Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 13)

"Okay!" He seized Sara's dinner knife, and she grabbed his wrist quickly to wrest the weapon from him.
"Later," she chided him breathlessly. "Good gods, Matt." Gaius gave a half chuckle.

(holy hell child)

Aashi blinked at him, startled, and then glanced at Tasia to be sure she didn't get any dumb ideas and try to follow suit. She, however, was just as surprised by Mattathias's actions and was just gaping at him.

Good.

Aashi gave her a firm look. "If you two are to exchange hair, then you will have an adult cut it for you... well... I can't speak for Mattathias's parents, but you will have Mama or Papa cut your hair or you'll be in trouble, do you understand?"

"Yes ma'am," Tasia agreed grudgingly, but looked back at Mattathias. "Later."

Mattathias nodded, flushing a little. "Sorry Mama."
"I'll cut off a little of your hair right after breakfast," she promised him. "But I'm holding the knife, okay?"
"Okay." He gave Tasia a small smile. "Do you want a lot of hair or a little hair?"

(It's down to his shoulders)

"Just a little," she said, still patting her own hair absently. "And I'm only going to give you a little of mine, too... do you want some too, Marcella?"

(I'mma have to figure out ethnic hair now huh? lol)

(Nahh no worries)

"No thank you." Marcella shook her head. "Hair is gross. I'll make you something nice instead."

(yeah may not make the dive down that rabbit hole tonight but I prolly should research that a bit more just at baseline so I'm not disrespectful... I wonder if Writing With Color has anything on hair...)

"Okay!" Tasia nodded. "...I don't even know what I'll do with it anyway. Can I have a box, Mama? I want a box!"

"Um..." Aashi hesitated. She figured the Ashes would be more than willing to help her get Tasia a box, but, well, that felt presumptuous.

"Can I have a box Ms. Sara?" Tasia asked, turning her attention to Sara immediately. "Please? For hair! And babies!"

(I feel like just cutting off a lock if Tasia has especially curly hair won't do too much damage, but then again I've got straight fine blonde hair so I have absolutely no clue.)

Sara chuckled. "Absolutely. There's a carpenter in the village who'd be able to make you one, if you want. Heart boxes are a common order!"

(oh yeah for sure I don't think it'd be harmful, I just have no idea what style she'd wear I have no experience with non-white hair. Like. Does she have an afro? locs? braids? not sure what would be realistic is what I mean -- my ethnocentricism is just like ah yes just a lil snip snip off the bottom but idk if that's respectful)

Tasia gasped and jumped up on her chair, excited. Then she caught the dirty look from her mother and plopped back down, squirming eagerly. "Thank you thank you thank you!!!"

(Always best to ask I think. That said, I think it depends on the style of the region in which she lives. I don't know myself; I fret about that sometimes.)

Sara grinned at her and Aashi. "You just tell us what you want the box to look like and we can pass along instructions."

(turns out they do have a page on hair! I'll take a look through of that before we actually do any hair cutting lol)

"What are boxes s'posed to look like? Can I see yours? Can I see yours, too, Mr. Gaius?"

(Oh nice!)

"I can bring Mattathias's down for you," Sara said. "And yours, Gaius?"
Gaius thought for a moment, then nodded reluctantly. He had no real reason to be enthusiastic about his box; his parents hadn't gone to much trouble to collect memories for any of their children. He'd only really started putting things inside when Sara suggested it. So far it had the three wooden babies--one of which was missing the head, courtesy of Michael--a lock of hair from Sara and each of his children, and a dried flower crown gifted to him by Sara back in the early days of their courtship. That was all he'd deemed necessary to put in. That being said, Tasia didn't need to see inside. The exterior of the box was very, very expensively decorated and that would be what she wanted to see.

"Yours too?" Tasia asked eagerly, looking at Sara.

"Don't be greedy," Aashi chastised.

She pouted, but then looked back at Gaius. "Okay, well, what's yours like Mr. Gaius? Do you have hairs and babies and toys and squirrel skulls, too?"

"No skulls," Gaius replied, wishing that they'd move on from the topic so he could go back to feeling miserable about how much food he'd eaten. "Some hair from my family, and a couple keepsakes. The outside is more interesting than the inside."

"What's the outside like?"

"Well," he thought for a moment. "It's carved with a very detailed pattern with the figure of my ancestor, Venr Ash, on the lid, along with a serpent coiled around him in a traditional Northern knot. It's dark pine so the woodwork is painted with gold leaf to make it pop."