Buttons

Buttons, as her name suggests, comes from a family of tailors. Everyone in her family is or was a tailor, and Buttons surely would be one too. It’s in her blood, it’s the only option she has. Buttons would become a tailor and take over her family’s shop, forever bound to repeat the cycle.

But Buttons has other ideas. She wants to become an alchemist, falling in love with the art of alchemy at a very young age. Her parents, of course, never approved of this, so Buttons studies her alchemy in secret, all throughout the night. Sneaking into the clan’s laboratory, she reads all the books that she can find and studies everything she can.

That is, until someone catches her.

One of the apprentices stays in the lab late one night, and catches Buttons when she sneaks in. “Please, don’t tell my parents!”, Buttons pleads. “I would love to learn alchemy, but my parents want me to become a tailor, just like them. I can only study in secret.” The apprentice frowns. “That’s quite the situation…”, he mutters. “But, I think we can come to a solution together, follow me.” Buttons follows the apprentice, who moves through the lab surprisingly quickly. And to an area of the laboratory where Buttons hasn’t been before! He even gives her some time to gawk at this new space, before clearing his throat. “As you see, this is our storage closet. This is where we keep all of our tools.” The apprentice gestures to a number of belted satchels, hannging from hooks on the wall. “These are our toolbelts, but they’ve been getting older and less safe to use.”, he continues. “I am willing to put in a good word to the master alchemist to let you study here during the day, just like the rest of us. And I’ll tell your parents that you are helping us by tailoring our new toolbelts so they don’t get suspicious. As long as you actually make us new belts.” Buttons can barely hold back tears of joy as she nods in excitement.

Finally, there’s hope for her dream!