The barracks where the various acolytes of Gorphat and Mabb bunk down is a mess. Granted, there are unavoidable fluids involved in keeping the hoshim larvae fed inside the women, but now that they're ready to be born there is a lot of other fluid. And it seems to be Penance's lot to be the midwife for all twenty of the women! And since they're all dealing with the birth at the same time, there is a lot of running back and forth, and slipping in puddles. It's harder on the eight Eeee (who tend to have smaller offspring at birth) than the twelve Skreeks, but the lone Yodhgorphat is still soaked to chest in blood and goo by the time the new guardian bugs start to emerge.
"No, wait, one at a time ... stop pushing! No, not you, start pushing, no, aaaaaugh!" Penance blurts out as she darts here and there, slipping, sliding, and skating across the floor on slime. Cursed clean floors now covered with goo, means slippery!
The outnumbered men are clustered in a corner, where it might be safe, but Crabs hovers about - he's not afraid of goo, but he stays out of grabbing range of the women. The Eeee are definitely hitting the higher registers as they try to pass the mucous-wrapped 'baby' hoshin, while the wider-hipped Skreeks spend more time covering their ears and cursing than screaming. The Eeee also need help with the extraction, since they can't push as hard. Penance has to wonder if she was like this when she had to pop out a temple creature.
Surely she wasn't this bad! But, she doesn't really have the time to dwell on it. Instead she's having to dart between Eeee legs as things 'crown', and help tug for a bit while instructing the Eeee to push. IT's so slippery, though, she loses her grip more than once and lands with a splut on the floor each time! "Ugh, my butt is going to be s bruised," she complains as she gets up and keeps at it. It's times like this she really questions her vocational choices in life!
"I know how t' make an ointment," Crabs offers, still keeping out of range. The first of the Eeee-bred hoshim comes out, still covered in its mucous sack until it bursts at the last moment.
Wuagh! goes Penance when she gets splattered. She holds it out at arms-length, wide-eyed. Then she remembers, oh , right, it has a mother! So, she offers it to the Eeee. "Here's your, uhm, beautiful child?" she says, though her voice is that of one staring into the pits of the most depraved horrors.
It helps that the hoshim is too sticky for the mother to drop. And as with motherhood in general.. once it's out she starts snuggling and cooing to it. Even ignoring the screams of the woman next to her.
Penance tries to siddle over to Crabs and wile her hands off on him. Of course she can't try for long, or linger, she has to deal with the next screaming woman. She also has to pee. Great. Oh well, the room is already a mess anyway, so she pees while she runs!
There's plenty of urine to go around anyway - the straw on the floor will definitely need replacing. The men can do it! The rest of the Eeee go mostly the same as the first.. it's just a juggling act to deal with them all at once (and since Eeee have grabby, clawed feet it's a challenge to keep them from trying to use those to pull on the baby hoshim). The Skreeks have been patient, but once the last of the Eeee women stop screaming, they're a lot more vocal.
Penance can barely feel her hands at this point! This is both good and bad, at least the aching had stopped. But, now onto the skreeks, which means she actually has to reach up into the rat now and then to make sure things are positioned right. It reminds her how much skreeks are built to just be breeders; they're just so big down there!
This should make things easier, but the Skreek-bred hoshim are bigger to compensate, and don't have wings (although their faces are a bit pointer as well). This means they don't need as much mucous to protect their non-existent wet wings, which in turns make them a bit more squirmy and probably painful in other ways. The Skreeks also have more.. well, it's not really afterbirth, but it does gush after the hoshim are more than half-way out.
"That's it, I died and this is hell. It has to be!" Penance thinks as she wrinkles her nose up. She doesn't know how the High Priestess deals with all of this! The smell alone makes her want to puke, then you add in the squirming and goo and ... ugh. She's grateful she skipped breakfast. She tries, really tries, to not think about it and just keeps making her rounds! "Come on," she yells at Crabs, "You
're a rat, you should be a natural at rat babies!"
"Those aren't rat babies," Crabs claims. "They're as big as a litter would be." Still he does try to help now that the birthing is marginally easier... that and there are a dozen Skreeks. Some of them are shouting directions - the ones that are probably already mothers.
Penance tries to follow the directions, but mostly she's just sticky and frazzled. She also has to only breathe through her mouth at this point. "Childbirth is not a beautiful moment!" she blurts out in abject frustration. She has to step back, calm herself a moment, then declare, "Back into the fray!" Well, arm-length back into a skreek anyway.
Skreek babies are cuter, according to some of the women - and at least a few of the more experienced Skreeks just waves Penance off towards one of the younger ones. Alas, it's still pretty taxing on the mothers, so none are able to just get up and help out afterwards. The numbness has finally hit the young priestess' nose though, so she's no longer feeling an urge to dry-heave. But her head is throbbing and she's starting to feel light-headed all the same, if not from the smell than from the heat that's being generated.
Penance counters this by spreading wings a little and fanning her ears to dissipate her own body heat. There are moments she wants to die, if she isn't dead already. She sure feels dead by this point. Her darting about is slowing, and her muscles are complaining mightily about how much they are having to do. And that doesn't even come to dealing with the itching she suffers, mostly at the feather-worm points.
She also hasn't had a chance to shave in while, and the stubble is making things worse by giving the goo something to harden around. By the time she's helped the last Skreek, she's in worse shape than those who just birthed little monsters. Penance can feel herself starting to cramp and stiffen up when she hears the familiar drone of Brutus in the corridor outside of the barracks, along with the slop-clunk-slop of Otto's washbucket.
"If ieveryone doesn't need anything more, I am going to go clean up for a bit," the Acolyte tells the new 'mothers' as she makes a hasty back-pedal towards the door to escape this sort of special hell ... all the while scratching at herself here and there.
Wherever she intended on going, she's met by Brutus and two of his lieutenants (that is, the second and third largest horribs that escort Penance when she works outside the temple). "Did-a-dud-a," Brutus clacks, and nudges Penance towards a tunnel heading deeper into the mountain.
"It's nice to see you three, but I have something I need to attend to now," Penance apologizes to the two creatures and tries to make her way around them ... carefully.
"Did-a-chum," Brutus insists, and grabs onto one of Penance's arms.. while her other is grabbed by the claw of Brutus Jr.
"Ow!" Penance complains. "Okay, okay, we'll go this way then." She decides its easier to play along, than he stung, or pinched more.
At least her legs aren't cramping up as much as her arms. She's suspected that the temple is a labyrinth as it winds deeper into the mountain, but in just two turns they've taken her down a tunnel that is particularly dark and surprisingly straight that descends somewhat steeply. The glowing moss and fungus is a lot sparser here, and the sounds that echo faintly from below are very difficult to place - closer to leaves rustling quietly in a breeze than anything else she can think of.
"Er, where are we going? I don't think anyone goes this deep? Not even the High Priestess?" Penance asks nervously as she squirms a bit and keeps looking backward towards the way they came. "I don't like this place, it sounds weird."
As if trying to be helpful, the horribs buzz louder to try and drown out the disturbing sounds. The light also begins to change, as the familiar green, gooey slimes and lichens give way to red and purple ones, which are a lot dimmer. It isn't until they reach a larger chamber that Penance realizes just how noise-blind she was because of the horribs droning. Everything has an eerie glow in here, in colors that don't seem proper. It takes a moment to realize that some sort of fronds hang from the ceiling, and that the darker patches in the neon landscape are mummified bodies.
Bodies lacking their heads at that.
Penance' ears go flat! "Okay, I really don't like this place!" the acolyte squeals and starts squirming like mad in the grip of the bugs! "Let me go! I haven't offended Gorphat, have I? I have been trying hard to be good at this..."
"Did-a-Chick," Brutus clicks.. reassuringly? "Dud-a-Chum," he then explains, as the trio of death-bugs guide Penance deeper into the bizarre cavern. Soon she can see a slab. It might be an altar. It's covered in glowing polyp things that waves feathers that filter the air, except for the cleared area on top. They look a lot like the feather worms, and may even be the original barnacle-like forms.
"No, no, not going to lie on that. Nope!" the Eeee squeals like a terrified little girl ... which she is. She's leaning back, looking horrified, and whining.
"Chk chk chk," Brutus clacks, as if chiding the Yodhgorphat.. and then comes the sting, right in the butt. Almost immediately the strength seems to go out of Penance's legs, so that she's being supported by the horribs now - number three having grabbed onto her shoulders from behind.
This makes Penance squeak even louder, which makes for one really odd echo in this room! "You didn't need to do that," she says, sniffling at the bug. "Have I really been such a terrible acolyte?"
"Chick-a-Chick-a," Brutus replies as he and his pals drag Penance onto the slab, and onto her back. Which at the moment is the least sticky side of her, at least from the waist up.
Penance is sniffling more now. "What did I do to offend? Why am I being sacrificed?" she asks the bugs and the room. Well, it is a horrible-looking altar after all, and there are headless bodies in the room.
"Did-a-Chick," Brutus says.. and 'pets' Penance's stubbly scalp with a feeler. Once she's in place, the horribs let her go, and land to take up positions around the head of the altar. Now that the droning of their wings has stopped, the odd, damp rustling noises are more pronounced, and coming from around the altar.
"Oh Gods, something is going to EAT MY HEAD!" Penance cries out! She tries to roll/worm her way off the altar with her legs being useless and all.
The horribs grab onto her arms to keep her from squirming away, and the scorpion-tails rise up in warning. "Chk chk chk," Brutus clicks, again trying to be soothing.. possibly. The message seems to be 'relax... or else.'
"IT is not easy to relax when someone is offering your head for a meal," Penance points out to the large bug. But, at least she does stop squirming for the moment.
The rustling keeps approaching, and something waves over the bottom end of the altar - worm feathers. Which keep getting bigger, until the head of the giant slug they're attached to rises up as well. The odd light in the cavern makes the slimy skin burst with colors - rainbow stripes, green and orange squiggles and others over bone-white skin. While it has feathery antennae, it doesn't seem to have eye-stalks - which is odd considering the psychedelic environment it lives in. It does have a raspy looking mouth though, which begins to graze on goo covering Penance's ankle. The rustling sound increases.. and the Eeee is sure that it's also eating her stubble.
Penance squeals! She hits registers that many Eeee are probably not capable of! Her eyes are also wide as she stares at the creative and what it looks like. "Gods, is that growing in me?!" she wonders, remembering the worms she willingly let be implanted, and have started to sprout their breathers out through her skin. Is that what happened to the dead Eeee's heads?!
The slug doesn't seem to react to the noise, and just keeps grazing away, clearing a few inches every few minutes. Then another one starts coming over the side, to start grazing on a hip. The rustling sounds suggest several more on their way.
"I'm going to die by slugs. Why did it have to be slugs?" Penance thinks. It's not unpleasant, but the rasping is a bit uncomfortable upon her skin, and now she's also very aware of the ones living under her skin, and the squirming movements they tend to constantly make. "Has the High Priestess endured this?" she asks the borrib.
"Chick-a-chum," Brutus assures. This could be a special thing just for Penance! Then she notices that the slugs are actually snails, as the first one has come up enough that the shell is starting to be visible. Unlike the soft parts, it isn't neon colored - it's just a dark mass at first. Then the shriveled ears become visible. It becomes clear what happened to the missing heads, as the slug body is extending out through the mouth of a mummified Eeee head.
When Penance spots what is left of the skull, it is right back to shrieking! It's good they are so deep, or she might upset the new mothers! "No no no no," she then pleads afterwards, "I don't want to die like this!"
That's when the eyes on the head-shell open up. They're definitely Eeee eyes, and they look fresh and haunted. More of the shells are coming into view as the other slugs climb the altar and start moving over Penance as they graze. They are getting her clean, at least.
Penance wants to close her eyes, but she fears even worse horrors might show up if she does so. "That, that cannot be real," the Eeee squeaks as she stares at those opened eyes. She hasn't even noticed they're getting her clean yet; she's too busy staring at the horrors!
The eyes do meet her own as the snails move across her. She can feel their weight certainly. And one of them turns to begin approaching her face. It's not just the goo-covered parts they want. Hopefully they just want the stubble.
This causes Penance to clamp her mouth shut and close her eyes! She also folds her ears in too, trying to protect herself. "This isn't happening!" she thinks. "Gorphat, have I offended you so?"
Relax and enjoy the experience, seems to be the reply - or wishful thinking. Then the slug 'kisses' her before starting to graze on her cheek. The 'feathers' that cover her scalp are all vibrating, possibly communicating with their.. cousins?
Penance resists going bleah! at that kiss. She's at least not quivering too much, and with them on her face she can't really scream any more. So, she has to calm down by merely being forced to at this point. She might be calmer if she wasn't imagining the vibrations are the slugs under her skin preparing to bore into her head and take up residence in her brain, or something.
Nibble nibble nibble. There must be easier ways to shave. She has to imagine the slime trails from how they feel.. and try to ignore the chins that are dragged behind them as well. With all that, it hardly matters that they're grazing on or close to sensitive areas. "Chuck-chucka," Brutus clacks in approval now that Penance isn't trying to escape or squirm. Maybe the slugs respond differently to struggle than to passivity.
"They're not going to go inside me, or something, are they? Or mate with me?" Penance suddenly thinks! Her legs are numb, so it's not like she can close anything to protect herself. "No, that's just silly, we aren't biologically compatible that way." Her nostrils do flare a bit as she breaths slow, and deep, to try and remain calm.
They do nibble the stubble away down there though. It isn't clear how the slug parts navigate, since the eyes seem independent. We had poison tongues, Penance thinks she hears whispered into the back of our mind. Ideas can be a disease. We spread them without leave from Gorphat.
Penance isn't sure she actually heard that, or if she's just hallucinating and making up reasons for this! After all, voices are signs of insanity. "So you were killed and made into slug food?" she thinks.
We aren't dead is the disturbing reply. Our tongues control us.
"You look dead to me!" Penance thinks, eyes still closed, but she cannot forget what they looked like. "Is this to be my fate too?"
You serve Her, is the reply. You spread the disease she dictates, not your own.
"I try to server Her, but I do not do nearly as well as the High Priestess does," Penance laments. "I am not nearly as blessed or as beautiful as she."
You wear our eggs in your scalp, the disembodied damned note. We will keep you smooth.
"I will probably wear them in other places, in time. Maybe," Penance thinks, before realizing that yes, she does have the same worms inside her and there's that panic feeling again!
The buzzing in her scalp is all the more noticeable! One of the slugs bites a nipple before realizing there's no tasty stubble, and moves on. The annoying itchiness from the drying goo seems to be mostly gone now as well. But then there are two of the things shaving her face and head.. and one is working on her ear now. She can feel the weight of its 'shell' on her throat.
"Ow!" Penance squeaks when her nipple is bitten ... but at least that soon passes. The weight, though ... she really tries to ignore that. Or tries ti imagine it as a melon and not a shrivelled up head, or worse. But, at least it seems she isn't going to die, so ... yay? Her legs are tigly now too, which is a good sign some feeling is coming back.
There's a lot of weight on her it seems.. how many are there now? Five.. six? "Dud-a-Chum," Brutus interrupts her thoughts. The Horribs are prodding at her again.
Penance opens one eye, then another. "What?" she asks Brutus as she tries to see what is going on.
The snails are starting to move to the sides of the altar, and Brutus makes some weird gestures with his various claws and pincers. He even swirls his tail around. Penance's front side feels.. clean and smooth, if a little irritated in places.
"Oh, turn over," Penance realizes, then feels really dumb about it. She shuffles and turns herself over very carefully, mindful of where each limb is so she doesn't knock one of the horrible creatures off.
At least the heads don't have hair anymore. But the slugs probably ate it all. Soon they're working on her back side.. although having the heads 'snuggle' up under her wings as the slugs do their work is a bit disturbing. There's some probing in order to get the stubble in her cleft, but the slime is probably the least troublesome thing to focus on in that situation.
"Don't think about it. Just, don't think about it," Penance thinks, while ... thinking about it. Argh! She really has to wonder about her life choices that got her here.
Having a chin dragged through after the slug doesn't help, certainly. The promise to keep her smooth however.. were the head-snails implying she should return regularly.. or that they will come to her?
Penance isn't sure she really wants to know the answer in either situation! She is still adapting to this life, and not really used to the odder aspects of it.
The leaf-rustling noises continue as the slugs chew away her fur (and anything else clinging to her). It's about then that she has to wonder.. can the heads taste her fur and all that goo?
"Ew," is what she immediately thinks afterward. That would be just awful, she knows where that goo came from, and no one wants to eat afterbirth! No one sane, anyway. She tries to think about pretty flowers, or something, instead.
All she can imagine however are the weird neon vegetation (hopefully vegetation, anyway) of the cavern. But it does work, mostly, so that she almost doesn't notice when the slugs have left her.
When she does notice she blinks. "Huh, they're done?" she murmurs and tries to push herself upright, then sit on the altar.
Her skin feels tighter, as if the snail slime had some odd effect on it. Her limbs need some time to wake up, and she's got tingles everywhere. But the feathers of her scalp still itch slightly. "Did-a-Chum," Brutus informs her.
Penance pokes and feels at her skin with one hand, and reaches up to scratch at her scalp with the other. "I wish I could understand you," she remarks idly to Brutus. "You're trying to say something."
The three drones start buzzing and lifting off. "Did-a-Chum," Brutus notes. Time to go?
Penance pushes herself off of the altar. After a moment of steadying herself, she wobbles off towards the exit. She's be clad to be gone from here...
We'll always be in your head, the head-snails whisper. Or it's just Penance's imagination. The tunnel out is nice and straight, so she could probably run safely if she wants.
That last statement does it! The poor Eeee shrieks one last time and runs out the door and down the hall in a staggering flurry of wobbly feet! It must just be exhaustion talking, truly. It couldn't be anything else, could it?