Deanne's Beauty Parlour (ATTN: Elgee)

[Kara_J]

Humming to herself contentedly, Deanne busied herself with her brushes and make-up, laying it out just so. She'd managed to get the scissors sharpened just on the off chance that Esther would trust her enough to cut her hair. Then she sat in front of the mirror and played with her braids, though she couldn't help a surge of sorrow at the loss of her bells. A letter was already on the way to her father explaining what had happened (playing down her own part in the matter of course) and asking ever so sweetly if her parents could see their way clear to send their beloved daughter some more.

 

She smiled at herself in the mirror, having now learned to see past the splodges and spots. Her reasonable request to the MoN asking to replace the furnishings with something better had been met with a hearty laugh. Deanne frowned at the memory then pushed it aside, no matter, she'd soon be an Accepted and surely then she would be allowed better furnishings.

 

Today though was a Freeday and so Esther had reluctantly agreed to Deanne's proposal of carrying out Larindhra's orders, though Deanne thought that Esther's response of "I suppose I shall have to suffer through it sometime, might as well get it over with now." was a bit on the harsh side.

 

Resting her chin on her hand, Deanne brought to mind the shape of Esther's face and mentally ran through some hairstyles that might suit it as she waited for the woman to get back from the wash rooms.

She'd told Esther to thoroughly wash her hair and had even spared some of her own lotion to do it with. Light only knows what the other woman had been using up until now, whatever it was, it certainly did the woman's hair no favours! Deanne had known straw to be softer!

 

Finally the door opened and Esther came into the room.

[Elgee]

What was the big problem with her hair, of all things? Esther simply could not understand how people could fuss so about something that was simply another part of her body.  She washed it every second day, for the Light’s sake – what more could people want from her? And her hair did not resemble a hay bail, no matter what that trollo… no, she must call her Deanne from now on, or Larindhra Sedai would think up something even more horrible to punish her with. Though she could hardly think of anything worse than being left to Deanne’s mercy.

 

Sniffing in exasperation, she took the special lotion and various other mysterious things Deanne had forced into her hands, with her to the bathroom. What was wrong with the soap she always used? It got her hair clean, which was all that mattered, wasn’t it? She wanted to toss it down the stairs, but she had (in the end, and after threats to report her to Larindhra for balking!) promised Deanne she would use the silly stuff. Oh well, if she was going to use the stuff, she might as well follow Deanne’s instructions to the letter, so she wetted her hair, then applied the stuff, rinsed it off (properly!), then applied again and this time left it on for the required quarter candlemark. Which gave her more than enough time to apply various scrubby stuff and lotions and what not to the rest of her body and her face. No wonder Deanne’s possessions took up most of their room! Esther started to worry that she might have no skin left after the scrub, but the cream Deanne had also forced on her felt quite … good, actually.

 

Finally heading back to their room, Esther fingered her hair wonderingly. It felt … soft! And strangely smooth. Trudging into the room with her usual plodding style, she almost dropped half of the containers on the floor, but managed to make it to Deanne’s bed with them. She might have to use the stuff, but she was damned if she would put all of them away! Giving Deanne a wary look, she finally took the indicated seat reluctantly. She gave the girl a warning glare, though. “Don’t you go doing anything … funny with me! There’s nothing wrong with my hair!” She did draw her hand through her strangely altered curls again, though.

 

Esther Tremaine

Novice

 

[Kara_J]

Making a mental note to teach Esther to walk in a way that didn't resemble a baby Trolloc, thumping around with no grace to speak of, Deanne indicated Esther should sit in front of the mirror. As the woman dumped the bottles and lotions onto Deanne's bed and reluctantly took the seat, Deanne noticed the immediate change in her hair and skin.

 

Nodding approvingly she gathered up Esther's hair and began to brush out the tangles, starting from the tips at the bottom and working her way up the length to the roots so it wouldn't cause too much pain if the brush got caught in a knot. As she brushed she admired the sheen of the red hues that kept catching the light as the brush moved through the waves of hair.

 

"You know, Esther, you could be quite pretty if you put your mind to it. I could kill for this colour." Deanne said absent mindedly as she worked. When she was finally satisfied that she'd got out all the knots and tangles, she picked up the scissors with the intent of trimming the split ends, she had been privately horrified at the number she'd found whilst brushing Esther's locks.

 

"Right, don't move suddenly, I'm just going to trim some off your hair and then we'll think about giving it a style. Light knows what you'd call this..it's not even a style!" Gathering up some of the locks, Deanne moved the scissors to start cutting.

 

[Elgee]

At first Esther sat as stiff as a fence post, fearing what Deanne might be up to, even though she could see in the mirror that the girl was armed only with a hair brush. Even Deanne couldn’t really do much damage with a hairbrush … could she?

 

Eventually the rhythmic movements of the brush in her hair made her relax more and more, until she leaned back into the movement. She didn’t normally allow anyone to touch her, but this wasn’t so bad, really. Maybe one day when she became an Aes Sedai, she would get a lady’s maid, like some of the Sisters had. It would be quite nice to be pampered in this way.

 

Esther had never really thought ahead to what she might become, one day. Novice life was hard, leaving little time for self-reflection. Her freeday’s were usually spent in the Library, studying; she loved to read up about the various laws. Maybe she would become a Gray, one day? Lost in daydreams, it took a while for Deanne’s words to penetrate.

 

Pretty? She would never be even close to pretty! Esther had no illusions about her looks – her mother and sisters had told her often enough what a fat frump she was, with her frizzy hair and round face and figure. She was about to turn and look at Deanne in amazement when the girl’s next words froze her in place.

 

“With scissors?” she squeaked. The thought of Deanne loose anywhere near her throat with a sharp implement made her breathing become rather rapid. In the mirror, she saw Deanne pick up the dreaded implement and bring it closer to her head. She wanted nothing so much as to bolt, but maybe now was not the time to startle Deanne. Definitely not. Taking a deep breath, Esther tried to make her voice as even and soothing as possible, though it still came out in its usual husky tone. “Uhm … sure, Deanne – whatever you want!”

 

Esther Tremaine

Novice

 

[Kara_J]

"Yes, with scissors! What else? We're not allowed to Channel, remember!" Deanne replied a modicum of exasperation entering her tone. Really! she thought in exasperation, Try to help people and all they give you is mouthy or stupid remarks! little thinking it was the response she usually gave to people that tried to help her. "Now sit still so I can get it even"

 

Bending her head to her work, she was soon lost in concentration. She took a little of Esther's hair at a time, running her fingers to the end and snipping off short amounts before moving on to the next lot. Each time she measured each cut with the one before ensuring that she had cut it as even as the waves in Esther's hair would allow. Eventually she stood up, kneading the small of her back, aching after being stooped over for so long.

 

"There, that looks a little better. Now turn around and face me." She waited for Esther to comply and then checked to make sure she'd not missed any at the front. Satisfied she'd gotten the most of the split ends she smiled. "That wasn't so terrifying now was it?" Not waiting a response she continued. "The next thing we need to do is give you a style."

 

Whilst she had been trimming the ends she'd decided on a style that would suit the shape of Esther's face whilst keeping the gorgeous waves and most of the length. Picking up the scissors once more she again started cutting, humming to herself as she worked, gently turning Esther's head this way and that in order to get to the inaccessible bits. Finally content with her handiwork she brushed her hair once more, ensuring no loose bits remained and told Esther to look in the mirror. 

 

She gave the other woman only a few minutes to glance in the mirror at her new hair do before making her swivel back to face her.

 

"Now, I think before we do anything else, we're going to simply have to do something about your eyebrows." Deanne said conversationally, reaching for a pair of tweezers. 

[Elgee]

Esther wanted to snap at Deanne for her sarcastic remark, but decided that muteness in this case was definitely the better part of valour. Those scissors looked sharp!  She watched Deanne’s hands with an eagle eye, though; as much as she could see in the little excuse for a mirror, anyway. Deanne had actually been right about that – the thing was so full of chips and blotches it was hard to make out shapes, never mind finer details. Not that she cared, of course! She had no real use for the thing, apart from to check that her braid was approximately at the back of her head. When she could be bothered to make one, instead of just tying her hair back with a piece of string.

 

At last the woman seemed to be finished snipping, and Esther turned on the chair obediently so that Deanne could inspect her handiwork. She seemed quite pleased, judging from her remarks, though Esther wanted to smack her for saying it wasn’t a terrifying experience. She opened her mouth to offer to reciprocate the “favour”, just to see how Deanne would enjoy having her flailing around her head with a a murderous weapon, but now the horrible woman wanted to give her a style!  What on earth was a style? Again she tried to speak, this time to tell Deanne in no uncertain terms that she definitely needed no style, but the dreaded scissors were picked up again. Suppressing a wimper, Esther obediently turned around again.

 

Clenching her hands in her lap, she sat perfectly still, apart from when Deanne turned her head this way and that way, causing Esther to roll her eyes like a cow that had been at the lupin, in an attempt to keep the mirror in site. Finally the scissors were put down, her hair brushed one final time, and Esther was given enough time for a brief glance in the mirror. Not long enough to make out much though, before she was turned back around to face Deanne, just like she was some kind of rag doll.

 

Esther gave Deanne her best smile and started to rise, but it seemed Deanne was not finished with torturing her. Eyebrows? What was she going to do with them? What could one do with eyebrows, anyway? Esther’s eyes grew wider and wider as Deanne brought forth yet another little implement from her bag. What did she mean to do with that thing? Hastily she tried to scramble off the stool, but the girl was right up in her face, leaving Esther nowhere to go. “Deanne? Deanne!!” Esther all but yelped. “What are you going to doooo ...” Esther clapped a hand to her left eyebrow, where it seemed Deanne had just ripped off a goodly part of her face. “Oowwwww!”

 

[Kara_J]

Deanne put a hand on Esther's shoulder and raised an eyebrow, pointedly looking between Esther's shocked and hurt expression and the one hair that she'd managed to pluck before Esther had reacted like a scalded cat. "Esther, I'm trying to help here, you're not making it easy! At the moment your eyebrows look....well to be honest, they look like furry caterpillars." She paused, "and when you frown like that they look like furry caterpillars trying to kiss! Now sit still!"

 

Taking a deep breath of concentration, Deanne moved Esther's hand out of the way...then had to tap it sharply to prevent Esther from covering her eyebrow up again. Working quickly she managed to neaten half the left eyebrow before Esther's hand intervened once more. "Will you stop interfering...this will all be over soon." Deanne said in what she thought was a soothing tone. "Take a deep breath and let it out slowly."

 

Deftly she plucked the rest of the eyebrow and stood back to admire her handiwork. "There! Now we need to do the right eyebrow, it'll take a little longer as I need to match it up with your left one. Hold still..." She bent forward again, a tiny frown of concentration on her face as she started to pluck the right eyebrow to match the left. Eventually she finished to her satisfaction and smiled at the results.

 

"Right, now I want you to smooth this lotion onto your face, it will soothe your eyebrows and moisturise the skin. Then we can discuss the best type of make up to suit your skin tone." She smiled at Esther, completely failing to notice the expression on the other woman's face.

[Elgee]

Caterpillars? Esther glowered at Deanne, wishing she had the gumption to kick the girl’s rump clear across the Tower. If plucking only one hair had hurt that much, Esther most definitely did not want to have any more ripped from her face, thank you very much! Deanne gave her no option, though; she had never suspected that indolent body had such surprising strength. Well, she wasn’t fighting too hard, seeing as the threat of being reported to Larindhra still hung over her head, but still. Tucking her stinging hand under her rump, she gave only one brief sniff to express her wounded feelings Furry caterpillars kissing, I ask you! then endured the ministrations as best she could. She only clapped her hand to her face once more!

 

Esther suffered through having her other eyebrow mauled with only a few whimpers, which Deanne ignored with only a small smirk. Actually, when Deanne stepped back far enough for Esther’s eyes to uncross, she noticed the smile did not seem at all like her usual malicious expression when she looked at Esther. In fact, the smile was almost … sweet. She started to feel quite charitable towards the girl, until she mentioned make up.

 

Clutching the lotion Deanne had pushed on her in one hand, she surged to her feet before Deanne had a chance to even think of pushing her back down. “Larindhra never said anything about make up!” she muttered as she retreated hastily. “You can’t make me wear that gunk!” she almost wailed, backing away further at the unusually determined look on Deanne’s face. There was nothing for it but to gather her skirts with the one available hand and flee out the door, the other hand still clutching the lotion.

 

 

Esther Tremaine

Novice