[He can only gently press his lips against the side of her head as he lets out a deep exhale. He...really wishes he didn't keep putting her through this. Forget about himself, knowing how terrified and worried he's made her hurts worse than anything those nightmares could ever put him through.

So for a moment he just takes a moment to center himself with her before pulls back just enough so he can look back at his arm. Already the scales have started to recede, which is a good sign. It has to be...right? It means that even passively whatever excess nostilium is fading and...]

In case you're wondering...these scales don't hurt.

[He lightly brushes his fingertips over them and they disappear even faster as he focuses more in pulling it back.]

It could just be a side effect of the nostilium...but I feel these scales are ones that I can control compared to what happened in the dream.