child_of_lions (child_of_lions) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-06-15 20:15:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, jonathan harker, myrcella baratheon |
Who: Myrcella and Jonathan
When: Friday 12th June
Where: Myrcella's Home
What: Hair dye and new friends
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete
It had been a rough week...days...a week...two? Jonathan had lost track. He didn’t know how long it had been since madness, harsh whispers of it, began to speak to him through dreams, he just knew that everything was a jumbled mess and it felt like his insides had been painted purple. Bruised. Things were a little calmer, a little less fiery - but still he got strange visions. Flickering images, sensations, sounds. An angry buzz, a crackle of something that resembled the breaking of bones. Not heat, but a chill so freezing cold that it shocked him with how empty and hollow it felt.
These visions had begun to taper off; he’d finally dreamed of Mina arriving to nurse him back to health, and so the recovery would begin here in the waking world as well.
Maybe the next step would be doing something about his abysmal hair. The snow white was still anything but comforting when he woke up and got a glimpse of himself in the mirror. But as promised, on Friday afternoon he went to the address Myrcella had given him, and he wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but he did know he wanted to compensate her for this somehow. She was helping him feel more like himself again, that deserved more than a simple ‘thanks.’
He knocked on the door, polite and polished, waiting for her to answer. For once, he wasn’t wearing a suit and tie - just a cotton knit sweater and one of the few pairs of jeans he had, dark ones, since this was more casual and would involve dye he wouldn’t want on any of his dress shirts.
Myrcella was rather looking forward to helping Jonathan, she felt bad for him that his hair had been affected by the dreams. She’d been dreading something happening to herself but so far she’d been lucky. Jeremy, of course, had the hunter mark but overall they’d been relatively left alone.
She had everything out and ready to make sure his hair was covered fully, she’d popped into his office the day before just to do a very quick test to make sure he wasn’t allergic to any of the ingredients in the dye. But they hadn’t had much of a chance to talk then. She was looking forward to getting to know him better, he seemed like a nice man.
The dog barked and ran to the front door when the knock came and she called out to him to be quiet. Opening the door she held the dog by his collar, “Hello” she greeted him with a smile, “Please ignore Dragon, he gets a little excited by visitors” she explained about the boxer, “Come in, come in” she ushered.
He returned the smile, though of course a bit anxiously with that touch of self-consciousness. Myrcella had already seen the travesty that was his hair, but it still made Jonathan feel like he should be in an old folks home playing shuffleboard or something. The rest of him was his age, sharp features, and tall, but it was amazing what one dream-change could do to a person’s view of themselves.
“Dragon, is it?” He glanced at the dog, who definitely seemed excited in that ‘I’m going to piss myself!!’ way that overgrown puppies tended to be. “Is he friendly?” Always a good question to ask, before one extended their hand for scritch-scratches behind the ears. “And thank you again for doing this, by the way,” he added. “I really, really appreciate it.”
“He’s very friendly” Myrcella assured him, “And he loves fuss” she added with a smile. Dragon was a ridiculous dog but Myrcella adored him and in return the dog adored her. “Oh it’s no trouble. You’re helping me out too you know, I really want to make sure that I keep my skills up while I’m not in college and besides I’m glad to help you out. The dreams can be terrible things”
Trusting her words, Jonathan gave in and bestowed tons of pets and scratches and butt rubs for the dog, who really was kind of adorable - occasionally he thought about getting a dog too, an errant notion here and there, but it probably wasn’t the right time for one yet. Maybe after he settled in with a job as a licensed attorney, could afford a bigger house with a bigger yard, and things like that. Life things.
Then he stood up straight, attempting to dislodge the tension in his shoulders. “Well, consider me your practice dummy,” he said grandly. “Or...that sounds bad, doesn’t it? You can work your magic though. Just lead me, I’ll follow. Or do whatever you need me to do.” He’d never had a budding cosmetologist-hairdresser-esthetician-ma
“You are now a friend for life you realise” she smiled as she watched him give the dog the attention he craved rather desperately. He was a silly thing but Myrcella loved him all the same. She would always recommend getting a dog, they were amazing and such nice company.
“You don’t need to do anything except relax and let me help you get back to you” Myrcella said, before leading him through to the dining room where she had everything set up. Her home was beautiful and in a wonderful location on the beach. Surprising perhaps for someone her age but luckily her Uncle had left it to her. “Okay so if you want to take a seat here I’ll just mix the dye”
Myrcella’s house really was beautiful; living by the beach was something Jonathan thought about too (it was obviously good for dogs to run around on as well), and currently he was in Irvine simply because it’d been close to the UCI campus - but moving was going to happen at some point. Giving Dragon more pets (and he seemed to be intent on whirling and twirling along anyway), he went with the hostess into the dining room as indicated and picked a chair. Because he was great at following instructions.
“So how much schooling do you have left?” he asked curiously, hands gripping the sides of the chair, clenching, then relaxing. Then going to his knees to rest there. Then folding in his lap. Alright, maybe he was nervous but that had nothing to do with her personally. It was just difficult to really relax these days.
Myrcella rested her hands on his shoulders for a moment and squeezed, “Don’t worry I’m good I promise you that” she said, it was no time for modesty when she needed to reassure him.
“I could be finished now” she said as she mixed up the colour, “But I want to do advanced courses and placements to make sure I am as prepared as possible and know my stuff backwards and inside out” Myrcella was a perfectionist and worked hard at her studies so she’d decided to extend her schooling to make sure she was the best she could be.
Reassurance was good. Jonathan liked reassurance. And he too was something of a perfectionist, so he could understand taking your time through courses and things, to really master the subject, rather than simply just zipping by with a shoddy education. He pushed himself to study hard for the bar exam, wanting to do well on it.
“I know what that’s like, sort of,” he said, while Myrcella mixed the pungent-smelling lifesaver known as hair dye. “The bar exam is a difficult test. California’s pass rates aren’t very high, and the average score overall is something like 67% of the answers correct. I hope to, for one thing, pass the test the first time - “ That happened, when would-be attorneys had to take the thing twice, god, talk about a nightmare, “...and for another, to score as high as I possibly can. Far above average. I could have probably taken it sooner but I signed up for October, on my birthday.” Oh yes, best present to himself ever. Right.
Myrcella was glad he understood, she knew some of the girls on her course didn’t understand why she wasn’t getting out of there as soon as possible. But Myrcella thought it was important to master her studies. She pushed herself too, even if it wasn’t as hard mentally as Jonathan’s chosen career.
“Your birthday? That is very dedicated of you” Myrcella said, “I’m sure you’ll do well, though I hope you’ll do something a little less...taxing afterwards. Celebrate your birthday and the end of the exam” she said, finishing mixing the dye, putting on gloves and popping a towel around his neck before picking up a comb to brush the colour into his hair.
“Less taxing, well, yes,” he chuckled wryly. Of course he would sign up for the bar exam on a day meant for celebrating his birth and a day most people chose to get trashed to commemorate that occasion. But he had enough of that for awhile. Really, he didn’t want to overdo it on the alcohol ever again. “I’ll see what happens. In all honesty, I might just take a nap. Sleep’s been kind of falling by the wayside lately.” What with the dreams and all; he also hoped they wouldn’t be so bad around that time, but it didn’t seem likely. Gothic horror didn’t contain many flowers and rainbows.
Now that he was being painted back to his original shade, Jonathan asked, “How often would I need to come see you to work your magic, by the way? I guess when the roots start showing, I panic and call you?”
“At least have a nice meal with friends. I think birthdays are important, they should be spent with people who you love the most” Myrcella told him with a smile. “Sorry to hear about the sleep though, the dreams can be rough. Especially when you need to get some good sleep with studying and everything”
She chuckled a little at that, “Try not to panic but yes just give me a call and then we can schedule regular meetings to get your roots done”
Well, that was true, birthdays were important. Everyone deserved a cake, at least, as Jonathan once said. “Alright, I promise you that I’ll at least do a pleasant meal or something,” he grinned. Once he felt more like himself again, then his sleep would probably get better too - he wouldn’t be so on edge and affected by a very stubborn bleed-over effect.
“Speaking of. I’d like to do something in exchange for this too, so, tell me...what’s your favorite restaurant?” Someplace nice, maybe, where she could take someone else with her. Just for a night out, or whatever else. For something normal. Those were precious gems in Orange County.
Myrcella grinned, she was glad he’d be celebrating too. It wasn’t right to just let an occasion like that pass by, not in her eyes anyway. It was important to celebrate and be with friends as well as the fact that it was just nice as well.
“Oh umm well usually I go to this place along the beach, a little Italian restaurant but honestly you don’t have to do anything” Myrcella said, describing the place she and Jeremy liked to go when they could. But she didn’t want him feeling like he owed her anything. He was helping her just as much by agreeing to be in her portfolio.
Any protests were good-naturedly waved off - well, more like Jonathan’s nose crinkled, because he didn’t want to move too much. Not while he was being dyed. And Myrcella probably needed him to hold still for the procedure. “Italian restaurant on the beach sounds nice,” he said. “It’s simply a thank you present. Or will be. Besides, soon enough, I’ll be one of your regular clients anyway. And I’ll actually pay you.”
Trying not to fidget, he asked, “How long does it need to stay in there? Do you have Good Housekeeping for me to read while the dye sets?” he joked. And was actually relaxed, already feeling better because he wouldn’t have to look in the mirror and be terrified by his own appearance anymore.
“You should try it sometime, it’s a lovely place. Family run, it’s a favourite of mine and my boyfriend” she told him, wondering if he had anybody special to take to a nice restaurant. She hoped so because he really was a lovely man. “It’s strange hearing that you know? I still can’t imagine having actual clients” Being qualified and setting up her own place was something she was looking forward to but also kind of a daunting prospect.
“Around forty minutes” she said as she finished applying the colour, having managed to get none on his skin. “I have a range of things you can read if you like. I work part time in a bookstore” she grinned, “But I have magazines too, most of them are beauty themed though” She’d have to get that sorted if she continued doing treatments here. “Would you like anything to eat or drink?” she asked, “I have chocolate chip cookies I made when I got in from college earlier”
Chocolate chip cookies were the magic words. They could soothe any savage or anxious beast. “Oh...sure,” Jonathan tried not to seem too overeager. Especially for homemade cookies. “That sounds good. And I’ll read anything. I suppose it never hurts to brush up on, uh, beauty tips, right?” Or ‘twenty tongue tricks for mind-blowing blowjobs’ or whatever was in Cosmopolitan. Umm, no.
Apparently Dragon decided he wanted more pets in the interim, because he came by and plopped his face in Jonathan’s lap. Well, alright then. Forty minutes would pass quickly, when he had a furry friend to bestow attention on.
As long as there was no discussion around those twenty tricks Myrcella honestly didn’t mind what he read so she handed him her latest magazine before heading into the kitchen to get them both juice and cookies.
“Dragon” she sighed at the dog, “You’re such a rude dog” she said as she shook her head at him while he just looked at her as he continued enjoying the strokes he was getting. Myrcella placed the drinks and cookies onto the table near Jonathan so he could reach them without moving too much.
“He’s kind of adorable.” Alright, consider Mr. Harker won over by the overgrown puppy. And Myrcella too, he liked her quite a bit. It was nice to know that there were people, fellow dream-suffers, who would help out when things got complicated - he’d just be sure to return the favor, if he ever could. Pay it forward in some way. He liked the idea of being in it together, instead of floundering on his own.
Especially when he knew, with no shortage of certainly, the Laws of Physics told you one thing: It always got worse, before it got better.