Questions
#1 of Change the World
Part one of a new series of story commissions, this time for FA: Lilybunny !
This one should involve quite a few transformations over its course, that will be the main focus!
Characters belong to FA: Lilybunny
The sun gently crept across the blinds, until it could cast its gentle warm rays onto Maribel's dormant face. It was one of those comfortable weekend mornings, one where nothing would get in the way of pure, simple laziness. The only way to possibly improve this sweet, sweet sensation of peaceful was that gentle morning stretch, one done with the intention of removing every last bit of tension from the body, to leave it completely detached from the turbulence of the world beyond the warm, fluffy covers. The most exhilarating moment, as always, was that short lapse of time, immediately after coming to her senses, yet before the thoughts concerning reality have had any opportunity to seep in to her mind.
Reality always catches up.
In Maribel's case, it was a much shrouded reality, one that made little sense to her. She was still unsure if it had all just been a very strange dream. Granted, there were no birds swimming along with fish in an aquarium, but it was still very unusual. The kind of thing she would never expect to happen in reality.
The first time it happened was nothing as intense as the later examples. She just wanted to give her friend Grace a hug, as she had done so many times in the past. There was no way for her to figure out why Grace had suddenly grown a pair of cat ears.
She might not even have noticed, were it not for her friend's strange reaction during the hug. She was glad to see her, yes, but never thought it would be anything worth sighing so sensually about. Had she been paying attention during the oddly misplaced sighs and moans, Maribel might have noticed the transformation taking place. It was rather slow and gradual, the soft, slightly floppy furry skin gently pushing the hair out of the way, until there stood a fully grown pair of ears. She might have mistaken them for being part of a novelty headband or earphones, the kind that seems so popular in Japan, but the strawberry blonde colour of the short fur was the exact same as her friend's hair.
The soft groan coming from Grace ended at the very same moment as the hug. It was then that Mirabel noticed the new addition. She was quick to point it out, asking when she had put them on, where she had bought them, little mundane questions. She could hardly expect the girl to grab her new ears and react as she had, eyes going wide with terror. Their time together was cut short, as Maribel's friend put on her hat and ran home. Calling her had given no response.
The rest of Maribel's day had continued on in the same manner as she always had. She went to work, doing her best to concentrate on the work to be done, which proved difficult for a number of reasons. First off, she was left alone to do her job, as Grace was one of her assistants, and she could not count on her assistance that day, what with the unfortunate event from earlier. Secondly, that very event left her extremely perplexed, leaving her constantly distracted from her paid duties.
Considering she worked in a research center affiliated with the city zoo, her already demanding job was simply made more difficult. She couldn't focus very well on the effects of certain drugs or diseases on animals where her friend had partly been turned into one!
She was trying to find a connection between her research and the previous event. There was a possibility her own personal research could somehow lead to similar effects as she had witnessed earlier, but with what little she knew, there was no way it could have happened the way it had.
Similar reactions had been observed on volunteer human participants. Small injections would be given, creating a strange defense mechanism against certain effects.
Her leading theory had been mostly simple: some animals are immune to certain diseases or contaminations, and this immunity could somehow be transferred to humans. A prime example of her theory was most birds' resistance to the toxins of certain berries which are dangerous to humans.
After many years of research and complicated concepts, she had managed to make a breakthrough, which led to the injection of animal DNA in humans. The effect was temporary and very limited, but in certain cases, such as that of the berries, success had been achieved.
However, there had never been any physical changes to be observed, as had been the case with her friend. Furthermore, not a single vial had been missing, and she had not yet experimented with feline DNA, so she could hardly see how Grace's transformation had been her own fault.
It had been a very long and confusing day.
Maribel sighed softly as she struggled to step out of her bed. She had to get dressed and get to work, no matter what had happened the previous day. She gave her cat a quick hug, gave food to her fish, and then carried on with her daily routine. Had she been less sleepy, she could have mistaken the tiny feline for her formerly human friend, as both shared the same colour on their ears. It could have been simply a coincidence, but she didn't care either way. She was sleepy, and she needed coffee.
During breakfast, Maribel groaned at the duties which would await her that day. She needed to catch up what she had slacked off on, which meant worked much harder. She had a strange mix of animal DNA to experiment on, according to schedule. First would be the horse samples, followed by experiments onto lizards. She shook her head and wondered why she had put these two on the same day, but her thoughts drifted off.
She pondered how unlucky Grace would have been had she changed in such a way, ending up infused with a mix of horse and lizard DNA. It would lead to some strange chimera, one with hooves and a long tongue, possibly some scales on the arms or the appearance of a centaur... Maybe Grace would even enjoy that, were she to get used to the idea...
The clink of a metal object brought her back to the present. Her spoon was out of food to shovel into her mouth; it was time to get going. She had been so distracted within her mind that she hadn't even paid attention to what she ate for breakfast. It was nothing new, but it was nice to know just what she ate.
She made her way to work, hopping on into the subway. The car was packed, as was to be expected at that time. Had she known at that time how much trouble she could avoid, she would have taken her car to work, even if it meant paying for the expensive parking. Maribel had a feeling she had not dreamed the previous day, but she would soon receive confirmation.
As if often the case in crowded train cars, people don't mind pressing up against each other in order to fit. It's only temporary, after all. The effects of Maribel's entry, however, were not.
She was pressed against many people, minding her own business. Directly against her were two young girls who seemed to be friends, as they kept talking on and on, as well as one young man which most likely had his eardrums long gone, with how loud his music was playing. The discomfort of the situation gradually moved away from Maribel.
It was clear something was going on when one of the girls let out a loud shriek, followed by an eerily high-pitched giggle which slashed through everyone else's ears. She was laughing at her friend, who had begun to scratch herself, only to figure out her arms had become incredibly hairy. It was not the kind of short, fine hair found on normal girls' bodies, but thick and long, somewhat like fur.
Much to the girl's horror, it was in the process of growing across her entire body, beginning from her elbow which was pressed against Maribel, and slowly spreading from there. Unlike with Grace, however, this colour was nothing like the girl's bleached blonde hair. It was very pale, enough to be considered nearly pure white. This teenage girl was clearly too young for this to be the result of aging, and the dark tan of her skin excluded any possibility of spontaneous albinism.
The fur was only the beginning, however. Once it had spread across the entirety of the girl's body, including her face, other changes started happening. The first of these was located within her eyes, the pale blue eyes began slowly changing colour, as if a dark cloud was stirring within them. They gradually became darker and darker, until they ended up nearly entirely black. If one were to look more closely, they might notice these were not black, but instead a very dark reddish brown, a pair of eyes clearly not suited to the dark lighting of the underground trains.
Next in line was the girl's nose and mouth. The transformation itself was more disturbing than its final result, as it had momentarily become a face belonging neither to a human or an animal. Maribel watched in shock as the bone restructured itself, temporarily distorting the girl's face and expression. The girl didn't seem to be in pain nor misery; the bizarre of the situation was simply because of the unfamiliarity of her appearance. It was somewhere within the uncanny valley, that strange area where something appears nearly human, but is at the same time too similar yet too different, causing a great deal of discomfort.
Luckily, the change happened quickly. The girl had what appeared to be a muzzle, neither excessively long nor flat, yet slightly round. Much like the rest of the people close enough, Maribel watched the girl carefully, but she was also very curious. She could not figure out which animal the girl seemed to be turning into. It was one clearly adapted to arctic conditions, due to the white fur and dark eyes, but wolves and bears were the only animals from these conditions she had ever experimented on. While she hadn't realized that right away, she had stopped touching the girl shortly after the changes began, taking a small distance much like everyone else.
The answer became more and more obvious when the next changes came. The girl's hands gradually became more and more like paws, complete with pads aligned with each finger. Her thumbs gradually shortened and seemed to sink into her hands, making their use more difficult, but not quite impossible. The long nails gradually shifted as well, seeming to curl up lengthwise so that they eventually took on the appearance of claws. Neither human nor animal, these new paws didn't produce the same effect as the facial changes. Yet, Maribel could still not pinpoint the direction of the changes. These paws were too thin to be feline, yet the muzzle was too round and too short to be canine.
The ears were just what were needed to satisfy Maribel's curiosity. Much like with Grace the previous day, a new pair of ears poked its way out through the girl's hair. She could only assume the original ears had either vanished, or had somehow gradually slid upwards to rest atop the girl's head. Either way, the sensation seemed very disconcerting, as temporarily having no ears to help maintain her balance meant she had to cling onto one of the vertical bars or risk falling to the ground.
Unlike Grace, this girl's ears seemed to grow on and on, covered in the same white fur as the rest of her body. By the time they had done growing, the ears stood upwards, as long as the rest of the girl's head. The tips were covered with what seemed to be the only section of fur that wasn't white, each ear edged along the top with dark, black fur, which also lined the inside of the long ears. It was the largest arctic hare Maribel had ever seen.
This seemed to be the final change to the girl. By then, many people had left the train to reach their stops, while others had remained staring. Maribel had stayed close, and paid close attention to the metamorphosis. She wanted to offer her help to the girl, who seemed clearly distraught, but not as much as when the changes had begun. During the transformation itself, she had even seemed to enjoy herself, and it was the return to reality which appeared to worry her. She likely felt lonely, even her friend had abandoned her.
Maribel smiled as gently as she could, and spoke softly, seeing what she could do.
She nearly stumbled over her words, knowing how fragile the girl likely felt at that moment.
"Would you like to come with me? I think I could help you."