What We Show in the Shadows

As our last client left the salon on Sunday evening, the three of us shared a hug. After thanking Alice, he saved his more effusive thanks for me. "Thank you so much, Frankie, for all the help you've given me. I really owe you a huge favour." Somehow, despite his promise, it still ended up being me who performed the next big favour. It isn't just Raymond who has a softness for young men.

+++

Because the time leading up to Halloween had been so hectic, I hadn't had time to even think about a haircut. As a consequence, my hair was getting shaggy. Before I'd had it shaved, I had always assumed that I would grow it long again, but now I had completely changed my mind. When the salon went suddenly quiet one afternoon, I jumped into Raymond's chair and asked him to cut it for me.

Before Raymond had a chance to put the cape over me, Joshua said "Frankie, can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"Do you mind if I collect your hair?"

"Eh?" Joshua's request left me stunned.

"Sorry to surprise you," he said, "but I thought that, if you were willing, I could try doing a werewolf character with you. If you agree, I thought you might think if was nicer to use your own hair for that."

"Okay," I said. I thought it was sweet that he had thought about my feelings like that. I was also touched when I watched him gather up all the sheets he had laid down to catch my hair. He seemed almost reverential as he transferred my hair clippings into a paper bag which he carefully labelled.

I had no particular interest in werewolves per se, and I did rather think that it went against Joshua's original idea of not altering my face, but I knew he wanted to take the next step in his craft. I knew from various discussions with him that adding hair to prosthetic makeup took things to another level. When he tried it the next Sunday afternoon, he did a passable job, but I wasn't surprised when he asked for another try the next week.

I ended up being Joshua's model for five straight weeks of werewolf characters before I complained. Each one was more complex than the last, and more time consuming. I didn't like to complain as I was still touched by the little things that Joshua did to make me feel comfortable. He always brought along something to drink, usually alcoholic, and tasty snacks to go with it. When he started providing fangs for me to wear, he always made a show of soaking them first in disinfectant followed by a soak in his own vanilla essence solution to make them taste nice. And when he ran out of my own hair clippings, he bought fake hair to use instead of sweeping up other people's hair off the floor. It didn't look natural, but it was clear that Joshua's goal was to perfect the look over time rather than being satisfied with his early attempts.

"What's with the werewolf look?" I asked him. "We've been doing this for ages now."

"I'm sorry," he said. "It's just that there may be a big opportunity coming up next year, and I want to be ready for it."

"What is it?"

"You know how Wellington Paranormal was a spin-off from a movie called What We Do in the Shadows? It was a vampire movie."

"Yeah, I saw it," I said. "It was Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement."

"Exactly. Do you remember the scene with the werewolves?"

"Sure. The main werewolf was played by Rhys Darby, the guy who played the band manager in Flight of the Conchords. He had this great line; 'We're werewolves, not swear wolves'. It was hilarious."

"I know. So, the thing is, there's this rumour going around Wellington that they've got him lined up to do a spin-off movie based on his character. If it's true, and if they keep production local like they've done before, then I figure they will start looking for people to submit concepts. I'm trusting that they will want at least one female character, so I'm hoping this will give me a head start because other artists probably won't think of it. If I can get them to pick up my character concept, not only will that guarantee me work on the movie, but I will also get more money too."

I didn't need to hear the excitement in his voice to start getting excited by the idea. I knew this was his passion. I knew he spent a lot of time working on designs at home. It was obvious that his love life was as non-existent as mine, not that I was complaining. I had put thoughts of dating on hold when I was bald because I was too self-conscious of how I looked, but that wasn't the case any more. I felt like I was now rocking my new short-haired look, and I was feeling cute, even sexy. The truth was that I was enjoying the attention I was getting from Joshua and the intimacy of our time together. It had none of the pressure of dating or the anxiety that relationships bring. I was relaxed and happy with Joshua, and I thought I was becoming a better person as a result. Dating could wait.

+++

Once I had told Joshua that I was happy to commit to his process of developing his character, it made sense for me to suggest that we try other body parts. Hands and feet were especially critical. Fake nails was something that Joshua didn't know much about, so we invited Alice to come along to our next session and give him a lesson on how to apply and remove nails. Once we were done, we sat around drinking the bottle of Sauvignon Blanc that Joshua had brought along. Alice started questioning Joshua about his plans, and he told her everything he had told me about his hopes for a werewolf movie.

"So how far do you need to develop your concept?" asked Alice. "Is head and limbs enough?"

"Good question," said Joshua. "What We Do in the Shadows had an adult rating, but I think that was because of the gore. It had nudity, but it was pixelated. The werewolves just wore normal clothes, but you never know what might happen when they are more central to the story. I have thought about the rest of the body, and I've got some ideas, but I'm not really in a position to do much more."

"Are you saying you have plans for a naked werewolf?" asked Alice.

Joshua blushed, but he didn't dodge the question. "Yes I have. If the movie rumours come to anything, I've even considered hiring a professional model. I know it would be expensive, but I don't want to let any possibility pass me by. With all due respect, I didn't get into makeup just to do weddings and school dances."

"Why not just ask Frankie?" said Alice with an evil grin on her face.

"I couldn't," he said. "It's too much to ask."

"Why not? We're all adults here. It's not like you and I haven't seen each other. You got naked that night because you were too gallant to leave me as the only one. Frankie has been my friend forever. If she had been here that night, I really hope that she wouldn't have let me down. In fact, that's given me a brilliant idea. I know that it's not until the middle of the year, but why don't you plan to do this on National Nude Day? I can't imagine that she would refuse that."

Alice's little speech made everything sound so simple, and I could see from the expression on Joshua's face that his hopes had been raised. He looked at me with such a puppy dog expression that I was genuinely torn. My thoughts had turned to how I had felt when Alice had told me about her naked evening with Joshua and the bridal party, and that was mixed with my positive thoughts of working with Joshua. He was the only person I had ever been comfortable being the centre of attention with, and I thrived on it. How much more intense would it be if I was naked?

Despite these thoughts, there was no way I was just going to agree to this. I could see the smirk on Alice's face, and I certainly wasn't going to let her manipulate me. It was one thing to entertain these little fantasies -- quite another to let anyone else even suspect that they existed.

As ever, it was Joshua's very gentlemanly response that set us down the path towards doing this. "I promise that you can refuse at any time and I won't be upset. I don't want you to do anything you don't want to." Was he pressuring me, or was he being genuine? Everything about his expression and his tone of voice suggested the latter. Even Alice seemed abashed for encouraging his hopes.

If I took him at his word, it seemed cruel and unnecessary to refuse immediately. After all, it wasn't completely impossible that I would go through with this. July 14 was still a very long way away. "I'll think about it," I said.

+++

While July was indeed a long time away, Joshua's preparations began immediately 'just in case' I agreed. My potential agreement seemed to lock in the idea of a strawberry blonde werewolf. He assured me that, if I pulled out, he was sure there were plenty of strawberry blonde professionals available for hire to model his final creation. The choice of hair colour was important because he was keen to use natural hair as much as possible. Not only did he collect the hair from my next haircuts, but we all started collecting the hair of women who had a similar colour. Whenever a strawberry blonde customer came in, we always swept the floor before cutting her hair, and then we swept it again immediately after. Joshua always assured me that he would wash it all very carefully, and that he was keeping my own hair separate from the rest for use on my face. He always seemed to anticipate potential problems before I did.

Daniel had left the salon and been replaced by James (not Jim) by the time Joshua purchased the tail. This was relevant because, while James was a mediocre stylist, he was a very talented colourist. He was far better at dying hair the right colour than either Raymond or me. The tail was a lot yellower that my natural colour -- it looked like it had been cut off a golden retriever, although it was apparently made from horse hair -- but James was happy to accept the challenge.

When Alice first saw the tail, she asked "Where did you find that thing?"

"I bought it off the internet," said Joshua. He was avoiding looking at any of us.

"It didn't have a butt plug attached to it, did it?" When Joshua failed to immediately deny it, Alice laughed. "Why did you remove it? I'm sure Frankie would have been fine with it."

"I couldn't expect Frankie to have to, you know, put it there," mumbled Joshua. "Anyway, it would have looked wrong."

I glared at Alice, but it's a fact that I was imagining a scenario where that was the only option that would work, having Joshua awkwardly asking me to do it, knowing that it was his best chance of making the big breakthrough in his preferred career. I hoped that nobody noticed how turned on I was becoming, thankful that I had worn a bra to work that day.

+++

The months passed slowly. The question of my participation was never explicitly discussed. No doubt Joshua was afraid to raise it, and I was avoiding it just as much. We weren't getting together every week, but when we did get together, our time was focused on building what was becoming a kitset of body parts, ready to be applied quickly when the time came. Of course, the longer this went on, the more the parts were made to fit my unique dimensions.

Sometimes Joshua worked to improve the key parts: the face, the ears, the hands and the feet. Sometimes, he wanted to work directly with my body. There were several weeks when I needed to wear a boob tube top so that he could work on my shoulders, building up their bulk and adding an extra thick layer of hair.

Then there was the week when he asked me to wear a crop top and bikini bottoms so that he could work on the anchor for the tail. He measured my waist during the day on Friday, and on Sunday he gave me a pair of strong, skin-coloured tights to wear over the bikini. This made me less self-conscious, but only for a short time because the first thing he did was take some scissors and cut all around just below the waistband before having me remove the leggings. Then he knelt down behind me, so that his face was close to my bikini-clad bottom, and he pressed the tail against my tailbone and made a few measurements with a tailor's tape.

My days of being fully clothed on Sundays with Joshua were now over. When I arrived the next week, he handed me a small bag containing a pink string bikini. "I bought you that because I didn't want your own things to get ruined if I get latex on them. We really need to concentrate on the torso from now on." I took the bikini into the back room to get changed. The bikini took some time to get on because I had to tie and re-tie all the bows until I got it right. I had to admit that Joshua had done well. Although it was a string bikini, it wasn't overly revealing or slutty. It was fully lined, and the briefs, although quite a bit skimpier than a full brief, were hardly a thong. I could imagine myself lying on the beach in it, although I probably wouldn't trust it in the surf.

When I turned to go back into the main part of the salon, I saw that Joshua had hung a bathrobe on the back of the door. How thoughtful! I put it on, but I decided not to fasten it at the front. I figured that I needed to get used to Joshua seeing me in less clothing, He quickly turned to look at me when I came in, and his eyes definitely took in each part of the bikini. "Is it alright?" he asked. "I kept the receipt just in case it wasn't comfortable."

"It's nice," I said. "Now, what's all this?"

While I had been in the back room, Joshua had set up a folding massage table and had draped a sheet over it. I had always sat in Joshua's makeup chair up until then, so this signalled another significant change. "I want to work on your back today, so I figured I should make you as comfortable as possible. If you're ready, could you put this on?"

He handed me the tail which was now attached to the legging waistband from last week. I stepped into the waistband and pulled it up before following Joshua's directions to lie face down on the table. He immediately put a towel over my bottom and another towel over my upper back, leaving just my lower back uncovered. He then pulled the tail down lower so that the waistband was around my hips and the beginning of the tail was sitting on my coccyx. This necessitated a slight lowering of my bikini bottoms, which he did without any unnecessary touching. Attached to the inside of the tail arrangement was a V-shaped piece of fabric. He started gluing the two upper portions to my lower back. When this was done, he said "What I need to do now, Frankie, is run the last bit down to just between the top of your buttocks. Is that alright?"

"Um, okay," I said. Firstly, he applied the glue to the finger of fabric, then with one hand he pulled the back of the bikini down a few inches while he used his other hand to press the fabric into the first few centimetres of my crack. It only took a few seconds, and he had done it most respectfully. I was embarrassed, but I didn't feel at all violated. This was just as well, because the next thing he did was ask my permission to undo the back strap of the bikini.

+++

While I have never gone topless on a public beach, I had undone my bra strap to avoid tan lines plenty of times when I've been lying on my stomach, but it was weirdly intimate doing it at work with my colleague. It was also weird not being able to watch Joshua while he worked, although he explained what he was doing at various stages to keep me informed. He put the previously completed shoulder piece loosely on my shoulders. He didn't stick it down -- it was only there as a guide. His goal for the afternoon was to create back hair, starting from the shoulders and then forming a tapering line down my back to the tail. It was a long session, but I just kept my head in the hole in the massage table and listened to the music playlist I had put on.

Finally, we reached the point when Joshua was able to remove his work from my back and he then retied my bikini top. "Before we take off the tail," he said, "I need to see how firmly it is attached and how it sits. Would you mind standing up and walking around a bit?" There was no point in putting on the bathrobe, so I spent the next few minutes parading around in the bikini while Joshua checked out my tail. Thankfully he was pleased with the results. Then it was back onto the table (again with the towels for modesty) as he unglued the tail. I could feel plenty of soapy water running down my ass crack, but I didn't complain. Joshua didn't seem surprised when I wrapped the towel around my waist as I went to change.

+++

The following week saw me back in my bikini, again lying face down covered in towels. I was wearing the tail, but Joshua hadn't needed to glue it to me. "I'm going to work on your haunches today. I'm going to build up your outer thighs a bit and run some hair up and over your hips, which will help to hide the waistband." Standing at my left hip, he folded the towel back to expose my hip and he undid the bow of my bikini. I was still covered, but it was a vulnerable feeling. As usual, Joshua was nothing but professional, even when he was working on the exposed parts of my buttocks.

When he had finished my left side, I covered his creation with the towel but didn't retie the bikini. We had a quick break for food and drink while I lay there, propping myself up on my elbows. Then he repeated the process on my other hip. When he had finished, again he simply recovered me with the towel without doing up the bikini.

I sensed him moving back to my left side. "I'm going to take the first side off now," he said.

"Can I have a look at it first?" I asked.

"How do you propose doing that?" he asked.

"Why don't you go into the back room?" I said. "Then I can use the mirrors out here."

Once Joshua had gone, I got up off the table, allowing the towel and bikini bottoms to just fall on the floor. I was stunned by how I looked, naked apart from my bikini top, with extra large and hairy thighs and hips. I felt like Joshua deserved to see his creation, and I was feeling daring enough to make it happen. I grabbed the towel and pulled it up between my legs, holding it front and back with my hands while leaving my bare hips exposed. "You can come back in now," I called.

Joshua gave me a big grin when he came in. "Wow!" he said. After I had allowed him a closer look, I climbed back onto the table as I was to allow him to remove it all. It was actually a bit of a buzz knowing that the only thing preserving my modesty was the towel pulled up between my legs.

This towel arrangement was the starting point the following week. I came out of the back room wearing the bikini and the belt for the tail, although the tail itself had been removed for comfort since I was now lying on my back. Joshua draped one towel over my chest, but instead of draping the other towel across my hips, he draped it lengthways instead. "Today may be a bit more difficult," he said, "especially if you get ticklish. I'm going to put the hip and thigh parts back on, and then I'm going to do some pieces to join them across your lower stomach to hide the waistband."

It wasn't long before the strings on both sides of my bikini bottom were undone. Starting from my hips, he worked inwards and then down, getting closer and closer to where my bikini bottoms lay covering my most intimate bits. Of course, I also had a towel covering me, but as it was pushed down further and further, the weight of it threatened to fall down between my legs. Eventually, Joshua was right at the top of my bikini. "I just need to move it down just a little bit further," he said, and a moment later the very top of my fuzz was visible to both of us. I favoured a closely-trimmed triangle, shaved at the edges well inside my bikini line and around my labia.

I didn't take too much longer for Joshua to finish. He began lifting off the pieces in the order he had applied them, so the patch just above my pubic hair was left to last. As I retied the strings of the bikini bottoms, I allowed the towel to fall away as I sat up on the table. "What's the plan for next week?" I asked.