Tail-or-Made (Mia)

"I'm sorry to bother you, but does this store do alterations to clothes?" Mia gave a small wag of her shark tail to emphasis the point and the alterations she was looking for. The girl at the counter shook her head and apologized for the inconvenience before being off to help another more normal customer.

It had been like this all day Mia reflected. She had started in Mustafu a week ago and now found herself in the heart of Tokyo City in her expansive quest to find something she could wear. From store to store to store she had wandered asking the same question. To be fair some of the stores offered some degree of alterations but didn't really have any clothes that fit her tastes and were unwilling to alter clothes from other stores. The stores that did have something she liked simply didn't do alterations, or the specific extent she was asking for. And so it was that she continued walking.

Back at home it had been much easier, she could simply order or buy anything she desired and the maids would see that it fit her or was modified sufficiently. The head maid, who held a great fondness for her, even made the offer that she could modify anything for her if she sent it home but Mia would have felt guilty about sending them work on the mail. Not to mention it would be needlessly expensive and that was anathema to any member of the Fischer family. She would have to learn to stand on her own, and whether that meant finding the right store or learning how to modify clothes herself, she would survive.

She slipped the unholy-looking green drink out of her bag and took a long pull on the highly unpleasant mixture its taste no doubt secured by it's sheer healthiness. The drink served to focus her mind with it's near sobering powers of unpleasantness bringing her mind out of musing and back into the present. She slipped the drink back into the bag and consulted the map she had acquired of the mall. Just one store left? Oh, this trip is proving to be a waste of time. Still, let's see if our luck changes. She set off again, to this last bastion of hope for the mall.

"Well, this looks promising." She hadn't meant to say it out loud, but this new store's crowd seemed to speak for itself. Full of people with various appendages, a plethora of colorful tails and some quirks that were rather extreme in how they changed their appearance. She entered the store finding her gaze torn from display to display, rarely wanting for anything to look it. Well, they're certainly well stocked.. I wouldn't mind this, oh and that's just lovely. Ah! That sweater is die for. Mia took a moment to regather her composure, realizing she was getting her hopes up rather quickly.

First things first after all. Let's see if they do alterations.. She walked up to the front and found someone who looked like they worked in the store. "Excuse me, I'm not from around here, but I was wondering if one could request specific alterations to clothes here?" Normally she wouldn't have made her request so painfully formal, but given the attendance in the store she decided to cover her tracks and prevent being embarrassed. Her tail gave a little wag to accentuate her point before going back to it's usual swaying, as if swimming through an unseen current.

Mia swiveled a bit to take in the new comer to this conversation as the girl negotiated with the store clerk to borrow her. She was indeed a class mate that Mia recognized, the infamous class president Shouko had alluded to. Mia wracked her brain trying to remember her name; she hadn't exactly heard it spoken too many times in class. Shouko had mentioned a nickname, but after becoming familiar with her tendency for applying nicknames to everyone, Mia knew this wouldn't prove a reliable source of information. Ah, and she knows my name... Nothing for it then.

"Oh, quite well, thank you for asking Prez. I'm rather glad to see you as well, I don't think we've ever had much time to talk before." Mia fell back on addressing her by title, after all it would simply be too inconsiderate to have to ask her name when she appeared to remember hers. Her accent was as usual in full German swing giving away her ancestry rather easily, though the Japanese word for class president was simple enough to pronounce well. Though she would make a point to ask someone who might actually be able to give her a proper name and not the nickname before she ran into the prez again.

Wait.. does she work here or something? Upon receiving the explanation realization dawned, though Mia took a moment to disassemble the comment. Stores, not store. As in her family owns several such places.She found herself wondering just what kind of money the Prez seemed to be from, was it comparable to her own family's significant wealth? Asking about the specifics of such a thing would be rude beyond repair, but she was rather curious. Still, the task at hand came to the forefront once again and Mia was glad to hear that they would be willing to do alterations. The prez seemed to appraise her for a moment. Mia had been subjected to glances that attempted to undress with their eyes before, but she got the strangest feeling the prez was dressing her up with her eyes this time.

She followed the prez with her tail swishing behind her in a slightly excited fashion as she began to discuss the alterations. It was fairly obvious what she was looking for, but she had been asked and would provide the information. "Well, as you can no doubt deduce, my issue is entirely wrapped up in my tail. I haven't been able to wear anything except skirts since coming here and while I have nothing against them, it's not very conducive to my friend's hobby of sparring, or any kind of exercise really. I still have some clothing that the maids were kind enough to modify for me, but wear and tear is inevitable at a school such as ours, as I'm sure you well know." Mia was confident that this would serve as an opening comment and perhaps get the lion share of her work accomplished as she prepared to submit herself to a tape measure.

While the tracksuit was indeed the best possible option for running and all manner of things, it had one major sticking point to Mia. "The tracksuit is rather nice, but it's somewhat unwieldy for swimming in, which tends to be a major part of any sparring I do. As for specifics, I would love to have some pants and shorts again. I didn't bring anything with me that needs alteration this time, since most of the places I went to were rather dismissive of the idea." She turned a bit, with one eyebrow raising at a detail she heard specifically. "You can even alter skirts? I would love to see what you could do with them."

Mia's tail thrashed behind her, barely keeping from knocking anything over as her excitement threatened to boil over. All that hard work she had spent looking for a store had payed dividends in this place. Though it was more than that really, it was like all the times she had ever been denied something because it would be impossible to alter had suddenly opened up to her. Though her wandering eyes had found more than a few things on the shelves and hangers that she would love to own as they were.

As the queue moved up, it became their turn and Mia's hyperactive brain did some very very quick calculations as she was ushered into the changing room. She took in the sight of the girl looming over her ominously in the tight space, appearing to be gazing at her quite seriously holding the tape measure in hand. Mia's face took on a crimson hue as she turned around and slowly did as she was bid. Her voice managed to whimper out an embarrassed; "I-i don't mind." This of course was a complete lie that her tail gave voice to by going nearly bone still. She recognized the necessity of it of course, and it was clearly a needed procedure. Yet, a brain raised on books recognized this scene almost right away and kept her face at an embarrassed flush.

It's not like she was particularly interested or anything, it was more akin to knowing what happened in said book and making comparisons to those scenes was causing her embarrassment. Then said embarrassment was doubled when she realized that a class mate was going to be in possession of her measurements. She had never really been all that proud of her body, despite how athletic she was, and sharing that information with another classmate was horrifying.

Despite Mia's mass overthinking of the situation it appeared the Prez carried herself with professional courtesy never dwelling too long or making anything awkward. This did much to calm Mia's fraying nerves and by the time she was done her composure had recovered sufficiently. Thusly did she accept the bait supplied with some enthusiasm, not realizing until it was too late what she had signed up for. "Oh most definitely. I noticed a number of interesting things on my way through the store, would you have any suggestions?" Her tail picked up its previous pace with gusto, only to freeze stock still when the prez brandished the tape measure again. She sighed a tad and nodded her head, acquiescing to the unspoken request she now realized she had signed up.

A diving suit.. that would be perfect.. I'll have to get the address for one of these specialty stores from her before today is over. She also took note of the class prez's pride in her store's apparent specialization in clothes for quirkers and from what she had seen so far that seemed quite justified. This pride also seemed to take root in her conduct as well given the professional manner in which she was handling everything so far. It served to lesson Mia's overthinking and embarrassment by magnitudes leaving her only with her insecurities about her body.

Mia submitted to the brandished tape measure and was subjected to all manner of measurements. No doubt each was equally important in deciding what would or would not fit her and she was forced to admit she'd endured this treatment before at the hands of the head maid. That hadn't been nearly as awkward as this moment however. By the time she was done, the class prez would know every single measurement of her body that mattered and that was rather embarrassing. All the little embarrassing deficiencies she was acutely aware of were now being known by someone else.

Most of these admittedly existed as phantoms in her mind given her absolute dependence on an extremely strict diet and inability to eat most things, especially when compared with her relative physical activity level. The near continual movements of her tail also served to burn calories in a constant manner but still she worried and fretted, battling with a general lack of confidence in her appearance. Such it was that when the class prez finally finished, Mia sighed in relief, her tail starting to pick up speed again along with her mood.

She listened to the class prez with rapidly growing enthusiasm hearing the vast collection of options before her and trying to decide what she could ask for out of them. If she was being honest with herself, she wanted to try everything and really make a day of it, but the infamous Fischer family frugality was looming largely in her mind as she decided. I've never worn a summer dress before, so I simply must ask for that. Though Bryn usually helps me decide on which colors to go for, and I'd rather the class prez not realize how terrible I am at this..I suppose white would work, I've worn it before, but not much in the way of warmer colors.

She considered also what her priorities were and what she actually needed as compared with what she wanted and settled in on the compromise with some limited regret. "Could I perhaps try on one of the white summer dresses? Oh, and one of the longer skirts for sure. I also need at least one pair of shorts. I confess, my typical selections are usually in cool colors for obvious reasons." She gave a wave of her tail as if to explain the difficulty of matching any colors with the permanent aquamarine accessory. It would be noted that she hadn't asked for any short skirts, as she had quite a collection of those and her stipend would not put up with such reckless spending.

After specifying the class prez motioned to retrieve some of the options she had specified and Mia thanked her in turn, not entirely sure if this was typical practice or not for this store. "Oh, thank you so much." As she awaited the class prez's return she considered what had happened so far since entering the store and nearly smiled. Even in the confines of the changing room she still dared not risk parting her lips in a true smile but she didn't need to. Behind her the swishing of her tail threatened to damage something with its significant motion. Back and forth as if swimming in an excited frenzy she waited with barely contained excitement.

The difficulties involved with finding a store that sold clothes she could actually wear or would be willing to modify to such an extent had seemed nearly insurmountable before now. She had been forced to search a vast number of things on the internet just to learn how to get to the various malls and stores she had visited. From the complicated maps of Tokyo to a sub forum explaining how the busing system worked. Yet at last it was finally paying off. Mia settled in and relaxed a bit waiting for the class prez's return.

Mia settled in and waited for the promised return of the class prez with baited breath. Her tail swished behind her with an almost dangerous rapidity that threatened to damage something but it was simply too difficult to curb her enthusiasm while she waited. Fortunately she didn't have to wait overly long for the class prez to return, announcing herself as she did so. "Oh, welcome back." She replied in both reflex and heartfelt enthusiasm.

The class prez then conducted a wonderful explanation of how the tail section was setup and the rather clever button system it employed. Mia felt a vocalization of wonder slip between her lips, both at the cleverness of the design and how lovely the outfit looked. "Ooooooo~" Oh, how she really hoped it fit well. Mia accepted the garment with a grateful nod and her usual poker face, though there might have been a slight upward tilt at the tips of her lips indicating something of a smile. As usual her tail was far more honest, swinging back and forth with frenzied abandon.

With the class prez leaving her alone again, Mia began the task of removing what clothing she needed to. Naturally the top was easy to remove, and the skirt wasn't overly difficult either, though she noted that the swishing of her tail had been hiking up the back again. She held the new dress and turned it over and over in her hands taking a good look at the button system, it really was quite clever. With an almost smile she slipped it on and tried to put her tail through the hole only to realize the problem. The dress was perfectly fine, the tail on the other hand was far too excited to put through any hole.

Mia took a deep breath, in and out, in and out trying to calm herself down while focusing hard on keeping her tail from moving enough to slip the dress on properly. It normally didn't take quite this amount of effort to make her tail calm but she was really quite excited and to think there would be even more things to try on. After all the vast expended effort in donning the dress she did a quick twirl, noting that in her opinion at least, the dress fit really quite nicely. Well, time to see what the class prez thinks. She poked her head out of the curtains to note the class prez's position before she emerged from change room for inspection a slight blush upon her face.

"Ummm, what do you think?" She asked, her hesitation born from a lack of confidence in her features that was somewhat countered by her confidence in how nice the dress looked and the fun she was having. Her tail kept up a decent pace behind her, but rather than disrupting the outfit it seemed to fan the frills a bit. In all truth the outfit seemed to fit excellently showing off everything that her usual attire tried to hide out of misguided insecurity.

Hearing the words 'it's perfect' served to temporarily alleviate Mia's insecurities a bit as the class prez completed a circuit around her. She tried, mostly in vain, to keep her tail from thrashing too badly behind her so as not to knock the girl over. She received a thumbs up of approval and was asked how it fit. Mia took a moment, twisting her body back and forth and making the dress glide slightly from the motion as she thought about it. "It's really quite wonderful. My tail can move about as much as it wants without disturbing the dress, I've never had something this cozy before."

Mia was quite pleased with the outfit, feeling validated by the class prez's opinion on how it looked and how it felt. Where before she was on a mission to acquire just a few things she needed for life, now she could feel herself becoming very open to the idea of bending her budget a tad. Naturally the clothes Bryn had lovingly modified for her didn't quite compare with the clever design of the store, not for lack of trying mind you. There was just something overall better about industrial quality over hand made attempts.

As Mia was maneuvered to the large table of clothes laid out before her she found her Fischer-family frugality melting like hot butter. I could have that, and that, and that's nice, and oh my I've never had anything like that. If she was being completely honest with herself, there was very little on that table she didn't like. So it was that she quickly snatched up some of the things she had asked for originally. Firstly as a method to keep her mind focused on it's goal and secondly because she couldn't decide which one she wanted to try on first. In doing so however her glance took note of something that was certainly not of the same color scheme as everything else she had been eyeing up.

"Umm," She gestured to one of the articles of clothing adorned in typically warmer colors. "I'm a little interested in trying something of a different color set, but would you suggest something for me?" It was a little embarrassing to have to ask someone else to pick something out for her, but she really didn't know which ones would work with her tail. Normally that might have embarrassed her too much, but with the class prez's perfect sales lady persona, she found herself getting more comfortable with the idea. That added to the fact that it was far less embarrassing than getting measured so thoroughly.

Mia shifted a bit, swishing the dress this way and that, enjoying the coziness of it while she waited for the class prez's input. Internally she tried somewhat desperately to create a second limit of how much she was willing to spend, noting with some resignation that it would inevitably be more than she had originally intended. I've been doing so well up until this point but, if this keeps up, I may need a job. The thought was depressing and sobering but not something she would shy away from, she was a Fisher after all and would be no stranger to work just like the rest.