All references to worlds and characters based on Anne McCaffrey's fiction are copyright © Anne McCaffrey 1967,2000, all rights reserved, and used by permission of the author. The Dragonriders of Pern(r) is registered U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, by Anne McCaffrey, used here with permission. Use or reproduction without a license is strictly prohibited. For more information, visit the Worlds of Anne McCaffrey.

28-05-01: Klari
"Twenty-five, twenty-six, twen--" Hanneke counts out loud as she combs her hair, the springy ringlets giving her some difficulty as...

"Twenty-five, twenty-six, twen--" Hanneke counts out loud as she combs her hair, the springy ringlets giving her some difficulty as she attempts to control their bouncing mass. She sits, primly, at the very edge of her cot, legs held together as she continues to work through the tumbling mass, which now reaches close to her waist in length.

Klari comes walking into the barracks, hearing Hanneke counting to herself. Being as Klari was once a trader, the first thought that pops in is, "27... Marks?! Oh, your hair. I gotcha." Klari gives a tug to her odd curls that are forming in just parts of her hair, "How can you comb your curls? I've tried with mine but it just frizzles and messes up." Ah the things Klari doesn't know.

Hanneke certainly prizes her hair at at *least* 27 marks; this is quality stuff here, of course. She glances up, blinking vapidly towards the former trader, her eyes questioning with a blank lack of understanding. "My hair!" she agrees, giggling for no particular reason, resuming her counting. "Sixteen, seventeen--" Another break in her counting is reached, as she notes sagely, with no lack of seriousness, "Very carefully. The comb goes in, and you just...pull!"

Klari shivers as she watches Hanneke just pulling through her curls, "That doesn't hurt? I mean... They just spring right back up like that?" Klari's new to the whole curl thing, she only has a few with the rest of her hair straight. For now she just watches the girl, combing straight through 'em without a single painful expression.

Hanneke's curls, in fact, don't look like they really need combing at all--as if, perhaps, they've already been combed once, twice, three times within the waking hours of the day. The young woman simply beams towards Klari, combing through a patch once more--"twenty-seven, twenty-nine..." Her counting skills, notably, are lacking. "Why wouldn't they? No."

Klari shrugs, she hasn't figured that one out yet either. "I'm not sure... But when I comb mine like I comb the rest of my hair, it just pulls and, well... It hurts." Klari smiles as she sits down on a cot, "You skipped twenty-eight." When you know your marks, you know your numbers. Ah the life of a trader.

Hanneke gives a moue of understanding, perhaps even sympathy, pausing to examine her comb--shocking! A few hairs have detached from her head, twining about the teeth of the comb--with an expression of obvious disgust. She pulls the strands out with some difficulty, her fingers not very good with small activities. "Oh? That's strange." Really it is. "Did I? Twenty-eight, twenty-seven, twenty-nine..."

Klari smiles down at the brush, "It's just a few strands, Hann, it happens." Hopefully not a sign of going bald, it doesn't seem like Klari's going bald, does it? No, okay. Kla goes to fix the numbers for Hanneke but just shakes it off with a bit of laughter. "I think I've found someone that cares about their hair more than I do." Klari just always keeps her hair perfect, not counting her odd coupld of curls of course.

Hanneke takes a deep breath, and nods, managing to hold back the hyperventalation that always threatens to begin when those strands come free. "Yes," she finally states, voice stiff. "It happens." Another nod follows, and a beaming smile returns to her lips--"Oh, hair is *everything*. My best feature, don't you think? Horribly important, to ensure that it stays nice. You do look after your hair, don't you?"

"Of course I do. I'm just trying to figure out how to get these curls to go back straight. Ever since I got my hair cut they've been like that." And then the rest is /absolutely/ straight until it curls at the bottom, getting slightly past her shoulders now. "Yeah, your best feature." Klari doesn't see hair as the best feature but won't bring that up in front of Hanneke.

Hanneke nods her head rapidly, a relieved expression smoothing upon her face, whilst her fingers continue their dance of the comb through tawny ringlets. "Oh! Oh, you have strange hair. Why would it just go curly? Perhaps you should cut it again, and it will go back?" Perhaps not, too. She beams, as Klari's words indulge her ego, and nods her head rapidly. "Oh, quite."

Klari eyes Hanneke for a moment, trying not to take offense to the strange hair comment. "I dunno... It just sprung up a few days after I cut it short. My hair used to go all the way to here." Klari turns and points to the small of her back, "But it was always in my way so I got Ghetain to cut it, he's the only one I've ever let cut my hair. I don't know what I'd do without him." Prob'ly find someone else she /really/ trusts and let them cut her hair, but she'd be scared about it of course. A bad cut is definately worse than curly spots or midnight blue.

Hanneke honestly means no offense--most likely. She nods once more, dipping her head before she offers, "We could cut it, and see?" Perhaps the comment of Ghetain being the only one she's let cut it went right over her head. That wouldn't be unusual. "It might go back! And then you'd be happy!" And Hanneke would be just thrilled. "I love long hair. It's awful pretty, although I prefer to keep mine on top of my head, so it doesn't get in my way." She begins to comb again, hitting a knotting spot which is worked on with a visage of intense concentration--the one thing in life that Matters.

Klari ponders this for a while, "Do you really think it would go straight if I got it cut again?" Klari tries to hide the slightly terrified expression that started to form. "I don't know, Hann... I mean I've never seen you cut anything before..." That's another qualification for cutting Klari Hair.

Hanneke probably hasn't cut anything before, knowing her reputation with various other instruments of cutting, slicing, or otherwise breaking. "It might!" Fence sitting is a good occupation, is it not? " Oh, it'll be fine! I promise!" Terrified is a good idea. Running away screaming is probably even more sensible.

"You'll have to do a good bit of convincing that you can cut hair before I sit down and let you go chopping at it." Klari laughs slightly at that, ending her laughter in a short sigh. It wasn't really that funny, she just wanted to lighten up her own mood. A hand is swept through Klari's hair, just a little habit of course.

Hanneke sets down her comb, hands moving to her hips with a forceful motion of confidence--no doubt misplaced. "Of *course* I can cut hair. Mine's fine, isn't it?" Of course, Hanneke doesn't cut her own hair. Shh. "Perfectly fine. I wouldn't ruin it, honestly I wouldn't. And it'd be easier for you to care for it, if it were cut!" Again. The laugh is echoed by one of her own giggles, as she takes her comb up once more, smoothing through another section of hair.

Klari bites at her bottom lip, "Are you sure? I mean... I could cut it." She's never cut her own hair, but she's good at cutting everyone else's. "Well.. No, I prob'ly couldn't." Klari looks down at the floor, or her sandals, something down there. "Alright, I suppose. Just be careful and take your time if you need to." Of course Klari doesn't sound thrilled, but if it makes her hair straight again, she'd be thrilled then.

She's not serious, is she? Letting *Hanneke* near a pair of scissors, to let near her hair? The candidate beams, standing up, and pinning her own hair up with a smoothly rapid movement. "Yay! This is going to be fun, don't you think? A whole lot of fun! Do you have any scissors?"

Klari sighs as she gets up, already regretting her agreement. "Yeah... I'll get 'em." Klari goes to her cot, digging out a bag and pulled her small shears, just for cutting hair. Shears meaning they're sharp, not so big you could slip and knock someone out with them. "Just... Be careful, alright? And no more than this much." Klari takes Hanneke's hand and spaces her fingers about an inch. That would make it just above her shoulders when curled under.

Hanneke's absolute joy at being trusted to perform such an important deed--hair being the most important thing of all--ensures that she notices nothing of Klari's regret, although she concentrates hard on the distance of her fingers apart, once Klari has spaced them. "That much, right!" she agrees, nodding her head up and down with sincere understanding, taking the sheers carefully in one hand, and giving the air an experimental snip. "You should sit down. So it'll be straight."

Klari nods and sits down, her eyes closed. She doesn't even keep hers eyes open when Ghetain cuts her hair, just the fear factor that she has. "No more than I showed you, alright?" Klari speaks in a serious tone now, of course. Can you believe she's really letting Hanneke cut her hair? Poor Kla.

This is definitely going to be one for the gossips--a legend for all time. Hanneke snips at the air again, seemingly satisfied by the way it moves, and moves towards Klari, measuring the amount of hair she's about to cut with two fingers. "Of course!" she agrees, all but horrified at the suggestion. "I'm not going to hurt it! It's *hair*." Ergo, important. She lifts her hand with sheers within it, and makes the first cut. How fun, to see it falling down. Another cut. Another. It surely isn't that bad--yet.

"Hair's important, just remember that." Other than those words, Klari just sits there in silence, with her eyes shut rather tight, not wanting to see anything fall or even hear anything at all. Klari's just trying to make a mental list of people she might let cut her hair to fix it that is at the Weyr.

"Of course!" Hair is the most important thingl; at least they're sort of agreed on that. Hanneke makes another snip, the sound of the sheers through hair audible to those nearby. Gleefully, she makes her way around the end of the hair, cutting off just about as much as the perscribed amount. She pauses, drawing the sheers down. "Oops."

Klari freezes, becoming completely stiff. "Oops? What happened? Why'd you say oops? You don't just say 'Oops' and have nothing happen." Klari's voice trembles as she imagines half of her hair gone, or the worst possible cut she could ever imagine.

A mullet. That could be the worst. Hanneke tends to babble when she's confident, and when she's not, it's even worse. "Oh, nothing! It's just a teensy little bit jagged--sort of shorter on one side, but it's *nothing* at all. Shall I fix it? It's nothing, though, of course. Nothing a little trim wouldn't solve." Klari may not be able to see it, but Hanneke's nodding her head up and down rapidly, convincing herself, even if she can't convince Klari.

"No, don't cut anymore off than that inch I told you, alright?" Klari goes back through that list again with a sigh, "I'll get it fixed some other time, we're just trying to see if it'll straighten, remember?" Though Klari herself is starting to doubt that. But who knows? She does mumble something though, "Dalas will think this is just /hilarious./"

Hanneke's face falls, but she complies, placing the sheers down beside Klari. She meticulously rubs her hands free of pieces of hair, nodding. "Bet it'd work better if you cut it *all* off." There's a gleam in her eye, which dies as she adds, "Will he? It's not, though. It's perfectly serious! And there's nothing wrong with it. Nothing!"

Klari shakes her head and stands up, feeling her hair, "Gah... What happened?" Yep, she found where it's... shorter. "There's no way I'm cutting all of my hair off. Would /you/ wanna cut all your hair off?" Klari sighs and nods, "Yeah... Dalas will either laugh or.. I dunno, prob'ly think I did it myself." Considering how clumsy she is with knives and he stitched her up himself.

"Well...no," Hanneke admits, regarding the cutting off of all her hair. "But mine isn't uneven! And it's not half curly, and half not!" Therefore, she has no need to cut it all off. Logic. "Well, that's okay! Let him think that!" Move the blame from Hanneke, very good idea. She beams, adding, "Aren't you glad you let me do it? Isn't it fun? Are you *sure* you don't want me to do any more?" She smoothes down her own hair, through it's fancy styling, returning her hands to her side as she maintains a brilliant grin.

"It's not /half/ curly... There's just these right here." Klari gives a tug to the curls next to her face, only one of each side, odd still. "And they're still here." Klari's not raising her voice or anything just, "No, not glad... I'm glad you had fun though. You can help me find someone to fix it if you want?" Klari works on putting her hair up in a runner's tail, those curls staying out still though. But she does get the rest up, at least it's all long enough for that. Klari sighs once more, rolling her eyes before she just laughs, "You really are something Hanneke... Not sure what, but I'll figure it out one day." She is fun though.

At least she isn't upset, for which Hanneke appears to be overly pleased. "Well, whatever." Verbal precision isn't all that important--not compared to hair. "I did! I have a new career option!" Run, run now. "Er, find someone? Er, why don't you do that yourself?" Leave Hanneke out of it, in case people make fun of her to her face. Or something. "Something? Am I something? Oh, goodie!" Oh Faranth.