Guro Challenge #27: Extra Limbs
#4 of 33 Day Guro Challenge
As soon as he learns to count, he dreams of his claw. In the day it's the last thing anybeast cares about, but at night it shows up like a flag. He dreams of being a mouse, a normal one, not twice the other younglings' height with razor fangs and maturing musk, but the Dibbuns point at the surplus claw and the game is up, they know it's him. He squirms in his sleep, their laughter echoing in his head.
He dreams of more claws sprouting, tearing from his flesh, rows of them growing up and up to his shoulders, from his footpaws to his hips, blood leaking from the new claw-beds as the skin opens for them, bones grating together and pulling apart. He dreams of falling, landing on all fours as the weight of the extra forelimbs splitting away from his body pulls him down. Two, three, ten tails emerge from his spine as the eyes opening on the back of his head watch, teeth force his jaws open and choke him as rows sprout down the inside of his throat, blocking his screams from all of his ears, dozens of fangs tumbling to the ground. He falls face-first into the gathering pile and wakes with a start in tangled blankets.
Bryony wakes before dawn and finds her throat dry and her water beaker empty. She goes to the kitchen to use the pump, and before she opens the door she hears muffled noises. She opens the door and drops the beaker.
Veil is biting down on a dishcloth, another makes a tourniquet around the paw he rests in a red pool on the table. The breadknife is halfway through his claw.