Shapeshifting Shenanigas

[bashfulshifter]

Characters: Patrick Dawn and YOU
Setting: February 6th - dorms, laboratory, kitchen, stairwell (see prompts). For the 7th through 15th, anywhere at any time! Just specify where and when, please!
Format: Starting action, can match!
Summary: Rick has his real powers back...again...but this time, he's running into some problems controlling them (re: having bits of his soul drained, kind of an issue). Rick is a shapeshifter, who can turn into creatures ranging from a domestic cat to a small dinosaur. I think you can see where this is going.
Warning: I don't think this will result in violence, but there is a random element to Rick's transformations and I completely understand if there are some negative reactions to suddenly having a tiger in your face. Will update this if such events occur. Edit: Last prompt on floor 100 definitely has monster-related violence.

Morning - First Floor Dorms - Open

[The past couple of weeks haven't been kind on the blonde man's psyche. Between fighting against his will in the Nyx battle, the power failure and subsequent draining of his soul to sustain it, then having his powers removed again following his most recent collar checkup, Rick has been rather stressed and, understandably, not feeling too social. Most of his time has been spent huddled in his room against the cold, trying to sort out all the worrying thoughts and visions from his trips through the plane, the mirror...it's all a bit much. Too much for him to comprehend. In some ways, he wonders if he should even be anxious about trying to understand it at all.]

[When he finally hears the familiar murmurs of his other forms on the morning of the sixth, however, that energy is enough to convince him that inaction is not helping. All of his friends are worried for him, he's pushed them away...and even if Reno's right and they can't restore their worlds, it would be selfish of him to make the lives of everyone else miserable in the meanwhile. He has to keep working.]

[This becomes a harder point to sell when, as the pajama-clad blushing shapeshifter steps out into the hall, he notes the distinct quiet in his mind. Rusty the cat--who should be, and probably is, quite insistent about patrolling his territory along the first floor--seems to be having some trouble making himself heard. Strange.]

[Unnerved, Rick decides to do some patrolling of his own instead. Perhaps taking a walk around the dorm hallways to clear his mind will help him focus so he can shift again...yes, that must be it. Should be simple enough.]

Afternoon - Floor 27 - Closed to fionnuisce

[Okay, this is much worse than he thought. Not the best. Don't panic.]

[Maybe Waver will know how to deal with this. It...it has to be the collar fluid, right? Since getting the new stuff made him loose his powers for a week, and he's had to go through the process twice, maybe there's been some complications? That sounds reasonable. Waver should know what to do about this.]

[Rick is, thankfully, still human when he manage to make his way to the labs where he hopes Waver will show up. He doesn't trust himself to have dextrous fingers to type with long enough to send him a message over the terminals, so this is the next best thing.]

[He'll just...sit here for a while. Nothing can go wrong while he's just sitting still. Yes?]

Late Afternoon - Floor 60 - Open

[Regardless of these difficulties, Rick has made a promise to help Reno do some cooking--a while ago, actually, but Enoch's letter reminded him that he's been neglecting his duties as of late. This is not acceptable!]

[Also not acceptable: a tyrannosaurus rex stuck in the walk-in refrigerator.]

[The Dinosaur's struggling has caused quite a mess, least of which to the heavy metal door that's locked him inside. Sure, there's plenty of stored meats for him to keep fed for a few...hours, maybe. But it is also cold and he is not happy. His roars of protest and the grating of claws against ice should indicate as much.]

Evening - Stairwell - Open

[Human Rick, shaken and scared, has been out for far too long and needs to get back before nightfall. But taking the elevator is not an option he feels comfortable utilizing with how unpredictable his powers have been...he has to walk.]

[It's a long forty stories.]

February 10th - Night - Floor 100 - closed to first poster!

[He hasn't made it to his room tonight. And while he's been able to avoid the monsters so far on the nights where getting to the dorms has been impossible, tonight he is not so lucky.]

[A Glowing One has caught the dog's scent as he cowers inside floor 100. The rustling leaves would have worked to hide his instinctive whimpering if they weren't fake, and if they actually made a noise, but the ghoul is not deceived. It will find him soon, and he knows it...]

Comments

[fionnuisce]

[Waver didn't 'show up' so much as 'make an explosive and sudden entrance'.]

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! [He practically dove into the laboratory and behind a desk which was immediately stabbed by...liquid mercury?]

[Sure enough, Volumen Hydragyrum in its maid form came rushing in after him, hands having turned to ten long and thin whips lashing out at everything in sight.]

I thought I worked this bullshit out of your system, what the hell's wrong with you?!

[Sorry, Rick--he hasn't even noticed you yet.]

[bashfulshifter]

--W-Wa--ah!

[Perhaps because of his nerves--or just sheer luck--Rick catches that something is wrong fast enough to get out of its way, following Waver's actions and tumbling behind the desk with him. He presses his back against the solid surface despite the sound of mercury tendrils snapping on the other side, gasping with rapidly rising levels of panic and, thus, can't articulate any questions regarding why this is happening in the first place.]

[fionnuisce]

What--oh, hello. Don't mind us, just having a bit of trouble here.

[Waver paused long enough to give Rick that greeting before returning to think about how to deal with the maid currently wrecking the place.]

oh for god's sake Rick can we not

[bashfulshifter]

B-But--but the--I--!

[Rick's protests are cut short by his own panic, followed soon after by the ailment that he was trying to find Waver for in the first place. That is, a random transformation.]

[Rather suddenly, the table is no longer an adequate hiding spot for Rick, because now he is a dinosaur.]

omfg.

[fionnuisce]

...What the fuck.

[Even Volumen Hydragyrum seemed mystified at that, stopping cold and looking up at him as if trying to determine whether or not to attack.]

Floor 60

[stitchedupbodyguard]

[Well, Veronica had been feeling weak for quite a while now. Even if her abilities were slowly returning to her, she was still tired.

You know when you're tired, you go eat something. Because that'll work, right?

So, avoiding the cafeteria menu, Veronica made her way to the kitchen to prepare something to eat. She looked through the cupboards first before opening the walk-in refrigerator.

And Dinosaur.]

Ah! [Jumping back in surprise and falling over herself now.]

[bashfulshifter]

[The Dinosaur yells back--only it comes out as a noise more typical for a creature of his stature. That is, as an ear-jarring roar.]

[If it helps his image any, he does try to back away from the entrance.]

[stitchedupbodyguard]

[More screaming because holy shit dinosaur]

[Of course... it starts dying down as she realizes that it seems to be stuck in the fridge.]

[bashfulshifter]

[He wants to tell Veronica that it's him, that he's sorry for startling her so much, please stop screaming, please, but all that comes out are more guttural roars and screeches and quite a lot of struggling as he tries to back up, give her some room to breathe. This is probably not helping.]

[Whenever Veronica is able to come back to her senses, she might also realize that, in addition to being stuck, the Dinosaur is wearing a blue Tower-issued collar.]

First floor dorms

[notagiraffe]

[His patrolling will probably be disturbed by a cry as a small child falls from the ceiling. He didn't seem to be there before, indeed he seemed to have fallen through the ceiling and he lands in a heap at Rick's feet.

He looks up with frightened eyes, not sure what has gone on. One moment he was walking and the next he was falling.] Sorry...

gomen, rolled very poorly, he'll be back soon I promise!

[bashfulshifter]

[Rick hops back in surprise, simultaneously baffled by Taiki's sudden entrance and horrified for his physical well-being. It only takes a moment or so for the latter to win over the former.]

--A-Ah! T-Taiki! [The blonde man hurriedly kneels down to his level, panic evident in his wide eyes.] A-Are you--

[...And then he's not there.]

[No, no transformation this time. The man has simply disappeared into thin air.]

sob

[notagiraffe]

Patrick? [Then the man was gone and Taiki looked around, frightened and not sure what was going on.] Patrick? Where...

okay he's back

[bashfulshifter]

[Roughly a minute later, the sound of barefooted jogging rounds the corner fore Rick does, coming in from behind Taiki.]

--O-Oh--there--! [He stumbles to a stop, looking flustered and rather confused.] --A-Are you a-alright?

[That's where they'd left off, right? Why did he leave in the first place? Must have wandered off for some reason...]

Floor 60

[notsogrimreaper]

[Ryoji is wandering past on the stairwell when he hears the loud roar, and despite all natural survival instincts telling him to run, he carefully sneaks onto the floor, pressing his ear against the door. Yep, that's definitely something big. But is it a monster? Something seems fishy...]

Um, hello? Who's there?

lucky roll! :D

[bashfulshifter]

[Hello, Ryoji! The Dinosaur asserts his own presence by banging on the door a few more times and howling in irritation. But suddenly--]

[Roughly mid-throw, Rick's powers kick in and he shifts. The blonde man staggers, slips on the icy floor and goes shoulder-first into the scarred metal door.]

Ow! [Thud.]

yay!

[notsogrimreaper]

Huh? Rick-san?

[Even if he doesn’t recognize the sounds, he knows that voice, and so he doesn’t hesitate to open the freezer door. He’d be rushing to Rick’s side too if he hadn’t realized Rick had gotten locked in here.]

Are you alright?

[bashfulshifter]

[Rick groans, massaging his sore shoulder as he slowly lifts himself sitting. For a moment he's almost calm, just looking pained and very tired while he nods the affirmative.]

[Then he realizes that Ryoji is probably very confused and alarmed and could do with an explanation. Or maybe Ryoji knows something about what's happened to him? Rick's eyes, squinted shut, fly open in mild panic.]

--R-Ryoji, I--

[Before he can get any further, the blonde man is replaced by a tiger.]

Stairwell

[averytinyparticle]

You're not doing so good, are you, Mr. Rick?

[The culprit of the question becomes clear enough as the boy comes bouncing up into view. He looks up with concern at the older man, boyish lips turned down into a pout. He had caught up with Rick with little trouble, and it was obvious by the way his movements came both sluggishly and shakily that he wasn't in the best of shape.]

Where are you going? I'll walk with you! You shouldn't be alone if you aren't feeling well.

[Not leaving any real room for argument, he reaches out to take the man's hand. He'd offer to let Rick lean on him, as well, but...considering how short Quark was, he doubted that was really feasible.]

oops, fun roll

[bashfulshifter]

--H-Huh?

[Oh--only Quark. Rick offers him a tired smile, but it comes out rather strained, what with how persistent Quark is being and how stressed he is to begin with. Still, it's nice to know that the child is so willing to--]

[In the next second, Quark will find that the hand he's holding is tiny, clawed, and attached to a tyrannosaurus rex's body.]

[averytinyparticle]

[Quark doesn't seem to notice how extra-uncomfortable it is that Rick looks. After all, Rick's always kind of uncomfortable, so he can't help but figure that it just comes with the territory.

But...a dinosaur? Kind of hard to miss, especially when you're holding hands with one. Quark had seen Rick in a couple of different forms at this point, the dog and the tiger. But this...well, rather a whole lot bigger.

Startled, Quark let's go of the hand-turned-claw and takes a bit of a stumble backward.]

Y-You're a...is that normal?

[bashfulshifter]

[The Dinosaur is equally startled--which only compounds the fact that he's much too large to properly navigate the stairs. Mid-step, he overcompensates and trips, falling flat on his heavy jaw with a strange rumble of surprise. His tail lashes noisily against the walls as he tries to right himself.]

[...There's an apology somewhere, of course, but Rick is not exactly in the best position to articulate himself.]

Floor 100

[wegotlucky]

[It's his own fault for not having made it back in time for nightfall. Why he had spent all day on this floor, he didn't know. There wasn't much to it, just the tree and the fake plants.

It was normally safe, but he had caught sight of the glowing one, his hand tightly on the sword as he tried to sneak up on it. It seemed distracted by something, and that could only mean that there was someone else on the floor.

He can't very well make any noise, and a Glowing One isn't about to go down easy. The best he can hope for is to injure it long enough that it becomes distracted.]

fffffffffffffffffff

[bashfulshifter]

[The "someone else" in question does not remain hidden for very long. While the dog can keep minimize the space he takes up effectively, the large dinosaur that he involuntarily shifts into moments after Neal enters the floor finds this task a lot more difficult.]

[The Glowing One is now suitably distracted. It hisses in angry surprise, sizing up its opponent, then decides that it can take the lizard and bounds forward.]

Rick, your luck is horrible

[wegotlucky]

[What? Well, now he knows that the Glowing One was definitely after a person because he couldn't say he'd ever seen a dinosaur in the tower before.

He doesn't waste any time, moving quickly now. These things are dangerous, and with the exception of a miracle, there's no way in hell that he can kill one.

Not that that's stopped him before.]

E-rank luck at its finest and most convenient

[bashfulshifter]

[The Glowing One has not made a wise decision. The Dinosaur, though large and quite imposing, is cornered and feeling sufficiently threatened. He lashes out instinctively with his teeth, oblivious to the radiation poisoning that this will inevitably cause, picks up the luminescent creature by its spindly arm and tosses it across the floor. It phases through the illusion of a park fountain from Rick's memory before skidding to a stop some distance away; its shoulder has nearly been torn off, but the Glowing One is persistent and struggles to its feet.]

[Neil remains unnoticed by either party.]