10087/I Love Your Hair!

I Love Your Hair!
Date of Scene:	18 November 2019
Location:	Queens Center Mall, Queens, NY
Synopsis:	Andi and Gwen meet over hair coloring.
Cast of Characters:	Andi Benton, Ghost Spider

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Andi Benton has posed:
Another day at the Queens Center Mall, only this time Andi is not on shift. What in the world is she doing there, then, at a place with so many people around? Sometimes, you just have a little shopping of your own to take care of.

Presently, she's at one of the beauty shops, looking over different shades of hair dye. The purple is in need of a little refresher, more of the black color showing up than she'd like. While a dark coat is worn over her usual attire for warmth, she's in the black unitard with the frayed sleeves and legs today, plus the purple sleeveless dress along with some bracelets and a spiked cuff, along with a cross between a choker and a collar of some kind. What a punk.

Ghost Spider has posed:
Gwen honestly looks just about as far from punk as one can get. Well okay not as far as one can get but pretty far at first glance at least.

Her hair is a half shave though, and the tips are dip dyed in at this point a very fading pink. The flannel and punk rock hello kitty is.. ambiguous. I mean the Hello Kitty is pretty punk but .. it is a hello kitty shirt right.

Mixed messages really.

She is at the mall to shop as well, though her day, night, and late night jobs are all not in this mall. So she is really just a customer at the moment heading to the hair dye section hmmming some song that has never made the radio but her band is working on right now. Ducking up next to Andi and looking the dyes over.

Andi Benton has posed:
Hello Kitty? Well, that could be punk for some people. There are some punk /versions/ of Hello Kitty out there, but..well. It is what it is.

As someone sidles up next to her to check out some more of the bottles of dye, Andi flashes a brief glance her way at the humming but she says nothing at first. Instead, she tugs her coat closer to her and reaches for a couple bottles of the purple stuff. Some lighter, some darker, one or two of them brighter than usual. "Maybe," she tells herself.

Ghost Spider has posed:
Well it is a punk version on her shirt after all.

Gwen peers and then snags a very flourescent pink box and turns it over in her hands. It is a pretty expensive brand, not quite professional pots but still good stuff really.

She glances over at the maybe and looks at the ons that Andi has then looks critically at Andi's skintone. She mmms thoughtfully and then points "Probably that one..." Gwen has been modeling semi-professionally for sometime and knows a bit about stylists and hair colorings from just contact if nothing else.

Andi Benton has posed:
"Too expensive," Andi says, shaking her head. She's going for some of the cheaper stuff, which has the side effect of not lasting quite as long, fading a little faster. There's a tradeoff in play, if she really stopped to think about it.

A second glance follows, the style of hair noted with the bit of pink mixed in with the rest, and she gives a closer peek at the brand Gwen's considering. "Oh. Rich girl?" she wonders, working one of the piercings in her lower lip with her tongue.

Ghost Spider has posed:
"Not if you looked at my bank account..." snarks Gwen right back.

If nothing else her time as a wallcrawling spider themed hero in the city has helped her quick responses.

"I do some modeling and am in a bar band though so I try to make it last brighter longer if I can help.... " she pauses "Also since it lasts longer between fades I don't have to buy as much... it isn't a bad trade off really."

Andi Benton has posed:
Andi Benton squints at the taller woman, though she finds she can't quite place the age in comparison to her own. Hard to tell sometimes, with some looks. A finger rubs at the spiked cuff she's got on, rotating it as if the position matters. Maybe it does, where the inside of the strap rests in place.

"I work at the Hot Topic here," she says, as if that should explain why she's focused on the cheap stuff. "But that's cool...I guess. If you like modeling and probably having drunk people try to get you to show your tits on stage or go home with them after the show."

And that conversation just took a turn.

Ghost Spider has posed:
Gwen blinks "..."

She turns to look back at Andi "Not that kind of bar band... I meant we aren't good enough yet to get really big shows but MJ sure plans to." there is a shake of her head. "Those are sidegigs anyhow... hot topic huh. Don't you get a discount and don't they carry hair dye if you wanted cheaper colors?"

Andi Benton has posed:
Andi Benton wears a smug little smile, getting proof that she's still got it in terms of being able to leave people speechless, if briefly, with her attitude. It fades, faster than the dyes they're considering. She sets a darker hue back where it was and focuses on something lighter.

"Is that so," she answers, and it doesn't really sound like a question. She shuffles half a step away and sounds somewhat evasive. "Yeah, I do, but we're also...encouraged to go to the other places here at least once in a while. Good for business, they say." A shrug, as if to ask 'what can you do?'

Ghost Spider has posed:
Gwen snrks "It sounds like they don't want you getting stuff at cost all the time or maybe the franchise here owns other stores in the mall.. call me a cynic."

Gwen plucks up another bottle of pink and looks it over. "Corporations are sociopaths."

Andi Benton has posed:
"You can fucking say that again," Andi agrees, partly under her breath, partly not. She isn't trying to not be heard, just not heard beyond a couple feet around her. This means only Gwen is close enough. If the woman knows accents, hers is distinctly Philadelphian.

She slides a couple bottles of the lighter purple aside, then adds, "Aw, fuck it," and swaps them out for comparable ones about one price level higher. Midrange for this place. "The food court gets most of my extra money anyway. You couldn't pay me to go into one of the sporting goods places." Then she reconsiders, "Well, you /could/ but you know what I mean."

Ghost Spider has posed:
Gwen gives a nod about the bottle swap up a price tier, mostly because she knows that it will actually last longer and be a better color. Sad thing about the world is you get what you pay for.

She saw this Terry Pratchett quote about boots once talking about it.

"Oh and how much would it take to get you into a sporting good store?" amusement.

Andi Benton has posed:
"Say, twenty dollars. How long would I have to stay there?" Andi asks, flashing Gwen a look rife with suspicion. She opts for going quiet after this rather than say more, acting somewhat guarded and private about much else. After all, her fellow shopper is a stranger.

Ghost Spider has posed:
"Not too hard then to get you to step foot inside such an establishment full of balls." she plucks another bottle of the pink, may as well while she is here.

"My names Gwen, nice to meet a fellow tribe member of the boring hair sucks tribe."

Andi Benton has posed:
Andi Benton wonders dryly, "Are we still talking about the sporting goods place, or is it back to your bar band stuff?" If there's a smile, it's in her eyes instead of her mouth. Then the eyes scan a few other displays nearby, but she doesn't seem to find anything of interest.

"Andi, and normal hair is lame."

Ghost Spider has posed:
"Super lame." she looks around and then nods.

"Well... good luck with the dying of the hair. I'm going to probably make my bathroom look like a unicorn exploded in it... as usual."

Andi Benton has posed:
Andi Benton stuffs her hands into the pockets of her coat. It's all black, with a few spikes and patches worked into different spots. Clearly she's someone trying to present a certain attitude or style, or maybe it's really the way she is.

"You come around here much? It's pretty close to the train." She knows there are shoppers that take more of a trek to get here than others.

Ghost Spider has posed:
"I swing by sometimes... it is a pretty nice mall and it is more my speed then the really expensive ones in Manhattan... or shit. Sometimes it is just nice to window shop.. and yeah the train makes it prettyy easy."

She pays for her stuff. "So punk rght, not goth?"

Andi Benton has posed:
"It /is/ kind of..not bad," Andi has to admit. "A little bright for my tastes, but malls don't get a lot of business if they're all dark and creepy." At least she knows that much.

She adds, as she moves to get in line as well, "I like that it's easy to get downtown, too. You don't even need a car. And..sometimes both, depending on how I'm feeling." To her, the two styles are sort of interchangable. "Maybe I'll come listen to your music sometime. I used to work at a record shop."

Ghost Spider has posed:
Gwen is paying attention, no cellphone in sight as she waits in line now.

"Both, well flexibility is good. We are pretty punky for the record. The Mary Janes.. despite the name it is more the ego of my best friend MJ naming the band after herself than anything like stoner music... "

A grin. "All girl punk band though so not bad in my book.. I'm still surprised we haven't gotten picked up... might be because we need to practice more. I'm the drummer."

Andi Benton has posed:
Andi Benton roots around in a pocket, then another, then she mutters a 'Shit' under her breath. "Way to go, Andi. Leave your damned phone at home like an idiot. Whatever." Looking back up, she catches most of what's said but she shakes her head. "Just..let me know where you play and I'll look it up, or you know where I work. I try to get as many hours as I can."

It's her turn to pay, leading to a faint grimace at the total being higher than she's used to. The price of personal fashion. "It sounds like something I might even like a little," she decides, still playing things off like she isn't all that interested when the truth is a little different, hearing that there's a punk element.

Ghost Spider has posed:
"What's your number, I'll put it in mine and text you the band name?"

She steps aside and pulls her smartphone out, it looks decent though not top of the line. She unlocks it with a glance and opens up the text app. "Mostly we scream a lot about the patriarchy and shit... though our best song is "Face it Tiger" she taps her fingers to the side of her phone picking up the beat "Face it tiger..face it tiger... well I'm not the singer, that is MJ" a shrug.

Andi Benton has posed:
Andi Benton provides the number after stuffing the hair coloring in her pockets with the receipt, passing on a bag. Look who's being conscious of the environment! "Just a suggestion, though. If you don't want to be seen as a stoner band, maybe consider changing the name sometime. Because that's the first thing I thought of and I don't even do any of that shit."

She listens to the song 'sample' and, rather than saying something that would clearly be rude, she instead offers, "Not bad. Don't really know what this tiger is supposed to be facing, but yeah." She's giving the exit a look now, nodding in that direction as if to say 'let's get out of here.'

Ghost Spider has posed:
"Yeah we've brought it up to Mary Jane and she tends to get super offended because the band is named after her...." she smirks punching the numbers into her phone, sending you a text with a Hey It's Gwen, here is the band website.

"Well Tiger is a ... yeah.. god knows..." she shrugs and heads to the exit with her stuff now. "It was nice meeting you Andi."

Andi Benton has posed:
"Oh. She sounds stuck up and selfish to me. 'The band just /has/ to be named after /me/ or I'll be sooooo hurt!'" Andi mimes a more high-pitched, overly dramatic voice. Maybe it's accurate, maybe not. She'll have to check the text later.

The younger woman, still with the look of a teenager about her, lifts a hand and waves quickly. "Yeah, nice. Gwen." She hesitates a moment, then mutters something almost inaudible as she begins to fade into the crowd. "God..whatever."