Style Over Substance

Posted on Fri Oct 16th, 2020 @ 8:14am by Ignatius & Raven Mattel

Mission: Shore Leave
Location: Deck 5 - "The Flying Pants"
Timeline: After "Time with the Boss"

ON:

Ignatius was having a mental block. He was working on a new window display for The Flying Pants and had changed his mind for about the fourth time. The poor mannequins had been stripped, fitted, moved, and redone more times this morning than in the past few months. He'd tried resort wear, with tropical prints and soft linens, but then thought it was too casual. He tried Hamptons chic, with nautical colours and rope belts, but then thought it was too specific. He tried black and white glamour, with tuxedos and white pressed shirts, but then thought it was too inappropriate. Now he was staring at some kind of pastel rainbow, with bright colours and colour blocked prints, and realised he hated every inch of it.

"I give up!" He declared, throwing his hands up as he stared at the window in disdain.

He wished Raven were there. She would usually help him work through his ideas, with her frank assessments of colours and patterns. Ignatius looked at the time and sighed, he hadn't seen Raven all day. Indeed, he had seen increasingly less of her since they returned from Hesiod Blue. He didn't want to seem paranoid but he got the feeling she was avoiding him. Their time together on Hesiod was not without it's bumps. Talarian attacks notwithstanding, he had been confused by her sometimes aloof, sometimes erratic behaviour on the planet. They almost got into an argument the first hour down on the surface when she mocked his attempts to get the camp organised, then again later when she was clearly upset but wouldn't say why. Ignatius also didn't like how quickly she had befriended Terrekal and brought him into their group, fearing he was somewhat being replaced as her best friend.

As if on cue, Raven Mattel appeared besides him, a look of cringe on her face. "Oh darling, pastels?"

"I don't know what I was thinking." Iggy explained, with a deep sigh, his remorse evident.

"Clearly." Raven remarked with a smirk. "What happened to tropical? I thought you'd decided it was summer fresh season."

"Is it though?" The clothier shrugged, staring intently at the window display. "Technically it's Fall back home, on Earth I mean, coming up to Christmas. Will people want summer vibes right now? I've lost my intuition. I just don't know."

"People will want what you decided to put out." Raven replied, putting her slender arm around him comfortingly. "Because you decide what's in fashion on this ship."

Ignatius smiled and patted the hand around him, "Thank you, darling, you always know what to say."

He turned to look at her and found she was wearing one of his soft tropical-print silk scarves wrapped around her neck and tucked into a flowing sarong-style dress in matching hues. Her wig was flowing blonde curls, styled loosely to look like she had just come from a walk down the beach. Her natural copper skin had a deeper tan and her scent today was coconut and saltwater. She wore a bright peach lip gloss across her bright smile.

"Ah! Summer fresh!" Ignatius beamed. "Of course!"

Raven gave her friend a kiss on the cheek. "You are my inspiration, darling."

"My muse!" Ignatius returned. "Tell me, what have you been up to? I've barely seen you."

"Darling, I've been super busy." Raven shrugged, nonchalantly. The response bothered Ignatius but he tried not to show it. "Building my brand, staying fabulous."

"Oh, how so?" Ignatius pressed, "Tell me all the details."

Raven sighed, as if pestered by the constant questions, "Trust me, I've got many fires on the iron, or whatever that saying is."

"Okay," Ignatius nodded slowly, still not hearing any details, "Well I'd love to hear it all. Come in, we'll have a nice long chat?"

"Sorry. Can't stay long," Raven replied, "I have to do some homework and then I've got a meeting."

"Sounds important." Ignatius offered, "But really, can't you come in for a quick catch up? Come, I have a present for you."

At this, Raven seemed pleased, "Well if you have a present for me, I shall."

Feeling like he had managed to grab Raven's attention, at least for now, Ignatius swanned back into The Flying Pants, past the discarded clothes he had strewn around the room during his bought of indecisiveness. He moved over to the main counter where a flat, wide blue box was sitting. He stood behind the counter and pushed the box across it, to where Raven was now standing.

"For me?" Raven beamed.

"Yes. I made them for you." Ignatius replied happily. "I tried to give them to you yesterday but apparently you were in a meeting?"

"Oh thank you," She smiled, getting to work untying the carefully placed bow. "Yes, Mr. Mindo came in during my shift at Little Caesar's yesterday. He wants Terrekal and I to be his event organisers. It's all very exciting."

Ignatius blinked a little, surprised by the news. "You... and Terrekal?"

"Yes! He's working at Mindo's too." Raven continued happily, having successful removed the bow. "We're going to plan some fun events, theme nights, parties, the whole shebang."

Ignatius felt like the air in the room had gotten noticeably colder. He knew he was feeling a pang of jealousy that Raven would be working with Terrekal, and not him, and slightly hurt that she hadn't (yet) asked him to join them. He thought they did everything together. And although he had gotten closer to Terrekal during their time on Hesiod Blue, Ignatius didn't make friends easily - and he trusted less rarely. He wasn't keen on being replaced by a stranger, whom they still knew very little about.

Raven had finished unwrapping the gift and she cooed in delight. Inside the box was a royal blue satin pyjama top, with a gold trim around the lapels, button holes, and pocket. It was monogrammed with "RM" on the left side.

"Oh it's gorgeous, Iggy!" Raven cried. "Whenever did you find the time?"

Shaking his head and trying to forget his momentary envy, Ignatius cleared his throat before responding. "I let the replicator do some of the work, but I sowed on the appliqué and piping myself."

"It's beautiful." Raven smiled at him.

"I noticed you didn't pack any on your trip to Hesiod Blue." Ignatius explained, "Well, not proper pyjamas anyway, so I thought I'd make you some."

Raven paused at this. "Oh, but I did have some." She answered with a slight laugh, as she started to notice the buttons were lined down the right side of the top. She dug her hands beneath the garment and lifted it out of the box. Underneath were a pair of men's pyjama pants, in the matching style and lining, but clearly with a thick waist band and button fly. She let the top hang out in full now and noticed the distinct, straight lines of a pair of men's pyjamas. Raven's face flushed red.

Ignatius noticed her hesitance and turned his head to the side, "Oh, something wrong?"

"They're lovely. The style is a little less feminine than my usual clothes." She offered, trying to keep her tone light and appreciative.

"Well, yes, but you don't wear drag to bed, do you?" Ignatius replied quickly. "I mean, not always, right? I thought the colours were classically you, while not being overly...I don't know..." He lost the word he wanted to say.

"Girly?" She answered for him.

"No. I mean, kind of." Ignatius stammered, fleeing flustered himself now. "They're chic, without being anything... binary. That's the word! They're fashionably non-binary. Not fem, not masc. Just chic. Like you."

Raven slowly dropped the pyjamas back into the box and put on a smile. "I see." She said with a nod, "Like me."

"That's okay, right?" He asked quickly.

"Of course." Raven gave another smile, but she deliberately returned the lid over the box. "You know, they're really too fabulous to give away. You should sell them, here in the shop."

"But I made them for you?" Ignatius stated, looking at Raven intently. "You do want them, don't you? I thought you'd like them."

"I do." Raven lied, avoiding his eyes. "I'd just hate for you to miss out on a sale. It's been a tough few weeks for your business."

Ignatius scoffed in his head, 'My business?' He thought. Ignatius felt like he'd somehow stepped onto a minefield without realising it, and was flummoxed by his friend's change in tone and sudden lack of excitement for the gift he had made for her. And instead of explaining what the problem was, she was avoiding saying what she really felt. He would have been able to handle direct honesty if she just didn't like the pyjamas, but not these churlish non-answers. He was starting to feel disconnected to his friend, and he didn't like this feeling at all.

"Okay." He simply answered. "If you don't want them?"

Raven rolled her eyes now, "Stop saying I don't want them, I'm just trying to help you out."

For Raven, she couldn't really put into words why she found the gift so embarrassing. She knew why she didn't want kinda-mens, kinda-non-binary clothing, but she felt like she couldn't explain this openly to Ignatius just yet. He had clearly gone to some trouble to make the garments for her, and she knew she was insulting him by suggesting he sell them instead, but she felt taking the gift would be dishonest. She didn't want to hurt his feelings but she couldn't say why. And she was offended that he didn't know her well enough to understand why the item might be a problem for her.

After all this time, did he still not know who she really was?

Ignatius pulled the box back across his side of the counter and dropped it onto a shelf underneath, out of sight. He gave a shrug, "I'll do that then."

"There's no need to be so rude." Raven snapped back.

"Honestly, Raven," He sighed dramatically, "What is wrong with you lately?"

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"I don't know, you're so hot and cold with me." Ignatius replied, "One minute you're picking arguments, the next you're kinda fine, but it's all surface level. You only want to chat about superfluous things, nothing real. When was the last time we really sat down and talked? You and me?"

Raven shrugged now, "Well... There's a lot going on with the ship. And Hesiod."

Ignatius stared back his friend, shaking his head, "See? You don't give me any real answers when I try to find out what's going on with you. You're all style over substance with me now. Which is fine. It's fine, Raven, I thought we were closer than that, but clearly I am wrong. You want to demote me to 'guest appearance' in your life, so be it. Just have the guts to tell me, instead of acting like nothing has changed."

"Ignatius!" Raven was taken aback by his sudden outburst, she didn't know whether to shout or cry. "I... don't... That's not what I am doing."

"It's exactly what you're doing." Ignatius immediately shot back. "I don't have time for this, I have a window to finish."

She was floored by his anger and apparent desire to cut this friendship off. She didn't want to stick around and fight with him anymore, "Fine. I have work to do anyway."

Ignatius was already moving away from the counter, into the back of his store. "See you round." He called out casually.

"Yep." She replied half-heartedly.

Raven left the shop feeling confused and deflated, and Ignatius tried to get back to work but he was feeling only concerned and offended. He decided to abandon doing his displays for now and just put some empty mannequins into the window.

OFF