The "Pharoh's Phone" (MeTheMe&GeneticMess))

[GeneticMess]

Judy's belly was a chubby pile of mush now, and she had fun toying with the chub as she sat. "She's already done, should be coming back any time now, boss!" She reported, her eyes not even moving from her belly. It was meals like these that made her so thickset, which she certainly didn't mind. Anything to get more interested eyes on her...

"Pyruna is taking some much needed slumber, I'd let her be until we need her." Mard stated the obvious, sitting next to Pyruna and letting her drift in her peaceful dreams.

Mordecai snapped, and the three digested humans spontaneously appeared in their seats, deliberately placed next to performers they hadn't personally met yet by Mordecai. Avery looked like he'd been shaken awake from a nap, and found himself next to a clown that looked like she could reasonably be his mom. Weird.

"Well, do we all have our wits about us?" Mordecai did another spot check, scanning over the recently revived mortals.

[MeTheMe]

Cheryl was alive again! She awoke from her death at the stomach of Judy, sitting next to Ace, a harpy! So cool... She nodded to Mordecai. "Yeah, I think I'm all here. I'm not sure about how exactly we're going to do this, but you direct me as needed. This will be Avery and Bailey's first spells, too, so they won't add much to the spell over all, but it will make them mages, so we should take that into consideration."

Ace smiled at the mage, before looking up to Mordecai. "Yeah, man, lunch was great, but I'm ready for a main course in magic! Let's get this show started! This is exciting! Kind of. I mean, we're still not really gonna get to outside much, but the public will have neat powers." She smiled, a little sadly.

Johan rubbed his chin. "Zee mage is right, we zhould be a little careful, there is no telling vhat effect becoming a mage vill have on them, so ve should be careful in how we proceed, zo ve zhould give them all zee information up front, and then I think ve zhould be about ready to ztart!"

[GeneticMess]

Bailey, similar to Avery, looked like she had just been jolted awake from a dream, and then looked down at herself. She... was alive. And she was next to some weird guy and a giant bear! Her head was still spinning a bit from all this...

"Right! Through this process, our friends here will have their third eye opened, so to speak!" Mordecai bolstered with theatrics. "Although, before we continue with our spell, perhaps it would be better to introduce them to magic first. Any kind of magic, no matter how weak, will greatly help our efforts."

"You think maybe you could get your friends on the right track?" Judy looked back at Cheryl with a cheeky grin. "I can help you out if you like!"

[MeTheMe]

"Yeah, I think I can do that. I can actually open their magical senses first, before the spell if you like, that'll let them add a little more power, and remove a variable from our equation, weird things might happen when they change. You set up the finishing touches to your spell, and I'll get them started. Sure thing, Judy! If anyone else wants in on teaching a couple beginner, you're with me!"

Ace shrugged. "Yeah! I'm in! I wanna see what they can do once they've got the magic pumping through their veins!"

Cheryl ran over to her pack, bringing it back, and pulling out her little piece of chalk, before beginning to draw a circle and set up a ritual. "Right, you all know a little, but what we'll do is a simple repair ritual, rituals are rigid, require a circle and proper items and incantations, once your magic is unlocked, you'll find magic flow freely with you, and then you'll be able to shape spells on the fly." She looked to Judy to see if she had anything to add to that.

[GeneticMess]

Cheryl and company were given a secluded corner of the ring to conduct their work with (Mordecai teleported them over there, of course), while the center of the ring is where everyone else was brought. Strange, exotic fruits, and waxes and ink of different colors and scents were used to create some kind of circle for the ritual. It seemed like it would take a good while, even with the three-man group of Mordecai, Johan, and Mard setting it all up, so they had plenty of time to get Avery and Bailey initiated.

"When you're first opened up to magic, some mortals are more fragile than others. Your very being is susceptible to big changes as magic is channeled through your body for the first time!" Judy started to explain. "Just keep a level head, and try to keep your mind calm. If you start thinking too much, that can influence some unforeseen transformations... transformations that can rarely be undone." She got dead serious all of a sudden, enough to send a chill down Avery's spine. Although Bailey seemed confident enough that that wouldn't be an issue, and started stretching her arms to loosen herself up. They were both ready, more or less.

[MeTheMe]

"Yeah, you have to clear your mind, all Ghostbusters style. Think of nothing but the spell, focus, and don't think about it too hard, let yourself feel what's happening. It's more of a heart thing than a head one." She pulled a small plush animal from her pack, a panda. She gave it a little kiss on the nose, before flipping a knife out, and cutting it's chest wide open. She placed the plush in the middle of the circle, before handing a small lump of clay to Bailey, and cup of water to Avery. "Mending is simple, and these two things are symbolic of that."

Ace chuckled. "Hey, Judy, no need to scare them! This is their first spell, it oughta be scary enough!" She looked over the circle, and smiled. "Yeah, yeah! Looks good to me. You two will want to set your respective elements on the edge of the circle as the ritual begins, and give the incantation! Judy and I will be here to help Cheryl keep you two from any magical mishaps!" She extended a fist for a bump to Judy.

Cheryl nodded, and gave them the incantation. "Alright, no rush, but once you feel ready, begin the words, and then touch the circle with your elements."

[GeneticMess]

Bailey immediately began molding the claw in her hands, while Avery looked at the cup of water quizzically. He decided it was best to not question it. Bailey already ended up making an amateur pig-face out of the clay, and seemed satisfied with that.

"Just giving them the run-down. There's always kids out there who screw it up, and now they probably aren't just kids any more." The clown giggled, a smile returning to her face. She didn't even have to look at her avian friend, and extended a fist to bump Ace back. They had this under control.

...

Somewhere in the shadows of the tent, a spider had made its home. A black widow spun along its web, descending from it to find some easy prey. There were lots of people on the ground today. Maybe they could get in a nibble? Crawling creepily, they remained hidden in the shadows of seats and people alike, creeping ever so closer...

Once ready, both Avery and Bailey placed their elements along the outside of the circle, and began their chanting. Avery spoke slow and solemnly, while Bailey had some undeniable balled up excitement, bouncing a little on the soles of her feet as she knew she was getting some sweet powers soon.

[MeTheMe]

"This kind of mending is hard to screw up, don't worry, you two will be fine if you follow my instructions." Cheryl smiled, and watched as they two began the ritual. It was almost nice being the teacher here, and though she still thought they weren't taking the responsibility of magic seriously enough, she was glad to have more friends with magic. Soon.

With the incantations and the elements touched to the circle, the small lump of clay and water seemed to melt from their hands, and the liquid elements became one with the circle, filling in the the lines of calk. It hissed, and glowed, and the inner circle became a bright light. Then, very suddenly, it all faded, and all that was left was the small panda plush, mended back to it's original un-cut form!

That wasn't it for Bailey and Avery though. It would feel like a third eye had been opened. Like a limb they'd never used suddenly had blood pumped into it. Like a curtain had been pulled back and they were allowed to look out into a new world of magic. It might even be hard to look at, but they'd be able to see the residual magics left after their ritual, the auras around harpy, clown, and furry. It was a lot of information, and they wouldn't be able to block all of it, just endure the tide of magic washing over them. After a while though, that would fade too, the magical sight would fade, after time, and they'd go back to normal, but never quite feel normal again.

[GeneticMess]

During the whole incantation, Avery closed his eyes tight, and once he didn't need to speak, held his breath. He didn't want to screw this up, and his nerves were going wild... but Bailey was managing just fine. It was like she didn't even have to try, she was managing much better than Avery with half of the effort. And then... it happened.

Bailey looked around herself in awe, looking at her hands, and then back at everyone else. This was... strange, and a lot to take in. But she stood strong before the wave of magic crashing into her. Avery... didn't manage as well. His eyes shot around nervously, the overwhelming amount of information turning him into a ball of anxiety. He started taking deep breaths... doing better, much...

Something was on his face. Only now did he notice the presence of a very large spider on his cheek. For a moment, he just stared out of it from the corner of his eye, his mouth agape as he screamed, but no noise came out. And then the damned thing thought it wise to crawl right into his mouth, finally giving Avery his voice back. He gave a loud, shrill scream, desperately spitting and hacking, kicking and stomping as he desperately tried to get the spider off of him! An uncontrolled, rampant amount of magic striked the spider, and as it hit the ground, a strong aura pulsated around it as it scuttered around erratically.

[MeTheMe]

No one even seemed to notice the large spider coming down onto Avery's cheek as they were all wrapped up in their own things, Cheryl was monitering their magic and Ace was not paying attention in the slightest. She may not have been as useful as she said she might be. And then it crawled into his mouth, and everyone noticed then. It landed on the ground, coated in the strange transformative magics, while Avery was in a massive flux, his feeling and emotion all over the place and that was not good!

The spider was not part of Cheryl's concern at the moment, it was Avery. His concentration broken, and his nerves shattered, she needed to bring him down to a level where he wouldn't botch his first ritual and get changed in any way they couldn't undo. She took his head, and turned it up to face back at Bailey, and straightened his back. "FOCUS." She shouted, as she pinned his arms to his side with her own, and tried to make his mind just come down to a calm level. Luckily Bailey seemed to be doing alright, she hadn't been attacked by a spider though.

"Judy! Check on the spider, it's seeped in magic! Ace, make sure Bailey keeps her concentration!" Ace nodded, and used her feathery wings to to gently put on the sides of Bailey, and help calm her if she freaked out, or began to panic with the chaos around them.

[GeneticMess]

Avery was utterly shaken, and the fact that he was already freaking out over the magic washing over him wasn't helping. Cheryl held him still, and he closed his eyes again as he tried to concentrate... but that damn spider! It was big, it was a Black Widow, which was incredibly poisonous, and the damn thing was in his mouth! He hyperventilated a bit, trying to focus again, but he couldn't get his mind off of the spider. He was nervous as hell, and he knew the potential consequences. Avery kept trying and failing to shove that thing out of his mind, and it felt like he could still feel it on his face...

Bailey was managing fine, more fascinated by the insight on magic she'd been given to entirely acknowledge Avery's freak out. She knew he made mountains out of mole hills all the time, and just relaxed. "Deep breaths..." She hummed, trying to get Avery back down on her level.

Judy took the duty of catching the spider and keeping it from causing any more hysteria. She summoned a glass jar from thin air, and slammed it down. "Gotcha!" She yelled triumphantly... as the thing shattered to pieces from her recklessness. "Oops." This time she generated herself a net... but the thing was so fast, she briefly lost sight of it! Although, by the time she did see it again, the thing was balls enough to try climbing up Cheryl's leg now...

[MeTheMe]

Cheryl swore. "Fuck. Right. Avery! I need you to focus! On. The. Spell! The panda, the circle, the elements, the words, repeat after me Avery!" She began to go into the incantation again. The spell was technically over, the current chaos was the unlocking of their magic, and Cheryl really just needed him to calm down and focus, and hoped the words of the spell would just bring him down enough to get him through the transformation into mage. "Focus on the words, repeat after me, focus on the spell, c'mon Avery, don't panic..."

Ace noticed Bailey seemed to be fine, and nodded, keeping her wings on her just in case something did go wrong... which it started to. Judy failed a couple of attempts to catch the spider, but the damn thing would not stop! It even came towards them! Ace quietly tried to brush it off of Bailey's leg with one of her wings, not wanting to bring too much attention to it while Bailey was going through her mage hood. "Juuudy..." She hooed. "Don't worry about catching it, just get it away from everyone for now, or blast it, something!"

[GeneticMess]

"I-I'm trying..." Avery whimpered, hating himself right now. This was super important, and he needed to focus, but this spider unraveled the ball of nerves he was. He thought of the things Cheryl said, and repeated the incantation under his breath. Good, good, he was... calming down again. Okay, he might just be able to manage after all.

Judy got serious, she didn't want her incompetence to jeopardize this important moment. She took a new, quieter approach. She pointed her finger at the spider, and a telekinetic force picked it up off of Bailey's leg. There, much better. She started reeling it in closer to her, so she could smash the critter in her own hands and solve the problem. But there was just one, tiny issue... the spider was fighting back. It seemed that uncontrolled blast of magic was the black widow's unique test of magehood, and it started using it's own magic to fight against Judy's pull! Their powers clashed for a moment, and the spider actually won, breaking free from her grasp and landing on... Avery's head. Oh boy. He panicked again and swiped the thing off furiously, before his legs suddenly and unexplainably gave out. Judy's eyes widened, as did Bailey's as her friend seemingly collapsed.

"A-Avery?!" She was now concerned for him, breaking from her concentration to try and tend to him. Both mages were jeopardizing their magehood, but Judy recognized the signs. The sudden numbness in limbs, profuse sweating... Avery was undergoing some kind of transformation. And after the big fiasco the spider caused for him, she was almost afraid to see it. She backed away, getting a bad feeling in the pit of her gut.

[MeTheMe]

Ace grabbed Bailey by the shoulders, and brought her wings around her face, keeping her both from running to Avery and seeing what was going on. "No! Focus, Bailey, deep breaths, think about the spell!" She didn't have a strong grip on the woman, and if she tried again she might break free of Ace's grip and protection.

Cheryl was starting to panic now, they had a magic spider now, and Avery's magehood was about to tainted by outside forces. This wasn't good. Not at all. She made a finger gun and put it to the spider, trying to blast it away and off of Avery, but he collapsed. Nope. They were too late now. Avery was probably not going to be fully human by the end of this spell, and she took a few steps back away from him.

She liked Avery, he was a good guy, a friend, but he was trouble she couldn't seem to get him out of now. This was happening, there wasn't any stopping it now, and all she could do was attempt damage control. She held both hands out to Avery, and cast a few spells, trying to put Avery to sleep, keeping him from hurting himself during the transformation process, and then to cast a shield around him, so he wouldn't hurt them in case he wasn't fully Avery after it.

[GeneticMess]

"LET ME GO!" Bailey flailed, not having any of this! Something was happening to her friend, he could be in serious danger! Judy joined in Ace's efforts to hold Bailey back, which was much needed. She couldn't see anything that was happening with Ace keeping her eyes covered. Truth be told, she was afraid of something like this happening... to her. But she was on the other side of the coin here. Just as Avery would've been the same, she was utterly powerless and unable to help her best friend in... whatever the hell he just got into. She shook but didn't cry. Yet.

If nobody else, Mard noticed the commotion from center stage. Mordecai was a bit absorbed in his work (as well as a bit oblivious in general, at rather unfortunate times), and he couldn't tell if Johan noticed or not. But the human... Avery, was it? Pyruna said she cared for him deeply. He shook her awake, not quiet considering how the sphinx's reaction could make this better or worse. "Pyruna... Your Avery, he's not in the best condition right now."

After the struggles died out, Avery writhed lightly in his forced slumber. His body shifted, abnormally and disturbingly, as it was forcibly contorted by the unstable magic flowing through his very veins. His lower body, from the waist down, shriveled up like a dying flower... before blooming into quite the terrifying flower. Like a drider of fantasy, his entire lower half was now that of a giant spider, his human waist continuing where this giant spider's head would be. His skin turned a glossy black, molding into the same exoskeleton of a spider's. He gained three extra pairs of arms, as if it was some sick constellation prize for the loss of his legs. It was hard to see his facial features, but his eyes were now slit, a solid red, and he had four on each side of his face. Fangs grew in into his mouth, and the venom of the black widow coursed through his veins. Good god, he was horrifying. Judy couldn't keep her eyes off of him, and was thankful for the barrier between them, even as he slept...

[MeTheMe]

Judy and Ace were, thankfully, able to hold Bailey back, and luckily, it seemed she was in the final steps of her transformation, so she was probably safe. They held onto her though, partially to make sure she was fine, and partially because her running to Avery was a terrible, terrible idea right now. Ace grimaced. "Umm... n- no, we can't let go, not yet, just... calm down just... oh dear." Ace grabbed Bailey by the shoulders, now relatively safe and sure she wasn't about to have a similar ordeal, and attempted to put her to sleep as well, a new mage with no idea about their powers could make this situation go from chaos to fiasco hard.

Cheryl watched the transformation, she wasn't as horrified, but seriously concerned about Avery. Legends have it this is how many of the half beast hybrids of the world came to be, harpies, mermaids, etc, but she had never actually seen it happen. She kept the shield around him, and grew as needed with his new drider like body. Then Pyruna awoke to Mard's words, and saw what was happening.

"AVERY!" She roared, a deafening sound that echoed through the tent, through the circus, and particularly worrisome people might thing outside the circus heard it as well. She bounded towards the small ritual, bee lining towards Avery.

Cheryl panicked, and ran from Avery. "Stay out of her way!"

Pyruna reached the transformed Avery, and pounced on the shield, the magical barrier shattering under attack as she began to examine him. "Avery! Avery wake up! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM!?"

[GeneticMess]

Bailey, despite her struggles, was eventually put down with relative ease. Her uneasy emotions were kept within her as she slipped into slumber, an worried frown still stuck on her face as she fell asleep. Judy looked utterly panicked, starting to sweat a bit. She was obviously trying to downplay her concern, but with a clown like her, subtlety was nonexistent. "Oh boy... u-um, what do we do? The poor kid, got spooked by a spider and now-"

Even Mard was forced to give Pyruna some distance, as mighty of a beast he was. The clown assisted in pulling Bailey away from the scene as Pyruna came crashing through, and she covered the girl's ears to keep her from waking up. They didn't need two breakdowns at once. The shield shattering and Pyruna's cries pulled Avery from his induced slumber. He stood on feet that... for starters, weren't really feet, but feet that were not his own. He looked at his own hands... his many hands, as he stumbled back up, quick to notice their dark hue and the white hairs that covered them. Avery trembled, and looked below and behind him. This... his spider legs quivered, and he grasped at the closest thing that was remotely familiar to him, Pyruna. He just hugged her tightly, seeking comfort as his brain shot around at near lightspeed and it felt like everything was crashing down before him.

[MeTheMe]

As Avery reached out to grab and hold onto her, she reciprocated, and wrapped her massive paws around him, holding onto him gently. "A- Avery... what happened..." This was... she couldn't find the words for what it was. Avery was massive spider creature now. He was a monster... kind of like her. She just held onto him, needed a moment to calm down, as he did probably too.

Cheryl collapsed onto her ass, just looking at the two. The effort to put him to sleep, and Pyruna shattering her shield had exhausted her, and all she could was watch. At least Avery seemed to remember Pyruna, so his mind may not be altered, or not altered too much, at least. She got up, dusted herself off a little. "He... umm... when humans perform their first ritual, and open their bodies up to magic, it's a... jolt, and if something goes wrong... umm..." She tried to explain, but wasn't sure exactly if Pyruna would fully understand.

Ace, having helped Judy pull Bailey away, sighed as well. "I... don't know. We really just have to wait and see if he's still himself, and we can move forward after that."

[GeneticMess]

"Some spider bitch kept pestering the kid, messed up his focus badly." Judy scowled, also a bit upset that said spider got away... or maybe somebody crushed it? Whatever the case, nobody could certainly find it right now. In the face of a tragedy like this, she was, surprisingly, not one to keep up a smile. "I'm really sorry, madam. He shouldn't be too bad its just... his body got scrambled immensely."

Avery seemed to be alright in the head, at least. He kept Pyruna tight in his arms, he certainly didn't forget about anybody or anything... although he wasn't quite the same. He started drooling a bit, his mouth slightly agape and his fangs showing. The sphinx would feel a thin thread start to wrap around her foot... was he trying to eat her?!

[MeTheMe]

Pyruna was so distraught she didn't even notice what was going on, his drooling, his mouth, the sticky white thread, it all fell away in her concern for him. She just kept holding him, unsure of what to even say. She wasn't sure. She still thought of Avery as a friend, a lover even, but... what was anyone else going to think of him? Bailey, Cheryl, the circus... "Avery, it's okay, I'm here for you..."

Cheryl sighed in relief. "Fuck... I'd ask what we're gonna do but I don't think there IS anything we can do. This is his body now. His magic is going to be... weird, but the flux of form is going to make it powerful. Gods, let me see Bailey, and make sure she's fine as well." She made her way towards Ace and Judy.

Ace shook her head. "Yeah, this is... rough. I mean, at least he seems alright, he's going to freak, and life won't be the same, but... he's alive and sane. That's something."