Interim and Departure. (1)

Relovan woke up what turned out to be two days later, and immediately realised two things – his body was fatigued, and his stomach was empty. He rolled out of bed, stumbled towards the bathroom, and showered. Upon looking at himself in the mirror, the Enforcer shook his head and sighed.

"It's been a while since I looked like this. I guess I'll go get that haircut and shave."

Half an hour later, the Enforcer strode out of the front door and made his way towards the street. He had sent a text to Rahamat, the cab driver in the hopes that he was free and by the time he stepped onto the street, the cab driver was already waiting for him, standing as he leaned against his vehicle.

"Aha, Enforcer!" The cabbie greeted with a smile and a wave. "It has been so long, how have you been, Sir?"

"Teetering on the precipice of life and death, Rahamat." Relovan answered honestly. "How about you? How are things on the First Planet? How did you get here so quickly?"

"Life on the First Planet has gone back to normal, Enforcer. The Custodians have been hard at work, and everything was rebuilt really quickly. As for me, I was actually on this planet already, so throwing my client out of the car and coming here was a trivial matter."

Relovan looked at the cabbie with wide eyes and held in his laughter.

"Is that legal, Rahamat?"

"My cab, my laws, Enforcer." Rahamat declared with a defiant snort. "Anyway, where shall I be taking you today?"

"Well, as you can see, I am in desperate need of some top shelf grooming, so I need to go see Tony."

"T-TONY?!" Rahamat practically screamed.

"Yeah, you know him?" Relovan asked as he walked past Rahamat and opened the rear door.

"I-I most certainly do… but, do you seriously want to go to Tony? I mean, there are other—"

"Tony is good, thanks."

Relovan simply climbed in the back of the cab and fastened his seatbelt. Rahamat swallowed a lump in his throat and got inside, before getting inside as well. They drove off and the cabbie was dead silent. Relovan wasn't sure if it was because he remembered his passenger preferred silence, or if the silence was due to the visible unease that Rahamat was feeling. Tony's Barbershop was also on the Fourth Planet, which meant that the drive itself was not a long one. Much to Relovan's relief, the radio was not switched on, and he just looked out the window, watching the city. The car entered a dodgy looking part of the city, which in an already dodgy setting was quite impressive, and then pulled up to a building. The store front was littered with firearms that were poking out from every available space. Almost excessively thick metal plates had been stuck to the walls, and signs of combat were visible all around and on the building. Rahamat parked the car tentatively, and Relovan stepped out once the vehicle had come to a complete stop.

"Have you ever been in here, Rahamat?"

"I think the question here is, have YOU ever been in there, Enforcer." Rahamat asked as he broke into a cold sweat and swallowed a lump in his throat.

"Of course I have – why else would I insist on coming here?"

Relovan then began to walk towards the front door and stopped to look back at Rahamat.

"What are you doing? Come inside – you'll be a lot safer in there than you will be out here."

"You can't be serious…"

"You'll be inside with an officer of the law, Rahamat. What could be safer than that?"

The pair walked up to the front door, and Relovan pushed it open. Rahamat had to cover his mouth with his hands to stop himself from shouting. Inside the barber shop was a collection of tall, large and muscular men from all corners of the Void. From the insect-like people from the Mpukane Systems, to the two-headed, brown skinned brutes from the Ma'Zamba'Né, and more. All of them had hands that were entirely too large to wield the tiny grooming utensils that the shop used, yet there they all were. The uniform that the barbers wore was what made them famous throughout the Blargon Planets – they all wore white wife beater vests, purple spandex tights, something called a 'tutu' – a garment worn by female ballet dancers on Earth – which had swan necks and heads protruding from the crotch, and then steel spike tipped heavy boots that looked like they could crack a floor while simultaneously impaling a person's face. Their massive hands, which one could be forgiven for expecting to be calloused and rough, were almost unbearably smooth and soft, with manicured digits glistening in the light. Bright pink lipstick and eye shadow stood out on their surprisingly poorly done faces, and bits of makeup could clearly be seen hanging off their facial hair.

"You have a customer, Tony!" One of the barbers with the most gravitas ever heard boomed.

"Somebody is here for ME?" An equally loud and gruff voice responded.

Tony walked out from the back, and Rahamat had to pinch his cheeks to keep from passing out. While Tony wasn't quite as tall or as vast as Nura, he did have four whole arms, with each arm being insanely muscular. A set of arms was crossed over his abdomen, while the other hung loose by his sides, and the moment he saw Relovan, his brow furrowed.

"I've been wondering just where you were for the past few months, thinking that you had either been transferred off-world, or killed in the Void Lord fight… yet here you pop up, bigger than before and looking like a homeless person! I don't know if I should be happy or heartbroken!!"

Tony then started to run towards Relovan, unfurling and unleashing all four arms in the process. Rahamat, who was sure his heart was about to explode, looked towards Relovan wondering when the Enforcer was going to run away or at least scream so he could do the same. Relovan just calmly stood there and watched as the swan head bobbed around as Tony charged him. The giant man reached Relovan and suddenly broke down and fell to his knees. The ground shook a little bit and Relovan looked at Rahamat and sighed.

"Here it comes."

Tony then looked up with tears streaming down his cheeks, shaking his head while looking at Relovan.

"How could you let yourself go like this?!"

"It wasn't something I planned on doing, Tone… I just got busy. Anyway, I need the usual trim."

Relovan just dismissed the Barber's tears and feelings, walking to the chair that only Tony's clients sat in, and sat down. The other men all aimed their gazes at Relovan, giving him aggressive glares, but Tony just calmed them down with a single wave of a massive hand and stood up. He dusted off his knees the tutu, then walked over to his client and draped the large tutu over his head, covering the Enforcer's shoulders and torso.

'…why a tutu?' Rahamat thought to himself.

Tony quickly got work, with all four hands holding some kind of hair grooming tool. The hands then all became a blur, as the sniffling giant went to work, cutting Relovan's hair as well as shaving his raggedy beard. The other barbers all stood with their hands clasped together, looking awestruck as they watched the proprietor of the Barbershop go to work. The sheer reverence on their faces as they watched Relovan get his cut made chills run down Rahamat's spine, and he watched as Relovan sat with his eyes closed – as if he was enduring the cut. The intermittent sniffles and sobs were loud enough to drown out the buzzing clippers, however much to Relovan's relief, the speed of the hands meant that the entire thing was over in under ten minutes. Rahamat swore he could see smoke rising from Relovan's head, but it was all done. Beard was gone, balm was applied, hair was faded and lined up, shampooed and smelling good. The tutu was removed with a flourish, and as Tony fell to his knees again, all of the barbers started cheering and clapping. Tony continued to sob, and Relovan quickly stood up and cleared his throat.

"Thank you, Tony." He said while conspicuously sliding away from both Tony and his chair.

He then looked at Rahamat with a look that clearly indicated that it was time to leave, but he found that the cabbie was trapped under the arm of a weeping barber.

"The artistry!" One boomed.

"The level of skill! The subtlety of touch!" Another wailed.