The rabbit known as 'seekerfoot' was sitting on a long cut-down tree in David's garden. As time passed, the new rabbit girl had met quite a few of the rabbit's warren, each one stepping out to see the unusual 'moonrabbit' as David was being known by to them. Still it was a little disheartening to hear some of their stories. Being a rabbit wasn't exactly a picnic, and they had been suffering a food shortage, predators, and many other problems that came from leading such an existence. However it appeared that animals had a kind of 'story barter' system. To hear one story meant that the rabbits expected David to share her own experiences. Often there was a species barrier in those concepts, but she did her best.
"So, what's it like being so big?" Asked Seekerfoot suddenly.
"Being.. so big?" David, didn't think she was all that big as just over four feet tall. She settled down next to the rabbit with a basket of carrots. It only cost a few dollars. She honestly hoped nobody could watch her do this: a rabbit girl, with a basket of carrots talking to a... rabbit. It was weird. She couldn't really understand how this was possible. Sure rabbits were just animals but... they seemed to understand a great deal. Not quite as much as a human would, but...
"Yes. Being so big" the rabbit said making a little 'smirk' in the use of language, if not by facial expression. "How come a fox hasn't nabbed you?"
"Foxes don't go after me," the rabbit girl said with a little shudder. The very idea of a fox grabbing her...
"I've seen them in your Gatherings," Seekerfoot said curiously. "In that really big warren? Many hops away, where you spend the day?"
"Oh- the school? Well yeah, there are a few fox changed... Sarah is one," David bit her lip a bit picturing her. She might have to stay away from her until she understood just what being a rabbit changed would be like with her around. "We- uh- we have an understanding. You see we were all human once and well... we just don't fight. It's a bit like if some of your family were to become part fox or part wolf too. Would you fight a rabbit if they had fox ears suddenly?"
"I don't think a rabbit has ever dreamed of such a thing happening," admitted Seekerfoot, using her blacklegs to start scratching her ears. "Humans seem to know a lot. I also wonder how the metal beasts come about."
"Metal.. oh cars? We- we make them."
"Are humans gods?" The rabbit looked curiously. "I didn't know you can make things that were not other humans too."
"N-No! Far from it... uh..." David didn't know a lot, but she certainly didn't want this poor animal to get the wrong idea. Yet she was so new to communicating with a rabbit. She realised it was easier to place herself in their perspective... but how to convey it? "Okay... think of it like this. Your warren is impressively dug, is it not?"
"There are those that can make magnificent ones, yes," said Seekerfoot. "But how is that related to the big metal ones?"
"well... just think of it like this. Picture.. picture an earthworm. Imagine how it must look to them, to see rabbits that make giant holes in the earth. They would be impressed, wouldn't they? It's like that. We just do things on a bigger scale."
"Oh, I don't like worms much," Seekerfoot said glancing around. "But I guess I can sort of understand. You humans can do something that would take many rabbits to do, right? Not just many, but many many many many?"
David chuckled. Numbers was another thing that rabbits didn't have a concept of. They simply had no need for them, so anything more then 'one' as a concept tended to become 'many'. "Yeah... humans can make things that would take many rabbits to do. It's just... the way we make things." The rabbit girl hoped she had explained it right to the animal. "Though... I must admit, talking to you has been one of the... more interesting perks of me being like this." David looked a little wistfully and down at her new body. Being stuck as a rabbit-girl was just something she would have to get used to. Until.. until...
.. a cure was found? But would it ever? What was she supposed to do now? Become.. a real girl? Get married? Find a a... a... 'boyfriend'? Ew!
The rabbit jumped onto David's lap suddenly. "A long time ago we were all one species you know." She looked at her with curious eyes.
"One species? Uh, you mean like evolution?" David tilted her head. Surly animals didn't understand... that concept, did they?
"That's what we know. Most animals know that. Before there were Enemies and Predators, we were all the same. But being the same made us the Many, so we split and became those who Hunted, and those who Hunt. Then we were split again, into those who were in the Night and those in the Day. Splitting and splitting over and over... to sky for the birds, Earth for legs, and Water for fish.. endless splitting."
David gasped a bit. The rabbit... did have a concept of evolution! It wasn't well conveyed but it was there... "So... where do humans fit into that?"
The rabbit's ears twitched. "Some say humans are the most dangerous of all our Enemies... but... I like you too, and I like exploring human warrens. You seem able to go into all those splits and beyond. I've seen you turn into metal birds to fly," the animal looked with some awe.. "The others might punish me for talking to you. But.. you can't be an enemy. You don't smell as one, and you bring us food... To me humans are 'those who plant', sometimes 'those who are'... but they say that is the way humans hunt. By offering a food, and taking all... corrupting the soil, by demanding more then it can give..."
David bit her lip again. Was she supposed to apologise for this? From what she could work out, animals didn't have a sense of apology either. Things were as they were, and there was little regret in an action. They did as instinct compelled them, and the primitive animals must have far baser instincts. "I.. I um..." She trailed away. She was never really much of an 'eco-warrior', though certainly cared for the environment. From the perspective of an animal though, humans must be so terrifying. Building, reaping, taking, consuming on a scale that dwarfed their 'tribe'... and yet the rabbit saw that humans sewed as well, creating and making things as much as it confused them. "Humans... don't mean much of what they- we- do." the rabbit girl said. "We live on this planet too... we don't want to harm it. We just.. forget sometimes about how things affect other things."
"I thought it was like that," nodded the rabbit. "I am glad I met you moonrabbit." the rabbit said nuzzling the larger rabbit girl. She liked how she.. smelled like her own mother maybe? It felt nice to be close to this strange human, that seemed to have a paw in their own world. "We could learn so much from each other.."
It was at this point the sliding door of their house opened. Matt watched the scene a little startled. "Hey uh... your mom said you were here.. you missed the party.. what are you doing?"
David turned to look at him, then at the rabbit with a blush. "I- I'm- talking... to a rabbit." the rabbit girl said with a blush.
Matt looked at David up and down and gave a little smirk. "Uh... huh... you feelin' alright?" He asked looking quite bemused. His shoulders twitched a bit, holding in his snicker of amusement.
Seekerfoot quickly bounded off, startled by the presence of the other human. "I'll see you later moon rabbit," she said quickly, taking a carrot away and leaving over the grass verge.
Matt watched it go not hearing a word of their language as he glanced back to David. "You're acting so weird these days," he shook his head. However it seemed like there was something a lot more.. final in the tone of his voice.
"I'm fine! Sorry about the party... like I said I..."
Matt looked down at the grass, his eyes glistening a bit. "I had a chance to meet someone I always wanted and you just..." Matt groaned. "I don't get it. You've... changed."
"You're only now seeing that?!" said David. "I'm a rabbit girl!"
"Yeah but... you've really changed. I thought you were someone I could depend on..."
"I thought you were someone I could depend on too. Because of you people are still calling me 'bunny boobs'!" David huffed, staring at her 'friend'. "You just want to use my 'new gender' to score you some points with a girl you like. How am I supposed to feel about that!"
"But- but- this is what we always wanted..." Matt said. "You said we never get to see the jocks and stuff... this was our big break. It can't be helped that you're a girl now, but I thought you were all for at least taking advantage of it. Isn't that something good?"
"I'm all for continuing my life as best I can."
"But you could make it so much better! People.. really do want to see you-"
"So you want me to strip for them? You know what Matt, screw it! Why couldn't the virus have got you instead!" She shouted... though immediately regretted it.
Matt looked taken aback. "F-Fine.. you're the one acting like such a girl anyway! I'm the one planning and working out what to do and all you can do is get 'emotional' over a few mistakes. Let me know when you're off your period." He turned and left quickly the rather stunned (and slowly angered) rabbit girl
Back at her house, Jon tossed and turned in her sleep. There was a dream... about a shadow? Something was trying to tell her something. It was so difficult to remember though, but she did get one vague sentence
I'm sorry...
Finally she woke up... This time she was a little more used to having what she 'expected'. "I'm still a sphinx," she quietly realised. After all that travelling around, meeting Agatha, and trying to understand the 'riddle of the stone sphinx' she had certainly looked better. The mirror showed a girl's head on a lionesses body. Her hair was in shambles, and it was hard to take in that this... this was her still.
"Am I dependent on others to fix my hair?" She wondered. Or indeed, depend on others for... being her hands? With a bit of an effort she used her paws to try and 'comb' her hair. There was a brief mental 'crossover' as she felt her left large lion paws close to her neck. It was... well, strange. Human instinct being what it is, there was something very unsettling to be so close to a lion's paw, and yet be distinctly completely human. If she were a complete lion, would she feel any different? More natural? Or... just a feral beast?
"I'm human," she said to herself as she stared in the mirror. Her arm of course, refused to bend quite in the way she expected. She was forced to lower her head a little, for her paw to reach anywhere near the top of her head. The mirror showed only her human head, and from that view point.. she did look human, except for her canines.
She stretched out her new wings. This was... interesting. A completely new set of appendages. It was akin to having an extra set of arms on her torso- useless ones that couldn't grab anything, but could fold into themselves. The sight of them made her think of that dream. The impressions were a little vague so she wasn't entirely sure what it was about. Something about learning to fly... and...
elements of her dream started to come back. She saw a sky filled with sphinxes just like herself. They all flew in the air, and it was a strange sight to behold. Somehow in her dream, she knew they had all come from her. If that were the case though...
"I've got to stop eating food in the cafeteria," Jon chuckled. Well given her new found feminine hood, it was no doubt she would have such weird dreams. Still, she was more worried about the magic stone- locked as it was, within the stone hide of the statue. If only she could get at it, perhaps something involving a jack hammer-
do not harm the statue
Jon blinked. Where did that thought come from? It wasn't anything but her own voice. Something was really odd about this. Something.. unsettling. The stone was so close! She needed to fix this problem, this entire world... She needed to visit this statue again...
Jon arrived at the park, this time without Karyn. It was late in the evening, and once again things were quiet. The statue looked so ordinary, if not for the fact it held the wishing stone within it's giant stone paws. She looked at the statue longingly. All her attempts to pry the stone away had failed. Would it work if she touched the statue? She anxiously touched it. "I .. wish I could know if the stone can grant me a wish like this," She said.
Nothing happened.
The sphinx grumbled a little, with an almost roaring sound deep within her lion's body. This was so unfair! Then she smelled something. Something that had to be impossible... yet her senses could not be fooled. Not something as distinct as this. "You... you are alive, aren't you." The smell was strong. One sphinx knew another, after all.
More elements of her strange vision came to pass, of a visitation by the shadow of this sphinx. It was trying to tell her something... something really important. This wasn't just any sphinx, like the one or two the doctor's had mentioned. Perhaps a very old one? Or one from another world entirely?
If that was the case though, what did she want? Why was she keeping her from having the stone... was that intentional? Jon found it hard to believe someone would keep her from the stone- unless she was afraid of something.
"Why can't you let me have the stone?"
what would you do with it?
Jon bit her lip. "Fix the world..."
Fix it? It's fine... you are fine.. as a sphinx.
Jon wasn't quite sure where that thought came from. The last one distinctly felt like it was her mother telling her this, from when she first changed. "I don't... want to hurt you," Jon said to the statue. "I don't know who you are, or what... or why, you took the stone away from me... but I'll figure something out."
