Toil and Trouble | Hailey & Saphron

[Theo Dean]

"Well this is a big bummer." Theo said as he got some chalk from one of the drawers and brought it back to where the gang had piled their supplies for the coming spell. The gang consisting of Hailey, Saphron and himself had just gotten back to the Hecate cabin with their collected spell components but Theo, usually one who hardly shut up, hadn't said anything really until just now.

"I mean look at it." He said gesturing towards one of the cabin windows. "How are we supposed to pull off some epic magic reversing spell when we don't even have the right atmosphere? A spell like this deserves some thunder, lightning or something at least and it's clear as can be out there." He knew that no one probably really cared besides himself but it would have been nice to have at least some showy effects to make things a little cooler, well, besides transforming a jackalope into a girl that is.

He sighed and knelt down on the floor with the chalk in hand. "It's too bad we don't have a weather changing spell or something. I could so go for a deep dark storm right about now." Carefully Theo began drawing out the spell circle from the scroll he had found. Just because it seemed like they would be unable to have the perfect setting for everything didn't mean that they shouldn't take the time to do this right. Which was precisely what Theo was doing. Besides, he didn't want to end up with jackalope guts all over the cabin after a miscast spell. Fortunately he thought there was about a 90% chance that wouldn't happen.

"Alright Saph I think we've got event we need. Hailey, you get in the center of the circle and Saph you get ready to gut that teddy. You guys ready for this?"

Saphron Yates Hailey Nichols

[Saphron Yates]

It was eerily quiet in the Hecate cabin as Theo was working away on what they needed to do for this transformation spell. It was odd, especially since Theo was almost cracking jokes every moment he could. Saphron sat away from Theo on the floor while she had Hailey and Hailey's bear in her lap. She didn't understand how disemboweling a teddy bear was going to make Hailey a human again, unless it was a form of animal sacrifice? Saphron was so lost in the thoughts of her head that she jumped when Theo finally spoke. She looked at him wide-eyed as she wondered if they were missing anything for the ritual, but narrowed them as Theo talked further.

"Because we don't have the right weather for it?" she groaned as she rolled her eyes. "If you really want it, Theo, I can steal a couple of pans from the mess hall, hook up a hose, and have an Apollo kid do that flashy thing with their hands. Then you can get the storm you wanted." But they were ready according to Theo and that caused Saphron to straighten up a bit. She nodded her head as she put Hailey on the floor and nudged her to the circle. "Go on little one," she said. "Go turn yourself into a human."

[Theo Dean]

Saphron’s comments were dripping with sarcasm. So much so that he wished he had a lightning bolt spell to give her a shock. “Oh you’re no fun at all.” Okay maybe he was being a little dramatic but what was the point of knowing cool magic spells if you couldn’t make yourself look cool in the process? Not much but he supposed he could see where Saphron was coming from. This had been a long night for all of them. Add to that a girl who had been a jackelope from quite a while now and he guest it would probably be best to get on with things.

Fortunately it seemed like things were moving along anyways. As Hailey took her place at the center of the magic circle Theo nodded to Saph giving the message that he was about to begin the spell. “Alright Hailey say goodbye to your furry little body. The next time we see you you’re going to be a real girl.” He gave her a charming grin that he wasn’t sure he felt and then began chanting in Greek. The magic circle began to glow giving them the indication that at least something was happening and before long the glow intensified at the circle’s center until it was almost blinding and the tiny bunny sitting within was lost to sight. Theo stopped chanting just long enough to turn to Saphron. “Saph! It’s time, do it now!” Hopefully they got the timing on this right.

[Hailey Nichols]

Hailey felt her heart beating in her little furry chest. What if this went wrong? What if she ended up dead and not a human? All these what-ifs ran through her mind, but it was too late to stop anything now since the chant started. She sat there in the circle as her eyes darted between Theo and Saphron. Would this actually work? Would she be a human soon? But as soon as Saphron gutted her teddy bear, Hailey screamed.

Her body was on fire as she could feel herself change. Her limbs lengthened, her horns shrunk, her fur disappeared. Every nerve was burning her as she morphed from jackalope to human. As soon as she got into a humanoid shape, she curled up in the fetal position. She wanted to cry. She wanted to scream, but the pain made her stay silent as she writhed in agony.

Once the spell was done, Hailey was curled up on the floor in her tattered hunters clothes. She took deep breaths as she opened her eyes. Was she... She scrambled to sit up as she reached out to comb her fingers through her hair. Hair, not fur, hair. "I'm human again," she whispered underneath her breath, completely in shock and awe of the moment.

[Theo Dean]

The glow in the center of the magic circle got so bright that Theo had to look away. He didn’t get a chance to see if Saph had done as he said or not and he only hoped that his sister would perform the task that he had assigned her as he shut his eyes against the bright light. Certainly without that symbolic sacrifice, the destruction of something that held so intense a memory of Hailey’s previous form, they would have no way for the powerful magics he was summoning to recall her human body.

The light intensified until it almost seemed to consume the whole cabin. Theo hoped he hadn’t done something wrong but just when he was about to cast a protection spell over the three of them the light slowly began to fade until he could finally open his eyes again. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust but when they did and he finally got his bearings straight again he immediately glanced towards the magic circle to find not a jackalope but a young girl in old hunter clothes. “Hey, hey. We did it!” He said excitedly as he watched the girl scramble around in shock. He reached out to give his sister a fist bump before realizing he probably really should check on the girl to see how she was doing. She had just transformed from a jackalope into a human after all and that couldn't be easy. “Hailey? You feeling alright over there? Need us to come check you for flees or anything?”

[Hailey Nichols]

After Hailey ran her fingers through her hair, she started examining herself. She looked at her fingers, lightly touching the skin. Her cuticles were ragged and her nail beds were dirty, but they were human. She inspected every inch of herself as she patted herself down. There was no fur. There were no horns. Everything seemed to be in proportion. She was actually, truly human. A thing that she never thought she would be for the longest time until she sought out the Hecate cabin.

She was so absorbed in thought and thoroughly making sure that no part of her previous life was still attached to her, that she completely jumped when she heard her name. She turned around all wide eyed as she looked at the boy. Theo. That was his name. And he was cute, so cute. Her face flushed a bit as she realized that he was talking to her as she adverted her eyes away from him.

"I... I..." she stuttered out as she comb her fingers through her hair again. She probably looked like a wreck in front of the boy and his sister. Great. "I don't think I have fleas?" she squeaked out as her nose nervously twitched. She quickly moved her hand to cover her nose as her face got even redder.

[Theo Dean]

Theo watched the girl with interest. She looked pretty out of sorts but he supposed that was probably to be expected considering what she had been through. Still, if she needed a few minutes to get over the shock of everything he could at least give her that. As such he waited for her to insure that everything was still there and functioning before she finally turned to him and responded to his comment.

Her indignation at being accused of having flees was pretty humorous. He chuckled at her screech and the little twitch of her nose but decided to give her a bit of a break. She had been a bunny for a while after all. "Alright, alright. I'm just playing with you Hailey." He said as he continued to chuckle. She was obviously still feeling a few after effects of the magic but being that this was the first time he had cast this spell there was no telling if that was normal or not.

"Probably just a force of habit from being transformed for so long." He said in reference to the nose twitch. "Those should fade with time I would think but you'll probably still be having cravings for salads for a while. You need us to get you anything? Change of clothes or something like that?"

[Hailey Nichols]

Being suddenly human and suddenly being teased by a cute boy almost proved to be too much for Hailey. She adverted her eyes as her face got redder by the moment. If it was possible, she was pretty sure she was going to die of embarrassment. Only a few minutes as a human and she was going to die. Maybe Artemis was going to win after all.

She gave a sheepish smile as Theo reassured he was teasing her, which was something she already figured out. But that little fact didn't help that her face was still beet red. She kept her nose covered as she risked a glance over at Theo. If she thought he was cute when she was a jackalope, he was much cuter when she was human. At the mention of clothes, she looked down at her clothes. They were dirty and tattered and she had a few holes at her knees. And she was pretty sure that Artemis wouldn't like her running around in clothes that belonged to her hunters. "Clothes would be nice," she said quietly as she lowered her hand slightly.

[Theo Dean]

He could tell that she was getting embarrassed by all the teasing. Maybe the shock of being turned back into a human again did something wonky to the girl’s emotional state or something like that. It was all very interesting but he certainly hoped he didn’t kill the girl by embarrassing her to death. Still, he had never really been one to pass up on a perfect opportunity to be sarcastic. Hopefully she had a thicker skin than it appeared at the moment.

She seemed to be all for the idea of getting a fresh change of clothes though and he bet she would want to get cleaned up to. That being the case he turned and headed to his closet as he spoke. “I’m not sure what all you have, if anything, but maybe Saph can find some things to let you borrow until you can get back into some clothes of your own. Until then you can wrap up in one of my cloaks.” He came back with a large grey cloak to drape over her shoulders. It was a little big for her but it would at least keep her warm and maybe a little less embarrassed until they could find her something else. “I guess we’re lucky your clothes went with you when you got transformed. Otherwise that would have made things very interesting.” He gave her a smirk. It was another teasing comment but he just couldn’t resist. "As for what we do with you I don't really know. Do you have a cabin of your own besides the Artemis cabin?"

[Saphron Yates]

Saphron for a few moments couldn't believe that Hailey was there in the flesh. And to think she questioned her brother's spell and the fact that he wanted the weather to be moodier to fit the environment better. She just sat there in silence trying to soak everything in as her brother went on to tease the newly-human Hailey. But at the mention of clothes, Saphron put the teddy bear down and got off of the floor and walked over to her dresser.

"I don't think I'll have anything that might fit her..." she said as she rummaged through her drawers, but she pulled out pieces of older clothing that no longer fit her, but could probably fit Hailey. "But maybe these things can do."

[Hailey Nichols]

Clothes. Clean clothes sounded nice. She'd been in her ratty clothes for almost a year, even if she had been a furry jackalope before that. Her eyes drifted over to Saphron as the girl pulled out clothes out of dresser. She barely was able to realize that Theo managed to drape a cloak over her shoulders and her face flushed a bit. She took deep breaths as her eyes darted around the room. She took deep breath before she glanced over at Theo. Did she have another cabin to call home? She hadn't called it home for a very long time. "The Hephaestus cabin," she said after a moment. "But I'm not sure if I'm welcomed back there."

[Theo Dean]

“The Hephaestus cabin huh?” He said as he grinned at Hailey. It wasn’t always easy to tell but he wouldn’t have pegged her as a Hephaestus girl. Granted he had nothing against Hephaestus girls, they were definitely better than hunter girls who were very decidedly against gender, and he didn’t have anything against this particular Hephaestus girl who had turned out to be much cuter than her horny little bunny form had suggested.

“Well if they don’t welcome you back I suppose you can hang out with us for a while. We certainly won’t kick you out.” He seemed to think for a moment before his tone turned playful again. “We may have to work out a form of payment though. I mean I’m not too picky of a landlord but doesn’t the guy who turns the pretty lady into a human again usually get a kiss? I think that’s how it works in all the fairy tales.”

[Hailey Nichols]

Hailey wondered for a second if she was even welcomed back in the Hephaestus cabin. It wasn't like her twin was there to defend her own and fight for her to come back. She lost Hannah long before she turned into a jackalope. And she didn't even know what the rules were about going back to her cabin after breaking her vows in the first place. As far as she knew, she was the only person who was able to break free of one of Artemis's curses.

She wrapped the cloak around her a bit as Theo in turn proceeded to tease her a bit more. "Well..." she said as she finally felt like she was getting some of her nerve back. "I think it goes that the kiss turns someone back to human." She nodded her head towards her disemboweled teddy bear on the floor. "And instead you murdered my childhood teddy bear. So I don't think you deserve a kiss." Her nose twitched again as she moved a hand to cover it up again as her face heated up.

[Theo Dean]

For a moment he didn't know if he was going to get lucky or not. The request had been made in jest, Theo not really suspecting his bravado would pay off but Hailey did seem pretty flustered by him so who knew? It was worth a shot in any case just too see if he could get a rise out of her. Unfortunately it didn't pay out exactly how he wanted, Theo would never turn down a kiss from a pretty girl if he could help it, but he still thought she wasn't entirely as confident as she acted.

As she motioned towards the disemboweled bear Theo shook his head in exaggerated shame. "Curses, foiled once more by my callow youth. I suppose I can let you off on a technicality this time but don't think you're getting off the hook that easily." He said with a chuckle. "You are welcome to stay here though until we find a better alternative. The runes on the cabin should keep Artemis from trying to get revenge on you again and I'm still counting you as a mascot until we know something to do with you bunny girl."

[Saphron Yates]

Saphron rolled her eyes as she looked over at her brother. She tried to keep quiet through the conversation as she was looking for clothes to fit Hailey, but he was just pushing it a little too far. "Gods, Theo," she said as she straightened up and shut her dresser drawer shut. "Can't you try to kiss the girl when I'm not around? I'm not here to be the backup vocals for you little Disney fantasy."

She gave Hailey a sympathetic look before she pointed to the pile of clothes she had thrown on her bed. "You can wear those in the meantime. They might be a little baggy, but it's better than those rags you're wearing. And you are welcomed to stay with us. I'll make sure that Theo doesn't try any funny business with you."