Jon approached the curious looking Celtic girl. While at first one could dismiss the clothing as some kind of costume in a play, there was so much detail in it that it just had to be authentic. That was indeed the clothings of an era long gone by, and coincidentally the same era that was currently being discussed in class. Still it begged the question, just why was she wearing it?
That she was in this class meant she was a 'changed'. Unusually, she appeared very human except for the clothing style. Jon tried to look for any distinctive non-human traits, but couldn't find any. She had red-aubran hair, and seemed very fair. She seemed to be paying close attention to the teacher, taking notes.
Jon noticed her handwriting was a very old cursive notation often seen in books of that time. She then noticed she was using a feather to write on... this was getting stranger by the second. Was this someone who had regressed to a previous time period? Jon tried to get closer to her to say hello. Though being half slug, it couldn't really be done subtly.
"Hi" Jon spoke still curious of the new girl.
The girl looked to the slug girl. "Well met" she replied.
Wow... she even spoke in the old style. Well, at least she spoke English, Jon thought."I'm Jon..."
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance Jon. I'm Brittany" she smiled.
"can I ask... what did the sun to do you?" Jon was really curious now.
Brittany looked at the slug girl with a curious look of her own. "I am not certain. It is hard to describe. I am still who I was... but it is like I am also someone else. I 'know' certain things I could not have known before." She spoke with a strong British accent.
"such as?" Jon asked
"Like magic." she stated simply.
"M-agic? you say?" Jon was worried. The stone he had that created this world, existed in the old world before. Is it possible there were other magic's before the sun changed?
"An awareness of the lost art... but I can not do Magic. The knowledge comes in song to me... I just do not know how." She closed her eyes and spoke as if reciting a poem. "Upon our shores exist worlds of magic, Avalon, Ti-na-nog, the planes of dreams and the land of nod... these worlds existed. Did we attempt to conquer them, befriend them, I do not know. All I know is they left... but now return." She smiled to him. "At least, that's the song I hear."
"I'm... not sure I understand" Jon said softly. Just what was this weird girl getting at? "What does that mean?"
Brittany sighed. "I do not know. It is like how I also know about the stars, and the planets.. the moon. I mean, I am even aware of a celestial alignment that occurred at the same moment the sun changed... but nobody believes me on that."
Now Jon became wide eyed. Oh Hell...
"... A celestial alignment we must await 5 months more, before it occurs again." Brittany looked at Jon evenly to see if she believed her or not.
Jon gulped. Of course she knew she was speaking the truth... but she couldn't let her know that! It could potentially let out her darkest secret... that she was responsible for this. All of this. All of everyone's suffering... "W-what do you think will happen after this er... alignment repeats?"
Brittany closed her eyes and spoke again with a strange poetic sound about her. "Will we drift further into the dreaming sea, or will we settle on a new shore... either way, I do not believe we can return home..." She looked to the slug girl again. "Not all of us... Not all of us... That is what the song says." She said that very sadly.
Jon swallowed. "Your.. being rather freaky you know..." The slug girl tried to say. She knew about the alignment? How could she know! Did she know about the stone? This was very... very ... bad. Just who was this girl! Jon had to act carefully.
Brandon looked to his friend Ken who still looked upset. "Dude, are you okay?"
"Y-yeah... just.. oh how could I have been so stupid." It was his fault. He just didn't look closely enough. He saw a pretty girl and thought... just thought he had a chance with her. God what a nightmare. She was just so pretty, and so... nice? Argh!
"Ken, Dude, no harms been done, you know?" Brandon tried to assure him. "So you asked her out. It doesn't mean anything. She looks like a girl. Easy mistake to make." Brandon thought she was hot too.
"That's not all. S-she asked if we could be friends still. I don't know if I want to see her. I feel like a jerk." She didn't even do anything to deserve these feelings. It was all him. He was the one who went after her, he was the one who talked to her, and he was the one feeling all this. What did the girl do other then simply be there for him to think about?
Brandon tried to help his friend see it another way. "Remember when you and me changed? We swore we would still be friends right? No matter what we looked like."
"Well yeah, but your a bro," Ken replied truthfully. "We go way back."
"Right. But if I had turned into a girl, would we still be friends?" Brandon asked.
"Dude! Don't even joke about that... that's stupid." Ken shook his head not sure how to reply.
"Ha.. come on, You know we would still be friends." Brandon chuckled.
"Yeah.. I guess," the fox boy replied though was uncomfortable.
"Anyway forget about her. There are plenty of real girls."
Ken swallowed trying to push away the image of the oriental girl away. "Y-yeah... real girls."
...
Stepping out from a corner, in the halls, the three eyed oriental girl bit her lip. She just heard the last words spoken by Ken, and she looked down at herself sadly. sadly.
"Real girls..." she repeated those words, not sure what to feel.
Jay looked outside the window from her taxi.
She still missed driving her car, but her shortness made her have to get it adapted. It wouldn't be impossible, just a costly conversion. Figuring out how to sit comfortably on a chair with thee tails behind her would be a slightly more difficult issue. Even in the taxi it was tricky.
She paid the driver upon reaching the road with the abandoned lot. closing the door, the taxi sped away. She noticed a bus stop down a main road though a few minutes walk away... that would have to be her way back home.
She proceeded to walk down the street, slowly taking in the atmosphere of the place. She liked the suburbs. The air felt clean, and it was generally very pleasant. She drew one or two odd glances from the locals.
Finally she came upon the empty lot. There was a tree, and it looked like someone had converted some junk into a makeshift swing. It was made of wood, hanging on a bit of rope across a pole. It was sturdy but certainly didn't look it at all. She pressed her weight onto the swing, and sat on it, having to climb a bit to do so. her legs dangled down, as she once again took in the atmosphere here.
This place felt so forgotten. Neglected. The pond had long dried up now. The wind rustled her fur, bringing with it a concoction of scents from people, and animals. Dead grass, mud, pieces of plastic from when this was once an industrial site...
She started sniffing the air.
She could sense something....
There was a girl here recently. Female scent... but there was another scent. something else.
The three tailed fox jumped off the swing, and started sniffing the ground. Dirt... muck... this was the smell of garbage. Household garbage. It made no sense to her... but it was a strong enough scent to be a potential trail. Her sensing brought her to the tree. She climbed up easily, still sniffing... sniffing... yikes! This was high... but yes, the scent was here as well. Why would the smell of the girl be here? Why would she be up the tree?
The fox girl jumped down easily, crouching on all fours. 'This actually feels quite good', she though to herself. She didn't realise her fox body was quite this... nimble. But then there was rarely an opportunity to put it to use.
She didn't see anything in the branches, but she sensed the girl was definitely not alone. The other scent though was too difficult to track. So it was either something very small, or something disguising her scent.
The smell of garbage seemed to be the only trail to follow...
She slowly followed it, her three tails twitching every way.
