In the Name of Science!

[DragonSong]

The alchemist snatched up her potion and scurried back to Samuel's side quickly, clutching the vial to her chest as though it was a baby bird that she feared harming but was desperately trying to shelter.

She looked down at it for several long moments, biting her lower lip. "If, um..." She narrowed her eyes. "If this works...it should fix me. It should. I'll just...be normal again. But--but just in case--!"

Her voice squeaked a bit and she cleared her throat as she looked up at her host. "I should...you should probably stand back. Just in case something goes wrong." Whatever "wrong" might be--this was so experimental she honestly had no idea.

But it's the best and only chance I've got. Before she could talk herself out of it, Ally tipped the vial against her lips and downed the entire thing in one quick swallow. She let her hand fall to her sides and squeezed her eyes shut, body tensing as though preparing for a blow.

Nothing happened.

And nothing kept happening.

After almost a full minute, she cracked one eye open and slowly let out a breath. A tiny smile started to quirk at her lips. "I...I think it worked--"

Pain ripped through her abdomen and she doubled over, gasping, unable to even cry out as her blood burned and magic shimmered and shifted under the surface of her skin.

[Kingfisher]

Samuel had initially assumed the girl's potion would make some sign of curing her curse; magic itself had been bound to her being and such power could not simply be shed without going somewhere.

Still, the assassin had not expected the upsurge of the girl's magic.  Though he had heeded her adviced before, Samuel darted to the dragon's side, unsure if she was shifting yet or otherwise, and whether she was putting his home in danger.

Drawing a glyph-carved wooden coin from a container at his waist, the demon lord held it between his first fingers as a precaution.  "Do you know what is happening?" he asked.  "Is this the Dragon?"  There were thinks he could do - things his minions could do that might help the girl if need be but that required he know what was happening...

[DragonSong]

"I--"

It was all she could get out before her throat went tight again and she gasped desperately, raggedly. It felt like she was on fire, burning from the inside out. The thin threads of magic writhing beneath her skin had twisted to mirror the path of her veins, shimmering gold and creating something like a heat haze in the air around her.

She looked up at Samuel, shaking her head. I don't know. I don't know what's happening. It's like a shift, but caught in the middle. Something is pulling me apart and putting me back together wrong, over and over...

Scales spread from her brow down over her cheeks in a ripple of movement, a graceful curve of lavender and violet, before they sank beneath her skin again. She whimpered, then cried out, and her teeth her too sharp, too many. Claws slid from her fingertips, then back in. Her back hunched and she finally was able to scream as wings tore through her shoulder blades, twisted and too bony, before they folded against her body and tried to melt back into her still-not-quite-human shape.

"Can't...can't stop...it," she gasped, eyes clenched shut. "Need potion...out...of system--ahh!"

She dropped to her knees, curling forward with her arms wrapped tight around her middle. It felt like she was trying to hold herself together as the dragon tried again and again to find a way out through her skin before diving back in.

[Kingfisher]

Samuel had few options available to treat the contorting, misshapen girl.  He was no healer, no apothecary and despite being a hired killer, had little relevant use for poison to even use as a baseline of his understanding of medicine from its wicked side.

He could not be sure of the danger he was in, his relaxing hold letting his right arm contort into a grim mockery as he pondered his options.  Perhaps an extract to induce vomiting...no, the girl's body had already absorbed enough of her potion.  He was moving quickly to the cupboards downstairs, sorting though his reagents for possible options.

Perhaps charcoal.  It might pull the potion from her body and begin to counter the effect.  Taking a black nugget, he dropped it into a rough powder; he did not have time to do a better job.  Mixing it with a bit of water, he hurried back to the deformed girl, offering the ugly mixture to the girl.  "Drink.  It might make things more bearable."  His writhing familiar lingered behind him, holding a skin of water to help wash it down...

[DragonSong]

Desperate, Ally grabbed for whatever it was he was holding out to her—she didn’t have the presence of mind to question, she just drank. Anything was better than this, the making and unmaking and unraveling and the fire in her veins and it was sharp and hot and oh. Anything was better. Death itself would have been a relief at this point.

The black sludge oozed down her throat and she gagged, but managed to keep it down. Her hands—claws—hands curled against the floor and a low, shattered keening sound was wrung from her lips. Breathe, just breathe through it. Breathe. It had to stop. No matter what happens, it eventually has to stop...

Her stomach rebelled. She curved forward, heaving, gasping as tears ran down her face.

Whatever was left of the potion in her system came back up with the charcoal mixture. A ripple of scales ran down her spine and she shuddered—but it was not followed by fangs or a tail. Slowly, with each new breath, her form reshuffled itself, melting back into a human girl, crouched and shivering, clothes ripped where the dragon had torn through her skin.

She took a breath. Another. Everything hurt, but it was no longer the hot agony it had been. And it was fading. Slowly, but it was fading.

“Well...” Her voice was wrecked, raw and shaking. “That...didn’t work.”

She looked up at Samuel, shaking in earnest now, new tear tracks twining their way down her cheeks. “Thank—thank...you.”

And she fainted.

[Kingfisher]

It had not been wholly unexpected, given the intensity of the earlier reaction, so Samuel was quick to catch the unconcious girl before she fell.  The demonlord decided if she needed to rest, such would best be done in his bedroom, carrying her to the place he had relinquished to her earlier.

He elected not to worry greatly, reterning to the main room to clean up the mess.  The charcoal slime was his first priority, needing to be scrubbed out before it stained as Samuel took a bucket from his closet.  He filled outside, before adding a closed pyre-bottle to heat it and adding a cake of soap to the rapidly steaming agent.

Ally's draconic mishap had also scattered some of his furniture so he would have to pick those up as well.  Ideally, Samuel hoped to have another chance with the tome before his guest woke once again...

[DragonSong]

The dragon-shifter's body had well and truly exhausted itself. She slept so deeply that she didn't even dream, which was something of a rare occurrence for her.

She had no idea how long she was unconscious, but she imagined it was quite a while, because by the time she opened her eyes again she was simply sore and tired, rather than aching and utterly drained. She blinked fuzzily and sat up, looking around.

"Oh." Samuel had given up his bed for her. Again. That was...kind. Her stomach tightened guiltily. She really needed to figure out a way to pay this man back for everything he was doing for her. And for making what she assumed was quite a mess of his home...

[Kingfisher]

In the time it had taken for Ally to rest, Samuel had managed to flip through a few pages of her pilfered tome, copying what he could and when possible, neglecting anecdotes that added nothing to the formulas and the like.  A slight creeking from the direction of his quarters told the host that his guest was stirring and slipped his own grimoire back into hiding before slipping upstairs.

Glancing though the latticed window, he saw that it was nearly sunrise and put a clay pot on the hearth, beginning to prepare a morning porridge in case the shifter was hungry...

[DragonSong]

 The smell of food made Ally's stomach rumble in a sound that was rather reminiscent of the dragon's growl. She flushed and cleared her throat as she peered out into the main room, then cautiously made her way out of his quarters.

She sort of hovered behind him for a few moments, wringing her hands nervously in front of her body.  Then:

"....I'm sorry." She took a breath, shaking a little on the exhale. "I didn't—I didn't know it would—could go wrong...like that." Another breath, her eyes now fixed on the floor. "Thank you..."

[Kingfisher]

The host payed his guest little mind at first, focused on finishing morning meal.  Eventually, he reasured her without looking up: "It's fine.  There was no real harm."  Spooning a helping of the spiced mash into a bowl, alongside a piece of flat bread, he offered the portion to Ally before taking his own.

"I assume you are still looking for a way to cure yourself," he said.  "Do you know what you plan to try next?"

[DragonSong]

Her stomach churned at the sight of food, but she knew she needed to eat. And under pretty much any other circumstances, it might have been rather appealing. She tried a few bites, pausing between each to make sure she wasn't going to be sick.

When that seemed to go alright, she kept eating, a little more enthusiastically. "I am," she answered his first question, then sighed. "And...I don't know. My mother's notes...there were all I really had to go on, I--I don't have anymore leads."

She nibbled on the bread, looking up at him. After a moment, she exhaled again and murmured, "And I owe you. A lot. For everything you've done for me the past few days. And I'd like to get that debt squared before I do anything else."

[Kingfisher]

(( @DragonSong - Sorry for the delay ))

The summoner seemed to focus on his own bowl of food as the girl pondered aloud.  As she made her vague offer, Samuel was dipping his bread to scrape of a mound of porridge.  "Well," he began through a full mouth, though he quickly thought better of it and quicky swallowed.

"If you don't think you have any use for that book, I'd like a chance to make a copy.  Even a chance to give it a look over might reveal a few potions of interest to me."  He'd already looked through the book, so even if she called him out, he could alway write down what he remembered and test things to make sure they worked...

[DragonSong]

"Oh!" Ally blinked at him, a little taken aback. She hadn't been expecting that, for some reason. Though she supposed it made a certain amount of sense. "I, um..."

She glanced away, shifting awkwardly as she bit her lip. She didn't really have a reason to tell him no—but she would admit she was anxious about relinquishing custody of the tome, even temporarily.

No, stop that. You're being silly, and you owe him far more than a look at an old book.

Shaking herself, she looked back to him with a small smile and nodded. "I don't see why not. I would—I would like it back, though. Would three days be enough time to copy what you need? Oh!" She blinked, then flushed and added sheepishly, "Also, some of it is encoded. My mother had the key to the encryption in her notes—I could help you with that part, if you like?"