arboreal_priestess | The Sewers, Baltimore, Friday Afternoon

The first out-of-the-way manhole cover they could find was located on the edge of a small park, about a block and a half away from Sarah's hotel. It was mostly hidden in the middle of one of those little seating areas that spring up around the city like mushrooms after a hard rain. The few people who did walk by pretty much ignored them. "I love big city life," Verity said quietly, looking around.

Liam had removed his jacket and shirt before taking the crowbar Sarah somehow managed to wheedle out of the hotel manager--when a cuckoo got involved, it was better not to ask exactly how they accomplished things--and setting to work. Sarah was back at the hotel, gulping Tylenol and keeping a telepathic 'eye' on the area. She would let them know if she saw trouble coming.

In the meanwhile, Verity was absorbed with the all-important task of checking her weapons, including the emergency throwing knives and smoke grenades she'd retrieved from Sarah's closet. Well, that, and watching the way the muscles of Liam's back moved every time he strained to get a better degree of leverage on the manhole cover.

Look, they were about to descend into a sewer and possibly discover a dragon. Verity felt no shame in ogling Liam a bit.

At least until he shoved the manhole cover off to one side, releasing an unpleasant gust of sewer smell.

Verity	Verity wrinkled her nose, desire firmly killed by a rising tide of disgust. "One subterranean tour of Baltimore, coming right up," she said, sheathing her last knife before sliding off the dumpster she'd been perching on. She trotted over to help Liam get ready to descend into the darkness. The things she did to keep potentially extinct monsters from eating the human race, good lord.
Liam	The manhole had opened to reveal a rusty metal ladder bolted into the concrete and pointing straight down into the sewer system. Liam headed down first, more because being the one to slide the manhole cover off meant he was closest, rather than any need to be the one to fight off anything that might attack. "... I'm going to have to burn these shoes when we're done here," Liam grumbled as he reached the bottom of the ladder.
Verity	By bracing her feet against one side of the narrow tunnel and her shoulders against the other, Verity was able--barely--to get sufficient leverage to let her pull the manhole cover back into place. Most of the light died once the opening was sealed, leaving only a few narrow beams to illuminate their descent. "In a sewer, in the dark, searching for dragons," she muttered. "And who says I'm not a romantic?" The ladder ended after about fifteen feet, when her questing foot hit a chilly layer of half-congealed water. Grimacing, she dropped off the ladder, letting water soak through her socks, and pulled the cave light out of her bag, clipping it to her belt before saying, "Close your eyes. I'm going to turn the light on."
Liam	"You know, if I'd known today was going to involve running around in the sewers, I would've brought my night-sights," Liam commented even as he complied.
Verity	"Get on my level for planning dates then," Verity teased, flipping on the cave light--a miniature halogen designed for deep spelunking and hunting basilisks in the woods on moonless nights. "You'll notice I'm prepared." Because who didn't go out to the city loaded for potential poking around in the sewers? Amateurs, that was who. "You can open your eyes now," she said, swinging her light around to examine the sewer. She wouldn't have been surprised to learn that the tunnel they were in was labeled as 'generic Baltimore sewer tunnel, model 16-C' on the official maps. The walls were just the right shade of grimy, slightly-mossy concrete gray; the slime covering the floor was just the right depth, with just the right questionable texture. Verity glanced up and nodded, satisfied. "Thought so."
Liam	"Thought so what?" Liam asked, giving her a curious look.
Verity	"Look up." Verity jerked a thumb toward the ceiling to better illustrate her point. "Look at the light fixtures." The light fixtures dangling from the concrete ceiling were ostensibly for use by city maintenance personnel. That would have worked fine, if they’d actually been functional. With the cave light directed at the bulbs, it was clear that they might look like lights from a distance, but were really nothing but blown glass covered in Halloween store cobwebs. They even had lengths of yarn where the filaments should have been, guaranteeing that no amount of tinkering would get them to turn on. Classic moves by some of the more nocturnal and subterranean cryptids, like bugbears, hidebehinds, and even some bogeymen. They kept themselves safe and hidden by playing to human stereotypes. "Can you guess which way we're going?"
Liam	"Cute," Liam said, with a slight smile and a shake of his head once he spotted the fakes for what they were. "Real cute." He glanced around, surveying the tunnel branches. Two of them looked naturally broken-down and unpleasant, while the third wouldn't have looked out of place in a midnight monster movie. "I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that one," he decided, nodding towards the third tunnel.
Verity	"Smart and sexy, I like that in a man," Verity said, turning down the tunnel that looked like it should have a sign warning travelers not to go near the castle. "The top layers are likely to be bugbear and maybe--maybe--Jersey devil territory. Under that, we'll have the hidebehinds, and under them, the subterranean bogeymen." There were various other underground races they might encounter, but those were the big guys: the ones with sufficient numbers to have a say in what passed for local 'government,' and sufficient intelligence not to mess with Verity and Liam unless they felt threatened. "And under all that stuff...probably the dragon." If it was a dragon. Verity didn't want to get her hopes up.
Liam	"When we're back topside, you're going to have to explain to me what all those beings you just mentioned are," Liam said, shaking his head. With the exception of bogeymen, he had no idea. The tunnel they'd been proceeding down split again, two branches this time that seemed more or less identical. No extra-spooky ambiance to offer a clue as to the correct path.
Verity	"Aww, keep that up and I'll be able to bring you home to meet the family," Verity teased. "Mom and Dad will be pleased to hear I'm dating a cryptozoologist in training. Dad will probably send books." She dug through her bag until she found a pair of high-bounce balls she'd purchased earlier from supermarket vending machines and held them up for Liam to see. "So, I know you've got some spelunking and caving history, but I was thinking we could just consult the oracle. Betting it's faster."
Liam	Now was not the time split hairs about semantics regarding spelunking and caving, so instead Liam just shot Verity a somewhat confused look. "Your oracle is a pair of rubber balls?"
Verity	That was her grandma's area of expertise anyway. "Round rubber balls," Verity corrected, and stepped forward, bending to place the balls carefully at the mouths of the two tunnels. "Okay. Watch the balls, not my ass." And let the balls go.
Liam	"Well, that's hardly fair," Liam said with a dramatic sigh, but did as he was asked.
Verity	Hey, Verity would be okay if he cheated a little. She was a dancer. A great ass just came with the territory. Any kid could explain that a high-bounce ball, when released, will immediately start making a break for freedom--even if it was put down on a completely level surface. The sewer tunnels were far from level. The two balls began rolling forward at the same pace, but the ball on the left started gaining speed almost immediately, accelerating until its brother was left in the proverbial dust. Verity straightened. "We go that way," she said, pointing down the leftward fork. "Thanks be to the Oracle."
Liam	The last time someone had said something like that in Liam's presence, it had set in motion the events that led to his death. Hopefully this time would be different! "Makes sense," he agreed. "Sarah did say we needed to go down."
Verity	Well...they were about to go fight off a crazy snake cult, so there was like a 50/50 chance of there being an attempted ritual sacrifice. On the other hand, they seemed to prefer female victims, so Liam would probably be safe? From sacrifice, though probably not outright murder. Sorry about that Liam. "And now we know which tunnel leads more down," she said with a quick nod. "So, basic plan I've managed to come up with in the time we've been down here: go as deep as we can, and then find the locals. If there's a dragon down here--and there's not really much 'if' about it, not if Sarah can spot the thing--then anybody who lives close enough to it should be feeling the effects. Whatever those are. So we're just going to find the bottom, and then we're going to ask for directions."
Liam	"Straightforward," Liam said with a nod. "I like it." Assuming that whatever lived down here felt like talking, of course.
Verity	He'd be surprised how often people felt like talking when a Price was doing the questioning. Especially when there was someone from the Covenant in town. "Simple plans are usually the best," Verity replied. "Hard to screw up." Behind them, in the darkness, she heard the distinctive scrape of metal against metal. "...But not impossible," she sighed, sounding deeply apologetic.
Liam	"Things did seem to be going a little too well," Liam agreed, drawing his beam pistol as he turned to press his back against Verity's.
Verity	Verity also pulled a weapon from her belt, still clinging to her halogen light with the other hand. There was no sign of whomever—or whatever—had drawn the knife, but she could hear the scuffle of claws on concrete, too large and too heavy to belong to the rats. "Our only escape routes are forward and back," she murmured. "Not really great." Which meant at least trying diplomacy. More loudly, she said, "Okay, people. If you want to talk, we're prepared to talk. And if you want to dance..." Again the sound of metal on metal, from a different direction this time. Well. That answered that. "Okay. Let’s dance."
Liam	There was a pause after that quip, just long enough that Liam was about to suggest that they start moving again. Naturally, that's when the walls around them bulged, transmuting from flat stone into lumpy, uneven crags. The crags split away from the walls, becoming a group of roughly-humanoid figures in tattered, mismatched clothing. "What," Liam said, sotto-voice, "are those?" Verity was, after all, the resident expert.
Verity	Verity gasped. It was a stupid, girly thing to do, but she couldn't help herself. she'd been studying cryptids since before she knew her ABCs. She'd been specializing in the humanoid cryptids since second grade. But these...whatever they were...they were nothing she'd ever seen before. That realization was almost as chilling as the one that accompanied it. "I don't know," she said, hopefully softly enough that Liam could hear and the creatures would not. But who knew how sensitive their hearing was? "Also, don't look now, but we're trapped."
??????	The figures continued to separate from the walls around them; at least ten, maybe more, since the way their outlines shifted and blended together made it difficult to say for sure. They were hairless, about six feet tall, and covered head to toe in tiny green-and-brown scales. None of them was carrying a gun, but they all had at least one weapon in their hands, and in close quarters, knives and lead pipes would get you just as dead as bullets. Holes torn in the seats of their pants allowed their long, whipcord-thin tails to wave free. Several of them were clutching additional weapons with those tails, waving them with prehensile menace.
Verity	"Oh, fuck, killer Sleestaks." Verity pressed further back against Liam. She could almost feel him getting ready to ask for more information. "I so don't have time to explain The Land of the Lost right now." The creatures had them outnumbered, and while they might have fought against humans before, she'd never fought against them. She wanted to watch them move for as long as she could. She shifted her weight onto the balls of her feet, assuming the position she'd use to start a samba. Samba, street fight, it was all the same once you found the rhythm. Pitching her voice toward the lizard-men, she said, "My name is Verity Price. My companion and I mean you no harm. We're just passing through, on important business."
Stabby?	Three more of the lizard-men produced knives from inside their grimy shirts.
Verity	Time to try a different approach. "Do you know the name Dave Smith?" Verity asked. "The local bogeyman community will vouch for me." They definitely understood that, since their reaction was different this time: two of them hissed balefully, and one produced a nasty-looking hacksaw from inside his vest. Okay, look, she'd said 'different,' not 'better.'
Liam	Yeah, these guys definitely didn't fall under the 'willing to talk to a Price' category. "I don't think you’re talking us out of this," Liam commented drily.
Verity	"I guess we're just going to have to go the old-fashioned route." The lizard-man with the hacksaw hissed. That must have been a signal. The rest immediately stopped their baleful glaring and began to advance, clawed feet clacking on the sewer floor. "Let's kick some lizard ass."
Sewer Lizard	With a wild, ululating cry that was half reptile, half human, and all nightmare-inducing, the creatures charged. Verity leaned into Liam just long enough to kick the first of the attackers in the chin. Its jaws snapped shut on its serpentine tongue, and it made a wordless sound of pain. Her heel caught it in the forehead as she brought her foot back down.
Verity	Ten lizard-men, a half-alien sheriff, and a Price girl: there was no way to turn that into even odds and for once she wasn't being cute about it being unfair for her enemies. The lizard-man she'd kicked in the head was on his knees, blood running from the sides of his mouth. She kicked him a third time, sending him over backward before jumping up and using his chest as a source of higher ground. Without that extra bit of height, the lizard-men had more than six inches on her. Being short was the worst.
Sleestaks (For Lack of a Better Term)	Six of the lizard-men were heading for Liam, their tails whipping around to strike his back and shoulders. Verity's count had been off by two, because even with her new stepstool groaning and motionless beneath her, there were six more closing in on her position.
Liam	There were several reasons Liam favored a beam pistol over traditional ammunition, and one of them was the lack of ricochet. Helpful, when fighting in close quarters. Less helpful was the fact that he was clearly outnumbered. Still, he managed to fire off a flurry of shots in what was more or less an effort to hack his way through the wall of advancing lizard-men.
The Oncoming Horde	In the movies, when the hero is surrounded by a gang of ne'er-do-wells who mean to do him (or her) harm, they always offer the courtesy of approaching one at a time, thus letting themselves be mowed down by the hero's superior fighting skills and devastating repartee. These lizard-men clearly hadn't seen that many movies, since they belonged more to the school of 'run at the enemy until the enemy stops fighting back.' The only benefit to this was the sheer number of targets that it afforded both of them, with several of the lizard-men going down to shots to the arm or leg. Two stayed down, one with enough damage to his knee to make standing impossible, the other with a sizable hole through his hand. But the others got back up and continued to press towards him, weapons out and ready.
Verity	"I've always loved a challenge," Verity said--more for effect than because she meant a word of it--and leaped, baton raised, toward the next of the lizard-men. Her first lizard-man didn't move even after she launched herself from his chest. She slammed her baton into the throat of the next one in the line, hearing the distinct breaking-plywood sound of his larynx giving way. He went down immediately, clutching at his throat. With two lizard-men down and five remaining, she was no longer devastatingly outnumbered, just horrifyingly outnumbered, and those were odds she was better-equipped to deal with. "How you doing, Liam?" she called.
Liam	The down side of any kind of firearm was that it made a terrible defensive weapon. Which was why Liam had ended up holstering it after that initial volley of shots and was now just using his shaqarava. One of the lizard-men managed to get close enough to get its claws into Liam's midsection, and Liam reacted almost on instinct, hands reaching up to grip the lizard-man's head. It dropped to the ground moments later, lifeless. With a deep breath, Liam advanced on the next of the creatures, this one wielding a piece of rebar like one would a sword.
The Angry Mutant Mob	Liam's allotment of lizard-men was starting to advance again, faster this time, their tails waving wildly. Their hissing had acquired a distinctly pissed-off note, distinguishable from their earlier hissing only because it came with a healthy dose of snarling and exposed teeth. The one with the rebar swung at Liam, hard enough to make the air whistle, aiming right for Liam's face. The rest were pressing Verity hard as well. She'd swung her baton at the next lizard-man, aiming for his kidneys at the last moment. Unfortunately, that was the moment when another of the lizard-men caught her in the back of the thighs with a length of lead pipe, sending her staggering for balance. The lizard-man she'd been swinging at whipped his tail around and yanked the baton from her hands, flinging it away into the darkness.
Verity	"Hey!" Verity yelped, from anger as much as from surprise. That baton was a gift from her brother. She didn't appreciate having it taken away by a crazy cryptid with territory issues. Since she was already staggering, she let herself hit the ground in a runner's crouch, pulling the throwing knives from the holster strapped around her left ankle. It was difficult to tell exactly where the lizard-men were--the distortion from the cave walls made it almost impossible to know what was the original noise, and what was just a decoy--but Liam's breathing was distinct enough from theirs that Verity could tell where it wasn't safe to aim. Whipping around to face the attackers coming up behind her, Verity half rose and snapped her wrists forward. Three years under the tutelage of the Incredible Christopher during the summer with the local circus had apparently all led to this: an underground battle with an unidentified race of lizard-men. The knives flew straight and true toward their targets, one burying itself in the throat of a lizard-man, while the other caught another in the shoulder. The one she'd hit in the throat went down like a sack of potatoes. The other remained standing, but squealed, losing his hold on the larger of his two knives. "Liam!" Verity shouted again, barely ducking a blow from that fucking lead pipe again. "Seriously, what's the situation on your end?"
Liam	Right, right, she'd asked him a question, hadn't she? "A little busy!" he yelped as he ducked down, just narrowly missing getting smacked in the face. Hope you didn't need that left leg, rebar-wielding lizard-man, because it was now a smouldering mass of flesh. Hooray, barbequed sewer-lizard.
Verity	THAT WOULD BE A COOKOUT, LIAM, GOD. "I know!" Verity dodged another blow, pulling a stiletto from her sleeve and stabbing the lizard-man's tail before he could pull it away. He shrieked as he yanked his tail back, taking her stiletto with it. Fighting in quarters this cramped was resulting in a surprisingly large number of lost weapons. "How many do you have left?"
Liam	"Three!" Liam replied, sending another lizard-man tumbling back over one of his downed fellows. "You?"
Verity	"Two and a half!" One of the downed lizard-men staggered to his feet, and Verity amended, "Three and a half!" The nearest lizard-man lunged for her. She jumped clear, barely, jamming a hand into the waistband of her jeans as her left shoulder slammed into the wall. She hit stone, not concealed lizard-man; that was one possible complication down the drain.
Liam	"I'm thinking retreat!" Liam shouted, sounding less than pleased about that fact. He didn't like backing down, but even though they'd made considerable headway in that department, they were still outnumbered. And though there were no more lizard-men hiding in the immediate vicinity, who knew if there were reinforcements further down?
Verity	"I'm liking the way you think!" Verity called. Yanking the .32 from her hip holster, she released the safety and took aim. She fired first at her two most intact lizard-men, catching one in the forehead and the other in the throat. They went down hard. She put two more bullets into a third lizard-man, the reports leaving her ears ringing until she could barely hear the shrieks echoing through the sewers. Where Liam's energy pistol had been almost silent, her tiny gun was anything but, roaring in the close, echoing confines of the sewer.
Gunfire Bad	It had more of an effect on the lizard-men as well. They were even more sensitive to sound than the humans; stopping their attack and all of them turning to Verity as they hissed and bared their teeth.
Verity	Mouseguns were intended for self-defense and designed to be easily concealed in street clothes, not to hold enormous numbers of bullets. Verity kept her .32 raised, trying to look cool and unruffled, despite the blood she could feel trickling down her cheek from a cut near her hairline. she was going to be sore in the morning, assuming they lived through the night. "I know you understand English," she said, focusing on the lizard-man with the hacksaw. He was still standing, and he was her best guess for the leader. "Let's see if you can understand this: back off and let us leave, or I start shooting again." If they knew firearms, they'd know she was bluffing. If they knew firearms, they'd probably have brought some.
Liam	Slowly, the lizard-men began to back up. They weren't backing away, exactly—the tunnel was too narrow for that—but they were clearing the necessary space for Liam to move to Verity's side, palms still facing out and glowing with the energy of the shaqarava. "Now what?" he asked her.
Verity	"Now you're going to lead me out of here, so I don't have to take my eyes off our new buddies," Verity said, keeping the gun aimed, unwavering, at the lizard-leader's forehead.
Liam	"Right," Liam nodded, moving to step behind Verity and place a hand on her shoulder. A moment later, he began moving forward, tugging her along with him back the way they'd come. The previously-dry floor now had a liberal coating of blood and lizard-man chunks, which meant going slowly if they wanted to stay upright.
Verity	Once they reached the first turn in the tunnel, she stepped back, lowered her gun, and looked to Liam. "This is where we run," she informed him, grabbing his hand and booking it back up the incline toward the place where they'd entered.
Tall, Dark, & Scaly	The lizard-men had stayed where they were as the humans (or mostly humans) had moved away, their tongues flicking, snakelike, to sample the air. Once they realized that their prey had turned to run, however, they gave chase, the sound of clawed feet striking stone echoing up all the way back to the ladder leading to the surface.
Verity	At the bottom of the ladder, Verity stopped and shoved Liam forward, shouting, "Go! I'll be right behind you!"
Liam	Part of Liam wanted to argue, but the more rational part of his brain pointed out that while they both had firearms with which to hold off the lizard-men, Verity's made noise, which they seemed to be pretty sensitive to. "Right behind me," Liam said firmly, scrambling up the ladder and pushing the manhole cover aside, flooding the tunnel with light as he did so.
Verity	Verity heard squeals of reptilian anguish coming from the direction of their pursuers. Looked like their subterranean Sleestak knockoffs couldn't stand the sunlight. She drew her gun again and fired once into the darkness, just to keep them from getting any funny ideas, and followed Liam up, into the light. The familiar mental static of Sarah's proximity snapped on as soon as she got to ground level. Verity was too tired to perform the internal gymnastics of trying to shout without using her mouth, and Sarah had to be aware of her presence, too. "Sarah's trying to reach us," she told Liam, wearily. "Should I call or is this something you could...?" She made a few vague hand gestures towards her forehead. That probably wasn't recognized ASL for 'telepathy,' Verity.
Liam	Not really, no. "Call," Liam confirmed with a nod. His abilities, such as they were, didn't have much in the way of range. "Easier."
Sarah	Sarah picked up before the first ring had time to finish. "How badly injured are you?" she demanded.
Verity	"I'll probably never play the piano again, but my wounds are mostly superficial. I'm going to have some awesome bruises." Verity could feel them forming across the back of her thighs where the lizard-man caught her with the pipe. Still, at least it hadn't been the hacksaw. "Not sure what Liam's status is. We were fighting pretty much blind."
Sarah	"Come back to the hotel. I'll meet you in the lobby and walk you up to my room. Don't argue!" The fierceness of her tone would have been comic under almost any other circumstances. "Aunt Evelyn would have my ears if I let you leave here without checking you over."
Verity	Verity was too tired to argue. "We'll be there," she said and hung up. "You okay?" she asked, walking over to Liam and putting a hand on his shoulder.
Liam	"A few scratches," Liam reported. And a nasty gash across his midsection that was rather more than a scratch, shhh. "You're bleeding," he noted.
Verity	"So're you," Verity pointed out. There was a shininess she didn't like to the fabric on the right sleeve of his jacket. She reached out, brushing her fingers against it. They came away slick and slightly sticky. "Your blood, or someone else's?"
Liam	"Both," Liam said. "I’d like to think I gave as well as I got."
Verity	"So much for minor abrasions." Verity stepped back. "Sarah's going to meet us at the hotel. She can give us a once-over before we head out of here."
Liam	"Makes sense," Liam admitted. While he could heal Verity's injuries, he'd need help bandaging up his own, and a hospital or clinic was out of the question. Not only would his injuries be hard to explain, but different reality or not, the idea of anyone getting a blood or DNA sample off of him still made him nervous. "One question, though," he added. "What, exactly, is a 'Sleestak'?"
Verity	"Okay, so back in, like, ye olden times of the 70s, there was this show..." Verity made it halfway through her explanation of Land of the Lost before they reached the Ivy Hotel. Sarah was waiting for them on the sidewalk outside, eyes wide and bleached from their normal glacial blue to an icy blue-white. Her telepathic shields were down, leaving her an open receptor for anything in range. It was dangerous as hell, and not something she did very often, but Verity had to admire the sense behind her actions. If any of the lizard-men had managed to follow them out of the sewers, she'd 'hear' them before they could attack us. "Hey, Sarah," she said, offering her cousin a wave with one grimy, blood-mottled hand.
Sarah	Her relief was visible. A small measure of the color bled back into her eyes, like ink spreading through blotter paper. "I can't leave you alone for five minutes without you finding something horrible to get into, can I? Come on, both of you. I've got everyone in the lobby primed to ignore us, but I can't keep it up for long."
Verity	"You're the one that sent us off to find a dragon," Verity pointed out, and followed her, waving for Liam to do the same. Sarah was true to her word: although the lobby was full of people, none of them even glanced their way as they walked past them to the elevators. They were unkempt enough to have been a spectacle in a place as ritzy as the Ivy, even if they hadn't been covered head to toe in a delightful blend of sewage, blood, and slime. Somebody should have called the cops as soon as they crossed the threshold. Instead, they were able to board the elevator, the operator giving them a respectful touch of his hat as he sent the elevator towards the penthouse. If this was what it was like to be a cuckoo, Verity could see the appeal.
Sarah	Sarah's eyes returned to their normal shade of slightly-alien blue as soon as the elevator doors closed behind them. When they entered the penthouse, she went straight for the kitchen, saying, "I'll get the first aid kit. You two figure out which of you is hurt worse, and just let me know where I'm starting."
Liam	"I can take care of your injuries easily enough," Liam pointed out to Verity. "If you want to skip the first aid kit."
Verity	Verity looked him over, a little worried. "Deal," she said, since she couldn't really afford to not be at her best right now. "But after Sarah's had a chance to patch you up and you've rested for a bit. Fair?"
Liam	"If you insist," Liam relented, grimacing somewhat as he shrugged out of his jacket and shirt, both of which were pretty much lost causes. Thankfully, Liam himself had fared at least a little better than that: there was a gash on his midsection deep enough that breathing was... uncomfortable, and gouges along his right arm, but neither was life-threatening.
Verity	Normally, Verity would be all over Liam stripping his shirt off, but those injuries made her wince. "I'm insisting," she said, looking him over. "I don't want you dying of septic shock." The weapons the lizard-men were using had hardly been clean, after all.
Sarah	"None of that in my penthouse," said Sarah, walking back into the room with a standard drugstore first aid kit in one hand and a paring knife in the other. "The maid service is annoying enough about wanting access to the place to clean." She put both down on the coffee table, extracting a cup from the first aid kit before looking the two of them studiously up and down. "Yeah, Liam, you're definitely going first. Take off your shirt and come over here?" Sarah picked up the paring knife, shooting Verity a sour look and sighed. "Ah, the joys of alternative biology," she said, and slashed the knife quickly along the curve of her left bicep. A thick, clear substance started leaking out of the cut. Still wincing, Sarah traded the knife for the cup and began collecting it.
Liam	Liam frowned, halfway through the requested shirt-removal. "What-?" It wasn't the sight of non-human blood that stopped him cold so much as the way Sarah was casually bleeding in to the cup.
Verity	"Cuckoos bleed sort of a biological antifreeze," Verity supplied, moving to sit next to Sarah on the couch. She dug through the first aid kit and continued, "It's the best topical antibiotic we've ever found, and it doesn’t really have any nasty side effects."
Sarah	"If you don't count me having to bleed, which Very clearly doesn't," said Sarah dryly. She took the gauze Verity was holding out for her, slapping it over her bicep and taping it down. "Cuckoo biology. Putting a healthy dose of 'what the fuck' into your daily life."
Verity	"No fancy purple glow," Verity teased, "But it'll prevent infection, it'll reduce scarring, and it helps heal you up in a lot less time than usual." She shot Sarah a fond look. "Knew you had to be good for something."
Sarah	"Ha ha, she's hilarious," Sarah said, as Verity started wiping down Liam's arm with a damp towel, trying to get all the blood and any residual sewer-gunk off before Sarah started working in earnest.
Liam	"I honestly didn’t think it was that bad," Liam said, looking a little sheepish as he glanced down at his arm. Hooray adrenaline?
Sarah	"We'll get you fixed right up," said Sarah, moving the towel aside. She picked up the cup and began carefully dribbling its contents over the wound. "How's that feel?"
Liam	The sharp, stabbing pain from the wound being cleaned out was replaced by... something else entirely. "Kinda, um. Tingly?" Liam admitted.
Sarah	"Natural painkiller. I'm a walking analgesic. Trust me, you'll be glad," said Sarah. She put the cup down, looking to her cousin. "Ready, Verity?"
Liam	... Analgesic? Oh. Oh no. That was bad. Liam knew that was bad. Why was that bad, though? That was the part he was struggling to remember right about now.
Verity	Verity didn't seem to think it was bad. Verity was pretty pleased with how it worked, once you got over smearing translucent blood all over your wounds. She held up a needle and a suture kit. "Don't worry, Liam," she said. "I've been stitched up this way, too. The needle's gonna feel a little weird, but it won't hurt. Cuckoo blood is pretty powerful stuff."
Liam	"M'already feeling a little weird," Liam admitted, punctuating that statement with a real, honest-to-god giggle. Powerful stuff, indeed.