Hair cuts

[for_everyone]

It's morning, bright and early.

Hera rubs the sleep from her eyes, still finishing up brewing the first of the day's cups of caf.

When, of course, a terrifyingly tangled horror emerges from his cabin, similarly sleepy.

"Um. Kanan?"

Comments

[notallofus]

Kanan finishes his caf, watching her go. He sets aside his cup, and stops trying to flatten his hair, instead pulling it behind his head like he's preparing to tie it back. It definitely is getting longer.

"Maybe I should just cut it short."

But that's a lot more work, and he hasn't kept short since...

... it's been a while.

[for_everyone]

There's a slight widening of Hera's eyes as he says that, not least due to the weight of the silence afterward.

Then, voice just the slightest bit dry --

"Let's just start with getting it shorter, this time."

[notallofus]

"Yeah."

He keeps one hand on his hair, or at least as much of it as he can grab at once, and holds out the other for the vibroblade.

[for_everyone]

"Are you . . . "

She starts to hold the vibroblade out, then stops herself.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but are you sure you don't want any help with that?"

[notallofus]

"Wha -"

Beat. "You want to cut my hair?"

She's not talking about Chopper, right? That's his most pressing concern right now.

[for_everyone]

"You think I'm asking you to let Chopper do it?"

Please, Kanan. She's met both of you before.

[notallofus]

"Um."

His hands drop, though he quickly raises his right to run through his hair again.

"I wasn't going to let Chopper do it."

[for_everyone]

"That's because every so often you actually do something sensible."

She punctuates this with a smile, because it's still early and he might actually take her seriously.

[notallofus]

Kanan's still a little too dazed, perhaps by the early hour or something else, to think of a comeback.

Instead, he just rubs the back of his head (further messing up his hair), and says, "Well, all right."

[for_everyone]

There's a momentary pause as Hera absorbs that response.

" . . . really?"

He said himself that she knows nothing about human hair.

"You don't get to grumble if I make a mess of it, though."

[notallofus]

His mouth twitches into a smile.

"Are there things I do get to grumble about?"

[for_everyone]

Hera smiles back, a little slowly.

"You'll know when I tell you about them," she offers, reaching out to take back the vibroblade.

"Do I just start hacking at this? Or do you usually plan some kind of strategy first?"

[notallofus]

"I usually just..."

He reaches back again, quickly wrapping his fingers around as much of his hair as he can. "... hold it together and slice it off."

Not exactly an elegant method, but Kanan hasn't worried much.

[for_everyone]

Hera quickly stifles her sudden, startled laugh.

"No, no, that's very efficient. And a good explanation for me to follow, considering."

She shifts position so that she can wrap her own hand around his hair, just above and almost on top of his own hand.

"I still don't understand how it gets like this."

[notallofus]

"It... grows?"

Kanan sighs. "I probably don't take great care of it."

[for_everyone]

"Do you have to feed it, or something?"

It almost sounds like a pet, except not at all.

"Here, tilt you head back this way and I'll make the cut."

[notallofus]

"It's not an animal."

He starts to tilt his head back, but then, "Maybe it'd be easier if I sat down."

[for_everyone]

"Oh, we're going for easy now?"

She doesn't disagree, however, though she also doesn't let go of his hair. Not yet, anyway.

"But I think you're right. If you fell over I might take off something that's not just hair."

[notallofus]

He leans back up again, easing her hand off his hair.

"It's how it usually works," he assures her. "If someone else is cutting your hair."

[for_everyone]

Hera takes a moment to stretch out the hand that had been holding Kanan's hair. It was a lot less springy than she expected, given the . . . volume.

"I can see how some leverage with the blade would be useful."

Though surely every human doesn't use one of those.

[notallofus]

Kanan leans over, pulling a stool out from under the table and taking a seat.

"I'll trust you not to nick my ears."

[for_everyone]

"I'll do my best to be worthy of that trust."

Hera moves to stand behind Kanan, gathering up his hair in her fist again.

"Maybe you should lean forward a little, this time? That way I can use your neck to check the length."

Though --

"I promise not to nick that, either."

[notallofus]

"Good idea."

This time, he does lean his head forward, eyes falling down at his knees.

[for_everyone]

She doesn't cut immediately, testing out several angles for the blade before she commits.

Hera was serious about not nicking Kanan's anything.

"Here goes," she says at last, and drags the blade through his hair just below the edge of her hand.

And then she's left standing behind Kanan, hair in one hand, knife in the other, not sure of what to do with said hair now she has it.

"What do you think?"

[notallofus]

Unable to see it, Kanan just reaches back, again trying to smooth down his hair with his hand, and again failing, though at least there's less of it to fail with now.

He shrugs. "It's shorter?"