[Video+Action, post moon-warp]

[wereperrito]

Hello all!

This is Jack, from my little nook in the convoy where I make and repair clothes.

[He smiles at the camera, showing off the fluffy little fox ears he is now sporting instead of regular ears, and the white streaks in his blue-gray hair, then turns his radio device around to show the little shop. It is, frankly, less like a shop and more like a workspace, with fabric in cabinets on the walls and a pair of tables and some chairs, with more fabric strewn across them, some in good condition and some in less-good condition.]

I just wanted all of our new people to know that if the moon warp ruined your clothes, I can probably help. I have mostly figured out trousers, I think, and I am still working on proper shirts, though I can make, um, cloaks and drapes and things.

[He sets the camera down on one of the tables, and sits down to face it.]

I did want to, er, also tell everyone something else. I know we are all... changing. Into something we might call monsters, some of us. I just wanted to say I was a monster before I came here. Not a-- not a bad person, no, not a cruel person, but a werewolf. I turn into a beast once a month on the full moon, like moon warps here.

So. So I just wanted everyone to know, I have done this before. This changing, this becoming something else for a time. I don't know if it will help anyone, but if it can-- I wanted everyone to know.

[He has "come out" piecemeal to various people, here and there, and it's gone well. But now he's doing it to everyone, to people he's never talked to. It's a little scary, but he's doing it.

And now that he's done it, he hesitates, then fumbles for the radio to turn it off without further comment.

He will be available in his shop most evenings, for people to come by to get clothing repaired or measured for, or for people to ask questions, and of course he's around the convoy or in his van during the day when they're on the move.]

Comments

[Audio]

[purplexing]

...got any leather?

[Pointedly avoiding change talk, but they already kind of touched on that subject and after his first moon warp experience, Donnie's perspective on it has not much improved.]

Re: [Audio]

[wereperrito]

Er... hrm.

[There's rustling sounds, and the creak of a cabinet door as he searches.]

I have a some scraps of some kind of faux leather, I think, that I scavenged, but it doesn't look like I have anything real.

I wish I knew how to tan. We can get hides from animal-monsters but if we can't tan them, they'll go bad if I try to make anything out of them.

[Audio]

[purplexing]

Real leather'd be better. More durable. How thick's the faux one?

I've only read about how to tan but it's a pretty long process and I don't think our being on the constant move would make it an easy one to sustain, especially without proper ingredients and equipment.

Re: [Audio]

[wereperrito]

Not very. And like I said, it's only scraps. I don't think I could make a whole anything out of it. Maybe a pair of gloves?

If we can find a book on it here in this world I would be willing to give it a try. I'm sure we could find somewhere on the convoy to try it. Though I do seem to recall it being a somewhat, er, smelly process...

[Audio]

[purplexing]

Scraps can still be pieced together if there's enough, but if it's not a whole lot, I don't want to monopolize it all. Was hoping for something to use for boots. ...although I wonder what the point would be if we just end up with funkier feet again.

The smell is a thing yes.

Re: [Audio]

[wereperrito]

I am afraid I definitely do not know how to make boots.

[He heaves a sigh.]

Making shoes is much more complicated than making clothes. I could at most manage sandals for you, but probably not anything else. I will try to work on that once I have enough patterns for clothes, but I cannot promise much.

But if you do want gloves, I could manage that.

[Audio]

[purplexing]

We are not doing sandals.

[His typically sarcastic tone is even more blunt at that.]

I can draw out something simple for footwear, I've got some tire treads to cut out soles, I just don't have material for the rest of it.

Re: [Audio]

[wereperrito]

It is not that I do not know the shape of a boot, Donnie. It is that you have to affix it in certain ways, shape it to fit a foot without collapsing, and size it right to not pinch or rub.

Cobbling is very different from tailoring, especially when working with scraps instead of a full piece of material. I could make you something, yes, but it would be more like a very stiff sock with rubber bottoms than a real boot.

[Audio]

[purplexing]

Have you never heard of tabi? They are basically that. Putting soles on them is an upgrade. I think anything actually separating our feet from the ground is an upgrade, and after all those thorns, I don't want my brother walking around near barefoot.

Re: [Audio]

[wereperrito]

Yes, I do know what those are. I lived in Japan for-- oh, two years, I think? I wore some. I have mended them, but I have never made them.

[He looks thoughtful, tapping one set of fingers on his tabletop idly.]

Those are in fact more like stiff socks than boots... but the toe might be more tricky. If you are patient if I do not make them right first go, I can give it a try, if you bring me the rubber soles.

[Audio]

[purplexing]

Have you seen our feet?

I'll cut the soles out so you know what the base shape is. And if you need measurements, I can give those too.

Re: [Audio]

[wereperrito]

I have seen them, sure. But seeing them is not the same as cutting fabric that will not pinch them or cause blisters. So... yes, I would like to measure, if I may?

[He collects his tape measure from the table, ready and willing!]

[Audio]

[purplexing]

True. Where do I find you? My feet and Leo's are pretty close, size-wise, so you can measure my feet.

as mun forgets this was not in person yet, oops

[wereperrito]

The last trailer of the convoy has a bunch of shop stalls. Most of them are empty so far. Mine is not. I will keep the door open so you can see which one it is.

XD

[purplexing]

Cool. I'll be over shortly.

[It doesn't take long to get what he needs together. It takes even less time to get to the trailer in question, and Jack will figure out why rather quickly.

The little tufts of feathers from before have grown out into full-blown wings, dark brown-black with a sheen of purple when the light hits right.]

Helloooo?

Re: XD

[wereperrito]

Hello!

[Jack waves through the shop window in Donnie's direction when he hears him, and then sees him. His only visible changes remain the fox tails (and one snake tail) and fox ears. He's smiling readily enough despite them, thouh.]

In here!

[purplexing]

[Donnie smiles a bit, stepping inside. He does have to pause when he sees the new additions. It's like a game of spot-the-difference.]

I brought extra aside from the pieces I cut out, in case you wanted to experiment.

[wereperrito]

Oh good, thank you, that will help. I don't want to ruin the pieces you cut specifically by not knowing what I am doing.

[He picks himself up from his work table, collecting a piece of tracing paper and a pencil as he does.]

I thought I would trace your feet. Easier than trying to use numbers on something so specific.

[purplexing]

Numbers are meant to be used for such specifications! -but I will admit, they'd only be more beneficial with the proper tools, and I can see we're limited.

[He picks up one of his feet, wiggling his two toes.]

Tracing it is. I'm...kind of hesitant to ask for a pair of any footwear myself though. When the moon thing was happening I ended up with [Shudder] some kind of...bird feet? I-I don't know. It... wasn't fun.

[But Leo made them go away somehow. Would it stay that way?]

[wereperrito]

[Jack sets the tracing paper on the floor, motioning for Donnie to step on it so he can trace around his heel and toes, getting as exact a representation of his whole foot as possible.]

That is a worry with many of us. I absolutely ruined my trousers the first time the tails popped out. That's why I offered to do this for others to begin with, really. So even if you damage the tabi with changing feet, so long as you do not tear open the rubber soles, I can probably repair them.

[purplexing]

[Donnie winces. True, he and his brothers normally run around in nothing but a pair of biker shorts on a normal basis but he can understand how inconvenient having holes in your pants would be, especially depending on a tail. Tails? Right. Wow.]

I'm fine with going barefoot so long as we're not running through briar patches again. And I guess there's these things...

[He gives a small flutter of his wings, still largely uncertain about how he feels there.

Once he's closer, he sets his foot on the sheet of paper, close to the edges to take up the least amount of space so the rest can still be used.]

[wereperrito]

[Jack crouches to start tracing around his foot, keeping the pencil from actually touching his skin, but getting a close line.]

Do they work? I mean-- do you fly with them? My friend Serph has six wings, but I have not seen him try to fly yet.

[purplexing]

[It still feels weird, even not with the pencil touching, but Donnie holds steady.]

They do. I...am not sure how I managed, but I was using them. Back when things started getting crazy around the tower.

...it might have been instinctual.

[His snout wrinkles, not at all liking how weird Leo had been acting then, and he'd clocked moments when his own thoughts seemed foreign to him.]

[wereperrito]

It might have been. I transformed once, during the storm last month? But it was into a little fox. And I knew perfectly well how to run around on all fours. It might be like that.

[He finishes that foot, and goes to trace the other next, because everyone's two feet are different, you can't just mirror them.]

Which is not comforting to hear. No one wants to not have something like that under control. You may want to try practicing, if you can.

[purplexing]

A fox? Huh. I ran into a talking fox and was kind of surprised that there was that level of transformation.

[Donnie is appreciative that Jack has considered this detail because it's important!! Even if it still feels weird having your feet traced by someone else.]

Yeah... That wasn't the only thing either. I almost didn't want to come down once we were flying. And I'm sure Leo would have insisted on continuing to run if he hadn't gotten hurt.

[There'd been a lot of things that bothered him about how his brother had been acting, and he'd been truly scared that he might've gotten even more injured. That hole in Leo's shell hadn't shrunk after things had blown over...]

....