Work Text:
It was a calm afternoon in Jubilife Village, Arezu humming away as she finished cutting her current client’s hair. Working as a hair stylist was fun to her– It brought her nice surprises, too.
She made her last cut with her scissors and directed her customers attention to the mirror in front of them.
“You look quite stunning in this style– I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!” She beamed.
The client awed as they looked at their new cut. “Woah, I do look amazing! Thank you, Miss Arezu!”
They handed over the money for payment and walked out of the building. Arezu waved to them and put away her earnings. Soon after, another person walked in.
Arezu greeted him. “Oh, Volo? That’s your name, right?”
Volo nodded. “Indeed it is! I’ve come with a special order in mind.”
“Oh? Can you describe it?” She asked, very curious. She loved doing custom orders, it made the experience a lot more interesting.
Volo took out a piece of paper and handed it to the girl. It had multiple refined sketches with messy, unordered writing scribbled in the blank spaces. It closely resembled the creator of all Pokemon, Arceus, but Arezu didn’t notice that. What she did notice was how detailed it was– There were even notes for specific measurements for some parts.
“Wow, this is a tall order…” She mumbled.
“Ah, if it’s too much then I can go. I may have gotten a bit overboard.” Volo nervously chuckled.
Arezu gave him a determined look. “No, I can do it! I just need to make the impossible possible, then everything else will be as easy as cake!”
She undid Volo’s ponytail and started on the easier part of the order. He wanted his hair dyed to have a white fade-out in the back, so she got out the supplies for it.
“So,” She was musing, “How in Hisui am I going to make your hair defy gravity… Hm…”
Volo thought with her. “Maybe with something sticky? I really should’ve thought about it more before coming to you.”
“But you’re onto something, though! What’s sticky, and preferably not gross…”
She pondered in silence for a moment as she dyed Volo’s hair. It’d have to hold quite a bit of hair up for what she assumed would be a long period of time. A lot of the accessible materials in Hisui were not really made for that purpose– And if they were, they were not made with fashion or safety in mind. She was not going to put a damn Sticky Glob in someone's hair even if she was being paid with all of the money in the world.
Then, she got an idea. Her eyes sparkled with excitement.
“Alright– I have an idea! I could use honey and sprinkle some crushed-up bits of bugwort petals to make sure Pokemon don’t try to eat it.”
“Honestly, that doesn’t sound too bad! Go for it.”
Arezu smiled brightly as she finished with the hair-dyeing process.
“Alright! I’ll just need to run to the general store real quick to get the supplies.”
After some tinkering, Arezu was able to get the honey and bugwort mix to work. She was able to style Volo’s hair into the shape he wanted pretty easily, albeit it was messy.
She placed her hands on her hips, proud.
“There! Your hair style is remarkable– You look as though you could be almighty Sinnoh itself!”
Volo chuckled at the irony in her statement. “You’re right, I sure do!”
“I think it’ll hold for at least a couple days, though if you ever need to re-style it on the go, you can use my recipe!” Arezu happily offered.
“Oh, I certainly will– What will you call it, though? Since it’s most definitely a first of its kind.”
Arezu thought for a moment. “Hmm, it’s a bit creamy in texture and can be applied to hair to keep it in place… Maybe hair gel?”
Volo nodded. “I like that! I’ll make sure to spread it around Hisui to give you some recognition.”
“Aw, thanks! You’re too kind.”
Volo paid and left soon after, Arezu waved as she always does for her customers. He had left the instructions for his hairstyle behind– She just assumed he didn’t need it anymore. Inspired by her comment earlier, she labeled it “Sinnoh Style” and put it with the rest of her hair style blueprints. She checked the money she received, and saw he had paid double of the price she normally asks for.
“What a nice surprise! I wonder why he needed such an intricate haircut, though…”