Hannah was looking at the empty cup that Eve had left behind. She brought out her legs to try and manipulate it in the same way she saw the older harpy do it. Unfortunately she couldn't quite get the grip on it, and the cup fell. The ceramic split cleanly on the impact to the hard floor.
The harpy girl let out a little shriek. "M-Mum!"
Her mother ran into the living room. "Oh honey, what happened?"
"I- I wa-s tryin' to do what Eve was an-" She looked at her talon a bit upset. "Why can't I do it too?"
"Sweety, she is older then you. Her talons are also bigger, her legs longer... you over reached across the table. Once you are grown up you'll be able to use your talons as well as you did your hands." At least she certainly hoped that was the case.
Hannah looked at her mother wondering if she was just trying to make her feel better. They were both very upset by her transformation, but acknowledged there was not much they could do about it. Still it was nice to see Eve, and what a Harpy was capable of. Hannah's own sense of modesty was actually quite adaptable, and seeing Eve as she was made her feel a little... normal and relaxed her mother of the issue.
Hannah had tried to go about with her normal school work after her transformation but struggled. The dark crow-girl didn't exactly have many friends either. She didn't know why, she just tended to drift from people to people, never really 'fitting' in any where even though she was at an age she was expected to make friends at. Before her transformation friendships just seemed to be... strange. It was all such a weird 'secret' thing people had with each other. She wondered if people even noticed her. Now that she was a crow, a symbol of bad luck to people, as well as a lone bird, would they really want to be with her any more?
"So, tell me about your class now," smiled her mother very curious to learn more.
Hannah thought a bit. "Well- there's Bruce."
"I remember him," laughed her mother. "A cheeky little boy to be sure, but not a bad one." She said shaking her head. It was good that he was still around the school.
"Uh huh. He's nice. He became a wolf-boy. He pulls on Lilly's tails a lot- uh- she's a two- tailed squirrel. The one who 'elped me fly first time." Hannah had to blush a little. She was secretly rather curious of her friend's bushy tails and what they might feel like. She hoped her new friend might let her touch them, but it sounded so weird to want to do that to someone she barely knew. But then she also got requests for people to touch her feathers, or even her talons. People were just naturally curious of what other people looked like, especially children.
Hannah's mother nodded. She remembered her daughter speaking of her. She must be one of the new arrivals as she thought she knew all the parents of the children in that school. She reminded herself to look out for their parents next time. "Anyone else?"
"Artemis is a moon-girl now, an' then there's Jenny- she looks human still jus' got white hair. We also got a spider teacher, oh an' we got an elf teacher now."
At this point Hannah's mother had to let out a slow whistle. The class was an absolute zoo! (and she was worried about Hannah fitting in?) It was so crazy. She half wondered what college must look like now, or even universities? She couldn't imagine how that would work now. "And how do you feel dear? Any better now?"
"Y-yeah," said Hannah looking down at her body. "I- I jus' worry cause- I- um- mom I- I know you say I can do stuff with my talons, but they ain't ever gonna be as good as hands. I feel like I jus' cant do anythin' any more sometimes an-"
Her mother hugged the soft feathers of the harpy-child. "You can do anything and more sweetheart. I promise. I won't let you give up. Tell me what do you want to be when you grow up now?"
"I uh- I wanted to be a- a fire-fighter," she said shyly.
"Not any more?" asked her mother.
"But I ain't got hands no more. I can't do anythin'. like that. Maybe I should try somethin' else."
"Sweety, you are still so young and can choose to do anything. Last year you wanted to be a police-woman remember?"
"Ha- oh- y-yeah," She said blushing.
Her mother gave her another hug. "You can adapt to this Hannah." She said trying to encourage her. "Be anything you want to be."
Adam was feeling rather joyous on meeting the young harpy. It certainly made her feel a little happier that some people could adapt to these strange changes. Though she had to admit to feeling a sense of responsibility. As far as she knew, she had a power that could potentially help people, but there was no way to make it work as she would intend. It took people away from this world, in order to fulfil a wish... that requirement could not be undone.
She was back home now, lamenting this great power. There had to be some way to make the power safe. But she couldn't think of any wish that would circumvent this 'prime' method. In any case, it wouldn't affect the entire world, only a small radius that might take up his town. It was just not going to work to fix things.
She leaned back into her couch and reached out a wing to grab the remote- then cursed herself for falling into such a habit as the remote fell to the floor. She brought out her legs, and carefully manipulated the talon to turn the television on. She was curious to read a bit more news.
24 Hours Rainbow Sun Network. Bringing you news of the Iridescent sun. Stay tuned for all the latest developments, debates, and advice on offer A crisp male voice said as the logo appeared. A simple soap-bubble picture of the sun.
Adam shook her head a little at the announcement. It was cheesy, but maybe that was the point. It tried to be a little upbeat despite the crisis. There was a mix of changed and unchanged, that reported through the day or night... Still this report was actually relevant to her.
"Today we are going to talk about how some changed have become-" There was a brief pause. "Egg layers."
Adam had to scoff a little. Yuck... just... urgh... still, maybe she had to hear it. If only she had heard about this before her.. initial shock.
"We offer some advice on how to deal with this. It has been over three months since the first change and, quite a few people have started producing eggs, some of which are actual live" said the reporter sternly. "I will now pass you over to our expert Doctor Markey on this, an expert on avian and reptilian reproduction."
Adam blinked a little. She... didn't think about that. Of course it made sense. Some people who changed might have been pregnant, or they may have tried to continue their relationships after a change. So naturally, there would be a number of changed with eggs to take care of now. This was... scary. Any wish she made (if she could work out one) would have to take this into account. but she was very curious of these new mothers.
Dr Markay was an elderly man with a long wispy beard. He looked exactly what a doctor is expected to look like really with a lab coat on. "There are numerous advantages, and disadvantages to laying an egg. The advantages are pretty much apparent," said the doctor carefully. He was clearly trained in media, with the way he spoke and how his sharp eyes looked to the television. "Our first priority, has been to separate live, and non-living eggs. This could be as simple as a visual inspection under the light for some transformations, but it may require an ultra-sound if the egg is thick shelled. It is not possible to ultra-sound every single egg everyone produces, so we have established the 'egg-run' network, to help facilitate this with machinery from the farm industry."
Adam arched an eyebrow.
The reporter nodded. "Tell us about this. I suspect our viewers are getting a little ill at the thought, can you tell us why this is necessary?"
Markay nodded. "Of course. First of all, this service is free. It was established as a vital necessity to any egg-layers and the system is very simple. A person can store any non-live eggs in the registered box provided, and we will simply collect them for disposal at no extra cost. A final check will be made on them to ensure the eggs classification is correct. By doing this, we will prevent eggs turning up at the garbage dump, and people wondering if they might have a baby in there or not. We also have special collection points if members of the public come across any eggs."
"Do these mix ups happen?" Asked the reporter concerned.
Adam at this point was quite horrified at the thought. Could such a thing happen? It didn't seem likely... but... What exactly did anyone do with the eggs once they were made? She had to admit she just wanted to throw it in the garbage. But if someone saw them... what would her own reaction be, at an abandoned egg? Would it not be normal to just assume it was non-viable? Nobody would toss out a living egg!
The doctor stroked his beard a little. "It has been our experience that mothers tend to have a very powerful instinct, when presented with an egg that's viable- probably due to the scent. It is not likely that it will be thrown out by the mother intentionally, but accidents by others can happen when she is not around. This system just helps facilitate the process, and in case the instinct- for whatever reason, fails. A live egg should be marked immediately as such with all the mother's details. We have a special permanent ink to put a bar-code on them. We also provide assistance on incubation, to keep all eggs as healthy as possible."
Adam sighed. It was probably best not to rely too much on instinct... but it was nice that it was there. She guessed.
"Tell us doctor what happens to a non-living egg? Don't they just rot eventually?"
"Yes, but the process takes time. Also, consider that an egg is not impermeable. It will let in gas. Having one viable egg, with a bunch of non-viable ones is detrimental to the baby's health. We also have an egg bank, to protect any live egg that comes our way and can reunite the egg to mother." A lot of thought had gone into this project.
"This all seems very sensible. But... what if the mother did not want the egg."
The doctor paused a little on that. "Every effort would be made to understand the particular situation... but we have facilities to adopt abandoned eggs as well, leasing with current government agencies for that. But I wish to make clear, it is only a last resort. Our goal is to prevent any needless loss of life, that could occur with a process that few of us have any experience in. We see a potential issue here, and this system fixes it. That is all it is. We will not interfere in the breeding of anyone, we just wish to help."
The reporter nodded. "This all sounds quite scary... what of the advantages? Are you speaking just of the mother not needing to take care of the child internally for months?"
"There is that. However for some, this can actually be a little more difficult emotionally, for a mother to be separated by such a barrier especially if they have already known what it is like to bond with a baby during human gestation. It does have some advantages for the father as well. The father can take a more active role in taking care of an egg as sometimes happens in the animal kingdom" said the doctor pleasantly. Clearly he seemed a little 'happy' about that- though it was hard to know if everyone would be.
Adam bulked a little at that. She was starting to feel her insides twist at the very idea of it. Urgh. The show went on to demonstrate various new products on hand. Large egg incubators essentially, which is where the egg bank made their money... Adam hated to admit it, but the company was set on making a lot of money. More so then their under-water tech store idea. Still there was nothing stopping her from just cracking the eggs herself before throwing them away... (Or would broken eggs make people feel even more uncomfortable?)
Adam went to the bathroom. Her eggs were still there, as she wondered on what to do...
Andy the bunny-girl, was working a little late again today. She had forgotten what these late shifts were like. Still they had to prepare some special requests today, Someone wants to make a pipe to hold exotic gas mixtures at high pressure. They were getting ready for an audit. Normally the human staff would be doing this, but Andy had more experience (in the past) and they decided it had to be her. This was all well and good... but... she was getting that instinct about one of her colleagues. His name was Gregory, and... she could tell he was mentally undressing her. It made her feel very uncomfortable.
Gregory pointed to a shelf. "Okay- um- I think we just need to make that a little tidier. Could you move those files darlin'?" he asked.
Andy huffed just a little. "Please don't call me 'darnlin'." she said annoyed. Gregory didn't cross any line exactly... he was generally professional... but she had heard he would make jokes about bunny girls being 'hot' when working at a furnace, among many other jokes at her expense. It was just normal office banter really. Nothing to get too annoyed at... indeed wouldn't she kind of do the same? So she kind of felt she had to forgive him. Still...
"Oh- heh sorry," said Gregory quickly.
Andy bent down to get the things from the lower shelf- then glanced at Gregory who was obviously staring at her tail. She stood upright looking at him.
"Oh- Um- you need any help?" Asked Gregory just a touch high pitched. "I guess they are a bit heavy those boxes." He tried so hard to look nonchalant. Though his interest was just too obvious and it was starting to annoy Andy. "I got this," she said. "I'll check the register... you just.. make sure we have certificates of inspection for the machines." That should keep him away from her.
"Oh yeah, no problem" Said Gregory quickly.
