Ch 16 Pure light (Part 2)

To the girl's non-suprise by this point, no one even batted an eye when Eury re-introduced herself with her new identity to her previous clients from the lines. At most she got a fake-suprised "Ahhh", otherwise just shrugs and desinterest. It wasn't like she was the first one to turn her whole world around in the Underlevel.

-" You should at the least change your haircolor", advised one of her clients that had troubles parsing the wooden language of the forms. " If you've got the credit, I can show you where you can get the stuff."

---

At the tower, Diaz was relaxing on a bench while Sammy was learning how to clean and grease old gears. He rubbed the rust with a brush made out of enforced rat hair and sweat and spit as a lubricant.

Diaz- " You can save on spending that way; learned it the hard when I went two days without a grub because of it."

Sammy- " I guess…but it does feel gross. Why can't I just use-"

Diaz- " Because it smells…and the amoniac in it doesn't mix well with the grease. Realeses a toxic gas. Now, back to scrubbing, you've got a few more gears left." he said yawning and streching his legs while lying on the back.

The day before, the kid and Eury went over some of the laws and rules that applied to the entire Commune, technically on all the levels of the enclosed megastructure. That's how he also learned of laws that should keep children out of the working field. Until they reach a certain age, though.

Sammy- " I wanna be 3 again. Stupid Toddler Labor laws", he groaned while trying to scratch off a sturdy patch of rust.

A slammed door made the relaxed teen jump on his feet, still a bit on the edge after what happened just two days before. Luckly for him, instead of a mob of roided out bounty hunters it was just a over excited girl with a huge request from him.

Eury- " BOYS, I want to dye my hair!"

Sammy- " No, my fingers are tired and I don't even know what that means."

Diaz- " Fiine. I helped wash and brush some of the orphanage kids hair, does that qualify me for help?"

The girl then pointed at him, grinned and triumphaly exclaimed that - " I hope so because I also don't know what I'm doing."

Diaz sighed. " Figured. Let's find you a chair and I'll bring some sprinkle water we gathered. So, what color do you want?"

Sammy- " Should be brown, so she could camouflage with the rest of the Underlevel and become invisible."

Eury- " No…I would love that, but I'm too loud to get away with that. Also, I already found my favorite color-"

Diaz- " Oh, nice, mauve" he said with a slight jump in his voice.

Confused, Eury took a seat while glaring at her choice, then back at Diaz, then back at the color. " What? No. This is violet. Sammy?"

Sammy- " Purp-purppllpl…Purple", he said switfly, then started to repeat in tiny whispers, feeling a bit embarased by the tongue-twisting.

Diaz- " Well, both are shades of purple, so not exactly wrong. Violet is like a darker variant, while mauve is a bit more washed up, less strident. Still, it's a bit of a shame though."

The girl squinted her eyes, a bit afraid oh what he might say. "What is?"

Diaz- " I like your current color. But mint does make you stand out around here, and-"

The girl got a bit red in the cheeks from the compliment. " Thank you", she said, while giving a big smile, which made Diaz's finger to tremble a bit. " But that's also the problem. I saw only a few people with the same hair color around, and since we're trying to keep a low profile….well"

Diaz- " Yeah, I know", he said a bit dejected, which the girl caught on and even somehow made think twice about the option.

Eury- " Do you really love my natural dye that much?"

Diaz- " What, love? I, I wouldn't say that- maybe like and-" He then suddenly stopped, took a deep breath and paused enough for his words to stop rumbling. " …it doesn't matter how I feel; it's your and Sammy's lives on the line here, after all."

The girl pinched herself and bit her underlip, unsure if her next line would come out cheesy or real. But she really meant it. " It matters to me…so that's why I have an idea."

For the next hour, Diaz with the aid of Sammy tried to follow an instruction manual, while Eury gave a few helpful points here in there. The three meticoulasly checked to see if the dye's viscosity matched what was described in the pampfelt, but concluded that if can't be picked by a brush, then it was back to square one.

Sammy- " Is this just painting?", the boy realised after seeing the whole process in action. " Is this just like wall paiting, but instead we do it on a person's head?"

Diaz- " We're in luck then, I have experience from doing the same thing to the outer walls of the elevator. I know my way around-"

Eury- " Gently, plasterer. My hair isn't a giant canvas made out of plates, ok?"

Diaz- " Relax, you're in good hands", he said before giving a huge swipe from the tip of the hair , going up, beyond the roots and accidentaly coloring the forehead."…Right, slow, easy and gently", he apologized over angry hisses Eury let out in protest.

After another grueling hour it was finally done, with half of that time being eaten by Diaz's meticolous way of doing the job. Still, it paid off, as Eury sparked with joy at the sight of her new look. She then pushed aside the front bangs, to see how much of her natural hue was still visible.

Eury- " You only left that little?…I love it, though, thanks Diaz", she said, purposfully trying to adress him by his real name in private.

Diaz only gave a thumbs up, feeling too mentaly exhausted to say a word. Which in turn made Eury feel a need to toy with him.

Eury- " But this means that if you want to be reminded by my old look, you'll have to come closer and softly swipe the purple away. It's such a bother, isn't it?" Her voice was smaller than usual, playfull but devilish at the same time.

The teen boy felt a mixed sensation of fear and jittery thrill through his body, a very head-spinning feeling for him. He knew he was getting teased by, but at the same time it wouldn't have upset him to do every single time a peak of mint was needed.

Diaz- " Well that's very nice of you", he replied with a forced smile. He then got on his feet, took a step closer, which suprised the girl. " Mind if I do this now?"

Unsure of what was happening, Eury was still a bit shocked by the brazzen attempt. But then, it also felt right. Why was even she afraid- paralyzed of? Eury slightly tiled her head, and with a dissarming smile said " Sure. Go for it."

Caught in each other's mesmerizing words, both got closer and closer as if they approached a freightened animal. Diaz finger's accidentaly touched Eury's neck, and the skin it scraped by increased in heat and sent little spikes all over her body.

-" Ugh…is this one of those times Zuwa told me about? That I should leave the room if the two of you are weird." For a moment both forgot that the kid was just by their side, and a reality chain dragged them back to the rest of the world.

Eury- " Oh..right. Um-"

Diaz- " Ummmmm indeed. Sorry, we were just…playing around."

Sammy stared intensly at them, learning to pick up lies with each passing day. " I thought so…not!"

Diaz- "…We should teach you and Pellenius some real comebacks."

Eury- " Well, whatever, we're done anyway. I guess we should go back to taking care of this acient tower then."

Diaz- " Right you are", he said while jumping back on his DIY lounge chair, positioned to give more instructions after getting comfortable- " You can begin."

Eury- "…Goddamn vacation laws", she muttered and started to scrub the remaning gears.