"Good to know!" she chirps. He's struck by the question, but she feels no desire to probe into that, and reaches out without hesitation to grasp his wrist, her palm against the back of his thumb.

Scout's own hand is mostly human. Her short-trimmed fingernails are made of tarnished bronze, thick and sturdy. Tiny, soft, gleaming coppery scales, like those on her throat but smaller, dot the inside of her wrist and a little ways up her forearm.

It comes on quickly. Pain is a specific signal, and Scout can trace it and find somewhere to put a block. It'll dissolve, given a day or so. Of course the same nerves that communicate pain also communicate temperature, so there may be some tingling and heat and cold. This part's easier.