"Max, door," called her mother.
Max groaned. She opened the door, wondering who it could be... and stared at the postman in some shock. (not to mention feeling terribly self conscious)
"A parcel for you, Sign here please."
Max... tried not to stare. She quickly signed it, as the mail man left. She closed the door.
"Holy..." She said glancing to the side. She thought she had problems.
"Meow!" said Basty interrupting her trail of thoughts.
"Yes Basty, it's for you" She said smiling picking up the cat.
Max had ordered this a while ago. A new collar for her pet. Somehow, Basty had lost the old one. She supposed she should chip her beloved pet but didn't really know anything about it. The collar was stainless steel, and had Basty's name on it. On the other side it had their contact details. She thought it really suited her.
She carefully slipped the collar onto her neck. "How does that feel?" She asked.
The cat meowed back looking a little annoyed.
"Yeah... I know. But trust me Basty. I don't want someone taking you away if you got lost. I... really hope you don't mind."
Basty started licking her own paws, making Max smile.
Her new clothings were starting to itch a bit. Wearing them was awfully new to her. She went to her room, and remove her top, looking at the six breasts a little shakily. She wasn't completely sure if she took the bra off, she would be able to put it on again. Even though she was shown how.. it looked hideously complicated.
Basty had followed Max into her room, and had jumped onto a chair. It looked like she was watching Max.
the cat girl glanced at her pet shaking her head. "I guess I can trust you Basty," she said with a smile. She delicately undid the bra(s?), swallowing a bit. This was... just weird. The weirdest transformation that anyone could have. Her six breasts looked perky as she stared at the mirror.
"I'm... a freak," she whispered softly to herself, clutching her middle breasts. What would anyone say if they saw... saw...
Basty suddenly jumped onto her head.
"Ow! What's gotten into you Basty?" She tried to bat the cat away.
The cat then jumped from her head onto Max's bed, and curled up itself showing it's belly.
Max rolled her eyes, and rubbed the cat delicately. She was acting like such a weird cat. "You trying to distract me by playing with you?" She leaned forward, her six breasts suspended on her torso. She shivered just slightly, unused to it.
The cat continued to look adorably ignorant, as it started to lick Max's hand. It then jumped onto the floor, and ran into a cupboard. It returned with something in her mouth.
Max looked bewildered. What exactly was her cat dong? She looked with surprise. "What...?"
Basty dropped a little mouse in front of Max, looking incredibly pleased as any cat could with herself. She nudged it forward, giving it to her.
Mr Saunders waited, glancing at the clock since he called the teacher.
How long had it been? Probably fifteen minutes or so. He didn't even know how far she lived. What if his daughter heard him call for help? What would she do?
He might have to decide to run out and take his chances in the light, if his daughter decided to actually harm him... but would she? Lately the look she gave him... was like he didn't matter any more. That feeling, more then anything probably hurt the most.
Mr Saunders didn't really know where it went wrong with Tiffany. Those small faults, all magnified by her transformation... but those faults, that this stemmed from, were they his own faults as a parent?
He gave her all the love and understanding a father could. He would move heaven and earth for her if he was able. She had everything most people of her age ever wanted. She was popular in school, her grades were decent...
But why did it go wrong? Where did she get... all this from? He remembered when his wife and him argued, and he wanted to shield his daughter from the worst of it. Did he not handle it right? Maybe... Tiffany wanted to be with her mother more then himself?
If that is what it would take to make her happy... he would do that. But the problem was, he didn't know what she wanted.
He heard someone walking up to the door. The teacher? So quickly? He ran to the door like a shot, anxious that she did not ring the door bell.
Opening the door, he was... surprised at how human looking she looked. Was she a changed? She had to be, the sun was still up.
"Hello Mr Saunders. May I come in?"
"Y-Yes.." he whispered.
He wondered why Tiffany had yet to react to the sounds of the house. She must have heard him walk around, and at the very least open the door right now...
He felt quite glad to have a changed person here. He didn't know if she could do anything... but.. another hand was at the least, very welcome.
"Pass the ball Becca! Pass it here!" said Mikey readying herself.
Becca kicked the ball again, this time she was doing a lot better. Her body though, smaller and weaker then what she was used to. Still doing a sport again, even for a bit felt good to her.
Mikey tracked the ball. Disabling the predictive motion systems made it a great deal more awkward to get the ball to stop before her. With the system enabled, she knew the exact position her leg had to be and applied the exact force required to negate the motion... but now she had to estimate it with just a visual cue.
It was almost impossible! (But... didn't humans do this all the time?)
The ball bounced slightly on her upper leg, throwing off her prediction completely. It just seemed so... random now! Try as she might, she found 'imagining' where it would go a great difficulty. Finally the ball was under her control, and on her right foot. She glanced at the goal, giving it a much longer look. Again without her system enabled she had no inherent idea of her position relative to the goal. Every motion she did she was forced to do a another visual re-calibration.
Caitlin waited at the goal as Mikey attempted her kick. The gynoid's kick was quite wide, and she had somehow put a spin onto the ball. It was just enough to make it do a really strange curve.
Still Caitlin tried to protect her goal. She moved her stone-like body, the movement was surprisingly quick. She wasn't really sure how her body worked. There was nothing for muscles to compress... it was all just stone. Yet she could move as flesh.
Caitlin got the ball to impact directly on her head. Unlike normal human beings, she realised she did not have to worry about injury doing this. She could track the ball visually all the way to its impact onto her head with no problems. This was actually the best way for her to work.
All she had to do was look at the ball, and try to hit it away.
MIkey looked in awe. "That was cool!" She said praising her friend.
Caitlin gave a little smile of modesty. "Thank you. Let Becca try to score a goal."
Mikey nodded. "Okay Becca I'm gonna pass the ball to you. do your best!"
The blue haired girl nodded, tensing herself up. She would score this goal!
Steven glanced at the time. It was getting late, and she decided it was time to go.
"One more game..." Said Hiro, placing his gloved hand onto her hand. "Please..." He tried to give a charming smile.
Steven tensed. What did he want from her? She was distinctly uncomfortable... though he did let go quickly. "What game... did you have in mind?"
Hiro glanced around. His eye was noticing something strange going on in the arcade. Possibly a power surge? Whatever it was, ten games had crashed in the last half hour. Their systems were rebooting. An interloping digital life form perhaps? Hmm.. he looked back to the flower girl. He knew the game he wanted to play with her. It was also still working.
"Dance Dance Revolution," Hiro decided.
"What?" The flower girl looked flatly.
"Scared?" Hiro grinned a bit.
Of all the games on offer, Steven didn't expect that one... "Fine... just one game." She really wasn't sure when her real friends were coming. She almost wished her face was more different.. perhaps then she wouldn't be recognised.
In the same arcade, two digital fairy's played the games on offer. It was a bit... strange playing them from within. With some games, it was neigh on impossible. Their existence was just not suitable to the task. The code was made for the real world...
Effie was getting a bit annoyed by the serious glitches their presence was doing to the systems. Their attempt to play a fighting game resulted in it completely crashing. Effie and Dennis were quite safe from it though. Dennis explained that while they were interacting with the program, they were distinct and separate. That was why it was considered quite safe to play with this program. It might also be why they couldn't interact with it correctly.
"I'm not sure Dennis," Said Effie a bit sadly. "I don't think we're made to play games..." Effie sighed, feeling a bit sad by that. She vaguely remembered enjoying games before. But it just wasn't the same playing it like this. It wasn't better... it was worse. Even if they went to the real world, they couldn't even move a control pad.
Dennis looked sad that his companion was not enjoying herself. He reached over and hugged her. "Sorry Effie... I just wanted you to enjoy yourself. I know it hasn't gone right for you."
Effie now really felt bad at herself. Dennis was trying so hard to make her happy. But why? Their last journey into the internet didn't go so well... and here they were, just trying to have a little fun in an arcade...
"It's okay Dennis," She said softly.
Dennis still looked a bit sad. "Do you want to go back to Mikey?"
Effie looked at Dennis. He was so close... holding her form. She wasn't sure why... but.. it just felt right. Maybe.. could they...
Jon continued to think about the book.
Curled up as she was, she was starting to think a little about the stone as well. Could her grandfather have known how dangerous the stone was? Why... did he entrust it to her? Would he be disappointed in such a poorly worded wish that has...
... she wanted to say inconvenienced, but was that really a strong enough word? What had she done to the world? She just hoped for something interesting to happen! She didn't want..
... she didn't want everyone to suffer for her actions. Yet she was also reminded of her grandfathers wording. A wish, can not be undone... it could only be added to. She could not simply wish this away... unless she thought this very carefully.
She could add to the wish... but what wording could she add to fix this? And to fix it for everyone for their own unique circumstances? May you live in interesting times is indeed a curse.
Or was it? Jon certainly wasn't sure. She had seen so many different people, from all walks of life in the past month. She had got to know people she would have never known. She has seen people with new ways of dealing with their bodies and changes, herself included.
If she made a wish to undo all that... wouldn't that also undo all the friendships she had made, as well as that of everyone else? The people she saw was a mere handful... multiplied by the millions, this was an incredible burden to bare.
What if people fell in love with each other, in different forms, and she... just... wished it all away? Would they really thank her? Six months of a life undone... to make all those things, no longer matter?
How could she make a decision for billions of people?!
She had to calm down... she delicately took out the stone from her drawer. It felt so heavy in her hand. But it was the only thing in the world that offered any kind of hope. She felt its smooth surface. Who made it? Why?
She glanced at the book... and her eyes widened.
"Oh... my... God..." Jon stared... it was not possible... it couldn't be possible!
She looked at the shape of the stone, and at the lock holding the book together.
The edges... looked to be a match.
The shape of the stone... it was... a keystone? She placed it around the edges of the latch, it was a perfect fit.
give this to Brittany The memory sparked in her mind like a bolt of lightning.
Jon quickly pulled the stone away... the book remaining locked and intact.
... Who was sending Brittany a book, that could be opened by the Stone? What was her connection to it?!
This... just got a lot more complicated.
