[Nexus] Mithar Keep II: Electric Boobaloo

[Lost_Deep]

Researching

Long story short, after a fair bit of fruitless looking Cessie runs across a reference to were plants. Her library doesn't have many references to them; but they have a number of connections to typical were creatures: they can infect others or have their own young, often are attributed with plant magic, and cause unwilling changes in infected individuals.

Unfortunately, were plants are much rarer than typical were animals... and often not as dangerous, so there is less pressure to make cures for them well-known. Of course, the cures also probably vary between universes... if Cessie is infected by a wereplant, she might have to find a cure herself.

On the other hand, how can she confirm if she is infected?

[Shadowcaller]

Researching

A wererose? The mage have to scratch her head at this conclusion. She had meet many strange things while in the nexus, but this was definitely on the top 10 list.

She believed she had enough evidence to confirm an infection of some kind though after her visit to the hospital. The question was how to cure herself though, how exactly did these creatures infect their victims? That must be the key to cure herself. She assumed she had put something in her stomach which meant she might need to take it out, or somehow dissolve it's effects.

One option was to go back to the hospital and tell them what had happened and see if they knew anything. That was probably the best option right now since the others involved fey energy which she had no idea how it reacted to this infection.

[Lost_Deep]

Researching

Suffice to say that the reaction of the hospital staff is similar to Cessie's. They had never heard of such a thing before! They will call her if they find anything, and want her to call if she finds anything, but besides that they can't help.

Sorry!

[Shadowcaller]

Researching

The sorceress returns to the keep defeated. The last visits to that clinic hadn't been very helpful but she guessed that's what she got from trusting a type of science she didn't understand.

Helping herself was quite dangerous however as she would have to do all the job and that wasn't exactly safe. Arik could hardly do it as he wouldn't be able to consume the fey essence (though she had to admit the very idea of fey!Arik was pretty funny). He could have helped her do a controlled experiment however... if he hadn't been away. Another job for Helios she supposed.

Guess she needed someone else to aid her, Kirin!

"Kirin, I think I need your help." She says as she approaches the cat girl.

[Lost_Deep]

Researching

Kirin runs over to Cessie. "Yeah, what's the issue?"

Huh, she wasn't in the middle of eating. That's nice.

"Um, would you mind if I munched a granola bar?" Oh. Of course.

[Shadowcaller]

Researching

"Go ahead." The sorceress replies before she goes on. "In any case, I believe I have been infected by something and I believe aether could help me analyze the disease better or even cure it. But I'm not actually sure in what way the ather would react to the disease. It might trigger something. Which is why I need you to keep watch over me, okay?" Cessie explains.

[Lost_Deep]

Researching

"Oh. Well, okay. What's the issue, exactly?"

Cessie saying that she's infected worries Kirin quite a bit. There are some really weird diseases out there.

[Shadowcaller]

Researching

"It isn't dangerous Kirin according to what I have read. I'm not exactly sure I completely understand it yet. But it's akin to a dryad, just infectious from what I gathered." Cessie explains.

[Lost_Deep]

Researching

"Okay... I've never heard of an infectious plant person. That sounds like something from the wasteland."

There is some crazy stuff in the wasteland.

[Shadowcaller]

Researching

"From the nexus more like it. All kinds of things can be found here. In any case, we're going to test this in my lab. Can you take notes of everything that happens? I'm going to start with the diluted version and see if I that can help me analyze the disease." Perhaps even cure it.

[Lost_Deep]

Researching

"Sure. I'm not great at taking notes, but I can probably do it."

Kirin will follow Cessie and get all the equipment and whatnot.

[Shadowcaller]

Researching

"Great, we probably need some safety in case things go wrong too." Cessie says as she steps into the lab. "I doubt anything will but just keep an eye open okay? If I start to act strange don't listen to what I say." She then proceeds to lock the door, give the key to the catgirl and then take up a diluted version of the fey essence. "Ready? Here goes." She then drinks it to see what happens.

[Gullara]

[A Visit!]

Sakura walks up to the Keep, humming to herself merrily. She stops at the door, knocks a couple times, and then pushes the door open. "Cessie! Are you home?!" It doesn't really occur to her that just going in might not be the best plan depending on circumstances, but she wouldn't think Cessie and Harnel would mind overmuch anyway.

[Lost_Deep]

Researching

The fairy solution does not have the expected results (whatever they may be), and instead Cessie will feel something in her... something alive, something beautiful, come forth. Her skin changes to green, her cells filling with chlorophyll, and her hair is overtaken by beautiful pink petals, forming a bud. Small thorns appear on her body, but she'll be able to make them disappear (or much larger) at will. Finally, her hips become wider and she blooms magnificently.

Kirin is surprised. After a moment, she takes some notes.

"Are... you okay, Cessie?"

[Terumitsu]

[Front Door]

Cessie shakes her head, "None, it had been placed outside the door when I opened it." She says while placing herself behind her husband, her arms around his waist as she draws in his usual smell of Cedarwood through her nostrils. She had gotten used to it by now, it was a nice smell. "It got me a bit curious though." She comments while giving his waist a squeeze.

A moment's more inspection would reveal an address on the package that was equally as blotty as the the letter had been. While it was somewhat indistinct, it could possibly be read in such a way that the Keep was it's supposed ending place. Though, with a few minutes of decryption, it wouldn't be terribly difficult to make a solid guess on where the package was supposed to go. Should Harnel's and Cessie's memories of Inside be fair, the area in question was a rather pleasant area. Good for a day out if they felt like going to the trouble to return the package to it's intended destination.

A mild oddity about the box itself, though, was that it had a strangely spiced undertone to it's scent. It would probably make a nice perfume for some room or perhaps a good flavor if burnt. The thing was, though, that the wood didn't seem to be treated in any way for this to be such an emergent quality. Then again, this was the Nexus after all.

[Mindfreak]

Within the Keep

"Perhaps you could ask for help? Or hire some?" The mage suggests with a gentle smile. "There are powerful artifacts in this world you might find very useful too."

Within the Keep
"I could...but it'd have to be because someone just wants to help. I don't have the money to hire an army..."
"As for the artifacts...that is a good idea. I already grabbed the mother dragon scales that Katherine left behind..."
She sat back up.
"Any idea where I could get some sort of powerful artifact?"

[Shadowcaller]

Researching

"Y-yes... I feel alright, the feeling is almost euphoric but not quite..." Cessie stares off into the distance for a moment, feeling rather overwhelmed. She finally start to look down at herself finding herself wondering what just had happened. Her initial fears getting silenced by the effect itself.

Instead she looks down at herself and her second idea is that she must find out everything about this condition. That's what she was doing after all. Looking at her hand from different angles she attempts to enlarge and shrink her thorns, somewhat displeased when they are cutting holes in her dress.

"Okay... I guess we should get working finding out more about this. Any initial ideas? It's obviously triggered by aether which suggests a fey nature, or at least some connection to it." She then attempts to dig into the powers the drink were supposed to grant her and basically run a scan over her body, trying to find out what this really was.

[A Visit!]

The door is opened, but not by Cessie, instead she is greeted by a grumpy looking gargoyle who opens the door for her. He points at her feet and then at the door mat, apparently he wants her to brush herself off first.

Within the Keep

"I have a number of artifacts, but nothing that I think would help you in battle. I'll lend you my library though if you're really interested in researching one of them. I could even help you." The mage replies.

[Gullara]

[A Visit!]

"Oh, heya Garn." Sakura looks down at the door mat and then wipes her feet on them a couple times. She's actually wearing something on them in this weather, though they're little more than slippers. "There we go. So is Cessie here?" She asks as she tries to step inside and slip her footwear off.

[Lost_Deep]

Researching


Kirin thinks a minute. "It might not be of a fey nature; we know that the fey essence messes with your magic in the first place, so it might just have agitated it in the right way." Kirin takes some notes. "Which still implies a highly magical nature, as opposed to scientific. You look like a rose... maybe some kind of nature magic? A contagious curse? Some mages have odd notions of what constitutes a curse."

Cessie's scan makes it obvious that she's very much a plant now... she could survive off of nothing but water, air, light, and maybe some simple food if she really wanted to. In addition, she will suddenly find that plants make much more sense, magically. She has some kind of empathy with them now, and if there is any plants nearby she'll be able to feel how healthy they are and manipulate them with her magic naturally.

And herself, if she desired. The thorn control is natural, but she could make larger changes to her own form with magic if she wanted.

[Shadowcaller]

Researching

"'Nature magic' implies aether where I'm from at least. Which is linked to the fey. But we don't need to lock ourselves to my system, no. It appears as if I'm a plant now with plant empathy. It doesn't really make much sense to me, but neither have Sakura honestly." She will then attempt to see if she can shrink back her hips to their original form. She never liked wide hips, she even preferred large breasts before those.

She keeps analyzing herself however trying to find the very root to the change. The thing that caused it. That was the key to understand all this.

[A Visit!]

Garn gestures for her to come once she brushed off all snow. He's very firm on that. He will lead her to the library however where the mage appears to be deeply ingrained in a book. Or several books rather.

[Gullara]

[A Visit!]

Sakura gets a mischievous look and silently presses her finger on her lips. Be very quiet. She tiptoes toward Cessie, trying to get behind her friend without being notices. Being so brightly coloured doesn't help, but hopefully Cessie is too distracted to notice.

If Sakura can manage that, She'll suddenly try and loop her arms over Cessie's shoulders. "Hiya Cessie."

[Mindfreak]

Within the Keep
Kari stood up and bowed.
"Any help you might be able to provide would be much appreciated, thank you. If you could lead me to this library, that would be great."

[Lost_Deep]

Researching

"If you could solidify how the affliction's magical system works, it might give us a lead on what world it's from, and therefore how to go about finding a cure," Kinin says. After thinking for a moment, she adds, "Or any kind of distinguishing details, for that matter. We just need something to set it apart from the rest."

Cessie's hips seem to be uncooperative, not shrinking at will like the thorns. However, if she wants to she can use her new plant magic to (at least temporarily) alter her proportions.

Spoiler

Show

Deep inside Cessie, there is a seed. A seed once full of magic, but now just a husk. A seed that filled her, quietly, with the magic, and now it's in her, a part of her.

In fact, the seed is currently being digested because that's what happens when plant material winds up in a stomach. (albeit "digestion" is the wrong word at the moment, since Cessie is a plant. A more apt description would be that it's being slowly stripped for nutrients.) This large seed is merely the method of spreading the effect, the effect itself is inside her, next to where her gift with magic is.

Or at least, that's where it's usually contained. Right now it's very front and center.

If she wanted to, Cessie could make such a seed. She wouldn't necessarily want to, but she will somehow know that she can.

((I'm sorry, that made sense in my head))

The first thing that Cessie will probably notice is a kind of seed in her. It has residual magic in it, but her body is breaking it down naturally. It can be surmised that this is the vehicle for the affliction.

Somehow, Cessie will know that if she wants to, she can make a seed like that herself. Presumably she could infect others.

The actual magical force that is affecting her is connected to her own body, which makes sense considering the situation. Right now the force is very active, but it probably becomes inert when the plant form wears off.

[Shadowcaller]

[A Visit!]

The gargoyle isn't at all interested in partaking in the dryads dastardly scheme and shouts a warning to his mistress before attempting to grab Sakura's arm. "Gyaaah!"

Within the Keep==>Library

"Of course, just follow me. There is no need to bow at all." It still felt odd that people called her "Lady Mithar" in Hestopia. A title she never had gotten used to due to her religious upbringing.

The library is well-stocked, both with the many tomes the sorceress have bought from her own world and the nexus, but also her own research made in this very place. While pride was a sin, there are books laying out in the open with the author "C. Mithar."
"This is my full collection, I'm trying to buy as many books as I can so I don't need to go to inside when I do my research. It have grown quite steadily through the years." She declares with a hint of that sinful pride in her voice.

Researching

So there was a seed inside her that caused all this...

"Actually, I think I have found the source of this. A seed resting deep inside me, presumably what that creature planted in my stomach. It's now a empty husk however, it's energies instead resting within my person, much like a kami." She explains, using the closest thing she could think of in her own system. "It's actually rather curious... Hold on, I'm going to attempt to take a sample." She declares while attempting to use the fey energy she consumed to loosen up the seed and then use eldritch force to pull it up her throat so she would vomit it up. This was actually not the first time she had done this, it was a part of her study of eldritch biology (where she learned how to prevent pregnancies with the usage of eldritch, a a Hestopian technique.)

[Gullara]

[A Visit!]

"Hey! Let go of me." Sakura tries to pull her arm away, sounding annoyed. He ruined her scheme, and that's not very nice at all. "You really need to lay off."

[Lost_Deep]

Researching

The seed is... very big, the size of one of those pills that the doctor insists that you can take whole but you're not sure if your throat is beg enough. It's kind of a dead brown color, and even though it's been digested for a while it's still mostly intact. It's very much dead, though: there is no life in it at all.

Kirin, for her part, is surprised. "I... did not know that you could do that."

[Shadowcaller]

Researching

While it didn't make much efforts eldritch-wise, drawing such a big seed through her throat did exhaust her physically. She have to sit down at her desk, feeling weak all over. "Kirin... place the seed in a glass container. I'm going to need a moment." Her whole body felt weird.

She isn't too tired to explain what she just had done however. "I pulled it up with a mixture of eldritch and aether. The first one to pull it up, the second one to make sure my body accepted it. It's a method used to prevent certain medical conditions but mages can only use it on themselves as the presence of aether within living bodies otherwise stops it."

[A Visit!]

Cessie let's out a deep sigh as she turns around, "Let go of Sakura right now." She places the book on the table in front of her and gets up as the gargoyle quickly let's go. "From now on you're not allowed to touch her. Is that understood?" She scolds the creation who nods slowly, throwing a grumpy glance at Sakura.

"Now leave us." The sorceress orders, pointing at the door. The gargoyle does as he's ordered closing the door behind him.

Cessie now turns to her friend. "I'm so sorry about that Sakura, he's still very overprotective."

[Gullara]

[A Visit!]

"Tell me about it. Can't even let me goof around." Oh well. Sakura goes to lean against the table and smiles at her friend. "So what's up? I'm not interrupting you or anything, am I?" Hopefully nothing too important at least.

[Lost_Deep]

Researching

"So it's bad stuff removal magic, and you need Aether to do it so your body doesn't flip out. Alright." Kirin will get some tweezers or something, and use them to put the seed in a proper container. "It looks like a Rose seed, I think, it's just big and... unhealthy looking."

[Shadowcaller]

Researching

"It does, I have seen them before." The sorceress agrees with a nod as she looks at the seeds. "This must be the vessel of the energy I'm currently infused with. I'm thinking that I myself would be able to produce a seed like this, but fueled with energy. It would be interesting to see if that energy could be used for something else then just infection. Perhaps it could be used to fuel something? What do you think Kirin?" She was going to attempt to produce a seed later to compare the two, but first she needed some time to rest after that last attempt. The cat girl will likely notice Cessie voice is pretty weak at the moment. Getting that seed out really took some energy.

[A Visit!]

Cessie glances at the pile of books she left on the table, "Just practical applications of eldritch to organic matter. In theory I should be able to help my own body in a lot of ways just by applying eldritch to it." Sakura might have heard Cessie talk about this before in connection to the very private eldritch trick she used to prevent her own periods with. "But that can wait, why are you here Sakura?" She asks with a smile.