Chapter 7

This was possibly the first moment in these last few days where Perfuma felt like she could breathe outside of meditation. The pauldrons were the most crucial element to remove, as they could actively prevent her molt from progressing properly, and now they were gone.

However, she knew better than to consider Scorpia completely in the clear. She could feel the tension in her companion's body, and her claws and tail still had enough remnants of the prior exoskeleton to be a threat. Maybe they would come off on their own, but they had no way of knowing, did they?

Entrapta had mentioned that the rest of the exoskeleton needed to go, and Perfuma was not about to argue. If there was any chance that it could cause her partner harm, it was a risk they couldn't take.

She also couldn't leave Scorpia in pain, either.

"Where does it hurt?" Perfuma whispered to her. "Your shoulders?"

Scorpia grimaced, her eyes squeezed shut. For a moment she didn't answer and Perfuma feared her companion wouldn't be able to properly communicate, but then the scorpion rasped. "Ev…every…where… shoulders…m-most..."

Perfuma looked up to Entrapta, who was squatting by Scorpia's pincer with Mermista, examining the claw and gauging the best way to get started.

"What can we do for pain?" Perfuma asked. "What pain medicine do you use here?"

Entrapta looked back to Perfuma. "For pain?" She clenched and unclenched her hands thoughtfully, switching the surgical blade between different strands of hair. She wasn't so sure she'd need the knife anymore but kept it on hand anyway. "For Hordak, if tweaking his mechanical exoskeleton isn't enough then we use ice and heat."

Perfuma nodded – not really understanding what Entrapta meant regarding Hordak and an exoskeleton but the information was nonetheless helpful. "That's a start."

Frosta perked at this. "I can do the ice!"

The young girl reached out towards the scorpion's sore shoulder, her hands shimmering.

"Wait!" Perfuma called out. "Is it safe to freeze her exoskeleton?"

"Probably not," Entrapta said as she continued examining her claw. "Freezing the actual exoskeleton while it's soft-bodied would probably cause irreversible damage."

Frosta jerked her small hands back. "What?!"

Perfuma paled.

Entrapta smiled to Frosta, not appearing to share their worry. "Try wrapping a towel around her shoulder and freeze that."

Perfuma rubbed Scorpia's back. "Maybe with another towel in between? We really don't want to damage her exoskeleton."

Beads of sweat formed on Frosta's brow. "Oh.. okay..!"

Oh boy. It wasn't typical for her to have to use her powers this gently, but she wasn't about to refuse. She could see the strain and exhaustion on her big buddy's face, and if she could ease her pain she wanted to!

While Sea Hawk helped Frosta retrieve towels and gingerly wrap them around Scorpia's shoulders, Perfuma turned her attention back to Entrapta. "Do you have any actual pain medicine here?"

Wouldn't hurt to use both, would it? Might be easier to remove the rest of the exoskeleton if Scorpia could be more comfortable.

"Don't know," Entrapta answered. She sat back on her hair and dialed Hordak on her communicator.

"Entrapta," Hordak's face appeared on the other line, watching her expectantly. Perfuma raised a brow at the former Horde leader's curtness, but Entrapta grinned widely when she saw him.

"Hordak! Perfuma wants drugs!"

Perfuma facepalmed. "Do you…" She rose her voice, projecting it so Hordak could hear from Entrapta's hand. "Scorpia's in pain. We're trying ice but do you have pain medicine here?"

"The Horde doesn't—didn't-use pain medicine," Hordak answered. "The physical comfort of our solders was unnecessary for their survival, and showing pain was a sign of weakness. Unfit for a soldier."

Perfuma found that line of thought alarming…especially knowing Scorpia was raised in the horde. Her brow furrowed.

Hordak paused, as if also realizing how cruel it seemed now. "Princess Scorpia likely thinks differently, and her Kingdom might have it here, somewhere, if she ever imported it."

Perfuma frowned, feeling Scorpia's tense body against her own. "…more likely she didn't think of it."

Scorpia was more the type to hide rather than admit to pain and risk looking weak to those who might be angered by it. The flower princess had a bad feeling it wasn't even pride, but fear of upsetting or inconveniencing anyone else that would push the scorpion to silently deal with pain. Raised in those conditions, the flower princess could imagine that habit hard to break. If any of her subjects requested it, surely the black garnet's princess would comply, but if no one else brought it up to her? She likely wouldn't consider her own comfort a reason to do it.

That would have to change.

Plumeria had apothecary, but Perfuma would have to go and get it, or contact one of her subjects to bring it. It would take an awful long time. Would it even work on a scorpion? Was it safe for her?

There were no other scorpions to ask.

"Alright, let's give it a go!" Sea Hawk declared once they had loosely wrapped Scorpia's shoulder with a towel, then wrapped another on top. "Alright, just freeze the blue towel, my dear."

Frosta nodded, knots in her stomach as she held her hands over the towel and called her power. Gently. The upper towel began to frost over. Perfuma watched, checking the exoskeleton underneath – what little of it she could see – for any signs of, well, anything really. As she touched the back of Scorpia's shirt, she felt the chilling dampness of the fabric. It should be no surprise that Mermista's spraying would dampen Scorpia's clothes. She would need a change of clothes at some point, but one thing at a time.

Scorpia's grimace began to ease as cold began to seep through the towel, into her shoulder. It caused the young woman to shiver, but the raw soreness of her shoulder began to numb. Her breaths slowed.

Perfuma brushed her fingers through her companion's choppy hair. "Better?"

The scorpion murmured. "Mmhmm…"

Frosta perked at this, a smile lighting her face. Eagerly, she and Sea Hawk moved to chill her other shoulder. The worst of the pain subsiding a bit, Scorpia laid her head back against Perfuma's shoulder and caught her breath, her eyes closing.

Perfuma smiled gratefully to the two, relieved to feel her companion's body relax a little. "There we are… good… good…"

At least it was a start!

Entrapta had put the scalpel away and for the moment attempted to peel the old exoskeleton off like an egg. Her gloved hands struggled more with it than Mermista's bare hands, and after a moment she pulled one off and held it between her knees. Short nails helped to pull the old exoskeleton up where it laid flat against the new, and the friction of their fingertips sliding across helped to separate. Some of the new exoskeleton would catch on the old – soft but perhaps starting to harden. Mermista would pull water from the cart and mist it over her claws. Similarly to Frosta, Mermista found it more challenging to be gentle with her powers than it was to go heavy with them.

Entrapta didn't love the texture of the exoskeleton or the cool water on her bare fingers – she didn't love using her bare hands in general. Without her gloves the sensory input was a little overwhelming, and after a moment she had to stop. She wrung her hands, then rubbed her moist hand on her pant leg over and over again before putting her glove back on. The scientist then stepped away to record the process on her audio recorder. Now that she knew how to do it, she could provide that information to those with better tolerances, and they could do it properly.

Mermista kept at it, feeling awkward as she cleared the claw and moved up along the arm. Thankfully Scorpia laid back against Perfuma and appeared to have either passed out, or was too tired to react. The flower princess held her steady, watching Mermista as she worked. As the mermaid finished her arm, Sea Hawk and Frosta had towels ready.

Finally, one arm was done, and the appendage was gently wrapped and chilled. Mermista moved onto the other claw, though this one trembled in her hands which made it harder to peel. "Uh, we have a problem."

Perfuma could feel the shivering in her companion's form, also. She gently rubbed the other woman's sides to try and warm her. "Her clothes are wet."

It was unavoidable, but also possibly something they couldn't do anything about until the rest of her old exoskeleton was cleared away.

Sluggishly, Scorpia lifted her bundled claw and tried to paw at her shoulder, her expression growing tense again.

"Hey..?" Perfuma gently rested her hand over Scorpia's claw – on top of the frigid towel. "Are you okay? Does it hurt?"

She didn't answer.

Frosta watched worriedly. "Is it too much?! Am I hurting her?"

Perfuma helped remove the cold towel from her shoulder. The exoskeleton looked fine as far as she could tell. "No, no I think… we can try warming it? Entrapta-" She looked over to the lavender-haired woman to ask her what she thought, but Entrapta was outside pacing and talking into her recording device. "Entrapta had said cold and heat can help?"

It had helped Hordak anyway, who wasn't a scorpion, but it was something.

"We don't have any fire princesses," Sea Hawk said as he stroked his mustache. Not any real ones, of present day, with a stable fire runestone.

Emily beeped and teetered from one side to the other. Sea Hawk, Frosta and Perfuma looked to her quizzically.

Entrapta walked back in, turning off her audio recorder. She stopped as Emily beeped again, hopping up and down.

"What did she say?" Perfuma asked.

"Emily? She said she can heat the towels," Entrapta translated as she made her way to Mermista's side to try and help with the last claw. "Where are we at?"

Sea Hawk carefully removed the frigid towel from the scorpion's shoulder and brought it over to Emily. She lowered herself, then nudged up against the pirate's hand, urging him to lay the towel over her head. Once he did, watching her awkwardly as he had no idea if he was doing this right, she squatted down and began to vibrate.

With the frozen towel removed from her shoulder, Scorpia lowered her shivering claw back to her lap though the strained expression remained on her face. Not knowing what else to do, Sea Hawk grabbed the towel from her other shoulder and brought it to Emily as well. As he moved to take the first towel from her chassis, he almost dropped it. "Oh wow!"

He tossed the towel to Perfuma, who awkwardly caught it as it slapped into both her and Scorpia. The damp towel was now notably warm, almost uncomfortably so. The flower princess gently pressed it against her companion's cold shoulder, gauging her reaction. Scorpia's breathing eased and she began to settle again. Taking that as good news, the two princesses gently bound her shoulder with the warm towel.

As Sea Hawk brought the other towel over and wrapped her other shoulder, her trembling subsided enough for Mermista and Entrapta to continue – mostly Mermista.

Eventually they finished her other claw, Frosta and Sea Hawk following up with chilled towels.

"Alright, is that it?" Mermista asked.

Perfuma took a slow breath, hesitant. "No, there's… still the rest of her tail."

The later half of her tail to the tip of her telson was cleared, but there was still the first half and the base, where her tail connected to her body.

Mermista made a face. "Ugh, that's…going to be awkward."

"Let's move her onto her stomach," Entrapta stepped back.

Frosta pointed towards the pillows she had previously laid out. "There?"

Perfuma rubbed the scorpion's back. Their relationship hadn't yet progressed to anything so intimate so the subject of her tail hadn't come up, but she had a feeling – just because of its location – touching it might be akin to touching someone's thigh or hip. She might not feel comfortable with just anyone doing it. "Scorpia?"

The arachnid was unresponsive.

"Hey, we need to peel the chitin off of your tail, okay?" Perfuma said softly to her, rubbing circles between her shoulders. "Who would you feel more comfortable with?"

She didn't answer. Perfuma chewed the inside of her cheek as she, Entrapta and Sea Hawk helped lay her down on her stomach over the pillows – she noted Entrapta's hair took on the bulk of Scorpia's weight. Her scalp was impressively strong.

Mermista stepped away, wiping her hands on her shirt. "I'm, like, not about getting stung to death."

Perfuma furrowed her brow as she leaned down over Scorpia, rubbing her back more firmly. "Scorpia? Please?"

The flower princess was willing to do it, but not without the other woman's consent. Perfuma wasn't about to assume just because of their relationship that she would be her companion's first choice for this.

"Mm?"

"We need to peel your tail," Perfuma said quietly, shifting to lay on her stomach next to Scorpia. "Would you feel more comfortable if I did it? Or Entrapta? Or Sea Hawk? Or Mermista?"

"Not Mermista," the mermaid muttered, pushing some of the discarded chitin away with the side of her sneaker.

"Scorpia?"

"…tail?" The scorpion opened one eye and shifted sluggishly to look at Perfuma, her words coming out as a sluggish murmur.

Perfuma brushed her fingers through her hair and nodded. "Who would you feel most comfortable with?"

Scorpia watched her for a long moment, squinting as she tried to wrap her head around the question. "…Per…Perfuma."

The flower princess nodded. "You want me to do it?"

"Mm.."

"Okay," she offered a gentle smile, though she wasn't sure Scorpia could see it. She feathered her fingers through the other woman's hair. "I'll be gentle, and let me know if you get uncomfortable or if you need a break, okay?"

Scorpia had closed her eyes.

Perfuma's brow furrowed with worry. She wasn't so sure her companion would have the wherewithal to communicate if she was becoming uncomfortable. She sat up, looking to Entrapta and Sea Hawk. Entrapta wasn't the best with gauging subtle cues, and Perfuma might need her help if she couldn't get the chitin off. She wasn't sure if Sea Hawk would pick up on cues either. Maybe a distraction would be helpful, but when touching her tail? The flower princess wasn't sure. Frosta would be needed to help chill her tail once the chitin was peeled.

"Emily," Perfuma looked to the bot who was both Entrapta and Scorpia's companion and friend. The robot had been by Scorpia's side through the Horde and her defect to the Rebellion. If anyone could read subtle cues on the black garnet's princess, it might be her. "Can you watch Scorpia and let me know if you notice anything?"

Perfuma had no idea how to read the robot's sounds, but Entrapta did.

Emily beeped and rolled into the little makeshift cave, coming to a stop in front of Scorpia while Perfuma shifted by her hips. Entrapta sat on the other side. Sea Hawk and Frosta worked to remove the frigid towels from her claws and use Emily to warm them, though they kept the towel out of her 'eyes' so she could watch.

Taking measured breaths to steel her nerves, Perfuma decided to start with the middle section of her tail. She had no idea which parts were the most sensitive, if any – this…might be a discussion to have with the scorpion later, should their relationship ever reach that level of intimacy. She had to assume the base would be the most sensitive, but she supposed she might find out. The flower princess gently rubbed circles into her companion's lower back, just to show that she was there.

"I'm going to start, okay?"

There was no reaction. Emily let out a few small beeps as she tilted her 'head' one way, then the other.

Entrapta turned on her audio recorder and relayed what was happening.

Water would help, to moisten the exoskeleton and make it more malleable. From her place a short distance away, Mermista pulled some of the remaining water from the cart and guided it over towards the other woman's tail. She spread the water into a mist.

Perfuma squinted as both she and Entrapta were also misted. If it bothered the scientist, she didn't show it, though she switched hands with the audio device and held it away from the water.

Perfuma moistened her fingers with the mist and carefully touched the hard plating of Scorpia's tail, pushing gently against the spikes to try and shift the chitin off. The plating *gave* under the pressure and Perfuma tensed, quickly checking Emily and Scorpia for a reaction. There was none. Letting out a breath, Perfuma continued. The old exoskeleton began to slide. As she shifted and pressed her fingers against the next segment, Perfuma inhaled slowly and applied pressure, shifting the chitin across and dislodging it. Using her nails, she carefully peeled it off and placed it down beside her.

Perfuma let out a happy sigh, pleased with her handywork.

Two segments down, one more and then the base to go.

Mermista watched from her vantage point, arms crossed. Flower princess was taking a risk, sitting so close to the stinger. The mermaid had been somewhat certain that the flower and the scorpion's relationship was official even if it was kept secret, and she had figured it was consummated (not that it was any of her business but reading into clues was half the fun). Now she wasn't so sure if their relationship had reached /that/ level yet. If sexual intimacy had been a regular part of their relationship by now, she figured it would have been an easy choice as to who would touch her tail. Then again, that wasn't guaranteed.

Also, for all the mermaid knew, Scorpia didn't care any more about her tail than she did her claws.

As Perfuma moved to the next segment, as her deft fingers began to work on pushing the chitin off of the freshly formed exoskeleton, she felt a twitch in the tail and heard an alarmed beep from Emily. Entrapta's free hand shot up, the other still holding the recorder.

"Stop!" Entrapta stated, translating for Emily.

Perfuma quickly withdrew her hands and shifted over to Scorpia's shoulder, rubbing her back. "Are you okay? Did I hurt you?"

Sea Hawk watched the whole thing tensely, and at Scorpia's jarring reaction he scrambled to grab a towel. His reaction caused Frosta to jump and start freezing the outer towel, almost accidentally freezing the pirate along with it.

Scorpia let out a slow, shuddering breath. "… a.. …a minute…"

Emily beeped and trilled quietly, tilting her head and lowering to the floor.

"You need a minute?" Perfuma asked. Her companion didn't respond, and just breathed heavily where she laid. After a moment, once she was sure there wasn't going to be clarification one way or another, Perfuma continued rubbing her back. "Okay, let's take a break."

Sea Hawk and Frosta carefully wrapped the newly exposed portion of her tail with chilled towels.

"How's everywhere else feeling?" Perfuma asked softly, leaning down on her elbow. "How're your shoulders? Is the heat still helping or would you like us to switch back to cold."

The scorpion slowly shook her head, silent.

The flower princess furrowed her brow with concern. It was possible that Scorpia just couldn't answer. Maybe she didn't know, muddied as she was and inexperienced with medicine.

Sea Hawk lightly touched his hand to the towels on her shoulders. He shrugged. "Room temperature?"

"I can chill them again?" Frosta suggested, then after receiving a nod from Perfuma began doing so.

Perfuma watched Scorpia's motionless form, rubbing circles into her back.

Once the towels were chilled again Sea Hawk sat back, leaning on his hands. "You know, this reminds me of a time a friend of mine and I stole all of the towels at our hotel!"

"Like…all of your towels or all of the towels in the whole place?" Mermista asked, though she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"Well, all of the towels we could carry!" Sea Hawk clarified. "They were nice towels, and we wanted to make sure they didn't get burned when I set the ship on fire!"

"The hotel was on a boat and you set it on fire?" Mermista facepalmed.

"I'd never set a whole hotel ship on fire before! It was beautiful!" Sea Hawk's eyes sparkled.

"So did you and all the people inside drown?" Frosta asked.

"Oh of course not! The ship was at the dock," Sea Hawk said with a wave of his hand.

Perfuma was sure she could feel her soul leave her body listening to Sea Hawk's story. She kneaded the back of Scorpia's neck, speaking quietly. "You're doing wonderfully, sweetheart. We're almost done, then we can help you get some rest. Is it okay if I continue?"

After a short pause – the only sound being Sea Hawk's recount of the hotel owner swearing revenge – the scorpion let out a small "mm hmm" and Emily beeping as if to translate.

Entrapta twirled the audio recorder between her fingers and hair, shifting it back and forth between her limbs. "Emily says Scorpia says yes."

Perfuma let out a puff of air. That much she had understood, but she said nothing. She appreciated Emily and Entrapta's help and confirmation. The flower princess shifted back to Scorpia's tail. She moved her hand from Scorpia's neck to the middle of her back, then down to the base of her tail. "Okay, we're starting."

She carefully adjusted the back of the other woman's pants, to try and get an idea if there was any more exoskeleton under the rim or past the hole of the fabric. Pulling back the rim just a little, she could see where the spine shifted from under her skin to start protruding out. Perfuma gently scratched Scorpia's lower back with her nails to show she was there, then carefully began to scratch at the edge of the chitin, trying to catch it under her nails so she could peel it. She grimaced as it caught. "Mermista? I could use your help."

"Water coming up," the mermaid pulled some of the remaining water from the cart and misted Scorpia's tail, Perfuma and Entrapta again. They were all going to need a change of clothes by the time this was over, Perfuma mused, but first thing's first.

She carefully peeled the chitin from the base of her tail, then used the tips of her fingers to push it away from where it connected to her lower back. Once that area was clear, she adjusted the waistband of Scorpia's pants back to the way it was, before turning her attention back to her tail. Careful… careful…

"Got it!" Perfuma said with a relieved smile as she finished peeling the chitin off of Scorpia's tail entirely and set it aside. "We're done!"

"Yay! Scorpia molting report, previous exoskeleton has been extracted!" Entrapta announced into her audio recording before raising some thick strands of her hair for a high-five. Perfuma beamed and high-fived Entrapta's hair. Frosta hugged Patchy, which had fallen during Scorpia's move to her pillows. Sea Hawk grinned and called out 'Adventure!'

Mermista raised an eyebrow as she watched the shenanigans unfold. Knowing nothing about molting other than what they just experienced she had no idea if they were out of the woods just yet, but at least this one tall hurdle had been jumped.

Hopefully it would be smooth sailing from here…but the mermaid was not renown for her optimism.

Notes: Whew, this chapter took a dog's age to write, and not even due to lacking inspiration! It's just been an incredibly intense work period, so I've been chipping away slowly at this fic. Anyway, their first big hurdle has been cleared! Perfuma's noticed some concerning patterns of behavior in both Scorpia and the Horde, but there will be a time and place to address that. Also, with her tail I imagine it's a sensitive and a bit of an intimate place for her (just going by how aghast she was when Entrapta just grabbed her tail back when she was first 'captured', and I don't recall anyone else ever touching her tail throughout the rest of the show), but as sore, uncomfortable and exhausted as Scorpia was and how awkward the scenario as a whole is, this would not rev her engine. Maybe during a better time and place, where she's more comfortable and she and Perfuma are having some enjoyable alone time, but not here.