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"You realise I've never done this before" Reath asked Vernestra as he read over the warnings of the instruction booklet.
Honestly he wasn't sure on the appeal, risking permanently damaging your hair just for some colour, seemed an unnecessary risk.
"Of course that's why I'm not letting you go down to my roots," Vern laughed as she brushed through her hair hoping to get the last few tangles out "besides the purple should be dark enough to hide any mistakes you make"
"Yeah but like what if I accidentally get some on your skin and it burns you"
"I've done a patch test Reath it won't hurt me as long as I wipe it off fast enough"
"I could ruin your hair"
"It'll grow back" Vern assured putting her brush down onto her desk.
Both of them had already changed into old clothes and placed old towels on the floor and chair Vern would be sitting on to prevent anything important being stained.
Who knows the reprimanding they'd get if their robes were blemished.
Reath sighed and glanced over the bottles again before conceding to begin the process of mixing the bleach.
Vernestra had come to him hoping for his assistance in dying her hair.
She put it as an act of defiance.
Well not exactly defiance she wasn't actually going against any rules, it was just something to make her feel rebellious while still being dedicated to her role of Jedi Knight.
A role she achieved at 15, the youngest in a generation, an achievement that meant hours of studying, and therefore not very many hours to act as a teenager.
"Staring at the bottles isn't going to make them do the work themselves, you'll have to mix them quickly"
"What'll happen if I don't"
"I think it said something about an explosion"
"Vern!" Reath admonished, he was really not ready for this
"Come on" Vern responded with an eye roll as she adjusted the towel around her neck "the sooner we get this done the sooner you can get back to your precious archives"
Double checking the instructions as he went along Reath finally began mixing the dye, trying not gag at the smell of ammonia
"How far back do you want it?"
"Just give me a couples inches and maybe let a few streaks remain back so it blends better"
"You could've asked literally anyone more experienced to do this" Reath replied as he squirted the bleach onto his gloved hands
"I could've but I picked you, now come on I want to get this done before either one of us is called away"
Reath nodded and began smoothing the bleach onto Vernestra's hair, she was lucky her desired colour was dark, it would've needed a second lot of bleach for any bright colours to be vibrant with her contrasting dark roots.
"So why purple?"
Reath asked as he worked through the strands making sure he worked from one side to the other as to not miss any "Is it just to match your lightsaber or another reason"
"A little" Vern replied keeping her head perfectly still "I mostly thought the colours worked well together, purple, green, black, white" in the mirror angled for the purpose of Vernestra seeing the progress with her hair, Reath could see an amused smile on Vern's lips, as if she had just made a joke only she would get.
Reath simply nodded instead and continued spreading the dye as the two made quiet banter, only stopping temporarily when Reath had to prepare a second lot of bleach to cover the full length of Vern's hair.
He's glad he reread the instructions so many times before beginning, he did not want pressure building up from mixing products before he actually needed the second bottle.
"I think you're done" Reath announced some time later, after gathering Vern's hair to place in a plastic cap that claimed to speed up the process, he had actually covered all her hair several minutes ago but there was still bleach left Reath thought was best to use up.
"Awesome" Vernestra replied spinning round on her chair to face the other Jedi " I'll wash this out once the timers up and then we can start on the purple"
"Straight away?" Reath asked "Is that safe?"
"This one's fine Reath trust me I checked everything before I even called you in, in the mean time tell me about your research"
Reath began explaining what he had learnt about the Amaxine warriors and their culture until Vern had to regretfully cut him off to wash her hair.
While waiting for Vernestra to return Reath took the time to look around her room, there was little decoration but what was there clearly fit her personality.
A few minutes later Vern returned to the chair she was sat on before with two small pots of dark purple dye.
Her hair was once fully black, now only the very roots where, everything else was patchy shades of yellow Reath wanted to wince at every time he took in a new section and how bad a job he had done of it.
"Stop putting yourself down you won't be able to tell soon anyway, this is the fun part" Vern rolled her eyes at Reath as she undid the lid of the first tub and held it out to him.
Reath grabbed fresh gloves before accepting the tub, Vernestra may not mind her fingertips being stained purple but Reath certainly did.
"You just have to put this one on, no mixing, no possible explosion just slap it on"
"OK" Reath nodded and began applying the dye, movements more steady now he had experience and pratice.
"What colour do you think you'd dye your hair Reath?" Vern asked after some time in silence.
Reath spluttered but managed to keep any dye from hitting the floor.
"I'm not dying my hair" He declared
"I know that" Vern laughed "I mean hypothetically, I think Master Cohmac would look good with blue hair don't you think? Though it'd be a pain getting his hair light enough to properly take"
"As long as I'm not the one doing it" Reath responded
"I'm sure he'd go somewhere professional rather than asking a padawan, I just thought it'd be fun to hang out together"
"I'm having fun u just don't like dealing with chemicals"
"Fair enough, thank you Reath, for doing this"