(no subject)

[milliways_sawyer]

Sawyer's walking down the hall to his room, his newly-acquired tube of lotion in his crusty, green right hand. He has to stop after every couple of doors to rest, catch his breath. It's during one of these stops that he realizes that his skin isn't just crusty.

It's scaly.

Like, lizard scales scaly.

He groans and slides down the wall to a sitting position. Resting is nice.

Comments

[friggin-gift.livejournal.com]

Boone walks out of his room and is walking down the hall when he sees Sawyer sitting on the ground. He doesn't notice the scales yet.

"You ok?" He doesn't seem too worried. It's probably because he's not.

[milliways_sawyer]

"Do I look okay?" He thrusts his hand into the air.

"Does this look okay to you?"

[friggin-gift.livejournal.com]

Boone takes a step back. "What the fuck happened to you?"

[milliways_sawyer]

"Wish I knew. I started feeling sick a couple of days back, and now..."

He pulls up sweater arm to show the scales running up his arm. "Runs the entire length of my right side. Fucking bar."

[friggin-gift.livejournal.com]

"Holy shit." He peers at it. "Does it hurt?" It's a dumb question, but what do you expect. They're fucking scales!

[milliways_sawyer]

"Nah. They itch like hell, though."

As if that makes him remember his discomfort, he begins scratching his right side. "It's probably contagious. Want a hug?"

[friggin-gift.livejournal.com]

He backs up a little more. "I'm good, thanks."

[milliways_sawyer]

Sawyer chuckles... and promptly has a coughing fit.

He sits silently for a bit, trying to catch his breath. Then, "God, that part hurts."

[friggin-gift.livejournal.com]

Boone hesitates before moving forward. "Come on." He puts his arm around Sawyer's waist, careful not to touch his arm.

[milliways_sawyer]

He brushes Boone's arm off and starts pushing himself up. "I can do it."

Miraculously, he does... though he's still leaning against the wall for support.

[friggin-gift.livejournal.com]

"Accepting help doesn't make you less of a man, you know."

[milliways_sawyer]

"Thanks for the lecture. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to my room and die now." Sawyer turns and starts stumbling down the hall.

[friggin-gift.livejournal.com]

"Suit yourself." He knows he's not getting anywhere with Sawyer. "See you around, Sawyer."

[milliways_sawyer]

He grunts... and as soon as Boone is out of sight, he slides back down to the floor.

[sendpeanutbtr.livejournal.com]

Claire turns the corner, a box of various items in her arms. She wasn't gone but for just a few minutes but that was apparently long enough for Sawyer to leave his room and find a new spot on the floor outside somebody else's door.

She hurries over, setting the box on the floor, and feeling his forehead all in one movement. "Sawyer, Baby? What are you doing out here?"

[milliways_sawyer]

"I got itchy." He feels this is reason enough, apparently.

"The bar gave me this." He holds up the tube of lotion in his scaly right hand.

[sendpeanutbtr.livejournal.com]

She reaches out to take the tube of lotion and then draws back her hand suddenly. She makes the face of someone very carefully not making a face.

"It's gotten worse?"

[milliways_sawyer]

"Yeah, it's gotten worse. This? Is what my entire right side looks like."

He pulls up the bottomr of his sweater to show his scaly side. "See?"

[sendpeanutbtr.livejournal.com]

"Come on, Baby," she says and tries to help him up, which is hard because he's heavy and she is absolutely only touching his left side.

[milliways_sawyer]

He pushes himself up with his other hand and realizes that he left his lotion on the floor. He bends down to pick it up... and as he stands, his hand stays on the floor, still clenching the lotion.

He holds up his right arm (which now ends at the wrist) and stares. "WHAT. THE. FUCK!"

[sendpeanutbtr.livejournal.com]

She screams and jumps back, and then remembers she's supposed to be comforting him, but for the life of her she can't bring herself to a.)step closer, or b.)pick up his hand.

So she stares.

[milliways_sawyer]

He pulls that right arm in close to his body, worried now that any little thing might make it fall off, and leans down to pick up the tube with his left hand. He holds it away from his body with only his index finger and thumb.

The right hand is still clenched around the tube.

He says the only thing that pops in his head: "Okay, this is gross."

[sendpeanutbtr.livejournal.com]

"No," she says but doesn't look at all convincing. "No, it's okay. Come on."

She leans over to pick up her box and shifts it onto her hip as she rests a guiding hand tentatively on his (left) shoulder. She's not so sure anymore about that sponge bath she'd been planning.

[milliways_sawyer]

He looks over at her while weaving his way down the hall. "You think someone can fix it?"

[sendpeanutbtr.livejournal.com]

"Yes," she nods reassuringly as she steadily leads him to his door. "Moiraine, or Asar-Suti, or hell, maybe Anthy can do it?"

She sets the box down again so she can open it and guides him into the room.

[milliways_sawyer]

He stares incredulously as he closes the door behind them. "I ain't messed up enough already? We gotta let Anthy finish the job?"

[sendpeanutbtr.livejournal.com]

"I think we should try whatever might work," she shrugs helplessly, and quickly walks over to help him over to his bed. "How are you feeling? Does your arm hurt?"

She manages to gesture at it without actually looking at it again.

"We should probably get those clothes off. They might irritate it, or something."

[milliways_sawyer]

He sits down on the bed without argument, then decides maybe lying down on the bed would be a better idea.

"I'll get cold." Never mind the sweat pouring off him.

[sendpeanutbtr.livejournal.com]

"I'll keep you warm," she promises and decides in that moment that she doesn't care if she has to touch him, she's going to make him as comfortable as she can.

"Here," she says as she carefully (oh so carefully) tries to pull the shirt off his prone body. "Can you raise your arms for just a moment?"

[milliways_sawyer]

He does so, taking extra care with that right side now. The first sweater slides off followed soon by the second.

His chest is split almost exactly down the middle with normal pink flesh on the left and scaly green skin on the right.

[sendpeanutbtr.livejournal.com]

"Good," she says, eyeing the green scales with much concern.

"Okay, now your pants," and she reaches out to unbutton his jeans, stopping only once when her knuckles accidentally brush the reptillian skin.

She takes a deep breath and, murmuring an apology, goes back to work sliding his pants off.

[milliways_sawyer]

He's shivering already, and it only gets worse as his pants come off.

The lizard-rash continues down his leg to just below his knee.

Sawyer pulls the wasteband of his boxers away from his body and inspects the contents. "Everything still seems to be attached there," he chuckles weakly.

[sendpeanutbtr.livejournal.com]

She's conflicted about the boxer shorts. On the one hand, they might help keep things attached, but then on the other, they might make it worse.

She's not sure she wants to know what worse could be like, and it's that last thought that convinces her.

"Have you used the lotion yet?" she asks as she begins to peel the thin cotton underwear off his body.

[milliways_sawyer]

He shakes his head. "Figured I'd wait till I got back here. I didn't know it'd take me so long to get back here, though."

Sawyer glances down at her. "Maybe you ought to let me handle this. Last thing we need is you going all gator-skinned, too."

[sendpeanutbtr.livejournal.com]

"You've never stopped me from getting in your pants before," she grins in spite of herself but doesn't stop the tedious process of declothing her boyfriend.

Finally, finally she's loosened the shorts enough that she can more or less pull them down his legs. She tosses them on the floor and makes a mental note to have those clothes washed soon, just in case. She also, purposefully, does not look at his naked, green crotch.

"Could you han-, er, give me the lotion, please?"

[milliways_sawyer]

It's not easy work prying your own disembodied fingers off of a tube of lotion when you only have one hand to work with, but he gets it done... and decides to hide the loose appendage in the drawer of his night table. He really doesn't feel like looking at it now.

"Here you go, angel, but I'm starting to think this is a little more than Jergens can handle."

[sendpeanutbtr.livejournal.com]

"Perhaps," she smiles again and rubs some lotion between her hands, warming it before she starts massaging it into the line where his normal skin turns green. She hesitates only a fraction of a second and then continues to apply the lotion over his right side, gently so she doesn't. . .disturb anything.

"Is it helping the itching at least?"

[milliways_sawyer]

"Honestly, sweetheart? I can't feel much of nothing over the cold right now."

It's a weird thing to have goosebumps on sweaty skin, but that's exactly what he has... at least, on his regular skin. Lizard scales don't get goosebumps, it appears.

[sendpeanutbtr.livejournal.com]

"I'm sorry," she says, because it's the only thing she can think of to say.

She sets the lotion aside, abandoning that idea, and pulls the comforter he's laying on until it covers his body. She carefully tucks it around him and then climbs onto the bed beside him. Draping her own left leg and arm over his, she kisses his cheek and then snuggles closer.

"You need a healer."

[milliways_sawyer]

"Think I might have enough magic mucking with my system right now." His eyelids keep dipping; the walk downstairs took more out of him than he thought.

[sendpeanutbtr.livejournal.com]

She caresses his brow tenderly with her fingertips, the way she does to her son when it's time for his nap but he won't keep his eyes closed.

"It's okay. Go to sleep," she says softly, and her voice breaks a little at the end.

[milliways_sawyer]

He murmurs something that might be a protest that he's not that sleepy... but it gets lost in the process of him falling to sleep.

[sendpeanutbtr.livejournal.com]

She keeps watch over him-- long after he's fallen asleep-- until the sight of him and the smell of sickness that permeates the air become too much for her.

Cautiously, she crawls off the bed and heads for the door, dimming the light as she does.