maskormenacelogs | So, you've come to stare at the beast, have you?

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So, you've come to stare at the beast, have you?

WHO: Newton Geiszler, Hermann Gottlieb, Qubit, Kang, and SEMI-OPEN (aka the popcorn thread if you have reason to be there?)
WHERE: Several miles outside De Chima, in an abandoned train yard
WHEN: Sunday afternoon - July 31
WHAT: KAIJU TRANSFORMATION TEST, TAKE 1 - Part 2 of 'if you give a biologist some neat powers...he's going to want to test them.' Newt's powers have been upgraded to turn him into a mini-Kaiju, so he's going to give the new body a spin
WARNINGS: Probably some cursing, some male nakedness (he will undress before transforming because the clothes will be destroyed...and when he comes back to human form, he'll be naked until he re-dresses), human to non-human transformation, self-experimentation

Newt was pretty sure there were a million more precautions they should have been taking and weren't, but with his worry and antsiness making this a NOW thing, they were just going to have to ...hope they had most of their bases covered.

Hey, so far, fortune HAD favored the brave (and foolhardy).

He was optimistic that his blood had not worsened in toxicity, nor in its ability to spread (ie, turn into a vapor, poison while dry, poison by proximity without contact, etc). Nevertheless, he had equipped his phone to be a Geiger Counter, brought plenty of swabs and containers for samples, and had supplied each of his three intended guests/observers with a level B HAZMAT suit (a tychem coverall, gloves, and self-contained breathing apparatus). Whether they chose to wear the suit was entirely up to them, but Newt HAD modified Kang's to spec, so...you know. The option was there (Stark wasn't going to miss ONE suit, really).

...and it wasn't like Hermann hadn't worn one before.

There was no point bringing weapons--a bullet was probably pretty damn near ineffectual even on a small Kaiju--so he hadn't bothered. If Newt didn't retain his mind during the transformation and chose to attack them, Hermann or Qubit would have to port him elsewhere. And, if absolutely necessary, Miles had been put on alert for his dad to be ready to do whatever his thing was with nulling powers. Handy.

So, while Qubit could have ported them anywhere in the world, Newt still chose for the test area a former railroad yard, crisscrossed with old tracks and the odd abandoned boxcar or two, that was well out of the populated limits of De Chima. A large limestone mine and small rural pockets laid between them and the city, granting them enough time, he was sure, for Qubit to port Newt away or for the US military to scramble some jets as they were wont to do...should anything go horribly wrong. There was a small hospital twenty minutes south. Again, just in case. Earlier in the day, one of Hermann's drones had scanned the area for anyone who might have taken up residence in the empty watchtower or one of the old cars. It appeared to be free of any potential collateral damage.

The drone was also accompanying them now to film this--for posterity--and because if something really BAD went down, well... For posterity. Let's go with that. Newt had exhausted himself with worst case scenarios already. He was tired of feeling like Hermann.

Newt grinned at the camera. "Human-Kaiju transformation experiment Take 1. Dr. Newton Geiszler conducting experiment. Kang, Qubit, and Dr. Hermann Gottlieb--" in attendance He paused, turning with concern to his partner. "--You doing okay there, Hermann?"

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"Ready."

He'd eyed the suit at first, unsure if he wanted to put it on, but had decided to go through with it just in case. He had also given everyone the warning that if things went terribly wrong and he was killed, that he'd explode.

He doubted anything would go wrong.

"I'm sure it'll be fine, Newt. Remember, it's a voluntary change."

Since all the cool kids were wearing hazmat suits, Qubit had elected to do so as well. No point in messing with a personal force field when a layer of Tyvek would do just as well. They all looked perfectly ridiculous, of course, but better that than getting contaminated.

... Not that it would protect them much if Kang exploded. Which was new information, by the way, that's a hell of a thing to find out two minutes before the extremely hazardous experiment. Better not let him get killed, then.

For his own part, he had gone ahead and built some equipment on site, just in case. Biometric scanners, secure sample containment, that sort of thing. But probably the most important was the net. At the moment it was still inactive, so it looked more like a landmine than anything else, but Qubit had already made sure everyone knew what all of these machines did, and that none of them were remotely lethal. No cause for alarm, see?

"All systems green," he replied, finishing whatever calibrations he was working on. He still had his hood down, but surely Newt would give them a few seconds warning before transforming. "Ready when you are."

They all looked kind of ridiculous and it helped ease performance anxiety a little. Nobody was going to eat anybody. Nobody was going to die. Nobody was going to explode or get ported into the Sun or-- Voluntary change. Right. RIGHT.

"Then we are go for launch! --Except not." He started to loosen, then outright remove his tie, followed by his shirt, and then his boots. As he worked, he narrated for the camera. "Because I've seen enough movies to guess that, when I transform, due to the change in mass and form, these clothes are just not going to withstand the pressure on the seams and fabric. So I'm removing what I can in anticipation of basically busting out of my clothes. Catch!" Without much warning, Newt tossed his shirt and tie at Hermann, then sent his boots across the gravel in the same general direction.

He playfully went for his pants, winked at the drone, and then wriggled out of his skinny jeans and tossed them away without further fanfare. It'd be a little humiliating standing here in his boxers if it wasn't for science. Wouldn't it be great if he could just... magical-girl transform?

"Oh--I almost forgot."

These were not to be thrown. Mindful of the uneven ground, Newt stepped over to Hermann and carefully removed and folded up his glasses before handing them over for safe-keeping. Then, the very last thing to be removed, despite it now being significantly harder to see, he worked his engagement ring off his finger and spent far longer than necessary holding it himself before he reluctantly held it out for Hermann.

He gave the blurry blobs that were Kang and Qubit a huge grin and a double thumbs up.

"NOW we are ready!"

Hermann preoccupied himself as Newton undressed, trying not to feel like this was all very much inappropriate. But so long as he didn't remove-- his vision darkened a moment, and he tugged the shirt from his face to drop unceremoniously to the ground. Well, at least Newton had managed to keep his boxers on. Nevermind he was going to lose them anyway.

He pocketed Newton's glasses and they both stared at the man's engagement ring as he removed it. It was only logical of course, but his heart still panged to take it back. Hermann swallowed around the lump in his throat and if not for their audience, he would probably kiss him. Almost wanted to despite that, but his hands were a bit full anyway and everyone had already waited through all the set up.

"Newton.." He said lowly, hesitating a moment as his mind skipped over several phrases before finally settling on one. "I'm not leaving you. Remember that."

Kang crossed his arms as he waited for the transformation attempt, pouch of spell components at the ready just in case it was needed. It was a good idea, Newt removing his clothes - he remembered his own struggles with keeping clothing intact when he was learning how to shapeshift.

[ooc: and because it was discussed earlier with Kae, Qubit can react to waiting and the transformation in his tag--just because otherwise you guys have to wait a whole day basically for me.]

Newt nodded, Hermann's words knocking around in their active Drift as he stepped back.

Several paces away, near a stretch of damaged train tracks that to Newt stopped at a spot marked out in a broad, long strike of bright pink chalk. Based on their calculations, this put him in range of Qubit's anti-Kaiju equipment and kept Newt's transformation and size change from colliding with the three.

"We are going to OWN this." He flashed a pair of very rockstar devil horns and turned his back on them, then dropped this boxers and kicked them away. Goodbye dignity. Just push the button, Geiszler. Rip off the bandaid.

Thinking of transforming, of being a Kaiju, wanting to be a kaiju, seemed to be enough to trigger the action. He wasn't sure how long it took--maybe a matter of seconds, maybe minutes--but it started at his extremities and then felt like it tore back through his skin all at once. Fingers and toes became claws first and easily enough, but then his spinal discs felt as though they were ripping apart from his vertebrae one by one as they enlarged and shifted. Newt tried in vain to catalogue the changes individually, but they were too many and came so suddenly, colliding and overwhelming his nerves. Blinding pain filled his senses. He was certain he screamed, didn't have the presence of mind to wonder what Hermann thought of all this--if he felt it through the Drift-- The world shifted and moved, as though climbing a ladder or swinging on a swing-set--his vision rose in height until he was seeing over fences and over busted cars and just when he thought he might black out from the pain, Newt realized whatever was going to happen had finished...

Newt unfurled his body from where it had curled in against the pain--joints weirdly placed, oddly angled, stretched and moved as he stomped around in a tight circle until he faced them again, his tail swinging in careful counterbalance.

{ We should have worked out a signal } he thought, opening his mouth to test his voice and reassure them and finding a sharp roar instead.

Edited 2016-08-01 05:12 (UTC)

Hermann winced through the double dose of immodesty, but moments later it was more than sympathetic embarrassment.

Pain, like everything in his body was dislocating and being torn at once and he shrieked with it, his laptop and cane both clattering away from him as his knees dropped to the ground. He writhed, hands roving over himself, desperate to keep his body together, but there was nothing to fix and he choked through howls of agony until finally, it all stopped.

He stared glassy eyed at the sky, blinking away tears and trembling, breathing erratic as he slowly regained autonomy and patted himself down in a slower, more methodical fashion. He was fine. Everything was fine. Nothing had changed- probably.

A strong thought passed through his mind - Newton's - but just as soon as he managed to lever himself up to his elbows, the kaiju roared and he dropped back down. Primal fear swept through him, heart leaping in his chest and god, they were all going to die weren't they?

Edited 2016-08-01 09:11 (UTC)

Okay, welp, now we've seen Newt naked. We can cross that off the list of Things We Really Weren't Asking For Today. It was a logical idea, though, so he couldn't complain. He just pretended to have been too busy pulling on his hood and mask to notice.

And then it was go time. Qubit watched with morbid fascination as his friend's body began to twist and expand and contort into something huge and utterly alien. The howls of agony made him wince, though. It made sense for the transformation to be painful, but of course they'd all hoped it wouldn't, especially...

"Hermann!" he shouted, alarmed. There was nothing to be done, though, short of preventing Hermann from actually hurting himself. The Drift was there whether they wanted it or not. Qubit came and crouched next to him, squeezing his arm both for support (though he doubted Hermann actually felt it at the moment) and to keep him from, I don't know, writhing onto an exposed nail or something. But as it ended, he got back to his feet.

It was incredible. If this was what their Kaiju looked like, Qubit could see why Newt was so enthralled by them. But was it still Newt in there? We should have worked out a signal, he thought. Too late now, though. He stepped forward, a gloved hand poised over his watch, ready to set off the net if need be. It wasn't by far the biggest or most dangerous creature he'd ever stared down, but it was still big and dangerous.

"Newt," he called up to him. "Newt, can you hear me?"

Now that, he hadn't expected. No one he'd spoken to with shapeshifting powers had ever reported feeling pain. He winced, keeping his attention on Newt until the transformation was complete, and tilted his head to one side unconsciously as he got his first look at a kaiju.

It was... glowy. And, he was glad it wasn't anywhere near the size of a real kaiju.

"Newt, if it's still you, hold up two claws."

Newt shifted uneasily back onto his haunches with a low rumble that was more kicked puppy than dangerous beast. Clear visioned eyes...multiple sets...focused on Hermann and he stamped his feet in a worried sort of dance in place { oh shit, babe. Breathe. }, then cautiously looked to Qubit, and finally settled on Kang. He stared dumbly at the Draconian.

{ Still me! Totally me! But... Am I even that dexterous? }

He wriggled his claws in front of his own face experimentally and then raised two in a vague approximation of the cute anime girl v pose. Newt fought back the urge to grin--teeth were unwelcome--and held the gesture until he was sure it had been noticed.

{ Do I pass? } Hermann's stress level was still palpable, and Newt was wary of those nets, so he took a shuffle step backwards, almost tripping over his hind legs, and waited, practically vibrating with energy. His own body felt foreign and surreal, and his stomach was queasy, but think of all the tests they could run!

Hermann stared, heart still racing but no longer panicked or pained. Slowly, carefully, he sat up, eyes staying on Newton and trying to find him in the biolumniscent mass in front of them.

{ Newton...? }

But far more pressing are the echoing thoughts resonating through the drift. Newton's voice, much stronger than usual. His fiance was nervous, concerned for him, and uneasy.

{ All perfectly logical of course. }

Yes, logic. Newton was cooperating with Kang's instruction to the best of his ability, and already the biologist was getting eager. Hermann reached for his cane, frowning over his fallen laptop, then slowly struggled to his feet.

"Yes.. Yes, he's all right," he announced, clearing his throat a moment. "I can hear his thoughts.. and I don't detect anything malicious."

{ Yes, you pass. }

Hopefully this new amplification worked both ways anyway.

Qubit stood down, letting out a huge sigh of relief. For once, it was actually gratifying to be over-prepared. Even what they'd seen in the last ten seconds answered several questions right off the bat: Newt was still in control of himself; he could see, hear, and understand them; and he couldn't speak, but the Drift was still active. Everything was going better than expected.

"Good. Excellent." He returned to his equipment, taking note of the readings so far - the fluctuations during the transformation process were going to be very interesting to review, but things appeared to have stabilized pretty promptly. Whatever Newt was, he seemed to be a healthy one.

"Let's not waste any time. We don't know how long you'll be able to hold this form," he said, picking up a sample kit and heading back in. "How are you feeling?" He glanced over at Hermann as well; the question was for both of them, and anyway Hermann was the only one who'd be able to answer.

"Careful. You don't walk like a human anymore," Kang smiled. "And watch the tail when you move."

Well, Newt was doing far better than he had when he'd first started shapeshifting. No destroyed clothes, holding it for more than a few seconds...

"Told you it'd probably be fine."

Fine. Yeah, it was fine in a manner of speaking. Newt was excited, but the excitement was slowly bleeding over into nervous anxiety instead. He coiled the tail around himself like a cat and Newt hunkered down, trying to compact himself. Smaller felt a little better, though still wrong.

{ Tell him I feel a little sick, full disclosure. For science. Like, not going to barf on you guys, but this is disorienting. I'm huge, I don't think this is vertigo, but nothing feels quite where it's supposed to. Spatial perception is all wrong. My body is wrong. My brain expects me to be bipedal, apelike, not...whatever shape I am--what shape am I? The Kaiju usually vaguely resembled Earth animals. Do I? Also, you're freakishly clear in my head and to make matters more confusing, I'm not 100% sure where you end and I begin. I'm starting to sort of second guess doing tests, but don't tell them that because I want the data. I'm just...It's weird, you know? Maybe this is residual Drift memories about dissection from Mutavore's brain--that, or your anxiety about doctors. }

Still wary and feeling a bit weak, Hermann watched every movement critically and leaned heavily on his cane.

He gave a nod to Qubit and worked on a translation as Newton spoke to him.

"He says he's feeling a bit sick.. That his body feels strange to him because his brain is accustomed to being human and walking on two legs rather than four. Not only that, but the kaiju in our world generally bore a vague resemblance to terran creatures and.. well the drift is confusing, seeing how it's amplified."

Probably not the best translation, but it would suffice. He blinked over Newton's form, puzzled and trying to place it.

{ On a basic level, from your large head, body, and tail, I'd say perhaps structurally you may resemble a rhinoceros. Albeit one armored with very sharp edges and no horn }

{ My tail is way longer than a rhino tail-body ratio, dude. Stick to math. I'll look at the pictures later. }

{ Of course it is. I said structurally, not exactly. If my laptop's not damaged, I'll have the full feed for you to watch sooner rather than later. Thanks for that by the way. }

{ Not my fault if your laptop's damaged. }

{ It was your transformation that made me drop it, if you’ll recall. }

{ Oh, right, because no one saw THAT one coming. You knew I was going to transform. YOUR fault for holding it. }

{ Yes, well you also failed to account for the pain of your transition. If I’d known about that beforehand- }

{Yeah, sure, because we've done so many tests already...!} Multiple sets of eyes narrowed irritably at Hermann. Newt had, in typical fashion, already forgotten that they had an audience...one that, for once, could not even hear what the argument was.

"Well, do try to keep it down. We don't need vomit samples." Some disorientation was to be expected in a case like this, but a Level B hazmat suit might not help very much against getting soaked in Kaiju barf.

"You say 'amplified.' Can you be more specific?" he asked, prepping the first sample container. When a few seconds passed without a reply, he looked up and snapped his fingers to get their attention. (Or tried to, anyway. The nitrile gloves made it a bit difficult.) "Hermann. More specific?" The look on Hermann's face was amply familiar, but it was odd to see it unaccompanied by the usual bickering. Was that what he meant? Qubit had dismissed the earlier "hear his thoughts" comment, because that was, in a sense, how the Drift always worked, but if "amplified" meant they had enough precision to make their bickering fully telepathic...

It occurred to him, belatedly, that he should have had Hermann wear an esperecorder for this. He'd have to throw one together in a moment.

"What?" Hermann hazarded back at Qubit until he'd pulled enough of his focus from Newton to remember the context of his question. "Oh, er- well we've never been good at direct telepathy. Thoughts would slip through at points but not reliably. I can.. he's.."

He took a few deep breaths, feeling a bit like he was drowning in Newton's onslaught of feelings and thoughts. "It's as if a dam has been broken and suddenly everything is filtering through. On both sides, it seems. It's.. disorienting."

And the effects were immediately obvious as, disabled though he may be, Hermann was unusually unsteady on his feet while just walking the few steps to his laptop. His cane helpfully ensured he didn't actually fall over.

{ This is bothersome, } he thought irritably, trying to focus on himself and his own very human body as he bent to pick up the computer. { Better than it was at least. }

{ Better than what was? }

{ Your initial transformation. Lots of panic and confusion. Now I'm only.. }

Derailing his own line of thought upon examining his laptop- { Well it doesn't seem too bad. Perhaps it will still work- oh the screen is cracked, but it's still working for the moment.. Just going to save everything in case something happens, but my camera will continue recording. I've given it some internal storage. So long as this experiment doesn't exceed an hour's worth of footage, it'll be fine. }

Hermann paused, glancing up from his laptop.

{ ..Did you hear all that? }

{ Yeah. Yeah, I heard it. Not to exceed an hour. If you or Qubit can't repair your laptop with your powers, I'll pay for it to get fixed later. Sorry about that, dude.

...This is going to get really tiresome having to talk through you, though. } He snorted. { You are the worst about translation. }

{ We'll fix it ourselves, I'm sure. Just not the time at the moment. } Hermann went back to his screen. { I didn't really expect to translate, you know. You're lucky I'm doing it at all. And really, you don't have much to complain about so long as I convey the key information. }

Newt growled, frustrated.

{ You BETTER translate me. Hermann, babe, I love and adore you, but I am the biologist and this is MY experiment. }

He stood up and shook out a little, as if preparing to leave.

{ I totally WILL go home without you if you aren't nice. ~~Don't call my bluff, man.~~ }

Rolling his eyes, Hermann tapped a few keys, then very gently set his laptop on the ground. Into the air, it projected a 3D hologram of Newton's form, various numbers off to the side displaying different measurements.

{ No guarantees of how long that will last, but anyway, it looks like Qubit is prepping sample containers. Any specifics you need me to convey to him? }

{ I want a skin scraping, a cheek swab, blood drawn--and I think he will have to take it from soft tissue inside my mouth...even from my tongue if that's easier...no needle I brought is penetrating this skin. If he can cut off a claw, I'd like that, but I get that that's not for everyone, and we might not even have the tools for it. Right now I'm mostly concerned with my toxicity levels and if I'm at all corrosive. There are other samples I'd like, but I'll...figure out ways to get those myself. I'm open to any sorts of other tests either of them can think of. Or that the peanut gallery over there thinks might be useful, too. } He gave a toss of his head in the general direction of Miles, Aral, and Harrison.

"He says he wants a skin scraping, cheek swab, and you may have to draw blood from his tongue or the inside of his mouth, due to his armored skin most everywhere else. He's open to other sensible tests if anyone has suggestions."

{ That doesn't seem terribly safe though. }

"Er, he'd also be interested in amputating a claw for further study if you have the tools for it. But it's fine if we can't do that yet. Mostly he's concerned about his toxicity level and whether or not he's corrosive."

It was definitely strange to only see Hermann and Newt arguing. It figured - even at a time like this, they wouldn't stop.

"We're definitely going to have to find some other way for you to communicate," Kang sighed. "You won't always be able to have Hermann around to translate for you. It looks like even that isn't very pleasant."

Surely there was an imPort that could figure some sort of tech out for it.

"A claw. You do realize that's going to hurt quite a bit, likely more than ripping out a human fingernail? I've seen how humans react to that"

Qubit raised an eyebrow at Kang, but decided against asking. Amputation, technically, was easy - his teleportals were so good at it that he'd put a lot of effort into programming them not to - but that was a clumsy way to go about it. "And you'd feel it as well," he added, to Hermann. "It's a moot point, though. A proper amputation could take hours even if we knew what we were doing." A beat - "We could try clipping just the nail, though. Newt'll have to give us his best guess on how far in we can go."

Newt considered his options. Kang had a very valid point about Hermann's role as translator, one that Newt was momentarily distracted from as he huffed and pouted at the accusation that he'd be a big baby about cutting off a claw. Would not be. Totally would not be.

{ I'm pretty sure structurally my claws are similar to a couple of other Kaiju we've seen, so I can figure you're safe until about two-thirds of the way into the nail. Say...half. Half is safe. WAITWAIT don't say it. I have an idea. }

Kang's phone chimed, possibly from inside his protective suit, with a text message from Newt...who was now doing the Kaiju equivalent of whistling and looking away, nonchalant and totally not guilty.

Are you familiar with the game "telephone," dude? Because that's totally what we're playing. It's a game where you pass a comment down the chain of listeners--NOT THE POINT. Point is. Tell Qubit about halfway through the nail should be safe to clip.

{ Remember the submarine? Same idea. } He tapped a claw against his forehead. { Genius, amirite? }

Hermann stared, piecing Newton's plan together, and rolled his eyes, returning to his laptop.

"Yes," he said loudly and with blatant sarcasm. "Truly ingenious, Newton. Congratulations."

It took a moment of digging to fish out the phone, but once he read the message, he smiled and nodded before sending a message back.

Ah, I get it. Why not take it a step further and just use the mental link?

"Qubit, Newt says that you should be able to clip about halfway down safely."

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So, you've come to stare at the beast, have you?

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because I realize that there's not a lot to do while waiting for Newt

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Hermann & Newt tag together; so next tag is Qubit or Kang

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joint tag! Kang or Qb's turn

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