MHOS Part 37: How does MUD feel like glowing?

I walk over to Husks to see Gary sitting outside and I smile. First a fun filled hunt with Husk, then a not terrible day with Alastor, followed by a fantastic evening with Peaches, and now I get to tend to Husks wounds before bed. I really don't think my day could get any better.

I knock lightly and walk right in to find Husk sitting on a stool in the kitchen with a couple of whiskeys on the counter. I look in the living room and there are the two souls I own, they have finished cleaning the frame and are awaiting further instructions. I hold my hand up telling them to wait as I greet Husk.

He turns to look at me and smiles softly saying "Hey!" As I walk into his arms returning his same soft smile. We embrace and I nuzzle myself in the crook of his neck as I slide the jar of mud onto the counter behind him.

He kisses me on the forehead and turns the hair back toward the counter with his legs around my hips bringing me with him. He slides me on his lap hands me a whiskey and takes his own, we clink glasses and drink them down and as he puts his glass down on the counter he picks up the jar of mud and says "What's this for?"

I slide the glasses out of the way and climb up on the counter sitting in front of him, leaving him holding the jar as I unscrew the lid & I say "I'm taking care of you tonight." as I swipe a small amount on the backside of my talons and ask "Where does it hurt?" looking down at him lovingly. "Oh just my face, my knuckles, and my pride." he chuckles.

I put my clean hand on his face and he nuzzles into it. I slide my hand around his face until I see him wince as my thumb along his jaw. I massage the mud into his face and he looks up at me surprised. "It feels like.. glowing." and my smile grows across my face and I say "That's exactly what I thought my first time in the mud baths!"

I take his hand and massage more into every individual knuckle and rest it on the counter. I hold out my hand for his second one and massage more into those knuckles as well. When I am done I kiss him on his mouth, then kiss him on his nose and slide off the counter grabbing the mud and taking him upstairs to the bathroom. I start unbuttoning his shirt and he starts to reach for my dress, I pull back and put a single finger up "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Not before I take care of you."

I go run a bath and return to getting him undressed and I say "I don't know how well this will work above water, but I wanted to test it out on you. I've been jumped by 4 guys before, and you saw how that turned out." Husk looks down at me questioningly. "The club in wrath I'm not supposed to talk about?"

His face drops "Four men did that to you?" and I replied "Yeah, you came out in better shape than I did! Like I said, you took that beating like a champ! I'm kinda proud, if not a little envious." I smirk. "So I thought I'd get you some healing mud and run you a bath.. See if a bath with it massaged into your fur would be any more effective than a bath without."

Husk smiles proudly as he sees the admiration on my face. I grab a handful of mud and say "Where else does it hurt?" looking him deeply in the eyes. He takes my hand and he guides it to his ribcage in small gentle circles and I kiss his collarbone as I do so. I grab another handful of mud and slide my wrist back in his hand and let him guide me around his body until the jar is emptied completely.

I turn the bath water off and he gingerly slides in to minimize mud fall out. I kiss his forehead and say "I'm going to go meal prep for you and meet you in bed okay?" Husk grabs my wrist and says "You don't have to do that" and I say "I want to." as I lower my mouth to his giving him a quick kiss before leaving him to heal in the tub. As I leave I hear him chuckle and ask himself "How does MUD feel like glowing?"

I walk down to the kitchen and tell the boys to sit on the two barstools on the counter they were just awkwardly watching Husk and I make out on and the first thing I do is rinse some rice and throw it in the stove.

I rummage through the cupboards and find some potatoes, onions and garlic, and start cleaning and prepping them. As I ask "Names?" They reply "Riff" &, "Raff". I ask "Relationship?" They reply "Brothers"

I soak the cubed potatoes in cold water to get rid of the excess starch and make the potatoes nice and fluffy when they cook and as those too need to be set aside. "And the stuff I told you to give Husk?" They point at a basket on the dining room table. I start chopping the onion and throw it in the preheated cast iron skillet on the stove. I let the onions sweat as I asked "Skills?" And mince the garlic and go looking for seasonings.

Riff says "Camouflage & intel collection." Raff says "I'm the muscle."

I stand over a metal bowl and say "Salt for protection, ginger for success, nutmeg for luck, basil for wealth, rosemary for love, thyme for courage, garlic powder for strength, and onion powder & pepper for that oh so appealing moxie of his." say as I sprinkle them all in a bowl with some olive oil to let them bloom on a warm corner beside the stove.

As I turn back to the onions that have begun to sweat nicely. I ask "How long have you been in Hell?" They look at each other, "Like, 5 years now?", and they both nod in an unsure agreement. I add the garlic, give it a stir and drain and pat dry the potatoes as I ask "Do people still live in those houses or are they vacant now that your friends are dead?" before putting the potatoes in the waiting oil and coating them thoroughly.

"Well we don't exactly know everyone you killed, you kinda just called everyone in the area.. but we know that one of them had a brother and another one has a girl he was shacking up with but I think it's her place, he just has the key." Riff says.

I check on the rice and it looks like it might be done so I tip the pot to be sure. Nope! The rice is slipping! Abort! Abort! I shake the rice level again and place it back on the stove. "Anything else I should know?" I ask looking them dead in the eyes. "The brother will want revenge when he finds out and will go down fighting if you two meet."

I check on the onions and garlic and they look ready for the potatoes, so I pour them in and drizzle the oil from the bowl into the cast iron skillet as I rummage through the kitchen for vegetables I ask "Still, hungry?" And they both nod yes. I find peppers and they are all I can find so peppers it will be.

I clean and chop them as I ask "What crimes sent you to hell?" and continue to stir them I listen. Blackmail, violence, robbery, nothing involving women or children. When the potatoes are about 2/3's golden I toss in the peppers and ask "When do you usually wake up?" They reply as I continue to cook until the peppers look perfect. "Usually around 10." 

I remove the potatoes from the heat and say "Rice or potatoes?" and they both reply "Rice" put one portion of potatoes on a plate for Husk to cook down as I continue meal prepping. I grab tin foil and a bowl. I look in the cupboards "Beans, corn, or just butter & seasonings?" They whisper at each other and reply "Corn" so I open a can and pour it in a ceramic bowl to warm it between the elements as the rice finished.

I place the tinfoil in the bowl and make the same sized serving of potatoes as on the plate and slide it out of the bowl onto the counter to let it cool flat and as I repeat the process until the cast iron skillet is empty I ask. "Drinks?" They both say "Beer?" And I grab 2 from the fridge and open them and place them in front of Riff & Raff.

Once all the potatoes are portioned I go back to check on the rice. I lift the pot up on its side and the rice doesn't budge. It's perfect. I take it off the heat serve two bowls with warmed corn, butter and salt to the boys and say "Eat, wash the dishes, leave the rice alone, and leave your numbers in with the rest of the stuff in the basket before you go home. Check in with me when you have any information you think I may find interesting and come when I call. Otherwise live your life." and I write the number to Gary's answering machine for them.

I leave the lid off the remainder of the rice to let the cooling process begin as I turn my attention back to the potatoes. For now the interrogation stops. I let them eat their food, drink their beer, and go home grateful to still be alive.

I shape the potatoes into logs at the corner of the tinfoil squares I made and roll them like little tinfoil burritos to turn the potatoes into little tubes and clear the counter space. I squish them flat to maximize cooling, freezing, and storing and put them in the fridge to cool further. I put the tinfoil away and grab some Saran wrap for the rice.

I fill the bowl and press it in flattening out the top and slam it down on the first flat sheet of Saran wrap. I repeat the process until all the rice is portioned into their own little rice bowls cooling on the counter. I move the potatoes to the freezer and bring the plate of potatoes upstairs and sit them on the bed as I listen to the shower turning off and I go back downstairs to grab the corners of the Saran wrap and twist them up covering the rice completely and squishing them into disks for faster freezing too. I put them in the fridge overnight so I can freeze them in the morning and I head upstairs to see Husk sitting up in bed eating his potatoes.

He looks up at me and smiles "Did you want some?" he asks as he fills the fork with a bite. I crawl into bed beside him, take the bite offered and say "No, but thank you." as I kiss him on the cheek and curl up on the bed laying my head in his lap as he finishes his plate. "That mud worked wonders." Husk says between bites, "You get to just soak in that whenever you want?" He waits for an answer for a few moments..

"Ella?" he says gently.

He looks down at his lap to see me fast asleep. He puts his empty plate down on the night stand, pulls me up onto the bed and into his arms & tucks me under the covers with him and he dozes off to sleep wrapped in the scent of my hair and good food.