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"One look at my hands could tell me that," she says rather balefully, "I'm ********' afraid to see what the rest of me looks like... unless I dipped my hands in the mud while high and forgot about it. But that doesn't explain the claws."

Oh, hey. While still considerably out of it, she accepts the letter. It's a faint reminder of what she had been planning before, taking it carefully and looking at it. She tilts her head in confusion, then her eyes light up when she realizes what it is. Oh, that's right! Despite all the pain she's in, the letter brings a smirk to her lips. "Hey, man! Thanks for this, it's very important. Can't let anyone know about this, right?" She swings her head from left to right, over both shoulders before ambling off to tuck the letter in a drawer on the nightstand.

If anything, the transformation just gave her even MORE incentive to write letters once she's fully aware of herself. "That's sweet of you, thanks," she smiles, "Oh! And speaking of medicine, I did something with your old hat before my hands got ******** up. I've been meaning to drop it off but kept forgetting 'cause I was working on the garden." Not to mention the whole pestering helping Billy and getting high with Jamal thing.

She digs around in the drawer some more, before producing a rather ragged-looking black patchwork pouch on a long braided cloth string. A few small red beads hung from the top flap of the pouch (which can be secured to the rest of it by a gold button), and the entire thing was stitched together with red thread. She presents it to Zach, grinning. "It's a medicine pouch! Well, alright, you can use it to hold anything, really, not just drugs -- as long as it fits. You can wear it around your neck, stuff it in your pocket, whatever."

Vicious, clumsy, and certainly inflexible - all good descriptors for her new hands. Playing the banjo with them would be incredibly difficult, given how she technically only had three functional fingers -- the two that had merged are being counted as one, and just barely so. "My hands were normal yesterday," she recounted, sitting down on the bed and holding her hand out in front of her, trying to flex the fused middle fingers. "Then I woke up in a daze, felt all sick, and suddenly everything started to hurt. My neck, especially."

She reaches back to rub at the base of her neck, carefully kneading so that her new claws don't poke her. "Yeah, man. Those plans are going to rock so hard when they come into fruition," she grins, then looks over as Zach admires his former hat.

"You like it? I picked the colors out for the thread and button based on you -- yanked the button off of one of my old jackets, I figure I won't be needing a jacket on a tropical island anymore, 'cept for my hoodie. Too hot for that s**t otherwise."

Kaveri smirks at the mention of drugs, leaning over to reach into the nightstand drawer again. "You shoulda told me earlier," she says, rummaging around until she finds and holds up a little plastic baggie and a lighter. "Got some stuff you can carry in that bag -- but hell," the woman cocks her head, trying to wrestle the ziplock open, fishing out a joint, "I feel like s**t. Why not now? I need it more than ever after this."

She tries putting the joint where her lips once were, making an annoyed noise when this attempt fails. "********'... no wonder my goddamn neck hurts. I hope I can reach my mouth," she grumbles, now starting to realize just why she kept knuckling her throat earlier. "Yeah, I'm gonna need this stuff like crazy..." Feeling up her neck until she can finally find her face, she tucks the joint in the corner of her lips, then lights it. Taking a drag, she fishes out another joint and offers it to Zach, holding the lighter in her other hand.

"Here, man. You look like you need it, too."

Kaveri wasn't exactly prepared for it, either - at least, not the whole transformation thing. And what better way to deal with it right now than getting high and forgetting about it for three hours? It would ease the pain and sour mood, even if it's only temporary.

She didn't even need to pressure him - she'd kind of just assumed with the way that he talked about drugs earlier, but it soon became clear that Zach was new to smoking in general - and not just weed. Well, uh... at least she shared...?

"Inhale slowly, keep the smoke in your lungs for as long as you can, then exhale," she instructs, smoke pouring out of her mouth. She puts the lighter back, then quickly leans over to wrap an arm around Zach's shoulder and pats his back a few times when he has a coughing fit. "Whoa, whoa, slow down! You don't just suck it down like that -- take slow, deep breaths, like yoga or something. You'll get used to it." She takes another drag, closing her eyes as she lets the smoke roll around inside of her for a while before exhaling it through her nose.

"I shoulda realized you didn't smoke, stupid me," she comments, holding the joint out of her mouth to talk. "But whatever, it's good for you. It expands the mind. When you're high, you notice all these interesting little things you'd never notice otherwise." She carefully lays on her back, mindful of the stubby and still sore tail that protruded from her hips. She rests an arm behind her head, absently and slowly kicking her legs.

"I did it every now and then, couldn't really make a regular habit out of it or anything like that -- mostly I just did it when my friends did it, smoking pot is more of a social activity than anything else," Kaveri explains, taking another drag. "It's more fun when you're high and with a bunch of other high friends, just laying around making deep conversation and observations on the world. s**t'd get really phiolosophical sometimes, but oftentimes we just admired the intricacies of the patterned wallpaper... it was just fun."

She's starting to feel the effects of the drug, feeling the pain in her beck subside a bit. She sits up, looking over to Zach and crossing her legs, her neck and head sinking down like a limp noodle. This would take some serious getting used to.

"Man, don't say that. You're still young -- correct me if I'm wrong, you look like it anyways -- and you've got your whole life ahead of you. Except, uh... I'm not really sure what we could do for a living once this horseshit experiment is over. Sell ourselves to the mascot companies?" Pulling the joint from her mouth, Kaveri laughs. "Man, I bet I'd be some kind of funhouse mirror company mascot with this weird-a** noodle neck. I wonder what the ******** I'm supposed to be."

It's almost tempting to get up and look into the mirror, if only for a good long laugh at herself. She's high enough for it to be genuinely funny.

"Oh yeah, I remember that picture. I always saw two dudes talking to each other," the long-necked woman observed. "But sometimes I saw the vase. Maybe it's both. Or two guys talking to a vase."

"Oh man, you shoulda told me about your birthday!" Kaveri pipes up, "I would have given you something. Actually... hold up and wait. I have something in mind." Pushing herself off the bed with the joint hanging from her lips, she wanders over to a folded pile of clothing and sifts through it, kneeling down to search. "Oh yeah... these. These would be perfect," she says, pulling out a pair of bright purple shorts from the pile.

Standing up, she walks back to the bed and presents Zach with the shorts. "I don't know, something about you reminded me of purple shorts. It'll compliment your eyes, try 'em on! Happy belated birthday, man!" She gives him a sidelong glance, grinning and quirking her brow with curiosity. "Do you read comic books?"

"Goodwill," Kaveri giggles. "They have some really oddball stuff there. You wouldn't believe the crap I'd pick up. I saw those and I was like, 'oh god I have to get them!' but then I took them home and they didn't fit."

Zach changing right in front of her causes Kaveri to burst into laughter, covering her mouth and taking another drag from the joint peeking out between two fingers. "Haha, they look great on you! But I was thinkin' -- I was thinkin', yeah, those little ear finny things of yours. They remind me of a comic book character named Fin Fang Foom. He was a big green dragon who wore purple shorts, and he'd walk around and crush buildings and stuff while shouting, 'FIN FANG FOOOOOOOOM!' And then I remember I had those, see?"

Kaveri waves her arms in the air, raising her voice. "FIN FANG FOOOOOOOOOM!"

"I once found a huge pair of fuzzy white tiger slippers," she recalled, looking at the ceiling and twirling her finger. "I didn't know they still made those, at least not for adults. My friend bought those." She pauses to think, then adds, "And a blue sari. I bought that, brought it with me. I got it for, like, three bucks. It's really... really pretty. I should go get it."

Kaveri wanders over to the pile again until she comes back with the folded-up blue cloth in her arms. She needed something with pretty patterns to stare at. She sits down at the foot of the bed, holding it in her lap as she looks at all of the embroidery in the fabric with an expression of wonder. "Wooow... I never noticed this stuff the last time I looked at it." She shows the sari to Zach. "Check it out!"

It should be noted that she never wore the dress - but it was a wonderful thing to look at while high.