Smiling at her friends, Paulina turned back to Liam and grinned.
“This should be fun. So, how is this going to work?” she asked as she pulled a pack of chalk out of her backpack, setting about with creating a pair of circles on the floor.
”These circles are going to be set-up to monitor both our bodies and record any biological changes, particularly in our brains, so hopefully I will finally be able to see how your spooky stuff works.” With a gentle movement. Liam smudged her first circle. “It’s too dangerous to attempt a change from that far apart. Physical contact makes transference easier; wouldn’t want to send your soul spiralling into the aether because the switch went wrong. That and it eliminates any sort of possibility that something gets in the way. I know you can’t detect them but there are at least two dozen lesser spirits hanging around right now. Not to mention a pair of class three spirits and of course the class four that is hanging out across the room right now.” Taking the chalk Liam drew the second circle almost touching the first one. Circles and chalk were nothing new in his experience but he prefered salt. It had an unusual effect on spirits; it appeared to be one of the only things in the physical world that would actually affect them.
Looking up at Paulina, Liam quirked an eyebrow. “So I think this goes without saying but if something goes sideways. I warned you.” It was incredibly pessimistic of him but it was unfortunately the truth. “Also. If a boy who looks like he’s been drowned shows up. It would behoove you to tell me at your earliest possible convenience since he will probably cause more than a few problems.” The boy still felt bad about the last go round Paulina and the spirit world had with each other so hopefully Noah didn’t put in an appearance.
Accepting the correction, Paulina continued filling in the indecipherable runes along the edge of the circle. She still wasn’t sure how it was she could understand them. Best she could figure, it was something instinctual, like it was hard-coded into her.
”You’re the expert here, Spooky Boy. I’m along for the ride right now.” She flashed a smile at him while she worked.
”You shouldn’t worry about bad stuff happening, you know. Will you do your best to make sure that we don’t get hurt?”Distractedly Liam turned back from his contemplation of the left wall of the gym. Really he needed to finish preparations for this evening. “Hmm? Of course I will. It’s just that there will always be an inherent danger to anything we are going to do here. I just hope that my spiritual immunity is tied to my body. Things could go quite badly if a powerful spirit wanders by and decides to go for a joyride.” Stepping over the line she had drawn on the ground he pocketed his hands and gave Arty a nod. The ghost seemed to understand and faded away; it was best to not have the spirits that did like him around incase he needed make use of something equivalent to spiritual pepper spray.
The enchantress’s smile widened slightly.
”And are you planning on doing anything to my body while we’re switched?”Blinking, Liam’s eyes narrowed at the proposal as he considered the implications of what she was asking. “No, why do you ask?” All of the sudden Liam was far more concerned with his own well being as opposed to Paulina’s for some reason, he couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but the question seemed….suspicious. “Believe it or not I’m generally a pretty uninteresting individual so I don’t plan on taking advantage of the one person who has bothered to help me practice.” The frown lingered as he gave her a long look.
Finishing the circles, Paulina turned to face him fully and laid her hand on Liam’s shoulder.
”Then I trust you, and what will happen, will happen. This is an experiment, half the fun is the uncontrolled variable.” Her teasing smile came back.
”But, if you do suddenly feel the need to “go to the bathroom”,” she leaned closer, whispering in his ear,
”I wouldn’t mind.”The look on his face was priceless, and she giggled as she gave him back his space.
”You can’t tell me you’ve never thought about it.”Narrowing his eyes a smile like you would expect to see on an adder or some other poisonous snake crossed his lips. “Why of course I have? Do you take me as something other than a teenage male. That being said I have standards and a certain image to uphold.” With the sly grin still in place he gestured to the circle across from him. “Unless you have any further comments or questions we can get started.” Something in his eyes had changed. The comments had finally kindled a bit of Liam’s impish nature and he was not about to be outdone.
Paulina laughed.
”And Pyne fires back without fear! There is a man underneath all that spookiness!” Turning where her laptop lay open on the floor, she angled the camera so that it would have a clear look at the both of them before giving him a positively salacious look, her eyes flicking briefly to his waist.
”But, I suppose I’ll have proof of that soon enough.” Standing up, she stepped into the other circle.
”Time for the fun part! Please clearly explain, for the record and in as much detail as you can, what we are about to do.”Liam cleared his throat and spoke clearly. “In short we are going to switch the vessels of our souls. I will be changing the positions of our souls via physical contact. The actual effect should be that of being in complete control of the the other person's body and complete use of the other senses. What will be happening in detail is the very essence of our existence will be switching what vessel it resides in. Currently there is little to no explanation as to what exactly the spirit is made up of and how those without a body can even interact with the mortal world.” Liam gave her an eyebrow raise. “Ready? Last chance to run.” It was a sincere question as it seemed like Paulina thought it was a game but it wasn’t. Not for Liam.
Pursing her lips, Paulina tilted her head and seemed to actually think about the question.
”Hmm, depends.” She broke out in a grin.
”Do you think you can handle trading in your man-card for a while?” Giggling, she shook her head.
”Liam, relax, will you? While I was first learning how to use my enchantments I almost split my head open on the floor while trying to figure out how to get down from the ceiling. What will happen will happen, so there’s no point in stressing yourself out. Now, what do you need me to do?”With a calming sigh Liam gently reached out towards Paulina’s face. As he moved he took his emotions and thoughts carefully pooling them and preparing to make use of his powers.
Best to give her a good ride. Servants, Soldiers, Minions of the Cold Dark. With a push outwards he called out to the lingering spirits around the gym.
Might as well give her something to look at. As the spirits filtered into the room Liam triggered his spirit sight and looked over Paulina’s shoulder. Straight at the small, fire eaten form of Annamarie.
Lovely.Pressing his fingers along the edge of her jaw and his thumbs to her temples Liam drew Paulina’s soul from her vessel and into his body of a brief moment.
Fear, the smell of kerosine lingering in the air and the soft weeping of a young girl. The need to cause fear. Squeeze every last drop of terror from the frail. Forcing himself out of the memory he realized he needed to move his soul. WIth an effort the next thing he knew he was staring back into his own face feeling his own hands on his new face.
Fuck. This is gnarly. A shiver ran through Paulina’s “body”, and she took a breath. “Whoo, that was...something. Wow.” She blinked, looking into her own blue eyes. “Whoa, this is so weird. I’m talking, but it’s not my voice. Damn, you are deep.” Looking down at “her” self, she studied his hands and feet. “View’s a bit different without the girls in the way.” Patting at Liam’s chest and stomach, she raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Holy shit, Liam, you are ripped. What do you have in here, iron?”
Paulina’s body shifted in obvious discomfort and it was clear Liam’s experience was entirely different than what Paulina was experiencing. “His” ears had colored almost immediately at the realization that something about what Paulina was wearing was not quite right. In fact it was
Very not right. At first it had been an interesting experience to be
lacking somethings and having a very different distribution of weight. That was until he realized that he could feel an awful lot more things than expected and that he was fairly certain it was not the norm.
Snapping “his” head up suddenly he shot a murderous glare at “Paulina”.
“Oh I get it now. Enjoy some of your own medicine.” Paulina’s hand shot out and “Liam” tapped himself on the forehead and triggered his ghost sight in his own body. The motion also covered a wiggle he performed with Paulina’s body to attempt to ease the uncomfortable ropes that crisscrossed beneath her shirt. Hopefully that would give her enough of a distraction for him to pull off a little payback.
It took everything Paulina had not to burst out laughing. “I’m sorry, I just couldn’t resist! It was too good of an opportunity! You have to admit, it’s-” She instinctively jerked back when Liam tapped “her” forehead, and blinked. “Oh, whoa. Wow.” Suddenly the gymnasium had become a lot more crowded. Looking around with wide eyes, “her” mouth hung open, her previous humour forgotten. “Wooow. So this is what you see every day.” Her eyes settled on a little girl that suddenly now stood just outside the chalk circle. She couldn’t have been much more than ten years old, her body covered in horrific burns. “Um, hello.” What did one say to the ghost of a dead girl? “There’s a little burned girl standing beside us.”
Liam gave Paulina a smug look from her own body.
“Her name is Annemarie. Be nice. Her parents left her in a burning building while she was asleep. It wasn’t their fault but she is understandably upset about the events of her death.” With another squirm Liam eyed the rest of the gym.
“You are in so much trouble, I hope you know that.” Snapping his gaze back to her he gave her a smirk.
“Wow, Paulina, what are you. At least a D? Shall we take a vote?” With the louder comment Liam reached towards the edge of Paulina’s shirt and pulled it up a little with a wicked teasing grin.
Paulina knew exactly what Liam was doing. “So that’s how you want to play this, is it?” His lips curved into a sly smile, and she hooked his thumbs into the waistband of his shorts, pulling it open a little. “Fair’s fair, “big man”,” she called out with a slightly mocking tone. “I’ll show you yours if you show me mine.”
