Ben wasn’t sure what had just happened.
It was like being lost in some weird dream, hoping that all the pieces would ‘come together’. Memories started to return…
First, he was looking at a mirror. It was in some pile of junk… that was right, wasn’t it? So where was he now?
His ears were still ringing from the strange hum inside his head, but it was slowly dissipating. For some reason his feet felt like they were… holding something? The odd foreign feeling made him fear something was wrong with them as the sensation was acutely alien… yet somehow but there was no pain. He opened his eyes…
Ben found himself in a dimly lit room with soft white curtains… Wait- this was his room?! Yes, looking around it was definitely his bedroom. However, from the vantage point he was about ten feet high, standing on some kind of rounded pole.
“Ahh!” A girl’s voice screamed as he fell- but some kind of instinct suddenly made his feet- in reality ‘talons’ grip harder, making his body swing like a pendulum. Suddenly upside down he flayed arms, with white feathers spread out and his talons let their incredible grip go, making the new harpy fall gently onto the floor.
Shocked now, Ben slowly got up- or at least tried to by using his ‘arms’ but they didn’t seem willing to support his weight in the way as he eventually had to use his legs. Finally standing he looked around staring at his arms which were covered in white feathers. “What happened to my hands- Ah? My voice?!” He placed his feathered appendages close to his throat… why was his voice so high pitched?
In panic he looked at the strange elongated appendages that had replaced his arms… the ends of them radiated into a ‘fan like’ structure. Utterly useless as hands… “Wings? What-“ it had to be impossible. Just impossible. He had wings… like a bird. He was a freak!
“This is my room but…” Details were different. He had a bed as well as a perch that seemed to sit above it. He recognised the general layout but the furniture was all wrong… not to mention his body wasn’t even human anymore!
The harpy limply walked- talons clicking on the straw-patched floor, towards what appeared to be a mirror. The reflection approached her with that same confused expression. “No way… No way… how…”
A girl… He stared at the fair face, there was no mistaking her as a girl…
She moved her feathers, stretching them out trying to find her fingers… hoping they were somewhere under what must be a ‘costume’ but she couldn’t find any. “What the hell is going on!” She turned around seeing a white feathery tail and incredibly large talons where his feet should be. Looking down at the feathers down below she saw… that yes she was indeed female though the gender change was ‘hardly’ the most pressing situation- but clearly an increasingly bad factor the more she thought of it.
“I have to get out of he-“
Suddenly the door to her room opened. “Hun! Have you finished preening yourself? You really need to get ready for school.” A voice called out cheerfully.
Ben stared. “Mom?!”
Her mother… whom she had not seen in years…not since she was about twelve years old perhaps, was right in front of her. Not only that, but she was some kind of bird-creature too! She looked different… her eyes were large, akin to an owl which looked a little bit eerie. She stood with her large feathers are her side a little on the larger side then herself. She appeared to be wearing nothing but an apron- which made Ben quickly turn away.
“Oh Jeez-“ Ben protested.
“Hm… oh your feathers are not right at all. Here let me help.” She leaned in towards Ben about to ‘fix’ them.
Ben suddenly gasped and pulled away. “Wh-What are you doing?!” She said startled as she looked like a wild cornered animal. What was her mom trying to do!
The owl-like Harpy woman chuckled again. “Come on, you’re not that old that you can’t enjoy a bit of preening from your mom,” She smiled. “But if you don’t want to that’s fine, breakfast is ready by the way.”
Ben looked aghast, horrified, disturbed, though perhaps some small part of her was glad to see her mother but… at the same time just really angry. She had not expected to see her again for any part of her life and now… this? “This is wrong- I’m not supposed to be here-“
“Hm? What’s got into you sweetie,” She asked. “Did you fall from your perch? You must have had a bad dream or something.” The owl-woman tilted her head… and when a harpy girl did that it was oh so very alien to the point it almost looked like she dislocated her neck.
Ben stared at her. “Mom- please don’t do that.” She shivered. “I don’t know what’s going on… Uh…” This was so much to process that the new girl was in a state of pure shock… though her mother quickly patted her head with her wings. “There there. It was just a bad dream. Why don’t you get yourself dressed for school? I’ve also got your lunch packed in your satchel.”
“School… what…. Like this?!” She asked throwing her winged arms in the air.
Her mother looked at her blankly. “Well you never were inclined to go naked before, but I suppose there’s no real harm in it.”
It was at that point Ben realised she wasn’t wearing any clothes. “AHH!” she cried out holding her feathered arms across her body… “Crap!”
“Language Belle,” She said with a shake of her head. “Camila is also waiting for you.”
Ben frowned at that name but… for some reason she knew it was her name as soon as she heard it. It was.. strange. More so was the name of her sister… being heard after so long.
One thing for sure, Ben- Belle didn’t want to deal with ‘any’ of this…
