[ jera | harvesting skins like the opportunist he is ]

[putmeinstitches]

[PHONE | FRIDAY AFTERNOON]

Is this all they can throw at us? The slime was good, I'll admit. I thought I was going to suffocate for a moment there. But these monsters have no bite. They're big, but they're slow. It's almost disappointing.

[ACTION | LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON]

[What's that horrible smell? It's that unique noxious gas you get

Comments

[duck_duck_laser]

[Dakki's day has been one of gleefully running across town and subjugating creatures. It's a disappointment and a relief when she comes across the scent of burning and a dead ant carcass.

And it's just plain confusing when she comes across Loki trying to... to...]

What are you doing?

[A better question would, perhaps, be "since when do you have two arms?" as it's been a while since they saw each other but... priorities.]

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[Loki says it like it should be perfectly obvious.]

Skinning the beast!

[He doesn't even pause to look up at her.]

[duck_duck_laser]

[That wasn't a very satisfying answer. Then again, she didn't ask the right question. There is a moment of sputtering delay while she attempts what may be the correct one.]

...why are you skinning it?

[She, meanwhile, keeps approaching.]

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To get the skin!

[If Loki were feeling more cooperative, he could probably have explained that he intended to use the skin for shapeshifting. However, Loki a) is busy and b) likes being a little shit, so he'll stick to cryptic for now.]

[duck_duck_laser]

....

[Dakki stifles a groan, and brings herself the rest of the way over. She hadn't spent too much time deeply analyzing the carcasses of the ants that she had slain, but she had quite a bit of experience in killing practically every possible kind of creature.]

...that stuff doesn't look a thing like real insect chitin.

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It might still work. The only way to know is to try!

[He knows she still has no idea what he plans to do with it, but unless she asks, he's not going to explain~

Loki just keeps cutting away at that thorax.]

[duck_duck_laser]

[There is no longer any need to be exasperated or irritated. Because this has just gotten more interesting.]

Try? Try what? [Then, brightly,] Do you want a hand with that?

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[He grins.]

I won't say no to that.

[He tosses her a spare knife.]

As for what I'm going to do with it...well, a while ago, I got an ability back that lets me take on the shape of anything I've got the pelt of. I thought I'd try it with one of these monsters here.

[duck_duck_laser]

[She catches the knife without hesitation, and starts to working on a spot that Loki hadn't gotten to yet.

...she's already under the impression that this was never, at any point, a living creature. But she had offered to help...]

You can do that? Really? That's an impressive power!

But I'm still maintaining that this isn't an actual giant insect. [She detaches more of the skin from the carcass. If you had to ask her, it was leather coated in some kind of crude polymer.] I know my giant insects.

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[He grins.]

You should have seen what I could do back home. I didn't even need skins. They just make it easier.

[Loki does glance over at her curiously -- but only for a moment, he's got to watch what he's doing.]

Seen 'em before, have you?

[duck_duck_laser]

That's interesting. Just... general shape-shifting? You're very talented, Loki. What else could you do back home?

[More and more of the outer ant casing is coming apart from the frame, with Dakki's assistance. She pauses for a few moments while she looks over at him, but is also quick to get back to work and concentrate.]

...Mmhmm, I have. The caves on Ragol had large mantis-like creatures. The scientists up on Pioneer 2 named them "Grass Assassins". They had terrible blade-like front limbs.

[And she trails off. Better concentrate, yes, yes. Don't want to take a chunk out of her own hand.

Or Loki's. Been there, done that... there's an uncomfortable little shifting of her shoulders.]

...I once met a Hunter who had a set of blades made out a pair of Grass Assassin cutter-arms. They were very nice.

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I'm no stranger to monsters, but where I come from, it was too cold for insects to get that big. They'd never survive the winter.

[He grits his teeth, working out a particularly delicate cut. Then --]

I could do lots of things. I could change my shape, I could control fire, and I had a pair of shoes that let me walk in the sky. I knew magic. Runes, potions, spell-songs--no one was better than me, except Odin and maybe Freyja. Then again, Freyja was a woman, and they're naturally better at magic than men are. It explains why Odin was so good!

[He laughs. Ha ha ha, Odin, he hates you so much.]

[duck_duck_laser]

Aah. The caves beneath Ragol were warm and damp. The right environment for Grass Assassins to get that large. Although there were other factors, too...

[Dakki, meanwhile, has been avoiding the particularly delicate cuts. She's better at killing things than skinning them.]

...women are naturally better at magic? [A tiny part of her wanted to argue the premise, but the rest was too interesting. Plus the matter of Odin. If Odin was so good...]

Odin was a little on the girly side, was he? [She's stifling a laugh, there. Yes, yes, Captain Obvious, explain the joke...]

[putmeinstitches]

There might have been slight feminine proclivities. He'd wander around the earth disguised as a witch, sowing strife and causing trouble everywhere he went.

[Is Loki cutting that skin away a little more forcefully, or is that your imagination?]

[duck_duck_laser]

I don't think I like the sound of him.

...ahh, careful, the skin is thinner on that part!

[He was cutting more forcefully, she was quite sure!]

[putmeinstitches]

Huh? Oh!

[...right. Loki slows down, cutting more carefully.]

Thanks. Got a little carried away there.