Demonstrating willful channeling

Luckily for Tori, Bella stayed put, although the sudden movement seemed to make Bella want to bolt of the way. The blue energy touched Bella, and the light pulsed briefly, before Bella disappeared!

You looked at Tori--in particular, at the orange rabbit ears now sticking out of the top of her head. While they had been small on the Netherland Dwarf, these were no tiny ears, they gave your friend an extra foot of height at least! Her hair had recolored itself to a lighter orange, same as yesterday, although this time Tori's face and body seemed to remain virtually unchanged.

With a smile, Tori put a hand on your shoulder. "And, that's how it's done! It's so much easier when I get a hand on the wheel, so to speak. Bella's still with me, but you can still just call me Tori when I'm like this, okay?"

"Sure thing, Tori it is." Even with Victoria in partial control of herself, it seemed like Bella still had quite an influence, as her hands were roaming over her body a bit, feeling her hips and stomach, then running along her lengthy rabbit ears, closing her eyes and inhaling delightedly through her nose.

"It's been a long time since I'd been like this! Since Bella's been like this, I mean. I'd channeled her a few times actually, but I always appreciate her energy and I think she likes being the tallest thing in the room." With a giggle, Tori pokes at the messenger bag in your arms. "Can you open this up for me? I can do a self-checkup as I am now, then compare results after the channeling ends to my baseline, and that might indicate what's actually wrong. I don't feel bad though... maybe some anxiety. What would have me all worked up though..?"

It seemed like in this willful channeling, not everything is as clear-cut as the other method. Lucinda, via Tori, had stated her exact problem to you with relative ease, but depending on how much Bella was going to participate in the channeling, Tori might have to do some additional sleuthing to get the answers she sought.

As you opened up the messenger bag, you peeked through the contents briefly. Bandages, syringes, gauze, instruments... it seemed to have a lot of remedies for common injuries or illness.

"Stethoscope, please," Tori said calmly. You reached into the bag, turning back to Tori--to find she'd already partially unbuttoned her blouse, showing off her cleavage to you! With a smirk as she realized you were staring, Tori wiggled her shoulders back and forth, adding a jiggle to her chest before taking the stethoscope. "Maybe I should take off some more buttons, huh? I do feel a little bit of an extra pep in my step thanks to Bella, I wouldn't mind seeing how far--"

You put a hand on Tori's shoulder to get her to relax, and she shook her head a little to clear her thoughts. "Uh, right, sorry. The Bella side got a little... excited. Not often that she gets to experience, uh, human-to-human interaction. I do still sometimes get a little carried away, channeling to any degree always brings out a different side of me." With her head at least momentarily cleared, she puts on the stethoscope and touches it to her own chest, listening carefully. After a few quiet moments, she notes something down in her log.

"How does this even work?" you asked. "Rabbit hearts wouldn't beat at the same rate as a human."

Tori dug into her bag for a mirror, examining her eyes next. "It's all relative, in that if Bella had an elevated heart rate, after channeling, so would I. That's why I'll take some baseline readings too once this is done, though I know myself pretty well. If I had a stomach ache or felt like I had a cold or my sinuses felt stuffy, it would mean that Bella feels off in the same way relative to her own baseline. Hey, the ears are always tricky, can you hold up a second mirror for me?"

You turned to reach into the bag, before you heard a pak-pak-pak coming from outside. You recognized the sound of a .22 being fired, assuming that was target practice for the rancher's son. It didn't startle you much, but Tori squealed and hugged tightly onto you, flinching with each gunshot. When the noise ended, she still held tightly onto you, her eyes wide and glancing up at you. "...I think we found the cause of her anxiety. I, uh, think this is kind of nice though, if I'm honest..."

Tori buried her face in your shoulder, taking a deep breath through her nose, taking in your scent in the process. She sighed happily, hugging tighter to you. "Hey, crazy idea, but nobody will bother us in the quarantine room, and I know one way to alleviate stress..!" Tori swirled a finger on your chest, her eyelids half-closed.

You passed up an earlier opportunity to do anything with Tori while she was controlled by Lucinda, but now that she's more conscious and just 'influenced' by Bella, you had some choices to make. Your best friend, standing so close to you with her shirt almost completely undone, showing off her cleavage to you still... Tori gave you the go-ahead earlier for when she's channeling to essentially go with the flow. If you're ready to alter your friendship with Tori, at least...