Talk Nerdy to Me

Chapter 16: Dress Rehearsal Part 1

Summary:

The dress rehearsal begins, and Ra finds out just how much fun a live show can be...

Chapter Text

Ra was thrown into a whirlwind of activity, the likes of which she'd never experienced before in her life. Gigi was indeed happy to help Ra with her hair, though she had something else in mind.

"I am used to the boys' hair, so thick," she said in English. Chris had said before he left that she wanted to practice it. "Yours so thin and fine. You need eat better."

"I'm trying to," Ra admitted. Sometimes she had trouble eating because of sensory issues.

"When you cut it last?"

"About nine weeks ago?"

The woman rummaged around in her bags, pulling scissors out. She lifted Ra's hair up and let it fall. "I think boy cut work best. You have face, cute, yes?"

Ra struggled to comprehend, and the woman took out her phone, showing her pictures of Felix with silvery white hair. Ra recognized it from the music video for God's Menu that Felix liked to send her edits of.

"It short on sides. Longer on top. Yes?"

Ra tried to picture it, staring at herself. She was hiding now. A drastic change might be just what the doctor ordered. "Yes."

The woman got to work, expertly trimming away the baby fine hair. When she finished, Ra barely recognized herself in the mirror. But she felt, for the first time in her life, like her head wasn't heavy. The relief must have been plain on her face. Gigi smiled at her in the mirror.

"Feeling good is feeling good," she said, and then went back to her bag. "Now bigger question: dye hair pretty color, or leave brown?"

Ra's eyes widened. She had never dyed her hair in her life - not being able to cut it meant getting stuck with whatever that ended up being. She thought for a long time she'd never do it. But this feeling... this freedom. She nodded, and Gigi did such a happy dance at the thought, Ra couldn't help but smile and join in. It was like her good food dance.

Gigi was quick at her job, and had applied hair bleach quickly. Soon Ra was rinsing that off in the tub, and then Gigi was spreading out a selection of dyes. There was red and blue and pink and green and purple, and Ra almost couldn't decide. She picked baby blue to match her suit for tomorrow, and Gigi was done in a flash.

"Leave in for 30 minutes, then take nice shower to rinse out," Gigi said, packing her things up. "I will send Bada and Mari in an hour. They are working boys now. I come back after with styling, yes?"

Ra smiled and agreed. She stared at herself in the mirror. Already she was sure she would be doing double takes in the mirror for a few weeks.

When Bada and Mari showed up at her door a little over an hour later, her hair was dry. She was debating between wearing her baby blue suit or the pinstriped gray and black one Felix had gotten her that afternoon instead.

"The pinstripes of course," Bada said when she asked. "And that white silk shirt."

Ra smiled and pulled the clothes on as the two women unpacked a few things.

"We're not going to go crazy yet," Mari said, a stern look at Bada over Ra's shoulder. "You want to look more natural today. I'm going to send you some pictures later, and you can decide what your look is for tomorrow."

Ra nodded, watching the makeup brushes like a hawk. Bada sniffed, but started laying down foundation. "Your skin is darker than I thought it was. What is your ethnicity, anyway?"