Lina thought about it for a moment. If she went through with this, she'd never have to listen to Naga's rants about her lack of 'feminine attributes', she'd never be mistaken for being a lost little girl, and she'd never have to hear someone call her flat. The only downsides would be that she had the chance of losing her mind (very small chance of that) and that he would be entrusting her life to some stranger for the next few days (though Zelgadis had recommended him so there was little worry there).
She decided. "I'll do it. What do I need to do?"
Stein nodded. "First I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask to draw some blood from you."
Lina paled slightly and shouted. "What? Why would you need to do that?!"
Stein replied. "Remember what I said about making the extra clay a part of you? Well to do that, I'll have to mix some of your blood in with the clay. I do know a minor healing spell to heal the wound, so you'll only feel somewhat disoriented from the loss of blood until I'm ready to change you to stone. You can still back out if you want."
Lina shuddered briefly. She wasn't unfamiliar with pain, but purposely cutting herself to drain blood? It was enough to give her the shivers. She refused to back out over a little bloodloss, however, and replied in a subdued voice. "Fine, let's just get this over with."
"Alright. Follow me please. Ah, Sharlene, why don't you show Lina's companion to the library while the preparations are underway." Stein opened a door and ushered Lina through before closing it behind himself.
Before the door closed, however, Lina caught a snippet of conversation between Gourry and the other woman. "So, do you perhaps play chess, sir?" "Oh, I'm alright I suppose."
They walked down a short hallway before it opened up to a nicely decorated room, complete with a soft couch and two chairs. "You'll perhaps be most comfortable on the couch while I draw the blood. I'll go get a bowl to collect it. It wouldn't do to have half of it end up on the floor." He hurried off through another door and disappeared.
Sighing, Lina made her way over to the couch and lay down, trying to get comfortable as she prepared herself for what was about to happen. She might act brave and all in front of the others, but she was uneasy with seeing her blood like that. It was different when it was 'that time of the month'. SHe'd accepted that as part of being a woman, even though she didn't exactly have the build for it. She was interrupted in her thoughts as he returned, holding a soup bowl in one hand and a small dagger in the other.
"Are you ready?" Lina nodded and closed her eyes. She heard him put the bowl down and felt him draw her sleeve partway up. There was a nick on her wrist and she felt her blood slowly run down her finger to begin dripping into the bowl. Seconds dragged into minutes and she began to feel light-headed. Her eyes slowly opened while her focus drifted and soon she heard him muttering the incantations to a healing spell.
While the spell returned some of her strength, She still felt weak. She fumbled around for a moment before he helped her to a sitting position. "Here, drink this." He handed her a fruit drink and watched her gulp it down. "I'm no herbalist, but it helps people recover from that more quickly. Good. Now, if I turned you to stone your clothes would change with you and that would make things difficult, don't you agree? So, why don't you take off your things." Lina thought about that for a moment before nodding absently to herself. Yes, that would be a little difficult, especially it ended up with her cape being an actualy part of herself. As she began pawing at her clothes, she noticed him assisting her as he undid her buttons. There seemed to be something wrong with this picture, but as she was still light-headed and he was acting the perfect gentleman in his assistance, it didn't register.
As the last article dropped to the ground, he helped her unsteadily to her feet. Holding one of her arms over his head while his other lay against her hip, he led her through to the next room. This room looked like a normal artist's workshop with various stone and clay working tools hanging on walls or on a table. There was also a foot tall stone pedestal in the center of the room, which he led her to. She wobbled slightly as she stood on it, but she didn't collapse.
Stein walked over to the table and picked up a small, covered mirror. He then stood in front of Lina and grabbed at the bottom of the cover. "You'll have to stare at this mirror for the magic to work. Are you ready?"
"Y-yes." Lina replied.
Stein pulled back the mirror and Lina took a look at it. It didn't look any different from a normal mirror, but as she kept staring, she started to feel her feet go cold, then numb. The feeling then began to quickly climb up her legs. Jerking wide awake now at the surprise of the unusual sensation, Lina...
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(Posted Tue, 02 Dec 2003 05:53)
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