116/ReFashioning

ReFashioning
Date of Scene:	15 July 2023
Location:	Radiant Heart Academy - Sports Pavilion
Synopsis:	During the Summer Dance, Chiyo and Usagi sneak off to make up - and to help Chiyo get made up, in a new dress, that is. Surely this can't cause problems in the future.
Cast of Characters:	Usagi Tsukino, Chiyo Sakai

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Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's the school dance, and Usagi ought to be having a ball - between music, snacks, and plenty of people on the dance floor, it's everything a TV loving girl could hope for. Instead, she's dodging through the crowd of students (and occasional faculty chaperone), faking a smile but secretly unhappy, annoyance warring with the squirmy feeling of guilt. She's self aware enough to know she must have hurt Chiyo's feelings, that she'd been rude and more than a little unkind, and she's equally aware that it's only partially because of her lingering upset from talking to Inai-senp - Inai-sensei, and mostly to do with the study night that had turned into a trap.

(On she still feels dumb for not seeing coming, it was only exactly out of a dozen manga -)

She hasn't even been able to find Rei-chan yet. What if she decided not to come? What if Usagi's going to have to spend the whole night dodging friends and trying not to remember Inai-sensei's words whenever she catches sight of Darien with his other friends?

Truly, this sucks.

The dance isn't using up the entire sports pavilion - just most of it. Usagi ducks out, not through the front or back entrance, but just into a little off-shoot room, a hallway leading to the bathrooms, and sighs.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
The dance was well underway. The music managed to filter down the hall as a pleasant background noise in what was usually a quiet area except between classes. Though, to be fair, given what music the DJ was playing 'pleasant' was really questionable depending on the song currently queued up.

Chiyo had fled as soon as she could from the main swath of people seeking out the general solitude of the bathrooms. Really, it would be near impossible to tell she had even come this way if it wasn't for the tuft of glaringly pink tule that had caught on the bathroom door handle and torn free. There was so much to that Chiyo hadn't even noticed the loss of it. Instead she'd stuffed herself inside one of the stalls much as she could to hide, and calm down, and try to figure out how to get home with as few people seeing as possible. Coming out in this was a huge mistake.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
There's a moment where Usagi just leans against the hallway and groans, loud and upset and annoyed, thankfully drowned out by all the noise of the dance. Then she forces herself to keep moving - walks towards the bathroom, figuring she could at least splash some water on her face, calm down, think about finding - Rei-chan, Makoto-chan, maybe even Chiyo-chan, if she wasn't that mad at her -

The bathroom door has a little trail of tule. Bright pink, glaringly so even, in the harsh bathroom lights, and seared into her memory. Usagi swallows.

Pushes open the door.

"Chiyo-chan?" A single name, the only thing she'll say.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
"Usagi-chan?"

Chiyo's voice comes out quiet, as it usually did, but it's easy enough to hear in the bathroom the way it seems to echo. The tiles of the floor and walls added to that little sound effect. There's a rustle of fabric behind the second stall door as she shifts trying to fold the massive skirt down to a more managable size, and failing. A small sigh comes out from her, as well.

This was not the way she'd wanted to apologize for the study group. Not in a bathroom stall, not hiding from the world while embarassed over this monstrocity of a dress. This entire evening had her emotions racing through her in unpleasant ways.

A slight 'thunk' comes from the door as Chiyo lets her forehead bump into it, leaning heavy on it.

"... I'm so sorry about the other night. I didn't realize Koji-kun meant for us all to leave you there. It just happened, and I went along with it, and it was terrible. I just thought--" Pausing to take a breath, and catch her breath from letting the words tumble so quickly from her, she continues. A bit slower, a bit softer.

"I thought the study group would be a way for you to get to know Darien-san a bit better. Without pressure. That was probably a *lot* of pressure though."

Again, she adds, "I'm sorry."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"It's me," Usagi says, and scoops up the torn tule. The bathroom door swings shut behind her as she crosses to the trashcan, shoving the scrap of hideous fabric inside. She bites her lip, thinking of the idea that had come to her, before, and putting it aside - for the moment.

There's something more important.

"I'm not mad."

A beat of silence, probably incredulous and disbelieving, and Usagi huffs, frustration twisting her mouth. "Okay, I was mad. A little at me, for not seeing it coming, and kind of at all of you, because - Darien was really hurt, you know?"

It's not even for herself that she's upset; what her friends did would have been worth an annoying prank in return, if not for the fact that Darien - "I didn't want to tell him, why, you know? That would have been really embarrassing! But he just thought you guys were ditching us, ditching him, and he didn't know why, and if Takashi-kun hadn't of called..."

She's made her way to the stall Chiyo is probably hiding in; she leans against the door of the one next to it. Chiyo can probably see her shoes under the door.

"It would have been more fun if you all stayed."

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai listens to Usagi quietly while her face scrunches in complete sympathy. That gnawing feeling of guilt she'd felt building for quite awhile was mingling rather well with the stress of her prior embarassment from tonight. Enough that her immediate response is just a little defeated groan.

"Oh my god I am so sorry," she utters again sincerely. "I apologized to him earlier, before I left the dance, but I was in such a rush ... I'm really going to have to make it up to him."

"I mean to tonight. I meant to apologize to you both tonight. Not just a quick one and run away, really," she says earnestly while lifting her head a bit so her voice was a little less muffled against the door. "I just couldn't..."

"This dress..."

"I *hate* this dress."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Stuff happens," Usagi says, and she'd love to be able to talk about what Kyouka-sensei said with someone - with Chiyo-chan, especially, because she's already figured out she's the level-headed one, but it wouldn't make sense at all, not unless she revealed her secret... "And you're sorry. I get it - one time, I tried to set my friend up with a boy once, and it went - well, he turned out to be her cousin so I had egg all on my face for it."

She's not giving all the details, but she can hear how sorry Chiyo is, and that's enough to make her anger disperse, evaporating like cottoncandy in a rainstorm.

"I bet he'll forgive you soon. It wasn't - he was really nice, and he did help me understand my math homework, actually, and we ate all the treawts you left us," no shame in that admission, "And we walked each other home. And the whole time I kept thinking, if this is too much fun they're going to be so smug." A comedic little huff, this time.

And then she winces. "Yeah... I found a scrap of it in the door. I guess you got caught on the door knob?" And. "I'm sorry too. I wasn't - I didn't mean to make you feel worse about it."

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
A little giggle comes from the story of the cousin, only for it to stop with a little cough. It wasn't polite to laugh at that. Chiyo does grin a bit over it. It helped, just a bit, to hear that she wasn't the only one that was sometimes foolish when it came to trying to help friends with their love lives.

A little click comes from the stall door to let it swing open just a bit so Chiyo can poke her head out. The rest of that dress seemed to almost FILL the stall with it's fluff, and she offers Usagi a sheepish smile.

"Ah, did it? It's a lot isn't it." There's not even a question there: She knew it. A long suffering sigh comes as she dips her gaze down to peer at the fluff of the skirt.

"My mother sent it." There's an awkward pause while Chiyo draws her lower lip into her mouth not certain if she should fully explain or not. After all that had gone on though there was reason to do so.

"It's my fault, really. I didn't have time to go shopping for a dress myself in case what she sent was... this awful." Darting her eyes back up to Usagi's face she continues quietly. "She kind of works with fashion. My grandparents raised me so she could focus on her career, and she rarely visits. Sometimes she sends me things. It's never really *right* for me, though."

"Last year for my birthday she sent me designer bag and a fruit basket."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"No, you can laugh," Usagi says when she hears that giggle cut off. "It was pretty funny, and - this is going to be funny too, in a bit. That time you and Koji-senpai tricked me and Darien into a date, and suckered both of our best friends into joining you."

Honestly impressive. Naru-chan, the treachery was truly unforeseen!

When the door opens and Chiyo peeks out, Usagi looks down at her, and she's smiling too, rueful and a little apologetic and also, wincing, because, it really is awful. There's just so much! Speaking as a girl who loves pink, maybe there really is a thing as too much pink. "That's not... that's not your fault, though. A dress is important! Someone else might even make that thing look good, but you hate it, and it makes you sad."

Clothes could really make the person! And if you hated how something looked...

"Your mama should have asked you about it. If she works in fashion, she could have asked you to help her pick something you both like! Instead she sent you a giant pink powderpuff."

That was not okay. And Chiyo-chan was obviously embarrassed about it, and what was fashionable about that, huh? Clothes that made a young girl embarrassed were an enemy to love and justice! Usagi winces at the mention of those birthday presents, which strike even her as callously uninterested. She can't fix that, not at all, but maybe there was something she could do.
% "Do you.. want to wear something else?"

She has a plan. A bad plan. But it could work!

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
"... Yeah. I wouldn't have minded that." If her mother had called and spoken to her, or even attempted to get to konw her, Chiyo probably wouldn't be half as upset as she was. Even if this dress was so very not her style. She can only give a tight lipped smile in response to that, though.

One day she would love to tell her friends the whole truth. It angered her, saddened her, but she couldn't do anything about it now. With all that had gone on now was not the time to be spilling her family secrets. Already she'd told more to Usagi than she had to anyone in a long time.

While these thoughts are mulled over Usagi asks that question. A look of surprise lights up Chiyo's expression with a hint of hope.

"Yeah, if I could. I was hoping maybe I could have found Koji-kun and borrowed a jacket at least. I mean, maybe it would hide most of it... and I could cut off the trailing end of the skirt." The main part that actually wrapped around was shorter than that whole 'back train' of layers of tule.

"What do you have in mind?" Chiyo thinks to ask. A thought strikes her, eyes widening, and she blurts out, "Oh please don't suggest we swap dresses! I wouldn't want to make you wear this either, and your dress is so pretty on you, so don't worry!"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The disguise pen works for other people. Usagi knows, because she asked Luna if she could let Naru-chan use it, and between Luna's scolding about how Naru couldn't possibly be told about Usagi's secret mission and her identity and blahblahblah, she'd confirmed that it would work, even if she wasn't supposed to do it. But the problem was, whoever used it had to keep the pen on them for it to work. She probably shouldn't just hand Chiyo-chan her magic disguise pen, because well - that was risky. And the pen wasn't an unlimited clothes maker, it was a disguise maker, so she couldn't just use it on Chiyo-chan's dress and then give it back.

But she's got a way around that!

Really! She does!

"I brought a back up dress, in my purse!" Her purse is a small bag, but, in theory, someone could probably fold clothes up into it. In theory. Probably. Maybe. Could they? Sure they could!

See, she'd offer to take Chiyo-chan's dress and then use the disguise pen on it, but then Chiyo-chan would want to know where her ugly dress went. And she could offer to let Chiyo-chan wear her dress while she wore a back up dress, but then Chiyo-chan would probably want to know why she couldn't just wear the fresh back up dress. So clearly, the best option is to use the disguise pen on Chiyo's dress, and offer it back to her! She'd just get her pen back later, when Chiyo-chan returned the dress. There were definitely no drawbacks to this plan, except for the part where she'd need Chiyo-chan to give her back her disguise pen without knowing it was a magic disguise pen. But that was fine! That was totally fine!

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai strares at Usagi a long moment at the suggestion. A spare dress? Why would she have one? Such questions are usually thought out loud. Usually. The last few times she'd spoken such simple questions out loud though Koji or another had refuted her with simple responses that seemed only a bit suspicious. There had been no real reason for her to further question them though.

Maybe it was better she keep such things to herself. Especially when it was something being offered to her that would help her escape with a bit of her dignity intact. That doesn't stop her from looking down at the small bag questioningly though.

"You do?" There's a bit of hesitation from her, the door swinging slightly back and forth in her grasp while she rocks on the balls of her feet lightly. At least her shoes were comfortable.

"If... that's okay, then... Sure. I can do that." Already she's thinking of having to wash the dress before returning it, though.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I do! I was worried I'd spill juice on myself, ahaha," this is absolutely something that anyone could buy happening, at least, even if the actual dimensions of the dress seem... "You just get in the stall and get out of that pufftastrophe of a dress. I don't think you can change while it's even in the stall -"

This is a real concern! The dress is presently taking up almost all the space.

"So you pass it to me, and I'll pass you the spare dress. And then you can have fun at the dance, and not have to run away."

Which is what Usagi would want to do, if she had to wear that dress. She just needs Chiyo to hand her that dress, so she can use her disguise pen for something noble and generous and definitely not impulsive or stupid.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
If it were anyone else the may think they were about to be set up for some horrible bulling prank of being left naked in a bathroom stall. Thankfully Chiyo wasn't that pessimistic. Maybe naive at times but not pessimistic.

Chiyo nods quickly in ready agreement to this plan, and steps back into the stall. "Okay. Give me a moment. This really is a ton of fabric." It took awhile to get on so she didn't risk tearing it. Getting it off she was about to do without much care for it. As soon a the door is locked again Usagi can hear the rustle of fabric, and an occasional thump of an elbow against the wall with a soft 'ow' in reaction to it.

Finally the fluff of pink starts to scooch up over the top of the stall door feeding the large mass of fabric over to Usagi. "Okay, here it is, Usagi-chan."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi never even considers a prank - and it's a good thing Chiyo doesn't either, because she'd be worrying herself for nothing. Instead, Usagi digs the disguise pen out of her purse, making sure not to drop her transformation broach, and sucks in a deep breath. Luna is going to be furious if she finds out about this...

She just has to not find out.

"I've got it! Oh wow, this is a lot of this fluffy stuff -"

Eventually, she has the whole dress in hand.

"Okay, just hold on a second!" And the dress is scrunched into her hand as small as she can get it, the disguise pen wrapped in the dress's fabric and held tight in her hand. She whispers as quietly as she can, "Moon Power, turn me into - uh, me, holding the prettiest dress for Chiyo-chan!"

A rainbow of light bursts from the pen's jeweled cap bnefore arcing back, ribbons of light flowing free. They flow over Usagi and the dress, and Usagi hopes against hope that this works -

And then, the dress in her hand changes, the pen maintaining its own lovely pink and gold shape, capped with the bright pink jewel, but the dress - the dress is utterly transformed.

Instead of pink tule, it's become a subtly shimmering black halter dress, open backed, with a skirt that longer in the back than the front, which reached to mid-thigh. The black tie at the throat would be snug, but not uncomfortable, and a nearly transparent over-skirt was dotted with glittering constellation designs. It wasn't unlike Usagi's own dress, but more mature, and classy - perfectly fitted to someone with a calmer personality, like Chiyo. There's even a pocket, for the pen to fit into. Usagi tucks it there carefully, and then feeds the dress over the stall, breathing out a sigh of relief.

"Go ahead, try it on!"

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai rubs at her eyes. Did she just see the lights flicker? Maybe someone else entered and the opening of the door caused her to see things... Or, more likely, she'd just gotten spots in front of her eyes from staring at that glaringly pink dress for more than a few seconds.

Usagi's voice draws her attention back to look up at the black sparkly dress being handed over to her. Quickly reaching up she takes hold of it before it might risk falling on the floor. That would just be terrible after Usagi was nice enough to let her borrow it. At least it seemed a very slim sort of dress, so this explains how it could fit into a purse.

It's held up to examine a moment drinking in the sight. It was so very different from what she'd had. And so very, very... "Pretty."

Feeling her cheeks warm with a genuine smile Chiyo feels an excited jump of her heart. Maybe there would be some salvaging the night after all thanks to her dear friend. Without another word she quickly and carefully eases it on, and fastens the neck portion before smoothing her hands over the skirt.

The door clicks again, and swings open for Chiyo to step out into the light properly. Fingers dance over the gossamer overskirt bearing those glittering constellations as she looks to Usagi.

"How do I look?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Ahhh, Chiyo-chan! You look even prettier than I thought you would! Look! It's so shimmery and pretty!" She's honestly delighted - Chiyo-chan's a very pretty girl, and this dress brings out all the best of her features, not to mention she looks happy to be wearing it, which is so much more than could be said for the pink nightmare dress.

"This is great! Now you can have fun tonight, and maybe you'll dance with Koji-senpai after all!"

Yeah, she's teasing her with that one, but isn't that earned after a day like this?

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai allows herself to enjoy this moment enough that she actually doesn't think to ask where the horrible pink monster was stashed. Later she might think of it. For now she listens to Usagi, and glances at herself in the row of mirrors at the sinks. Again her fingers dance over the sheer overskirt while taking a little turn to the side to see it in all it's glory.

"This is so much better! And cute! I can see why you picked it, Usagi-chan. Thank you!"

With that said she throws her arms open to hug Usagi without warning. A quick hug, so that she doesn't wrinkle either of their dresses, before she releases her again with a laugh.

"Oh I doubt that. I didn't see him anywhere, and he never responded to my texts to see if he was coming tonight. That's okay, though," she assures quickly. "It's not like we're really dating."

Still grinning she suggests, "Let's get back to the dance before it's over. We should enjoy it a little bit, right?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
This dress - Usagi wonders if it's real, or if it came directly from Chiyo-chan's imagination. If it's the latter... hopefully she doesn't try to buy her own. But if it's the former... maybe she could find it. It really is cute.

And then! Hugging! Oh!

Usagi throws her arms around Chiyo in turn, eagerly hugging her friend, happy that they'd made up, and happier still to see her magical powers do something good for someone, without being scary.

"Well, then he's missing out! And we'll have fun, the two of us - and maybe, Rei-chan will show up, and I can introduce you! Come on, now that you're feeling better, we can have fun!"