Unwanted Company.

Moira is surprisingly patient as she sets out bottles of stuff and explains to me the duties of each. Even demonstrating how to use each with vague hand gestures. She widens her eyes after asking tp wash the dress, obviously not expecting me to chuck it off and hand it to her. I thought this was what she meant, and though nudity has no effect on me, I feel super embarrassed for the misunderstanding.  She laughs hysterically as she shows me about the bathroom and how to operate this shower and it's water temperature.

          "Beautiful necklace by the way, did you make it?"

           "I did." I smile and hold the vine with Remus' tooth.

            "What a tooth. From another you killed? It smells strongly of male, a powerful male."

             "My would be mate, Remus. He gave me his tooth before he passed so I could have it to remember him by." She smiles a sad, almost guilt smile as she departs and leaves me to bathe.

         The shower is overstimulating. It looks just like those ads I would see in magazines the elders would bring back for us after outings to human cities for supplies. It's magical and shiny, like nothing I have ever seen before. It would be perfect to savorvthe smells of the soaps and lotions and explore, but I smell a new male scent here and it is of a vampire. Not Charles', so I assume it is the son's.

         I instantly screw up the moment Moira leaves me to use the device, and I freeze myself out. I squeal and flatten my ears in frustration. Flicking then up after stepping out and reaching back in to readjust the temperature. This time, I scald myself as soon as I step back in. I hiss as the scorching water rolls down my back and bottom. I angrily leap out and turn the dial to the center. This is okay, but it gets chilly and I cautiously poke the dial nervously towards the hot side.

         I wash my wolf first, shifting and leaning up on the shower wall to fit my big body in here. I cannot soap up this way, but it feels good to shift and clean the fur with warm water. I lick and bite at the stream, enjoying the play as I night not get this opportunity ever again. I shake my fur inside the shower, thankful for the clear door that keeps me from splashing. Once I'm content, I begin the task of shifting back.

         "Mother! Any particular reason there is a wolf in my shower?" A male voice shouts. I startle the man materializes outside the shower door and peers in. I continue my shift, wanting to be in human form to communicate. His eyes round as he watches what I become. I crack the shower door tp introduce myself and diffuse the situation.

        "Hello. I am Aislaine. I was invited here by your mother and instructed to shower."

         "I am Alec. Pleasure to meet you."

          He sits on the toilet contraption and studies me as I ignore him. He is too giddy watching me, and I know somehow he's getting more from this than I know. I shake him from my thoughts. I let the conditioner, as she called it, sit in my hair for several minutes before rinsing it away. I then grab the razors and tediously rub the gel stuff on my legs, attempting to shave in the motions she instructed. Alec snorts and chuckles as I twist and bend around, trying to shave my legs. I shave beneath my arms and nip myself twice. I'm not putting this razor near anything else. She can fight me.

        I shake the excess water away before stepping out and drying with the plush, blanket squares she called towels. Then I do the lotion, loving the smell but a bit uncomfortable by the slightly damp feeling it leaves at first. It smells great though, like fruit and confections. I walk over to the dresser where she left my clothing bags and I shuffle through everything. I grab the stretchiest jeans, they felt more comfortable. I grab the bralette, underwear and Alec grabs a top.

        "This one is nice."

         "Thank you." I laugh a bit awkwardly. "I'll wear this one then." It takes a second to figure out the undergarments, and Alec gives instructions once or twice until I get it. I skip on the clothes and leave the shoes off. I rush back to the restroom to brush my hair and I part it the way Moira had suggested. Alec continues to watch me and I shift occasionally trying to shaje off his gaze.

        "So, um...you just met me and you've let me sit in here this whole time while you were naked."

         "I'm not supposed to? I did not know I could make you leave your own room." His face shows shock as he watches me more intensely.

         "Most females consider nudity to be indecent, saving it only for the eyes of those they are intimate with." I laugh.

          "Is that why everyone here freaks out if you are naked? Where I come from, we stay naked unless we travel outside to human territories."

          "So everyone was nude. Everyone? " I nod. "Even...even...oh fuck. Even your relatives?"

          "Yeah."

          "So you practically seen all your family and neighbors, what have you, naked." He wrinkles his nose. "I couldn't live. How did you deal with seeing your own blood naked? That's horrendous."

          "I learned at a very young age that eye contact is important. You learn not to glance below the shoulders."

           "Whole new meaning to the phrase 'my eyes are up here.' So they literally hunt, and do whatever like that?"

            "Yeah. Even meals and ceremonies. One time we did a ritual to bless our crops during drought and the elders were in a circle-"

            "No more, please. You've already taken like ten years off my life. I am trying to get that image out of my head. Gross. Naked old people in a circle..." I grin wickedly having found his weakness and distracted him from gawking.

           "I hear you have hundreds of years to spare, you'll be fine." The smell of food once again enters my nose and I sniff the air, excited to get dinner.

          "Hungry? I can hear your heart thumping from here." I flick my ears up, comfortable moving them as I'm not in the presence of humans.

            "Starving actually-"

            "Alec!" The door flies open and Moira peers inside. "How long have you been in here?"

            "Long enough to meet your guest." She lightens a bit.

            "Oh? And are you two getting along?"

            "She let me watch her shower, so I'd say we are getting along quite well." I side eye him.

             "Nudity where I am from has no significance. We shift, so unless we interact with humans we remain nude. Even the elders." I smirk as he cringes.

             "Stop bringing that up."

             "What? The naked elders in a circle?"

             "Stop!!! Good grief woman."

              "AHEM! Aislaine, you have cleaned up so well! Care to join me downstairs?" Moira cuts in and grabs my hand to lead me out. I trot along beside her, no longer as intimidated as I had been upon hearing I would be joining vampires for dinner. As we walk, something hits me.

              "You seen the money that was dropped 'for me'?"

              "I did. I was curious as to what the man was doing, then I seen you appear."

              "How did you know it was left for me?"

             "You were the female he had fed in Treatise, so I assumed he had left it for you."

            "It was him?" How long and why were you watching me?

            "It was. He went up a building side and watched you from the roof. I'm surprised a human didn't pick it up, but they rarely look up or down."

            "Why would he do that?" I wonder out loud.

            "The same reason Alec decided to keep you company while you showered. Conveying interest, albeit anonymously, unlike Alec who was at least bold. I knew you two would hit it off. He doesn't want anything serious with humans, and has little interest in coupling up with other vampires. So I figured a wolf might be a good fit for him. Protectively, loyal and strong but not enough Pugh to pose him threat. He hates to be shown up." I glower inside at the backhanded statement.

           Soon I am rewarded for holding my temper as I am led to a table, where the vampires sit along with the humans. Alec has already appeared here, and is flanked by several human females about my age. Several male humans laugh and exchange jokes with him. I sit opposite of Moira, away from Alec and Charles and between two human males. The females were obviously territorial of Alec, and as far as I'm concerned they have no competition in me. I had eyes only for Remus, and now he is gone.

          The male next to me accidentally bumps my legs repetitively, his foot rubbing against my ankle through the pants and I look to him several times to see if he is aware. He only winks at ne and I wrinkle my nose, tuning him out to focus on the food Moira has offered on the table. She instructs everyone on eating order and offers to fill glasses, but I'm scared to be rude or greedy so I try to take very little and I don't chew so I will feel fuller. I'm also quite unsure of my utensil skills, using mostly my hands to eat in our pack. Few meals required utensils there.

           There is meats, breads, potatoes mashed and with a gravy, there are sweet carrots and bits of lettuce cut up with other things and drizzled with a cream substance. The lettuce concoction smells weird, and having a hatred for the smell of lettuce, I skip it entirely. The meat and breads though are delicious. It's hard to refrain from taking more, but I remember my manners. I am a guest here. I dab my face with the paper squares as the others do. The vampires watch in amusement and sip their glasses of blood. The humans do not seem put off by it.

           "Not a fan of salad?" Moira asks.

           "What is salad?" I ask. This earns several scoffs and the humans whisper. I stomp the foot of the leg nudge as he softly gossips about me. His face flushes and he quietly nurses his toe.

           "The lettuce mix with the dressing. Aislaine." She says soothingly.

           "Everything is fantastic, but I have never been a fan of the lettuce. I've never liked it's scent." She giggles at me and pushes a plate of spirals down my way.

           "Pasta, sweetheart. Try some of this. You might prefer it to the salad."

           I sniff the air and study it. It smells of cheeses, something we rarely seen in our pack. We made our own, but the higher ranks typically took the better quality foods unless it was produce or game we'd hunt on our own away from the others. I dish a conservative amount onto my plate and sample. Now this, this is the stuff! I try to pace myself, and I kick my spoon clean after I inhale all of the pasta and it's goodness. I timidly nibble a few rolls as I await the dinner to end. The humans gets up and take the plates away, and Moira points to me to remain seated. She then shoves the remaining dishes towards me.

          "Here. I know you did not eat your fill. There's plenty of meat, rolls and pasta left. I'd rather you eat it than to have to scrap it."

           "Thank you. I'm not trying to be rude."

           "You aren't, dear. You've been so mannerly and courteous."

            "Yes, I had honestly expected her to bite people or jump on the table." Charles prods. I tilt my head to judge his audacity before speaking.

            "I'm not familiar with many customs here, but if that's what you want to do I promise not to judge. That's not how I behave, however." Alec cackles and Charles huffs before leaving the table with his glass.

          I make small talk with Moira and I ask to use the restroom. I slink up to Alec's room for my bags and precious satchel, and I walk down to bid Moira farewell. I intend to thank her for dinner and all of her hospitality, but I am nervous that she will protest and I will have to run with what's left of the cash and my possessions. This way, I won't have to leave anything behind. I am aware of Alec's presence as I make my way into the main room where Moira said she would be waiting. My eyes catch all the possible exits out of habit as I draw nearer. Here we go.