After the fifth what what Bryn finally noticed I was playing with her and gave me a suspicious glare, so I gave her the pudding. She pouted as she ate it even though she seemed enthralled by the taste. Bit of an odd look on her sharp features but still adorable and much better than scared shitless. Ate the whole bowl up. I made a pillow and blanket for Crow Jr. while I waited for her to finish- spidersilk, stuffed with… More spidersilk.

Honestly, I’m not sure if that’s the best bedding material but I can make spidersilk so I’m going to make spidersilk. The novelty hasn’t worn off yet so I’m going to ride it to the ground.

‘Alright, seriously now. I’m not going to punish you. I want your help. You can’t leave because I can’t risk that, but otherwise I’m going to make your stay here as pleasant as possible. I want to incentivize- wait, did you catch that word?’ Bryn tilts her head. Makes her look even more birdlike. She has a smear of chocolate pudding on her cheek.

“Bribe?”

‘Eh, close enough. I want you to want to be here, to want to help me. I’m not going to do that by punishing you. Doesn’t mean you can push me, but as long as I think it’s an honest mistake I’ll forgive your errors. I was able to watch you and I believe that you did it by mistake- you weren’t even thinking. You’re not the best at talking to people, that’s fine, you still know a whole lot that I don’t. I don’t even know what I don’t know right now- if you see me making a mistake out of ignorance, I want you to correct me. As for what you get in return- you know what dungeons can do. You have problems with your liver, right?’ Bryn gasped, eyes going wide.

“You can cure me?” She whispered.

‘Yes. Not just that either. The hips too- does your family have trouble with childbirth?’ She nodded.

“The women of the Butcherbirds don’t marry until we have the money for birth surgery.”

‘I can fix that too. Not just for you- for your children as well. Not just fixing either- you want to be seven feet tall and breath fire? Might take me a few years on the fire breathing bit, but I’ll work on it. The sky is the limit. You want money? I can’t make gold directly, but I’m sure we can figure something out. Some of that warpstone, maybe.’ Her jaw dropped halfway through and her eyes just got bigger and bigger. Cute. I think I’ve made a convincing case.

“I…” She’s tearing up again. Damnit, she’s had a real rough day, but how many times is she going to cry? Is this normal? Would a tentacle hug be comforting or creepy as hell? Ms. Kittysaur is rubbing against her. Good girl. Think they’re gonna be friends despite the, uh, slightly rough beginning. Also, hope she doesn’t hold a grudge over the friends thing after that ritual. I’m gonna keep the boarsaur away from her for a while.

Incidentally, I’ve decided to name them Hanz and Franz. Just now. I can’t tell them apart.

I give her another minute to cry and then mentally clap my mental hands. This actually produces a little mana shockwave which startles her. Oops. Moving past that. ‘Right. For your first job-’ Or is it second or third? Eh, math is fake. ‘I want you to wake that guy up and get him on the table.’

“You mean the altar?”

‘…It does kinda look like an altar but that is not the intention. But yes, that.’ Urgh, I wanted it to be an operating table but do they have those? Whatever, I make a second one as she wakes him up and coaxes him over to the first table. He goes right back to sleep soon as he’s on there. That’s fine. ‘Lay down on the other one, I’m going to start curing you. This might hurt. Maybe not though. I have no idea, I usually take the souls out before I operate.’ She looks scared and timid for a minute, but then grips her fists and goes over, laying down and exhaling. I make her a pillow.

“Oh- thank you? It’s soft…”

‘De nada.’

“What? That was weird.”

Tch. She explqined before I could what what. ‘Oh, uh. I was speaking in a language I don’t know. I think it means you’re welcome.’

“I got that, but it was… Fuzzy. How do you speak a language you don’t know?”

‘I just know bits and pieces. Anywho.’ I hook up to Ms. Kittysaur. ‘A little test first, just to see if it hurts. I can put you to sleep if it does, but I’d rather keep you awake if possible so I can get your opinions on things. Ready?’ She gives me a little nod and I give her retractable claws. Copied ‘em from Ms. Kittysaur. ‘No pain?’

“No, but it was weird. A huge wave of essence crashing over me… What did you do?” Excellent.

‘Look at your fingers and flex.’ She does so, startling herself when her new claws pop out. Also her old fingernails pop off. Not in a bad way, they just… Fall off.

“Huehh?!” Heh. Funny noise.

‘Wanna keep em or go back to how they were before? They’re the same claws as Ms. Kittysaur.’ And I’m glad it worked on the first try! Would’ve been awkward if I had changed the wrong genetic code- I’m basing this on my bird and lizard studies after all.

“I uh…” She studies them from various angles, fascinated. “I kinda like them?”

‘Alright. Just be careful touching your face and stuff. And scratching. Actually, should I make them blunt until you get used to it?’ She scrunches up her face.

“Yeah, I think that’d be a good idea.” Despite saying that she brings her hand down to claw against the stone, looking intoxicated as they score lines into it.

‘Hokay, next. Drake liver or human liver?’ Her head jerks up and she stares at me.

“What? Drake liver?”

‘Again, same as Ms. Kittysaur. Got some neat improvements. Haven’t figured out what they do all do though. Or I can copy Crow- uh, Zetli’s.’ She narrows her eyes at me.

“I’ll stick with human, thank you. Also, this is Netli, not Zetli. Zetli is the chief.” Honestly now that I’m looking at him closely I’m not sure he’s natural human either. Well, none of the Sahii are, they’re mutants I think, but he’s kinda different. Doesn’t quite have the methodical neatness that the drake genetics exhibit but a lot of things are distinctly different. He’s got a few flaws too, but those are probably from the Sahii side. Is he half demon? He’s the only one who looks like snake Conan.

‘That’s irritatingly similar.’

“They’re named after the same man- great grandfather to both of them. I asked.”

‘Mmm… Done with the liver. Nice and pretty now.’ She blinks at me.

“Pretty? I felt the essence but I don’t feel any different.”

‘I think the essence was compensating for your poor liver function before. Also, it used to be lumpy. So, uh, pretty might not be the right word, for a liver, but.’ I’ll not continue that thought. Only more awkwardness leads in that direction.

“Yeah- those of our family who don’t become delvers become sickly and their skin turns yellow sometime in their twenties. It gets worse until they die.” She nodded to herself. “Wait- you can see my liver?”

‘I’m going to do your bones now. Brace yourself- if anything is gonna hurt this one will.’ I’m not having a conversation about x-ray eyes. Mana-sonar-radar-eyespots. Whatever. Line up the pattern, push the change through, refresh the essence- she moans as her hips expand, then clasps her hands over her mouth. ‘Did that hurt?’

“…No. Ow.” Ah, blushing. That wasn’t pain. Except for when she stabbed herself in the cheeks with her new claws. More essence- I can fix it!

‘Yeah, we better blunt those. I’ll do it manually. Pop 'em out for a pedicure- and take your boots off too, I also did your toes.’ She sits up and takes her boots and socks off, popping the claws down there out at the same time. I briefly consider giving her those adorable little rubber claw tips you put on cats, but then I just wear off the edges with a pass of my tentacles. ‘Do you have nail polish?’

“Um? I did at home but it’s not exactly an essential item for delves. Speaking of, ah, could you do my eyes?”

‘Eyes?’

“I’m far-sighted. My father has reading glasses at home but they’re far too valuable and fragile to bring with me- plus, he uses them too.” She’s never mentioned a mother. Should I ask? Naw.

‘Drake or Sahii eyes? I can’t just fix them as they are- not yet. I’m comparing, looking at how things are done in other bodies and them copying them to yours.’ She looks between Netli and Ms. Kittysaur.

“Um. Drake. Just to see- well, how they see. Plus, Sahii have poor day vision and I don’t sleep during the day.”

‘Yeah, you guys don’t have internet.’ I give her new eyes and she blinks, then gapes and looks around. Cat eyes.

“This is incredible, the colors, everything is so CRISP-” She looks at her hands, flexing her claws again, then looks up at me and smiles brightly. “Thank you so much, this is…” Fuck, crying AGAIN. And what do I say? Yea, you’re welcome?

‘De nada.’ Another puzzled cock of the head. I wanna give her cat ears. Cat eyes and cat claws, she’s halfway to catgirl already. Except they’re drake, not cat. ‘Lie back down, I’m doing your heart.’ She giggles as she lies back down.

“Did you know? There’s something called essence euphoria. Normally you have to drink concentrated essence water to get it, but you’re pumping so much into me…” Crying and giggling at the same time with a big smile on her face. Yeah, she does seem a little high. Copy the code of Netli’s heart over. No choice here- Ms. Kittysaur doesn’t have a heart. She wiggles and gasps as I change her. “Wait, what’s wrong with my heart?”

‘Nothing, now. It did have a thin wall which may have been a problem sometime in the future. Moving on to the bones.’ Without letting her respond I move onto the next step.

I pump more essence into her. She arches her back and moans as her bowed legs and arms pop back into position. If I still had the proper organs…

‘Okay, think we’re done for today. Probably best not to overdo it.’ Also things might get awkward in the morning if I continue. She’s already melting bonelessly into the table and sorta wiggling in place. She raises an arm and stares at it smiling, then raises a leg to stare at that, then frowns. Her hands go to her belt. ‘Don’t take your pants off.’

“But I wanna see! Am I pretty now?”

Uhhhhhh.

‘I’ll put a mirror in your room and you can look at yourself all day.’

“I have a room?!” Shit.

‘Not yet, I need to build it.’

“Awww…” She’s pouting again, snuggling into her pillow.

‘Take a nap, I have to work on Netli now.’ She doesn’t sleep, but she does just watch quietly. Netli is a good patient who doesn’t wiggle and moan, probably because he’s asleep and missing an important bit of his soul. Just a few minor repairs. Now that I look at it I also spot a flaw- having sweat glands beneath scales probably isn’t great, but that’s the sort of thing I’d need to ask permission for before changing. Also, a plan. Skin patches above the sweat glands probably.

Finally I grab the jar of will and suck the will out, then stab him in the head with my trunk and blow it in. Highly scientific medical process. Bryn winces as she watches. A little healing pulse of essence and-

“WOO!” He wakes up and leaps off the slab. “I- what- OH! OH! THANK YOU! YOU HEALED ME!” All of my tendrils SNAP back into my shell as he lunges over and gives me an awkward hug- I can feel dense aura washing over me. It puts Itzal’s to shame, though it barely extends a few feet. “I gotta go tell gran and gramps!” He’s off running- he actually vaults over the crab and onto the wagon rather than take the time to run around them, laughing as he lands on a cactus. “OW! Gahahaha! Sorry ‘bout your plants! I’ll be back! BYE!” Then he’s out the door.

Hmm.

My tendrils slowly slide back out of my shell. Bryn giggles sleepily.

“Can I have a blanket?” Bryn asks.

I make her a blanket.