Alptraum was exhausted by the time she made it back to the bunker, and Tulani wasn't there for a quick-charge or bite. But the pillow pile was, so Alptraum slept deeply. When Tulani's toe nudged the bat into wakefulness, she had reverted to her female Eeee form.. but at least wasn't sore anywhere.
"Wakey wakey," the Sphynx urges as she pokes the bat.
"Oh thank the Gods I'm mostly back to normal," Alptraum says as she slowly wakes up and stretches out a bit, discovering what, well, she is right now. It could be worse. A fangy yawn follows, then she asks, "What? What? Why are you poking me?"
"You've been asleep for long time," the feline notes. "That's infringing on cat territory. Also, the Mages have restored the tigers, mostly. They're under 'observation' in the infirmary."
Alptraum rubs her face. "Am I to go check on them, then?" she asks after yawning yet again. "And it's been crazy, so I was tired!"
"There might have been some complications, I didn't get the full report," Tulani notes. "So, you might want to check in. After you clean up a bit, you kinda smell like Skeek and.. other things."
Alptraum starts sniffing herself curiously.
Definitely some odor there.. of Skeek and Skeek juices.
Alptraum is slightly worried that she likes the scent of, well, smelling like a bit of a gutter rat thing. "Okay, yes, I see what you mean. So, uh, I'll go use the bath then," Alptraum says as she pushes herself up to her feet and through the muscle complaints along the way.
"Good luck!" Tulani bids.
"Because using a bath requires luck?" Alptraum has to ask, then off she goes to the overly-complicated bathroom.
Deeper into the bunker is the bath, which is a claw-footed tub. There must be a water source nearby, and Alptraum finds a tap in one of the support pillars. The nearby buckets were the clue.
And so Alptraum goes about trying to fill the buckets from the pillar, and then using those to fill the bathtub. She also pauses here and there to check that she feels okay, what with the tug of war between the Goddess' as of late.
She feels disturbingly comfortable. No urges to rub up against the pillars, no sense of pressure in her chest or loins.
Alptraum also checks for, well, smooth tubes and the like to help, well, clean herself out as well as up.
A cabinet reveals a selection of.. stuff. They might be toys, but the ridged ones are probably suitable for cleaning things out.
Alptraum grabs a few. Before getting into the tub, though, she grabs a bucket and will squatting over it, tries to use the toys to clean herself out a bit. It doesn't hurt that it also does tend to feel good to have something pushed into this body there anyway.
That area tends to be self-cleaning, so the tools should catch any rogue clumps. But Alptraum still has to choose a soap from the wide selection of bottles atop the toy cabinet.
Alptraum chooses, by trying to sniff each one and see what the options are!
Everything smells like flowers, except for the last bottle, which smells like.. something. Whatever it is is very arousing, so may be concentrated pheromones or similar. Summer or Trilby could probably figure out what's in it.
Alptraum's left ear twitches. Having used the toys then sniffed that has not helped! She puts it back and grabs one of the more simple floral ones and finally heads to the bathtub. She knows she should change to, well, a guy after the bath but right now she finds she really doesn't want to. Hopefully the bath will help with that. So ... carefully into the tub she goes!
Wherever the water comes from is warm, if not hot, so it's not a shock entering the water. It does invite one to slouch down though.
Down she goes into the water to soak some. She also opens the soak and starts lathering up her hands and then working it into her own fluff to help get the 'smell out' so to speak. Even if she likes it, going around smelling like you came from am orgy is not a good idea.
Of course, the scent of the soap will likely stick to even the male form of Alptraum, but there's nothing wrong with smelling nice. Mages use perfumes all the time to hide that they haven't really bathed or changed their clothes in days.. and possibly not slept either.
Scrub scrub scrub! Lots of soaping up, cleaning, rinsing, and then inspecting herself. She might have gotten a little paranoid!
The main thing that's 'off' with the form is that there's no dragon-headed tail to 'store' the masculinity in. That still belongs exclusively to Nicora.
And she's actually grateful for that! Makes it easier to clean and not get bitten or otherwise harassed. Once all the scrubbing is done, she slinks down in the water to soak for couple of minutes to make sure the soap is out.
It's very relaxing. So much that she barely notices when someone starts to massage her breasts. Someone invisible.
Alptraum blinks! "Uhhhh," she says and her ears shoot up. "Who's there?"
Nobody is there.. not even an aura. But there's a moment of double-vision, where she's surrounded by trees in a grassy clearing, under overcast skies.
Alptraum mmphs. She tries to focus more on that image and see if someone else is there in that grassy, well, location.
It's like a switch is thrown, and Alptraum feels.. younger. There's a fallen tree to her back, which made the clearing. Almost in her lap is Hexen, massaging breasts that feel a bit too big. "How often dis happenin' now?" the fox asks. "You were fine until we left dat town after settin' up the fliers. Is it because those Eeee boys was lookin' at you the whole time?"
"Oy, what are you doing?!" Alptraum grumbles and swats at those massaging hands! "I'm fine!"
"Eh?" Hexen says, looking confused. "You were bustin' outta your vest and needed me to.. you know.. milk you."
Alptraum looks down to check this! She wasn't big a moment ago.
Her teenaged self really shouldn't have breasts that big. Didn't she just deal with this with Scar, before joining Hexen to advertise the troupe to the local hamlet.. which did have a lot of Eeee. And she is leaking a bit.
Alptraum grumbles. A lot. She even rubs her face, then has to undo her shirt. "Fine," she mutters, "You kin deal with it."
So the fox suckles. It takes a while, and there's a lot of kneading to help things along. It also leads to things getting a bit moist internally, unfortunately. Finally the fox stops, and feels up Alptraum. "I tink they're the same sizes now," he says. "Can you close up yer costume now?"
Alptraum, trying to not think about other sensations, goes about trying to close up the costume again.
It's snug, but doesn't feel like it's going to stop her from breathing. But there's no hiding that something is there. The top will need to be relaced to provide more room.
"No small enough yet, keep going," Alptraum grumbles and undoes her top, again!
"Sure thing!" the fox says, and eagerly goes back to suckling and fondling. His tail swishes back and forth happily, but knowing Hexen he's probably straining his pants, which are generally loose to begin with since he gets this way pretty often and needs to hide it.
Alptraum looks up, but one of her hands is subconsciously groping him as she does so.
The issue with doing more is.. this is her show costume. She'll never get grass stains out of it before tonight's performance.
"Heyyy," Hexen stops sucking to say. "Wanna see my new private space?"
"I ... guess," Alptraum mutters and looks away. She's pulling her shirt closed again!
"It's not far!" Hexen claims hopping to his feet. His tail is really wagging.
Alptraum gets her butt up too and walks along after him, while wing-wrapped in shame.
They eventually reach the very outskirts of the camp, where Hexen leads them to a small wagon. It originally belonged to Borg, Hexen's 'father' when he joined, but since then it's been used for storage. Hexen opens the door, gestures for Alptraum to hurry inside.
"This is hardly secret!" Alptraum points out as she goes inside. "Don do anyt'ing weird."
It's a bit cramped inside. Crates and boxes are strapped to the walls, leaving a narrow path between them. Hexen closes the door and squeezes past to get ahead of Alptraum. A moment later there's lamp-light at the back. It looks like the fox has carved out space for a small bunk - really a bedroll atop some crates - and a few other amenities, including the lamp. "Whatcha think?" he asks, sitting on the bed and spreading his arms proudly. "My own space! Practically my own wagon!"
"Issa mess," Alptraum finally admits after looking around and trying to think of something to say. "No much room for anyting in 'ere."
"Well, we're plannin' on getting rid of some of it, and moving more into the main wagon once I'm all moved out," Hexen claims. "It's cozy!" He's still grinning like an idiot.
"Well, g' for you? I still haf to live inna family home," Alptraum points out grumpily.
"What if'n you didn't though?" Hexen asks slyly. "You could move in w' me!" he offers.
"Yeh, like dat won' start some yammerin'," Alptraum points out. "An it woul' ruin yer chances with ladies."
"Well.. not if yer my.. girlfriend," Hexen says, tapping his fingerpads together.
"Ack, now yer makin' it weird!" Alptraum complains! "I barely a girl! I don wanna be one!"
"You ain't barely a girl no more!" Hexen says, pointing to Alptraum's chest. "Y'need a guy to keep you from.. popping out! So.. why not me? We have loads of fun together.. so it'd be that plus.. more fun! I'm more fun den dat big rat!" He hops to his feet and actually thumps his chest.
"Yer jus sayin' dat because you have swellin' issues too," Alptraum growls. She flops her butt down and without even asking him yanks his pants half off! "So, I'll deal with it!" And she does this by ... ack! Her jaws do around him and she bites! Fortunately just shy of actually breaking skin at least. The downside of this is quickly apparent, all she can now smell is fox stink.
The fox's tail poofs out like a dandelion. "Wh.. teeth!" he squeaks. "Teeth teeth teeeeth!"
When Alptraum starts to chew, teeth indeed! She's being positively evil about it. Though she doesn't break skin and eventually she ends up suckling on it like he did on her instead. Her eyes are watering, though. Such stink.
The fox whines through the chewing, and his legs quiver during the sucking. This isn't doing anything to help Alptraum's own aches though.. it may be making them worse! "D-don't eat it!" he blurts.
Alptraum growls! But at least she quicks chewing. It turns into rather aggressive suckling instead.
The fox grabs onto Alptraum's ears as he starts to moan. "C-careful!" he whines. "I'm really.. uh.. uh-oh!" he warns, just as things start to spurt.
Alptraum's eyes get big! It doesn't take like milk at all! And with him holding, she can't pull off. There's some wincing, but the bat ends up swallowing! And squirming a whole lot while she does.
It seems to take forever, but eventually stops. The panting fox lets go of her ears, finally.
Alptraum pulls her mouth off a few seconds later, then coughs and gags. "Ugh!" she complains, "Dat taste all sorts of weird an you stink!"
"You started it," Hexen points out, and kicks his feet free of his pants so he doesn't trip.. then grabs at Alptraum's pants!
"Did not, you fondled!" Alptraum points out, then yelps as her pants are grabbed! "Leggo!"
"No!" Hexen says, pulling down the garment, then reaching for the buttons of Alptraum's vest! "You're a bit stinky too!"
"I am not!" Alptraum growls as she wrestles a bit, trying to stop him!
Hexen is small, but tenacious! He also tries to get the Eeee onto the bed!
It's a lot of wrestling, but somehow the bat does end up on the bed! "Yer makin' too much noise," she complains.
"Who gonna hear?" Hexen says as he climbs over Alptraum. "And believe it somethin' naughty!" Alptraum is soon entered, although not too deeply because of the fox's knot, although that feel weird pressing up against her.
Instincts kick in and she wraps her legs around him and squeezes! Her body is trying to, well, push that bulge in!
Hexen tries as well, but clearly doesn't want to get stuck, so he sticks to short rapid thrusts, even has he gets the Eeee's shirt open and starts suckling. There are apparently advantages to being short in this case!
And that turns into more weird wrestling! Frenetic, and like all the young, it's not even very long before things feel really good and her eyes are rolling back in her head!
And Hexen just keeps going, right through Alptraum's first pop, and after that she feels even more sensitive.
"Stooooooop," Alptraum whines as he just keeps going, and she starts having these random intense pops that make everything tense up!
"I gotta make it.. to.." the fox pants. If Alptraum wasn't so wet, she'd expect to see smoke coming from her crotch! Finally though, Hexen makes a sort of whimpering sound while he shudders, and stops. He does nuzzle at Alptraum's throat though while lying atop her.
Alptraum is now wondering what he had to make it to... Ooooh. She can feel the what. If she wasn't wet before, uh. "Now you make me stink," she whines!
The fox huffs into the bat's throat, then gently bites her neck. "Eh.. stink.. washes.. off," he pants.
"There's no way to wash in here!" Alptraum points out after poofing out from being bit!
"I'll get a bucket," the fox promises. "T'ink about it though. If we know we can do dis all de time we won't be worrying about it no more!" He even gives another playful hip-buck when he says it. "And I keep yer boobs de right size."
"Still t'ink it be too weird," Alptraum grumbles and frowns. "Dis is weird!"
"It keep us out of trouble," the fox claims, and hump-a-bumps again. "I know you enjoyed it."
"I admit no'ting!" the bat claims and pushes at him. "Why ya wanna make it weird?"
"Cuz, I like you," Hexen says, while kneading the Eee's breasts, and rolling his hips... which still feels nice. He does sit up more when pushed though. "Ye' really want me to stop? Rilly?"
"Right now? Yes! I gots a show tonight an need to git clean an other stuff," Alptraum points out.
"What 'bout after de show?" Hexen asks. "Those guys from town'll be sniffing 'round for ya, I bet. So you should come back here and spend de night!"
"Eeeeeeh, that would require explainin," Alptraum waffles. "Gimme time to think on it."
"O'course!" Hexen says, sounding confident. "Lemme finish here quick.." he says, dipping back down to suck Alptraum dry.. while still rolling his hips, which causes the bat another shudder or two before the milk stops flowing. Then Hexen finally climbs off of her.
And Alptraum then grabs Hexen's clothing and uses them to wipe herself off and clean up! She glares while doing it too, daring him to say anything!
The fox may as well be walking on air, and seems to still get a bit excited watching Alptraum using his clothes. He'll probably be sniffing them after she's left!
"You shouldn't put yer clothes back on or they'll get funky too," the fox advises.
"Den what do I wear, eh?!" she demands of him while shaking his bloomers at him.
"Ehm.. wings?" Hexen suggests. "De bath tub is out inna woods away from camp anyway."
Alptraum grabs her clothing, and then wingwraps herself. With a pointed glare, she heads for the door to try and escape! (and find the bath)
As soon as she opens the door, she sees Scar and Scabitha passing by, with a bucket of soap and scrubbers. Scar's whiskers curl after he gets a sniff of Alptraum. "Come get a bath with us," he offers.
"Headin' that way already," Alptraum says stiffly, and heads ... well, that way! Gah! Stupid fox!
It isn't far before Alptraum finds herself in front of Mave's dressing mirror. After the bath, she had an odd urge to see if she could recreate a gypsy outfit. Then she remembers she was just someplace else.. that couldn't exist. Was she in Hexen's dream?
Alptraum rubs over her face and sighs. "Gah, that was bizarre," she complains as she spends a bit of time checking herself out in the mirror after that dream. She's even spreading herself open and trying to get a look at one point to make sure she's okay.
Everything is as she remembers.. just a bit cleaning and smelling like flowers. This time, anyway. Until she gets a handle on this whole 'territory' thing who knows what will happen next time.
She shakes her head and sighs. "Right, gotta go back to being, well, me. And a guy," she says. HEr eyes close and she concentrates, trying to change back to male, and if it fights, she'll go into shadow to try and force it.
There isn't resistance to the change, but something that just feels.. less comfortable. At least until it's complete, then the sensation fades after a few minutes and Alptraum feels normal again, for the most part. And smelling like flowers.
"I should go roll in garbage," Alptraum complains as he collects himself, then heads for the door. His clothing is in the other room after all.
There's no sign of Tulani, so she may be out on an errand. But Alptraum's clothes are waiting for him.. along with the 'emergency' set for his female form.
Alptraum dresses quickly. He also doesn't want have to take those, but ... even he knows he has to be safe about it. So he grabs a travel pack too, and shoves the second set in there. "Why is everything so difficult?" he mutters as he does so! Of course does he mean difficult being like this, or the changing, or something else?
No strange dilemmas interrupt his flight to the Mages Tower at least. Both of the guards at the landing are familiar, and salute him on arrival.
Alptraum salutes back. "I'm here to see Trilby or Cyprian, whichever is currently with the guests I brought last time," he says, "I was told something came up with their recovery."
The first guard opens the door, while the second says, "We haven't heard the details of what happened, only that something happened."
"Likewise. Hopefully nothing too serious," Alptraum says, then adds on for the opening of the door, "And thank you." No dawdling this time, he's moving with purpose to find one he knows so he can learn what happened.
The reception desk is manned by an older Eeee gentleman today, who bows his head to Alptraum. "Mage Cyprian is in the infirmary," he says, anticipating (or just overhearing) Alptraum's intent.
Alptraum nods. "Trilby as well? Or is it just Cyprian?" he inquires. Knowing how many are hovering there might indicate how serious it is after all.
"I believe Mage Trilby is tending to a patient elsewhere," the man says.
Alptraum nods again. "Thank you," he says, and moves onward, heading towards the infirmary; he knows where that is at least!
There's some amount of activity from Trilby's students pulling things out of crates, as if desperately searching for something. Alptraum can also smell blood from two of the three curtained off patient sections, and hear mild chanting.
"Cyprian, what is going on?" Alptraum calls out as he enters and sees the chaos going on. Okay, so it's worse than he thought; he should have gotten here sooner!
One of the students jumps at Alptraum's voice (since it's naturally deeper than a Babelite's so sounds louder). He points to the furthest berth, and says, "He's working on a spell right now.."
Alptraum heads that way to see if he can somehow help. Most of this is likely beyond his abilities, but ... well, he'll see when he knows what is going on.
Peeking past the curtain, Alptraum sees one of the tigers, with bloody bandages wrapping his chest and right hand, with a small cloth resting on his forehead with a magic circle embroidered on it. Cyprian is on a stool next to the bed, with one hand over the cloth as he chants. He's also got a bandage around his own scalp, and even one ear is bandaged. He doesn't react to Alptraum's intrusion, at least not while he's working his spell.
Alptraum tries to wave over one of the students. "Can you tell me what happened?" he asks, keeping his voice low.
"There was some unforeseen violence, I think," the boy explains. "There was something they weren't expecting."
"I gathered that much. Do you know what Cyprian is trying to do?" Alptraum asks. "I don't want to interfere."
"It's a therapeutic mind spell to instill calmness," the student says. "The Khattas both needed it."
"Then was there an actual trap triggered? Or just a bad reaction to waking up here?" Alptraum wonders, and looks back to the bed worriedly. "I can try to just put them into deep sleep. if it would help."
"They're already sedated," the boy says, looking to the curtains. "Trap? Yeah, something like that.. it wasn't where they expected though."
The sounds of chanting stop, so Cyprian has stopped casting.
Alptraum looks over worriedly. He hopes he didn't mess something up.
The curtain parts and a tired-looking Cyprian emerges. "Alptraum," he says in greeting. "The tigers have been cleansed of their overlays."
Alptraum moves in close and takes hold of Cyprian. He doesn't even ask as he engulfs the bandaged spots in shadow to see how badly he is injured. "What happened?" he asks while doin this.
There's torn skin, and a lacerated ear that's being held together with stitches. "The trap was.. do you know what a trip-wire is?" the man asks.
"Yes," Alptraum says, sounding distracted. And he is, because now he's trying to knit that ear back together using shadow to influence healing.
Cyprian winces a bit, but explains, "The trip-wire was in the first tiger we were treating, and the trap was triggered in the one we weren't treating. He broke into the ritual and tried to maul the first tiger, and anyone who got close. We thought Rostre would be enough to handle a tiger.. but not two tigers at once, as it turns out."
"So they were interlinked. I bet that grafted body parts between them so it wouldn't be obvious it wasn't theirs, but linked them together," Alptraum observes, based on what he remembers the doctor tended to do. "How many where hurt and how bad?"
"A few bruises here and there for those that got tossed aside," Cyprian says. "The tigers got the worst of it, but Rostre and I tried to break things up. When a Mind ritual collapses, it can make the caster momentarily insane, since I tried to step between two homicidal tigers. Rostre took some blows, but Trilby is seeing to her. Not certain what the backlash from her own spells was like. But.. we still managed to get the task completed without either of the subjects dying."
"I should have been here," Alptraum growls a little. "I might have been able to stop things quicker since I am ... unorthodox and harder to plan how to counter. But right now, just ... hold still. I need to fix this or you're going to lose half your ear. Blood isn't flowing right."
Cyprian remains still. "We can't always depend on you, Alptraum," he says. "We're expected to handle these things on our own. It would have gone fine if we had inspected both of them before trying to fix one of them."
"I know, and I am aware I can't be everywhere. It doesn't make it less frustrating you were injured. Any of you could have been killed," Alptraum says, voice wavering in and out and at points, distant. His focus is more on the ear injury than talking, and controlling how much, well, life energy is flowing in and through as he checks the connections and blood flow.
Luckily there wasn't much damage to the structural support tissues that Eeee ears have. It isn't too hard to join things back up, since the stitching was done very well to begin with.
"Well, I guess lesson learned to examine all before working on just one in a close situation," Alptraum says once he's finally pulling shadow back when he's comfortable enough the ear should heal fine the rest of the way on its own. He's impressed how well it was stitched already, considering he thought it was done in a rapid panic right after things fell apart. And there he lets go and rubs his face a bit.
"I'm not sure how bad Rostre is doing," Cyprian says. "There was a lot of blood on her tunic at the end.. and I think she actually used some of it to boost her ritual."
"She's also a lot less fragile than Eeee," Alptraum points out, "But, I should check on her too. Everyone here has more skill than I do, and I don't want to step on anyone, though. I'll see if I can be of help but ... I have faith Trilby will be far more effective than I am."
"Trilby is very small compared to Rostre though," Cyprian notes. "I'm going to go lie down now.. in this corner. I can sleep while looking awake."
"If you have any swelling or numbness near your wounds, tell someone quickly. We have lots of small blood vessels in our ears and if they clog or don't heal right, you could get massive swells that have to be cut open," Alptraum warns, "You really don't want that. I tried to make sure yours are all connected right and shouldn't do that ... but there are a lot and they are tiny." He pats Cyprian's shoulder then he's off to try and find Trilby.
Where would you take a large, wounded Naga who has a unique relationship with sanity? Probably not too far from where the ritual took place, and Alptraum remembers where the first one happened at least.
And so that cell area is where Alptraum heads. Hopefully he remembers the turns.
Luckily, he has an extra sense to aid him: smell. Rostre's scent, plus blood, make it easier. Especially the blood. It leads him to a large door, which has a small Eeee standing watch outside.
"Is Rostre and Trilby in there?" Alptraum asks. "I'm Alptraum, here to help."
"Yeah, and the shouting has stopped.." the girl says, looking nervous. "I was afraid to check inside after that."
"Well, I'm going in," Alptraum says, and then tries to do so, but he won't force it if the girl tries to stop him.
The door isn't locked, and the quiet inside it surprising. Inside, he finds Rostre curled up in the middle of the room, with various bandages. A very damp Trilby is sitting with her back against the coils, a Rathani Novice is huddled in one corner, and a pale white Naga is overlooking the whole thing. It takes a moment, but Alptraum recognizes the other Naga as the Ksh'atga he'd escorted to Mt. Sunala some time ago: Ningishzida Belet'Seri.
"Greetingss, Barssunala," the odd Nagai Spirit Mage-Priestess says, dipping her head to Alptraum.
Alptraum bows his head in kind. "Greetings, Belet'Seri," he says. "How is Rostre and Trilby. I heard what happened. Is there anything I can do to help?"
"They are not dead," the Naga reports. "Not for lack of trying!" Trilby snaps. "Rostre tried to swallow me." That would explain why she's half-damp.
"Yes, well, Naga do that. You can't hold that against them," Alptraum opines. He moves closer to Trilby and crouches down. "Is Rostre stable? IS there anything that I could do to help, or will I just be in the way?"
"She's a bit distraught," the mouse claims. "Worried about scars and such. She sheds her skin twice a year, not sure if scars stick around or not in that case. She might be mildly concussed, but it's hard to tell with her. Most of the damage was to her ridiculous breasts, which probably saved her from serious injury."
"Spirit Mages are never stable," Trilby adds.
"That's why she's scared of scars. She likes those," Alptraum points out, gently. "I can try to ensure they won't scar over, if you want me and are okay with me, trying. I do not want to over-step. I already did some additional patching of Cyprian's ear simply becayse, well, Eeee ears are irritatingly complex and being one helps to know what to look for. I apologize if I over-stepped there."
"Healing is healing, and I'm tired," Trilby says. "Try to make her feel better. I mean, she did her job despite the injuries. It's only afterwards that she fell apart."
"People get touchy," Alptraum points out, "If you intrude in their space." He goes closer to Rostre now and puts his right hand on her. Shadow out again of course so he can see just how bad the damage is.
"And swallow-y," Trilby notes. Rostre is still awake, and in some pain. It looks like she took some blows to the head that are bruising up, and under the bandages a chunk of her left breast, including the nipple, has been torn away. It's probably still in the ritual chamber. That was the main source of bleeding for her, and she did loose a lot of blood - enough that if she was an Eeee she'd be dead. Being huge and slow saved her.
"I can repair this," Alptraum says, "Though please don't panic, since it will involve removing and putting them back. Basically, rebuilding. They might end up a little smaller, but it's the safest approach given part is missing." He wants a few seconds to make sure there's no panicking before he going about the slow process of, well, unmaking her chest and just restoring normal Naga form first.
At least that also takes away the pain. Naga can't cry, so don't have any easy way to express their pain (beyond swallowing their doctor), but Alptraum luckily has a more direct method of knowing these things. The flesh sinks away.. or rather is returning to the original shadow-matter that spawned it.
"This is just temporary, I promise," Alptraum repeats a few times to make sure Rostre understands. Once things are more or less normal, he shifts to fixing her head wound first by encouraging it with energy support to heal and knit.
This uncovers something else; one of the tigers' claws had been torn loose, and was stuck in Rostre's skull, or at the least the tip of it was.
Alptraum ... tries to absorb that claw versus pull it out.
Since it's just keratin, it breaks down easily enough. It was just behind Rostre's eye-socket though, so could have been much worse. The Naga is still remaining fairly calm, either through will power or because of a spell or drug.
Then it's back to rebuilding her skin on her face an such, which is mostly encouraging it to heal itself naturally, just faster ... and without forming keloids (scars) in the process. "You're doing fine," Alptraum says every so often.
"You have a sssoothing manner," Ningi notes as she watches. Is she comparing him to Trilby in this case? It's just as likely the raccoon mage in the corner was traumatized by the Skeek as much as by Rostre.
"Generally a good idea when dealing with someone that outweighs you by several hundred pounds," Alptraum points out. It's likely several hours of slow progress, letting flesh and scale reknit under guidance before he can shift off those head wounds and get back to the other part; restoring the naga's odd fleshy parts she shouldn't even really have, but ... Anyway, rebuilding those will take time and a lot of energy, so he settles in for the slow work.
Naga are good at being patient. It does leave Alptraum a bit drained though, and the new breasts aren't as big as the previous ones as a result. The other Naga doesn't comment on the additions.
Alptraum draws back the shadow, feeling rather drained out. He falls back on his butt with a grunt. He'll need a recharge soon; he's about tapped out and that gets dangerous. "I've done what I can with what I have right now, sorry," he admits.
"I will continue to treat Mage Rosstre for spirit backlassh from using her own, unprepared blood in her ritual," Ningi hisses.
"How is her mind right now?" Alptraum asks. "I've not seen her this quiet, well, ever."
"It iss not her mind, but her sspirit that hass been shocked," the pale Naga explains. "By ussing her own unprocessed blood, part of her wass drawn into the ritual, and then sssnapped back at the end." She even snaps her fingers when she says 'snapped'. "There may be sssome sspirit bruising. She will recover with ressst and a purification ritual."
"Blood is unpredictable in the raw, especially with Spirit Magic," Trilby says, and puts a hand to Alptraum's forehead to check his temperature.
Alptraum arches his brow a little at the touch. "What?" he finally asks. "Anyway, I ... didn't know that. I'm glad I do now, though. My usage of magic is so bizarre that what I know or don't about official rituals is ... eh. Not much."
"Blood carriess the sspirit with it," Ningi explains as she strokes the top of Rostre's head. "Magess use carnoran, which iss blood that hass been sstripped of ssuch ssympathetic tiess. It iss believed that vampiress get their sstrength from the ssspirit component of blood."
"We do get things from blood, yes," Alptraum can confirm. "Other than just nutrition."
"So.. do the boobs help her store up magic?" Trilby asks. "Or is Rostre just a bit odd?"
"She's more than just a bit odd," Alptraum points out. "Mostly they're just padding."
"Naga Sspirit Magess can develop odd quirkss due to the isolation of their work," Ningi says, but doesn't admit to any of her own.
"All Mages can," Trilby claims. "I admit that I am overly cheerful for a Life Mage."
"Everyone develops odd quirks. It's not special to mages, naga, or anything. Look at me," Alptraum points out and even holds up his right hand.
"Is that something you deliberately manifest then?" Trilby asks.
"No, it's because I stuck my hand into the body of an undead weapon to rip its heart out," Alptraum deadpans.
"I assssumed it wass a sspirit manifestation," Ningi says.
"It's a weird blend of flesh, Life and Shadow Magic," Trilby claims. "There is an underlying physical issue that it is attached to."
"Powerful Magess often have odd physical effects," Ningi notes. "It iss common among Nagai and Korv Mages, I have found."
"Well, if any of you know Amenlichli .. this is the outcome of a major fight I had with her. I won," Alptraum explains. "But not without consequences."
"You didn't get cursed did you?" Trilby asks. "We can wake up one of the Chaos Mages to check."
"I don't think so. I haven't had a cray woman run up to me and waggle a bony finger in my face," Alptraum says with a sigh. "And I have had to deal with curses before, so I think I'd notice."
"I asssumed the odd spiritual aura wass from being the Barssunala," Ningi says, and slithers closer to stare at Alptraum's head.
"No experimenting on him," Rostre hisses quietly. Even though she's probably experimented on him already.
"How odd of an aura?" Alptraum has to ask. "It probably is just that in a large part."
"It iss.. marbled. Veined," the Naga claims. "Ass if different spiritss are entwined together."
"Mine, Barsunala, and Muravan," Alptraum ticks off. "One is he remains of the shadow dragon I took down, the others I was born with."
"Was the 'shadow dragon' the weapon you mentioned before?" Trilby asks.
"Yes. It was used in the neromancer wars. Also, that forbidden zone near-ish to Babel? That is the result of the ancient weapon colliding with another ancient weapon and wrecking the land." Alptraum explains. "And no, that can't happen again before anyone worries. It's one of the good outcomes that I tore that weapon away from her."
"It hasss been a few yearss since the last ssighting of the demon goddess," Ningi says. "I thought to uncover tracess of her here in Babel, but have not had sssuccess in that ass yet."
"Because she's not in Babel, she's hiding herself and her minions in the Zone nearby," Alptraum tells Ningi. "I know exactly where they are. Most of her minions in the city I've rooted out already."
"As if the General weren't bad enough," Trilby grumbles. "I've always wondered if healing an undead would kill it though."
"The General was one of her agents," Alptraum tells Trilby. "And she actually broke the control. That one is scary because she's also smart. I know where she is, and at some point I will take her down. I'm certain the General is more than capable of killing me, though, so ... it will be bad when the time comes."
"She's going to invade Babel," Trilby tells Ningi. "The General was one of the old Saboath's super-soldiers."
"With spare parts. Fortunately not in her possession," Alptraum adds.
Alptraum also notes to Trilby, "And so no one gets worried, there are others I have told how to destroy me if needed. If I ever become a danger to the city or people, I wanted to be sure someone could stop me. It's easy to become a monster, and I waned insurance against the possibility."
The pale Naga flicks her tongue, but doesn't change expression. Trilby does, however, asking, "Spare parts? There is a body-part.. warehouse or something? I thought those were just Sylvanian rumors."
"They were in the sub-basement of the Tower, Trilby. Myself and some others went in and collapsed the area so they couldn't be recovered," Alptraum explains to Trilby.
"There was a lot of nasty down there, admittedly. Not anymore, though," he adds.
"The Tower.. We barely know anything about it," the Skeek says, and checks Alptraum's forehead again. "Hmm, warmer, that's good. How do you feel?"
"Thin," Alptraum admits. "Not in a danger zone, though. I don't think anyway. Using any of my magic, miracles, or whatever you call them have a direct cost to my physically. It's expected. I'm the source and the shaper."
"You could perhapss benefit from learning ssstructured magic then," Ningi suggests. "Or at leassst have an apprentice to help build up the magic first."
"I have a battery I can use," Alptraum claims vaguely. "But that does require planning since it's not always with me."
"You need to keep yourself charged up if it's going to take this much toll on you," Trilby says. "Maybe you can suck some of it back out of Rostre?"
"Yeah, no. I'll be fine. I'm not that badly off right now, I can just feel it is all," Alptraum says.
"Well.. I need a bath after Rostre tried to eat me," Trilby says. "She's stable now. Physically anyway. If you need someplace to rest I can get you a bed somewhere. Or a perch."
"Either would be welcome, or I could just go too and people might feel a bit less unsettled," Alptraum says "Also, fun fact some people pay for the experience of being eaten."
"What sort of people?" Trilby asks. "Have you been hanging out with a bad crowd, Alptraum?"
"There are all sorts. And some are skeeks, Trilby, and go to a club to experience it," Alptraum says and shrugs. "Remember, I walk in the shadows. So I see things."
"I don't think I'd trust Rostre with something like that," Trilby says. "My cousin and I never let the monsters eat us in our Dream adventures."
"It isss Nagas that do the eating?" Ningi says. "Are thesse people digesssted as well? It sseemss a rather gruessome form of ssuicide."
"They are not digested, just barfed back up," Alptraum explains probably far too cheerily.
"Have you gone through thiss experience?" Ningi asks. "Do the Naga enjoy it?"
"I know of it. And they seem to. It's weird, and you seem far too curious about it," Alptraum claims.
"We have an odd cult in Nagai, made of Garter Naga, who believe being swallowed by a larger Naga iss akin to being devoured by the Great Serpent upon death," Ningi explains. "I am curiouss ass to the mindset of those ssseeking ssuch for other reasons."
"I classify it under, people are strange. As long as they aren't hurting each other, I'm not going to judge," Alptraum jokes, grins.
Rostre stirs, and rises up a bit. She's still got some dried blood on her, which she ignores as she picks up the remains of her tattered poncho. "Sssss, I think I am ready to return to my quartersss," she says. "I need to feed the experimentsss, and prefer to sssleep in my own bowl."
"You need to be properly looked after," Alptraum counters. "So, no, you are not leaving the infirmary until they allow it."
"I can look after her," Ningi says. "If sshe ssuccumbs, I can give her the proper funerary rightss ass well."
"That is ... good?" Alptraum asks hesitantly as he pushes himself back to his feet. He wobbles a second, then feels mostly okay at least. "Is there anything I am needed for?"
"She won't fit in my infirmary, so it's either stay here or take your chances," Trilby notes and nudges the Rath'ani apprentice with her foot. "Get up you, Rostre needs the blood scrubbed off of her."
Rostre comes up to Alptraum, lifts him in her arms and kisses him, managing to only engulf his muzzle. "You can bathe me if you like," she hisses.
Alptraum mpgh! HE flaps his arms for a moment, confused.
Alptraum mpgh! He flaps his arms for a moment, confused. "Wait, what, you want me to wash her? Is it because I'm not afraid?" he asks and looks around.
"You made her boobs, so you should be fine with washing them," Trilby says, pulling the raccoon to its feet. "I can send someone with soap and water.."
"I'll get you for this in your dreams," Alptraum threatens Trilby. "But fiine. Just get the supplies."
"You could lick it off," Rostre suggests as soon as Trilby and her apprentice have left. Ningi just observes that, "Our tonguesss do not hold onto sssaliva well."
"I would rather not. Oxidized blood is nasty," Alptraum claims diplomatically.
Rostre still hasn't let Alptraum go when there's a knock at the door just before it opens and someone enters. "I bring herbal disinfectant soap and hot.. warm water," a cheery voice announces. "Oh, hello Alptraum and Mage Rostre, I'm not.. interrupting something am I?" It's Summer of course.
"Rostre exploded, then tried to eat Trilby. I'm going to help clean her up. Put those over here please," Alptraum explains and directs to a somewhat clean spot near the snake. Amazing how he can say all that as if it were perfectly normal.
"I am amazed the mess was contained then," the deer-girl notes as she sets things down. Then she notices the ghostly pale form of Ningi and lets out an involuntary bleat.
"That's not a ghost," Alptraum quips. He grabs one of the cloths and soaks it in the warm water, and once wet carries it over and starts wiping Rostre down, just to get her wet first, and let that soak before he scrubs.
"Oh.. uh.. hello then," Summer says, and bows to Ningi.
Rostre squirms a little. "Next time I will only do thiss when I am ready to sshed," she claims. "But the water feelss nice."
Alptraum waits a short bit, then starts scrubbing with the towel. He has to pause to rinse and refill the towel before getting back to it. "What brings you here, Summer?" he asks, "You don't seem like a towel girl..."
"Well, I've become the soap girl lately, because my soap is nicer than the fat-based stuff they normally get, which is apparently made from used candles," the Cervani explains. "Used candles from rituals. So the soap sometimes has odd effects. That and I'm taking a short break after a big job at Cenesta Plaza on the flower beds. How's my tree doing?"
"Last I saw, the tree was doing okay," Alptraum answers. "I haven't checked super recently, though, sorry."
This earns him a poke from a hardened fingertip. "Then I demand to check on it," Summer tells him. Rostre seems to suck the warmth out of the water quickly, and some of the blood is gooey enough to stick in the scales. It may be time for soap.
"Ow!" Alptraum complains and rubs the poked spot. "Fine, help soap the snake and I will," he retorts before grabbing some of the soap himself.
So Summer removes her robe and rolls up her sleeves before diving in. Rostre tries to swallow her.. well, her head anyway.
"Stop trying to eat people," Alptraum snaps and even swats Rostre, hard!
The serpent releases the doe. "Sssorry, my instinctss are sstill a bit sscrambled. And she sssmelled nice."
"Are you okay, Summer?" Alptraum asks worriedly and looks over.
"I am so tempted to pinch her," Summer says. Thanks to her shorter fur, she's not overly mussed up. "Clearly the trick is to scrub lightly."
"I doubt she would even feel a pinch," Alptraum points out and goes back to trying to soap up the tube. Er, Naga.
Summer tests this by pinching one of the anachronistic nipples. Rostre does notice and hisses.
"Well, okay, except maybe there," Alptraum concedes. He forgot about that, and he had just repaired them!
The soap is very lathery, and it does wonders covering up Rostre's natural (or unnatural) odor. "Was this the only sticky area?" Summer asks. "You didn't squish someone underneath you or anything?"
"My chesst and head are where I was physssically injured," Rostre claims.
"I'm not doing the head," Summer tells Alptraum. "Not while she's not clear in it."
Alptraum keeps on scrubbing. "Far as I know no one was squished. Her boobs were almost ripped off and had to be reattached," Alptraum explains.
"What sort of ritual rips off boobs?" the doe asks, putting one arm protectively across her chest.
"Mad tigers rip off boobs," Alptraum clarifies, and moves to try and scrub rostre's head!
"Ow," Rostre says, as that part is still sensitive.
"Don't be a baby," Alptraum counters, "You're intact."
"That sounds horrible!" Summer declares. "They probably wouldn't go after me though then."
"No, they're sedated. It was just a trap spell triggered that wasn't accounted for," Alptraum adds. He does at least scrub a bit gently.
"Small boobs are better, less of a target," the doe claims, and walks around Rostre's coils looking for any other areas that need scrubbing.
"Less of a back problem too," Alptraum points out. He switches to rinse-washing off the soap and blood now.
"I have a ssstrong back," Rostre claims.
"Sshe would be more heraldric with wingsss insstead of armss though," Ningi claims.
"If by that you mean disturbing, yes," Alptraum claims.
"Am I not insspirational enough without the wingss?" Rostre has to ask.
"You inspire plenty of.. things," Summer tells the senior mage.
"How diplomatic," Alptraum quips. Now he fetches a dryer towel and starts wiping down the weird mage. Well, Rostre. All mages are weird.
"It iss a shame there iss not a heat room in thiss tower," Ningi says. "Or a very hot, very large bathing area."
"Well, there aren't that many naga, are there?" Alptraum asks as he tosses that towel aside too.
"We only have one Water Mage here, and he's pretty old," Summer says.
"Actually, Babel hasss a very sssizeable Naga population," Ningi says. "Another reason I wass assigned to visit."
"But I'm not sure about this tower, specifically," Alptraum points out, "Where it would matter."
Once dry, Rostre hugs Alptraum again.. gently.
"This is wasn't always a Mage Tower," Summer notes. "Who knows what's in the bowels of it. Nobody goes down that far. I hear most towers just fill their lower levels with garbage."
Alptraum almost oofs and flails, until he realizes it was a gentle hug. "Now, you really need to get checked out for the spirit backlash they were talking about," he says "You might try to eat Summer again."
The doe keeps her distance.
"I will ssee to Rostre's spiritual recovery," Ningi promises. "You need not worry."
Alptraum nods. "Well, then I'll leave you to it. Do not let her go back to her room unless her health is fine," Alptraum requests and now heads for the door.
"Wait for me!" Summer says, gathering up her robes and supplies as she hurries after Alptraum.
Alptraum peers. "What, you don't want to be a meal? You're a bit too big to be one, you know," he teases.
Once outside, Summer pauses to get her robe back on. "How bad was Rostre hurt?" she asks Alptraum. "You look tired!"
"Rather bad, actually. Imagine if you had one of your butt-cheeks torn off. It would be about comparable to that level of injury," Alptraum explains, and nods. "And I am a bit tired, it took a lot to repair her. I can deal with that back home, though."
"Or you can rest now," the doe says, and grabs Alptraum's hand to start dragging him off.
Alptraum acks! "I can, yes, but I don't want to cause problems!" he complains.
"You being tired is a problem," Summer insists, and eventually pulls him into her own room, where she lets him go so she can turn down the bed. "Take your clothes off," she tells him. "You like being warm, right?"
Alptraum erms, "Usually." Eying her suspiciously, he does start to disrobe. Though there's a quick check to make sure he hasn't started becoming a she due to energy loss.
Nothing visible, and the feeling of 'softness' in his muscles could be from the fatigue. "When did you last eat?" the doe asks, gesturing for Alptraum to lie in the bed.
Alptraum hmms. "I don't think it was that long ago," he claims as he climbs into the bed. It always take a bit to figure out what to do with the wings, but he's used to that by now!
Once Alptraum's down, Summer pulls the beddings over him. "Get some rest then, unless you need anything?" she offers.
Alptraum is surprised she didn't crawl in! So, after eying her warily for a few more seconds, he does at least close his eyes and try to get some rest.
Summer doesn't leave, but does go into the adjoining bathroom to wash any Rostre-residue from her head. Then she disrobes and crawls into bed with Alptraum. Is it enough to keep him from sliding into femininity though?
Alptraum doesn't really know. When she climbs in he does tense up a moment, then try to relax again. At least the doe was true to form.
She's also warm and soft (for the most part) so useful as a body-pillow. And she doesn't honk in her sleep. And if Alptraum does get hungry, he just has to turn his head a bit and take a bite.
Like that wouldn't be creepy! So, he tries t settle in, get comfortable, and actually fall asleep.
And Alptraum gets some decent rest for once, with no odd excursions into other people's dreams.
When he does wake up, he still feels.. male. But something is slightly off. Maybe it's just the bed and the doe that seem different.
Alptraum feels himself to be sure, first, before trying to check the bed and doe!
Everything seems to be there.. just slightly off in some way. Not unfamiliar though. The motion causes Summer to stir, and she licks her nose as she starts waking up.
Alptraum makes sure Summer, is, well, Summer and not someone else!
Summer is Summer.. well, maybe a bit more Summer, actually. She wasn't this curvy before. And is she bigger.. or is he smaller now?
Alptraum blinks. "They heck is going on?" he wonders. He looks to see if there is a mirror in the room!
There's probably one in the bathroom, most of the free space in the room is taken up by plotted plants. "I feel weird," Summer notes, getting up to stretch. Yes, she's definitely changed a bit, especially in the hips and bust.
"So do I. What did you do?" Alptraum asks warily. He also wonders ... is he dreaming..? Does everything seem real, or just 'off'?
Things look real.. and when Summer steps away from the bed a bit of shadow peels off of her, as if a membrane had formed between them.
Alptraum erks a bit and tries to see if that was shadow. Did he change her? Okay, now the Eeee is starting to panic.
There's some stickiness along his side where they were connected, but now that the doe is up, he can at least pull the covers all the way back.
Alptraum does, in fact, pull the covers back. "Dagh, dagh, dagh," he mutters over and over.
Looking at himself he realizes that he's younger again, just like with Cricket! But still fully male. Did the 'feminine' energy transfer to Summer while they slept?
The doe begins to notice things now. "Hey.. did you make my boobs bigger? Or was it something I ate?" she asks.
"I don't know. Something went weird! I got younger and you became ... more girly?" Alptraum offers, looking horribly confused. "I think I can undo it by reabsorbing what you got to age myself back."
Summer turns to look at Alptraum, then tries to pull him upright by the shoulders to see if he really is shorter now.
Alptraum is, in fact, shorter. "I feel ridiculous," he admits.
"I don't know, you look closer to my age now," the doe says, even though she isn't looking her age right now. "What would be involved in.. changing ourselves back? Did it happen just because we were lying next to one another?"
Alptraum shrugs. "Something like that? I don't really know. And right now physically, I think I'm younger than you," he admits, embarrassed.
The doe puts her arms out over Alptraum's shoulders.. and leans in to kiss him! Summer isn't usually this forward. And when she presses up against Alptraum, the teenaged body reacts of course.
Alptraum mmph! Okay, so now he's back to comedically flailing in shock while part of his body comedically starts poking and being awkward! Aaaah, the youghful years...
It doesn't help that the doe outweighs him.. which lets her push him back down onto the bed. "Oh my," the doe says. "I want to do something before you try changing us back.. if that's alright?"
Alptraum looks terrified! "What?!" he squeaks, wide-eyed.
The doe licks her nosepad. "I want to be the.. dominant one," she says, "I won't hurt you though! I think you like me in this body, don't you?"
"I ... you .. er, " Alptraum squeaks in shock and soon swallows. "Okay," he says dumbly, "But if things start going bad, I'm going to use the shadow!""
"Maybe this will make everything normal again, too," the doe suggests, as she settles onto the bat. There's some wiggling and maneuvering but soon the connection is made, and she starts moving her hips. And her breasts keep hitting Alptraum's chin too.
Alptraum for the first part is really still, looking terrified that at any moment, something may just ... break. The connection, well, that feels nice anyway ... and so does the movement. Still very wide-eyed, tough, and starting to go oof each time her chest hits his chin. But eventually, he starts moving a little too.
The doe moves up a bit to give Alptraum more room to get things moving as well, but it also puts her breasts bobbing about right in front of his face now. At least she's not rutting yet.
Alptraum's head starts going up and down in time with the chest, he can't help it! That just draws the ... eyes. The poor bad whimpers softly, but at least he can move more, and soon he's started to!
Summer slows down a bit to see how much Alptraum can do.. and licks his ears. She's got a long tongue, even if it isn't Eeee-length.
"Don't lick my brain!" Alptraum whimpers softly. It also spooks him into moving his hips even faster!
That reaction earns him more licks. Although Summer does giggle at the thought of licking his brain. She starts to match his rhythm now to increase the force of the impacts, and presses down flatter against him.
"Ack!" goes Alptraum when the licking gets worse. So it ends up turning into a lot of weird squirming for a bit until the rhythm is restored. Or at least matched.
There's a slight danger of being smothered by Summer's breasts, as she's not paying as close attention at the moment, but that might be acceptable to a teenaged Alptraum. The doe must be having fun though, because she's started to... honk... every so often.
Alptraum solves part of that problem by nomming right onto one of those bobbing breasts. It's a real, er, mouthful, but at least his tongue is pressed against the nipple? The honking, though, makes him giggle a bit.
The honking grows more frequent, and there's a lot of heat building up. Summer's nipple tastes salty, since she's working up a sweat, and starting to push back harder now, breaking the rhythm.
Alptraum switches up by biting on the other one! He's surprised he hasn't popped yet, given young usually means, er, fast. It must be the shock and nervousness helping! Still, he soldiers on! Well, rolls his hips on anyway! That would make for one weird soldier. Of course now that he even thought about popping it's getting close!
When things finally pop, they pop big. There's a flash of.. darkness? It surges up through Alptraum, and apparently through Summer too. When it's over, they're both back to their normal selves.. if sweatier and panting more.
There's a whole lot of weird squeaking too, and some wing flailing, and ... shadow everywhere! When it does finally recede, Alptraum is laying there, almost coming off the bed, wide eyed. Somehow Summer is partially turned, too! "Well, that was different," he says. "And weird."
"Oooo," the doe replies as she tries to sort her limbs out, until she's more or less draping herself over Alptraum. "I don't feel heavy anymore," she notes. "Back to my normal lithe self."
"Are you calling me fat?" Alptraum complains. Since the mass went, well, to him!
"No, I'm calling myself thin," the doe claims. "We'll have to do this up at the tree, probably."
"Why do you say that?" Alptraum wonders as he finally sits up some.
"Well, it's Inala's tree.. need to see if that affects its health," Summer suggests.
Alptraum blinks. "Okay, there's logic in that," he concedes. Though he doesn't want to poke Inala any right now either, he's nervous!
"Are you feeling less worn out now?" Summer asks. And licks Alptraum's ear.
Alptraum considers this. "Yeah, I think so, but I want to get a little more sleep before I leave, if that's okay. I've spent a lot of energy today, I will need to keep rested," he admits.
So Summer tries to haul Alptraum back into bed for more rest.
This time Alptraum makes sure there is a blanket between them .. just in face. He lightly bites her on the nose and grins, "You're weird when shadow-charged, you know. Now I can blame my weirdness all on that," he claims as he already starts to drift a bit, eyes drooping. "Seeya, in a few."