He catches the way Alessa's looking at the clothes. Crosses over. 

"Get one set now, looks like custom's not that expensive, if it doesn't turn out robes are the other way around here you can get some later?"

"Silly way to spend money."

"Is not. You'd not say that if it was me, would you? And we were told it's for clothing. I'll happily forgo extra dessert or whatever. And if we get short on money you can get another set instead."

(They're talking at a volume that Azure could overhear if he tried, but won't by default.)

That's... true.

He's being ridiculous. 

He picks out some of the flared pants - not something anyone in their country usually wears, so they make him feel less like he's getting dom clothes for some reason than the other pants and skirts do. And the longest torso length of shirts they have. Do they have sashes?

He's wondered what it would be like wandering around in a skirt - he's worn them a few times for dancing, foreign costumes and such. And leg-hugging pants should be good for exercise. He estimates size by looking and holding up to himself as well as he can, then if Azure doesn't seem to mind heads off to the changing room to narrow it down. 

He'll be next for the changing room. And then they can maybe use the sizes they figure out for the underthings, since they should probably not try those on.

Azure does not like this place, but feels it would be irresponsible to wait outside in case they have questions.  He is looking at the fabric swatches with disinterest as Florentho hides behind one of the mannequins.  

The clothing fits as well as off-the-rack clothing can be expected to, and the size system does seem to be the same for underthings.  There are some sash-like items available, their tags advertising easy grip for shoulder daemons and protecting from accidental talon-poking.  

The dom doesn't look like he wants to be spending his time here waiting for them; they should hurry up.

They figure out sizes (this is in fact as well as they generally expect clothes to fit.) He gets his one set of clothing (-he is being ridiculous and if their Uncle was here he would whip him-), and the waist kind of sash, slender, if they have those. He takes one of the sewing kits. 

Kente gets his two sets.

...the advertisement makes him wonder if they should get something for daemon carrying? Him especially maybe, this was a short walk but he's been worried/unsure if there's something he should do for longer ones. ...That's probably important enough to try bothering the dom with. He asks. (Also, would it be alright if they just went back to the fitting room and changed?)

"Daemons don't get tired as fast as humans," Azure says.  "And spinarak in particular shouldn't have trouble hanging onto normal shirts."

There aren't any sashes explicitly for waists, though the sashes are simple enough to put on in different configurations.

The tailor assures them that lots of newly-settled folks wear their new clothing out.  As long as they pay first or hand him the tags to put into the system, it's fine.  

"Thank you, sir. Sorry sir."

If there is any indication that the sashes may be used for waists, he'll get one. Otherwise he won't, neither that nor his other idea of tying some bandanas together - he shouldn't try anything creative until he knows what means what. 

He thanks the tailor. They can pay first, and then change. He's - still not entirely comfortable, he's not used to this kind of clothes and it feels weird in more than one way. But it's much better than the nightshirt. He'll neatly bundle both nightshirts and Kente's extra clothing into the sheet (different sections, since the clothing is new) so he can carry it.

He doesn't argue with Alessa about the carrying. He still finds the new clothes pretty neat; does a few dance steps he remembers from one of the skirt-involving ones while Alessa is folding things.

One of the longer sash varieties is shown on the label to be worn with one loop over a shoulder, a wrapping around the waist, and the ends hanging down to the knees.  Another has six pictures of possible styles to show off it's adjustable clips, each a different person carrying different daemons, with the sixth standing next to a very large daemon with a waist sash tied into an elaborate, puffy bow.  It's not common, and no one they passed getting here had worn it like that, but it's also not unheard of.

When they're dressed and ready to go, "Anything else stand out as something to get right away?  I'd recommend shoes, a bag, then maybe heading to the library to use the TMs and go over anything that stands out as confusing."  Florentho types on his own phone, presumably looking up directions or taking notes.  

He gets the first one; keeps the label and ties it as shown. (He's not sure he can reproduce the bow of the second one exactly enough from a picture, and it could be that only people with large daemons, or that sort of daemon, or something else like that, are supposed to wear it like that). It helps some too.

"We'd be grateful for shoes, sir, and what we would brush our teeth with, and maybe hair combs and ties, if that would be alright?" He hopes none of that is taboo to say. "And a bag would be useful, thank you sir."

...Oh. He notes to himself to ask the daemons later if they should share the phones.

"Also some paper and pencils, if that would be alright, sir," he adds, in his capacity of standing in for Alessa's lack of most things resembling concern for himself.

He nods, and Florentho takes notes.  "Those all sound like good ideas."

There's a pause as Florentho and Azure quietly debate on which stores are closest and would have a decent variety, and how to loop the trip so they can drop off things at the hotel without walking a long distance with heavy bags. 

"There's a shoe store on the third level that looks promising," he says to them, and starts guiding them in the direction of the nearest ramp upwards. 

"While you're walking, take a look at what the other people are wearing and see if there's any designs you'd like to wear for yourself.  I'd like to bring you to my own tailor once we've finished getting the necessities, and I'll pay for some proper custom outfits.  The colors should match your daemons, and there are a few components that are rare in men's clothing, but other than that clothes are meant to be individual aesthetic expressions."

(They follow.)

"Oh - thank you, sir. That's -" 'very generous' he was about to say, but no, maybe this is - something expected here, and the dom would be offended to have it implied that he might have done otherwise. "You're very kind, sir."

And - it hadn't quite occurred to him, that whatever kind of responsible the dom is supposed to be or deciding to be for them might mean something different here than what he'd expect, know of. It - should have occurred to him, he should have thought about it. But he hadn't, and now he's - very aware of not knowing, suddenly. What else might be done here. What might be expected of them.

(And given what the dom said this would be an obvious time to ask which clothes go with who, and which they should be looking at. But the dom wasn't mentioning, maybe thinks it would be obvious. And maybe that's - bias (not that that necessarily means he'd appreciate the question), but maybe it is obvious, and he just hasn't noticed because he hasn't really seen very many people yet. He'll - try paying attention some more.

(He's confused about the reference to 'men's clothing' but the dom said 'rare' and not 'not done' so it's probably not important enough to ask immediately. He'll try looking for that too.)

(And he now knows that clothing goes with something about daemons also, and can look for that too.

He watches people and their daemons and their clothes.)

He can see why Alessa's worried (most people would probably not be able to tell that Alessa's worried (as opposed to maybe-nervous, for which there could be many reasons), but he can tell). But you know what - obviously a hot dom buying you fancy clothes might not go great in the end, depending on which genre of dime-a-dozen novels you're reading. But it's not as though there's anything they can do about it. So there's not that much point in worrying forward. And in the meanwhile - a hot dom on a spaceship said he wants to buy them fancy clothes. No good reason not to enjoy it while he can.

(He's a fan of this individual aesthetic expression idea, also. He does a few more (walking-compatible) dance steps in the skirt.)

No longer in as much of a hurry, they can focus more on the street and the people.  Shops continue to be relatively small and specific to the type of good they sell.  They reach a wide ramp which spirals them up to the next floor, the hollow center holding an art display of a waterfall cascading down tier after tier of frosted glass bowls which light up in different colors.  The ramp goes all the way from the bottom floor to a small balcony all the way up near the mirrored ceiling.  

Shirts and shorts are the most common combination, with skirts, dresses, and longer pants being rarer but still prevalent. They don't see anyone in robes, though a few dresses look similar from the back and a few men are wearing tunics that look a bit like sleeveless robes that were cut at the waist.  Gloves or bracers are common with sleeveless shirts, and decorative layers like vests are common in general.  

All children have pink blob-like daemons which shift size and shape into the other daemons around them.  Unlike the adults, where nearly every piece of fabric is either patterned or gone over with beads or embroidery, children have clothing of single-color fabrics.  They combine these flat colors in multiple pieces, or even different sections of the same clothing.  One boy has a yellow shirt, red vest, green shorts, and blue bracers and socks.  Another is running around in a coat made from thin strips of dozens of different colors in no particular order, which continue unsewn after the waist to billow out like streamers to his knees.

A cluster of teens are wearing entirely white with paint splatters of their daemon colors, which also match their dyed hair.  One of them has hanging beads which look like dripping paint.  Wide collars seem more popular among the older crowd.  Only one person they pass has a cape, a man with an injured arm riding on the back of a large dragon.  Uniforms are rare except for a few groups like police officers which need to be seen from a distance - those have stripes of a daemon or type color and are otherwise neutral colors specific to the job.

About three quarters of the skirt-wearers are women, and women are more likely to wear clothing that pinches tightly at the waist or cuts off to leave the stomach exposed.  Men are much more likely to have no sleeves.  The most noticable differences all seem to be for enhancing the secondary sexual characteristics.  When not directly mimicking the patterns of sharp or rounded daemons, men tend to have more angular patterns and plain edges to their clothing while women have rounded designs and wavy or scalloped edges.  

Daemons are nearly all undressed, though a few are wearing bandanas or scarves or other minor details.  They spot another person with a spinarak, sitting on the shoulder of someone with a yellow and black knitted shawl over a green suit that covers everything but the head and hands.  He's somewhere in his fifties, sitting at one of the occasional tables and typing on a laptop computer.  A few people have fish-like daemons which hover slightly above the floor.

Azure points out trivia about the clothing.  Things that have come into fashion recently, things that are probably going out soon.  Which people are probably overdoing it.  He can even recognize a few tailor's work, pointing out things that certain up-and-coming tailors or ones with a defined 'style' keep adding to their work.  It is obvious that clothing is something of a passion of his, and he's happy to have someone new to ramble at.  

He's very interested in the street and the people both. Tries not to get too distracted from what he's supposed to be looking for. (He reminds himself not to stop and stare more at the ramp waterfall and try to think how he'd draw it.)

He knows how to look properly attentive even when he isn't really interested (though he doesn't tend to need to use it often). Doesn't need it here either - he is interested, in the details of this other world, in thinking about all these people and how they might relate to all these things the dom is talking about.

He's also - confused. If clothing delineation is supposed to be obvious, then he is still completely missing it. And still can't figure out how to read the people, even when he's seeing them in groups. ...Maybe he was right before, and daemons differ by role, so sorting clothes by daemons sorts it by role already, and other delineations are less important here because the daemons are right there?

(It's - weird to think that subs might wear shorter shorts, but he can't be sure they're not - and maybe discipline is done differently here, or it's just the expected thing and the subs are - used to it. It's not like people don't notice signs of punishment all the time, in their own world. Like that isn't part of the point, often.) (...He hopes it will be alright if he would like not to wear the shorts himself. Though of course he - will if he needs to.)

Maybe if it turns out he's allowed them but not allowed submissives' robes he can try a tunic like that, over a shirt (if that's allowed).

(And color is supposed to match something about daemons, but it can't be one color per daemon, from what the dom had said and the number of racks in the store. Can he figure out anything about how the daemons group?)

He continues to occasionally work a few dance steps into walking (Azure hasn't told him off yet. More great traits in the hot dom.)

He's also interested, though differently - in how it all looks, in thinking about people doing aforementioned aesthetic expressions (probably at least not all of them are, but still). He wonders what their dance costumes look like; imagines suitable matching scenery. Wonders if that streamer-jacket comes in adult sub designs. ...And if submissives are allowed capes.

Florentho, from the opposite side of Azure, begins trying to copy the dance moves.  

Nearly everyone has the same colors as their daemons' fur, scales, skin, or feathers directly, making figuring out the pattern of exceptions a bit tricky.  A few people with fish-shaped daemons have base clothing of dark blue with only sashes, capes, or vests of their daemon's scale color.  Similarly, others with giant bugs will have the same lime green base that Alessa had been offered.  Birds get pale lavender, same as the rack that had been labeled with a feathery wing logo.  The other 15 of the 18 basic racks of pre-made clothing are harder to see patterns in.  It seems to be a feature found only in very low-end outfits like their own - all of the fabric in a not-obviously-matching color is printed, not beaded or embroidered.  

Eventually, the shoe store is reached.  Assuming they'd been paying attention to shoes as well, they'd have noticed that many people were wearing relatively light shoes and sandals.  This shop's inventory is no exception.  There is a small selection of factory-safe boots and shoes for rougher activities.  Most of the shelves, however, are many designs for shoes meant to be worn on smooth indoor floors.  Sandals that are little more than a thickened sole with ribbons to tie it on and decorate the leg.  Shoes that are less-fuzzy versions of slippers, simplistic ballet shoes, other dance shoes, and loafers.  Most have flat soles, though a handful have higher heels or wooden platforms.

Most of the shoes on display are white.  A section near the entrance is devoted to coloring and sealing - turning a pair of shoes into any other single color takes about an hour and is included in the base cost.  More detailed airbrush designs take longer and have increasing prices.  Some examples are on display, including a rainbow fade that has also had rhinestones put onto it, and a pair of cloth boots with a painting of a flowering field. There are also alternative ribbons available which can be easily switched out for the sandals.  

Does that mean the hot dom might like dancing? He has no idea, but he can definitely think about it. 

He looks for shoes that would be good for dance and also for walking around in, since probably one pair is the amount to buy.

They've been looking at shoes too.

He looks for sandals that would still be good for running it. He's not sure what shoe upkeep standards they might have here, and sandals are easier for that. But he can hardly forget about their kidnappers.

If they can get a bit away from Azure while they're browsing shoes, he catches Alessa's hand. 

If this is the kind of thing where he gets us in the bedroom sense, and he'll settle for one, I call dibs.