The Villain Wants to Quit

Learning

A great misfortune befell Theo the next day.

Marie and Giselle both had a day off and had decided to entertain themselves at Theo's expense.

To be fair, they had made some logical points about Theo needing a disguise since he was "dead" now, but they seemed to be doing this primarily for their own entertainment.

They argued that even if most of the public didn't know Theo's appearance, many of Dullahan's men did.

"I think he should go blond." Marie insisted. "It's practically the opposite of his current hair color, so it would make him look completely different."

"Which is why it would look too unnatural." Giselle countered. "A more subtle shift like brown would make the new color look natural."

"Please, blond would look fine with his complexion. He could totally pull it off."

"No, black is perfect!" Scourge screeched. He fluttered his tiny wings.

"I know, but we have to give me a disguise." Theo gently patted Scourge's head. The tiny dragon was a bit unhappy that he and Theo would no longer "look alike."

"Come on, Theo, assist me." Giselle flipped some blue hair over her shoulder. "Which color would you prefer?"

"Umm..." Theo bit his lip. "The only hair color I've tried out is pink. That was alright, but it'd look unnatural."

Giselle and Marie exchanged a look.

"It would suit his eyes, wouldn't it?" Marie said.

Giselle nodded. "It would be a shame not to see it." Giselle pressed the ribbon to her forehead and spoke a spell before tying Theo's hair with it. Once it was tied, Theo's jet-black hair faded into pink.

"We should leave it like this," Marie said while giving Theo a thumbs up.

"It's perfect." Giselle agreed. "But if he's gone pink before, someone may have already seen him in this disguise. We need a different color."

"You're robbing the world of perfection," Marie said, sadly shaking her head.

Theo blinked. He had never heard "perfection" used to describe him before.

"I liked it better before," Scourge draped himself over Theo's shoulder and pouted.

Marie laughed, "But we still need to choose an actual hair color for him."

"We could compromise and do light brown," Giselle suggested.

"What do you think, Theo?" Marie asked.

"Um, brown is pretty." Theo's eyes cut to Marie's ebony curls.

"Uh, huh," Giselle said. "Brown is pretty? I guess brown it is." She said with a chortle.

Marie coughed, "Light brown."

"Black hair is better," Scourge mumbled.

Giselle pulled the ribbon out of Theo's hair and began to paint a paste that smelled of vinegar and something else Theo could quite place over the sour scent of vinegar.

"Even though this artifact can change your hair color, I'm still going to lighten your hair in case it breaks," Giselle said. "It won't look as natural as the artifact will, but it will keep people from thinking you have black hair if they see you without the artifact for a moment."

Scourge leaped down from Theo's shoulder. "You reek now," The tiny dragon complained.

"We still need to choose his eye color," Marie said.