Chapter 16

Everything itched.

Amai woke up in the middle of the night, uncomfortable to say the least. His whole body felt as if it were chaffing, he hasn't had this feeling since he used inferior skin products. "My God, what is this? What is this body doing now!" he muttered bitterly. It was so bad he got up and went outside to try and relieve the sensation. From head to tail his body crept and crawled, it felt tight to say the least, his skin crackled as he moved. When he turned, Amai nearly screamed at the skin that began to flake off his body. He appeared nearly sick at the sight of it. "Oh God!" he muttered and tried to fight the gagging sensation.

"You're shedding"

He turned and saw Melee from a distance, standing at the front door in her bathrobe. With a roll of her eyes she went out and explained to Amai that he was merely shedding his scales. "This stuff is old and dry and no, there is no amount of moisturizer that would have changed this. You grow as you eat," She paused and looked down his body. "Yep, you're growing faster than Snek was, then again, you're eating twice as much as Snek usually does to say the least."

The gagging stopped, he turned and tried to pick off the skin but even that disgusted him. "How do I get this off of me?"

She rolled her eyes. "Rub yourself against a tree or a rock, eventually the skin will snag and just peel off of you. Go on!" she said.

He was reluctant to try, yet as he began to brush himself against the trees, he felt the dried skin become loose, he found the best way to scratch his itch was against a jagged rock that eventually broke the skin. He would slink across the ground as the scales snagged and began to strip off. The comfort he felt, the pleasure, it cascaded over his sense. When he was able to remove the last of his skin, Amai felt better. He turned and saw how his body now glistened in the moonlight. "Never… have I ever felt so… smooth and glossy" he said and caressed his new scales. He rubbed down the front of himself, but paused, his underbelly scales were different than before. They felt jagged and nearly sharp in a sense. "This… is strange…"

Melee snickered. "Your winter tire" she laughed. "Snek grew those too, when he is able to take the cold, his scales adapted to the snowfall, you can slither easily through snow and ice if need be. But you need to keep yourself warm to do so… huh, Snek's scales didn't come in until the end of October. This is what? Middle of September? We must be getting snow soon if that's the case."

"Oh… I see…" Amai said awkwardly.

Melee turned to go back into the house, but he couldn't let her, not just yet. "Melee…" he said.

She paused and turned to him. He tripped over his own tongue, but found the words refused to come out of him. He grew frustrated but then stopped attempting to speak. "Go back to bed, Amai. But make sure you clean up after yourself, there's a bin at the side of the house to put your skin in." She went back to bed shortly after, Amai sighed and cleaned up his scales and discarded them as she told him to.

#

"Ooo winter is coming early."

"Shut up."

Garou snickered as he saw Amai the next morning with his new scales already developing on his underbelly. He wasn't in the mood to be mocked, worst still he was to go out on patrol today with Hunter, yet felt unable to. The weather has gotten colder, Amai could barely get himself out of bed. Peering outside it did snow last night! All the more reason he didn't want to go outside. The coffee helped, and yet he still felt sluggish. Not to mention the monster he ate from a few days ago still lingered, he expected that to have been long gone by now like all the others.

Alley was the next person to wake up, when she saw Sweet Mask, she appeared to have remembered something. Rushing back to her room, she returned and presented him with her warming device. It was a long fiber optic like strip that went down the base of his spine, from there little wires would stretch out and over Amai's body to distribute the heat evenly. She gave her instructions to him and explained the whole process.

He took it and gave his thanks to her. "I don't think I am going on patrol though, my sweater is destroyed."

"Then don't wear the damn sweater," scolded Garou.

"I NEED IT!" he protested.

"Then fix it!" snapped Garou. "You should know how to sew."

Amai froze to the comment, he never knew how to sew, and he didn't have to. After all, he had people who did that for him. In fact, Melee used to fix his clothing in a pinch. With a sigh, he went and retrieved his torn sweater. When he saw Melee he showed it to her. "Can you fix this for me, please?" he asked with sincerity in his voice.

She sighed aloud. "Normally I would tell you to fix it yourself… but you can't use a sewing machine if your life depended on it. Okay, just this once!" she said. He smiled and watched her fix the sweater with relative ease. She was able to med it, nearly to the point of it being good as new. Amai was quick to put it on and test it. It fit! "Now, just remember to unzip the hoodie if you are going to eat something, that way you won't burst out of it!" she scolded.

He gave but a nod and then went back to Alley device. With a little assistance from Alley he got the strip placed down his back, a small device that clipped around his core held the heat pack in place, when it was turned on, he felt the warmth spread through every inch of his body.

"My God, child. This is remarkable!" he said and savored the comfort.

"Yeah, yeah, you and Hunter have to get going!" Alley scolded.

Hunter was already outside waiting, Amai slithered off not before tightening his hoodie and donning on his sunglasses.