March 19th, 1889 — Gladrag’s Wizardwear
For Conundrum Roulette

Rumour has it that Gladrags has received a shipment of silks from the Orient, a luxury you’re keen to take advantage of. You are not disappointed: no more than half a dozen trunks of the stuff are already open and being pursued by the fashion-forward.

When someone goes to open a seventh, however, curiosity turns to calamity as, instead of bolts of fabric, a pair of leithfold are contained within!

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Ailsa Fraser/Elladora Black Katherine Russell/Ophelia Devine Florence Jewell/Sisse Thompsett Louisa Lupin/Fortuna Bixby

  

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The feel of silk against her skin never failed to send Ailsa into paroxysms of joy and she lifted a roll from the trunk before her to hold the patterned silk against her cheek, all the better to revel in the sensation. She sighed and immediately imagined the creations she could bring to life with such sensationally luxurious material to work with - Ailsa doubted most women had ever felt anything quite so satisfying in their lives.

She was determined, therefore, that her girls would and Ailsa mentally calculated how much she would need to purchase to make undergarments for each of them, along with some for herself of course and possibly a waistcoat for Ewart-

“Aargh!” Ailsa cried as something curled around her right leg and tugged, sending her sprawling into the piles of fabrics that were stacked around Gladrags.

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Silk was familiar to Kate; their home in Morocco had been a port city and one of the major stops for ships both magical and Muggle to stop and resupply between departing from ports along the Silk Road and heading towards various destinations in Europe or the New World. She knew how to work with it, and had been surprised by how rare it was to see it in England — either in raw form or in finished clothing. When she'd heard that Gladrag's was getting a large shipment of it, then, she'd determined to go out and see what price they'd set on it. If she could get her hands on some for a modest amount and turn it into a new bodice or skirt, it might make her stand out in England — in a good way, not in her usual way.

She was hanging back, on the edge of the small crowd that had gathered around the silk as it was unloaded, hoping her presence would be neither noticed nor remarked upon by the other women there. She wasn't watching the crates be opened, but she did have an excellent vantage point to see the shadowy thing wrap around the woman's leg.

"Something grabbed her!" Kate exclaimed as the woman fell. "There's something in the silk!"

  

Louisa tended to be a bit of a creature of habit when it came to the finer things in life. When one was able to afford such things, it only made sense. So when news of silk had reached her ears, she hadn't been able to resist going to the dress shop, her mother in tow. Surely they could manage a good deal for the both of them for a new dress. The new season would be upon them soon enough and with the failure that the previous one had been thanks to the fog, the two Lupin women were determined to make it a good one.

The blue eyed beauty had stopped at a lovely dusty rose colored silk. With some enchantments and the right amount of detailing, it would make for quite the lovely dress. Not quite the pale virginal hues often expected but not so bold that she'd raise too many eyebrows about it. She'd just turned to ask her mother's opinion when a shriek met her ears and then a young girl lingering on the outskirts of the containers said something about the woman being grabbed by something.

A brow raised then as she stupidly dared to peek closer at the boxes to see what could possibly be hiding within only to have her wrist snatched. A shriek of her own echoed the other woman's as she was pulled headlong to the ground.

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Lovely Lady Set!

With Sherry’s debut only a few months away Florence was eager to see the silks that the proprietor of Gladrags had tipped her off to, even if she was joined by many eager women. It was worth it to look over the fabrics in front of them. It was all too rare to see silks like these in England. But it might help Sherry stand apart from the crowd.

Fingering a pale green silk from a chest, Florence was considering what affect it might have on Sherry’s complexion when a scream pierced the air. Her eyes darted around the room to spot a red headed woman’s skirts tangled in a black shadow. Thinking of her trip to the potions store a few months ago and the quick response of the gentleman who had helped her, Florence pulled out her wand from the concealed pocket of her gown, when another scream pierced the air right behind her.

Eyes wide, the woman spun around to see a young woman with a similar shadow entangling her wrist. Something about her reminded her of Sherry and maternal instincts kicked in. “Stupify!” She cast at the creature.

  

Katherine was watching wide-eyed after making her exclamation, which meant she got an even better look at the thing that whipped out onto the wrist of the second women. It seemed familiar, in a way — not something she'd ever personally encountered, but something that she'd heard stories about, maybe. Something that she ought to recognize, growing up primarily in Morocco.

Whatever it was, the stunning spell that someone sent its way didn't seem to have any effect whatsoever on the black thing — but it did knock some of the other silks out of the way to give them all a better look at it. It looked just like another piece of fabric, except that it was moving. If it hadn't gone and latched onto someone, Kate might have thought it was a stray cloak that had been misplaced from the showroom floor.

"Oh," she said, something making a connection in her head. She did know what these were. They were a problem in Northern Africa — more so, she imagined, than they were in England, since no one else seemed to know how to react to them. She'd been warned about them the same way that she was warned about fairies or doxy bites. Creatures that looked like black cloaks and snuck into children's rooms at night — what were they called? And what was one supposed to do about them?

  

Ailsa had no notion what was going on, or what had sent her flying, but the unfamiliar scream brought her back to her senses and she rolled over amongst the surprisingly comfortable silks and tried to blink herself back to sense. A blurry flash of red hair made her think for a wild moment that one of her daughters had agreed to meet her after all but her vision cleared just in time to see Florence - a delightful surprise! - send a stunning spell at a sheet.

For one glorious moment it all made perfect sense. Until it didn’t and Ailsa felt herself being tugged along the ground by a cloak that had wrapped around her ankle.

“Get it off me!” She shrieked, not at all sure what it was.

  

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Nothing came of Florence’s spell, but she had whipped around too quickly at the sound of another person’s cry for help that she didn’t even seem to notice the inadequacy of such a spell. Her eyes locked on Ailea, her red hair bright against the backdrop of silks she had apparently tumbled into. With a quick whip of her wand and cry of “Stupfy!” She attempted to stun the thing.

It didn’t let go. The realization had her turning around and looking back at the girl, the create still attached to her arm. What the bloody hell were these devilish creatures? “Help! There are creatures over here.” She called for a store attendant, hopefully someone who knew more about these infernal things than she did.

  

"Lethifold!" Kate blurted as the word finally came to her. Shadow-creatures that preyed primarily on sleeping Muggles, but sometimes devoured magical children or adults if the opportunity arose. She remembered a nurse telling her about them. She'd thought they must have been make-believe, because she'd never heard of one in England, until the nurse had gone and found a picture of them in a book. For a week after hearing about them, she'd snuck into Isaac's room at night to ensure that nothing was creeping up to smother him while he slept.

They liked to get people while they slept, because then they didn't fight back. And they liked Muggles, because they couldn't fight back. These ones must have been starving, if they were going after people with wands in broad daylight. But then, Kate supposed if she had been boxed up and sent via boat from the Orient to England, she would probably be starving, too.

So there was something magic to be done about them — because otherwise why would they prefer Muggles? Clearly the stunning spell that the older woman had tried twice, to no effect, wasn't it. Kate tried to recall from the stories her nurse had told her, but all she could remember was that her plan if she ever found one in Isaac's room would be to turn on all the lights, yell very loudly, and go find the nanny. The lights in the shop were already on, and people already were yelling. So clearly that wasn't going to keep them at bay.

  

Ailsa kicked her feet like a madwoman but it didn't seem to be making much difference to the creature that held her tight and it was all she could do to keep her skirts in place as she skidded across the floor feet first. Lethifold indeed!

"Isn't that a type of fabric?" She squeaked in a panic. Later she would ask herself why she had said it but in that moment it seemed imperative for her to differentiate between whatever this creature was and something she may well have in her workshop at home that may or may not be preparing to attack her. She gave another kick and - oh thank Merlin! Her leg was free and Ailsa swung it out of the creatures way and jumped to her feet with less grace but more speed than anyone would likely give her credit for, and she promptly jumped on top of one of the closed trunks so she could see the ground better.

"Where did it go?!"

  

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Kate watched the lethifold slither away from the woman's foot and into the shadows of another pile of clothing. "Over there," she said, pointing. At least initially it didn't seem inclined to spring back at them from the shadows, which left them with only one out in the open— but was a lethifold in the open more or less dangerous than one in the shadows?

"They're creatures that look like cloaks. They smother people and eat them," she explained. The fact that they normally operated only at night did not seem incredibly relevant at the moment. "But I don't think they can kill you if you keep them away from your face," she added. It was probably poor consolation to the woman still currently being attacked by one, but small mercies were better than none.

  

What the hell was a lethifold? For all Florence knew it could be just as Ailsa said and be a fabric. The creature unwrapped itself from her friend and slinked away as the girl continued to explain. How the young thing knew this and they didnt was beyond her but there really wasn't any time to question it. Keep them away from the face. Got it.

She spun back to the other young girl, the shadowy creature had slunk up her arm instead of retreating. “What keeps them at by?” She asked wracking her mind for a spell to help the poor dear while she kept her wand trained on the thing. If she had to she would try to stun it again.

  

How on earth was she the expert in this subject? Katherine had been hoping that once she identified the creatures, someone else would have some idea about what to do to get rid of them. Apparently not. They weren't even supposed to be in England, she had to remind herself — it wasn't as though anyone else would have had first hand experience with them.

"I — I don't know," she confessed, flustered. "I haven't ever actually seen one. Just heard stories. They're not supposed to be out in the day, usually. Isn't there — someone we can send for, or something? Someone who handles these sorts of things?"

  

Keep them away from your face. Well that was reassuring, Florence thought with a degree of bitterness, but the informative girl didn't seem to be handling it any better than the girl Florence was trying to help. The poor thing had just passed out as the lethifold crept up her arm, closer and closer to her face.

"I don't think anyone is coming." After all Florence had already tried to get an employee over here. "We should try to get out of here." Just as soon as she could get that thing off the passed out girl's arm. Florence was close to panicking herself as she watched it, then something the girl said crept into her mind. They didn't like daylight. "Lumos." She cast confidently, or at least she was really trying to remain calm and confident she didn't want to spark any panic with the ladies around her

  

No one was coming? What, didn't England have a police force, or a magical patrol, or anything? In her home city in Morocco, the port authority tended to handle most of the disturbances in town, because anything that caused a disturbance was bad for the port and therefore had the potential to cost a lot of powerful merchants a good deal of money. Since most of the sea traders in the town either had or could easily hire what amounted to a small private army, their interests were well protected by the city. Particularly if the disturbance was a magical one — violations of the International Statute of Secrecy lead to hefty fines and expensive clean-up crews. Maybe in an area like this, where they didn't have to worry about Muggles wandering by, it was less important to have official responders — but presumably young ladies weren't often being attacked by lethifolds in the clothing stores!

The creature flinched away from the other woman's light spell, but it was only a momentary pause — as if it had been expecting something else when it saw the gleam of light, then relaxed when it was only a soft glow. Maybe they were on the right track here, Kate thought — but they needed a spell that would actually do something to the lethifold, not just illuminate it.

"Can you cast one of those — uhm, those animal things?" she said, forgetting the word for what she was trying to say. She certainly hadn't ever learned to cast one — it hadn't even been on her tutoring curriculum to try, yet. "They look like animals but they're made out of light? To protect you from dark creatures?"

  

Precisely who would be able to handle such things Ailsa wasn't sure but she kept her eyes alert for ripples across the ground all the same. How did one deal with a cloak? Well, there were a few obvious ways of course but surely it couldn't be that simple? If only she had her dress scissors with her - she might not know much about whatever-they-were but she was yet to meet a creature that didn’t pale in the face of her sharp utensils.

And they were the very thing for cutting through fabric!

“Is that it?!” She shouted, pointing to movement on the floor, a corner at first that rapidly became a wider object, shimmying slinkily across the ground. It was almost beautiful really, especially with the light of Florence's spell draped across it. “Keep back ladies!”

Ailsa, coincidentally, had cast a mostly passable patronus once upon a time, however the common sense she would need to repeat the feat had utterly deserted her as the spirit of a Totally Brilliant Idea entered her body. No sooner had she offered her totally uncalled for instruction Ailsa, throwing caution to all four winds, jumped from her safe spot and landed on top of the cloak, pinning it with her boots.

“Got you! See how you like it,” she growled, digging her heels in.

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