The sign was okay, it was a solid plastic, but he sure had Clarissa giggling.  She told him "I'm sorry, but I can't help it.  I never imagined I was that bewitching, love!  Don't tell me you'd walk into doors watching me walk too, would you?"  As she giggled, still looking amused and apologetic at the same time, the cashier was ringing it all up.

Ozzy grinned sheepishly and said, "Maaaybe. You're awfully beautiful and bewitching, love. I can't help but stare at you sometimes! I'm only a man, after all."

He smiled at the cashier, hoping he wasn't freaking them out too much. So far, his easygoing demeanor was defusing things nicely. Maybe the anti-para people were just a REALLY vocal minority?

  She giggled, and shook her head.  Then she fished his wallet out of her purse and offered it to him.

  The cashier, a girl, said "Okay, any guy who gets all wrapped up in his girlfriend until he bashes himself in the face is just too cute.  You are adorable.  HUGE, but adorable!"  She gave him the total, bagging the items as she spoke, still snickering.

Ozzy smiled, rubbing the quickly fading bump on his head as he got his debit card out, saying, "Heh. Better huge and adorable than huge and scary. I don't want to scare people. I'ma Jolly Green Giant. Just without the veggies. I like 'em fine, I just don't sell 'em."

  Clarissa giggled, and once the cashier gave him back the receipt, she said "Ready to be a packbeastie, love?  I'll have to walk real slow so you can watch for more signs!"  He could hear the gentle tease in her tone, and she turned, taking a couple steps with a sassy sashay of her hips just to tease.

Ozzy chuckled as he handed Clarissa his wallet and the receipt, staring at Clarissa for a bit before following slightly hurriedly, nearly walking into another sign. He carried the bags with ease, now, and briefly thought about hanging them from his horns. Still, he was enjoying himself, and Clarissa seemed to, too.

  She giggled, and turned, walking backward to blow kisses at him, pausing in the doorway to the store.  The crowds had gotten good and thick by now, and the swirl of moving people was going to be a push.

  Maggie spotted Clarissa and Ozzy, and she poked the boys she had with her into action.  They all snagged someone's purse or bag, and ran for the store where Ozzy and Clarissa were, creating a rush of people that promptly squished Clarissa to one side, at the corner of the doorway.  Someone yelled "Purse snatchers!  HELP!!"  And the 'swirling crowd' dissolved into a mess of chaos and confusion.

As he saw the crowd start to get chaotic, Ozzy summoned his Painter armor and bellowed, "EVERYBODY FREEZE!" as he flared his wings, hoping that those who WEREN'T snatching purses would stop, giving him a better idea of what to do.

  Maggie moved through the swirl, and he caught a glimpse of her blonde curls at one corner of the doorway.  The rest of the crowd sort of held still, aside from several young men taking off in a sudden reversal of directions, and a lot of people looking at him in shock.

  And he noticed Maggie's arm move in a hard, shoving motion.

Ozzy fired paintballs at the runners, hoping to capture them before they could get away. Once he'd shot at as many of them as he could, he turned to see what the HECK Maggie was doing, wondering what the hell was going on.

  Clarissa gasped when Maggie came up behind her in the crowd, and when they were slammed into the doorway, she was too stunned to make a sound as the first needle slammed into her spine, threading between the vertebrae to punch into the spine itself, making her freeze in shock.  Maggie shoved the plunger of the syringe down, then grabbed the second one, and jammed it into her back as well.  She missed the nerves with it, but the pinkish colored mutagen was injected directly into her cerebro-spinal fluid.  Then Maggie stepped away, and Clarissa slowly slid down the wall, beginning to tremble as she whispered "Oh shit."

Ozzy's eyes went wide with anger as he fired another paintball straight at Maggie before bending down to gingerly pluck the needles from Clarissa's back, then cradle her to him as he said, "Ohnoohnoohno... Oh God, Babe, don't die on me. Talk to me!"

   She had her eyes closed hard, and he could feel the trembles getting worse.  She snagged one hand around his horns, even as her skin began to fade from peachy-pink to a stark white, and she arched, a cry of pain escaping her as he heard skin ripping.  A familiar sound, as often as he'd heard Andy change, but not one he'd EVER expected to hear HER make.  He could see her nails sharpening, becoming hooked claws rather like a cat's, almost, except tipping her fingers, and could feel a sleek, velvety covering forming on her skin.  Like velvet fuzz on steroids, except starkly white.  Her hair didn't change, but it got longer, the ponytail now almost to her knees.  She was still shaking violently, and he felt her go limp, although still breathing and trembling, in his arms.  Not dead, but fainted or passed out for the moment.

  Maggie had managed to dodge the paint-net, but not all of her associates had.

Ozzy gently wrapped her in paint on his back, like a papoose, before he turned towards Maggie and fired another net at her, roaring, "I SAW YOU PUT THE SYRINGES IN HER!!! HOW DARE YOU!?"

He was DEFINITELY not happy right now.

  Maggie's expression turned to alarm, and she ran, dodging into the crowd as some folks took one look at his pissed expression, and scattered.  Afraid of him.  She was thinking perhaps she should have screened her actions behind a bit more crowd . . . .

Ozzy took to the air, chasing after Maggie and grabbing at her with his massive green hands. He didn't care if people were scared right now. He wanted to catch Maggie, and make sure she got hers. Even if it didn't come directly from him.

  She twitched, the trembles beginning to die down, and he heard, her voice not coming through his ears {{Oh gods that hurt.  Ozzy?  I feel funny.  What did she . . . do to me?}}

  Maggie was dodging this way and that, trying to zig-zag away from him and get to the doors.  But he was gaining.

As Maggie dodged, Ozzy grinned. Yeah, that's right, head outside, where he could REALLY move. He'd have the advantage, then. He decided to quit shooting paint-balls at her, not wanting to hit anyone accidentally.

[[You all right, love? She stuck you with TWO syringes of the stuff that turned me. You're about the same size you were, but now you have wings and... well, you're more or less a catgirl, now.]]

  She opened her eyes, and blinked.  Then she said {{I can see the mana with my eyes open.  It shimmers on everything.  Gods, I feel like I'm . . . I don't know, like there's pressure?}}  He felt her wriggle, trying not to interfere with his wings, as he had them both aloft, and he felt her claw-tipped hand lay on his shoulder.  She was almost glowing with mana.  And her velvety-fur was like silk against his skin.  She dipped her head, and he felt her tongue, still hot and wet, but now very faintly sandpapery, rasp gently over the nape of his neck.

Ozzy blinked and said, "Oh, wow. You're glowing! You may wanna push some into me, or make some crystals, love. I'mma see if I can't catch this bitch and take her to jail!"

He continued to follow after Maggie, and though the anger in his eyes was starting to fade, he still REALLY didn't like her, at all. She needed to be punished, in his opinion.

  She licked the nape of his neck again, and he felt her other hand rest on his other shoulder, just before she pushed.  It felt like she'd just given him a SUPERCHARGE.  The glow of her hands faded, but she was still starkly white, except for the mane of her chocolate hair.  She then pointed, and he heard {{That one!  She drives THAT car.  She'll get away if she gets into it!}}

  Maggie was zig-zagging through the parking lot toward her car now, full out running.

Ozzy grinned, {{I can fix that, love.}}

He waited until Maggie was just getting into the car, before she'd had time to put the keys in, and landed right in front of the car and brought his hands down in a double-fisted overhand blow on the engine, putting every last ounce of his untested might into the strike.

  Maggie screamed as the hood smashed, her windshield shattered, and the back end of the car bounced five feet in the air.  The engine was FLAT.  Maggie was stunned, she hadn't had her seat belt on and had knocked the top of her head on the roof.

  Clarissa wrapped her arms around him, and said softly from behind him {{I hope I don't look horrible to you now.}}

[[You look like a catgirl with angel wings. I'm an anime nerd. Do the math, love.]]

He pulled Maggie from the wreckage and checked to see if she was bleeding or anything from hitting her head. He'd meant to stop the car, not HURT her. Hopefully she didn't end up like Rodger had. He was pretty sure she wouldn't 'get better'.