"I think you did well with the show," Megara said to Perla as the two walked along one of Animalia's streets on their way to the Claw Coliseum.
With much of the IAC now either over or its last stages and the college students off to college and the high schoolers in Lyre/Animalia going back to WSA, things had greatly quieted down. It let the two friends being able to enjoy a rather quiet walk as Megara went about her standard workouts, which was something the female Liger seemed to enjoy. Even while pregnant, she wasn't going to not exercise. Though, not that Perla really wanted to complain, as she'd found since her conversion that things like working out and exercise were more attractive to her. Some of it made her wonder if some of this was an attempt to lure out a mate for herself, the way Megara had found Heracles, as most of the times she'd gone to jog or lift a few of the lighter weights, she'd managed to arrive there when some of the Human males from Lyre were also there to work out or exercise. She hadn't gotten any offers, but a part of her was even open to the hope of gaining some attention.
However, that wasn't what the two were presently discussing. That was more with what had happened during the IAC and one of its smaller and more of a tie in feature. The fashion show that Perla had participated in. Perla remembered being nervous about it, even before her conversion, because of her condition, though even after becoming a Quagga Animalian there were some color ideas that would be some issues to overcome in terms of the designs to model. After all, brown with white stripes wouldn't necessarily match much in terms of colors and Perla was a bit nervous on how that would go down when the show was on...
“Thanks, Meg,” Perla answered as she walked along as she thought on the show and her part in it.
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There were some nervous jitters. Much of the fashion show was to mostly put out the new "high fashion" designs that would match in with some of the top trends that went along with various large scale trends. It wasn’t typical of what many Animalians wore, as Perla had noted that while Animalians might have had more relaxed standards when it came to what they wore or rather, what they showed off, Animalians also tended to favor function more than anything else. A lot of that, particularly for Mammalian Animalians, was likely to deal with things like excess heat.
Humans could stay “cool” because they didn’t have a large layer of fur that was designed to keep them warm and their sweat glands could also provide a means to help them cool down when it was warm. Most Animalians didn’t really have that option. Uplifted Animalians didn’t always have sweat glands and converted Animalians might see them lost or rendered ineffective by the fur gained. Perla in fact remember seeing Lunette and the herm wolves seated together and panting as a way to deal with the summer heat, as their longer and thick fur was generally designed to hold heat in, particularly in winter. Perla even noticed the heat, herself, and was largely glad that the Quagga wasn’t something that had evolved for the extreme cold.
“Things are looking good,” Maggie said to Perla the two stood behind the curtains that were hung to give the Animalia School of Modelling members a “backstage” area to either change outfits or get some water before going out.
“Well it is cooler now that it’s night time,” Perla answered as she adjusted the dress that she presently had on.
It wasn’t a bad dress, though it was designed more as a social dress for a night on the town or in a club. It had also come from Perla was told was a sort of collaboration between Sora and Yuki Yurikazi and the company that Francois Proquiet worked for in New York. Some of the other models there had even told Perla that they had seen the two Velociraptor Dinotopians seated with adult male who seemed to be “talking shop” with one of them. Perla then assumed that the man was Francois Proquiet. That however, also raised some of Perla’s nervousness.
For there had been plenty of times where new designs came out and a mistake by the model potentially wrecked the design. Sometimes it could also be a poor design and people in the media that discussed fashion would then argue about where the real “mistake” was, but Perla also knew that she was still rather new with all of this and that could be a major negative for her if things went bad. For while the dress wasn’t bad, and seemed to have an inverse of the coloration of her fur pattern, largely white with darker trim and was slightly low cut but not enough to display too much, there were certain things that Perla generally knew with regard to modelling in general.
Most high end fashion models were often thin and lacking the voluptuous curves that Animalian females had, often to allow the company to display the clothing rather than the model. For there were models that matched the curves of Animalian females, but Perla knew that more often than not, those models were more in fields that were designed to say “this is sexy and you should be aroused.” Some could be relatively “tame,” such as the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, but others involved a fair amount of nudity, which Perla was fairly familiar with regard to her own past. But in the past, she was fairly thin and if it weren’t for her condition, she might have made it to a decent modelling agency. Now as an Animalian, her hips were wider, her bust was bigger, and she had far more muscle than she ever had as a Human. It gave her much less room for error.
“It is…” Maggie admitted, “But that’s not what I was referring to. We have a good audience and no one has complained and the applause is pretty genuine and appreciative.”
Perla managed a weak smile, “I suppose I’m just a bit nervous. I mean… much of what I’ve done before wouldn’t really be similar to real fashion… Parts of it can transfer over… but…”
“You’ll be fine,” Maggie assured her, “to a certain extent, while we Animalians may be a bit curvier than the average model, people have seemed to be attracted to that sort of thing and more open to working with that. And the design you have on… it ISN’T intended to be a sexual advertisement, regardless of what some people may think. Just be confident and remember that the design is there to suit Animalians.”
Perla nodded.
“And since this IAC’s audience has some class in it,” Maggie commented in a veiled reference the present US President who came to the first IAC Fashion Show and proceeded to treat the Animalian models as sexual objects through all of it and thus much of Animalia’s dissatisfaction with his administration. “You shouldn’t have a problem.”
A voice from the outside as their present announcer then moved on from the last model and began Perla’s introduction. With that Maggie stepped aside and let Perla walk by. As she approached the opening in the curtains, Perla took a deep breath and then made her way out. There were a few camera flashes as people took some pictures as she came out and made her way along the “catwalk.” Perla got some applause as she walked along, but what soon got her attention out of the corner of her eye was a few cheers from the first row. She kept her calm and walked on, but she could see Megara there with Lunette and Hazel. They waved to her as she went by.
If this was a more private interaction she would have been happy to stop and talk with them, but with the show going on, she couldn’t afford to stop. She continued down to the end of the catwalk, pivoted on her hooves to give the audience a full few of the dress she had on from all angles and then proceeded to make her way back toward the curtains and the backstage area going down the catwalk. As she went, Maggie’s prediction on the applause and cheers were proven right. She heard no complaints and the applause wasn’t too rowdy. She even noticed a man sitting with Sora and Yuki in the audience clap with a look of approval. She felt good about that.
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“And thank you for coming out with Hazel and Lunette,” Perla then spoke as she finished reminiscing on the show.
“It was no problem,” Megara commented, “besides we’re all friends… even if we’re all starting new lives.”
“And you soon with little ones,” Perla commented.
“Which I’ll need to stay in shape for,” Megara managed, “wouldn’t want to have them wander off and dig up a Ferrari.”
Perla managed a heavy chuckle at that. She’d seen the Animalia Ambassadoria clip that included the discovery of the buried Ferrari and some of the Zebra Animalians she’d met since her conversion also talked about that. It was something that Perla had to admit was pretty cute, as it seemed that the two Husky Animalian puppies were quite pleased with their digging. And while cats weren’t known for digging, she figured that Megara would hopefully have some parenting moments that were just as cute in the future.