"Oh no, you would look better as a redhead, not a blonde." Lisa said her client Giselle, a 22-year old French exchange student. She spoke to her while trimming the girl's hair, and the two were discussing Giselle's intention to dye her hair. "Trust me, guys around here seem to prefer redheads, though you do get the ones who just want a woman for one thing and it doesn't matter what colour their hair is."
"You think?" Giselle said in her timid voice, as she looked into the mirror at the woman trimming her currently brown hair. "My classmate Michelle said I might look good as a blonde." He added in a strong French accent.
Lisa chuckled and shook her head. "With an enticing accent like yours, trust me... auburn would be the perfect colour for you."
Giselle was about to speak again when the door to the salon opened, causing the chime above to jingle. Lisa turned, expecting to see another client, but instead she saw a dishelved looking man who was probably in his mid to late 40's. He had on a tattered beanie cap and a parker coat, along with a torn sweater, some grubby jeans and a pair of old boots. He clearly belonged in some back alley somewhere instead of a hairdressers. "Can I help you?" Lisa grimaced, as she paused from giving Giselle her trim.
"Sorry to intrude miss, but can you spare some water for me?" The man asked, scratching his bearded, dirty visage. "I'm thirsty, and tired." He said.
Lisa stood with her hands on her hips for a moment, still holding her scissors and comb, her grimace never disapeared as she began to smell the funk coming off the clearly homeless man. "Does this look like a shelter to you?" She spat, before glancing back to Giselle and deciding she'd better at least appear to be sympathetic. "Look, I have a diet coke if you'd like that? And how about some hand gel?" She said, grabbing an unopened bottle of soda and a small container of Carex hand sanitiser.
"Yes, thank you miss." The man nodded, catching the items as Lisa tossed them at him.
"Yeah, yeah, no worries, now can you leave, please?" Lisa forced out a smile, pointing to the door behind the man. "I need to run my business."
"Of course, the man smiled, "but please accept this for your kindness." The man said, pulling a ring from the right pocket of his coat. It looked to be a ring fitted only for a woman's finger, and it looked surprisingly clean. Eager to get rid of the man, Lisa squirted some hand gel into her left hand before holding it out, allowing the man to place the ring in her palm. She then rubbed both hands together, cleaning both them and the ring at the same time.
"Okay, cool, thank you." Lisa said, thinking the ring to be a worthless piece of costume jewelry.
The man turned and left the hairdressers, and Lisa rolled her eyes and turned back to Giselle. "Sorry about that interruption, that was weird."
"It's okay, that ring looks kind of nice." Giselle chuckled, looking at it in her stylist's hand.
"It's probably worthless." Lisa shrugged, but she slipped it on her ring finger anyway to see how it looked. It was a gold band with a small crimson jewel encrusted in the top. As soon as the ring went on her finger, Lisa felt a strange pulse of energy run through her. She closed her eyes as knowledge filled her head, knowledge of the ring's power that enabled the wearer to swap people's traits and clothing. She couldn't deny that it was real, as the proof was now in her mind. But as to why the man would give away such an item in exchange for a soda and some hand gel was beyond her.
In any case, a smirk appeared on Lisa's face, as she went back to finishing Giselle's hair.
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