+476 -- Posted dated one day, to tomorrow, for the sake of Sky being coherent enough to manage this without shredding his ear off. xD

Sky honestly was feeling pretty bad today. She knew full well she'd have company later, but right now, she felt sick... depressed. She sat in her living room, organizing a box of clothes. Ugh. Nearly two days prior, she'd had her miscarriage, and was still recovering. Moving around was easy for her, since it had been early on, but most times she just didn't feel up to it. She'd lost her children, two male pups, before she'd even been able to name them; of course, she had after the event took place. Luke and Haiden Katruk. Both would sleep peacefully, cremated and sent off to sea, but Sky... Sky didn't feel up to sleeping lately. Funny how much she missed children that she'd never really met.

Shawchert had been bunking with her the last two nights, keeping her company, being a shoulder to cry on. It helped her a lot, but he still had pack duties to attend to. She'd shooed him away so she could have some time to think, and privacy for her best friend's... more-than-a-friend, J'adore. Sure enough, amongst her mulling and depressive thoughts, a knock came to the door, right after a soft voice called her name. With a soft sigh, girl stood slowly, and forced a smile onto her face. Same old, same old.

She stretched meekly, and headed to answer the door. The boy looked as if he'd been about to leave as she opened the old wooden door, and she smirked a bit. "Hey, come on in." She held the door open for him, and stood back, giving him room. "Y'look nervous. It's just an ear piercing. It doesn't hurt or anything. Just a tiny pinch."

Sky was wearing some nicer clothes today; her wrists and ankles were wrapped in the usual white gauze, hiding her scars. Around her neck was the black kerchif she was ever so proud of, adorned with tiny white skulls, faded from years of weathering. It was obvious that she wore a padded bra under a striped tank-top, and a cute shawl was draped over her shoulders, also black. The usual blue jeans were worn, though without the belt today, as comfort was her main goal. She had her hair tied back in a ponytail, loose strands of bangs framing her face nicely. She looked good... except for those tired eyes, and those damn crows feet there. Blah.

"Have a seat on the couch. I've got it all set up, just don't touch anything on the table there and you'll be fine." Sure enough, infront of the couch was an end table, happily set there by Shawchert before he'd left. What a dear. The not so happy part of this was the plastic table 'cloth' and the neatly arranged fluted needles lined up in a row, gloves and surgical mask prepared above them. Egh!

+458 -- Sky is JEALOUS of your pretty birdie. D:

Truth be told, Sky was more than happy to have his company. J'adore seemed like a nice enough guy, and Sky had been meaning to get some alone time with him, to check him out, make sure he was good enough for her precious 'sister' Valinta. She perked her ears boredly as he gave her his regards, and she waved him off. "I'm a hybrid. It was bound to happen." Normally wolfdogs had no problem with giving birth, and rearing pups, but the breed difference between her purebred father and her wolven mother was so intact that it had effected her. That, and being the runt of her mother's offspring probably had something to do with it.

"They didn't belong to Shawchert anyway. I love my children, gods rest them, but they're better of in paradise than here. Their father wouldn't have cared." Her voice was bored, but her eyes gleamed with regret and mourning as she spoke. She perked again as he questioned her willingness to do it, and she smiled. "It's a nasty habit, but if you hadn't come, I would've been piercing myself again anyway. Calms the nerves, gives me something to focus on."

Girl went about putting the clothing box away with her foot, just as a certain pet goat came trotting in. He bayed his welcome to the stranger, then glanced over to Sky with a questioning look. "Shoo, Casper. I'm busy and you're still in trouble for that mess you made last night." She chased the goat out of the room with waving hands, and the kid ran upstairs to the bedroom, as per the norm. "Naughty little thing. Tore apart one of my books last night." Dusting her hands off, she slid the living room door closed and trotted slowly over to the couch.

"Hm. Shaw's doing well enough. He's probably more stressed than I am, though, what with Orin's pregnancy and my miscarriage." She brushed some hair behind her ear and sat on her leg on the couch, facing the would-be suiter of her best friend. "Ptitsa...? Your new spirit guide, yes?" For a moment, curiousity and intrigue gripped her, and she leaned forward a bit. "Do tell her thank you, for me. I'll send you off with a bit of meat for her."

With a wink, she moved over to sterilize her hands, slipping on a pair of black gloves. "Right, which ear was it you wanted done, and where?" She snapped the glove on, her old spark of life returning for now, devilish grin on her face. It it weren't for the worn look in those sapphire eyes, no one would've guessed that she was so stressed then. She still somehow passed off as scary as hell, though.

+297 -- Goats are not as cool as animals one can talk to. :/

Sky smiled softly at that, the mention of the falcon liking her gift. Yes, that was a good thing. He piped up about Val, and Sky frowned a bit. "Your guess is as good as mine. I've been locked up in here lately, so I've not seen much of her. You'll be visiting her today, yes?" Sky paused for a moment, then smiled. "If you do, I might go with you. No climbing for me, but you can both come back here for a nice cup of tea, my treat." Sky knew full well the hassle of trying to get into Val's... 'house' next door. Ugh.

He asked about the pain scale, and she deadpanned. "Two, if your ears are sensitive." She waggled her own ears in effect, to show off the four studs and stretched gauges in both, adding up to a total of ten piercings in her ears. "The worst part of this job will be the waxing, and that's maybe a four, for the inner ear." Speaking of which, girl took out a paper of wax and rubbed it, having already prepared the dabs for it before he'd arrived. "Maybe if you got your eyebrow done or something, I'd be kinder, but it's just your ear. You barely have any flesh there, boy. Stop worrying."

Girl leaned towards him, and with his permission, once he was still, she'd place the heated waz dabs on either side of his ear, where the piercing would be, holding it there a moment. "Deep breath in, hon. This is the worst of it, I promise." She paused to take her own breath, in example. "I'll count down from three, and then it comes off, okay? Just like plucking a baby tooth. It'll only sting for a moment, promise."

+401 -- Oh right, speaking of which...

"Not all of them," She replied, taking the wax and fur off of his ear. "My plugs, the big ones in the tips of my ears, and the outer rim piercings, the first two, were done by my sister and ex-mate, respectively." So casually spoken, it was hard to see that Sky had once mourned the loss of her first love for months on end. Now that she'd lost her children, it was expected.

"As for the rest, that was all me. And no, mirrors fuck it up. I did it without, all by touch and feel." She brought a needle up to his ear and withoit warning otherwise, punched a hole through. J'adore was a grown man, that mixed with the fact that he wasn't paying a cent for this 'opperation' made Sky a bit less caring.

"Of course it will, silly boy. It's not like I'm burning you or anything." She waggled her ears again at him, pulling back to grab the stud, and replacing the needle with it. Some dabs with some gauze later, and she was done. "I'd say piercings are addictive, but when it comes to the ears, we tend not to bother with anything else." She smiled at him, and leaned back to admire her work. Yup, just like Itzal; perfection.

"Come back in a month or sooner if you have any problems with it. Don't twist or remove it for the first twenty-four hours. Don't clean it with river water. Mix table or sea salt with some luke-warm boiled water, and dab once a day. Keep it clean, don't take it out or change it until you come back to see me." She rattled it off by habit. "Sometimes the skin will reject the metal. In that case, it'll get irritated and possibly swell up. If it does, come see me, and I'll exchange the stud with something else. Keep Valinta's mouth away from it for the first two weeks; saliva is a big no-no for body piercings, even on the ears."

That last bit brought a wry smirk to her lips, and she winked, tail twitching. She'd continue her teasing, except for the scuffing at the livingroom door, and the annoyed bleating from the other side. Casper. "Damn goat... what does he want now?" She paused, then turned to J'adore. "Hey, you speak low-speech, yes? That's hwo you talk to your guide, right?"

+364

Sky's grin only widened a bit at his protest, and she couldn't help the small laugh that escaped past her lips. Too easy. The grin faded into an interested smile as he corrected her about Ptitsa, and she nodded with a small 'ah' sound. Made sense. Girl smirked. "She's like any predator, J'adore. We all have attitudes, no matter how timid or submissive. You've just gotta be patient and deal with it." It sounded as if the boy's guide was his polar opposite, which made sense; a yin to his yang, in a way. It made her wish, deep down, that she too had one of those special guides. Maybe she'd have someone to talk to that would listen without question or argument if she did.

Too bad she'd joined Cercatori D'Arte instead of AniWaya. Girl shook her head to listen as he spoke again, snapping out of her thoughts. She perked her ears and nodded. "Just ask him what's wrong, if you could." She paused, then tilted her head. "And hey, maybe you could teach me the basics of it. I think I've spoken it before, but I never remember how normally. It's instinctive for me." She recalled the time she'd been fighting with Dusk, and every word she'd spoken was lost to herself afterwards. It was only after Revoldo had spoken to her about it that she realized she'd been speaking in Low Speech out of anger. It was rare, and really the only time she could.

She figured her mother must've spoken in Low Speech or something when she was a pup, because even though Revoldo had known it as his second language, she herself never bothered to learn back then. There wasn't really much point, since any animal that spoke it naturally was usually prey or an enemy. Rogues didn't keep pets. It wasn't healthy. Now that she had an easy-going pack life, and her own house, keeping Casper around was more of a blessing than a curse, like it would've been before she'd joined. It gave her someone to talk to, and something to do when she was bored. Heh. Fainting goats were good for relieving boredom or stress.