room, a larger than life sculpture of Tina Whitmore as an angel with a harp, one of twelve angelic Tina sculptures she had made for the young heiress' upcoming birthday bash. After reforming out of the rich girls pool water after two months of being liquid Diana had ended up telling her about the whole experience as water. Tina had responded with a lot of "oh you poor thing" and "that must have been awful" as she told her tale, wearing a borrowed fluffy bathrobe as she dried off, her clothes soaked and thrown out by Tina who wanted to make sure the talented sculptress stayed long enough to agree to sculpt for her events.

Tina had managed to convince Diana to agree to sculpt for any events she planned in the future, the poor sculptress eager to agree to anything if it got her clothes and a bit of distance from the pool that had been her home for about a week.
After calming down the ecstatic Heiress and stopped the ringing in her ears from the woman's high pitched excited scream Diana began to regret her request for clothes. Tina it seemed didn't think she should leave looking plain and had said "unless you want to look like the maid...which i do have an outfit of that would look totally adorable on you, then you have to dress for success!" Which had started a three hour tour of Tina's extensive walk in wardrobe and make up collection. Diana of course doubted Tina's playful threat about dressing like the maid, but it turned out Tina did have three Maid uniforms hanging up amongst her expensive dresses, who knew.

Finally getting out of the cab and walking awquardly on the shiny pink heels Tina had given her, Diana made her way into Maxsi Catering building. Everyone was stunned but happy to see her again, she received hugs and smiles all around. Tony showed his relief that she hadn't gone forever with a bear hug so tight she thought he might break her in two. Once the excitement of her return died down the comments turned from where she had been to what she was wearing. Usually seen in jeans and T-shirts with the very rare skirt (she was an artist, clothes got messy) they were amazed to see her wearing a form hugging bright pink dress and matching heels, her lips coated in glossy pink lipgloss and even had a pink tinted eyeshadow around her eyes, Tina admitted she might have gone overboard. Everyone said she looked stunning but Diana had felt like a overgrown barbie doll.

Thinking back to that day Diana tapped her free hand across the keys of her laptop, trying to find something good to wear to Tina's party in a couple of days, nothing jumped out at her and not for the first time she wished she had more of a girly side for shopping. She could make beauty in art but she couldn't pick out an outfit if her life depended on it it seemed. It wasn't that she didn't want a girly side. she had drawn some amazing outfits on notepads when she was idly doodling in front of the TV in the evening but she could never find anything she wanted in the shops, nor did she have any skill with a needle and thread sadly. her last attempt had ended when she somehow sewed the fabric to her jeans AND one of her sleeves. making her own clothes was clearly out of the question.

Joan as always, suggested using the Venn machines to solve her problem, though Diana simply shuddered visibly at the idea of stepping foot in one of those machines again after her last attempt. She still remembered her trip through those gossiping women in the restaurant. Despite her silent promise to herself that she would never use a Venn machine again, she found her hand opening up the webpage to a Venn wiki to read up more on them, as she had many times over the past six months. She read people's comments about their experiences both good and bad, though she wasn't sure if she was trying to convince herself that her experience was a rare one, or comfort herself that she wasn't the only idiot to get stuck and lost.

She glanced up to see Joan enter the staff room and had just enough time to close the web page before her irish friend saw her reading about Venn and got excited again. She went back to looking for an elegant dress for the party. Joan sat down next to her heavily, as always letting herself drop onto the cushions rather than sit down slowly. The impact caused Diana to bounce slightly, almost spilling her coffee over her laptop in the act. With a frown and a sigh Diana looked to Joan "Do you have to sit down like that when i have hot liquid in a mug?" She asked her friend in a lightly annoyed tone, but Joan just smiled and looked at the screen "Still no luck finding an outfit for miss fancypants party?" She said in her bubbly irish accent happily, her tone gave away to Diana exactly where this conversation was going. "No i'm not using the venn to make an outfit, those machines are evil!" She said turning her attention back to the screen and sighed as she looked at another boring looking dress.

Joan wasn't going to give up that easily though, she shifted closer to her friend and nudged her gently with her shoulder causing Diana to frown "Coffee!" She stated simply, getting Joan to stop the nudging "But Di, i've seen the drawings of those dresses you thought up...ive also seen you sew your sleeve to a scarf. the Venn machines can let your creativity work without ever touching a needle" She said trying to press the subject. She was slightly annoyed that she had finally gotten Diana into a Venn, only for her to back away from them just because of one little accident. Ok she had spent two months as water, but she was fine now wasn't she?

Diana sighed, she was used to this conversation by now. Joan kept pestering her to use her, to sneak her into a party as one of the amazing dresses she had seen pictures of, though Diana vowed never to step foot in a Venn again, she was amused by the idea of getting back at her friend for her almost dangerous oversight with her last trip through the Venn Machines. Every time Joan brought it up, she felt a bit of her resolve of keeping her vow crumbling, though she was careful never to show it to her persistent friend, she knew if Joan saw her wavering she would pounce like a lion on a gazelle and not let go until she got her to agree.

She put down her half finished mug of coffee and turned to her friend with a serious face "You really want me to use a Venn to make my outfit?" She asked with a slightly over the top annoyed sigh, but Joan didn't notice her friend, too excited that Diana wasn't dismissing her idea instantly like usual. "well yeah, like i said they would look so amazing!" she said bouncing in her seat unable to contain her excitement at the idea of getting Diana back into a Venn. Diana did her best to hide her smirk at her friends eagerness "so that means you would be agreeing to be worn by me? getting into one of those lavish parties i get to go to?" Joan's grin couldn't get bigger without tearing her head in half as she nodded "well yeah, you have to Venn with someone and you know i would love to see the inside of one of those parties like you did" "well thats the problem" Diana replied, crossing her arms casually "i mean, dresses dont have eyes, or ears. you would be like how i was as an ice sculpture. blind and deaf...unless" she trailed off glancing to the side, she could see Joan was hanging on her every word now.

"unless? unless what Di? do you have a way around that?" Joan asked eagerly, she might actually get to go to one of Tina's exclusive parties, see some celebs and get Diana to get over her fear of the Venn machines all in one fell swoop. "well i guess i could design the dress that had thousands of tiny cameras in the stitched patterns of the dress, a few small microphones too. that should possibly allow you to see and hear. but a power source...hmm...ooh, tiny solar panels. that might work" she said with a smile, looking like she had just thought it up, though really she had been designing what she would Venn Joan into if she ever broke from her persistance for a few weeks now, but she had to sell the pitch as a sudden idea to reel her friend in without suspicion.

seeing Joan practically vibrating with barely contained excitement, Diana let out on final sigh for show and smiled "fiiiiine. well i have the idea in my head, we may as well go do it now...i mean, if your ok spending the next couple of days as a dress" she said, letting her voice carry the tone of a possibility of second thoughts. she jaw Joan fall for it hook, line and sinker as she quickly grabbed her hand "i don't mind. whats a couple of days if i get to go see celebs on my best friend?" she grinned reassuringly to which Diana tried her hardest to actually avoid smirking too. she nodded and stood up "well then, to the Venn i guess" she said, resisting the urge to laugh.

As she set the timer on the Venn she had to smile, Joan was so busy chatting her ear off about future possibilities of trips through the Venn that she wasn't even checking the time she was setting. she walked in with her friend and nodded and "uh huh" to her friends constant chatter, focusing on picking the right options, making sure everything would work as planned. she didnt want to end up dressed in something that looked worse than the plain dresses she had seen online. Joan kept chattering away the whole time, even when Diana was finished and was grinning at her as the timer counted down. she let out a snort of laughter as her friend got suddenly cut off as she fell to the floor in a heap of fabric. strolling round to the other side, Diana scooped up her friend and held her against her, stroking her soft silky fabric, looking at the intricate pattern of flowers and vines stitched into the green fabric in golden stitches. her face spreading into a grin at how beautiful she had turned out.

for Joan the sensation was odd. she had suddenly found herself deaf and blind, though she felt Diana's hand stroke her as she was picked up. as she was brought out into the sunlight she slowly got a fuzzy view and heard faint sounds as they got louder and clearer, her vision becoming brighter "...lieve how beautiful you turned out Joan. your an amazing dress!' she heard Diana say as she held her up. she saw her reflection in the glass of a shop window being held up to her friend and had to agree, she was a breathtaking gown. she couldn't wait for the party! her little solar batteries keeping her with vision and sound as long as she was in the light. Diana was nice and hung her up in the front room and kept the light on as well as the radio when she went to work.

before she knew it, the day of the party had arrived. she could feel Diana's warm skin brushing against her inside, her fabric conforming to her body perfectly, she looked around as Diana walked, proudly accepting compliments on how beautiful she looked. Diana herself had woven vines and flowers into her golden locks to go with her gorgeous dress, she kept stroking the fabric absent mindedly as she chatted away. Tina hugged her and thanked her for the wonderful sculptures as always, she shook hands with movie stars, pop stars and even the mayor of the city! everyone seemed to be at this party, as soon as they had heard that Diana's sculptures would be on display at this event the invitations had all come back with acceptance. Tina loved the crowds, even if she had to share the spot light with Diana a bit. it was a small price to pay for such a wonderful turn out.

finally though, the party was over. Diana stumbled out of the Limo Tina had called for her and up to her apartment. she fumbled with her keys and walked in locking the door. she looked down at her dress and smiled "you were certainly a hit tonight Joan. i bet you loved every second" she kicked off her heels and began pulling the woven vines out of her hair, walking to her bedroom. she slipped out of Joan, letting her collapse to the floor and slipped into her pyjamas. she picked up her friend and slipped her on a hanger "i think its time you went in the closet though, no point keeping you out if I'm not wearing you to a party any time soon" Joan was confused. the closet would be a cramped place to turn back. Diana smirked and fake gasped "oops...you know what, i think i might have accidentally set the timer to two months...oh well...you got to go to the party didn't you?" she said with a smirk as she closed the door, leaving Joan in pitch black.

as the light was cut off from her Joan began to feel the world getting quieter, as they had no energy to keep her with sight and sound. her final thought before her world went silent was "oh that bit..."
leaning on the door of her closet Diana had the biggest grin on her face. her friend would be freaking out about two months in a closet all night. she couldn't wait to see her face when she turned back in the morning. maybe she should tell her and ease her panic....nah.