Shadow immediately took in the new space. It was a good deal smaller than the main shop area, and also messier. She spent a moment peeking around at stuff. There were a lot of fabrics strewn about. She saw some of the same nice squares that were in the main area, but she also saw a good amount of oddly cut fabric piled around. There were also tools hanging up on one wall, as well as an abundance of spools of thread.

Clarissa dropped all the fabric on the table in the center of the room and walked around it to grab some tools from the back wall. She took what she gathered and set it on the table as well before sitting down on the only chair. The position she was sitting in gave her a good view out the door into the rest of the shop.

Shadow walked around the table as well, to get next to the tailor, where she could see. She put her tablets down in front of her and hopped up, resting her forelegs against the table's edge with her chest pressed up against them, peering around at everything on top of the table. Mostly it was just what Shadow had seen Clarissa put there while she was watching, as well as a pile of the strange, randomly shaped pieces of fabric.

“Can ya see everythin’ alright, dear?” Clarissa asked, grabbing one of the shirts and some metal… blades? It was really more like two blades attached together, to make a single tool.

Shadow nodded, and then pointed at the interesting object, looking up at Clarissa curiously.

“Hmm? Ya want ta see the scissors?”

They were called scissors!

That’s a cool name! I can probably almost say that one.

If only it didn’t have an ‘r’. She needed a word that was all ‘S’s. She was good at ‘S’s.

She nodded her affirmation at Clarissa.

“Okay, but just fer a moment, then I need ta get ta work,” she said, sliding over the tool.

Shadow studied them for a second before she rested her chest on the table directly and reached out her paws awkwardly on top of the table to grab the little circular holding spots behind the blades.

She couldn’t really pick them up, but she could manage making them open and close, with a satisfying ‘shink’ sound. They kind of reminded her of her jaw and teeth. She was sure it’d be bad to get something caught where the blades crossed.

She let them go and looked back up at Clarissa, who reached over, grabbed them up, and started cutting.

The blue shirt was the first to be modified, and Clarissa talked about what she was doing as she went, to Shadow's delight. She essentially cut a big slice of cloth out of the front and sewed the shirt back together, her hands moving incredibly fast as she worked. She made the neck larger as well, cutting out the hole and folding some fabric back before sewing it in place (to help stop tearing apparently). By the time she was finished, the neck was wider, and the arms of the shirt were facing more down than to the sides like a normal shirt. The whole process only took her a couple of minutes.

All the extra fabric went into a pile of weirdly shaped cloth.

Oh, it's leftovers.

Clarissa took a moment to look at the shirt before placing it in front of Shadow.

“Would ya mind tryin’ it on?” She asked, looking over at Shadow. Her eyes widened a bit as she realized something, glancing at Shadow's paws. ”Oh! Or, I could help ya if ya—”

Shadow shook her head and held up a paw.

I can do this.

She’d seen Annie and Jonas putting on their shirts plenty of times.

"Sorry, not really used ta dealin' with beastkin quite like yerself. Or beastkin at all really. Didn't mean no offense. I've only really seen Kirrik 'round town, and that's only recently."

Shadow waved her off again and dropped back down to write a response on her tablet.

'Don't worry! It's okay. You've been really nice!'

Shadow really had no idea if Clarissa had been offensive or not. She knew the word but only very recently (literally on the walk over here) had started to get an idea about what sort of things might qualify. Maybe beastkin liked to be treated differently? Who knows. Clarissa was nice and that made her good in Shadow’s books. Shadow picked up the tablet to show Clarissa her response, which seemed to mollify the woman, at least until she realized something and started glaring daggers out the door.

Probably at Annie, for some reason.

Shadow sighed, and put her tablets down before hopping back up so she could reach the table. She really wanted to try the shirt on.

She grabbed the shirt and maneuvered it so the big hole was facing her. Then she rolled it over so the armholes (or, legholes? Eh, either worked. Her forelegs were basically her arms when she was standing) were facing down. She stuck in her forepaws and raised her forelegs up, ducking her head a bit before sticking her face through after them. She wiggled a little, letting the shirt work its way down while keeping an eye on the holes on the far end of the garment.

One leg goes there, then the other, now poke my head out.

And after a bit more wiggling and stretching, she suddenly had a shirt on.

It… fit. It was distinctly different from just having cloth piled on her.

“Go on, try it out! Move around, see how it fits!” Clarissa said, seeming interested in the results.

Shadow nodded to Clarissa and looked down at herself, backing away from the table but staying on her hind legs.

She twisted her torso back and forth, seeing how the fabric moved with her. It was resting on her shoulders, the neck hole just big enough to let her whole neck through (which made sense). The sleeves came down to her elbows, with the bottom of the shirt ending right at her hips.

Facing forward again, she started moving her forelegs around, stretching them out to the sides and then over her head again as far as she could, eventually touching the back of her neck. She brought them down and back to the extent of her mobility as well, paws touching her back just above the base of her tail. It got tight in a few positions, but overall, she didn’t feel very restricted. It was an interesting sensation, wearing a shirt. She could hear the fabric as it slid around on her scales, and could feel it shifting as she moved. She dropped to all fours and walked around a bit. It seemed to stay in place just fine.

She started hopping around a bit, then ran over to Clarissa with a big grin. The woman just grinned back, not flinching this time, to Shadow’s relief. She’d forgotten herself in her enthusiasm.

“Ya look good. Blue suits ya.”

Shadow nodded in agreement and nuzzled her leg in thanks.

She looked back up to find Clarissa looking at her with a sad expression.

“Oh, honey.” She said in a quiet, sad voice. “I don’t know what that woman was thinkin’ makin’ ya do that, but ya don’t gotta pretend no more.”

Shadow blinked a few times in confusion.

Is... nuzzling bad too?

She could understand the clothes thing but nuzzling?

She liked nuzzling!

“Now stand up an’ gimme a proper hug!” Clarissa commanded in a jovial tone, getting out of her chair and squatting in front of her, arms spread.

Shadow blinked some more. She realized she’d never actually hugged someone herself. She’d been hugged, but it never occurred to her to do it herself.

She got herself standing again and walked forwards. She did her best to wrap her forelegs around the woman, but only really managed to squeeze Clarissa’s sides with her paws.

Clarissa did a much better job wrapping her up, and gave her a squeeze.

She felt warm and comfortable.

After a moment, Clarissa broke off, ruffling Shadow’s ears and sitting back at the table.

Shadow decided hugs weren’t so bad either.

Clarissa modified what she had assumed were the underwear next, quickly confirmed, as the woman started talking about them.

These took longer. Shadow’s hip area was… rather complicated, compared to a human’s. The garments required a good deal more modification than her shirt had. Clarissa had started with a much larger pair than was warranted given Shadow's size, but was doing a lot with them. She cut away pieces in various spots and practically reshaped the piece of clothing. She added a hole for Shadow's tail, leaving just a strap above the hole, and added a whole new strap Shadow would need to fasten right on top of her hips, where her tail spines started. Clarissa made good use of the leather straps from earlier, making sure the holes were the right size and ensuring there was enough fabric to cover everything.

She’d been really worried about needing to fasten a strap on her back until Clarissa had shown her the fastener.

It was a little flat copper square, with two rectangular holes in it, one with a notch of metal missing at the edge, opening it up on one side. The closed side would be attached to one strap, and the other strap would have a loop she’d just need to slip into the open notch of the fastener. A bit of tension would keep them together.

It was way less complicated than her belt buckle, and she thought she had a good shot of being able to manage it, even with the fastener being located on her back.

It wasn’t too much longer before she got to try. Clarissa had offered to help again but she was determined to do this on her own. She’d have to, if she ever wanted to dress herself without another person around. Dressing yourself seemed to be a pretty standard ability for people. She knew there were some things she couldn’t handle by herself, but she was determined that this was not going to be one of them.

After taking off her belt, Shadow set the modified underwear on the floor and made sure they were laid out correctly. She slid her tail through the appropriate hole, followed shortly by both of her rear paws going to their correct respective positions. Lifting her tail and working her paws forward, she got the garment up to her ankles. Thinking for a second, she flipped over onto her back, and reached forward to help work it down with her forepaws. In not long at all, she had the garments pressed up against her underside, and about halfway up her hips. The tail hole was in place right where her back spines started on the way up, which was still a bit back, but that was intended.

Here comes the tricky part.

She turned over again, keeping her rear legs wide so she didn’t lose any progress, and twisted around as far as she could. Which was pretty far. She was very twisty.

“Are ya… sure ya don’t want help?” Clarissa said, giving her a concerned look.

She shook her head again.

I’ve got this!

Practically laying on her back despite her rear paws still being on the ground, she leaned forwards, and grabbed the left strap with her right paw, sliding it up to the center of her back, right above her hips, bringing the fabric up with it.

She stuck out her tongue to grab the other strap but was quickly stopped.

“Augh! No, honey, don’t use yer tongue like that, even if it is long enough! That’s disgustin’.” Clarissa said with a grimace, staring at the offending appendage as if horrified.

Shadow gave her a mixed look. On the one paw, she was a bit exasperated, this was hard enough without extra impediments. On the other, she’d had no idea doing stuff with her tongue was considered gross or disgusting. Neither Annie nor Jonas had ever said anything. The closest they’d come was when they told her she shouldn’t lick their food anymore.

She figured she’d deal with that later. For now, she nodded to Clarissa and resigned herself to only using her paws.

Stretching as far as she could, she just barely managed to snag the other strap.

She carefully brought them together, pulling as tight as she could so she had a bit of slack to work with, and, making sure they didn’t slip, she carefully lined up the loop and the small open side of the fastener. She still managed to miss the first few times, her paws not giving her a ton of fine control when she couldn’t even properly grip the things, but before long she managed to slide them together.

She stopped pressing the straps to her sides and the underwear stayed secure, fastened safely on her back.

Victory!

She unknotted herself and hopped around a bit in joy.

I knew I could do it!

She grinned over at Clarissa, who was smiling back at her, giving her polite applause.

“I'm amazed ya didn't break yer back. Now come on over, let’s see ‘em.” Clarissa said, beckoning with a hand.

They both looked them over. The ‘waistline’ of the garment went from her belly, just in front of her hips, upwards to her lower back, where it was fastened by the troublesome strap. It then took a turn and continued down her back and tail, straddling her spines, before ending where the first spine started on the way up. The fabric covered the sides of her tail (down to that first spine), her hips and her underside, all the way up to where it stopped at the waistline.

It wasn’t perfect. It was loose in places, and she could definitely feel a bit of tension when she moved her legs or tail in certain ways, but wasn’t too bad. Certainly, nothing she couldn’t get used to.

In the process of looking over her new piece of clothing, she came to the realization that she would need to go through all of that every time she needed to relieve herself.

She sighed a bit.

Well, at least I’ll get better with practice.

Things got less interesting after that, although she still had great fun trying stuff on.

The pants ended up being modified very similarly to the underwear, the whole complex around her hips, back, belly, and tail was basically the same, only with a slightly larger strap for the back (which actually made them easier to put on) and pant legs that came down to her knees, rather than ending at her belly-line like the underpants (which were named very appropriately, now that she thought about it).

The pant legs had started longer, reaching down to her ankle, but they had just been too constricting. She’d convinced Clarissa to end them at her knees.

After a while, Clarissa finished with all of the adjustments, and Shadow stood there, looking her fully-clothed self over, grinning. Her heart was beating fast with excitement.

Taking a moment to compose herself, she started heading out into the main room on two legs, forelegs by her sides, doing her best to look natural.

Time to show Annie!