Day 28: Pearl’s Beauty Salon Hair and Nails

[broken_exorcist]

[[From here]]

It'd been difficult for Allen to walk a straight line to the shop when there was so much to see in the town.  He held open the door for Rinali, then followed her inside.

It did ease his mind a little bit when he read the sign proclaiming "Haircuts-Men, Women, and Children!"  At least it wasn't a shop solely for women, as he'd been lead

Comments

[uruz_vii]

[ From here.]

Sousuke walked into the store and quickly shut the door behind Heero. He breathed an internal sigh of relief--one entrance, one exit, only so many places to hide an attacker or bomb. Much better than an open street, that was for certain.

But then he looked around at where he was.

There were chairs. And twisted metal objects. And bottles of strangely colored liquids, and tubs of some sort of liquid on the floor. Horrified, he took a step back. "We've made a mistake--this situation is much worse than the street."

[cobalt_soldier]

Heero let himself be led around by Sousuke, trying to remember as much of the town layout as he could from their wandering down Main Street, but he did blink in surprise when the sergeant led him into a.. beauty salon, of all places.

The smell of acetone and perfume was triggering serious flight reflexes at this point, tempered only by the prospect of getting his hands on one of the small sharp utensils he could only surmise played an integral part in this incomprehensibly voluntary torture.

Laying a hand on Sousuke's forearm, he whispered before the other could leave: "Assess the situation calmly, soldier." --Those files really did look sharp, after all.

[uruz_vii]

Sousuke didn't know how he could assess this any more calmly than he was. There were far too many weapons in this small shop, and he and Heero couldn't possibly account for them all.

But the only person in the room--the large woman with the ostentatious necklaces--seemed to be preoccupied with a boy and girl who were trying to exchange their coupons for currency. Sousuke silently applauded the effort, but seriously doubted that anyone would purchase a slip of paper with a happy face stamped on it.

"We have only one option: relieve the enemy of their weapons before they can be used against us." Sousuke produced the coupon marked with this shop's name and nodded to Heero, indicating he should do the same.

Jeez... you don't just DEMAND things, Sousuke! You have to wait your turn!

Waiting his turn to arm himself... fabulous. He loomed behind Allen and Rinali, trying to remain calm.

[damned_town]

The little bell over the door rang again and a woman rushed in, already taking off her coat and placing it on the rack next to the entrance. "Sorry I'm late, Pearl, but the cat slept on the alarm clock, if you'll believe it."

Janie Matthews was as small and mousy as Pearl Langley was large and beefy. She couldn't have been more than five feet tall. Her frizzy brown hair was pulled into a high ponytail, thick plastic glasses magnified her eyes to several times their normal size, and she wore far more gauzy, gaudy clothing than was probably healthy.

It looked like Pearl was already busy with the two kids up front (Landel's patients, probably, poor things), so she turned to the other two boys in their little shop with a rather disapproving look. Teenage boys in this bastion of femininity probably weren't up to any good. "Can I help you?"

[damned_town]

Pearl Langley's many necklaces clinked softly as she turned to face the boy, a broad smile on her equally broad face. Her first customer of the day! "Yes, hon?" Now, what was a teenage boy doing--oh. He was from the Landel's group, wasn't he? Poor thing.

Her earrings jingled as she shook her head. "Sorry sweetheart, they don't work like that."

[Fey]

[boot_i_licious]

Rinali smiled warmly to the lady who answer Allen. It was a good effort on Allen's part, but at the very least they could probably pawn these coupons off on some of the citizens of this town. They'd have a lot more luck, of course, if they knew what they were trying to sell. "Well, if you can't do that, could you at least tell us what a manicure is? I'm afraid we've never heard of one."

She wanted to ask the lady how she got away with charging her customers such amazing prices as well, but she decided against it. The lady wouldn't be in business if no one bought her services.

[broken_exorcist]

Allen's face fell a little when he heard the woman's reply. If nothing else, perhaps they could still get some money by selling them to people in town. Though it might be hard, if all the other patients had the same coupons. How did this woman stay in business? Now he was curious just to know what these manicure things were. Rinali would probably look pretty with one. But they were for boys too, weren't they? Ah, it was so confusing!

"Oh," he said finally, "I'm sorry to trouble you then ma'am. Though I should also like to know what, exactly, they are."

[damned_town]

Pearl beamed at the pair. They made such a cute couple! But how was it possible that they hadn't heard of manicures? They were more sheltered up at Landel's than she'd thought.

"Well, I take care of your nails, so they look like this. See?" She held out her own hand, proudly displaying her perfect nails. Even if they were a rather lurid shade of pink. "Well, not exactly like this. You can pick whatever color you like." Turning to the girl, she added, "And no offense, sweetie, but your cuticles need a bit of work."

[part1of3]

[ from here ]

Ashton shyly peeked into the salon, face still burning from the rather bawdy thoughts that boasted free rein of his mind at the moment. Oh, how he was hoping there were no telepaths in here! How he was hoping. It wasn't like he overly minded people knowing who he was thinking about - that was probably pretty obvious to anyone who saw them together, he had to admit - but that he was thinking these thoughts at all, in a public place of all places... that really bothered him.

The swordsman looked around. Put him out of your mind, he was mentally instructing himself.

Hopefully the ladies here wouldn't think that his blushing meant that he was too shy to get his nails done, or.. or possibly his toenails! It wasn't his fault that he really appreciated the finer things in life, or that pretty rings looked the best on hands that were well-taken-care-of, or that he wasn't exactly the manliest of men!.. No, no, it sure wasn't. But it had been so long since he'd been able to pamper himself

[icy_pole]

[From further down]

Ami weaved her way around the group of people and over towards Ashton. "Hi," she said shyly. It felt like ages since she had first met him, though it had only been three nights ago. "How are you, Ashton-san?"

[part1of3]

"H-huh?" Ashton had been staring at his lap and fidgeting in his seat, but the greeting caused him to jump nearly about a foot. Oh, he knew that face! He'd only seen her in the dark before, but she was .. well, she was more fair in the light. It was nice

[full_score]

((From here. ))

Claude opened the door and took a look around, eyebrows raised as he finally got a good look at the people in here. There was actually a surprising number of men. And not exactly the type he'd imagine hanging around in a place like this, either. That made him feel a little better about wandering in here, but only marginally so.

Actually, there were only two girls, from what he could see -- someone he hadn't a chance to meet yet, and that girl from his first night who almost reminded him of Rena. And next to her was...

"Ashton!" he said brightly before stepping completely inside, not thinking on whether he was interrupting something or not. After all, Ashton had told him to come find him, right? "There you are! I had a feeling I'd find you here. How're you doing?" He made sure to hold the door open for Guy, waving him in.

[screwthegods]

[ From here]

Homura held the door open for Gin, chuckling lightly as he nodded. "It was. It still didn't work, however." Teasing the man with his grin, Homura looked around the shop, never having seen a place quite like it. Certainly, he'd never smelled anything quite the same before.

There seemed to be a woman in charge, though she currently looked busy with other people. There were ways enough to keep himself occupied, and he turned to Gin. "It can be, yes. But I doubt you have as little experence with it as you seem to want me to think."

[traitors_smile]

Gin nodded with a smile to Homura as he passed in barely-felt gratitude for him holding the door. The smell of the acrylics easily caught his attention first as the odd scents floated through the air. It looked like the workers were fairly busy though, with several children hanging about the place. Though if Homura was sure he wanted to explore, he supposed he couldn't argue.

"Maybe so, maybe so. Builds character though, ne?"

[screwthegods]

Homura was patient enough to move away from the door, watching the people as work while they waited for service. He didn't have anywhere to go, and he wouldn't stop Gin from leaving if the man tried. He did wish the smell wasn't as potent, however.

The conversation walked a fine line, but the dangerous aspect of it was necessary. Homura had already guessed that having a lover and acting for her sake was the common ground between Ichimaru and himself. And with Hijikata gone, it'd be good to have someone in contact with the Arts and Crafts group other than himself.

Of course, if it came down to it, he could likely convince Rukia to play the role. But Gin was rather interesting, and more importantly, would be fully aware of his own choice.

"Like nothing else." Homura gave Gin a deceptively easy smile, refusing to let his mind wander to more fragile places. At least not until Gin did so. "She must care for you greatly to still talk to you even after your betrayal. Unless she was part of it as well."

[traitors_smile]

Gin folded his arms across his chest as casually as he could. He didn't have the long sleeves anymore that he could rest them in, so this was as close as he could get. Still, if Homura thought he could dig up anything about his past without some kind of compensation, he was mistaken. Gin wasn't one to give away much of anything for free. "Maa~ if y'so curious ask then, ne? Tha's what all those lil' questions y'got are for," he said sweetly.

[icy_pole]

Ami tentatively pushed open the door, her nose immediately assaulted with an array of strong aromas. Her nose wrinkled slightly. There were a few people already in here. I wonder if I'll be able to pull this off? she thought nervously.

She approached the counter and waited for a staff member to become available.

[icy_pole]

Glancing around at the other people in the salon, Ami figured from the interesting clothing combinations that they were probably all patients from the institution.

One of the men in the larger group shifted slightly, and Ami caught a glimpse of Ashton sitting on his own, also apparently waiting to be served.

[Moving up to talk to Ashton]

[icy_pole]

[Coming back to sit down after talking to Ashton]

Ami sat down and picked up a trashy magazine to pass the time while she waited, though she found it hard to concentrate. The blush in her cheeks subsided, but a small amount of blood had begun seeping through her bandaged hand. She winced as she put pressure on it, hoping the bleeding would subside soon and trying to think of a good excuse in case the nail artist asked her how she had been injured.

[damned_town]

"You all right, honey?"

Having finished with Allen and Rinali, Pearl was now staring, perplexed, at the sudden influx of...people into her tiny shop. Many were talking amongst themselves in little groups (and Janie looked a little overwhelmed, poor thing), so she went to the loners first.