Thassilion glanced up from his vanity, hearing someone come in.
The quick glance in the mirror was all he needed to recognize Opal bouncing in to see him. She crossed over to him, propping her elbows up onto the vanity table, making the different bottles and jars rattle.
“Brother dearest! You had promised to show me your skincare practice!”
The blonde man jumped from his sister startling him, he nodded and slid over on his bench to make space for her,
“Of course my flower, it is no small undertaking”
He ran his slender fingers through a strand of his golden mane, turning to Opal and bopping her nose,” But it does keep my skin feeling softer than silk.”
Mr. BelleRose carefully aligned the various jars, bottles, and sprays across the surface.
,“And you must do them in order”
Opal gave a quick nod to him, her cinnamon-brown eyes following where her brother’s hands would land.
“Then we had best get started! I was working with mother in the forge all day yesterday and oh it just always leaves one messy.”
Thassilion cringed hard at the thought of all the grime and sweat that one must acquire from working in the forge.
“Oui...tie your hair back my flower, it would be difficult to remove most of zis from your hair...now we will start with the exfoliant. Zis is my personal favourite, it is ground coffee beans in golden jojoba oil.” He carefully brought over a stout round jar and opened the lid.
The scrub could have passed for one of Billie's experiments, as it just looked like soggy coffee grounds dumped in a healthy amount of oil. Opal looked to Thassilion in confusion.
“Brother dear...What, ah, what does this do exactly?”
“My flower zis is to remove ze dead skin and oils from our faces. Zis clears ze way for 0everyzing else to work properly. Watch, and do as I do.”
Thassilion dipped his fingers into the jar and brought out a dollop of it across two of his fingers, rubbing the exfoliant in circles on each cheek, then one on his nose, one on his chin, and two on his forehead (one for either side of course).
Mrs. Hamilton watched very intently and nodded, dipping her fingers into the pot and she gasped quietly, “Oh my, its chilly…” she followed Thassilion’s example. Her fingers dripped a bit of the mixture here and there.
Thassilion looked to her and nodded gently,
“Oui oui. Now zen we have to remove it,”
Almost instinctively, he removed two small towels from hooks on the side of his vanity,
“With zese. I use them to remove the exfoliant, zen rinse zem.” he passed one of the little towels to Opal.
His sister nodded quickly, carefully wiping it off. However, before she could even come close to finishing this; Thassilion had one of the spray bottles out and was misting his face down with it.
Opal could smell it very faintly, it had a light floral scent and an even fainter scent of witch hazel. She squinted her eyes and coughed unexpectedly.
“Oh! Brother dear what is that?”
Thassilion looked to her with a light mist that looked of dew drops on his face,
“Zis is a toner. It helps to freshen up ze skin. This we leave on until it soaks in.”
”Zis one has Rosewater and Witch hazel in it. Zey balance each other well.”
Opal carefully took the glass heart-shaped bottle from her brother and paused. She considered asking him how much to use but, decided against asking a question that struck her as silly. Instead, the ship’s cook simply sprayed it all over her face, giving Thassilion a second coating in the meantime.
Thassilion took a subtle dab at his face with his sleeve and smiled to Opal.
“Oui, now we must let zis set in.”
There was a solid few knocks at the door and Thassilion sighed softly, “Come in.” his tone gave away that he was much less than thrilled to be getting interrupted during his routine.
Through the door, Leo entered.
As the tired Italian man entered, a child’s cries echo out from the nursery, it drew Opal's attention immediately.
"Oh dear...Thassilion I will be back, I believe that Oliver might be hungry....I will be back! I want to finish this Routine with you!"
She kissed his cheek and went bouncing off to take care of her little one.
Leo walked in as his wife passed him by. He was about to leave again, then paused, staring at Thassilion and what he had laid before him.
"What are you doing exactly?"
"Zis is my skin care routine."
Thassilion shook his head a little bit, his tone was annoyed and haughty. As if it should be obvious what he is doing. Leo took this as a personal offense to his intelligence, growling a little.
"Well I knew that! But like. Why the fu- the hell do you have so many steps I mean...You have three different jars that all say the same thing."
"Oui, because zey all have ze different properties. Not say you would understand with your dry unkempt hair and your...How do you say, oily and dry skin."
He clicked his tongue, his yellow and blue eyes looked Leo over,
"You are ze...Paradox of skin."
Mr. Hamilton started feeling quite angry about this and stood his ground in the doorway, hands balled into fists.
"You're ridiculous, no one, and I mean No One does this much stuff to their skin. How do you have time to even get anything done? Y'know what, whatever. Cin and Thomas want you. Don't ask why, they wouldn't tell me." Leo huffed as he left the room, certainly heading back to his study to continue his work on his current story.
With that, the Frenchman scrunched his nose and poked his head out of the room, shouting down to Leo’s study,
"Ah, oui perhaps zey have real questions about how I take care of myself!"
To this, Leo stuck his hand out from his study, a certain finger raised up to Thassilion’s general direction. Thassilion huffed, getting flustered by his brother in-law’s rude behavior. He turned around to head to his parent’s room, nose in the air until he reached the door and knocked gently.
Thomas had opened the door, his dull grey-blue eyes full of love.
"Aye! Thassilon we wanted tah as' ye abou-" with that Thomas got cut off.
Thassilion’s one-track mind betraying him, "Oui out, my routine.."
He breezed over to his mother Cin, plopping onto the bed. He began petting her hair, humming softly to himself,
"Ah mother you ave ze very smooth and..Silky hair...You must take very good care of it oui? Ze conditioner and ze moisturizing spray. Tre bien!"
Cin paused, staring down at her son for a moment, mild confusion in her blue eyes. Her deep voice muttered, "No...I wash it with soap, then I rinse it. And then I dry it. Nothing else."
Thassilon’s jaw dropped at this for a full moment, he looked at his mother with shock.
"You have been blessed by les dieux des cheveux! You are very lucky…" he sighed wistfully.
"Although your skin is so rough...zis is not bad but you could have ze soft..Smooth skin to match your hair, non?"
"Soft skin is easier to cut. I prefer it rough. Acts like armor."
Thassilion blinked at this and nodded slowly, he twitched his nose slightly. He got up and smiled sweetly at his mother as she return back to craving a little wooden creature.
"Ah...Oui yes...Ah father! Allow me to see what the condition of you is."
Thomas watched Thassilion as he circled him, his hands behind his back as he did so. The Welshman decided to humor his eldest child for the time being.
"Aye alrigh an' wha's mah diagnosis..?"
Thassilion frowned a little, taking Thomas’s paw and giving him a bit of a feel. Then his attention shifted to the wavy salt and pepper hair of his father, running his well-trimmed fingernails through his hair.
"Your skin is not as rough as mothers...But your hair is very…" he paused for a moment
"Dry. Not ze breakable though so. Zat is good! Oui oui allow me to do we care for you."
From this, Thassilion produced one of his smaller bottles out of his pockets. He shook some of the product onto his hand, rubbing it thoroughly between his hands
"Zis is like ze lotion but for your hair. You rub it in at ze roots, zen leave it to keep ze hair feeling soft and healthy!" He cheerfully explained as he rubbed it into his father's scalp.
Thomas was not entirely a fan of the slightly greasy feeling on his head, however he waited it out until Thassilion was finished.
"And zere we are! All ze taken care of! Here here, I more of zis on my vanity. You use zis once a day, oui?"
The Frenchman seemed absolutely thrilled that his father had let him help.
"Aye thank ye Thassilion...It certainly feels... interestin. Now I don' wan' tah be rude bu' yer ma an' have gotta finish discussin our plans fer teh nex' port. We wan’ teh check on ye, see if yer holdin’ ok..”
Thassilion felt a bit defeated at this. He let out a sad chuckle and said through a tight-lipped smile.
"Ah, oui oui of course. You both stay safe, I will be out and about if you any more of ze questions." He stepped out and closed the door behind him.
Pausing on the deck, feeling the cool sea air on his skin, Thassilion took a deep breath in,
"Ah ze ocean air…"
As he cleared his mind, that was when the idea struck him to try to teach Phillip and Toby.
Partly because he wanted to, and partly to spite Leo. A new goal in mind, he set off towards the nursery, headset on teaching these boys how to take care of themselves.
Phillip and Toby were reading together in the nursery, it was part of their "independent work" for their studies. They both knew that this really meant that Leo needed time to cool off from whatever was bothering him this time.
Thassilion strolled into the nursery, a place he never would be caught going into. His attention turn to the young boys.
"Oui! Brother, Phillip, let me teach you somezing." And without a word of confirmation from either of them Thassilion took out his small jars of exfoliants, cleansers, and creams and set them all out on the floor in front of the boys.
Toby carefully marked the page they were on and set the book aside, confused as to what exactly was going on. The ginger 11 year old figured it would be best to just...Go along with it for now. Phillip, on the other hand, was feeling rather grumpy about having his time with Toby interrupted. As Thassilion set out what seemed like a million jars, Pip began to zone out. Staring off into the distance, in Thassilion's direction.
Both boys were just amazed at how many jars Thassilion was carrying on his person at one time.
"Ze exfoliant has some very small rough things in it. Like ze coffee grounds, and this helps it to take off the layers of dead skin…" he trailed on.
"Ze cleanser removes ze dirt in ze gentle way for your skin but ze very rough and mean way to be dirt…" he still continued on.
"and finally ze cream. Zis is what keeps ze skin smooth and soft like silk. It is ze key final step to keeping your skin clear and clean."
He reached over to adjust something on the shelf that looked about to fall. In doing this he noticed that Phillip was not actually looking at him. Thassilion clapped his hands and then rested them on his hips in a sassy fashion.
"Phillip! Ave you been listening at all? Zis is very valuable information."
Phillip snapped out of his trance, "Uh yes! Of course Uncle Thass you were telling us about…" he blinked, unable to read French on the jars in front of him, "About uh these wonderful jars!"
Thassilion scrunched up his nose, "Non, zat is not what I was telling ze two of you about."
Toby shook his head, "This is a lot, Thass......Why would you need to do all that stuff? Yeah you need to like...Wash with soap but...This seems like a lot."
The ginger was disgruntled at his older brother’s attitude towards his best friend, with a sassy stance to rival Thassilion’s stance.
"Besides, we didn't ask you to teach us this stuff."
Thassilion quickly gathers his jars, nearly dropping them a few times in his haste. He looked at both older children. A pointed offended look stuck on his face.
"Oui zen you will not come crying to me when you have ze acne during puberty." He shook his head, "You boys will ba happy to know all of zis some day!"
His determination was starting to wear a bit thin as he faced repeated rejection for what he wanted to teach. This was one of his passions. He paused and considered who would be willing to listen to him and he shrugged a little.
Pondering about who was left on the ship he suddenly remembered like a lighting strike to his brain, "Ze doctor and Captain!" He sped off to the Captain's quarters as quick as a cat high on catnip.
He knocked very rapidly on the Captain's door and then waited patiently for the door to get opened. He was determined to give it his all this time.
The Captain looked to the door, then stood to open it, his coat swished behind him from side to side as he strode to the door and opened it,
"Mmm? Thassilion..What can I help you with..?"
Thassilion walked in and started setting out the jars on the desk, "I am 'ere to tell you both about my skin care routine. Oui?"
Captain Holmes took one look at Thassilion and could tell that he had been trying to do this all day. While he had no intention of holding back anything he had to say, he decided to let Thassiilon give his little speech to help him feel better. Dr. Johnathan on the other hand was less than thrilled about this hullabaloo that was now going on in his bedroom.
Yet, in his never ending British politeness he was most certainly not going to interrupt Thassilion, so he merely nodded to him.
"Well I am very interested to know what you have to say." He smiled to Thassilion gently, hoping that this would be quick over all.
.
Thassilion beamed happily, under the impression that he had finally found people that were genuinely interested in learning about his skin care routine. He got about half way in when the Captain spoke up.
"Thassilion I hate to interrupt, but why would you use that combination of ingredients. The oils can separate from everything else and that would result in clogged pores. You see for all of this I only have three very simple steps."
With this the captain stood and acquired his own skin routine from his nightstand.
"A mild exfoliant, a light and gentle cleanser, and finally, a simple lotion. Unscented and quick to absorb. I do this once a week."
He nodded, "The first two-" he was cut off by his husband smacking his arm.
"Be nice! Dear Thassilion is merely telling us what he does." John protested and shook his head. William blinked at his husband, then continued.
"As I was saying. The two exfoliants you showed me would cause skin irritation if used more than maybe every two weeks or so and that cleanser is more dying that your cream is moisturizing. All in all not bad so far, but could do with some improvements."
"Ze skin gets used to how you treat it. Zat is what you do, zough I would suggest zat you add in a cream anyways. Help keep ze skin springy and...Fresh…" he did not want to say "young".
He nodded with finality, "As I was saying…" he trailed on to continue explaining the final steps of his routine.
By the end of it Jonathan quite thought it could have ended when Captain William had made his comment. However, he just nodded along patiently the whole time once Thassilion wrapped everything up.
"Yes yes that was truly fascinating and very educational. If I have any further inquiries I assure you I will go to you first.." he smiled a little bit tightly.
Thassilion could read his audience well enough to know that neither the Captain, nor ‘The Good Doctor’, were particularly interested at this point. He nodded gently, packing up his supplies again.
"Oui...I will be happy to assist you with anything zat you should need on zis front. Zank you for listening.."
The Frenchman’s disposition was one of disappointment, he sighed and walked back out of the room. “Perhaps Opal does not want to know either…” He pondered as he slowly trudged back to his room. His heart was heavy in his chest as he slumped down at his vanity.
However, after a few moments of him sitting there, Opal came back into the room, looking chipper as ever.
"Thassilion! I'm so sorry it took so long, first Oliver needed fed, then changed, then Billie had run off and I had to find her and- Are you alright..?" She blinked and slid into the seat next to her brother.
"What's happened..?" She mewled to him as she nuzzled into him, much like a cat would.
"It was nozing my flower….You do not have to be here if you do not wish to be...You may leave if you have ozer business to attend to.." he looked over to her, still very hopeful that she would stay and let him finish running through the rest of the routine with her.
Opal paused, then shook her head, "I am all yours!" She purred, "Now...What comes after the spray again?"
Thassilion perked up with this and started resetting out all his jars and products to take care of himself and his sister.
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