Alex glanced at the clock.
It had been almost an hour now, since their parents had left them in the house. The living room felt empty, filled with nothing but the ticking of the clock. The two siblings didn't know what to do. Was there anything to do? The Television wasn't even on. Sally had a questioning look to her new sister. But seemed reluctant to ask... as the silence continued though, she felt she had to.
"Alex?" Sally asked sitting on the sofa. She was careful with her tail. She noticed she seemed to have better control of that appendage at the moment then her twin... but then, Alex was better with controlling her wings.
"Yes Sally?" she put an arm gently around her shoulder in assurance.
"I... I didn't think the sun could..." how could she say it? Kill? She had never heard anyone actually dying in the sunlight before. Could it be that their father... all this time ... was right? Never had she heard an ambulance having to be called for it, or anything like that. Seeing their father collapse like that...
Alex should her head. "It was not the sunlight... not directly. He- She just.. panicked." More like a seizure, she mused to herself.
"Is it because he turned female?" Sally asked tilting her head.
"Very likely," Alex sighed.
The form the sunlight gave their father was a complete blow to his mental as well as physical identity. Is that what Alex was hoping to do to their father? She swallowed, realising she was so very close, to being exactly like her father in that instance. The anger and hatred their father always exuded, hurt them... and she was going to hurt him. Hurt him far worse... so badly, it could have killed him. she silently thanked Maple...
"...How come it didn't happen to you?" Sally said looking closer to her twin.
Alex had to pause on that. Why didn't that happen to her? She found being female.. a little strange true.. actually being in a body that was her sister was stranger then anything else. She was sure there would still be bumps on the road.
Still... she was happy as she was before... but she was just as happy as she was now. Her thoughts during her transformation were only of her younger sibling. It didn't matter what happen to her...
It still didn't explain why their reactions were so completely different though. Did she simply not anchor her identity to her appearance as much as their father? If so, she never showed any signs of that... not even to herself.
"I... I guess I was thinking too much about you, to think about myself." Alex said in the end.
Sally didn't seem so sure. She wasn't sure what would have happened if she had become male for one. Would she have freaked out like that? But then her brother was male, and was fine with it... so.. maybe she would be fine too?
It was possible they just drew strength from each other...
...more so now, then ever before.
Andy hated hospitals.
She had gone into cycles of crying her heart out, to restlessness, and wakeful crying once again as the emotions erupted unabated. It wasn't just her transformation, it was all the feelings of helplessness she had suppressed for the past three years, ever since she lost her job. To know how... replaceable she was, in a company he had spent ten years in, doing things...
She had a fear, she was replaceable even as a father... their children didn't need her. She was always told how children will always love their mother more. It was natures way... She put them down, to make herself feel better... to exert some control over them.. to just... just...
The heart rate monitors continued to beep, rising slightly. They did not hit alarm levels, but it was a constant reminder that the rabbit girl was being monitored.
She drank to forget... but with no alcohol in her system now, and not even the haze of the addiction to keep the memories suppressed, they all just came to her.
She was a complete monster. She had lost everything. she cried again...
Susan watched, sitting on a chair by her side. The doctors had said she was in the clear for the moment, but they were observing and assessing her covertly. Her blood pressure and heart rate were within reason, although slightly high... but apparently, rabbit girls had a very high tolerance for physical activity. Clearly she had to be in a great distress to mentally crash like that.
Andy carefully stole a glance at the snake man... Her sniffling quickened slightly, as if yearning for his scent.. to get closer... to...
The rabbit girl felt disgust well in herself as she shivered. No! It was... unnatural! She... she... she wasn't attracted to men. She liked woman! This wasn't her body! It wasn't! She wasn't a...
Susan on seeing Andy look at him, approached the young rabbit girl... touching her shoulder gently.
Andy shivered in response. The touch felt so comforting.. so nice... her rabbit ears flickered upwards, her heart raced a little, and she was aware of a warmth spreading down her body quickly. It was just so... "No!" she yelled to herself using what little will power she had to keep those urges under.
Susan pulled back hurt not understanding. He shrank back to his chair, biting his lower lip as he looked sadly.
The rabbit girl didn't look at him, she was turned away .. the tuft of her tail could be seen to the snake man. He thought it... looked cute. But this was clearly not the time to say so.
"S-S-usan..." The rabbit girl whispered through clenched teeth.
"I'm here," The snake man said.
"D-Don't.. Don't go... S-Stay? P-Please..." she sniffled... "S-Sorry... sorry... I'm Sorry..."
"Shh.. I'm here... I won't go..."
Steve's mother sighed. "This is really bothering you, isn't it." She said softly.
Steve looked upset still, struggling with the whole... issue.
"Come with me dear," She said gesturing.
Steve was taken to the window. Her mother opened the curtains carefully, noting that the sun had not yet approached this side of the house.. so it was safe for her. "Tell me, what do you see?"
It was their garden... it was somewhat neglected. They just lacked the time to sort it out properly. "Our garden," She sighed. She didn't want to look. This was where she had that vision of being put in a vase...
"And what do you see?"
"A pot of mint there... grass, small tree... um... flowers?" Steve didn't really know where her mother was going with this.
"What you can not see, is that flowers are always loosing pollen. Bees are not the only route, some of them disperse by wind. Others will actually explode when disturbed. You've been breathing it in all night and day, everyone does... your own pollen is probably spreading itself around."
"T-This isn't making me feel any better mom," said Steve.
"Unless I put you in a bubble, with filtered air conditioning, you are always going to have pollen, near you. That is an aspect of the planet you live on dear," she said softly. "one bee, is not going to do anything. And that spray you used, is dangerous to plants..."
"I'm not a plant." Steve said crossing her arms.
"You are, partly... and you have to understand that part of you. Which brings me on to lesson two... what kind of flower do you think you are?"
"Huh?" Was that some trick question? "I don't know."
"Neither do I... but let's say you are a unique species. A Steve flower," She smiled.
Steven rolled her eyes...
"It's fair to say, there's only one of you in this world... right?"
"I.. I.. guess." Said Steve in the end.
"We don't know anything about your compatibility to any of the other plants... but, you are still a sentient species... and one thing that is consistent with complex life, is that more energy is devoted to our young then anything else. Random partners are generally for life forms that don't actually need to take care of a child..."
"That's assuming I'm not just a sick joke," Steve said upset.
"You are not... trust me Steven... at most you will produce fruit or seeds seasonally. It might even be natures way of preparing you for the real thing."
Steve sighed, though was a little happier with the explanation. She might not be able to avoid the 'birds and the bees' literally.. but her mothers argument seemed sound even if it was based on one or two assumptions...
...Still she wanted to avoid the real thing...
Harry woke up... thinking of the events last night. Her white dress was hanging on the side of her door, and she realised... she actually wore a dress this time. She was Haru... was she Harry now?
Drifting between the two names like this was... weird. Was it lying? No! She wasn't lying to anyone.. not to Ken, not to herself.. everyone knew... well almost everyone. She just didn't want to pick one name over the other though.
Was that... bad of her?
Sighing she got up to see her mother making breakfast.
"So, how was last night? I want details," Her mother smiled.
"U-Um..." Harry looked shyly. "It was ... nice..."
Ken realised someone was calling his phone. He was about to head off to the gym when it rang. "Hello?"
"Dude!" The familiar male voice rang out.
"Oh.. Hi Brandon."
"I heard you went out with Haru! Is that true?"
Ken blinked. That snake boy was awfully quick to hear things... "Where did you hear that?"
"Someone saw you with her," he said quickly.
"Was that someone you?" Ken said suspiciously.
"Oh come on bro what would give you that... er... yeah okay I saw you."
"It wasn't a date okay? We were just.. hanging out." Ken explained.
"Oh its cool.. it's cool bro. How come you never gave me your coat when we hanged out?"
Ken blushed. "Brandon I swear, have you been following me all night?"
"No! I just... you know... saw you with her. But um... you do know er..."
"Yeah I know," he sighed. Of course he knew... Ken tried to remind himself of that all the time, but... when he stopped worrying about it, it all just seemed... normal? A guy and a girl, enjoying themselves... And he did want to spend more time with her. "Look... don't spread this around okay?"
"My lipssssss are sssssealed..." the snake boy spoke grinning over the phone.
Ken groaned...
Aneneza found she had drifted to the roof... again.
She had a vague scheduled planned. She had to check to see if the tailors had some new clothes for her. Looking at the clothes she wore though, she was quietly amazed that they didn't actually get dirty. Things just... slid off.
She drifted back down to make herself a little more presentable.
She was thinking back to her written confession... it was there, but who could read it? She could confess it to the entire world, and nobody would even know... but she wanted them to know. The spacegirl realised... if she was to be less 'childish'... she had to be an adult about it. That meant taking responsibility... that meant... somehow telling the police, her guilt.
She was not sure if she would be punished further... maybe she would? Maybe she even deserved it...
Taking the confession, she decided to first take a trip to the police station, to see if she could make them understand...
she was going to tell them the truth.
