Glow Worms

[Orca]

Kitto confirmed that they were indeed scales.

Wow!

It never occurred to him that Kitto might be ashamed of the scales, or anything. Orca saw them only as interesting, something new to preoccupy himself with. Why would you be ashamed of those? They were so cool... Or whatever word you used in this sort of time period.

"Are you a shapeshifter too?"

Okay, that was kinda dumb. Or at least the 'too' part was. But he couldn't help it! Scales meant snake, usually, and while Orca had never met a shapeshifter who could shift just random parts of his body, it didn't mean there wasn't one, you know?

Why did Kitto look so worried? Maybe Orca wasn't supposed to point them out. Maybe it wasn't anything to do with shapeshifting or magic at all, but was a birth defect, the kind you totally weren't supposed to bring up in casual conversation. Whoops. He really needed to get this speaking to people thing down someday. He'd tackle that after he was okay with just people in general. One step at a time, or whatever.

"Are you okay?"

[Kitto]

Too?

T-too?

Orca was a - well that explain a lot. Kind of. Maybe. Okay, not really, but still. Kitto stared at him for a moment, chewing his lip. It was great because he could answer both questions at one time, kind of.

"N-no. I'm not a ... um. Shapeshifter. Exactly." He fidgeted a lot, looking up nervously before staring back at the ground. The lantern light flickered, making the graveyard much more eerie than it had before. Maybe he shouldn't have lit the light, and everything would be much better now.

Orca would be looking at his face, and ... it wouldn't be so creepy.

"I'm fine. Fine. I guess." Still wincing, expecting the worst that wasn't to come.

He put one hand behind his head, scratching awkwardly. How did he explain what was the matter? Well it didn't! He didn't have to say a word. Orca hadn't asked what was wrong with him, or if he wasn't a shape shifter, then what was he. Yet. Right?

Blushing madly, making the scales stand out all the more, he looked off to one side before dropping his hands down at his side. Gods. The question was bound to come up anyway, shouldn't he just get it over with ... ?

Na, he could just wait. Maybe Orca wouldn't say anything else about it. Kitto almost let out a snort.

Yeah, right. Maybe zombies could walk in a straight line.

[Orca]

"Oh." Not a shapeshifter. How lame, he'd totally just given away his own secret and learned nothing in return. Totally, utterly lame.

"Well, umm..." Was it rude to ask what he was then? Yeah, it probably was. Even Orca, with his rudimentary grasp on manners, understood that.

"So... what are you?"

Oops. Cue immediate back-peddle.

"Ahh, sorry, sorry." His face quickly turned as red as Kitto's, and the shapeshifter bit his lip. He was just making a mess out of this, wasn't he?

Gabby had to know about Kitto's extra little details, didn't he? Maybe he'd even caused them. Maybe. Orca knew little of what Gabriel did -- it had something to do with getting information. Or something.

"But, no, Kitto, it's um... it's really kinda neat." Nothing but honesty here, again. Orca was the worst at lying and tended to avoid doing it at all costs. "Were you born like that?"

Maybe it was something caused by magic. The possibilities were endless. Orca blinked and tried not to stare. He wanted pretty shiny scales. Maybe he should learn to turn into a snake sometime.