ORIGIN

Upon a flat stone he had sat himself about five hours ago and upon there he had sat. He had recently found another Aati and was holding her aloft, her tail between two toes as he watched her struggle. And struggle she did, kicking and squealing and trying to writhe her way to his paw to bite. Some time ago he had set within her a new kind of fungus and was eager to watch its effects. But not from the ground, oh no. If it manifested on her belly, how would he know?

No, he needed to hold her aloft and watch. Every minute. Every second. Already the gangrene was beginning to appear on her left flank, so he adjusted just a bit so that it was facing him directly. The spore had taken hold five hours ago and that was the only time he had moved. He had yet to set her down.

The sound of a voice at first he dismissed. This was more important. But then he realized that they had said his name. Who? Who knew his name? He did not remember telling anyone his name in many a cycle. Eyes slowly moved from the dangling body of the mouse to the speaker. Golden spotted, purple eyes, ah yes. "That is me, and that is her," he responded in a hushed voice, rasping from disuse.

He lowered the mouse a few inches, barely feeling the ache in his leg. "I remember. Bacchus. I do not forget. Is there something you needed? As you can see I am busy." The mouse was returned to its original position, but Anubis continued to watch Bacchus, somewhere between piercing and mildly disinterested.

Golden eyes widened just a fraction. Surprise. He had not expected anything from this encounter, yet here was something utterly unexpected. Nobody had ever offered to help before. His gaze moved away from disinterested to a strange intensity as he gauged Bacchus. Slippery, suave, something definitely off. Who else would want to sit for endless hours with him staring at a rat decaying as it lived? Sadists or fellow scientists.

He honestly did not care at all which Bacchus was. A second set of eyes was most welcome.

"Yes, you may watch as well. But it will be long." He stared at Bacchus a bit more before he began to speak and didn't stop for quite a little while. "I have infected Aati with a special fungus to observe its effects on a living body rather then one passed away. It should slowly eat the body away, causing patches of gangrene that will decay the fur, flesh, and into the muscles until the body can no longer function. I would like to observe these effects in action, as well as how long it takes for the body to shut down, and at what point does the body surrender to oblivion. Additionally, will the fungus continue to eat the body to bones once death has occurred, or will the body become oil before that happens? I would like to observe every second of this process, as I have only witnessed its beginning and end."

He looked back towards Aati and adjusted her a bit so Bacchus could see the patch of necrosis that was already appearing on her flank. "It has been about five hours now and this small area has begun spreading. If you are to watch, you watch from that side and tell me if any decay begins out of my line of sight." He eyed Bacchus once again and turned Aati back to the original position so he may watch the decay continue.

And then he would fall silent, watching intensely, occasionally glancing at Bacchus to see if he truly was invested and interested enough to stare at the mouse in the same fervor as him. An idea was unfurling in his mind, but he had to be sure of it first.

As the hours crawled, Anubis found himself drifting a bit from the experiment. It was, in fact, quite dull work, if necessary for his information. His attention span was long and precise, but even it had its limits. And ever since Bacchus had arrived, the cogs in Anubis's well-oiled brain were turning.

At some point into the experiment, when the necrosis had spread to multiple areas of the mouse's body and her struggles were beginning to slow and pause here and there, he lowered her but an inch. "There is something...I would like to test. Since you are here, I can do it safely and securely, rather then doing it alone." He stared at Bacchus and, ever so gently, threaded his magic out to quietly listen in on his thoughts for just a few moments. It was small, feeble, but quiet, as he continued speaking.

"I cannot ever cast this spell upon myself, else I suffer the same fate as Aati. Without my body, the mind is useless. Yet still I desire very much to experience what it is she feels. We see what it does to one as outside observers. But what of within the body?"

Eyes intensely staring at him as he finished his proposal. "I would have you hold me down, secure, and I would switch minds with Aati, for just a few moments. You will ensure that Aati, who will be within me, does not hurt my body nor escape."

Anubis felt the obsession in Bacchus's mind, the hunger. For what...his approval? What had he done to garner such a strange affection? But he could feel no deceipt, no lies or ill-intention. At least, nothing direct. The shadowy veil of Bacchus's mind was strange to Anubis and his fixation on him did not go unnoticed, but for now he was satisfied that there would at least be no betrayal here. The sadism was directed away from Anubis, for the moment, and that was all he needed.

At last, he lowered Aati, trapping her safely beneath a paw, although her struggles by now were weak. If she ran, she would not go far. He crouched in his place and nodded up at the far larger feline. "Hold me down. With your paws, with your body, what you must. She will struggle - do not let her free."

He would watch the leopard take his place with his golden gaze and hold there for a moment after he'd taken his place before nodding. "I am going now."

Anubis closed his eyes and breathed in, reaching for that magic he had yet to fully master. Feeling the mouse beneath his paw. Feeling her faint but furious heartbeat, her quick, shallow breaths. And suddenly he was her, within that tiny mouse body, half-rotted and dying.

And oh the agony of it, the numbness that stung and made him want to shred his very skin from his bones! That deep itchiness that felt like his very nerves were screaming to be ripped and shredded so they would never itch again. The feverish heat beneath his thin fur, the faint taste of death in his mouth. Oh, it was utterly horrible, it was foul, and it was so, so fascinating. What damage his magic could wrought, what incredible ranges of pain that could be experienced! He was still, utterly still, focusing on every part of his body and memorizing each sensation as the mouse's body was overtaken by necrosis.

Anubis's body, meanwhile, suddenly jerked and barked. No words came out, but whimpers of terror fell from his jaws and it began to thrash and struggle beneath Bacchus's grip. Claws scrabbling at the ground, head whipping left and right, a feral animal doing everything in its power to escape this captivity.

It did not last long. The magic was powerful, but Anubis held out as long as he could before he was suddenly himself again, panting, exhausted, and feeling weakness deep in his bones. The mouse beneath him twitched, seized violently, and then was still.

Anubis took a moment or two, blinking and breathing beneath Bacchus before he felt for Aati. Stone-still, no breath or heartbeat to be found. It seemed that the combination of the necrosis, the stress, and the shock of pain had been too much for her. That was okay. He had already seen what had become of Aati at the end of the spell. The last one had held out long enough that the necrosis had cover almost all her body.

Finally, he looked up at Bacchus, feeling a bit of his strength returning. "I have gotten what I wanted. Please let me up. Thank you for your help." If Bacchus did, indeed let Anubis up, he would get up slowly, almost clumsily, still feeling the reeling memories of that pain. He stashed all those mental notes away - for what, he did not know yet.