it had started with the itching

Jaime had half a mind to find uncle mike and yell at him for it because surely he had t caught the fleas? He was certainly hoping he hadn’t,

Of course then the itching had graduated into discomfort, especially if he laid down wrong on the itchy spots and it suddenly felt like being sharply stabbed by something - he hadn’t slept well because of it, the bags under his unearthly eyes could attest to that - as could his vastly growing irrationally demeanour.

So now here he was itching blindly at the sore spots enough to draw blood - it was driving him insane! He needed some kind of relief where the sore spots itched and hurt in equal measure

It didn’t help that all the exertion, stress, lack of sleep and generally getting worked up over it combined with how unusually warm he’d been running lately meant he’d started feeling too warm for his skin and sweating idly.

Not even a swim in the cooler waters of the sea would help, for it irritated the scratches he’d accumulated trying to scratch these itches - to the point, he probably looked horrendous - the only thing that stayed cool and acted like a balm for the itchy patches on his chest was the sleek vantablack scale that never seemed to be overwarm nor Antarctic cold but always simply cool to the touch, at least that soothed one spot.

It was during these itching attacks that he’d gotten too carried away and his fur had split along where one of the sores was, blood trickling around the opened wound - and he knew better than to cause harm to himself but the relief when it had happened was almost palpable.

Then he noticed that the wound was a tad odd - as were now all the sore spots that had scratches wide enough to show it

Jaime stared  at his arms, at his chest and felt along his cheekbones and partially his neck

This was well,

Lifting a paw away speckled in blood he stood, painfully with his sores, and made his way to the waters edge and stared at his face.

Winding up one side of his neck and across one cheekbone were pure white scales

Oh

[ooc: by the end of this plot, his jaguar form will revert to normal save a few scales here and there (maybe) and he’ll gain that other form instead so no worries, he’ll still have his Normal winged jaguar form

Injuries: scratches and small wounds around the growths since they pierced up out of teh skin, for those medics who need a tldr :3 ]

he’d been so busy staring that Roan’s sudden voice nearly startled him into tripping fast first into the shallow waves kissing the beach - which would have sucked, salty sea water on wounds no matter how small would have stung like nothing else.

Jaime resisted the urge to paw at the scales, for this would likely only aggravate the new additions - he did wonder at the difference in colour to his wings, but looking at the small patches on his legs, he could defiantly say they weren’t all white, they did seems to almost follow his entire colour scheme where they’d sprouted.

Jaime focussed his attention back on Roan and nodded with a slightly unsettled ‘mhm’ - this was rather unsettling thing to suddenly happen - and he obediently shuffled over to let his brother at the scratches

That done he listened as Roan spoke and nodded ”yeah - they, they don’t hurt - or at least not anymore - it’s just, really weird I guess? I didn’t expect scales, I thought I’d gotten uncle mike’s fleas” barely a repressed shudder there but the itching was clearly a result of new additions it seemed.

He nodded though, noticing Roan’s troubled expression ”thanks Roan” he was lucky he had a big brother proficient in medicines.

Jaime smiles at his older brother - well, job or not, Jaime would be grateful either way and hey, One should always give thanks to those that helped them - even with his stint among the wilds, he knew that - gratitude didn’t cost anything after all.

When Roan asked he hummed in thought ”yeah, the itching started about then” he paused before adding unsurely ”but uh, before then I’d been feeling - I’m not sure what the word is, running hotter? Warmer? But I didn’t have any bad fevers with it” he felt it best to mention, after all, a symptom that might be nothing wasn’t worth hiding when it could be connected.

Then Roan gestured to the horns and wings he himself had and though Jaime lacked the horns, a paw did rise up to touch where he might have had them if he didn’t lose the gamble on that piece of his mother’s genetics ”yeah maybe...you think mom knows? Maybe we should ask” Mom was where they’d gotten these parts of their genes after all.

Then Eulia joins them and Jaime shifts to face both of them with a small smile ”it’s alright Lia, I’m okay - or I will be I think - I guess, I guess I just have some new additions now?” he aimed for a light chuckle bit it sounded rather unsure when he gestured to the white scales that edged the ridge of his cheekbone under his eye.

He really didn’t want to worry them so, but well it seemed his body refused on that - but well at least he wasn’t alone in his worrying this time.