2nd Floor Girls' Bathroom, Wednesday Morning

[giveittoyoursister]

Vi had been here long enough that her hair was starting to grow out on her left and shaggy (well, shaggier) on the right, and there was no way she was getting back to sleep after the rough night she'd had. She figured she might as well take advantage of the multiple mirrors in the larger baths and access to actual, sharp scissors to clean things up a little.

So now she was standing angled between two mirrors, passing the scissors from hand to hand as she tried to trim her hair into submission. It still wasn't going to be as close and neat as Vander had always got it, but it sure beat trying to do it entirely by touch with a rapidly blunting shiv.

[Open girls' bathroom is open.]

Comments

[gospel_of_oblivion]

Illyana had been coming in for a shower before heading off to do whatever chaos she was going to get up to today, but paused as she saw Vi attempting to... whatever that was supposed to be doing.

"If you are trying to cut your hair, I will take you to New York for an actual haircut when I am done washing my hair," she said, balancing her shower caddy on her hip. "If you are doing some sort of punk statement, carry on."

[giveittoyoursister]

In Vi's experience a punk statement was that extremely short part of a long talk with the guards that involved actual words.

She ran her fingers through the left side to brush off loose trimming and trying to figure out how short she'd gotten it. "And what'll that cost me?" she asked. Not aggressively, like she would with some people, she just wanted to know what she was getting herself into.

[gospel_of_oblivion]

"You have to keep me company while I stand in line at the good deli for pastrami sandwiches while we are there. It will keep gross men passing on the street from bothering me. Hopefully." As far as Illyana was concerned, she was getting the better end of the deal. "They seem to think the fact I am small and blonde means I am an easy target, and I am not allowed to get in anymore fights this month."

Yes, it was only the ninth. Illyana had been home over the weekend.

"My dads have not said YOU are not allowed to get in any more fights."

Loopholes!

[giveittoyoursister]

Vi hadn't been tense, exactly, but she relaxed fractionally. "Be unfair if they did, since I haven't even been in any since I got here." Which was its own kind of new and vaguely stressful, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Am I getting sandwiches as well?"

It was good to be clear on these things.

[gospel_of_oblivion]

Nothing was free. Ever. Illyana liked to be upfront about her deals, since it could be construed, vaguely, as making a deal with a demon. And some people got twitchy about that sort of thing.

"Two sandwiches and the haircut," she agreed. "...because I have to portal in to the house, to make sure no one sees me. Random people on the street get twitchy about powers at home. And that means we run the risk of getting fussed at by Wong or Steven because neither of them thinks I have the social skills to make friends."

[giveittoyoursister]

Vi had learned far too young that you didn't need to be a demon to stiff someone in a deal. "Sounds fair."

"No offence, but I think your dads might be kind of dumb." Sure she only had two points of evidence, but they were strong ones. "Some people haven't made any new friends in years."

Admittedly, that was due less to a lack of social skills than Stillwater not being a place where anyone made friends worth the name.

[gospel_of_oblivion]

"They worry because they are two adult men who had a maladjusted demon teenager dropped in their laps, and they want me to be happy," she said with a shrug, heading towards the showers. "Also, they are nerds who don't know how to People either, and want me to have better 'social skills' than they do."

To be fair, Wong had great people skills. Steven? Did NOT.

"Give me twenty, and we can head out."

[giveittoyoursister]

"Most parents do," Vi said wistfully. "Want better for their kids."

Rather than go down that path, she busied herself brushing up all the hair-clippings she'd left over on the sinks.