ArchivedLogs:Window Shopping

Window Shopping
Dramatis Personae Marinov, Mai
In Absentia	2016-12-23 "My... that sounds rather complicated."
Location <NYC> Garment District
The Garment District is named quite rightly. In the square mile of the Garment District, some of the world's best fashion designers, clothing manufacturers, and models are packed into the office and retail buildings of the District. The streets are busy, and the clothing of the passers-going always, always fashionable. It is time for Marinov's monthly pilgrimage to do some window shopping in the Garment District. The teen currently wears a pea jacket over a pair of back slacks, with a solidly red and black striped scarf around their neck. They peer inside each of the windows, occasionally taking pictures with their phone and looking down to make sure they look alright. Occasionally, they pull their scarf further up over their felinoid face in order to escape too much attention, and some of the shop owners seem sort of suspicious of the young mutant despite them being dressed appropriately for the district, but they usually move on to the next shop before getting shooed or having the cops called. Mai also comes here fairly often, after all, what teenage girl does not like clothes, and shopping? Although, since she isn't exactly loaded she usually has to settle on just the window shopping thing also, picking -that- special dress that she is going to buy after she somehow becomes rich. Hey, dreaming is the cheapest entertainment there is. Anyways, she is walking along the street, stopping by front of most shops to take a look at the showcased outfits, and while doing this, she can't help but notice the young... man? doing the same thing, as well, Marinov does kind of stand out. However, unlike most people, she does not seem put off by the unusual appearance, more like the opposite, it peaks her curiosity, so she makes her way closer to him, which was kind of happening already anyway as she is coming from the opposite direction to the feline person. Marinov glances over towards Mai after a few moments of taking pictures of one particular dress in the window. They turn towards her and tilt their head up, glancing the girl up and down, glances back at the dress, and then offers a tentative wave to her since her eyes are on them. Marinov puts their phone back into the coat pocket. "Hey." Mai takes a moment to look the strange looking person over in more detail now when she is close enough, before offering a smile to them. "Hey there. I see I am not the only one who dreams of being able to afford these things." she notes with a light chuckle as she nods towards the outfits on display behind the window. "Heh, yeah, lots of this stuff is out of my price range," admits Marinov, "But most of it wouldn't fit me anyways. Got a weird shape to me, yeah?" They adjust the scarf to show their face again, to avoid having a muffled speech. It's unlikely that Marinov has the capacity to offer a proper smile in return to Mai. "But I like to do design, and I like to sew, and I am sort of just doing a bit of research." Mai tilts her head to the side some as she looks Marinov over some more at his words. "Really? You don't seem that oddly shaped... unless you count the fur. But hey, I am certainly no expert so I take your word on it." she offers, not wanting to get too prying. The last part of what the ocelot man says catches her interest though. "Oh? So your like a fashion designer?" she inquires. "Oh, I am Mai, by the way." she offers an introduction once she realizes she hadn't done so yet. "Heh, well, yeah... it looks that way, but my feet are weird and my bones are sort of different, but it's not obvious..." says Marinov, "Plus, I got a tail, looks weird with most clothes." The teen shrugs, removing their clawed hand (though with retracted claws) from the pocket of their jacket and extending it to Mai. "Marinov. Taylor Marinov, yeah. I'm a fashion designer, sort of. I mostly make clothes for me, but I'm working on something bigger." Mai nods a few times as she listens intently at the explanation. "That must come in handy... I mean being able to make your own clothes when you need things like custom-made anyway." she notes, giving a curious look at the offered hand, before taking it with her own to shake, curious about how it feels. "Would love to see some of your designs. I bet there is some really cool stuff there. I am kind of jealous really since if I would try to sew something I would probably just prick my finger with the needle." she adds with a giggle. Marinov's hand is soft, and feels different from a regular human hand, the composition of the bones seems somewhere between a paw and a proper human hand. "Takes some practice. I used to like making clothes for my dolls and shit when I was a kid," says Marinov, "And then I eventually moved on to dressing me up instead. Well, not instead, I still make dioramas and stuff with dolls. Gotta have hobbies..." Mai is quite interested in how different that hand feels. "So soft..." she muses, then blinks at the mention of dolls, not exactly the first thing that would come to mind when talking about a cat person. "Damn, sounds like you are quite busy with all that stuff." She bites her lower lip a bit hesitantly before asking the next question. "So... umm have you always looked like that?" "No," says Marinov flatly, "Had to spend some time in the hospital during the big change, 'cause the pain was terrible... Your bones breaking down and reforming isn't a comfortable process, I guess. I've looked like this for a year, and I'm still not entirely used to it... I guess at least the fur I got is soft, yeah, so it doesn't make me feel scratchy or anything. Just... I don't like standing out as much as I do. Not a lot to do to hide it." They shrug and slip their hand back into their pocket, "I guess my hobbies keep me pretty busy, but at least I'm practicing a pretty useful skill some of the time." Mai winces a bit at the explanation. "Ouch, sorry, didn't mean to bring back any bad memories... and that definitely doesn't sound nice. Like I mean, I had some issues at school too with some jerks because of different skin color... I can only imagine how that would get cranked up to eleven with you. Some people can just be such idiots..." she explains, then nods in agreement to the last part. "Yeah, it does sound useful for sure, and I don't mean just like for practical reasons of being able to make your own clothes, but like damn, look at the prices on some of those dresses, can only imagine how much the people who design those are making." she points out with a motion towards the window. Marinov pulls out their hand again to rub their fingers together, "Some of the designers around here make some real money, but they've been working at it for a very long time. It's a hard industry to get into, you know?" For a moment, they become visibly discouraged at the thought, ears swiveling to participate in making the expression, but that fades away quickly. "But, maybe even with a face like mine... I'll be able to break into it." They glance towards Mai and say, "And yeah, people with a visible mutation like mine... it's rough. People around here seem none too fond of mutants, assume I'm a criminal or terrorist gonna maul them or whatever..." They sniff lightly at Mai, "And you? What do you think of mutants?" This question is spoken clearly as a test. Mai nods slightly at the explanation about the fashion industry. "Well, all of those guys started from somewhere." she points out. Biting her lower lip a bit as she listens to the talk of the prejudice. "People are just jerks. I am sure there are lot more criminals and terrorists that are regular humans than there are mutants, it’s just that since you look different makes for an easy target to blame everything wrong in their lives on. There is nothing new with that, they used to do that with people of different colors, now they are just repeating history with new names, and it will probably end just as badly for those types of people." Taking a bit of a breath as she realized she had been getting a bit sidetracked there, before answering the cat person’s question. "They haven't done anything to me that would give me reason to think bad of them, unlike some of those jerks hating on them... personally, I prefer to form opinions of individuals rather than groups. There is bound to be jerks in every group of people, just have to try to stay away from those." Marinov nods once, satisfied with the answer, "Yeah... People are really scared of mutants, I guess, and seeing someone who looks like a mutant lets them really focus on that hate. I've had more things thrown at me this last year than the rest of my life!" They huff sharply, "I think it'd be nice to have an invisible mutation, you know? 'cause at least then you can avoid all that. But... I guess I'm more keenly aware of mutant issues than I used to be. I mean, I attended protests and shit but... it's different." They look back to the dresses in the store, to see the shop owner staring back with an unhappy expression. Marinov starts sidling away from the glass so not to be visible by the owner or patrons. "Anyways, it could be tough getting into a tough industry when so many hate people like me. But eh, oh well. I'll just... be subversive, I guess?" Mai mmhmms at Marinov's words with a slight nod of her head as she follows along with them. "I don't know... I think that could be even worse... like what if something bad happens, that you could have stopped... but doing so would expose it to everyone... how could anyone make a decision... when there is only bad choices?" She trails off for a bit, before glancing back to the window. "Perhaps we have outstayed our welcome here... I still would love to see some of your designs though. Would definetily beat just watching at stuff through windows." "Even worse? I dunno. I think having a choice between bads is better than having just a bad dished out at you without any choice involved at all," says Marinov with a shrug of one shoulder. They pull their phone back from their pocket and starts to look at the images, swiping past all the ones that were taken that day, and then into previous day. Some of the images are just drawings of designs, or selfies of designs come to fruition. Marinov seems to wear all kinds of clothes if the images are any indication, occasionally a sort of frilly dress, or a more masculine cut suit, or something a bit more punky and unisex, or anything in between. "Like I said, I mostly design for myself, so I'm the best model I've got." They glance to the store and gesture to move on, "Yeah, I tend to overstay my welcome pretty quick. I'd rather not linger, let's look at the next place." Mai leans over a bit to better see the images shown from the phone, though upon watching that all she does realize something, seeing both the suits and the dresses. "Well if you want to make dresses for others too sometimes, sign me in!" she offers with a light laugh. Then as they start moving along on the street she finally asks. "Uh... this is kind of embarrassing to ask... but I can't really make out whether I should call you a guy or a girl? Seeing how you're even wearing clothes for both in those pictures and all." "Put me down for 'undecided'," says Marinov, raising some brow whiskers slightly at the question, "The pronouns that I use are 'they' and 'them' and so on. But I don't have a strong enough preference to care. If you want to call me something, I'd say... clear it with me first, yeah?" They shrug lightly and say, "Anyways, I'm working on a sort of project to, well, showcase obvious mutants I guess. Visible differences. Sort of... celebrate and normalize, I guess? So... I don't think I'll have a chance to make anything great for you soon or anything, unfortunately." Mai listens to that explanation with a curious look. "My... that sounds rather complicated. But... I guess I will just stick with the name for now." she offers with a giggle. Tilting her head to the side at the last part. "Oh wow, that sounds pretty cool, like a fashion show or something? Your really putting lot of effort into this. Oh and don't worry about me, I was mostly just being silly anyways, I am sure you have lot more important things to do than dress up random people." "Not complicated at all, really," says Marinov, ears flicking lightly, "Neither sex nor gender is binary, sometimes people end up falling outside of what's expected, yeah?" They offer a shrug and turn off the screen of their phone. "And yeah, it's a fashion show. And... yeah, if you wanted me to make a dress for you, I wouldn't be doing it for free! Takes too much time to do it for free. But money... yeah, that's the stuff!" Mai thinks a few moments on that explanation, then shrugs. "I guess I never thought about it like that, but I will take your word on it." then she laughs lightly at the last part, nudging the cat person slightly with her elbow. "Hah, see? There you are already going along the road to become a top fashion designer, you got something to aim for. Though to be honest, I don't even know where I would need a dress for, nothing to celebrate... I will keep that in mind though in case something does come up." Marinov raises their camera as they cross in front of another retail outlet, taking a picture of the display out in the front. "Well, sometimes you don't need something to dress up for. Sometimes you can just... dress up! Look nice or cool or whatever you want. I like having options like that. There's so many great looks out there, why limit it to special occasions?" Then Marinov pauses. "Well... you don't want to wear a wedding dress to a singles bar, I guess, I get that there's some limits to that kind've thinking." Mai laughs softly at those words. "Well, I don't know if I want to get any more dressed up than this for just regular day to day stuff, would just look like showing off or something... and I much prefer to not be in the center of attention." she offers. "It was really nice meeting you though, hopefully will get to do so again too. But I think that I should be going... its getting late." "Sometimes it's nice to show off!" says Marinov with a bit of a chuckle. They nod in reply to Mai and says, "Yeah, add me on Facebook or something. Good to meet you too. Always nice to meet someone in this city who's like... at least friendly, yeah?" They wave and say, "Seeya later!" They put their phone back into their pocket and start back off on the pilgrimage.