Cure for the Mutated

Cure for the Mutated
Date of Scene:	01 January 2013
Location:	Merlin's Mystical House
Synopsis:	With the cure finally retrieved from Garland, Avira and Angantyr have taken it to Merlin to have it duplicated. It's a success! For the most part. While the injected darkness in Avira and Angantyr is removed, Avira finds the animal aspects of her mutation fading much, much more slowly. Mercade and Maira come along and everything quickly descends into utter awkwardness.
Cast of Characters:	Mercade Alexander, Avira, Maira, Angantyr Vespar

---

Avira has posed:
TWO DAYS AGO...

"Uh, hello..." Avira said, uncomfortably shifting around in the extremely cluttered 'house' of Merlin. It was bad enough that she resorted to wrapping her tail around her waist and pulling her wings in tight so she didn't knock over some important magical experiment. "Mickey sent me...said you would be able to help me..."

From her pocket, Avira withdrew a syringe filled with ominous-looking black material.

TWO HOURS AGO...

A tiny brown mouse scuttled through the streets of Traverse Town, expertly dodging feet, puppies, and the occasional meddling cat. The rodent stopped before a huge yellow door: the VALKYRI headquarters entrance, and sliped underneath.

MINUTES LATER...

Angantyr Vespar's purloined Ma Belle beeped at him, signalling a new text message. It's from Avira: Merlin says he's finished. Come to Traverse Town.

NOW...

"Now before I pass this over to you..." Merlin says, stroking his beard, "I have to tell you that dupilicating this was no easy task! It took-" he clears his throat and straightens, "-a good bit of resources, even with those notes YOU passed me." He peers over his glasses at Avira. "A simply /disgusting/ venture into science, if I do say so."

Avira shuffles her feet nervously, "Yes, well, you can take that up with Dr. Sevarius." she murmurs, about to say something else when the wizard interrupts her.

"THEREFORE! In return for my time and effort, I expect a favor from each of you in turn. Repaid when I see fit to call it."

"Hey-" Avira raises her hands in a disarming gesture, "Anything you say. Doing this for us means so much, of course we'll agree to these terms."

Maira has posed:
Maira is there, of course. Like she would miss it! Of course, she has investigated Merlin's house with wide, curious eyes. A wizard! Another mage! One of such skill! It is very exciting business. She wishes she had been able to help more with the cure, with her experience in alchemy. Maybe she'd be helpful? But maybe...better to leave it to someone more skilled.

Maira stands between Avira and Angantyr, taking them both my their beastly arms and swinging them a little. "This is it! I'll owe a favor too, if that helps!" she offers, grinning widely in her excitement. They did it, they got the cure and now they can BOTH be back as they were and live happily ever after and what not!

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade, admittedly, hadn't been there for most of the trauma surrounding Avira's mutation and her efforts to find a cure. The Detective, however, has an interest in seeing Avira (and that other guy, he supposes) cured.

Admittedly, your first introduction to someone being a giant demon beast doesn't make the best impression.

Mercade leans on the doorframe, listening to the 'negotiations' as he observes the pair deal with the bearded wizard. "This is a hell of a situation. I certainly appreciate your help as well, Merlin." However, he's not the one who is going to owe the favor. He owes the man enough right now.

"Soon, everything's going to be better, thankfully. And then we can focus on other things." Like Manhattan.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr was here, using what could best be described as almost an entire ship sail being used to cover his body. It's better than stepping into a city and causing mass panic and of course, other problems. Angantyr avoids using a corridor of darkness, except to Traverse Town, and setting himself outside of it, and then walks in the rest of the way, getting a few...glances.

But now, he stands, towering over...basicly everything here and having to crouch a bit to get inside. For a moment, he kinda looks...annoyed at Merlin's proposal.

However, after a bit, he relaxes, it's...just buisness, he just happens to be on the recieving end of it for a change. "Fine." he says, with that whispy voice. Whatever it takes to stop eating basalisk.

"So are we going to do this, or do you need me to sign a contract too?" he asks, bluntly.

Avira has posed:
Avira looks over to Maira, who swings her arm and stands between her and Angantyr. A human, sandwiched by two terrifying beasts of darkness! Fortunately, both are still managing to stay in control.

"Good good." Merlin says briskly, turning to Angantyr. The wizard seems wholly unintimidated by the giant shadow beast the dark knight has been living as for the past few weeks. He doesn't move or even blink until he relaxes and also voices his agreement to his terms.

Really, as a mercenary, Angantyr would certainly understand!

He turns around and starts to bumble through a pile of detrius and half-emptied teacups. "Haha, of course, just give me a moment to find..."

Avira gives a pained, exaspirated look, glancing over at Mercade. "Yeah. Other things. There's lots to do."

Finally, Merlin turns back around, holding in each hand a small glass test tube stoppered with a cork. Both contain swirling black liquid. "I am no fan of needles." he confesses, passing a vial to Avira and Angantyr.

Gingerly, Avira takes the cure in her hands and carefully works the cork free. She doesn't even pause to say anything after that and just knocks it back.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade looks over back to Avira, wincing a little at the look. "It'll all work out." Mercade says.

He looks on as they go to take their cures. He is quiet then, hoping everything works out.

From what he heard before, the pair tried to cheat the system by finding a way to replicate the cure. Would it possibly work? Mercade for one seems to hope so.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr takes the vial from Merlin.

"How long should this take to effect us?" he asks, before looking at the cork..and takes it slowly off.

Slowly, he starts working it...it's hard with his claws being so long, but eventually he works it.

CORKS ARE HARD.

"Here goes nothing." he says, and downs the vial.

Avira has posed:
"Well based on my research, you should be seeing the effects immediately." Merlin points out, watching in fascination as each of them take the cure.

Immediately, both will feel what seems to be a cooling effect, spreading down their throats and into their stomachs. The cooling feeling spreads, bringing a sense of peace with it. Darkness begins to smoke off of each of them in long whisps. Angantyr, being as tuned to the darkness as he is, will feel the excess darkness the injection brought being pushed out of his body. That leathery 'armor' vaporizes.

It's hard to tell what's going on with Avira since she's "smoking" just as heavily as Angantyr, unless you ARE Angantyr. He can easily see that darkness disappating, unobscuring the light that he's come to know. The bleeding lasts for a solid minute before it stops.

Avira does look different, but not human. Her fur has become the same color brown as her hair was and the sclera of her eyes is no longer yellow. A feather from her wings drops to the ground. "...um..."

She seems confused, but oddly calm. "...this is supposed to go away..right?"

"Well." Merlin bends down and picks up the fallen feather. "It should. Given the differences between you two, it may take longer for these effects to fade."

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
The darkness bleeds off...smoking off like a fog machine.

However, Angantyr's natural darkness was always there, it will always be there, no matter how much darkness it bleeds. It was like trying to drain the ocean. However, the excess darkness, the stuff inbalanced, caused by the crap injected into him by LEXUS...

He starts shrinking, expecting horrible amounts of pain and instead, the large amount of cloth used to obscure him drops all around him.

Angantyr stands there, blinking.

Too small for his former garments. Luckily, for all those assembled, there is a conviently placed table between them.

He looks towards Avira.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OmPW3mamSE

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade blinks, stepping back as he sees darkness boil off of them. "Whoa. Darkness smoke. Don't breathe this."

Mercade blinks as Ang is suddenly... not a demon anymore. "Whoa." He says. "Is that really what happens to you?" He asks.

He looks over to Avira, expecting to see her returned to her Kickassian normal self...

He pauses.

He waits.

He blinks.

"Um..."

Avira has posed:
Avira thinks about when the change first happened and how damn painful it was for her anatomy to rearrange itself over the span of a few minutes. "You know...if it's happening slowly, I'm down with that." She looks a little resigned and glances over at Mercade. That look on his face...

Her heart sinks a little.

Now she looks to Angantyr, who has returned to normal, but is also quite, well, naked. "Uh..." she says, staring for a long moment before abruptly turning herself away.

Their wizardly host suddenly jumps, throwing his hands up into the air, his glasses fumble off his face and he makes a mad grab to retrieve them before they fall to the ground. "Goodness gracious!!" Once his spectacles have been firmly returned to his face, he grasps his nearby wand, pointing it at Angantyr.

"VESTIS IMMEDIUS!!" The stolen sail at Angantyr's feet suddenly levitates into the air and winds around the Dark Knight, moulding itself into a handsome toga draped around his body.

Maira has posed:
Maira, too excited to notice that Angantyr is in a state of undress, springs forward once the smoke clears and flings her arms around him excitedly! "It worked! It worked!" she exclaims, then turns and throws herself at Avira. "It--! ....Huh," she says, then pauses to listen to what was being said. "Oh, slowly? Okay! OH. OH COOL. We can try out these wings then, right!?" she asks, hanging from Avira, her arms locked around her.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Merlin's spell makes the situation less ackward.

It is still a Toga though.

That is easily his most metro spell ever. He looks slowly towards Avira, and frowns, "Avira..." he pauses...damn it, it was all..

Thing on head. Angantyr slowly reaches up to the strange mark on his forehead that he can painfully feel now...

And sends a bit of darkness through his hand, aiming to nullify the magic there and rip it off. Crushing it in his powerful grip, and turns back to Avira. "...It's alright. It'll take time, I think what I got was less Silvarious?" he tries to reason, he doesn't know <Goosehonk> about bioteck.

He turns to Merlin, "Hey what's the idea? Wasn't this supposed to fix her?!" he mutters, stupid hairbrained mage.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"So yeah..." Mercade says, caught in an awkward moment. He looks to Angantyr. "Glad to see you're doing better, at least." Looking like a giant EVIL DEMON must have really craped his style. It does for most people, anyway..." He rubs his chin, looking back to Avira. "Don't worry, Avira. Even if it takes time, we'll get you back to normal. At least you feel better, right? You don't have all of that darkness making your life harder, at least..."

Avira has posed:
Maira hugs Avira's fuzzy self. She seems a little taken back. "Well...yes, we can." The woman half-smiles at Maira, "You want a ride, don't you?" Something she actually doesn't mind giving, provided her wings don't DISSOLVE in the middle of flight.

Now that Angantyr has some proper clothing on, Avira can turn back to face him. "Sevarius." she corrects with narrowed eyes, "Yeah, whatever you got didn't seem to have the whole 'animal' thing going on for it." One of the scales under Avira's chin flakes off. Beneath that spot, the skin is smooth and a darker tan.

Merlin casually tucks his wand back into his sleeve, once again nonplussed by Angantyr's irritation. "Well it has done a considerable amount of fixing already. As the young Mercade has so astutely pointed out, the darkness has been dispersed. Now according to the research notes that...that..."

Merlin turns around and starts digging through his clutter again. A protractor whizzes overhead, tossed behind him, followed by a compass, an unopened package of number two pencils, and the Beatles white album. "...blast. Well! The darkness had been the real danger of the transformation, as I am certain you yourself had noticed, hmmm?"

"I can wait it out." Avira says, sounding a little optimistic. "I can be patient. Ahaha..ha.." She doesn't sound that enthusiastic though, wrestling with the thought that this could be permanent.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Meracde reaches out and casually snaffles the copy of the White Album as it flies overhead.

What, he likes things that aren't jazz too!

He does, however, put it back. He's not going to bogart from the wizard. "It's not going to be permanent, Avira, don't worry." He moves up, and puts a comforting hand on her shoulder. He's been doing this a lot lately, hasn't he?

"Just don't do anything too drastic to deal with this. I know how you get sometimes." He smiles, kindly. "The most important thing is now we've bought you time." At least she won't have any... unusual impulses now, right?

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Slowly, Angantyr turns towards Avira, giving Merlin the eye. He looks at her for a moment, "He is right, however, the darkness is gone." he says, with a nod. "The dangerous effects of that form are gone, leaving you...less in danger." he says, after a moment of thought.

His own, however, will never leave him, but he's already made peace with that. Angantyr flexs a arm, trying to get a feel for this form again, and speaks. "Then, if it is not going to work, then we will simply have to find this man, drag him from the bowels of Hollow Bastion, and make him pay. After getting your cure." he says. "This is not going to be an easy thing." he admits, "So we better make sure this half cocked slow acting cure is infact a dud first."

Maira has posed:
"Slow acting cure...huh," Maira says, thinking about this. She raises a finger to tap gently against her lip as she ponders. There are some slow acting potions. Things that are sort of...time release. However, if Avira and Angantyr took the same cure, why should it work differently on Avira? Puzzling...

"Well...is it magic, or is it science? This is important. If it is magic, than I would count on needing another sunrise or two. If not...perhaps it was something with your um..." Maira waggles her finger at Avira, "Your...um...chemistry! I guess we'll see! You know I'll help however I can!"

She looks back toward Avira, noticing Mercade's hand on her shoulder. Oh. That's interesting.

Maira glances toward Angantyr...huh.

Avira has posed:
"Thanks." She murmurs to Mercade, reaching up to touch the hand on her shoulder. Avira pauses when Mercade extorts her to not do anything 'too drastic'. "Oh Mercade! I won't, don't worry."

Those impuses are definitely gone. There's no darkness inside her urging her to kill, which is a great relief.

The wizened old wizard gives Angantyr the eye right back.

"...Hollow Bastion?" Avira questions, having never heard that place mentioned before. "Angantyr..." She reaches out to him, hoping to get him to calm a little. Avira herself seems to be keeping it together pretty well, perhaps in better control of her reactions now that the darkness is gone.

"OHO, they are one and the same, young lady!" Merlin beams at Maira, all the sudden quite excited to get into the territory of scholarly thought. "Why we-"

"-er I'd say genetics is mostly science, actually. At least in what was put into me." Avira interrupts, promptly receiving a glare from Merlin. Her ears droop.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"Maybe?" Mercade says in response to Maira. "I think all we can really do is wait."
He suqeezes Avira's shoulder, and smiles. "We'll get this taken care of, Avira. Don't worry about Hollow Bastion." He pauses. "What's Hollow Bastion?"

He looks to Merlin. "Either way, we should stop using up your time. We should get moving." He gestures over his shoulder. "Unless we have more things to ask him?"

Maira has posed:
Maira moves over toward toga-wearing Angantyr, crossing her arms loosely beneath her chest. "That place...I think I have been there. Obviously I was, you know, blind folded and bound at the time so..." she trails off. Not really much good she could do there. "But don't worry! We'll figure this out. Maybe you need to sleep. Or Sunrise. OR! Maybe someone needs to kiss you. That's how it works," she informs Avira, obviously chock full of practical wisdom!

To back track though..."Yes, I totally want to go flying! You know...if you don't mind," Maira adds, a little pink rising to her cheeks.

A thing Maira does not notice; she's standing on a corner of Angantyr's toga.

Let fate do the rest.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr pauses, looking at Avira for a moment.

"Fine." he says, looking at Merlin for a brief moment. Stupid wizards.

He really hates them.

However, maybe something else is annoying him. However, he turns from the pair and turns to leave, "I have to get my armor repaired, and need to get a new weapon." he mutters. Stepping away from them as Maira steps on his toga.

RIP.

Angantyr, annoyed, is standing, conviently protected by a tower of books.

"...Bloody wizards."

Maira has posed:
Dear Diary, I saw a naked man today.

It was weird.

It was also kinda awesome.

Maira turns as she hears a ripping sound, blinking as she sees Angantyr's improvised toga fall. Before she even knows what she is doing she leans over to see beyond the book tower, then promptly falls over and dissolved into red-faced giggles.

Avira has posed:
"..there." A small growl escapes Avira as she thinks back to THAT incident. Someone was definitely going to pay. "Uhhh...that kissing thing is for frogs, isn't it? I mean, one of Mercade's clients..." she trails off, suddenly realizing that it might not be a good idea to discuss cases so openly. This ain't Persona 4!

Reaching out, she ruffles Maira's hair. "I'll see what I can do. -actually, Angantyr, I have your stuff. I found it in the desert and collected it up. Your mace...your mace is /weird/." Avira can tell him about how she tried using it later.

Angantyr's toga is pulled off due to some misplaced feet. Avira makes an embarassed face.

Merlin throws his hands up in the air. "Mercade got it in one! Out! All of you! Shoo! Get along now!" Merlin starts making 'move out' motions with both of his hands.

"Well actually I wanted to know if you knew where to find-" Avira starts

"Out!!!"

"But!"

"OUT!!" A sudden gust of wind ejects everyone, including Angantyr's discarded toga, out of Merlin's house.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"Wellllll..." Mercade drawls. "If you need someone to try kissing you..." He says, smiling.

Mercade hears the distinctive sound of a toga being pulled off. He does /not/ look in Angantyr's direction. He might be a cool guy, but... seriously.

Mercade raises a hand, about to say something, when Merlin blows them all out! He lands on his tush near the edge of the pond surrounding the area.

"Wow." Mercade says, staring up into the black sky. "He's gotten a lot grumpier since I saw him the first time."

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr is now outside. Waist deep in water, as his former toga sails into the distance.

"...So...you have my armor you say?" he says, arms cross while he stands in that water, with a very very not amused look on his face. He doesn't really seem embarrased, he does, however, seem cold.

Maira has posed:
 !!!! Maira is blasted out of the house with a great gust of wind, suddenly to find that she's in water.

Why does this keep happening? Maira can't swim!

She starts to sort of flail and panic...then realizes she can stand. Grumbling, she gets to her feet and slicks back her hair, trying to regain some dignity.

"Sooo....now what?" she asks, looking between them all, beginning to stride toward shore.

Avira has posed:
Suddenly, Avira turns to look at Mercade, a sort of 'deer in the headlights' look on her face.

Then Merlin kicks them all out!

Avira dangles over the edge of Merlin's island, her head in the water. Sputtering, she pulls it out and shakes her head. "Now we wait, right?"

She sits up and looks over to Mercade, "Has he? Hmm...well maybe since two days ago."

Avira looks over at Angantyr and notices how annoyed he is right now. In fact, he's been pretty annoyed for a while Avira has noticed. "Um, yeah. I'll...go get that. Um. Be back a little later." Hurridly, she rushes off to retrieve said armor.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
A deer in headlights look? Mercade wilts a little where he lies.

Fortune doesn't always favor the bold, huh.

He sort of stands up, sighing as he watches Avira hurry off... And then shrugs. "I.... guess that's that." He says to the others, still not looking at Ang. ONE DAY maybe they'll have a regular interaction.

Maira has posed:
"Well! I bet I can find you something to wear," she says, looking down at herself. Nope, all pink. Hmmm....

"I will be right back too!" she says, running off, wondering who she can steal some pants from.

Just pants. She's not getting a shirt. Nnnnnope.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Ang stands in the waste deep water.

He looks towards the sky, not giving Mercade eye contact. "So you like her huh?" he says, without making eye contact with Mercade. This was going to be ackward.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade folds his arms, looking into the distance. "Of course I do. She's a good friend of mine. Why do you ask?" This is super awkward.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
"Hm." Angantyr asks, "Because she's a good friend of mine too." he responds, "However, that isn't what I ment. Are you in love with her or are you just her friend." Angantyr gives no shits, "Answer me truthfully."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"Is that really any of your business?" Mercade replies. "Why do you want to know?" Mercade seems a bit evasive on this. Call it a character trait he shares with someone else.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
"Aren't you a detective?" he asks, not looking back. "The reason is pretty simple, because I do, but I am not going to stand in the way of her wishes. It's obvious she has a thing for you."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"Don't be silly, Angantry. She cares about you too, a lot." Mercade replies. He glances over at Ang, and then remembers he's conveniently standing in the water and looks away again hurriedly. "I don't know what she's going to do with that. There's plenty of time for it, regardless, no matter how other people feel. She's going to pick eventually. When it comes, we'll see what happens. All I can say is that she means a lot to me. Is it more than a friendship? I don't know. That depends on how things go."

Maira has posed:
Returns now, when it is absolutely inconvenient. She has a pair of pants! They even look like they have a prayer of fitting Angantyr. Though, they'll probably be a little tight. "Well, I couldn't find a sh--" she begins, having caught the tail end of what Angantyr just said. Well...she knew it! She'll be happy to tell Avira she told her so. But wait...Mercade likes Avira too? Oh...well...then...okay...

"I'm um...here...." she says, and puts the pants down on the shore, turning so no one can see her face as she flees!

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
The dark knight does not look back at Mercade.

"Se-..." Then Maira is here, and he cocks a head towards her. His hand comes up, ready to take the given pants, "Thank you Maira." he says, flatly, and looks away. He walks out of the water, and puts his pants on.

"...Tight." he says, a man of few words, it seems. Maira already heard, so he might as well...

"You will never got anywhere in this life by 'waiting to see if things work out. If you are a man, make yourself known, or forever languish in what might have been." he speaks, firmly.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade loooks over at Ang, and squints. "Who the hell are you to tell me what I should be doing in my relationships? Sure, you like her too, but that doesh't mean your methods of dealing with it are any better."

He turns away. "Fortune doesn't always favor the bold." Mercade says. "She knows how I feel. If she decides she's interested, she'll make the decision. Trying to force her hand will add confusion into an already... difficult situation, as I'm sure you will understand." He says over his shoulder.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr looks back at Mercade, now he has a pair of pants. He is still quite shirtless here.

"Nor does being timid. But if you want to live your life like that, I am not going to tell you any different."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"Whatever. Think what you like." Mercade replies. "I don't see the need to justify myself to you. I will, however, tell you this. Your way isn't going to get you there any faster than mine. And that's because we've already /done/ everything we can really do. The rest is up to her."

He shrugs. "Besides, she has bigger problems right now than who she's going to /date/."

Avira has posed:
CLANG.

How long has Avira been standing at the entrance to Merlin's cave? It's a mystery, really, but there is a guilty look on her face as she watches Angantyr...then Mercade. At her feet is a pile of armor that Angantyr can recognize as his.

"Here." Avira murmurs before taking a step backwards. "I'll...be at the VALKYRI headquarters."

Avira has fled!

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Oops.

Someone flubbed their Notice check. Mercade jumps as he hears the CLANG of the armor, and he looks over at Avira in shock. Mercade immediately flushes, and he coughs. "Uh, um..."

But there's nothing to say. There's really nothing that can /be/ said. Avira runs off, and he just facepalms, sighing.