Zami furrowed his brow as he read, growing increasingly frustrated. By the time he finally finished reading the journal entry, his hands were gripping tightly to the leather sides of the little book. As he closed the book with a brisk snap, he considered Caserion very, very lucky.
Lucky that he happened to be out of the house.
He angrily threw the book back into the nightstand drawer and slammed it closed. A moment after he did, he heard a muffled boom come from the kitchen. Furrowing his brow, he hurried back out through the hallway and stopped in the archway leading to the kitchen. A light cloud of smoke surrounded the bubbling cooking pot, where Jazax was coughing and waving away the cloud with his hand.
"I wonder if I put the wrong amounts," He pondered aloud, peering into the pot curiously before adding, "Actually, no wait, this looks right."
"What in da name of da Loa are ya doing, mon?" Zami snapped, moving over beside him.
Jazax looked up at him flatly, perking a black eyebrow.
"What bee got in your bonnet?" He asked, "You're lookin' at me like I owe you money."
"Ugh, it's dat damn elf," Zami huffed, crossing his arms grouchily, "Gettin' on my last nerve."
"Oh, I know," Jazax nodded, turning to peer at the pot again, "She's so annoying. Seriously, she thinks she's-"
"Wait, what?"
"Err… what?" Jazax glanced up, "We were talkin' about Mythene, right?"
"Uhh, no," Zami furrowed his brow, to which Jazax held up his hands defensively.
"Hey, well, you can understand my confusion. The both of them are pretty terrible."
Zami grunted, just leaning over towards the cooking pot. He wasn't really sure what to make of the goo within.
"What's dat?" He asked, keen to change the subject.
"Glad you asked," Jazax grinned, apparently equally keen, "This baby's the solution to all our problems."
Jazax patted the side of the cooking pot proudly, and Zami perked an eyebrow curiously.
"Allow me to explain," Jazax cleared his throat, "Now what would you consider our primary issue here?"
"We can't leave da house?"
"Exactly. And why is that?"
"Uh, because we from da Horde?"
"Well, you are, yes. I'm technically not, but you can't expect these guys to know the difference."
"Right, uh, so…?"
"So…" Jazax grinned, getting that insane glint in his eyes like when he was making something explosive, "What if we weren't?"
"Huh?" Zami cocked his head, "Weren't… Horde?"
"Yeah, precisely!"
Zami blinked at the goblin, clearly not following. In response, Jazax groaned loudly and rolled his eyes.
"Okay, lemme see if I can put this in terms even you can understand, okay?"
Jazax clapped his hands together, thinking a moment, before he continued.
"Y'know how during Hallow's Eve, all the innkeepers will get those enchanted buckets of candy and stuff?"
Zami blinked again, having no idea how this was related at all, but nodded.
"Well, sometimes, the enchantment goes off, right? And what happens then?"
"Uhh-"
"You sometimes get your body altered to appear like you're another creature. Somethin' spooky, like a skeleton, right?"
"Okay, but-"
"Well, this potion is essentially the same sorta thing. Same basic elements at work. Except with this potion, you can choose what you turn into, see?"
"Err, so it's-"
"Basically it's a potion that'll allow you to look like you're a night elf for a little while, alright? Get it, big guy? With this, we can just go out and about freely in Darnassus."
Zami nodded absentmindedly as his brain buffered everything the goblin said. It didn't help that Jazax tended to talk a mile a minute. Once it finally sunk in, his eyebrows rose.
"Huh, really? Does it actually work?"
Jazax immediately scowled, almost looking offended.
"Hey, whaddya tryin' to say there, pal?"
"Uhh, nothing. Anyway, can we use it now?"
"Yeah, yeah, just gimme a second…"
Jazax grabbed an empty bottle off his workstation and shoved it into the goo, filling it up. Then he held it to Zami, who frowned at the unappetizing appearance of the potion.
"Oh, don't worry about the taste," Jazax said reassuringly, "It actually tastes a lot like peppermint."
Zami perked an eyebrow at the oddness of that statement but nodded, taking the bottle. He swirled it around for a moment, eyeing it skeptically, before bringing it up to his lips. He winced as soon as he did. Well, it certainly didn't smell like peppermint. Taking a deep breath, he tilted his head back and swallowed it in one go.
One coughing fit later, he glared over at Jazax.
"Dat don't taste anythin' like peppermint," He growled hoarsely, to which the goblin shrugged flippantly.
"Hey, well you wouldn't have drunk the thing if I told you it tasted more like orc sweat."
Zami grunted, unable to effectively voice his displeasure as his voice felt even more hoarse. That potion stung a bit as it went down, too, and it was starting to give him a feeling almost like heartburn. He furrowed his brow, his stomach beginning to feel… strange. Zami put a hand over his stomach and groaned, leaning onto Jazax's workstation with the other hand.
"I think I'm gonna be sick…" He managed to mumble, before he fell unconscious.
When he finally came to, he found he was laying back on the floor in front of the unlit fireplace. A clean shaven night elven man with ashy grey skin and short black hair sat cross legged beside him, propping up his particularly pointy chin with his hand.
"So, I take it this is your first time shapeshifting into another humanoid," The night elf remarked in Orcish, unmistakably in Jazax's voice.
"Huh?" Zami mumbled groggily, "Jaz... Jazax?"
"That's my name, buddy," The night elf nodded, "Gotta say, I wasn't expectin' you to faint like a damsel in distress or something. Guess I'm just lucky you didn't fall on me, huh?"
Zami just blinked a few times, still getting his bearings, before he slowly sat up. He felt a bit… smaller. Just a bit. But it was noticeable enough. He furrowed his brow, looking at Jazax.
"You're… an elf…"
Jazax grunted a little, clearly not very keen on that, and crossed his arms.
"Hey, well look in the mirror, buddy."
Zami's brow shot up in realization of what the goblin meant and scrambled to his feet. When he was standing, his new compactness definitely was more noticeable. It was like he was a whole head shorter, and it made him feel like he was a teenager again. He also didn't like how… meaty his body felt. Almost blubbery.
Jazax stood up as well, and turned over to his workbench, which he now had to bend over to use. He pawed around clumsily in the toolbox, which was now a bit too small for his elven hand, before pulling out a little mirror. Then he stood up and held it out to Zami.
Zami went to reach for it and froze, seeing his hand. But it wasn't his hand. It was different. It had a bunch of little fingers, four of them in total. And his skin wasn't teal anymore. It was a more ashen blue. And he didn't have any fur. Anxiously, he snatched at the mirror. His fingers were weird to move, so he just scooped the mirror into the palm of his hand and brought it up to his chest, peering down curiously.
Zami's eyebrows-which were now massive and more of a pinkish-red-shot up as soon as he saw himself. The first thing he noticed was how small his nose was now. The second thing he noticed was that his tusks were missing. The third thing he noticed was that his eyes were now empty glowing orbs of a pale golden color.
And the fourth thing he noticed made him quickly slap his hand against his chin, as though he needed to feel it to prove it was real. But there was no mistake. Even though, despite all his best efforts, he'd never been able to grow one. But now there it was.
He finally had a beard!
