Logs:A Day in the Life of a Hairdresser
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| RL Date: 18 February, 2015 |
| Who: Lycinea, Nati |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Lycinea spends the day with a hairdresser. |
| Where: Hairdressers' Cavern, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 16, Month 1, Turn 37 (Interval 10) |
| OOC Notes: Back-dated. Thank you to H'vier for NPCing Nati for me! :D |
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| Unlike some of Lycinea's shadowing experiences, she was directed to Nati specifically for her day with the hairdressers. She was to report to the cavern near the bathing pools reserved for this task early as many of the Weyr clientele needed their cuts or shaves before morning shifts. Normally, it would be a time where Lycinea would be dragging her feet, or perhaps not showing up at all, but this was one shadowing day she'd looked forward to. So she had risen early, bathed, taken painstaking efforts to put her hair up into functional, fashionable braids, and arrived right on time. "Excuse me," Lya addresses the nearest woman to the entrance, "I'm looking for Nati," and is quickly directed to her. Her eyes go first to observe the person she'll be shadowing today, and then she rolls her shoulders to the better posture that Farideh tells her she should have, and approaches. "Good morning, ma'am," she starts, polite. "I'm Lya," Lycinea, "I'm supposed to be shadowing you today." The woman is in her mid-twenties and seems like the cheerful sort, pleasantly curvy, with brown hair and green eyes. She's making small talk with the man whose beard she's currently shaping when Lya speaks up. She doesn't act like she's been interrupted, though, her smile just transfers to the blonde and she says, "Lya! Hello. I hope you've had a good morning so far?" Apparently Nati'll just small talk the poor girl instead, while her hands continue their thing. The man doesn't seem too worried, so maybe this is normal for her. "Yes, ma'am," Lya will answer politely, some edge of nervousness in her voice as her eyes track Nati's hands more than the conversation. It's possible that she's never seen a beard being trimmed before. Perhaps saying less is better; her attention seems fairly consumed by the ongoing actions. If the man were younger, Nati might mistake the blonde's attention for infatuation. "Great," says Nati with a grin before her gaze is dropping back down to the beard at hand. It's a few more moments before she asks Lya, "You ready to give it a go?" She even pauses to hold out a comb and a small pair of shears to the girl. The man side-eyes Nati as though he's not sure if she's joking or not but really hopes that she is. "It's pretty easy, once you get the hang of it." "What?" Lya's tone is one of shock, "No." Her cheeks are flushed suddenly with color as she looks embarrassedly to the man. "I've never done anything with scissors." She volunteers. "With hair I mean. I've put things into braids and so on, but I've never actually cut someone's hair. Or beard. Which I suppose is also hair." She squints at the man's chin, as if she's reconciling something that should be a basic fact. Then again, Lya doesn't have one of her own, so perhaps it takes some reconciling. Nati feigns mild exasperation. It fades into a smile too quickly. "Okay, okay. Well, I'll finish this and you can tell us about yourself, hmm?" Both her and her client, presumably. He seems willing enough, but then he doesn't have much of a choice if he wants the woman to finish shaping his beard. "There's really not a lot to tell," Lya sighs quietly. "I'm the illegitimate daughter of a goldrider and a Lord Holder. I was banished here when I was six because my father was afraid his wife would find out he planned to leave me his Hold. I have twelve younger sisters and only one brother, all of them halfs, of course, and my mother gives me Harper instruments every turnday because she's always been disappointed I didn't apprentice or Impress." By the end of her telling, her tone makes it quite obvious that this is all a load of .... "Riiiight," says Nati. Her disbelief is obvious, but she doesn't seem upset or dissuaded. "You could have just said you don't like to talk about yourself, you know." She eyes the girl for a handful of moments, then refocuses on the man. She'll probably just let Lya watch for a time now while she finishes, chatting pointlessly with her client instead until he's all finished up and on his way. "Okay. Your turn. Sit." "I could have," Lycinea admits readily, "only you wouldn't've found that entertaining, I imagine. Better a colorful lie than boring truth." Or so she thinks. Watching is more important than talking at this point. She has a few questions as the woman works, about the way she holds her scissors, about the angle of the cut, about the other tools at the work station. The blonde had just begun to finger a wood-handled brush with stiff bristles when the client departs and the new instruction is given and her eyes widen at Nati. She must debate, and doesn't immediately comply, asking, "Why?" Why is it her turn? Isn't she here to learn to cut not play client? "Your life story isn't supposed to be entertaining, sweetheart. Interesting, maybe, at best. But those stories usually involve horrible things." Nati offers her a smile that verges on warm, then instead of insisting Lya sit down, she moves around the chair to sit in it herself. "Have you ever brushed someone else's hair?" she asks, gesturing a glance to the brush the girl was fingering. The girl lifts the brush, nodding to the older woman. "Yes. I've learned to do a lot of braids and some fancier things. I've just never cut hair." Lya hesitates with her fingers curling around the bristles, getting the feel of them. "It... it always somehow seems intimate to me." She has a light blush as she takes a stilted step toward the hairdresser. "But you just... touch other people all day long? Strangers? Isn't it weird?" Nati looks at herself in the polished mirror across from the chair, considering her own hair as she pulls it down from where it had been sitting on top of her head. "If you don't like touching people, I can see how it'd be uncomfortable. But they come here for that, yeah? You aren't doing anything to them they aren't expecting. Unless you really mess up their hair. But we try not to do that." She smiles again, then gestures at her head. "I wouldn't mind a nice braid. If you don't mind?" Lycinea considers her words. "So you just get used to it?" She queries, slowly reaching out one hand for the woman's dark tresses. The brush follows the hand and she starts carefully at the lower ends to deal with any tangles before moving to any longer strokes. "I don't know that I don't like touching people, it's just... not something I do a lot of. I don't... usually let people, just anyone touch me." She goes silent to think on that as she brushes. "You just get used to it," Nati answers. "It wasn't really the touching I had problems with, it was the talking." Though that might be hard to picture now. "I'd get so focused on what I was doing that I'd end up being silent the whole time. Some people like that, I 'spose, but they're the exception more than the rule in my experience." She tilts her head just slightly as though she might twist to look at Lya directly, but she stops. "If anyone touches you that you don't want here, you just bop them with a brush and let me know, okay?" She sounds both cheerful and serious. The last just gets a look, one that's half-surprised, half-uncertain. Nati might be kidding? Lya seems unsure, but certainly if someone did attempt to touch her, everyone would know about it. The blonde focuses on something else, "Talking? Like... what kind of talking? What do you talk to strangers about?" Her brow is wrinkled with focus as she starts drawing the woman's hair into sections in preparation for a pair of braids that will crown her head like her very own circlet. "You talk to them about anything, really. Nothing too serious until you get to know them better, usually. Just... talking." Nati seems the sort that generally enjoys talking to anyone that will talk back, though. Probably anyone that won't, too. "If you see someone a time or two, they aren't really strangers anymore, right? You get to know them and what they do, who they like and who they don't, what they think about this and that." Lycinea considers this some long moments and then she smiles. "I like that, so long as I don't have to talk about myself. Seems to me, though, that a lot of people like to talk about themselves more than they like to know about someone who doesn't want to be known about." It makes sense in her head anyway. "What do you do if you get a gross person?" This is clearly an important question that must be asked, however ineloquently it's managed. "It's easier to work on wet hair when you're cutting. And clean hair is required, at the very least. So we'll either give them a quick wash ourselves or point them at the baths if they're really gross." Nati gestures vaguely toward said baths since they're just over there, smiling at Lya in the mirror. "Basic hygiene is not our job. Don't worry about that." "Good. I imagine it's frowned upon to tell people when they're gross?" The blonde girl questions with an upward lift of brows as she finishes making the first braid and pulls it up and around and begins pinning it carefully into place. With more practice, Lya could probably end up using fewer pins, but it's not bad considering her relative inexperience. "We usually try to be... gentle about it. Some men are just kind of... stupid, though." No point in being subtle. It's not like one of them is listening to them right now. And clearly women will never have to be told that they're gross. "You're doing a good job, Lya," Nati adds with what must be a pretty normal smile. "I might even get better tips for looking so pretty." Always a plus. "Gentle," Lycinea repeats dubiously, but otherwise doesn't comment on the answer Nati provides. She looks at the older woman a moment, without either the natural appreciation or shyness usually given receipt of a compliment. She seems to weigh the hairdresser a moment before saying simply, "Thank you." Then, "How would I go about learning to cut hair if I haven't got anyone to practice on?" Nati's smile is sincere as she eyes Lya in the mirror, but she moves on when that very relevant question is presented. "A lot of watching, honestly. Then finding people who are willing to let you practice on them. People with long hair who are wanting to cut it shorter are best. Weyrlings are perfect, but that's a while off yet. But you learn more watching someone else than you'd probably think. Once you start cutting hair, you learn how to handle your shears and you get even better." She sounds a little excited. She must enjoy her job. "What do you do when there aren't weyrlings? Just the watching? Volunteers?" Lycinea queries, "Or would I have to find people to practice on?" She finishes putting the pins in place and then steps to hold the hand mirror to display the back of the braid for Nati. "Volunteers, mostly, for actual hands on stuff. You wouldn't have to find people yourself, but any practice is good for you. Just don't let them think they can get cuts for free once you're good at it." Nati turns her head to smile properly at the girl before settling to get a look at the braids. "Well done, love. Very nice." "And you have to clean up after everything?" Lycinea inquires, after one processing moment of taking in the term of endearment and compliment, neither of which earn a response. She carefully sets the mirror and brush back in their original places and moves to stand next to the chair, though a little apart. She might've dipped a toe into this world, but the way she hold herself keeps her separate. After all, here might not be where she wants to end up. "Cleaning up is important. There's usually someone around that will sweep up when we're busy. Though... that might be you for a while." Nati rises from the chair, giving herself another look in the larger mirror before turning to Lycinea. "But, by then, the hair is clean anyway." That's a plus, right? "We also clean our shears and brushes, but people are generally responsible for their own things when it comes to those." Lycinea wrinkles her nose at the possibility of it being her and Nati receives a dubious look. Clean hair that isn't Lya's is still on the Gross chart. She considers the words, stepping to the side as Nati's next customer arrives, quieting to observe a typical interaction between hairdresser and hairdressee. |
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