Flea

Chapter Thirty One

So she separated from the main group making their way into the woods and headed back to the inn. However, upon reaching her room, Maeve noticed a note stuck to the wooden door. 

Maeve,

Don't know if you're a lesbian, but you should have the right to enjoy hot springs too. Follow the burn markers east of the house, there's a path. Best to bring a torch and towel. 

-ST

P.S. I hope I got the temperature right.  

She read it a couple of times and smiled slightly, shaking her head. This kid was way too heroic, she was going to have to kick him out soon. Maeve changed out of her bodysuit into pants and a loose-fitting white shirt she'd stolen from Aizawa. After grabbing a towel, the girl also snatched a flashlight from her dad's room opposite. 

Maeve discovered the hand mark seared into a trunk after a bit of searching. She rolled her eyes and placed much smaller fingers into the burnt grooves until they disappeared. A rough path lead into the forest. She strode into the darkness with little hesitation; living material was anything but alien to her. After a few steps, Maeve even took off her shoes and socks to feel the earth beneath her feet. She'd missed that sensation and hadn't even realised. 

Luckily, the moon and stars were so bright that the girl could see well enough to get by. After about ten minutes of slow walking, she arrived at a small series of pools. They seemed naturally formed, but the steam rising off of them was definitely the work of a certain half and half student. 

He'd done all this for her. So she could enjoy a bath without needing to worry about being exposed. It was clear he'd organised it with the teachers and everything. She couldn't stop smiling. 

Undressing free from behind locked doors was strange. Maeve expected that standing in an open clearing wearing nothing but an old bra and women's boxer briefs would be awkward. Surprisingly, it had the opposite effect. If the celestial bodies didn't like what they saw, she really didn't give a shit. It was enjoyably liberating to be so ugly when her surroundings were so beautiful. 

Liberating to a degree, however. Maeve still didn't have the confidence to take off her underclothes, so she just kept them on and sank into the water. It was hot. Almost too hot, but she dunked her head under anyway. The shock jolted her exhausted mind and she gasped breaching the surface, beginning to laugh. Maeve hadn't had a bath in... She could barely even swim, flat out refusing for anyone to see her in a swimsuit after the incident. 

Todoroki had even left various lotions and soaps at the edge of the pools, so she washed her tangled hair and marvelled at the feeling of it floating in the water. It was strange, blowing bubbles never featured in her childhood. Not once. She made up for it then. 

***        

There were multiple studies on the relationship between scent and memory. In fact, Maeve had helped out in a few of them, proving that scents bypass the thalamus in the brain and are registered immediately by the olfactory orb. Because of this, smells could trigger memories and powerful emotions much more quickly than other senses. 

For Maeve, this meant a stronger emotional reaction to certain smells. Burning flesh, for example, made her want to run and not stop until she reached the nearest hills. Then become a hermit. However, she'd needed to deal with so many burns in her career that the surgeon had learned to control those urges. 

 Maeve could pinpoint hard drugs with deadly accuracy from their smell alone. It wasn't even just the type, she could name the province and possible supplier of each. The scent of alcohol, especially on someone's breath, made her feel immediately sick. She'd never drank herself; the thought of losing control terrified her.