Dressed to Impress, A Side

Kavi sighed as he drummed his fingers on the counter, looking at the sewing machine that had, once again, hopelessly jammed. Feathers were a challenging material to work with at the best of times, but he'd been hired to do a dance at the local drag bar, and there was no way he was going to be able to manage something with fiber optics or holographic projections with so little notice, and there was no way he'd be fucking around with fire, either.

Not when patrons often spilled drinks on the catwalk portion of the stage. Not when the bartenders were already going through the yearly refresher on fire safety. His hair was too long for that, and even though he'd learned that Sizzle's smog was good at... generally-speaking, fireproofing his clothing over time, he couldn't rely on that either. Besides, the pokemon was sleeping contentedly on a pile of folders and papers, tuckered out after a long week of festival prep runarounds. He was fairly certain that if he tried to ask her to do anything else,  his former Salandit would absolutely riot. No, it was best to leave her out of things tonight, at least as much as he could.

Besides, he'd already bought self-extinguishing synthetics for his outfit, and gotten to work on the thing. It started off like a lewd, summery sheer kimono-- really more lingerie than actual robe-- and since all the golds, bronzes, coppers, oranges and yellows had been picked nearly clean in every fabric store half the region away, he'd had to get creative. Black satin would make the base of his dress, the one he'd wear under the black gauze of the outer robe. Accents had been picked in the best reds he could find, picks of feathers in cherry and fuschia, layered together and sprayed with a touch of black at the bases so that it would blend in with the gauze itself. He'd planned these voluminous sleeves, with fluttering cascades of feathers, lightweight enough to accentuate his movements and bright enough to catch beautifully under the stage lighting as well, and found a black elastic to stitch the boa-trimmed gauze to it, so that it would have the lower part of the sleeves ruffle and add volume without having to add too many layers.

The problem was in the gather. Hand-gathering the feathers was not cooperating... and if he used an elastic like he'd originally planned, he'd need to line the entirety of the gauze sleeves as it would show through, and that would ruin the entire look. This was, after all, not meant to be a show where he'd stay fully-clothed... and because of that, he'd wanted to give a sultry sort of lingerie look after removing the more... costumey... parts of his outfit. He'd managed to find the most atrocious hat, and he'd been able to repurpose an obi from the costume wardrobe he'd shared with 'Cho, but the feathers wouldn't really look like fire if they weren't gathered enough to really fluff up, and if the machine couldn't help, he'd have to ask for help. And, after a third jam on a second borrowed machine, he'd finally been forced to the conclusion that the machine really wasn't helping. Hand-sewing it on would probably be how he had to make it work, but in order to do so with any confidence, he'd have to reach out and ask for help.

He ran a hand through his hair, then flapped it at Sizzle as his sudden motion away from the chair startled her. "Not now, girl," he soothed her, trying to keep the stress from his voice, "I really need to get someone. Scoot over."

He waited patiently as the clever pokemon hissed at him, before finally sighing and hauling her up onto his shoulder. As she chattered angrily at him, he began rifling through the folders on his desk, until he came up with the one he needed. He flipped through the pages, swiping his thumb against his tongue to more quickly leaf through the glossy sheets, until he finally found the page he needed. He sighed as he saw the names listed below, flitting past his and a few schoolmates' that he knew had moved to different parts of the region, until he finally picked out the one he'd failed to remember. He popped open his

"That'll do," he said, reshuffling the pile until it was in some semblance of how it had been before. "Want back off?" Sizzle hissed at him, clearly displeased enough by her involuntary transplant that she refused to budge. "Really?" He asked her, unsurprised when all she did was chatter angrily in his ear. "Fine. I guess that's how it's going to be, then." He frowned as he walked over to the mirror, taking a look at how he was dressed-- it was good enough for public, even if his hair clearly needed a brush.

"C'mon, then-- we need to pay someone a visit. They'd better still be in town..."