James Drabble

"What's all this?" Hope asked picking up one of the drawings spread out on the living room table.

"Ah, Baby Blue's mate couldn't decide what to wear for their wedding so he asked me to design a few things and see which he liked most," James replied glancing up from where he was sketching out yet another design.

Hope frowned a bit. "Then… why did you design a princess-y wedding gown straight out of Disney?"

"Olen's been known to dress like a girl too," James said with a slight sniff. "Besides, he'd look fabulous in it. I mean, look at him. He's almost as pretty as me," he added holding up a picture of his cousin's mate.

Hope took the picture and nodded a little. "He is a pretty pretty man," she agreed. "Love the purple eyes."

"Apparently that's a mage trait," Phoebe supplied from where she was studying a few other sketches from her younger brother's design pad. Her model's eye would give James a better idea of the practicality of his designs, which he didn't always consider. "Mages tell what family they belong to by the color of their eyes according to Olen."

"Huh," Hope said thoughtfully. "Sounds like an interesting guy…"

"Mm, he is. It's too bad you weren't here when he and Blue visited last month. I swear I've never seen someone deliberately make Uncle Jinx annoyed before. It was… actually kind of funny once the horror wore off," James supplied. The pair and Olen's apprentice had only come to the states because of a meeting Blue had had to attend so the visit was rather short lived but Olen had made quite the impression with the members of the family he had gotten the chance to meet.

"I like this one," Hope commented pointing to a sketch that seemed inspired somewhat by Chinese designs as well as ancient magician robes. "It's not as… gender specific as the ball gown is."

"Yeah, I think that's probably the way Olen will go too," James agreed as he continued to sketch out the outfit he was currently working on. "But I'll make up the wedding gown too… because I just can't resist. He'd look amazing in it. Maybe he'd model it for me if I asked…"

"If he doesn't model it, I will," Phoebe said.

"But then I'd have to add room for your boobs," James replied with a slight pout. "It wouldn't look the same…"

Phoebe rolled her eyes. "You know very well you'll make whatever changes work fabulously."

Mikhail came in and tossed his keys on the table as he bent down to give his mate a kiss. He caught sight of the sketch and raised an eyebrow. "That's a lot of lace there, baby. I thought you liked silk underwear better…"

"I do," James replied with a smile. "But this isn't for me. This is going to be my wedding gift for Olen and Blue."

"It looks uncomfortable," Mikhail said eyeing the drawing a little more critically.

James smirked a bit. "Well, I don't figure he'll be wearing it for long…"

"Ah. You have a point, love," Mikhail answered. "After all, if you were dressed like that I don't think I could resist making you more comfortable very quickly."

"And that, my love, is the idea," James said with a smile.