It sucks working for your older sister (open)

[Deleted]

When Hawthorn had graduated from Hammel, and even before that, he never would have thought he'd be working for his family still. He had never hated it, after all, he loved his family and was very close with all of his siblings, but still. He used to think he might be doing a bit more with his life by now. But, things change and he was content with what he was doing and worked with his avoidance of driving or even leaving the city limits.

His sister, Willow, had asked him to pick up a shift at her salon, it was busy and they were understaffed at the moment and things would run smoother if he could handle the more menial tasks. Such as fetching items they needed, taking calls, scheduling appointments, and the occasional hair washing. He enjoyed this job, more than he enjoyed helping Ivy, at least, which was a low bar because he hated working for Ivy. Maybe she was just terrible to him because she enjoyed bossing her younger brother around, but still it was miserable.

Willow didn't boss him around near as much, but she gave him just as many rules. That he was very inclined to break if he didn't know how badly it would go for him if he refused to comply. She'd probably tell mom and he'd get the guilt trip of the century.

"Hey," he greeted the most recent customer, he'd already gotten a pretty stern talking to from Willow about being rude and that he was to be on his best behavior or he would be leaving with bright pink hair, "why don't we get you to the back and wash you hair up, hm?" He gestured toward the back door that led to the sinks before walking that way himself. "What are you looking to get done today."
Small talk, he hated it, but it was apparently part of his job description.

[Elanora Brennan]

Nora had been here a few times now just to keep her hair under control, with the natural waves in it if she didn't make sure the dead end were kept at bay her hair became one massive nightmare of a birds nest. She had begun to notice her brush was getting caught more often then not the last few days and had made the appointment yesterday knowing it was time to tame the red demon that was her hair. She walked into the little shop her ever present motorbike helmet tucked under her arm, she had paused outside in the car park and forced a brush through her hair when she got off the bike knowing the wind from the ride over would have tangled it and not wanting the salon to have to deal with that.

The guy at the counter greeted her from the moment she walked in and gestured for her to follow him through to start the washing process of today's hair routine. She followed him through to the back, she had seen him around the shop a few times but wasn't overly familiar with him so she stayed silent as she walked up to the sinks. When he asked her a direct question she answered, she wasn't the forward type. "I just need the dead ends cut off please" she said politely in a somewhat small shy voice, her mother had always drilled into her that she had to be polite to everyone.

She wasn't good at small talk, hell she wasn't good at the whole talking thing in general she she simply stood there holding her helmet awkwardly waiting as he prepared the sink and chair and sat when instructed too. Would he expect small talk from her? Would he get annoyed at her when she failed at it? These things ran through her head making her anxious about her hair cut, though this wasn't unusual situations where she had to be in contact with people tended to make her anxious to begin with. The pulsating behind her eyes from sensing his power wasn't helping any and she was pretty sure from the intensity there were more meta's in here then just him though she tried her hardest not to focus on any of them enough to actually pin point their power. She couldn't turn it off but she was getting a little better at blocking all the details, it was slightly easier to handle the power when she wasn't being overloaded with all the information of all the different powers all at once.

[Deleted]

Hawthorn didn't really get a good look at the girl, he often got caught in the routine of his job and forgot to actually /look/ at people. He set up the sink, only two of the others in the room were in use so he set them up in the corner away from the other patrons.

"Oh," he finally turned to look at her as he was deciding which soaps he should use, "You've been here before?" He recognized her by her hair alone and was sure he'd never gotten her name save for when he was scheduling her appointments. "S'hard to forget a color like that," he flicked his eyes up toward her hair before returning to sort through the various bottles in the overhead cabinets.

"Go ahead and sit down, you know how this works," he joked bringing down what he'd decided upon, keeping her hair color in mind. Hawthorne placed the towel behind her neck to keep the water from dripping onto her clothes. "Yeah, I remember you for sure now Miss Chatty Cathy." He teased, remembering the fact that she actually very rarely spoke when she came save for when she was asked what she wanted to be done.

Gently he pulled his fingers through her hair, knowing just the way too move to not pull or yank at it. "Yeah you're about due for an appointment," it didn't necessarily look bad, "getting pretty hard to deal with I bet." But he knew hard to manage hair when he saw it.

"So polite," he snickered at her response earning a glare from one of the other workers in the room, "Sorry," he sighed, "I'm supposed to be on my best behavior or my sister will have my head on a stake."

[Elanora Brennan]

Her hand gravitated her her hair at the mention of the colour of it, she loved how red it was, though she had almost got it coloured to black one time, she had been hoping to make it easier to blend into the crowds at school but the hairdresser she was going too at the time refused to do it, Informing Nora that she would regret it right away and never be able to get her beautiful red back.

Nora hadn't argued with her had just agreed to have only the trim at the time, but she had gone home furious with herself for not pushing the issue, she had almost gone and gotten the do it yourself dye but had just gone home instead. By morning she had been glad for the hairdresser, it had been a rash decision after a bad day and she knew the lady had saved her from feeling all sorts of depressed over losing her red hair.

The guy told her to sit and she did tucking the helmet between her ankles so no one would trip on it and leaning back until she felt the towel behind her neck the cloak around her body and as she relaxed into the chair his sure hands working first the water and then the lather into her hair. She loved getting her hair done it was so relaxing having someone play with your hair. However she did wonder if she should try and find a salon with less Meta's in it she wasn't able to let herself fully relax or else the pounding in her head started up again

Nora didn't mind his teasing on her 'chattyness' or on her manners, sure it wasn't all that common these days but she was content to continue using her manners despite the growing trend to throw manners out the window. "Don't worry I wont tell your sister if you don't" she said with a small smile, she was really trying to be a bit more talkative and why not practice on her hair dresser right... they had to pretend you were fun to talk to or something didn't they? Something about customer service jobs.

"Couldn't you just scare them all into not punishing you or something anyway?" She asked curiously despite her best efforts to block the meta signals from her mind, due to the close proximity and the relaxing head massage she had been unable to block herself from reading what his power was, though she was currently still just able to block the rest from overloading her with information and her brain was prickling behind her eyes with the beginnings of a headache from the effort.

[Deleted]

It was a beautiful color he thought as he worked his hands through her hair, he'd always been pretty good at this jobs. Good with his hands or whatever the joke was. But he enjoyed it, he liked playing with hair, he'd helped get his younger sisters ready for school in the morning when they were younger. Even now they allowed him to braid their hair back whenever they went home to visit their mother and kept her company.

Yes, it definitely would have been a shame if she had covered the color up and it was a good thing she had been stopped.

"I'm Hawthorn," he introduced himself, tapping a finger to the nametag on his chest, "Nice to finally hear you speak Miss Softspoken." He smiled gently down at her as he worked on lathering her hair.

"Oh, a co-conspirator, good, good, I need someone on my side all these other women tattle on me all the time, it's so annoying," he sneered playfully and winked at another glaring employee, "They should take a note from you and be silent once and a while."

There was a slight pause in his actions as he took in what she said, it was likely she was just inferring that he was a scary man but that was too simple for a town like this. He moved his questioning gaze from her face and back to her hair scratching his fingers through her hair once more before looking back at her face again.

"Do you know me?" he didn't sound mean or upset when he said it, he was just curious, he knew he had a bit of a reputation during his time at Hammel when he had very poor control over his abilities but he very rarely if ever used them nowadays.

Hawthorn shrugged, "It doesn't work that way, not in my experience at least. It's not that they're afraid of /me/ really. Just afraid in general you know?" He could see a bit of discomfort on her face, "Lemme guess you're a meta yea? Side effects kicking in?"

He paused in his actions to see if she needed anything, "Do you need some water or anything?"

[Elanora Brennan]

Nora smiled slightly as he introduced himself officially her eyes were closed as a protective measure though she shouldn't have worried Hawthorn seemed to know what he was doing and no suds or excess water made it near her eyes as he washed her hair. "I'm Nora, it's nice to meet you" she offered up, sure it was out of social obligation, someone gave you their name you provided yours in return but that wasn't why she did it. Somehow the easy way he joked about her awkward and quiet ways made it easier to talk to him, it wasn't in a mean your a freak way, but in a kind I'm going to make you come out of your shell kind of way and Nora was surprisingly okay with that.

Nora was about to argue the co-conspirator part despite herself when he brought up the fat the rest of them should be more silent like her she laughed lightly. "Not everyone can pull off the silent thing it all has to do with genes, if you have the wrong ones it's impossible." She blurted rambling slightly, clearly her genes just weren't wired correctly for speaking she though mentally berating herself for not just keeping her mouth shut.

Nora listened to his explanation, wasn't that just typical, from Nora's experience powers never worked the way you thought they would or wished they would. For example when she was dragged off to the school and told she would be taught how to control her power, she thought that would include how to turn the stupid thing off. However no apparently there was no off button for her's and by control it they just meant what she was trying to do now and somewhat filer the information she was receiving so it wasn't quite so overwhelming.

She nodded to the comment about side effects kicking in and yep they sure were, "Water would be great thank you" She said reaching into her pocket to retrieve the sleeve of pain killers she always carried on her. Once she had some water she would take them and hopefully the pulsating behind her eyes would be numbed slightly though she knew from experience they only worked fully once she was away from Meta's and their powers were no longer trying to force their way into her mind.

"Don't you wish sometimes getting your powers was like a contract where they gave you the option to read through the fine print detailing what you will have to deal with, and then you have the option to sign and receive the powers or throw the contract away and live a normal life?" She mused totally forgetting to answer his question about whether she knew him, which other than seeing him here the answer would have been no.

[Deleted]

He tipped his head slightly as she introduced herself, "Nice to meet you too," and then he added with a small smile, "Finally." It was unlikely that he would stop teasing her about her quietness anytime soon, but it was all in fun and if she seemed to get upset about it, he would consider backing off. Shay was careful in his work and moved the suds away from her roots his hands, keeping the lather under control so she wouldn't have to worry about it getting into her eyes.

Despite Nora believing what she had said was awkward or unneccessary Shay laughed, "You're right. Like me, I can't keep my mouth shut if my life depended on it." Which was true, at time he spoke at very innappropriate moments, nevermind the fact that sometimes it was on purpose, he just had a knack for pissing people off.

In order to make it a bit easier for her to sit up he sprayed her hair with water quickly and wringing it out enough that it wouldn't drip all over her. "I'll rinse it better after you... feel better." He left her briefly to go to the employee break room and retuned with a plastic cup of water, "We didn't have any kind of pain-- nevermind," he said with a shake of his head when he noticed that she had her own medicine with her.

"Happen a lot?" Shay handed her the cup and stepped away to lean against the shelf and let her do what she needed to. He thought about her comment, "I dunno." Of course, a lot of it kind of sucked, the nightmares and the paranoia that came with his ability, but he did like having it and the way he was able to connect with his family because he did.

"Maybe, I don't really know what I would pick, though," he didn't hate his ability, but he certainly wasn't entirely happy with it either.

[Elanora Brennan]

Nora smiled gratefully as Hawthorn rinsed and dried her hair off enough for her to sit up before he went and got her some water. She took the cup from him and smiled warmly, before popping two of the tablets in her mouth and swallowing them with the help of the water. "only every time I'm around meta's" she commented with a shrug leaning back so Hawthorn could finish his job and the drugs could have a chance to kick in.

She listened to Hawthorn and was glad for him, his power couldn't be all bad if he wasn't sure if he would give it up. "I'd give mine up if I could" She mused almost more to herself then to Hawthorn. Sure if her power had an on/off switch her answer might be different, but the truth was it didn't and she had never been able to help anyone by having this power it just caused her pain, and caused her to live the last 8 years hiding from everyone.

*sorry for short post epic fail on Piffle's behalf

[Deleted]

Hawthorn whistled at her comment, "Oh, that's a doozy considering the town you live in," and how she was probably surrounded by metas on a daily basis. It was natural that they had a bit of a high concentration of metas in the area what with Hammel so close, and most people just chose to settle down or attend the University while they were here. So, yeah, there were quite a few metas in the town.

When she leaned back he stepped away from the counter, "Are you sure you're good?" He could wait a little bit longer to resume if he needed to, but she seemed rather sure.
"Yeah?" he questioned back as he started the water back up, running his hand under it to make sure the temperature hadn't changed too drastically while it sat. "It's just hard to say, it's been part of who I am for so long. It'd be like being a different person," he began to rinse her hair again, trying to be sure he'd gotten all of the shampoo out in his hurry, "Is the water too hot?" He asked, trying to make sure she was comfortable, concerned even if she said she was used to the headaches.

"Even with... the side effects... I dunno, I'm just not comfortable saying I wouldn't want it when I don't know who I'd be without it." Shay shrugged, of course it was only his opinion, but the butterfly effect was a scary, scary thing.

[Elanora Brennan]

Nora failed to hold back the little scoff of agreement to Hawthorns comment about the town, "No kidding" she said softly as if more to herself. As she relaxed back into the chair as Hawthorn asked if she was sure she was good to keep going, she simply nodded. If she put like on hold every time she got a small headache and waited for it to be completely gone before resuming she would never get anything done. She had to admit the concern he showed, by checking she was okay and that the water temperature was fine was nice, most places weren't even perceptive enough to pick up on the fact she had a headache brewing let alone caring enough to make sure she was comfortable.

"It's fine" she said easily because it was, it was nice and warm without being too hot, just the way she liked it, there was nothing worse than it being too cold especially in this weather. She listened to his answer in regards to his powers and his explanation as to why he wouldn't give them up, she wondered absently what his side effects were.

"That makes sense, personally I was better before them" she said softly, she totally understood that for some people the powers, the school the whole thing was a growth experience that improved who they were and how they dealt with the world. For her it had been the opposite, she used to be an open, bubbly and happy person and she had become a closed off recluse after the whole power thing came to light.

Who knows maybe one day she would look back and decide it was all worth it for who she had become but as of right now she just couldn't see it.

[Deleted]

If Hawthorn was more of the considerate type of guy, he didn't really count his current reaction as falling under considerate because it would be unfair to be mean to someone as shy as Nora, he might have offered up more of the background on his ability. At the very least she had uncovered what it was if she wanted more than that she would have to ask. Though, it was likely he'd still be somewhat unwilling to divulge the effects on his mental stability that his power had caused.

It seemed he had managed to get most of the suds out in his quick wash, which was good, it would have been hard to deal with any left over residue. Once he decided it was rinsed enough he got the conditioner out, spreading it into his hands before working it through her long tresses, concentrating it more to the ends where the hair was less exposed to natural oils.

Shay hummed in thought, "I probably was better or rather healthier before them," but he had so many good memories and friendships that formed after them. "Most of my family had powers," he admitted, continuing to run the product through her hair, "It's nice to have that in common with them." Sure, his mother and two of his siblings did not have powers and he wasn't any less close with them but it was nice to be in a family of metas that knew that things weren't always so great and dandy when it came to abilities.

"I don't think I would mind too much if I only had headaches to worry about," he didn't want to come across as bitter, he knew side effects in genetal kind of sucked. But he was a little jealous that he felt like he had so much more to deal with.

[Elanora Brennan]

Nora sat listening to Hawthorn talk about how his family had powers too and wondered what that might be like, would she have been able to deal better if her mum was able to understand better what she was going through. Thinking on it Nora still doubted that would have made much difference her mum was supportive and extremely helpful in helping her deal, after all it was her mum that helped push her back into society this year. After being back home for a while after living on campus at Hammel, it was nice to be back home but her mum was right she couldn’t stay locked away.

Her mind wandered some as he massaged the conditioner into her hair, but she came back to focus on his words when he mentioned not minding if all he got was headaches. She frowned slightly, she knew some of the side effects people experienced could be quite extreme and bad and she tried not to judge and felt a little put out that he seemed to judge her headaches. “The headache’s aren’t too bad it’s when they become migraines they become a problem” she said a little defensively not meaning too but not able to stop herself.

[Deleted]

Shay certainly felt he was lucky to have a family so chock full of metas. It had only come to be so with the current generation but it was still quite nice. It certainly fit the mood of the house at least, as odd as the family was already it only made sense to throw abilities into the mix and make it even more so.

Even her upset behavior was meek and unsure but it was still obvious she was upset, even if she kept her polite manner of speech up despite her irritation. "I understand, it's rough no matter what," at least that's what he said. He just didn't think he should continue to be rude to a paying customer before his sister came by and shoved her heel into his back.

"How often do you get them," as bitter as he was he was still curious and somehow managed to squash the tone that had gotten him in trouble previously.

[Elanora Brennan]

Nora didn’t particularly want to talk about her headaches with Hawthorn anymore, she understood other people had it worse than her she had witnessed some pretty horrendous side effects in her time at Hammel, but if you never got migraines you just couldn’t understand them properly. Some people thought they had migraines when they had a bad headache but unless their vision was affected with spots blurring their vision and any form of light being completely intolerable at the very least and when they got back resulting in vomiting to top it off then all they had was a headache. She tried to keep those thoughts to herself though and not accuse those people of having no idea.

“Most times I’m subjected to a room full of meta’s” she responded not wanting to be rude by ignoring his question even though she didn’t really want to she figured she may as well try and stay sociable, well as sociable as she ever managed to be while he finished washing her hair, he was up to conditioner now so it couldn’t take too much longer right, then she could get her trim and get back to being a recluse where there was no one around to scoff at her migraines, the pain meds had begun to kick in a little and it helped ease the drumming on her brain slightly though she knew until she got away from all the meta’s in here it wouldn’t go away completely.

She shut her green eyes again, figuring he might think she was shutting them because of the water or her headache and not caring which he thought. In truth she felt slightly less self-conscious if she couldn’t see the people around her, childish maybe but kind of that whole if I can’t see you then you can’t see me mentality. She knew it didn’t really work that way but it made her feel better to pretend it was true in uncomfortable situations “you work at other places too don’t you I’ve seen you elsewhere before” she said with her eyes still closed hoping to get the conversation off her.

[Deleted]

It was a little unfair of him, and some part of him (somewhere) knew that it was, but he also didn't particularly care if he hurt the girl's feelings. He was only being quite so civil due to his fear of his sister's wrath being cast upon him if he continued to well... be a total dick.

Still, he knew about migraines as he got them as well, along with everything else... Ahhh he could feel himself start to mope a bit as he was a little prone to self-pity. Maybe it was in both their best interests they stop talking about it....

"Ah, so pretty often then," he smiled a bit, trying to clear the tense air between them though it was probably a fruitless effort considering he was likely to turn around and say something that offended her again.

"Why even stay here then?" Sure there were metas everywhere, but Pilot Ridge had always seemed to be especially full of them, "Why not settle in some small town with only a few metas and be as unsociable and migraine-free as you want?" It just seemed a rather simple solution to him. But it was likely it was not quite so simple as it all seemed, things rarely were. But it didn't stop him from sticking his nose right into her business where he was sure she didn't want it, but again he cared little about where his nose was wanted.

Shay paid very little attention to her closing her eyes, a lot of people had their eyes shut anyway when he washed their hair. Probably afraid to get water or soap in their eyes, as if he'd be such an amateur. "Yeah," he said with a nod, he would be surprised if she hadn't seen him before even if it had just been around town. "I work at my mom's shop and with my sister's catering service."

It was always easier for him to work with his family, considering his personality and the fact that sometimes he needed to call out because of his leg, or his nightmares keeping him up, or even if just wasn't fit to be around people for the day.