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Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 9:58 pm
He didn't know why he'd come here, he didn't even know what he was doing here, but here he was. All Alexandre knew was that he'd just spoken to Jett, and that the last four days had been Earth shattering. He didn't want to go home, he'd spent the whole previous night pacing around the empty house, and he didn't want to go to the hospital and deal with his extended family. He'd had more than enough of their chatter and questions, how many times could you ask someone to tell you everything that had happened before it sunk in? Or before you realized it was hurting the person to keep telling the same story? He'd go see his mother later, he'd call ahead of time to make sure they weren't there.He knew they'd be there in the morning though, they'd told him that the first day they'd turned up. Something about wanting to help his mother have breakfast, as if he or his father couldn't do the same thing. He knew it wasn't meant as an insult but right now he was just too emotional to take anything as a simple comment, or handle anything calmly. He was liable to explode over anything, even something as simple and innocent as that.
The only reason he could see for coming here was just that his walk down the street, coming from the place he'd stopped off for a much needed meal (it was just about lunch time), had lead him almost past the familiar hair salon. Inside he'd caught sight of familiar red hair and he'd changed direction ever so slightly and instead of walking by he was gripping the door handle as he pulled it open.
His hair, normally neat and pulled back, was down as it had been since some time during his talk with Jett. He couldn't remember taking it down but he hadn't pulled it back up, he didn't know why but he supposed he simply didn't have the energy or care for it. So his hair hung about his face and framed soft, though tired and worn, features as it made it slightly harder to tell his gender right off the bat.
"Caleb..." The name was spoken softly as he stood just inside the salon. Slate eyes trained on the others figure as he watched him and waited for the other to turn to him, to see him. Had the other seen the news all those days ago? Did he have a clue what he'd done last night? Did he know the sins the blond had committed? Biting his lip he went his lip tremble before he fought off the tears in a valiant effort to not appear weak in front of anyone else. He'd been doing that enough and he needed to stop...he had to. Standing there waiting he started to fidget, which was better than crying again, and reached up to tug at his hair.
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Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 6:08 pm
Caleb was busy humming a tune his sister taught him while sweeping the floor from his last customer. During the lunch hour it was either jammed packed or a ghost town and right now, it was the latter. Not that the redhead minded at all - in fact, he preferred it this way because it gave him time to spruce the place up and sterilize the tools before the next rush of customers would come after the 5PM work crowd was let loose. He almost didn't hear Alex's voice over the scrap of broom against floor and the lilt of his song. Startled for a moment, Caleb turned around and was pleasantly surprised, happily greeting the blonde with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye.
But the boy didn't look too good. Happiness turned to concern. "Alex, it's nice to see you again but... are you alright? Here, come take a load off. If you just need to sit, feel free. Lucia's out having lunch so there's no one here but me." The redhead brushed Alex's shoulder in a gentle way of ushering the boy further into the shop.
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Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 6:21 pm
It was nice to see someone, someone he could talk to and who was familiar. Someone who wasn't damaged and was still human. The thought was grim but after last night, after leaving the rift with Bazzite, it was a very true thought.
The blond was glad, so very glad, to see that the salon was a ghost town at the moment. He didn't need, or want, to deal with people right now. "No - No I'm really not ok. The last few days have been too much." Allowing the red head to shepard him to a chair, which he didn't sit in, he tugged at his bangs. "I just need something normal." And he wasn't talking about hair. Whatever had him upset wasn't normal, even for a member of the Negaverse.
"I messed up badly..really bad."
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Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 6:37 pm
Now that worried him. Caleb leaned the broom against his salon station and turned the chair towards himself using the armrests. "Alex, are you okay talking about it? Do you need me to take you somewhere? My car's in the back." He made a motion with his thumb to the back of the store, indicating the small parking lot behind all the shops used by employees and shipping companies. "You name it. I'm worried about you."
Even though Caleb didn't have any male siblings, he still treated many of the kids he'd met in the Negaverse as an elder brother would. Makayla often did the same, acting as an older sister. "We have an hour or two."
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Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 6:59 pm
"N-no. I'd rather not." He really didn't care to be in a private situation where he may break down - again. He'd be more inclined to loosing control of his emotions again, and he needed to fight it really, or at least attempt it. It wasn't an easy fight, not that it should be, he deserved what he was going through really.
Yanking at his own hair he glanced about the empty salon. No one was here, it was safe to talk here and now. "I messed up. If no one higher up punishes me for it I'll be lucky." The words passed his lips in a whisper though harsh. "Were you ever told how youma came to be?" He asked as he thought it the best place to start. He needed somewhere and it really was the only place he could think of.
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Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 8:18 pm
Higher ups? Must be Negaverse business that Alex was so worried about. when asked the question of youma creation, Caleb shook his head. "No, they haven't told us anything. Senshi don't exactly get all the info or respect in the Negaverse. They're very suspicious of us." The redhead sighed and shifted his weight on his hips. "Youma don't like us much either. It makes my skin crawl. They look at us like we're a snack in the making. I try to stay away from them as much as I can, really."
Turning his attention back to the blonde, Caleb frowned again in concern. "...why?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 8:42 pm
Biting his lip he smiled then. "If it's any consolation I trust you and any who fight on our side. We all make the same sacrifices." They all had the same goals in min and fought the same war, saw the same things, and make the same sacrifices and were all knew the risks. "A youma is formed when a starseed is shattered..it's what the moon queen did to the people of Earth; or rather some of them. Some of those who stood against her became youma, too much power shattered their starseeds." He spoke, his words quick, as he'd begun to pace the floor in front of the other. Back and forth much like a few days ago at the hospital.
"I didn't know that I couldn't, but I didn't think I could, promote someone. Bazzite, he wanted me to promote him - make him a General. When I told him I didn't think I could he said all kinds of things, accused me of not believing in him. He went to leave, to go back after the civilian who shot my mother." Fingers twisted together before raising up to tug at his bangs. Finally he threw himself into a chair and looked at the other.
"I couldn't let him go and try again, he was a mess. And - and I had to prove I didn't think he was useless or incapable. I agreed and went to promote him, when I was promoted it was just like when I was corrupted first. But it went wrong - all wrong." And nowhe broke off and stared with wide eyes at the other as he bit his bottom lip for a moment.
"I lost him. No, that's not right - not really. I killed Bazzite and in his place is a youma that calls me Beni and responds to Bazzite or his civilian name. But it's not him." And even though he'd talked to Remarque before, and had taken him to see Bazzite, it still didn't make things better. It just reminded him once more of what he'd created and done to his friend, who seemed clueless as to what he was now and that it was a bad thing. Drawing his legs up, his feet planted on the seat of the chair, he lowered his head into his legs while his fingers curled tightly into his bangs.
"I - I did just like she did." Turning his head to look at the other. Finally he lifted his head fully and just stared at the other for a moment before something completely off topic passed his lips. "I need a hair cut." Not a trim but he said cut.
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Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 8:56 pm
Caleb put a hand to his chest, eyes wide in shock and confusion. He never knew anyone who operated under Benitoite with any intimacy but these two seemed close by the way Alex was talking about him. Shattered starseeds? Too much power? It didn't make much sense at all to the redhead but he could tell the events of the past few days were weighing very heavily on the blonde. The young hairdresser walked up to the boy and put a hand on his shoulder. At first, he didn't know what to say. How do you console someone who killed a friend of theirs by accident? And now there was a monster in their place, pretending to be the person that died? It was sickening. "You're not the Moon Queen, Alex." Caleb said, green eyes staring straight into Alex's slate grey ones. "You didn't do this on purpose - you weren't punishing him for disobeying you or being rebellious. You didn't do it with any malice in your heart, did you? And how do you know he's gone?" Being that he'd never interacted with youma in the first place (and avoided the nasty things like the plague as often as he could), the redhead had no idea they could even hold a conversation. The thought was rather... terrifying. Monsters that could think and speak just like a human could. "If he calls you by a nickname... Did he always call you that? Do other people call you that? I'm only asking because, if he always called you by a nickname and he's still doing it, wouldn't that mean he's still in there somewhere?" Caleb hoped beyond hope that this line of thinking would cheer the poor boy up. At the request of a haircut, Caleb nodded and went to grab the smock and scissors. Maybe this would take his mind off of Negaverse things for a while. "Cut? How short are we going or is this just a trim, Alex?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 9:10 pm
Tilting his head to look at the hand on his shoulder he shook his head slowly. No, no he hadn't done it on purpose or to punish the other in some way. But he should have fought harder against doing it, right? Shouldn't he have forced the other to comply and go home and rest? Couldn't he have ignored the others hurts and the hurt they'd invoked within him? It was obvious that he couldn't. But he just thought he should have, why hadn't he been able to? The answer was simple even if he didn't like it, and he had every right not to like it. This whole week, that shooter shooting his mother, had lead up to this - to the death of Johnathan Miller and his replacement with a youma who answered to his name.
"He's not the same...he calls me Beni, he teases with words but nothing is behind it. He has no problem in killing when before Johnathan couldn't handle the idea. He's...he's cold like ice about it." And it had scared him last night as he realized that Johnathan hadn't really been with him, just in a new body.
"Always, since we first met." And that first meeting he'd thought the other an idiot and ill suited for this. He'd had such bad thoughts of the other. "A few others do but I try to keep that limited." He did prefer his full name, in uniform and out of it. But correcting everyone was sometimes a waste of breath, and wore on him. Some people simply weren't the sort to listen, or care, when you corrected them for shortening your name.
"I'm not sure, not after last night, that I want Johnathan still inside there. If he's still in there than he must be screaming or protesting what he did last night. The idea of killing terrified him when I first told him that I'd killed." It had been right after he'd made Captain and Johnathan had questioned if you needed to kill to make promotion, he'd been terrified by the idea.
The off track question had him staring at the other and for a moment he didn't speak, thinking and considering. Reaching up he fingered his long hair for a moment. How odd would it be if it were gone? But it was just hair - hair he'd had since he was a child really. But it was still just hair and not a change as drastic as Bazzite's, right? "Short." And he left it at that. Let Caleb figure it out beyond that. "I just need a change..I think."
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Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 9:36 pm
As Alex started talking, Caleb was setting up his station with spray bottles, combs and the like. He started tilted his head this way and that, getting a feel for what the blonde may like. Wrapping his fingers into Alex's hair, Caleb spun the chair gently around so Alex could see himself in the mirror out the corner of his eye. "What about... short in the back, like this? And bangs to the chin. Short but not too short where you can't pin it back or something like that. Would that be alright?"
Maybe the discussion of hair would help a little. Alex had an awful lot riding on his shoulders and while Caleb couldn't even imagine what it was like, the poor boy looked like he'd been through hell and back and had nothing to show for it. Caleb sighed inwardly and hoped this sort of thing never happened to anyone else. Alex didn't deserve this.
When Alex came to the realization that this youma no longer had the soul of his friend, Caleb didn't know how to respond. He frowned deeply. This was like losing a loved one - it was a grieving process that only time could heal. But knowing you killed your friend only to replace him with a monster that acts like he did? Caleb was, for a moment, terrified that Alex would never be able to fully accept it. "Maybe... I don't know, the more you talk to him, maybe it will draw him back out? If he's in there. If he's not, well... maybe it's a blessing in disguise?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 9:50 pm
He certainly felt like he'd been through hell and back and earned nothing, aside from lessons learned, nightmares, stress and a need for another vacation. He certainly felt the need for a vacation - to get away from everything. Enjoying the other playing with his hair the blond tilted his head as he tried to picture what the other had in mind. "Go ahead. I just need a change." And he trusted the other right now. He wasn't sure he should trust himself really. Considering his actions last night he really didn't want to trust himself right now, so he'd leave this in the others hands.
"If he's not there I think it might be...though the idea of having killed him hurts as well. Either way it hurts." And maybe ti always would. Would it always hurt to look at the other? To look at what was now his youma to take care of? He still had to take care of him, perhaps more now than before even. He had created this youma and so it was his responsibility to take care of him, and to answer to whatever punishment he may face in the future.
"You don't think I'm a monster for this? Even if it wasn't intentional. I still didn't, with my own hand." And yet no matter what Caleb said he'd still have problems with what he'd done, and he knew it. Could he, would he, ever escape the guilt? Right now he almost hoped he didn't. That some small amount of it lingered always, a way to remind him of his place and his mistakes, of lessons learned.
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Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2013 7:37 pm
Caleb worked in relative silence at first, tying off the hair Alexandre wanted gone and shearing it from his head in a swift movement. The redhead let the hair drop to the floor - he'd sweep it up later. It was all just part of the job. Then he went about cleaning up the look, snipping here and there, using his spray bottle to make things easier. Some sense of normalcy was probably very therapeutic. "No, I don't think you're a monster. You're a man, Alexandre. You just... made a mistake." Another snip and another spritz. "If anything, maybe you could ask and see if something like this has happened before? Maybe it can be reversed? Honestly, I don't know. I just know you made a mistake and you're very clearly sorry. How could anyone blame you for that?" A slender hand fussed with Alex's hair for a moment, tossing it this way and that and checking in the mirror to see if the job was satisfactory. A shake of his head - he found something that could be improved and went to work.
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Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2013 7:45 pm
Even though it wasn't a lot of hair, when compared to some people, the loss was felt as the weight was no longer there. For a moment he wanted to somehow turn back time and change his mind. But no, he didn't say anything. This was something he somehow felt he needed. So he let Caleb continue cutting, trusting him the whole while. He kept his eyes closed, just letting the other work, he didn't want to see till it was done.
"Maybe I'll look and see...I'd rather keep this from as many as possible - for as long as possible." Let Caleb figure out that he wished the other not to speak, or whisper, a word of this incident to anyone. Caleb he trusted wouldn't say anything anyway. "I almost hope it can be undone but I can't get my hopes up, I just...if I do and I can't fix it. It would be devastating to him; more so than this whole thing already was.
With the other fussing over his hair, some of the locks damp or wet, he sighed softly. "People are people and some will surely think the worst of me for this. While others will see it as you do. Human nature." And yet he didn't apply human nature, and how humans weren't perfect and prone to make mistakes, to himself right now.
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Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2013 5:44 pm
"Well, I certainly don't blame you for wanting to keep that a secret..." Caleb replied, most of his mind concentrated firmly on evening out the back of Alex's head. Little wisps of hair were falling now as the last few corrections were being made. "Perhaps you can just keep talking to him... I'm afraid I just don't know too much about youma but I won't breathe a word of this to anyone." At last, the redhead stood back to admire his handiwork, walking around Alex in a slow and tight circle, scrutinizing every little cut and piece. When Caleb was satisfied, his stern demeanor softened considerably and he spun the blonde in the chair so he could see the full extent of the cut job. "There. How does this look, Alex? Short, but long enough that you could still part it, put things in it or tie it back. If you want to style it, I have some creams you could have. Should be much easier to manage, wouldn't you agree?" Caleb then wrapped an arm around the blonde and gave him a vivacious smile. "And people can still see your cute face!"
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Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2013 6:20 pm
"Thank you, I appreciate it. I'd rather keep it from as many people as possible and have it limited when people do find out." He really wanted to keep it as limited as possible, and hoped it wouldn't get out due to someone finding out and spreading word. He was sure the higher ups would find out, if they didn't somehow already know, but beyond that he wanted it as unknown as possible.
When the other was done and asked his opinion Alexandre opened his eyes, slowly, he wasn't sure what to prepare himself for. He knew he needed, and even wanted, this but he was still hesitant. When he finally landed his eyes on the mirror he stared for some time before reaching up to finger the shorter hair. "It will be easier and I'm not much for products." In fact beyond shampoo and conditioner, both from an organic store, he didn't use anything on his hair. He was blessed with night straight hair, unlike some people who used a hair straightener all the time - one of his cousins.
"I'm not sure I'll be able to tie it back but that's a good thing right now." Still fingers his shorter bangs he pouted at the red head. "I'm not cute." But he was smiling lightly at the other.
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