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There was something different about Yasha, Not the glaring difference that was the now Radiant wings that sprouted out her back now instead of that -admittedly very hot- necrotic shroud. No, she’d only used them once so far to Beaus knowledge; to catch her back on Rumblecusp. But No, it was something more physical and she’d only now made notice of the change today.
The day had certainly been an interesting one aboard the Midnight Hammer icebreaker, as the Nein alongside Cerberus Assembly Archmage Vess DeRogna travelled across the frigid ocean to Eiselcross. A cold front had blown in and with it, Uk’otoa had come by again to say hi to Fjord -and it’d brought the old dead blast from the past with it.
But not thirty minutes since the very long-winded fight against Uk’otoa’s minions and chasing an undead Avantika out in the artic sea, which had Beau riding on an orca-polymorphed Yasha, was the Nein back on the solid-ish ground of the ‘Midnight Hammer’, rapidly cleaned of loose fireworks from the battle.
Wringing themselves out of the freezing water and closely huddled around a rod of warming, Yasha had attempted at fjords suggestion to strike the Cloven crystal with her blade but to no avail. Storing back the crystal somewhere safe, did then a mildly frustrated Yasha remove her hat to wring her hair out before caduceus arrived with the hot chocolate they now all merrily drank, cold flushed faces illuminated by the muffled light show of a dozen or so spare fireworks
Returning from lighting the explosives was when she noticed it, nursing her own cup of hot coco from Caduceus did Beau notice the change specifically in Yasha, her hair was changing colour. There in the roots of what was mostly before all black hair, was a somewhat healthy gathering of white hair instead.
She wanted to say something to her, but the pair hadn’t really talked much about personal stuff for a spell, least not since the cart-wreck that was that night with the glitter performance. She only talked about her feeling for Yasha to fjord and Jester so far, stalwart in letting Yasha make the first move…
Beau sighed in exasperation at her own hesitations, she was only wanting to say something about the hair, Yasha might not have noticed the change. Draining her mug, she wandered over to the Aasimar, who had her finger in her own mug, dredging for any stuck remnants.
“Hey, Yasha. Can I like talk to you for a minute in private about something?” Beau asked, trying to sound casual. Yasha’s eyes went wide, and Beau silently cringed at her wording before blurting quickly. “I just- fuck, there’s something I want to show you is all that you might be interesting to you is all.”
Shit. That wasn’t much better wording, she chastised herself, readying another flurry of words and pointedly ignoring the look from jester, not far away with the others who were mercifully distracted by Caleb.
She was stopped in her third attempt by the barbarian herself, clearing her throat break the word vomit. “Yes, Beau. What is it you want to talk about? Or show me?” She queried, a potential blush forming on her admittedly already flushed cheeks -fuck it was really cold out here after taking a dip.
Beau gestured to the passage into the ship proper “just inside, where it’s a bit warmer.” She walked in without waiting on a reply but stopping not far inside to wait on Yasha. A few tense seconds later and the heavy creaking of footsteps on wood told her what she hoped as, still damp, Yasha caught sight of her and approached. Beau gestured onwards and the pair moved to one of the deserted storage rooms.
“This is… cosy.” Yasha said, nervousness creeping into her voice as she inspected the room, Beau could tell she was tense, though not in the way that she was expecting a fight or anything.
“It’s just the quietest place around just now, I just wanted to talk to you about something I noticed just after the fight,” Beau quickly reassured “we can move back into the main area if you’d prefer.”
Yasha’s eyes widened again, hands quickly waving in declination. The cup from caduceus was still held in one of her fingers. “No-no-no, it’s fine. I don’t mind being here with you- I mean, being in here. Er, What did you want to tell me?” She asked, finally taking the cup from her person and setting it down on a nearby errant crate.
“Well, after the fight there -which, you were super dope in both parts; thanks for helping me get free.” Beau began, she was meaning to thank Yasha for her help in getting her free before rushing to help Fjord. “When we got back on the Hammer, I saw you without your hat and notice that your hair was white at the roots now and, well, I wanted to let you know.” She finished a little sheepish at her reasoning.
“Oh. Is it coming in more now?” Yasha asked, excitedly before clocking Beau’s own surprised expression and explaining. “Back in Rexxentrum; in the beer hall, Caduceus showed me my roots were changing back to white -like they used to be back before… you know.” she trailed off, internally not sure if she wanted to start discussing Zuala just now.
“Oh right, of course Caduceus would notice that first, does that mean I’m the second then?” She tried not to sound too hopeful. Yasha nodded, smiling softly.
Yasha had never really talked much about the time before, Before, Beau had wondered back then if the white in her hair was added in, before it became apparent that it was natural. After the first reveal that Yasha wasn’t quite Human, well, Beau didn’t think two different hair colours was that massive a deal compared to the giant bone wings.
“I know I’ve never really talked about it, I think mostly because I didn’t really remember it from before but, do you want to know how it became like this?” Yasha spoke after a silent minute between them, gesturing to the black portions that still held the majority of her hair.
“If you’re comfortable telling it, Yasha. I know it’s going to tread on some past bad ground.” She answered, placing a hand on the Aasimar’s shoulder. She was genuinely curious about Yasha’s past, and selfishly, this conversation could maybe lead to talking about something else -if the Aasimar wanted.
Opposite the Monk, Yasha nodded it was alright, Beau deserved to know -a part of her brain argued, especially after what almost happened to her -and the Nein- because of that past. Looking quickly around the room, her heterochromia eyes fell on what she hoped was a sturdy box. Moving to sit down for the story’s she pointed for Beau to do the same and make herself comfortable before she began the retelling of what she could herself now recall.
Yasha took a deep breath, before beginning the story. “I guess, really It started with him -I still don’t really remember much of what happens in the days after I ran from the execution- but I guess sometime maybe before I’d met Obann did my ‘form’ change.” She looked to Beau unsure, the monk shrugging; unsure how exactly Aasimar’s changed type, As far as she’d known, Yasha had bone wings the day before they changed and then feathered the next day.
“Anyway, whenever I used my wings before, my hair and eyes would go all black, right. Well back then I had all white hair that’d then go like all black when I used the shroud… which was quite a lot back then.” Yasha trailed off again, her mind thinking back to the memory that came to her mind when the Nein revisited the Chantry; she was pretty sure she’d just got done using her shroud on those… -off track, not right now. Looking back to the monk who was patiently waiting for her to continue, no doubt guessing where exactly the women’s mind was wandering to each time.
“I can’t quite place when it would of started, not a lot of mirrors out in the wastelands for me to check but however long it had been, I noticed after one ‘emergence’ that some of the black hadn’t left -wasn’t exactly a lot I could do with the discovery too deep inside my own sorrow and his command,” she spat the word out, laced in loathing. “After that day I saw less and less white hair return afterwards; it was slow, but steady.”
“How long did it take? Until it was like how we met you?” She asked, taking to not think about just how many times Yasha had potentially had to use those wings, compared to the amount she used them with the Nein. Fuck. Reaching back into one of her pouches, she retrieved Veth’s old whiskey flask, holding it up to Yasha in invitation for a drink before she answered. Yasha took the flask with a nod in thanks before taking a few swigs.
“I’m not sure really, the overall time is still in fragments, I can just remember moments and my hair being blacker in each one. I think it’d probably have been all black within a couple more months had I not found the Stormlord.” She admitted, Handing back the flask for Beau to have a drink too.
“I remember I used them a few time before I met Molly and the circus, I didn’t really notice any change, I never used them much at the circus -did have to intimidate some punks one time after they got too rowdy against some of our performers.” She recounted, smiling at the memory “-oh, and sometimes if I get spooked awake or have a bad dream, they would come out then -but I didn’t like using them much around the people at the circus or around all of you guys. I know they can- could make people feel uneasy about me, even if they don’t mean too.” Yasha corrected herself with a shy smile, this was all past-tense now after all.
They sat in silence for a moment, each taking another round from the flask as the ships engine hummed away somewhere behind them.
“They were still pretty dope though, Yash. Do you think you’ll miss them?” Beau asked between small sips of the whiskey, the burn mixing with the still lingering aftertaste of caduceus’ hot chocolate - she idly wondered what they’d be like together…
“I don’t think so, they’re not exactly a happy memory but they were at the time an important reminder to me -a shackle I guess.” She held out one of the longer hair strands, inspecting wistfully the point where the two shades met. “Same with this stuff too, but maybe now it’ll change completely back to white again.”
“Would you want it to?”
Yasha paused her inspection, staring out ahead to consider Beau’s question. “I guess I wouldn’t mind some of it sticking around, sometimes it’s important to have a reminder of that past.” The Aasimar gave her left arm a shake, though hidden currently by the thick black coat she wore for the journey, Beau knew she was referring to the emerald green tattoo from Orly; the floral ‘Orphanmaker’ design he’d done for her before departing Rumblecusp.
“Yeah, totally. I mean, two tone hair is a super good look for you -it matches your eyes and… yeah.” She trailed off, not sure where she’d planned to go with this thread [improvise, Lionett] she chided herself as Yasha’s head cocked in mild puzzlement.
“You know I’d always kinda wanted to have a different colour in my hair. Yeah, back in Kamordah -few years before Tori and the wine and stuff. I kinda thought about it once when I was in the monastery but it kinda just ended up tied up and cut on the sides.” She awkwardly gestured to said sides, which’d grown back in some since the last trimming.
Yasha perked up at mention of Beau’s own hair, focusing in on Beau’s faded undercut. “Yeah. all the ‘hair so shorn on the sides’.” She mused before going wide eyed. “I mean, it’s a very nice look -it suits you; the undercut style.” Yasha hastily corrected, flushing a red that was definitely not as a result of their cold bath earlier.
“What did you say -before that, it kinda sounded like part of something and- “she started to enquire but Yasha scrambled from her sitting position in front of her, hands gesticulating.
“No -no, I was just saying that it was usually very ‘shorn on the sides’ is all, but it’s grown back in a bit, and do you maybe want me to trim it back a bit?”
Now it was Beau’s turn to be surprised, Yasha was offering to give her a shave? “Will this be with your great sword, Yasha? Cause I’m a bit concerned about the boat in this scenario.”
Not that she didn’t trust Yasha, but the Nein were a little spent on healing after the fight before, they didn’t need a sudden rock of the icebreaker to leave her without an ear or part of her scalp missing. Yasha to her credit just shook her head with a light chuckle.
“No, I don’t think it’s a good idea to use Magicians Judge in here -not much manoeuvrability for starters.” She assured, reaching into her own travel pack and retrieving two items, a small knife and a straight razor like the one she’d seen Caleb use.
Beau slipped off the crate she’d been sitting on to approach the barbarian, Yasha moving herself beside Beau to inspect closely what she’d be trimming. In stark contrast from the awkward deflections a minute before, Yasha was focused now, tracing a finger over where the braids wove into the golden diadem.
“Do you want me to remove it, or just shave down the hair around it.” She asked, bringing the finger gently along the edge of the bottom braid, outlining the area she’d shave down.
Beau suppressed a shiver at Yasha’s gliding touch, not the time for horny just now; she wanted to let Yasha do this for her without potentially bringing it back to awkward. “You can just trim around it, I’d like to keep it in until it’s time for bed -hate redoing the braid constantly.”
The Aasimar merely “hmm’d” her acknowledgment as she brought the blade to the overgrown side. Her first sweep was a little light - testing the waters before she got into it properly, careful not to nick the braids or Beau’s scalp.
She worked in silence, occasionally pausing to let Beau feel the progress as the hum of the distant engine filled the empty space where words had resided. Five minutes later and one side was done, Yasha stepping back to admire her handiwork.
“I think that’s looking good. Beau, what do you think?” Yasha asked, scattering about the cut hair that’d landed on the floor with her foot.
Beau swept her hand across the finished side, it was definitely lighter again, save of course for the space just below where the braid resided. “That’s great, Yasha, I can touch it up a bit in the morning when I take the diadem out.”
Yasha beamed, pleased that Beau was happy with it before moving over to the other side to begin again, diving straight in with confidence - the pleasant quiet resuming to the hum and sound of cutting hair.
“There we go, all done.” Yasha announced after a few minutes, storing away the blade while Beau checked over the trim.
It was mighty fine work.
“Hey Yasha, you ever considered becoming a barber?” Beau joked, brushing the newly shorn sides of any loose hair. “first Caleb and now me, bet people would pay handsomely to get a shave with a great sword.”
Turning back around, a smiling Yasha was about to respond before she paused, open mouthed. Beau swore she saw for a moment the slightest grimace in her face before it vanished to a smile and Yasha speaking out loud. “Hello Caleb. I am just with Beau down below; just giving her a shave -her undercut, I mean.”
Ah, so their quiet moment was over then, and her regular Yasha was back again.
The women turned to Beau, pointing back the way they’d originally come down. “Caleb was just wondering where we were, he said caduceus was going to make another batch of hot chocolate again with lunch.”
“Oh, we should probably head up then, I guess.” Beau suggested, a bit saddened their moment alone was over. Yasha too seemed to be feeling the same, her face seeming conflicted over something Beau couldn’t place before she shook her head of it and smiled to the monk.
“Yeah, let’s head up then.”
The two walked back together in relative silence, the Human occasionally scratching a hair itch with an incoherent muttering about the eternal annoyance of them back in the early monastery day. They were almost back to the deck when Yasha called over to her.
“Hey, Beau.”
Beau turned, looking quizzically at the Aasimar “yeah?”
“Just... I think your hair is perfect as it is.”
“Thanks, Yash”