<hr/><div class="floatleft">(http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/a/a1/Onnecamug2.jpg)</div><br/><strong>Name:</strong>Onneca de Goni<br/><strong>Faction:</strong>Unknown<br/><strong>Date:</strong>Two days before game start<br/><strong>Time of Day:</strong>Morning<br/><strong>Location:</strong>Bodega de Goni<br/><strong>Tagged:</strong>Jia Li<br/><hr/><br/>"Hurt? No no." Onneca considered the comb in her hand, and the narrowness of the teeth against the tangles of Jia Li's hair. "I do this many times," she promised. She smiled until her cheeks dimpled, an authentic smile, and stepped in against the laundry girl's hair like a servile beautician. The first pass of the comb, to let Jia Li acclimate to its pull, was almost no tooth at all. It was just the lines of the comb and the moisture of the softening oils, gentle as a lamb, repairing the dryness of the California sun and Maze waters. "Mi madre taught me the right way when I was little. A girl is not a doll, she said to me. You must treat her with care. But, even the dolls, I treat them with care. I am sure there is some life in them."<br/><br/>The teeth of the comb arrived slowly, to find the tangles and test their resistance. No hard pulling- that was absolutely not in Onneca's nature. "It is relaxing," she said. Another layer of softening oil, like a painter blending layers together and spending a whole afternoon doing it. She loved her work. "And it is nice to have someone to talk to." The comb clinked on the edge of the counter, and she used a softer tool on the tangles. It was a brush without bristles, a cushion for removing lint and kitten hairs from cloth. No tug-of-war was needed. It was the oil, which adhered to the hairs and made them slip and cascade from one another, that would cause the knots to disintegrate.<br/><br/>The brush was a gentle pet, rhythmic, sliding, almost seductive in its caress of the scalp. Jia Li's hair needed so much attention, and so that was what Onneca gave it, not for money, but to satisfy a deep-seated need. If chance had happened to land Onneca at some barber shop out east, they never would have let her leave. She might've died there, an old woman, never having done more than wield a brush and scissors and make a handful of women happy. "How is everyone treating you?" It was so easy to get most of her visitors started on slander and gossip, but no- that didn't seem like Jia Li at all, if she knew her from the way she ate a biscuit. "Have you found the fireflies on the mesa? They are shy, but they are here, if you know their secret place."