Who Said Anything About Baby Steps? ((Lock please))

Feeling very full and just a tiny bit tipsy from the euphoria of filling her belly to nearly overflowing, Dana drove to the one place she'd discovered that could do what she wanted done. She wanted her hair cut. She'd let it grow since coming to Nachton, first because she didn't bother, and then because Amir had seemed to like it, and then because she had too much else on her mind to take the time it needed to care for her hair properly.

She has a great deal of hair, but it is thin and fine like a small child's and requires excellent care. The cost of such care didn't bother her, it was finding someone who understood how to work with it that was always a challenge. She'd learned that the finest salons or spas often held someone who was up to the challenge, and at it's current length, the length she'd been turned with, it was indeed an almost insurmountable challenge.

With a small, cat-ate-the-canary grin, she entered the Piazza Spa and asked to have her hair cut. The girl behind the desk took in her appearance, and came to some conclusion, Dana couldn't care less about, then excused herself and disappeared into the spa.

Moments later she returned with a rather taciturn looking man with a brightly colored scarf around his neck. He quirked his highly groomed eyebrow at her, clucked his tongue, and came around the desk. Dana sighed inwardly, as he pulled the soft white ribbon from the end of her braid and ran his fingers down the length of the hair to untwist the interlocking strands.

"Hmm, I can do something with this." She saw his hand flap in an up and down motion out of the corner of her eye as she tried not to giggle at his obviously fake french accent, or perhaps his flamboyance made it seem fake.

"Come, you come with me." She bit her lip at the command and followed behind the man to a row of sinks with chairs before them. "Sit, I will shampoo you myself. You have hair that needs to be handled like it is gold, and so I shall do it myself."

Dana pulled her lips in between her teeth and sat down in the chair, and let the man work his "magic" with her head. Though by the end of the shampoo, she was quite in heaven, and sighed with a touch of sadness when he commanded her to follow him again.

Once she was in his chair, he combed out her nearly waist length hair and sighed softly. "It is almost a shame to cut it, but!" He held his comb aloft, "It is too much hair for your tiny body and you look even smaller with all of this mess. I shall cut it how I think it should be and you will sit there and be quite, oui?"

Laughing inwardly, Dana nodded. "Good. Now, no peeking until Marcel is finished."

With that he spun her about, and pulling the first strands through his fingers he began to hum.

A full hour later, after drying and styling her hair, he finally turned her around.

"Ah, is like magic, no?"

The first genuine smile to cross her face since before that night with the wolves, curled her lips. Her hair bounced against her shoulders in soft cascading waves, framing her small elfin face, and making her eyes brighter and a deeper blue. Her hand came up to touch, but she resisted and returned it to the rest on the chair. Marcel laughed. "Come, come touch, feel, you have amazingly healthy hair and it will not mind the tussle."

She chuckled and ran her fingers through the locks, smiling happily at the fullness and shortness of them. "It is exactly right, Marcel, thank you."

He scoffed at her, "Of course it is right, I did it."

He removed the black drape from around her neck and offered his hand. Once he had hold of her tiny palm, he examined the fingers attached. "Oh, you are indeed a lovely thing, even your nails are perfect. Good for you. Do not let anyone tell you you should not pamper yourself. Such beauty should not be neglected. Do not wait so long to cut your hair next time, oui."

Laughter bubbled from her, a soft tinkling sound, "oui."

He led her back to the front counter, and the slightly astonished girl behind the desk. She and Dana took care of the accounting part of such an encounter, and Dana left him a very healthy tip, she would indeed be back.

Her fingers gently played with the shorter locks of hair as she waited for her car. Smiling she drove off to find another adventure for the evening. She had a small idea in the back of her head and she was about to find out if it was something she could pull off.


((Dana Out))