When her belly-button started popping in and out, it was worrisome. When the starfish-shaped bulge covering her belly started to undulate, and the pain and pressure inside started to come in sharp spikes, it was probably time for Penance to call for help. Especially since she was glued to the wall as usual still.
Penance grits her teeth and hisses out in pain. "Mother Gorphat, this hurts," she whispers out, "But it in in your honor, so I bear it gladly." It's a few more meniutes, then she calls for Otto, suspecting it may be time to go back to the Naga doctor to deal with her situation. She doesn't want to die, but she does want to carry and bear this until the very last possible moment; as only a true Yodhgorphat would do that.
Otto shows up fairly quickly, and clicks out something. It's not like a command whistle, or a 'dud-a-chum' but the horribs do respond by chewing Penance free of their resin. Otto is there to catch her if she stumbles.
Penance staggers out, and wobbles on her legs, but manages to not fall down. The braces one hand on the wall, then sticks the other between her legs to feel up inside herself to see if the state of her plugging has changed any, or if she's still quite the sealed bat. "It may be time to return to the naga," she tells Otto.
Things are definitely still plugged up.. and it takes some effort just to free her fingers. Especially when a muscle spasm from the pain makes her clench. "I'll take you to de temple entry," Otto says. "The Eyes can fly you over to Mt. Blakat. Want me to carry you?"
"I will try to walk," Penance says as she lets go of the wall and heads slowly towards the door. "Only help me if I fall," she requests, "But I should try to do this on my own."
The Skreek is right behind Penance, and even has one hand on her shoulder in case she should lose her balance. Walking isn't helped by the random muscle spasms that happen when it feels like she's being bitten from the inside. There's a trickle of blood that actually spurts out of her belly button at one point.
Penance grits her teeth in pain and grunts. She also covers her belly-button when blood spurts from it! "Definitely time to see the Naga," she says, her hand now warm and wet with her own blood.
Penance passes a lot of concerned faces on her slow walk out of the Temple. There are mutters of worry that she can't help but overhear as well. "What if we lose her? What happens then?" seems to be the gist of what the varied Yodhgorphat and Yodhmabb initiates worry about. After all, there only two 'official' Yodhgorphat left in Babel, and Penance is one of them, and the other is off serving Gorphat in some secret manner.
"I will be fine and I will return," Penance claims through gritted teeth. "This is just a test of faith and I will pass it." At least, she hopes she does, outside a brazve face, inside ... terrified. Also squirmy and painful.
The Eyes of Gorphat are waiting outside. Well, the Eeee members anyway. There's no fancy sky palanquin for Penance though: it's more of a woven basket. It looks like the basket from a hot air balloon, actually, with four cables for the bearers to use. "Have any of you done this before?" Foz asks. Slash just coughs, as usual, and Shiv is trying to tie his cable around his waist. There's a door of sorts that opens in the side of the basket at least, so Penance doesn't need to be lifted over the side.
Fig is the only one that has fashioned more of a harness with his cable.
Penance wobbles to the basket and opens the door, then enters and sits on whatever threadbare chair may be within to take some strain off herself. "Be mindful of the ropes, don't tie them like that or it could remove your hand. You will need to tie a loop in the cable and carry with that using your fingers or feet," she manages out in a pain-tinged voice. Then she looks down at her bloody hand and moves to to look at her navel.
There's some.. other stuff leaking out now. It forms a bubble which grows a bit before popping. "Wait! Wait!" a Skreek cries out, as Crabs hurries towards the basket carrying a big claw cylinder.
Penance pokes a little at her navel, trying to see what is leaking. Crabs pulls her attention away, though and she looks up. "Oh, right, a container," she says, mentally slapping herself for forgetting!
"I think I gots the solution right inside," Crabs says, carefully setting the jar into the basket. "Shouldn't be too diff'rent from your womb to them."
Penance pats Crabs' cheek. "That you, you are a true servant and friend," Penance tells him.
"Hopefully you feel better after popping a few out!" Crabs notes, and gives Penance's hand a squeeze before moving out of the way. It takes a minute for the four Eeee bearers to balance the basket as they lift off, but it's still a swaying, unstable start to the journey. The pains seem to be worsening as well, unless it's just the situation making them worse. After arguing about the route, they decide to take a slightly longer one that has fewer intact bridges and causeways to worry about.
Penance grips her feet into the basket and copes with the ride and sway by examining her belly a bit more; she was bleeding, which is not a good sign. "I can survive this. I must survive this," she thinks. One benefit, her insides hurt enough she doesn't even think about the stretching pain her crotch feels every day from her permanent stretcher rig (and the infections and yeast problems caused by it).
Her belly does strange things. There are bumps that appear and vanish between the legs of the starfish shape, more spurts of blood or goo or bloody goo or bloody bubbles and foam. Whenever there is a bump or bulge, a stabbing pain accompanies it, reminding Penance that these creatures will try to chew their way out of her if something isn't done first. At least there aren't any jolts during the trip, as the Eyes manage to avoid hitting any under-city structures along the way. There are still some odd cries and yells, showing that the Streets Below haven't been completely abandoned - but what may be inhabiting them now could be a frightening thought in itself. The smells of Mt. Blakat are beginning to filter through now though, so it should be only a few more moments before they reach the second refugee camp.
"Ow, Dagh, stop eating me, if I die I can't serve Gorphat," Penance complains at her belly, and tries to wipe away any oozing from her navel as she can. She's strangely calm about this ... or her brain finally broke ... or she's really trying to prove herself to Gorphat! "We'll be there soon, you just need to wait," she tells her squirming gut.
Just before landing, the starfish seems to curl the tips of its feet outwards, stretching Penance's belly in a bizarre way, but then there's the thud of ground contact and Foz hurrying to open the side panel while Fig gets the jar. "Ye need help standing up or anything?" the former gang leader asks nervously. Maybe he's seen the bloody ooze, or things moving that shouldn't be moving.
Penance tries to stand up in answer to that! She's going to walk, Dagh take it, if she can at all manage it. "Only help me if I cannot make it on my own," she says through clenched teeth.
At least the pains are more or less constant now, which makes them less of a distraction while trying to walk. Foz still sticks close to her as they head the short distance to the medical tent. They're given plenty of space by those nearby. When Penance enters the tent the smell of death is nearly overwhelming. Besides Doctor Sesstha and Swix, there's a third pale, somber looking Naga that is performing some sort of ritual over the fourth Naga.. is clearly dead, and hasn't even be closed up yet from whatever surgery was being performed. Sesstha is washing up when Penance arrives, and Swix doesn't even have the surgery table cleaned off yet.
"Do you have a fever?" the doctor asks immediately.
"I don't know. I do not think so," Penance claims as she hobbles in. "My ... companions really want to come out," she admits. "I'm bleeding. I hope I am not interrupting; I don't think i can wait too long."
The Naga picks Penance up under her shoulders and puts her on the half-sanitized table. "Where are you bleeding from? Baby-tube ssspot?" she asks.
Penance shakes her head, then moves her hand away from her bleeding navel. "I am still very plugged down below, nothing is coming from there, it's all from here," she explains.
"Anything elssse come out yet?" the serpent asks, laying her palms against Penance's belly to feel the motion. That's when Penance feels.. churning movement. Her belly changes shape again as well, with the area around her navel bulging more and the ends of the starfish feet blending in or vanishing.
This makes Penance squeal and sit upright when everything moves around inside her! "No, nothing else has come out!" she blurts out, eyes wide. "But that might be changing!
Swix hurries over with a tray of medical tools, including a lot of obsidian-bladed ones. But the doctor reaches for something with no blades at all, that looks like it's for picking up hot coals. Small ones. "Do you want sssomething to bit down on?" she asks Penance.
"Please," Penance requests through still clenched teeth. Her feet grab onto one of the table legs.
A thick piece of leather (with lots of bit marks in it) is placed into Penance's mouth by Swix. It tastes of lemons for some reason. The boy then licks the Eeee's nose. It's enough of a sudden distraction that it keeps her from seeing Sesstha jab the spreader into her belly-button.. and force it open wider. There's a lot of goo and blood gurgling out now, along with gasses.
Penance growls and bites down on that leather! Why is she going through her navel?! That's not where babies come out, at all! Her ears shoot straight up, eyes go wide, and she shakes from the sudden hormonal rush!
It's like having ice water poured down her back. The starfish is convulsing and churning still. But it's centered right behind her navel as well, so.. does it have a hole in the middle or something? The Naga finally begins pulling on something, and gradually extracts a very small, stretchy tri-limbed creature. It seems to be covered in tiny teeth on one side. Fig hurries over with the jar, and opens the lid.
Penance makes all sorts of pained, groaning noises as something is pulled out through her navel! What has happened, as this creatre linked her womb to her navel now to make her able to breed without using the normal route? What about infections? "What are you doing?" Penance burbles out around the leather.
"The larger parasssite isss using its legsss to scrape the small oness from your uterine walls, and funnel them out through thiss opening," the doctor explains, before plunging the odd tool back in to fish out the next one.
"How is it getting into my womb?" Penance blurts out! She doesn't think she feels any other holes, but then she feels mostly pain right now anyway!
"It mussst have extended itsss appendages into it, or elssse there is more to the creature than what appears under the skin," Sesstha theorizes, and drops the new blood-covered creeper into the jar. In the tongs go again. "If we had ssssome kind of bait in sstick form we could fish them out fassster."
"This is fast enough!" Penance whines around the leather bit. Her toes are gripping the leg of the table so rightly that the darker skin looks almost white!
After four of the creatures have been extracted, the doctor begins feeling around Penance's belly.. and pushing. This causes more gas to be released, and thus more bloody foam. It smells awful, of course. "Gasss makess it difficult to tell how many more there are," she complains. Once the foam seems to have stopped, she goes back to fishing around with the tongs. It seems like she's going a lot deeper, or else it's just that things aren't as taut now that some of the bloating is gone.
"Is there a hole all the way into my womb now?" Penance asks then the tongs sink so far into her it seems like they should come out her back! She's also holding her nose at this point, because wow that smell is bad.
"Probably not," Sesstha says. "I feel something like a valve. The larger creature isss connecting inside to outside. It putss one of the small monsters into this connection, then closses the inside and opens the outside.. I can feel it do sso, that is when I try to grab the toothy one in the pocket."
"That ... ew. Gods. Can the big one be removed too?" PEnance asks around the leather. It's not hurting as bad as it was, now it feels more disturbing. Her ears splay out too.
Another creeper is extracted and dropped into the jar. "Unlikely, without major sssurgery. You should be more concerned about it dying in there. Right now, it iss preventing the creepers from burrowing out through your womb and abdomen."
"But once the creepers are out, I should be fine, yes?" Penance asks hopefully. "And won't need it? What would happen if it died?"
"Well, if it died it would certainly need to be removed," Sesstha notes, then looks Penance in the eyes. "Won't need it? The parents of these creatures are still insside of you. They will continue to reproduce."
Penance grrks. "I forgot they would remain," she admits, sheepishly. "But, does this mean I could pull them out myself through this, er, hole thing?"
"It isss possible, but given the pain you may prefer to have help," Sesstha notes. There are still biting pains, so not all of the critters have been birthed yet.
"Ow ow, biting!" Penance squeaks, ears going high!
"Still ssssome more," the doctor says. There's more tentacle-churning, but it takes longer before the next one can be extracted. They must be harder to corral the fewer their are.
Penance leans back, looks upward, then closes her eyes and and grumbles around the leather. It hurts and feels disturbing to be probed so much like this.
The last one seems to take the longest, with several minutes of churning (and sudden jerks as well) before the creeper is extracted. Then the pain stops.
And Penance lets out a long breath around the leather. With a shakey hand, she reaches up and slowly removes the leather strap. Then her eyes open and she slowly looks down at her belly.
It looks a bit like she's been stabbed, from the amount of gore. But Swix is there with some water to wash all but the stickiest stuff away. Her navel does look very different now. Not exactly a second vagina, since it lacks lips, the shape of the opening is eerily similar.
"Er ... are you going to sew that closed?" Penance asks, eyes wide as she peers at her navel. "It looks like I have a second ... gate, without the flower petals."
"It is sealed by the starfish creature," the doctor notes. She then unceremoniously squeezes Penance's breasts to see if any larva emerge.
Penance yelps! "That hurt!" she complains, loudly.
"Any abnormal ssswelling?" Sesstha asks.
Penance looks down to try and look at her breasts. "I haven't noticed any changes in them," she admits, "They just ooze a lot."
Her breasts do look a bit swollen, especially around the areolas which seem puffier than usual. This isn't too different from that last time she was 'pregnant' though - her body just reacts to the sensation of being pregnant, probably, or because this particular part of the process is claimed by Gorphat.
Penance pokes at one of the areola and its nipple. "Well, they seem a bit puffier than usual right now," she admits. "But ... that's because my body is confused, I ... think?"
"Probably not," the Naga says. "You have several parasitesss at work here. The bot-flies are one, but there are signs of another, a ring-worm from the looks of it. You seem to attract parasitessss."
Penance' ears skew sideways a little. "A ringworm in my ... breasts? Should I treat for it, then? What should I do? How can you even see it?" she asks.
"I see the effectssss," Sssestha notes, and pinches a nipple to produce milk. "They cause thisss. You also have mites. These are part of your.. religiousss dutiesss?"
Penance ows when she's pinched! "Well, some of it is, yes. But, I need to live too. Are any of these life threatening?" she asks.
"No, but they will defend themselves, which will cause issuessss," the doctor hisses. "So, have to provide them with.. ah.. 'breathing room' isss the term, I believe."
Penance's ear twitches. "The way you say that makes me worry. Are you saying my breasts are not big enough?" she asks with a lot of hesitation. "Or something worse?"
"Sssssss," Sesstha hisses, and steeples her (still bloody) fingers together. "You have immune syssstem. Some parasites able to fool it, hide themselves. Little fungus-worms do thisss by stimulating milk glands. But.. now fly larvae there too. More inflammation, more immune response, yes? Like Skreeks under floorboards.. but bunch of Naga break in and cause ruckuss. Guards come in responsse. Skreeks just trying to hide now in danger from guards that ignore them.. so, what will they do?"
"Dig in deeper?" Penance hazards a guess? "Or run screaming. Running is usually good."
"Skreek analogy may not have been bessst," the Naga admits. "In thiss case, maybe Skreeks try to burn down building. And nearby buildings. So everyone busy dealing with fires instead of them."
"Ooooh, uh, okay. So, they'll make things much worse so they get ignored?" Penance asks now. She's now sort of squeezing and playing with her nipples now to get a good feel for them and if they've changed.
They are a lot more tender now, but the puffiness is more obviously from inflammation after the explanation from the doctor. And they are bumpier than she remembers (but then, they did get chewed on a lot).
"So, we fix it ssso... no fire, no blasssphemy, alright?" the doctor offers. She can't smile, which is probably a blessing because that is exactly the sort of thing someone would say while wearing a scary smile.
"By no blasphemy, you mean not actually curing the infection?" Penance asks, "But making me be a more suitable host with space for them?"
"Yesss," the doctor agrees, and bobs her head. "Don't want trouble from goddesses over little thingsss like that. Essspecially Gorphat. But, this might hurt a bit at first."
"It always hurts when Gorphat is involved," Penance admits and her ears wilt. "I think our suffering, as well as devotion, drives her to some degree. It all ultimately helps people, but ... it's difficult. What are you proposing?""
"Firssst, stand up and spread your legsss so your feet are as wide apart as your ssshoulders," the doctor says.
"That'll stretch stuff down below," Penance complains, but she slides off the table she was on and back to her feet. She shiffles her legs apart, and true to her word, things stretch open down below. Were she not still plugged with snot, she'd probably be dripping.
Then the Naga quickly moves to the Eeee's side, presses one hand to her lower back and the other to her belly.. and pushes from both directions. There's a wet gurgle sound that comes from down below, and then a sudden release of pressure and the mucous plug and backed up fluids pour out and splash her legs.
This makes Penance squeak loudly and go up on her toes. "Oh ew, yuck, gah, why did you do that?!?" she complains and waves her arms around like a mad woman!
The Penance spots the plug in the pile and her eyes go big. "That's huge and that was in there?! It's like my fist!"
"It was besst time to remove, otherwise would have to use scoop and chisel later," the doctor says, but has already moved on to one of her work tables, where she sorts through bins of bits and bobs.
"Won't I just make another one later if these things in me breed again?" Penance has to ask. She kicks a bit at the mucus blob while sticking her tongue out.
"Of coursse you will," Sesstha claims. "But these should temporary. All that blood and other sssstuff inside would go rotten if you didn't get rid of it."
Swix is there with his mop and bucket and some sort of scoop.
"But I already smell rotten down there," Penance admits. Given she can really smell herself right now, she's not kidding at all! She now reaches down and feels around inside of herself.
She still needs to be cleaned out, from the feel of it. The action also seems to disturb Swix, since he's trying to clean of her lower legs for her.
Penance tries to move out of the way so he can mop. Surely he didn't intend the scoop for her?
The scoop, it turns out, is for the bigger blobs of mucous. They need to be pried up from the floor in some cases, as they seem to get stickier the longer they're exposed to air. "You will need a fresh leather to bite on," Sesstha informs Penance, as she assembles.. something.
"How can you scoop that and not puke?" Penance asks Swix in the voice of someone who has puked a lot recently in her duties ... and is in a bit of awe. It takes her a bit to then process what the other snake said and her ears wilt again. She looks for another leather thing to chew.
"I don't know how to do that," Swix explains. There is a large selection of leather 'chunks' on a nearby table, some already with deep bite marks. They are of varying thicknesses, presumably for different levels of pain. Some of them were clearly former leather restraints from the operating table.
Penance finds one that's dry, not too stiff, and has as few teethmarks as possible. "Are you sure we can't do this in a less painful way? Maybe Gorphat wouldn't be mad if I treated some of the creatures," she babbles.
"I do not have poisons for these," Sesstha notes. "Surgery to remove them would be more painful. This isss simpler fix, trussst me."
"Surgery?!? They're that big in there that you could?" Penance has to ask, sounding shocked!
Swix finishes cleaning off the operating table after the other cleanup is dealt with. The restraints on it are brand new looking. Probably from the Yodhblakat, which means Sesstha or Swix would have had to take them from the Yodh.
Penance realizes given their size, and color, the Yodhblakat probably don't right that much! She also wisely doesn't ask too much about that.
"They are tiny, so would be very hard, not get all of them," Sesstha notes, and turns holding some bone needles and.. contraptions. They look like cages in the shape of bells.
"Okay, so now that you've freaked me out with those things," Penance remarks as she takes a step back while staring at the snake's hands, "Where are the real tools?"
"Hmmm, well, will need the restraintsss," Sesstha says. "Please lie back on the table."
Penance looks between the Sesstha, the door, the torture devices, then the door, then sighs and rubs her head. She can't win; if she runs, Gorphat may do something worse. So ... she grumps and grumbles while climbing up onto one of the tables.
"Bite," Swix reminds the Eeee, apparently wanting the leather in place before strapping her arms down.
Penance sticks her tongue out at Swix, then sticks the leather strap between her jaws and bites down. She doesn't look happy!
Not looking happy is the what the Nagas are used to from their patients, though, so neither bat an eye, or eye a bat as they strap Pennace down. Then Sesstha is leaning over Penance (and there is a lot of her to lean) and says, "You will feel a prick," in warning.
Penance would say she feels a lit of pricks, every day, when she's serviced ... but she has leather in her mouth. Instead she gives the snake a look that screams I bet it will hurt more!.
It hurts more. The bone needs are pushed through her teats, and not quickly, as the doctor has to hold things taut with her free hand, and that means squeezing which upsets the larvae which tend to get a bit bitey when disturbed.
Penance arches, toes splay wings strain, and boy does she bite down! That feels nothing like the pricks she's used to at all!
There's girth to consider, after all. The needles aren't slender, and the area is smaller. Aren't there tribes living in wilderness areas that stick bones through things? And then the second nipple is pierced. Although 'pierced' feels a bit understated a term for this.
Penance makes all sorts of muffled grunting noises for the second one. She already knew what to expect and somehow that made it hurt more! And Gods, she can still feel the huge needle in the other one as it is!
The squirming of the bugs makes everything ache further. But the torture isn't quite finished. The little bell-cages are put over her nipples (which involves more needle maneuvering to get them into place). That's when Penance realizes the little scaffolds are to support the ends of the needles. Sesstha stretches each nipple up into the cage until the ends of the needs fit into a notch in the cages. "There.. that isss a start.." the Naga notes.
And Penance is squirming around the entire time because it hurts! When the pronouncement that the procedure is done comes, she looks up through tearing eyes ar her chest, then whimpers. The comment about 'a start' does NOT bode well, at all.
Her nipples are being stretched, but.. not that much for how much it hurts! Still, it's at least an inch, but the cages have a lot more room (and notches) to go. The puffiness seems diminished now, with all the stretching, and the base of the bells holds the rest of her breast back so that only the nipples are effected.
Penance spits out the leather strap. "How many notches are you planning to go?" she rasps out in pain, "And for how long?"
"Until there isss enough room and distance from your fliess to make your wormsss feel safe," the doctor says. "I do not know how much that will be. I can alwaysss cobble together longer cagess as needed."
Penance left ear twitches, a lot. "And do I have to come back, or am I to ... pull them longer myself? How often?" she has to ask.
A long slow flick of the tongue probably means that Sesstha is thinking about it. "You should try to move one notch per day," she says. The notches aren't exactly far apart. The pieces are probably made from some sort of large insect mandibles after all. "I am too busy for you to be coming every day. You mussst do it yourself, and return when you cannot do it any longer. Have one of your asssistantss do it."
"What if i just take them off?" Penance has to ask ... not that she plans to, alas.
"You will not," Sesstha instructs. "Return when they are stretched twice what they are now," the Naga adds. "There will need to be some minor surgery at that point."
"Minor surgery to do what?" Penance asks, eyes narrowed.
"Your milk ducts will need to be forced open by then," the Naga claims.
"Forced open? What? Why?" Penance has to ask. "Won't that make me leak constantly?"
"Yess, it will I suppose," the Naga agrees, bobbing her head. "Is that a problem?"
"I ... don't know," Penance has to admit. "I guess I would only leak when I had milk to leak."
"Mmmm," Sesstha says, noncommittally. She's probably only dealt with the pregnant Skreeks before when it comes to milk production.
"You can unstrap me now," Penance suggests, "Unless you plan more work on me..."
Sesstha stares at Penance for a bit, unmoving, and then nods to Swix, who begins to unstrap the Eeee.
"If the cagesss feel loose, tighten a few notchesss immediately," the doctor instructs. "Avoid flying."
"What?" Penance asks Sesstha, due the staring. "Do you dislike me so?"
"And why avoid flying?" Penance asks.
"There may be foul discharge, but you can ignore that," Sesstha says, then looks at Penance again. "I do not dislike you. Your flight musclesss may cause things to loosen or tighten when in use, and if the cagesss fall off while flying you may not be able to recover them."
"What do you mean foul discharge?" Penance has to ask now as she slowly sits up and has to resist rubbing her chest.
"Something like thin puss," the Naga explains, and finally starts to wash her hands again. "Lymph, mostly, and some other inflammation byproducts."
"Oh! I know what that is!" Penance says proudly. "What should I do if I get .. well, is it pregnancy? If I get full of those things again?"
"Then we will do what we we jussst did again," the doctor replies. "Even those thingsss must have a recovery period. We will keep track of how long it isss between plug formationss."
"Will having repeated plugs cause me any problems, or is it okay and natural for an Eeee?" Penance asks. She's such like a child; she doesn't actually remember much!
"I will be taking notesss, so ass to learn the answer to that question," Sesstha says. "However, these are created creaturess. It isss a terribly inefficient way to kill someone. And you have some protection in your belly."
"It was probably designed to be a torturous way to die," Penance points out. "Death isn't always about efficiency"
"Then would your Goddesss allow it?" the doctor asks.
"She wouldn't want me to die! Just get stronger," Penance claims.
"Then that isss what these are for," Sesstha says. "You can go now, so long as your assistants carry you."
"Okay, okay, I'll ... behave," Penance claims a bit grumpily. She hurts all over, though, so being carried is a nice thing right now ... and that becomes apparent when she staggers out.