8 Consimbs 4385: A Visit from Void-Dancer

[delight-in.livejournal.com]

I was in my room, reading one of Glory's Stone Tree novels, when I heard the knock. I answered the door, and Void-Dancer was standing in the hallway.

"Voidsy!" I yelped, and gave him a big hug. "How are you it's so good to see you again is everything going well at the temple Masksy says it's been busy?"

He patted my back awkwardly. "I am fine, sister. Mersillia said you'd called?"

"I did but I didn't think you'd call back I was going to try again tomorrow or the next day why don't you come on in?" I stood aside to let him into my room, then scurried ahead to dump the pile of dirty laundry off one of the chairs and onto Glory's bed, and moved the pile of clean laundry off the other chair and onto my bed. "Sorry it's a mess we don't usually have people in if it's nice outside."

Void-Dancer watched me with one of his faintly amused smirks. He was wearing everyday robes, not his formal ones from the temple. They had a plain cut and no embroidery but were otherwise black just like his temple ones. Voidsy really likes black. But his fur was faded back to its natural brown with a dusting of tiny beige spots. "How old are you, Delight-in-Justice?"

"I'm Delight-in-No-More-Surprises now and 27*? Eleven years younger than you you know that. "

[[ * About 21 Earth years. ]]

"Sometimes I find it hard to credit that you are grown up now."

I giggled. "I guess I'll always be the baby sister to you just like I'm still Dad-Dad's fiddle-of-pearl."

He shook his head, dusting off the chair with one hand before he took a seat. "No, I don't think that's it. What did you wish to see me regarding, Delight-in-No-More-Surprises?"

"I wanted to say hi to you and see how you were doing because I haven't seen you in months and months since I've been out of town?"

He gave me a suspicious look. "Is that all?"

"Yes?" I tried to think if there was anything else. "Oh!"

Void-Dancer leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest, eyebrow whiskers raised. "Yes?"

"Did you want me to do your fur in black again or are you going back to natural?"

He looked at me for a moment, blinking, then smiled wryly. "Yes, thank you. I'd appreciate that."

So he took off his robes and lay down on my bed with a blanket over the parts of him I wasn't furstyling at the present time. I started with his right arm. "Do you want just plain black again?" I always ask.

"Yes. Matte, please." And he always wants just plain black.

"Are you sure? I could do your chest in silver for contrast."

"I'm sure."

"Or stars! I could put stars in with the black."

"No. Thank you."

"Teeny tiny stars? All in one color? Like your natural spots?"

"Just black will do, Delight." He thinks his natural spots are undignified. I like them! Maybe next time I re-do my fur I'll add spots like his.

"Oh all right."

Void-Dancer's fur is kind of challenging to do even though he does want BLACK JUST BLACK every time. Because he wants a flat black and fur is usually glossy. And nobody wants fur that isn't glossy -- usually everyone's asking how to make it shine MORE, not LESS. So I don't get much chance to do matte colors. If you do matte black right, it looks like you're a piece of night itself, like the eye can't even find your features and just slides to the edges to see your outline. It's a pretty cool effect! But if you do matte black wrong, it just looks like you're really sick and have been subsisting on magic-created food. The first time Void-Dancer had it done was like that. Our parents pitched a fit! If he'd still been living at home I think they would've dragged him back to a furstylist for a new style on the spot. I wasn't a licensed furstylist back then but I'd always liked to style my friends' fur for fun and I had a basic fur-styling spell grafted. I'd noticed over the next few months that he kept letting it grow out then getting it done again by some different stylist and finally I had asked, "Why do you keep doing that to your fur is it an acolyte thing you're supposed to look sickly because "Here" is torturing you?"

He had growled at me. "Perhaps."

"You know black fur is supposed to have highlights right?"

"I don't want highlights. I want the black of the void."

"..." I'd studied him. "You know you're getting the black of I-need-to-eat-more-fish-and-nuts, right?"

Void-Dancer had glowered at me.

"I'm just saying that if you want the black of the void you can do better. Here, I'll show you."

"I am not letting you experiment on me."

So I'd painted one of my hands very carefully, until it was so perfectly black you couldn't see the knuckles or pads or even claws except for their edges. "See? Like that."

Ever since then Voidsy's been letting me do his fur.