Showering was supposed to be a relaxing experience after a long day, but when you have 2 extra limbs that only get heavier with water, and only half of an essential one, showering has always been a burden and chore. Lucille was taking on this burden as usual, but this time around was taking longer only because she had been avoiding taking care of her wings for a while. With Ed in the house and previously binding them almost 24/7, they have become tangled and unkempt. She was in the process of trying to untangle them while failing, when she heard a rapping at the door, undoubtedly from her housemate, girlfriend, Ed. “Lucy! You’ve been in there for an hour! I get that you take longer, but you're going to drain the well dry!” Lucille knew she couldn’t keep Ed quiet for too long, taking 40 minutes was pushing it with her. Ed was accommodating with her disabilities and needs of her other limbs, but she didn’t truly understand. “I highly doubt a long shower of mine will drain the well compared to your 5 loads of laundry in one day.”
“Ugg fine. But finish up”.
30 minutes had passed, and although she had finished her shower, she still needed to care for her wings and her leg, for that matter, she had just turned the water off when she heard the same rapping at the door. “Lucy! It's been an hour and a half. I would also like to use the only bathroom in the house sometime today.”
At this point Lucille was miffed and slightly overstimulated, not only at the pounding coming from the door but from the dry itching on her stump and the heaviness of her matted feathers. She grabbed a towel from outside of the shower and wrapped herself in it.
“Stop being over dramatic I'm coming!”
She went to use the shower bar Ed had installed to lift herself from the stool she used, but in her rush and the wait of her wings, she slipped on the wet floor with a bang.
“Lucy?! Lucy, you ok!? I’m coming in.” Ed came bursting in with her eyes covered.
“Oh relax yourself Edison I’m decent, and regardless you've seen me otherwise.”
Ed blushed and uncovered her eyes to see Lucille sitting on the shower floor propped up against a tipped stool with her wings slightly bent with the cramped space.
“Fuck, Lucy”
She quickly dragged a stool that was against the wall to the center of the room, and went to help her up from the floor and out of the shower. Lucille hooked her arm around her neck and winced as Ed helped her up and over to the stool.
“Thank you Edison.”
“No problem. You ok? What happened?”
“You have 4 doctorates, I’ll let you figure that out.”
“Ok, ya you fell. You ok?”
“I’m fine Edison.”
“Ya, sure not like I walked in on you looking like a pretzel, and why were you taking so long?
Lucille took a deep breath knowing there was know way out of this. “When I neglect my … other limbs, sometimes it takes me a while to sort them out again.”
Ed looked down at the matted mess of wet fethers. “Ohhhh. You haven't been preening them.”
“I beg you pardon?”
“Preening? You know how Owls and other birds will preen their wings so they stay clean and healthy, so they don't get sick. And by the looks of it all that binding has realy fucked yours up.”
“Thank you Edison for stating the obvious. And yes, on the occasion I forget to care for them, considering the size and my inability to move like an owl or bird to care for them as easily.”
“I could help if it's ok with you.”
Lucille hesitated, she knew that her wings were delicate and sensitive, she also had never let anyone else touch them or care for them before, she had always thought of them as a burden. “I- I don’t want to bother you. I can manage, and they can be very sensitive”
“God your so fucking stuborn. I care about you and I want to help, will you let me?”
“I- um yes I think that would be nice.”
Ed grabbed a hair dryer from the bottom cabinet and went to plug it in. “What do you think you're doing with that?”
“Styling your hair. What do you think I'm doing? It's going to be a lot easier without the feathers sopping wet”
Ed plugged it in and turned it on low. She started at the bottom where it was the wettest and blew the warm air on it from a few inches away. She did this for a while throughout all of her wings until damp.
“Ok I’m just going to use my fingers to straighten these out”
Ed went and gently sifted her fingers through the feathers starting at the bottom. It had been a little while and neither of them had said a word.
“Hey you ok?”
“Um, yes, it actually feels quite nice”
“Good. Hopefully it wont get this shitty now that your not binding as much”
Ed continued to sift through moving from bottom to top. Until everything was detangled. She then grabbed a wet, warm wash cloth and gently washed off the excess dirt on the bottom few feathers. After all was well and done, she took the dryer to the wings one more time.
“Thank you Edison. This means more to me than you know.”
“Any time and next time don't be so stubborn about it.” She went around to the front of Lucy and planted a kiss on her forehead.
“Oh. One sec.” She left the room and came back with a lotion and a vial of Hemp Oil.
“And what are those for?”
“Well, my skin gets really dry sometimes and this oil helps me a lot but it will also be good for your wings.”
Ed puts some of the oil into her hands, then threads her hands through her wings one final time leaving them shiny and healthy. “And one more thing.” She took the lotion and came around and knelt down near Lucy's stump. “Can I?”
Lucy saw where this was going and nodded. Ed simply took some lotion and massaged it into her stump and scar, she could only guess how dry it would get. After all was well and done, she went to Lucy’s room and grabbed her some comfy clothes and her cane. After letting her change, she helped her to her bed, went to pop some popcorn, as they settled down for a movie for about 10 minutes before they both fell asleep on each other.