Crimson rivers

More text for chapter 2

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"You'll be fine," Sirius assures James. "They're just going to get you cleaned up and pretty to parade you around as an introduction. I think—well, Pandora says we've got a good team this year, so I'll take her word for it. I need to go do some snooping, but I'll see you and Reggie later, yeah?"

James, who feels very out of his depth, and like things are going too fast for him to keep up with, only manages to blurt out, "Er, yeah," before Sirius is darting off.

James feels rather like his safety vest has been taken from him.

He hardly gets to fret for long before he and Regulus are being led away in separate directions. James looks back over his shoulder and is surprised to find Regulus also glancing back at him. Of course, as soon as he catches James catching him, he turns away and doesn't look back again.

"Ah, marvelous," a cheerful voice chirps as James is led into a room. There's a man there with bright red hair styled into a mullet-mohawk fusion that looks quite good, actually. "The name's Fabian. You're my doll, and the other tribute is my brother's, Gideon. Come, come, get naked."

"What?" James blurts out, eyes bulging.

"Oh, no need for modesty," Fabian assures him. "You're clearly giving me plenty to work with." He pauses, then reaches up and smacks his forehead. "Goodness, sorry, I'm rushing the whole process. You're hardly comfortable with me yet, are you? Sorry, sorry, it's just that I don't get a lot of time with you, sadly. Here, I promise I won't be looking. Well, no, that's a lie; it's literally my job to look, but I assure you, it's nothing untoward. I'm just going to help you look nicer than you already do. Trust me, you'll enjoy the process."

"Um," James mumbles, "can I keep my pants on?"

"Well, at least until you get in the bath, sure," Fabian allows, waving his hand and turning away.

Fabian is a liar. James does not, in fact, enjoy the process. It's very strange having someone present when you bathe, even if they're not watching you (and Fabian doesn't, thankfully). He allows James to put a towel around his waist when he gets out, but that's where the whole process becomes a bit like torture.

There's an unfortunate amount of waxing, hair-plucking, poking, and prodding. At one point, Fabian is chattering away casually as he holds up James' arm and forcefully yanks the hair at his armpit out right from the root. He clicks his tongue every time James yelps, patting his shoulder and speaking in a soothing tone before doing it all over again.

Fabian does do things that James finds himself enjoying, like an entire face massage, which is honestly brilliant. Sadly, there is more to it than that. There's exfoliating, and moisturizing, and more hair-plucking, now at his eyebrows, which makes his eyes water—but curiously, the opposite eye of whichever eyebrow is actually being plucked. James is also uncomfortable because Fabian takes his glasses and makes him put in contacts, then listens calmly as James rants for nearly ten minutes straight about why he should be able to wear his glasses, only to then make James put in the contacts anyway. He ends up having to help, because James doesn't know how, and James gets poked in the eye (thrice) because he keeps flinching, unable to hold still.