[There's that hint of laughter in her tone again, but she'd like to think it's warm rather than mocking. She gives his hair one last bit of smoothing down, and then she sets to cutting. Quite a bit of cutting. She bought normal-sized hair-trimming scissors, and doing this in small snips seems like the way that will result in the least snurble-like unevenness.]
You... really?
[For all that she sounds perplexed and alarmed, the cutting doesn't stop.]
So you're not just looking fishlike but... oh.
[There really is a lot of cutting to do.]
If you had a very nice bathtub here, I suppose that wouldn't be so bad... it would be expensive, though, wouldn't it?
[So, so much cutting.]
...will you be alright? I mean, if you don't? If you're... you're feeling the need to do it, maybe you need to do it to be well?
[ To be frank, it had been very laughable. He is certain that somewhere some deity had been chuckling at him as he stood in front of the window, using the meager reflection to paw at fulms and fulms of hair, getting it everywhere, shoving it with hands and the heel of his boot.
This is much better.
Relaxing. Easier. Not quick, because there is so much, but there is definite value in asking for help. ]
My bathtub is plain.
And too small. [ There is a lot of Elezen to fit into a normal-sized tub. ]
I think I will be well, so long as I do not grow a tail again.
[ He doesn't move his head, but he does tap his thigh. ]
When last affected by the moon, I was almost more fish than man.
Ah. Mine's not very big, either. So I can imagine...
[Though the luxury of her own little bathtub, with plumbing and hot water flowing to it and a switch to turn it into a shower was something that she was still enjoying. But Estinien is an outsized person with outsized problems. Ones that she's going to have to think on to try and solve, she resolves there and then.]
A tail?
[One last snip finishes it, and in her surprise at the whole matter of the tail she almost drops the severed ponytail. A moment of fumbling and she catches it, and then is quick to set it aside.]
I'm going to need to check in on you next moon, aren't I? Just in case that happens again!
[ Ah, his head is abruptly much lighter. That much hair can weigh a great deal when not in the water; in the pool, it only flows, seeming to weigh nothing at all, but when out...
He moves his head back and forth, feeling a satisfying pop deep in his neck. ]
Yes. A fish tail.
I will be confined to a large body of water if afflicted with that change.
[While he shakes his hair out, she's fetching a comb and some clips. The worst of it is gone, but she's not done yet. But before she can start fussing at his hair or musing aloud about the possible location of the nearest large body of water, he is giving her a look.]
Of course.
[He gets a look in return, one of raised eyebrows and mild disapproval. It's brief, before she reaches in to start combing out and pinning up a few sections of his remaining hair. As far as she's concerned, he is now her affair to see to.]
I'll just be sure to stop by a little earlier, when the moon starts to turn...
[She trails off, her focus now on somehow evening out his hair so it hangs a bit more pleasantly.]
[ Estinien returns to sitting properly, his eyes forward and his shoulders still, listening to the quiet sounds of the scissors working so close against his skull.
He does not recall his own Warrior of Light...but his vague memories tell him such a look as she gave him was one that he would also receive from they. He ponders again the possibility that the shadow in his recollections might be she, for he has yet to meet another here that would take the title. Could it be...?
Maybe.
They may never know. ]
I have other urges during the height of the moon, especially in the waxing and full hours.
[Dakki doesn't sound particularly surprised by this. She was out on the street when all three moons were full, and had seen many examples of the effects firsthand. Or, at least, what she is presuming to be the effect that Estinien is most concerned about. She continues to snip away, her only hesitation due to the occasional moment of second-guessing her hair cutting skills.]
Violent ones? Why do you think I'd be worried about that?
[....did she cut that bit too short? Oh well, it'll be covered up by the rest of his hair... she's just going to unclip that and reclip that and adjust another attempt at a layer...]
I'm very good at conjury.
[And also, the Warrior of Light, but this seems like a moment that requires some additional specifics. Conjury heals, and summons earth and wind and water, and can also subdue... and she's quite confident she could subdue him if needed.]
[ He surely will not notice any mistakes; he cannot look at the back of his head and moreover, by tomorrow his hair will have grown again and filled in any gaps. And deeply annoyed him, to boot. ]
I feel some violent urges, but only briefly.
The sexual ones are much stronger.
[ A more delicate man might have put that a different way or introduced a more polite metaphor to get his point across. Estinien is not a delicate man. ]
I was unable to control myself when three moons were in the sky.
[ From the tightness in his tone, the memory of losing all sense is not a pleasant one, for all that the experience it heralded had not been...the worst. Far from it.
But the lack of control sticks in his throat like bile. ]
[Those blunt words are enough to briefly still her hands. His point, it has definitely been made. Here she had already resolved for herself that Estinien would never, or at least, would desperately avoid such a thing here if he could, and now...
...there are things left unsaid about how he spent that evening. And she is not sure that she wishes to pry into that. Carefully, no small amount avoidantly, she resumes cutting.]
You... weren't harmed, were you? And no one else was...?
[Dakki would like to consider herself a straightforward person, but she cannot bring herself to be any more blunt than that. The idea of having to subdue a violent Estinien, that was not so bad. Not all that unfamiliar a task. But to ponder him at his most aggressive, gripped by some sort of unshakable lust that he has turned towards her...
No. No, put that out of mind. That is too much to think on. She has a task to finish. She gives a quick breath in, then lets it out slowly, as though trying to expel the anxiety and discomfort and vague flush of heat that the concept had brought.]
[ A great irony, that. A wound would have given him something more comprehensible than the remainders of want and wanting; they drift in and out of his memory and his dreams, teasing him, and there are times when he does not know if it is the moon's doing or his own undiscovered nature. ]
Nor were they.
[ Implying he found a partner during that time. ] But I do not know what will happen the next time, how strong the drive will be or what position I will be in during that time.
[ His tone turns wry. ]
At my most bestial, I seem cursed to always possess the fish tail.
It at least restrains me. [ One can't go roving about the city like an animal when confined to a body of water. ]
[He wasn't harmed. No one else was. And although she is boggling at just who this someone else might possibly be, she can only boggle so much. The strangest visual image is trying and failing to form in her head. So there's him, and someone else, but he's a fish on the bottom, and...
No, she's not going to ask for details. Details will not improve this. She is quite nearly done cutting his hair, and that's what needs to matter right now.]
If that's the case, then, I can just check in, drop you in the bathtub, and leave you?
[There, a joke! Something to make light of the strange and dark situation. Another snip here, a few more there.... and then she pulls the clips from Estinien's hair and sets them aside. A moment later, she's working her fingers gently through his hair to shake it loose and let it settle naturally. Which seems to be what he usually does with it.]
He tries to imagine being trapped and just as desperate as he had been when Cehd'ra had found him. Would the need grow as the bells passed? Would he lose all sense? It might be wise to merely...satisfy the drive and be done with it. The alternative was a loss of control even he could not fathom.
Tellingly, he doesn't actually respond to her joke. ...he may also be slightly humorous as a person.
However, her fingers draw his attention - gooseflesh rises on his neck - and he gives a small shake of his head. ]
[He didn't dismiss the idea. That means it remains one of the possible plans for dealing with a angry, fishy Estinien come a bad turn of the moons. Though the other plans are 'cast Sleep on him and then jump out the window' and 'allow him to subject you to his urges' and... so really, the first plan seems like the best one.]
It's not too bad, I think.
[With that said, she watches him go... but also watches him from the corner of her eye for any reaction to how his hair looks. She'll put away her equipment and then go looking for a broom, but all the while she's keeping an ear and an eye on him.
It's definitely shorter. A little shorter than he normally keeps it, and the cut is fairly blunt in places, but it's mostly even. It would look fine enough tied back, surely.]
I don't doubt it is far better than what I attempted before.
[ And he finds, once he moves to the only mirror in his apartment, that his assumption is correct: he looks much, much better than he did earlier. She replicated his usual hairstyle to a decent degree and now he can turn his head and stand much more easily than before.
He brushes his shirt off one last time, then returns. ]
I'm satisfied.
Thank you, Dakki.
[ Estinien isn't a man that often thanks, but credit where credit is due. ]
[He'll return to find that she has almost finished sweeping the floor. She looks up from her task expectantly, eager to hear his thoughts... and oh. He's grateful. It was good!]
You're very welcome!
[Her face just lights up. He's happy! She's done her job well! There are few things more gratifying than that.]
You look very good!
[Because... he does. Much more himself, even if he's still a little scaley and such. In her delight, she can't quite keep herself from saying as much.]
[He absolutely should take her word for it. His looks are very good, especially when you can see more of them than just his mouth and chin.
Dakki is a little surprised at his continued insistence on compensating her for all of this. Is there something that she wants? Not really, nothing material. Just his friendship is reward enough, just his ongoing presence in her life here... and she can't very well say that out loud, can she? It sounds ridiculous and needy.]
I'm fine! But if you're insisting... treat me to another one of those fizzy drinks, sometime?
[There. That's small, and reasonable, and also those drinks were very nice. She'd like to try some other flavors.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
[There's that hint of laughter in her tone again, but she'd like to think it's warm rather than mocking. She gives his hair one last bit of smoothing down, and then she sets to cutting. Quite a bit of cutting. She bought normal-sized hair-trimming scissors, and doing this in small snips seems like the way that will result in the least snurble-like unevenness.]
You... really?
[For all that she sounds perplexed and alarmed, the cutting doesn't stop.]
So you're not just looking fishlike but... oh.
[There really is a lot of cutting to do.]
If you had a very nice bathtub here, I suppose that wouldn't be so bad... it would be expensive, though, wouldn't it?
[So, so much cutting.]
...will you be alright? I mean, if you don't? If you're... you're feeling the need to do it, maybe you need to do it to be well?
no subject
This is much better.
Relaxing. Easier. Not quick, because there is so much, but there is definite value in asking for help. ]
My bathtub is plain.
And too small. [ There is a lot of Elezen to fit into a normal-sized tub. ]
I think I will be well, so long as I do not grow a tail again.
[ He doesn't move his head, but he does tap his thigh. ]
When last affected by the moon, I was almost more fish than man.
no subject
[Though the luxury of her own little bathtub, with plumbing and hot water flowing to it and a switch to turn it into a shower was something that she was still enjoying. But Estinien is an outsized person with outsized problems. Ones that she's going to have to think on to try and solve, she resolves there and then.]
A tail?
[One last snip finishes it, and in her surprise at the whole matter of the tail she almost drops the severed ponytail. A moment of fumbling and she catches it, and then is quick to set it aside.]
I'm going to need to check in on you next moon, aren't I? Just in case that happens again!
no subject
He moves his head back and forth, feeling a satisfying pop deep in his neck. ]
Yes. A fish tail.
I will be confined to a large body of water if afflicted with that change.
[ He turns his head enough to meet her eye. ]
I can see to my own affairs.
[ Someone might have to check on him, yes. ]
no subject
Of course.
[He gets a look in return, one of raised eyebrows and mild disapproval. It's brief, before she reaches in to start combing out and pinning up a few sections of his remaining hair. As far as she's concerned, he is now her affair to see to.]
I'll just be sure to stop by a little earlier, when the moon starts to turn...
[She trails off, her focus now on somehow evening out his hair so it hangs a bit more pleasantly.]
no subject
He does not recall his own Warrior of Light...but his vague memories tell him such a look as she gave him was one that he would also receive from they. He ponders again the possibility that the shadow in his recollections might be she, for he has yet to meet another here that would take the title. Could it be...?
Maybe.
They may never know. ]
I have other urges during the height of the moon, especially in the waxing and full hours.
I would not subject you to them.
no subject
[Dakki doesn't sound particularly surprised by this. She was out on the street when all three moons were full, and had seen many examples of the effects firsthand. Or, at least, what she is presuming to be the effect that Estinien is most concerned about. She continues to snip away, her only hesitation due to the occasional moment of second-guessing her hair cutting skills.]
Violent ones? Why do you think I'd be worried about that?
[....did she cut that bit too short? Oh well, it'll be covered up by the rest of his hair... she's just going to unclip that and reclip that and adjust another attempt at a layer...]
I'm very good at conjury.
[And also, the Warrior of Light, but this seems like a moment that requires some additional specifics. Conjury heals, and summons earth and wind and water, and can also subdue... and she's quite confident she could subdue him if needed.]
no subject
I feel some violent urges, but only briefly.
The sexual ones are much stronger.
[ A more delicate man might have put that a different way or introduced a more polite metaphor to get his point across. Estinien is not a delicate man. ]
I was unable to control myself when three moons were in the sky.
[ From the tightness in his tone, the memory of losing all sense is not a pleasant one, for all that the experience it heralded had not been...the worst. Far from it.
But the lack of control sticks in his throat like bile. ]
no subject
...there are things left unsaid about how he spent that evening. And she is not sure that she wishes to pry into that. Carefully, no small amount avoidantly, she resumes cutting.]
You... weren't harmed, were you? And no one else was...?
[Dakki would like to consider herself a straightforward person, but she cannot bring herself to be any more blunt than that. The idea of having to subdue a violent Estinien, that was not so bad. Not all that unfamiliar a task. But to ponder him at his most aggressive, gripped by some sort of unshakable lust that he has turned towards her...
No. No, put that out of mind. That is too much to think on. She has a task to finish. She gives a quick breath in, then lets it out slowly, as though trying to expel the anxiety and discomfort and vague flush of heat that the concept had brought.]
no subject
[ A great irony, that. A wound would have given him something more comprehensible than the remainders of want and wanting; they drift in and out of his memory and his dreams, teasing him, and there are times when he does not know if it is the moon's doing or his own undiscovered nature. ]
Nor were they.
[ Implying he found a partner during that time. ] But I do not know what will happen the next time, how strong the drive will be or what position I will be in during that time.
[ His tone turns wry. ]
At my most bestial, I seem cursed to always possess the fish tail.
It at least restrains me. [ One can't go roving about the city like an animal when confined to a body of water. ]
no subject
[He wasn't harmed. No one else was. And although she is boggling at just who this someone else might possibly be, she can only boggle so much. The strangest visual image is trying and failing to form in her head. So there's him, and someone else, but he's a fish on the bottom, and...
No, she's not going to ask for details. Details will not improve this. She is quite nearly done cutting his hair, and that's what needs to matter right now.]
If that's the case, then, I can just check in, drop you in the bathtub, and leave you?
[There, a joke! Something to make light of the strange and dark situation.
Another snip here, a few more there.... and then she pulls the clips from Estinien's hair and sets them aside. A moment later, she's working her fingers gently through his hair to shake it loose and let it settle naturally. Which seems to be what he usually does with it.]
And... I think that's it. I can get a mirror...?
no subject
He tries to imagine being trapped and just as desperate as he had been when Cehd'ra had found him. Would the need grow as the bells passed? Would he lose all sense? It might be wise to merely...satisfy the drive and be done with it. The alternative was a loss of control even he could not fathom.
Tellingly, he doesn't actually respond to her joke. ...he may also be slightly humorous as a person.
However, her fingers draw his attention - gooseflesh rises on his neck - and he gives a small shake of his head. ]
The only mirror I have is in the bathroom.
I will check.
[ And so he stands, brushing off his shoulders. ]
no subject
It's not too bad, I think.
[With that said, she watches him go... but also watches him from the corner of her eye for any reaction to how his hair looks. She'll put away her equipment and then go looking for a broom, but all the while she's keeping an ear and an eye on him.
It's definitely shorter. A little shorter than he normally keeps it, and the cut is fairly blunt in places, but it's mostly even. It would look fine enough tied back, surely.]
no subject
[ And he finds, once he moves to the only mirror in his apartment, that his assumption is correct: he looks much, much better than he did earlier. She replicated his usual hairstyle to a decent degree and now he can turn his head and stand much more easily than before.
He brushes his shirt off one last time, then returns. ]
I'm satisfied.
Thank you, Dakki.
[ Estinien isn't a man that often thanks, but credit where credit is due. ]
those sparkles tho
You're very welcome!
[Her face just lights up. He's happy! She's done her job well! There are few things more gratifying than that.]
You look very good!
[Because... he does. Much more himself, even if he's still a little scaley and such. In her delight, she can't quite keep herself from saying as much.]
we otome game now
He has never been terribly mindful of how good he looks; he will take her word for it. ]
I know you did not ask for it, but I'm willing to provide compensation for your efforts on my behalf.
Is there anything you want?
oh no how did we get on this route
Dakki is a little surprised at his continued insistence on compensating her for all of this. Is there something that she wants? Not really, nothing material. Just his friendship is reward enough, just his ongoing presence in her life here... and she can't very well say that out loud, can she? It sounds ridiculous and needy.]
I'm fine! But if you're insisting... treat me to another one of those fizzy drinks, sometime?
[There. That's small, and reasonable, and also those drinks were very nice. She'd like to try some other flavors.]
it's because dakki's cute :3c
like Batmanprevents him from being blinded by ash and smoke and dragonfire.He gives a short nod. ]
Very well.
Another round of drinks, at a time of your choosing.
[ It is not as though their lives here are particularly busy. ]
Shall we fade out?
Sometime after the moons aren't full, maybe?
[Because it will be easier for both of them to enjoy the experience if they're not scaley and feathery
and thirsty.With her proposal made, she bends over to finish sweeping up the last of the clipped hair. Now, where to throw this out...?]