trans_9 | PANTS QUEST: Journey To A Discovery

The sun beat down on the planet like a medium-sized yellow star of pure fury, scorching the town as though the ground was made of delicious brownie mix that had been left in the oven too long and now was hard and crunchy. Eating the ground was not recommended in this case, however, as it was not made out of brownie mix but dirt and also people were walking on it. Two people, to be specific. There were other people, as well, but these two stood out among the townsfolk and other visitors as they strode through town in their nearly identical hats, goggles, vests, boots, and - most importantly - their green, skin-tight plantsuits. Pants were a thing that other people wore.

But not for long.

Soon, the town's pants would be theirs. At least, one pair of pants each - they didn't think they could reasonably expect to afford more, even if they worked really hard and bartered their hearts out. And Maxine may or may not have wanted pants; she had been rather vague about her clothing needs. Nevertheless, the pair was determined to acquire pants or other forms of clothing by any perfectly honest means necessary that wasn't prohibitively difficult for two rather young people to do. Them versus the world. Or at least the town. Unless they could make friends with the people in the town, which they would definitely attempt to do.

Pants Quest had begun.

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Maxine was characteristically cheerful about this, honestly. She walked with a bounce in her step (or else she just sort of floated-- it was hard to tell sometimes), her hair moving in the breeze that she was mostly making herself. A tumbleweed blew by. Somehow her hat was staying in place.

She wasn't going to be overly picky about what she got, in the end. Really, she just wanted more clothes, since she was kind of short on those. Or at least materials to make clothes! They had some of the ship, but more would be nice.

She was ready for this quest. Ready to fight the good fight. To reach her dreams of pants. Or other clothing. And she had her new friend Clef by her side. Together, they would win. And find real clothes.

"Where should we start?" she asked brightly, looking around. They should probably try to barter some, first.

"Um..." Clef had no idea what he was doing, and had no qualms about letting this be known as he looked around. The only things of which he could be truly certain were that he was on a strange world where people dressed funny, and he was for some reason going to try and acquire some of this strange clothing. It wasn't just about the clothing, though - it was about the experience of staying and working in the town, of interacting with the people and learning new things. And then having a pair of trousers to remember it all by.

"The general store seems like a logical place," he said.

It was a good thing that pants were apparently a universal item of male clothing. Geartopia could have been like some ancient cultures and had everyone wearing skirt- or dress-like garments all the time. Not that Clef would be entirely opposed to wearing a skirt, himself - coming from a matriarchal society, crossdressing doesn't have quite the same connotations. He preferred pants in general, though. Still, he didn't know what kinds of trouble he might have gotten himself into if everyone had worn skirts.

"Okay!" Maxine said cheerfully enough. "The general store sounds like a good place to start."

Personally, she was just going to avoid being picky. The general store had seemed pricey but, worst case, they'd be able to get an idea of how much they needed, first, if nothing else!

Generally, she was pretty excited about this whole adventure and not afraid to let it show. "I hope they won't charge us too much for some clothes. I don't think we need anything fancy, anyway, right?"

"I don't think so," Clef replied. Then he paused as though having second thoughts.

"Although, it depends on how we're defining 'fancy.' I'd like them to fit." Clothing in an adult style that was made to fit someone who was less than four feet tall could possibly be considered fancy.

The general store was pretty pricey, he realized as they went in and looked around. Even as he looked at the other things for sale to try to determine the value of the currency, the clothing was disproportionally expensive considering its necessity and cost for the materials. Clef chalked this up to it probably being hand-made by some relative of the store's owner. Most people around here probably made their own clothes, and while there likely were other places to buy them they'd be specialty formal shops - any cost reduction from the clothes there being more efficiently produced would be more than eaten up in the cost of materials, as well as any extra fees being tacked on for the sake of luxury. It couldn't hurt to go looking and make sure, but Clef was reasonably certain that this was the closest thing to what they were looking for.

"I can't sew that well, can you?" he asked Maxine. Their ultimate best bet might be to just get some fabric and make clothes from that.

"Oh, that's true, I guess," Maxine said thoughtfully. "'Fancy' is a pretty ambiguous term. I just mean something not too flashy, right? Or expensive, mostly. I'd like something that looks nice, though, and fits, like you said."

Maxine flitted from display to display, trying to scout out anything she could afford-- or anything reasonable that she really likes, that she can try and work toward. Glancing back at him, when he asked.

"I can!" she said cheerfully. "I was a theatre major, and I did a lot of costume design and making. It was something I really enjoyed. So if you'd like, I could make something for you, if we find some fabric or something."

"It might make more sense to do it that way," Clef mused. "If it wouldn't impose on you. Pre-made clothing is probably a luxury, so it would be prohibitively expensive."

"I'll find a way to repay you," he added.

"I think that makes sense," Maxine agreed with an enthusiastic nod. "It seems like a lot of things are pretty expensive, so if you have to pay for the labour behind the clothes, too, as well as the time..." She frowned thoughtfully.

"It's no problem at all, anyway. I don't mind, and I have to make myself useful on the ship. You wouldn't even have to repay me or anything."

PANTS QUEST: Journey To A Discovery

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