[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/5gmmJyE.png[/img][/center]
[center][img]http://s3.amazonaws.com/lego-elves/assets/characters/elements/large/character-element-fire-desktop-150px.png[/img][/center]
[h2][center]Reeves Mansion[/center][/h2]
[h3][center]Continued Changes[/center][/h3]
[center][img] https://media3.giphy.com/media/uBKdJxwCh4yZ2/200_s.gif[/img][/center]

With a pleasant yawn echoing through his frame, Skyler stretched his body before feeling a wet tongue traveling across his face. A soft giggle left his lips in response, followed by nuzzling Mushroom’s furry shape and planted a kiss on the dog’s snout. [color=f26522]”Good morning, Shroomy.’”[/color] Skyler spoke with a groggy, newly woken voice as his hands reached up to rub his eyes. Lowering his feet to the floor, another yawn managed to escape before he ascended with a stretch. It was positively the best night of sleep which had blessed him in over four years, something he was more than prepared to cling to. It was impossible to tell when the next palatable night had the opportunity of visiting, after all. 

Seeing how Mushroom leaped down to the floor, Skyler lowered his hand and gently scratched the dog behind his ears, starting towards the opened doorway with Mushroom’s eager paws close behind. The dog wouldn’t leave Skyler’s side anytime soon, that much was obvious. 

The fuzzy friend was still lacking much in a sense of weight, but his previously playful personality had returned and even though Mushroom wasn’t as quick on his paws as he used to be, he’d get there with enough time and nourishment. Days of misery were behind them, by the way things were looking now. 

Skyler rubbed his eyes with a third yawn, placing a tired hand on the bathroom door and pushed it open to pad his feet onto the cold tile floor beyond the threshold. Reaching his hand up to scratch his head, Skyler’s eyes widened at the sight befalling him in the reflection of the mirror. To the point of jumping back with a yelp, Mushroom reacted accordingly and barked, startled. Skyler on the other hand didn’t move his newly colored eyes from the image staring back at him. Pale to the point of appearing slightly grey, his skin had shifted notably along with his now pointy ears and jet black irises. Completing the new appearance, the whites of Skyler’s eyes turned to a golden yellow. [color=f26522]”Sh-shit…”[/color] The boy gulped in confusion. With every passing day, something seemed to be changing with him. What was next? Claws? [color=f26522]”Do I look different to you, Shroomy’?”[/color] Skyler lowered his eyes to the dog who barked in response, planting another lick on the boy’s face once he got down on his knees in a desperate attempt to look Mushroom in the eyes. [color=f26522]”Well, that’s a relief.”[/color] Skyler sighed deeply, ascending to his feet again before turning back to his image. Things were looking less and less normal by the day. Was this some kind of new puberty he was going through? Something which was changing his body together with these fire powers running through his veins? None of it was normal, that much was obvious. 

Reaching behind him, Skyler grabbed his tail to get a better look of the appendage. It too had shifted color along with his skin but remained the same in other ways. [color=f26522]”Guess this is me now, Shroomy’”.[/color] Though a heavy pout escaped his lips, Skyler seemed to have reached a level of indifference. Everything had come down on him like a rock, he could barely recognize himself anymore. Whoever stared back at him in that mirror was not the same person he had come to know during the last sixteen years of his life. A tail, grey skin, black eyes, pointed ears sharp teeth and horns? The more who thought about it, the less human he was beginning to seem. At first, Skyler hoped that he was a mere mutant, someone who had a few extra tricks up their sleeves but now he was starting to seriously doubt his own humanity. Was he human at all? Was there even a fraction of humanity in him? 

After taking a morning shower, Skyler wrapped a towel around himself and moved back into his new room, closing the door behind himself for the first time yet. Angelo had been kind enough to leave a large bag of clothes for Skyler before making his way out of the mansion sometime during the night. They filled their purpose with haste as the boy slipped into a pair of cargo pants and a t-shirt which fit his frame better than what he had been previously wearing. [color=f26522]”You think I can go out in public again, Shroomy’?"[/color] Skyler spoke softly with his fingers running through Mushroom’s fur. [color=f26522]”I hope I can at least go down to the kitchen. Come on, we should get some food.”[/color] Skyler finished, his voice echoing with a slightly more assertive tone now that he was back together with Mushroom. 

Heading out of the room, Skyler made his way down the stairs and eventually found himself in the kitchen. The morning was still young, a mere eight am. Despite the comfortable sleep which had blessed him, Skyler had grown used to waking at early hours after a week of starlight nights on the streets. Being in someone else’s kitchen felt odd in ways he couldn’t describe, but the situation didn’t appear normal on any other front, either. Something else did however catch the boy’s eyes, something which stole his attention with ease. 

Gently placing his fingers around the edge of a picture, Skyler analyzed the teenager appearing next to a man who had to be his father. The name Ben which Angelo had used, was this him? If that was the case, Skyler knew this boy. He knew him all too well. This was Benjamin from school, the person who had caught Skyler in a hopeless spell. Things were starting to fall together now. Was this seriously happening? The werewolf’s name was Ben; this was the wolf’s home. Benjamin from school lived here, and no one else appeared to fall under that description. With a shaking hand, Skyler dropped the picture onto the counter and stumbled back, his tail slapping a chair out of the way in the process. There was only so much he could take at any given moment. 

Everything he thought he knew was falling to pieces. Everything considered normal and a part of his everyday life had gone out the window. The room Skyler was sleeping in, was it Ben’s? Was it the same Ben that he went to school with? The same Ben he had a crush on? With a trembling frame, Skyler attempted to calm himself down before there was an accident. He could already see how the air around him was starting to ripple due to the heat and Mushroom had taken more than a few steps away. The stay at this mansion would probably be a lot more difficult than he had first anticipated. 

“Benjamin? Is that you?” A voice echoed through the manor, shaking Skyler from his daze and brought him back to reality with a crash. Shifting his eyes to the window, he needed only peek outside to see a Hispanic woman by the entrance. This was bad. He couldn’t let anyone see him, not like this. Angelo hadn’t mentioned that there were others at this mansion. In fact, there was a lot he hadn’t mentioned which now came flooding through. Why was Skyler even here? Why did he and Táph go with the Agent in the first place? Suddenly the world felt lost, and feeling a hand on his shoulder shattered the second wave of thoughts forcing their way through. Moments later, Skyler found himself pulled back, with a familiar voice speaking into his ear. 

“Hide.” A single word, it sent a chill down Skyler’s spine but turning to see who it was froze him over entirely. Benjamin Reeves was peering into the boy’s inhuman eyes, appearing less than startled at seeing the Efreet’s full form. 

[color=f26522]“B-Ben…?”[/color] Skyler managed to utter the name of his crush in a broken attempt, stuttering all the while. 

“Not really.” Benjamin responded, shaking his head. “Didn’t Angelo tell you anything? That guy’s worthless…” The doppelganger sighed heavily before turning his attention to the task at hand. “Get down and hide.” 

Though the situation was accompanied by a series of confusing sights, Skyler did as he was told and lowered himself to his knees in an attempt to hide. The doppelganger took the opportunity to leave the kitchen and instructed Mushroom to follow him, something which came to pass once Skyler nodded in agreement, removing any doubts the dog might have had. “Oh, hey.” Benjamin, or rather his double, spoke. “Sorry about the ruckus. This thing followed me home and I'm still trying to debate on to do with him, mostly before Lorrie comes home.” Given Mushroom’s currently scrawny frame, it wasn’t hard to believe that he was a stray. “I'm taking him upstairs, let me know when lunch is done.” Ben continued, speaking with the help before he attempted to finally speak his way out of the dilemma. Once the coast was clear, the double peeked his head back into the kitchen and motioned for Skyler to leave his hiding place and move with haste, following Ben’s body double up the stairs and into Benjamin’s room. 

Closing the door behind them, the Agency doppelganger breathed a sigh of relief. “Well, that wasn’t entirely expected. I thought Angelo told you that you couldn’t be seen yet.” 

[color=f26522]”You’re not Ben?”[/color] Skyler managed, his voice nearly trembling.

“No. I’m just here to make things seem normal. The dude’s a werewolf, and I don’t know what you are but damn. Look, this mission has gotten way out of hand. More people than ever are involved in strict Agency business and I have no idea how it got to this point.” Benjamin rubbed his forehead for a moment, moving to the windows before peering down onto the backyard. “But it is what it is. Angelo told me that he had brought some street urchin, you I guess, and an old friend of his, Táph, who would now be this group of misfit’s babysitter.” Scratching the back of his head, Benjamin’s double chuckled in response to his own explanation, barely able to believe it himself. “You, Táph, Benjamin and two Mercs are involved in this. They’re still out looking for the kid, and until he comes home and we can cook up a second part of this, stay out of sight. You’ll also not be in contact with me much, if at all. I’m not supposed to interact with any of you. I’m Ben before all of this happened, alright? Stay behind the scenes and let me take care of the center stage.” 

[color=f26522]”Okay.”[/color] Lowering himself to the bed, Skyler accepted the situation for what it was, seeing how the double had left the room. As messed up as this was, at the very least, Skyler felt like he had a better understanding of what he was involved with. For now, all he needed to do was to stay out of sight. He could do that, couldn’t he? Mushroom also had some immunity now that the fake Ben had told the house keeper that it was his dog. Laying his head down on the pillow, Skyler gently embrace Mushroom’s form and took a deep breath. He was going to be locked up in this room for a while. He could as well rest up in the meantime.