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“Alright, if we’re gonna go impersonating ourselves－” Nate started.
“You’re gonna need a haircut.” Rip finished
“Yeah,” Nate breathed out. Truth be told, he was rather looking forward to removing the unfortunately styled mullet that “Doomworld” had foisted on him. As he and Rip left the room, he heard Mick repeat his earlier petition to go to Aruba. Shaking his head in disbelief, he turned to Rip and said, “Does the Waverider even have any hair-cutting tools?”
“Indeed she does, Dr. Heywood. She even has a limited capability to cut and style hair on her own.” As he spoke, Rip took the lead, guiding Nate through the Waverider’s maze of corridors.
“Really? So I can just sit down and she’ll get me back to my old haircut automatically?” Nate said skeptically.
“I’m afraid not Dr. Heywood,” said Rip regretfully. “The automatic functions are limited to smaller alterations. Really, it’s only meant for touch-ups and trims, not giving someone a new one. No, I’m afraid we’re gonna have to do this the old fashioned way.” And with that, they arrived at their destination. It was a room Nate had never seen before. It looked to him like someone had crossed an old fashioned barber shop with a futuristic spaceship. Which, he realized with a shake of his head, was pretty much exactly what he was looking at.
“Alright Dr. Heywood,” Rip said with a wave of his hand. “Take a seat right here and we’ll get started.”
With a certain amount of trepidation, Nate sat himself down in the barber’s chair and let Rip fasten the hair shield around his neck. “Umm, do you actually know what you’re doing with this? Like, do they teach you how to cut hair in Time Master school?”
Unoffended, Rip snorted in amusement, “In fact they did. Just the basics, but the Academy did have several courses on fashion and whatnot. The Time Masters considered one’s hair and clothes an important part of being able to blend into an era.”
“Ok, that makes sense. But what about your hair? It’s not exactly in a generic ‘historical’ style,” Nate couldn’t help but comment as Rip set to work with a pair of shears.
Rip looked a little sheepish. “Well, I wasn’t exactly myself when it was done. And I might have botched it slightly trying to do it on my own…And the Legion isn’t exactly concerned with historical accuracy so when Thawne fixed he just went with what looked good…” Rip muttered quickly.
“Wait a second, did you just say Thawne cut your hair!?” Nate exclaimed. “Eobard Thawne, the Reverse Flash, our enemy, cut your hair!?”
By now Rip was looking distinctly uncomfortable. “Well yes, I grant you that it was extremely odd but I was brainwashed so I didn’t know any better,” Rip grumbled. His hands had stayed busy during the entire conversation and in attempt to redirect away from uncomfortable topics he said, “I think we’re just about done here, what do you think?”
Nate opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the arrival of Sara. “Hey are you guts ready to go?” Seeing the results of Rip’s handiwork Sara smiled and said, “Looking good Nate! Don’t forget to gel up the front before we head out.” Turning to Rip she remarked, “I should have known you’d be good at this, after all, look at that undercut!”
Rip squirmed awkwardly. “Well, yes I suppose－”
But before he could get any further Nate quickly interrupted, “Itwasn’thimThawnecuthishairforhim.”
Sara looked at him like he’d grown a second head, while Rip put a hand over his face in exasperation. “Come again?”
Nate repeated himself more slowly, “It wasn’t him, Thawne cut his hair for him.”
Sara blinked at him. “Rip, is that true?”
Without uncovering his face Rip mumbled, “Yes, yes it is.”
Sara paused for a few beats. “Ok then guys, lets go defeat the best time traveling hairdresser the world has ever seen!”
fin