hold on, wait a minute!

Despite being in a dimly lit manor full of little black dresses and monochrome tuxes, it wasn’t hard for Rae to recognize familiar faces. When they spotted Jasmine and her high ponytail from across the room, Rae maneuvered a way to sneak up behind their friend with a toothy grin. “Isn’t it tiring,” Rae sighed, taking the neck pillow off of their neck and wrapping it around Jasmine’s playfully. “Being this gorgeous 24/7? How does one live out the days.” Faking a yawn and resting their head on the girl’s shoulder, they laughed heartily before turning to face her. “I haven’t found a single piece of candy in this manor yet and it is jarring... just one Mint.” Looking around them, Rae wanted to explore these winding halls but not without a companion. “Wanna go find some with me?” They couldn’t think of doing it with anyone better than Jasmine.

RAE KAPLAN attends Catalina’s HALLOW’S EVE | SIN: SLOTH / ACEDIA

“Indolence, sloth rejects the burden of order, choosing instead the breezy lightness of freedom. Loving self more than relation, and autonomy more than the good, in sloth one rejects the weight and density of living in an ordered creation.”

☼

“Are you -” But the rest of that question never saw the light of day as the customer the hairdresser was talking to walked out, sending a nod her way. A little bit of guilt snuck up and deflated her mood at the sight, but she was not about to complain, especially in these dire circumstances. Muttering a small thanks to the client, Juni took a seat in the now vacant chair, relaxing at the reassuring words of the hairdresser in charge.

“I honestly can’t thank you enough,” she said, “People are so damn disgusting these days. They stuck it to a tree, can you believe it?” It was involuntarily the way her fists curled up into tiny balls, as creases etched into her forehead, “Like, my faith in humanity was already low, and this just pushed it off the edge. If I ever find who did this…” Juni simply trailed off with a shake of her head, unable to complete that sentence, because really, what could she actually do? “Anyways, I’m sorry for the rant and barge-in, you’re definitely one of the good ones. Oh, um, I have to ask, are you going to be cutting my hair to get this off?”

-

This was definitely one of the more rare emergencies Rae would encounter in their career as a hairdresser, but nonetheless they knew how to handle it— both the hair and the anxious customer. “It’s like the one incident you never thought you’d see happen outside of a movie, right?” Rae responded with a sympathetic smile, separating the hair that wasn’t twisted in the piece of gum and clipping it away from the spot. 

Rayna’s eyebrows shot up. “Already? I’m so sorry, but I’m really glad I’m not in school anymore,” she said with a laugh. She offered them a sympathetic smile. “It was hell, and I know what hell is like. I got stuck with a flat tire in the middle of the desert in California once. I wanted to kill everything and everyone. And school was worse.” Dramatic? Maybe. But untrue? Definitely not. “Never waste the nights off. They’re few and far between,” she said in a feigned stern tone, as though imparting the kind of infinite wisdom that she wasn’t nearly capable of.

Her smile brightened again when her eyes met Rae’s in the mirror and she laughed. “Oh, same old, same old. Work, helping Harper at the restaurant, mostly when they need someone to eat food that an asshole customer sent back so it doesn’t go to waste, and we crashed a yacht party over the summer. That was fun.” Perhaps a bit petty on her part, at least for the purposes she’d had in mind when crashing said party, but it had still been fun. How often did one get to crash a rich ass yacht party with full confidence of not being thrown overboard?

-

Already snipping away at Rayna’s pesky split ends, like most hairstylists that have been in the business for as long as Rae has, it was all muscle memory at this point. Chit-chatting while they worked wasn’t a distraction for them, if anything it was technically a part of Rae’s job. “Well I’m glad you had f- wait, hold up. Crashed a yacht party?” Of course, now and again some details would go over Rae’s head as they passively listened to someone else. “Girl, what?” Bewildered, Rae shook their head and laughed, brushing out Rayna's hair to figure out where else they needed to trim.

If there was something that Marco had gotten used to over the last couple of years, it was seeing customers who were clearly out on a date and having the worst possible time. He’d saved a few of them, too, and Rae was no exception to that. There had been a couple of occasions where he’d taken it upon himself to rescue them —- obviously in need from the look in their eyes. Today, however, he was in some need of saving himself. “Yeah, I know…” he answered her with a gentle chuckle, looking around. “It’s real nice, though.”

When they continued, he was quick to shake his head, he’d never been all that worried about who cut his hair. “I believe you,” he told them with a smile. “When I’ve been passing by here before I’ve never seen anything other than happy customers leaving that door.” That was true as well and something that gave him to confidence to step through the door today, along with already knowing Rae, of course. “Under maintenance, huh? You know what, I think I could go with that.” Another laugh. “I’ve been told it looks good by a few people, but no, not really my thing when I spend all my time in a kitchen… or near one, anyway.”

-

“It’s mostly just navigating how to style your hair at different lengths. Entirely up to you here, but we can either cut it a lot shorter or give it a healthy trim and work with what you’ve got now.” Rae had the expertise to give the chef their suggestion, but seeing it was Marco’s first time at the salon, it was important to get an idea of what Marco preferred as a new client. It wasn’t like suggesting something off a menu, it was making a cosmetic change. “They’re not wrong though, you’ve got a great head of hair.” As good as it looked, Rae understood that it was a bit harder for someone with a career like Marco’s to both maintain and enjoy having longer hair.

Lottie had no idea what she had been thinking but making bad choices when she was bored was something she was known for. Growing up her professors hated it and usually gave her extra work to keep her from doing anything too bad. Her grandfather liked to point out that idle hands were the devil’s workshop. Maybe he was right. Maybe she should have found something else to do but oh well. It was too late now.

“You know that trend of taking Kool aid and dying your hair with it? Well…” Taking a seat, she pulled off the hat she was wearing to show her friend the damage she had done to her hair. “You know the videos make it seem so easy. If you can actually fix this without having to shave my head you’ll get the biggest tip ever plus I’ll buy you lunch,” She promised.

-

Rae knew plenty of hairdressers who were overdramatic for no reason when it came to clients that would try dyeing their own hair at home, as if they didn’t start out doing the same exact thing. “That’s not too bad. Trust me, I’ve seen much worse.”  It’s all Rae did growing up, experimenting the different ways they could express themselves through different hairstyles and colors until they learned professionally at the beauty institute. They also knew people couldn’t always spend money on getting their hair dyed from a professional, especially if it was just on a whim sparked by curiosity.

“Okay, interesting thought,” he replied as he typed short notes on what she said. “Valid, most of my break ups have been messy but I’ve also got issues so I’m not factoring that in here. I’ll give more context. Say for a hypothetical, you’re a stereotypical up tight individual. You plan literally everything. At any given time of the day, someone could look at a clock and know exactly what you’re doing.” Tyson paused, taking a moment to assess. “What if it’s framed in a way that you were unaware that your partner was unhappy. You were just focused on your own unhappiness that you didn’t even see the signs. I mean people are blindsided by break up all the time, now?”

-

The brownie was gone and they were disappointed in themselves. Normally they would stop halfway and put it back in the bag for later, but in their defense, it had been a while. “Yeah, it totally happens.” Rae would be lying if they said they’re paying full attention to what he had to say. They did hear most of it, however, and definitely gathered enough information to give more feedback, which he clearly wanted. 

“What if the breakup is the one thing this meticulous person didn’t plan? They didn’t expect themselves to say it where or when they did, the partner is shocked because they too can tell it was completely just... out of the blue, unplanned.” Rae’s opinion wasn’t warranted at all and they knew that, but providing alternate options might help him in the long run. At the end of the day, he should, and probably would go with what feels right to him.

Juni wasn’t the type to yell. No. Scratch that. She was exactly the type to yell — especially when dealing with complete morons. Fresh out of her final class for the day, Juni figured it’d be nice to get some reading done at the park rather than heading straight home, and it was a nice day for it too. She could not have foreseen that a simple lean against the trunk of a tree would cause her so much distress. 

“I have an emergency,” she screamed as she burst in through the doors of the salon slightly out of breath. “End of the world type situation, like, I need help now or, I will personally end the world situation.” It was only after her outburst that she took a moment to take in her surroundings. The hairdresser mid-talk with a client, other customers waiting for their appointments, all of them starting at her like she lost her shit. Technically, she did lose her shit, was quick to realise that an explanation might clear some confusion. “Gum, people! GUM,” she whined, carefully tugging at her locks, “I have gum in my hair! It’s disgusting, someone get this out please…”

-

Right before Rae could get a response, Rae and their friend turned their attention to the frantic customer who swung open the salon door. “Oh, god. Sit right here, love. It’s all good.” Turning the chair for her to sit in, Rae couldn’t blame the girl for freaking out, it was no joke having gum stuck in your hair. Luckily, Rae knew just the trick, no scissors or hair cutting needed.

This wasn’t usually something that Marco made a habit of, but knowing there were a few important guests coming to the restaurant tonight and there was a possible threat of Michelin on the horizon again, he’d decided having his hair tidied up probably wouldn’t hurt all that much. having spoken to Rae on the few occasions they’d been into the restaurant, he’d gotten to know exactly where they worked and so that’s why he decided to head today. Having your hair done by someone you knew was always a good thing.

“That’s good to know…” He laughed, watching Rae as they disposed of the hair in the dustpan. “If you’ve got the time, I just need to be looking less shaggy by tonight.” A shrug and he took a step further into the salon, glancing around for a moment. It was the first time he’d stepped foot inside, so it was all new to him, usually he headed to a barber in Lafayette Square, but there’d been as issue recently causing him to close.

.

The last time Rae had seen Marco- no, the only times Rae would ever catch Marco was when they would eat at Ricci’s on several occasions. There were many awkward dates Rae was able to get through by striking up a conversation with Marco if he happened to walk by. Rae was always admiring him for his craft, often prodding for recipes as they broadened their culinary horizons but knowing he’d never fully give his secrets away. Today, however, Marco would be Rae’s customer. “I have to say, it is delightfully strange having you at the salon!” For once, he’d be able to see Rae’s profession in action.

“Are you sure?” Rayna asked, poking her head in. She offered Rae a hopeful smile. “You work too much,” she teased, even as she conceded and sat in the chair. It wasn’t like Rayna had any room to complain. She only had a few hours until she had to go home and get ready to go in for a graveyard shift. Should she be sleeping? Probably, but coffee worked just as well. And graveyard shifts at the hospital were not as insane as medical dramas would’ve had her believe. “Both? I’m here for both. I missed you, and we need to catch up, but also I need a trim. The split ends look went out of style back in med school.” She laughed a little, offering them a bright smile before she pulled her hat off, ruffling the mess of hair that she’d been hiding under it. “What’ve I missed? I feel like we haven’t caught up in forever. You said you were starting classes soon, right?”

━

Wanting to trim away her stressful split ends was all Rae needed to know. “Missed you too, little lady.” Filling an empty spray bottle with water, Rae screwed it on tight and did a few test spritz in the air before heading to the station Rayna sat at. “Yeah no, it’s been a minute! See, I too thought classes were starting soon, but the semester started last week. If my other friend who goes to LCC didn’t remind me I would’ve been a week behind.” Whenever a semester break came to its end, Rae was a bit fuzzy-brained and it took about a week in advance to fully readjust for the new semester, so not having that extra week really threw them off. “Other than that, nothing too new. I probably won’t be out as much but... Definitely took advantage of those weekday nights while I could.” They had plenty of time to talk about that.