Alice Munroe (ex_barebones985) wrote in the_colony, @ 2010-01-03 22:06:00 |
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Entry tags: | ^ week 02, alice munroe, jacklyn baker, | alice and jack |
Week Two - Friday
Characters: Alice Munroe and Jack Baker, then Cody Davidson
Location: Alice's townhouse
Summary: Jack comes over to Alice's for a haircut. They talk a little bit about why Jack wants to be a boy, and self-defense, before Cody shows up and the conversation becomes more about communication.
Rating: PG for for talk about fighting and guns.
The whole thing was Jed's idea. Jack had come to him with a pair of scissors, and asked him to cut her hair. It was creeping down towards her shoulders now. Once upon a time, her hair had been longer than this. Not anymore. Short hair helped her look like a boy and Jack wanted to keep looking like that. Jed though, said he wasn't no hairdresser and he suggested she ask Alice. Her first reaction was that she'd just do it herself but getting it even was impossible. There was no way to cut the back. Anything she did would be a hack job and people had to see her. There were people now who would have to see what her hair looked liked. She didn't want it to be messed up. Generally, Jack thought Alice was kind of mean and had ever since she'd left so quick the first time they'd met. But Jed suggested Alice, so Alice it was.
Jack looked up at her as Alice opened her door. "Hi."
"Heya, Jack," Alice said, side-stepping to let the young woman in. Jed had walkie'd that the two of them were coming by for this whole haircut thing, and her eyes went over her head as though to look for him. All she caught was the sight of Jed's truck heading off down the street in the way they'd come. Go figure. Guess I'm in charge of girlie things, she mused, only very mildly miffed by the development.
When Jack was inside, Alice went ahead and locked up behind her. "Y'want anything? Water or koolaid or something?"
"Koolaid's okay," Jack said, only because it was still a novelty that Alice had it. She was so used to drinking plain water. It made her miss the first sip of a cold soda.
Alice headed back toward the kitchen at her answer, opening her cupboard to find the drink mix. She came back a moment later with the glass, its contents a bright, ruby red. "Hope fruit punch is all right."
Jack accepted the glass, savoring the sticky sweetness that only seemed to come with koolaid. "It's good. Thanks."
"So," Alice said, settling in one of the chairs at the small dining room table as she watched the girl drinking. "Did you have a specific cut in mind? I'm not exactly a hairdresser or anything, but I'll try'n do my best." She paused thoughtfully. "Though the length is nice right now. Long enough that you could pull it back if you wanted, but not so long that it gets in your face."
"No," Jack said, shaking her head. "I want it shorter. If I pull it back, it just makes me look like a girl."
The older woman shrugged slightly. "If that's what you want. Grab a chair and sit on it backwards for me once you're through; I'm going to go and find a good pair of scissors."
Jack had another long swallow of the koolaid, sticking her tongue out to check the color while Alice was out of the room. She set the glass carefully on the table and turned a chair around like she was told, sitting and tapping on the top rung with her fingernail. "The last time I cut my hair, all I had was a regular pair of scissors," Jack told Alice when she came back.
"The sharper the blade, the better the cut," Alice replied, putting a table cloth down around the chair to collect any hair that she didn't grab with her hands. Having Jack sitting in the chair in front of her gave her a better vantage point, though it also brought memories flooding back to her. She tried pushing them back, thinking of something less upsetting.
"My mother used to put tape on my hair when she gave me haircuts, when I was little," she mused. "Made cleaning up easier. She'd cut over the top line of the tape so everything just dropped away."
Jack tried to picture that, grabbing a lock of hair and pressing her finger against it to simulate tape. "Oh. Last time I just cut my ponytail off and then just cut what was left super short. It didn't look very good." Which hadn't mattered so much when there was no one there to see it.
"Well, at least you didn't do it too uneven, like the people in movies always do when they cut their own hair," Alice replied, pulling a comb through Jack's hair lightly first and checking her scalp. It was an old habit, looking for any lice or root damage. When she found none she took up a single lock of Jack's hair, miming scissors at a certain length. "About this short?" she asked, indicating just a bit below Jack's ears.
"I was afraid I'd do it really uneven in the back so somebody had to do it for me." She inspected the length. "Yeah, that's okay. It'll just look like a boy who let his hair grow long."
"You know..." Alice said quietly, making the first cut and then using each lock in turn to measure out the next. "You don't have to pretend anymore. You've got Jed to look out for you." She paused, frowning silently in though as she continued the cuts. "Searle'n me, too. And we all know you're not a boy."
"Yeah, but what about everybody else?" There were still other bad people out there.
"What about everybody else?" Alice countered. "Did being a boy stop you from getting that black eye?"
"Would being a girl?" Jack retorted. "How does that stop anybody from hurting me?"
Alice remained silent for a moment, the only sound between them being the snip-sniping of the scissors on her hair. "Everybody's bound to get hurt at some point or another, Jack," she said at last. "Being a boy or a girl doesn't change that. Knowing when to run and when to fight does, though. And having people there at your back, too."
"Jed's going to help me," Jack told her. "He's going to show me how to fight. But I don't want people to just see a girl and think they can hurt me. It's bad enough being smaller than everybody else."
The idea of Jed teaching the twelve-year-old how to fight almost seemed a little ridiculous, simply due to the outrageous height difference between them, but it was good to hear that he was willing to do that for her. "I was pretty short as a kid, too," Alice said with a wry smile. "So I hear ya, loud and clear." She paused again, thinking. "Did something happen to you t'make you think like this?" she asked tentatively.
Jack frowned, remembering. "I got robbed. Back before I met Jed. There was this guy and I talked to him and then he hit me and took my stuff. Not as bad as this or anything," she said, meaning her current injuries, "but still. I cut my hair after that."
Alice hummed in understanding, nearly halfway through her hair. It was no wonder Jack had gone as extreme as she had; people always thought boys were safer to be than girls, because girls couldn't defend themselves the same way. The only problem with that logic was that everybody expected a boy to be tougher and stronger, and to be able to put up with pain. Being a girl pretending to be a boy sounded, to Alice, like the worst of both worlds. "Very 'Joan of Arc' of you," she commented. "We oughta get you a jackknife or something."
Joan of Arc was the lady who pretended to be a man and led an army. Jack had forgotten about her. "Jed's going to show me how to use a gun."
That made Alice frown a little. "Guess that would also work. Problem with guns is that they need bullets, and eventually we're gonna run outta those."
"I don't really want to shoot anybody." That didn't take any bullets at all.
"You don't really want anyone to hurt you, either," Alice said, making the last cut. "Therein lies the conundrum. All done."
"Can I go look?" Jack climbed out of her chair and headed towards the guest bathroom, familiar enough with Alice's house not to need directions. It was shorter and neater. Jack ran her hands through it and it felt lighter. "Thanks, Alice."
Cody sighed and closed the door to his townhouse, the dog on his heels and waiting patiently for him to join her at the bottom of the stairs. He didn't have his bag on him this time, as he was only really going across the street to see Alice. He hadn't seen her in a little while, and for whatever reason it just didn't settle right with him. Shep seemed to know where they were going, bolting ahead happily to find the appropriate door for her master. Cody smirked, impressed by her every time she showed that level of attentiveness and intelligence. He had never - in his adult life - owned a dog, and every day seemed to be a learning experience.
Once in front of Alice's door, Cody stopped, made a fist and knocked several times. He was a shadow of the man he'd been before his accident, but the noise would still be difficult to miss, even without as much muscle to back it up. It bothered him to think about it, to remember what he had been and then to see what he was these days. It was miserable.
Alice blinked once she heard the knock, immediately alert. Jed wasn't supposed to start heading back until she'd paged him, but that was definitely the knock she taught him... and--
"Oh!" she said, quickly stepping around Jack and trotting toward the door. "Cody!"
Jack looked towards the door, thinking the knock meant that Jed was here. Cody she didn't know. She shoved her hands in her pockets, watching, but grinned the second the dog was inside. "Oh, look at the dog."
"Hi," Cody greeted, smiling immediately into Alice's face as soon as the door came open. Shep, who had little manners, made herself at home without being invited, tail wagging as she made a bee-line toward the younger girl. "Sorry I didn't call," he joked, shrugging loosely. Cody noticed suddenly that they weren't alone, turning curiously to see what Shep was so interested in. "Oh, you have company?"
Alice nodded, then gestured with one hand for him to wait a moment, turning her head to speak directly to Jack. "He can't hear you; he's deaf. I need to go get my whiteboard from my bag."
"Yeah, you smell Rocky, huh? You're so pretty," Jack crooned at the dog, stroking her soft fur. She straightened up at Alice's comment. "That's okay. Hi," she said to Cody with a wave. "I'm Jack." She fingerspelled her name for him.
Cody nodded easily as Alice left to do something. He assumed she was going for the whiteboard, considering he hadn't exactly brought anything with him. Oops. He turned to the younger person with his dog, returning the wave with a friendly smile. He was in a good mood today, at least for the time being, and tried his best to figure out what she was trying to communicate. "Uh..." He'd missed a little bit of it, not quite ready and reached up, scratching at the back of his neck. "I'm not sure... I'm sorry. I'm not very good at being deaf just yet."
"Oh," Jack said looking embarrassed. "You can't sign. Sorry." Cody couldn't hear her, but Jack spoke anyway, feeling awkward.
Alice returned midway through Jack's reply, whiteboard and pen in hand, having already written a quick sentence along its width.
This is Jack. The girl I told you about, remember?Cody leaned to read the words on the whiteboard, nodding a few times as he glanced to Jack. "Yeah, I remember. Hi Jack." Looking to the dog still inspecting her, he gestured downward to her and offered, "That's Shep. She seems to like you." He paused and then added, "And I'm Cody."
She smells Rocky on me. I thought you could sign. Sorry."Yeah, I think so..." Cody shrugged loosely about having talked about Jack, smiling lightly. "Sorry, I don't uh... I haven't had the chance to learn any sign. I'm still getting used to this..." He reached up to tap one of his ears, his expression darkening slightly.
How come you can't hear?Cody watched Jack, curious about her and how she'd survived on her own. He admired that, the fact that she'd managed to hold her own in (what he felt was) such a hostile environment. The question wasn't totally unexpected, though he wasn't sure how to answer it. He hadn't even been sure what had happened at the time. "I was sorta blown up, I guess. I got caught in a fire, and there was an explosion, and... I was the lucky survivor." After a pause he added, "I came out totally unscathed aside from my hearing problems, of course." Anyone with eyes could see that he was joking, but still he smiled.
I'm sorry. :(Cody's eyes softened when he saw what Jack had written, feeling for her even as she relayed to him that she was sorry as well. "It's okay," he said, shrugging easily. "I'm healing up. Thank you though." He bent down slightly, her black eye drawing his attention all too easily. "What happened there?"
There were boys. I got hit."You got hit?" Cody narrowed his eyes. "By boys?" He shifted and looked to see where Alice had gone to, not sure if he should press about what happened. "I'm... I'm sorry you were hit, Jack. That's not fair. Does it hurt a lot?"
Not as much now. I'm ok. Do you want me to teach you the alphabet?Cody felt bad for Jack as she ducked her head. He recognized the look and wished there was something he could do to make her feel better. Swallowing hard, he leaned forward onto his knees and watched her write. He was starting to get used to having to wait in order to have a conversation with someone, though it still wasn't easy by any means. "I already know the alphabet," he said, not quite catching on immediately. But then it hit him, and he sat up, laughing. "You mean like... with hands, like signing it... I'm sorry, I don't know why I didn't get that right away. I think that'd be real neat, Jack. Real nice of you to help me out like that. In exchange you can play with Shep anytime you like. How's that sound?"
Sheps really pretty. I'd like that. And Rocky if he comes with. And I know lots of other signs to.Cody smiled, despite not being able to hear their conversation. It didn't matter and there wasn't anything he could do about it anyway. "Thanks, I think she is too. I'd love to learn anything you know, Jack. You can be my teacher. I think it'd be fun, and we can have Alice make us kool-aid for our lessons."
I'll show you if you want. Ask Alice about KoolAid."I'd love for you to show me," Cody said, his voice earnest and excited. "Anything you can do to help me adapt to being less than useless would be great, Jack." He laughed, though there was definitely an undercurrent of self-doubt in it. "Maybe some basic signs for common words would be good, too."
You're not useless. Try being 12.