HelloHound

hopefully this is scheduled properly ;w;

Another day, another skillset. Soapmaking is pretty fun, once you get used to the smell and texture of the not-goop goop. I made a batch of three bars, each with different flowers and scents and now they’re curing to set for…however long Raun mentioned. I wasn’t listening too much when I was making the bars of soap. On the best-looking one, with bits of lavender showing in the pale off-white, I carved an image of a piece of bread.

It’s evening now, and if I didn’t have ‘absurdly inhuman strength’ as Brun mentioned, I probably would have been very nervous about walking in the dark. But I have a jar of honey, a big stick, and a borrowed lantern, so any issues that happen tonight won’t be happening to me. 

Matron was real pleased about the bounty from today and was even more pleased to hear that he fed me dinner. I didn’t tell her that he fed me bees. Crunchy.

After the other kids had finished rampaging in the dining room in the name of a meal, Brunhilde called me up to her room so I could bathe; we had a bucket out back that we could fill with water to clean up with but at least once a week I was told to go up and bathe as Brun yammered on behind me. This didn’t help my standing in the orphanage, seeming like I was ‘unfairly preferred’ by the matron. It’s not anyone here is overly bad, it’s just I’m wondering how long someone can steal my shoes before I give up and go everywhere barefoot.

I’m already not the most civilized, what more do they need to see out of my tendencies? Should I start howling at the moon and biting people? Brunhilde told me to stop biting people but sooner or later I’m going to get my adult teeth and that’s when I’ll really get some chomping power.

I’m probably going to bite someone again before autumn comes this year.

It’s a sad truth about myself, but I don’t like it when others are mean to me; I usually become mean to them- a vicious cycle.

Never mind that nonsense, back to another nonsense: bathing! Took a long while to stop trembling at a body of water, much to everyone’s unhappiness! I’m probably immune to drowning but I still start to panic whenever the water is above my collarbone! Things are normal and fine in my lane of life.

So. Bathing was a little difficult when I first arrived.

We (meaning Brun and me) eventually pushed through it with the restraining help of the guard Pat, an older woman with greying hair and relaxed eyes. Despite Pat’s lazy appearance she always managed to find me when I hid from bathtime within a half-hour of my attempts to escape. One time she found me when I hid by submerging myself in mud, using a hollow reed to breathe. The bath (for both of us, she had to wrestle me out of the mud) was especially harsh and had to repeat three times until the water finally flowed clear. I learned my lesson that day, and began practicing how to hold my breath for as long as possible…and to start bathing on my own. Dirt baths don’t count in the eyes of the matron, who knew?

So I usually bathe on my own but Brunhilde insists I do a ‘proper bath’ once a week so my hair can get a proper scrubbing; sure, it’s wild and mane-like most of the time, but I can’t bring myself to cut it. Maybe if I have to, but even then I’ll probably balk. I’m not girly-looking in general so it makes me feel a bit more secure that I have long hair, though it’s still 50/50 on whether or not someone properly identifies me. Eh.

Pat tells me that she’s certain that something called ‘puberty’ will hit me like a charging horse and that I shouldn’t worry, but I remember the slim body of my mom. It might’ve been from malnutrition, but the point hangs heavy in the mind. A couple of points hang heavy in the mind.

I wonder if she’s eating properly.

I snap back to attention as Brun pours a bucket over my crouched form. “So what did that old coot have to talk about today?” She asks idly, fingers working on my scalp.

“Something about how there’s tiny invisible bugs everywhere.”

Brun replied with a light chuckle, “Oh, that one.” when I hummed in curiosity she elaborated, “Back when we were younger, before I got assigned to this hovel, he would take me on these ‘nature walks’ and he decided to hand me a bar of soap before telling me that after I fell into a puddle.” She gave a light groan, probably in disgust, “Who tells a girl that! No wonder he’s by himself in that tacky hovel; the ones that can stand his tone have to dodge bugs being shot at ‘em and the agile ones get told about the ones inside!”

She was chuckling, but I noticed her hand movements were slower. There’s probably a story between the two, but it’s ultimately none of my business huh. I’m bound to leave this place sooner or later, best not to meddle too much.

As I was thinking this, Brun bumped the back of my neck and I held back an animal sound as I flinched away. Maybe I can meddle, just a little, after that.

“Did you like him?” I asked, making sure to seem absentminded as I scrubbed at my arms and under my nails. Brunhilde hemmed and hawed before saying that she did, once upon a time.

“Before I had a damned wasp nest shot near me!” She joked, then sent me to the dormitory.