Page 25 of Trove’s Purpose

Beaming, he grabbed her wrist. “Yes, with those hips. Come on! I know exactly what to put you in.”

“Huh?”

Unprepared for him to suddenly pull on her, she didn’t dig her feet in or attempt to stop him until he was already bringing her into a clothing store. This one had some lovely fashions, and he knew they would look good on her.

“Trove, wait, what are you doing?” Chee pulled back against him.

He let her go, but it was too late, she was already in the shop, and he was browsing through the consoles, looking at the designs.

With her bright hair and light skin, she’d look incredible in dark and bold colors. There was enough orange in her hair that she’d look great in pink as well. But yellow would absolutely wash her skin tone out. In that case-

“Trove. What are you doing?” Chee asked again, confused and uncomfortable, switching her weight between her feet, looking over his shoulder at what he was shopping for. “Those aren’t male clothes.”

“No. These are for you,” he chuckled, making a few selections.

Chapter 10

Chee

“Trove, this is not going to work!” Chee insisted, refusing to step into the dressing room. Or the advanced tech version of a dressing room.

Chee had brought a few outfits from Earth, just some of the most comfortable and durable ones. She had donated the rest – which mostly had just been business casual clothes for work. She wasn’t really big into fashion, not bothering to fight her body to look good anymore. It didn’t matter if she tried to lose weight or put on shapewear or work out her butt or thighs or whatever. Nothing was going to change the size of her hips, which really were big bones, completely heredity, and a gift from her mother that would only widen if she ever had kids. The swell of her belly didn’t bother her, the smallness of her boobs didn’t bother her, but she hated how uneven her hips made her look.

Nothing would ever squeeze her hips closer, so she was just going to be happy wearing her jeans and baggy sweater that, at least, disguised their wideness.

So, seeing the clothing choices Trove chose made her terrified, because she knew her body was going to look terrible in them. She absolutely did not want to try them on. Even if it was done completely virtually.

Out here in space, clothing shops were trying to appeal to multiple different species. Selling garments wasn’t as simple as small, medium, large. Some species, like Rok, had four arms. Some species had wings. Some had tails – and there was variation in size from super thin and whip-like, as Tanin had, or super thick and muscular. Spikes, horns, humps. Scales that could rip lace and silk or skin that couldn’t handle metals like scales.

Sure, clothing stores on individual planets could do a small, medium, large system because they were all selling to approximately the same body type, but a space station did not have that luxury. So, they didn’t have a bunch of ready-made stock just sitting out.

Instead, what they had were consoles that customers could put in their approximate requirements – limb count, growth presence, etc. – and the system would then take the fashions they had and adjust them to that body type i.e. adding sleeves, adding holes, removing them.

The dressing rooms were mirrors that, like a phone filter, would scan her body and put the clothing she had chosen over her. Giving her a look at what she would look like. And only if she decided she liked it and clicked buy would the employees actually make her clothes.

What they had in the back were fabric and machines. Machines that would cut the fabric, close the seams, add the seals that would close the fabric around her – which aliens used in the place of things like zippers or buttons.

One drawback of this system was that she couldn’t tell how comfortable the clothing was before actually putting it on, but everything was perfectly tailored to her based on how she chose to make it look on her body in the changing rooms.

All of that was explained to her by Trove as he picked things for her to ‘try on’ before he took her to a changing room. The room was about the same size as those on Earth with the large mirror that was what scanned and put the clothes on her body. The big difference was that there was no privacy curtain or door because she didn’t have to undress for any part of the process.

“Trust me,” Trove insisted, chuckling as he stepped to the side, making sure he was out of the way of the mirror’s scanning range. “You’re going to look great.”

“This is a mistake,” Chee insisted, making a face, refusing to take that last step to the spot on the floor that indicated where the mirror would begin working.

“Come on,” Trove encouraged happily. “You’ll love it, I guarantee.”

“You can’t possibly guarantee that.”

“Want to bet?” He grinned wickedly, and she felt her heart skip a beat.

Which annoyed her immediately. What the hell was she doing? There was no way she was being charmed by a heartbreaker’s smile.

“Bet what?” She asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Not because he was making her angry by his insistence, but because she had reacted at all to that handsome face.

Trove hummed thoughtfully, mimicking her position, but far more playfully than she was depicting the stance. “What do you want from me?”

“What I want?”