nexus_crossings | Hey There Slim, Time for a Trim

Hey There Slim, Time for a Trim

Modesty became him, even when he was wearing new and sharp lines in his clothes. High-waisted trousers cinched tight about his waist, pinning a high-necked shirt under a frilled sleeved blouse. It was never too tight or too loose, but rather, a healthy mixture of textures that left him feeling comfortable, even while walking around in a muted pair of flats. The headscarves that hid his head had once been form-fitting against his scalp, but now it bulged out against some hidden force. His hands went up every so often to set something back underneath the floral cloth. He was a man on a mission this day.

The display was for electric razors. Those who knew Mantis would be left to wonder what he would need such things for, given his pokemon and catwing had no need for such things, nor did Mantis ever have more than a closely shaved scalp. Across the way in the store, Yaga and Francour were having a merry little adventure. They concerned themselves with the great multitude of interesting accessories that were meant for the human head. Clips shaped like butterflies and desserts enticed Francour while Yaga had long procured a scrunchie pack for the sake of practicing his hunting skills.

At last, Mantis held up two different razors, still tucked in their boxes. He looked between the wording on the boxes and displays and sighed. Always so complicated. It was needless, really.

“I guess this is what I get for shaving my head for so long. How am I supposed to make a choice when these all look the same?”

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Taylor honestly was starting to get used to 'weird' when it came to the Nexus.

And modesty? Yeah she is one of the least modestly dressed people she knows with her hip hugging fatigues and and the cut up tank under her mesh hoodie. She smiled at the trio looking at something nearby, she needed something to do with the saltwater frizz she'd been getting lately so was looking at scissors to trim up a bit.

"They each help with different things, like that pink box there... Better for legs, that one there, has a bit with it so you don't screw up the beard, and that one, well if you just want to get rid of it all." She pointed to the boxes in turn. "Does that help at all?"

The designation of "weird" was one Mantis was intimately familiar with. You don't cut around in gas masks or a ninja's worth of scarf covering one's face without drawing a few stares in.

Mantis nods quietly at her advice and scoots over just a bit more to the proper ones for clearing the whole head. He crossed his arms and sighs. "I need to take off some hair from my head without cutting it clean to the scalp. Presumably, some of these have the right kind of guard, but I'm never completely sure."

He turns to the woman and tilts his head slightly to one side. "I thought about going to the library to learn more about this kind of thing, but I figured it couldn't be so complicated."

At least she didn't vocalize it. After all not everyone can live in paradise like her dear sweet islands.

She looks at the boxes again. "Hm, how short are you looking to go?" She glanced at him. "It really isn't that hard, you ever use a razor before?"

"Not in a while. I think...twenty years? At least that. I started shaving my head completely, so it's been a long time since I had to be careful about it." It's hard to measure time after a while when you've been among the deceased the way he has. He makes a thoughtful noise and his head tilts the other way. "I'm shaving off half of my hair, but I want to leave some of the fuzz behind. I'd need a razor kit with a good guard for that kind of trim."

She thought a second, and picked out one of the boxes. "This has two bits, one shorter one longer. I'd cut with the longer first, then if you want it shorter you can use the other one.

He nods and sighs. "I used to know these kinds of things. It's been a while since I have caught myself feeling inexperienced." Nonetheless, the rejected razor is put right back to its place. He turns his head and pauses seeing Francour and Yaga making their own little messes. "All right, what do you two want to take home?"

The catwing looks up with his scrunchies in his mouth and meows through his teeth. Francour the meowstic, however, runs right up to the two humans and waves the packets of hair clips.

"My trusted companions, neither of whom can be left alone for this exact reason."

"You know never hurts to ask. Personally there are times it's better to ask when you need help." Now if Tay would only listen to her advice, but ya know, treasure hunters make more working alone even if it's more dangerous.

Taylor giggles at the pair and kneels holding her hand out offering a pet. "They are adorable.". Honestly she had never seen creatures exactly like them, at least not in her world.

"I'm well aware of that. I think you can also understand that's not a strong point of most people." In fact, he might be even worse about it than most. It comes with a life of not trusting others.

Francour offers his hair clips to Mantis, who takes them. This frees up his tiny hands to grab Tay's in a two-handed grip so he can practice his hand shakes. He trills happily at her. Yaga sits next to Francour and watches Tay for signs of mischief.

"Yeah, it's a lesson I'm still learning." She grinned.

Tay gasped in amused shock when Francour grabbed her hand, and laughed a little shaking his hands. "Okay, you just made it to the top three of the cutest things I've seen here in the Nexus. What are their names?". She's not sure if they talk or not.

"The catwing is Yaga. He's a little smarter than the average cat, but perfectly well behaved. The little thing holding your hand," He points to Francour. "Is something called a pokemon. His kind is called meowstic, but he insists his proper name is Francour.

Francour squeezes Tay's hand a little. His telepathic voice is childish and excited, not unlike a preschooler. I talk a little! Mantis teaches me!

"Well hello Yaga, and Francour." She couldn't help but giggle at the childish voice. "You speak wonderfully ʻuʻuku, Little one." She had no problem slipping in the Hawaiian word.

Mantis perks up at the other term she used for Francour. "That's... I heard words like that in Hawai'i, but I know there's a few other languages with that kind of sound."

Francour lets go of her hand to do a little turn. I'm little! I used to be even more little!

"Yeah, I grew up in Hawaii, I know a few other languages of countries around the Pacific Rim. It was the focus of my studies in college. Means Little One, my surf instructor used it before he graduated to Minnow for me."

She grinned at Francour. "I'm sure you were adorable small too." She wasn't freaked out by the whole mental talking yet, which was something in the back of her mind that she should be worried about it. But was taking it as a whole 'Nexxus' thing.

"He is a very little one." He clicks his tongue, and Yaga finally comes over, dropping the scrunchies into his waiting hand. "I flew in there, years ago, in the early nineties. The circumstances could have been better, but I got to eat some of the best fish I ever tasted."

Francour points to Mantis and chirps. He does it too! We both talk!

"Where I'm from, it's called telepathy and it's considered rare for someone to be able to do it at all." In fact, he was a bit of an expert on it.

"Well if you want a return trip, I'd be willing to let you come visit mine. Maybe make up for the last trip. And the fish is still the best." She smiled warmly.

"It's a little weird, I admit, though I can see how it would be a useful skill. A little like how I sometimes can feel and hear things, if one of my ancestors had been in the area." It didn't happen often, though it had gotten her out of a few jams before.

"That's another thing I learned. I was watching news reports as the Soviet Union officially disbanded with a platter of fish in front of me." He matches her smile, in a muted way.

"He's like me. It came to him in his blood and the real trick is learning to control it." Francour runs over to him and does a figure eight of a run around him and Yaga. The catwing raises a paw to bat at Francour as he runs. "There's also a term for your powers, but I can't remember what it's called off the top of my head. It's related to the empathic branch of psychic powers, like some of mine."

"Fish has a funny way of either bringing people together or making them run for the hills." She chuckled. "Or for shallow waters if talking about Haole who don't like sharks." Her hand touches her shark tooth. "But they should stay off the islands anyway."

"It's caused by the tech messing with our minds, only the people who have been in an animus for a long enough time get it." She rubbed the back of her neck. "Though would be interesting to see if it is tied to empathy."

"I don't have any real love for sushi. I suppose that would be fish I'd run from."

His head jerks to look at woman as she brings up technology being responsible for her abilities. "Someone tried doing that where I come from. They used machines and my own DNA to try and give a woman some of my powers. All it did was drive her insane. You're lucky you still have a hold of yourself."

Taylor laughed. "Sushi is good. Though there's this variation I'll pass on, I can handle raw, but if it's still moving on the plate, yeah, no." Well, okay she'd take that back with some things, but octopus or frogs, yeah no.

"There are a few of us, that didn't keep their sanity. I think my luck may have been because I was still so young. First trip in the machine I was only six, they insisted that it was a game. So I grew up along with the side affects. It was my normal. Though also why I was homeschooled mostly."

"I never got that. Especially if it's something like an octopus. You can feel like a shark without eating like one." He even shudders a little at the thought.

"Six years old? You find that type everywhere." He shakes his head. "I was the third child candidate for the project I got forced into, but not the youngest child who had been considered. The lead scientist had the audacity to try and use his own son."

She giggled. "So true!"

"My guardian was the one that forced me into it. And I was the youngest. Most others were in their twenties."

"You're growing out your hair?"

Not that Ben's a particular expert on fashion, coming from someone whose idea of good clothes was "goth" and "slightly less goth", but Mantis is a friend and he's honestly offering. His own hair is a dark mane, and that's not going to change anytime soon. He surveys the scrunchies and clips, not particularly impressed by them. But to each their own.

"I can't help but be curious now. Don't worry, I won't tell a soul. He means it, but Mantis can probably hear the humor behind Ben's speech. He agrees that they do all look the same.

"Have grown out my hair. Why do you think I've spent so many months switching over to wearing headscarves?"

It's not like he was being that subtle, surely. Mantis pats his headscarf of the day, demonstrating the slight way it squishes down under a slight amount of pressure. He'd never explained to Ben quite how his whole appearance looked when taken together.

"It's braided up a little to make it easier to keep under a wrap. I'm planning to shave half of it off to create an old hairstyle I picked up in my early twenties." He paused. "You can't tell a soul. I'll debut my hair to the public when it's ready."

Ben tilts his head slightly, quizzical, as if analyzing Mantis's new look.

He smiles a little. "One of these days I'll mess with my look some. You've seen my blue cape. It was a present from the Life Day party, from an old friend of my family." Lando had a knack for fashion, and Ben's been wearing that cape for a while now, proud of the new look. "You saw the Earth look during the Dawning. That was..."

Ben isn't entirely sure what effect it had. He doesn't really have a great sense of Earth fashion at all, though he thinks he can pull off the fedora nicely.

"You could dye your hair if you're afraid of something too permanent." He lifts the scarf just enough out of the way to reveal a small part of all the fire red hair hidden beneath. "Mine is too light of a color on it's own that I'd want to try and be fancy about it."

He smiles back, in his own secret way. "At least you look good in one. I don't have the right kind of posture and stature to make a cape look good. The closest I got to that level of drama is my trench coat with all the belts."

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Hey There Slim, Time for a Trim

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