After Stacey and Noel left the room, Liam brought a chair over to the side of Altair's bed and sat in it. He then crossed his arms and glared at Altair in silence for what felt like an eternity before he finally asked, "Just what the hell are you, exactly?"
Altair's vision shook slightly as she turned her head away from him. 'There's no way he found out, right?' Her thoughts then turned to how she saw her hair return back to its normal color and she couldn't resist looking out of the corner of her eye at it. Upon seeing her hair color had returned to how it was before her traits emerged she released a silent of sight of relief before turning back to Liam with a feigned look of confusion.
Liam seemed unconvinced at her look as he coldly stated, "You want to try and hide it, do you? Well there's no point." He leaned in slightly as he spoke in a quieter tone that seemed to make what he said more ominous, "I already saw your hair color change back from silver. The color of your eyes changed too. Also, your skin as well. I even cut you open to see if anything changed on the inside but I couldn't tell anything from your organs. But your muscles did show me something quite interesting. It was like you had gone through an extreme body workout only to lay in bed for multiple weeks, completely ruining any progress you made."
He leaned back again as Altair felt dread overshadow her. He then asked, "So, what exactly are you and why did you body change so abruptly?" He narrowed his eyes and looked at her like a hawk would look at a hamster.
Altair felt cornered. She didn't want to say anything to him that would give any more information about her away. She also wasn't sure of why her body went through those changes. Although she did guess that it was probably from the influence of the Manamium that she had encountered somewhere.
Liam was silent and so was Altair. An uncomfortable silence hung in the air as the tension between them seemed to rise at a rapid rate.
Altair squired slightly under his intense gaze and she couldn't continue looking at him. She eventually looked over to another point in the room, as if trying to hide her guilt on the subject.
She then heard Liam laugh loudly in a light hearted fashion. This caused her to snap her head back towards him in real confusion this time.
Liam had a big grin on his face as he proclaimed, "You moron. You don't think I don't already know the cause?" He gave her a mocking smile as he continued, "I already tested it thoroughly. After you were dropped off here I questioned Dave on everything that happened that day. I quickly came to the conclusion that the rain had something to do with it."
He lifted the water bottle that he had set down up and unscrewed the top of it as he went on, "The changes are indeed quite strange though. I went through the liberty of catching a bunch of rain water to run more tests. I was just wondering if you knew the reason yourself but…" He abruptly splashed the clear liquid that was in the bottle all over Altair's face.
Altair quickly started to rub her eyes as if the liquid could do some damage to them. Her eyes felt momentarily uncomfortable from the water hitting them but they quickly felt pleasant and she pulled her hands down from them. The pain in her head also cleared up a little as well.
Liam grabbed her by the hair and held it before her eyes as he continued, "See? Something in the water is responsible." He was right as Altair's hair had returned back to its silver color. This caused her eyes to widen in shock as she realized that the rain of this place had something like Manamium in it.
She also immediately realized that the pain she was feeling was probably because she was drenched in it.
Liam let her go none too gently as he continued, "So, how do you feel? Be honest now as there are some other things about this that need to be addressed." He leaned back in his chair and waited for her to reply.
Since the cat was out of the bag and she didn't really have much to lose about it, she honestly replied, "I feel like someone beat every inch of my body with a tree."
Liam's brow rose slightly, "That's strange. Let me check." He reached his hand over and Altair felt a warm air cover her body and seep into her skin. The pain within her slowly started to fade as he drew back and said, "Huh. I wonder why that's the case." He brought up his communicator and his fingers started to dance upon it, "Maybe it's like a drug? But then again there was nothing strange in the rain. In fact, it was as clean as water can get. So what exactly could the cause be then? It's not like she has problems drinking water. There must be something different. Perhaps our technology just can't detect it? Yes, that seems likely."
His hands stopped and he looked up at her with a serious expression, "You should dry off your hair. Only the Renald, Dave, and I know about how this affects your body. We should keep it that way. I doubt the Marnithok family has enough resources to protect you if that gets out."
She attempted to lift a blanket to use as a towel and it caused a shooting pain to course through her body. She abruptly sucked in a pained breath that caused Liam to roll his eyes.
"You are so useless," he said as he snatched the blanket out of her hands and proceeded to dry her hair for her. He wasn't gentle at all like Stacey and Noel were. He then continued to say, "The rain has some other interesting effects as well. I have been rather stumped about the poison afflicting your body you know. I can't seem to find any way to separate it from the samples I collected, at least until a few days ago."
He tossed the blanket aside and reached into one of his pockets. He then pulled out a small transparent circular dish that had a lump of green flesh in it. He opened the top and pulled out a small eyedropper filled with liquid and dripped a single drop of water on it.
As the liquid flowed off the flesh it turned green and left behind pink, lively flesh. It was as if the flesh was covered in a strange layer of green dust that was wiped away.
Altair's eyes widened in shock at the sight of the poison being cleaned off the flesh. 'What's exactly is going on here? Manamium can't cure Mana Sealing Poison so why is it like that? No, that doesn't matter. Doesn't this mean that I can cure the poison if I drink the rain water?'
Liam put the container away before he said, "I considered having you drink the water to see if it would cure you but a problem came up when I was analyzing the poison that was finally separated from the samples. To put it simply, it's not neutralized at all. It actually seems to be reacting violently to whatever is in the rain that we can't seem to detect."
Altair's brow furrowed, "Then why is it pulled out?"
Liam shrugged, "I don't know. I don't even know what effects the poison have still. But I can tell you that if we tried to treat you with it right now you'd probably pop like a balloon."
Altair tilted her head at the phrasing she didn't understand.
Liam saw that and let out an exasperated sigh as he corrected himself, "Your insides would probably expand as we tried to treat you with the water. It would then cause your organs to rupture and burst, resulting in you dying in a pool of your own blood."
A shiver ran down Altair's spine as she imagined it for a brief moment. "Oh" was all she said.
Liam then asked again, "So, what can you tell me about it? Anything at all would help, you know."
Altair hesitated for a long moment, which caused another awkward silence to descend between them. The silence went on for a long while before Liam sighed in frustration. He then said, "Fine, don't tell me. But since it seems to cause problems for your body after you stay in the rain then I'm going to have to make sure you are locked up in a room with no windows when rain is scheduled."
Altair's ears seemed to perk up and she looked at Liam with clear panic in her eyes towards his words. 'If I can't get rain than I won't be able to return home!'
Liam ignored the look on her face as he continued, "Well it shouldn't be too much of a problem for everyone. The general excuse will be because you can't stop getting your clothes ruined. The real excuse will be for medical reasons, obviously. I can't keep coming here to heal your body when it reacts so poorly to you being drenched in it, after all. I have other things to do."
Altair quickly pleaded, "No I need it!"
As if he had foreseen some kind of excuse, Liam instantly replied, "Then you better tell me what you know and if it isn't enough you can forget it."
After Stacey and Noel left the room, Liam brought a chair over to the side of Altair's bed and sat in it. He then crossed his arms and glared at Altair in silence for what felt like an eternity before he finally asked, "Just what the hell are you, exactly?"
Altair's vision shook slightly as she turned her head away from him. 'There's no way he found out, right?' Her thoughts then turned to how she saw her hair return back to its normal color and she couldn't resist looking out of the corner of her eye at it. Upon seeing her hair color had returned to how it was before her traits emerged she released a silent of sight of relief before turning back to Liam with a feigned look of confusion.
Liam seemed unconvinced at her look as he coldly stated, "You want to try and hide it, do you? Well there's no point." He leaned in slightly as he spoke in a quieter tone that seemed to make what he said more ominous, "I already saw your hair color change back from silver. The color of your eyes changed too. Also, your skin as well. I even cut you open to see if anything changed on the inside but I couldn't tell anything from your organs. But your muscles did show me something quite interesting. It was like you had gone through an extreme body workout only to lay in bed for multiple weeks, completely ruining any progress you made."
He leaned back again as Altair felt dread overshadow her. He then asked, "So, what exactly are you and why did you body change so abruptly?" He narrowed his eyes and looked at her like a hawk would look at a hamster.
Altair felt cornered. She didn't want to say anything to him that would give any more information about her away. She also wasn't sure of why her body went through those changes. Although she did guess that it was probably from the influence of the Manamium that she had encountered somewhere.
Liam was silent and so was Altair. An uncomfortable silence hung in the air as the tension between them seemed to rise at a rapid rate.
Altair squired slightly under his intense gaze and she couldn't continue looking at him. She eventually looked over to another point in the room, as if trying to hide her guilt on the subject.
She then heard Liam laugh loudly in a light hearted fashion. This caused her to snap her head back towards him in real confusion this time.
Liam had a big grin on his face as he proclaimed, "You moron. You don't think I don't already know the cause?" He gave her a mocking smile as he continued, "I already tested it thoroughly. After you were dropped off here I questioned Dave on everything that happened that day. I quickly came to the conclusion that the rain had something to do with it."
He lifted the water bottle that he had set down up and unscrewed the top of it as he went on, "The changes are indeed quite strange though. I went through the liberty of catching a bunch of rain water to run more tests. I was just wondering if you knew the reason yourself but…" He abruptly splashed the clear liquid that was in the bottle all over Altair's face.
Altair quickly started to rub her eyes as if the liquid could do some damage to them. Her eyes felt momentarily uncomfortable from the water hitting them but they quickly felt pleasant and she pulled her hands down from them. The pain in her head also cleared up a little as well.
Liam grabbed her by the hair and held it before her eyes as he continued, "See? Something in the water is responsible." He was right as Altair's hair had returned back to its silver color. This caused her eyes to widen in shock as she realized that the rain of this place had something like Manamium in it.
She also immediately realized that the pain she was feeling was probably because she was drenched in it.
Liam let her go none too gently as he continued, "So, how do you feel? Be honest now as there are some other things about this that need to be addressed." He leaned back in his chair and waited for her to reply.
Since the cat was out of the bag and she didn't really have much to lose about it, she honestly replied, "I feel like someone beat every inch of my body with a tree."
Liam's brow rose slightly, "That's strange. Let me check." He reached his hand over and Altair felt a warm air cover her body and seep into her skin. The pain within her slowly started to fade as he drew back and said, "Huh. I wonder why that's the case." He brought up his communicator and his fingers started to dance upon it, "Maybe it's like a drug? But then again there was nothing strange in the rain. In fact, it was as clean as water can get. So what exactly could the cause be then? It's not like she has problems drinking water. There must be something different. Perhaps our technology just can't detect it? Yes, that seems likely."
His hands stopped and he looked up at her with a serious expression, "You should dry off your hair. Only the Renald, Dave, and I know about how this affects your body. We should keep it that way. I doubt the Marnithok family has enough resources to protect you if that gets out."
She attempted to lift a blanket to use as a towel and it caused a shooting pain to course through her body. She abruptly sucked in a pained breath that caused Liam to roll his eyes.
"You are so useless," he said as he snatched the blanket out of her hands and proceeded to dry her hair for her. He wasn't gentle at all like Stacey and Noel were. He then continued to say, "The rain has some other interesting effects as well. I have been rather stumped about the poison afflicting your body you know. I can't seem to find any way to separate it from the samples I collected, at least until a few days ago."
He tossed the blanket aside and reached into one of his pockets. He then pulled out a small transparent circular dish that had a lump of green flesh in it. He opened the top and pulled out a small eyedropper filled with liquid and dripped a single drop of water on it.
As the liquid flowed off the flesh it turned green and left behind pink, lively flesh. It was as if the flesh was covered in a strange layer of green dust that was wiped away.
Altair's eyes widened in shock at the sight of the poison being cleaned off the flesh. 'What's exactly is going on here? Manamium can't cure Mana Sealing Poison so why is it like that? No, that doesn't matter. Doesn't this mean that I can cure the poison if I drink the rain water?'
Liam put the container away before he said, "I considered having you drink the water to see if it would cure you but a problem came up when I was analyzing the poison that was finally separated from the samples. To put it simply, it's not neutralized at all. It actually seems to be reacting violently to whatever is in the rain that we can't seem to detect."
Altair's brow furrowed, "Then why is it pulled out?"
Liam shrugged, "I don't know. I don't even know what effects the poison have still. But I can tell you that if we tried to treat you with it right now you'd probably pop like a balloon."
Altair tilted her head at the phrasing she didn't understand.
Liam saw that and let out an exasperated sigh as he corrected himself, "Your insides would probably expand as we tried to treat you with the water. It would then cause your organs to rupture and burst, resulting in you dying in a pool of your own blood."
A shiver ran down Altair's spine as she imagined it for a brief moment. "Oh" was all she said.
Liam then asked again, "So, what can you tell me about it? Anything at all would help, you know."
Altair hesitated for a long moment, which caused another awkward silence to descend between them. The silence went on for a long while before Liam sighed in frustration. He then said, "Fine, don't tell me. But since it seems to cause problems for your body after you stay in the rain then I'm going to have to make sure you are locked up in a room with no windows when rain is scheduled."
Altair's ears seemed to perk up and she looked at Liam with clear panic in her eyes towards his words. 'If I can't get rain than I won't be able to return home!'
Liam ignored the look on her face as he continued, "Well it shouldn't be too much of a problem for everyone. The general excuse will be because you can't stop getting your clothes ruined. The real excuse will be for medical reasons, obviously. I can't keep coming here to heal your body when it reacts so poorly to you being drenched in it, after all. I have other things to do."
Altair quickly pleaded, "No I need it!"
As if he had foreseen some kind of excuse, Liam instantly replied, "Then you better tell me what you know and if it isn't enough you can forget it."
