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Marguerite Maida was never a woman to care, truely. She had lived alone, without any humans by her for the longest time, about a decade to be exact. It was 12 years ago that she arrived on this planet.
Damn does time flies. She doesn't even know why she keeps track of time anymore. Maybe to know how old she's getting? Even that, what's the point?
She didn't have any objective outside of making sure Alterra wasn't meddling with her. Honestly, she didn't even know why she kept herself alive. She was alone outside of Preston. Why did she even bother?
She asked herself that question often, and never truely had any actual reasons. Part of her thought it was simply survival instincts. Afterall, the one thing every living organisms have in common is their will to live, except for a few mentally destroyed humans.
Marguerite quite thought of herself as one of these, yet still trying to thrive and live despite the severe trauma her brain has to handle. Sometimes it was too much.
Not until that girl showed up on her lands, at first she thought of her as an Alterra spy. But when she turned off the Communication Tower, she understood her assumptions were wrong, and acted less hostile every days.
Robin was like a bleeder. She was clingy, Marguerite didn't like it. Maida was used to her loneliness, so company felt so odd. And whenever her and Robin's skins met her entire body reacted weirdly.
Not even on her death bed would she ever dare admit that this girl was melting a little warm spot in Marguerite's supposedly frozen heart.
Marguerite was feeling herself grow fond, soft even, for that girl. She was a bit like Bart.
Filled with curiosity.
But way more stupid for sure. Robin was friendly, relaxed, thoughtful, and rather brave. But damn that she wasn't playing by the rules. And damn did Marguerite love people who raise their middle finger to the rules.
"Marg. You really should take more care of yourself."
But shit was it annoying to have that girl constantly remind Marguerite that she, in fact, had little to no hygiene. It's not like the fact Marguerite once found fucking rockgrubs and bleeders in her hair didn't remind her on how her self-care routine is inexistant.
"I'll do it when it'll be needed."
Robin took out what seems like a leaf or something out of her elder's hair. "It is much needed. I'm scared about your definition of when washing your body is needed."
"When it itches or hurt." Spits out Marguerite, knowing damn well Robin is not going to like that answer.
"You know what?" Maida didn't like that. "I'm going to give you a good fucking shower because if you don't do it yourself I'm making you."
"I'm not five, little bird."
"Yes, but even if you're a big girl like you'd word it, you deserve someone caring for you."
Marguerite didn't believe this one bit. But something told her that no matter how much she would complain, she'd just end up dragged by the hair to shower.
===
"Are you gonna get in?"
"I don't need you watching my everymoves when I shower. I could also have very well done it at my base." Sighed the elder.
"You scared I'd look at your surely very delightful body?" Teased Robin, with a cocky grin. "I wouldn't mind.. you surely do look amazing."
"Cut the crap Robin." Sighs the mercenary. "I'm not in the mood for your bullshit."
"I know you, you're not one to care, I know you well enough to know that if I came in on you being naked, you wouldn't care. So why don't you want- Did you get hurt?"
Fuck that girl isn't exactly stupid, just too impulsive with no self-preservation skills. She somehow could read Marguerite like a open book, while for everyone else, that old woman was like a safe chest with atleast 20 locks. Marguerite didn't understand how Robin could read her so well.
She didn't like being unable to hide things anymore. She knew it wasn't Robin's fault, it was Marguerite's. But Maida feels like she's getting her life, her secrets, privacy, everything violated and stolen. But it wasn't like if Robin was snooping, it was like if Marguerite was "forced" to open her safe chest. Sometimes it made her thougher exterior falter.
She hated how Robin was getting the best of her. She hated how the barely inexistant human contact she had in a decade, was making her weaker, it was revealing the holes and cracks in her armor. She felt her legs tremble, shake then slowly bend down under the weight of loneliness.
She was strong, but her mind and body could only go so long without the presence of her kind around her, humans are group animals, pack creatures. They weren't created for loneliness but for groups. No matter how hard you try, pure and raw loneliness will never do you good on the long.
Marguerite thought of herself as unbreakable, as the exception to the rule of humans being group creatures, but she was facing the thought reality, that her body was breaking down, overwhelmed and joyous about suddenly having another of her kind with her. She didn't like how her body was literally begging to have Robin around twenty four-seven.
"Marg, don't zone out on me-" Said Robin, as she snapped her fingers infront of Marguerite's face. "Can I see the wound? I won't ask questions, I promise, I just wanna know if it's healing properly."
The mercenary looked down and sighed, raising her sleeve.
She got it around her wirst. It was nasty but not bad, a Symbiote had held in on her wirst and pulled and shredded, it made some spots bleed. The wound was mostly flesh having issues to make a cab, and the spots where the fangs dug had a pretty good looking cab. It was healing up nicely. "It's fine."
"Glad to see your immune system is still as strong as ever."
"You don't even know how it was before."
"I assume it wasn't always that good, I must admit I wonder how much training you got in a lot of things."
"Are you trying to sustain informations from me?"
"Me?" Asks Robin, her hand over he heart in a pout. "I would never! Who do you take me for?"
Marguerite barked a bit. "I take you for exactly you."
The younger woman clenched her fist over her chest and faked being hurt. "You hurt my feelings Marg!"
It went on for a few minutes. Robin acting falsely hurt, giggling and Maida having occasional snorts or barks of laughter. God did it feel good to laugh, honestly. It wasn't truely laughing, but still, did it feel good.
Suddenly, the thought of letting Robin touch her body wasn't so displeasing. Marguerite felt her body jump in joy at the simple thought. She knew to the mind it was something... intimate, to let someone's hand wander on your body, even in a non-sexual way. But, Maida's body had been refused that luxury for so long.
"Hey, birdie?"
"Yes Marg?"
"Mind helping me wash my hair?" Mind staying with me and help me do what I don't even have the heart to do? Marguerite didn't like lying, but she didn't like dropping her image to show that she was touch-starved, on the verge of a mental breakdown and so down the pit she doesn't care for herself at all forgetting to eat, drink, sleep or do anything. She once caught herself zoning out so long she almost peed her pants. Not something she's exactly proud of.
Marguerite never had shame in her state before, which was logical, there was no one to judge her. No one before Robin.
She knews that Robin would never judge even some disgusting fetishes, she wouldn't judge. Marguerite wondered how that girl was so empty of negative judgement, but it was a great quality, to care only if it is important to you, your close ones or harming anyone.
Marguerite cannot help but always judge absoluetely anything negatively whenever she first encounter it. But is she truely to blame? She was made that way.
".. You want some more, do you?"
Crap.
"..."
"There's no shame to have in needing touch. Afterall, you know better than anyone that you can never stay forever without anyone's hands against your skin, without another voice replying to your own. It's the human nature. Afterall we're quite alone here, only us."
Marguerite doesn't reply, but when Robin's hand presses against her shoulder, she doesn't restrain her body from immediately greedily leaning in.
"It's normal for your body to seek out mine, and it is equally normal for mine to seek out yours. We're alone, and both of us quite are touch-starved. Plus I know mentally, you're down a dark pit, let me help you. Please? Ask me what you truely want."
"Fine..." Sighs Maida. "Could you.. wash me? Not in a weird way but.. I know myself, I won't do it well, I won't rince the soap off good enough and it'll itche and irritate... I know you're good with caring for the body."
"You don't have to justify yourself, Marg. You can also stay at my seabase for a while, if you want." Smiled Robin.
Marguerite felt Robin arms warp around her waist, and lean against her back. "I can't imagine how it feels to have human touch after so long."
Robin's arms and hands were soft as Maida relaxed in her hold, gently pushing her hands away to take off her filfthy clothes to throw them off to be washed later. Ayou only had a bathrobe around her as she turned the water on, testing the warmth, seeing if it fit both the women here.
Marguerite would take freezing water for her showers sometimes, so she always said she'd be fine with anything aslong as it wasn't near fucking liquid magma.
It rained over's Marguerite's bare skin, it felt great, the calm and peace. Thought with Robin, it could never last long, the girl jumped on Marguerite's back and dumped a great amount of shampoo on her hair. "Robin! God, warn me next time kiddo."
"Sorry!" She chuckled as she hastly started scratching, rubbing, washing Maida's head and hair, often pulling out things Marguerite doesn't even wish to know how she got it in her hair in the first place. No thank you.
"Feels good?"
"Yeah, thank you." Marguerite liked the idea of being taken care of that way. Plus it felt additionally good for it to be Robin in particular, taking care of her that way.
Robin smiled, and she could swear she heard something akin to purring rumbling out of Marguerite's throat, but she kept herself from noting it aloud.