Gonna Make You Popular

"Uh-huh." Said Jiao, as she really dug in to get some dirt out of Peter's nail, swapping to the other end of her tool to push back his cuticles. "I suppose I can see why you don't get the time, but you should really try. Why murder if you can't look nice while you do it?"

She listened to his shaky, hesitant voice describe his scars, only a faint sheen of guilt covering her heart. "The...inside roof." She repeated with a confused expression, letting go of his hands and standing before him, taking a couple of steps back. "Weeell. I think we'll start off properly doing stuff with your hair. What if we shaved it at the sides? That could look cool."

Jiao dug about in her bag, bringing out a blade razor and a few different pairs of scissors with different blades. "Or do you have any ideas?"

Jiao

Better do as I please, until I tell you to stop
When I rule the world, then you're the little girl

”The... when I get told to do things, no one... cares how I look. Just that it’s done.” If anything, they wanted him to look exactly how he did. Grim, capable, dangerous. His hand twitched as Jiao pushed at his cuticles, not that Peter could feel much more than the pressure, but that was enough to make him want to pull his hand away all the more. Annoyance crossed Peters face at her confusion, almost enough to distract from the embarrassed colour brightening his cheeks and ears. ”Yes. The... the cieling!” The word burst out of him, louder than he meant, though Peter couldn’t be embarrassed about that as well. He was just happy he’d remembered. Now that his hands weren’t being worked on, Peter reached up, running fingers through the messy curls on top of his head. It would be a lie to say he’d ever put any thought into his hair. He tied it back when it was long enough for it, then cut it short with a knife once it grew past that. ”I’ve never...” He began, then paused, considering. ”M-maybe shaved?” He was wary of the scissors and razors in her hands, and warier still of giving her even an inch of support, but.... well, it did sound kind of cool. ”I want... I like, um... some, uh, hair?” Peter The only thing I know is this: I am full of wounds and still standing on my feet.

"Mmmm...is it that they don't care, or that they don't want to tell you how you look?" Jiao asked, twirling a curl of Pet's hair around her finger. Her expression implied she was trying to gently tell him something that was clearly a hard truth.

His correction of The Ceiling! made her giggle, lifting her hand up to her mouth. "Well hey! You can't expect me to know that when you say something as silly as 'inside ceiling'!" Jiao insisted, lightly tapping his shoulder. "You should say what you mean next time."

Peter seemed hesitant but willing to have his hair cut, so Jiao moved behind him and began before he could think to object. "So I'll start off slow, and you can tell me to stop, then. But you'd look so good with the sides all cool and shaved. Then the top fluffy! Your hair kind of reminds me of a sheep." She chattered on as she began to take chunks of Pet's hair in her fingers and snipped it with the scissors, black curls tumbling down to the grass beneath them as she brought the hair at his sides to a length short enough to shave.

"So tell me about what it's like back in your place." She asked as she worked. "Do you like it there? Or is it better here?"

Jiao

Better do as I please, until I tell you to stop
When I rule the world, then you're the little girl

Peter frowned, his eyes narrowing at her words as her expression, and then narrowing again as she teased him. He ignored the first part, not sure how to make his point more clearly, but the second point he knew how to argue. “I did say what I meant.” Peter pointed out fiercely. ”You just didn’t know what it was without the right word.” It was an outburst he normally wouldn’t make, but he was at his wits end, and needed to cling to some line. The comparison to a sheep actually managed to crack the sour mask on his face, his lips curling upwards at the words. It brought to mind a feeling of contentment, and a quiet comfort, things he hadn’t had before coming here. The snip of scissors so close to him made him shiver, but not pull away. He had a feeling Jiao would simply do what she wanted in regards to this anyway. Perhaps it was the leftover fuzzy feeling from the sheep comment, perhaps he had simply been worn  down enough to not argue anymore, but Peternfound himself actually considering her question. ”I... I like it better here. There’s lots of green, and it... it rains.” There were other things too, but just because he wasnt fighting Jiao didn’t mean Peter was going to share everything either. ”Where I come from is... it’s b-b... it’s not good. There’s dust, and people... people get sick, and there’s the police. And the li-li-little glowy... glowy big cloud, uh... swarm! The glowy swarms.” Really, he was just describing his own personal least favours things, but it worked well enough as a rather simple laundry list of the shortcomings of his world. ”People weren’t nice, or... or anything there.” Peter The only thing I know is this: I am full of wounds and still standing on my feet.

"Mhm. Okay." Jiao nodded, the smile on her face and barely contained laugh making it clear she was still teasing. Still, she knew when to hold back for the most part, when Peter seemed so fragile. As if he had never just chatted with someone.

Upon seeing him smile she gasped and pressed a hand to her cheek, leaned around him. "You have a very pretty smile!" Fae could only tell the truth and so she did actually mean this. It was...an odd smile, but not a bad one. Somehow the odd features on Pet's face came out sunshiney and nice between the scars when he actually stopped frowning.

She continued to snip away at his hair and shave, humming a little song as she listened to his answer. "Wow, sounds awful. Why was it so bad?" A lot of what he'd said didn't really make sense, but Jiao got the implication that it was not a place she'd want to visit.

Jiao

Better do as I please, until I tell you to stop
When I rule the world, then you're the little girl

Jiao’s reaction immediately scared the smile from Peters face, his cheeks and ears flushing a hot red, his eyes as far away from her as he could manage. The words hasn’t felt like a lie, but the only other conclusion was so strange that Peter wasn’t sure how to deal with it. His embarrassment didn’t seem to affect the haircut, Jiao still skipping away and Peter settling back into a topic that was familiar. ”It’s bad because of Fink.” He said simply, as if that would add any sense to the rest of what he’d said. Sucking in a deep breath, Peter continued, eyes darting about like he was looking for eavesdroppers. ”He runs... ran? Runs the city. He makes the glow... the glow swarms. And all the... the other bad things.” Scarred hands came up, signalling for Jiao to stop so he could turn and speak directly to her, his voices hushed. ”I think... the people who fight him, they... they aren’t good either.” Peter slid back into his initial position, feeling strangely rebellious after sharing his secret, but still far happier to not be talking. As strange as Jiao was, it was easier when she spoke, preferably about her own business. ”Is there a... um, a city in the woods?” Hopefully it would be enough of a lead that she could ramble on with it, and he could sit back and listen. Peter The only thing I know is this: I am full of wounds and still standing on my feet.

"Fink." Jiao repeated, giggling a little at the sound of the name, which she thought sounded almost cute; certainly not like an evil mastermind who ruined a world. She stopped when Peter turned to her and nodded, though didn't really understand why what he said was so important. It had little to do with her after all, this practically fictional war on another world.

She kept clipping at his hair, leaning towards the front of his head to shape it better around his face. His question gave her pause; she wasn't sure how much to say.

"...No." And it was true: There was a village in the woods. "The Fae live in the woods, but that's all I'll tell you. We...Or at least, a lot of people value their privacy. You seem like a quiet person, so you probably get it, right?" She layered his hair on top with some downwards snips and tipped his head this way and that with her hands, looking over her work.

Jiao

Better do as I please, until I tell you to stop
When I rule the world, then you're the little girl

Peter nodded at Jiao again, taking her silence as understanding of his words, of the importance of him saying them. He sat quietly again, content enough to let her work on his hair. The waiting was actually beginning to make him excited to seed, after all, she had talked up her skills so much, they had to be good, right? ”Just in the woods.” It wasn’t really a question, more Peter echoing Jiao’s words as he thought about them. Living like that sounded lonely to him, though he didn’t really have a full picture of the fae at all. He understood privacy though, and nodded in response. ”Being quiet... private? I think it’s best.” Peter let his head be moved easily, the touch almost relaxing instead of stressful. ”Everything stays... good, right? It’s easy to... to keep things nice with just you.” Peter The only thing I know is this: I am full of wounds and still standing on my feet.

Jiao nodded, though she suspected her and Peter's concepts of quiet and private were probably quite different overall. The man seemed so cautious she was sure she could spook him with a well placed yell of 'boo!' right in front of him.

Finishing up the work on his hair (not a complex job -- she could probably have spent longer on it, but she was too excited for the rest) she set down her scissors and ran her hand through his curly locks, shaking them out so they sat with some bounce. "There. Go look at yourself in the pond, if you want."

Jiao fluttered back over to her bag and grabbed several little bottles and boxes, began to lay them all out around her. "I'm gonna guess you won't take your shirt off, but if you don't it's gonna get messy in this bit."

Jiao

Better do as I please, until I tell you to stop
When I rule the world, then you're the little girl

Peter wrinkled his nose, stray bits of cut hair tickling his face as Jiao brushed a hand through the mop on top of his head. His own hand immediately followed hers, moving his curls into a more comfortable position on his head, and feeling what had been cut short. It was softer than it had been before, and immediately his fingers slowed, Peter trying to enjoy the feeling as much as he could. Touch was more than enough for him, and he though it would probably pass faster if he didn’t spend every moment looking at what Jiao has changed. There was some confusion on his face as he looked at himself, Peter tugging at his shirt briefly before tugging off his last remaining scarf. ”This... it’s black. Black doesn’t get messy.” It was clear he thought hat was true, some of the darker patches on his sleeves speaking both to the garments history and lack of washing. ”What’s going to be messy?” Peter craned, trying to see the bottles she was looking at. All he could tell what there was a lot of colours, some of which he supposed he wouldn’t mind having on or around his face. Peter The only thing I know is this: I am full of wounds and still standing on my feet.

"Black definitely does, and that is just proof." Jiao argued, pointing at Peter's shirt with a frown. In fact, now that she was looking for it, there were more marks than she'd originally thought; she leaned back a little and pulled a face.

She answered his question by dusting some powder on her hand then immediately beginning to apply it to his face, the almost-white concealer covering up his scars immediately and evening out his complexion. Over time she shifted to powders of steadily darker colours, contouring and colour-correcting where she could see it was necessary.

Peter didn't seem like the kind for massively popping eye shadow or a strong lip, so she left it at a foundation and colour. "Okay, I think I'm done." She announced after twenty minutes or so, jumping up to drag Peter towards the little pool. "Come look!"

Jiao

Better do as I please, until I tell you to stop
When I rule the world, then you're the little girl

Peter endured the near overwhelming amount of work being done on his face, powders and concealers and all manner of other things he didn't really get the chance to look at with how often his eyes were squinted closed. Just as he was reaching the end of his rope, the fey woman pulled away and proclaimed him done. Really, he didn't need to be tugged towards the pool. The makeup on his face feltfelt heavy, and he was a little excited to see the changes made. What he saw in the reflection was even more than he'd expected though. Peter was not a vain person, but the reflection he saw looked... nice. He might even say attractive. Trembling fingers reached up to touch his face, brush over the places he knew there should be scars. He had never seen himself without them. His fingers moved up, brushing through the length of hair he'd been left with, tugging at it until he decided he really did like the length. Turning to Jiao, Peter struggled for a moment, his jaw working but the words not coming to him. Finally, he just nodded, and pulled at his hair again. "It's... it's good, I like it." The words alone would have been underwhelming, but it was the tremble of that little bit more behind his voice that really made them sincere. Peter The only thing I know is this: I am full of wounds and still standing on my feet.

Jiao watched Peter stare at himself and touch his face, just about resisting leaning forward and telling him to stop before he smudged it. She could tell this was a bit of a moment. Looking at him, it was unlikely he had much experience looking nice, she supposed. So she stood back and let him take his time, only responding when he spoke himself.

"Great! I do good work. You can probably keep on the make up for like two days, if you really want, but then you should wash it off." She took her own make up off every night, but she didn't trust Peter to bathe that regularly.

Looking up at the sky, the position of the sun, she was surprised to see how much time she had spent improving the man's looks. "I gotta go." She told him, packing up her things. "But go and impress someone now that you look cute."

Hoping he might follow her up on her instructions, she left into the woods.

Jiao

Better do as I please, until I tell you to stop
When I rule the world, then you're the little girl