Insert Rarity's Dress Making Song (Open)

[pocketloli.livejournal.com]

It had been a long time since the last pod pop but fortunately for Rein, her entire stock had been doubled since the last time they had made landfall. Armed with new fabrics both familiar and alien, and her legion of sewing machines, dress dummies and such, and her new tenant to boot, Rein was able to take on the world.

Or at least clothe it.

Sending out her customary notice to come visit the store, Rein opened the door to Stormwind Clothiers and awaited her first arrival.

Comments

[8wings.livejournal.com]

"Hello," she sighed, letting the weight of the dress drape over a nearby counter. "Yes, I got it as part of a mission, and I really can't imagine wearing it again." With all its furbelows and pads and lace, it made her look like a short furry sphere. The penalty of cutting down a dress meant for someone seven feet tall to fit on someone five-foot-six or so.

She unslung the undergear that went with it. "And I can't imagine that anyone else would want to, either, unless they know how to walk with full panniers. But there's all the trim you could imagine, boning, wiring, padding, and plenty of extra fabric along the bottom hem, so if you want to recycle it into something more useful, or several things more useful, be my guest."

She pulled the hat loose and held it at arms'-length, staring at it. Its great crest of mirrors and plumes nodded as she turned it back and forth. "But I should probably warn you about the hat."

[pocketloli.livejournal.com]

"Yeah it's a little overdone," admitted Rein. "But it's beautiful all the same. Are you sure you want to cut it up? I can make some short skirts and other stuff with it."

[8wings.livejournal.com]

She pushed the dress over the counter. "White really isn't my color; it makes me look washed out." Plus it reminded her of Fle. "And it's a shame to leave it sitting in my locker. Someone here must want a pretty dress for a special occasion."

[pocketloli.livejournal.com]

"True enough." Taking the dress and checking it over, she hummed. "I can cut it down definitely, remove some of the frills and stuff, streamline it. I mean, it'll function as a nice formal thing but I can make some things out of it easily."

[8wings.livejournal.com]

"I just want to see it go to a good home." Which was not hers. "And I'm sorry about the glitter. I shook it out several times, but it just seems to keep producing more!"

[pocketloli.livejournal.com]

"Really? I'll have to figure out what kind of cloth this is then," giggled Rein.

[8wings.livejournal.com]

"No idea. It was a bespoke outfit, and I just told Howard to buy something that looked appropriate for a rich visitor. No tags." The dress probably looked great, if you were built for it. "The planet's inhabitants looked human, just on the tall side, so it might be from an Earth-derived planet."

She frowned at the dress. "Maybe some of the silver trim sheds automatically, or something?"

[pocketloli.livejournal.com]

"That explains something," said Rein. "Must be one heck of a mission then."

She shook it out, sending a cloud of sparkles out of it. "I'll check it out asap. Thanks!"

[8wings.livejournal.com]

"It was," she sighed, "very stressful. Not something to be proud of; we achieved what Stacy wanted, but...let's just say that the planet Epicurea will not remember us fondly." What with the dinosaurs being let loose in the crowd, and all.

"You're welcome. May I ask if you have any fireproof fabric? Ad some point, I'd like to get a pair of pants to go with this jacket." The jacket she was wearing was heavy material, marked in grey and black splotches, and the armor made it sit a little too hard across her shoulders. "The pattern doesn't matter."

[pocketloli.livejournal.com]

"Yeah I've got some of that. Made certain this time to stock up on good work cloth." Rein set the dress down and bustled into the back room, soon emerging with the dark colored heavy fabric. "How's this?"

[8wings.livejournal.com]

"That looks perfect! Would it be easiest for you to take measurements now?" She shrugged out of the jacket; under it she was just wearing the plantsuit. "Or I can come back later."

[pocketloli.livejournal.com]

"I can do it now. It's better so that I can get started right away." said Rein, pulling out her trusty measuring tape.

[8wings.livejournal.com]

"Thank you." She stood relaxed, her arms a little away from her sides, to give Rein room to work.

"So, did anyone you know arrive at this podpop?"

[pocketloli.livejournal.com]

"Caro did," replied Rein, working her arms around Anwei's legs and stretching it out a little, checking everything. "It was nice to see her, and I hope she'll stop by for something cute to wear."

[8wings.livejournal.com]

"That's good news. Nice for her as well, to have someone waiting for her."

[pocketloli.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. I would worry if no one was awake for her to be with," admitted Rein, finishing up her measurements. "There we go. I'll get started right away."

[8wings.livejournal.com]

"Thanks again. Is there anything you'd like in payment besides the dress material and the hat? I can, well, sew a straight line," so long as the person wasn't wriggling too much, "or I can help do inventory."

[pocketloli.livejournal.com]

"Inventory would be wonderful. I simply haven't gotten around to doing so. If you don't mind," said Rein, grinning.

[8wings.livejournal.com]

"No, actually, I find putting things in order very relaxing." She reached over to her jacket without moving her feet, and wriggled her omnicomm out of a pocket. "I have a copy of the Engineering inventory program that I simplified a little - I used it for the inventory in Sasami's restaurant - so it should work fine here."

And it would be so convenient to get everyone here using the same software and interface.

"Is most of the cloth labeled in the same place on the bolt? And does any of it have any qualities I wouldn't be able to see with the bare eye, like say radiation-proof, or magical? If I have a question I can just put it aside, of course."

[pocketloli.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, all of them are labeled in the same way. But the people who dropped it off on Stacy for me from Lex's instructions just dumped them there. I had a horrible time getting them all on the shelves," sighed Rein. Lex was good to his word, but he was smarmy, something she didn't like but tolerated.

[8wings.livejournal.com]

Anwei shrugged. "But if they'd put them on the shelves out of your preferred order, that would have been a problem as well, wouldn't it? Believe me, I sympathize. Unless you set up exactly in advance where everything goes, people do just tend to get everything in approximately the right place and then leave."

She looked around the shop. "Is there any time you'd prefer me to do it? Since you're open right now, I might be underfoot. And - I know, do you have a copy of the delivery invoice? I can pull the patterns and weights and material from that and drop it right into a database."

[pocketloli.livejournal.com]

"Any time after I close up would be great," said Rein, nodding at the first part. She had a point, and that was the point of inventory anyhow. "I've got it here too. I'll give you a copy once I'm done."

[8wings.livejournal.com]

Great, then I can set things up in the database in advance. But if you aren't having trouble finding things right now, maybe we could postpone until people are back from the mission? We're sort of short-staffed in Med Bay, and I'd hate to have to drop everything here and run off."

Even if she wasn't qualified to do much more than stuff people into stasis pods, she couldn't do even that if she wasn't there.

[pocketloli.livejournal.com]

"That's totally fine," replied Rein. "I am in honestly no hurry, and I know where the majority of everything is right now. So any help post-mission would be delightful."

[8wings.livejournal.com]

"Good, that will let me add any new fields to the inventory program that you might need. I'll have to assume that everything will match its labeling; my color vision is a couple of degrees cooler than a human's."

Her own expression cooled a little. "Hopefully everyone will be back soon." Safe and whole, she thought but did not add.