Fifty Shades of Green (Rebecca)

It was a major step for her.

Specifically, the step out the door and into the open air of the mansion grounds. It had been a long, long time since Rebecca ventured away from the safety of the school's hallways and rooms, but eventually she had to try making some new progress.

Even with her emotional instabilities, it was inevitable that Rebecca was going to develop cabin fever. With her increasing comfortability with the world came a renewed sense of curiosity and adventure (on a still relatively small scale.)

It was winter, and Rebecca's first attempt at opening the front door was thwarted by a frigid gust of wind. The second time, she came prepared, dressed in a puffy white jacket with a soft interior lining, pajama pants under her jeans, a hat on her head, gloves protecting her fingers, and a scarf wrapped around her neck and chin.

Now hidden in her outer shell of fluff and soft and warm, Rebecca set out into the elements, intending to visit one of her favorite areas of the Mansion: the garden. It was the area with the most memories, including meeting Agnes, asking her out, rekindling after their first fight.

So they were all Agnes memories really, but that was fine. Agnes was back at college, and Rebecca wanted to put some happy thoughts of her into her head. It was a place she could rely on for peace and--

And it was decimated.

Rebecca entered the much less presentable greenhouse, unsure of what tragedy wrought such damage to her safe place. A week or two earlier, she would have hightailed it back to the building, but she was brave! She had made so much progress; she knew there was nothing scary about the greenhouse, even if it was in shambles.

Rebecca cautiously walked through the rows of plant remnant, now curious about who was in charge of the greenhouse since Agnes retired from the job. At some point, she would have to meet the person.

In the meantime, she would look around, reminding herself that there was nothing to be scared of and nothing to surprise her in the quiet, familiar garden.

>> “Hello there, can I help you?”

Rebecca heard the voice of someone behind her, and naturally her mind first went to a more paranoid place. Was it the person who shattered most of the greenhouse? Or maybe someone trying to steal... the plants... or something?

Okay, so her worries were ridiculous. She had to remember that most things in the world were not as scary as she was always expecting. Sometimes things were just normal and she was hyping them up in her head, so as the woman with the soft Irish lilt spoke, Rebecca turned to face her.

>> “Watch your step, there is still broken glass and pottery on the floor there.”

Or sometimes there was a giant tigress behind you.

Rebecca jumped back with a yelp. "Ack, big tiger!" She tripped in her heel and fell back down, a piece of glass cutting into her pants. Thankfully, with her double layering, her thigh was just barely scratched.

With a pout, for a moment forgetting about the vicious predator in front of her, Rebecca looked at her leg, where a small spatter of red was showing through her jeans. "Ow... stupid glass..."

Rebecca was so busy checking her poor thigh that the fuzzy clawed hand being extended toward her caught her off guard, eliciting another yelp because she did not know enough to realize how rude yelping actually was at the Mansion.

The big cat said she did not bite, which was enough to further confuse the girl. Nervously, she spoke hoping not to upset the beast of prey. "B-bit... kitties bite. And-and big cat's bite and you hae stripes and big cats wi' stripes a-are tigers and tigers DEFINITELY bite. And-- wait."

Her rambling logic math was adding up, but a variable finally occurred to her. "Um... tigers dinnae talk. And... you talk."

The world did not change all that much in the week she was away, even if it was a year for her. Tigers did not learn to talk while she was gone, so the next logical option was the answer to most situations in New York and especially at the Mansion. "You're... a mutant, too." Even in her current state, Rebecca knew enough to feel bad now. "Mutants dinnae bite. Well, mostly, Ah think."

Rebecca took the offered hand and slowly got up to her feet. Her cheeks were as red as the tiger lady's hair. (Another obvious sign now that her panic had past: Tigers did not have hair.) "Ah'm... real sorry..."

The tiger lady had a point; cats did not wear clothes (unless they had terrible owners,) and they did not walk upright (unless they were on the internet.) Her story was checking out; she was a mutant who was apparently named Regan. "Ah'm Rebecca!" There was still timidity in her voice, but she was also excited to be meeting someone new. More socialization had to lead to more normalization.

Regan gestured to a table, warning Rebecca against the possibility of infection in her wound, which sounded as unpleasant for her small gash as it would for a big slice. "Mhmm. Yes please, Miss."

As she was lead in the direction of the first aid kit, Rebecca felt it might be best to explain at least to some degree why she was acting so... well, rude and judgmental. "Sorry for before... Ah'm kinda... broken. Nae working quite right yet." It felt like an appropriate description in the shattered greenhouse. "Everything's a lil bit scary, sae... sorry." It really was not Regan; it was just a very unfortunately timed situation.

Rebecca felt a little uneasy being told that the next step in fixing her leg involved taking off her pants. There was a lot of (relatively) recent memories and arguments that made her hesitant to oblige the request. Her concerns were offset when Regan handed her an apron, and the logic was pretty sound.

Resigned to the facts and her fear of infection, Rebecca fumbled with the strings, tying the apron up in the back. "Alright, bit that's it. Ah'm nae whorin' anymore. Ah'm back with someone now." This was a strictly medical de-pantsing.

With the apron secure, Rebecca fumbled further with the button on her jeans until they were finally able to slide to her knees. She wobbled for a moment, looking down. The apron covered her front; the back was exposed, but she had a flat bottom anyway, so it was not like she was showing off.

Standing there with a light blush, feeling self conscious for obvious reasons, Rebecca considered the strangers offer. She was trying not to spill her burden on others, especially when she just met them. Maybe there was a short version of the story? "Well, um, Ah was away for a long time in a scary place." Agnes kept reminding her that she was really only gone for a week, even if time worked differently in the Ragman. "Well, not a 'long time' really, bit the way it worked it was a long time. And it was dark. And scary. And silent. And lonely."

Okay, so the short version of the story needed work.

Regan was placing a lot of emphasis on her desire to clean Rebecca's cut. The tiger woman must have placed a lot of importance on proper safety procedures. If that was the case, the last thing Rebecca wanted to do was disobey, especially with the looming concern of an infection hanging over her wound.

The young Scot hopped onto the table, quickly letting out a small, "Eep!" when her barely clothed bottom touched the table that had spent so much time out in the winter elements. "Sorry... cold."

Regan was avoidant, but she did express her understanding of Rebecca's position given the limited amount of sharing Rebecca could give. As her new "nurse" was drying her hands off, Rebecca looked to the floor as well. "Yeah... it was a bad thing... bit now my girlfriend and Ah are back taegether, sae one good thing happened!" If there was one silver lining to being lost in the Ragman, it was definitely how much better her relationship with Agnes was.

The solution was cold, as Regan had warned and promised, and there was a sting.Rebecca initially cringed, followed by flinching slightly just about every time the gauze was dabbed against the wound. She kept her lips tightly sealed, choosing to take the cleaning like a trooper without any meek sounds in response.

When the worst was officially over, (according to Regan,) Rebecca was able to breathe a sigh of relief and speak again. "Thank ya. That wasnae too bad."

Backtracking to the nice comment Regan said regarding Rebecca's reignited relationship, the shy girl smiled brightly. "Yeah, Ah'm really happy. She's the sweetest. Like a princess." The image was still fresh in Rebecca's mind from rereading the poem she wrote the year before about her forbidden love of another girl's girlfriend.

Rebecca was finally back on track after a few indiscretions, which she learned from. She was certain she had slept with enough people for one lifetime. "Now Ah can gae back tae letting Aggie be the only one tae take my pants." The correct phrase was actually "get in her pants," but regardless, neither one was appropriate conversation; a realization sadly lost on the socially oblivious Rebecca.