hello, i'm here, i'm living in the wall (i am the eighth wonder) (o/o)

Anna went to draw some water, then heated it up to a comfortable level. She poured some into one basin, grabbing soap and scrubbing. She wasn't cruel, but she wasn't gentle, Elanor was filthy and unless she wanted a buzzcut the hair would need some serious TLC. When she finished, she dried the woman's hair off with a cloth and handed her another clean rag and the soap with a second basin of water to wash herself off.

Elanor held as still as she could while Anna scrubbed and brushed through her hair, only wincing every now and again. "Thank you." she said again, a faint smile tugging at her mouth for just a moment.

"Wash yourself off. I won't look." Anna said in a matter-of-fact tone. "If you need my help, just let me know. Otherwise, I'll be in my office." she said, turning away.

"Alright. Thank you." she shifted. Once Anna was gone, she carefully stripped off most of her clothing, setting it aside and then getting to work on washing herself off.

Anna, when she saw that Elanor had finished washing and had covered herself in sheets once more, brought some clothes out and set them next to the woman on the bed. "Get dressed. I don't want an esteemed guest of mine being stuck in filthy rags." this wasn't a snide statement, rather, a statement meant to comfort in a strange way.

Elanor's brows drew together faintly at the comment, then nodded slightly. "Alright." once Anna was gone again, she got dressed again, this time in the fresh clothes. It felt good not to have on the old, grimy, dirty ones.

Anna returned shortly afterwards. If her patient was poisoned, she wanted to keep her under close observation. "Are you alright? How is your physical state right now, if you were to place it on a scale of unbearable pain to barely anything?"

"It's…I'm just sore, I'm not really in a lot of pain." She replied, glad to be washed and in clean clothes now. "I am feeling fine." Her hair hung around her shoulders in loose, damp waves, still wet from the washing Anna had given it earlier.

Anna smiled. “That must mean most of the poison is out of your system. That’s good.” she said. “If you’re feeling well enough, I might leave you on your own in here to go ask some friends if they could give you a place to stay.”

"Oh– you do not have to do that, I can find a place on mine own." Elanor responded quickly. "I am already in your debt, there is no need to do any more." frankly, she had no idea where she would stay, but she did not want Anna to feel like she had to take care of her.

"Elanor, I'm here to take care of you. I'm a doctor. It isn't like I charge what patients can't pay, and I don't carry debts." she said. "If you're struggling, I want to help you. If you need a place to stay, I'll find one, or you can stay with me for now. You seem like the stubborn type. I think you need to learn to be more accommodating when people try to help."

Elanor blinked at her a few times, taking in Anna's words. "Oh. I…it is only that I do not want to burden you any more than I already have, and I can survive on my own." help was nice but she couldn't be in debt, and she didn't want to get close to this woman only to end up pulling away.

"Honey, no. You can't survive in London on your own, you look to be one of those rich folks down to your bones and I won't stand for you dying in the streets on my watch. At least make sure you can stand before I set you up with an apprenticeship." Anna said. She patted Elanor on the shoulder and stood back a little.

Elanor opened her mouth to defend herself, then deflated a little bit. "Ah. Well. I am not sure that you are…wrong about that." she replied, frowning for a moment at the realization.

Anna nodded. "Doctors are always right," she said, in a way that would not be foreshadowing in a normal fluffy comfort story, but was definitely foreshadowing for darker themes to come here.

El was, of course, unaware of this foreshadowing, and just shrugged a little bit. "Of course they are." she said. "Could I accompany you out, then, at the very least?"

"If you can manage to walk, we won't be going far. Is there anything you'll want while we're out?" Anna's eyes fell to Elanor's sword, still by the woman's side. "I'd recommend not taking that out with you. People get scared of… well, the perceived threat of violence."

El looked down at her sword as well, frowning just a little bit. "Hm. I shall not take it, then." she replied. She pushed herself up, hesitantly moving to stand from the bed.

Anna nodded. "Alright. Well, let's go. Nobody will hurt us with me around." she hated to admit it, but it was true. In her circles, she was known as the werewolf wonder, the transforming terror. Not really, but she liked to think her curse was as established as that.

She raised her eyebrows very faintly, but nodded. "Alright." she took a deep breath once she was standing upright, trying to get used to being on her feet again. "I am…not sure how long I will be alright with walking."

"Do you need to stay here then? Because I'm happy to just go about my business today without you, and besides, I don't like pushing patients too far." she said. Anna moved to support Elanor, hands gentle and cautious.

"No, I would prefer to be out and about." she replied. "It is only that I may need to sit and rest every now and then." she hated that; hated that she could not just move and go as she was used to doing.

Anna raised an eyebrow at that. “Vulnerability does not make you weak, Elanor. But if you insist, I won’t take you too far.” she smiled, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

El shrugged, taking in a surprised breath at the arm around her shoulder. "My thanks." she replied after a moment, unsure what else she could say in response.

Anna smiled, then took her outside. She locked the doors, then took the two of them into the street. “So, what’s first on your checklist of things to do, then?” she asked, very amicable.

"I suppose I need to find somewhere to stay." she replied, tucking back a loose srtand of hair and taking a deep breath. "Do you have any suggestions?"

"Hold your high horses there, woman. I'm not letting you out of my sight unless I'm sure you're completely healthy, and you aren't. I swear, how much do you want to get rid of me?" she asked, chuckling somewhat. "But really, if you need to leave I'll set you up with a doctor friend of mine. He's kind, don't worry. And I don't think you two will have much problems getting along."

She cleared her throat faintly, nodding. "Right. Then, ah…where are we planning on going?" she asked, blinking at Anna. She was a little nervous about staying with a strange man, but figured that if Anna trusted him, he was probably fine.

"Oh, just a few doors down. We don't live far apart, if you ever need anything you can just come over to my house." she shrugged. "Just be warned, he is something of an… eccentric. I suspect he's a… dandy." Anna lowered her voice with that word. "Very respected in the community, but I suppose his mind has somewhat gone. No shame in anything he does behind closed doors, but I do feel a tad frightened by his enthusiasm sometimes. And he's always talking about the darker sciences. Don't be bothered by it. It's all theory."

(Anna: he's gay as fuck and I like that about him but he's also kinda a batshit mad scientist so don't fuck with that. We don't do that here.)