A medical emergency

[fadingworld]

A deep navy cloak hides his features and the more ornate tunic the courtesan usually wears to greet his clients. Mal hunches his shoulders and slides through the crowds hoping to avoid notice. He keeps his head down until he reaches the home of the doctor and wraps smartly on the door. "Open up," he calls in a voice that expects to be listened to.

How much time did he have? He could not have a client bleeding out. Not this one. Not one who had come to him for help, to be treated privately.

Comments

[fadingworld]

"Sure, why not." Mal's heart races a little faster. This would be one of the more significant moment for him. He puts the herbs carefully to one side and unties his hair. He runs his hands through it as he brings it down around his face. He really doesn't have the time for it, and it has lost some of that perfect sheen.

"I'm a vain fool if I care about this," he murmurs to himself.

[mandragoraspiritus]

Regis comes back with a comb and scissors as well as with a sheet folded over his arm. He pulls out a stool to the middle of the room, gestures for Mal to take a seat and then wraps the sheet around him to keep the cut hair off his clothes.

"The cutting of hair can be a very symbolic act in some cultures," Regis starts talking as he ties Mal's hair into a tail at the back of his neck with some string, then starts gathering it into a long braid.

"Such as in Velen, where the first time hair is cut from a child that hair is offered to the beings they call the Ladies of the Woods to be woven into a tapestry of human hair, as a way to creating that child's future." With the braid done he ties it off with yet another piece of string.

"In many other cases, it is the mark of change. A near ritualistic act of cutting ties with the past and setting out for something new." He picks up the scissors. "Now, are you quite certain?"

[fadingworld]

"It is a time of big change," Mal says softly. He takes a slow, deep breath. "And it is only hair. I am not the person I once was. Please proceed. Did you feel sentimental when yours was cut?"

[mandragoraspiritus]

"No, not very. I cut it myself, simply for the sake of ease. Now, then..."

There really isn't anything like the sound of sharp scissors working through hair. Regis cuts quick, above the first tie of string, and soon he has the braid cut free. Stepping from behind Mal to his side, he offers it to him in an outstretched hand.

[fadingworld]

The fingers that receive the braid tremble slightly. "Thank you," he says reaching to touch the nape of his neck. "My neck feels cold," he announces, keeping the mood light.

[mandragoraspiritus]

"It will feel a bit strange at first," Regis says, stepping back behind Mal again, nudging him to sit straight and look straight ahead, running his sharp-nailed fingers though that head of hair a few times before setting to work with comb and scissors. It is now the shorter strands of hair start to fall, gathering in creases of the sheet around Mal as well as falling to the floor.

Regis cuts it short, baring that neck completely and getting the hair out fo Mal's face. The end result is very short but not at all choppy or uneven. Regis is pleased with it, feeling like this might actually suit Mal better than the long hair did.

[fadingworld]

"I do feel lighter," he comments, turning his head from side to side. He runs his hand through his hair and turns to look at Regis. "How do I look? I am prettier, or have I traded prettiness for something more handsome and rugged?"

[mandragoraspiritus]

Having slid the sheet off, Regis takes a couple steps away and stands in front of Mal, studying him. He does look pleased. "I do think you have," he says. "You look maybe a little bit older, but I would say that to be a good thing."

[fadingworld]

"Older is definitely a good thing," Mal says with utter conviction. Looking younger than his years would be a curse when he wanted patients to trust him.

"Do you mind if I go and look in my mirror? I would like to see for myself." He grins, "It's weird to think that mine is the only opinion that counts about my looks now." That was almost completely true. he cared about what Regis thought.

[mandragoraspiritus]

"No, please do." For obvious reasons he never have any mirrors around for himself but he could certainly understand Mal's own curiosity.

While Mal goes to have a look, Regis fetches a broom to start sweeping up the black hair that now dusts his floor.

[fadingworld]

Mal darts off to his room. The braid goes in the space below the floorboards before he summons the courage to look in the mirror. He blinks, seeing a stranger reflected back at him. The face was more angular, the eyes had depths with more gravity in them than he remembered.

Overall he liked it. He looked more real and alive. Plus he won't have to spend as much time looking in the mirror.

He carries himself self consciously as he rejoins Regis. "You have improved on what people considered perfection." He comes forward to embrace Regis. "Thank you."

[mandragoraspiritus]

The first few hugs that Mal had given him had all but startled him, coming as rather unexpected. But now he has come to better understand that Mal is rather physical in how he expresses his appreciation, and so Regis finds it easy to gladly return the embrace.

"Perfection is but a myth and beauty is in the eye of the beholder, is it not?" He claps Mal on the back before they step apart. "Although I am rather relieved that you approve of it."

[fadingworld]

Mal laughs, "I made it my job to make it a reality. It was a fun challenge." He spikes his hair up by running it through and flattens it down again.

"If I had truly hated it, I could have covered it until it grew out again." He returns to grounding the herbs. "I think I would have been upset if I looked ugly to you."

[mandragoraspiritus]

Regis lets out something between a scoff and a chuckle as he gets back to work. "I do not think that to be at all possible." No, not even if he had shaved Mal's head completely and dressed him in sack cloth would Mal have been ugly.

[fadingworld]

Regis might only have meant it as a compliment but it does warm Mal's heart. "Really?" he asks. "What if I developed warts?"

[mandragoraspiritus]

"If you developed warts then I would naturally give you a cure for them," the vampire simply says, carrying on with his work. "Really, Mal. You are a beautiful man; you hardly need me to tell you that."

[fadingworld]

Mal crushes the herbs intently for a moment. "It might not seem like it to you," he says quietly. "But it is very different to hear it from a friend rather than it coming from a client or Madame. Your words mean something."

[mandragoraspiritus]

Regis hums softly, clearly thinking Mal's words over. "Yes, I suppose it would be different," he finally says with a slight, soft smile. Mal is beautiful sure enough, but the more Regis gets to know him, Mall is showing himself to be bright and kindhearted, with a genuine wish to help. Simply put, he is beautiful inside and out, something very rare in Regis' experience.

[fadingworld]

"You I trust," he says softly looking up, "You tell me the truth and not just what you need me to hear." He smiles sweetly at Regis, "You mean a lot to me."

[mandragoraspiritus]

Like it often is when Mal expresses his fondness for his master and mentor, Regis doesn't quite know what to say. A shy vampire, even with all his years. In some ways, well... Why not?

"That I can tell you, that I will never resort to any false flattery."

[fadingworld]

Mal accepts this. He would not have felt comfortable in the house if he had thought Regis would act more like a client. "Good. I think you would be honest even if it hurt me because it will make me stronger over time."

He smiles softly, "I can promise I will be a faithful companion, nothing about you will scare me off."

[mandragoraspiritus]

That statement causes Regis to pause, looking more serious.

"Mal, there is much of me that you have not yet seen, and I truly hope that you will never have to."

[fadingworld]

"If I do, I will remember what is at your core," Mal says simply, "A desire to do good. I know you will always come back to that."

[mandragoraspiritus]

Regis smiles a slight, somewhat sad smile. Sometimes Mal truly could be naive. "Ah, I often find myself wishing that things were as easy as you sometimes make them out to be," he admits."

He leaves the work table, going to the book shelves to retrieve one particular book. 'On Vampires' it says tooled on the back, and is teh most accurate account he knows of, not only in its facts but in it's illustrations. Flipping through the pages he shows some of the drawings to Mal. The garkain, the fleder, the ekimmara... Large, hulking beasts all fo then. Even when coming to the alp and the bruxa, though more human looking the women portrayed still looked like monsters.

"These are vampires," Regis says. "Lower vampires, admittedly, but still. Do you really think that my teeth would be the only thing to set me apart if I stopped pretending?"

[fadingworld]

Mal looks at the pictures, giving them each brief attention. It does not change his mind. "Looks do not matter," he says softly. "Abilities either, it is what you feel Regis, your actions."