• PM To Join • Self Testing

[Varthakh]

Fridgar awoke with a start, Rey'na had demanded something of him, probably writing. Backing the luckiest guess possible, he went to work copying down everything she said despite the little amount of sense it made. "What's a binding agent...?" He asked himself quietly as the notes filled the previously blank page. His mouth was dry and his headache hadn't gotten any better. Was he dehydrated? Come to think of it, he hadn't had a drink of water after his workout prior to this, it was very possible that he was dehydrated. Without lifting his gaze form the book, he reached out and drank from the glass of water he'd poured himself. It didn't taste like water, but oh well, probably all the concentration he was doing at fault.

Carrying on about his notes, Fridgar filled in the papers with renewed vigour. He couldn't sleep anymore this trial even if he tried, though his bear form could. The notes practically wrote themselves, It was there that he realised that eric was wrong. Whatever Valyeria was, she wasn't made of rock, she was made of crystal. Which meant that Warren was also made of crystal? Bones didn't hold up against crystal too well, apparently. He would just have to keep training, sort his diet out perhaps and get stronger. To shatter Warren, it would be worth it.

His interest peaked as Valyeria threw the antidote powder into her face. Why? Perhaps he'd missed something, he wrote it down regardless. Once he'd had a moment to spare, he went over what Rey had said about 'The Neighbour'. That piece of transcript seemed out of place. Rey didn't have any neighbours, she lived out in the woods in a cabin. He might have to ask her about it afterwards.

► Show Spoiler

Note: Fridgar never actually poured himself a glass of water, he poured Valyeria and Rey'na a glass each but not himself. He's gone and (unknowingly) ingested a load of chemicals which will increasingly worsen his condition over a very long period of time, effects will start showing in late Zi'da/early Cylus. We're still discussing what the effects will be OOC, but this is the origin of the Illness. (This is all for future plot between the three of us by the way)

[Rey'na]

"Alcohol and leaves, makes sense. Sorry" Rey apologized, embarrassed that she had to be taught this. This was all new to her, and she should have branched in to it sooner. But in her defense, this was new territory for her. It shouldn't be, but it was.
Rey pondered a few seconds. Something as simple as glue could mix with a plant and Barkskin to make the right thing? In theory it was simple - too simple. She'd worked it out, potentially, but was it always going to be this simple? Rey hated the uncertainty, how anything might happen and go wrong. She liked having control over situations, being able to predict the outcome. This made her feel inferior, like nothing was in her control. Maybe it was the lack of practice, or maybe it was that she would never be certain in this field - but she didn't like it.

"Ok, so more Iffloil for the antidote? Would we have a way to test that without the whole risk of death thing?" she asked, serious tone. She didn't want to lose anyone today, it would be unfortunate. Alex had helped her out twice now, and more to come it seemed. She knew the answer would be no, how would they test it without actually using it? She sighed and just continued her work.
As she worked, her eyes fell to what Alex was doing. She was so talented with poison, something Rey hoped to achieve one day. It gave her a goal, a purpose. She would be this good. No, she would be better one day. She would make her mother proud, as she always wanted to, and become the best she could be.
Eventually, Alex was done. A powder and a fluid, both seemingly intended to do the same thing. Rey looked curiously to both. When Alex suggested she tried these few, she gave a small nod and a reassuring smile - as if to comfort her in case she were about to die. It probably wasn't comforting, Rey thought, but it would do.

For a second, it felt like time froze, an idea flooding in to her head. Denebah and Alex were the same. Did that mean she would know where he was? Her eyes suddenly sharpened, determination filling them. She made a decision - Alex couldn't die. She needed to know, once and for all, what happened to Denebah. She had to find out what her 'friend' was hiding from her.

[Vluharqih]

Alex shrugged. "Pretty much. I don't have any other guesses. My bets are that we're not going to kill me here- this is a small enough dosage."

The powder drew a line of fire down her throat. She coughed, a bit of powder flying out at Rey'na's cheek. Alex doubled over, the coughing stopping unexpectedly. The silence stretched through the room as Alex felt her torso lock up.

She tried to straighten, but it was like going through mud. Whatever she had found, it wasn't the same as she had been given before. It spread like wildfire, and Alex lost her balance. She stumbled sideways, but her legs didn't move. Her arms tried to catch herself, but they were like rock. Her torso crashed into the table where Fridgar sat, knocking it to the side and spilling everything on it.

Her head cracked against the floor as she rolled off the table, and Alex saw stars. She tried to speak, but nothing came out. Her muscles went to contract, push the air out of her lungs, only to realize they were already tensed. Pain began in her stomach, barely noticeable at first.

That didn't last long. It blossomed and grew, engulfing her body. She was trapped, helpless as it rose and fell, waves upon waves of agony. She couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't scream. Even her eyes were motionless, fixated on a knot in the wood overhead.

Just when Alex thought it could get no worse, it did. She felt something crack inside of her and her mind writhed.

Black dots swarmed in her vision, eating away at her sight...

OOC

Short, but there wasn't much more for me to comment on. Feel free to freak out or do whatever. I purposely left if vague how long she was done for.

[Varthakh]

Fridgar coughed uncomfortably into his closed fist as he wrote. Turns out the powder that Valyeria had thrown in her face was both the poison and the cure? Iffoil Petals... It made no sense to him, but he wasn't as bright as the two geniuses stood before him. He looked up at Rey'na while writing, she didn't seem all that happy. If anything, looking at her pained his chest. Did she feel inferior? No, surely not? Rey'na was super smart, while he'd never seen her work poison like this before, he was certain that she'd handle this sort of stuff just fine. Just like she'd handled the Lothar yestertrial(yesterday), he'd never expected her to be quite so good with a dagger. Rey'na was full of surprises...

Shaking his head, he returned to writing 'How long were you staring at her for, dude? Did she notice? Fuck, now she thinks you're a creep. Way to go!" he whimpered silently. He coughed again with his mouth closed, jolting his body.

Almost in unison, Valyeria started to cough with the administration of the powder. He wrote it as so, wait? Did she cough on Rey'na's cheek? Thank the immortals it hadn't been her dress, or she'd have made a chandelier out of Val. her body jolted forward into a sort of bow, Fridgar took note of that too. Was it working? Seeing Val sway, Fridgar thought fast - catch val or save the book? Without hesitating, Fridgar lifted the book from the table. Val was made of crystal, she'd be fine... right? She crashed into the table at full throttle, knocking the items atop it to the floor, his ink too. 'Fuck, she's not gonna be alright, dude.' he thought before putting the book down and catching her weight, lowering her to the floor gently so that she didn't further injure herself.

Once she was lowered, she kinda stopped moving. Fridgar opened the book once more, dipping the quill in the ink on the floor and began to write down Val's symptoms... 'Paralyzed' 'Hey, Val! Can you hear me!?' He spoke, raising his voice louder than he probably needed to. 'Unresponsive' He marked down after a few trills. "Is it going to kill her? What do we do?" Fridgar asked, raising his eyes from the book to Rey'na. "Maybe give her the antidote? I've got a bad feeling about this..." Fridgar confessed, a look of worry building in his features.

[Rey'na]

Rey watched curiously as the poison was taking hold, ready to move in a moments notice. Alex seemed to get more and more tense, making Rey concerned. She hoped this worked, but she also partially hoped Alex could still move afterwards. Rey was clueless, and if the antidote didn't work as planned she would be in a difficult situation - to say the least. She tried to breathe, ignoring the potential risk. But a thought entered her head.
If this works well on Alex, she thought, she could sell it. Imagine, a poison that worked on a race normally immune. She would make a fortune. She had the recipe, and she knew what to do. Hell, she had her first target in mind with it - Denebah. If she ever saw him again, it wouldn't be something he'd expect. He left her, so if he had the nerve to come back...

Alex dropped to the floor, snapping Rey out of her thoughts. Rey ran to be beside Fridgar, looking panicked and worried. Fridgar knew as much as she did, why the hell was he asking her? She wanted to snap at him, but she knew better than to lose her cool in a situation like this. The fear was evident in her eyes, however. Did she stop it, or did she carry on? Was it even working like intended or was it doing something entirely different?
"Get the antidote" she ordered, seemingly to herself, before running and getting it. She came back over instantly and knelt beside the paralyzed woman. "Can you hear me, Alex?" she asked, waving her hand over the woman's eyes - no response. She quickly opened the container that the powder was in, before throwing it on Alex's face - the same way she had with the poison. Rey looked hopeful.

"Fridgar" Rey said, sharp. "Get her to the sofa, we need to get her somewhere comfortable. Check her for injuries from the fall. I'll work on another antidote, just in case this one doesn't work. Something new maybe" she said with panic, running over and looking at the ingredients in front of her - too scared to do anything. Instead, she just glanced over to see if Alex had recovered, praying.

[Vluharqih]

Someone or something caught her as she fell, something she would have been grateful for, had she been aware enough to notice. As it was, her senses were overwhelmed. She knew nothing beyond the burning inside of her, but like the tide, it ebbed and faded, so slowly that Alex thought it must have been her imagination. When at last she was free of pain, her vision returned, first with lights, shapes and colors coming into focus. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t even breathe. Had she been anything other than what she was, she would have suffocated long ago.

She watched, helpless, as Rey waved her hand over her eyes. A rushing sound that had filled her ears began to fade too, and Alex caught the end of her question. She tried to nod, to blink, to do something, anything, but nothing worked. It was as if she were a guest in this body, unable to control anything.

The powder stuck to Alex’s eyes and coated the inside of her nostrils. Alex watched as the world spun in her vision, watching herself get carried over to the couch as if from a distance.

What began as a blessed coolness spreading out from where the powder touched soon became cold, far too cold. It was sapping the heat from her, though she noticed that she could suddenly move those parts. Her eyes darted around the room frantically, unable to express her need. Her nose twitched like a bunny, only the smallest movement.

Over the next bits, more and more feeling returned. The top of her skin felt frozen, as if the antidote was stealing all her heat. She could move, though, and tried to get their attention. What had gone wrong? Why didn’t it work?

Understanding flooded her, and for the moment the cold receded from her mind. Of course- by it going into the asterism, it would have reached all her body almost instantaneously. But once she was paralyzed, Alex couldn’t move or breathe, so the antidote didn’t reach her asterism! It only helped the skin it touched.

Unable to even shiver, Alex wondered at how she would feel had the antidote worked. This freezing feeling would have been spread throughout her whole body- could she handle that?

[Varthakh]

After Rey'na had applied the antidote, she ordered him to put her on the bed. He complied, placing the book on the chair he'd previously sat on before squatting appropriately with a straight back at Val's side and lifting her from the floor. He carried her with care to the designated location and put her down gently. "Alright... What now? he asked, looking to Rey'na with concern. He checked her over for injuries with various pokes and prods, aside from being stiff - she appeared to be mostly well. With haste, he took up his assigned roll once more, sitting at Valyeria's side and observing closely.

It was kinda creepy actually, he face was frozen in place with a pained expression. To say that it unnerved him would have been an understatement. As he was about to doze off, her nose twitched a little. "Rey!!" he called out in disbelief, putting the quill back to the paper and taking notes. "Rey! I think it's working!" he clarified, taking note of the time between administration of the antidote and it's effects.

It seemed to halt with the nose though, without much else being effected however. He put the quill to the corner of his mouth in thought. Did they just have to coat her in the antidote? If that's the case, then why did the poison work with just the one aplication? "I think the antidote only works on the area it touches." he thought out loud for Rey to hear. "Maybe we should fill the bath with the antidote?" he was spitballing, clueless searching for the right answer. "Or maybe we could stick her with a needle?" he continued his external thinking, writing down his ideas. His voice was calm and methodical, despite Rey'na's probable panic.

[Rey'na]

Hearing that the antidote was working filled Rey with relief beyond words. If it hadn't, she might have been responsible for the death of Alex. Although she wasn't incredibly close to the woman, she knew her well enough to consider her an accomplice - if not a friend. Friend was a strong word though, Rey thought. Either way, Alex wasn't the woman that Rey wanted to murder just yet. Perhaps one day, but not now. Although, it would save her a job in the future, she pondered.
Snapping out of her thoughts, Rey took in what Fridgar was saying. If it only worked where it touched, how did she manage it. He suggested a bath, but Rey thought that wouldn't work. It would only touch the exterior of her body, and if anything interior had paralyzed then that could prove to be an issue. How did she spread it through Alex entirely? It was then she had an idea.

"Her heart" Rey just stated, before turning and grabbing her dagger from the table. She then made her way back over to the area where they had been working, with the intent of making a new antidote. How had Alex done it again? Iffloil petals? If it was done to a powder, Rey had no idea how to do it. But was it just concentrate? She pondered for a second. In her head she replayed what Alex had done, before getting to work.
After a few attempts, five Bits had passed - and Rey had finally done it. She had a powder at least, and it looked somewhat similar to what she had seen from Alex, so she only assumed it would work. Assumed and prayed. She then came over to where Alex was placed and where Fridgar was waiting. She brought her dagger and the powder with her, before placing the dagger out straight in front of her and sprinkling the powder over it, then smoothing it over with her hand. She hoped that had no nasty side effects.

Without any hesitation, she drove the dagger as straight as she could in to the side of Alex - close enough to the heart without being too risky. Powder sprinkled over the sofa, making Rey sigh. She assumed Yludih had a heart, at least. If she was wrong, Alex had near to all rights to stab Rey in the side when she woke, not that Rey would tell her that. Rey continued to watch, patiently watching and waiting to see what effect it had on Alex.
"Stay with me, Alex. Keep trying to move no matter what" she said comfortingly, a tone that was unusual for her. She then turned her gaze to Fridgar as her hand slid in to Alex's, trying to comfort as much as she could. "Keep notes of what happens, and if anything goes wrong we need to take her to a real healer - be ready to transform."

[Vluharqih]

She watched Frid, his voice jolting her- she hadn't expected the shout. Had she been able to move, she might have jumped, but her body was still frozen solid.

Yes she chanted silently, when somehow, Fridgar figured out how it worked. She hadn't expected that from the man who had fallen asleep so many times while making the poison.

She couldn't move her eyes or head to see what Rey'na was doing, but she prayed that the woman could figure out how to make the antidote. Bits passed, and the cold feeling began to fade- it must absorb incredible amounts of heat or energy in order to break down the poison, she realized. The talk of a "dagger" made her a bit nervous, but there wasn't any other option. She needed to move, to be able to react and do something.

The jab in her side flared like fire, and her nostrils flared- the only part that she could actually move. Almost immediately, she felt the difference. Tingles ran down her body, crashing through her like a wave and her vision narrowed to small pinpricks.

She screamed suddenly, able to make noise and move once more, when the cold hit her. It was unlike anything she had ever experienced, worse than standing outside, naked, in Cylus. She had almost died of cold before, but this... this was far worse. The excruciating pain that burned her body paralyzed her as efficiently as the poison itself had, and tears leaked from the corners of her eyes as she grit her teeth together against the pain.

After what seemed like arcs, the cold was washed away and her vision returned. She felt a hand, clasped firmly in her own, and she blearily looked down in surprise.

"I-I think I'm okay now," she said, struggling to sit upright. The words were hoarse and rough, her throat raw from screaming.

She rubbed a weary hand across her forehead, wiping away the traces of sweat that still clung to her hair. Apparently despite how she had felt, her skin had gone warm, and she had been sweating. "I would say that worked, no?" Alex said, coughing slightly. She glanced around, finding the glass of water and downing it all.

Standing, Alex stretched, wincing as spasmed muscles twinged in protest. "Hey, Fridgar, I don't suppose you happened to keep track of everything that happened? I wouldn't mind getting some accurate notes for all that." She stumbled over to where the last of the Claytona was, tearing off several leaves and smearing them across the wound that was still leaking blood across the room. Quickly, she wrapped a length of cloth around her body, binding the wound tightly.

Carefully, as most things seemed to ache on her body, she gathered up her supplies and the remaining poisons, gently placing them in her bag and extricating herself from any attempts to get her to slow down.

When she was at the door, she turned back to face them once more. "Frid... I don't suppose that you feel like getting back at Warren, do you?"

[Varthakh]

"Wait, is stabbing her a good idea?" Fridgar asked, apparently thinking very carefully about the situation. To have spent so much time with a book and quill made him feel smart for once. Unfortunately, Rey went ahead and stabbed the crystal girl anyway. "Understood." Fridgar stirred his ether a little while taking notes, writing in the effects of the cure; Nothing yet.

Fortunately, his Results notes soon needed updating with the change of her body temperature, she warmed up to a point. Was it working? Tears ran down the side of her face as the antidote did its thing, he wrote it down as 'probably hurts'. Finally, she moved and Fridgar recorded the time it had taken for the antidote to do its thing. Fridgar smirked "No, we might need to do another test." the lothar joked, he'd gotten pretty much all of the notes he could about administration and the effects of the poison, but the notes on making the poison had all but vanished from existence in the hearth.

Fridgar cleared his throat, suddenly very dry. His head throbbed with all thinking he'd been doing, by the immortals did his brain hurt. He resisted screaming, but was in desperate need to punch something instead. He needed to exert force of some kind, either by lung or by strength. His ether settled, no longer needing to unleash into a horse as Val seemed able to tend to her own wounds. The Lothar groaned, clearly done with being the smart guy for the day. "Yeah, I got the notes on what happened, but accidentally spilled ink on the making notes." accidentally. The Lothar sighed, standing up and handing Rey'na the book. With a heavy head, he approached the wall and rest his head against it while his brain tried to crawl out of his skull. He groaned.

Thankfully, the opportunity to exert himself had presented itself - Warren. His teeth grit together and he bashed his head on the wall semi-gently. "Damn right I do." he snarled, peeling himself from the wall. His eyes aglow with ferocity, he looked to Rey. "What do you say? Do you mind me going to get some payback?" he asked with a cocky smile. It was only fair he asked her permission, she'd nursed him back to health after the first time. He was fortunately a lot stronger since then, his knuckles wrapped in bandages from the intensity of his training and all. He felt ready to bust a head.