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There it was again, that awful stench of rotting innards and dried blood. It made Artful’s nose scrunch up in disgust. He knew exactly where it was
coming from too. As he slowly pushed open the door to the bedroom, he found Pursuer curled up on the fluffy carpet surrounded by pillows and coved with blankets. It had been there compromise since Pursuer didn’t want to shower consistently.
They had multiple arguments over if he was allowed to to sleep on the bed with fresh blood on him but with Artful’s constant insistence that “ the bed is sacred, and blood of anyone that isn’t us will ruin it”.
They came to a compromise to buy a nice and fluffy blood red carpet along with a plethora of pillow and blankets to go with it for when it doesn’t wish to shower. This way pursuer could still sleep after a hunt and Artful wouldn’t have to wash the sheets all the time.
Speaking of which pursuer’s body poked out from underneath the blankets allowing the gore tangled in it fur to dry out and stick. From what Artful could see there were patches of dried blood discoloring its jet black fur to a semi shiny dark brown.
Along with hardening the usual fluffy and soft tufts of fur into a much harder and jagged one with the offending tufts being permanently being stuck its original position.
There was one thing that was made clear to him. Pursuer needed a bath. A serious one at that. Artful clenched his fist bringing it to his chest in a small show of pumping himself a small look of determination following suit.
First he needed to convince the sleeping beast to take one. Which wasn’t simple at all.
Pursuer only took baths when the blood and guts that got stuck in his fur started hindering his sleep. Which would mean months of blood caked up on him to where it started insulating his own body heat keeping him up and making him sluggish at killing civilians.
To make matters worse when it did take a bath it consisted of him going into hot water and sitting there until all the blood release from his fur. The sitting in bloody water until the water cooled down which still left him smelling deeply like broiled blood which was not pleasant smell. Or worst of all it sitting in the water while waiting and falling asleep in the water resulting in him almost drowning on multiple occasions. All resulted in the smell of blood still permeating long after the bath and knots in the beasts fur which not only caught on things but would get pulled by the civilians resulting in a less that happy Pursuer.
What Artful needed was to convince it to not only bath but to let him join as well to make sure that all 3 problems were solved. But first he went to the bathroom. The walls were covered in a nice burnt ash colored tile allowing the pure white grout to shine through t with the floor tiles being granite with some dark enteral green bath mats in-front of the soft white toilet, soft dark green sink with white cabinets and the black bathtub with gray grout. It was also sell lit with a small litany of lamps giving the space a warm glow to it.
He started moving towards the sink opening up the cabinets to search for the soap he had bought for pursuer also with a comb and some fur treatment. Pursuer had mentioned once or twice how its fur was getting rougher and annoying to feel rough fur compared to dried blood. Another reason why baths were not done consistently.
Once the bathtub had all the necessary equipment around it he went back to the bed room to wake up his beast and convince it for a bath. On his walk to the bed room he thought of ways to convince it to bathe.
“Maybe a hut afterward, but that would remake the problem. Maybe I could cook after.” Memories of heavily burnt food flashed through his mind. He quickly shut down that idea as much as he wished to be able to cook for his beloved, he couldn’t make ramen without burning it even slightly. It was like a magic
trick he had done on everything.
“For my next trick I’ll burn this water.” He murmured. Artful was pulled from his thought by a loud yawn and the sound of blankets and pillows moving. Things were turning out in Artful’s favor. Nothing good really ever came from waking up pursuer
He sat down on the rug close to pursuer and started threading his fingers into his monsters fur. Pursuer hummed softly pushing his head towards his partner pushing it into his stomach. Then started wrapping its body around him in an attempt to get comfortable to go back to sleep. Artful started talking slowly and softly trying it entice the monster into listening to what artful had to say.
“ So my darling . . . Would you like to take a bath. Your furs getting matted again” artful desperately hoped that he wouldn’t fight him. Pursuer lifted his head up to look at artful grunting distastefully at him.
“ I can help you with it so you can sleep in the water. You won’t have to do anything. Just let me take care of you.” Pursuer stared up at him squinting it eyes, weighing its options. Finally- to Artful’s surprise- pursuer’s eyes softened, getting up and huffing slightly at artful did but giving a small nod to its partner. Artful’s eyes lit up, immediately getting up to follow pursuer.
Once they got to the bathroom Artful’s turned on the water making sure it was hot before plugging up the bathtub. Once it was half full he poured a hand full of water for soup in and some of the fur treatment in the water. He checked the water
Swishing in around to create some bubbles to make the bath more appealing. When he was sure the bath was ready he beckoned pursuer to go in.
Pursuer sluggishly got into the tub feeling the water surround it and filter into its fur breaking down all the blood and finally releasing its fur from its bloody prison. With the water turning a darker brown, Artful started massaging the soap and fur treatment into it taking the comb and starting to run it though the tufts of fur. Slowly making his way through the knots and pulling out the blood that sat deeper in its fur.
Pursuer could feel the deep, dull scratch of the comb through its fur. Delighting in the way it’s fur released, feeling it actively become softer under Artful’s touch and care. Once a solid lather was built up Artful’s drained the water much to pursuer’s protest refilling it with the same about of warm water.
Once the clean water was in the magician pulled one of pursuer’s claws out form the water and began cleaning, scrubbing in between each claw removing built up dirt and blood. Then once he was satisfied with the results he grabbed the other hand and did the same softly scrubbing away built up grim and dried blood from its claws giving the a nice shine.
Through all of this pursuer was watching as artful diligently scrubbed away at any offending dirt left on its hands. Though one burning question was in its mind. Why wasn’t artful talking? While the silence was appreciated by the monster, it was jarring to not Atleast hear Artful’s voice talk about something. It was one of the magicians favorite pastimes.
Tilting its head down towards Artful it found out why. Due to how much blood and dirt was on its claws the magician started concentrating so much to where even pursuer doubted that even they notice they weren’t talking. It found it cute the way his eyes squinted at the dirt obviously annoyed it wouldn’t come off. With his mouth scrunched in an annoyed frown. All pursuer could do was admire his partner submitting to the profound softness of the room.
Once the bath was finnaly over and the monster was fully washed and removed of all dirt and blood, along with the knots of its fur the water was drained for the final time. Artful grabbed the blow dryer of the counter near the tub and began drying pursuer off while checking his fur one last time for any blemishes. Running his hand thought the fur and scratching at the lowest and thickest layer of fur to dry it.
Once pursuer was dry, they both went back to the bedroom laying down on the bed. Artful showing his face in pursuers chest feeling the soft fur on his face. Breathing in the fresh sent of light soap , wood and soft linens. He hummed happily with pursuers arms surrounding him as it grumbled out “ maybe bath time isn’t so bad”.