“Oh. I guess that makes sense.” When he saw the markings sewn into the gloves, he frowned. He then took in a deep breath, and released. “…There’s something you should know.”
“I guess I sewed them in a little crooked… I may or may not have stayed up last night to make them so that’d explain why.”
“I did my best though.”
“What’s wrong with my gloves?”
“Well, if ya help out maintaining the orchard, the gloves you’re wearing now might not be the best idea. The work gloves are thick so twigs can’t poke through the fabric.”
Rebecca pulled out a pair of handmade work gloves, Silver’s symbols sewn into them.
“The best part is that they’re big enough to wear over your gloves but small enough to fit snugly on your hands.”
“You can turn them into something else? I didn’t know that. Okay, I wouldn’t mind learning that!”
“Yup, you can mix them with- Well, I’ll leave it a surprise.”
“I made you a pair of work gloves so if you’d like, you can help me maintain the trees, too.”
“Sure! Harvesting stuff is fun. You get to pick things off of branches and the sun is usually shining and it’s really great.”
“I’m glad you had fun last time, Silv.”
“How about after the harvest, I’ll show you how to make food out of them?”
“That sounds like a great idea!”
“Bring a few packages over any time, I’ll get ‘em in the fridge and we can eat ’em with a couple berries.”
“That actually reminds me. Would you like to help with the harvest this week?”
“They’re the most amazing things I’ve ever had in my entire life! I was doing my usual work for the guy who pays me in chocolate bars, and he said something I didn’t understand about shipments, and gave me lots of boxes of them!”
“I’ve definitely got to agree with you there.”
“If you’d like, I can keep a few packages in the fridge back home. That way we can share them with milk the nights that I’m free.”
"Warm baths?”
“Close. Oreo cookies!”
“Oreo… Oh! I haven’t had those since I was a kid.”
“I used to have them with milk every night. They’re quite soft and chewy when soaked a bit in milk.”
“Alright.” That was the part he was anticipating. Actually getting into the tub. Silver had never sat in standing water before. He was both nervous, and excited to try it.
“I got a really nice herbal bath soap a few days ago, it smells like green tea.”
Rebecca turned the shower head on again, carefully rinsing off Silver’s fur and making sure she didn’t miss any blood. When she was satisfied that she got it all, she turned off the water and grinned.
“Alright, in ya go. The plastic wrap is still holding strong and I tied it nice and tight so it won’t come loose in the water.”
He sat there, silently, allowing her to do whatever it was she was going to do. He didn’t know what knots were. Rope didn’t last very long back home, it caught fire too easily. Oh well. He’d probably find out what all of that meant soon enough.
Once Rebecca finished his arms, she took the shower head off the wall again to rinse Silver off.
“Close your eyes, Silv. Gonna rinse off all the suds.”
“After this, y’can get in the tub. It should be nice and warm by now.”
“That sounds fine.”
He didn’t know what brushing was at all. It felt like a word he had been taught before, but he couldn’t for the life of him remember it. Silver trusted her, he didn’t have to worry about it being something bad. It would probably be a little painful, his fur was messy, but it was something he could endure. He was, naturally, self conscious about his appearance. Anything that could make him look better sounded good to him.
“Awesome. I’ll use Marshmallow’s brush since it’s the softest one I’ve got.”
“The water will loosen up any knots in your quills or fur so it’ll be an easier time for both of us.”
Rebecca started gently scrubbing one of Silver’s arms, doing all she could to get out every last bit of blood.
Back in the Game 
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