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Silver blinked in confusion at the shifting form in front of him, shaking his head.. What? It was....He couldn't tell who it was....female....and his heart was beating faster as emotions ran through him...was this? He looked over at the last point he'd seen Sati, then back at the woman with a confused look on his face....did not compute!

A moment of hope -- a glimmer of something. The finman was growing frustrated at Caoimhe's refusal to change her shape. He wanted to watch her flop about in front of him; he wanted these friends of her to see her weakened. So he decided to help her. To do so... would impair all the other Finfolk. Their magic was a shared one; if one were to do a larger spell, the others would find themselves devoid of power for a time.

But Finfolk were selfish.

Without warning, he shot his hand out, choking the air out of Caoimhe. She sputtered, eyes flying open, head spinning -- she was dying! He was killing her! She had to -- pop!

And then it happened.

Caoimhe's sarong and bikini fell in a neat pile on the floor. Her jewelry fell to the ground in a series of metal clinks and clanks. And then, with her skin suddenly viscous, she slipped from the Finman's grasp and flopped to the floor -- as a seal. Opening her mouth to scream, all that came out was a series of barks. The finman laughed, and Caoimhe struggled to get away from him, flippers slapping against the smooth marble. Without warning, she slid forward, unable to catch herself.

With a splash of water, she found herself in the pool. It was more comfortable, but still not perfect. She needed the waves. She needed... a deerkitten? At the bottom of the pool, Caoimhe spotted something black and familiar. The only voice in her head yelled for her to run to the waves, but the selkie struggled to grasp her (mostly) rational mind. This was Dustin. This was one of her best friends. Darting forward, she clamped sharp teeth into his arm and pulled, tugging until she was certain she might tear his arm off. It was enough to get him to the steps -- and she barked in his face, trying desperately to form sentences.

All the Fa'e (and the Dude) would suddenly find that the perfect disguises of those who tormented them disappeared, slipping away to reveal the slick skin and barnacled features of the finfolk.

The two who followed Addie stopped for a moment to laugh at the seal, and then, feeling confident that they could defeat a toddler, they decided to follow her wherever she was going. They could always drown her if she tried anything.

"Arf! Arf!" Caoimhe barked, rustling around the low steps leading out of the pool. Of all the insane things... she was now a seal. But this wasn't over! Seal or not... she had to get out of there. They all did. They needed to fight back.

Just posting to let everyone know that the RP is nearly over! Caoimhe has one last transformation to undergo, and many of you have a score to settle with some mind-altering Finfolk. I'll be more loose with the rolling system at this point! So... go ahead!

((Okay, rollin'))

And suddenly - suddenly - everything became clear, the past was once more replaced by the present, and...

What the hell was that thing ?!?

He stared, still confused for the shortest moment, fingers unconciously going for his lips and picking at some leftover salt.

Oh gods no.

The blonde looked like the only thing that kept him from becoming violently ill was the fact that robots, even living machine, had no need for gag reflex.

He charged, throwing his weight - the whole lot of it, without his usual care - around, breaking free from the woman, hopefully knocking her down or slamming her into some wall. He did not care which. He kicked at his motionless orbs out of reflex - calling them back on orbit did not work, but they would serve to have the things trip on them. Hopefully.

He was not aware of the finfolk's love of shinies.

Caoihme. Where was she ?!? He scanned over the room, and did not see the gray-skinned girl. This was bad, this was very bad, this was...

He finally saw the black-furred form just barely peeking out from the pool.

"...DUSTIN !!!"

With his protective instincts flared once more, he charged - slowly, but with the strength of a brick wall to whatever barnacled folk did not get out of this way quickly enough.

There had never been a time in Dusty's life that he'd allowed himself to be completely submerged under the water. Wait -- no, there was once. At a time when he'd been so detached from himself he couldn't make up his own mind if someone offered him a choice between a nickel and a grand. That experience had been creepy, but it hadn't been so full of terror as it was now.

The only thing that Dusty could think was that the Lady had managed to get him in the end. He sunk straight to the bottom of the pool, and that was the end. He couldn't see his hand in front of him, thanks to the fog above the surface cutting off all the light. He could thrash all he wanted, but he wasn't making any progress upwards toward the surface. His mouth was bitter, full of water and chlorine; if it weren't for the fact that there was cement under him, he'd have no way to tell which way was which.

Like he'd thought. Game over. Nameless to the waters, or whatever. It was too bad, he thought distantly, while his lungs seized and choked and the rest of him just sort of sunk flat on the bottom. He'd had so much ahead of him still. And oddly, he found, he had a lot of regrets behind him as well. Seemed like they shouldn't matter like they did, but of course, his opinion didn't count for so much at this point. Too bad....

In retrospect, the pain was sort of nice, compared to the resignation.

Something bit his arm - hard. Tugging him. Sort of dragging him, really, since he wasn't exactly helpful in the buoyancy department. There wasn't much light to see by, and his own eyes were a bit hazy, but he thought he saw something brown and whiskered - a lake otter? It was trying to pull him, leading....

His hoof hit something. Stairs. Upwards. Air.

Dusty didn't make it far up them. Just enough to get his torso out of the water, and then he was coughing, choking and wheezing, and not doing much else. Everything felt so damn heavy, he didn't think he could get the rest of the way out of the pool if his life depended on it. There was something barking, running around near him. Somebody shouted his name... where had his knife gotten to, he suddenly wondered? Must be on the bottom of the pool somewhere. That was fine. He wasn't going back for it. He was just going to rest up here a bit, spit out some more water, maybe take a nap, if that was all right with everyone else....

But things did not always go as planned. He could not feel that the floor was wet. And he certainly was not taking the time to look.

He slid, one of his shoe comically flew away, and the force of the impact - flat on his face, but perhaps more importantly, his chest and the star core - was enough to send him trailing straight into the pool, where he happily sank like a very heavy rock, unable to move or no much with how his vision blacked back and forth, and how the world was swirling around him - much like if he's gotten a good smack on the head.

He sunk to the bottom, and stayed there for a moment, motionless, though he showed no sign of drowning.

((Actually not rolling, because uh...Mik cannot swim and is not going to miraculously realize how. XD))

Oh no. In actuality, Mik did sink; while he wasn't made of metal like his blonde friend, he had no idea how to swim. Add that he was absolutely terrified of water, and all he could manage was a completely useless thrashing. It was not enough to keep him above the surface of the pool's deep end, and the panicking angel soon sucked in water and quickly sank.