A cat, a werewolf, and a god walk into a kitchen...

March 10, 2021 - the apartment above PowerUp

Calder’s apartment wasn’t very large. When you entered, to the left was the kitchen, ahead was the living room, and down the hallway past the living room were the two bedrooms and the bathroom. But it was comfy. The couch was old but soft, the appliances old but clean, and the living room was big enough (and Calder was kind enough to indulge her) for some little plastic drawer towers that Brenna stored her various craft projects in. Currently, there were about twelve colors of yarn strewn about the room.

Brenna was trying to roll up some of the yarn she’d gotten out yesterday to make little sweaters for Beans’s hair snakes. This was made more difficult by the fact that Mashed Potato had tangled a number of them overnight. Bea had arrived a little bit ago, and Brenna was getting a little flustered about the mess.

For his part, Mashed Potato -- Calder’s unsociable cat -- presided over them from his spot on top of the refrigerator. He had warmed up to Brenna slightly when she was trying to knit (aka: pouncing on her yarn while she was trying to make the snake sweaters), but was once again distant now that *another* stranger was in his home.

“Sorry, I should have cleaned this up yesterday when I was done, but I’m not super used to living with a cat,” Brenna held up a snarled knot to the sunlight coming in from the window to try and figure out how to untangle it.

Bea was sitting on the floor, her back resting against the couch. She gingerly unwrapped a different part of the tangled yarn.  “It’s all good. When I first started living with Oscar, he destroyed a jacket or two of mine because he decided that they were his bed that he could claw up all he wanted.” Her hair kept falling into her face with her neck crooned this way. It was a lot longer than Brenna had seen it before reaching past Bea’s shoulders. She tucked it behind her ear yet again and kept working at the yarn.

Brenna grinned. “Oh no, Oscar, baaaaad kitty.” She giggled at the thought. Oscar was a much more extroverted cat than Mash. “Do you want me to braid your hair? It seems like it’s falling in your face a lot. How long are you growing it out? It grows really fast, huh.”

The shorter girl immediately flushed at the idea of Brenna touching her hair but she wasn’t sure why. “Well, uh, actually I don’t really like it this long. It’s one of the big downsides of being a werewolf for me. I’d like it short but I just haven’t had the time to cut it yet.”

“Oh.” Brenna nodded, taking that in. She hesitated, then shyly pressed forward with her question. “Do you want me to cut it for you? I uh, I’m not super good at it or anything, but I used to cut Calder’s hair all the time, and I’ve always helped Hildr with her side shave. If you want.”

“Yes.” Bea replied instantly then bit her lip and looked back down at her knot of yarn. *Wait what if she doesn’t want to and is just asking to be polite?* They thought and quietly added on. “If you want to as well.”

"Yeah, I'd like to. I can't guarantee it'll be super good, but if you hate it being that long, it'll be better at least? Although if you want a side shave I *am* good at those." Brenna grinned at Bea.

“Do I not look like the kind of gal to love a side shave? Because I love a side shave though some of the length gone as well might be great.” Bea returned the smile and scooted closer to Brenna.

Brenna nodded excitedly and scooted a little closer in turn. “Great! Yeah. Side shaves are so pretty. And if you want help maintaining it, you can always ask. I love helping with people’s hair. If you wanna pull out one of the folding chairs from the hall closet and set it up in the kitchen, I can grab the stuff from the bathroom.”

Bea nodded back immediately. Her face flushing deeper due to the suggestion that Brenna might find a part of her pretty. “I, uh, yeah!” Beatrice suddenly got very in her head about how close the two of them were. Abruptly, she stood and went towards the closet. “I’ll go get the chair. Help maintaining it would be really nice though that might be a bigger commitment than you think.”

Brenna also stood, not sure how to read Bea’s sudden move. “I mean, I’m sure your hair grows faster than my sister’s, but the offer stands. Like I said, it’s a thing I enjoy. Unless you don’t want to spend that much time with me,” she joked, and headed down the hallway to grab the barber kit that Calder kept under the sink.

Bea paused going very tense for a moment and her face going a deeper scarlet in the middle of setting up a chair. *Of course, she wanted to spend time with Brenna.* "I mean, um, I'd like that and it sounds like you would as well. So, uh, definitely should." Beatrice managed to stammer out. He sat on the chair and covered his face with his hands while waiting for Brenna.

Fortunately, Calder was neat and organized, so Brenna was back in no time with the kit. But she hesitated when she saw Bea looking uncomfortable. She crossed the living room but stopped a few feet away from Bea. “Um, sorry, did I say something weird? The translation magic is good but it isn’t perfect. And I mean, I can be weird sometimes, too.”

“Oh no, sorry, the translation is fine. It’s just that….” Bea had sat up in the chair and was looking at Brenna now. *I am small, gay, and overwhelmed.* Beatrice gave a nervous smile. “This is really nice. It feels comfortable in a kind of embarrassing way and that’s sort of new to me.”

“Oh.” Brenna paused, unsure how to respond to that. "Do you need a minute? Or want to wait on the haircut? I...I guess I don't understand, exactly? But if there's something I can do, or not do, to help I will. Like if you need me to go hide in my room and leave you in Mashed Potato's thrilling company for a bit, I can do that."

Mashed Potato, for his part, looked suspiciously down at the teens from his perch atop the fridge, tail swishing back and forth.

“No, uh, hanging here’s fine and maybe just be gentle with touching my hair and stuff.” Beatrice rubbed her arm and bit her lip slightly. “It’s just I’ve never had someone suggest something soft and considerate in this way before. So this feels kind of intimate to me and that’s really embarrassing.”

“Oh.” Brenna found that really sad, but wasn’t going to say that out loud. “Yeah, I’ll be careful. And if it gets overwhelming, we can take a break. But just between you and me,” Brenna lowered her voice like she was about to divulge very secret information, “you don’t need to worry. The only times I’ve pulled Hildr’s hair have been on purpose.”

Brenna sat the barber kit down on the counter next to Beatrice and opened it up. Inside were scissors, a comb, a mirror, and hair clippers with various length attachments. It wasn’t the fanciest, but it got the job done. “Are you ready to get started, or do you need a minute?”

That made Bea giggle and broke the tension that was building up in her. She sagged in the chair a bit letting her tension wash out of her. “Thank you, Brenna. Though now that you’ve revealed your secret, I’ll know. So, I’m watching you” She winked at Brenna and nodded in response to the other girl’s question. She took a breath and sat up straighter. “I am good to go when you are.”

Brenna smiled as she saw Bea relax. “Alright. Let’s get started then.” Being very careful to be gentle, she started by combing through Bea’s hair. “Is this about where you want your part to be? And how short do you want to go?”

“Long enough that it could maybe stille be braided nicely I guess? I don’t know how long that is. Y’know if someone ever wanted to do that? Also the part is good about there yeah!” Beatrice tried to stay as still as she could. “I always used to do this by myself in a mirror. First time I did it. I had found some scissors, they weren’t even that sharp and I just cut off my shoulder-length hair. It was messy to start but it made me feel nicer. So I’ve tried to keep it short though it’s been a bit of a hassle these days.”

Brenna nodded. “Hmm, yeah. If anyone wanted to braid it. Well depending on how good they are, a bit above shoulder length should do it.”

Picking up the scissors, Brenna got started. There’s something both exhilarating and terrifying about the first snip, but she got in the groove of it fairly quickly. Strands of red hair fell to the linoleum floor as she worked. She couldn’t put it into words exactly, but there was something just, nice, about cutting hair. The sound of the scissors was satisfying, and getting to run her fingers through Bea’s hair as she checked to see if it was even was calming. It was definitely different than cutting Calder or Hildr’s hair, but that wasn’t a feeling she was planning on examining anytime soon. For now, she was content to just be, and be there with Beatrice.

Bea let herself be guided through the steps by Brenna. She hadn’t really ever had a haircut done by someone else so it was new. It felt nice to not have to focus so much and let someone you could trust help you with it. Trust was a new feeling for her and she was doing her best to let it happen. She didn’t want to overload Brenna with questions about how cutting someone else’s hair was different from doing it yourself so she decided to ask some questions. “So, uh, do you miss Asgard? I know my Aunt gets wistful for Tír na nÓg sometimes and I miss my hometown every now and then.”

Brenna hesitated. “I miss parts of it. I miss my sister and my dad. My friends. I don’t miss the expectations, and how I was never really...enough, I guess. I was Thor’s kid, and I was supposed to be Thor’s sister, and I was never just Brenna. I had to go back for a mission last week. I saw Odin. He’s angry with me for running away. A lot of people are. And I have duties there. But I’m not ready to go back...and I don’t want to leave…” Brenna trailed off. Getting lectured by Odin had been a lot, and she hadn’t given herself the space to process those feelings yet, and now wasn’t the time. Over the course of speaking, she’d slowed down cutting Bea’s hair, and now she’d stopped entirely.

“It’s okay to not be ready to go back. It’s okay if you never go back. You need to find what you want Brenna.” Bea had turned to look back at Brenna. “My father wanted me to grow up to be a hunter like him. He wanted me to make songs like him. I didn’t want that. To be honest I mostly wanted to play hockey and help my Aunt Jo on the farm.” Bea shifted slightly and held out her fingers towards Mashed Potato. “Now, I am the perfect hunter and my dad wants to “cure my disease.” Which, uh, certainly scared me away from home. I just want to live my life and be a kid for a bit. So, uh, I guess don’t live your life for others is what I am saying. You’ll just end up disappointed. Not just in yourself but them, too.”

For his part, Mashed Potato looked at Beatrice’s hand suspiciously, then looked away.

“I do have to go back, though,” Brenna sighed, and held up her hand with Mjolnir in bracelet form. “This isn’t optional. There’s no one to pass it on to. I’m Thor, and I have duties that I’ve been avoiding since I became a god. It’s not something I can avoid forever. The time I get to spend here, as wonderful as it is, is stolen time.” Brenna ran her fingers over the engravings on her bracelet, a habit she’d gotten into when she was nervous. “Sorry about your dad. But you’re living with your aunt now, right? So you get to play hockey and help her.”

“He’s a good person just not a good dad. But yeah, Aunt Jo and I have been doing that. Aunt Cathy has been letting me come to her on combat training which is nice.” Bea had a stern look on her face as she turned away from Mashed Potato. She was mulling over how to say what she wanted without sounding mean. “I think the duties will wait as long as they need to. If you’re a god and were chosen to be that god by the previous Thors then they probably knew you’d need this time. It isn’t optional but you choose how you do it and you have to do it your way not someone else’s.”

Brenna wasn’t sure she believed she could do that; being Thor wasn’t something she could just make up. Or that the Thors preserved in the hammer knew what they were doing when they picked her. Most of her interactions with them had been her Grandma yelling at her for dropping the hammer in the poison lake last week, or being unable to summon it back to her hand after throwing it. Brenna wasn’t great at hiding her emotions (or at least her siblings were good at knowing what she was thinking most of the time), so she gave a noncommittal “yeah” and reached out to run her fingers through Bea’s hair.

“I think that looks good. Lemme grab the mirror and then we can do the side shave,” Brenna said, and handed Bea the hand mirror from the kit on the counter.

Bea knew she wasn’t great with feelings; she mostly hid them. However, she could tell Brenna was still upset but didn’t want to push her further right now. She waited for a moment and realized she wanted to hug Brenna but didn’t know if that’d be weird. So she sat quietly and let Brenna get back to work.

Beatrice took the hand mirror and turned her head to inspect the cut. “Dang that’s gonna make for some good flow while still keeping it classy.” Bea ran her own hand through her hair. She grinning wide up at Brenna. “I love it. You did amazing. Is there some way that I could repay you?”

Brenna clipped one of the shortest guards onto the clippers. “Repay me? I don’t know, I don’t need anything. But I guess if you feel like you need to, we can think of something? Oh! You could tell me about Tír na nÓg? Did you say it was your hometown? Now hold still, and we’ll be done.”

Brenna waited for Beatrice to be still, then the room filled with the soft buzz of the clippers. Mashed Potato leapt down from the fridge at the noise and left, tail held high in protest at the racket. A short while later, Brenna turned off the clippers and stood back to look after her work. Nodding in satisfaction, she brushed some strands of hair from Bea’s shoulder.

“There, perfect.”

“Nah, I grew up in the middle of nowhere in Northern Ontario. You’ve probably not heard of it, Hearst.” Beatrice said as Brenna finished up the last few adjustments. “My mum and Aunt Cathy are from there though. I visited there often when I left home. I didn’t really have my aunts’ contact information so I did my best to track them down there and that worked out eventually.”

“Tír na nÓg is beautiful and wondrous but also venomous and the feuds there run deep. They are a little insular but what do you expect from a land of ‘gods and heroes.’” Beatrice said snarkily. As the haircut was done she leaned her head back and looked straight up at Brenna. “So, what do you think? Do I look cute?”

Brenna had turned to set the clippers down, and nearly dropped them as she turned around and got caught in the look Beatrice was giving her. The answer was yes, obviously. He was always cute. The tips of her ears started turning red, and she managed to say, “Yeah, you do,” before abruptly turning to clean off the clippers.

Bea blushed as well hoping she hadn't made Brenna uncomfortable. She leaned forward the chair tilting a little bit and wobbling into place as she did. "Sorry, did I say something?" He rubbed the back of his neck. "I think you're cute as well by the way."

Brenna carefully set the clean clippers down and wondered why she was like this. “What, no. You didn’t say anything wrong. I just, you know, um. I’m weird. Don’t worry about it.”

Bea stood up and put a hand out to Brenna’s back but hesitated. "I don’t think you’re weird and I don’t want to push you but it seems like you are having a hard time. This is weird for me to ask…” She trailed off before abruptly finishing. “Would you like a hug?”

Brenna finally turned back around, still slightly flushed but at least she felt capable of making full sentences again. After a moment, she smiled and nodded. "If calling you cute is the cost of getting a hug, I'll have to do it more often."

It was Beatrice’s turn to blush and she just made a “hmph” noise and kept glancing away from Brenna, slightly embarrassed. This didn’t stop him from wrapping his arms around Brenna though nor did it stop him from pressing his head against Brenna. He held the other girl tight, not sure why the suggestion of more hugs out of anything had made her head go empty.

Brenna returned the hug just as tightly. A lot of her feelings were vague and complicated, but a hug was safe territory for her, even if it seemed like maybe it wasn't for Beatrice. But before either girl pulled back, there was a yowl, and Mashed Potato dashed through the mess on the kitchen floor, a newly re-knotted ball of yarn stuck to his back paw. Brenna jumped at the noise, and watched, mouth open, as Mash ran back out to the living room, spreading the mess around even further.

"You're such a menace! Stay out of my yarn!" Brenna scolded.

The sudden yowl didn’t make Bea jump, instead she launched forward attempting to grab Mashed Potato before realizing she might be a  little too strong to do that safely and instead let her hand sail just over the cat’s back. Beatrice laughed, a high laugh that was rare for her, and grinned wide at the cat bounding away from her and the expanding mess following it. “Brenna, I love your sibling’s cat. He’s a little bastard-man as all cats should be. Do we wanna lure him out with treats?”

Beatrice’s laugh made Brenna start to laugh as well. Sure there was a mess, but nothing that made Beatrice laugh like that could be all that bad. “What a horrid cat,” she said with affection. “The safest option would be to wait until Calder gets home and let them take care of him. He likes Calder best, so they’ll have the easiest time getting him untangled from the yarn. But we do have treats that I’ve been trying to use to get him to tolerate me, if you want us to give it a try.”

After his sprint around the apartment, Mashed Potato had holed up in a little kettlebell-shaped cat house, the main ball of yarn caught on the lip of the entrance.

“We should probably try. Since, the hair will be a lot harder to clean with yarn everywhere.” Beatrice had stumbled into the counter slightly and was now lifting herself up. She gave Brenna a wide smirk. “If he doesn’t trust us then that’s okay. However, if we can catch him and show him we are helping and give him treats for doing so well then I think he’ll forgive us eventually.”

“Alright, time to risk life and limb for my yarn,” Brenna grinned, though she was only partly joking. Mash wasn’t a violent cat, but he had all of his claws. She opened up the cupboard with the cat treats, and got out the little first aid kit as well, just in case.

As gently as she could, she walked across the living room and knelt next to the cat house. Giving the treat container a little shake, she popped open the lid. She could see Mashed Potato’s eyes on her, but he remained hidden away.

Bea hunkered down beside Brenna and mades a gentle “pspsps” noise and rubbed her fingers together trying to goad Mashed Potato towards them. She kept her fingers near the entrance of the cat house and tried to keep herself to the side out of Mashed Potato’s view to not overwhelm him with people.

When Calder walked in about twenty minutes later, Mashed Potato wriggled out from under the couch, where he’d squeezed himself after Brenna and Beatrice had managed to get him untangled from the yarn. He meowed loudly at Calder, probably regaling them with the story of the trials he’d had today, what with getting bribed with treats while the girls disentangled him from the mess of his own making. Calder picked him up.

Brenna and Beatrice were in the kitchen. Brenna was in the chair this time, and Beatrice was kneeling next to it, making good use of the first aid kit to wrap a bandage around a long scratch on the back of Brenna’s hand. Both of his hands were wrapped around Brenna’s one. Brenna flushed as her sibling walked in.

Calder raised an eyebrow and tried to hold back an amused grin. “Nice to see you again, Beatrice.”

Beatrice rubbed Brenna’s hand gently with his thumb justifying it as *testing the medical tape.* However, Bea had forgotten that Calder would eventually return and she blushed a deep crimson. “H-hey Caulder,” Her voice stuttered slightly. “Nice to see you, too.”

Bea looked to Brenna for reassurance. He didn’t know what to do here. He was an only child in a younger sibling’s world.

“Quite the mess you’ve made,” Calder observed, more amused than upset.

Brenna was focused on her sibling and didn’t notice Bea’s look. “Uh, well, Mash had made a mess of my yarn, and then I offered to cut Bea’s hair, and then Mash got caught in some yarn and ran around and made a mess, and we got him untangled, but he scratched me, so Bea was helping wrap that up,” Brenna stammered.

“Ah yes, *helping*, I see,” Calder nodded, openly smirking now. “Sorry to interrupt you.”

Brenna’s blush deepened, but since they didn’t really say anything wrong, she knew any protest would be used against her. She was also aware that Bea hadn’t let go of her hand, which didn’t help her case.

Bea rubbed the back of their head with her free hand enjoying the fresh shave. “I was just helping Caulder. I don’t really know what you’re implying... ” She said trying to play it cool despite her early fluster. It didn’t last long as when she trailed off the smirk hadn’t left Calder’s face and she finally figured out her mistake, realizing Brenna’s hand was still in hers. He flushed again and all his remaining confidence deflated.

“I don’t know what I could possibly be implying. You’re helping, that’s what I said,” Calder replied, shrugging. They headed toward the hallway to the bedrooms. “I’m going to take care of my cat, who you’ve clearly traumatized beyond repair.” Mashed Potato was purring happily in their arms. “So I’ll leave you both to it.”

“Your cat is a menace!” Brenna yelled after them.

“Love you, too!” they called back.

Bea continued to trace the bandage on the back of Brenna’s hand. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to not let go. I can now if you’d like?” They were crouched down in front of the chair. “I like your sibling though they are pretty nice and give you your space it seems.”

“Yeah, all my siblings are overall pretty good. They just like teasing me. Hildr is the worst.” Brenna didn’t say anything about Bea letting go, but she did look around at the mess. “We um, should probably get to cleaning this up, huh?”

But Brenna didn’t pull away.

“We probably should.” Bea gave a small smile up at Brenna. She didn’t know what this meant but it was nice. It was safe. She wasn’t paranoid about sudden danger and that was strange but nice. “Whenever you are ready.”

Brenna wasn’t sure what she was doing. Her feelings were all mixed up, like someone had shaken a snowglobe. They were like that far more often than she’d like. But being with Beatrice was nice. That she was sure of. What her own feelings were for Bea and what the hand-holding meant (even she was pretty sure it wasn’t about the bandage anymore) were both mysteries, and she had to be okay with that for now. But Brenna returned Bea’s smile and pulled her hand away so she could stand.

“Let’s get this cleaned up. Would you like to stay for dinner?” Brenna asked.

“Yeah, that sounds, nice. I’ll shoot a text to my aunts just to let them know.” Beatrice shifted and stood up herself. She pulled out her phone and sent the text. Her phone immediately got texts back of approval and teasing. Bea ignored the multiple texts, putting her phone away and looked to Brenna. “So got a broom? Or how do you want to do this?”

“We’ve got a broom *and* a vacuum,” Brenna replied, like a vacuum was something exciting. “And with Mash otherwise occupied, we might even be able to use the broom.”

Brenna got both of these out from the hall closet and held them out toward Beatrice. “Choose your weapon.”

Cleaning apparatuses in hand, the girls got started cleaning up the mess they made and Mashed Potato exacerbated. It wasn’t exciting, or particularly fun, but the companionship was what really mattered.