π΄ 
IRL π stallion
Iβm writing a story where the kirins flash into nirik mode to incinerate parasites and partially-shed fur as a regular cleanliness ritual. After one kirin cleans himself, he needs to warn his human lover where he should not be petted lest the human scald his fingers.
The only two consistent things I can think of are:
- The scales are either safe to touch immediately after reversion to kirin mode or else they are the last part to return to normal body temperature
- Kirins spellcasting ability is impeded while their horns retain heat
In the comments, feel free to give a full ranking of kirin cooling order or other HCs related to kirins going in and out of nirik mode.
One I have is that adult kirins only have deep clean water baths when they have something that baked itself into their fur instead of disintegrating into ash or if they are covered in something sticky they know does not burn cleanly. Water baths are primarily a regular activity for kirlings.
Speaking of water baths, even though kirins are remarkably heat-tolerant
and enjoy napping in an active fireplace, they are not dragons. Jumping into a lava pool is equally fatal to them as it is to every other non-dragon species. Likewise, letting boiling water soak all the way through their coat will scald them.
That being said, simply dumping one bucket of boiling water on a kirinβs back is nowhere near enough to soak through and is considered refreshing, especially in the wintertime when it melts the accumulated snow and humidifies the local air with less energy exertion than nirik-heating the water directly.
