Penance was not having a good day, and it had barely even started. Her belly was swollen, and starting to look like she had a starfish trying to burst out from it again. She was itching all over as well from growing stubble, and her vision seemed to be randomly dimming in spots (although that was hard to tell in the dark lair). These were all minor annoyances when compared to the biting pain from the Creepers and awareness of being plugged up with goo as well. Something needs to be done about it, once the giant bugs free her from her nightly restraints. The garters were also trying to milk her, but Penance can't tell if the squeezing and tugging is making things better or worse.
At least that had secured her so her belly had hung more forward for a bit, taking some of the pressure off. Now that she's back upright, she feels the weight in her belly, and the squirming. She's also already scratching herself all over from the itching too, got to get this stubble off soon! With garters hanging from her and continuing to try and milk her, she waddles to the doorway and begins to call for Crabs.
The Skreek in question has good ears, and shows up soon after. "Oh wow," he notes. "You look ready t' pop," he says, but wisely doesn't try to touch the bulge. "And that.. weird shape ain't filled with puss or nothin' I hope."
"Can you get the Eyes ready to take me to the doctor?" Penance asks of Crabs. "And while they're prepping, can we get to the fur stripping chamber and get this stuff odd me? I'm itching like crazy. I still can't see very well, so I'll need you to guide me around some." She's also scratching a bit at her crotch, with the stretcher that has fused with her, she's already quite open, and given other bits removed due to infection, she's normally just be, well, a hole there. But right now it's just full of a gelatinous blob clogging her passage completely. It looks like her crotch is trying to blow a snot bubble.
"The little snakies don't shave you?" Crabs asks, and the high priest, who had been having around her neck like a locket, hisses, "Bring usss razorss!"
Given the scabbed over spots on her breasts, that's probably not a good idea.
"That is ... ugh, no. I'd rather use the chemical bath, it's faster and less cutting," Penance says, "So, if there is time, that chamber, Crabs."
"That is ... ugh, no. I'd rather use the chemical bath. No wait, I can't. Ugh, snails. Okay, I need the snail treatment if there is time. If not, well, I'll just deal with it until I can manage. Either way, the Eyes need to be ready to take me to the doctor," Penance says, "So, if there is time, please lets deal with the itch."
"How long it usually take?" Crabs asks. "Issit that deep down hole with all the glowing fungus?"
"I think so? I don't fully remember," Penance admits. "Maybe the doctor has some treatment so I don't ever grow it back."
"Mebbe you see to yer insides first then, just in case," Crabs says. "I'll go round up the porters, back in a tick or three!" The Skreek scurries off to find the Eyes.
"You're taking usss along too, aren't you Panacea?" the high priest asks.
Aand, Penance leans on the wall with both hands under her swollen gut trying to hold it up and lift some weight off her lower insides. "Why would I need to take you? Wouldn't it be safer to stay here?" she asks.
"Tell Horribs to not eat us?" the priest requests at the suggestion.
"Please do not eat my snake friends," Penance announces to the horribs in the room. "If you're that worried, though, you can come."
"Handmaidensss go with you then, to enssure your comfort," the high priest says, and summons his flock to follow him into the gaps between the layers of resin. This feels weird, since they normally live on (and inside) of Penance, to the point were she doesn't notice them until they all start to move.
Penance is grateful when they do leave, though! She already feels lighter! Whew! Now she's blinking a lot and trying to gauge how well she sees, and frankly, what she sees.
It seems like there are things moving around that obscure her vision slightly, either directly or by making try to focus on them (which never works). But her hearing isn't affected, and she can hear the sounds of the Eyes and Crabs approaching.
Penance is at least relieved she can hear fine, which means she can echolocate fine. Vision is nice, but not critical. She's idly poking at the center of the starfish on her gut.
The arrival is announced by Slash's distinctive coughing. His brother Shiv, leader Foz and the smaller one, Fig are with Crabs, who is carrying the flying sling. The temple really needs to get a palanquin or something more dignified.
"I can walk, mostly," Penance points out once she sounded enough to figure out what they're carrying. Still she spreads her arms and legs a bit so she can be fitted up like a proper invalid (aka, Yodhgorphat). She almost tips forward.
Foz and Slash both keep her upright while the others strap her in. It feels like wearing a course diaper, along with the straps that go around her check and shoulders. Uncomfortable and embarrassing, a truly Yodhgorphat means of travel. "So, going to the doc's again?" Foz asks.
"Before I explode and make a horrible mess, yes," Penance admits. "I need help in, well, getting my ... children out."
"You should stick to Eeee daddies," Foz suggests, as they keep Penance upright for the walk back through the temple.
"I can't breed with Eeee anymore, I am modified to be Gorphat's creature host," Penance claims, proudly. Most would probably say that in horror, but she's crazy. She's also fairly accurate, given her infestations; she likely can't get pregnant normally.
"Well.. yeah, I suppose that blimp has sailed," Foz agrees. "Can't really picture this place with Yodhgorphat kids though. But I hear some o' the Yodhblakat are preggo! They'd better abduct some nannies." The finally reach the steps to the outside, and the four Eeee start to put their own harnesses for carrying Penance with.
"Ugh, don't give those whackjobs any ideas. They aren't sane like we are," Penance claims in all seriousness. She's back to scratching at itchy spots. Even her nipples itch.
She can't scratch her nipples though, as they're being guarded by her handmaidens, who are clutching to both them and straps as the Eyes start hauling Penance into the air.
Penance sort of goes limp. It's less painful if you don't fight the transport too much. Of course it also makes it look like they're just hauling a bloated corpse, too. With mange.
Still, it's a change from being cooped up underground all the time, and since she's not the one flying (and can't really remember a time when she did her own flying) it can be a bit exciting due to all the obstacles in the city basin, from ancient bridges and collapsed towers to.. ancient plazas and a collapsed towers. The streets below are a graveyard for old architecture.
In addition to not being able to see, but trace by sound. Not uncommon for Eeee, but when not flying yourself, the urge is to look, not sound! Still, she tries to keep herself limp to avoid too much strain!
There isn't much light to see by anyway, even if she didn't have things impeding her vision. But it does get lighter when they reach the base of Mr. Blakat, and the refugee city sprawling like a skirt across it. It does take the Eyes a few passes before they spot the hospital tend though, and come in for a landing.
The spinning is a bit nauseating. Or maybe it's being perversely pregnant, of a sort; her body hormones sure act like it anyway. Still, she manages to make it downward with out barfing on the Yodhblakat, which would go over so well. Still, once her feet can touch the ground again, the better.
There's still the delay of getting her out of the harness, which is always a spectacle for the blurry blobs that are probably the inhabitants of the tent-city. They keep their distance though (and thus remain blurry to Penance). The medical tent is still close enough to be clear though. "Need us to announce you or anything?" Foz asks.
"Just let them know the Yodhgorphat Penance is here for treatment of many if her conditions, one being urgent," PEnance suggests as she shifts from one foot to the other to deal with her excessive 'weight'. Aka, her cargo of creepers.
Foz enters the tent to make the announcement, and then comes back to lead Penance inside. "Another batch?" Doctor Sesstha asks. "And you have garters."
"The garters are fine. The things in me are the problem and I can't get them out without help," Penance admits as she waddles her way along and squints at the snake-shape. "Plus my eyes are giving me issues, but right now this is the big concern," she says and pays her swollen belly.
"Mmm, yesss," the doctor says, and helps Penance onto the operating table, and hisses out for Swix to bring her tools. As soon as the Eeee is on her back, she can feel her navel pulsing.
Penance strains to get to the table and the up on it. She lies back and when her gut starts feeling odd, feels around the 'starfish' shape. "It's moving," she says as she feels. "So, uh, something is happening."
"Your 'helper' isss dilating your navel," the doctor explains, as she opens an urn with a strong chemical odor, and selects a pair of tongs from the tools available. Swix pats Penance's hand and says, "You shouldn't pick at it, or will never heal." Which.. doesn't really make sense, since she wasn't actually picking at anything. Then the contracts of the weird built-in midwife begin.
The pain of her navel being stretched open hits and Penance grunts a bit and grips the table with her toes! It's not stearing, but it is a painful stretch as she 'opens up'. Then the odd pulsations start and Penance has to breathe out. She holds the sides of her distended gut while the thing starts working. "Can this thing be removed?" she manages to ask the doctor between moments of hissing pain. The poor bat suspects not, or at least not without killing her given how entwined the damn thing feels.
"Do you notice it when you are not ready to produce a batch of creepersss?" the doctor asks, as she grabs the first bit of creeper to breech, tugging it the rest of the way out and dropping it into the urn.
"I do, it starts making me ache and hurt until I actively make sure I get the protein they need and help them grow," Penance admits. "And once it gets far enough, I end up clogged so I can't let them out any way but, ... this." She's soon grunting again as more contractions hit. In theory not hers, but dagh she feels them anyway.
"Ah, you meant the creeper broodersss," the doctor says. "That would require a bit of invasssive ssurgery," she notes while pulling out the next creeper. "A hysssterectomy iss posssible, but I do not how that male creeper will react."
"Badly, I bet," Penance hisses, "And Great Gorphat would be mad."
"Perhapsss when thiss iss no longer a challenge, you will be unburdened of it," the doctor notes, pulling at baby number three.
It's also about this time that Swix starts wiping down Penance's belly with a cloth, as there's more.. stuff.. bubbling out now after a creeper has been birthed.
"Maybe," Penance mutters, then arch-grunts as another wave hits the poor bat.
At least the midwife isn't using Penance's own muscles, but there is a sense of things moving around that aren't creepers. Possibly internal appendages for the midwife, being more proactive about the birthing process. The handmaidens fret, and continue to rub the distended nipples to see if it helps or not (which it does not, but they don't know that).
It does make Penance reach up and feel her own nipples. Since she can't see them, she has to feel to see how they are! Plus, I keeps her hands away from her now very squirming gut as the starfish-thing is moving a lot more and it makes her flesh squirm like crazy!
They're fairly erect, given the attention and the extra surface area. "Try not to wiggle too much," Sesstha advises. "It ssspookss the creeper and it triess to climb back insside."
"It's hard not to wiggle when your entire gut is squirming!" Penance whines and does pull her hands away from her nipples to try and have less, ah, sensation?
"You should consssider laying eggss next time," the Naga suggests, and pulls out the fifth one.
"I'm not built to lay eggs!" Penance barks!
"You are not built to give birth to monsters through your belly button either," the doctor calmly points out as she fishes around for the sixth creeper, and Penance can feel things grabbing the tongs from the inside.
"I didn't really have a choice in this, you know! The Gods decided!" Penance deflects as she squirms now too. "I've never done anything horrible I can remember to earn this!"
"Gorphat isss not the godesss of 'jusst desssertss'," the doctor points out as she tries a little harder to pull out the next clingy creeper. "I do not believe that she judgess people. Why did you even become a Yodhgorphat?"
"It is all I can remember! I woke up in that Temple, and they helped me, so I joined them," Penance claims after having to actually think about that. She really doesn't remmeber anything before it.
"And you don't think that your name is ssssugestive?" the Naga asks after finally winning the tug-of war and pulling out two creepers at once, which means the starfish has to dilate a bit more.
"No! How could I be guilty of things if I cannot even remember them. What purpose would it serve?" Penance points out. She also leans up and tries to well look at her gut.
It's looking a bit weird, undulating in waves from the outer edges towards the navel birth-canal due to the starfish. Then a blob of goo erupts, followed by the flailing tendril of a baby creeper, which the doctor grabs with her tongs to 'gently' tug on.
"You likely put yourssself in that sssituation," Sesstha suggests.
"Maybe, maybe not. This is Babel," Penance points out without much force behind it. "Who could have been so terrible as to end up ... me?"
"Do you really want to find out?" the doctor asks. This particular creeper is very stretchy.
"No, Penance answers, simply.
"Then focusss on being the besst you can be with thiss possssible ssecond chance," the doctor suggests, then dips a finger into the navel and starts feeling around inside.
Penance goes 'guh!' when the doctor does that. She can feel all of it!
It's probably a trick of perception that makes the doctor's finger seem so large, and she can feel the embedded creepers squirm. Then the Naga pulls the finger back out and 'sniffs' it with her tongue. Pulling out also causes another bubble of blood-and-worse scented goo. The starfish is still flexing though, so maybe there are more to go yet.
Penance' nose wrinkles. "What is that horrible smell? What is wrong inside me?" she has to ask.
"It iss jusst blood, amniotic fluid and liquid waste product from the creepersss," Sesstha explains, and starts squeezing Penance's belly from the sides. "The midwife may not be ssstrong enough to get them all out thiss time without aid."
"Aid? What kind of aid?" Penance asks worriedly. "And are you going to clean out all of that goo?"
"Mammalss are sself cleaning," the doctor claims. "Now, spread your legsss please, and push when I insstruct you to."
"Push? But I'm clogged?" Penance asks, furrowing her face a little. Then she shrugs and nods, "Okay, I'll try." Painfully, she does spread her legs, which makes her already painfully stretched wound stretch even more.
That stretching is nothing compared to what comes next, as the doctor snakes her hand inside which makes the fused skin feeling like it's tearing.. but can't tear.
"Augh!" goes Penance and she arches up painfully. She wasn't sure she could look any worse down there, but after this she just might! That hand feels like a tree inside her.
There's a popping feeling as the doctor pulls out the cervical plug, followed by a weird whistling sound as air rushes in through the open navel. The foul liquids drench her inner thighs.
Penance looks like she wants to vomit from that smell. She also can't help and bear down/clench hard reflexively. It's like being imploded!
"You musst releasse my hand," Sesstha calmly requests.
It's hard to forcibly stop clenching down! Poor Penance is whining as she forces it, somehow.
"Tsss," the doctor hisses, and tries wiggling her fingers. "You are blocking the flusshing. Thiss iss not good. It iss time to relax and prepare to push."
There's a lot of grumbling form Penance as she slowly manages to relax.
Now that she can move her arm again, the doctor pulls the rest of the plug out, then goes back in deeper and feels around. Penance actually sees one claw briefly pop up through her navel.
Penance is staring at the ceiling soon after, trying to not look green. Well, she'd like to be green, but not from nausea!
There's more rooting around, such as it is since the reptilian hand pretty much takes up all the space in there now. A sharp pain indicates something was just plucked out though. "Ah, there it isss," the doctor claims in a soft hiss of triumph, and withdraws her hand.
"Ow!" Penance barks when she feels that sorta pinching bite. "What did you do?!?" she demands.
"These female creeperss have limited lifespanss," the doctor claims. "From the scent, I knew there had to be at leassst one dead one, and alsso because one of the newborns had latched in already to replace it." She holds up the dead creeper for Penance to see. It looks withered and.. pustulant.
Penance wrinkles up her face. "Does that mean you removed them all? No more left inside me to reproduce?" she asks, head tilting a little as she squints, trying to see the thing; her vision is still wonky.
"Jusst thiss one," the doctor explains. "Will probably be another next time. New one hass taken the place of the dead one already."
"And you're not going to remove it?" Penance whimpers.
"I help remove the unattached onesss," the Naga notes. "They are useful. If I pull out newly implanted one, it would be a waste." She then pushes down on Penance's belly, which sounds like a deflating balloon that also spits things out as it goes down. But the starfish has also deflated, so the navel opening closes back up as well.
Penance looks frustrated, also repulsed, by the farty noises her gut makes as things are pushed down. "So, I'm going to continue to breed those things, then?" she complains, and sighs, "Mother Gorphat's will."
"You mussst overcome sssuch challengess on your own," the Naga suggests, and rather than washing up just peels the outer layer of skin from her arms, as she is apparently ready to shed her skin anyway. Then she tries to shoo away the garter handmaidens so she can check Penance's breasts.
Penance blinks. She saw some of that, and it looked weird. Also quite helpful in dealing with yuck, builtin gloves! "They still hurt a lot," she complains as the naga starts poking her very overly sensitive and lumpy chest.
"You need to make them happier, perhapsss," the doctor says as she squeezes and kneads, causing crackling sounds as scabs break gunk oozes.
"Ow ow ow," Penance whines, eyes watering. "What are you doing? And you can't make them happy, they're just ... part of me. They don't have individual feeling!"
"You are not cleaning properly," the doctor claims as she pops the scabs.
"It is hard to clean 'properly' in Gorphat's temple. I am usually not allowed to clean any appreciable amount," Penance claims. "In fact, doing so will make me lose the proper smell of a Yodhgorphat."
"Surely there iss a way that Yodhgorphat handle hygiene," Sesstha notes. "Wasss there not a manual or guide?"
"Unfortunately not," Penance concedes. "So, they just expect me to be foul and nasty."
"Perhapsss you have a specific role to fill," the doctor says, as she 'sniffs' some of the goo for infection, while the handmaidens hiss at her.
Amelia afks a bit, bio!
Penance hisses right back at the handmaidens! She doesn't see well, so she assumes they were hissing at her!
"Why are you hissing?" the doctor asks.
"Why are they hissing at me?" Penance demands.
"They are hissing at me, since I shooed them away from your boobsss," Sesstha claims. "Then you started hissing at me."
Penance ohs. "I can't see very well," she admits. "So what is the prognosis on those?"
"No infection, but they will continue to produce oil for awhile, I imagine. Have your attendants keep them open, not ssscabbed over," the doctor prescribes, and then squeezes the distended teats. "These are ready for further ssstretching, I will get the equipment, then check your eyess. You should have mentioned the difficulty seeing sssooner."
"More stretching? Those things don't come off yet?" Penance asks, sounding a bit down. "And I didn't mention it yet because other things were pressing, literally! Much more critical." She reaches up to feel the condition of her nipples since she can't quite see them.
"They are ssstill swollen, and need more sspace or they may burssst," the doctor notes, and starts setting up the new stretchers. "Do they not make you more attractive, in the way of mammals?"
"Not really, they're going to look more fitting on livestock than a person at this rate," Penance admits She strains, trying to see just what the new stretches are, she can hear the fiddling.
Penance can feel the new stretching at least. It doesn't seem like much, but there's tension so they may stretch further yet. "Perhapsss if you paint them in brighter colorsss," the Naga suggests.
So, Penance starts trying to feel them after the stretchers are fit; she's a curious sort like that. "I would have to get them tattooed if I intended to do that."
They still feel tender to the touch, and.. slightly sticky. The handmaidens may have used something on them. Garters can't spit, and aren't known to be venomous so it would need to be something else.
"Why are my nipples sticky?" Penance asks the dcotor.
"They are likely producing oil in resssponse to the parasitess," the doctor says, and shines a lamp down onto Penance's face.
The light causes Penance to jerk her head back, then bang it on the table. "Ow," she mutters. "You need to warn me."
"Ssso you sstill respond to bright light," Sesstha says, and moves the lamp a bit further away. "How blurry or dim are thingss that you see?"
Penance looks hard at the Doctor's face to see if she can get a good idea how to answer that.
"Here," the doctor says, "I am extending a finger and bringing it towardss you. Tell me when it is in focus." There's a blurry shadow that seems to be getting closer.
"Blurry and shadowy," Penance claims as it gets closer. "Still blurry, still shadowy," she says as it gets closer still. "A little better, maybe?"
"Ssss," the doctor comments. "Can you sssee anything in focusss?"
"Not currently, no," Penance admits.
"Hold your head sstill," the doctor says, and brings over something that blocks all put a pinpoint of light.
Penance holds her head still. It helps that she can rest it on the table she's on. "I see ... a spot of light," she remarks ... intelligently?
"That iss for me to look into your eye," Sesstha notes. "You are developing cataractss."
"Ugh," Penance whines. "Can that be fixed?"
The doctor is quiet for an awkward amount of time. "Magic can be used," she finally says, "Or very careful sssurgery. Some medicationss can be tried. But if thiss iss a Blessing, then treating it would be meaninglesss."
"I do not know if it is a blessing or not. I will have to find out, then," Penance admits. "Thank you for at least looking."
"Have there been any other issuess?" the doctor says, after removing the device so things are slightly brighter now.
"Can you check between my legs and make sure it's okay? Last time you removed some of mu flesh there. I am hoping no more needs to be removed?" Penance requests.
"Swix, clean her up please," the doctor instructs, since it is a sticky, foul mess down there. So her son goes about cleaning things with warm water and disinfectant, which makes everything feel cold as soon as the cloth moves on to the next area. There's also something to wash out her inside with. It doesn't make any noises though, at least. Then the doctor begins to poke and tug at things.
Getting cleaned, and cleaned out makes her less itchy than she usually is! So, there's some thankfulness in that. And as this point she's not embarrassed to be poked and prodded down there at least. It hardly bears any resemblance to Inala's gate these days, not after various 'issues' required interventions.
The doctor does get a tool to try and separate the leather and skin in places.. or at least attempt too. Penance can feel it, but it doesn't hurt, as things are mostly numb at the interface. There are scraping sounds though.
"Mmph," Penance mutters. "That feels ... weird. What are you doing down there?"
"Cleaning," the Naga replies. "Leather needsss regular care. Tell your garterss to do it."
"That's just ... if it's grown into me, hasn't my body replaced it somewhat by now?" Penance asks.
"It actss like a sscar, since your skin doesss not absorb it, it cannot replace it. The lack of oxygen creates another layer of dead tissue. It may yet all jussst.. slough off sssomeday, leaving behind raw flesh."
"That sounds horrible! What happens if that does happen?" Penance asks in horror?
"You should bandage the area immediately," Sesstha advises. "Use broad, green leaves before wrapping with cloth, if you can."
"Would it heal?" Penance asks nervously.
"Eventually.. with proper care," the doctor says. "But may require graftss. The besst thing would be to apply fish skin."
"I'll ... keep that in mind. That is all, thank you for your help this day," Penance says as she sits back up and prepares to slide herself off the table. "I will not occupy your valuable time any longer."
"Do you not wish for eye medication then?" the doctor asks.
"If you have some, yes," Penance requests. "You did not offer earlier."
"What I have will help to reduce eye ssstrain from reflexively trying to focuss," the doctor says. "It will reduce the side-effectss, and may help keep your lens soft. I cannot promise that it will make it clearer, though."
"That will do," Penance agrees. "Thank you."
"Please wait while I prepare it," the doctor says. Once she's gone, Swix asks, "What do Yodhgorphat do?"
"Tend to injured and the outcast. Help people learn to survive and overcome. also, help prevent outbreaks of diseases in the city. Why?" Penance asks of the other snake.
"So you are doctors?" Swix asks.
"Not quite. More like first aid people," Penance explains. "And janitors."
"Like me then?" the Naga boy asks. "Lotsss of wiping up the nassty sstuff?"
"Sort of, yes," Penance concedes.
"And we're examples to others that no matter how bad it is for you, it could be worse," Penance adds as an afterthought.
"It could?" Swix asks, just as his mother returns, and pushes a stoppered bottle into Penance's hand. "I recommend three drops per eye to start. If it doess not tingle, add another drop. If it burnsss, reduce dosage. It may vary for each eye. If you sstart to see monsterss from the cornerss of your vision, ignore them unless you can hear, ssmell or ssound them."
"Is that common? To see monsters?" Penance has to ask. Her mostly bare brow arches up some too. She also finally slides onto her feet and stands, wobbly though.
"I do not know what isss common for Yodh to sssee, sso I wass trying to be thorough," the doctor claims.
"Uh-huh. Well, again thank you," Penance says as she looks over the bottle in her hands a moment. She bows again and even manages to not fall over. "I'll take my leave now."
"How was it?" Foz asks once Penace stagger-walks out of the tent.
"I am alive, therefore it was good enough," Penance admits as she wobble-walks towards them. "I do actually feel a lot better."
"Lighter?" the leader of the Eyes asks as they start strapping her into the harness once more.
"Much, and not like I'm being eaten from the inside out," Penance agrees as she assumes the spread-limbed position to be strapped in!
"So.. is that what was happening?" Foz asks, as he and Fig test the fit of the straps and buckles. "Like.. parasites?"
"Not quite, but sorta," Penance answers, waggling her empty hand a little for emphasis. "But, all better now!"
"Being a Yodh is tough," Shiv opines, before they all launch and carry Penance aloft for another swerving flight, this time back to the Temple once more. During passage, with nothing but the wind against her and other distractions (like biting pain) behind her, Penance can focus on how much her stubbly fur itches.
Which leaves Penance scratching at herself for much of the flight, and grumbling! She envies the High Priestess so much at the moment. That one is furless, completely, and it never regrows! Such a blessing!
Crabs is waiting just inside the temple for the return, and helps free Penance from the harness, and notices the bottle as well. "Medicine?" he asks about it.
"For my eyes, yes. Three times a day. Just make sure to keep it where I can get it easily," Penance says as she stretches and flexes out of the harness. "And I really need to deal with this stupid itchy fur! There has to be a way to just get rid of it forever!" she complains.
"I'm not sure Lady Gorphat is really into forever solutions so much," Crabs admits as he takes the bottle. "Do you want to get shaved now then?"
"The High Priestess has no fur," Penance points out, jealously. "And yes, I am."
"Well, she's the High Priestess though," Crabs says. "And.. uh.. given the other stuff I think not getting stubble is a pretty minor consolation." He does lead her down the tunnel to the deeper, hidden parts of the mountain.
"Still, it must be nice to not itch," Penance claims cluelessly. She continues on, waddling a little since her trauma has left her a bit sore down below, but nothing that prevents easy walking at least!
It seems to take forever.. but only because Crabs isn't fully familiar with the tunnels and caverns. But they finally make it to mycon cavern, and Crabs oos over the glowing and fluorescent fungi, which Penance just sees as a smear of color as fuzzy as the organisms that produce it. It's a carefully guided walk the 'altar', as Crabs makes sure they don't step on anything but stone.
Using sound to map the floor also helps that walk. Eeee can come with vision issues surprisingly well for the most part. Once shes before the altar she kneels briefly, then crawls up onto it and lays atop its surface. Such a willing sacrifice, that one.
"Umm.. should I stay or will you call me when yer done?" Crabs asks, uncertainly.
"You can stay if you desire to," Penance announces. Then she's silent as she closes her eyes and proceeds to pray to the glorious, benevolent, and kind Mother Gorphat to help her in her time of need, to be free of this infernal fur and be laid bare as she should be in Her honor.
Soon the odd sounds of the head-snails reaches her as they make their way to the to the altar, along with the thudding of Crabs' heart as he gets more and more nervous. But he does stick around, despite possibly being terrified as the snails swarm over Penance and noisily chew down her stubble as if grazing, and leaving her covered in silvery slime along the way. The garter handmaidens 'scurry' to be wherever the monstrous snails aren't, but don't try to flee into any of Penance's orifices at least.
the hard part for Penance is not squirming! she also learned keeping her eyes closed while being chewed on (and slimed) makes it a little easier, at least! Not much, but some. She daydreams of the beauty that is Yodhgorphat Scourge, such wonderful 'disfiguration' Inspiring!
This is the first time she's been trimmed since being infested with creepers, which seem to somehow sense the slugs and quiver in response. One of the slimy creatures seems to really like the taste of her still weeping breast sores and another is really lingering as it trims her face and ears. One of the beasts tries to get inside of her (she needs to have legs spread a little so they get to her inner stubbly areas) which really makes the creepers nervous.
Penance actually spreads her legs more, seeing if an invite will let the snail in, or something! Either that or she's just crazy as the day is long and a pervert.
In response, she feels herself plugging up again! So the creepers and the slugs have some sort of mutual thing going on, and the creepers are very defensive. They even bite harder when Penance seems to be cooperating. If she could see, it would look like a disembodied, head was about to go down on her.
Penance grumbles in frustration, bit she does try to close her legs to encourage the thing to go elsewhere!
She doesn't hear the voices this time, possibly because of Crabs being there, or maybe because the heads said everything they needed to the first time. Or maybe they're just disappointed by the stubble instead of longer fur. It makes things go faster, and eventually she has to turn over so they can get to her back.
Penance flops over sort of like a dead fish on the altar. It's not terribly dignified, and rather lazy. So, fitting for a Yodhgorphat! She lies there, sorta relaxed. "Mother gorphat, you are so wonderful," she thinks in her loving blissful, and deranged state.
It's a bit more relaxing like this, almost like cold, slimy massage. It leaves her feeling clammy, and then with slightly tighter skin as the slime dries. But it's all worth it to not be itchy!
Life is all about finding lazy ways to get rid of annoyances, like itching! And right now? The Priestess is content, not in pain, and itch free. What more could she ever ask for?