driftfleet | Libuscha IV System Mingle (no. 1)

Fitting - haha, good one. Clothes store and all.

[He laughs easily, even if Haggar doesn't. He notes how the markings light up on her face with some interest, but figures it has to do with her being a magical space elf on a magical planet. He's been having a weird buzzing in his skull since they got close to this system, so he should probably be thankful he hasn't lit up like a Candlenights tree.]

It isn't made of garbage, so yeah, all in all, this planet is a frozen ball, but it's got some greeeeeat taste. [And he's been reveling in the attention the locals like to give him with their party invitations and praise and little gifts. He's picked up a lot of trinkets and things to pack into his room since arriving here.]

So you lookin' for something in particular? Like a color that doesn't scream "drow-in-training" or "I haven't seen the sun in 400 years"?

[She's... trying.]

It seemed like a good opportunity.

[Since this isn't a planet made of garbage. Although it's not like she didn't get some items out of that, at least. Just not anything at all where wardrobe updating was concerned. And so she gives a small shrug at his question.]

I am not certain what I want... but something new would be nice.

[Hence her slowness at looking at the merchandise. Even her current outfit was only a long black dress with a wrap accompanying it. Not much to keep warm with. Or very colorful. But she wasn't about to wear her very distinctive robes, and it had been some time since she had last worn them anyway.]

Well first? Color. You look like you're going to a funeral.

[She always looked like she was going to a funeral though. Taako doesn't even ask her size or what she likes because he knows she'll hem and haw or just not tell him.

He reaches into a nearby rack and pulls out a blue cloak, then a red one, then puts them both back. The bright colors will look too harsh on her skin tone against the black dress. He grabs a gray half cloak lined with pale pink fur that boasts panels of a deeper salmon pink, dusty rose, and an aquamarine blue to give it a thick striped pattern. He holds it up to her, then grabs a dusky green kneelength wraparound cloak. It has some nice floral embellishments at the corners.

These he thrusts into Haggar's hands without asking.]

Try these.

[There was some irony in her tending to be dressed for a funeral, when her outfits so closely resembled what she had worn during her own... she never really thought about that connection. She was just used to it, after so many years.

Leave it to Taako to act quickly before she could protest, either way. She almost does, frowning a little in her usual way, though it was not as if she was really going to make a choice there any time soon.

She looks at one cloak and then the other, before choosing one at random to try on first. Which ends up being that odd multicolored one. ... Better not tell Taako that pink was technically a mourning color for her race.]

... This is warm, but...

[She feels strange in it. Maybe it's just too busy.]

[Yeah warm, but not right at all. The stripes and the length aren't working with her outfit, breaking her up too much. He shakes his head and hands her the other one, then starts rifling through the racks again. He can see something things that he would wear in here, but he highly doubts Haggar wants to run around in a shiny glimmering rainbow cloak.]

Do you even have a color you like? Or is it just all drab all the time?

Just drop the one you don't want on the floor. Try the green one while I keep looking.

[Likes...? No... finding a color she liked that she wasn't simply "used to" was much like figuring out what her food preference was. It had not been necessary to find something different from what she was accustomed to.

Except now she was finding herself... tired of that. But what would she shift to? Her old colors? Could she even claim those?]

... Not particularly.

[She responds, absently to his query about her preferences, while listening to his instruction a little dubiously... On the floor? She shrugs out of the unflattering cloak and... leaves it, and shifts to pull on the green one instead.

At least it's a more solid color, despite the pattern. A little closer, but not quite? Longer lengths are nicer, though.

Maybe she needed to do something about the outfit, but that was a different problem.]

So drab. Got it.

[He decide to say "fuck it" to being picky and just starts grabbing whatever he can find that is longer in length and warm. If that means she gets a holographic sheen and he thinks it's uglier than sin, so be it. It's not like Haggar has a preference. He finds a bright orange almost floor-length wrap around, a red robe with bell sleeves, and a fur-lined rich purple with silver threaded through. But he also find the holographic monstrosity, a lime green hooded thing, and a black and beige two-toned thing that couldn't decide which way it wanted its pattern to go.

He tosses cloaks he wants her to try on on the rack next to her, absently commenting on things as he goes. "Too dark," "Too scaly," "Oh god, is that an actual head??" are just some of his mutterings as he glides down the row.]

What brought you out here anyway? Curiosity or just because you're actually freezing to death in that outfit?

[Just because she doesn't have a preference doesn't mean she doesn't have some sense of class or aesthetics. She's putting up with this to an extent, mostly because she has a difficulty in caring too much and it was always better to shop with someone else, but she will keep frowning the more excessively ridiculous the cloaks become even as she tries them on anyway, either for her torment or Taako's amusement or both.

Even if he is saving her from some of the more questionable picks, by his muttering, but she is so incredibly unhappy in the holographic monstrosity, why are you like this, Taako.]

The planet is... magical. Hard to ignore a call like that, with the lack of this energy in past systems.

[The cold... doesn't really bother her anyway. She's not certain why she's feeling so... whimsical for a new look, though.]

[This is what happens when you don't give Taako any parameters other than "cloak" and "warm." He will make her suffer every ugly creation he can find that he himself can stomach looking upon. He's taken a taupe colored one with red accents out when he turns and sees that she actually put on the holographic one and bursts out laughing.]

Oh my gods! You look awful! Why would you even do that to yourself? I meant it as a joke, Nerdzilla!

Sometimes with you I cannot tell what your intention is.

[She is quick to discard that one. She needs to draw her own line for her suffering, apparently. The purple one is far more favorable of the remaining choices, except she's... tired of purple. She wears it unhappily, too.]

... perhaps... something in blue. Or a greenish blue.

[He seems to be avoiding those, but she doesn't know if it's because of her outfit or whatever other reason they might not work.]

Entertainment, always.

[Or never. His motivations are as varied as the colors in the world and just as changeable. Right now it's half and half for him - entertainment in seeing her face gain ever deeper frown lines and wear dumb outfits, and half because he can't stand watching her glower in her drab garments any longer. So 100% selfish, but whatever, that was Taako's general modus operandi even on the best of days.

He takes out a sky-blue one that ends in a hem shaped like crystals and then a darker hued one with patterns like ocean ripples on it. He hands them to her and then finds another blue-starred cloak. It's too close to one he owns though and he's not about to inadvertently twin with the space witch.]

Try these then.

[And one more: a royal blue with silver threading, bright but not eye-burning.]

You should also try to find clothes that aren't, yanno. [He gestures at what she's wearing.]

[Those cloaks at least look more reasonable at first glance, and so she abandons the other sillier ones to try them on. Of course, had she been more selective from the outset, perhaps it would have helped.

She... likes the blue colors. It feels nostalgic to her in a way that it shouldn't, really, and so she frowns for another reason, as she catches sight of herself in the sky blue, though it's not as pronounced as her others had been.

She gets a little lost in thought debating that when he speaks up again, words as slow as ever as she gives him a flat look.]

... it is on the list.

[Of things to do. Perhaps. She has credits to spend despite the expenses of the last system, perhaps aided by her willingness to try that silly candy and her ongoing name game. Most of what she owned was similar to what she was wearing now, but that was how it had always been; she had chosen a uniform look and stuck with it, and honestly did not know if she would find anything else. Hard to care.]

[The blue seems to be a hit since she isn't immediately throwing it to the floor like the rest. Although she's frowning again, she always frowns so it's not like it's a good indication of her actual displeasure. Taako rolls his eyes and then points to the racks of cloaks around them.]

We're here, might as well get fashionista advice from someone who knows how to dress themselves like they're not doing it in a dark room.

[Taako takes out another robe, a half cloak with slits for his arms and wraps it around his own shoulders to test it. Doesn't feel right, not the right weight, not enough space inside for him to sew pockets. He discards it and tosses it back onto the rack.]

While he's in a charitable mood.

[Her frowns could mean so many things. This one is less severe, her displeasure not so much with the outfit as with her own self-loathing and issues.

How hard it is to... like, things. To express that she could.]

If... the fashionista is willing to offer his advice, then I will hear him out while he is charitable enough.

[There. Did she say that correctly.]

Otherwise I may very well end up with more of the same outfits as I already possess.

[Which wouldn't do her any good, since what would be the point. She just... didn't know what she wanted. Or if she could admit to what she wanted.]

For-- [He drags a hand down his face. No, it wasn't correct, Haggar, but only because?] Who talks like that? Just say, "Yeah, Taako, you're amazing. Please help me with my terrible fashion sense" or something.

[But message received at least! Taako jerks his thumb over his shoulder.]

Buy the three blue ones - if you don't like 'em later, just regift it to someone. People here love that shit. Then come next door.

I'll meet you in the shop to the left, the one with the red dress in the window. We're going to get you out of black and drab if it kills you.

[Oh, Taako. Asking for help was such a difficult thing for her, and one would think that her archaic speech would ease up being around so many informal people consistently, but instead it had only gotten worse, turned into a bizarre sort of quirk. Another trap of her own making.]

... Thank you, Taako. I will meet you there shortly.

[Better? A start, at least. And as promised, after one last check on the cloaks before purchasing them, Haggar then heads to the indicated shop to look for him. If it killed her, indeed, but--she was here.]

[Definitely better. He gives her a two-fingered salute and heads out the door.

By the time Haggar makes her way to the next shop, Taako is waiting with a rack of clothes already picked out. He's seated in one of those slightly less than comfortable waiting room chairs that every store seems to have for people, with the rack next to him, all waiting for her by the changing area. The rack has tops and bottoms all arranged in color from reds to oranges, yellows and greens, and different shades of blue. No purple, black, or gray in sight.

As Haggar enters, a shop keep gives her a hurried hello before bringing another armful of colorful clothes by Taako who picks out two or three things, shuffling them onto the rack before sending her back for more. When he spots Haggar, he raises a hand but doesn't bother standing up, waving is wizard's hat from the chair instead.]

Over here, Gloomy Bear. I already have a bunch of stuff waiting.

[It's... an attempt.

Although she almost regrets it the moment she steps into the second store, wondering yet again why she's allowed herself to agree to this, feeling that bubble of internal conflict, wondering why she did not allow herself to cling to the familiar.

...But she remembers a conversation with Lup about habits and she did not know if all of hers were necessarily "bad", but... how much would this really help? Dress up the outside, but the same old witch.

No. Thinking like that wouldn't get her anywhere at all. So she sighs, stepping in all the way toward Taako, getting an eyeful of his selection and -- well. Frowning, as she always is because what else could she do, though of course it's for all her thoughts, really.]

... I can see that.

[How much of it was actually wearable, though, was the question. She'd at least be more cautious about it. Her eyes instinctively scan for the familiar colors but notices that they are not present. Oh boy. Well, she did ask for this.]

I got bored.

[It's been 5 minutes, Taako.

But he got bored, so there are a myriad of styles here: skirts, shirts, blouses, vogue, pants both short, long, wide-legged and skinny. There are dresses and overalls, sundresses and maxis, literally everything he could think of in every color but the ones she already wore.]

We'll get over here and figure out what you like. Don't look at the colors until later, just tell me what styles you want and I'll veto what looks bad.

[If this was what boredom could inspire in 5 minutes good thing she didn't keep him waiting any longer. Even if she's dubious when glancing at just how varied the selection even is. Even when she picked up her current set from some waystation or other, the selections hadn't been this varied.

And again: that (patient?) nudge to find something at least... favorable, but thankfully he said to ignore the colors at present, which helps her focus, eyes scrutinizing the different styles. So many of them. So many combinations. Who gets overwhelmed by a clothing store?

She takes her time flipping through styles on the rack. Maxi dress; those were more of her usual fare, so she selects an example of each just so they'd have something to work with. Blouses with long sleeves, and long skirts maybe? Anything that would work with a wrap or a cloak of some kind, she didn't like to be without that even if she wasn't hiding under her hood consistently any longer.

And this was just picking styles. And of course, she had to wait for Taako's word. Maybe she was being too picky to think of other possibilities.]

[He's flipping lazily through a nearby rack of clothes with a Mage Hand, but watches to see what she ends up pulling out. More dresses, huh? Not a pants person; good to know. Long sleeves and long skirts - noted. Once she's finished going through everything, he pushes himself up out of the chair and grabs one of the more vogue-ish tops she rejected - a long-sleeved crop top.

Now that she has some styles chosen, he points her toward the dressing rooms.]

Go try them on. I'm getting some non-eye-bleeding colors for you. Anything that doesn't fit, discard. Let me see when you got something on and I'll tell you if it's yay or nay. Oh and you're buying me a shirt in exchange. Just so you know.

[Really, some form of reasonable tunic accompanied by slim pants wouldn't be so bad or even uncomfortable. It's not like she doesn't have a figure under there. To that end, she does glance at those combinations at least once or twice, lingering over them a bit, but with one of those discernible expressions. As in: it reminds her of a look she once used to wear, but she's not sure she should try it.

So instead, still... mostly bewildered that she was going along with it but she wasn't about to quit now, she nods. She had been wondering the sort of thing he would ask for in return for all of this, so at least he was upfront about that.]

Your terms have been noted.

[Learn to talk like a normal person, Haggar? But she'll soon disappear off into the changing rooms, to first sort out whichever size even is suitable for her frame, but she's noticing immediately that all of these colors are absolutely awful.

... At least this was only to test styles, but it's hard to be satisfied. Why is the dress style that she favored only in this yellow that matches her eyes, did he do that on purpose.]

Okay, I know exactly what I'm gettin' you for Candlenights.

[A thesaurus with all the difficult or weird words blacked out with an angry marker. Learn to talk normally!!!!

While she's in the dressing room, Taako spins through the rest of the store and grabs dresses, blouses, and skirts, some pants anyway, in different colors - cream, white, ivory, a nice beige for the pants, blues from royal to sky, greens from dusky to vibrant, and a few pieces in muted reds, oranges, and buttercream yellows. There are colored trims, accented or two-toned or patterned and everything is surprisingly tasteful, even if the colors are definitely loud compared to her usual black and gray. He's determined to force color into Haggar's life now that she's asked for it and he'll get at least one into her wardrobe if it kills them.

He comes by the dressing room and dumps a few things by the door for her, knocking on it.]

You still in there?

[You kids keep mentioning Candlenights like she's supposed to know what that is.

When he comes around to knocking on the door, she opens it a crack, if only enough for him to get a glimpse of what she had just tried on along with her expression. She's sorted through most of her initial pile, at least, but this process was just--difficult. There was definitely a want to simply disappear out of there and grab her usual styles and call it a day, but. She had asked for this help and she was going to see it through as much as he was determined to, no matter how frustrating it was.]

... I have not yet died.

[Her tone as even as ever, dark humor in the words.]

As much as it seems your intention.

[Context clues, Haggar!!!

She only opens the door a crack and for a moment Taako is afraid it's because she's still changing. But nope, it's just because she's wearing a yellow dress. He rolls his eyes at her demeanor.]

Color isn't going to kill you, you goober.

[Unless she was somehow mysteriously allergic to fabric dye.

Taako pulls the rack of clothes around and starts to push the dressing room door open.]

And that yellow needs something to break it up. A belt or something - maybe a jacket. Or a robe. Or both. Something.

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