Hats Off to You (Theo)

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“Oh, I just don’t know!” Lottie exclaimed, letting out an overdramatic sigh. Whipping the large yellow sunhat from her head, she replaced it with a smaller powder blue one and contemplated her reflection again. “They’re all pretty spiffy... what do you think?”

Shifting her eyes so she could see the sales girl standing over her left shoulder in the mirror, Lottie raised her brows in question.

“I think they all look positively wonderful on you! The blue one really sets off your eyes, but the yellow one totally matches your hair! And pink is just the perfect colour for you!” he girl gushed, dollar signs practically bursting from her eyes. To sell one would be a decent commission, but to sell all three? And this customer seemed both rich and gullible enough to buy any line she was fed as long as it came with lots of flattery.

“You’re right, of course,” Lottie agreed, though instead of smiling at the flattery her lips turned downwards. “But Daddy wasn’t very happy with me when I told him about the new wardrobe I already had to buy to fit in here...”

Big Daddy would certainly be less than pleased if she bought even more hats to go with the ones she had already bought plus the ones she had brought with her. Lottie wasn’t too worried, he could rarely refuse her anything, but he had sounded rather serious when he had threatened to cut off her cash flow. The very thought of it made her feel lightheaded.

Tapping her lips with her finger, she looked from the sales girl around the rest of the shop behind her until she noticed another customer milling around.

“Hello, excuse me, but what do you think?” Lottie asked, turning to face the man, one hat upon her head and one in each hand.

[hatter]

Theo felt comfortable around hats. Not nearly as comfortable as he felt sat in a quiet place with a well-made cup of tea, of course, but they at least calmed him down and made him think of home - or rather, those peaceful times at home where he could stand in his father's workshop and examine the complete and half-made artwork surrounding him, when the world of millinery didn't feel like a pressure, but like a calling... until his father interrupted him with more instruction or questions, or his mother called him away for some tea-related lesson or other.

It was due to those memories that, when Lottie turned to him and spoke, he jumped quite visibly and whipped around to look at her with wide, surprised eyes - eyes that only slightly narrowed when he realised she was not an irate parent, but a young lady asking his opinion.

There was momentary pause while he caught ahold of himself, by which point the more professional side of his nature had taken over, and he shook his head.

"No, no, not at all. Poorly made, for a start, but most of them are. Suitable, of course, but not master craftmanship by any means." He fixed a level, slightly disconcerting stare at the saleswoman, "Mass produced, aren't they? Just terrible."

Remembering what the question had actually been, he turned his gaze back to Lottie.

"The yellow is too large for your delicate features, the blue reflects onto your face and makes you look ill. The pink, if any," He decided firmly, casting an expert eye on the hat the saleswoman held "The size is about right and the colour will give you a healthier glow."

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Lottie was struck dumb for a moment when the gentleman proceeded to insult the very manufacturing of all three of the hats she held. Glancing over at the saleswoman, she felt a pang of pity; the girl just looked positively beside herself with shock and many other unpleasant feelings. Golly, she hoped the girl didn’t cry.

She was about to stand up for the poor girl, really she was, when he finally gave his opinions on the actual choices, and her inner fashionista took over. Really, it was more that her short attention span ran out and she forgot her earlier concern for the girl that quick.

“Well, pink is my favourite colour,” Lottie replied, making it sound like it was just so obvious that she knew exactly what colours suited her. “Though I already have a hat in almost this shade, just another style.”

In what appeared to be one swift movement, she whipped the hat off her head and piled all three in the saleswoman’s arms, barely casting the girl another glance. “You do seem to know a great deal about quality,” she said to the man, clasping her hands in front of her and fluttering her eyelashes just slightly. Not time yet to really turn on the charm. “Tell me, do you know of any better stores in this place? I am still fairly new here and would just hate ta be steered wrong and have someone take advantage of l’il ol’ me.”

[hatter]

She could have chosen to word it in absolutely any way at all - except, perhaps, outright rudeness - and he still would have reacted the same way. Oblivious to her eye-fluttering, but flattered by her acceptance of his obvious superior knowledge, he nodded slightly.

"I am quite new myself," he explained "And don't yet know of anywhere with a quality of hat that I would deem suitable"
Of course, his tastes were extremely refined in that area, having experienced the very best that milliners from around the world had to offer, so it was difficult for him to admit to the quality of any hat that was mass-produced.

He thought about it for a long moment, and then decided that if she indeed wanted a hat that he would approve of, and valued his opinion enough to avoid all others - and why shouldn't she? - there was really only one option.

"But I would be happy to create you something suitable."

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Wow, this guy was a real tough nut. None of the places here offered suitable quality for him? Lottie flushed a little thinking of the hats she had already bought from many of the shops here. Who was he to judge, anyway? Just because he was stuck up didn’t mean that he was right.

“Well, maybe ya just ain’t been around enough yet. There ain’t nothin’ like some’a the things I’ve seen here back home,” she drawled, quickly dropping the flirty act and sniffing a bit disdainfully. She had no proof he knew a thing about quality, and she was quite proud of the purchases she had made while she was here.

Of course all the indignation and thoughts went right out the window when he offered to make her a new hat. A one of a kind, designer hat, designed and crafted just for her? It was like he had handed her a block of gold.

“You’re a designer?” Lottie asked, absolutely starry-eyed. “Well that would just be the cat’s meow!”

[hatter]

"Hmm." Theo merely murmured slightly at her comment. If she wanted him to make her a hat, she was going to have to be a bit more polite than that - insulting his ability to find quality hats, indeed. Clearly she just came from a quality-hat-deprived area, so of course this mass-produced nonsense would seem fancy and expensive to her.

Admittedly, he hadn't been everywhere, and there could well be some bespoke hat shops here at Tintagel, but Theo didn't like to have his knowledge insulted when it came to hats, so he refused to accept that she might be right.

The damage was undone in a second, however, when she was so obviously impressed by his offer - now that was more like it.

"Of course it would." He nodded a little arrogantly "My father is one of the world's greatest milliners, you know, and he taught me everything."

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Lottie could barely contain her excitement. Sure, when she was younger a lot of her dresses had been designed and handmade, so it wasn’t like this was unusual, but she didn’t know this place yet and there was a chance this man really was somebody. Just because he was new here didn’t mean he wasn’t important where he came from (which he really seemed to be if his father was so famous), and maybe in a short time he would be equally famous here, and she would have one of the first hats he had made here. Wouldn’t that just be the cat’s pajamas?

“What’s your father’s name? Maybe I’ve heard of him,” she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her. “Although apparently my home is a bit behind in the times. Literally.”

It was quite possible, even probable, that Lottie had never heard of this man or his father. If he was from a time any later than the twenties then it was a certainty.

Boy, this place could really do a number on someone’s head if they really thought about it. Luckily Lottie wasn’t one to take the time and think about much.

[hatter]

Theo nodded slightly in understanding, it seemed that many people's worlds were behind the times - his included, being more of the victorian persuasion. It was possible she would have heard of his father, but who could ever be sure if two worlds corresponded at all? Still, it was with no small measure of pride, despite not having got along with the man, that he announced his father's name.

"Alistair Milliner. He is incredibly gifted." He didn't add that he privately suspected he was a little more gifted than his father, having a more wide-ranging imagination thanks to Wonderland, thinking it boastful to actually say out loud - he would rather prove it with his hats. Thinking of Wonderland, of course, made him think of one of his other favourite pastimes.

"Say, do you know any good riddles?"

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Despite knowing how strange this place was, how many worlds collided here, Lottie still couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed that she hadn’t heard of this man’s father. She shrugged it off fairly easily, though.

“I’m sure he is,” she replied. Of course she had no proof of it, for all she knew this guy was completely crazy, but the idea of having her own, one of a kind designer hat was just so fetching that it defeated any skepticism she might have felt.

Next she expected to hear all about Alistair Milliner, like what sort of famous people he had designed for, what kind of lessons he had taught his son, all the places around the world his hats were sold, but what she got next definitely gave her pause.

“Riddles?” she repeated, obviously taken aback. It was just such a strange question, and so out of the blue. Was this his idea of small talk? Well, she had heard that real geniuses usually didn’t do social well, often they weren’t so right in the head, so maybe this was just a sign that he really was brilliant. Couldn’t hurt to play along, she supposed. “Well, um...”

Tapping her chin with one perfectly manicured fingernail, Lottie thought back to the jokes and riddles her daddy used to tell her until she came up with one that she was pretty sure she had right. Mostly. “What’s your... no, wait. What do you own that... oh! Okay. What belongs to you but others use it more than you do?”

[hatter]

Hats were, of course, one of his favourite subjects, but there was just that tiny bit of negativity associated with his father that sometimes seeped in, especially when the conversation actually turned to the man, once again there was that sense of pride but the negativity grew even more pronounced.

Riddles, however, were something that neither of his parents had much interest for, riddles were his own, personal, private, special thing. They were, therefore, his favourite, although many people might think that was hats or tea, it was in fact riddles that he treasured the most - so he was thrilled when she played along and asked him one, even moreso when it turned out to be one he hadn't heard already.

"Let's see..." he murmured, frowning in concentration Could it be your friendship, perhaps? he thought No, wait, that doesn't make sense because you never use that and the question specified more than, not exclusively... your ear? People say can I have your ear, or your time... but you would use them more than other people... think, Theo, th...that's it!

He looked up excitedly, beaming in triumph.
"Your name!"

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Well, if she had even considered the question to be a possible joke before, the serious thought he was giving her riddle wrote that off pretty quickly. He had apparently been quite serious, and very interested in what she had to say. Sure, there were a lot of men who were interested in what she had to offer, but usually the offer didn’t consist of games. Well, not riddles, anyway.

Busying herself by looking around the shop again why he contemplated the riddle, Lottie saw a rather cute dress she had missed before and was tempted to just leave him to it and go try it on. She really didn’t have the longest attention span by a long shot. She quickly remembered his opinion of the hats here, though, and pushed the idea aside. Who was to say he only did hats? What if he was some fashion guru, or at least thought himself to be one? Maybe she could taken him insulting this store’s quality of clothing but she would not stand for him insulting her fashion sense.

Snapping her attention back to him when he finally came up with an answer, Lottie smiled brilliantly at him. “Yes!” she exclaimed, his excitement infectious, though a bit strange as well. Hey, if something that simple could make him happy, who was she to question it? “My daddy told me that one. It took me just ages ta get it when I was a kid.”

[hatter]

"Oh, you like riddles too?" He beamed at her - of course a lot of people knew a riddle or two, but if her father had taken to telling her them as a child, perhaps she knew a few more as well. It was a flimsy assumption, but it was more out of hope than anything else, he dearly wanted to find someone he could trade some good riddles with, and he always wanted to hear more.
One day, perhaps he'd write some himself.

He briefly wondered if he should perhaps ask her a few questions about what sort of hat she would like, or at least make arrangements for some kind of meeting or fitting regarding it - after all, you couldn't just make a random hat for a person, you had to know where they'd want to wear it, what occasion it would be for, or what activity. No thought, of course, of what she would wear with it, because as far as Theo was concerned, the hat happened first and the rest of the outfit followed to suit it.
All that could come later though, he dismissed the thought as quickly as it had come, he had much more interesting things to discuss now that riddles were on the table.

[Deleted]

Wow, that change that had come over him was amazing. At first he had seemed very uptight, stuck-up and a bit grumpy, but the smile transformed him. He was really rather handsome when he wasn’t looking down his nose at her. Too bad he was a hat maker and not a prince. Golly, was she going to find that all the most handsome boys here weren’t? Where were all the princes she had heard about?

Oh, right, he had asked her a question. Mind in the present, Lottie.

“I suppose, though I can’t say I’ve heard any good ones lately,” she replied. Obviously she wasn’t going to tell him that she really didn’t give a flying fig about riddles, she wanted him to make her a hat after all, but she really couldn’t remember too many others, at least not correctly. She might have one or two more she could pull off, but if it put her in his good graces she would go buy a book of them before they met next.

[hatter]

He sighed, despite knowing it was a little rude to show one's disappointment so openly, but he'd been so hopeful that perhaps she would know more.
At least he would get to make a hat, and if he pushed all thoughts of his father to the back of his mind - after all, the man wasn't here to criticise - that would still be quite enjoyable.

"Never mind, then." He forced himself to say brightly, moving on briskly before his disappointment showed more obviously "Now, about this hat miss..." he paused "Oh, speaking of names, I don't believe we have actually been introduced, I do beg your pardon, what is your name?"

This place really did make him forget his manners, everything was so different here, it was very strange.

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Well darn it, even her attempt at keeping him engaged while not putting herself in a difficult place hadn’t worked. Maybe she should have just told him she loved riddles and made another one up. It was a riddle. If he couldn’t come up with an answer she could just say it was a really hard one.

Kicking herself for her blunder, Lottie was at least relieved when he still seemed to be interested in making her a hat. She could win back his favour later, then, to make sure he made her the best one he possibly could!

He was certainly polite if nothing else, she thought, having completely forgotten his earlier rude behaviour already. Very formal, charming.

“LaBouff. Charlotte LaBouff, but please, call me Lottie, Mr. Milliner,” she said, because while he hadn’t introduced himself he had told her the name of his father. It only stood to reason to her that they would have the same last name. And while she was thinking over their conversation, he head still catching up on it all, she ran her last few words to him over in her mind again, her mistake, and suddenly it was her turn to brighten. She hadn’t exactly said that she didn’t know any more riddles, just that she hadn’t heard any good ones in a while! “And I didn’t say I didn’t know any more riddles, I just haven’t heard any good ones in a while,” she continued a bit coyly. “Would you care to remedy that?”