7th of Glade, 121
xxB
riannes fingers were knitted into her tense brow, her posture rigid as she glared towards the nude woman in front of her. The room was a mess. Candles had been knocked over, blankets thrown and tangled up in snuffed sconces and chairs had been knocked over of the past half hour of the girls defiance. And in the center of the room stood Senara, huffing as she blew a strand of messy hair away from her face. "Look, I don't care if you don't want a bath. Ya need one. As a wolf you could get by but as I'm sure you've noticed, you smell. And that is only going to get worse." She said, brushing a hand through her own messy hair.
Senara simply stared at her, muscles tensed as she readied herself to run again. The doors had been locked unfortunately, a trick the woman had picked up from some mage no doubt using a combination of an enchanted key and bullshit. She liked that word. Learned it just two days ago, and it was quickly becoming a favorite.
"No." The girl said, "I need it." After all, why remove one's own scent? It was how you identified yourself, made it easier to mark your territory, your pack, or your possessions by brushing up against them if you didn't feel the need to piss on them. It was normal. What wasn't normal was scrubbing away one's identity in favor of fucking lilacs or vanilla or worse- roses.
Brianne sighed. The past few days had been the most frustrating the woman had ever lived. Aside from trying to shove normal food down the girls throat- who promptly refused anything that wasn't meat- she'd realized the girl had no manners. Not even base instinctual manners to keep food from spreading across her own damn face when she shoved it into a bowl of beef stew. It had been fine when she was wolven, but as a human.. the woman knew if she planned to stay certain etiquettes would be required. At least the basics. But how in gods' names do you teach a wolf manners?
"You don't need it." She said, crossing her arms. "And if you plan to stay here and eat my food, you'll do as I say."
Senara chuffed. It was after all Brianne's territory. Every damn splinter of wood, every spider web, every strand of fabric in the carpets had her scent on it. And, Senara had agreed to stay. At least until she put on enough weight to fight again. It had only been a few days since she'd agreed to it but as she stood across from the older woman she wondered if perhaps she'd made a mistake. Not that she couldn't back out any time she wanted, but... maybe she didn't want to.
With a roll of her eyes she turned her back and began making her way back up to the second floor. Her feet were still not used to the smooth floor nor the strangely placed steps, each one the same exact distance from the last and with perfectly even footing. It was easier to traverse than the mountains, but it felt unreal, uncanny. When she finally got to the top of the stairs she was breathing slightly heavier than before. Movement had been rough, too. She was no longer so tired that she slept all day, but a human body tired easier than her wolven one. And more than that she was finally out of that ever-vigilant mindset and now able to focus on how her body felt more than before. And the first thing she'd noticed was that she was entirely out of shape.
But that would change. She'd already started training, even shifted back to a wolf for a short span the other day before switching back. After all, Brianne had made it perfectly clear that she was not about to allow the girl in the house if she chose to be in wolf form any longer.
"You're too big to stay inside all the time." She'd said. Plus, the shedding of her Frost coat had gotten out of hand and in only one day had left nearly enough on the floor for an entire pillow.
So damn many rules.
As she rounded the corner to the bathroom she stared into the waters. It was no longer steaming, and a few bottles and bars of soaps sat to the side of the tub just in front of a grey towel and a hairbrush. Senara's brow twitched as she mulled over her decisions. Bathing... who was she becoming? But, if she wanted easy food, she would have to comply. With a long sigh, the girl stepped into the water and sunk down with a huff just as Brianne stepped in to follow.
The woman was silent as she sat down on a small stool across from her and rolled the sleeves of her tunic up. Throughout the process both of them didn't say a single word. The only sounds were that of water sloshing and Senara's muffled grunts as Brianne's hands scrubbed dirt, blood, and sweat from her body. Her hair took the longest, though. She'd already tried to cut it once when the girl was sleeping but found it an immediate mistake, one that sent both Senara and Brianne into a mutual stare down contest while both threatened a fight. Knives, scissors, anything sharp was a threat to the girl no matter Brianne's instance.
But that had been two days ago. Before she'd been allowed to bathe her- which she would have let the girl do herself if she actually knew how past a quick soak. But logic would have it that she didn't, hell the girl barely knew how to use a match to light the sconces and lanterns around the house, and getting her to work a hose in the back yard had been an entirely entertaining situation that had left both of them soaked- and the hose riddled with bite marks.
And though over a week had passed since her shift, the woman was no closer to knowing what her life story had been. Barely more than a few words had been exchanged between the two too, though her favorite word had been 'no'. She wondered if this was what raising her child would have been like. Would her baby have grown to be so defiant like the wolf? Or would she have smiled more, the same was Brianne used to? Then again, the woman had also been much the same level of stubborn herself as a child. The amount of tantrums thrown, the amount of glass thrown. In a way the girl reminded her of herself, though she wished it was not the case. It only hurt that much more to be reminded of her lost child.
As the woman mused silently, fingers running through Senara's hair, the girl stared off into the water with a pout. Her touch was slightly rough, but she couldn't figure out why that same touch felt... relaxing? Perhaps it was the water threatening to lull her to a trance, but she felt a strange sense of security in this room, with this woman. Such a foreign feeling was it's own danger, though, as anything novel must be until proven otherwise. But at least she knew she wasn't in danger of being murdered anymore.
When Brianne finished she squeezed out a dirtied towel into the water that she'd replaced twice during the process, then leaned back and eyed a pair of scissors on the counter. The same pair that had sent Senara into a fit of screaming and shifting just two days ago. She had the power now, though. 'Listen to me if you want to stay under this roof'. But that wasn't what she wanted. She wanted the girl compliant, sure but more than that she wanted her unafraid, she wanted her walls down at least within her own home. And not because she kept her there but because she wanted to be. If she simply controlled the girl and threatened her then she'd be no better than the people she had been lead to fear her entire life.
After a short pause, she spoke up. "Will you let Telion cut your hair?" Brianne asked, eyeing her curiously. If she was right, then it meant there was a way to go about this without fear or control.
Senara pulled the length of her hair forward to cover the front of her body, something she did only for warmth as the cool water chilled her skin. She chewed her lip for a moment while she ran her fingers through wet strands of hair and watched as the ends danced in the water below.
"Yes."
