[ WP ] Everytime someone has a 'blonde moment ' they get a little blonder . Black hair is now a symbol of brilliance , and you 've just invented hair dye .

You have to fail a thousand times before you succeed. 
 
 I could scarcely believe it even as I hold the vial in my hands. The clear liquid looked innocent, like water. But it was an elixir that would change the world. 
 
 Probably. 
 
 See, I had tested it on mice and chicken, and the results were perfect. I was actually able to change the outward appearance of color on their fur or feathers. But I could n't account for their mental change. 
 
 I feared the dye would change me. 
 
 Our hair changed as we made mistakes, marked us as as who we were. It defined us. If I changed my hair, would I be changing myself or would I be the same, just hiding behind the dye? 
 
 It was a risk I had to take. 
 
 I had spent years on this. *Years*. After failing the agricultural exams I could n't be a farmer or even a soldier; I just did n't have it in me. And so I had to go into the sciences, the field of rejects and misfits who could n't go anywhere else. I remembered my father's disappointment, how he did n't look me in the eyes after I got those exams results. Oh, my mother smiled at me, said they would love me no matter who I was. But I saw the wrinkles at the edge of her eyes, the strain on her lips. She was forcing it. 
 
 My own mother thought I was a failure. 
 
 After all science was for the most dejected, the worst of the worst, because it required trial and error. And with each error your hair grows blonder... blonder and blonder. 
 
 I remembered my jet black hair before I went to university, and unconsciously ran my fingers through my deep blond hair. Tears blurred my vision as I thought back to the university, that first year as my hair grew more and more blond with every lab day, with every experiment. And suddenly I felt a hand on my chest. Soft. Feminine. 
 
 Lisa. 
 
 She came in front of me with a smile. She always smiled. She had pure blond hair of course, no dark haired woman would have me, and managed to make even that look beautiful. Her long face and perfect features had literally saved my life. I do n't think I could have taken... living, without her that first year at the University. She taught me the honor in failure, the beauty of the end result. When my parents had turned their backs on me, where my former friends scorned me, Lisa was there to catch me. 
 
 `` Are we going to do it?'' she murmured. 
 
 I shook my head fiercely. `` No. *I* am going to do it. *You* do n't have to do anything.'' 
 
 A frown creased her perfect features and her expression turned sour. Her blue eyes gained a fierce fire. `` Mike, *we* are going to do it together, whatever we do. However we change, however we live. We'll do it together or not at all.'' Her voice was quiet, but left no room for argument. 
 
 Still I tried. `` Lisa, you do n't have to do this. You are confident in who you are, you do n't have my obsession to change your hair. You actually like yourself.'' My voice broke at the last word. Dammit. 
 
 Lisa's anger evaporated instantly, and her hand squeezed mine. `` I like myself Mike, but I *love* you. If we are going to lose ourselves to this potion, we do it together.'' She flashed me one of those smiles of hers, and I could n't help but smile weakly back. 
 
 Lisa was like that. 
 
 I nodded, almost to myself, and brought out the little vial. `` Okay.'' I took a deep breath and tuned to Lisa. `` This is how it's done.'' 
 
 *** 
 
 `` Do you feel any different?'' 
 
 Lisa said nothing and just kissed me. Deeply. We broke apart a minute later and her eyes danced with playfulness and something else. `` Does that answer your question?'' 
 
 I grinned back at her. It had worked. *It had worked*. Thousands of years of societal structure... eroded, Gone. Meaningless. 
 
 `` We'll have to move, Lisa,'' I said, my voice somber, `` to some place we have n't been, where no one knows us.'' We would have to take a cart to another province during the night. Here people would notice the color change obviously, and we would likely be accused of witchcraft rather than be seen as heralds of God. Our lives would change forever. 
 
 Lisa laughed. A deep, crystalline laugh, and all my worries shattered. 
 
 `` What do I have here?'' she said, wrapping her arms around me, `` all I need is you.'' 
 
 I stared at her, her hair now raven black, as she deserved. She deserved the life of a noble, the mark of a brilliant. She deserved it more than I ever did. We would do it. Damn the rules, damn society. We chose what to do and how to do it. 
 
 And we chose to live life. Fully. 
 
 *** 
 ( minor edits ) 
 
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