Aftermath Part 2 With lauronica_mars

[countess_karnstein]

With everything that had happened that evening; the discovery of Laura’s small heart now appearing to grow in size, her super ability to heal, Carmilla’s strength becoming so out of control she not only broke a door frame and kitchen counter but her loves wrist, LaF having an eye regrow on its socket which happened to activate the cybernetic implant they were working on...

It was a lot to take in and Perry concluded they were no further into discovering what was going on than when they first started. A bit of a mood killer but it didn’t stop the gang from hauling up downstairs and taking it in turns to research any book they could find which might help understand Laura’s condition. They would work all through the night if need be. LaF was that determined. It also meant someone to be on watch in case anything else happened to Laura.

Carmilla on the other hand, was determined to distract Laura and herself from thinking about what was going on and possibly blank out the memory of her friends seeing her naked. Of course the distraction came easy while Laura was wearing her clothes. With all that leather Carm could barely keep her hands of her.

The following morning all books were off the bed. Clothes were tossed either side and black thread was hanging from the headboard. Carmilla was curled up behind Laura, her arm across her stomach and head resting softly next to hers. Laura had one hand on top of Carms and the other on the pillow, sheets ruffled and pulled up around them.

It would have been perfect had it not been for the tranquiliser dart sticking out of Carm’s arm, a heart rate monitor on the end of Laura’s finger and several pads stuck to her face and chest. LaF had hooked the readings up to the laptop and was trying to monitor Laura’s heart and symptoms. The best way to do this is when Laura was asleep so they could get accurate readings but that meant sneaking and making sure Carmilla didn’t wake up. Best way to do that? Tranquiliser darts. For some reason Callis had a handy supply. No one seemed to question where she got them.

With Laura left monitoring overnight eventually the gang downstairs had all passed out. Perry asleep on LaF who had a laptop stuck wide open on the monitor screen, head hanging down. Callis by herself on the couch, book resting on her chest. And finally Kirch who was surrounded by empty packets of food and the odd thin book.

Carmilla groaned and lifted her hand up to nurse her head. She felt like she had been hit by a train or on the worst hangover of her life. She hadn’t felt it this much since the break-up with Laura where Mattie took her out for the night. She rolled back, away from Laura and collapsed onto the pillow. Curled black hair falling around her face. “What the…” Carm mumbled, eyes becoming wide as she noticed the dark in her arm.

“Laura…”, She shook her back, trying to wake her. “Laura, wake up.”

Comments

[countess_karnstein]

Carmilla clearly didn’t like Danny being in the room. She tolerated her presence for the sake of Laura but aside from that Carm had no intention of being nice to her. The fact she was a vampire now only served to irritate further. In Carmilla’s eyes Danny was still young and still had so much to learn. Perhaps there was also a part of her that hated the fact her mother had taken Danny in. Carmilla knew it was a cheap shot on her mother’s part to annoy her. It worked but Carm never showed it.

While Carmilla perched and started brooding, Perry went to sit next to her. For some bizarre reason Perry felt hatred towards Danny. It was an odd sensation considering Danny had done nothing to intentionally hurt her. Perry couldn’t shake the that feeling and in letting that hate in she let her fangs slip down.

“Look at me.” Carm picked up on Perry not acting like herself and tilted her face to look up at her. “Deep breath, Perry. Just breathe.” Perry responded with a few deep breathes, closing her eyes and trying not to freak out at the thought of her having fangs. Being a vampire would be one of her worst nightmares although LaF had pointed out an eternity to clean wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

“Can’t we do LaF’s idea and try the scroll again?” Perry spoke with her eyes closed, still trying to slow her breathing. The fangs had gone but Carm was happy to let her focus. “Maybe we’ll switch bodies again and I can go back to being human. No offense Carmilla.”

“None taken. This body isn’t exactly doing things for me either.”

Callis was getting annoyed by this point. She looked up at LaF and Laura who had clearly body swapped as even their posture had changed and let out a sigh. “Can I have a moment alone with Laura please?”

[lauronica_mars]

Laura nodded. "I suppose that's fair, Callis. LaF, Perry, Carm, do you think you could make something of the scroll? And Danny, could you look after Kirsch for me please?"

By now Danny was entirely convinced that Laura was Laura and not LaF, and Kirsch's antics had convinced her that she was Kirsch rather than Callis. There was a little glee with the way she lead Kirsh away, promising to show him a few things.

"And fine, Callis." Laura's voice was flat. "Could the rest of you give us some space please?"

[countess_karnstein]

Nobody wanted to know what Danny was going to do with a Krisch trapped in a woman’s body. Instead everyone waited for when she took him out the room and exited in the opposite direction of the house. Perry whispered in LaF’s ear “Should we even be trusting her now she’s, you know. Maybe one of us should keep watch.”

“Are you volunteering?” LaF smiled, knowing full well that Perry wasn’t but it was worth it just to watch her shudder. “You can take her, you’re a vampire now.” And now they tried not to laugh as Perry looked crossed between furious and sick to her stomach.

Carmilla followed them out the room finding it increasingly weird to be walking behind herself and Laura. Even though it wasn’t Laura. This body swap situation was starting to get on her nerves.

The three of them headed upstairs to the master bedroom. As soon as Carm entered she started picking up the books, one by one from the floor and placing them back on the shelves. She didn’t know she was tidying until LaF coughed. “What?” She snapped, still struggling to look at LaF and Perry trapped in the bodies of her and her girlfriend. “This would go faster if you two stopped standing there and helped.”

LaF and Perry just stared like they had seen a miracle for the first time. “She’s cleaning. You see this right?”

“Finally!” Perry beamed like a proud mother.

It just served to annoy Carmilla further but she couldn’t stop cleaning even if she wanted to.

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Callis had stopped struggling at the ropes and stayed calm in the chair. She waited for everyone to leave and looked up at Laura. “I’m sorry I shot your girlfriend. I was trying to help you but I should have asked.”

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While Carmilla was on a cleaning rampage Perry and LaF were studying the scroll and crosschecking a few books to find out any information they can. Obviously they were careful to put the books where they found them. “Think I’ve got this!” LaF beamed, excited for the spell but not reading the fine print that came after. “It says here we should be able to switch before the time is up all we have to do is read from the scroll like this…” LaF read out the incantation and in doing so a wave of green light washed over them.

Everyone had switched.

LaF, who initially read out the spell found themselves in the body of Perry who was putting books away.

Laura had switched and was now standing in the body of Carmilla who had her finger pointed at the warning section under the spell just read aloud.

Perry found herself tied to a chair in the living room knowing full well she was in the body of Kirsch.

Callis, just as she was waiting for Laura to say something blinked and was in the bathroom. The reflection in the mirror was Danny’s face.

“Bro, what just happened? I was on the toilet.” Kirsch paused when he heard the voice of LaF as he spoke.

Danny was now behind sitting on the toilet, confused over what just happened and why they were peeing.

Carmilla stood in the living room with her arms folded. “Oh no..” When it kicked in who she had swapped with she begged that Laura hadn’t ended up in her body. That’s exactly what Mattie would have wanted.

She ran into the bedroom, taking the book from the hands from whoever was in her body and read what LaF had failed to check “ Warning, qualities and traits will be magnified. Great, just great.”

[lauronica_mars]

"As long as you won't do it again." Laura smiled as she hugged Callis. "But if you want to protect me talk to me about it first. Rather than treating me like a child and hurting Carmilla." A genuine apology was what Laura needed. "And as long as you never try anything like this...." She was cut off as the world briefly went black.

Laura looked down. "And now I'm Carmilla." And now she was utterly exasperated and wanted to hit someone. "Who read that scroll again? And who's now tied to the chair?" Right now Laura just wanted to bite someone - preferably either Callis or Mattie. "And does anyone have any better ideas than to keep reading that scroll over and over again until it either returns us or burns itself out?" Was Carmilla this cranky all the time?

[countess_karnstein]

LaF who was now in the body of Perry, flintched when Laura spoke. It wasn’t like her to get that cranky but then it wasn’t like Lafontaine to wince. There was a brief moment of realising exactly whose body they had landed in and they sighed.

“Alright so it was my best idea but I had to do something.” Spoken while still putting books away and tiding. The traits of one another clearing taking a stronger effect.

“Laura, you need to calm down.”, Carmilla dropped the book and took her by the hands. It was possibly one of the weirdest things to experience but she felt oddly positive everything was going to be okay. “We’ll figure this out, we always do.”

Kirsch picked the book back up and started looking for the page they were last on. If anyone was watching, the simple fact he picked up a book was out of character, let alone trying to read. “Uh..it totally says on the next page that the more..like..times we switch the worse it will get. Guess we should stick to this till the full moon or whatever, right?”

LaF stopped tidying just to stare. “I don’t know what’s worse. The fact I know Kirsch is in my body just from how you talk, or the fact you read from a book instead of trying to find a fridge.”

Carmilla ignored them both and tried to keep Laura’s attention focused on her. If this is what Mattie wanted all along there had to be more to it than this. She wanted Laura to feel blood lust. To feel what it was like to love a monster. Carmilla wouldn’t allow Mattie to win. Not this time. She gave Laura’s hands a squeeze. “You’re just hungry but you’ve got this, I know you have.”

[lauronica_mars]

Laura rolled her eyes. "I don't need protecting, Carm. I'm just hungry and cranky right now. I can deal with it. But now I know why you're so cranky all the time. As well as being a big black cat."

She smiled. "So how do you change into a cat? And how do you teleport? What do I have to do to do both those?" Which would, of course, be a distraction for Laura.

"And we should untie whoever's sitting on the chair. Even if that's the most peaceful place to be, Perry?"

"I'm still tied to a chair. And still a guy. Could you undo this please?" It was definitely Perry having the problem there, and Laura moved to do as promised.

[countess_karnstein]

Carmilla wrinkled her nose when she said she didn’t need protecting. “So not the point. We protect each other.” She had to shake her head after saying that. It wasn’t something Carmilla would usually say.

“Oh no..” Letting go of Laura’s hands she put her own over her chest. She had already felt a heartbeat in her chest when she was Perry but knowing she was talking to Laura was the first time she had ever felt her heart race in over three hundred years.

It scared her.

“I…” Carmilla needed to stop thinking and fast. Thankfully that came when Laura distracted her with questions and snapping her back into focus. “Teleporting, cat, right. Teleporting is easy. It gets easier. You just clear your mind and focus where you want to be.” She paused for a second, never really thinking about how she changed into a cat. She was just so used to doing it. “…I channel it. Take all that anger like a weight that sits on your chest. Take a deep breath and feel it. It’s like you want to roar. If I’m angry and I don’t channel it, that’s when I growl…which I’m totally missing right now.”

As it turns out everyone in the house had filtered back into the living room where Perry was finally let out of the chair. “Well it took you long enough.” Was the only sentence she got before LaF cut in.

“Well we’re all here, we’re all different people. Callis is no longer in the chair. No one is in the chair. Heads up, I’m going to read the scroll again. Third time lucky right?”

[lauronica_mars]

Laura would perhaps have been better off to pay attention to LaF's advice than to Carmilla's; she was certainly in the mood to growl and she let one out. And then held one and focussed one, almost like the opposite of breath control for yoga.. And she was on the ground looking up at everyone. This was fun and simple.

And LaF would certainly have been better off if she'd been paying attention to Laura because that was where she ended up in a straight swap.

"I think this is almost working. The writing is fading, and I think it is what is keeping us separate. And I'm Laura just in case everyone is confused. I wonder whether we can copy this and power it or change it. Just a second." She pulled LaF's phone out of her pocket and snapped a photo of it. Paying no attention to the growling panther.

[countess_karnstein]

Carmilla had years to learn how to control herself as a panther. LaF unfortunately had seconds to which Carm knew the panther would take over. When it growled, lowering itself and pawing at the floor, everyone knew it was getting ready to pounce. “Um..Laura now isn’t the time. If you’re in LaF that means..”

Fear struck into everyone. Eyes wide, hearts pounding as they scattered around the room.

“GET OUT NOW!” Carm shouted, distracting the cat for a brief second before it’s eyes turned back onto Laura. It gave herself enough time to jump in between her and the cat. Unfortunately, Carm was forgetting she wasn’t a vampire anymore and as she used all her force to knock Laura and herself to the ground, the panther snarled and circled back around at them.

“Like hell I’m going to be killed by myself while trapped in my girlfriends body.” Carm grabbed anything and everything she could find and started throwing it. “Laura, get out now. As long as I throw things I’ve got its attention.”

[lauronica_mars]

"Get off me." Laura rolled back to her feet and then onto the table. "And I'm not leaving you here with it, Carm! What would stop a panther?"

She frowned then darted to the corner of her room. "Carmilla! Catch!" A can came flying through the air and Laura had another in her other hand, letting out a miniscule spray which was enough to make the panther think it wanted to be somewhere else. "Day of the week bear spray! It works on Panthers!" And at least two people were going to hate her for it. "And if this works someone get the milk to neutralise the capascin."

[countess_karnstein]

Carm got angry when she was told to get off. “Forgive me for totally saving you from a giant cat. Next time I’ll just stand by and let it eat you!” She mentally paused thinking to herself that’s something she wouldn’t normally say when reality snapped back with a can flying towards her.

The two of them covered the panther in bear spray until it was backed into a corner. The more it growled the more Carm covered it until a cloud of black smoke appeared and LaF was left curled up into a ball and soaking wet with the stinky spray.

Carm stopped. Obviously LaF was in her body which meant she was covered in bear spray. Great. Perry came running over in the body of body of Kirsch. “LaF, are you okay? LaF?”

She threw the cans away and looked at Laura. “Well that could have gone a lot worse and good call with the whole bear spray thing. I kinda feel I should have thought about it first but I’m happy we stopped the black cat.” Carm suddenly felt a bit dizzy and perched on the edge of a desk.

“How long do we have before we go back to our own bodies? Do you remember what the scroll said?” She looked at Laura, desperate to get back into her own body as she felt she was losing herself. “It said the more we hop the worse it gets right?”

[lauronica_mars]

Laura darted to the fridge. "Milk's the best thing for capascin." She grabbed a bottle of milk, a cereal bowl, and a tea-towel for LaF. "Use this to wipe away the pepper spray. It neutralises it as much as anything does." Laura realised that LaF's body was doing weird things to her, but Perry was being Perry-like in the way she was caring for the hurt mad scientist in Carmilla's body.

Laura then shrugged. "I've not read the scroll yet, Carm. And you know Mattie's games better than anyone. See what you make of it?" Laura unrolled the scroll for the pair of them.

[countess_karnstein]

With the black cat gone everyone started coming out of the woodwork and returning to the living room where LaF was shivering in the body of Carmilla, covered head to toe in bear spray. Laura was already looking after her friend which naturally meant that Perry, who knew LaF was now in the body of Carmilla had to help.

“The next person who reads from that scroll is going to…” A flash of Perry came out but when she helped LaF get to the couch and sit down, she felt her sentences start to slip. All she could think about was football. Football and food. With Laura helping LaF she took the opportunity to steal the milk and cereal. LaF wouldn’t mind right? It’s not that she didn’t care about them, of course she did but her stomach came first…at least now it did.

LaF was still shivering under the towel, comforted by Laura who was in their body. “That’s something I never want to happen again.”, Spoken from behind chattering teeth.

“You get used to it. You and the cat are the same person you just need to learn how to control it.” Carmilla said calmly but forgetting she had years to practice controlling it, LaF didn’t even have a minute.

When Laura handed her the scroll she opened it, expecting to be able to read the symbols but no matter how much she concentrated it was like she had forgotten everything. “I know this language but I can’t translate it.” Her tone was clearly frustrated and everyone was running out of time.

It was Callis, stuck in the body of Danny who leant down and took the scroll from Carmilla in an attempt to tried to read it for herself. “I don’t get it. Some creepy ex vampire, I don’t know what she is comes into my bathroom and hands me a scroll just to get us to switch bodies? It’s not even permanent so what’s the point? Something has to be going on?”

Carmilla snatched the scroll back. “Hey! Don’t you think we know this? Every single one of us wants to get back into their own bodies but if we switch again it could get worse. Much worse. We’ll start to lose ourselves in the person we’re trapped in.” As much as Carmilla loves Laura, she just wanted to be back in her own body now. Even if it was covered in bear spray and being rubbed down by a Krisch. That made her shudder.

Carm raised her voice, she was getting a little mad but she knew it was Laura’s voice so everyone would pay attention. “Has anyone got a better solution other than sitting here and waiting?”

[lauronica_mars]

Laura cut in in LaF's tones. "Of course we've got a better solution than sitting here and waiting. One person did this so one person has a better idea than anyone else of what's going on."

She shrugged. "LaF, other pocket." LaFontaine had caught on to Laura's idea already and was looking for Carmilla's phone to give to Laura's body. "Carmilla. Call Mattie. Ask her what exactly she thinks she's playing at, and what seven people involved are going to do with her spell."

The rest of the room was watching. Clearly someone had a plan, and it was more sensible than most of Laura's plans. So they'd go with that for now, no one being happy with their new bodies.

[countess_karnstein]

Everyone was looking at Carmilla who was suddenly feeling a bit feistier. She waited to be passed the phone and while the room started to argue about the body swap situation and what to do, Carm found a spot by the door to place the call. Of course Callis was there trapped in the body of Danny. She looked down at Laura moving past her still surprised how small she was.

Carm placed the call.

“What took you so long?” Mattie laughed before Carm could get a word out. “If everything has gone to plan you should be in the body of your pet? Did I guess right?”

Frustrated and extremely annoyed Carm had to talk and confirm Mattie’s prediction in Laura’s voice. “Ha ha you’ve had your fun Mattie now switch us back.”

Instead of answering Mattie materialised next to her which made Callis jump. “No can do. I’m having too much fun with this. Besides it was merely a simply test to see how Laura coped being a vampire. I felt she needed her eyes opened. Is she through here?” Mattie didn’t wait for Carmilla’s response and walk through the front room to where Carmilla was sitting on the sofa. She noticed the friend sat beside, drying her with a towel.

“How are you finding it in there…Laura was it? I lose track of the names.”

[lauronica_mars]

Laura's tone was acidic. "That's LaFontaine. I'm Laura and this is LaF's body." Laura angrily stepped in to Mattie's path. "Your little prank is currently putting seven of us on a merry-go-round. I didn't have a problem being Carm. Even turned into a panther, but that might not have been a good idea. But you clearly have no idea of prank safety or not catching bystanders in the prank."

"And why exactly should I do anything you say, Laura?" Mattie's voice was soft. "As I'm the one who can end it you should find better ways of asking."

"Better ways of asking." The glint in Laura's eye and set of her jaw was dangerous and everyone in the room except Mattie winced. "You mean like pointing out that it's in your own best interest to get rid of this."

"In my best interest? Really?" Mattie's voice was silky but she'd taken her eyes off Laura who was busy reading the scroll softly but out loud. "How?"

And it was Mattie's voice that replied in the same silky tones, but the hand gestures made it clear that it was Laura. "Because you're trapped in here with us. It's interesting being you!"

[countess_karnstein]

“Laura no!” Before Carm could get to her in time Laura had already uttered the words that sent a green shock wave between herself and Mattie. The force of one soul swapping with another rippled out like a sound wave and once again all of their bodies had switched. Laura had clearly ended up in the body of Mattie. As an avatar of death there was no telling what powers and abilities this could give her but Carmilla was hoping she could use whatever power she had to put them back into their own bodies. Maybe even punish Mattie for playing an unneeded game so soon after what everyone had been through. Especially Laura.

This time the body swapping came with a difference. Anyone that wasn’t part supernatural had no memory of who they were or why they were here. A clear side effect for how many times they had switched. Carm stood up in the body of LaFontaine, still herself but feeling the habits and thoughts LaF feeding into her own.

Mattie started cursing in French however when Carm turned to look, the voice was coming out of Perry’s body. She took a mental note that Perry speaking fluent French was properly the weirdest thing she had heard today. The only other person who appeared to have a sense of what was going on was Danny who woke up in the body of Kirsch and was freaking out over being in the body of a boy.

Everyone else stared at one another. Dazed and confused there was no telling who was who anymore without magic to fix the situation. “Hey!” Carm caught Laura before fell from the force that of them swapping. Suddenly Carm remembered how tall Mattie was. Because she had seen the straight swap between Laura and Mattie’s spark she gathered this was where Laura had ended up. Or at least this is where Carmilla had hoped she had ended up.

“Laura, you can fix this now, okay? Not only that but you might be able to see more if you look at your heart.” It was a wild guess but Mattie knew what a normal heart looked like from a supernatural one. At least her eyes might give away another part of the puzzle.