getting ready to party!

Technically, the party started at 7pm. However, factoring in just about everything Melodie had planned, for her the party would be starting at 4pm. She blocked out the schedule in advance, silenced her phone, and laid out all the necessary equipment. 

First step, of course, a nice relaxing bath with all the products needed. Shampoo, conditioner, all sorts of pampering tools. Today, it was a lot of honey scented things; she had picked up a swathe of them recently after running out of her last batch. She wasn’t entirely sold on the honey just yet; though a change up from last week's lavender was definitely appreciated. 

Some people may find it more efficient to bathe in bun form, but bathing in doll form is always more relaxing to her. Feels much more like a pampered spa treatment; enough so that she spends perhaps a little too much time soaking. Eventually, she’s clean, honey-scented and ready for the next step of the ‘readying for a party’ adventure.

Melodie dries off, wrapping her hair and ears lightly out of the way with a towel. Luckily, having her own room means that she doesn’t have to worry about walking around just out of the shower. Not that she really did much of that worrying about at any point of her life, individual room or not. First, outfit. Then she can deal with figuring out the rest of the look. There were a couple cute ones she set out earlier, and she hums as she glances over each of them. 

The green mini-skirt that she bought a few weeks ago is decided against quickly, and she’s not entirely sure what she was thinking about that one. The tie-dye crop top is similarly discarded, back into the drawers. After a lot of hemming and hawing, she settles on an off-the-shoulder lavender dress that she’s worn a few times before. 

“Since it’s an old dress, that means…” Melodie muses as she shimmies into it. “I gotta do something else new!” Luckily it’s not a wedding, because blue wasn’t the moment right now. She sweeps a few of the unused outfit options off the dresser stool, and perches herself on it. The rim lights around her mirror pop on, and she leans her elbows onto the dresser to get a good long look at herself.

The neckline looks wonderful, and her hair is falling into place almost effortlessly. Still, she grabs some product to work through it as she ponders what exactly to do with her ears. Same-old same-old? 

Melodie finishes freshening up her hair, and reaches to wrap a hair tie onto her hand. Ears, ears, ears…. She bunches them together evenly at the top of her head, creating her standard top bun. Cute, still, of course, but not at all new. She lets them fall back against her shoulders. Maybe she should have curled them…. No, that’s a lot of commitment for a look that she may not even like that much. Maybe just a new type of bun…

She pulls the ears into a loose ponytail behind her, and immediately scrunches her face up in distaste. No, that’s not a party look. That looks like she’s about to go jogging, not about to hit the club. She’ll keep it in mind for when she decides to go off to do something athletic, which isn’t entirely out of the question.

Melodie brings a few more hair ties out, stretching them between her fingers. Off-the-shoulder dress, hair wavy and down over one of her eyes… what goes with that? She moves her ears around to the front, holding them together under her chin.

Nope, not that either. Not exactly the sort of look she wants to pull off tonight, though she can think of a few outfits that might be able to go with. Maybe just down? She lets go of her ears, letting them flop evenly on either side of her face. 

Honestly, it’s what she’s liked the most so far. But there was still something missing, like an imbalance in the outfit itself. She furrows her brow slightly, sticking out her tongue in concentration as she looked over her outfit. 

Then, it clicked. “Oh. My. Gosh.” 

With swift purpose and nimble fingers, Melodie brought her ears into the perfect style to match the over-the-eye hairstyle and bare shoulder look. On the side that her bangs covered her eye, she sweeps that ear over and lightly hair ties it to the base of the other, making a symmetrical look with a simple side-tie. 

Perfect. Absolutely perfect. She’s nailed the balance exactly. Melodie turns her head from side to side, checking it out from all angles in the mirror. 

While doing so, she catches a look at her alarm clock in the corner of the room. 

It reads a glowing red “7:30 PM”.

Melodie reaches for her makeup bag in a mad scramble, happy at least the base of her look would be perfect, even if the finishing touches may be a bit rushed.