Britches and Stitches

Andi peeked into the couture store with all the suspicion to be expected of a woman whose concept of ‘high fashion’ consisted of jeans and a shirt that wasn’t designed to work out in.  Kaili wanted a fancy dress, though, so she had come to see about making that happen.  She’d picked this shop mostly because she’d gotten an invitation online to come visit after that whole… runway show thing…  It had seemed less scary than trying to figure out somewhere to look on top of figuring out clothes.

Hesitantly, she opened the door and stepped in.  It was even more overwhelming from the inside.  So many fabrics everywhere, so many pretty shiny things…  She had no idea where to look or what she was supposed to do…

“Oh, you’re Andi aren’t you?  I guess facebun decided to eat your reply to me.”

Andi looked around for the speaker, finally spotting a chubby bun working on a mannequin back far behind what seemed to be a counter.  “I guess,” she agreed, although she had no idea if she had actually replied or not.  If he assumed she had, then it probably made sense that she would have, right?

“Well I’m happy to give you a tour, just let me finish getting this pinned together.”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Andi said.  For lack of anything better to do, she drew closer to watch, fascinated as he pinned sheer fabric into place to create a ruffled skirt.  It was kind of mesmerizing to watch.

The tour… didn’t make any sense whatsoever to her.  She nodded and made interested noises to whatever Peter - which was apparently his name - said, and certainly was fascinated by everything she got to touch.  But not a singular word actually got through her mind.

The only thing that did get through the impenetrable thickness of her mind was when she spotted a phloof plush almost hidden behind a row of fabrics.  With a gasp that interrupted Peter, she went to grab it and hold it up.  “This is so cuuuuute!”

When she turned back, holding it aloft, Peter’s cheeks were red and he was doing his best to look away.  “I uh, used to make those before I got into clothes.”

“I’m surprised you ever stopped, imps are just so cute,” Andi said.  How could anyone prioritize clothes over plushies, really?  Plushies were good for naps…  Clothes weren’t, not really.  “Do you ever make them special?”  The dress Kaili had sent her for had been entirely forgotten - the idea of a plushie in Adi’s image had seized Andi.

“I- not really?  Well, not often at least…  I could… show you how to make one instead, though?”

Andi didn’t hesitate to accept.

It was alright at first - cutting the pieces for a phloof plushie was easy enough Andi had no trouble with it.  When the lesson on threading a needle took a full fifteen minutes, he began to regret the offer, however.  Within the hour, he simply gave up and took over most of the sewing himself.

Eventually, the plush was in her arms as she beamed.  “You know…  For you, I’ll make an exception and make any special for you that you want,” he said, trying to hide his headache with a smile.

“That’s so nice, thank you!” Andi said.  She said her farewells and left, clutching the phloof plush happily.

Peter, of course, promptly shut the shop and went to get some headache medicine and to lie down for a bit.  Dealing with a sloth bun who was allergic to thinking was nearly as bad as an overly demanding customer.