Well Great, What Do We Do Now? (A.S, NES, SWL, Col)

[ThePopcornFairy]

"Heya, Swift!" Eric chimed with a mouthful of chips, waving to her as she entered the scene. "Looks like you got a soaker, huh?"

"Yeah, are you alright...?" Natalie worriedly murmured, concerned about Swift's fatigue as much as she was about her physical state. "What happened to you down there?"

She was easily taken aback when she heard a voice, soft but still easily detectable, respond to Swift when she held the potion up to her open palm. Confused, Natalie inched closer, straining to take a peak at what she was doing. Was there... someone in her hand? If there was, Natalie certainly couldn't see it. At least not from this angle. "Did you... bring someone with you?"

[DanteMGalileo]

Okay, first a diamond woman and Nat. And now came Swift, holding something in her hand, which Arti guessed to be a small creature. Well, none of these new arrivals were exactly normal, but Arti thought one thing. Still makes more sense than the Black King or the stranger that somehow looked like a scruffier version of me with a tail!

"No offence, but you two kinda smell like swamp. And believe me, I know what swamp smells like. Who's the munchkin?" Arti stuffed a dip-covered chip into his mouth. "Also, is this everyone? Because I need to coax Mister Slime out of hiding... Do you have any towels you don't mind losing?"

Not that he cared, if the trajectory he was making was any indicator.

[ParamountKeymaster]

"For that matter, what's with the potion?" Elsa questioned, folding her arms behind her head. "Since when do you willingly ingest anything Rainflower makes, Swift?"

"Pfft. If you shmucks had been here that week..." Carter mumbled to himself, not that anyone else could hear him.

Elsa raised an eyebrow, eyes flicking between Swift and Arti. The tiny voice emanating from the former's hand was one thing, but that oddness had already been called into question. What caught her attention was Arti's remarks about slime and towels. Just what kind of "sticky situation" was Evan in anyway?

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"Yeah, it's kind of a long story," Swift grumbled, chugging down the potion once Ranuen had his fill. While the cure seemed to worsen her drowsiness ever so slightly, she at least remained conscious, much to her relief. Cleared her stuffy nose up pretty quickly, on the bright side. "In regards to the potion, it's basically a cure to a magical disease that Evan contracted a while ago in a part of the rainforest that I happened to stumble into, but that's a whole 'nother long story that I don't feel like getting into right now..."

Once that was out of the way, she set the empty bottle and her guest down on the coffee table. "More to the point, this is Ranuen. Met him while I was hunting wyrms in the rainforest, helped me out with an impromptu side quest." One by one, Swift pointed to her friends. "Ranuen, this is Nat, she's my best friend and the guardian of the heart of our home universe; Elsa, an alien princess made of diamonds; Eric, Nat's cloudcuckoolander teammate with the power to not make sense; Arti, the Knight of Light with largely similar capabilities; and Carter, my boyfriend's super intelligent dog."

Now that introductions had been made, Swift paused to stretch, then asked the obvious question. "So where's Evan?"

Before she could receive an answer, the sound of a knock on glass drew Swift's attention to the window. On the other side, she saw Ace hovering in the open air, her face full of concern, Patrick asleep in her arms with a muzzle over his face.

"Oh crappity." Swift quickly dashed over and opened the window. "Ace, what happened??"

"I don't know if I should let him inside..." Ace nervously responded. "He got infected by the red dust. He's been hacking it up ever since."

"Frig..."

[ColArana]

Ranuen heard Swift explain that this was an elixer against disease. Good enough for him, he'd already taken his share, and though he certainly felt drowsy, he had not taken QUITE as high a concentration as Swift probably just had. Now Swift revealed him to the group as she put him on the coffee table. Standing about the height of the average insect, on closer inspection, Ranuen was still clearly human in appearance as he looked up at the group. "P-pleasure to meet all of you." He greeted them all quickly, making some mental notes about the company. Guardian, Princess a Knight... well that was new, and Ranuen felt in distinguished company, given he himself was only ever a wandering sellsword.

Swift's attention was pulled to the window, along with Ranuen's. More people there!? He didn't really know who they were, although he heard Swift call one of them "Ace". The one she named mentioned that someone had gotten infected by the red dust. Ranuen frowned. "That.... That could be pretty bad..." He mused quietly, remembering the theory that they might be spores for the life forms. "....Frick, he won't get help out there though." He called out to Swift.

[ThePopcornFairy]

"Ooooooooooh...!" Eric leaned in, hands clamped to the coffee table as he stared down at Ranuen from a mere five inches away. "Dude, you small! Like, smaller than Matt Damon small! You like Honey, I Shrunk the Kids small!"

"Eric, for Pete's sake, don't crowd the guy," Natalie warily insisted, waving the excitable young man away. She then shot Ranuen a nervous grin. "Sorry. Please don't be offended. He has no filter between his brain and his mouth."

"According to Alex, I don't really have much of a brain either," Eric blankly responded.

"Anyway... nice to meet you too. Sorry to get you all mixed up in our crazy business."

Natalie looked up when someone outside knocked on the window. While Swift answered for them, Natalie took a moment to study these last few arrivals. The girl in the tight outfit and Nostalgia Critic-style hat was a new one to her, but based on the black angel wings and the fact that she was carrying an unconscious Patrick –a sight that itself elicited a preemptive gulp– she guessed that this was Ace, Patrick's new girlfriend that Evan and Swift had told her about. Swift quickly confirmed this, though Ace's follow-up concerns about Patrick easily trumped their first meeting on the list of things to worry about.

"I-Infected...?" Natalie couldn't honestly say that she had learned much about the wyrms in the past few hours. Her chosen scouting location had been filled with very few of the creatures and absolutely no cocoons, so she did not yet know what breaking one open would release. However, the term "red dust" instantly made her picture the red cloud that the wyrms had spawned from, and that gave her a good enough idea of what Ace was implying. "W-Well, if he's coughing up something contagious, no offense, but I'd say it's better not to bring him in here and risk it, muzzle or no muzzle."

Come to think of it, why did this muzzle's design look so familiar? It seemed like an odd detail to focus on, but Natalie still couldn't help but question it.

[DanteMGalileo]

"Yo! Evan! Open up! I think everyone's here!"

Bang bang bang. Well that was a nice and loud three knocks on the door. Arti repeated this action with more force. "Time to get out of your room and be social, mister! Unless you're trying to be the next Salinger!"

BANG BANG BANG. "Swift, Nat, a diamond lady, and somebody really tiny are here! And a black-winged angel carrying some dude just got here! Also, I heard something about a cure! Maybe it'll make you less blue!"

[ParamountKeymaster]

"You're real funny, Arti, I hope you realize that," Evan grumbled on the other side.

"C'mon, Evan," Elsa called as she stood up and circled around the couch, making at least some effort to be gentle in her tone. "From what I hear, it was you, Swift, Nat, Patrick and Ace out and about today. Well, they're all here plus a few, and it's pretty friggin' obvious we got a lot to talk about."

A long, awkward silence filled the apartment. One could almost feel Evan's apprehension seeping beneath the bedroom door. Then, reluctantly and with a sigh of defeat, Evan replied, "Yeah. Definitely a lot to talk about. Guess it's only appropriate that I go first. Just... promise me you guys won't freak out?"

"Evan, there are snake monsters falling from the sky and eating everything in sight. Our collective disbelief is so suspended that it's pulled a hammy."

"Point taken. Arti, back up before you get smacked up."

Not waiting to hear if Arti was out of the way, Evan hastily threw the door open, desperately wanting to get this over with. Then he marched out of the room and down the hall, stopping at the edge of the living room. From there, he closed his eyes, stood up straight and spread out his arms, displaying his gelatinous blue form for all to see.

As she stared at the slime man standing before her, Elsa remained quiet for some time, eyes wide and finger raised as if she wanted to say something but just couldn't think of anything. Eventually she settled on mumbling, "Okay. That's... kinda worth freaking out about, if I'm being honest."

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"Y-Yeah, I... gotta agree with... her... You must be Nat, right?" Ace awkwardly noted before casting Patrick a nervous frown. "I don't know how he got infected, but as long as he's coughing up dust, I don't wanna risk exposing any of you to it."

Swift let out a long, frustrated sigh, trying her best to process everything that was going on. Patrick's infection by the spores, Eric predictably fawning over Ranuen, Arti trying to get Evan out of his room... as if she didn't have enough to worry about before she walked in. She badly needed some explanations, and she just as badly needed to explain herself.

Well, they had to start somewhere, and it looked like Evan was going to take the helm there. Warily, Swift stepped away from the window and started down the hall in anticipation. Freak out about what? What was Evan so concerned about that he needed to hide it in his ro-

"...THE HELL...?!"

Ace simply craned her neck to look inside, regarding what she saw with a slacked jaw of utter bafflement. Swift, however... of course Swift's reaction was loud and strong. Anyone who knew her likely anticipated it. After all, why wouldn't she be startled to see a walking, sentient mass of blue slime with the shape and voice of her boyfriend approaching her?

"E... EVAN??" For a moment, Swift was reeled back, ears flat and body tense as she took in the bizarre sight, not to mention smell. Then she cautiously leaned forward again, beginning an awkward stumble closer to the blue blob. "What is...?? How...?? Y-You... What...?? What happened to you?!"

[ColArana]

As Natalie had likely predicted, Eric's.... overenthusiastic greeting put Ranuen on edge. While Eric probably didn't mean any harm (a fact Ranuen tried to remind himself of, given that he was a friend of Swift's), he certainly had the opening demeanor of the people who might have tried to turn Ranuen into some manner of pet in the past. "I... er.... Come on! I'm not THAT small!" He protested in response to Eric's statement, although truth be told, the statement wasn't exactly inaccurate. Just a sensitive spot for Ranuen. He was therefore somewhat grateful when Natalie managed to deflect the boy away or at least give Ranuen some space. "Thanks... although no need to apologize for the situation. As I told Swift on the way here, I live for stuff like this. Keeps life interesting, and keeps me progressing." He replied eagerly.

However, in answer to Natalie's concerns, Ranuen made a quick counterpoint. "If it's the red dust, there's no need to worry for... well, yourselves at least. You all might have trouble noticing any individual specks he might cough up or exude or anything, but this is one of those rare times my size is an advantage. I should be able to see if he's radiating them or anything, too small for the rest of you to see." He suggested. "Besides, he sounds like he's a friend of yours, so there's no way we can just lock him out."

He dimly picked up Arti banging on Evan's door, but didn't think much of it for the moment, until the attention was directed toward the door from the rest of the room, prompting Ranuen to follow suit. Truth be told, Ranuen wasn't horrified or shocked to see the walking blue slime come out the door. Little more than a quiet "huh" in response. But to be fair, that was probably because he hadn't known Evan prior. He could quickly gather by everyone else's reaction that this was probably a big deal and the guy coming out of his room, probably had been significantly less gelatinous at an earlier date.

[ThePopcornFairy]

"Cool, ain't it?" Eric mused as he stood up and took in everyone's shocked reactions to Evan's new form. "Super fluid, easily alterable shape, and with five other slime types to boot! Chuck Russell ain't got nothin' on Evan! Props to anyone who gets that reference. More so if you don't Wiki it first. Remember, God is watching."

In sharp contrast to Eric's enthusiasm, Natalie was dead silent, eyes wide and mouth slightly hanging open in sheer confusion and the slightest bit of disgust. She couldn't even work up a response to Ranuen's suggestion, having been hit so hard with the bizarre image of what was essentially a blue, Evan-shaped slime mold, the likes of which she could honestly say she had never seen before. While her friends gathered around him, Natalie eventually had to avert her gaze from the strange and... frankly unsettling sight, shaking her head and letting out a few sharp puffs of air as if in some vain effort to wake herself up.

Sheesh... Between the spontaneous trans-dimensional trip, the wyrms, the catboy, Patrick's infection, the tiny man on the table, and Evan turning into slime, the multiverse seriously needed to slow the heck down on all the weird crap it was prepared to throw at her.

[DanteMGalileo]

"Yeah. I guess that's what most people would call a normal reaction."

Arti sweatdropped, noting the rest of the group's reaction to the slime-Evan. "I take it that doesn't fix Mister Slime here. Not gonna lie, I was thrown off-guard too... And I suspect this might be permanent." He shrugged. "So, uh... Why are we bringing an infected dude in here? First rule when it comes to dealing with infectious shit, people."

[ParamountKeymaster]

Evan lowered his arms and cast a forlorn look at Elsa, then Nat, then Swift. Of course they would freak out. He couldn't blame them. He could certainly sympathize. Didn't stop him from feeling awkward about having all eyes on him.

He spared a quick glance at Ace in the window, particularly unnerved by Patrick's unconscious form in her arms, coughing in his sleep. He had heard something about him being infected, naturally leaving him concerned about his best bro's wellbeing... but he opted to push that aside for now. There was undoubtedly a lot that needed explained. It was best to do so in a controlled, precise order, and he had volunteered to go first, after all.

With a heavy sigh, Evan pulled some of the newspapers still scattered about into a neat pile on the floor and sat down on them, resting his arms on his knees. From there, he began his story. "Okay, so... I was out in the woods. I had just come back from my desert inspection. I saw... something falling from the sky. My guess is it was some sort of ship; a vessel for –or at least capable of– transporting cargo. I saw it coming right at me, blacked out for a moment, then woke up like this... except... orange, but I'll get to that. Arti showed up in response to the memo I sent out. Eric was... just kinda there."

"In typical fashion," Elsa mumbled, shooting the aforementioned oddball a smirk.

"Right... After they found me like this, we started inspecting the wrecked ship. Eric found a case full of these gemstones that change my color and alter my chemical state. Like I said, I was initially orange; I was also highly acidic in that form. Now that blue, I'm basic and... very fluid. I-It's actually taking a lot of strain to even maintain this shape." As if to emphasize this, Evan lifted his arms slightly, revealing the folded, jellified appendages to be fused to each other and to his knees.

"The bottom line of all of this is... I don't know where that ship came from, what was in it that could've done this to me, or how I can be changed back... if I can be changed back. All I know is that when we were confronted by wyrms, they actively avoided me... and when I was acidic, I could absorb and dissolve them in a matter of seconds."

"Wait..." Elsa raised a finger. "So whatever turned you into goo came from a ship that fell outta the sky."

"Yeah...?"

Eyes narrowed, clearly two steps ahead already, Elsa turned to cast a knowing look at Natalie, urging her to proceed.

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"W- I d- I-I'm not bringing him in," Ace fumblingly insisted, struggling to make her stance clear despite her apparent shock at Evan's appearance. "I hate to isolate him like this, not that he's really in any position to protest, but I'm not letting you guys get near this stuff he's hacking up beneath that mask. I'm not letting what happened to him happen to any of you."

The pain was evident in her eyes and her voice. The fear of losing her friends the same way she had lost Patrick to this sickness...

Swift, meanwhile, sat down on the floor next to Evan, doing her best to ignore the moldy smell that the slime produced but completely unable to stop staring at it. It still looked like Evan in terms of shape and proportion. Definitely still sounded like Evan. She could even detect the slightest traces of his natural scent beneath the musty odor. But this blob... this strange, sentient blue gunk... she knew that it was Evan, yet her brain couldn't process what exactly Evan was.

"Good God..." Once Evan had disclosed all that he knew about his present state and how he had acquired it, Swift warily inched closer to him and slowly raised a finger. He clearly sounded put off by his blob-like physiology, justifiably so, but when he mentioned his current pH balance, curiosity struck, much to Swift's irritation and distress. "Evan, I'm... I'm so sorry. I'm... sorry that this happened to you and... I'm... I'm sorry that- I can't- I just- I have to know. I have to do this."

She quickly stuck a finger in Evan's shoulder, hastily removing it not a second later. "GAH! EW!" As she proceeded to wipe the dampness off on her vest, Swift firmly stated, "Yeah, no, I refuse to believe this is a permanent change! N-No offense, Evan. I mean come on, you've undergone some weird transformations before, and if you can bounce back from those, why should you be subjected to a lifetime spent as color-changing Gack?!"

[ColArana]

Ranuen was staying pretty quiet as everyone clustered around Evan. This wasn't his place to interject, since he wasn't aware of the scope of the change, but... he did suppose being turned into a slime man probably sucked. A lot. Even with the perks of the condition against the worms, he'd have to admit that was pretty bad. But any apology or sympathy he could give would probably ring hollow, so he kept his trap shut. Mostly. "Come on. In a place like this? No way this is permanent. There's probably a fix somewhere out there." He insisted. As Eric continued, Ranuen listened intensely.

"Well then we gotta find whoever made the ship." And avoid a District 9 ending. But Swift's comments reminded Ranuen of something and he glanced at Swift, remembering that Evan wasn't the only one undergoing certain changes. "Hey.... Umm... Swift?" He suggested. "While we're on this subject..." He began thinking about the tattoos and stone powers Swift had developed. Of course he wasn't going to bluntly say anything outright in case Swift herself didn't want to draw attention to it.

The Ace situation outside the window was troublesome, but Ranuen was going to accept the call on that....