Money...
The two ‘accidentally transformed mythological girls’ had found a ton of money! This was... more money than Larry could ever dream to see all at once, sitting inside a simple suitcase for anyone to take. She looked intrigued and horrified at the same time, looking to her fairy companion for an explanation.
Shirley looked just as bewildered as the sphinx-girl. “Wow…” was all she could say. She adjusted her dress trying to look as ‘innocent’ as she could. “Uh… that’s a lot of cash huh.” She gave a cautious smile. “That’s enough for some breakfast, right?” she flashed (an admittedly) cute smile
Larry stared at it. “Probably for a lifetime at a fancy hotel…” The sphinx pawed at the various notes, not too sure what to… do with this. She wanted to flick through them, but her claws wouldn’t allow it. Instead, they just punched a few holes on the ones she could grab… inwardly sighing at the inflexibility of her paws.
Shirley fluttered into the suitcase from Larry’s head, staring at the paper money... Did she… earn this or… stole it? She couldn’t remember. 'Strange... I don't feel any longing for it'... she was supposed to, wasn't she? The mythological changes tended to mess with the mind... Wasn’t she supposed to be greedy and selfish? Unless she wasn’t that kind of person before? She was so confused, seeing remnants of a previous life she had no idea about… and she could only make some guesses on what kind of a person she was.
“Shirley,” Larry’s voice interrupted her thoughts.
The green haired fairy looked up still bewildered. “Uh- yes?”
“...This is getting serious. You need to remember. What is this stuff? Drug money? Assassin money? Dear God, you're not an assassin, are you?!” The sphinx leaned forward on her hind legs.
“No!” The fairy protested then gave a stunned look. “Well… maybe?” She tilted her head. “I mean- I don't know. I really don’t remember anything!” She was frustrated just as much as Larry. What were they going to do with this money!
“Argh!” The sphinx did what was the best way her body could do to raise her fore legs in exasperation, but the effort just made her fall flat down again on the ground. She decided this was fine to show her frustrations though... body language was going to be a pain for her. Maybe just lying here like a cat will do?
“I see something else though,” the fairy said, pointing to the case.
“Hm... what do we have here?” The sphinx-girl rolled out a simple bronze key between the notes.
Larry sighed again. She didn't... ask to be stuck with this person but it was also just so hard to be mad at the fairy-girl. She really did seem so lost and confused... more so than herself. The fact the fairy was young too probably made her feel a little… gentle with her, even sorry. It wasn't possible to give the girl any physical comfort- a hug or anything like that was out of the question, even if she did have human hands which she didn't- all she had were these clawed paws that would hurt a person her size and terrify a person Shirley’s size. Yet she still felt this weird... desire to protect her.
“So… what do we do now?” Asked Shirley. “That is enough money to get the parts we need for the machine too, right?”
“The very best parts…” The sphinx girl tried to consider the new options they had- premium parts! They were supposed to just get some money and leave... not end up with millions. However, if they ‘could’ make use of this money, it would give them a much better chance of getting back to normal. “This is a safe place you said- right?”
“Yes. That’s one thing I am sure of.” Shirly nodded.
That made some sense. Why else would she have so much money stored here? “Any other secrets?”
“Not that I remember. There are some stairs there.”
The sphinx guessed it was best they cleaned out the place of any further clues to Shirley's identity. “Climb aboard.” Larry thrusted her paws forward, lowing her head. Shirley quickly clambered on, finding her place on her head with a brief flutter of her wings to attain more height. With her little friend as secure as can be, Larry walked up the stairs. She felt a bit awkward climbing up though, doing it for the first time with four legs. She swished her lion tail, her feathered wings brushing the sides of the walls and banister.
She could see a bathroom here and two bedrooms. She opened the door to one carefully, entering a sparsely furnished bedroom. There was a chair and bed, with some light pale blue curtains on a window covering the sunlight. The bed itself looked made and there was a computer in the corner. “Maybe we can get another clue here?”
She turned on the computer with a swift push of her claws on the button, leaving a slight indentation. She watched the screen flicker to life with a cautious held breath. It was a rather slow machine with a ticking hard drive, but it soon booted up. Surprisingly there was no password… and unsurprisingly the system looked completely clean of any files. The sphinx didn’t want to give up though, there might be hidden files but it would take time to explore that. “I wish we could use the money to buy the parts…”
“Why not?”
“Because if you put a million in a bank there will be… questions.” Larry explained. “Neither of us know where the money came from. It’s not ours…”
The fairy guessed that was true but then she gasped. “I have an idea! There are… underground transformation places we could go do. They accept cash no questions asked. If we provide our transformation data, we can ask them to replicate it and they can change us back!” The fairy seemed excited about this.
“Use another machine?” Larry frowned slightly. It would be riskier… but if they combined it with parts from the machine that changed them… the slight risk would be minimal. “I guess it could work but… those places you describe- they are borderline criminals. They… they don’t care about the people they change.” Larry had heard about them. They changed people with a high-powered machine and generally made a mess of people’s lives. It was literally a case of people with too much money and not enough foresight. The changes really were completely random and rarely adhered to any baseline of conformity.
“It’ll be fine!” The fairy insisted.
This was it then…
Barry was still blushing at the thought of it. Angel... had invited her to a party… She just needed one more thing.
“Please Susan!” The rabbit-girl pleaded.
The mermaid folded her arms on her wheelchair. “No way. I am not going to Angel's party. She treats me like Sea-weed!” The mermaid was happy to help her ex-boy rabbit girl friend to get a dress but going to the party as well?!
“I'm sure if I ask her she'll let you! Your mother also wanted you to go right?” The rabbit-girl asked hopefully. “I could then get to know Angel more-”
“To... what end?” Susan asked with an exasperated tone.
Barry looked at her confused. “What do you mean? I love her... I just want to… go see her more. You wouldn’t get it I guess.”
“… because I’m a girl?”
“Well- yes. I mean- it’s a boy thing…” The rabbit girl blushed again.
“Um... have you seen yourself?” She hated to remind her... but she didn't want Barry to think 'nothing' will change. She had to go through that herself and accept the situation.
Barry shivered. Even if she was trapped in this body her feelings didn't change! Though... maybe some things 'felt' a bit different- though she didn't want to dwell on that. She was going to a party run by Angel at her mansion!
Susan looked at Barry with a pitiable expression, certainly odd with the goggles she wore. Did he- er- she understand, that Angel didn't even love her back? Even as a boy and not as a girl! It was plainly obvious! The way she treated her too was still something the mermaid struggled to come to terms with. It was best to leave such people alone. “Why do you want me to go?”
“Well...”
“Scared?” The mermaid grinned.
“No! Well- I just think having someone I know would be a good idea. Besides... you could use this as an opportunity to make up with her!” Wouldn't that be exciting? “You might have the wrong idea about her. It would be a great opportunity.”
Susan, inside her goggles looked at Barry wide-eyed. Was she serious? Go to Angel's party and grovel like some kind of- no... though... 'maybe' Barry had a small point. She didn't want to have enemies, she certainly never intended to 'dislike' Angel... and it certainly wasn't out of jealousy!
…Mostly. Even if she did get the sexy treatment at the end.
“Eh... fine... I'll go with you.” The mermaid sighed. “I got a dress too anyway so… I might as well wear it.”
“Great!” The rabbit-girl hopped up in the air- an action that made a few people glance towards her. “Uh- I'll see you there.”
Susan sighed. This was... going to be difficult. Seeing the rabbit girl happy though somehow made her happy… even if she was confined to this wheelchair. “Oh- one thing Barry?” She asked tentatively.
“Huh?”
“Just… try not to get into any fights okay?” The mermaid said quietly. “Those two boys…”
“They said mean things about you!” Barry pouted. “I’m not going to let anyone say anything bad about you!” She tried to growl- or make whatever sound a rabbit made when it tried to be threatening which was mostly just a bit of air through her teeth.
“Barry… you need to know your limits. That boy…”
“I could handle him.” Barry insisted. “Sheesh now you’re sounding like my mom. Anyway see you at the party!”
“Right… see ya.”
Barry gave a soft sigh. In truth… she didn’t want to admit… just how scared she was. When she was picked up like that it… it terrified her. The fact that someone so easily could do that and she had nothing she could do. She looked around the people as she left… humans…
…humans were all dangerous.
Little girls that might want to pull her ears… larger ones that would try to pick her up… She glanced again to her phone and the text messages from her mother. She felt her paw-like hands shaking. “… I can handle this…”
