Under Cover Fashion

[bairnsidhe]

Filling my "Costumes" square in Origfic Bingo and my (misread, honestly, I thought it said 'intimates') "Intimate" square from Cotton Candy Bingo.

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Nzinga Marton opened her shop at exactly 4 am every day, rain or shine.  She set out bolts of Dyneema and Kevlar under the special recessed lights, she tweaked the fall of the mannequin's capes, and then she flipped her porch light on in silent invitation.  Her store wasn’t exactly advertised, nor was it what you’d call well-traveled, but her clients were loyal and they paid well.

Well, as long as she didn’t ask any questions.

Like why Sanaa “Sunshine” Thompson, the Channel 7 meteorologist showed up at 4:15 needing a replacement set of UV blocking rip-stop gloves.  Nzinga knew exactly why she needed to stock that particular shade of gold satin finish that looked exactly like Solarflare’s skin.  She also knew that nobody would benefit from her outing the solarpunk superhera.

As Sanaa was browsing the new boot selections, the doorbell rang and Nzinga let in Daniel Brody, smelling faintly of gunpowder and mournfully presenting a trench coat to her.  “Can you fix it?” he asked.

“As long as it isn’t mutative or biohazard.  I don’t repair anything damaged by suspicious liquids.  That’s how Pinnacle Designs got shut down.”

“No Ma’am,” he said respectfully.  “Standard issue nitroglycerin and burns.”

“Alright, make nice.  I’ll be done in a minute.”

She went in back and repaired the holes in the anti-hero’s signature coat, and scrubbed out the bloodstains for good measure.  Her talent of mending anything that could be mended with a moment of focus flared cool and slippery in her fingers, a line of spider silk weaving the world shut one inch at a time.  She carried the coat back out, took his payment and his thanks and as he left, Sally Corrigan stepped in past him, her red-blonde hair looking sun-bleached on her left.

“It’s an emergency, my last sports bra got roasted.”

“Come on in, we’ll get that fixed.  I’ve got another customer, that’s not going to be a problem,” Nzinga said, clearly not asking.  She didn’t care if Schist and Solarflare were nemeses, she just refused to have her shop leveled.

“Nope, I just want a bra.  I’m not here for anything else.”

“I have your standard order in back, it was only a matter of time before you damaged the last set.”  Nzinga sighed.  “You are awfully hard on your lingerie.”

“It’s not my fault the super elastics are so expensive!  If I could afford enough to let them rest more I would, but you know I don’t always get a say in when I’ll suddenly… have an issue.”

Nzinga hummed.  “You can’t call the fellow who helped you with the changes?” she asked.  “If you’ve still got control problems, that could be serious.”

“It’s not my control, it’s my triggers,” Sally confessed.  “I’m allergic to everything, and one strong sneeze’ll do it.”

Nzinga nodded sympathetically, because what else can you do when you learn that the local villainous troll can be undone by hay fever?  She grabbed the boxes and set them on the counter for Sally to pick a color, then rung up Sanaa’s order.  The meteorologist slipped an extra two hundred under her card.  Nzinga looked at her.

“I know the pain, and I’m looking good on money right now,” she explained, with a glance at her generous, ratings-drawing chest.  “We don’t agree, that doesn’t mean we should be petty or spiteful.  Thanks for the boots.”

“Have a nice day,” Nzinga said and as Sanaa walked out, she slid both the black and the ivory that Sally was debating into the nice white boxes.  “You’re covered, Miss.”

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Nzinga Marton: Owner of Under Cover Fashion, a super boutique.  She has a minor gift for reality warping, one inch at a time, which she uses to complete near-miraculous repairs.

Sanaa "Sunshine" Thompson/Solarflare: Solarpunk superhera who transforms into a golden lightform to fly around Boston fighting crime.  By day she works as the meteorologist and weathergirl for Channel 7.

Daniel Brody/Gloom: Antihero supernary, using highly trained skills in psy-ops to keep the East Coast criminal element from feeling to comfortable.

Sally Corrigan/Schist: Transforming supervillain who primarily robs banks in her large, rocky form.  By day, she's a Geology PhD student struggling with debt and having had to go on sabbatical after the cave-in where she got her powers.

Comments

Yay!

[ysabetwordsmith]

I love seeing people find creative uses for superpowers in everyday jobs. :D

Re: Yay!

[bairnsidhe]

Thank you! I do too. It just makes sense in my head.

[technoshaman]

Nice! Female issues trump cape politics, yay!

[bairnsidhe]

Yup. Any woman with breasts over a certain size is going to be sympathetic to the no-bra problem, regardless of politics.

[technoshaman]

And that size (I don't know firsthand, but I do know secondhand) does not have to be very big at all...

[bairnsidhe]

I've known women who needed b-cups who understood the pain. That's honestly not that big, so yeah, it doesn't need to be a big tiddy issue at all. It's really just the very annoying a-cup gals who run about bra free on the regular that I've met who don't get it.

[technoshaman]

*noddles*

Then again, the one of those I know (and watched dance so gloriously on Saturday night) is an empath, so I have little doubt she gets it too.

[we_are_spc]

I get it. I have a hard time finding braws I like that don't have underwires. I find them binding a bit, but I don't have anyone to go bra shoping with who knows what to look for so I have to go with what I know I like. *sighs*. Hint: Pink.

So yeah...I get it. Because good bras are expensive as hell.

-Fallon~

PS: I wish I could sew as good in-body as I can out of. I'd make my own damn bras, thanks. LOL

[we_are_spc]

Your another one I'd want to fractile!people into worldwise. Jay and Isaiah would love Ms. Martin's shop. Especially since Jay has a shifter kid who is...er...rather hard on her clothing because she forgets that not all clothes shift with her, and she's tiger cub. xd

ANd yea girl issues trumping politics; I'll second that up there.

-Fallon~

[thnidu]

(Here via ysabetwordsmith.) All agreed! As a cis-het male, I can't personally identify with the DDDD problem, but I can empathize with the generalized problem of not fitting into (NPI*) any of the common patterns and societal expectations.

* No Pun Intended

[bairnsidhe]

(ysabet is amazing.)

I think it's one of those things where the idea can translate across issues. Anyone with a certain degree of empathy can look at the problem of "need this or pain, can't afford this" and find something they can relate to in it. That's the lovely thing about the neuroplasticity of compassion.

(And the pun may not be intended, but I shall appreciate it all the same. I love puns.)

[thnidu]

YES, the pungine in my head is always running, or at least on standby. (I don't know if anyone else uses that initialism.)

And the puns aren't always strictly verbal, speaking of the D D problem ;-)

thnidu

. http://www.gnuterrypratchett.com/

[bairnsidhe]

Nzinga is open to customers from everywhere, she's open from 4am to 10am and by appointment (so if you wish to fractile!people over to her shop go ahead, just mention me if you post the results anywhere in local-space.)

Yup. The bond of the breast, when you know the pain it's hard to ignore.

[we_are_spc]

o.o Really?

I may PM you so I can get a bit of the basics )I.E. what's the world sort of like; is there any fabric she can't do, etc.)

It also might be easier to meet these guys this way anyway: Jay's a bit shy around strange people he doesn't know, but his kid is one of those who never meets a stranger-though she knows not to talk to them under certain contexts.

I've been meaning to do a character sheet for him anyway because you're not the only who's given me permission to fractile, but I just...school. Blech.

I'll give you the results regardless if I write anything via PM. :D

-Fallon~

[quantumcupcakes]

That was such a fun read, I've always loved the idea of there being some little old lady who makes/repairs superhero costumes. It's the only explanation for where they all come from! :)

[bairnsidhe]

Thank you! I adore the super-fashionistas of various worlds, and Nzinga showed up in my head yesterday and demanded a place. She's actually fairly young, she inherited the practice from her mentor, Frida, who retired to Arizona for her arthritis.

[antisocialite_forum]

This is always missing in mainstream superhero genres - people who *have* lives outside of their cape duties, and have mundane (or not) problems to go with them. It's good to see somebody who fills in the gaps. :)

>> We don’t agree, that doesn’t mean we should be petty or spiteful. <<

*And* people looking out for each other despite differences.

- S.

[bairnsidhe]

I agree. Fortunately, the perk of being a bard is getting to fix that lack. If I want a story about superheras shopping for clothes and a designer who caters to them, I can make that happen.
If you ever have an idea for a story gap you want filled, let me know and I'll try my best.

*And* people looking out for each other despite differences.

I came into writing by fanfiction, it's given me an outlook of "I will take a hammer and FIX the canon" even on reality. I want this in real life, so I'm modeling it here.

[elaiel]

(Here via Ysabet) This was so much fun. I love things like practical superheroes, functionally useful magic items and people with low level gifts in stories. Thus this story made me very happy.

[bairnsidhe]

Yay, more friends! Ysabet is good about sending folks my way.

I'm glad you liked it. I also adore Practicality Powers and the people who use them. I also adore powers that could be ridiculously OP in a fight setting and the owner of said powers deciding to use it to do something like raise bees or breed roses.

[meridian_rose]

Here via ysabetwordsmith's rec :) This is so good and makes sense, that having superpowers doesn't make you a super seamstress! Leave that to the professionals :)

[bairnsidhe]

Thank you!

I always like the folks on the support end of things, the folks who make the things both sides of the cape need. ESPECIALLY when I can tie it into my fondness for peacezones and unspoken truces. Because everyone knows not to start shit in Nzinga's place, or use any information they learn there against another. That's a fast ticket to having to dress yourself and kevlar requires specialty sewing equipment.

Ysabet is good to me, I'm glad she rec's my stuff.