ways_infirmary | (no subject)

(no subject)

Augrha squats on the floor by Venkman's bed, staring intently at the arrangement of stones, feathers and sticks she had scattered there. She is accustomed to waiting. And her favorite way to fill in dead time is random divination.

In deference to the other patients in the Infirmary, she has improvised a patch over the eyesocket which holds the crystal. Some light seeps through the weave of the cloth she'd tied around her head, but at least it isn't blinding anymore.

"Bah!" She finally says, sweeping up the trash she's tossed down. "Things Aughra does for people."

She looks up at the sound of the door opening.

"So there you are!" she says.

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And Magius walks over from Where he has been sitting with Nina.

"May I be of assistance?"

His eyes are glowing with silver power.

It took a bit of concentration for Peter to open the door, so his form wavered a little as he entered. He was avoiding the going through stuff at much as he could. He hovered over to his body.

"Yeah, I'm back. Why you missed me that much?"

He glanced over at Magius, "Hey good to see you again. This is Aughra. Aughra, this is Magius."

He tilted to his head toward Nina's bed, "How she doing?"

Magious glances back at her, his eyes hooded.

"She is delirious and at the moment collapsed from exhaustion and stress. She is losing it the longer this goes one."

Then his eeys focus on Peter.

"How are you?"

Peter winced at that, "Shit, I'm sorry."

He glanced back at his body. Did he really looked that tired and *old*? He could see the curse laying over him, though he could see it's focus was still on the crystal.

"Dealing, but tired." His form seemed to have dimmed some from the exertion. The crystal was a temporary fix, a temporary reprieve.

He turned toward Aughra, "So how do we go about this? Guess we need to disable the jury-rig first, right?"

"Could cut link," Aughra says, removing the bandage from that eye. Light floods out...but it's quite a bit less brillant than before. "But shouldn't. When curse loses power from crystal will go back to draining you. Shock of that alone might kill."

She gives Magius a measuring look. "And this one is powerful, but sometimes even powerful schemes don't go as planned. Better to remove link after curse gone. Danger from that? With curse gone, crystal power floods into you. Might burn out. But that's what Aughra is here for. Ground power and keep you from going pfft!"

She snorts. "And you liked crystal power. Get another taste before the end if all doesn't blow up."

"Great, so basically something goes wrong, I'm toast, right? Story of my life. If we don't do anything, I'm screwed. I guess vote for holding off on the crystal removal."

There was a brief sly grin about the last comment, "Well, yeah, if I had easy access to one of those, I'd might never drink coffee again... Maybe." He did like coffee after all, not just for the caffiene. Regular coffee though, nothing fancy.

Magous nods to Aughra.

"That is a most eminent and excellent suggestion. I can cast the Remove Curse spell with things as they are, then you watch to make sure all is well, before proceeding, aye?"

Aughra laughs.

"Still not listening, boy. Something goes wrong, Aughra is toast."

She smiles up at Magius. "Do your work. I'll watch. Aughra has watched a long time. Lots of practice."

Peter winced at that idea. He definitely didn't want anybody's death on his hands. Not for his sake. "Oh... Uh, can't have that either. Just tell me exactly what I have to do so *nobody* goes toast."

"Now, boy. Aughra is old and not long till she returns to rocks and roots that spawned her. We all do what's needed." She snorts. "At least is interesting way to die. Hate to go in a dull way."

She turns to look at Magius. "Ready now?"

Magius nods.

"I am indeed. Peter, if you will be ready. We can proceed now. The spell will take several mintues but you both may speak and move as you like until it is done."

He begins a low chant. It will take several minutes to finish the spell, as the Words are very definite and must not be gotten wrong. His voice slowly rises as he feels the power rise with it.

Peter nodded, and for once had the sense to keep his mouth shut. He didn't want to take any chances with this. He remained by his body, watching Magius and Aughra. He could see the power starting to grow in the room, sense it almost.

As he chants, items float up out of his pouches. A golden ring, a small ruby, a bag of dirt, a sheet of music lyrics. All dance around him, spinning as he chants. Then there is a flame over Venkman's body, and the items dissappear into the flame. And there is a sound like a roar, but muted. And then, absolute quiet, no sound, no movement at all, and finally, like a ring of bloue, there is a shatterring and silver of Magius's power rushes to where the curse is and the flame follows and then... the curse is now more.

With a hoarse shout, Magius ends the spell and sinks to his knees, his breath slipping in and out of him slowly, and he looks up, sweat dripping down suddenly cvery tired eyes.

"It... is...done."

Peter turned to him worriedly, but felt hit with something.
The crystal. God, the energy...

There seemed to be light everywhere. Through him, in him. It was incredible, such a rush. He was light...

...It was too much.

But then just as quickly he heard Aughra muttering, drawing off the extra energy. He thought he heard her voice waver, as though in pain for a moment. Yet he found his surroundings vanishing, and everything growing distant. He was rushing, or being pulled toward something.
Wait, stop!

And everything got quiet except for the beeping of the machines.

Peter's spirit was no longer there, and there was a peacefully sleeping Venkman.

One whose eyes were fluttering a little, and weakly pulled the oxygen mask away from his face.

"Hi honey, I'm home." he tiredly laughed, "Everybody still in one piece?" He could dimly see Aughra assisting Magius.

Magius settles into a chair next to Venkman.

"I believe I am alive. And fucntioning. The spell seems to have worked. The curse is gone, I cannot see a trace of it on you anymore. How are you feeling? I can get Hank McCoy in here, so we can get a full check up of you, just to be sure of lack of physical repurcussions. There have never been any when I used this spell before, but it is best to be sure."

Magius is still grim, but he shows a slihgt smile. Hope lives.

"Ooogy..." He heard a nearby snort from the seer, and mutterings of 'foolish urSkek boy.'

"I think that'd be a good idea, both of you as well just to make sure." He sort of slept and not slept for days. And the crystal left him feeling a little wired. There was still some of a PKE glow around him too.

Moments later, Hank responds to Magius's silent call, bringing in scanners as well as some fruit, meat, cheese and bread. He passes out the food and begins the scans.

The scans take awhile. Long minutes pass as he slowly runs every scan he can think of on these three. The possibility of a cure for the curses is a hope few had entertained. And when he is done, he smiles.

"The results are positive, Lady and gentlemen. You are all in normal health, and seem unaffected by what has occurred, save for increased levels of fatigue poisons, which comes from extra exertion of superhuman levels. Your physicology is unusual enough that I dont know if anything is different Aughra. The only true alteration I can see if in you Doctor Venkman. Your brainwaves are sligtly different from before. Some new areas are stronger, old ones less so, but there is no way for me to see what this means, and none of the areas which would control your functions bodily or mental are affected. The seratonin levels are up, but that is to be expected as well. All in all, you are in very good health for someone who was a ghost an hour ago."

He grins.

"Congratulations."

Magius nods and smiles from where he is now standing.

"Excellent."

Peter frowned at that, wondering what Hank meant. He made a mental note to run some scans of himself with the PKE meter to compare some time later.

"Ok, thanks Hank, and thank you, both of you. Really saved my bacon there. And hey, guess this means this'll work for the others, right?" He replied as he sat up.

Hank smiles and goes to look in on others.

Magus nods too, but his reply is cautious.

"We can break the curses, but some of them have altered the people they are on. That damage will take more magic, or time, or healers. Some things, once done, cant be undone."

He smiles anyway.

"Still, it is a beginning. Now if you will excuse me, I am going to go sack out on the bed next to Nina's. This spell took a lot out of me. Congratulations, Peter. nd I will see you both later."

With that he bows and heads out of the small area.

Aughra is wearily removing the crystal orb from her socket.

"That's done. Nice bit of work. Ah!"

The crystal comes free with a sucking sound and Aughra contempates it as it lies on her calloused palm. Nowhere near as brilliant as it was in the beginning, there is still a steady light coming from its heart.

"Still some left. Eh. Who knows might be needed someday."

She pulls the pouch out of her dress, drops the crystal inside and then puts it on Peter's bed.

"You keep it boy. Aughra don't need it. Might come in handy."

Peter nodded to Magius. That was already obvious to him, especially after what Hank said. And he's seen some of the other victims. They were going to need a lot of therapy after this. Not even most war veterans undergo the trauma some of them have gone through.

He reached out to clutch the pouch curiously.

He then quietly remarked, "Right got a date with some big nasty uglies back home in a while... Thank you, Aughra. Anything you need sometime, let me know." He knew he had a huuuge debt to repay.

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