#but this was also Garbo so who wouldn’t be nervous?

[tuckinpodcast-blog]

EPISODE 3: THE LEGACY OF DOROTHY ARZNER

LISTEN: SOUNDCLOUD / ITUNES / GOOGLE PLAY

NOTES: Guess who finally typed up their script before recording? ME! No more note shuffling!

SOURCES: listed at end of transcript

TRANSCRIPT:

Hi, I'm Jack, and this is Tuck In, We're Rolling: Queer Hollywood Stories. I know I mentioned that this week, we were going to talk about the sapphic Holy Trinity of Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich and Katharine Hepburn, but I made a new discovery while I was digging through Pride posts on tumblr, and I thought that maybe instead of talking about some big names that everyone is already familiar with, I might put off talking about actresses to focus on someone behind the camera. There isn't a whole lot of information about Golden Age lesbians and bisexual women, and I heard this name that I had never even seen before and I thought, what the heck? Let's talk about more lesbians.

So today, I'm going to introduce you to a woman named Dorothy Arzner. Maybe you've heard the name, and maybe you haven't, but she's an important woman. Here's a woman who directed sixteen movies – a run comparable to the men of the time, and twenty more than contemporary female director Kathryn Bigelow – over a career spanning from 1927 to 1943. This is the woman – the person – who invented the boom mic while directing Paramount's first talkie, launched Katharine Hepburn and Lucille Ball, and did it all while whispers of affairs with the likes of Joan Crawford floated around. In short, Dorothy Arzner was a fucking badass, but that's not even half the story.

Dorothy Arzner was born on January 3, 1897 in San Francisco. Her family moved to LA and her dad opened up a restaurant that attracted a lot of Hollywood elite – and that comes into play a little later. Arzner wanted to be a doctor – dead set on it so much that she went to the University of Southern California for it, and when World War I broke out, she went overseas to drive ambulances. I guess the experience was kind of intense, because she came back and said, “Maybe being a doctor isn't for me.” Let's pause here for a second and bask in the complete badassery. This is World War I. This is 1914, or thereabouts, and this woman is like, “Oh, I want to be a doctor and you're not gonna sway me into nursing.” This is a woman saying, “Fuck you, fuck this, I'm gonna go drive fucking ambulances at the front during a major world conflict.” I can't blame her for coming home and not wanting to be in medicine anymore, but what does she decide to do?

Be a director.

She wasn't a director at first, of course. She wanted to become a director because, in her own words, “If one was going to be in the movie business, one should be a director because he was the one who told everyone else what to do.”

Her father got into contact with William C. deMille, older brother of Cecil B., who got her a job at the Players-Lasky Corporation, which we would all come to know as Paramount Pictures. She started out as a stenographer, typing up scripts – but she was a terrible typist, so they got her out of there pretty quick. Imagine being so bad at a job that they promote you just to stop you from pecking at a typewriter – that's the life I want to live. They had her writing scripts for a little while, and then they got her into an editing room, and this is where she really starts to shine.

She edited a film called Blood and Sand in 1922, which starred our friend Rudolph Valentino. While she's working on this film, she has the brilliant idea to use stock footage of bullfighters to make the movie more believable and entertaining, and the director – a guy named James Cruze – is so impressed with her that he basically pulls her onto his permanent team, and she goes on to edit over fifty films.

So Arzner is trucking along with this editing career, but she's also starting to realize that she doesn't want to edit forever. She wants to direct, so she goes up to the heads of Paramount and she lays out her demands: let her direct a film, or she's going to leave and take her talents to Columbia, basically their direct competitor. They were like, “Uh, okay. Sure.” At this point, I've found some reports that she was already writing scripts for independent movie outfits and they were causing a lot of buzz, so I'm sure Paramount was a little nervous that they could be losing out on a lot of money. This was still the time that studios were cranking out movies left and right, turning over footage at a really crazy rate. Movies were basically turned over weekly, so they came up with stuff that was long and short, and they needed a lot of people to do it.

In 1927, Paramount hands Arzner the script for a movie called Fashions For Women. It's a silent film, kind of a comedic love story, about a cigarette girl who falls in love with a count and becomes a model. This movie does so well that they put her in charge of another movie: The Wild Party, starring Clara Bow. It's Paramount's first talkie, and it's a remake of a silent film that she had edited. Again, I want to pause and bask. Paramount Pictures gave their first talkie – a thing that could make or break a studio back in those days – to a woman who had gotten her job by demanding she be given it.

The thing about the first talkies is that the actors couldn't really move around too much because they had to stand still in front of their microphones for the sound to be captured. It was really obvious to Arzner that shooting this way was making Clara Bow act awkwardly, so Arzner gets a hold of her sound guys and helps them rig up a microphone attached to a fishing rod so that they could hold the mic up over Bow's head, out of the shot, and follow her around so that she could move and act without having to worry about being stuck in one place. If that concept sounds familiar, it's because Dorothy Arzner invented the fucking boom mic. She didn't patent the idea, but everyone is pretty much in agreement that it's her invention and give her credit for it. Another cool thing about Arzner directing the studio's first talkie is that all the male directors were like, “Woah, the post-production work on these things is way too intense – let's just sit back and let the lady deal with all the bullshit while we keep making silent movies.” So Arzner took a job that no one wanted and invented the fucking boom mic while she was at it. Could this lady get any more badass?

Of course she can.

The Wild Party is a pre-Code film, and it's a little raunchy and it's racy and it's set at a girl's college. This becomes a theme with Arzner's films – she does this wild woman thing with girls misbehaving, even after the Hays Code comes along and ruins everything. Clara Bow's star and her particular style started to fade with the coming of the 30's, so Paramount nudged Arzner into directing melodramas. So she did it – and did it really, really well. In 1930, she directs a movie called Sarah and Son, and it gets actress Ruth Chatterton an Academy Award nomination.

In 1931, we get Honor Among Lovers, and it has some big names in it: Fredric March, Claudette Colbert, Ginger Rogers. Arzner isn't messing around here. The plot is kind of hard to follow, but basically it's what would have happened if Pepper Potts went to work for Justin Hammer and then tried to go back to Tony Stark after she realized she was in love with him – but it's set during the Stock Market Crash of 1929. The movie basically puts men on blast for their greed – all these guys running around trying to collect money and women and that's their downfall.

Her movies were pretty popular – The Wild Party was the third top grossing film of 1919 – and they usually had strong female characters in them. Arzner had a way of directing women in films that showed them as real, complex people – and the studios decided to capitalize on that. She left Paramount in 1932 to freelance, and she really starts to take off from here. Since this was still the 30's and 40's, the women in her movies usually ended up happily married by the end of the film, but they were still an anomaly in Golden Age cinema. She liked to point out the unfairness of sexism and gender discrimination, and people, not too surprisingly, loved it.

She directed Katharine Hepburn in her second movie in 1933 – a film called Christopher Strong. This is the movie we get all those great images of Hepburn in pilot gear from, I'm sure you've seen it. She plays a pilot who fall in love with a married politician, and apparently she and Arzner got into it on the set quite a few times. I've seen some quotes talking about how Arzner was basically trolling around RKO and saw Hepburn up a tree in a leopard skin – I'm not even kidding – and basically just got heart eyes because Hepburn was so beautiful and Arzner didn't want to see her making Tarzan movies her whole career. Can you imagine that? Arzner is the reason we have the Katharine Hepburn we all know and love today. There isn't really any evidence that the two had an affair – but knowing what I know about Hepburn today, I wouldn't be surprised if they did.

In 1936, she launches the career of Rosalind Russel in Craig's Wife. If you're not familiar with Rosalind Russel, I highly suggest watching her in His Girl Friday, opposite Cary Grant – it's a really funny screwball comedy, and Russel is such a fast talker and she's super slick – it's great. And we have Arzner to thank for having Russel at all. Not only that, but Arzner took a script that was kinda sleazy and gross, all about a husband going fighting with his cold wife, into a movie that's begging women to become their own people.

In the 1930's we have a lot of talk about Arzner's sexuality come up. She wore trousers and suspenders – and I'm not gonna lie, she looked pretty good doing it, if I do say so – and she apparently had an affair with Joan Crawford on the sets of The Bride Wore Red and The Last of Mrs. Cheyney. It's been described as a 'fiery affair', but there apparently wasn't any ill will because in the 60's and70's, Arzner directed a bunch of Pepsi commercials with Crawford as a special favor. In 1936, she became the first female director to join the Directors Guild of America.

Then in 1940, she directs Dance Girl Dance, which is Lucille Ball's first on-screen performance. It's a screwball comedy about two burlesque dancers that end up fighting each other over a man, giving up their dreams to try and get with this guy. Maureen O'Hara plays the other burlesque dancer, and she gives the audience a dressing down about gaping at her. And this is a character who has to perform to make her way in the world, and she's not ashamed of it. There's a lot of lesbian subtext in the movie – like in all of Arzner's movies – some sly glances and the fact that Ball and O'Hara's characters really obviously want to be together but they misplace that affection onto a man.

Arzner directed her last film, First Comes Courage, in 1943. It's a pretty typical war-time story, except it's totally about a lesbian spy who runs away with a nurse after her husband dies. It wasn't nearly as commercially successful as her older films, and Arzner was dealing with a pretty serious case of pneumonia at the time – and these are all kind of agreed upon reasons why she didn't continue directing. She made a few training films for the Women's Army Corp, but after that, she was kind of done with feature films. Like I mentioned, she made some commercials with Joan Crawford, and she did some other commercials. She also went on to teach film at UCLA, where she taught – get this – Francis Ford fucking Coppola. In the 70's, she told a reporter that Louis B Mayer had killed her career by spreading the word that she was “difficult”, which is – as far as I'm concerned – Louis B Mayer's code for “very, very gay”.

Arzner lived with her partner Marion Morgan for forty years. I've found conflicting reports on whether or not Arzner was out, but I think it's pretty agreed upon that she was openly with Morgan but not necessarily publicly out. Morgan was a dancer and choreographer – she had a dance troupe called the Marion Morgan Dancers, which was mostly made up of women. They did a lot of Vaudeville work and then they were hired to do dance sequences in Hollywood films, and Morgan did a lot of choreography for Arzner. They actually met on the set of Fashions for Women which as you will remember was Arzner's first movie, and they moved in together in 1930. Again, I'm gonna pause and let that sink in. These two met and fell in love and decided to move in together – in 19-fucking-30. They lived together until Morgan died in 1971. Arzner was apparently a gardener and gushed about the roses she grew in their garden. They had beautiful parties and invited Marlene Dietrich. Arzner might have had affairs with people like Billie Burke and Alla Nazimova, but she went home every night to Marion.

Dorothy Arzner died in 1979 at the age of 82. She left behind a legacy for the women that came after her – she was a prolific director and she refused to live life on anyone else's terms. And you know, not only that, but she was a great director – not just a great female director, but a great director. You know, Dorothy Arzner gave us quality. And I think that if she was alive today to see Patty Jenkins direct Wonder Woman, and if she was alive to see that movie today, I think she would be very proud.

Thank you for listening to Tuck In, We're Rolling: Queer Hollywood Stories. This episode was written, recorded and researched by me, Jack Segreto. You can find a transcript of this episode and all of our episodes, along with some fun facts and photos, on our tumblr, tuckinpodcast.tumblr.com. You can also give us a like on Facebook at facebook.com/tuckinpodcast. We accept messages on both of those platforms, so feel free to shoot us any suggestions for show topics or comments you might have. We put out new episodes every Wednesday, and you can listen to us on SoundCloud, iTunes and Google Play, so don't forget to rate and subscribe to us! I read all the comments that you leave me and it makes me really happy. Special shout out this week to my buddy Ricci for listening and offering to come onto the show – I haven't forgotten about that, man, I'm coming for you. Happy Pride month, everyone! Stay safe, have fun, and remember that Pride started when two trans women of color threw bricks at cops! Thanks for listening, we'll see you next week!

SOURCES:

Dorothy Arzner: Queen of Hollywood

Why Was One of Hollywood’s First Female Film Directors, Dorothy Arzner, Forgotten?

Dorothy Arzner, First Female Director in Hollywood Studio System

Women Who Paved The Way: Dorothy Arzner

A Life Shared: Marion Morgan and Dorothy Arzner

#dorothy arzner #lgbt podcasts #queer history #queer history podcast #lgbt history podcast #film history podcast #film history #marion morgan #( TRANSCRIPTS & SHOW NOTES. ) #( EPISODE 3. )

[cryssalia]

Behind The Bars (Chapter 2)

Night in the Woods - Shelter AU

Fandom: Night in the Woods

Characters: Mae Borowski, Bea Santello, Greggory Lee, Angus Delaney, Casey Hartley (Mentioned), Selma Ann “Selmers” Forrester, Jeremy “Germ” Warton

Genre: Friendship/Hurt/Comfort/Mystery

Rating: T

Warnings: Abuse, Character Death(s), Usage of Drugs

Word Count: 3089 Words

Disclaimer: I don’t own Night in the Woods nor the characters.

Summary: Bea accidentally adopted Mae after hearing the predicament she would go through. She slowly regretting her decision... or perhaps this is a new step for a better life?

Author’s Note: I have never been so productive in my entire life. Oh, and for those that still wonder, everyone here is anthro. They walk with two legs and talk. But to the reason why the shelter exist... you just have to wait. Credit to Fuzzinator23 for proof reading this story.

Chapter 2 - The Little Mischief

“I’m adopting her.”

What the hell are you doing, Beatrice?

“Think carefully, miss. Do you really want to bring her back to your home?”

You can barely look after yourself or your dad. And you want to keep this little troublemaker?

'Oh, shut the hell up.'

“If no one’s keeping her, then I will,” she says. 

Hanks takes a while to process what the gator has said. The bear stares at her, and slowly his gaze goes to Mae. The cat stood behind Beatrice, who could feel her trembling behind her legs. The bear sighs.

“…I shall prepare the paperwork then,” he says and excuses himself into a room next to the reception.

When Doctor Hank was finally gone from Bea’s sight, she begins to realizes what she has done.

She. Is. Adopting. 

Oh god, why?

She feels something tugging her dress and she looks down. Mae beams at her and raises her arms, as if presenting herself. “We’re gonna be besties!” she exclaims.

Bea could feel the colors on her face drains out, leaving the white behind. Or feeling herself turning into stone and slowly crumbling into tiny pieces which she wishes that could happen. Anything but the thought of having Mae in her care.  

So, she looks down to the cat. Her huge eyes shine bright as she stares, waiting for the gator to respond. Bea gulps and, for some reason, she’s nervous.

Is she really 20?

She looks effing 10!

“I’m Mae! What’s your name?” she introduces herself.  

And Bea just stood there, letting the cat wait for her. She didn't know if she should tell her or change her mind about adopting.

But her eyes looked so hopeful. Doctor Hank might have prepared the necessary paper work. The only thing that’s wrong about her is her behavior.  

She’s going to be put down, Beatrice.

She’s not letting them do that to Mae.

“Beatrice…” She answers. Mae beams again and jumps. Her arms are up in the air. Maybe because of the excitement or she’s just hyper but she keeps them up.  

She wants her to pick her up.

…she’s definitely 10, alright.

Yet, Bea picks her up and the cat immediately clings on her when Doctor Hank comes back.

With Angus behind him… and a fox sleeping in his arms.

Bea’s eyes squints at her friend when his ears perk up, surprised to see Mae clinging to her, but also forms a smile on his face.

She could just knock his lights out on the spot.  

“So,” Doctor Hank begins. “about your adoptions…”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“I am blaming you 100% for this, Angus!” Bea growls. The bear next to her looks at her, pretending not to understand. Mae was in the back seat with the fox, named Gregg, sleeping. Gregg is a lot bigger than Mae; half of Angus’ size, she figured, while Mae is half of Gregg's size. Gregg wears like a biker, leather jacket, pants and boots.  

Well, Gregg is Angus’ problem. Not hers.

She still doesn’t understand, why is she part of this.

“Whatever do you mean, Bea?” he says. The gator glances at him, blue eyes squints at him.

“Is this your plan all along?” she says. “You told me that you were the one adopting, not me.”

“Well, there’s Gregg. I’m genuinely surprised to know you adopting. And Mae, of all people.”

Bea huffs and focuses on her driving for a moment. She glances to the mirror to see the two at the back, but more to Mae. “Sounds like you know about Mae.”

“Mostly from rumours,” he starts, “the employee told me that Mae actually attacked one of the staffs. Andy Cullen if I recall. She had to be isolated from others to avoid similar accidents.”

“By keeping her in a cage?” Bea hisses, which silenced the bear for a moment.

“They need to be supervised, Bea. That’s why the shelter exist.”

The gator sighs. She heard about this over the news before; minor species need to be supervised and shelters are the first step to do so.  

Although Bea often sees cats and dogs roaming in Possum Springs and in other town, there’s no way the government would ignore them here considering a shelter is at the end of this town.  

She glances to the mirror, to the back at Mae and Gregg.  

Mostly to Mae, since she has been adopted and returned many times.

She feels a little sympathy to the cat.

Bea slowly stops the car in front of the Video Outpost “Too”. “Shit, missed your stop, big guy,” she says.

“It’s alright. It’s not that far anyway. Thanks for the ride, Bea,” Angus tips his hat and exits the car. He opens the back door and carefully pick up Gregg. He carries the fox on his back and walks to the red building next to the video store. 

Bea sighs and continues down the road to her apartment. It was a short drive after all. She parked in front of her home and glances to the back seat, seeing Mae stirring awake. The cat sits up and rubs her eyes.

“Are we at your home now, Bea?” she asks tiredly.  

Bea sighs, “I wouldn’t kill the engines if we weren't,” she says and tucks her keys into her dress pocket. “Here’s the thing, Mae. I need you to be quiet. I don’t want my dad knows about you.”

“You live with your dad?”

“More to ‘I live above him’.”

“Why would you live alone if your dad’s still around?”

“Look, just do what I told you okay?” Mae decided to comply to what the gator asks of her and makes a zipping motion over her lips. Bea sighs heavily and the cat jumps to the front seat, climbing onto her shoulder. Bea exits the car and carries the cat by her side, like holding a sack of potatoes.

Mae doesn’t seem to mind.

But she does keep glancing up at Bea.

It makes her extremely uncomfortable, considering the cat looked like a ten-year-old and everyone would think it’s child abuse for carrying in such manner.

So, Bea carries her like any normal person would carry a kid.

She walks into the apartment and up the stairs, she goes, no, creeps to her room. She could hear her father snores as she passes a room at the second floor and up to the third.  

Mae carefully studies a door that was obviously Bea’s; a black door with an ankh on it.  

It’s the most obvious door in the floor. There’s no way anyone could miss it.  

Bea unlocks the door and drops Mae. The cat walks in.

And immediately goes for the couch.

“Well Mae, this is my-… what the hell are you doing?!” 

It is a bit too late when Mae starts to scratch on the side of the couch. Bea could hear the fabric ripped as she pulls the cat away.

And yes, there is a very… huge rip. Almost look like a giant scar. 

The color from her face slowly leaves her face again but she quickly shakes her head and growls. She lifts the cat so they are looking at each other, eye to eye. “What the hell was that for!?”  

“What for?” Mae gasps, sort of in a mocking way. “Isn’t it normal for people to check if their couches are comfortable or not?”  

“You. Were. Scratching. My. Couch. You should’ve just sit on it instead!”  

Mae shrugs and the gator could feel like snapping her jaws onto the cat. But then again, it has been a long day and she needs to do some college courses and to check the shops account so she would have enough money to pay the workers by the end of the month.

And get paid herself.

She places the cat back down and Mae tilts her head. She sighs, “You know what? Whatever. Just… sit here and watch tv. No scratching. I’ll get dinner ready,” she says.

“You can count on me, Bea!” Mae climbs onto the couch and turns on the tv with the remote. Her eyes brighten, “Oh good! Garbo and Malloy is on!”

Count on her? She couldn’t leave her alone without looking back at her twice.

Yet, she does and goes to the kitchen. Since she’s not in the mood for cooking, frozen pizza works best for tonight. 

Still, she needs to check on her father downstairs.

Great.

She heated up a box of pizza in the microwave for half an hour and opens her laptop. She could get a course done by the time the pizza is thawed and cooked.  

And so, she sits at the dining table and did her work. She could hear Mae’s laugh over the sound of tv. She looks over and sees the cat still on the couch, watching Garbo and Malloy.

Her eyes slowly averted towards the tear on the couch. 

It’s only a tear. It can be sewn, she thought.

She sighs and continues going through her course until thirty minutes are up on the microwave. She gets up and takes out the heated pizza out. Bea didn’t hear footsteps walking into the kitchen and she almost jump onto the counter when Mae is standing next to her.  

“God, Mae! Don’t do that!” she yells. 

Mae smiles mischievously. “Do what?” 

Bea only mumbles under her breath and huffs. She was lucky enough to have placed the pizza on the table before the cat entered.  

“Nothing. Dinner’s ready,” she says as she opens the box, grabbing a slice of the pepperoni pizza.  

Mae stares at the gator as she eats, causing minor disturbance to her. 

C’mon, her eyes are huge!

Yeesh…

“What?” she says. Mae grins.

“Carry me.” 

“Say what now?” 

Mae doesn’t answer, but she raises her arms to her. Bea’s half-opened eyes squints and the pizza in her mouth couldn’t get through her throat.

She must be joking.

“There’s a chair. Climb on it.”

“Do you really want me on the table, Beatrice?” 

The gator stares at her and looks at the chair for a moment. She calculates her height in her head; Mae is an inch or two shorter than the table if she stands.

But she’s can’t reach anything if she sits. 

She grabs a slice from the box and hands it over to Mae instead. The cat is disappointed. 

“Aww… you’re no fun, Bea,” she says. 

“I am aware of that myself.” 

Mae puffs her cheeks and snatch the slice from her, munching on it. Her tail wags, showing more of her disappointment.

For some reason, Bea finds that cute.

Hello, Beatrice. Forgetting someone?

Crap.

“Uh… Mae? I’m going to check on my dad. Can you NOT do anything before I get back?” 

Mae looks up at her, squinting her eyes. “What if I want to eat?” 

“It won’t take long. Just… don’t do anything, okay?” 

Bea is already walking out of the door before Mae had the chance to say anything. The door shuts, and leaves Mae all alone in the apartment.  

Mae walks back to the living room; dark and sullen. Other than the kitchen, there are barely any lights in the apartment. The tv screen gives off some colors and lights up the room a bit. Her eyes slowly adjust to the darkness, and the first thing that catches her attention is a photo frame on the coffee table.  

She goes there and watches it from far, squinting her eyes to see it clearly. 

Three people; a man, a woman and a child. They are happy. They are together. Especially the woman.

She looks like Bea, Mae thought.

She guesses the man is Bea’s father. He looks energetic in the photo and grins. She doesn’t know how he looks now but since Bea and her dad live separately, something must’ve happened between them.  

But what happened to Bea’s mom? 

"At least she still has a family though," Mae told herself. Her ears droops. She backs away from the table and sits on the couch. She stares at the door, waiting for her new friend to come back.  

You can’t ruin this, Mae. Not again…

She would do what Bea wants her to, but she’s still hungry. 

There is no one around to give her food. 

And so, she goes back to the kitchen and pushes the chair closer to the table. She climbs the chair… and onto the table she stands.  

Bam, the pizza is hers!

She opens the box and literally eats the whole pizza in a matter of minutes. 

By the time Bea comes back, Mae is lying on the table and sighs in satisfaction. The gator could see the empty pizza box on the floor and her laptop slowly reaching the edge as Mae unconsciously kicks it.  

With the door still left open, Bea immediately runs for it and manages to catch it before it lands on the floor tragically.  

She is literally trembling as she checks for any damage. 

The laptop is safe. 

Oh, thank god.

Bea sighs heavily and glares at the cat. Mae soon notices her friend when she rolls over and her eyes brighten in joy. She sits up and throws her arms in the air, “BeaBea!” she yells.  

Beatrice freezes. She hadn’t heard that nickname for a long time, since senior year. 

Since her mother died.

This softens her heart as she looks at the cat. The cat that she ‘accidentally’ adopted after she heard her situation.

“God bless you, Miss Santello…” Was what Doctor Hank told her before they left the shelter. 

“Bea?” Mae calls softly and snaps her out of her trance. She sighs and closes her laptop, placing it back on the table.  

“Time to give you a bath, kiddo,” she says and carefully picks her up. 

“Aww… but I don’t wanna!” she whines. 

She starts to struggle even more when Bea brings her into the bathroom. The gator quickly closes the door and, since Mae refused to take her clothes off, she throws the cat into a tub full of water.  

Of course, the cat screams and flails her paws like a mad man, splashing water all over the floor.

And onto Bea. 

Eh, she needed a bath too. 

When Bea decides to climb into the tub, this somewhat calms the cat down, but Mae still shows discomfort of having water touching her fur.  

“That wasn't so bad, now was it?” Bea says.

“It messes up my fur…” she mumbles. 

Bea rolls her eyes and wash her as best as she could. Washing fur is not her expertise so she finishes up quickly. She gets herself and Mae out of the tub and takes off Mae’s clothes. The cat wraps her tail around herself and Bea hands her a towel.  

“Dry yourself up. I’ll be outside with you,” she says. The cat complies and wrapping herself with the towel, she walks out and the door shuts behind her.  

Now the room she just entered isn’t the living room anymore, but she’s not that stupid to not know it's a bedroom. There is a bed, a nightstand with a lamp and clock, a dresser, that’s pretty much it.  

She dries herself up and wraps the towel around herself again. The smell of smoke was strong in here and it makes her nose itch. She glances to the door behind her and she could hear the shower running.  

Mae sighs. She has to wait again and waiting is not in her book. Plus, she’s cold. She needs something to wear.  

She goes to the dresser and opens the bottom drawer. 

All she sees are folded. Black. Clothes. 

She huffs. Still, she needs something to wear so she pulls out one of them. She drops the towel and puts on the piece of clothing.  

It’s a dress, one of Bea’s dress. 

It was over-sized and she could barely move in it. She kept falling since she kept stepping on it. She had no clue where she’s going either.  

“What the hell?” she hears Bea’s voice and immediately scurries away, hitting face first into the dresser.  

Bea snorts and chuckles softly while Mae groans. She hears footsteps getting closer but she doesn’t feel Bea’s hands on her. So, she struggles to find the collar and sticks her head out when she finally found it. Bea is in a tank top and pants instead, much different from the Bea she sees a while ago.  

“You can’t wait even for a minute, can you?” Bea says as she kicks the bottom dresser close and opens the top one. She takes out a set of clothes, blue instead of black and places them on the bed. She gets Mae out of the dress and puts the pajamas on her instead.

A bit loose, but much more comfortable and her size. 

She looks up to see the gator yawn but heads for the door. She tilts her head. “Where’re you going?” she asks.

“Got work to do. You can sleep here if you want.”

“Can you sleep with me?” 

Bea stops and glances at the cat. She is giving her pleading eyes, or at least that’s what she thought.

This is all too familiar. 

It hurts. 

She sighs, “You’re twenty. You slept alone before-…”

“I don’t want to sleep alone again…” She is quiet on this one. More like murmuring. Bea pauses. 

She has been adopted four times this month and returned in the same day…

She hesitates for a moment but she turns back to her. “Alright, I’ll sleep with you…” she says.

This made the cat smile and jumps onto the bed. Bea lays down next to her and Mae immediately hugs her arm as she pulls the covers over them. Mae purrs softly and snuggles closer.

It is comforting and soothing to Bea. 

“Goodnight, BeeBee…” she murmurs. 

It is almost an instant the cat falls asleep. Bea only watched for the moment, playing with her red hair gently so she wouldn’t wake her up. She seems so peaceful and calm, a lot different from what she heard from Doctor Hank and Angus.  

Mae Borowski, huh? Maybe this could be a new record for her. 

…Borowski? The name sounds familiar…

But from where? 

She yawns and her eyes grows heavy. She glances at the clock; 8:34PM. It’s earlier than usual. She can’t believe she’ll be sleeping early. 

Oh well, better not throw this chance away. 

So she closes her eyes for good and sighs. For the first time, it is satisfaction.

“Goodnight, Maeday…” 

#night in the woods #nitw #nitw mae #nitw bea #nitw gregg #nitw angus #mae borowski #beatrice santello #greggory lee #angus delaney #writing #shelter au #nitw au