Topic: Extreme Makeover

Jack Granger

Date: 2013-12-07 15:42 EST
Over the months since Lena's last return from her latest trip, Willow Manor had been given new life. First with a little sister who carried with her royal responsibilities, and then with a lover and his friend who had breathed a certain thrill for life itself back into the old house. Though Jack had all but moved out to live with Jasmin at Ivy Lodge, less than five minutes' walk away, he was still a regular face at Willow Manor, maintaining the closeness of his friendship with Tommy and Lena, and cultivating an oddly warm older brother role in the life of Lena's little sister, Dru.

Of course, there were some things that he didn't want to cultivate too much with the sixteen-year-old but, as Jasmin had told him on any number of occasions, Dru's crush was her own business unless it got out of hand, and it certainly wasn't reason enough to be awkward around the girl. She needed all the friends she could get, family or otherwise, and Jack fell neatly into the otherwise category. They were close enough by now for him to confide in Dru a particular surprise he wanted to spring on his girlfriend, and since time was limited before Dru had to go back to Tirisano for the holidays, now seemed the perfect time to get that surprise underway.

To say Jack was a little nervous was an understatement. He had always been painfully shy, even more so if he didn't have his guitar in hand, but he'd taken a liking to Lena's kid sister, just as she had to him. He'd never had any close relationship with those of the female species before, and he'd found a certain closeness with Lena and Dru and Jasmin that he'd never had with anyone else before, not even Tommy. Lena and Dru were more than just friends to him; they were like family, the sisters he'd never had.

Despite all of this, Jack still found himself nervously shuffling his feet while he stood outside Willow Manor and waited for someone to answer the door, hands shoved in his coat pockets, his breath turning to a vaporous cloud in the cold December air.

Thumping footsteps from inside announced the approach of the teenager from her bedroom upstairs, coming to a halt barely a moment before the big front door swung open. Dru's face lit up with a wide grin of welcome as she laid eyes on Jack, stepping back to gesture for him to come inside quickly. "Hello, handsome, come on in," she encouraged him cheerfully, brushing her shoulder-length hair back out of her face. "I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long."

He blushed a little at the compliment, hoping she'd blame it on the cold, as he stepped inside, pulling his hands from his pockets to rub them together and get the chill off. "Not too long, no. Is it a bad time?" he asked, looking past her for Tommy or Lena or anyone else he wanted to avoid at the moment.

"Only if a bad time is a time when I'm here on my own," Dru assured him, pushing the door closed with a brief shiver for the rush of cold air that had blasted into the house along with the adult male friend she definitely had the hots for. "Tommy and Lena went to talk to the architects again, and Xoren is in a briefing with the Old Man's security guards again. It's just me."

"Xoren?" he echoed quizzically before remembering who that was. "Oh, right." He chewed at the corner of his mouth and shuffled his feet again a bit nervously. "When are you leaving?" he asked, knowing she was going home for the holidays, wherever home was. He wasn't too familiar with the geography of Rhy'Din yet, though he was a quick learner.

Dru's face fell at the reminder that she was going home for a few weeks. Having spent a while in Rhy'Din, she knew she was going to miss out on a lot while attending to her own duties in Tirisano, and the prospect of the trip was not one she was particularly looking forward to. "On the 18th," she told Jack with a half-shrug. "It takes a few days to get there, and I have to be fitted for a few ridiculous gowns, and then the round of balls starts, and the opening of Parliament for the New Year, and ....there's a lot I have to do. But I'll be back on the 10th of January."

"Isn't there some way you can stay?" he asked, not really looking forward to the big Granger gathering he was going to be required to attend. It was no big secret that he wasn't all that crazy about crowds, even if they were friendly ones. Hopefully, being Jasmin's boyfriend would help, and though everyone had been nice to him so far, he had yet to meet all of them.

"I wish I could." Dru was definitely pouting about having to leave, though her manners kicked it pretty quickly despite it all. "Would you like something to drink" The fire's going in the living room, come through and make yourself comfortable." As she led the way, she continued with her explanation as to why she couldn't stay in Rhy'Din. "I'd stay here if I have even the slightest choice, but I have to be present for official functions. I'm the heir, and when my uncle dies, I'll be the ruler. I have to at least present myself to the members of Parliament on a regular basis."

"So, does that mean you'll have to move back there someday?" he asked, as he followed her into the living room, appreciating the warmth of the fire, despite his fascination with the novelty of winter. It was pretty, but cold. He assumed his question sort of went without asking, but he was nervous and trying to make conversation.

She nodded, not quite as dejected about that idea as she had been a month ago. "You can't really be a ruler if you don't know your country," she offered, leaning on the back of the couch. "Besides which, I only have about a year before they start piling on the pressure for me to get married and start popping out babies to secure the line. My uncle's health isn't the best, so I'm a little screwed in that respect."

"Pardon me for saying so, but aren't you a little young to get married?" he asked, knowing that Rhy'Din customs weren't the same as Earth customs and that in Earth's past, it wasn't unusual for people of royalty to have marriages arranged for them at a very young age. He frowned a little nervously. As far as Jack knew, Dru didn't even have a boyfriend yet.

"I'm seventeen next month," she shrugged. "My grandparents were married when my grandmother was twelve. They had to wait until she was sixteen to consummate the marriage, but it was all legal and above board. Things are very different when you're royal. Hopefully I'll be married to someone I can at least stand to be around."

"I'm sorry, Dru," Jack found himself apologizing and sympathizing with her plight. He knew what it was like to have someone try to plan your life for you, even if he wasn't royalty. Comparing his situation to hers, however, was like comparing apples to oranges. He'd run away from home to avoid being forced into something he didn't want to do, but he wasn't royalty with an entire country counting on him.

She smiled faintly, rubbing her hand through her hair. "It has compensations," she conceded. "How many teenagers have the influence to makes changes to the world they live in" I can make a difference. And besides, we're very proud of our royal family. I can't let an entire country down, can I?" There was just enough mischief in her smile to reassure the man sympathizing with her that she really wasn't as against the life ahead of her as she might have seemed at first. "But you're right, I would rather be here on Christmas Eve than wearing a dress I can't breathe in at some stuffy ball."

"You're not going to Desmond and Piper's wedding?" he asked, curiously. He had yet to meet the couple in question, but he'd heard from Lena that their eldest brother was getting married at the end of December, and he and Jasmin were expected to be there. They'd even been asked to play a song or two at the wedding.

"Oh, I'll be here for that," Dru agreed hurriedly. "It's a very quick stopover, though. I have to open Parliament the next day, so we're making the most of some magic and hoping like hell that the general populace don't find out. Magic isn't very trusted in Tirisano."

"How far away is it?" he asked, perhaps out of curiosity; perhaps he was just stalling. It was hard to tell with Jack. He had yet to state the reason for his visit here, though he thought she could just as easily guess since they'd discussed it before.

"I don't really know the distance," she admitted a little reluctantly. "It took me four days to get here, but that was because I was ducking and hiding. It took Xoren two, once he knew where I was, but apparently the journey from Rhy'Din to Tirisano is supposed to take about three days." She chuckled softly to herself. "I was going to put the kettle on. Would you like something to drink?"

"Um, sure," he replied, sounding a little uncertain. "I, uh....was wondering if you wouldn't mind, you know..." He fumbled with his request, feeling a little silly, but touching a hand to his overgrown mop of hair as if to indicate what he was referring to.

The teenager paused, looking back at him with an amused look of confusion on her face. "If I wouldn't ....what?" she asked, not entirely clear on what it was he wasn't saying. "Come into the kitchen and mumble for a while, it helps." She flashed him a grin, stepping out of view and into the kitchen itself.

He frowned, chewing a little nervously at his lower lip again as he followed her into the kitchen. Maybe he'd relax once he got something warm in his stomach. He wasn't as nervous about getting his hair cut as he was about the reaction of those around him once it was done. "I wanted to surprise Jasmin for Christmas," he blurted suddenly. "She's been hinting about my hair," he added with a frown. He'd had long hair for years and though he'd cut it recently, it was still fairly long compared to the norm, not to mention the beard that obscured a boyishly-handsome face.

"Oh." Dru did a creditable job of looking surprised without looking jealous at the mention of his girlfriend. Yes, she had a huge crush on Jack, but she wasn't stupid enough to think it would ever be more than that. Besides, he was obviously head over heels in love with Jasmin, and Dru liked that particular cousin. So she was happy for them. She just didn't like it when they referred to each other in her presence. "I could cut it, if you want," she heard herself offer, more for the chance to get her hands on Jack in a completely innocent way than for any real desire to help with a surprise for Jaz. She offered up a smile as she switched the kettle on, opening up a cupboard to inspect it for teabags.

"I tried to cut it myself, but I think I just made a mess of it," he continued, frowning. Why he hadn't visited a barber was a mystery, and he apparently didn't trust Tommy with scissors and was too embarrassed to ask Lena. "I feel like an idiot asking you, but I'm not sure who else to ask. I don't want it too short," he said, running his fingers through the mop of hair that framed his face.

"Well ....you do look a little rough around the edges," Dru conceded, finally coming up with teabags from the cupboard, and turning to rummage for mugs. "I understand what you mean about not too short, but what to you would be too short' There's no point cutting it if you're not going to be comfortable with the finished product."

Jack Granger

Date: 2013-12-07 15:43 EST
"I don't want to look like a..." He broke off, realizing she might not get the reference he was about to make, and he could think of nothing in Rhy'Din that compared. He was frowning and looking nervous again. "I don't know how to explain it, Dru. Maybe this was a mistake," he said, starting to chicken out.

"Like a what? An idiot?" Dru snorted, rolling her eyes. "Trust me, Jack, there is nothing short of putting your hair into green spikes with little pink hearts on top that will make you look anything but gorgeous. You're a very handsome man. It's just a shame you don't see it."

"Maybe I don't want to see it," he said, unzipping his jacket and dropping into a chair finally, without being asked. "Where I come from, everyone wears their hair long except..." Except what? Soldiers" Politicians" Businessmen" "Do you know what a hippie is?"

She nodded, her smile returning as she poured boiling water into a pair of cups, letting the tea brew for a while before she added anything else. "Probably not in the exact same sense that you mean, but the definition hasn't changed much since it came into use about forty years ago."

"Yeah, well....I'm not sure how much Lena told you, but I was born in California in 1950. I'm from a very different world, Dru. Where I come from long hair is a symbol of rebellion, of freedom, but it doesn't mean the same thing here." He was trying to explain, telling her almost than he'd told nearly anyone since his arrival, though he wasn't sure why. He wanted her to understand him, to know this wasn't just a silly whim.

Oddly, she wasn't as entirely without reference as he might have thought, but she didn't want to interrupt. It was so rare that Jack said more than four or five words together that Dru didn't want to cut him off, simply listening as he explained himself to her, without a speck of judgement in her at all.

"My Dad..." Jack continued, staring at his hands as he folded them and laid them on the table. "He was military, a career soldier, and he expected us - me and my brothers - to be soldiers, too. There was no room for argument." He broke off there, unsure if he should go on. He'd already said more than he'd planned, more than he'd told anyone but those close to him.

Perhaps it made sense that he would tell her about this. After all, she could relate in a way no one else could - her life was already planned out ahead of her, and unlike him, she had no option. Oh, she could abdicate, but that would leave her country leaderless. It was not a choice. Dru's smile faded as he spoke, making a guess she hoped wasn't too glaringly wrong. "And in the military, you have to conform," she mused quietly. "You can't express your individuality by any means. Everyone looks the same and acts the same. So by letting your hair grow and following your own path, you broke away entirely."

"Something like that, yeah," Jack admitted, as she hit close enough to the mark. "My eldest brother was killed in the war, and the other one..." Jack frowned, staring at his hands again as he wrung them nervously together. He wasn't sure what all this had to do with a simple haircut, but maybe he just needed to tell someone, to get it all off his chest once and for all. "He lost both his legs, and Dad..." Jack swallowed. "I wanted to be a musician, but Dad wouldn't budge. I was expected to volunteer. It was my duty and my responsibility, even after Jimmy..." Jack broke off again.

"There's nothing wrong with you for not wanting your life to conform to the plan your father laid out for you, Jack." Dru paused, adding liberal amounts of cinnamon and honey to the now brewed tea before sliding one of the mugs over to him. She didn't even consider asking him how he liked his tea, assuming he'd never had it this way and not giving him a chance to say no before trying it. "He got what he wanted from your brothers, no matter how tragically that ended. He shouldn't have pushed you."

Jack shrugged his shoulders, unsure if she was right, unsure if what he'd done had been right, unsure about anything that had happened back then. "He called me a coward. Said I was good for nothing, so I ran away and never went back. I don't know. Maybe he was right." He reached for the cup of tea, if only to keep his hands busy as he wrapped them around the mug.

"You're not a coward, Jack. The last thing you are is a coward." The teen princess rounded the counter to sit beside him, her own mug captured between her hands. "A coward would have just done as he was told. You didn't. It takes more courage to break the mould than it does to stay inside it. And besides, look what you've got that you would never have had if you'd done what your father wanted."

"Yeah, but what about all those guys that died" What about my brothers" You know what killed me the most?" he asked, as he turned his head toward hers. "Even after what happened to my brothers, he still wanted me to go. Even after what happened to Jimmy." Jack suddenly seemed to realize he'd gone too far, told her too much and he looked back at the mug in his hands. "Sorry. I don't know where that came from. I shouldn't be talking about this."

There was a chance he had gone too far, but then only a few people knew the circumstances that had brought Dru to Rhy'Din in the first place. But she understood him, better than he might have liked, because of those circumstances. Swallowing down her own hurt at the memories that rose with his words, she shook her head. "You have to tell someone," she offered quietly. "I understand, if that helps."

"I'm sorry, Dru," he turned to her, looking mournfully remorseful, his eyes shining with unshead tears. "I shouldn't have told you. Anyway, it was a long time ago." Jack wasn't sure how Dru understood, not knowing that much about her, but he took her at her word and nodded his head earnestly and gratefully. "Sorry," he repeated. He'd come to Rhy'Din to start over, not to rehash the past and stir up old ghosts. "Anyway, if it makes any sense, I don't want it short like a soldier's."

"No, I really do understand," she assured him, needing him to know why that was. "Just the fact of being royal killed my mother, my uncle, and my aunt. But it is still something I have to do. Even if I were to abdicate, I would still be in the firing line. Because it's not just what I am, it's who I am." She smiled, the expression only a little bitter at the trap she had been born into. "You got out, Jack. That's something to be proud of." Leaning close, Dru hugged him, a little sister to a big brother, warm and trusting, and not holding a single word he had spoken against him. "And I know what you mean. I wouldn't cut it that short, but it should be short enough so we can see your face. You do have scrummy features, you know."

His father had forced him to wear his hair short for years and he'd always hated it. If he wore it short now, it would be because he wanted to, not because he was forced to. His expression fell further at her own confession, his face paling at the realization that he'd unwittingly scratched open a wound of her own that he hadn't even known about. "Oh, God....I'm so sorry, Dru. I'm such an idiot. I'm sorry about your Mom. Christ..." He accepted her hug, realizing just how much they had in common. She'd never known her father; he'd never known his mother. She'd been forced to live a life she didn't want to live, while he'd been lucky enough to escape. Whatever compliment she gave him was buried in the guilt he felt for bringing up a sore subject and the sympathy he felt for her loss. "No one told me," he explained. "I didn't know."

"It's not common knowledge," she reassured him, gentle despite her grief. "It happened over the summer, I'm still dealing with it. But I'm lucky to have family and friends outside my own little prison, I know that now. You're one of those friends, you know."

His own pain seemed unimportant in the wake of hers, so recent and so fresh. It had only been a few months, and here he was dumping his past troubles on her when she was so young and had so many of her own to deal with. "Is there anything I can do to help?" he asked, sympathy obvious in his gaze. A gentle soul, he had a caring heart, and he had grown fond of Dru, like the sister he'd never had. It pained him to know she was hurting.

Unlike many of her cousins, however, Dru had definitely taken a leaf from her mother's side of the family tree. There was no real angst, no wallowing in what she couldn't change. If anything, she tended to ignore what caused the most pain. So when Jack asked her if there was anything he could do to help her, what he got was a slightly mischievous smile over the rim of her tea cup. "You can let me cut your hair."

He arched a brow at her reply, wondering if she just wanted to go on with her life and not think about the past, or if she just needed someone she could trust to talk to about it. "Only if you promise me something," he started, waiting for her reply before continuing.

"That depends on what the something is," she pointed out. "If it has anything to do with going to the party at the big house on Christmas Eve, I can't promise that at all." The teen shrugged, wondering if he was going to make her promise to deal with her issues rather than brush them under the rug, the way Jon and Des and Lena had been trying to encourage her to do for more than a month now.

"I would, but I have a feeling you wouldn't listen to me anyway." He did smile at her remark though, the first smile since he'd arrived. His fingers twitched nervously before reaching for her hand, a little uncertain of himself even as he reached out to her. "Promise you'll come to me if you need someone to talk to," he said, offering her more than just friendship. He had confided in her, and he was offering that same thing in return.

She hesitated, before nodding once again, holding onto the hand he reached toward her with deceptive firmness. It was all an act, and one she was learning to master - to be a swan, all elegance and grace on the surface, no matter how frantically you're paddling to stay afloat beneath. "I will," she promised him, her voice quiet in the still kitchen. "Thank you, Jack."

He took her hand in a surprisingly firm grip, offering a gentle squeeze and meeting her gaze so that she knew it wasn't an empty gesture, but that he meant what he said. It seemed to him that they had bonded in that moment, that they had built a bridge of sorts between them, though she was nearly ten year his junior. He knew she already had two brothers of her own, but he had never had a sister, and he hoped she'd find a place in her life for him other than first crush. He turned suddenly shy again, and he cleared his throat nervously, nodding his head in acknowledgement of her thanks. "Sure, anytime," he replied, with a shy smile.

Jack Granger

Date: 2013-12-07 15:43 EST
Realising that she was holding hands with the finest male specimen of her acquaintance, Dru suddenly blushed vividly, easing her hand out of Jack's grasp with a shy giggle of her own. Fixing her eyes on her teacup, she stared into it for a moment before summoning up the courage to speak again, embarrassed that she'd come over all girly in the first place. "So, um ....when do you want me to cut your hair?"

"As soon as possible" Before I lose my nerve," he said, hardly noticing the blush, or at least, not realizing it was because of him. He'd never known a girl to have a crush on him before and now there were two - one innocent and one not so innocent. "Can I trust you with a scissors?" he asked, releasing her hand as she pulled away.

"I promise I will not run with them," she laughed, taking a sip of her tea before moving to stand up. "Give me a moment, I know where Lena keeps the comb and scissors. Are you sure you trust me to do this for you? Lena might be better at it, you know. She did Tommy's hair."

"No, I..." he started, wearing that uncertain frown on his face again as she stood up. "I don't want Tommy or Lena to know just yet." He had his reasons. One of those reasons was that it was a surprise; the other was a little more personal. Jack just wasn't sure how Tommy would react to him chopping his hair off - again - and he didn't feel like being ribbed about it before he had a chance to see if Jasmin liked it.

"Oh, so it's like our little secret," Dru grinned cheerfully. "What are you going to do, wear a hat all day and all night until you whip it off and show Jaz your new 'do?" She ruffled his hair as she passed by him, not needing to go far. This was the sort of house where everything was kept in the kitchen - it was easier to find things then.

He ducked his head momentarily as she ruffled his hair, frowning thoughtfully, perhaps taking this hair-cutting things a little too seriously. What was the worst that could happen anyway' It was only hair. He had grown it out once; he could do it again. "I wanted to surprise her for Christmas, but....Why's it so important, you think, Dru" My hair, I mean. Long or short, it doesn't change who I am."

She looked up from her rummaging through a drawer, considering the answer before giving it to him. "Because she's proud of you," she suggested with a shrug. "Because she doesn't want you to go through life thinking you have to hide behind something that doesn't suit you. And that hair style really doesn't suit you, Jack. You like showing her off, don't you? So why is it so different for her to want to do the same with you?"

He tugged at the longish strands of hair with his fingers again, wondering what she or Jasmin would have thought of him had his hair and beard remained long and shaggy. They probably wouldn't have given him so much as a second glance. "I don't know. I just....I don't want people to judge me based on what I look like."

"Looks are what we base our first impressions on," the teenager offered up, finally producing scissors and a comb from the drawer. "It's the first thing I got taught. That my first impression is the way I present myself. It is just a first impression, but if your first impression is a good one, people are more inclined to learn about you and come to their own conclusions. It's hard to do that when you present the world with an outward appearance that wants to hold them at arms' length."

"Serves me right for asking a princess a question like that," he said as he watched her, his stomach all tied up in nervous knots over a simple haircut. "It's not fair really. People shouldn't just a book by its cover." Though he knew, that was simply the way things were and there was nothing he could do about it. He'd walked the path of a rebel long enough and it had gotten him nothing but loneliness.

"No, they shouldn't," she agreed, pulling a stool into the middle of the floor and patting it invitingly. "But it's a long way from should to don't, and most people don't ever even consider making the walk. Besides, you're a handsome fellow. You should be proud of that, show it off a little." She smiled once again, a smile that was nearly as shy as his, and flicked a towel at him. "Come on then, if you're coming."

"How do you know what I look like underneath here?" he asked, gesturing toward his own face as he moved to his feet. He shrugged off his shaggy jacket and left it on the chair, taking a deep breath before moving over to claim the chair. In another minute or two, there'd be no turning back.

"I have faith," she nodded confidently. "That, and no one can completely disguise a fantastic bone structure even under a beard. Which you have. Fantastic bone structure, gorgeous eyes, the works. You're going to be a knock out, Jack, just you wait."

"I haven't seen my own face in..." He paused a moment as he mentally did the math. Had it really been five years" He blushed a little at the compliment again, unaccustomed to hearing such things, especially from those of the opposite sex. "So, do you have any boyfriends?" he asked, curiously, changing the subject and the focus of the conversation away from himself.

It took another moment for her to screw up her courage and start running her fingers through his hair, pausing to drape the towel around his shoulders before combing through the tangles left by the wintry weather as gently as she could. "Boyfriends?" Dru laughed awkwardly, embarrassed even by the notion. "I don't even have friends, Jack. How am I supposed to get a boyfriend?"

"I'm your friend," he pointed out helpfully, proving her wrong, though he obviously could not be her boyfriend. It wasn't just the fact that he was already in love with her cousin; he was simply too old for her, and they both knew it. "It shouldn't be hard for a girl like you to find a boyfriend, but maybe I shouldn't be encouraging you." She was a princess, after all, not a commoner like him. "I suppose your..." He broke off before uttering the word "family". "I suppose you're supposed to date royalty."

"A girl like me?" she echoed as the first snip of the scissors spelled doom for his ability to hide behind his hair for the festive season. She was frowning with concentration, yes, but she wasn't entirely sure what he was getting at. "What do you mean by that?"

He winced a little at the first sound of snipping, but steeled himself to remain still until she was finished. What was the worst that could happen" It was only hair, after all. He tried to turn his attention to the conversation and ignore what she was doing with his hair. "I mean, you're pretty, smart, cute, and caring. Boys should be falling all over you by now."

She snorted with laughter, aware of her own loneliness but trained pretty much from birth to deal with it, watching the strands of his hair tumble down onto the towel as she shortened his hair. There wasn't really all that much to come off, on the whole. It was more a case of neatening the style once it was at a length that would suit him. "How many boys my age do you know who are brave enough to approach someone who always has a bodyguard loitering somewhere nearby?"

"There's no one loitering nearby now," he pointed out, though he knew that didn't really count. "If I'd met a girl like you when I was sixteen or seventeen..." He didn't complete that thought. If he'd met someone like her or Lena or Jasmin when he was still a teenager, his whole life might have been different, but on the whole, he was happy with the way things had turned out. He was happy in Rhy'Din, and he was happy with Jasmin, and despite everything, he wouldn't change a thing. "What I mean is, maybe you just haven't met the right guy yet."

"Well, he'll only be exactly the right guy if he comes with rank and table manners, according to my uncles' ministers." Dru shrugged, not particularly wanting to talk about this. It was a source of a great deal of upset in her life that one very important decision was never going to be hers to make. But she'd promised Jack she'd talk to him if she needed to, and he deserved a little of her confidence after the way he had shared with her. "I just don't see the point of letting myself make a connection like that," she tried to explain. "If he isn't exactly right, I'd have to break it off the second the search for a husband starts, and I'd be going into my marriage aware of what I'm missing. That just seems harder to bear, somehow."

"Tables manners can be taught," Jack remarked, though he wasn't so sure about rank. He got the feeling he was only causing her more pain by talking about this subject than he intended, and he found himself apologizing again. Still, there was a point he wanted to make. "I didn't think I'd ever meet anyone either."

"But you did," Dru pointed out, careful not to make the point that there were no rules surrounding his choice of who should share his life with him. She paused for a moment, drawing her fingers through his hair to check the comparative lengths. She'd already clipped it fairly close at the back, but she wasn't going to take all the length away. Just enough to make it manageable. "And you're so happy with her, it radiates out."

"It does?" he asked, briefly tilting his head to regard her. "Dru..." He paused a moment again, unsure how much he dared confide in her. "I'm gonna ask her to marry me," he told her, hoping she would be happy for them. He knew she had feelings for him, but they both knew it would never work out. He at least owed her the truth before she left for Tirisano and found out after the fact.

Of course she was happy for them. Having a crush on him didn't mean she automatically wanted him to be miserable, after all. And being told before anyone ....well, that was a pretty big indication that he trusted her. Dru's smile was wide and genuine as he let this secret spill out, bright enough not to be touched by the stab of jealousy that came from being a teenager with a slightly inappropriate fixation on an older man. "That's wonderful, Jack," she enthused brightly. "So that's what the hair cut is about."

"Yeah, well....partly. I mean, I do want her to be proud of me. Especially if we're gonna get married. I wanna make her happy. And I need to show her cousins and her uncle that I can take care of her, that I can be responsible, you know?" he asked, still looking up to her. She was going to have to turn his head back around if she ever wanted to finish with the haircut. "I guess it's time I grow up," Jack said, frowning a little to himself.

"Don't grow up too much," the teenager warned him, planting both hands on his head to run his face forward once again, returning to her snipping. "She loves you the way you are, remember. And Jaz doesn't really strike me as the type to care if Humphrey approves all that much. I mean, it'd be nice if he did, but she wouldn't drop you just on his whim. Which he wouldn't ask her to, by the way. He's a mean old grouch, but he's a fair one. He'll probably like you."

"Think so?" he asked, more concerned about Jasmin's family's approval than he'd let on to her or Lena or anyone else. "I don't even have a job. Not really. I mean, what if he thinks I'm more interested in her money than her? Which I'm not," he added, almost turning his head again but remembering at the last minute that she was still trying to cut his hair.

Jack Granger

Date: 2013-12-07 15:45 EST
"Well, you're obviously not," Dru agreed with him firmly. "And that's clear to anyone who talks to you even for ten minutes, especially if Jaz is the subject of the conversation. You're nauseatingly gooey for her." She chuckled to herself softly at her own turn of phrase. "Okay, give me a second to get the mirror, and you can take a look at the new you."

"Nauseatingly gooey?" he repeated, chuckling a little at her description of his feeling for her cousin. The chuckle didn't last long, quickly replaced by a frown as she declared she was finished with his hair. He was unable to wait, lifting a hand to rub his fingers against his head, a little alarmed at first to find there wasn't much there to run his fingers through anymore. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing; the mirror would help determine that.

It took barely a few seconds for Dru to find the handheld mirror and offer it to him, pushing his fingers away from his hair to rearrange it herself with a grin. "Go on, take a look," she encouraged him, hoping he wasn't going to be appalled and never let her near him again. "I didn't go too short, just like I said."

He was a little nervous about looking in the mirror but he had to face his own reflection sooner or later. He took the mirror from her, holding his breath a moment before lifting the mirror to have a look at her handiwork. He gasped as he looked back at the face in the mirror. It was undeniably his face, still with the scruff of beard covering his cheeks and chin, but without the scraggly mop of hair he'd chopped himself upon arriving in Rhy'Din. It wasn't all that much shorter really, except in back, but she had given it some shape and style that he'd been sadly lacking for a long time.

She was visible in the background of his reflection, smirking with satisfaction at her handiwork. "See" I told you, you're a handsome devil," she reiterated with a grin. "Now you just need to shave and maybe change your clothes, and you'll be a serious contender for sexiest man on Rhy'Din."

"Me" Sexy?" he echoed, doubtfully. This was coming from a girl whose brother was a movie star. There was no way he could even begin to compete with that, but there was no denying he looked at least a less rough around the edges. "Do you have a razor?" he asked, anxious to finish the transformation.

"Absolutely," she nodded firmly, still grinning from ear to ear. "There's a razor in the upstairs bathroom. If you neaten up in there, I'll raid Jon's old closet for some stuff you can either change into or take back with you. Because this look" Doesn't really go with those clothes anymore."

Jack had spent a few weeks at Willow Manor and knew where to find most things. He'd slept in Jon's old room and even worn Jon's old clothes, but it had never really felt like home. There were so many things of Jon's still left there that it had almost felt like he was invading someone else's private place. He glanced down at his ragged clothes - t-shirt, jeans, sweatshirt, sneakers. They were comfortable, but she was right - they didn't really fit the new Jack. The problem was he wasn't sure what did.

"I'm-I'm not sure..." he started, that uncertainty and lack of self-confidence creeping back into his voice again.

"I'm sure." Whatever uncertainty had been raised by the various subjects they had covered during their conversation, Dru had pushed it down, excited by the opportunity to make over a friend, even if it was a male friend doing it for the benefit of his girlfriend. She gave him a gentle prod, carefully sweeping the towel and clippings off his shoulders. "I could shave you myself, you know, but seeing as I've never been anywhere near a throat with a razor, that might be a little risky."

"I haven't shaved in years," he admitted, almost as unsure of himself with a razor as she was of herself, but if he really wanted to change, he was going to have to get used to shaving again. He raised a hand to touch his hair again, reminded of his childhood when his father had buzzed Jack and his brothers' hair short on a regular basis. Jack almost felt naked without the familiar feel of hair against his neck. "I'm gonna need a hat," he remarked idly, realizing winter was going to feel a lot colder without all that hair covering his head.

Surprisingly, Dru had an answer for him there, too. "Well, you know that old beanie that's way too big for her Jaz usually wears in the cold?" she offered, part-way through tidying up what little of his hair had fallen onto the tiled floor. "She forgot it last time she was here. I think it's still on the bannister."

"A beanie?" Jack echoed. "Won't I look silly in a beanie?" he asked, really having no idea about fashion or about what looked good and what didn't. He'd hidden himself away for so long behind all that hair and ragged, second-hand clothes that he really had no idea what was fashionable anymore. It didn't help that he had no real sense of fashion in Rhy'Din. It wasn't the 70s anymore; Lena had made that quite clear when he'd attempted to wear a leisure suit.

"So long as you're warm, who cares what you look like?" was the teenager's practical response to that. "You've seen the ridiculous things Jaz wears to keep warm. She doesn't care, why should you?" She grinned. "Now go upstairs and shave, or I'll have to do it myself, and you'll go home looking like you got into a fight with a cactus and lost."

"You just contradicted yourself, you know," Jack pointed out helpfully. After all, hadn't she just told him that his clothes no longer fit his new haircut' Now she was telling him that it didn't matter what he wore. As if he wasn't confused enough already, but he relented and got up from the chair to start on his way toward the stairs.

"Well, there are limits," she admitted, prodding him in the back, just like an annoying little sister, as she followed him toward the stairs. "You can look a little silly within reason and not care. It's one of the joys of being completely yourself. Confidence is more important than anything else."

"I'm not sure I have much of that," he admitted with a frown, glancing back at her as she prodded him along. At least, he wasn't shuffling his feet. He was a little scared to find what was hidden beneath that scruff of beard on his face. How much had he changed in five years" He'd just been a kid when he'd started growing that ridiculous beard.

"So fake it." It was a simple adage, but one that worked. Fake it 'til you make it. Oddly, when you pretended to have confidence, often you became confident without realising it. She smiled up at him. "Trust me, Jack. I know I'm just a kid, but I do know about these things."

"Fake it?" he asked as he shuffled up the stairs. "How am I supposed to do that?" He'd been hiding in Tommy's shadow for so long, he wasn't even sure who Jack Smith was anymore. And before that, it had been his father and brothers who had loomed large in his life.

"You have to find your own way," Dru told him. "Smile when you don't feel like it. Pretend to be brave enough to meet people you don't know with a smile and handshake, and don't let them see that you're nervous or shy, or that you don't really want to be there. It works for me."

He halted as he reached the top of the stairs and turned to face her, suddenly realizing something important about her. She wasn't so much talking about him, as she was about herself. "Is that what you do, Dru" Fake it' Pretend to be happy when you're really not?"

She held his gaze, the teen in her still vulnerable enough to blush at being caught out in the grand deception she had been working on everyone for years. "All the time," she admitted, adding in a hurried tone, "but you can't tell anyone. People worry enough about me as it is without knowing that I'm not as all right as I let them think. I don't want to cause any more trouble."

It wasn't that hard to figure out, since she'd admitted that it had worked for her. Jack smiled warmly down at her, like he might to a kid sister or a close friend. He had grown genuinely fond of Dru, and asking him to share this little secret between them only endeared her all the more. "I promise. My lips are sealed," he told her, one hand making a zipping motion across his mouth. "Just remember your promise," he reminded her.

She made a face at him, but smiled nonetheless. "I've already told you more than I've told anyone else," she pointed out, a little grumbly but that could be put down to being sixteen going on seventeen. "You go and shave, I'll grab a few bits from the closet. You never know, I might even find you a snow hat."

"Yeah, well....That goes double," he admitted, wordlessly attested to the same fact. The only person who knew more about him was than Dru did at this point was Tommy. He had started opening up to Jasmin and Lena knew bits and pieces, but there was a lot Jack still kept to himself. He was trying to put the past behind him and start over, but he found it wasn't as simple as he might have thought.

"I'm glad you can talk to someone about it," Dru nodded, giving him another gentle nudge toward the bathroom. "Now hurry up, or Tommy and Lena will come back before you have a chance to run across the grounds and hide in Ivy Lodge again."

Jack chuckled as she nudged him again. "Yes, Mother," he said, without even realizing what he was saying. Was it a little ironic that it was a sixteen year old who'd taken him under her wing and tried to mother him, when he'd never had a mother"

She didn't give him much opportunity to say anything further, herself disappearing into the room that housed far too many clothes for a one man to own in search of a selection she was going to send him home with. Dru knew exactly what style Jack should be going for, and though it might take him a while to grow accustomed to it, she had a feeling it might help with his confidence as time went on.

He stood there a moment as she stepped away from him, as if perplexed or debating what to do. Was he doing the right thing" Who did he think he was trying to reinvent himself" Who was he trying to be? Was he trying to be someone else or was he trying to figure out who he really was deep inside? He wasn't Leroy Jakubowski anymore. Leroy Jakubowski was as good as dead. He was Jack Smith, aspiring musician. He was exactly who he always wanted to be, and he was about to ask the girl of his dreams to marry him. He smiled a little at that, his heart a little lighter, and pushed his way into the bathroom to finish what he'd started.

((Well, that got a little away from us, but much fun! Many thanks to Dru's player for the fun and for making Jack presentable. Now to surprise Jasmin! :D ))