Shaving in Xena Fanfiction!

[AceHarddrive]

Hello Gents!
I am addicted to Xena fanfiction, in particular to those written putting the characters in a "Conqueror/Slave" type of setting.
In Advocate & TNovan's fanfiction called "Soul Searching," which is based on Xena the Conqueror, Xena has been severely injured. Gabrielle enlists the help of Ares, God of War to help. He decides the best way is to exchange bodies with Xena. So now we have Xena in Ares' body investigating her injury, and Ares "taking a nap" in Xena's injured body. Xena decides to shave Ares' beard and cut his hair:

Xena stood, albeit slightly uncomfortably. She gave herself moment before she bothered to try and walk. Closing the door the their bedchamber, she scratched her face again, deciding she really didn’t like the feel of all these whiskers. Besides, hadn’t Gabrielle said they tickled? She poured a bowl of water and found some scented soap to lather her face with. Then she found a very sharp dagger and a reflective surface that gave her a pretty good view of his face. As she put the blade to his skin she smirked, "First time I’ve had you in a spot to cut your throat and I can’t do it. Sometimes life just isn’t fair."

A short time later, Xena had learned two very important lessons about shaving: parchment would stop the bleeding, and cologne stung like Tartarus when applied to a freshly groomed face. This, in turn, made for a grumpy person. From this point forward, all her men would be required to shave right before a significant battle. They’d smell good and they’d be pissed.

She stared at his reflection, wondering what she could do to him next. His full beard had been shaved into a neat goatee, leaving his cheeks bare and smooth. She had a moment of pity for the God, and herself, when she thought of how prickly Gabrielle would find his naked upper lip after a few hours, so she decided to leave the mustache. But using a pair of scissors she trimmed it short as well.

Xena had always disliked those long lamb-chop sideburns some men were so fond of. So Ares now sported only a new modest pair. He had a haircut that got shorter and shorter the more she tried to even it out. And, with a shrug, she finally gave up on that completely; she simply snipped away until it wasn’t more than a couple of inches long in any one spot. Hmm... Maybe a nice tattoo?

* * *
​

Aphrodite is explaining what Xena did when in Ares' body:

"Oooo, I was thinking more along the lines that Gab didn’t like that scratchy beard so Xena got rid of most of it."

"She what?!" His hands instinctively went to his cheeks.

"Yeah," the Goddess laughed cruelly, "and most of the hair too."

His eyes widened and he looked down.

"On your head, Ares."

"Oh yeah. I knew that," he lied. "But that doesn’t change the fact that I’m going to kill her!"

* * *
​

Ares decides he likes his new look:

Ares reached up and scratched his head. Brown eyes widened as he frantically ran his fingers through his black, crookedly cut locks. "Xena! What have you done?"

He drew his blade and turned his head from side to side, speculatively studying his face and head in the shiny blade. He gave it a moment’s consideration before he shrugged, deciding he kind of liked the new goatee. He frowned. The hair, however, was unacceptable. With a snap of his fingers it evened up. It was still short, but at least it didn’t look like he’d been attacked by a dull knife. Besides, he grinned, if the little blonde liked it, he could live with it for a bit longer.

Shaving with a dagger and a bar of soap?

C'yas!
~Tim