BC's Best... Cottages?

[bc56]

Dewitchery
"Right. I guess." Mary might also qualify for the "crazy people-eating ghost" category if you stretch the definitions of "ghost" and "eat" and don't take into account that her succubus nature is still sealed. "We should get back. I don't want to miss when Pagliacci wakes up."

Hatching a Plan
"Let's, uh, put these things together then." Sekhmet's actually not quite sure how to use the bone fragment on the egg in order to transfer the necessary qualities. For now, she'll touch them together, focus her power, and see what happens.
The egg begins to shimmer.

[Rebonack]

[Dewitchery]

That sounds lewd and Khannie definitely isn't thinking in those terms.

Anyway!

Back they go.

Nothing happens.

Then some more nothing happens.

Then a little bit MORE nothing happens.

Then the grief seed vanishes with a muffled whump! and Pagliacci suddenly sits bolt upright with a gasp, her hand over her heart. The hobbit girl's eyes flit around the room, wide and bewildered.

"I... I had the STRANGEST dream," she says, her eyes settling on Hiep. "With a janitor in it cleaning up a circus tent...?"

That is definitely a way to describe how the fight with the Witch went down.

[Morty]

[Dewitchery]

Hiep briefly tries to come up with a convincing lie but stops herself. She really has no idea how to explain this in a way that doesn't bring up what actually happened. Is hiding it even necessary? She'll let Sekhmet and Khannie decide. She's just a simple janitor here.

[bc56]

Dewitchery
Before Sekhmet can try to explain anything, Mary is right on top of the newly awakened girl. "Pag, are you all right?" The demon princess is struggling not to shake with nervousness. "You, we, Witch..." Her tongue is clearly tied. She doesn't know how to break the news.
Of course having a demon watching over you when you're disoriented and just waking up probably isn't something most people appreciate.

[Ironsmith]

Hatching a Plan
"Let's, uh, put these things together then." Sekhmet's actually not quite sure how to use the bone fragment on the egg in order to transfer the necessary qualities. For now, she'll touch them together, focus her power, and see what happens.
The egg begins to shimmer.

[Hatching a Plan]

As does the bone shard. Well... more "curl", really. In much the same sense an old book might if thrown directly into a bonfire. Curl, wither, shrink, darken, decay.

But it does seem to be having a noticeable effect. The walls, formerly blank, are now suddenly crawling with life that would most certainly be unwelcome under normal circumstances. Cockroaches scuttle out of hiding from beneath the baseboards. Spiders descend from the corner of the window. Centipedes skitter through the gap under the door. The walls and Sekhmet's skin both seem to crawl as millions of tiny mites shuffle in response to the egg's activation.

But nothing approaches. It seems that, even as transfixed as they are by the presence and activation of the egg, they know better than to come any closer. As they are, away from the dark, they're not safe, but still they must see.

Tahara lets out a gasp of awe as the egg is activated, followed by a coo of adoration as their guests enter into the room... though she quickly notices a problem.

"Your highness! The bone! Don't use it all up now!"

[bc56]

Hatching a Plan
"What?" Sekhmet pulls the bone fragment away from the egg. She's not sure why it matters. She just needs to infuse the necessary properties into the egg. What would be different about doing it now as opposed to later?

[Ironsmith]

[Hatching A Plan]

"Don't use it all up-" Tahara starts to repeat herself, before letting out a little sigh when she sees the demon queen's already interrupted the ritual (such as it is). "...Sorry. It's just... I mean, neither of us are entirely clear on how that thing works, right?" Tahara asks, grimacing. "And that fragment I gave you is irreplaceable. I just... think it'd be prudent to be a little more careful with it. Just to make sure nothing goes wrong and that little bit of me that's left doesn't get burnt up for nothing."

[Rebonack]

[Dewitchery]

Khannie raises an eyebrow at all the nervousness. Nothing bad is happening YET and she isn't sure what the trouble is.

"You got bewitched and I beat the heck outta you," Khannie informs the other girl. "I musta got to you quick 'cuz your body was still there. Sekhmet was able to de-corrupt you and put your soul back in your body."

The hobbit girl rubs her head, still looking a little shellshocked. "Didn't you break your contract with Kyubey, though?"

Khannie gives a snort at that. "Yeah, but I'm not going to leave other Magical Girls hanging if I can still help you. But who cares about that? Are you doing okay?"

Pagliacci has to think about that for a moment. "My heart doesn't feel as heavy anymore," she says thoughtfully. Then offers a smile to our heroes. "Thank you. For saving me."

[Morty]

[Dewitchery]

"I just helped Khannie get there and do all the work." A lie, of course, but one that's easy to believe - for everyone but Sekhmet. "When you're ready I'll escort you back to the school. Make sure you get there safe and sound."

[bc56]

Hatching a Plan
"It, uh, seemed like it was working," Sekhmet points out. "This is why I wanted you to be absolutely sure before handing this bit of your life over to me. This isn't without risks."

Dewitchery
"It's my pleasure," Sekhmet smiles. It's good to see another girl saved from that monster. "It's so good to see you're all right." Mary looks at Sekhmet. "Mum, I think I'll go with them if you don't mind. Pagliacci might need some friends by her side and I need to practice for the calvinball tryouts." Plus just in case something goes wrong, she'll be close by. "I, uh, can't see why you're so set on playing that undignified game, but, uh, okay. Just be safe."

[Ironsmith]

[Hatching a Plan]

"I mean, I know that." Tahara replies, vaguely irritated by the insinuation. "If all goes according to plan you literally take years off my life. Of course there's risks. I just want to make sure they're not-"

Well. She was almost about to say something moderately insulting there, but she can take a moment to rethink it.

...Crud.

No polite way to say it.

"...stupid risks." She finishes, a little quietly.

[bc56]

Hatching a Plan
"Magical artifacts of immense power don't exactly come with manuals," Sekhmet replies. She only knows about instruction manuals because of all the appliances in this fancy new house, most of which she never uses because she has no idea how, even with the manuals. "All I have is my own intuition and it will have to be enough."

[Ironsmith]

[Hatching A Plan]

Tahara sighs and gives a little nod. That's a fair point. She might be worried about how Sekhmet's going about it now, but... she doesn't actually know what the right way is, and there's no way to find out other than experimentation.

Still. It's... hard to watch.

"...I'll just, um..." Tahara points over her shoulder. "I'll just step away for a minute, then. I don't want to be a distraction."

As she turns to put some distance between the two, the trash witch starts humming a little tune to herself, hoping the task would help take her mind off of what she's pointedly not witnessing.

[bc56]

Brignole Manor
Two teenage succubi and a teenage zoroark arrive at the manor. Mary's taken the time to change her bikini into a much more presentable t-shirt and jeans, and hopefully Not-Mary has something to wear as well, even if it's just one of Khannie's illusions. Mary opens the front door. "Mum? Are you home? We have a problem." "What is it Ma... Why are there two of you?" Sekhmet emerges from the kitchen to stare in surprise at the Maries.

Hatching a Plan
And it's done in a few moments. "There. That wasn't so bad, right?"

[Ironsmith]

[Brignole Manor]

It takes Mary's twin a second to realize she's being implicitly addressed. Sekhmet might be able to tell what's going on just from the thousand-yard stare she's getting from one of her daughters... one of them sees her as mom, and the other sees her as the strangely beautiful but undoubtedly dangerous if provoked queen of the succubi.

"...Gah!" Not-Mary snaps back to reality, involuntarily stepping back away from Sekhmet. "S-sorry! I'm not trying to be confusing... I'm a friend of Mary's, and Khannie's. I, um... I've had this thing where I turn into whoever I touch, and I kinda bumped into Mary at the water park, so..." She gestures down at herself, as though that provided a full and complete explanation. "...Also I think we might have broken it somehow because I can't change into anything else now..."

[Hatching A Plan]

Tahara smiles as the insects retreat back into the walls. "...Yeah. Not so bad." She agrees. "...Seriously, though. If you need anything else... call me. I'm always available, except when I'm not, which is never because I'm always available. Okay?"

[Rebonack]

[Brignole Manor]

"Breaking it might've been my fault," adds Khannie, who's still using her human teen girl illusion since that's what Sekhmet has typically encountered and she really doesn't feel like explaining MORE things than usual. "I had the idea of trying to figure out if she got Mary's shapeshifting powers too and so Mary was making little changes while our friend was following along. But then when she tried changing on her own nothing happened and the 'turn into whoever she touches' hasn't worked since."

Oh Khannie.

Always trying to figure things out even if they are better off left alone.

That's what you get for being an inquisitive fox.

[bc56]

Brignole Manor
"Mum? Can you..?"
"Uh, one moment. Let me see." she beckons Not-Mary over and puts her hands on her shoulders. Her supernatural senses should give her a good idea of the tangle of magic involved. Once she knows what's going on, then she can try to dismantle it.

[Ironsmith]

[Brignole]

"Dismantle".

That's certainly a word for it.

What Sekhmet finds when she checks Mary 2's web of magic is something like if someone took a set of watches, ran over them with a semi, threw the parts in a bag, shook said bag and somehow, miraculously, got a working clock out of the deal. Parts and concepts and processes all intermingled in ways that absolutely should not be happening, much less working in any meaningful sense. There's an organic sense of wrongness to the whole operation... and, of course, no convenient manual for Sekhmet to study to make sense of the contradictions.

"...Is it bad?" Mary-Not asks hopefully.

[bc56]

Brignole Manor
"Uh..." Sekhmet isn't sure what to say. Instead she starts working. You can't liken something to a watch unless it has a function, so what is this mess doing? What's the outermost layer, the magic holding it together?

[Rebonack]

[Brignole Manor]

Khannie tries flashing an encouraging smile to Mystery Girl. "I've seen her figure out some pretty crazy stuff before. Like how she managed to get my soul back into my body where it's supposed to be. She'll figure something out for sure."

Will Khannie's encouragement help?

She sure hopes so.

How much worse could this really be than the soul gem stuff?

Couldn't be THAT bad.

No way.

[Ironsmith]

[Brignole Manor]

The outermost layer is also the innermost layer, depending on how Sekhmet looks at it. There's a conglomeration of things here that certainly suggest some form of intent... this is very clearly supposed to be a human (but isn't quite) male (maybe? Some parts are definitely succubus) teenager (physically, as opposed to mentally). She can also see where the succubus venom transformed what was already a very much dead being (moved to that state from anti-death, from various disbroken bits of other beings).

"...That does sound promising." Not-Mary notes, standing stock still in case that's somehow important for Sekhmet.

[bc56]

Brignole
"Uh..." Sekhmet repeats, peering closer. "You're... Dead? That can't be right." Is this some kind of sick experiment? Using succubus venom on a corpse to see what happens? And of course it would be one of Mary's friends. "Someone injected you with succubus venom. It took root, uh, more than I'd expect, but it didn't function normally because... You were dead? No... It wouldn't do anything to a corpse. What the kingdom happened to you?"

[Rebonack]

[Brignole]

Oh!

Hey!

That's something Khannie can fill in information on!

"Arthfael and all the people from his home world are vampires, kinda," Khannie explains. "Like they're dead but not really and their soul doesn't do what souls are supposed to do when you die? I think? I wasn't totally clear on it. But that might be why he seemed like he was sorta dead maybe?"

Maybe.

Khannie is definitely no expert on undead.

...what?

Ghost pokemon are weird. Like super extra weird. And they may or may not be undead. It isn't terribly clear. All Khannie knows is that Death told her that she isn't dead yet so that counts for something probably.

Also?

She casts a glance at the stinger on Mary's tail.

"Succubus venom? Doesn't poison just kill stuff?" Khannie asks. Or at least makes it faint.

[Ironsmith]

[Brignole] (Mind Your Manors)

"...We're still, um, not entirely sure that's what's going on, though." Not-Mary adds, in transparent denial. "That's just the working theory. So, um... so far."

Not-Mary grimaces, rubbing over the spot on her sternum where the venom went in. "...More evidence for it all the time, though." She says glumly, massaging her skin as though still sore. "...Dead, though? I'm not... really at all sure how that's supposed to work." She glances over at Khannie, quietly worried. If she's Khannie's boyfriend, but also maybe dead, potentially on more than a technicality... that probably had implications for their relationship.

[bc56]

Brignole Manor
"Dead, but magically kept intact? Maybe the interference would cause uncontrolled effects like this." Khannie asks about venom and Sekhmet reflexively curls her tail up to look at the more closely. "If only." Technically she can use magic to change the effects of her venom. Also technically she doesn't have standard succubus venom. "In small doses, succubus venom is an aphrodisiac. In large doses... It's a transformative. It alters it's victim to be more like a succubus." Which probably would make Mary's stinger seen in an entirely different light. "It's usually temporary. But combined with whatever magics kept your friend, uh, not-quite-dead..." Sekhmet sighs and hangs her head. She addresses her daughter's doppelgänger. "I'm sorry. I don't have even the first clue of how to fix this. I could maybe strip the succubus power out of you, but... I can't be sure you'd survive without it. I could alter you to your original appearance, if I knew what that was. Or if you prefer, give you a completely new appearance. Either way, I'd rather you not stay identical to my daughter, and I'm sure Mary agrees." "Actually, mum, I don't mind. It's really interesting to see myself from outside." It would make doing a self-portrait so easy.

[Rebonack]

[Brignole Manor]

Khannie does her best not to look creeped out by the description of succubus venom. The whole motif of monsters that turn people into more monsters is something that really unnerves Khannie.

Not that she would call Mary or her mom monsters!

Since as far as Khannie is concerned a monster is as a monster does.

She's also trying to not look disappointed.

"So no easy solutions then. Heck," Khannie sort of swears. She can feel anger and frustration building with pressure, her emotions threaten to boil over. Like she needs to PUNCH something but there isn't anyone around who deserves to be decked.

Just close her eyes.

Take a few strained breaths.

Then off Mystery Girl an equally strained smile. "This is just a road bump. Don't worry, we'll figure it out."

Khannie's stubborn determination definitely hasn't flagged.

[Ironsmith]

[Brignole Manor]

"I do. It still... it just feels wrong." Not-Mary says, gesturing down at her body. "...Not that there's anything wrong with it, exactly. You, um, have a very nice-"

Not-Mary cuts herself off there with a blush, deciding that finishing that sentence in her probably-girlfriend's presence was just asking for trouble.

"...But it's still your body. As in, not mine." Not-Mary continues, shuffling nervously. "It just... doesn't fit me, you know? Am I making any sense at all?"

Probably not. She's talking to two shapeshifters and an illusionist. Discomfort in their own bodies probably isn't really a thing for them.

...Right?

Not-Mary finds her gaze drawn to Khannie again, and she gives the zoroark a little smile. "...I hope you're right." She says, anxiously running her hands over each other. "I, um... don't really want to be like this forever..."

...What on earth is she saying?

It's Khannie. If anybody is going to fix Not-Mary's problem through raw determination alone, it's her.

[bc56]

Brignole Manor
"Mary," Sekhmet chides warningly. "Let's begin. Khannie, envision his old appearance. I will take that from your mind and use it to reshape his body into what it was." She places a hand on Not-Mary's shoulder again. "Don't worry. Trust me."

[Rebonack]

[Brignole Manor]

Khannie looks a little uncertain at that request.

"Umm... I'll do my best?" she replies.

Then?

She screws her eyes shut and does her best. Which, frankly, isn't bad. Khannie is use to making illusions. She needs to be able to picture objects and people pretty clearly for that to work. As a result her mental image of Arthfael is actually pretty accurate.

...okay her image of him might exaggerate how cool he is.

Just a little.

[Ironsmith]

[Brignole Manor]

"GYAAAH!"

Arthfael lets out a frightened yell involuntarily as Sekhmet's magic works him into the shape Khannie imagines. From outside, the transformation is almost instantaneous; Sekhmet's magic is powerful indeed, and it seems that once she gets him unstuck, Arthfael's body is as close to an ideal clay as any mortal's can be.

But to Arthfael himself, the transformation is agonizingly slow. Khannie's illusion kept him decent, but underneath it all he was still only wearing Mary's swimsuit; the extra clothing has to come from somewhere, and in this case, it seems that "somewhere" amounts to excessive skin growing, stretching, and being re-molded into the appropriate shapes and materials. It's a painless process, but no less disturbing for it, and certainly not a pleasant sensation that politely disappears once the work is done.

The strigoi looks down at his hands and gives an experimental squeeze, before his gaze drifts down the rest of his body, letting out a little laugh. "W... was I actually this tall?" He chortles, rubbing at the back of his neck. "Or, um... you know, not boney? I-"

Pop!

Not-Sekhmet looks down at her hands and sighs. "...Insert curse words here." She grumbles dejectedly.