Beastly | Arcane Silco

Six

She pressed her palm against the cold glass of the pod, inhaling the slightly salted, clean water deeply through her gills which opened and closed to an almost therapeutic rhythm. Light shone into the tank and through the thin membrane between her fingers which made the fine veins underneath her skin visible to the naked eye. 

Her dark hair floated calmly, rising to the top a little as bubbles emerged from the ground to keep the oxygen levels in the pod stable. She could see clearer through the water now and observed the doctor as he sat at the desk in the right corner of the room, not far from the fish tank which was shielded from her view by a console. As she looked through the glass and into the laboratory, she realized that it looked different now that she had been outside; she knew of the aquarium's existence behind the console. She knew what most of the books stacked on the shelf to her left were about, and that their covers carried marks of heavy usage. She knew about the insides of certain shelves, and the drawer of used viles the doctor couldn't bring himself to throw away.

The laboratory seemed less like a prison now, as if it was a person and she had gotten to know it at least a tiny bit. Even the pod seemed less of an enemy now, though the small room she was offered still made her feel claustrophobic.

She pressed her second palm to the glass, feeling the smooth material underneath her fingers and using it to partially balance herself inside of the tank. A few strands of her hair floated around her shoulders, caressing them, which made her throw her head back a little to get rid of the feeling. Her scales were moisturized once again, and the itchiness gone. He hadn't specified how long he would keep her inside the pod, nor had she asked, but she assumed that she would spend a few more hours in here at least. 

Even though the doctor had prepared a bed for her in what appeared to be usually used as a small storage room, she had barely slept the past few days and was now fighting against the heaviness of her eyelids. To big had been the fear that she might wake up to a nasty surprise, or not wake up at all. Some might have called it paranoia, though she prided herself in the fact that it'd kept her alive until now. 

She saw him sigh deeply and lean back in his chair as he twirled a small vile around in his hand. There was no need to ever mention the name of the liquid inside to her, she knew it was shimmer. Too many times had she seen its effects first-hand, but never on herself. Its influence on magical blood, especially when tainted by toxins, was unpredictable or at least that was her assumption. She might have had to take a few risks in her life time, but those were all controlled to some extent. Shimmer could create monsters out of even the most innocent of people, but unlike most of those who consumed it, she had already been born one.

Lowering her hand, she furrowed her brows as she stared at the vile in the man's hand, his attention now lying on a document in front of him, a pen in his other hand. She saw the purple liquid inside the vile move in accordance to how he was holding it, presumably studying its consistency while his gaze shifted between the item and what he was writing. 

Her eyes narrowed as they dropped to the pen, observing the movements it made, which looked like nothing more than circles to her. Perhaps he was drawing simple circles to deceive her, she wasn't close enough to check. 

Before letting her into the pod, he had mentioned something about a cage being delivered later that day, presumably for another test subject of his. Every now and then, the woman caught herself glancing at the door to see whether it opened, but so far nothing had happened. Despite not wanting to admit it, curiosity made itself noticeable in her chest. Curiosity and anger, since she doubted she'd be able to concentrate on teaching herself how to read the book she needed in order to find out more about her kind. 

Her frustrated sigh caused a big batch of air bubbles to emerge from her mouth, the sound of them breaking at the water surface making the man stop in his tracks and look up at her, only moving his eyes in their sockets.