Snippet #2561764

Jennifer stood under the hot spray of water, relishing in the way it caressed her stiff, under-used muscles as it cascaded down her back. Having the water as hot as she could make it, turning her skin stinging red, she loved it. Painful and comforting all at once, enough to keep her thoughts off her past and more on the present. What she was going to do today. And she'd decided she'd spend the entire day outside, roaming around nearby, looking for any other memories (the less painful, the better).

She stepped out of the shower, cranking the water off, and rubbing herself briskly with a clean towel on the counter. She felt, for the moment, truly clean; like someone had rubbed off the layer of dirt that she'd been trapped under for weeks, like someone had scrubbed the filth and lies from her hair, scraped the hatred and fear from her flesh, left her raw and exposed, but willingly. Combing her fingers through her hair, she stared at her reflection in the looking glass on the wall.

She'd become so small. The men had told her that she'd taken up entire buildings without saying a word, but she was meant to be small and dainty and leave the power to the warriors now. She was meant only now to watch the others be strong, to cheer them on. Never to be the protector, the fighter. Not anymore. She stared at the way her body looked...awkward, now, like someone had erased all depth from a picture they'd drawn. She still had the curves she'd once had, but now her wide hips and shoulders were not equally proportioned by strong legs and muscled arms. She was like a young girl, pre-pubescent, still gawky and graceless. Not a woman. Barely a scrawny rabbit.

Dressing quickly in a pair of men's pants (too long, probably Blondie's) that she cinched tight around her slim hips and a tank top that she'd taken from a chest of drawers. Clean clothes, clean hair, clean mind, she opened the door and emerged in a plume of steam, padding barefoot down the steps to the kitchen, but coming to a gentle stop outside the doorway. Tension was rolling all over in droves, seemingly centered around a single man that she did not recognize. Jennifer decided that staying out of the kitchen was her best bet until she was invited in or sent away, and so chanced a weak-voiced "Good morning," to those inside.