Ranma of St. Bacchus, Chapter 06
By Chaos Orchid
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"Martial arts should not be about entertaining others, but it pays the bills."
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Martial Arts Makeup!
"MAKEUP! I don't wanna wear makeup!" the still nude natural redhead said. (Preternatural, actually.)
"It not really like makeup. Not usual makeup," Noa coaxed. One of her assigned duties as kohai to everybody else was to get Ran, her only junior, to accept having makeup on.
"WHY?" Ran challenged.
"Careful, Noa, you do not want upset somebody who can go the Reservoir," Yuna said, glancing over at Yuko. The miko was praying, quietly chanting and wishing she knew more about incantations. Hopefully, the redhead was possessed by a kami. Those, she knew how to handle.
"I'm not sure, but maybe it is a good idea to have her upset," Junko, the most senpai among them. "I'll have to go to the school library, but if the ki energy is 'in the air', then her hot emotions might be like a candle that burns away the bad air."
"Good thinking," Mao said. "Except when the bad air is like that, it explodes: Ka- boom! "
That did not reassure Noa. "But, but, your scholarship!(?)" That was the best persuasion she could come up with at the moment. "Ran, you now a Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnast. We all must have martial arts makeup! Please?"
"Martial arts makeup?" Despite (her)self, 'Ran' became interested. Though her body certainly seemed to know martial arts, (she) remember almost nothing about it. And yet there was also a part that was deeply conditioned to want to learn any and all special techniques. ...It would help fill the void!(...?)
Yet, "Can makeup really be a martial arts technique?"
Noa looked around to her dormmates for backup. She herself was wearing an excellent example of it. Junko herself had applied it to her. But Ran had made no comment on it so far. She hadn't even noticed!
"The kohai is nervous. She's likely to make application mistakes," Yuna told Junko. "We need Ran to see the best example." Junko understood and nodded.
"I will be the one to apply the makeup," Yuna relieved Noa of the stress of her duty. Yuna the beautician was studying to also be a cosmetician. She did not welcome this chance to practice. "Come over to a desk and…"
"No! Get down on the floor or it won't happen. I'm more comfortable here." Ran had crossed her arms over her boobs in a sign of stubbornness. The dignified Yuna sighed and sat down. She was still much taller.
Setting the makeup case on the floor, she took out a small artists palette and paint brush.
"Is that what girls use for putin' on makeup?" (She) was confused for even being confused. It seemed like something (she) should not know. There had to be some lost memories telling (her) what (she) wasn't remembering.
Yuna talked slowly and evenly. She had had enough trouble getting the girl to sit still for the French braid. But she had gotten her hair into the elaborate weave. Patience, patience, she told herself. Ran certainly didn't have any. "Martial arts, at least on the competition levels, is hot work. Ordinary makeup will not remain against the skin. Martial arts is also sweaty. Ordinary makeup will run off the skin. Martial artists need special makeup. This makeup."
Ran followed it, even nodding. That seemed right. "So…this makes it special." As in special technique?
"The colors on this palette have been matched to what complements your skin tones and themes."
"...themes…" (She) had no clue there.
Seeing the opportunity in the girl's lack of reaction, Yuna applied a brushstroke of rouge. "It is basically just a light dye. It will fade over time and skin flushing, so it has to be reapplied to maintain the appearance of freshness."
"Nice," Noa said as she saw the 'cosmetician' get a quick second stroke of blush on the other cheek. "Do you want to see what you look like in a mirror, now?"
Junko quietly covered her mouth and pulled her away. "Shh!" she softly but firmly told the clueless girl, pulling her away. She had thought Americans were more clued-in than this one.
Yuna continued talking to Ran to keep her distracted from what she was doing to her face. "I see you have dyed eyeshadow over your eyes."
"I do?" The girl raising her hand to her eyelids forced Yuna to pause for a moment.
"Yes. It is permanent, but it is the same idea."
"Really? So, maybe I shouldn't mind you doin' it to the rest of me, huh?" (she) asked (her)self.
"You can see for yourself when I am finished. I won't go near your eyes until you are ready for mascara."
"Masukara?" (She) was absorbing as much of the details of the technique as she could follow. And Yuna was grateful that it helped distract (her) from what she was going to her.
"This 'mascara' here is a dye as well. We can not have real eyeliner running into your eyes. Not when you in the middle of a competition."
"No. I gotta use all my trained senses! Never know where the important clue will come from!" Again, this just popped into (her) head. (She) didn't understand it, but thought her senses did.
"Now the lips. This has more of the crystalline mixed with the dye to give it a more glossy look."
"Crystalline?"
"Tiny crystals that reflect light. Depending on the size and shape, some are better for daytime use, others for nighttime use. And some are better for arena use , with its harsh lighting. The problem is they are mixed in with the dye. The dye has to fade before before the appropriate crystalline for the theme can be used. Daytime could remain when it should be nighttime reflecting. The option, then is …." Yuna stopped herself before she revealed to the resistant– and Reservoir using –girl that she could tone down the dye and its crystalline with ordinary makeup. Or enhanced it by gels. Let her get used to the changes first before telling her how they could be modified.
"Finished!" Yuna could relax now. Unlike with the French braiding, she was able to keep Ran distracted while she did her beautifying techniques. It was a lesson for her in the future when dealing with the difficult client.
Junko relaxed her grip on Noa. "Now you can show her the mirror."
"Now?" Noa now wasn't sure what reaction to expect.
But she was kohai and was supposed to do whatever her senpai told her to do, right? She missed America. She pulled out the hand mirror from the makeup case and held it up for Ran to see her transformation.
'Ran's' attention went immediately to (her) eyelids. They had more significance to (her) than any other part of her non-natural look. She rubbed a finger against one. Yuna had said they were permanently dyed on. "I'm always gonna have this? It won't come off?"
The dormmates in the know looked at one another. How deep did the girl's amnesia go? Yuna answered, "Yes. The dye's permanent. A tattoo." And she didn't do it and thankful the girl knew that.
It was only then that (she) turned her full attention to the dye on her (too cute) face. First came the scream:. "Aa!…a?" (Her) reaction faded...into confusion. (She) looked even more like a girl…yet, "I'm less cute. I, I look…" 'beautiful', wasn't the word (she) was looking for. 'Hansamu'? But that didn't seem as authentically Japaneses as 'Utsukushī', beautiful. Something from the mandatory English classes that (she) didn't remember taken came to her: 'Handsome'. (Also the word 'vanity'.) "Make my jawline stronger! Define my cheeks better! I hate having pudgy cheeks!"
Yuna winced. It went against her nature as a beautician, but it was better than having to, again, go through the rough time Ran had given her in the salon. Still, she was able to compromise. The redhead ended up between a cutie and a beauty. (Somebody who is truly handsome is closer to being beautiful.)
And it was enough to satisfy the girl.
Almost. She didn't look…what was the word she was looking for? Butch?...but it would do for now. "Okay.
"Now why do we gotta wear this dye-job, again?"
"Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics is not just a sport– It's performance art! " There went Yuko's melodramatics side. "We're in front of an audience, and the audience expects us to be as committed and perfect as we can be!"
"We must look our best for customers," Noa, the foreigner with the heavy accent, translated.
"We can't be like women sumo?" Again, (her) knowledge of anything martial arts seemed to come closest to her possibly remembering. "And, besides, this is high school sports. There are no 'customers'."
"We have alumni, supporters and sponsors," Junko told her. "And some girls pay for rooters." And Kodachi saw that the stands were full by many means. Some mean.
"Oh." That seemed right. "Okay. I guess I gotta wear this." (she) said, studying (her)self in the hand mirror again. (She) did look like the kind of girl (she) would like if (she) were a guy. A little too butch, though.
A stray thought crossed her mind. What if a guy were seen wearing this 'makeup'? If the lighting was okay. He would look…okay(!)
Maybe.
"Hair and makeup done," Yuna said with great relief. She was glad she went with the lightest of the dyes. Maybe later she could use the more dramatic complexions and effects.
"Now for the wardrobe," Junko the squad's strategist said.
"Gotta wear clothes, I guess. Gotta have laundry, I guess" 'Ran' sighed.
"You not must do laundry," Noa smiled for the first time in a while. "Laundry duty cycle around different dorms!"
"Really?(!)" 'Ran' brightened. "Then bring on my laundry!"
"First off is altering a school uniform so it'll fit you," Junko said, sizing her up. "You're bustier than most of us here. And yet you're shorter. That's a problem. St. Hezbereke has old-fashioned…" ("More like out-of-date!" Mao commented.) "...maxi skirts. Without raising the hem, they will not be maxi on you." ("More like foot skirts," Mao commented.) ("Handicappin'," 'Ran' commented.
"So, alter a uniform!"
"That's a lost art among us," Junko admitted. "We're martial artists, not seamstresses."
"Aw, geez. Pathetic. Gimme a uniform and lemme see what I can do." (She) didn't know if (she) did know how to sow, but (she) felt (she) could, maybe, do a decent enough job of it.
"We don't have the basics for doing even that. But there is somebody who does. And she's nearby. In fact, in the next room, in fact."
"One of those in the bathroom who tried to change me into a guy!? They don't care how fast I become bald! They just wanted a picture of me while I still do have my hair!"
"Right now, everybody at Hebereke wants your picture as a guy!" Mao told her.
"That is true," Yuna said. "While many of the girls have seen you as a male, none have taken a photo of your male guise to remember it by. If you are in that form, in a scenario that should not seem out of place, you could pass as any other…" ("Handsome," Yuko murmured at the memory; "Hunky!" Mao grinned; "Athletic," Junko sighed) "...young man who happens to come to an all-girls school."
"Do you hear what you just said ?" Noa said, she was supposed to be the naive foreigner. "How often does that happen?(!)"
"This is a school with restricted access," Yuko told her. "Of course there are going to be girls who challenge that taboo."
"Horny girls!" Mao smiled. "Boy-hungry girls!"
Junko said to the naive foreigner, "Sex is a great motivator." Honestly! Was this American really as Puritan as the history propaganda said she should be? (But, then, Japan's own view of sex and women was, in many ways, worse. Thanks Zen and Confucianism.)
"Really!?(!)" The tactical information sparked a thought in 'Ran'! There was a chance (she) could become a guy and the girls at the school wouldn't think it was her (the real(?) 'Ran')? Something was wrong with that thought, but her not remembering her(?) real identity was keeping her from it. Her(?)
"Back to getting you a uniform and other outfits that will fit you, Ran," Junko said. "The one we need is the teacher on the other side of this wall." She pointed to the wall next to Ran's bed.
"There're teachers livin' on the same floor as us?"
"In the next hall." Noa told her. "Behind this one."
"Thank goodness for insulation," Yuna said.
"The English teacher is known at Hebereke to be a great seamstress!" Junko announced.
"And she is well-liked among us," Yuna said, almost smiling.
"We like her so much, we don't call her Ōno-sensei," Yoku said.
"She's Kasumi-san!" grinned Mao.
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NOTE:
Of course Yuna didn't dare try putting foundation on Ran's face. Not yet. But despite a life out in the sun, Ran still has relatively pale skin. Pale skin is still a mark of beauty in the East Asia, just as it had been in Europe and the Americas.