Chapter 4
Perfuma could hear the pattering of rain outside of Horror Hall, and quietly listened to it as she felt Scorpia's soft breath and steady heartbeat against her lithe frame. The scorpion had settled and, as far as Perfuma could tell, she was asleep. She hoped some rest would help give her some energy, or a clearer head the next time they talked. At the very least, she was glad to provide her companion some semblance of comfort. The topic of their relationship hadn't been fully breached, not yet, but the soft touches, snuggling, verbal terms of affection were all there, ever present. She was certain that she loved Scorpia, and that the other woman loved her in return.
What had stilled her throat at the thought of taking their relationship to the next stage was worry that Scorpia would throw herself into it with a fervor she wasn't yet ready for. It hadn't been so long ago that she had left an abusive, pseudo-romantic relationship with Catra, and it wasn't beyond the scorpion to throw everything she had onto someone else, and give all of herself to an unhealthy extent. Scorpia had been forthcoming about the nature of that relationship and while Catra had never referred to Scorpia romantically as far as Perfuma (and as far as Scorpia likely) knew, Scorpia's feelings for Catra had been romantic, and the nature of their relationship had slanted that way. And it had taken such an abusive turn in the end, before Scorpia had left to save Entrapta. And knowing Scorpia as she felt she did now, Perfuma wasn't so sure her friend would have saved herself from abuse if Entrapta's life hadn't been at stake.
This relationship was different, of course. Perfuma was a different person entirely from Catra, and Scorpia had learned from her time in the Horde and subsequently free from the horde and in the company of the rebellion. However, as she quietly regarded the mostly empty throne room, watching Emily peeking under the table at them, Perfuma was reminded that some habits were hard to break.
She looked down at the larger woman sleeping against her, absent-mindedly rubbing her back through the diamond-shaped opening in the back of her uniform. While it broke her heart that her companion chose to hide in darkness rather than admit to them what was happening, Perfuma chalked it to her upbringing. That kind of trauma was hard to push through. She hoped by being there for her now, and showing her a safer and more comfortable alternative, if anything like this should happen again she'd come to Perfuma rather than the throne room.
…that was if whatever she had wasn't life-threatening. Perfuma tried not to think about it. Scorpia had alluded to something like this happening before, right? And she was alive for it to happen again? Hopefully that was a good sign.
Finally Frosta returned, pushing a cart she got from…wherever she got it from. It was a horde-style cart filled with blankets, pillows and a few boxes.
Perfuma smiled warmly to Frosta as the young girl came to a stop and began to pull items out from the cart. "I brought tiny food," she shrugged. "Entrapta insisted it had to be tiny food." She placed the box down next to the table and flipped the lid, revealing bite-sized entrees.
"Actually, that'll probably be helpful," Perfuma said with a smile as she pulled the box in and looked through it to see if there was anything Scorpia might like and, most importantly, if anything looked healthy. It was hard enough to get her burly companion to eat vegetables, or even try new foods more than once. The horde had a terribly limited diet of ration bars and that seemed to wreck the scorpion's palette. Still, Scorpia always tried things at least once, and if Perfuma insisted she would try more than once as well.
If Scorpia really had been hiding here the last few days, Perfuma doubt she had brought food with her. That could at least partially explain why she was so weak.
She tried to shift the other woman in her arms, with significant difficulty as Scorpia was so much heavier than Perfuma was. With a gentle nudge, Perfuma spoke softly. "Hey…? Scorpia?"
Scorpia stirred, though her eyes remained closed. "Mm?"
Perfuma picked the veggiest-looking bite-sized piece – it looked like some kind of quiche? – and held it close to her nose and mouth. "We've got some food! Take a bite, please? It'll help get your strength back."
Scorpia could faintly smell it, but sick as she felt, nothing could smell appetizing to her in that moment. Still, when she felt a gentle pressure against her lips and Perfuma's soft request, she complied and ate it with her eyes closed. She had no idea what it was, and didn't care to. It took too much mental energy to try and make out what she was tasting, so she didn't, and just swallowed down whatever Perfuma gave her. Her thickened claws clicked in place, as if miming the grip Perfuma had on the bite-sized morsels.
As Perfuma coaxed her to eat, Frosta dragged pillows under the table, stacking them on the far end, against the wall furthest from the entrance. Sticking her tongue out in concentration, she glanced over at Scorpia and Perfuma, then mentally tried to guess how many pillows-length Scorpia was, then lined up pillows across. Tapping her jaw, she shifted the pillows to make an opening where Scorpia's tail was, and stacked more pillows around. Would that let her lay on her back without putting too much pressure on her tail? She hadn't noticed anything different about Scorpia's mattress (other than it was hard as a rock, seriously Frosta could sleep on a sheet of ice and that'd probably be softer), but if her tail hurt she probably wouldn't want to lay on her back if there wasn't space for the tail? But if the exoskeleton on her shoulders hurt it'd be hard to lay on her side, too? What positions were comfortable for a sore exoskeleton? What pillow arrangement would work for this?
Suddenly, Scorpia's communicator began beeping. Perfuma tried to lean for it, but was pinned partially by Scorpia's weight. "Ah!"
"I got it!" Frosta dove on her stomach and shot out like a slip and slide from under the table, catching the communicator from Emily. She hit it on, and turned so Perfuma and Emily would show up behind her when the video began.
"Hey!" Entrapta's grinning face took up most of the screen. "Bow and I did some research and we figured it out!"
"Bow?" Perfuma asked. Entrapta must have called him or perhaps he had called her, after hearing from Catra and Adora that Scorpia was missing. Still, the flower princess felt better knowing that he was involved as well. She trusted him. Her eyes lit up. "What did you find?!"
"Is her exoskeleton cracking at all?"
"Cracking?" Perfuma blinked, then quickly checked Scorpia's claw, the one closest to her view. There were fine cracks all over the whitened surface. "Oh! Yes!"
Frosta looked back to Perfuma, then to Entrapta. "Is that a good or bad thing?"
"It's a molting thing!" Entrapta said. "She's molting!"
"Molting?" Perfuma and Frosta looked to each other.
Entrapta stared at them, then spoke with a dramatic slowness. "Scorpia's shedding her old exoskeleton for a new one. It's a natural thing scorpions do."
Perfuma blinked. "But why is she so weak?"
"Molting takes a loooot of energy, like all of it. So…" Entrapta checked her data. "They lose all their vitality during the pre-molting stage…which can take a while. Wow." She re-read the data. "Like a month. The molting itself takes a few days."
Perfuma sighed with relief, reflexively hugging Scorpia's shoulders. "That explains why she's so lethargic. Whew, that's such a relief. Then she's fine, right? We just wait for the molt to finish and look after her until then?"
"Oh well molting is the most dangerous time in a scorpion's life!" Entrapta explained. "Not only is their new exoskeleton incredible soft those few days before they harden – but even the molt itself can kill them if it goes wrong!"
"W-what?!" Frosta cried. Emily beeped, tilting side to side.
Perfuma felt a surge of cold dread at Entrapta's words, her grip on Scorpia tightening. "Wait, they can…they can die? From molting?"
"Yes! Scorpions are nearly indestructible except when they molt, and then just the molting all by itself can kill them! Fascinating!" Entrapta said cheerily. She then paused, furrowing her brow as she noticed Frosta's panicked expression and Perfuma's tight hug around Scorpia's trunk – and Scorpia's prone posture. "…and bad. Very bad."
"How do we… how do we know how her molt's going?" Perfuma asked. "How do we know what's going right or going wrong?"
"Ah, well…the old chitin should be falling off," Entrapta explained, then paused as she noted Frosta and Perfuma's alarmed and confused expression. "Ah, her old exoskeleton…skin… should be breaking off? If her new exoskeleton starts hardening while her old exoskeleton's still attached, that's really bad. Like dying bad."
Perfuma blinked wide eyes, then shared a glance with Frosta. The two began to look around, Frosta crawling under the table and using the communicator to illuminate the shadows under the table. She could find a few small shards, but no large pieces.
"Can we just peel it off?" Perfuma asked urgently.
"Oh yeah! Definitely! Just be careful because her new exoskeleton underneath will be fragile before it hardens! You'll be able to cut, push or break right through it like it's paper! It says here a lot of scorpions lose their claws or tails that way, from damage that happens during their molts!" Entrapta said cheerily.
Perfuma and Frosta shared a worried gaze.
"Maybe the molt's not far enough along for the old ch… chit.. scorpion bits to come off yet?" Frosta suggested hopefully.
"That could be. Says molts take a few days," Entrapta said with a nod.
"How long should we wait?" Perfuma asked nervously. "What can we use to peel the chitin off without hurting her?" She reached up a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose, mulling over Entrapta's warning in her mind. "W-we need to come up with a plan, while we wait. In case it's needed. We have to be careful-"
It was then Perfuma's dark eyes trailed up Scorpia's arms to her shoulders, and noted the paldrons. The bright red paldrons. Covering the likely whitened exoskeleton underneath. A jolt of realization shot through Perfuma and she cried out. "We need to get those off!"
Frosta jumped at Perfuma's yelp. "What?!"
Perfuma bit her lip. "The paldrons. We need to get those off."
She could imagine something holding her old exoskeleton in place would contribute to that Bad End Entrapta warned them about.
Frosta shifted to Perfuma and Scorpia and grabbed her spiked, red shoulder armor and began to lift. However, a sharp, startled cry from Scorpia caused Frosta to jump. Scorpia's head shot up and she looked blearily looked around.
"W..wuh?" Scorpia stammered between clenched teeth.
"Sorry! Sorry!" Frosta grimaced. "We're trying to get your pauldron off so you can finish molting!"
Scorpia looked back at Frosta, her expression mildly vacant, hazy. "What..?"
Perfuma swallowed dryly, pushing herself up as Scorpia had lifted. "Scorpia? We need to get your shoulder pads off. Can you get them off?"
Scorpia pushed back onto her knees, swaying a little – the back of her shoulders and head thunking lightly against the ceiling of the table though she didn't seem to notice. Frosta pushed her small hands against the older woman's back to keep her steady, avoiding her tail. Scorpia clicked her claws, wincing slightly at the crackling in her hands. "The.. shoulder pads?"
Perfuma straightened as much as she could under the table, and pressed her hands against Scorpia's chest to help keep her steady. "Yeah, can you get your paldrons off?"
Blinking slowly and taking a moment to register their request, Scorpia reached back to fumble with her paldron. She grimaced when her thickened claw pawed at the lip of the paldron, aiming to unlatch it from the spikes underneath and push it off. However, as she pushed at the paldron she felt a painful pull on her exoskeleton and an uncomfortable pressure against her pincer where it touched her paldron and she quickly withdrew it. "Mm mm."
Perfuma's eyes wavered. "Okay… I'm going to try to get the other one off, but let me know if it hurts, okay? I'll be as gentle as I can."
"Mm hmm," Scorpia murmured, watching Perfuma through half-lidded eyes as the blonde reached up to her other shoulder and gently slid her thin fingers under the paldron. She felt for the smaller spikes underneath, to try and put her fingers between the spikes and the paldron and push it off. Perfuma bit her lip as she felt the spike knick her finger, but as she slid the appendages in between and began to push, she felt the spike under her finger start to give. Scorpia's frame stiffened and she sucked in her breath. Perfuma immediately stopped, biting her lip before gently sliding her fingers out from under her paldron.
"Sorry! Are you okay?" Perfuma stammered.
Scorpia grimaced, but then forced a weak smile when she noticed Perfuma and Frosta's alarmed expressions. "Don't.. don't worry. I'm okay, I'm okay."
Perfuma nodded, though she felt her hands shake. She took a few metered breaths to steady them, even as panic loomed. Oh no… oh no. Oh no…!
"What's going on?" Entrapta's voice startled Perfuma – for a moment she had forgotten the other woman was still on the line. The communicator had been placed on the ground with only a limited view of what was happening.
"We can't get her paldrons off," Perfuma's voice betrayed a tremor. She looked to the communicator through watering eyes. "Entrapta, is there anything we can do to make this safer? Please?"
"Stop it for now and I'll look into it! Bye!" Entrapta said before hanging up.
Perfuma and Frosta shared a worried look. How long ago did the actual molt start? How much time do they actually have?
Scorpia didn't provide any answers, as she appeared to doze where she knelt. Perfuma carefully guided her back into her arms, again leaning back against the wall under the table. Frosta sat against the wall next to them, and Emily sunk down next to the table. For now, all they could do was provide their company and hope they had more time than Perfuma feared.
Author's Notes: So prior to starting this fanfic, I occasionally saw some speculative posts about Scorpia molting and what it would be like. Some ideas were cute, some were romantic (like Perfuma being protective of her while she's molting, which I totally dig). So I decided to do some research to see what it was actually like, focusing on pet scorpions since it's usually their owners who talked about it, and I found out that the molting period for a scorpion is really dangerous. Not only are they sensitive, but there were multiple posts I've found where their old exoskeleton would get stuck to their tail, or their claw and the responses sometimes talked about amputation but most often it seemed the scorpions died from it. I found it surprising that molts were so dangerous for them, but it does make for an interesting story premise. I wasn't sure if Scorpia having a partial exoskeleton made molting better or worse - I imagine better in the sense that her torso won't really be any less sturdy than usual, but if all her parts are going through it at the same time it might be hard for her to get them off.
I was also thinking about how she might not know what she's supposed to do, or how she's supposed to try and get the old exoskeleton off during a molt, especially since she's got no other scorpions to turn to. I figure it's like a woman getting their period without ever having been warned about it - sure it's a natural part of their body's process but if they have no forewarning or education about it, and suddenly they're feeling awful and their body's doing things they don't expect or understand it's probably scary. From what I read, scorpions naturally hide when they're in pre-molt, and Scorpia canonically mentioned having a place she liked to hide when growing up. So here we are! Anyway I hope you like it, and the minor heart attack she's giving Frosta and Perfuma (and to a smaller extent Entrapta)!
