EVENTS:

Rosa attempts to shake the mud off, but most of it seems to be physically attached to her body. Wherever she touches, a thick layer of tendrils seems to be grabbing onto it, keeping a moist barrier attached to her skin, as if to prevent her from drying out on land.

When she does speak, it comes as a strange, distorted sound, as if her vocal cords were looser and partially filled with water. Still, she does her best to communicate, and Eigla understands her intentions.


Wiping off the mud, the shieldmaiden presses her head against the stretched red orb. Inside... There's a figure in there, definitely. A person, buried from the waist down in a cradle of flesh, white hair slowly moving with the flow of liquid.

It looks a whole lot like Rosa. As she was, once. With her eyes closed, she looks so... Peaceful.

EVENTS:

Rosa lifts a finger to- Uh.

Her hands seem to have become, long, stringy appendages, ending in forked feelers. This could be problematic.

With some effort, she finds a gun barrel buried in her arm, and pokes the flesh pod. It's a bit uncomfortable, and hurts a bit when she uses the sharper end, but it's not exceedingly painful. At least not enough to be crippling, she hopes.

EVENTS:

Eigla decides her swordsmanship should be enough to solve this situation. Drawing Rosa II, she begins cutting through the fleshy sac.

It is quite easy, really - The tissue is taut under the pressure of the fluid within, and tears easily when cut. She makes a few relief cuts, before starting to create a large opening. Reddish liquid bursts forth from the wound, splashing out in all directions. The Rosa within looks... A bit shark-y, still, but much more human compared to the creature that just walked out of the mud pits. A few reddish rows of gills line the grey sides of her abdomen, and her face has that same peculiar wideness that was first noticed when she absorbed the mud king, but she's otherwise quite normal-looking.




Rosa closes her eyes as Eigla cuts through her belly. It's a strange, uncomfortable sensation, but it's bearable. She feels the pressure being relieved as liquid begins to flow out-

Wait. This, this is strange. The world, darkens a bit, like a curtain had dropped in front of her eyes. A strange pressure builds up on the sides of her body, and she begins to panic as she realizes she cannot breathe, or even move. It is as if all her nerves got swapped around, and her body stopped responding.

The wind blows accross her ears for the first time. The smell of mud and rot is overbearing. Her nostrils are open, but her lungs are filled with fluid. What is happening?

EVENTS:

Eigla is forced to take a step back as both Rosa and the mud-covered giant begin coughing, the former spitting out more reddish fluid, the latter large quantities of muck. Rosa opens her eyes, gills flapping uselessly in the air.



Rosa opens her eyes. Wait, hadn't she just done that? She does it again. The world spins, and her vision doesn't seem to match the position of her head. It is as if she were looking through two gun scopes at the same time, each with a different zoom and optical characteristics. She feels a bit woozy, and falls to her knees.

Wait, she doesn't have knees. But, she's pretty sure she just fell onto them.

This is quite confusing.

EVENTS:

Rosa stays still, and closes her eyes repeatedly, until all she can see is darkness.

Breathe in, breathe out.

She looks at her hand. A normal human hand.

She looks at her hand. Something long, and stringy, and mud-covered.


Disconcerting. But, not as disorienting anymore.




Eigla wraps her arms around the smaller Rosa, beggining to pull her out. The flesh cradle gives way, initially, but soon she meets resistance. Seems like her legs and part of her back are still connected to the main body, by a series of fleshy tubes and membranes.