scaly goodness

[mapmakerchur.livejournal.com]

Chur has fallen asleep in her booth, empty bowl of uruus stock and Anuurni rice next to her, three-quarters-empty (or one-quarter-full) mug of tea clutched in her right hand, shed fur all around her. Her beard's starting to fall out, too.

There are still bald spots - in fact, there are more bald spots now - but instead of pinkish-brown skin, there's scales. Very small scales. Most of the scales are silvery-brown, but there are also blotches, the size of Chur's thumb, that are deep red and outlined with black, much like this corn snake.

Who wants to wake her up and tell her? Or maybe just bring her some hot tea, instead of the cold, honey-filled sludge in her mug?

Comments

[lt-naraht.livejournal.com]

Naraht lunges forward to try to stop her.

Or rather she tries to lunge. Naraht still has a balance problem and winds up sprawled across the table.

"Umm...please don't do that," she says, her cheeks reddening with embarassment.

[mapmakerchur.livejournal.com]

Chur's ears flatten as Naraht lunges towards her, and her eyes dilate in dismay. She's stopped scratching, but she's still bleeding (slowly and oozily).

[lt-naraht.livejournal.com]

Naraht grabs a napkin and fumbles to try to stop the bleeding. "Please, if you're already ill, you do not need an infected skin wound to complicate matters."

She grimaces. "And, unfortunately I lack the coordination to help you here."

[mapmakerchur.livejournal.com]

Chur's ears remain flattened against her skull, but she carefully licks her claw, then retracts it and presses the napkin against the ragged slashes. "Hnnn," she says. "Hani should not be spotted."

Or, you know, scaly, but that goes without saying.

[lt-naraht.livejournal.com]

Naraht smiles weakly at that. "And Horta should not be squishy, but I'm stuck that way myself."

[mapmakerchur.livejournal.com]

Chur pricks up her ears in curiosity, then lays them flat again. "What do you normally look like?" she wonders. "How could someone not be... at least a little... squishy, with blood and everything?"

[lt-naraht.livejournal.com]

Seeing that Chur has the wound under control, Naraht leans back in her seat again. Using the booth's bench feels entirely too high (like most chairs) but she tries to hide her discomfort. "There is very little squishines with Horta. We're silicon-based. Our blood is more like lava than water."

She sighs, everything about this body feels unnatural. "As for what I look like normally...well, if I ever get back to normal, stay alert for a mobile, orange and grey boulder with a prehensile fringe around the bottom."

[mapmakerchur.livejournal.com]

Chur ponders. "Mobile, orange and grey boulder, got it. I'll be sure to, um, buy you some coral? and we can talk." If I live through this, she doesn't say.

The bleeding's stopped, and she crumples up the napkin and pushes it away.

[lt-naraht.livejournal.com]

Naraht smiles a little wistfully. "Coral would be the Horta equivalent of a healthy salad. Graphite is what I normally order here for relaxation purposes."

With a sigh, she returns to business. "The girl you didn't know...could you possibly describe her to me?"

[mapmakerchur.livejournal.com]

Chur describes Mary Lennox fairly accurately. "She wondered if I had 'the cholera', which is a disease that apparently killed a servant of hers. I hope I haven't given her whatever... this is."

[lt-naraht.livejournal.com]

"It wasn't your fault, Chur," Naraht says. "Do you want me to let you know when I find her?"

[mapmakerchur.livejournal.com]

Chur flicks an ear. "If you have time - I don't much care one way or the other, as there's nothing I can do for her if I did infect her."

[lt-naraht.livejournal.com]

Naraht would like to stay, but she has more people to track down. "I have to get back to work. I'll check back on you later, but don't hesitate to call for help if you need it. I'm...well, I've not got the best control over this body, but I can at least call for more help if I have to."

[mapmakerchur.livejournal.com]

Chur nods. "Good luck, Lieutenant," she wishes him(her) and then drinks her tea.