tenofspades | 2nd Card [Backdated to yesterday night]

Entry tags:

2nd Card [Backdated to yesterday night]

[They spliced her. They kidnapped her and they spliced her. Sure, giving her wings when she arrived is one thing, but she didn't volunteer to be taken away so they could give her scales, fangs, mess with her eyes and get rid of her hair. She can't be out like this - she needs to get back into her apartment, and... stay there until she changes back. Or until she can figure out some other kind of solution.

Melanie's lucky it's dark out, or else it would be a hell of a lot harder to try and sneak back home - and she's lucky that she still has her legs, too. It would be pretty difficult to miss a human-sized thing slithering around in the middle of the night, after all. Of course, there's no real way of knowing for sure if she'll manage to get back without being seen, but damn it, she'll try.]

[Later, when she's back home:]

It's Melanie. Sorry for being away, but the sudden absence wasn't exactly my idea.

Either way, I'm back now, so I guess that's what matters. Did I miss anything interesting?

[OOC: Melanie's back from her mallynapping! And she's been spliced with a black mamba, HOORAY. She'll be looking pretty different from usual (apologies, my editing skills seem to be pretty crummy these days), and she may start acting a bit different since splicing changes both appearance and personality, so uh. Yeah. Just a head's up! |D]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[... Slag it. It's one thing if a total stranger saw her like this, but Melanie really wanted to avoid having any of her friends see her like this.

What she wouldn't give for a giant cloak and hood right now.]

... Hey, Kurt.

[Something isn't right. He's already peering at her now. If only there was more light...]

Is something wrong?

I'm not... [She retreats back a little. She really wants to run away right now, and she isn't sure if it's some kind of instinct kicking in or because she doesn't want Kurt to see her like this. ...Probably a bit of both.]

It's nothing. I'm fine.

[He shakes his head, stepping in a bit closer.]

Something's different. You're different?

[She is feeling very, very uneasy right now, but Kurt's a friend. Melanie can be relaxed around him... or at least she can try to be. Besides, if there's anyone who would get what she's going through, it's Kurt.

Of course, that doesn't make things any easier.]

... They spliced me. [There, she said it.

She's not going to step closer, though. Melanie was never very vain, but she's never had her appearance so drastically altered, either. It's pretty damn jarring, and she really doesn't want anyone to see her while she's stuck like this.]

Spliced...?

[That word, he recognized it. Not for its strictly grammatical usage, but rather, by the fact that's what she thought he was when they first met. She had seemed okay with that, but given he was frankly a freak of nature, he felt his stomach sink at the realization she had become like him.

He could only wonder how bad it was. His forehead creasing in concern (yet ultimately hidden under fuzz), he realized his trying to peer at her wasn't working.]

Step into the light.

[Unfortunately stepping into the light is probably the last thing Melanie wants to do, but she can't exactly stay hidden forever, either. So after a few minutes of hesitation, she steps out so Kurt can get a good look at her. Melanie isn't sure if he's still expecting her to have the blond hair and pale skin thing going on, but either way she doesn't fall under either of those descriptions, anymore.

So, here she is. Bluish-gray, scaly, hairless, and definitely no longer 100% human. The only thing that really looks the same is the blue in her eyes, although right now she's making a point to avoid looking Kurt in the eye.]

[He was expecting different. But this is more different than he expected. There's a moment of stunned silence as he studies her features. He may be a freakish mutant and he still knows this is Melanie, but the shallow part of him repulsed. But he's better than that. Or should be. So he buries that down to where it belongs, because its' wrong.

That still leaves him unsure of what to say though.]

... I'm sorry, Melanie. [He won't lie to her and say she looks fine. Because he knows what it's like to have people tell him that and not mean it.]

Don't worry about it. I'll figure out a way to deal with this until I'm back to normal. [So far her plan is to stay inside until she's no longer a freak of nature, but hey, whatever works.

She lets out a small laugh, but it just comes out sounding bitter.]

Hard to believe that there are people in Gotham who'd actually pay creds for this, huh?

[It's hard to even see her like this. But still, he's staying strong for her, right? So he tries to remain optimistic.]

Why do they do it?

It depends. Some people do it for cosmetic reasons, but... not to this extreme. [Because seriously, as far as Melanie is concerned, if anyone wanted to look like this, then they'd be out of their mind.]

Other times it's for physical enhancement. That way the person involved will have some of the abilities and features of the animal they were spliced with.

It was outlawed in Gotham a while back, but that's never stopped people from getting it done. [But legal or not, at least those people got it done willingly.]

[Kurt agrees with that. Why would anyone ever want to be a monster like this? That's just nuts.]

That all sounds pretty crazy. [And he's vaguely curious if she got any powers, but more importantly-] But you're still you, yeah? Scalier, maybe. We should do something together anyway.

[Melanie has definitely gained some attributes from being spliced, although nothing on the level of a meta-human. She's a lot more flexible, she can run a bit faster, she's cold-blooded, and whenever her tongue flickers out, she can smell Kurt and whatever else happens to be in the area. Fairly standard for someone that's been spliced with an animal for enhancement. Melanie was never informed what kind of snake she was spliced with and doesn't know whether or not she's venomous, but she doesn't plan on taking any risks with that.

His next question takes her by surprise, though. She's not sure why, but it just does.]

... Yeah. I'm still me.

I guess we could do something together, but I think I'd like to get back to my apartment. If you don't mind hanging out there for a while, anyway.

[Yes, Kurt would be quite happy not discovering that one way or another. But he still doesn't want her to think she has to stay holed up in her room either.]

Well, we can. I was just thinking... there's a theme park here now. I know, I know, it's weird. But hey, who knows, maybe this is the last night it will be here, yeah?

I'm sure it's fun, but I don't know, Kurt.

Even if it's night, I'm not exactly thrilled with being out in public like... [She gestures to all of her.] This.

[Yeah. He thought she'd say that. A small smile begins to form.]

What if you didn't have to go out in public like that?

[... Melanie doesn't really know what Kurt is trying to get at with this, but he's got her interest.]

What do you mean?

[Although he didn't use it anymore, Kurt kept his old holo watch on him anyway. Not so he could hide his appearance. It was mostly because it had endless possibilities for pranks. But right now, it was going to do something important.]

Back in Bayville, I could never go to school looking like this, yeah? So I had this. [He reaches into an inner pocket and holds out the watch.] The professor gave it to me. And I used to hide with it. If I was still in Bayville, I would still be using it. But here... well, I kind of decided there was no reason to hide. But still...

[He presses a button on the watch.]

[His entire form begins to flicker, like a TV changing channels. What was blue is now a normal human looking guy. He looks just like himself, only normal.]

It's nice to be able to look normal anyway.

[... Wait, what?]

Kurt--

That's amazing! [Holograms are nothing new in Gotham, and some synthoids use holograms to generate a human appearance, but she's never seen something like that being used to change a person's appearance.

So, colour her impressed.]

[Well, impressing her is great and all, but aside from hoping she'd realize he's ridiculously handsome, it was more the implication of what the watch can do that he was hoping to get across.]

Yeah. But it can do way more than this. We could make it look like you. Well, I mean, the normal you.

[She completely understands the implication, which is another part of why she's so happy.]

Kurt, that's... that would be great. [Seriously, she's kind of at a loss for words right now. Considering her plan was to just hide herself until she looked normal, the fact that Melanie no longer has to do that has her feeling pretty fantastic.]

Thank you.

[He knows that feeling, only time ten. He felt the same way the first day he received it.]

There's only one tiny problem. I'm ahh... not so good at programming it. [He pulls it off, returning to his normal self.] I can try, but... are you any good with computer stuff? [He can fly a jet, but programming a VCR is still beyond him.]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

1/2

no subject

1/3

2/3

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject