Biohuman

A knock came to the door a sooner than Keng had anticipated. Akali went to open the door and there stood the sunkissed Merman, Calis. He was wearing a winter beanie that kept his head and ears warm.

"Uh, I was told to come here. My name's Calis." Calis introduced himself. The Fox Spirits had told him to use an alias but Calis had insisted on using his real name. He would just go by some random last name with his fake identification.

"Is this him?" Akali asked taking a look at the Merman.

"Yup, let him in." Keng answered from the kitchen. Akali stepped off to the side and ushered Calis in. Calis thanked her with a nod and stepped inside the warm living area. Akio had moved from the darkened room into the living room. He was shirtless due to the unruly nature of the Jester's Sap. It was a pain to get that stuff off of his clothes, so he subjected himself to being shirtless where ever he went (which he would've done anyways if he was home).

"H-hello, sir." Calis nodded at Akio. Akio gave him a nod, studying the new "employee." "My name's Calis Anderson."

"Keng's mentioned you earlier. You're a friend of his?" Akio asked. Calis looked for Keng, who popped his head out and nodded.

"Yes." Keng nodded.

"W-wait they know about your true identity?" Calis asked, confused. Keng stepped into the living room and nodded.

"Yeah. I had no choice. They know you're an ally from the other Realm. You can trust them." Keng answered. Calis gulped. This wasn't what he expected to walk into.

"Are you sure we can trust them?" Calis asked in Merfolk. He turned and moved over to Keng, who nodded. "Look, I don't mean to be mean or anything, but letting out our secret is already bad enough. What if they betray us?"

"They won't betray us." Keng answered in Merfolk. "Lee Seng would trust them." Calis seemed unconvinced by this. His tongue poked at his cheek as his fingers naturally dug against the clothes he was wearing. Even though he was accustomed to how other humanoids wore clothes, he didn't like the feeling on his skin. Calis's hand pulled out the phone and forked it over to Keng, who took it with pleasure.

"If anything bad happens, I'm blaming you." Calis told him.

"Do so." Keng answered in English. He slipped the phone into his pocket and stuck out his hand. "Gimme the Hydran vines." Calis sighed and a watery portal opened. The water seemed to suspend in air and a second later, strange blue seaweed-like vines came out of the portal.

"Here, what should I do now?" Calis asked in English as he set the vines in Keng's hand. Keng turned around and wandered back to his work in progress concoction.

"Just sit." Keng answered. "I'll be done in a moment." Keng mimicked flipping a page with his fingers in the air. The book page turned revealing the next step of instructions. "Cut the Hydran vine into small pieces, mashing them in the mortar… Okay, sounds easy enough." Keng followed the instructions, eventually mixing the healing concoction together into an odd paste. "Last step… Feed energy into the paste."

Keng lifted his hand and poured Silver energy into the paste. The paste started to glow, shimmering and bubbling. The paste turned less watery, giving the perfect ratio as he released his energy. He glanced at the book and nodded as he grabbed the mortar and carried it over to the sofa.

Calis was awkwardly sitting off to the side as Akio and Akali talked. When he noticed Keng was done, he immediately got up and moved to his side.

'What?' Keng asked telepathically.

'I… I don't know how to… Act around humans.' Calis told him. 'Wh-what do I do? Do I…'

'You've had plenty of experience with humans before, right? Why can't you just make small talk or something?'

'Well, they weren't giving me an opening…' Calis scratched his neck as Keng set the mortar down on the coffee table.

"Alright, let's start." Keng announced. Akio and Akali turned their attention to Keng as he sat next to Akio. He grabbed some of the paste with his left hand and lifted it up for all to see.

"Will that really work?" Akio asked.

"Mmmm, it should. The books have been right so far." Keng replied.

"So far?" Akali raised an eyebrow. "Are you really going to take a books word for this being right to do?"

"The Saviors were the best when it came to dealing with Curses." Calis told them.

"The Saviors? Is that some kind of organization?" Akio asked as Keng spread the warm paste onto his side.

"You didn't tell them about that?" Calis asked Keng.

"I told them what was necessary." Keng replied. "The Saviors are a group of Fox Spirits who's whole purpose is to deal with Curses within the Realms. If there's a Curse from the book on Earth… Then it means I have more work to do."

"How so?" Akali asked.

"Well, Curses are kinda my job." Keng answered. He moved to grab more paste and came back to Akio's side to wipe more. The warm past was starting to harden against the Jester's Sap. Akio was starting to squirm, again. "Hold still, Akio."

"It's… Burning… And getting hard." Akio whispered.

"It'll pass." Keng brushed it off. "I may be new to this whole Saviors thing, but the Saviors knowledge doesn't lie. I've been successful because of them."

"How many h-have you dealt with?" Akio asked trying to keep his mind off of the pain.

"Two? Three? It hasn't been that much."

"For how long?"

"A couple months."

"And you're sure this will work?!?" Akio grabbed Keng, who immediately wrapped Akio in a hold. A cosmic film moved over him as Keng continued wipe the paste onto all of the black spots.

"What's that? That's not… Gravity." Akali pointed.

"Cause it evolved." Keng answered. "Lee Seng has it too… There done." Keng pulled away as the rest of the paste hardened.

"What happens now?" Calis asked. Keng shrugged, flicking his finger at the kitchen. The book flew straight for Calis, darting past him and appearing in his hand. He flipped through the book and skimmed it. "They say this stays on for a couple of hours and then it'll peel off."

"That's it?" Akali asked.

"That's it." Keng sighed. He shut the book and put it back in the Void Storage. "I'll stay until it's time to peel it off. When I'm sure he's fine from the Jester's Sap, I'll leave."

"So I can leave?" Calis asked.

"No, didn't we have to talk about something?" Keng asked.

"Well… Not really… I just wanted to give you your phone…" Calis scratched his neck. Keng looked at the sunkissed blonde and stood up.

"Nothing from the others?"

"Well…" Calis looked away. Keng sighed and looked at Akio and Akali.

"I'm gonna borrow your room for a bit. We gotta talk about something private." Keng told them.

"S-sure." Akio winced.

"You'll be fine." Akali rolled her eyes. Keng nodded and moved past Calis.

"Come on. In here."

The two moved into the room, Keng closing the door behind them as Calis's eyes looked around.

"This is… Comfy." Calis commented.

"What did you need to tell me?" Keng asked. Calis turned his attention onto the Fox Spirit. His tails sprawled against the door, curling towards its owner as Keng cocked his head to the side. Calis let out a sigh and nodded, stepping forward. He pulled out his phone and unlocked it. He tapped a couple of times and handed it over to Keng.

It was a note. Calis or someone from Chimera's troupe had written it down, too.

Keng,

We've been keeping an eye out with the Creator and his lab. He hasn't been active in the lab as of late, so we've started branching out to his other areas. It's awfully quiet now that Lee Seng is back. There's been minimal movement on our side. When you meet with Calis, if he even finds you — please update him on anything you find on our end.

I have a feeling you'll have an easier time figuring things out on your end since you look exactly like Lee Seng. Remember, Calis is here for the cup. Search for it while you handle the investigation on your end.

Halys

Keng groaned, pushing the phone into Calis's chest. Calis reached up, starting to grab it as Keng abruptly pulled away. The phone fell, almost tumbling to the ground as Calis snatched it.

"Gods do you have to be so cruel to the phone?" Calis asked stuffing the phone into his pocket. Keng let out a sigh of frustration.

"There's too many damn things to do…" Keng whispered.

"Huh?" Calis asked, sticking his face closer to Keng. Keng looked up as the Merman's eyes met his. Keng looked away, pushing Calis to the side as he paced.