Mother of Magic

New Clothes

Ava, Tasha, Le, and Stephanie walked into town on their way to have lunch at the Saloon. Tasha kept looking sidelong at Stephanie as they walked.

"What?" Stephanie asked, noticing Tasha's frequent regard.

"You never wear dresses." Tasha said.

"No. I don't. Of course not. Never been a dress kind of girl. Why?"

Tasha, when in her human form, always dressed in similar outfits as Ava. She paused to hold out the skirts of her current attire. "This is what all the women around here wear. Well. What the women who are not working on their farms and stuff wear. I'm not talking about coveralls and stuff. I don't mean farm or work clothes or whatever, but like city-wear. No one wears anything like what you do. Even what men wear, pants and all, while it's kinda like your clothes, it's not that. Not counting Le cuz he dresses more like you."

"I know. When Ava brought us here, Le and I were naked. She outfitted me with clothes something like what you have on. I dumped it as fast as I could. Sorry, Ava. Not my thing."

"I did not know the two Earths were that different." Ava said. "I only ever saw you two while I was there, and as you said, you were naked."

Since they were stopped, Tasha gave Stephanie a sort of shy appraisal. "Is what you have on.. comfortable?"

Shy and perhaps a bit envious.

"Given you are a Mountain Lion part-time, do you like to wear clothes?" Stephanie did not directly answer Tasha's question.

"Not really, no. I have to most of the time. When I'm in human form, but clothes are not very comfortable. In the winter? Sure. Big fluffy coats and stuff are nice. Boots to crunch through the snow are good because human feet are so delicate. But this? What I have on? It seemed normal until I saw you. I saw you at your house first and I thought "OK, that's what she wears at home. Like pajamas or something. I sleep naked, but I know some people like to wear clothes to bed. For some reason. I don't understand that either, but I know they do. If I'm in bed with someone, I want to feel their skin, not shirts and pants and stuff."

"I understand. Le and I do not wear bedclothes either. In my world, women wear all kinds of different things. Depends on the social situation and the weather. We have a friend, Vanessa, who has a wardrobe full of dresses, but most of them are far different than the puritan style stuff you have on. More like barely there sometimes. Even her on-air work dresses are form-fitting and nothing like the yards and yards of fabric you have on. In the summer at the swimming pool, she has on a swimming suit, but you'd barely know it. Even her coverup's" Stephanie saw confusion at that word and explained. "Coverups are clothes designed to wear around the pool and help keep the sun off but not be hot. Easy to take off and jump in the pool. Dry fast if you put them on right out of the water."

"Oh." Tasha said. She sounded dubious.

"Vanessa's coverups are super cute and brightly colored. Catch her at home lying around relaxing, and she's probably got on jean shorts and a T-shirt. In my profession, Baseball? We wear a uniform designed to work well for the game. Special shoes, socks, pants, shirts, hats... you name it. When I am myself, not at work? I usually dress like this. Lots of women do. I have a few other things, like cocktail dresses, but mostly I wear clothes like this."

"Is it comfortable? I saw Silena dresses like you do too. I don't know what she wore before she came here. Assassins probably wear what they need for that job I guess." Tasha asked again.

"For what Silena is doing with Le at the shop, dressing in jeans and a long sleeve shirt is very practical. They do a lot of things when they are building and making devices that would make dresses unsafe. The fabric could get caught in the motors and stuff. Is what I have on comfortable? Yes. For me. I'm used to it. You want to try on something like this?" Stephanie asked.