”Give me the works,” Max says, handing the bottle back to Tim.
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"I..."
This was already longer than she'd ever felt this way. Maybe it wasn't like when they'd freeze her, maybe it wouldn't just mean more pain to come.
Maybe this peace would go somewhere instead of just confusing her over and over as she followed it into her team.
But that wasn't her mission. She... liked her mission, even if the parameters kept needing to be adjusted.
"...I don't want to go to sleep. There is more I have to do. Can you-"
She feels an odd fluttering sensation as her heart tries to race, adrenaline tries to flow.
"Why can't I move?"
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Since her teammate doesn't answer right away, Sam's threads snatch two bottles of beer and raises one to him. "Analysis requires data. Data requires actions to stimulate flow." data tells her clinking bottles is the norm. Which she does "To the cessation of order and the saturation of chaos." her matrix was queried to find how to congratulate him on retiring from leadership even though she found the act worrisome at best, and this is what it gave her. "My fictional entities created to control the masses have mercy on our souls, also fictional."
Then she drinks, long pull, making her threads weave around almost like a dance.
Indy is off-guard at Sam reaching for more beverages and takes the one she offers him even clinking it with her.
"Oh.. ominous. I do need air though, gonna head over to the window. To uh... all that?"
Unsure if the wiggling threads were a signal that Sam wanted to dance, or even more with him, his swimming head told him fresh air would be good. So he shuffled over and got to the nearest open window for a few moments.
As the door opens, Gui creates a blurring wall in front of Ne'veah, but apparently isn't fast enough. "Not de best moment, Chro... we will have to rain check dis apparently very important revelacion." He says, moving around Ne'veah to push Chroknight out of his room. "And I am totally sure neider dis nor oder revelacions will be shared to anyone." He adds, looking between Ne'veah and Chroknight.
The door closed, Gui rests his head against it, then turns and slides down until he is sitting on the floor. He wills his blurring wall to disappear and looks back at Ne'veah. "I..." If before there was smidge of hope that the night would still go well for them, now there was none. So he shuts up, bracing himself to receive all the anger she was likely to throw at him.
"Deal. Tim takes one more swig. He passes his hand over the bottle and the remaining liquid turns a blood red. "The bargain is struck."
He turns around and puts the bottle back into the chest. "I'll get the info to you in a day or so. Depends on how many stones I have to overturn." Tim again takes in Max's beauty and gets an appreciative smile. "In the meantime, you wanna take advantage of that potion you drank? I give great back rubs."
"Sshhh," Eliana soothes, tiptoeing around Andromeda as she quells her rising adrenaline. "You don't have to move; I've picked a perfect spot for you. I'll wake you when the sun is rising, and let you stretch your arms up and up to reach the wonderful light. You'll feel even better with the sun on your skin!"
Eliana's voice is music. "I'll tell you a tale while we wait. Once upon a time, there was an enchanted fairy kingdom in a far away magical land of pure imagination. All the fairies of the kingdom were happy and loved their queen, for she was wise. One day the imaginary realm started to die! The mountains, the oceans, the plains, and the forests one after the other just dissolved into a cold, empty void. But the fairy queen had something special: a bag of magic dust from the real world! Even though many fairies died around her, she used the magic to reach out to the real world and become real herself! Now the queen is rebuilding her kingdom so that she may rule wisely once again."
Ne'veah sits down on Gui's bed with a sigh. She periodically looks over to the mirror to check out her unmutated self, but mostly just stares at her lap.
"I don't know who to blame for not locking the door," she finally says. "So, yeah. Thanks for this," she gestures to the illusion surrounding her.
She stands up and strikes a couple poses in front of the mirror. "I-- I might want... this. Again. To go out, like, on a date." Ne'veah looks at him to see his reaction.
As people continue shuffling out of Archie's dorm he begins to wind down and plops down on his couch and begins packing a bowl with shredded bits of green stuff. He looks down at his new legs and skirt and realizes that Jessie probably has a way lower tolerance than him, a good excuse to go all out he supposes. He finishes packing the bowl and lights up, blowing smoke straight up into the air and sinks into his couch.
As Jessie inquires about setting some ground rules he leans forward. ”I won’t do anything to your body that you won’t do to mine. Though, avoiding going to the bathroom over a day or two is highly unlikely. So we’ll have to just roll with it. Though, if we wanted to experiment, this will probably be the only chance in our lifetimes to try out the other gender.” He picks up the bong and rips it. ”Though I want to be clear, I don’t want to make you uncomfortable in any way..”
That's... stupid. Faeries aren't real. There are just extra-dimensional beings that have been misunderstood. Irrelevant.
"I can't stop, but I don't... Want to hurt you."
Can she survive if I hit her from here?
Her sheath bubbles and roils, but she can't make herself do it.
I... Don't want to hurt her.
Fine
With an uncomfortable amount of effort, she gets herself to lift an arm and a torrent of force rips free, wrapping around a nearby lamppost and tearing it from the ground before smashing it into the pavement with a resounding din.
Ne'veah sits down on Gui's bed with a sigh. She periodically looks over to the mirror to check out her unmutated self, but mostly just stares at her lap.
"I don't know who to blame for not locking the door," she finally says. "So, yeah. Thanks for this," she gestures to the illusion surrounding her.
She stands up and strikes a couple poses in front of the mirror. "I-- I might want... this. Again. To go out, like, on a date." Ne'veah looks at him to see his reaction.
Gui stands ups and moves behind her, so she can see both in the mirror. "Ne'veah... you know my powers are e lie." He answers, worried. "You are interesting and beautiful, both as you were and as you are." As he says this, Gui creates another mirror by the side of the first, but this one shows their reflection with Ne'veah in her panther form. "And of course I would like to go on e date with you... but I am worried dat dis lie will hurt you."
He then turns her to him. "Am I overtinking it? When making out I don't do it as much." Or at all, like most people. Or at least most men.
"Oh.. ominous. I do need air though, gonna head over to the window. To uh... all that?"
Sam's brow furrows. Her mind is still clear, she thinks, but she is forgetting to explain her words better. She grabs his wrist before he disappears, knowing he could pull away but knowing he won't somehow. She looks up at him with her moss colored eyes, smiling "I mean, you were the order that kept the team pointed in the right direction, you were our leader. And without you leading, our next conflict will be chaos, increasing the statistical chance of at least one us being seriously injured or killed." her eyes blink slow and wet. "And 'May God have mercy on our souls'"
She has been running simulations since she found out his decision, thousands of them. Numbers on a screen, numbers showing Angelica losing control, of Gui's faith broken and screaming, of Archie's past catching up to him, of Chronknight shattered across time, of Max leaving with disappointment bleeding off her.
And Indy blaming himself no matter how much he tried to distance himself from this.
But she will not say that. (or did she in a way)
Instead, she let go of his hand.
That weight settles in, banishing all desire to continue to collect data. A single blinding synapsis travels across her brain to trigger the interface in her nanites initiating a chemical readjustment, a purge
Her intoxication and contact high dissipates making her threads go as still as her face. "Good night, Indarius"
"Nice to see you again, Ne'veah," Chroknight manages to say before the door shuts closed. Wandering a bit more, they end up back where Archie in Jessie's body is talking to Jessie in Archie's body.
"...Archie, you know that you've probably got something like a hundred spiders all hidden around Jessie's body, right?" Chroknight points out to him. "Just saying, be very careful how you want this interaction to go because you don't want to anger the girl who could get you bitten by a dozen brown recluse spiders in your sleep."
They look at Jessie-in-Archie. "I am not a robot. I am however very insecure and have a crush on Sam I don't think will go anywhere. I want to make sure that you're okay."
"No worries, I like spiders." He attempts to use Jessies powers to make a spider do a jig on his hand, instead a spider just walks across his/Jessie's arm and look at Archie-in-Jessie. "Neat." He grins at the spider. "I tried making him do a dance." He breaks into a fit of laughter.
The spider crawls up through Jessie's shirt out of sight and he sits back on the couch. "From what I can tell you've got a crush on like half the team, going around spouting all your truths." He takes a sip from his white talon. "Good luck with Sam though. She's got an unbreakable shell."
"Yeah, I don't have a crush on you, and that's partly because I'm put off by the casual bud and brew use you got going on, and partly because I don't see the remorse for the awful shit you did in your past. You are pretty hot, but that other bit outweighs physical attraction."
Chroknight sighs. "But I also know that I'm struggling with keeping the party vibes flowing when I'm compelled to tell the uncensored truth. It's worn out much of the welcome from a magic potion. Like that super old Jim Carrey movie."
"Since I use it so casual, I'm always in a good mood. Maybe it'd help you out with your insecurities and stuff." He offers the bong to Jessie-in-Archie and Chroknight.
"I am remorseful for what I did, why do you think I'm here now? I've been told it's a process, y'know, turning over a new leaf. My foster parents figured out my past not too long after I was revealed to have powers by the whole expulsion thing. They haven't responded to any of my texts since." He sinks back into the couch looking rather morose. "Though walking around like a sack of sadness and regret won't do anyone good, especially myself. I can't undo my actions. So I just try and move forward." He sighs and chugs the rest of his white talon."And Liar Liar is a great movie, it was very entertaining."
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Sam's brow furrows. Her mind is still clear, she thinks, but she is forgetting to explain her words better. She grabs his wrist before he disappears, knowing he could pull away but knowing he won't somehow. She looks up at him with her moss colored eyes, smiling "I mean, you were the order that kept the team pointed in the right direction, you were our leader. And without you leading, our next conflict will be chaos, increasing the statistical chance of at least one us being seriously injured or killed." her eyes blink slow and wet. "And 'May God have mercy on our souls'"She has been running simulations since she found out his decision, thousands of them. Numbers on a screen, numbers showing Angelica losing control, of Gui's faith broken and screaming, of Archie's past catching up to him, of Chronknight shattered across time, of Max leaving with disappointment bleeding off her.
And Indy blaming himself no matter how much he tried to distance himself from this.
But she will not say that. (or did she in a way)
Instead, she let go of his hand.
That weight settles in, banishing all desire to continue to collect data. A single blinding synapsis travels across her brain to trigger the interface in her nanites initiating a chemical readjustment, a purge
Her intoxication and contact high dissipates making her threads go as still as her face. "Good night, Indarius"
Indy's momentum is stopped by the tugging red head so he stops and looks back at her. Being excessively careful to not yoink her around. "You all are..." he pulling on Sams hand in return so she can't quite leave herself. "Difficult, but you'll do better each time. Leader or not I have to hope that you'll all do better. I think, I think that's how it's done. And just because I'm not going to be at the front of the team doesn't mean I'm not there. I just can't do leadership right now." His unnaturally glacial blue irises contract as he focuses on Samantha.
"There's so much going on and, I think this is how I do better. For now at least, so please don't go, stick around, let's relax for once. Heck give it a few hours once the faerie dragon stuff wears off. And you'll probably be able to convince me to give people a skyline tour with those doe-eyes."
He looked away a bit ashamed, noticing how suddenly sober Sam looks, "Sorry I erm..."
Looking at the beer that Sam had given him earlier he sips at it uncomfortably. "Careful with doorways, you know...they can get in the way."
Max attempts to get a better read on Tim and his intentions...
...but she's tired, and stressed, and a back rub does sound rather nice right now. She smiles, the light seeming to glow and sparkle even more brightly around her. "Sure, I'll take a massage."
Sam tilts her head, considering, then nods. "I will stay." she says in her normal flat tone. "Data collection can be accomplished using organic observation methods, though I will refrain from any additional alternating substances."
A pause where she listens to something, then she nods again "Emotions are... taxing." explaining her decision to not imbibe anymore is hers, not because of him. Her threads are now moving again, but performing corrections and cleaning, as is the norm.
She inclines her head to the window he was moving toward before she sobered, hitting the shoulder of a person passing by with her antlers. "I have noticed the spatial requirements of these protrusions are ease to lose track of." she agrees with him.
Jessie huffs, fidgeting and looking concerned over the cavalier way that Archie is putting substances into her body. "Could you maybe not get super high or drunk? I've only been drunk once and I got sick. 'Cause knowing my luck we'll switch back so I'm the one dealing with the hangover."
Emboldened by this thought, she moves up to Archie and grabs the White Talon from her body's hand and gulps it down.
Just then, Archie's dupes arrive laden with pizzas. They've mutated, however, and show spiderlike faces with multiple eyes and distorted mouths!
Ne'veah shakes her head with a roll of her eyes. "I know what an illusion is! I just would like to go out into public without people staring! Or, at least, staring staring. If you know what I mean." She puts a hand on a hip in a practiced pose.
Tim did not exaggerate his skills at massage, Max learns immediately. His fingers find pressure points and knotted muscles she didn't even know she had and works them with soothing precision.
You hear a muffled crash from the hedge gardens!
"Oh! Mmm, right there," Max grunts and gasps as Tim's magic fingers do their work. Realizing that the magician doesn't seem to have anything sinister in mind (at least at the moment), the demoness allows herself to relax and enjoy his touch.
"I do know what you mean. Pretty well." Gui says, letting his tattoos crawl all over his skin. Not a single inch remains un-inked. Various styles of art compete for dominance, striking colors contrasting against black drawings. Angels and sensual demons waging war is a common theme, but here and there cute and sexy panther-like catgirls appear in sensual poses.
Gui, in silence, watches her reaction, the eyes of many of his tattoos also turning at Ne'veah.
"MOTH CLAN! No, wait, those are spider heads. False alarm."
Chroknight visibly relaxes once it's clear that these Archie-spiders aren't their long term nemeses. "That's a relief, don't need to be fighting ninjas tonight. Though I guess no better friends to fight moths than spiders, right?" They say to Jessie.
They look to Archie and seem a bit torn as to what to tell them - but the sound of something crashing outside causes them to check the open window. "What the heck...something's happening in the hedges...I'll check it out," They declare, before zipping out towards the gardens.
Tim continues his ministrations, kneading Max's muscles into blissful relaxation. "It's going to be such a pleasure doing business with you, I can tell," he murmurs in her ear. His fingers move underneath her voluminous mane of silky hair to work the base of her skull and her neck, setting of pleasantly tingling aftershocks across her body.
"Hmm. You've got a bit of blockage here. Your chakras are practically bound and gagged. You want me to let them flow? No charge. Well, if you were suddenly moved to reward me, I wouldn't say no."
Ne'veah sashays closer to get a better look at Gui's tattoos. "Hmph. I don't want to go back to the way I was, you know. I don't. The doctors said not wanting a cure was part of the Mongrels' plan, but they don't know what it's like. If the let the others change, they'd see! It's great!" Her eyes flash for a moment, but then she deflates. "But it's lonely. After Grace left... It's just me."
She pats Gui's cheek, then moves in for a kiss. "So, date. You, me. Someplace nice. Fancy. All right?"
Eliana pouts at Andromeda's outburst. "Sshhh! Naughty willow! They'll take you away, and you'll miss the sun!"
Investigating the sound of the crash, Chroknight reaches the gardens which are calm and peaceful under the silvery light of the half-moon and the brilliant stars. They eventually spot the tell-tale crater of a super-powered impact, but the only casualty appears to be one of the lamp posts that dot the hedges of the garden.
"Hmmm... chakras? Yes, please, open the flow," Max murmurs, her fears of Akhenaten already on their way to becoming a distant memory.
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Sam tilts her head, considering, then nods. "I will stay." she says in her normal flat tone. "Data collection can be accomplished using organic observation methods, though I will refrain from any additional alternating substances."
A pause where she listens to something, then she nods again "Emotions are... taxing." explaining her decision to not imbibe anymore is hers, not because of him. Her threads are now moving again, but performing corrections and cleaning, as is the norm.
She inclines her head to the window he was moving toward before she sobered, hitting the shoulder of a person passing by with her antlers. "I have noticed the spatial requirements of these protrusions are ease to lose track of." she agrees with him.
Indy made his way to the window turning to lean towards it and breath the fresher air while still being able to properly address Sam. "You don't have to stay just cause I suggested it. I just thought we were all having a good time so far and. I guess I know how it is when things like that don't happen enough." He looks around at the milling bodies and conversations. "Glad my horns don't stick out to the side too much, got that nice swoop thankfully."
Taking another drink he grimmaces less than he had, maybe the taste was growing on him quickly. "You know it's weird ever since I went full dragon I feel like something's been missing. But I-" He's interrupted by whatever commotion happened outside causing him to bolt for a moment before languidly looking out into the night. "What the- heck was that?"
Sam was listening, in the hyper focused way, when the noise hits. She pulls out her tablet, scans through video feeds "A destroyed lamppost, a crater... analysis... visual composition of radial damage suggests produced by Andromeda with a eighty three percent accuracy. But I do not see Andromeda in the video feed." her head tilts and looks at him "Should we investigate?"
We. She said with the tiniest of emphasis.
Tim's fingers press hard against various points along Max's spine and back, painful at first, but the pain soon gives way to a spreading heat that flows through her entire body.
"Hmm. You got a rider. Lemme see what I can do about that..." There's the sound of a zipper being pulled and suddenly the warmth pervading Max's body disappears, leaving her feeling cool and clean. "Heh. You know, I actually prefer the 'girl next door' look to the demonic temptress. You're very cute."
When Max opens her eyes, she sees that the purple skin she's become so used to is gone, back to her normal human tone! A quick check reveals she's still a girl, but entirely human-looking!
As Sam and Indy join Chroknight in the garden to investigate the crash, the Brain is able to quickly extrapolate the trajectory of the lamp post, tracing it back to where it once stood. And there she finds Andromeda and Eliana a short distance away.
"Look, Willow! A faun has joined us! Come, dance with me in the moonlight!" Eliana beckons.
"Ah.. wh-what?" Max says in disbelief. She looks down at her hands, seeing the light mocha tone of her skin and the delicate fingers that don't end in sharp claws. She reaches up to her head, feeling the absence of her horns. She looks behind her, and there is no tail to be found.
(Fortunately, her supernatural costume has closed around the hole that had been in her pants to allow for her tail, preventing any embarrassment.)
She turns back to Tim with a look of shock. "You made me human again? How?!? I... I tried everything!" she shouts.
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Tim shakes his head. "No, you're not human. You look human. You're still as demonic as ever."
He says a string of incomprehensible words and Max's supernatural, magical costume is ripped from her body and encased in a glowing cage floating a few feet off the bed. "How long have you had this little beastie? Nasty parasite, feasting on your shame. You tried everything, huh? Why didn't you try getting rid of this sucker?"
He notices Max's nakedness and looks away. "Oh. Saves on clothes, does it? Take my blanket, there on the bed."
Just as Max was starting to warm up to Tim, he goes and magically rips her clothes off. She shrieks a litany of Spanish profanities as she instinctively tries to cover herself with her arms. She glares at Tim as she grabs the blanket for some semblance of modesty.
"You think I didn't try to get rid of it?" she says once she's calmed down somewhat. "I couldn't. It kept on coming back. I'd throw it out the window and it would appear back on my body. I'd rip it to shreds and it would regenerate."
"...Did I miss the part where the night became a bacchanal?" Chroknight asks as they hear Eliana. "Okay, maybe it's because I don't think I could lie right now, but I'm pondering if we might want to check in. Crater girl? You good or do we need to rescue you?"
Just as Max was starting to warm up to Tim, he goes and magically rips her clothes off. She shrieks a litany of Spanish profanities as she instinctively tries to cover herself with her arms. She glares at Tim as she grabs the blanket for some semblance of modesty.
"You think I didn't try to get rid of it?" she says once she's calmed down somewhat. "I couldn't. It kept on coming back. I'd throw it out the window and it would appear back on my body. I'd rip it to shreds and it would regenerate."
"And that wasn't a clue?" Tim gets up and goes across the room to lean against his desk. The glowing prison rotates slowly in the air while the red substance inside writhes and spasms. "I don't know why you're so upset with me. If you want it back you can have it, but it'll probably lock you in your demon shape again."
He smiles with a helpless shrugs. "Personally, I think that'd be a mistake. You're really cute this way. Definitely more dangerous, since you can now hide your true nature from the unsuspecting mortals." He waggles his eyebrows.
”I’m not upset with you,” Max says. ”Shocked, caught off guard, embarrassed. But I am grateful that you were able to help me become a human again. Or at least, look like one.”
She looks down at her body again. ”So, is this like then potion? Will it wear off in a few days?”
Ne'veah sashays closer to get a better look at Gui's tattoos. "Hmph. I don't want to go back to the way I was, you know. I don't. The doctors said not wanting a cure was part of the Mongrels' plan, but they don't know what it's like. If the let the others change, they'd see! It's great!" Her eyes flash for a moment, but then she deflates. "But it's lonely. After Grace left... It's just me."
She pats Gui's cheek, then moves in for a kiss. "So, date. You, me. Someplace nice. Fancy. All right?"
"E nice AND fancy?" Gui asks, withdrawing his tattoos. He kisses her back, of course. "Fine, but you remember dis is us having some fun, ok?"
Gui knew his chances of doing anything more serious this night were gone. But he is both a joker and not a quitter, so he gestures for his bed. "Oh, and just in kese dis last kiss awekened someting primal inside you... we could still have some fun... Just trowing it out dere, dat I would not say no to a cute girl in need of my help." He can't keep serious for so long and laughs of his own silliness. "Yes, I am dat selfless."
Andromeda looks at Sam and Chroknight in gratitude and annoyance. What don't they get? What part needs to be explained? Does Sam get it?
She gives a big sweeping gesture in the direction of Eliana, but is careful not to actually finish the gesture or point at her or do anything else dangerous.
"She's making me be a tree!"
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"...and that's not consensual tree making?"
"Get Sam to make you a social matrix and read a social cue!"
"Okay, okay, give me a second..."
The obvious solution in Chroknight's thoughts was to accelerate the potion, since it was supposed to wear off after enough time. They reach out and grasp onto Andromeda's shoulder. "Hang on for a day."
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Samantha looks at Eliana, her green eyes narrowing. "You are forcing yourself on another." her voice is flat but thinly edged, like focused but distant fury. "If you continue a single millimeter down your projected pathway, it will NOT end well for you." she raises her tablet, running her fingers over the screen until all the sprinklers pop up, milky white liquid dripping out of them. Not Water.
"Let. Her. Go."
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"Oh, you certainly caught the hero bug, haven't you? What a gentleman," Ne'veah smirks. "E for effort, Aquarelle. I promise you, when my wild passion awakens, I will bust down your door."
She moves toward the door. "You want to see how the party is--" her head tilts, and behind her illusion her ear twitches. "Something crashed outside. Like a meteor struck."
"She's making me be a tree!"
"I'm giving her life!" Eliana says exuberantly in response.
Chroknight fights through Andromeda's sheath to grab her shoulder and accelerates time, hoping that the potion will run its course and wear off harmlessly. However, once the time starts moving faster, she sees with horror Andromeda's greenish flesh grow darker and rougher as if becoming the bark of a tree, while branches and leaves sprout! The dryad's magic is not only keeping the potion active, but rooting Andromeda to the spot and transforming her fully into a tree!
The only option before Chroknight is to risk reversing time to undo the fey magic influencing the potion! They do that, backing time up and dangerously risking paradox! Alarms blare in Chroknight's armor as temporal safeguards are bypassed and timestream rules violated!
From everyone else's perspective, Andromeda blurs and becomes indistinct, growing and twisting behind a hazy temporal effect like looking through a warped piece of glass! Chroknight disappears behind the blur as well as they try to defend Andromeda! Images distorted by the chronal field twist and grow bigger and bigger! Then the entire campus grounds shudder once, and with an otherworldly tearing sound, Chroknight and Andromeda are flung from the gigantic blur!
The two heroes land on the soft, wet ground, looking like they've run a marathon but otherwise no worse for wear except that Andromeda still has a green hue to her skin.
Then the temporal tear fades, revealing a twenty-foot-tall human-shaped tree!
"Let. Her. Go."
Eliana is mesmerized by the massive tree creature that lifts a ponderous, root-laden foot and stomps down hard. A woody knob in the shape of a head with a gaping, knotty maw issues forth a pained groan in Andromeda's voice!
"It's too late..." Eliana whispers.
The garden suddenly bursts into chaos as all the plants writhe and twist to life!!
What do you do??
Sam goes as still as ice on a frozen lake, a small twisted whine of nooooooo echoing like tiny thunder insider her.
Then she noticed a green Andromeda tangled up with Chronknight and NOT in the tree, and the cry disappears.
As the garden explodes, Sam looks back the elf and says nothing as she lets the poison spray (after doing lightning quick math to keep any drop from falling on her friends).
Andromeda carefully untangles herself from Chroknight, breathing a quiet "Thanks." as she tries to keep her sheath quiescent.
"Just the tree!" Andromeda shouts, slamming a bastion of force between Eliana and the weedkiller.
Sam shoots a look at Andromeda, a sliver of something in her eyes before she frowns and then looks away.
"Like e meteor?" Gui asks as he was following her outside. "Dere is no way dis is not Andromeda. I will dismiss de illusion, ok?" And with that, Ne'veah is back in her panther self.
Following the direction Ne'veah's head turned when she heard the sound, Gui gets back inside Archie's room to look through the window, grabbing a couple magic potions and keeping as much distance as he can from the mutated Archie-spider-butlers.
"Whaatt...? How?" A giant tree? Gui sighs and jumps through the window, running as fast as he can.
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As Indy is lead at least partially by Sam he ditches the mostly empty beer can as they leave Archie's room in a hurry. Possibly provoking some raised eyebrows, but he can't be bothered to mind and his head is swimming a bit.
His natural attunement to the local aether caused his scales, now with bits of fur growing between them thanks to the potion, to prickle as they got closer to the source of weirdness. In his current state they practically rattled very softly in the way one of those scaled bags would, which might be unnerving for anyone who hasn't heard it before.
When he spots Eliana, and Andrometree he moves to protest. "Well, if I didn't shay I told you so. El, don't do this. Taking away her free choice is just as bad as -urk-" OhIshouldntvehadthatlastdrink He thinks to himself as his vision gets all screwy thanks to Chroknight's stunt.
He forces himself to look away or be sick which takes a lot of the potential bite out of what he was saying. His gut rolls a bit as the potion he ingested works the last vestiges of it's magic on him. Belching and tipping over to retch his stomach contents into the nearest shrub despite his former attempts at protest. The butterfly wings and curled pixie tail of Indy quickly return to their leathery membranous state. Indy himself is left hacking a half-frozen glob of alcohol and significantly reduced in potency glowing puddle.
As Gui jumps out of the window, Jessie looks at Archie in case he plans on leaping into action in her own body. "Are you expecting me to go as you?" she asks. "How does your power work?" She holds out a hand and suddenly an oversized spider appears!
The giant Ent-romeda roars again as a defoliant is sprayed against it, but the liquid spatters off a telekinetic field! The crawling vines and grasping limbs of the bushes in the garden retreat from the spray, although one vine snakes out and snares Sam's leg! She is suddenly upended and dragged across the field and into the hedgerow out of sight!
Andromeda sends her telekinetic shield to protect Eliana who remains completely transfixed by the gigantic tree creature. The failed astronaut manages to deflect any of the poisons from reaching the fey-influenced student, but opens herself up to the flailing tree! It brings a telekinetically-enhanced blow down on the Bull, battering against her form!
Archie stands and moves to the window to look out at the chaos. "Whaaaaat???" His jaw drops. He turns to his own body, eyes red, and grins wide. "Heh, heh, Andromeda is a tree. Hehehehe." He doubles backwards laughing at the bizarre situation. "How'd that happen." He giggles.
"Woah, I sound so girly. Hmm makes sense though." He rambles on. "I've always wondered what it would be like to be a girl. I must say that you're very pretty Jess. Both in my body and out of it." He laughs some more. "Ummmm, my powerrrr. Ummm... Make stuff!" Archie declares wisely.
He lets a very un-ladylike burp out. "Think of stuff that you know how it works. Then focus on making just that. If you f$%k up, you'll make too many things and fill my dorm with random junk." Archie stumbles around his dorm towards the sink and unceremoniously drinks straight from the faucet. He wipes the damp from his mouth with his sleeve and walks back over to Jessie. "Ok, how do I use spider powers? Can I swing around on webs like Tarzan or something?" He asks earnestly.
Andromeda flings up a fist with no trace of the hesitation she showed for hurting Eliana. Force meets force as the spindly girl does what she does best.
"The smaller targets are a distraction; just keep them contained. The tree needs to be stopped; it is dangerous; hit it hard or not at all - Advanced Combat or good plans only."
"Eliana, help Sam or get out."
Sam doesn't scream but makes plenty of other sounds indicating surprise, pain, and utter frustration. Non of you know exactly what is happening behind the hedges but it does not seem to be going her way.
"Out with it," Aquarelle says, patting Indarius in the back, "you always trust your gut and right now it is saying you took too much."
He then looks around, imagining how he could help. He could do basically nothing with the various as they had no eyes or ears to be tricked by his illusions, but the big tree itself? It apparently has a head. "Why de tree has Andromeda's voice?" He asks, looking at Andromeda and seeing her greenish skin. "Oh!"
Well, if it was somehow an alternate Andromeda, perhaps he'd be able to reach it as well. While staying in the back and helping Indarius, Aquarelle creates an illusory clone of himself and sends him running towards and around Entromeda.
"Hey girl!" He waves. "You have got pretty big, uh? How about you slow down so he can have e good talk?"
Jessie blinks heavily at Archie's instructions. "I don't shoot webs. I control spiders. That's it. That's all I know..." Her brow furrows as her slowed thoughts catch up. "I know spiders! I'll make a reeeeally big spider and you control it!! Have it fight... whatever is out there."
She squeezes her eyes shut as she concentrates. In the same way one of Phalanx's dupes appear, a horse-sized black widow pops into existence in the middle of Archie's room! The venomous arachnid elicits screams and a sudden evacuation by the other partygoers.
"Hehehe," Jessie giggles as she sways, petting one of the monstrous spider's legs. "Go get 'em, girl!"
Archie realizes that he can sense the giant spider, and can control it with his mind!
What do you do??
The Entdromeda batters against its alternate self, but its florokinesis cannot overcome the original!
As she absorbs the attacks, Andromeda considers that this temporal anomaly will likely fade away eventually so its rampage needs to be only contained for as long as that will happen. The primary variable is the fey magic that was introduced. It may not fade, but instead go dormant once the sun's rays are upon it!
Eliana snaps out of her fascination and nods, rushing over to the hedge that has claimed Statian. She manages to calm the strangling vines, but not before they have done their worst to the Brain!
While Indarius sobers himself up by purging the intoxicants and foreign magical influence, Aquarelle sends an illusion to distract the massive plant creature!
Entdromeda stops its attacks on Andromeda to swipe at the illusion, leaving Aquarelle safe! It roars in pained frustration as it cannot hit the phantom. Its wild blows knocks down a flickering lamp post which winks out. It roars again as the light goes out!
What do you do?
She hit him? So unceremoniously? Aquarelle turns to Andromeda. "Are you mad at me? Why would de plant-you squash me just like dat?"
Andromeda circles, a small part of her mourning her renewed mobility
"Dragon, can you generate a solar facsimile? It may render the tree quiescent."
It's not hitting anything important, but it's trying to hit Gui. I can't let it keep doing that. Does he think I want to do this?
"I- It might not even be thinking. Maybe it thinks you should be a tree too."
Using that distraction she wraps it in a tightening grip of force, a grin spreading across her face as she crushes her dendriform duplicate. Targets of appropriate size and resiliency aren't to be taken for granted.
"Ah ok." Did she see him kissing Ne'veah? Well, not time to think about it.
"I do not tink Indarius can say magical words right now, but perhaps I can meke e sun... but... why will e sun with e smily fece be better dan e normal one? Is it personal?" While he waits for her answer, Aquarelle begins to concentrate. He has never done anything this big before.