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 Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2017 9:09 am
Someday, Haumea promised himself, he would figure out a way to avoid the Corrupt Hair problem. Normally, it didn't bother him, but lately... well. All he could say was that he way lucky a stray dred hadn't managed to whip around and slap him in the eye. And then, there was the weight.
"Lady Metallia," he murmured softly, "I'm not sure why you chose this for us, but someday I hope to understand."
In the meantime, all he could do was to try and figure out ways to minimize the impact of his hair.
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Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2017 10:38 am
Ochre's shoulders sagged in a great sigh when he first started into the Cathedral. For the third time that week, Ochre nearly sent himself off a building by the unwieldy convolutions of his own braids. They tangled like an angry mandrake root, often curling underfoot or even providing ample purchase for an enemy to seize upon in the heat of battle. He liked none of it, and often took to powering up with sharpened shears expressly for doing away with the thick ropes. The magical hair left behind provided an origin point, however, and he needed to cease that tactic to prevent others from discovering his usual areas for powering up.
Deposition of energy went as planned, and Ochre left the offices just as easily as he came. His hair was shut in a door not once, but twice, and both times Ochre realized it with a sigh as his head jerked back. He knew not why his Negaverse attire provoked such long hair, but he found it utterly lacking in usefulness. Maybe someday he could find someone who would explain it.
As he passed through another corridor, Ochre overheard the quiet mumble of another corrupted senshi in the area. The hall provided very little by way of furniture, so much f the conversations echoed about for the unfortunate passerby. in his case, Ochre found it fruitful that another senshi encountered hair woes; he felt, at least, that he wasn't the only one suffering from a surplus of hair.
On a gamble, he approached the other senshi. He looked far more colorful and outlandish than Ochre did, but the Pentacle Corrupt often felt like he fell out of a Harry Potter novel. Perhaps 'outlandish' was a relative term. "Hey, have you um, ever figured anything out for keeping hair in check? It's kind of ridiculous." He added a bashful laugh at the end, hoping to relieve any tension from a potentially unwanted conversation.
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Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2017 11:26 am
As surrounded by Chaos as he was, Haumea thought it was of little surprise that he hadn't sensed the other senshi approaching. At his words though, Haumea glanced up and winced in sympathy. Where he had a small bit of space between the ends of his hair and the floor, this new senshi didn't even have that comfort!
Finding the bashful laugh oddly endearing, Haumea offered a wry smile and shrug.
"Short of rubber banding it all together or attempting a man-bun, I'm afraid not. Though, if I can venture a guess, you're faring far worse than I in the hair department."
Indeed, the thick braids looked as if they could, would and often did snag on everything. Poor, poor boy.
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Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2017 11:51 am
Ochre winced at the words, acknowledging his own misfortune in that position. "Yeah, uh, it used to be easier. Back when I was just a plain senshi, my hair wasn't long enough to touch the floor. But it was still annoying, you know? We have to have the best neck muscles in the whole Negaverse." He sighed, rubbing the aforementioned neck muscles gradually. "Say, you're uh… It's kinda hard to tell with all these other agents and senshi around, but you're a super senshi right? Did you notice a difference in how unruly your hair was when you gained rank? Cuz mine totally got out of control." And a man bun sounded like it might last exactly five minutes before the mass bobbed out of its constraints.
"The best thing that's worked for me is just cutting it off after I power up. Can't get in the way if it's not there, right? But it just comes back the next time so it gets kinda annoying. I mean, we could almost make a career out of making disappearing wigs, right?" Maybe someone already exploited that tactic and enchanted the shed hair to drain energy. But were wig-buyers really the type to have energy? Maybe if they were cosplayers…
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Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2017 12:02 pm
Laughing a little at the idea of corrupted senshi walking around with exagerated neck muscles, Haumea gave a genial nod as his rank was identified.
"Correctly guessed. Though, when I was first brought into the fold, my hair was actually worse. I suppose keeping it confined to dredlocks helps to some degree. I must admit though, looking at you, I feel as if I shouldn't complain much. I seem to have gotten off easy."
He listened sympathetically as the other vented and nodded where it seemed appropriate. And while he'd privately considered lopping his hair off, it seemed this one had done it and it wasn't quite the solution Haumea would have wished. Useful information, that.
"Disappearing wigs would only really work if we could guarantee their untraceability."
After a moment, he gestured for the other senshi to come and have a seat beside him.
"Let's see if we can't figure out something for you. Before you end up doing yourself an injury."
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Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2017 12:45 pm
"Okay," he replied in compliance, and it came out perhaps too excited. Seldom did he have the time or chance to engage in camaraderie — a chance like this was not to be passed up. He seated himself next to the other senshi in one of the ancient, mothbitten chairs left in the hallway. The furniture wheezed out dust at the first sign of weight, and Ochre almost stood again in recoil. He hardly spent time in the Cathedral; he knew very little about the testiness of the furnishings.
"How do you dread hair? Did it shorten up a lot that way? I mean, it's not like we have to do it ourselves when we just power up into it, but…" But it seemed to him that Haumea's hair progressed in a more manageable fashion, and he hoped that doing so adhered to some kind of norm among corrupted senshi. Maybe most of them sported manageable hair as they ranked up, but his went in reverse as some kind of final punishment for his failure to step in line at first.
"Do you suppose that maybe, uh, appealing to Metallia would geti t under control? Like, being a better officer or something. not that I'm a bad officer, but, you know…" There was always room for improvement.
"Thanks for helping, by the way. Oh, and uh, I'm Ochre. Of the Pentacle."
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 7:46 am
Nose twitching slightly at the cloud of dust, Haumea turned slightly in his seat and began to study Ochre's hair, taking hold of some of the braids and trying to figure out what options he had.
"Well, I went to a salon to have mine done initially," he said conversationally as he ran loose strands of Ochre's hair through his fingers. "Though I lucked out and was told I have the right hair type for dreads. I'm afraid they wouldn't work nearly so well for you. I suppose my hair being up in dreads and then just pulled up in general gave me about a foot between the floor and the ends of my hair."
Haumea decided that the Rapunzel solution would probably be the most helpful at the moment and began to work on braiding the braids together. He'd behave and leave out the flowers and ribbons though. His fingers paused as he considered the question of appealing to Metallia. On the one hand, it seemed so frivolous, so beneath Her notice. On the other... well? It did seem that Ochre had more than his share of hair going.
"I suppose it couldn't hurt to try," he began slowly. "Though I'm not sure She'd enjoy someone trying to bargain or haggle with Her. And it's my pleasure to help, Ochre of the Pentacle. I am Haumea, senshi of Plumeria."
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 7:39 am
"Oh…" So he lacked the hair type for dreads? There wasn't much eh could do about that. Maybe there was some way he could manipulate the magic of his transformation to give him a different, more viable hairstyle for this mess. He felt like something out of a child's film as-is.
Still, the physical contact felt welcome as the two commisserated over hair woes. It seemed a universal problem with Negaverse senshi, whether acknowledged or simply lived with, and wondering the purpose of it went nowhere. Instead, he should focus on what Haumea did, and look for a solution to carrying its weight around. Asking 'why' only gave answers when there was a reason to begin with, and Ochre wasn't sure if there was one. So, in his mind, Haumea had the right idea.
Haumea's response gave him pause, however. "Yeah, you're right, that does seem kinda offensive. I'll see who else has some ideas." Surely one of the General-Sovereigns might be able to push him in a proper direction for it. "Not that yours are bad or anything, but I dunno, maybe one of the General-Sovereigns has some special shears or something that make haircuts permanent." Wishful thinking, but he would pursue it regardless.
"And uh, tell me if this is a stupid question, but what's Plumeria?" If nothing else, the ask entertained some more comfortable conversation while Haumea worked with the braids. If nothing else, he felt quick at it.
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Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2017 5:30 am
Relaxing slightly as he realized that Ochre was not going to attempt to outright question Metallia, Haumea smiled a little and tied off a part of the braid he was working on.
"It's always good to try other paths," he offered mildly. He couldn't imagine the General Sovereigns possessing such an item and not using it, but he was not a General Sovereign and could not be expected to fathom their ways.
Smiling a bit at Ochre's next question, Haumea paused on his braiding and plucked one of the tiny flowers that dotted his fuku and held it out for the other senshi to see.
"Plumeria is a small, tropical flower. Quite pretty to look at and smell, I suppose, but also mildly poisonous. And, much to my chagrin," he added, pulling a doleful face, "one of Bath and Body Works more popular scents. Though they've been selling it far longer than I've been a senshi."
Not that he really cared about a chain of stores dedicated to selling what amounted to a lot of headache inducing smells, but he hoped that it might at least draw a chuckle from his companion. Then, just because he could, he wove the tiny plucked flower into the bulk of the braid.
Okay, so much for not going full on Rapunzel.
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Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2017 2:50 pm
"Bath and Body Works? You must be really popular with the other senshi, then," He offered with a smile. While Ochre did not venture into malls often, he did remember a distinct-smelling location of similar name. Mentally he noted the need to visit the store and try the scent, if only to sate his curiosity. "I wonder why they'd sell a poisonous fragrance though. That sounds dangerous." He shrugged the thought aside, however.
With his hair braids braided into a bigger braid, Ochre felt the heaviness of it, but recognized that the mess no longer dragged on the floor. Plus, he received a cool flower as a bonus for the trouble. Ochre quickly decided that Haumea was the nicest Negaverse senshi he met yet, despite the corrupt meeting held some time ago. Most there treated him with some for mof distrust, and while he knew why, he could not help but feel ashamed for it. Perhaps Haumea knew, perhaps he didn't, but Ochre liked that Haumea treated him no worse regardless of the answer. Plus, his dreads looked really good.
Was it weird to compliment a corrupted senshi on their hair, though?
Ochre stood then, and tested the length of hair now wrapped about itself. Sure enough, it no longer dragged across the floor and caught underfoot. Ochre grinned then, happy that he finally found another solution to the perpetual hair problem. "Thanks!" He offered heartily. "At least now I've got one more way to do away with all this hair. Man, what a relief." Ochre rolled his shoulders to relieve some of the strain.
"Hey, if you ever need help with anything, call me and I'll try to return the favor? I mean, I dunno how much I'd help, but… It means a lot." And he was sincere about it.
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Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2017 9:16 am
"Hardly," Haumea couldn't help the dry chuckle at the thought of him being popular with anyone. "But it's kind of you to say. And I believe they're only toxic if you eat them."
He sat back in his seat, one leg drawing up until his heel rested on the edge of the seat, providing a handy rest for his arm. Admiring his work as Ochre stood and tested his new hair style, Haumea allowed a tiny smile to play about his mouth. He had done a rather good job of braiding and it was a pleasure to see that he'd helped a fellow corrupt. The smile turned to a grin as he was thanked and he held up a hand to forestall any further thanks.
"You're quite welcome, Ochre. I'm pleased that I could help," Haumea replied easily, obviously touched by the other's sincerity. "It's a kind and generous thought, my friend. I'm not the calling in favors type, but it'd be a shame to waste a freely given offer. Thank you."
Though not the most touchy-feely of people, Haumea couldn't resist reaching out to catch up Ochre's hand and give it a friendly squeeze before releasing it.
Strickenized Not a problem! Shall we call it a wrap?
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Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2017 9:43 am
Haumea was, in Ochre's opinion, much too kind to him. This delighted him greatly, and his reception of it showed in his broad smile. "That's okay," he offered, "you don't have to call it in if you don't want to. I'm just glad to have met you. The Negaverse isn't always a super friendly place, you know?" It often wasn't, he supposed, which made these pockets of genuine conversation and care that much more desirable. He hoped he would encounter Haumea again, and with frequency.
"I should get back to it, though, especially now that my hair's finally out of my way." He executed a short turn to showcase the lack of obstruction. "This is gonna make draining energy so much easier[." A grateful sigh, then he offered Haumea a wave. "I'll see you around, I hope."
And he hoped that he could find more corrupts of similar disposition, who set aside their ambitions just long enough to grow stronger together. Maybe there were a handful out there capable of that. He needed to make it his mission to suss them out from their respective dark corners.
In a breath, he teleported from the place, and the air rushed in to replace his body. The Cathedral grew quiet without their conversation warming its halls.
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