In hindsight, Nicora really should have changed out of the Gallisian maid uniform before visiting Kaira, because waking up in it as Alptraum would have been very uncomfortable, if Igorina hadn't been there to strip her out of it once she fell into her dagger trance. "Oh, good thing I took the uniform off you," the naked rat-girl said with a grin as Alptraum began to wake from the transformation. "Although I wonder if some of it wouldn't still fit.."
"I'm not about to cross-dress, thanks," Alptraum mumbles as he struggles to sit himself upright. Never mind he does think the outfit is cute and ... time to stop those thoughts. He rubs his hands blearily over his face before giving his both a 'yes, you're back to normal' check, including making sure the tail is gone and the other is back.
Everything is back to normal. Even the chest scar looks.. uglier.. again, instead of cute and decorative. "So why the switcheroo?" Rina asks, lounging back across his legs.
"Some people change clothes, I change bodies!" Alptraum proclaims and even points towards the ceiling briefly. "Or ... I wanted to see if the curse has any effect on this body or not," he adds after a minute. "I'm entirely too curious for my own good.
"Oooooh," Igorina says. "Well, I've got this thing I can stick up your.. oh wait, did you mean you want to be checked over with the 'scope again?"
"Well, I don't know ... what do you have to stick where?" Alptraum just has to ash as he grins fangily.
"Well.. nah, nevermind," Rina says. "I don't want you to feel inadequate or anything!" She hops to her feet and holds out her hand. "Time to check you for curses!"
"Feel inadequate? How could I ever feel inadequate?" Alptraum asks as he takes her hand and helps himself up to his feet.
"Well, it did make Twiggy cry when he saw it," Igorina notes, and leads the bat up the spiral stairs to the lab. "He thought it was some sort of weapon.."
"Did you use it on him?" Alptraum asks as he follows along. Completely naked, but ... well, he's used to that in this castle. The pair are probably secretly nudists.
"No, I'm not a sadist!" Igorina says, just before she pushes Alptraum into the 'dental' chair and starts strapping him down. "Just a dentist!"
"And a pervert!" Alptraum chimes as he's strapped back into that chair. Sure, it's a chair in a mad scientist's lab, but at least it isn't Melusine. Only minor violations of nature happen here.
The funky tentacle frame comes out, and Igorina asks, "So, want to check your noggin first, or start at the ballroom?"
Alptraum hms. "Noggin! That's less ... tender!" he decides.
The attachment tentacles go on to Alptraum's cheeks, and he gets a good view of Rina's skull and brain as she fiddles with the controls.
"You have such a tiny brain!" Alptraum teases the rat. The wisoom of doing so while strapped down is a bit questionable, though.
"And you.. still have a worm! But it looks like it's being chewed on by.. a chibix?" Igorina says. "That wasn't there before."
"A chibix? Oh! That must be a representation of the Barsunala," Alptraum decides after some thought about it. "It doesn't like the other sisters in its domain, I guess. You know, I think this answers a serious question..."
"What question?" Rina asks, as she disconnects the tentacles.
"Why I'm completely insane," Alptraum remarks, grinning like a madman. "Look at the people I spend time with!"
"You're silly!" Igornia says, and tickles Alptraum's nose with her whiskers. "I thought you meant that the Barsunala lives in your tail when you're a girl or something."
"Oh, I already knew that," Alptraum says as he tries to steal a kiss from Rina when she's tickling his nose, "It has to go with my male aspect."
The tentacles bite in on Alptraum's thighs next, as Rina takes a look at his apparatus. "Hmmmmmm," the Skreek says. "No green or white, but lots of silver," she reports, then starts massaging things to see if there's a reaction.
"Ow! Those things don't attach very gently," Alptraum complains when the cups bite into his skin to get blood. The massaging gets a reaction, but probably not the one Rina expects. His brow goes up curiously. "That should feel better than it does," he notes.
"Ah, the silver is all tangled up.. I guess it has to be connected to the rest of you then," Igorina says, then gets an odd look on her face.
"I don't like that look. It looks like you're ... plotting," Alptraum says warily, his head tilting sligtly to the side and down so that he's looking at her from one eye.
"Well, if you're desensitized like this, you should be able to last longer!" The rat cackles!
"Last longer for ... what?" Alptraum asks, "You don't mean you intend to ... do stuff while I'm strapped to this chair?!"
"That's half the point of strapping you in!" Igorina notes, as she goes to drag one of the giant clay batteries closer. "I'll get you hooked back up, don't worry!" she claims, as she pulls on rubber gloves and reaches for some wires.
Alptraum's eyes go wide. "Wait a minute," he says as he squirms in the straps, "I don't remember agreeing to being shocked! Can't we talk about this?"
"Oh right, I almost forgot!" Igorina says, as she finishes attaching the wires to some sort of prod. She rummages around behind Alptraum, and comes back with.. a big rubber ball with straps? "Open wide! Can't have you biting your tongue or.. you know.. screaming."
Alptraum eyes the ball. "Just what is /that/ for?" he asks, knowing full well what it is for. "You won't get that thing in my m .... mpgh!" he starts to claim, then finds himself silenced by the fact he does talk too much ... and gave Rina a perfect opening to stuff the sucker in. It's also about now having fangs 'suck/ because they help hold the blasted thing in place while Rina secures the straps. /Boy/ does she get a /glare/ from him. He even /snorts/ loudly at her!
"Oh, you'll be asking me to do this again in the morning," Igorina says, as she.. gets out the big jar of lubricating goo.. and dips the probe into it. "I once brought Twig out of a coma with this, after he got hit by lightning in the bad way."
Alptraum eyes the goo and the probe, and has many bad thoughts of shat she might do with that. Or where it will go. This causes his ears to play out flat and the earrings jingle.
As bad as his imagination might be.. it's right on the money! The probe goes in and there's a zap and.. oh wow. Alptraum sees pinwheels of color and tingles from the neck down. "Aha! See?" Igorina crows, tapping the screen of the scope. "I got some the lines to connect. A few more zaps to the old prostate and you'll be good as new.. if in need of a some recharge time.."
Perhaps it is good Alptraum has the rubber ball, because boy is he biting the thing! It's going to end up with toothmarks at this rate. The strap fittings also get a serious workout as he tries to yank his arms free. It's good that Inala's blessing doesn't seem to be in effect or Rina might think she could keep this up indefinitely! He's also not quite sure he likes the rat anymore. This hurts!
It's also messy. "I think that should do it!" the Skreek notes, removing the probe and disconnecting the scope before wiping it off with a cloth. "You should be feeling everything now! You can thank me in a minute.."
If thanking is being glared at while he bites down hard on the rubber ball, then Rina is getting it now. His claw tips tap lightly on the arm rests while his body 'calms' down from that little ... experience.
Igorina is anything but calmed down. Apparently zapping folks gets her blood going. After she's cleaned stuff up a bit, Alptraum finds her in his lap, doing things to reverse his calm. "Do you want me to leave the gag in?" she asks politely.
Alptraum actually thinks about this, then snorts softly, shrugs, then nods once. If anything flares up, he might scream after all. It's hard to smirk with a rubber ball in your mouth, but the bat somehow manages it. He ponders briefly about using the shadow against her ... then remembers while male he can't! IT's busy maintaining his body. Drat.
Igorina does have a soft side. Several, actually. And she uses them all on the restrained Eeee. Along with nips and bites licks, until Alptraum realizes first hand that the zaps didn't do any damage, since everything is working just fine. And when Igorina finally finishes, he certainly feels fully male again. Then she takes out the gag.
"You are cruel, terrible, evil, and mean," Alptraum says after rolling his now sore jaw. "Are you for sale?" he ends with, grinning as usual.
"Your Yodhinala asked me that already," the hooded rat notes, and massages Alptraum's jaw.
"And so far, no pain, itch, or burning," Alptraum says, looking relieved. "So it looks like the curse only does something when I'm female." He rocks his head from side to side, then asks, "Are you going to unstrap me ... or am I your experiment for a while?" He doesn't seem to sound upset by that anymore.
"If I unstrap you," Rina asks, tapping a claw on Alptraum's scar, "are you gonna strap me in and have your way with me?"
"Can I use the battery thing?" Alptraum asks and waggles his brow.
"Well... you have to remember to wear the rubber gloves with that," she points out. "Safety rules are there for a reason.."
"Actually, before you unstrap me ... I want to try something. I'll need you to stand a few feet away to be safe," Alptraum says. "I'm going to try and summon the wraith."
"While you're strapped down?" Igorina asks, backing up. "Is it going to be dangerous or angry or something?"
"I don't know, that's why I want to be strapped down," Alptraum notes. When Rina is at least five feet away, he closes his eyes and concentrates. His breathing slows and becomes deeper as he searches out the wraith and tries to bring it to the surface.
This isn't a shadow power, so it doesn't matter that the shadow is busy. But the Wraith has difficulty, and part of it seems to involve making Alptraum yell "Betrayer!" over and over again as the wraith-form flickers in and out across his skin.
"I have not betrayed!" Alptraum thinks as he fights with the wraith for several minutes in an almost exhausting battle of wills to bring it to the fore. Eventually Alptraum gets too tired to keep trying to force it and ends up letting it fade back into the background. He sighs softly as he shakes his head.
"So, I guess it doesn't like being stuck in your tail?" Igorina says from a distance.
"Would you?" Alptraum answers and sighs, "My life is complicated, but it doesn't see it that way, I guess. You can unstrap me now. It should be safe."
It takes a minute for Alptraum to be set free, only to have Igorina bounce into the chair as soon as the bat has vacated it.
"You're rather trusting," Alptraum notes as he wastes no time in strapping the rat down snugly into the chair one limb at a time. "You just tortured an evil bat. Aren't you worried about revenge?" he taunts.
"I was sort of counting on it!" the rat cackles, and jiggles since that's the most mobile part of her now.
It's Alptraum's turn to pull the rubber gloves on with an audible snap. "Now, you have to give me directions on how to use this thing," he says as the device is pulled back over and it gets another coat of odd goop. "Bwa ... ha ... ha," he enunciates in a slow, deliberate, and evil way. And with Rina's direction ... the Skreek finds herself at the end of a rather intrusive and shocking experience!
Of course, she also has suggestions for other zapping points. It's an odd feeling Alptraum gets. Not really evil, since his victim is clearly enjoying it, but empowering. It's a bit like how Nicora felt when she first dominated a male. It isn't long before he's ready to use a different kind of probe on the laughing, squirming rat. And for some reason it's all making him feel hungry again.
"Time for a little breakfast. I have played with my food quite a bit," Alptraum rumbles in her ear. It's only a few seconds later he has bitten down on her shoulder and neck and begun to suckle on the rat. Of course she's still trapped in the chair and he's still quite in control of her.
"Ooooo!" Igorina coos, and licks at Alptraum's ear since it's in range. As usual, she tastes delicious. The electric shocks may even have added a little something! "How long are you gonna stay normal this time, before you decide to tie Twiggy down in this chair?" she asks.
"What, you too? I think both of you prefer me female," Alptraum murmurs to the Skreek before she lifts himself off of her. "I don't know how long I'll remain this way. It has advantages too, even if I'm not pretty."
"Nothing wrong with ruggedly handsome!" Rina cackles, and does this thing with her hips and tail that is very distracting.
"Tttrrrruuuue," Alptraum mutters, "But I do thing Twig really like the other body." He can't help but linger a bit longer with the Skreek, niggling, nipping, and outrigth biting, before he's unstrapping her from the chair. "So, does Twig like the shock device?" he asks a bit mischievously.
"Oh, yeah, he uses it on dead animals all the time to try and bring them back to life!" Igorina says, stretching in the chair a bit. "It's okay for cooking the littler ones. But no, he does't like it being used on him."
"Not even how you used it on me?" Alptraum asks as he cleans up a bit and then stretches upward and yawns.
"Well, that's just for emergencies," Igorina notes. "After all, I've got long fingers!" She cackles again, and starts leading Alptraum to the door. "Bath time!"
"For me?" Alptraum complains. Still he's pretty easy to lead around as the Skreek finds out. But then, most men are.
"Oh, yes.. you too!" Rina says. "You can wash my back! And front! And bottom! And I'll wash you!"
"With a washcloth, or tongues?" Alptraum taunts, licks her nose, then winks. "And oh ... Twig will probably be checking you for hidden pockets sometime..."
"Really? I'll have to be sure to hide something then so he's not disappointed!" Igorina notes, as she pulls Alptraum along down the stairs. "You like scented soaps? I bet Nicora does.."
"Nicora loves them..." Alptraum has to admit as the pair head down to the scariest room in any mad scientists's lair ... the bathroom. That's where all the unplanned experiments happen!
The bath was soothing, but not very relaxing thanks to Igorina and something she called a rubber ducky. Once Alptraum escaped, the relaxing could begin. This involved a zolk robe, an overstuffed chair with a footrest, a roaring fire and a glass of amber liquor. Twig's library was a warm, familiar place where nothing much seemed to happen quickly.
"Quite a day, wasn't it?" Twig asks from his matching chair and robe. Although as the host, he gets to wear the fez.
Alptraum swirls his glass lazily then brings it to the tip of his nose to sniff. Satisfied, he takes a small sip, then nods. "It has been an extremely unusual and informative day," he has to agree. "And I think my greatest lesson learned is Rina is even crazier than I thought."
"Oh, Wina is an ongoing education in that wegawd," Twig notes with a chuckle. "And youwa Mave.. she is a gwaduate couwse."
"If you offer the right price, I might sell you Mave," Alptraum offers, looking quite bemused.
"Ah, I do not think my allowance would covaw the cost - and I would nevah get any wowk done!" Twig laughs. "And did you know, Mave suggested to me that you twansfowm Wina into Mave so we could do this thing that would likely kill me."
Alptraum looks thoughtful. "Two Mave's, a Nicora, and you," he remarks as he eyes Twig, then looks him up and down...
"Yes, it would be a spectaculaw way to die, I admit," Twig says, drinking from his glass. "Have you evah changed Mave into a man?"
"Never," Alptraum answers. "The thought it too scary. I have a hard enough time being a woman."
"I get used to it and I'm fine," Alptraum adds, "But then I'm changed back to normal and the oddness of it comes back to me. I often wonder if I made a huge mistake."
"You make a vewy good female," Twig points out. "Having had the expewience myself, I find it.. pwovides pahspective."
"You only say that because you can enjoy my body that way," Alptraum notes, laughs slightly, then takes a sip. "IT seems like both you and Rina prefer me female."
"Well, if I wewah female wight now, would you enjoy my company mowa?" Twig asks, with a curious grin.
"I always enjoy your company," Alptraum claims, "But I must admit you were quite alluring when I was Nicora. I should probably warn you that Rina suggested that I tie you to your lab chair while Nicora and ... experiment." He smirks, then takes a long drink from his glass.
"Ah, she weally likes that chaiwa," Twig says. "It was the only thing in the lab when I awwived, you know."
"She is a strange girl," Alptraum comments. "And let me thank you for letting us visit for a few days. My mood has been rather sour since I have been on the road. It has been relaxing to be around friends. Even if they are crazy. It's also a fringe benefit that you can help track my condition and make sure I'm not melting or ... something."
"Wina told me that yowa cuwses and blessings vanished," Twig notes. "The question now is: will they weturn when you become female again? And what happens to them while you awe male if they do weturn?"
"I have no idea. I was hoping to find out but so far ... nothing has happened since I have returned to being male," Alptraum says and sighs. He leans back and looks at the ceiling. "I hope that nothing happens, but I have no idea how to know for sure," he admits.
"You'd just have to stay this way long enough," Twig suggests, then looks into the fire. "Yowa dwagon is keeping you this way, wight? What happens if you withdwaw yowa daggah?"
Alptraum reaches over and pulls the dagger out. "Last time I remained this way," he answers as the dagger slips free from his forearm. "Lets see. I can always reslot it."
Nothing changes that Alptraum can feel. "Can you use yowa Shadow powahs now, owa would that cause you to change as well?" Twig asks.
"I'm not sure," Alpttraum admits. He holds up his right hand and tries to extrude his shadow cloak a little to see what happens, if anything.
It extrudes, but.. it feels more sluggish. Not as free as when he's Nicora - and the Barsunala is hidden away in his tail, apparently. Really, the shadow is responding as well as it ever has before when he's male.
"It seems usable," Alptraum confirms, "Just .. harder. It seems as a woman I am better able to use my shadow aspect." He shakes out his right hand and lets the shadow draw back in slowly. "Apparently I'm just better all around as a woman," he remarks a bit sarcastically.
"Owa you just have less wesistence wot woak against," Twig says. "Have you been collecting moah... shapes? Anything new we haven't seen yet?"
Alptraum has to think about that. "Two lapi shapes, male and female," he answers, "And ... two humanish shapes, only with coal black skin. Nothing outside if that I can think of."
"And one really disturbing shape Melusine turned me into. I don't know if I could duplicate it, though," he adds.
"Lapi?" Twig asks, looking curious. "That could be intewesting. They seem so.. soft.. and fluffy. I heah they taste weally good too. If you want to expewiment, you can twy to make me into one, then see if it affects yowa cuwwent shape owa not."
"Male or female?" Alptraum asks, brow arched slightly.
"And that reminds me ... how was it when you reverted back to normal? Painful at all? Gross?" Alptraum assk.
"Oh, female I think - I feel I owe you a bit of fun," Twig says. "As fowa the change, it was mostly little things - eahs, nose, fingahs and toes.. hey, that whymes! Then I got weally sleepy, and when I woke up a few days lateh, I was back to my old self."
"Okay, so you weren't awake during things inverting and other such strangeness. I only experienced it once, when Melusine changed me. It was ... not painful but very uncomfortable," Alptraum admits as he downs his last bit of wine in his glass, then stands. "Lets go sit by the fire and I'll see if I can do this at all," he offers.
Twig downs the last of his own drink, and joins Alptraum by the fire. "We have some hogs still," he notes.
"You really want to experiment more with this, don't you?" Alptraum asks, grinning. "I think you like it," he adds as he holds out his hand to Twig.
"Lapis weah always vewy popular in school," Twig notes. "It will give me an idea of what Julia feels like too."
"Julia? One of the other Prometheans?" Alptraum asks as the shadow begins to ooze out from his hand and up Twig's arm like a rubber glove. "I'd like to meet the others some day, Wendigo and Julia."
Twig wiggles his fingers in the glove. "Well, Wendigo is easy to find - he has a castle and an Igoah," he notes. "Julia is always on the move though, and I don't know if she has an assistant."
The Shadow continues to spread, engulfing the tall, thin, Eee except for his head. "Where is Wendigo? And, do you think he would like to meet me?" Alptraum asks.
"South somewheah," Twig says, his voice distorted by the shadow. And then Alptraum can feel him go into that weird state of stasis that comes before transformation.
Alptraum lets the shadow finish engulfing Twig's head. That's when Alptraum has to relax and breathe slowly as he thinks to the shadow of the small black and white lapi doe, then visualize applying it to Twig's tall, thin, body. He also bites his lip, slightly worried how well this will work now, or of something will happen to him, too.
There are moments when Alptraum feels dizzy, or chilled despite being next to the fire. Nothing that actually hurts though. He is more aware of the energy drain though, as if he's more connected to it this time. But the change doesn't take any longer than usual, and soon he feels the process complete.
Alptraum lets the shadow draw back slowly from Twig and now takes stock in himself as well, making sure his body is still intact before he checks out what should be a doe.
The bat finds a few tender spots on his chest, and also notices that his ears feel odd. Across from him, still in the robe, Twig has become a brown bunny with glowing red eyes, keeping his natural colors as usual. She blinks a bit at Alptraum, and says in a soft Lapine voice, "You have bunny ears."
"What?" Alptraum says and feels his chest in the tender spots to look for problems, head tilting a bit. He tries to flick his ears about, testing the movement and finding it different from his usually broader ears. "This is ... different."
One of the ears flops over into his face. His chest tenderness is receding, but it could have been some sort of feedback. If it gave him bunny ears, maybe it was going to give him breasts too, or a fluffy tail!
Oddly curious, Alptraum furrows his brow to see if he /can/ grow breasts or a furry tail from the lingering feedback! As he ponders/focuses on this he gets up to his feet and paces in a small circle, checking his gait while tugging on one of his lapine ears.
So far, it just seems to be the ears. Nothing else is happening, no matter how he tries. Maybe ears were just the easiest, since he already had big ears?
Twig is also up, and has shed the robe (but not the fez) to explore her new body. "I can wag my tail!" she notes, turning her rear towards Alptraum and waggling the little heart-shaped puff on it.
Alptraum is actually slightly disappointed he doesn't have a fluffy tail. Lapi tails are cute. He also does a quick check that everything below the belt is intact. "I've never had it shape me too in the process," he admits. "I probably look silly with lapi ears..." he starts to say, then finds himself distracted by the tail-puff on Twig. "Best parts on a lapi are the butt and legs. Great hips, powerful."
Everything looks normal down there, and then Twig comes over and checks as well. "Having fur on your fingers makes things.. different," she notes, as she pets Alptraum. "Are you going to put your dagger back in and see what happens?"
"I can," Alptraum agrees and goes to get the dagger. He picks it up, lightly fingers it, then slides it back into his forearm. No matter how many times he does this, it always feels odd when it slides into the sheath and down into the flesh of his forearm.
There's a tingle when it slots in, and he can feel his ears stiffening and changing back to their normal bat shapes.
"Ah, they go back to normal!" Alptraum says as he shakes out his head as his ears thicken and widen. "Good to know, shape only with the dagger slotted while male. It also means I can ask Kaira to apply a different body if I want," he notes to Twig-doe. "Any requests, or is a dashing and handsome Eeee enough?" he asks, grinning.
"Well.. I think I'd like to be stroked a bit," Twigette requests, stretching out on the fancy carpet in front of the fire. "It helps in finding all the best places on a new body, after all.."
"Well, I meant do you want me in a different body too," Alptraum teases as he heads over Twigette then kneels beside her just before stretching out along side. "And lapi are very soft to stoke, he notes as he demonstrates by trasing all along her side, then up her stomach and chest with his claw tips. And to make things even more interesting, he extrudes his shadow cloak some while doing this, so Twigette gets the sensation of dozens of little fingers stroking.
"Ohh... that's nice!" the doe purrs. "I think we'll have some fun as we are... then think about exploring other possibilities. But we have to keep it from Igorina - imagine if she was a Lapi? Of either gender?"
"I've seen a woman become a lapi male. It is terrifying," Alptraum admits as he licks one of Twigette's long ears. "And not all is great about being female, either. The curse I endure has shown me many of the dark sides. You are lucky you do not have to experience it." For now Alptraum just teems content to tease and pet the lapi using both claw and shadow ... and leaving no spot unexplored, including tickling around that tittle tail-puff.
"I thinks this body responds a lot more readily too," the doe notes, turning to face Alptraum and nuzzle at his throat. "But.. will you be able to satisfy it?"
Alptraum rolls over so that he straddles and pins Twigette to the rug. "Lets find out, shall we?" he rumbles to the doe and flashes his fangs. It's now that Alptraum practices something Galand taught Nicora; hhow to be slow and build desire. Everything it touch and tease. Hinting at what is to come until it reaches a point it is near-impossible to think clearly ... and that's when the vampire strikes. Fangs and passion invade the newly formed doe ... and without the fear of pain, well, the whole experience can be relished as he shows Twigette just how a lapi body responds.