Ivy was too stunned to say anything at first until Crow glanced at her with a quirked brow.
“Oh, um… Lilacs, they always smell so nice when in bloom,” she finally replied with a sniff. She really did smell putrid, and it became more than apparent to her once Crow took a jar down from the shelf and opened the cork. A bath really did sound wonderful right about now.
Crow handed her the open jar, it smelled of a massive field of Lilacs. The witch tapped her compass and the handles twisted allowing perfect temperate water to rush from the mouth of the dragons and into the tub.
“Get cleaned up. No funny business got it, I am a witch after all.” Crow glared at her before grabbing Juniper and simply dropping the wiggling raccoon into the water. “Wash her too. Careful, she bites.” was all Crow said before she left and closed the bathroom door. Juniper chattered, but sat in the rising water with a sour pout on her muzzle. Her ears pinned back as she glared at a spot on the tub.
Ivy grimaced softly when Crow left the room and started to undress with a sigh. “Alright Juniper, we both are filthy and reek, so how about I wash myself and help you get clean as well, we’ll both feel better. Deal?” she asked the grumpy raccoon that was glaring at her.
Once she got her clothes off she looked at her thin frame in the mirror and her eyes landed on the spreading affliction on her arm. She shook her head and stepped over to the tub and carefully stepped into it. Her whole body relaxed at the wonderful warmth of the water and she sank down softly. Ivy had never been in a bathtub big enough to comfortably stretch out in before. “I don’t even know what I’m really doing here, but this alone makes it worthwhile…” she sighed to herself.
Juniper hissed but allowed herself to be moved around so she was between Ivy’s legs. She chattered at her, looking up at the discoloration along the girl's fingers, before she finally sank into the water and began cleaning herself. As the water rose she grew closer to Ivy and finally allowed her fur to be scrubbed. The soft happy clicks and chatters the raccoon made were adorable. Finally, the little mammal flicked her fingers in the direction of the water and it turned off.
“Oh, so you can do some magic too, huh?” Ivy stated with a weak smile, before finally focusing on her own long hair. She washed it three times before she felt it was clean enough. At least the horrible smelling sap came off relatively easily from her body, she just hoped it would wash out of her clothes as well. The smell of lilacs was wonderful as she sank up to her chin into the water, the warmth helping her afflicted arm.
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Juniper chattered proudly and finally hopped onto the side of the tub. Now that she was clean, simple cardinal markings showed woven into her fluffy fur. She shook trying to get dry and the markings shone suddenly and her fur fluffed dry fully. Juniper sighed happily looking back at Ivy.
Ivy perked up as Juniper stared at her and smiled weakly. “I guess I should get out too, huh?” She muttered and hoisted herself up to standing and stepped out of the tub onto the little rug. She unplugged the bathtub so the water could drain as she dried off with a towel before pulling a fresh set of clothes out of her backpack to get dressed.
Juniper sat by the door waiting for it to be opened. Once it was she chattered and danced around Ivy's feet, slowly pushing her to a slightly open door that she hadn't noticed by the stairs before. Crow was inside, her compass floating beside her as a simple soft bed was made. Without touching anything she had stretched the bed sheet over the bed, put a warm comforter into a duvet and a pillow into a pillow case. "At least you both smell much better. Come in."
Ivy had watched with fascination the creation of the bed and stepped inside when prompted. "Yeah, thank you. I feel better no longer being gross and sticky. I think Juniper enjoyed the bath too, she was well behaved for being washed by a stranger," she admitted with a smile, pulling her long damp hair back and weaving it into a braid.
Crow perked a little but didn't smile. "That's nice of her. I suppose you'll be staying if you plan to be my apprentice." She looked over the girl, her eyes focusing on her slowly dying hand. "I'll need a sample of your blood to test to see how far the curse is. Come on, we can talk over tea. You do drink tea, don't you?"
Ivy's heart leapt into her throat at that and her eyes lit up. "Ah, r-really? Thank you! I will study as hard as possible to learn from you!" she replied excitedly and clasped her hands together. "I, uh, haven't had tea before, we couldn't afford it... milk alone was a rarity, the only reason we had eggs was because we had our own chickens..." she admitted, following Crow out of the room and back down the stairs.
Crow moved to the kitchen and with a whisk of her fingers and compass a drawer opened, a syringe came out along with some cotton and a raccoon patterned bandage. The needle was uncapped and hung in the air beside the witch.
Once beside her, Ivy held out her arm for the other woman to take blood from her, she didn't even flinch at the poke of the needle, far too used to this since being sick and the countless tests she'd been put through before the affliction became visible on her arm.
Crow was good with her needle and drew the blood quickly. Once done, she removed the needle and stuck a cotton swab on the prick before pressing a bandage over that to hold the blood in.