nah, it's cold indoors too [derLampman]

Hyper · Nov 15, 2015

Crystal burst into laughter when Eph started bluffing. This lizard lady was great, she thought. Crystal really wished she could be allowed to stay and never leave this house. ...Well, I mean other than the fact that maybe I should get out and try to find clues to find Alex buuuuut...

Crystal's internal monologue was interrupted when she felt a tap on her chin, realizing it was Eph's tail, she had to jump back a little in surprise. It was a good thing Eph did though or else her explanation would have gone into deaf ears. And Crystal would have to agree. Normal pants only had two stocks to cover. What would it look like if there were three? It was pretty hard to picture without thinking it's an alien with three legs.

"How far does that tail even go?" she asked absentmindedly. Oh, that wasn't supposed to come out. Crystal decided she wasn't going to put much thought into it and hopefully so would Eph. "I dunno though, like, isn't it weird when you have to lift your tail like... doesn't the skirt hike up?" Or she could just keep going and ask more weird questions because really, why not?

At her invitation, Crystal practically jumped out of the bed. For a moment she felt pretty upset because she was suddenly feeling a little chillier without the comfort of the blankets, but she knew she had to at least move around.

"I think you're in good enough condition to walk around, maybe look around the house, maybe check if the sheep are still swarming around back. Any thoughts?"

"A house tour sounds nice," she said, and then titled her head, "Um, i could have sworn I thought we were in a forest.. why.. why would there be sheep around?"

@"Der Lampman"

Der Lampman · Nov 15, 2015

@"hyperhurricane"

Eph brandished her tail and swished it around incessantly and grandiosely. That was a question she was never asked, and it was a nice change of pace. "It's about one foot less than how long - I mean, tall I am, so... not very far. In case you haven't noticed, I'm tiny. Not worried though - higher chances that someday a knight in shining armor will sweep me off my feet cause I'm light."

Crystal's questioning and curiosity in all honesty gave Eph a fleeting sense of enjoyment. It felt as though someone was paying non-negative attention to her, which was rare to say the least. "It does, yeah. That's why I don't really move my tail in public. In private like this though, I'm fine. Not really ashamed of showing my cute reptilian parts, but people don't really like that so I don't. Hey, maybe someday the skirt-hiking thing's going to catch someone's attention. You never know."

Outside the bedroom door, Eph pulled up a pair of fluffy slippers, and then another. She handed one to Crystal and gestured to the wide space in the living room / kitchen / everything that wasn't a bathroom or bedroom in front of them. On the countertop was a pot where she cooked the soup, and a sink with some dirty dishes. The place was rather threadbare, with a lot of unused space.

"Welcome to Fort Reptilewitch," Eph said, reaching up to put one arm around Crystal's neck while sweeping the air with her other arm. "Obviously, it's not called that, but it's my little fortress in this island. Over there's another bedroom - used to be me ma's, and over there's the bathroom where I thawed you out, and over there is a trapdoor leading to the basement. Don't go down there. N-not that there's anything there you shouldn't see - it's just where ma used to work on things."

She detached herself and moved over to the fridge, opening it and taking a portion of beef and putting it somewhere warmer for it to thaw. Inside was a few portions of sheep meat, some vegetables, two cartons of milk, some eggs and a tiny jar of fried grasshoppers that she hastily hid . "No one knows why there's sheep here, but they've been around since that forest fire some time ago. Sometimes, on this island, people just don't ask."

Hyper · Jan 4, 2016

Crystal hummed in thought as Eph started talking about her small stature. The image of a knight carrying her off in a white horse popped up, but so did the image of a kidnapper holding her hostage. Crystal figured she'd rather keep that to herself.

Eph's continued monologue kept going and while she was pretty sure Eph was aiming for a more decent mental images, Crystal's mind went both ways. That too was another thing she would keep to herself. She gave Eph the best smile she could muster, "The day'll come I guess, yeah," she said as she obediently followed Eph out of the room.

The fluffy slippers were lifesavers, she'd give her that. Even just a little Crystal felt slightly warmer now that her feet were snug and cozy. She followed behind Eph as she gave her a tour of the entire house. It was huge, to say the least but it doesn't feel at home since there wasn't a lot of things in there. Basic necessities but anything else like decorations weren't around-- not like she would know what being homey feels like. She lived in a research facility.

At the mention of a trapdoor, it looked like her ears perked up, "Trapdoor!!" she echoed. Realizing her exclamation was out of nowhere, she let out a sheepish laugh. She was pretty curious but there are things she would rather keep her nose out of, especially if it had anything to do with witches. She read bad things about them. after all. "Why? Is there some sort of black magic business down there that no mere human is allowed to see?" she spoke in jest, but part of it was seeking confirmation of her theories.

Crystal kept following Eph, looking at everywhere she stuck her hand in. There were strange things in the fridge but she was a lizard person and there are things that shouldn't be questioned anymore. Except for maybe that one little question of what kind of lizard she was. She knew reptiles to be insectivorous but the strange amount of mutton in the fridge confused her.

As if on cue, Eph spoke again, this time about the sheep. She knew sheep were the kind of animals to be in open fields and this was ridiculous. "Oooh, is there some kind of story that when people ask too much and decide to poke their noses into anything they shouldn't, they're neeeeever to be seen again?"

Hyper · Jan 4, 2016