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Entry 2 The Journal of Kai Aynsthil {Continued}
31st day of Midsomner, 166A.S.
...As it turns out, this body is just a grab-bag of biological horrors. Everything from the weird, sticky saliva in my mouth to the way my feathers can 'sense' things... Oh, and apparently sleep just doesn't 'do it' for me anymore. I can sleep for ten hours straight and I'll still wake up just as tired as the night before. Why? It seems the sun is more important to these lizards than any form of sleep which is probably another reason they don't bother with the whole 'clothes' thing...
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You wake up a mess and have to pull the mercilessly-disemboweled pillow off your horns. Your head feels heavy, your body is sluggish and your tail feels like it's made of lead. What a wonderful start to the new day, you think to yourself, I wonder if I'll be able to even make it to the front door at this rate... Your talons drag across the wood floor in front of your tail as you pull yourself into a lavatory. Closing the door, you are graced by your own reflection by the full length mirror situated behind it.
"Yeeugh..." You kind of flinch away from the scaly creature looking back at you. Its feathers are all ruffled this way and that, eyes are drooping with fatigue, scales are lusterless and the tail sags to the floor. All in all, you look like a sorry excuse for a Skaldring. You move to the tub at the other end of the washroom and find it has been filled with fresh, warm water.
The refreshing bath water feels very good on your scales as you scrub away the accumulated oils and dirt from yesterday. You feel yourself almost rejuvenating with your ablutions, but... Something is missing, like your body is craving something that you just haven't given it. As you towel yourself off you wonder at what needs you may have now as compared to when you were human, if you're going to be in this form for long you'll need to be able to take care of yourself at the very least.
You feel an uncomfortable pressure in your lower body, "Oh no..." To say you've been dreading this occasion would be an understatement, your bladder is full and you need to relieve yourself. You take a deep breath as you remove the loincloth you had just put on and view the featureless scales around where - you assume - your... genitalia is. You're really not sure how Skalds do this, your legs are not built for sitting on things like a human, all your joints are in the wrong places. You guess you are small enough to climb on to the seat of the toilet and straddle the hole...
Your legs are wobbly as you get up on the seat with your talons clamped to the outer edges. You glance down into the dark hole below you, you're pretty sure you can see the last of your dignity falling into the abyss as you attempt to re-potty train yourself. Your slightly damp feathers are standing on end and your large, scaly ears are pressed flat to your skull. You lift your tail out of the way.
Hoping for the best, you squat as low as you can, close your eyes and release. You keep your hands away from yourself, you really aren't ready for some of the realities of your transformation. Luckily enough, everything seems to just go straight down with very little mess. You sigh in relief as your ordeal comes to a close. Yes, you think to yourself, Even taking a piss has become an ordeal, may the gods just strike me down right now.
You get up from your squat and take a bit of disposable cloth to clean yourself off. Your opening is quite concealed by the way your underbelly scales overlap, so you just guess as you wipe. A feeling like electricity passes through you making your feathers stand straight. You immediately move your hand away from your crotch after having pushed in a little too deep with your cloth. You toss away the used thing and get the rest of your clothes on in a hurry, your face is flush with embarrassment.
You meet up with Allyn and hurry him along, you want to forget about your morning and get on the road so that you can begin to focus on your mission. You quickly snatch up your supplies and tuck your hammerlock into the waist of your loincloth. After physically pushing your friend out the door, you start to calm down a little, the cloying stink of Old Town does little to help.
"So, how was your night?" Asks your companion, trying to lighten the mood. You just look at him through half-lidded eyes, "That bad, huh? Nightmares again?" You nod your head and take a deep breath.
"Nightmares again... They were fun enough to deal with back when I was human, but now I wake up in an unfamiliar body with unfamiliar feelings and it's just been a grand old time... At least I don't have to deal with the cold-sweats anymore... Apparently." You can't help but still be a little bitter about your situation. Hasn't there been enough trauma in your life? Haven't you been through enough as it is? But... "...Do I deserve this...?" Not realizing you said this aloud, Allyn turns to confront you.
"No. No you don't deserve this. This is stuff straight out of the folktales they told us as kids and I'll be damned if you don't get your happily ever after!" Allyn pumps his fist in a boyish manner that makes you smile a little, "And when we find this artifact, we'll get you fixed up or I'm smashing the thing to bits... right in front of Sologuard himself!" Allyn certainly knows how to perk you up, a truer pal you've never had.
You finally find yourselves at the main gates, the large portcullis casts a long shadow in the morning light. Your feathers stand on end, you don't know how, exactly, but you're sure someone or some-thing is following you. "Allyn, we've got someone trailing us..." You let your partner know what is happening. He remains impassive, just giving you a slight nod as you continue on your way. Allyn subtly motions for you to follow him and he leads you into a quiet alley.
Putting a finger to his lips, motions for you to get into a position to ambush your stalker. Crouching low behind some barrels, you don't have to wait for more than a moment before a figure comes around the corner. You spring your trap!