Some men garner great strength from their man manes. Some more than you'll ever know.

Raoul gazed at his reflection in the mirror. To any outsider, it was pure perfection. Long, flowing raven-haired perfection. The stuff that romance novel covers are made of.

But to Raoul, it was a constant reminder of failure. A failed romance novel cover modeling career, ironically. And also loneliness. People were usually too intimidated by his beauty to approach him, much less get close to him.

Raoul knew if he was ever going to make a real connection with another human being, he was going to have to say goodbye to that Adonis-like reflection in the mirror.

He picked up the Remington 5-blade razor and considered it for a moment. Then he took a deep breath, closed his eyes and slashed quickly at his face. He opened his eyes hesitantly. But instead of a deep wound that would result in a disfiguring scar, his perfectly chiseled jaw remained unscathed, save for that one now beautifully manicured patch.

Raoul sighed deeply. This was going to be harder than he thought. But extreme times called for extreme measures. He took a deep breath once again, held the Remington up to the edge of his widow's peak, and with a steady hand, proceeded to shave a line down the middle of his head. He watched in awe as the raven locks floated slowly to the floor.

His dark hair was so thick that it took a full hour and all nine replacement cartridges to finish the job. But when it was over, he ran his hand over the smooth surface of his head and smiled. It was a new beginning.

Raoul gazed at the bald reflection staring back at him. He turned his head left and then right, noting the smoothness of the skin, the gentle slope at the nape of his neck and the electrical sparks now shooting from both ears.

As it turns out, Raoul actually WAS a robot. Shaving his head had caused a major malfunction in the central quadrant of his data telemetry port that led to a short in his core processing sector, hence rendering him completely inoperable.

Huh. Who knew?

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