EGG-stra Ordinary Circumstances

[Jent]

Perplexed at the response, Claymolder stood agitated as the noxious ichor fumes intensified. "Your mortal skin is deceiving, miss. However, that is irrelevant to the deal I'm offering to you," he growled impatiently. "My knowledge on the transmogrificative proprieties of these machines is sparse, so I rather for our safety we hasten these turns at gab. So if you don't mind-"

Breaking off his last sentence, the grathon twitched violently, his other arm steadying the one meant for the contract. Once deathly thin, the body of the craftsman ballooned outward to realistic proportions. Stomach bulge, limbs swelled, pressure building up against his true skin as it cracked along the surface, seeping bitter spouts of air. "As I said, we can do this the easy way... *huff* or the hard way."

[Swix]

"You seem to be in a bit of distress" Kheesth commented, almost amiably. She hesitated for just a few more moments, perhaps considering something else, before she extended an upper arm to shake the grathons hand with her own very slim one.

"Very well" Kheesth couldn't grin, but she did go a lighter shade of green. This would be a far more beneficial turnout than what would have happened.

[Jent]

Whatever space thoughts the tezcan had, she would find them pointless to appraise at the sudden jolt lashing through her arm. Light streaming all around, ground cracking within the contained reaction, the two energies polarized at each other in turn. Claymolder frantically blurred by the surge of ichor rewriting the physical plane of himself. Where, hand tightly bound to hers, the very power that distraught the grathon perforated Kheesth's own spirit with agaony and all storming inside.

"ARE YOU READY!?"

Overwhelming, tinges of ichor shimmered over the green scales as it seeped outward in dissent. Dazed images hurriedly flashed past her mind as the the bindings of the oath buried below the unconscious recesses, affixing to numerous forgotten memories to encode the core basics to the woman. Now braced at near vacuum, the unique essence of the tezcan diffused into the recipient. Bearing no less pain, the maligned body of the chalky entity readjusted to the new attributes.

"... A bit worse for wear, are you Missss?" rasped Claymolder. Letting go, the perplexing apparition reforming ahead gave a ghastly glow as it settled. Still slimmer than to be expected, even for her kind, the bony figure flexed his four arms to test their mobility as he spoke. "Happens whenever I make a solid deal. Eyes, skin, teeth, you name it, I've got it. The outer change isn't permanent for me, though. Normally I tend to pass on the traits to a new automaton or something." Slithering to the edge of the clay ring, the malleable armor of his slowly crawled back to him, reflecting Kheesth's appearance as it collected. "You instead posses only a mental change, instead. If either of us are aware of the deal about to be broken without an earlier compromise, shall be inflicted by a burdensome sting which only worsen the more their agreement they break. Now, can we proceed with the inhabitants?" he asked, relieving the Spartoi of their order of Seegk through mindspeak.

[Swix]

"Sssssss" Kheesth hissed, turning a myriad of colours as a myriad of emotions flowed through the serpent whilst the deal was made. It was as bad, if not worse, than when she'd made the deal with the Fire Elemental. Yet that had proven fruitful.

Once contact was broken Kheesth curled her tail around and sank down a few feet, waiting for the disorientation to pass. "Nothing that can't be fixed with a ssssssmall break" Kheesth lisped.

Once that had been finished with, wordlessly, the Tezcan slithered over to each pod. Checking their individual readouts.

[Jent]

"Provided my end of the bargain isss meet, take the time you need."

Claymolder drawled along the charred earth, watching intently as Kheesth started checking various chambers' of their current status. The progress so far pleased him. Taking a double-take at the apparently clueless rodent, he shifted the compacted cloakfrom behind the clay armor, still undamaged by the prior conflict. "My friend," he addressed Coolpikaaa. "We have managed to come to terms that I would assume you would find, to say the least, satisfactory."

The grathon unfurled a scroll summoned through his side, nimble fingers tapping at different ends of the script. Back at the Encampment, there were quite a number constructs he figured the women could be keen on. Yet, the exact deal did not exclude certain ones he prized, ashamed, or feared revealing to her; potentially leaving gaping holes in regards to effectiveness of the peace.

[Coolpikaaa]

"I uh... Alright." Coolpikaaa replied, no longer sure of what was going on. The Claymolder now looked like the snakeish woman... and had apparently given her great amounts of magic. This didn't sit right with the electric mouse at all. Claymolder could have just joined her side for all he knew. Or made her into an even worse enemy unknowingly. Even though it had been to save the people of Pax... had it been a good idea to trust someone like this?

At least she seemed to be working on restoring the townsfolk... for now.

[Swix]

Kheesth continued her ministrations, not showing any signs of distress or desire to break the deal. She went round the townsfolk once, to check them, twice, to begin reversal of the process, then came back to stand beside Seegk and the now Tezcan like Claymolder "The reversal process will take a short while to complete" she told them, and some literal darkness moved around the outside of her eyes, before starting to seep down like tears.

[Coolpikaaa]

Coolpikaaa blinked, having been watching Kheesth.

"Hey... Are you..." The electric mouse started talking, stepping a bit forward when something started streaming from the snake's eye's. "Are you alright?"

[Jent]

Claymolder remains composed. "Then I shouldn't worry about my previous lack of generosity to the village for awhile," he said offhandedly. "Still, may need to receive a check-up with that condition of yours, I wouldn't want it to spread to us. Right, Coolpikaaa?

Veering back from the reptilian duo, the grathon's cloak shimmered as he slipped his hand into the subspace. He then reeled several clay orbs from the descended stash between his scaly hands in front of himself. "Now, care to explain the symptoms, Miss?"

[Swix]

Kheesth moved an upper hand up, to touch the thick black liquid coming out of her eyes. As it poured out thicker, and faster, until very soon there was as much of it as there was of Kheesth, pooling on the floor.

"This is a part of the being who I proposed a deal with in the first place. She saw the whole thing I am sure. Of course, that also means that my original deal is off" Kheesth commented, as though she knew something that they didn't, her scales turned grey-green again, calm. "Seegk, I need your help with something" the Tezcan gestured to the Spirit, and the pair moved off to the other side of the pods, to stand and discuss something quietly.

Meanwhile, the thick ooze resolved into a serpentine shape, much like Kheesth, only slightly more muscular and with far sharper points on it's claws. It also had very sharp teeth, and showed off the large, hinged injecting fangs that Kheesth and most other Tezca usually kept folded up to the roof of their mouths unless direly threatened. "Make the townsfolk my snacks?" What was obviously C asked CP, in her silken, sultry voice "Really, CP, you truly thought that's what I wanted to do? How very disappointing"

[Coolpikaaa]

Coolpikaaa growled, and began sparking as he faced the Shadow-Tezca. Of course The Collector had been behind the whole thing, the electric mouse had known from pretty much the beginning. Seeing her standing here afterward was a bit of a surprise though, even though tweaking Kheesth's form into something slightly scarier to "wear" in their encounter wasn't.

"What else are you supposed to do with chocolate, C? It doesn't have the best shelf life when exposed to the elements." He explained, before sighing, and deciding to humor her. "What, you just came for an after-plot breakdown now that we've won? You must have been watching already."

[Swix]

"No, I came because your new 'friend' over there broke our deal so I had to take away what would have been my gift to her" C answered, grinning unnaturally in the new body "And also ask you what you were thinking.... clearly you weren't. Of course chocolate doesn't have a long shelf life, that was part of the point" C stretched her four arms, as though she couldn't be less bothered by the situation. "You know, I really should kill you both... but, this situation has amused me enough. For today. Or an hour." C's eyes narrowed "Pity neither of you really understood the point. It was clearly too sophisticated for you to understand. I'll have to keep that in mind next time someone seeks a deal with me. I'd leave here very soon if I were either of you, I'm like to change my mind about killing you soon. Or well, maybe I won't kill you CP. Maybe I'll just pull your bones out of your body through your ears. That sounds wonderfully fun to me"

[Jent]

Hatred... Such undeniable enmity at the appearing alignment troubled Claymolder so. All these years of fleeing from the darkness... it had to show itself up in some form today. This Collecter left him in quite a predicament.

"So, you are the being Coolpikaaa mentioned earlier? By the gods, why I had to pair up with him in this adventure?" the Grathon blurted out. "No, the standards are the same regardless. Leaving here means signifying retreat and lack of confirmation of my own requests to her, yet fulfills the others request painlessly..."

He sensed the rodent's innate hostility to the Collector, intrigued. Standing in thought, the clay orbs in his hands fell to tumbled to the ground aimlessly. Even a heroic Pikachu would not have the slightest odds of surviving against such a foe without certain factors in play. Is this just as much of a Trickster as a Hoarder? Possibly, her temperament gleams of sanguine behavior, not that is a good thing though.

[Swix]

"Are you hard of hearing, sweetie? I said, 'leave here soon' not, 'leave here this instant'" C said, looking to Claymolder with an expression that was growing less content and more irked "Of course, if you're going to be difficult about it then I can always insist. Even you wouldn't like that I'm sure. Kheesth certainly wouldn't, CP over there definitely wouldn't, Seegk, well, he might find the entire thing funny... but that's besides the point. You can stay in my graces, or, you can all suffer untold agony... including those villagers you both tried oh so hard to save. Get it?"

[Jent]

"Affirmative."

Claymolder sat down on the dirt in a state of reflection. Clearly the entity holds no relation to the previous shadows, he figured. The 'scales' on him mellowed to a smooth, somber green complexion as he gathered the dropped orbs into his cloak. To which struck a thought in the midst of collecting.

"Then is there a particular subject you would desire to discuss whilst we wait?"