Dragons' Positions [Fickle Positions Chronicle # 1]

Chapter 5 : Decisions, Decisions

The rest of her day continued on just like any other tour done by someone who would rather be doing something else would. It started with Zemi leading her to a road that connected to everything in the kingdom. Well, that's what she thought the road was, seeing as they used it to go everywhere and it seemed connected to everything. He told her what it was called after that and lead her to the next location, then did the same thing all over again.

By the end of the tour Alala had a lot to say about Zemi and none of her words would be remotely close to describing him as warm. The man was frigid whenever he did anything concerning her and though she wasn't sure if it was due to her bouts of laughter at the face he made whenever his full name was called, she couldn't wait to get away from him.

Facing Zemi, she offered an awkward smile. "Thank you for the tour."

Without even sparing her a glance, he responded. "You're welcome" With that, Zemi left, leaving her to her own devices.

For a moment, she stood there, in front of the castle, unsure of what to do. Slowly, an idea came to mind. An idea to go back to the places that piqued her interest earlier. After all, she still had her money from the trip and what better way to spend it than on interesting things? Mind set, she made her way back to the first place that caught her interest.

Entering the unassuming salon, the bell ringing at the door, she looked around for one of the workers. Finding a string with a sign saying 'PULL THIS, DEAR CUSTOMER!'. Alala obliged and a bell louder than the door's tolled.

A panicking voice broke the silence the bell left in it's wake. "Oh dear, oh dear, wait just a moment dear!" A moment later an elderly man, back turned to her, popped up from behind a wall.

"Sorry for the inconvenience, may I ask what haircut would you like?" The elderly man spoke, back still turned to her, while he seemed to be moving things around.

"No, no, it's quite alright. For my hair," she paused for a moment, thinking about what she'd like to do when she remembered what her father said earlier, "I would like bangs, please."

The elderly man whirled around all of a sudden. "Are you sure about that, dearie? Bangs- " All of a sudden, it seems he was at a loss for words and choked.

"Are-Are you alright?"

Waving a hand, he merely nodded his head, his head tilted down.  "Yes, yes, quite alright, I was just shocked." He took a peek at her, as if what he saw was a trick of the light and she remembered what her father had told her earlier about female dragons.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot about that." She said, wondering if she should have somehow warned the old man.

"No, no, it's certainly not your fault. Now, come along," at this, the elderly man began dragging a cart to a chair and patted the seat, "you wanted bangs, yes?"

Taking a seat, she nodded her head.

He looked at her for a moment, left hand on chin in a thinking pose while he hummed. "Well, I'm assuming it's to hide from the looks people are giving you."

Sheepishly rubbing the back of her neck, Alala smiled at the old man ruefully, starting to regret her rash decision to enter the salon. "Is it really that obvious?"

He merely smiled cheerfully back. "To me, it is, I have a daughter, you see, and there was a point in time where she wanted to do the same thing." Hurriedly, he looked up, as if worried that he'd offended her in some way. " Now, I'm not saying you'd look bad with bangs, but they're hard to manage and well, are you sure you'd want some?"

Alala didn't even think twice before answering. "Yes,  I'd like them to cut straight across my forehead, please."

He looked uncertainly at her. "Your forehead is short, are you sure about that?"

Her only response was a nod of her head before the man began and in no time she was on her way out of the salon, a few coins less with new bangs. Wandering around, she found an adorable hat on a stall and made her way over to it.

"A newspaper boy cap? Hm, it's a nice choice, I suppose." A voice stated behind her and she turned rigidly to the man.

Withholding herself from telling the man not to do that, she decided to hurry up after realizing how dark it was. "Are you the owner of this stall?"

"Why, yes,  I certainly am!"

"Then, how much for the cap and," she saw a pair of sunglasses and tried some on before deciding on one, "these sunglasses?" She spotted a group of clothes that seemed big for her and indiscriminately got some from the pile. "And these too."

"I'll give them to you for fifty." Deciding not to haggle with the man she paid him hurriedly and made her way to her room in the castle after bringing Civia back to his stall, a mischievous smile on her face.