#a hairy situation | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

notstinky · 1 month

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TIMING: Late 2023 FEATURING: Luci (@luci-in-the-stars) & Thea (@notstinky) LOCATION: A hill somewhere SUMMARY: Thea is looking at stars when she's joined by Luci, who was hoping to do the same. The two get along well, but Thea's HAIR has other ideas...

Thea adjusted the knob on the side of her telescope, bringing Neptune in all its bright glory into focus. She’d never been more pleased with a birthday purchase before; it had been a little treat to herself considering the rest of her birthday went a little bad, to say the least. Eating an entire camping family was pretty bad but, hey, at least she had the telescope! Thea always thought it was important to look at the positives. Other than a few bumpy nights out of the month, she was a totally normal girl. And now, with her bald hair fixed via a strange hair tonic, there was nothing stopping her from enjoying the night sky and all its splendor. With Neptune at its annual opposition, it was the best time to view the planet—the summer triangle still hung high in the sky, Jupiter was bright as always, and Pleiades was getting ready to illuminate winter skies.

The crunching of grass behind her, shrill in her ears, caused her to snap around. Thea’s vision easily adjusted to the dark, observing the figure that approached with their own telescope. Thea wondered if she should have felt more alarmed at a stranger invading her carefully thought out stargazing spot (she’d run her own research, running around town to find just the right altitude) but the sight of the telescope both instantly calmed her and endeared her to this stranger. “Hello!” She waved, her words tumbling from her mouth at a rapid pace. “Come to see the sky too? I’ve got Neptune locked in on mine and I think I can get Triton too, if you wanna take a peek.” She paused. “Oh, sorry.” Thea stuck out her hand, “I’m Thea. Sorry, I get excited.”

—

Luci had wanted to figure out the star maps here before she asked potential friends to come with her. After all, it would probably be embarrassing if she wasn’t able to name the stars over here. It was just so much brighter then where she had lived, where only the brightest of the stars could get through - even with her telescope. So she had asked around where a good stargazing location was, and had carefully packed up the telescope she’d gotten for her fifteenth birthday and set off.

Although she hadn’t expected someone else, Luci wasn’t at all frightened seeing a scope set up. After all, it was a beautiful night to stargaze and as nervous as she was to do it in front of friends and get things wrong, others weren’t a bother at all. Especially when they seemed friendly. With a smile that reached her eyes she said, “Hi - yeah I did. It’s a lot brighter here than where I’m from. - Oh you can see Neptune here? I hadn’t realized it would be bright enough.”

Without thinking Luci nodded her head excited at the idea of seeing Neptune with her own eyes on a screen - only stopping as the other remembered normal customs. “Oh - no worries. I got excited too. I was going to look at your scope before even getting your name. You see -I’m trying to make some star maps and - well you know,” Luci said with a blush starting on her face. At the hand Luci took it and shook it gently and said, “Oh I’m Luci - It’s nice to meet you Thea.”

—

“Yes!” Thea perked up. “It’s in opposition right now, which means it’s opposite the sun and—“ Thea shook her head. “What am I saying? You probably know this, you’re trying to make a star map. Anyway, it’s right in front of Pisces, so the trick is making sure you’re not actually looking at Bélénos or something.” To anyone else, it probably sounded like gibberish but Thea trusted that to her new friend Luci, who was definitely now her friend, it was comprehensible. “And by my angle, if I’m right…” Which she usually was, she’d been stargazing since she learned how to speak and ask about the bright dots that populated the night. “…I should have Neptune.”

Thea grinned, asking, “where are you from, Luci?” She gestured to her scope to allow her friend Luci—she was going to force them to be friends if she had to—to look through it. “They’re a lot brighter here than where I’m from too. I grew up in the city and you probably know, city stars are…” Thea sighed. “…hard to see. Toronto has never been known as a great astronomy location. There’s a dark sky preserve like two hours away from the city but that’s like, two hours away.” Not that she didn’t regularly make the trip anyway.

The hair did not like this conversation; it was not about hair. The hair had awoken with the sound of another flesh sack sloshing around and that was particularly tantalizing. How easily did Luci bleed, it wondered. Maybe they could make a star map out of that.

—

Luci’s eyes glittered in excitement as she followed what the other was saying “Oh! That would make Neptune a lot easier to see. Oh to be fair I may not have known it. So you’re absolutely fine.” After all, Luci herself had a habit of over-explaining herself, and if she was honest she loved hearing people talking about things that they were passionate about. It didn’t bother her at all. Nodding along she continued, “I bet you are.”

Going closer to the telescope and looking into it just confirmed that her new friend was. For a moment Luci was more concentrated on Neptune, taken with how bright it was here before going away from the telescope, “Yes that’s got to be Neptune! Wow, it's pretty.”

Looking at Thea now she said, “Oh I’m from the Bronx. - Oh New York City.” She quickly corrected herself, knowing that she shouldn’t just assume that people knew what the Burrough was even if it was a habit of hers to lead with it. “I could see some of the stars, but - not like all of this. I bet in the winter it’s even clearer I can’t wait to see them. - Oh you’re from Toronto?” Luci said liking to know new facts about people and gave a smile and nod. “Oh wow I’d never heard of that! It must be so nice to see the stars without any light pollution.”

She wondered idly how the stars must have looked like, and wondered how she’d feel seeing them all bright in the sky. Would Luci feel small, or in awe of what the universe could produce just outside of her reach? Part of her wanted to ask Thea what she thought, but figured that was too much of a conversation for first meeting and instead stuck with, “I know it’s a bit of a lame question, but what’s the coolest astrological body you’ve been able to see? - Oh I am kind of assuming you got to go to the dark sky preserve, but if you did you know?” She said smiling at Thea, hoping that there was an answer.

—

Thea brightened, at her own emotional height—if she could be seen through a telescope, she probably glowed. “Yeah! Isn’t it just?” A lot of people had a passing or romantic interest in the stars; they might look up and think it was pretty and learn a few names but few people were scientifically fascinated. Finding celestial bodies in the sky wasn’t just as easy as pointing some lens at the sky; there was measuring, finding the ecliptic, charting a course though other known bodies, adjusting and fine, yes sometimes looking at an app. Did anyone ever appreciate that she was using an apochromatic doublet refractor telescope? Sure, it wasn’t the same as the Sky-Watcher Evostar 150DX that she had in Toronto, after she’d saved up all five thousand dollars for it, and sure it couldn’t look at deep space objects but at least it wasn’t a Powerseeker 70EQ, or something.

“New York City…” Thea repeated. She’d always thought of New York as the sort of place people wanted to escape to, not escape from. How much of a right did she have to judge when the same could be said about Toronto? Which was as Thea saw it, the New York City of Canada. She decided not to comment on it. “Oh god,” she grinned, memories tumbling into her head, “like, so many things: a couple of nebulas standout, Dumbbell and Crab; clusters like Hercules and then you get to the shit that doesn’t even have proper names like M5, M12; and every planet in our solar system, every bump on the moon, comets, asteroids…” Thea’s eyes swelled with water. She gestured up at the inky sky, jumping in place. “How can I pick? It’s all so cool, it’s all so beautiful: there are billions and billions of things out there, and they’re billions and billions of miles apart and when you stare up at them all you see is the little dots but far off, far away, farther than we’ll ever go, they’re burning beautifully and brilliantly and for this moment--this cosmically small grain of time--I get to see it. Me. The universe is so grand, so big, so unfathomable and I get to see it.” Thea sighed, clutching herself as tears streamed from her face, emotions of existential wonder. “I don’t think you pick a favorite. It’d be like picking your favorite drop in the ocean, or something. I don’t think you do that. I think the first time you look up at the sky, like really look at it, like the first time you see a celestial body, you accept that that’s the greatest fucking thing you’ve ever seen and there’s a billion of those. More than a billion. A stupid, unthinkable, infinite number of beautiful things. The first time I saw Jupiter, I had nightmares for months.”

And like that, with Thea holding herself against the cosmic beauty of the universe, The Hair lunged, darting out of the darkness. It aimed to slice Luci’s skin and spill the red nectar of her body.

—

Luci was easily in awe of the sky. She often felt small, and it was no different now but there was something comforting when it was the cosmos telling you. Her notebooks and star charts couldn’t match the feeling of peering up and knowing that the stars flickered on no matter what you did. There were rules and laws that guided them into their place and they were wholly unfazed by her. It should make her feel lonely, Luci thought lightly but her eyes grew instead thinking about how they flickered and she wondered what secrets they could tell her. Just because they didn’t know her didn’t mean she couldn’t know them. “Your telescope is amazing, wow the winter up here’s going to be phenomenal.”

“Yeah,” Luci said at her home wondering if she was connected to it. She certainly thought she was connected to her family but the place itself wasn’t all that important to her. No place really felt all that special, but right now the stars twinkling at her did. At the others' explanation she nodded slightly, listening carefully, and trying to find a way to write it down. It was beautiful, in a way that Luci couldn’t articulate and she liked Thea - and she wanted to remember what she said. It made her pause though as she saw the other get emotional at the stars and for a moment Luz wondered what that felt like. She was in awe a lot of the time and she felt the emotion and the amazement that you could see all the stars and planets in their own universe but - Luz was always a little outside. She always felt like an observer and not a participant but that might be too much to express to someone she just met. How you were in awe of something but couldn’t feel the emotions of it as easily. Instead she turned to show Thea her notebook to ask if she wanted to see the list of elements related to the different stars to share some of her knowledge as a thank you - when suddenly there was a flash of something coming at Luci.

Without thinking, Luci tried to move away her hopeful smile turning neutral as she felt her arm suddenly in pain and wet. Looking at her friend her eyes grew wide and she said, “Thea - not to alarm you but I think - You have something on your head. Oh -” Without room to finish her statement Luci side stepped again trying to avoid whatever it was moving to her bag instinctually.

—

Curiosity built up on the edge of Thea’s tongue; questions dug into her mouth. She wanted to ask Luci what celestial body was her favorite, if she agreed with her take, if it was totally lame that she was crying about Jupiter, if they could be best friends for real because she’d never met anyone else that got it like this. Then her hair streaked across the sky and for the first time since it’s started attacking people, Thea was sad about it. She probably should have felt sad about it sooner, considering all the damage it had done, but this time was more personal; she was desperate to be Luci’s friend. “No!” she shrieked, but her hair had never listened to her before and wasn’t going to start now.

The Hair stabbed the earth, thousands of strands of dark hair woven together into large spikes. It was slow, always going where Luci had just been rather than where she was, but slowly it was learning. Each piercing blow, safely nestled into the earth, gained momentum, chugging along like the starting engine of a train. Soon, its speed rendered it a blur in the air, stabbing wildly in the direction of Luci.

“Um, it’s just hair!” Thea called out, dancing from foot to foot. She tried tugging her hair back, but it tugged back on her and she hissed as it ripped at her scalp. “I mean, It’s pointy! And it wants to eat you! But like, if you have scissors…it’s just hair!” If her new friend died before they could officially be friends, she was going to cry.

—

Luci wasn’t exactly scared, now curious about why her new friend’s hair was - trying to eat her? Maybe this was something Milo was worried about as she moved again to miss the hair again, her arm stinging where it had gotten to her. She was bleeding now, and she should be concerned about it. It did seem to want her blood. While not ideal, it wasn’t something that was going to make her abandon Thea who seemed rather distressed.

“Fascinating - how long has it been doing this?” Luci said moving again to get out of the way, almost dancing dodging as she tried to think of what was happening. Her tone was more relaxed than her movements as her brain whirled with the possibilities. She had a pair of clippers in her bag, and a lot of her wanted to take a bit if only to see what the hair was made of. Still, that couldn’t have been the solution right? “It’s just hair? - Did you put something on it or does it have a mind of its own? Oh sorry that’s probably rude of me I just meant has it always been like this or is it new?”

Luci probably couldn’t dodge the hair forever, but she wanted to at least see it closer. If only because Thea looked like she was in pain too. It wouldn’t be good to leave her upset, and besides she wanted to ask her more about the stars. Still, it was getting faster and faster and while Luci had been on the track team she was still a human. “This might sound weird - but did you use something magical on it? Or get an object or something?” Holding her bag in front of her she heard a thud, where the case of her telescope stopped the hair still pushing Luci back. She might have to fix that later too - wouldn’t be the first time.

—

“Fascinating? Fascinating!?” Thea screeched, digging her heels into the dirt. The Hair didn’t relent in its volley, charging after Luci with fury. “It’s trying to kill you and this is fascinating?” At least Luci wasn’t running away screaming; that boded well for the potential friendship Thea was aiming for. Eventually, when she realized Luci’s questions wouldn’t stop, Thea decided to answer them. She did so all at once, whimpering into her violent strands of hair. “Yeah! I put something on it. A hair serum? From the internet? It said it was totally safe!” It had actually said ‘100% sock’ but Thea took that to mean safe. Although, she had noticed her hair had a strange love for socks. “Um, I guess it was magical? I mean, magic doesn’t exist but…I guess?”

The Hair recoiled off the crunch of the telescope case, disoriented. It returned to Luci with an animated hunger; the strands pooled together to form thicker missiles, plummeting the ground. The Hair throbbed with its hunger. With each moment, it only grew more desperate.

“Can you do anything?” Thea called out, desperate. “Anything at all? I don’t want you to die!”

—

Luci was a bit put off on why the other thought it wasn’t fascinating, but she still huffed out, “Yes I’ve never seen hair that can do that. I would love to study it - once it’s not trying to kill me.” She managed to stun the hair for at the moment letting her get a little father away from the hair and to her bag to pull out the bag.

Pulling out a notebook she grinned,“ Just stay there for a minute Thea! I’m not leaving but I think your hair will take a second to get back up. I think I can help if it’s magic. If it’s a hair oil it can only have so many compounds. I’m just going to change one of the compounds okay?” Luci knew it probably wouldn’t make much sense but she flipped through the pages she had already filled out. Vera had wanted a hair oil before and - bingo.

“Okay I’m coming back! When I do I’m sorry but I’m going to have to give you a hug okay? It might be scary but your hair won’t hurt anyone,” She said getting up and ripping the page out. She’d need to touch Thea’s hair to the paper, but she figured it would be easier if she gave a hug to do so. That, and it kinda seemed like Thea needed a hug with how upset she was. Milo often gave people hugs when they were upset, especially to Luci so it shouldn’t be so wild right? “Ready?”

—

“Study it? My hair?” Thea wasn’t sure if she should feel complimented or worried; either her new friend Luci was weird or she was the weird one. She hoped it wasn’t her; she’d gone her whole life trying not to be weird. Sure, she was a weird child but everyone was a weird child, right? “I guess you can? I mean, you can have it!” But not, like, all of it. Thea hoped that part was implied; she didn’t want to be bald again. Then Luci started talking about compounds and Thea grabbed wildly at errant strands, trying to hold them back. “Like chemistry?” she asked. “You’re going to do chemistry on my hair?” But she couldn’t wrap her head (and hair) around what that meant. Sure, everything was chemistry, technically. Everything had compounds; everything was made up of something else. But what could Luci possibly do?

“A hug?” Thea blinked and the offer startled The Hair as well, which slackened just enough for Thea to close the distance between them, arms outstretched. Hugging Luci wasn’t at all like what she thought it would be like—not that she’d been thinking of hugging Luci. It was precisely her not thinking that this could happen that was surprising about it. Luci was soft, warm, and she smelt nice. She felt like a friend. Thea’s eyes started to fill with tears. It had been so long since she’d been hugged, really. Her throat tightened. And what if her hair ate Luci? What if she did? Here was this nice young girl who shared so many of her interests and there she would be, impaled by hair or—as was more likely—having to be picked out of Thea’s teeth. Maybe she didn’t deserve nice things like friends or hair.

Maybe it would be okay if she was bald after all.

The Hair didn’t agree. Unlike the wet meat body it was attached to, it had a hungry desire to live and thrive and it was going to eat. It was going to—

—

Luci nodded a little, “Like chemistry.” It was the thing that she knew best after all next to magic which - in all fairness was linked in her mind. Alchemy and Chemistry twisted and folded together that while they were separate fields it was only just barely. She liked that about her kind of magic though, to be so close to what regular humans could do if only just a little twist.

Running up to Thea wasn’t hard wrapping her arms around the other girl she thought that it was - not unpleasant to hug people. She wasn’t a hugger normally, that was usually Milo’s job - but it wasn’t bad either. Pressing the page into the hair Luci felt the now purple sparks flowing from her hand into the page dodging the hair that seemed hungry for flesh and blood for some reason. There was time to answer questions later, but there seemed to be a shuttering stop of hair as the sparks flew.

For a moment everything was still, the page disappearing as the compound changed subtly - just one off to what the structure had been before and Luci waited still holding her new friend cautiously as if worried the hair would start up again. She was pretty sure she wouldn’t be able to do anything if it did hit her.

“Um - How does it feel? Murdery?” Luz said moving back just a little.

—

The ends of The Hair lit up, and the mass recoiled, tightening into a hardened lump. Slowly, the strands burnt up, fizzling into particles of non-magical dust. In the end, there was no more hunger, no more desire to murder either. There was no more hair.

Thea opened her eyes; she felt lighter. She felt cleaner. She felt…colder. Cool air traced the top of her scalp and without raising her hand to her head to check, Thea knew; she’d been bald long enough to remember how it felt. What she didn’t know was how Luci had done it. All she’d taken from her bag was some paper, as far as Thea could remember. Did she paper-cut her hair into non-existence? But then what was all that she was saying about compounds and chemistry? Questions swirled in Thea’s head, followed by the swamp of bald-sadness. Above, the stars continued their flaming luminescence. It was chemistry too: a series of compounds smashed together that would eventually burst and float away and reform into new stars. Thea reminded herself of the expanse of the universe, and how tiny she must have seemed to any star. Her baldness felt trivial.

But Luci didn’t. “Not murdery.” Thea shook her head, forcing a small smile. “Oh, but I think I’m getting a special transmission…” Thea rubbed her bald head, which sprouted a small field of fuzzy, new hair. “Hmm, I think Neptune is saying we should look at it some more.” She gestured at her telescope, which miraculously hadn’t moved. Slowly, her smile grew. “If you want to say Luci, I think the universe is waiting for our eyes. And I think we should be friends.” And she wasn’t going to think about how her new friend just made her bald. Again.

There were an infinite number of beautiful things out there, somewhere. Down there, with them, Thea thought they possessed a perfect fraction of it: a new friendship and the stink of burnt hair.

#c: luci #a hairy situation #writing #s2 #// i love luci #like the tv show #but for the character #if you read this and you dont also love luci....idk what 2 say... she is loveable #nerds being nerds #hair being hair

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