The Officer’s Academy was buzzing. It was finally time for the annual Garreg Mach Ball, the one time of the year when all three houses could put aside their differences and rivalries for a night of pure fun and revelry. The finest young men and women in all of Fodlan would be there, dancing the night away in a setting of fine food and fancy clothes. Best of all, if sparks flew in the right direction, a happy pair might head off to the Goddess Tower, the certified spot for blessed confessions and declarations of undying love and emotion. Every girl in the monastery was, therefore, dressing up to their fullest, praying that their looks would land them a trip to the Tower.
In a plush dorm room on the second floor of the monastery, two of the most fashionable girls in the Officer’s Academy were getting their preparations in order, too. The room was strewn with all manner of beauty products, with compacts and brushes and scraps of fabric lying around, all in the interest of beauty.
“Heyyyyy, Mercedes! You want me to go ahead and get your makeup on? We’ll be done way faster!”
Hilda Valentine Goneril was currently sprawled on her bed, hanging upside down with the ends of her long pink twintails dragging along the carpet. She had invited her friend from the Blue Lions house, Mercedes von Martritz, to her room in order to prepare for the ball, but so far hadn’t done very much of the actual preparation. What was the need for it when she had such a competent and cute girl to do it for her? She might as well relax and save energy for dancing.
Mercedes sat on the soft chair at the vanity, finishing stitching up the hem of the baby blue, puffy dress she had designed for the ball. This dress was modest enough for a cleric, but filled with intricate weaving details and a gorgeous color, so she hoped it would stand out against the crowd. She was glad to be here working with Hilda on it: it was always much less lonely to be with a friend. When Hilda posed her question, she replied with her typical sweet smile.
“Oh, of course, Hilda! It’s very kind of you to offer that for me!”
Letting out a whoop of excitement, Hilda practically sprung off the bed, her twintails bouncing as she made her way over to Mercedes. It seems she can be surprisingly motivated when the topic is anything beauty-related, a far cry from her typical lackadaisical personality.
“Great! Just hold still, I don’t wanna smudge anything…”
She tips Mercedes back in the chair, which has a flexible swiveling base for just such an occasion. Mercie closes her eyes blissfully, preparing for treatment. Hilda works with a very careful, expert hand; applying foundation and blush with a soft powder puff, painting her beautiful blue eyes with a thick black eyeliner to make them pop, lining her lips with a vibrant cherry red. She pulls out all the stops, ensuring that Mercedes looks colorful and flawless, surely to be the envy of everyone there. Mercie simply leans back with her sweet smile, appreciating the effort Hilda is putting in and the soft hands that occasionally caress her cheek or lightly rest against her forehead.
“Aaaaaaand… there, all done! Show me what ya think!”
She tips Mercie back up to get a look at herself, and the soft and motherly cleric nods approvingly.
“Excellent work, dear. I look like one of Ignatz’s pictures!”
“Aww, thanks!” Hilda’s cheeks burn slightly from the soft and honest praise, and she quickly looks away, pretending to be busy putting away eyeshadow palettes, so that Mercedes won’t see that she’s turning about as pink as her hair. “So, what’s left? Is it just your hair?”
Mercedes idly strokes a hand through the fluffy mass of tawny hair that’s bound in a ponytail over her left shoulder. She prefers this simple no-nonsense style, but it obviously won’t do for such a fancy occasion. What could be done with it? She posits the question to Hilda, who nonchalantly shrugs.
“Hey, we’ll figure it out! Why don’t you let me brush it in the meantime?”
Before Mercedes can give even a small noise of assent, Hilda’s hands are in her silky ponytail, grabbing and tugging out the adorable black-and-cream ribbon that binds her hair, removing it from her head as the silken locks fan out from the base of her neck. They cascade down her shoulders, spilling over her breasts and the back of the chair, before lightly coming to a rest at around the small of her back. The tan curtain is thick and nearly impenetrable, totally obscuring what lies beneath it. It’s rare for Mercedes to actually take down her hair, so Hilda savors the rare occasion.
“Wow, you should really do this more often! It could use a good brushing, though…”
Mercedes practically beamed with delight, pleased that Hilda would offer to do something like that for her. “Oh, that would be ever so lovely. Thank you for taking the time to do that.”
“Oh, it’s no problem!” the pink-haired girl chirped. She was feeling so generous, in fact, that she pulled out her favorite brush, the one with the wooden bristles that easily split and stroked through hair. Inserting it into the thick dun-colored cloud at the top of the scalp, she began to slowly and gently pull it through, working the massive mane into shape. It pulled through with very minimal issue, stroking out the fluffy strands into a smooth and even sheet down the back of the chair. Occasionally Hilda couldn’t resist sticking a hand into it, feeling the silken softness against her delicate manicured fingers. For several minutes, neither girl spoke, and the room was silent save for soft fluttering sighs by Mercedes as her hair was being brushed. It seemed she was deeply enjoying the feeling of her hair being pampered this way.
While Hilda also enjoyed brushing through thick locks, however, she wasn’t quite as enamored with the process. Eventually, as she so often did, she began to lightly whine. “Oh man, my arm is exhausted! Mercie, your hair’s so thick that it’s so tough to pull the brush through! How do you do this every morning?”
Mercie let out a light, musical chuckle, then pursed her plush lips together as if thinking. “Well, I’ve had lots of practice, but even I can sometimes struggle in the morning. Honestly, I’ve been thinking about getting a change every now and again, just so it’ll be quicker to get ready and I’m less likely to forget something else!”
Hilda is briefly taken aback by the notion that Mercedes would ever want to get rid of her wonderfully soft hair, but she’s surprisingly receptive to the idea. “Ooh, maybe you should think about it! Heck, I’ve actually been learning to cut hair… maybe I could help you out?”
The cleric’s baby blue eyes widened, surprised by her friend’s generosity. “Oh, what a wonderful idea! Why not do it now, before the ball? It will give everyone such a wonderful surprise!”
Hilda clapped her hands with delight, totally caught up in the moment. “Oh yeah! This is gonna be incredible! I get to show you how amazing at this I am!”
Before Hilda could go on a massive self-aggrandizing rant, Mercedes held up one finger to silence her. “On one condition, though.” Her serene smile seemed to gain an air of decidedly unholy mischief. “I want to cut your hair as well!”
Immediately the bratty half-pint girl turns pale, making her vibrant hair stand out even more. Her brain seems to freeze, as she begins to think about the offer. Her hair was so gorgeous! It was the core of her image, her prettiest quality, the motivator for men to do all her chores without lifting a finger! She couldn’t just chop it off! But at the same time, Mercedes was so beautiful, especially with her fresh face of makeup, and so gentle that it seemed physically impossible for her to even hurt a fly. Surely she’d take proper care of her hair, right? More than likely Hilda would just get a fresh trim. “Oh, uh… sure!”
Pressing her hands together, Mercie flashed the same omnipresent angelic smile. “Lovely, dear. You really are such a good girl.”
Trying to shake off the nerves, and the very odd rise in her stomach that Mercedes’s last sentence had elicited, Hilda brushed her bangs away from her eyes and started figuring out how to tackle Mercie’s request. “A-alright, let’s get started with the haircut, yeah?” She grabbed the red shawl she had recently taken to accentuating her outfits with and drew it over Mercedes’s shoulders. It wasn’t a proper haircutting cape, but it would serve its purpose in keeping hair out of her uniform.
Trying to stall a little bit, she took a little more time to finger-comb the thick blonde waves, just enjoying their softness while she was still able to. “So! How do you wanna cut this, Mercie? We doing just a little trim, or do you want more off?”
Mercedes seemed so incredibly serene, so at peace in the plush vanity chair. Her peaceful and easygoing nature should have made what came out of her mouth next fairly unsurprising, but Hilda was still taken aback by the flippant boldness of the statement. “Take off as much as you want, dear. It may be fun to try having short hair for a while!”
“Oh, woah! Didn’t expect that, but… I’m down! One fresh new Mercie haircut, coming right up!” Secretly, Hilda was excited to be able to try this out. She’d never cut nearly so much hair in one go before, primarily doing maintenance trims on herself or on poor Marianne after she hadn’t brushed her hair in two weeks. This would be a fun test of her abilities! Plus, if Mercedes liked it, she would recommend her to other girls, and then Hilda would get plenty of praise from her new clients! Just the thought of all that adoration was enough to make Hilda practically salivate.
She finally stopped stalling and brushing, mildly disappointed that it had to end, and headed over to one of the drawers of the vanity. She pulled out a gleaming silver pair of scissors, rarely used and wickedly sharp. Poor Marianne always quivered at the sight of them, but Mercedes simply seemed to admire them. “What lovely craftsmanship. Those will definitely do a great job cutting my hair.”
“Aww, thanks! Only the best for my friends!” She neglected to mention the fact that she had gotten some lovestruck boy to pilfer them from the market for her. Taking a deep breath to steel herself, she snapped the scissors open, listening to the blades rasp as they slid past each other, and came around to the back of the chair. “Alright, Mercie, I don’t think there’s anything else I can do to prepare ya. You ready for this?”
Mercedes nodded, letting her long thick mane bounce and sway for the last time. “Go ahead, dear. If all else fails, I think there’s a hair growth tome in the library… if we can ever snatch the stack from Lysithea, anyway.”
Hilda grinned. “Then prepare to be a whole lot lighter!” Deciding to first take off the bulk, she lightly balanced the scissors at the top of Mercie’s shoulders, nearly two feet of thick downy fluff hanging perilously beneath them. She paused for a moment, debating whether Mercie would actually look good, then decisively snapped the scissors shut. With a heavy crunch, the lock was severed from Mercie’s head, plummeting to the ground to coil up around the base of the chair. “Woah!” Hilda stepped back to examine her handiwork, to see Mercedes’s thick curtain with a two-inch-thick chunk missing from the right side.
Mercedes didn’t seem nearly as impressed with the process as Hilda did, keeping her sweet smile. “Very good, dear. Just keep cutting until you’re satisfied. I’m fine with any haircut, simple or otherwise.”
Screwing up her face and sticking out her tongue in an expression of adorable focus, Hilda resumed her work, snipping away at a steady pace. Occasionally she dragged a comb through the locks to keep them even and ensure no stray hairs were hiding out, or used it as a guide to ensure a sharp and steady line. Second by second, crunch after crunch, more and more heavy locks tumbled to the ground, piling up on Hilda’s bare feet. She couldn’t help but wiggle her toes in the mass: it was soft, heavenly so, but quite heavy even off her head. She imagined this had to be a great relief for Mercedes.
“Guess that’s why they call it cutting off the bulk, huh?” she mused, almost to herself. Getting no response from her impromptu client aside from a slight hum, she continued chopping, leveling out the formerly massive and impressive mane at the level of the shoulders. She had thought cutting off so much hair would perhaps be traumatic, but it in fact seemed to be helping- the new locks seemed to have much more bounce and sway to them as they swung back into place upon being cut off.
As she cut, she began to pull the locks out horizontally and cut downwards at an angle, adding some additional texture to the style. She’d hate for her friend to look flat and boring, even if it meant having to put in extra work. She admired the locks as they tumbled away, making intricate patterns with their coils on the floor. They were remarkably beautiful for something that now lay there lifeless.
After several minutes of intense snipping, combing, measuring, rechecking, and snipping again, she had finally crafted something that she’d feel proud of calling a style. Mercie’s thick sandy locks now rested lightly against the top of her shoulders, with real body and definition to the style. Hilda thought she looked frankly adorable! She swept the hair to the front, letting her client take a look. “So! Whatcha think?”
Mercedes hummed with delight as she ran a few fingers through her new freshly snipped cut, feeling how little mane she had to pull her fingers through before they slipped unimpeded out the other side. “Oh, it’s lovely, dear! And so much lighter! You really are quite talented.”
Hilda moved to sweep the cape off of her, but Mercedes stopped her in her tracks. “In fact… that was a lot of fun, and I don’t want it to end. Could you please cut it shorter?”
Hilda’s eyes nearly bugged out of her skull. What the hell was Mercedes suggesting? She had just shorn off piles and piles worth of soft tan hair, to the point where the floor looked like dunes on a beach around the base of the chair, and she wanted to cut MORE hair? She briefly dithered for a moment, wondering what on earth she was going to do about this. One glance into Mercedes’s shining, pleading eyes, however, broke all her indecision. “Alright, you got it! I’ll give you a haircut that you won’t forget any time soon!”
She contemplated for a while what style to give her. Surely it had to be something really special if Mercedes was begging for it, right? Her brain might have been a bit rusty after making other people think for her for so long, but eventually a brilliant idea came to mind. She rummaged around in a drawer until she pulled out a bizarre device, the likes of which had never been seen in Fodlan before. It was made of Black-Sand Steel, with a red handle and some sort of mechanical switch.
“Check this baby out! I got it from that weird redheaded merchant down at the market… you know, the one that acts like she’s never met you before when you bought from her yesterday? It runs off the world’s tiniest Thunder tome, or something like that. She said it cuts hair, like, REALLY short! Pretty cool, right?” She beamed, proud of her little sales pitch.
Mercie clapped lightly with delight. “Oh, that sounds excellent! I’ve been searching for something really unique.”
“Great!” Hilda grinned, then cut the clippers on. Instantly a loud roaring sound filled the air, louder than the growls of a manakete. Hilda immediately shrieked, dropping the clippers on the floor. “Gods! That’s terrifying!” Imagining them being used, their destructive power, sent shivers down her spine.
Mercedes, however, remained calm. “Relax, they won’t hurt me. I’m actually excited to know what they feel like!”
Embarrassed, Hilda picked the still-buzzing clippers off of the floor, using her free hand to tie up the upper layer of Mercie’s new shoulder-length shag. The bottom still hung down, ready to be a canvas for the power of the clippers. “Alright, if you’re ready… here goes!”
She lightly tipped the gentle cleric’s head downwards, letting the remaining unbound locks swish forward slightly. Nervously, she held the clippers up in the air, before pressing them to her neck and slowly, painstakingly driving them upwards. The insistent hum changed to a low crackle as the buzzing blades began to chew through the fluffy silk at the back of her head. Waves and waves of it parted on both sides of the clippers, tumbling down to the ground as though they were being chased. When Hilda finally pulled the clippers away, an inch-wide strip of nothing but fuzz divided Mercedes’s nape.
“Woah! These ARE powerful!” She lightly rubbed the patch that has been left behind, marveling at how velvety and short the hair is there. More shocking than the length of Mercie’s hair, though, was the soft groan that she let out. It was the first time she had actually reacted to any element of the haircut. Was she… enjoying herself? If she was, then there was no reason to stop!
Emboldened by Mercedes’s reactions, Hilda pressed the clippers to her neck again, mowing up the left side of her nape. More and more hair was effortlessly buzzed away, with even the thick tangle of Mercedes’s hair proving to be no match for their electric force. Again and again she pushed the clippers upwards, and again and again hair from the left side of Mercie’s nape spilled to the ground, replaced by such beautiful stubble, as Mercedes lightly cooed and moaned.
Eventually, she pulled the clippers away, revealing a clear delineation between shoulder-length fluff on the right and bare stubble on the left. She then moved over to the side of the head- she was hesitant to shave this part, looking at Mercedes for approval. Mercedes gave her a slight wink, and Hilda grinned as she began to shave away the sides. “Oh, you are gonna look so COOL!”
This was a careful process, with Hilda having to make sure not to accidentally bite into the bound hair at the top of her head. She folded Mercedes’s ear down to shave behind that, eliciting a real purr from the older girl and making Hilda feel exhilarating tingles inside. It was incredible to be able to shape Mercedes like this!
The left side finally shaved into a soft pelt, Hilda returned to the back of her head, beginning to shave the right side this time. The pile on the floor was nearly monstrous in size, and this time chunks of hair were beginning to collect in Mercie’s lap as well. The blonde idly played with her own shorn locks, seemingly unbothered by how recently they had been on her head.
Eventually, after a long period of shaving, blowing away loose hairs (Mercedes always shivered when Hilda did this, causing Hilda to nearly push the clippers too far), and lots and lots of work, she finally clicked the clippers off. Mercedes now sported a full 360 undercut, the sides and back of her head coated in a forest of fluffy stubble. “Go on and feel it! I’ve been doing it this whole time, and it’s AMAZING!”
Mercedes slowly brought a hand up to the side of her head, stroking against the buzzed section and making light noises of approval, a light pink flush across her cheeks. “Oh, it’s wonderful. I could sit here and touch my own head for hours! Imagine that.”
Hilda grinned, glad that her efforts were going noticed. “Great! Then for my last trick, I’ll show it off to everybody!” She undid the tie that held up the top layer, letting down the shoulder-length locks once again to obscure the buzz. This didn’t last long at all, however, as soon Hilda had the scissors back in her hands.
With her comb and careful hands, Hilda pulled out lock after lock, before shearing them away into a short, textured crop cut, only a few inches from the scalp. The drastically shortened locks fell back into place, barely covering the tops of Mercie’s ears. If the cleric wasn’t blushing before, she certainly was now to see herself being so drastically changed.
“I certainly hope this doesn’t break any monastery rules…” she mumbled, though with how beautiful she was beginning to look she didn’t think she’d mind. The short and fluffy locks continued to pile up in her lap, and she almost wanted to snuggle down into them as she was cropped. It was really such a soothing process…
Finally, Hilda set the scissors down again and ruffled the new cut Mercedes sported. “And that’s all the cutting done and dusted! Just a final finishing touch…” She dipped her fingers into a little jar of pomade and swooped Mercie’s hair towards the back of her head. The style flipped backwards adorably, gaining a ton of volume and lightly cresting at the top of her head.
“All done!” She swept the impromptu cape off with a flourish, sending chunks of hair raining to the floor all around. Instantly, Mercie’s hands were in her new style, tossing the fresh light cut this way and that. “Oh, it’s wonderful! It suits me so well! And the way you styled it… you’re a genius!”
She scooped Hilda up in a big tight hug, and the pink-haired girl gladly received it. She thought her work was finally over, until Mercedes leaned in to teasingly whisper in her ear. “Your turn, darling. Take a seat.”
Hilda turned pale as a ghost, and began to stammer. “Wh-bu-huh-m-m-me? Nah, I like my hair, there’s no point…” She tried to turn and run away, but forgot one crucial factor: despite having enough strength in her pinky finger to lift her massive war ax, Hilda was a tiny woman. In no time at all, Mercie and her tight, loving grip had practically pushed her down into the chair, and was sweeping the cape around her neck. Hilda gulped as the straps were fastened. “Hey, Mercie, you’re, uh, being real thorough there, huh? You’ve made these straps really tight…”
Mercie just grinned down. “Relax, Hilda. It’s for your own good.”
She lightly pulled the binders out from the twintails, one after the other, letting down a massive cascade of bubblegum that tumbled down to Hilda’s waist. The new victim expected a brushing, or something of the kind she gave Mercedes, but instead the cleric just picked up the scissors from the vanity and marched towards her, still with that omnipresent sweet smile.
“M-m-m-Mercie! Let’s talk about this, okay? I just need a little trim and that’ll be…”
Snip.
While Hilda tried to weasel her way out of the cut, Mercie slipped the scissors in at her jawline, moving shockingly quickly for someone who was usually so serene and unbothered. Before Hilda could even register it, the scissors had closed, and a rope of pink hair was coiled up in her waiting lap. Hilda’s mouth gaped like a fish, and all that could come out of her mouth was a strangled high-pitched teakettle squeal.
Mercedes fluffed the drastically shortened lock that was left behind, a blunt and sharp line that cupped her jaw tightly. “Oh, this will look just darling, Hilda. No need to worry when you’ll be so cute.”
For once, Hilda was speechless. She could only sit and watch herself be transformed in the mirror as Mercedes began to snip again. The weightline she was crafting was very severe, not wavering once, made perfectly straight with liberal use of comb guides. Mercedes fell into an easy rhythm- slipping in the teeth of the comb, leveling out the cut and uncut lengths, snipping away a silky lock with a single efficient snip. Rose-hued strands began to litter the floor, falling upon the existing pile.
Despite the fact that she was still quivering with shock and fear, Hilda felt a flush beginning to come to her cheeks. Mercie was still being so gentle, cupping her cheeks in her tender hands, passing the fingers on her idle hand through each lock she snipped off. Goddess forbid… was she actually starting to enjoy this?
Mercedes certainly seemed to be. While she kept her meticulous standards high and didn’t let the line waver for a second, she started to snip away faster and faster, locks of hair spilling all around in a pink tornado as the jaw-length bob began to be formulated. Hilda could only sit and admire her hard work and dedication. Perhaps she stood to learn a thing or two.
A couple more snips on the right side of her head, and the bob was finished. Hilda tentatively shook her head side to side, letting the newly shortened lengths brush up against her cheeks. She was shocked by how light and springy it was, and it seemed to have more volume now that it wasn’t being weighed down, even with the blunt edges. It was a massive change, yes, but she couldn’t deny that it looked mature and fashionable. “Hey, this isn’t so bad. Maybe if…”
Once again, her thought was interrupted. Mercedes pushed her head down with insistent force, tipping her face into her prodigious chest. Before Hilda could tell what she planned on doing, that familiar pop and buzz filled the room again. Hilda’s chest seized up with horror. “Oh no! I’m gonna be bald!” She didn’t realize she’d screamed that aloud until Mercedes chuckled and lightly stroked the top of her head, fingers dancing in the bobbed rosy strands.
“Relax, dear, you won’t be bald. This will just be a cute little accent!” Still with her hand firmly pressed against her head, she began to run the clippers up the back of her neck. Hilda bit her lip in terror as she felt the blades gnawing through her hair insistently, though Mercie didn’t seem to be going nearly as high.
She pulled the clippers away from the head, letting a storm of pink rain down onto Hilda as it unsnagged from the whirring blades of the machine. Instantly, there was a cool breeze on the back of her neck, and Hilda lightly shivered. It didn’t feel awful, she had to admit. Therefore, she had no complaints when Mercedes went back for another pass.
Mercie worked carefully and meticulously, making a triangular patch of shaved hair on the back of Hilda’s head, narrowing the farther it went up her head. This wasn’t as major of an undercut as Mercie was now sporting, but it would still be noticeable and very, very cute. She then flipped the clippers vertically when the shape was properly carved out, properly edging the undercut to make it perfectly neat and tidy.
After an agonizing amount of shaving, embarrassment, and falling hair, Mercie finally allowed Hilda to properly sit back up. “Oh, that looks amazing on you. I’m going to cut your hair a tiny bit shorter now, so people will be able to see it.”
Hilda noticed that Mercedes didn’t give her any options, just matter-of-factly proclaimed that her hair was going to get even shorter. At this point, she supposed she ought to be used to it. She just sighed and leaned back in the chair as her stylist slipped the scissors back into what remained of her mane, crunching through hair at the level of her cheeks.
Mercedes kept tilting her head back and forth, letting the hair rest against her face as she snipped away the jaw-length locks. That bob was cute, but this bob was planned to be a little more daring and refined, exposing the undercut she had so meticulously created. She snapped the scissors carefully, snipping the hair just beneath the earlobe, and Hilda shuddered in fear and delight as the shearing noise was so close to her ears. It was almost a shame when she came around to the back of her head and the noise slightly subsided.
She tipped Hilda’s head back the other way, and there was a stark contrast between the length on both sides of her head, one side cupping her jaw and the other caressing her lips. Soon, this contrast too was eliminated, as with a few quick and efficient snips the pink locks on the left were reduced to the same delicately short lengths as the ones on the right. After agonizing amounts of snipping, the haircut was finally complete.
Mercie tipped Hilda back up and swept the cape off of her, little rosy snippets flying out as she shook it briskly. Finally free of the motherly treatment and the shearing, Hilda was able to examine herself from all angles, tipping her head back and forth tentatively. She let out a massive sigh of relief that she’d been holding in for nearly thirty minutes of continuous snipping, realizing that the cut didn’t look bad at all. In fact, with the back clipped high to expose the triangular undercut, she honestly looked kind of badass! She grinned and shook her head recklessly, letting the ends of the bob scrape against her naturally pouty lips, before springing up from the chair.
“I NEVER thought I’d say this when you started, but… thank you so much, Mercie! I look adorable like this, and I honestly don’t even miss my pigtails!” She crushed her older friend in a tight bear hug, and the cleric laughed and ruffled her head. “You’re welcome, sweetheart. Maybe you just needed a little bit of tough love!”
Hilda reciprocated the gesture. “Hey, I guess you’re right. Now, do you wanna get ready for this ball or what? I’ll sweep up all this hair later…” It seemed some things hadn’t changed much at all.
Needless to say, they caused quite a stir when they swooped into the ball: fancy dresses, flawless makeup, and newly shorn hair! The two of them were instantly swarmed by girls, wondering why they had made such a drastic change, petting their new fuzz, and complimenting their beauty. As they twirled and danced around the floor, seemingly with every boy in the monastery, they noticed other girls seemed to be contemplating their own heavily coiffed manes, which must have taken them hours to style. Perhaps they would wind up being fashion trendsetters…
