the horse, the lizard, and the tree

@"ReD"

Once again it was that time of the month. Well, actually, not of the month, but it was closer to being a monthly thing than a yearly thing, so she didn't quite go gripe about the specifics and semantics. And she was far too busy concentrating on being careful and precise to care much.

The sun was still fairly low in the sky, as it was only around seven. The light peeked through the forest canopy, while the early morning mists still rose from the ground. Birds flew around, chirping and chirping, and perching on En's sleeping form. There was probably a bunch of snakes somewhere, but they didn't matter at the moment.

In the forest there was a house made of nothing but pine wood, built by a woman who was probably not in the best state of mind for a family that was probably not normal in the slightest way. The woman was dead now, but she was still there, buried beneath a sleeping sentient tree in front of the house.

Inside the house itself was the only mobile member of that hodgepodge family consisting of a madwoman, a tree, and a lizard. Eph was there inside a room, right next to the window that was closed shut. She sat on a bed, upright and in mild unease, with a bucket next to the bed filled with light green scales.

It was shedding season.

As such, she was there completely naked, trying to pick off the annoying scales that had grown rigid and stiff, and dry. They were very itchy, and as she was halfway done there were spots on her that were exposed. That was what bothered her most and why she was here in the forest in the first place - when she shed her scales and skin, the freshly exposed skin and young scales were very, very sensitive. It was also why she was in her room, locked, with the window shut, and a supply of food for three days.

"Careful... careful... hooooh." Eph moaned as she stripped off another patch of scales and dropped them into the bucket. While the sensitivity increase wasn't painful or anything, it was still a bit hard to deal with when every breeze made her flinch and heat up.

"I'm - I... I... hooh. I should take... a bit of a break... haaah." She arched herself back, carefully plopping herself against the wall. Gently, she rested her back on the wall. It was a peaceful day, and that was the best kind of day for these activities. She was already tense. It wouldn't do well for the rest of the world to also be tense.

Then a squirrel jumped into and opened the window with a massive whap!

Eph began a terrified yell and leapt forward, but she was cut off by the wind rushing in, enveloping her half-exposed form. Her nerves began screaming out in not quite pain, and she let out a massive "Aaaaaaaaahh..." as she fell to the bed face first.

@"ReD"

"HAAAAAAAH CLOSE THE WINDOW CLOSE THE WIND - OOOOOH!" Eph yelled, the wind proving too much for her exposed nerves. Thankfully, it subsided, and she was able to lay on the bed shuddering and panting, overwhelmed. She couldn't quite focus enough to properly identify this person busting in through the window.

She breathed deeply, her nerves finally settling down. Her presence of mind returned, just in time to remind her that she was naked in her room with a stranger, and to top it off she was lying down suggestively and making some rather... inappropriate noises.

Blood rushed to her face as she recognized that her visitor was a man, and a decent-looking one at that. Her claws tried to nervously reach out to her blanket and cover herself up as she tentatively attempted to explain her situation. "I'm, uh... fine. It's shedding season, and I'm just... uh... sensitive right now. I - sorry if I made you... worry?"

Her claw found the blanket, and she carefully slid it over, draping herself with it in a last-ditch attempt to minimize her exposure to this man. Carefully, she stiffened up, trying to avoid unnecessary contact between the blanket and her exposed skin. With an unsure smile, she asked, "I - uh... how do I - how may I... help you?"

@"ReD"

With a blanket covering her, Eph felt more secure and more in control now. The wind was gone as well, and she could start moving again. But she couldn't quite do it, her eyes lingering on the almost shy and almost adorable intruder's expression. She noticed him blushing and blushed in response, smiling. It was such a refreshing and frankly unusual reaction - she had never particularly noticed any such reaction to her before, what with being a lizard and all.

"Yeah it doesn't hurt... it just really has - basically everything that, uh, touches me where I shedded..? Shed? Whatever's correct - it makes my senses go haywire. Not exactly painful. Just super - I think you get what I mean."

She would have panicked a bit more, but this man shut down her alarm systems with his unexpected reactions and strange niceness. Being intruded on while naked should probably raise more suspicions, but something about his demeanor and overall presence made her relax and calm down.

Eph carefully slid herself off the bed and took a loose bathrobe from the shelf by the wall, then turned her head to shyly smile at Lochlann and say, "Uh... I'm going to be slipping into something a bit comfier. Could you... you know, close your eyes for a bit or turn around? I mean, you already saw a lot and... yeah."

Without waiting to see if he actually turned around or closed his eyes, she grabbed onto the bathrobe and let the blanket fall to the ground as she put on the robe slowly, tying it tight with a soft moan around her belly as the wool pressed against her exposed skin. Reasoning that her minor inconvenience would be better than having the loose robe constantly jostling her, she tightened it a bit more and let out another soft whimper.

Inhaling deeply, Eph straightened herself out and turned to face Lochlann. "I should ask your name but, uh, would you prefer to have, maybe, breakfast or something first?"

@"ReD"

A sigh of relief escaped Eph's lips. Her tail opened up the door and she stretched one arm out cautiously, trying not to get the robe to press on her any more than it already was. "Kitchen's this way. You're a lifesaver, Lochlann - I can cook but it ends up mostly tastes terrible or tasteless. Unless you're fine with raw vegetables. Still bland though."

Being in nothing but a bathrobe with a stranger sent chills running down Eph's spine and all the way to the tip of her tail, which was starting to stiffen without her conscious order to do so. It was a scenario she'd envisioned often, usually during those off hours when she couldn't sleep and had nothing to do. Never would she have imagined it actually happening to her though.

"Right! Forgot to give you my name. I'm... Eph. Not going to say much more than that. Fridge is over here," Eph said, a claw reaching out toward a wooden box. "I power it myself, and I stock it all up myself. I hunt for my meat but everything else comes from up the city. I'd buy meat, but I can't afford decent meat and I am probably saying 'meat' too much."

She cleared her throat and shuddered when the robes made contact again. "I've got some deer, and for whatever reason there's a crapton of sheep around the woods. Think you can work with that?"

@"ReD"

That last remark caught the lizard lady way off guard. Again, she was far from used to getting compliments on anything related to appearance. Eph's head tilted to the right and she smiled coyly. "Oh, you joke. I live here cause I'm not pretty enough to live downtown. I mean, you're the very first person to call me pretty. Heh - nah, just kidding. I grew up here - my dad's outside, but he can't come in or hear or see anything inside."

She strode to the table with slow, measured paces, hips swaying gently, tail unconsciously coiling and uncoiling. Then her tail poked at Lochlann's back as she moved to the table and readied the dishes, pulling out plates, two glasses, and cutlery from the counter. "A farm boy, huh... I did grow up in the forest so I can't make any comments about city life. Besides, at least you're probably used to the stuff I have 'cause of that."

Something in the air livened up Eph's mood. Probably the fresh air now calmly flowing in from the window. Or the scent of food - how did Lochlann make those scents come what she had? This was probably the difference between a decent chef and a... her. "Let me tell you that I know you're not making anything fancy right now but this is still the best-smelling my kitchen's ever been."

Another thought struck her mind. Something she forgot to ask in the middle of all the moaning and trying to cover herself up.

"Reminds me... it's a pleasure to meet you, but what are you doing here even? People don't normally just come around these parts."