➝ strange new creatures to scavenge your pores

[ Nigel bides his time, reluctant to rush but with enough sense to at least occasionally check his watch. Saya is working and Rosella is out, and even if she weren't Nigel suspects she wouldn't come looking for him. Unlike him and unlike Saya, she understands the boundaries of privacy. A closed door is a declaration to her. Stay out or go away or (perhaps in her mind) no, thank you. He goes through every article of clothing, unfolding each only to fold them all again, tucking them back in the order they'd been in before pushing himself back up onto his feet.

The corner that houses the large shadow he approaches with more caution. Reluctant to place a hand on that webbing to push it away, he touches a cord of it experimentally with the very end of one of his fingers. ]