damned_institute | Day 49: Late Afternoon - Pearl's Beauty Salon Hair and Nails

Dashing into the shop, Sakura tried to shake off some of the water without drenching anything in the shop in the process. The nurses had already expected rain, so she was equipped with a raincoat, but the rainwater still managed to dampen certain parts of her clothes from underneath. Still though, the raincoat kept her sufficiently dry.

Becoming more aware of her surroundings, Sakura felt a little more at ease. She definitely didn't want a haircut, but she really wanted to get somewhat pampered after her rough first week at the institute. Maybe the manicure? Even washing your hands couldn't get all the grime from under the nails, so perhaps the nail salon would be able to.

[for ~~stalkers~~ Touya and Yuki]

"I don't know what you're talking about," Yue said flatly, not even bothering to look back at Touya as the two of them walked through the door. Everything about his posture was even more tense than usual, and not just because of the current topic of conversation: it was getting closer to evening, which meant closer to potential danger. And if the rain continued like this, and the events of last week repeated themselves, the evening could be exponentially more dangerous.

It was fortunate, then, that he'd sensed Sakura's presence nearby and been able to use that excuse to lead Touya away from being able to see the note he'd posted on the bulletin in the grocery store. The two of them needed to be near her once night fell, after all, just in case. That hadn't, however, stopped the inconvenient and annoying questions, although the guardian simply claimed ignorance about the entire thing.

Once inside the shop he wrinkled his nose delicately at the reek of chemicals, then moved over to join the girl. "You are all right?" he asked, giving her a quick glance to make certain she hadn't suffered too much from the storm.

"I'm talking about whatever it is you're pretending doesn't exist," Touya responded, equally as flat. Honestly, he'd been having a great time with Yuki--eating ice cream, hanging out at the grocery store... and then Yue had shown up and started writing something that he wouldn't let Touya see. And by the time he'd posted it, Touya couldn't tell what Yue had posted, it was so lost amongst other notes.

On top of that, it was raining harder and Touya was nearly soaked through. Though he understood Yue's desire to find Sakura. If today was anything like the last week, he didn't want to have to run all over a sodden, zombie-filled town looking for Sakura again.

He stood next to Yue, hands in his pockets, looking down at Sakura and then around at the building they'd wandered into. Looked like a nail salon or something. Maybe Sakura wanted to get her nails done--they had a coupon for that or something, right?

Upon hearing Yue's voice, Sakura jumped a bit and turned to face him. "Oh Yue-san, Onii-chan, I didn't know you guys were here," she replied, slightly flustered. She brushed off some of the water on her raincoat and smiled up at the boys as she continued, "I'm okay. The nurses were nice enough to give me a raincoat. What are you guys doing here?"

Was it just coincidence or were they trying to find her? Either way, they were here now, so perhaps they could all get something done together. They deserved something nice even more so than she did.

Though Yue flicked a brief sidelong glance toward Touya he made no other reply to the comment; in his opinion, the conversation was over because they had nothing to discuss. The note he'd posted wasn't for Touya to see, therefore there wasn't any reason to discuss it with him, and all the demands that he explain were nothing but irritating. Instead he just lowered himself to one knee beside his master to put himself closer to her level as he pushed back the hood of his coat.

"We wanted to find you," he said, though he was careful to keep any sign of emotion out of his voice. There probably wasn't any point in not showing that he cared about her, but it was becoming habit after his recent interactions with Touya. "It's getting closer to evening, and should...certain things repeat themselves, it's best if we're together."

Touya was glad to see that Sakura wasn't completely soaked by the rain, because the last thing she needed was a cold. After hanging his own coat on the rack provided, he helped Sakura out of her raincoat and hung it up.

"It's really coming down out there, too. We should probably stay in here anyway." It was as good as any excuse for both him and Yue to hang out in a beauty parlor. If they were lucky, they could read some trashy teenage girl magazines, and Touya could smirk as Yue sat there looking disgruntled.

"I think there's a coupon for a manicure," Touya said, joining the rest of the group. "Think they paint monster nails here?"

Still slightly bewildered, Sakura allowed herself to be guided into taking off her coat, but she nodded after what Yue said sunk in. She had completely forgotten about what had happened last week over the course of the day because she was having so much fun, but with the day approaching its end, it definitely paid to stay cautious.

"Is there?" she asked inquisitively to her brother while flipping through her coupons. That would be perfect if there was. Then they'd all be able to enjoy being pampered together. However, upon hearing Touya's last comment, Sakura moved her foot over her brother's in an attempt to stomp his toes.

"ONII-CHAN!"

Yue rose to his feet again and straightened, drawing back slightly from the pair as he unbuttoned his coat. He had no intention of going back out into that mess until he absolutely had to -- and hopefully that would be before full dark. And clearly Touya didn't plan to leave soon, either, since he'd already put up both his and Sakura's coats.

As Touya rejoined them the guardian moved away, apparently uninterested in manicures and coupons for them, though as he set the dripping coat on the rack he did frown critically at his fingernails. That was another thing that should have remained unharmed through his magic, though he hadn't really given them much thought before now as they were a somewhat lesser concern. The cry from behind him drew his attention back to the others, though, and Yue turned around again with one brow slightly upraised. So they were starting that again, were they? Probably best that he stay out of it.

Touya grinned as Sakura stomped on his toes, though her foot had considerably less bite when she wasn't wearing rollerblades. It stung a little, sure, but it was outweighed by how angry Sakura looked at being called a monster again. And... mostly her looking anything but sad or worried outweighed having his toes stepped on.

He looked back over his shoulder at Yue, wondering where he'd gotten to, and smiled lightly at his seemingly exasperated look. Clearly he hadn't been around Touya and Sakura in their natural modes of operation, and thus he was looking at them like they were both children. Though Touya couldn't help but feel that if Yue did less standing off to the side and more participating, he wouldn't feel so alone.

"Hey," Touya said, crouching down in front of Sakura and whispering to her conspiratorially. "I think Yue could use some cheering up. Why don't you pick a shade of nail polish for him while you're picking one for yourself?" Touya said with a grin, holding out his own coupon to Sakura.

Sakura's face puffed up even more when her attack yielded a grin from Touya instead of a yelp in pain. Geez. When she grew older, she was going to become taller and stronger than her brother and then she'd be the one grinning! ... But for now, where were her roller blades when she needed them?

However, her expression quickly changed to a more serious face as Touya whispered to her. She glanced back at Yue who was facing the other direction before taking the coupon. "Okay," she responded with a wink, and with that she headed over to the nail polish section to figure out which colors would best suit them.

Sylar couldn't help but feel pretty good about himself, even with rain leaking through his windbreaker as he tried to find some kind of useful refuge. Both Peter and the one-armed mechanic had fallen for his ploy, and... well, it'd been a while since he'd had something so tangible to wave in front of Peter's puppy face. Sylar wasn't sure that "empowering" was the right word, but it was definitely better than average around here.

Kind of like having someone to actively look for. As soon as Sylar's eyes spotted the salon, he ducked under its awning and walked through the door, glad to see that a few other patients were mulling around already. Good; standing out in the crowd was the last thing he needed, especially when he still needed to find a good place to move the mini-screwdrivers from his pocket to somewhere less obvious. Waist, maybe? No... inside of his boot? Or maybe under it...

He leaned against the nearest wall as he temporarily moved on to his next plan of action. His eyes scanned the room for familiar red hair and glasses, but it didn't look like the beauticians were attending to anyone like that. Maybe Grell had hit the place earlier, or maybe he was less vain than Sylar had thought.

...Nah.

Sylar glanced around the room, looking for some dark corner where he could pull off a boot without being seen by a nurse, but he didn't think he'd have much luck in somewhere as bright and tacky as this.

[ ~~Eyebrows convention~~ England. ]

Ugh, sodding rain. He should be used to it by now considering where he was from but really... this was intolerable and he was dressed entirely inappropriately. He needed an umbrella at least! Or a coat. A coat would be better than this crappy jacket they'd forced him into. Or the t-shirt. Sodding shirt.

He was hurried into the nearest building like he was a god damned child by the nurse.

Oh for... why did it have to be something like this out of all the buildings in the entire town? England ran a hand through his sodden hair to stop it dripping in his eyes, and looked around carefully. Tweezers and nail polish and wax and... ugh, women's stuff. Not that England was against it per se, he just wasn't interested in it personally. The closest he got was makeup to hide the bruises after a night of drinking.

There only seemed to be a couple of people in here which was for the best most likely, and no-one he knew because Prussia would never let him live it down if he saw England in here. A woman talking with what England assumed was an employee, another man failing to blend into the non-existent shadows and he had the biggest eyebrows ever. Weirdo.

Sylar glanced up at the sudden burst of cold air that came into the shop. It looked like people were still rushing indoors, and this particular guy was about as soaking as Peter had been. And in with him... came another nurse. Great.

But... Sylar glanced quickly between the newcomer and the people already in the shop; it looked like everyone else was already preoccupied with something or someone, and a nicey patient making conversation was as good a camouflage for illegal activities as any. He glanced over at the pile of clean towels at one of the work stations and grabbed one, turning to hand it to the guy.

"Here," he said with a wry smile, making sure to glance at the nurse to emphasize his good will. "Looks like you need it."

He was sopping wet. Hell, it was even in his pair of trainers. His socks were sodden and made an unpleasant squelching sound as he walked. What a pissing miserable day. Just fucking great. And he was in a place which smelled strongly of nail polish and hairspray, sickly sweet and cloying and probably burning a hole in the ozone layer just by existing.

He was squeezing out his t-shirt when a towel was thrust in his direction. Someone he didn't know, the one who had been loitering. "Uh, thank you," he said after a moment, grabbing the towel and using it to roughly dry off his hair. At least it wouldn't drip into his face then. He used it to mop up the excess water where he could although it didn't make much of a difference. "You'd think that they'd give us umbrellas at least."

"That'd be too easy," Sylar muttered, shifting his body language into 'peeved' mode as soon as the nurse turned to check something on the radio. He crossed his arms over his chest, leaning a shoulder against the wall and glancing at the guy – young, early twenties, looked like. British, like Grell, or at least that's what it sounded like: with alternate dimensions and fantasy worlds and whatever the hell else was going on here, he could've just as easily been a Morgo from the planet Morgulon.

Actually, the latter would be better. The weirder the origins, the weirder – and better – the power seemed to be, but right now, the screwdrivers were Sylar's main concern. They weighed heavily in his pocket; one stupid move and some caveman orderly might feel him up and find them, and really, humiliating Peter Petrelli was the most fun when Sylar got something tangible out of it.

He kept his eyes fixed on the nurse, just over the man's shoulder.

"The question is whether or not they'll let us carry anything out." He glanced back to the man's face. "You find anything interesting?"

England smirked without much humour and nodded, noting the slight shift in the man's demeanor. "God for bid we get an umbrella. Why, we might hurt someone with it!" he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he finished toweling himself off. Still sodden, the t-shirt sticking to his skin unpleasantly and ugh, the shoes.

He arched one eyebrow when the man spoke next but gave no other sign. If someone wanted to steal something, he certainly wasn't going to stop them. "Just an irritating Prussian who thinks that it's nineteen forty-seven," he muttered sourly. To be honest, the history, or lack thereof, had left him rather shell shocked.

Sylar couldn't help but smirk and raise a brow at the man's random comment about a "Prussian." That was... some old country, right? If Sylar recognized it, there was a good chance the guy was from Earth, although his surprise at the time difference probably meant that he hadn't been dropped off here all that long ago. Good thing – it was always nice to meet someone new, especially when Sylar needed to keep them occupied long enough to shield him from some nurse's suspicion.

"Really?" he asked mildly, glancing back to the nurse and slowly sliding a hand into his pocket. "I'm guessing... that you're not from 1947, then?"

Still, the Prussian comment struck him as a little weird, and maybe a little too... personal. The way he said it gave Sylar the impression that the man knew whoever he'd been talking to or maybe just had a grudge against the country in general. But really, Prussia? Sylar couldn't even remember where that was off the top of his head. Middle-East, maybe? Or was that Persia...

Whatever. What mattered now was the damn smuggling.

England raised an eyebrow at the exaggeratedly slow movements but made no attempt to move away. Even if it was a threat, and he drew a gun or a knife, what was there to worry about? For England anyway. He didn't like the chances of the man escaping unscathed. It would be kind of entertaining to watch to be honest, except not because laughing at someone else's suffering was out of fashion now wasn't it? Yes, he had to be media friendly and active in international relations that unfortunately no longer included punching people in the face. Even if they were (probably) American.

"I'm from 2008," England replied with a shrug. "He's just an idiot." An idiot who insisted on hanging around despite no longer existing as a country. A little like England's brothers but they at least were still technically countries even if they answered to him for the most part.

2008? Must've been the Prussian-hater thing, then. Unless the guy he was talking about was really old during his time, but Sylar wasn't about to divide his attention with that when– when all the nurses finally seemed busy with something or other. Sylar glanced over to the guy, then moved to crouch down, as if tying his shoe.

"Do me a favor?" he said under his breath, moving to pull the boot loose enough to come off. "Lemme know if that nurse starts looking this way."

Unless the guy was a real asshole, Sylar couldn't imagine any patient choosing a nurse over another prisoner. Except for Peter Petrelli, but he already knew he was a little bitch.

"I'm Gabriel, by the way," he added as an afterthought. He smiled grimly at his task. "Hope you don't mind me... multitasking."

England regarded him curiously as he ducked. Hiding something? Ah well, that made sense if there were things in town that one couldn't get in the Institute which seemed rather likely. He nodded, shifting position a little so that he could see the nurses better and act as a better block for whatever this man wanted to do.

"Arthur," he replied absently. "And not at all. Stones in shoes are a pain to deal with," he added with a grin.

A day at the spa was still what Donna looked forward to most once she got out of this place. For now she had to settle for a rinky-dink little salon that would only give her nail treatment, but it was better than nothing. Even with the possibility that the staff could turn into zombies.

Well, at least this time she'd not be caught off guard. If even one of them started acting like they were about to go all Silent Hill on her, they'd be sorry!

Strutting into the building, Donna looked around and quickly spotted the one she was looking for. "Meche, hey!" she called and went over to her friend, "Didn't have to wait on me, you know."

Meche waved that off with a big grin. Something about the way Donna just strode into the building as if she owned it--and Meche got the feeling that was Donna's usual way of entering a room--was infectious. If there were any more zombies tonight, they'd better watch out.

"Don't worry about it. I just got here a minute ago myself," she said. "How've you been?"

"Pretty good," Donna decided with a shrug and a nod. She was getting unfortunately accustomed to the ways of the institute - expect the unexpected and all of that mess - but she couldn't say she'd been doing terrible for it. Nothing had been more fun than her recent acquisition of the Doctor's specs as ransom, and she was wearing something at least somewhat fashionable, so the week hadn't been an entire loss.

"What about you? Anymore run-ins with guns and roses?" she asked teasingly.

Meche shot her a look that said she didn't really see the humor in that one. "No, luckily," she answered mildly as she got up. "But I did run into something else interesting, and I keep forgetting to mention it. Remember the shoes I was wearing that night? Another pair turned up in my closet, and they're bigger this time." She grinned again. "If they fit, they're yours, Cinderella."

The other thing that had shown up in her closet lately was a sword, but Meche decided she'd rather not kill the mood by mentioning it.

Whoops. Donna had been going for lightening the mood with that one, but it hadn't been the first time she'd managed to more put her foot in her mouth instead. "Well, that's good then," she said, not trying this time to tease, but falling back into it with Meche's own quip, "So long as you promise they won't turn into a pumpkin or anything."

After a moment of picturing how much better she'd wear a gown than Cinderella, Donna smirked and looked further into the store. "Well, if you're ready to brave potential hairdressing zombies?" she questioned with a nod back.

"You know, maybe that's what we should wish for. Think of how much healthier pumpkin would be than the meals they've usually got us eating." Meche wondered briefly where they could get a fairy godmother. Not that the silk stockings weren't magical all on their own (especially since they apparently fixed their own runs!), but she certainly wouldn't mind if they were all whisked away from the cellar.

"I think the real question is whether they'd be ready to brave us," she cracked as they headed forward to where the woman who'd met her at the door was waiting.

"I'll take shoes to pumpkins anyway. You can always use fashion to cover up what you don't want showing, after all." Not that Donna did so on a regular basis. She was proud of what she had, even if she chose to diet. Never hurt to diet, now did it? Unless you were one of those crazies who went with those "all this, no that" ones. Idiots.

She gave a grin when Meche changed her wording and responded by turning to the woman who had better be prepared for them. "I trust you're ready?" she questioned, pulling out the coupon she'd already separated for use.

"You're not kidding," Meche replied with a chuckle. She'd definitely learned that lesson over the last four years. Good tailoring could even coax curves out of a bare ribcage.

She rummaged her own coupon out of her coat pocket and handed it to the woman, whose assistant was coming out from the back too now. The woman--Pearl? She moved as if she was in charge around here--took it and led them over to two desks right next to each other. Meche took a seat.

Well, that had been...interesting. Rika wasn't sure exactly what she thought of the funny Western-style food they had at that Twin Pines place. It was a little heavier than she was used to, being so unused to fried things.

She stopped for a minute to look in the toy store window again. She still hadn't asked the people there if she could maybe trade one of the coupons she had for a doll or something, though she had thought about it. Then the nurses came out with their megaphones, and the closest other building she could go into happened to be the beauty shop.

There wasn't a place like this in Hinamizawa. The closest was in Okinomiya, and Rika hadn't been there for anything except the occasional haircut. She wasn't used to this whole...getting her nails done thing.

But she had a coupon, and she'd managed to get the attendant to at least smile a little, so she took a minute to survey the array of colors they had.

[yo, Namfather.]

Lunch with Riku had been very enjoyable, Naminé feeling much better after being reassured by Riku that everyone was alright, and also a little touched at how he implied that he believed she could still exist in Kairi. It was a pleasant meeting overall, and she was sure to remember his offer for help. Not that Naminé was sure she would ever take it; she had troubled him enough for the past year when they were working together under DiZ, perhaps enough to last several lifetimes. She would have to start looking for her own ways around the Institute. Riku was needed by his friends, after all.

She intended to put a little more thought into her next destination, but the rain didn't give her much of a chance as the nurses hurriedly rushed her into another shop. She didn't even have the time to really register which shop she went into until she was actually inside, taking a look around to try and see where she ended up in.

Pearl's? The name instantly rung a bell, as Naminé reached into her pocket to pull out the damp coupon book that she just used. Yes, there was a coupon here for this place... She wasn't sure exactly what a "manicure" was supposed to be, though. It had something to do with nails, but... It was probably because she had access to Sora's memories, that her knowledge of girly things was a little lacking.

Well, she already had her first lunch at a real restaurant. Maybe a first manicure wouldn't be too bad. This day was a day for many firsts, and Naminé was so wrapped in thought as she shuffled forward that she bumped into something that was a little shorter than she is.

"Oh! I'm sorry..." It was a little girl, one that she had never seen before. The witch blinked, frowning as looked the girl over to make sure she wasn't hurt. "I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going."

Rika took a step back at the bump, then smiled a second later. "It's okay. I'm not hurt or anything, and nothing got knocked over, so it's really okay." Someone else around her age - well, no. Not her age, not really, but close enough. She wouldn't say it out loud, but she could use the company.

"I'm Rika," she said, ducking her head a little in greeting. "I'm trying to figure all this - " she pointed to the rainbow of colors behind her - "out. We don't have a place like this back home, and it's a little confusing."

She hummed lightly, reaching for a couple of bottles of polish and turning them in her hands. "What about you? If you haven't, then wanna get them done at the same time?"

It was good to see that she wasn't harmed. Naminé was a little surprised to see someone who looked younger than her; but no, it wasn't that uncommon. Leon also looked younger than her (though, he didn't really act like it...), and she was sure that Landel did not discriminate when it came to potential test subjects. Unfortunately. When the girl introduced herself, the witch gave a nod.

"My name is Naminé," She smiled, following Rika's gesture to the lines of ... shampoo, she thought it was. The colorful array actually brought a smile to her face, as it reminded her of the crayons she would work with. Unfortunately, she really couldn't tell Rika what sort of place this was... but it didn't seem to matter to the little girl, as she asked if Naminé wanted to get "them" done at the same time.

Them? The witch blinked, but whatever it was, it couldn't have been that bad. And, it was probably more fun to do with someone than alone, right?

"Sure. I've never had... er, what are we getting done?" She blushed a little, embarrassed at herself.

"That's really pretty," Rika said, with a bright smile on her face. "It suits you, I think." She smiled again, turning back to the wall for a second. She almost wanted to ask if it was French or something, because it didn't sound like a Japanese name, but she held her tongue.

"We can get our nails painted together? We don't have a nail place like this in my hometown, since Hinamizawa is really small, but I've seen it on TV. I'm just trying to figure out colors," she said, smiling. "It's supposed to be fun, anyway, so..."

She reached for a couple of different bottles. "Hm. Should I match my hair, or go for a different color? I like green, or light blue, or pink...hm." It would be a lot easier if she'd done this before, but she'd figure it out.

Edited 2010-05-09 02:38 (UTC)

Day 49: Late Afternoon - Pearl's Beauty Salon Hair and Nails

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orz now that this is not a repeat...

<3

<33

dksajd sorry for late fail!post

what, it is not fail. B| this is late and fail. ;;