Adia Costas (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
chiron_survivor) wrote2019-01-04 09:10 pm
chiron_survivor) wrote2019-01-04 09:10 pm
A special visitor. ((for rogueinladysclothing))
On the day that Amelia is supposed to visit, Adia spends more time than usual cleaning up the cabin, outpacing even Caspar as she bustles about their tiny home to make sure everything is in its proper place. This is the first time she's having a Nexus friend see where she lives, and she wants it to look its best.
Caspar sweeps the floor methodically. Even a little sluggishly. He's been quieter than usual since the New Year began. Maybe it's because he hasn't a good glass of wine since the Solstice; Seth's attempt at sparkling apple cider didn't go much better than his previous attempts at brandy.
Or maybe it's something else. She's been giving him the chance to tell her in his own time. Regardless, she hopes Amelia's visit will improve his mood.
The coordinates she sends Amelia are not for the inside of the cabin, even though that would be the most cautious. Instead, they teleport her to the garden behind it. It's dormant now, the perennials resting until it's their turn to blossom once more, but there is plenty of evergreen forest further in the distance to give the landscape some color. From this spot, Amelia will get a lovely view of her friends' cabin, made of wood but surprisingly modern in its design, with a slanted roof and a large, open-air patio attached.
"Hi, Amelia," Adia greets her when she arrives. "Welcome to Atlantis."
Caspar sweeps the floor methodically. Even a little sluggishly. He's been quieter than usual since the New Year began. Maybe it's because he hasn't a good glass of wine since the Solstice; Seth's attempt at sparkling apple cider didn't go much better than his previous attempts at brandy.
Or maybe it's something else. She's been giving him the chance to tell her in his own time. Regardless, she hopes Amelia's visit will improve his mood.
The coordinates she sends Amelia are not for the inside of the cabin, even though that would be the most cautious. Instead, they teleport her to the garden behind it. It's dormant now, the perennials resting until it's their turn to blossom once more, but there is plenty of evergreen forest further in the distance to give the landscape some color. From this spot, Amelia will get a lovely view of her friends' cabin, made of wood but surprisingly modern in its design, with a slanted roof and a large, open-air patio attached.
"Hi, Amelia," Adia greets her when she arrives. "Welcome to Atlantis."
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A braid crown sounds amazing, although Adia is thinking less about fashion and more about how nice it feels to have Caspar doing her hair. This is a skill she really ought to pick up for herself, though. "I'll go first again. I need the practice."
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What follows over the next several minutes is a detailed demonstration of how to begin a french braid. Amelia begins the braid several times over to go over various details, her tone and temperament patient through all of the questions and restarts. She reminds both her students to keep the hair pulled tight as they weave the hair, but makes special note of places where it shouldn't be pulled as tight to avoid issues further into the braid.
In the end, the rogue pulls her braid gracefully over her left shoulder, tying it off with her ribbon before turning her full attention back to her friends. "I know this one is much more complicated, but how do you feel about giving it a try? I can demonstrate again first if that would help."
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But this lesson, she absorbs like a sponge. Maybe it's because of her practice with knitting, but she picks up on how the hair is added to the braid right away. She still has questions now and then, but mostly she simply sits and observes.
"No, I think I'm ready to give it a try." She starts to section out her hair, then catches Caspar's disappointed look in the corner of her eyes. "Don't worry, you'll get a turn," she says, smiling at him sweetly.
He blushes a little. Is he that transparent? "Or I could go first," he replies, half-serious.
"No, I need the practice more," she teases. As tempting as it is to have Caspar's hands in her hair again, she needs to concentrate while Amelia's lesson is fresh in her mind. She starts her braiding -- a little loose in spots, but not too bad, overall. "How do I finish the end off? Can I tuck it in somehow?"
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The end of the braid is a challenge Amelia hadn't anticipated, though. With her own hair as long as it is, there's never a chance for her finish off a braid in the way Adia's looking for now. "You can weave the end back into the hair you have pulled tight at the bottom. If it doesn't stay well, you can also use a small pin to keep it in place." A beat, and Amelia digs around in her pockets for a moment before producing a small plastic case with a few bobby pins in it. She offers it to Adia with a smile after popping it open. "I have more at my apartment, so if you don't have any, you can have these." They're not quite the right color for Adia's hair, but they'll do the job they're meant to.
As Adia finishes with her hair, Amelia turns a playful look up at Caspar. "You'll probably need a few of those with various braid crowns. A well weaved ribbon can also be used in some cases, but it's very style dependent. I'll have to teach a few so you have options even when you don't have all of these supplies with you." Why, is the rogue appealing to Caspar's need to make his girl feel pretty? The likely answer is yes.
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Here, she is not having such an easy time of it, and Caspar can't help but chuckle a little. "Need some help?" he offers, before gently guiding her hand holding the pin to where it ought to be. A quick slide into her hair, and the braid stays put. "You could probably use a couple more, but I'd like my turn first, please."
Adia laughs. "All right." She lets Caspar patiently work out the braid. She keeps the thought to herself, but feeling him undo the braid is just as pleasant as him weaving it together. "I used to have some hairpins, but I managed to lose them all. If you don't mind sparing these, Amelia, I'd appreciate it."
"Options are always nice," Caspar replies absently as he gently brushes out Adia's hair before starting his own attempt at a braid crown. Just like last time, it's nearly flawless. He's already adding pretty hairpins and ribbons to his list of things to get Adia, when he's shopping in the Nexus again.
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"Of course you can keep them," she confirms, not quite able to meet her friend's gaze as she says it. "They're easy to come by in the Nexus and I rarely find a use for them. I'd rather you have them than take them back to set them in a drawer where they'll only gather dust." A truth, at least, though it's offered purely to keep her mind occupied and away from those thoughts that always seem to drown her in sorrow.
As she finishes loosening the last few strands from her braid, she fully looks up to check over Caspar's work. Whether it's because of his Cylon nature or something else entirely, Amelia can't help but be impressed by his braiding skills. He could make a large sum of money every day with hands as fast and practiced as the ones he has.
"I don't know if I have anything I could teach Caspar at this point," she teases gently. "I show him something once and he jumps ahead of it without any need for my help. At this rate, he'll be finding new styles and teaching me." Maybe not, but it's hard to tell. Caspar has progressed so quickly that Amelia is honestly astounded by everything's he's accomplished. It feels more and more unlikely that she'll have anything she can offer even as advice to him by the end of the night if he keeps up at this pace.
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He finishes off the braid and skillfully secures the end of it with a couple of bobby pins, then looks up to meet Amelia's approving gaze. He doesn't have to ask how he did, and there is a hint of pride in his expression. Yes, he knows he's good at this. But there is no way he'd ever do this professionally, not for all the money in the world. Touching people's hair? Human hair that has god-knows-what kind of product in it, or worse, unwashed? Ugh, no thanks.
"I'm going to see what it looks like," Adia says excitedly, before hopping out of her seat and going into the bathroom. This is a miracle in and of itself, as she is not one to voluntarily seek out a mirror, but she had no idea Caspar was so good at hair-braiding and she wants to see what the fuss is all about.
Caspar watches her -- from his seat, he can see enough into the bathroom to observe her checking out her reflection, turning her head this way and that and admiring the braid crown on her head. "I'm only good at it because I can see what you're doing," he tells Amelia plainly. "I won't be able to make my own styles, I'm not creative enough for that."
The advantage and disadvantage of his Cylon nature, summed up in two sentences.
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Watching Adia make a dash for the bathroom makes Amelia smile, but not so much as that fond look on Caspar's face. It's sweet to see him so enraptured by her, even as it also tugs at her heart in a way she doesn't like. "There's plenty of videos available to teach you new styles when I'm not around," she counters. "I don't have any saved that I could show you on my phone right now, but they're very easy to find. The library also has a large section of books on hairstyles from time periods across many different worlds if you'd prefer those."
She's found a lot of random things in the library during her hours of searching for new books for research. If Caspar is surprised then Adia clearly hasn't told him how often they meet up in the library or the number of times she's run into the rogue with a new set of books in her arms.
"No matter how you choose to find new styles, I think you'll find your partner always willing to let you try them out." She winks at Caspar to confirm her teasing, then looks up as Adia return to the table. "So, what do you think of this particular style? I might be out of a job at this rate if you like Caspar's version better than mine," she teases.
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Sure enough, when Adia returns to the kitchen table, a pleased smile on her face, she replies easily, "Oh, it's very nice. I can see why women keep their hair like this even when they're working. But it's the same as yours, Amelia. He wouldn't have known what to do without your help."
Caspar waves his hand at Adia. See? She gets it.
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"I'll have to keep showing him all the best styles, then," she jokes with another laugh. "I'll have to spend some time brushing up on all the styles my mother taught me. It's been so long since I've had anyone to use them on and I'm not certain I can do a few of them on myself. The more complicated crowns and braids are difficult to do without being able to see everything I'm doing."
Guess that means she'll have to come over again or have the two of them over to her new place, not that anyone will likely mind. Amelia smiles at the thought and then motions to Adia with a hand.
"Did you want to learn any others tonight? I have a few more that would be fairly easy to teach you since you picked up the last braid so quickly." A beat and she gives a small shrug of her shoulders. "If not, I have some more research to do so I have new material for the next time we meet for braiding practice."
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"I think braids like this one are about my speed," she says, scratching Anastasia behind the ears. "But if you can stay to show us a few more, that'd be great."
"Yeah, I think my brain can handle it," Caspar quips, still with that vague smile of amusement. Though he keeps his tone casual, he's genuinely glad to have Amelia visiting. These braiding lessons have taken his mind off his problems, and if he can put off thinking about them for a while longer, he'll take the opportunity.
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The next few hours pass quickly as the rogue does her best to teach her friends a handful of other braid styles that work well for Adia's shorter hair. At least one doesn't work out at all for the microbiologist, but it's easy to laugh off a single poor suggestion from Amelia when they successfully manage another half dozen. They can't all be winners, as Amelia's heard others say.
By the time it's home for Amelia to return to the Nexus, the sky has grown dark and the rogue is eager to take a break from the braiding practice. She thanks her friends for generously opening their home to her and promises to read up on more braid styles for when next they meet. Then, after a nod to Caspar and a tight hug for Adia, Amelia heads back to her apartment to rest and bask in how wonderful it was to finally visit the world that has become her friends' new home.