Ardys/Andrys nodded. "Okay... Well, in the past, as you can probably imagine, I've seen a lot of combat in many places. Around the time that this-" She motioned to her stomach. "-happened, I had been doing some freelance creature hunting in places that needed it. You know, like that stuff they do on Supernatural?" Ardys/Andrys stood up and walked over to the weapons she had brought, then picked up a few. "I was a little less muscular then, and a bit younger than I am now," she said, picking up a hunting knife and strapping it to her belt as she spoke. "Anyway, I was hunting a shapeshifter that had been killing off some locals; I had a rifle, a few pistols, a hunting knife... this one, actually-" She motioned to the knife on her hip. "-and my backpack, which had medical gear and survival rations and other useful things in it. I had taken some courses in being a surgeon as well. The shapeshifter was supposed to be somewhere in the nearby woods, from what I'd heard, so I tracked it in there secretly; I don't carry a phone outside of my vehicle, either, so I had no way of contacting anyone." She walked over to the shooting range. "Somewhere in the middle of the woods, I finally found the shapeshifter. I tried shooting it, but it knocked my rifle away and lunged straight at me, taking my form with its claws extended." Setting the rifle down, the sabretooth walked over to the combat training area. "I dodged it and put my backpack aside, then pulled out my knife and started wrestling with it." Ardys/Andrys starts pantomiming wrestling with something on the ground, grunting a bit as she remembers every blow that both she and it struck; Some of her moves leave her abdomen noticeably unprotected and, in some cases, fully exposed. "I'm not sure," she said, ending up on her rear with her left hand pressed to her abdomen, "exactly when it struck me. All I know is that one moment, I'm fine, and the next, a searing pain explodes in my belly. I backed off and quickly pressed a hand to my stomach, not knowing how bad it was at the time. As the shapeshifter went in for the kill, though, I stabbed it in the throat..." She pantomimed the action. "It dropped dead with its claws inches from my face. I thought that was that, I had been slightly injured and the creature was dead, but when I took my left hand away from the injury and bent forward to pull the knife out-" She does so. "-my belly burst right down the middle and my insides slid out into my lap." Ardys/Andrys grimaced at the memory. "It was extremely painful and rather sickening; When I got my shirt up, I nearly vomited at the sight of myself. I looked like the end result of a horror movie victim, and my blood was all over the place. Acting as quickly as I could, I stuffed my guts back in, took my shirt off, and wrapped it around my belly before slowly inching towards my backpack..." Taking her shirt off, she showed Zarco how she had wrapped it around herself to keep her guts from coming out. "Once I got there, I propped myself against a tree, got out my medical kit, and began to sow myself back up." Leaning against the weight-lifting stool, the sabretooth sighed and looked down at her stomach. "If I'm honest, sowing myself back up hurt almost a hundred times worse than actually being cut open. I had put my shirt in my mouth so that I could bite into it... That one still has my teeth marks in it to this day." Standing up, she sighed and sat down on the stool, removing her shirt from around her midriff. "I stayed in that spot for nearly a week while I healed enough to walk; I had lost a ton of blood, and I passed out more than once. One of the worst parts was having to put my guts back in the right spots before I sowed myself up." She chuckled. "I didn't quite do it right, so until today, I've had a lot of hernias." Slipping her shirt back on, she grinned. "When the shapeshifter died, it somehow maintained my form, so I brought the body with me when I left. It was interesting seeing me through my own eyes for a change, but I did end up burning most of the body... except for a few things that I used to fix the damage that it had done to me. Ever since then, I've worked at getting as strong as I can and learning as many things as I can about combat, so that the chance of that happening again is significantly lessened." Ardys/Andrys rubbed her arm. "I nearly died that day... honestly, I probably wouldn't be speaking to you if I didn't know what I had then."
Cassy gets out as well, drying off and wrapping her towel around her waist.
