Work Text:
“Yo. Do you have scissors?” Beau asked, leaning in the doorway to his room at the inn. “Nott said she loaned hers to you.”
Caleb blinked and frowned. “I… I do not think so. I thought I gave them back to her, but let me check my bag.” He pulled his bag up into his lap and Beau sauntered over to sit beside him and watch anxiously over his shoulder. “What do you need them for?” he asked, curiously.
“Cutting off my hair.” She said it casually, like it didn’t matter to her.
He blinked in surprise and turned to look at her face. “Why?”
She sneered and pointed towards his bag though he could see a bit of nervousness in her eyes. “Keep looking in your bag, don’t fucking look at me.” He did so and she didn’t speak for a moment as he gently sorted through his things. “It’s what I used to do. When I was little. At first it was just to watch my mother’s whole face turn red when she saw all my hair was gone, then it was… comforting. I mean, it’s just hair, it grows back, but it made me feel… in control, I guess? Does that make sense? I cut it when I had to leave the only woman I ever loved behind,” her voice shook but she continued without pausing for him to react. “I did it when my father sent me away too.” She reached up to rub her undercut. “I did this when I ran from the Cobalt Soul, before I met up with Jester and Fjord. It made me feel like a new person. A freer person. I thought about doing it when Molly died but I… I was worried about what kind of new person I’d be after that. Now that Yasha’s gone, I wanna do it for both of them. I know what kind of new person I wanna be now, I’m ready.” She let out a deep breath and he continued silently looking through is bag. He’d found the scissors a few seconds ago but he didn’t want to interrupt her. Whatever this was was clearly cathartic for her, he wanted to give her the chance to get it all out. “Do you think it’s weird? It’s fucking weird right? Who the fuck just cuts off all their hair whenever they’re sad, a fucking dumbass, that’s who. Nevermind, I don’t-”
He pulled out the scissors and cleared his throat. “Would you… Would you like me to cut it for you? To make sure it’s even?”
She hesitated, but then nodded. Caleb got up and pulled over a stool from the corner, sitting it in front of the bed and nodding towards it. She moved to sit on it, staring down at her feet and not looking at him even as she pulled her hair down out of it’s bun. He cut her hair in silence, pausing occasionally to let her brush the clippings of hair from her shoulders and shaking the little pieces out from under the back of her shirt.
When all the hair was gone, she reached up and ran her fingers through the short strands on top of her head and then down her undercut. There were a few uneven pieces because he wasn’t exactly a professional, but she let out a sigh and her shoulders relaxed. “Yeah, that’s really good,” she mumbled. “I like it.” He wasn’t sure if she felt like a new person yet, but she seemed happier, at least.
Caleb cleared his throat and stood up, flipping the scissors around so that the point was hidden safely in his palm. “I should go return these to Nott while I am thinking about it.”
She nodded and got up. “I’ll clean up the hair.” Caleb walked around her towards the doorway and paused when she called out to him. “Hey, Caleb? Thanks.”
He nodded and shut the door behind him as he left.