Cogita gently drags a rag across Akari’s body, cleaning up all the dirt and grime on her small frame. It’s been weeks since the girl last had a proper bath.
Cleaning yourself up in Lake Verity, or any other body of water in Hisui, could only get you so clean.
So, when Akari had the time to come here and bathe, Cogita allowed her to. In exchange for something else, of course.
Akari got soap, warm water, and a mostly private bath, and in return she allowed Cogita to dress her up and model her anyway the older woman pleased. It was a fair trade. Or, at least Cogita said so, and Akari believed her.
“All clean,” Cogita announces as she looks over Akari’s body.
She holds up a towel for the young girl, gesturing for her to stand and get out of the tub.
Akari shivers from the lack of warmth that the bath had provided for her as she transitions out of the tub. Cogita wraps her up in the towel, leading her over to a wooden stool in front of a mirror. Akari gets up on it without even needing to be told to. Cogita hums in approval, grabbing a comb, and starts combing out any stray tangles in her dark hair.
Her strokes are even and deliberate, Akari’s hair an endless oasis of jet black hair. The complete opposite of Volo’s hair color. Like night and day.
Akari keeps herself from wincing when Cogita gets slightly more aggressive with her, fighting to get a particularly nasty tangle undone.
Cogita doesn't say anything when she finally untangles it, but Akari could feel the pride radiating off of the older woman. A funny thing for the keeper of secrets and knowledge to be prideful over. But Akari guesses there’s only so many things the woman has done in her solitude time for however many decades she’s been alive.
Cogita leaves Akari alone for a little while to let her hair dry, going through her closet to look for Akari’s attire this time. Akari was still confused on where she got them. Were they Cogita’s clothes from when she was younger and Akari’s size? Or did she sew them herself just for Akari? Something else? Akari didn’t let her imagination stray too far. Cogita never told her, and she never asked. Akari’s okay with keeping it that way. It was like an unspoken agreement.
Cogita instructs her to stand up and take her towel off. They’re both women and Cogita’s seen her naked many times before - had literally bathed her just moments ago, but Akari always felt shy standing nude in front of her. Even if Cogita never comments on her body, never points out the many scars she’s received during her time in Hisui.
She doesn't know why she wishes the mistress would say something about it. Perhaps, simply because the matron was an elegant beauty herself? But Akari wishes she would acknowledge her body, saying she’s either a pretty or a hideous sight. Akari’s heard the former many times, but it would feel different coming from Cogita. No matter what the elder would say, she would take her words, compared to the way some of the men in this century gazed at her.
At Cogita’s bidding, Akari allows her to slip on a rather revealing dress over her small form. It’s different than anything she’s ever seen in Hisui before.
A white dress with the middle methodically cut out. Cogita adjusts it so it’s perfectly straight on Akari, her shoulders on display exactly how Cogita wants them, and the garb connecting to a golden collar the older woman puts around her neck. Cogita hums in approval once she’s satisfied with the way it hangs off Akari, tying a golden sash around under her chest to help get some modesty. There’s plenty of cleavage still showing, but at least it’s framed so that her entire breasts aren’t shown off to the world. Not that Cogita would let her leave like this and possibly get the outfit dirty.
“I’ve missed doing things like this,” Cogita tells her, putting in star-shaped hair clips in the areas Akari typically wears her own hair clips whenever her hair’s down, “Volo hasn’t let me dress him up since he was a boy. Younger than you.”
She spins Akari around, grabbing another, but larger clip to put on the back of her hair. Her movements are slow and precise, as if she’s worried one thing out of place will ruin the perfect doll she’s trying to craft.
“There we go,” Cogita says once she examines every inch of Akari once more, turning her around to face the mirror. Akari doesn’t recognize the woman staring back at her. “You look nearly like a true Celestica.”
Cogita runs her hand through Akari’s hair in a way that reminds Akari how one in the modern day would pet their pet pokémon. But maybe for Cogita, it was just her way of showing affection towards a past she was trying so desperately to not forget.
Akari nods, not saying anything. It’s not necessary for her to speak.
After all, for the moment, she’s nothing but a breathing doll.