A Hair Disaster

Writers: Sia, Yvonne
Date Posted: 6th November 2024

Characters: J'cello, Ketlyn
Description: Ketlyn borrows J'cello's sweetsand with disastrous consequences
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 2, day 1 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: K'lvin, H'taysh, J'nic

It was too early, but the schedule said that weyrlings bathed before breakfast so there Ketlyn was, bathing before breakfast. And realizing that she had forgotten the sweetsand for her hair. "Flame it," she muttered, then looked around the bathing pool for help. The only face she recognized was J'cello's, so she waded across the hot pool toward him and gave him her best puppy eyes. "Morning. I don't suppose you could help me?"

J'cello wasn't awake yet, though his eyes were open and his body was mostly functioning. It took him a moment to recognize that it was Ketlyn across the bathing pool and that she was getting closer. He shook his head a little to push the tiredness away. "Sure-- what did you need?"

"I forgot my hair soap at the barracks. Do you have any I could borrow?"

"Oh! Uh, sure." He turned and found his, passing it over to her. "Not a morning person either, huh? I've done worse this early in the morning."

"Definitely not a morning person." Ketlyn dragged her eyes from J'cello's tapered waist and dug out a handful of the sweetsand. It felt and smelled different than what she usually used, but maybe the boys got something different. The Lower Caverns staff usually took one look at her and dug out a jar from the back of the store rooms whenever she needed new toiletries. Her mind wandered as she started to wash her hair. It really was too bad that J'cello's Bairelth had a hide as green as Varinth's...

It wasn't until she dunked her head to rinse her hair that Ketlyn realized that something was _very_ wrong. Her tightly curled hair grabbed at her fingers and tangled into impossible knots as she tried to rinse it clean. She dunked her head again and somehow when she came up again her hair felt like it was wrapping itself into thick, brittle mats. "J'cello! What kind of sweetsand was that?!"

"Uh? The sudsy kind?" J'cello said questioningly, though he reached for the jar and held it up just in case he'd also brought the wrong thing or H'taysh was playing a prank on him. It looked normal. Smelled normal. "It's what I use on my hair. What do you normally use?"

"I don't know! They give me something else!" Ketlyn dunked her head again and scrubbed furiously. It wrapped around her fingers like a vise and when she came up again she was wide-eyed and pale beneath her brown skin. Her unruly curls felt like they'd turned into a giant mat. "J'cello! Help me!"

"Come here." J'cello waved her over and tried to at least detangle around her fingers. Her curls were twisted around themselves so badly he didn't think he could manage to get a brush through it. "Today might just have to be a bad hair day. I'm sorry, I had no idea it'd do that."

Ketlyn sucked in a breath and tried not to burst into tears. It was too early in the morning to deal with this. It was her own fault for forgetting her usual sweetsand. Clearly the Lower Caverns had been giving her something special for her curls, if J'cello's soap created _this_ disaster. It was going to take _candlemarks_ to fix it, and that was assuming that the Weyrlingmasters let her have the time at all. She'd have to shave it all off. She was going to look like an idiotic ovine. Her hair was _ruined_.

Then she felt a wave of concern from Varinth. }:Are you all right? What is happening!?:{

The love-- the fact that someone actually _cared_ -- it sent Ketlyn over the edge. She covered her mouth as a sob escaped. "I'm fine," she told both Varinth and J'cello. "I-- I'm sorry, I'm fine, it'll be fine."

"Yeah it will." J'cello said firmly and squeezed her shoulder in some kind of solidarity. He'd never had long hair himself, but he had sisters and was sometimes in the periphery of their hair sagas. "Let's see about getting it dry and try a messy bun or something. And if we have time between classes we'll see if anyone in the Lower Caverns knows how to help."

**I can't cry here, nobody needs to see that!** Ketlyn dunked her head again to give herself time to stop her lower lip quivering. She took a deep breath when she surfaced and forced a smile. It came out weak and watery. "It's fine, J'cello. This is my fault. We'll both be late if you try to help me with... this."

"What, and miss the chance to tell K'lvin that I'm late because of a bad hair day?" J'cello joked and ran a hand over his short hair. "And hey, at least if it's a paired activity you'll have me instead of having to toss firestone bags to J'nic."

Ketlyn really, really wanted to throw firestone bags at J'cello's face. "I don't want to get you in trouble..."

"Oh, please. It's less trouble than everyone got into for gluing K'lvin to that chair. We'll live." J'cello said with a snort. He reached for his towel and toiletries as he climbed out of the bathing pool. "Come on, let's see what we can do."

Last updated on the November 23rd 2024

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A Hair Disaster