there's only so much I can turn into

sparkly_thoughts

Eventually the shifting of nerves stops. Sadde swallows, then starts pushing the horns against the skin again. She shapes them to be a bit sharper, so they'll cut skin more easily, and eventually two spots of blood appear, and expand, ripping open with a very unappealing sound (to humans) as the little bone horns manage to emerge.

"...this feels really weird," she says, her eyes still closed, and blood trailing down her face. There is in fact quite a lot of blood. Head wounds are known for bleeding more than their severity calls for but wow.

taste_tester

"Can't you close your blood vessels?" Addy asks, a little quietly, not using too much air.

sparkly_thoughts

She frowns, and winces, the nerves routed around her new horns acting funny. But eventually the blood flow does slow down and finally stops altogether.

"Yeah," she answers.

not_a_vampire

"Dinner's—oh, Sadde, are you alright?!" Her mum quickly scoots over at her, shooting Addy a look.

sparkly_thoughts

"I'm fine, it doesn't hurt, I rerouted my nerves. Erm, can you get something to clean my face, though?"

taste_tester

"I didn't know she was going to start bleeding," Addy says. She taps Sadde on the hand and grows her own horns. "Look, when I do it I don't bleed." And indeed she does not.

not_a_vampire

Of course she doesn't.

Laura goes back to the kitchen and returns with a lot of paper towel, handing it to her daughter.

sparkly_thoughts

"Thanks, mum," she says, cleaning herself up as well as she can, then opening her eyes and blinking a few times. "Wow, you look wicked! Mum, do I look cool like that?"

not_a_vampire

"Yes, dear," she says, smirking a bit and returning to the kitchen. "Anyway, as I was saying, dinner's ready."

taste_tester

Addy undoes her horn morph. "I can come back later, perhaps."

not_a_vampire

"Oh you needn't, there's enough food for you."

sparkly_thoughts

"Yeah and also you need to teach me how you managed not to bleed!"

taste_tester

"I'm afraid I have extremely bizarre dietary needs and I wouldn't dream of asking you to meet them," Addy says. "And I didn't leave any open blood vessels, that's how."

not_a_vampire

"If you're sure," Laura says.

sparkly_thoughts

"Well, these are neat, anyway! I like them! Yes mum I know I can't keep them," she sighs, and then shrinks them herself, not nearly as quickly as Addy. "How come you're faster at it than I am?"

Also, there seems to be a slight problem in her version of the horns, namely that she doesn't actually have super healing, even if she can keep her skin flaps close together and not... flapping about.

taste_tester

"I have practice at picking up new magic quickly and I'm not afraid of things hurting," Addy says. "I'll be back in, call it an hour, enjoy your dinner."

And she lets herself out.

not_a_vampire

"...what a curious person," Laura says.

sparkly_thoughts

Sadde just giggles.

taste_tester

Addy is back an hour later. There is not a homeless man's blood on her lips; she ate very neatly. Knock knock.

sparkly_thoughts

"Hello!" the girl says when she opens the door. Her forehead has bandages covering the spot where the horns' damage is healing. "How come your forehead isn't all ripped open, too?"

taste_tester

"I put it back. Don't you think you could manage the same thing? Healing is just being a different shape than before."

sparkly_thoughts

"Mmmmmaybe? I never managed it before. I do heal faster than other people, though."

taste_tester

"You have lots of practice not having holes in your head. I bet you can arrange it."

sparkly_thoughts

"Hm."

That's actually pretty reasonable. She removes the bandages and—focuses.

It's hard. But not as hard as growing horns, since those aren't actually human at all and she had to invent a shape for them and such. Except it's another kind of hard, she has to concentrate on much finer detail than normal, knitting the wounds together. Just visualising the way she wants her forehead to be isn't enough.

But eventually she does manage to do it.

"Wicked!"

taste_tester