The Transformist (IC)

[Ookalf]

Pat
"No, that's all I needed. Thank you!" The kid shuts the door, gives Pat a brief one-armed hug on his left leg, and then starts running off toward the checkout lines.

...Huh. Odd kid... *Pat watches the kid run off, then remembers that he was supposed to be going to the checkouts as well and heads after him.*

[Harri-chan]

Karen didn't really notice the winged girl either, although it wasn't really through choice, but more through being distracted at her own predicament. A little further down the street was a donut and coffee store, and there was a cop car parked outside. She felt her chest tighten, and her heart skipped a beat, fearing being recognised despite all logic telling her that was ridiculous. Lifting a hand, she grasped onto Emma's arm, and tried her best to keep her gaze ahead as they walked.

The short walk passed the car seemed to take forever, as if time had slowed down, when Karen wanted more than anything for it to speed up. Her heart was now going so fast it was making her feel dizzy, and her breathing was uneven. Her eyes drifted to one side, looking through the windows of the coffee shop, spotting a slightly overweight cop waiting at the counter, and then she glanced to the car. The passenger window was rolled down, and inside was a pretty brunette cop, touching up her lipstick in the car's review mirror.

In precisely the wrong spot, Emma stopped to go searching through her purse for the phone she'd just put away, and Karen's knees suddenly felt weak. Swallowing a deep breath, she lightly tugged on her friend's arm, "What's the hold up?", she asked in a very hushed whisper.

[Zilla]

(Ironic, Jamie's name was Jason. They'd have been the two Jasons, partnered together. )

On one of Kyle's attempts to adjust his walk, something feels very different. Just as he gets to the entrance of the museum, right where the mark was burned into the map, he feels a flash, and a lingering tingle, as if he's standing in the eye of a thunderstorm. All his hairs raise at once. They thin out drastically, as he feels something curling out of the back of his now-feminine pants. He feels a supreme sense of balance overtake him, a sense that suddenly, it would be impossible for him to lose control of his balance.

Nobody seems to be looking as the spotted tail flourishes behind him, swinging freely in the air. He's now standing just outside of the museum.

==============================

Jamie blanched for a moment after the question was asked of her. "Y-ye.." she started, then quickly recoiled at her old voice seeping through. She covered it with a voiceless throat clearing, and sheepishly nodded. She'd have to communicate mutely, or try her best at doing a soft, high voice.

She'd gotten along fine with the other Jason before. It was a bit surprising that such subtle changes in her attire and hair would really throw him off.... maybe she could play it off this way the entire time? But what would she do about school records and such?

She put those thoughts aside for a moment and studied her lab partner's face, suddenly finding something more interesting there than she'd ever noticed before. A coy blush ran through her cheeks, and she crossed her legs out of embarassment. The area between her legs felt different, and she almost had to bite her lip to keep from crying tears of joy. Her ears flicked under her hat and caused a little dimple to form. Her already rosy cheeks turned an even deeper shade as she turned back to her supplies, and started trying to set them out.

[CalypsoNymph]

Riley calmly draws some food into his waiting hand in his lunch box, and lets the rest of the food kinda... 'flump' down back into said lunch box. He takes a long moment looking at Courtney, thinking... before he shrugs. "Sure, why not? Maybe then you'll leave me alone." He takes a bite out of his food, thinking whether to go with the long or short answer... and decided, naturally, to go with the short one. "If I tried to get A's, the teachers would notice. Even if I asked them to hide it, the students would notice. When the students would notice, I'd get jocks trying to beat me up, semi-popular girls trying to get me to up their status, and countless cliches to get me to join them. If I didn't go through the social politics and obligations to be 'popular', then I'd become 'unpoplar', and picked on and bullied by pretty much everyone in school, and since I don't like any of the groups of people around here then I won't even have a support system."

He shrugs, and munches some more. "You get out of that because you're really pretty, and everybody likes you... so that those who don't can't afford not to. And boys don't beat up girls, and if they did then you could cry bully and not be looked down upon." He idly hands Courtney some of his goldfish... he doesn't even seem to realise he's doing it. "That's why I take a few steps back... the way things are, it's not that I'm popular, it's that I'm not unpopular. I'm not worth it, and that suits me just fine." There's a slight betraying twitch on his face... he's bored, damn it!... but he'd rather be bored then beaten.

[muffinstud]

"It's not a chain. While I'd appreciate that, you shouldn't put your day on hold because of me. I promise, I'll be fine." The guy's persistence forces her to bite her lip as she goes on her tiptoes to scan the street. While she could appreciate his persistence, it bothered her to no end as to why. Was he just grateful for the help? Was he interested in her? Would she return that interest? These questions tear around in Carter's mind as she tries to identify a coffee shop nearby.

[Whatevr89532]

Carter
There still seem to be plenty of people around here noticing her wings for the first time, or still watching to see if she's going to show any more weird powers. Other than that, the same old places that have always been near this construction site are here--as far as food and drink goes, mostly fast food or just barely a step above that; there are a few other stores of various sorts around, but nothing that looks like a local coffee shop.
"Well okay, if you're sure. Just be careful, you know?" He starts walking away. Whatever the guy's motivations are, they apparently don't make him quite persistent enough to help someone who insists they don't need help...

Riley
Courtney looks pretty thoughtful for a moment or two, mentally chewing on what he's said. "Wow, I didn't know you cared so much about what other people think of you. The key to being cool isn't looking good or obeying a bunch of arbitrary social rules, it's just not caring whether you're cool or not. Besides, our school isn't a midieval gladiator village. You do know anyone caught fighting on this campus gets taken straight to jail, right? The only people that'd pick on you for 'crying bully' are the bullies themselves!"

She pauses another second or two, calming down. "Still...it's alright. High school isn't forever, and in just a couple of years you can leave this micro-world of shallow judgements behind and go do something great for yourself alone, instead of being mediocre for everybody else." Courtney stands up and looks around. "I think the bell's gonna ring, I gotta go. Great talking to you!" And she goes dashing off in some other direction.

Jamie
Jason starts pulling out his supplies as well. "Well, I'm Jason. Nice to meet you, I guess." Jamie's shirt seems to grow some sort of collar, its color matching that of her skirt, and a yellow ribbon hanging from it. Under that it feels like a brassiere has simply appeared out of nowhere, leaving the impression of two small bumps on the outside of the shirt. If she tries to speak again, she will find that keeping her voice high and girly is beginning to get easier and more natural.

((Whoops. I swear I thought it was James for some reason.))

Kyle
Kyle pauses a long moment at the sudden rush of feeling, and then he notices the tail. He turns his head and shoulders around to get a better look at it, and taps it with his finger a couple of times. And he mutters to himself. "..Oookaaaay. I, might be turning into some kind of cat. This is beyond weird, to the point where nobody is going to believe it." He takes a deep breath and then heads into the museum, looking for any restrooms near the entrance.

Karen
"Huh? Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to stop walking." Emma doesn't even seem to try to keep her voice down. She starts walking again, while still looking through the purse. "I swear I didn't bury the darn thing this far down.." Karen might, at this point, notice a phone-shaped lump in one of the purse's extra pockets; Emma's been searching through the main one this entire time.

Pat
By the time Pat reaches the checkout area, the kid seems to have disappeared. He's not in any of the other lines, or the self-checkout area, or even at the exit. The material of Pat's pants on the leg where the kid hugged him starts to turn a darker color, though it isn't all that noticeable yet. Someone who looked might easily mistake it for an old ink stain or something.

[CalypsoNymph]

Riley frowns as he taps his fingers on the ground, a bit aggitated... though it's unlikely that anyone would actually realize this. For once, Courtney had put up some points that he couldn't just brush off, and that's troubeling him. Guh, every time she appears he's more and more affected... and he doesn't like this. He used to not care if he applyed himself or not, but now... it was actually begining to bug him. Just a bit, but still, and it was annoying.

He sighs slightly, forcing himself to calm down. If Courtney hurried off, then he should probably get ready to leave... but that would shock anybody that payed an ounce of attention to him. He grumbles to himself, realizing that this has been happening more and more lately... the patterns that he set to give himself more safety and freedom are just trapping him from doing what he wants. For a moment, he has an odd desire to rip up the tree he's resting on and bang it around with his mind, but calms down as he waits for the bell.

...Damnit, Courtney. You're not supposed to effect me this much.

[Zilla]

Kyle find turning to examine his tail is a lot easier than he's used to. His spine seems less stiff. When he touches it, it feels like a part of his body; both his finger and his tail can feel each other.

When he enters, nobody seems to be in the lobby, or giving him any special attention. However, there is a large realistic fish display hung on one of the walls. Kyle normally wouldn't notice it, but some urge seems to highlight them.

The bathrooms are one of the open-door variety, both set in the same alcove, with the men's room on the left and the women's on the right, with water fountains in the middle.

====================

Jamie blushes nervously. Her eyes watch with an inner conflict of giddiness and nervousness at the continuing change of her clothes. The bow is so cute! But... Her cheeks stain red as she hopes nobody will notice the strange transformation overtaking her.

And then she feels the bra forming on her chest....

She claps her hands to her chest and stands up a bit hastily. "Sorry," she softly mutters to Jason, as she bustles out of the room, scurrying toward the restroom.

[Harri-chan]

Karen almost stumbled over her feet, her knees still feeling quite weak as she started to move after Emma again. Once they were a distance passed the coffee shop and the cop car, she glanced to her friend's purse, and the little bulge on the side. Her cheeks went slightly red, as even though it was Emma having a typical blonde moment, it was this occasionally ditzy but gorgeous woman that was now in utter control of everything.

"It's there... ", she said, seeming embarrassed at having to point it out as she reached over to flip open the extra pocket, and dug her fingers inside to slide out the phone while Emma tumbled through the main section of the purse. Chewing her bottom lip, she held it out to the older woman and looked up to meet her gaze.

It didn't exactly fill Karen with confidence. She knew Emma wasn't dumb, but something had to give when you looked as good as she did. It made the young cop wonder how much help her housemate was going to be in actually finding a way to reverse it, especially now that they were going for a shopping trip, which she knew was one of the main ways Emma had fun. Maybe she'd take a liking to being in charge this way, thought Karen, gulping down a deep breath.

[Ookalf]

Pat
By the time Pat reaches the checkout area, the kid seems to have disappeared. He's not in any of the other lines, or the self-checkout area, or even at the exit. The material of Pat's pants on the leg where the kid hugged him starts to turn a darker color, though it isn't all that noticeable yet. Someone who looked might easily mistake it for an old ink stain or something.

... *Pat briefly looks around for the kid, but ultimately shrugs it off, figuring he must have run off to find his parents or something. That said, Pat himself goes and mans the nearest empty checkout lane, preparing it for any coming customers. He hasn't quite noticed the spot on his pants, either...*

[muffinstud]

Carter droops her wings and looks back hesitantly at the guy as he walks away. While she really doesn't want to be around him, he did offer to give her help she may actually need. She shuts her eyes, inhales deeply, and waves her hand as she follows the guy. "Hey, wait!" She pushes downward with her wings just a little to give herself a hop and land next to him. "I'm kinda more lost than I thought. I really don't want to inconvenience you, but if you're offering..." Carter looks down to her feet and sighs. "I could really use some help."

[Whatevr89532]

Danny
It's only a minute or so before the bell rings--specifically, the one that's supposed to tell students out in the lunch area they'd better get going to class if they don't mean to be late. Around that time, a robin flies up a few feet in front of him, landing on the ground and looking around as if searching for something. It isn't quite clear why this particular bird caught his attention at all, it seems perfectly ordinary.

Jamie
A few seconds after she gets out of the classroom, Jamie hears the bell ring--the 'lunch is over now go to class' bell. As she runs, her skirt swishes around, occasionally threatening to flip up on her. She becomes aware of her chest having grown a bit, brushing against the bra but nowhere near filling it for the moment. She reaches the restrooms and seems to have a choice of entering the men's or women's room; the latter seems to be quickly emptying.

Kyle
Kyle turns straight to the left, half on instinct. Once inside he immediately looks for a mirror, hoping nobody else is in this restroom just now.

Karen
"Oh!" Emma slaps her forehead before pulling out the phone. "Duh." And she gets out the phone, letting her purse hang off her shoulder again, and makes her way through the contacts to her work number.

She starts talking before the person on the other end can even say hello. "Hey, I need the rest of today off. Family emergency. What? Well, it's none of your business, but I have a little cousin to take care of for a little while.

"Yes-it-was-unexpected! Would I be telling you about it now instead of two weeks ago if it wasn't? It's already summer vacation where she's from. Yeah, well, I've worked how many regular vacation days now? Good. Reschedule it. That too. Tell him models have family too, he'll get a kick outta that. I'll be back tomorrow, and barring another freak accident I'll be able to come back after lunch, so keep your pants on! Bye~."

She shuts the phone with a click and puts it back where it came from in the purse. "Well, that's that."

Pat
It doesn't take very long for a customer to come with a cart full of items. Either he's shopping for a family, or plans on avoiding grocery shopping for the next three months. But either way, while Pat checks the guy out, something shows up in his peripheral vision..a small blur of white and bright blue..but it's gone as soon as he tries to get a better look at it. The dark color, meanwhile, spreads down to the ankle of the legging it's on and over to the other leg as well.

Carter
He pauses a moment. "Well, okay. Don't worry about inconveniencing me, I don't plan too far ahead..and, call it a thanks for fixing up my arm? Less doctor visits I have to pay for, the better. And, I'm Milton by the way."

[Ookalf]

Pat
It doesn't take very long for a customer to come with a cart full of items. Either he's shopping for a family, or plans on avoiding grocery shopping for the next three months. But either way, while Pat checks the guy out, something shows up in his peripheral vision..a small blur of white and bright blue..but it's gone as soon as he tries to get a better look at it. The dark color, meanwhile, spreads down to the ankle of the legging it's on and over to the other leg as well.

Hm? *Pat briefly looks over to where he saw the blur but, spotting nothing, turns his attention back to the checkout and tries to make small talk with the customer.* Sorry, I thought I saw something for a second there...

[muffinstud]

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Milton." Carter offers her hand again to the guy, this time for a simple handshake. She tries to maintain a friendly smile, but her mind is racing. He's going to want a name from her. While Carter wasn't exactly the most masculine name ever, she didn't think she could pull it off with her new appearance. Could she tell him her name was Angela? No, that would be stupid. Perhaps she should still use her real name? As she mulled it over, her mouth moved seemingly of it's own volition. "You can call me Eve." Eve? Where did that come from?

[Zilla]

Jamie bites her lip in consternation at the choice of bathrooms before her. Seeing as the girls are leaving, and that she seemed to be taken as female by Jason back in class, and that her clothes would cause a stir in the men's room regardless, she takes a deep breath and wades through the exiting girls into the girl's room.

No urinals.

That much of an obvious fact still threw her off-guard. This was a place she'd never entered before. The thought that she'd never see another urinal again danced joyously in the back of her mind, while reality began to seep in. This was HER place now. She BELONGED in here.

She clutched her heart softly and staggered toward the closest stall. The door was hanging open, and she put on a last burst of speed as she spun and locked the door. For a moment, she just stared at the toilet... wondering for a brief moment if she had yet to undergo the biggest change of all.

She needed to see what was happening. She took several long breaths to calm herself. Okay, Jamie.... Jamie... think... Just... calm down... Her heart roared in her chest, like a rising tsunami. She braced herself against the wall for a moment while her eyes shut themselves tightly. One... slow... breath....

And she opened them and pulled out the collar of her shirt.

================================

Kyle entered a nearly vacant men's room. A guy in jeans and a faded white T-shirt for some old band was just finishing up at the urinal. He stared straight ahead, not even noticing Kyle's intrusion as his flow ebbed.

In the mirror, Kyle meets a shockingly altered face. Beyond his frames, his eyes are a deep amber, and there's a certain angle to them. They're not quite "slitted," but they're definitely not perfect spheres. That was only the most glaring feature.

He still sees vestiges of recognizable features hidden in small details, like someone coming back to their hometown after a decade of absence and finding different shops, new neighborhoods, and a surprisingly good hole-in-the-wall cafe where the video rental store used to be. His face is smooth, smoother than it's been since before acne and teenage oils. Not only is the texture smooth, but there's a certain grace to the shape of his jaw. It flows down to a gentle point, tucked under brighter and fuller lips. His nose has withered to a cute button, and even his eyebrows look slender and graceful.

And his hair. It's never been this full and bouncy before, and the way it frames his face gives it a sort of untamed, wild look.

Another wave of balance altering sweeps through him as he feels a tugging sensation in his ears. His tail flicks to life, keeping him centered as he loses the primate equilibrium in his ears. His tail is much more active now, swishing to help counterbalance his movements, which have become lithe and graceful.

The other occupant flushes his toilet and turns to the sinks. Kyle hears more than sees him jolt back in surprise, and utter a soft, "Woah." He regains his footing, unsure as he walks toward Kyle. "Ah, mm.... this is the dudes' room, ma'am." he says, sliding up to the sink furthest from Kyle.