RavensDagger

  Chapter Forty-Nine - Slow Fashion

  Choosing attire had transformed into a deceptively straightforward task as humanity spread through the system.

  One's ensemble was dictated by the corporate entity to which you were iured. Fashion mutated from a way to express yourself into a tool to symbolize allegiance.

  The paradigm shift didn't ruin the urge to show off, to differentiate yourself from the masses, to rebel, but it did cut into the opportuo do so. When a rebel had all of oion to pick from, they'd find their self expression somewhere else.

  Fast fashion was fast to die.

  Exceptions still peppered the system. A smattering of professions needed some creativity in the way they dressed, and the ultra-rich, the iial, didn't strict themselves to corporate jumpsuits and uniforms.

  Ivil sidered this as she looked at the woman sitting across from her. Pixie's bright sundress, with its little flowers on the hem and her bck spats beh stood out in trast to Missy's oil-stained and rather tight jumpsuit.

  "That was... well, I suppose it was somewhat refreshing," Ivil said as she dabbed her lips with a cheap napkin. The ptter with finger foods sitting in the middle of the table was looking rather pitiful at the moment, with only a few vat-grown celery sticks.

  "Eh, it was alright," Missy said. "Holy, as far as food on stations go, this is on the upper end of quality."

  Ivil nodded along. She supposed that she couldn't disagree with that. There were some luxurious stations in Mars' orbit that had fine diniablishments, and of course pces like Phobos prided themselves on being able to serve the well off and those with a distinguished pate, but the average station ce designed for fun over form, and fort was a distant issue.

  "I suppose I should head out," Pixie said.

  "Got work to do?" Missy asked.

  Pixie waved a hand in a so-so gesture. "I o get to those files, go over them, make sure it's all above-board for the Guild. Maybe get into tact with some of the people I know there. It's mostly getting a few emails sent and such, but it be time ing. Otherwise I'm between jht now."

  "Are you?" Ivil asked. "You know, I sidered being a merary once."

  "Merary work isn't the same as bounty hunting," Pixie said. "There's some overp, in gear and attitudes, but we're not the same. Bounty hunters chase down troublemakers and criminals. We're justice with a price tag. Meraries are just soldiers without the allegiance," Pixie said.

  Ivil hummed. "Maybe I missed my calling, then. Bounty hunting seems like an iing job, though my past iions with them have never been fortable."

  "Why's that?" Pixie asked.

  "Before we tinue," Ivil asked, "Should we head out?"

  "Oh, you're leaving?" Pixie asked, her disappoi undisguised.

  "We are," Ivil said. "I was thinking we could go clothes shopping." That seemed like the kind of activity that women often did when hanging out or dating, and she was keen on experieng that herself. The station definitely had some pces to shop at. For all that it was a hodgepodge of smaller stations, it had a wide range of pces to shop at.

  "I... e?" Pixie asked. "I mean, uh, yeah, sure, that sounds nice."

  "Yeah, alright," Missy said. "There's a surplus store he docks. They've got the kind of stuff I usually get."

  Ivil met Pixie's eyes, and they came to a sudden and silent agreement. Missy would not be buying overalls today. "There must be pces that sell a higher-tier of clothing here," Ivil said leadingly.

  "I mean, probably," Missy said with a frown. "Never saw mueed for that kind of stuff. Overalls and jumpsuits just work, you know?"

  "Yes, of course," Ivil lied and preteo agree.

  They stood from the booth and started for the exit. "So, what were you saying about bounty hunters?" Pixie asked.

  "Ah, I've had my share of meetings with them," Ivil said. "But they were always rather antagonistic." She smiled smugly.

  "You had a bounty pced on you?" Missy asked.

  "I did, for a few years," Ivil said. "But don't worry, the bounty was resded across the system."

  That had been a whole thing. It had started long before she earhe title of Empress, and initially MINT was rather slow about helping her get rid of the bounty. That was, until the bounty kept growing. At one point it was the single rgest bounty ever given in human history.

  Of course, that only meant that she had her pick from the most talented bounty hunters who all wanted her dead. It had been an excellent source of cores and additional resources at the start and middle of her career.

  At some point, pressure from MINT and a distinct ck of stupid bounty hunters had finally vihe various guilds across the system to finally pull her name.

  She narrowed her eyes. Had that been before or after she walked into the Saturnian bounty hunter's guild and took all of their cores? "I think that the modern bounty hunting guilds have started to respect certain kinds of people a lot more than they once did."

  "I guess," Pixie said with a fused frown. "Well, I look into it, if you want? I, uh, wouldn't try to cash in a bounty on a friend, of course. That's just rude. I mean, assuming that you don't have a bounty for burning down orphanages or anything!"

  Ivil chuckled. "That only happened once!"

  They ughed, and Ivil was happy to see her panions happy as they wandered over to a station map on a wall. Pixie poio a mid-tier store, but Ivil shook her head and tapped a smaller boutique in one of the nicer ses of Driftwood.

  It took a while to get there, but that while ent chatting about things that truly didn't matter very much. Pixie plimented Ivil's astro archeologist outfit, and Ivil smiled and said that she was envious of Pixie's small size. "You must have it easy, finding clothes to fit you," Ivil said.

  "Are you kidding? I shop in the kid's se," Pixie grumbled. "Only I have these, and that makes everything plicated." She gestured to her chest, which was rather womanly. Ivil supposed that that did pose a challenge.

  "I don't know, my legs are long enough that I suspect I would o shop in the men's se," Ivil said. Truth be told, she mostly wore her uniform, so such issues rarely came up.

  "Or you could get jumpsuits," Missy said. "One size fits all. Roll up your pant legs if they're too long, a a belt if it's too puffed out."

  "No Missy, no one should have to wear jumpsuits all the time," Pixie said.

  "Don't you wear one? When at work?" Missy asked.

  Pixie pursed her lips. "Yes. And it's -ordered. But that's not just a jumpsuit."

  "It's one-hundred pert a jumpsuit," Missy said.

  "It's fme-retardant, serve as an EVA suit, has heart-rate, temperature, and humidity monitors," Pixie listed off while ting on her fingers. "The suit costs more than you make in a year, Missy."

  "Ouch, but that doesn't ge that it's a jumpsuit."

  "It's the supercar of jumpsuits," Pixie said. "It even has inftion modules, to keep blood flowing into your extremities during high-g manoeuvres."

  "And a built-in diaper," Missy added with a smirk.

  Pixie smacked her, but her cheeks reddened all the same. "That's besides the point."

  They made it to the clothing store, and Missy hesitated at the doors. Inside were mannequins in some rather servative outfits, the kind of modern techwear that a high-earning office wht wear. There were even some pencil skirts, despite those being a risky fashion choice off-p.

  "Uh, this doesn't look like a pe," Missy said.

  Pixie grabbed one of Missy's arms. Ivil grabbed the other, suddenly aware of how warm Missy was, even though the coarse material of her jumpsuit. "You owe me," Pixie said with no surrender.

  "It'll be amusing," Ivil added with a grin.

  They dragged Missy inside. She made a show of protesting, but there was no real strength in it. The interior was brightly lit, smelled fresher than the rest of the station had, and tained a clerk who immediately stood at attention on seeing them but who didn't e over to bother any of them.

  Ivil noticed the clerk toug a sol, and she was vaguely aware that they'd just run a credit che her. The happy, obsequious smile they returned was likely a good sign.

  "Let's start with the lingerie," Ivil suggested.

  "T-the, oh, oh, uh, yeah, let's start with that," Pixie agreed before tugging Missy along faster.

  "What? Why would anyone need fanderwear?" Missy grumbled as she was dragged along.

  The poor soul. Ivil almost felt bad for her. Almost.

  ***

  RavensDagger

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