Spice [NaNoWriMo 2023 Winner]

Pose

Yuuri stepped into his studio with a greeting and Victor was left breathless by the sheer amount of noise that came out of the place. Machines were going, people were talking, there was just a constant stream of it all. There was a rush to get to Yuuri for answers, and Yuuri let his staff lead him over to their stations.

"Sorry," Yuuri whispered over his shoulder and Victor snorted but followed along behind. Victor was able to get a sense of the workplace, there were several cutting tables and sewing stations, bolts of fabric were scattered on tables, against walls and shoved in corners. Paper was littering every surface, tools, pencils, chalk and trim of all kinds were scattered on every surface. There was an organized chaos to it all and in the center of it was Yuuri, being dragged from one station to another by his employees.

"Everything looks great," Yuuri said as he inspected a dress, the white fabric hung loose with a peek of red lining showing through the slit. Victor took a closer look at some of the creations, his eyes catching stunning shades of green, brown, blue and deep reds. He saw the pictures of animals hanging on a board, some crumpled and over used, others looking newly printed.

"What's this?" Victor asked and looked up at the board, turning to face Yuuri.

"The idea board, this season we are taking inspiration from endangered creatures, Yuri's cat obsession rubbed off a little," Yuuri chuckled and looked up at the board, "There are so many."

"Some kind of awareness campaign?" Victor asked and Yuuri nodded, "That's amazing."

"We plan to donate a percentage to wildlife conservation too," Yuuri said, "I know it's not a lot, and some people will probably think it's a play for more sales but really, I just think these animals deserve their second chance."

"That's beautiful Yuuri," Victor breathed and smiled as the Japanese man preened under his praise. They spent the next few hours in his office and Victor got to learn first hand how he worked. Yuuri himself was very hands on and was working on a shirt that represented a snowy owl. The shirt itself was white with a soft yellow stitching to represent the colour of the bird's eyes. Then Yuuri brought out the black lace and started to pin it to the yolk and cuffs, breaking up the white and looking like the black pattern on the owl. Yuuri was meticulous as he pinned, re-pinned and re-applied to lace and looked at the appliques on his desk and wondered where to stick those.

Victor was no help in the matter as all he did was continue to tell him that it looked perfect and beautiful, which, yes but that was not what Yuuri was asking. By the end of it, Yuuri had a half finished shirt and a fully amused staff.

"You asked me how it looked and I gave you my answer, why are you upset?" Victor asked, bemused by Yuuri's puffy annoyance.

"I know, I just needed to know if it looked right," Yuuri sighed, "I was trying to ask if it was straight, or awkward or placed correctly, I'm used to either Phichit or one of my assistants helping me, they are brutally honest."

"I was honest," Victor pouted and Yuuri smiled up at him,

"I know, but I needed critiques not compliments, it's fine, really, thank you for coming," Yuuri said, his voice genuine but leaving Victor feeling a bit put out. He supposed it made sense, he did the same thing when he was in front of the camera, made sure he was posed just right so he looked his best. Yuuri had to be absolutely sure that the product he was creating was just as well posed as he was, so it made sense to him. They walked back in a comfortable silence, Vicchan and Makkachin had been good the entire day and were lagging behind a little as they walked, both dogs showing their age as the cold started to bother them. Yuuri was able to pick up Vicchan, but poor Makkachin had to tough it out a little bit until they got home.