Nadia tapped her lips in thought as she looked over a fixture loaded with all kinds of face paint. Jun placed her hands over the front of her dress and focused her large, doll-like eyes on the darker-skinned woman, waiting politely for her to explain her idea.
"I want to look like a statue," Nadia finally said.
"A statue?" Jun tilted her head to one side. That sure wasn't what she expected Nadia to say. The young woman already looked quite statuesque, with a pleasing hourglass figure that had a healthy amount of padding. She wasn't unrealistically skinny like the advertising models Jun had seen on the billboards around here, or even in her home country. The way her thick brown hair swooped into its tie band and the resulting ponytail twisted gently around itself, over her left shoulder and down her chest, was something out of the movies. Jun almost wanted that hair for herself, but she liked the superior length of her own straight, black hair. She couldn't imagine how she would deal with her thigh-length hair if it were as thick as Nadia's.
Nadia turned to Jun, noticing the distant look on the Japanese woman's face. "Statue," she repeated. "Oh! It's a work of art. A big block of stone that an artist carves to make look like a person."
Jun blinked, confused as to why Nadia felt she had to explain it. "I know... uh..." She instinctively stopped herself. It wasn't polite to be so gruff with someone who thought they were being helpful. Kelan had even encouraged her to ask him for help. But she didn't need help right now, and Nadia wasn't Kelan. She blinked again. Where were all of these thoughts coming from? Her hands clenched the fabric of her dress' skirt.
"Go ahead, Jun. Sorry, you just have such a soft voice. I'm listening."
"Eeto, it's...nothing. Thank you for explaining," she replied in a smooth, airy way that seemed as if a mild breeze could drown her out.
Nadia smiled. "Any time. English is a really hard language. My parents struggled for years to learn it when they came here. It's okay you don't know what 'statue' means. If you ever hear a word you don't recognize...which you probably do a lot...just ask me." She spoke reassuringly, which made Jun feel better. She was a little embarrassed that she had come to visit this country without taking more English lessons. But what better way to learn than from natural speakers like Kelan and Nadia?
"S-so," she said with a little more confidence, yet still quietly. "How can you look like a... umm..." That word! She heard Nadia say it three times. Why was it so hard to remember it?
"S_____," Nadia chirped. Jun tried to commit it to memory, but it was gone before she could catch it.
Jun merely nodded.
"That's the hard part. I want to look like I was made of mar___. That's like a kind of fancy stone that lots of s______ are made of. I need to paint my face and color my hair to be almost totally white. And it can't just be about paint. The tex____ of it all needs to look rough in places, like real stone, so a heavy makeup job is called for."
"Oh! I have a phone. Who do you want call?" Jun fumbled with her purse clasp, since she was still not used to her huge nails.
Nadia held up her hands. "No, Jun, I didn't mean it like that. I forgot I shouldn't use f______ of speech."
Jun looked at her, her lips moving almost automatically. "Gomen, what is 'fig yours'?"
"'F______'," Nadia corrected her. "I just meant I will need lots of special makeup. Can you help me look for stuff that'll make me look like my skin is stone?" Her voice slipped into a more condescending tone, whether she meant to do it or not. Jun was a little off-put by that, but she didn't see any polite way to ask Nadia to stop. Jun needed to learn more English, and Nadia said she'd help. She was just being kind. And, of course, Jun wanted to be kind in return.
The little goth nodded. "Mm! I will help."
"Thanks!" Nadia smiled warmly. "I know I'm in good hands with a makeup expert like you, doll girl."
Jun felt something twirl inside of her from her toes up to the crown of her head. She wasn't sure what it was, but she was happy with the sense of confidence that it left her with. She was sure she could help Nadia pick out the right things to make a great costume. With their pact formed, the pair went to work browsing everything in the aisle.