“Are you sure the repairs can wait?” Miliam asked nervously as she followed in Aoibhe’s shadow. She had no idea what clothes shopping was like here, and held no small amount of trepidation at the idea of trying on women’s clothing for the first time. What if it didn’t look good on her? She wasn’t sure her self-confidence was at a level where she could take that, yet.

“Aye, an hour or two isn’t going to make a difference. Besides, I’m sure you’re dying to try on some more feminine clothing,” Aoibhe shot back, and although Miliam blushed, she didn’t deny it. It was right up there with learning how to style her hair.

The two women emerged back onto the public section of the station and Aoibhe consulted her new grimoire briefly before making a beeline for an alcove marked only with images of clothing. Miliam looked around the area, but didn’t see anything resembling a counter for a cashier or, in fact, physical clothing on display. What she did find was a number of holographic display cycling through various outfits and changing rooms around the curving walls of the semicircular room.

“I see the changing rooms, but where are the clothes? Is it like the grimoire store where they bring out what you want to buy?” Miliam asked, stopping in the middle of the room to look more closely at one of the displays. The hologram was really quite good. It would have been impossible to tell the clothes weren’t real had they not been cycling between various options.

“Nay, this is one of the places where us plebs get our day-to-day clothes,” Aoibhe explained as she turned back towards Miliam. “It’ll be faster to show you.”

Once she knew she had Miliam’s attention again, Aoibhe headed for a booth. It was very similar to the sort of changing rooms she was familiar with, but there was the addition of a screen and a compartment of some kind inside, and another screen next to the door. A bit of glancing around allowed Miliam to realize people were entering the booths empty handed, and others were exiting with a handful of clothes, or even a bag.

Aoibhe leaned into the booth and tapped the screen a few times, then switched to the screen on the outside. As Miliam watched, she navigated a touchscreen menu almost faster than Miliam could follow, selecting one image after another. When she stopped, a few seconds passed, and Aoibhe held up a finger to forestall any questions. Then the compartment in the booth popped open and Aoibhe reached in to pull out a shirt with absurdly long sleeves, obviously meant for elves but otherwise an ordinary t-shirt.

“So you use the screens to order?”

“Aye. Select what you want and the machine fabs it on the spot.” Aoibhe examined the shirt she’d ordered with a critical eye before nodding. “Have to check for defects just in case but they’re usually fine.”

“…and people outside the booth can just select clothes for whoever’s inside?” Miliam queried, discomfort evident in her voice.

“Nay, I had to enable it on the inside of the booth first. It’s mostly for parents, but anyone can use it to assist.” Miliam saw where this was going. “And lucky for you, I’m right here!”

“I can choose my own clothes!” she protested, memories appearing unbidden of her mother buying clothes for her at the age of eighteen. It had very much not been her own choice.

“And I’ll bet you haven’t paid the slightest bit of attention to anyone’s clothes all day,” Aoibhe riposted, stabbing Miliam right in her shoddy observational skills. “The only thing I’ve seen you more than glance at were the grimoires.”

“Technology is more interesting the people…” Miliam countered weakly. It was true, she had no idea what anyone but Aoibhe was wearing, and Aoibhe was in her high-gravity jumpsuit, so it wasn’t exactly an example of fashion.

“I’ll pick you out a few outfits, and then once you’ve got an idea of what to do, you’re free to take over.”

“Fine.” Miliam sighed, knowing she wasn’t winning this one. Even if Aoibhe just wanted to see what she could make her wear. Resigning herself to being a mannequin, she trudged into the booth and locked the door behind her. While she waited, she noticed that the screen on the inside mirrored its exterior twin, allowing her to follow along with Aoibhe’s selections. It also had a handy button for disabling the copiloting feature, but she refrained from tapping it for now.

She didn’t have to wait long before the compartment popped open. Aoibhe was too fast for her to quite follow what options she’d selected, so Miliam wasn’t really sure what to expect, but her face lit up bright red when she lifted the shirt out. It was a button-down crop top that she was certain would expose everything below the ribs if she wore it, and that was assuming it was even sized properly.

“No!” she shouted without explanation, but she could almost hear Aoibhe rolling her eyes.

“What’s wrong with it? It’s cute,” came the response from outside the booth. Well, it was, but that wasn’t the point. It was a nice top, with a subtle floral design and a pastel blue color that would complement both her eyes and hair, and it was also far too revealing.

“Who would wear this in public?”

“Miliam, a woman walked out of a booth wearing a top like this as we entered.”

“That…might have happened,” Miliam equivocated, not able to actually refute the claim, “but I’m not comfortable wearing it! It’s just too much skin to be showing in public.” Something seemed to click with Aoibhe then.

“Maybe in your time, but if that’s your preference, that’s fine too. Just put it back in the compartment and we’ll recycle it,” the elf said, relenting. Evidently the modesty standards here were different enough that it hadn’t even occurred to Aoibhe that the outfit might make Miliam uncomfortable.

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“…does everyone dress like that?” Miliam inquired while she put the shirt back where she found it. She wasn’t sure she liked the idea of being shamed for wearing too much anymore than the opposite.

“Nay, so long as you’re clothed, no one will care how much or how little you wear.” Aoibhe took a moment to enter a new pattern and the drop bow popped open again. This time Miliam found something more akin to a blouse, retaining the same patterns and coloration, which she’d liked, though she hadn’t mentioned it. Maybe Aoibhe took her silence as approval of those aspects? When she picked it up, she found that this version had actual lace flowers along the bottom in addition to the floral design.

“How did you know this would fit?” Miliam asked once she’d put the shirt on. She found the skirt was a darker shade of blue, and it was long enough that it would probably swish about nicely were she to turn quickly. She’d always wanted to try that.

“If I don’t enter sizes the scanner in the booth takes care of it. That’s why they’re single person.”

“Huh, magic is pretty convenient.” Miliam opened the door, now clothed in the new outfit. Aoibhe gave her a once over and nodded in approval.

“Looks good. How do you like it?”

“It’s…nice.” Miliam looked down to hide her bashfulness at the extremely minor compliment. She wasn’t used to those.

“Perfect. Let’s try a few more.” Aoibhe began to operate the screen, but then stopped. “Oh, also, the scanner is pure tech.”

“...what about the fabricator?”

“3D Printer.”

“Well, doesn’t that just take all the magic out of it,” Miliam rallied with a grin. Aoibhe just gave her a look and shooed her back into the booth.

After that, Miliam was forced to try on several more outfits, running the gamut from something extraordinarily frilly, akin to gothic lolita, to traditional elven garb, which Miliam found to resemble a cheongsam with piping and closure that stretched from shoulder to hip rather than shoulder to underarm, plunging down across the center of the torso. The latter had star-themed adornments rather than the patterns typical for that type of garment, and there were probably other differences she wasn’t familiar enough with the style to spot, but that seemed the most apt comparison.

That was all mostly for Aoibhe’s entertainment, though. Ultimately she was just taking home half a dozen shirts with colors chosen to match her eyes and hair, along with a couple of pairs each of skirts, shorts, and pants.

The skirts had pockets.

“I’m surprised how similar the fashion is after hundreds of years,” Miliam commented while she wrapped up by selecting underwear for herself. This was a bit more private of a process, so the exterior screen was now deactivated.

“I wouldn’t call this high fashion,” Aoibhe said wryly. “This is the cheap stuff that costs a couple cents to make.”

“Wait, then what’s the bougie stuff like?” As she spoke, Miliam scrolled through the many options, having no idea what was best given her lack of experience buying women’s undergarments. She kind of wanted to ask for help, but it would be all kinds of embarrassing for the other woman to know what all of her underwear looked like. Maybe she could ask some general questions?

“High quality, tailored, and hand-made from natural fibers. Usually enchanted so you can change the pattern, or the pattern moves, or components of the outfit float. Some outfits are designed in a way that they would just fall off if they weren’t held up by spells.”

“That sounds a bit…well, extra,” Miliam admitted, finding no better way of putting it. Why were there so many types of cups for bras!?

“Clothes like that look better than I can describe, but yeah, some of them are a bit over the top. The most important part is just that it’s hand-made. Everyone’s got a few outfits like that for special occasions.”

“Huh,” Miliam grunted, mostly just to acknowledge what Aoibhe had said. Did it make that big of a difference? Maybe it was a case of ‘seeing is believing.’ In the end she just decided to go for a few designs that she thought might be comfortable. Milliam…honestly wasn’t sure she needed the support anyway. She didn’t know how to feel about that. Women in fiction were always so concerned about the size of their chests, but did real women actually care that much?

She was too afraid to ask.

Once she had the underwear sorted, Miliam queued up a simple cloth bag for her clothes and stowed them- with the exception of the first outfit, which she decided to wear. It was amazing how much better she felt, wearing clothes that fit. She exited to find Aoibhe swiping her grimoire close to the outer screen and pursed her lips in concern.

“I’m not costing you too much, am I?”

“Nay,” Aoibhe said with a snort. “There’s a reason citizens get this stuff for free. It’s so cheap to make that it’s not worth selling. I think they only charge non-citizens for the principle of it. You made sure to get underwear, right?”

“Yes, yes I did!” Miliam said quickly, not wanting to discuss the topic. Maybe one day she’d feel more comfortable with it. “Anyway, repairs now, right?”

“Aye. I scheduled a consultation while you were in there. We’ll be meeting them at the ship after they’ve had time to look over the outer hull. Let’s head back now and I’ll show you how to use that grimoire while we wait.”

Miliam had nearly forgotten about the thing. Was it weird she was more excited about the textbooks than the actual magic?

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Codex Entry: The Automation Revolution

For centuries, people warned of the potential for automation to overtake industry and leave vast swathes of the population unemployed. In 216GC, this finally happened. After years of incremental improvements, technology and magic had reached the point where basic necessities could be manufactured for a pittance in a factory or farm run by just one person. Entire workforces were laid off, leading to a total economic collapse when even the heavily depressed prices were too expensive for the unemployed masses.

After much negotiation, a deal was made between private industries and the government at the time. The government took over unprofitable industries and rehired veteran workers to run the facilities, then distributed necessities like food, clothing, shelter, and clothes for free, and in exchange, the company owners were given a large pay out they could use to start new businesses.

What this led to was, in many ways, the reverse of the Industrial Revolution, which pushed out experienced craftsmen and cottage industries in favor of cheap products. Now products were so cheap as to be nearly worthless, but with basic needs met, a demand rose for higher quality goods. Suddenly hand-made goods were in demand again, and private industry answered by organizing skilled craftsmen to make these goods.

This still did not provide enough jobs for everyone, but with no need to work to survive, a boom in the arts followed. The current economy is built on low-quality goods produced en masse by government employees for almost nothing, high-quality and often unique goods made by hand, art and literature, and services. It should be noted that there were some industries that were unaffected by automation due to the complexity of their products; in particular, magic-infused metals as well as anything involving engraved magic circles continued on unaffected by the paradigm shift, as they outright require a sapient being's involvement.