Re: On the Strip
Zeus had been silent for so long that Sam had little else to do other than fall asleep, so he did. Fortunately there weren't any messed up dreams this time, but there was still a rather rude wake-up call.
"Wake up. Wake up! WAKE UP YOU LAZY WORM!" Sam opened his eyes to see that Zeus was uncomfortably close to his face. "Ugh, finally. Now I need you to lisssssten carefully. I am going to begin restoring your variousssss bodily functions one by one; I feel I should warn you that it may be rather... uncomfortable." Sam didn't like the sound of that, but he really didn't have any choice in the matter right now. "Okay we'll start sssssmall, vocal chords and facial muscles first." Zeus passed a little shock through his throat and face. A fair amount of blood, along with a fair amount of pain, came with it.
"BLAGGRAUUGGHHOOUUHHHOOWWWW!!!"
A disgusted look passed over Zeus's face. "Hm. Well that was... Regardless, can you ssssspeak?"
"You son of a-"
Zeus cuts him off. "Good, moving on." He looked over Sam's upper body with a discerning eye. "Now for your... left arm." Another shock, and more pain. His arm flailed around like it had a mind of it's own, then settled. Sam moved it around bit and flexed his fingers. "Wonderful!" Zeus seems quite pleased with himself. "We are on our way, my dear Sssssamuel!"
Many more painful shocks later, Sam had regained complete control of his body, but something was still wrong. "Hey Zeus, I-"
"Yes yessssss, I know. Go over to the mirror and you'll ssssee." Sam did as he was told, but soon came to wish he hadn't. He looked like himself... almost. It was like someone took a... Sam-shaped fleshbag and streched it tightly over him. "Well? Peel it off." His... mentor's demand confused him, but he obliged. Sam gingerly scratched the side of his face, watched as it peeled off quite easily. Underneath he found new skin; it was sensitive, but under the circumstances, that seemed... normal.
After he was finished, there was a rather large and sloppy mess of blood and flesh beneath him. He stood at looked a himself. "Well? What do you think of your new... look?" Sam didn't know what to say, he hardly even saw any differences at first, other than being bald. But upon closer insepction, he noticed that he was slightly larger and more muscular than before. When he flexed his arm, barely restrained electricity ran along the length. "Eassssy now. You'll need to rest for a moment; don't push yoursssself." He looked different too. His face, even his movements, had a somewhat... serpentine quality that wasn't there before.
Sam frowns after a while and says "I don't like it."
"Well that cccccertainly is a shame, because I'm not changing you back. Now go lay down."
"Fine." He was exhausted anyway. Even though the excess skin was gone, it still felt weird to move around in this new body. He took the bloodsoaked sheets off the bed, and wrapped his excess flesh in it. He weaved his eufiber clothing into a blanket, and wrapped himself in it.
Right before Sam went to sleep, Zeus said "Oh! And I'll do my best to make ssssure that future sheddings won't be so... messy."
"That's gonna happen again?!"
"Yes."
"Wonderful..."