The Transformist (IC)

[Harri-chan]

Karen looked back to Emma, her eyebrows arching as the woman claimed to have seen the angel-girl's wings move. For a moment she stared at her housemate as if she were crazy... before remembering her own situation and blushed. "Maybe I'm not the only one who had something impossible happen to them this morning...", she murmured.

"If I tell the force... I could end up being dragged to some secret lab and experimented on by government scientists...", she said in a quiet voice, and she want even joking. Emma always did tell her she watched too much of her X-Files DVDs. "And my Dad would drag me to the hospital... which probably end in the same result. I don't think we should tell them for now...", she said, before biting into her sandwich.

She glanced around nervously to see if anyone was listening to the conversation, and then leaned forward slightly. "If it's happening to others... someone will come out and say, right? It would make the news. We could watch to see what happened to them?", she suggested. Of course, that plan would rely on these strange things happening to someone who wasn't frightened enough to just play along with their new role like Karen had ended up doing.

[Zilla]

(You guess correctly on the hair length.)

Jamie only holds her gaze for a moment. The changes in the stranger mystify her, but...

She casually itches her ear as she turns away. She takes another step before something stops her. If this is real, and if this kind stranger really granted her deepest wish... she owes him something, and it would be terribly rude just to leave. She spins backward and wraps her arms around the changing stranger. "If this works, how will I repay you? Will I ever see you again?" she asks.

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

The woman smiles at Kyle. "Oh my, you're a little lost, aren't you? I'm sure I can help put you on the right path." She takes Kyle's hand into hers, and points his finger at the museum he had pointed out earlier. There's a bit of a shock when his finger makes contact with the map, surprisingly. It leaves a tiny scorch mark on the map. "This is your destined place," the woman playfully says. She picks his finger up and places it at a different spot on the map. "This is where your journey begins." She uses his finger to trace a path through the streets, arriving at the scorched mark. "This is the path you will take on your journey."

The woman lets go of his hand and beams a ray of sunshine from her mouth. The smile sends butterflies flitting through Kyle's stomach. "Enjoy your journey," she says, as she flows away from him, gliding like a leaf on a river.

That path sticks in Kyle's mind, in a way nothing ever has before. He remembers the shape she made him draw clearly, and, looking around, it's rather obvious where he needs to go. The path is inscribed on his mind.

His fingertip still tingles from that shock the map gave him.

[Whatevr89532]

Emma nods. "You're right...but I don't wanna just sit and wait, either. We can look for some way to fix this, too. But if we're not telling your dad or the force, you'll need to stay in the apartment..at least when school is in session? And if anyone asks why you're staying with me, uh..say you're my cousin or something over for a visit. I don't talk about my family much at work, so they won't know."

The stranger chuckles, the kind of laugh an older person might have at something odd a child says--but the friendly sort, not particularly hostile or patronizing. "I do what I want, so repayment isn't important. There's always a chance you'll meet me again, but I suppose if you want to be sure you might stop by The Magic Brew around 5:30?" Jamie's hair continues to very slowly crawl downward.

Kyle takes a good few seconds or so to look at his finger, and the map. An optical illusion, maybe? Or very strong static, to make a mark like that. But at least he knows just how to get there now, after such an extremely clear illustration...even though the reason for its clarity escapes him. He turns the right way this time, and starts off toward the museum.

((I'm moving slow to try and accommodate muffinstud, so next post will probably wait just as long and/or until he should post.))

[Harri-chan]

Karen blushed as Emma stated rather than suggested that she would need to stay in the apartment during school hours. For a moment she found herself imagining the horrifying situation of being caught out during those times and dragged off to school.

"And what do we say when people from work start looking for me?", she asked, subconsciously ceding to Emma's decision to take control of their plans. "I'm guessing that will be sooner, rather than later... they've probably already figured out something isn't right... ".

[Zilla]

5:30... The Magic Brew...? She had never heard of such a place, but that was something she could look up online. She didn't want to hold this changing stranger back from whatever errands they had set out to do.

"Alright! I'll see you there!" she says, suddenly filled with energy as she, again, dashed off, toward her car. The alleyway shrunk out of sight behind her, her feet carrying her rapidly through the streets back to the construction site where she had parked. She felt so alive, for the first time! The thought that her dream was on the cusp of reality... that this chance encounter could actually work, that she'd be able to see herself, and have others see her as she always wanted to be. Her heart raced with her, her sneakers tapping a rapid beat on the pavement.

Her car popped into view. She yanked open the door, dove inside, slammed the keys home, and cranked the engine to life. Jamie couldn't help cracking a smile at her cinematic motions as she set out for school.

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

Right as Kyle reaches the end of the block, the red hand flickers to the pedestrian symbol, allowing him to cross. As he crosses, he bumps into a distracted suit. Unusually for Kyle, he catches himself naturally and gracefully, hardly even thrown off his stride. Just as he lands on the opposite sidewalk, he feels a faint buzz. It starts at first with his hand, but soon Kyle's stomach feels full of butterflies.

The museum is still a ways off.

(So hard to resist going further, but we'll leave it here for now.)

[Ookalf]

(So, hey, I'm back in this... Again.)

*Pat, having finished his lunch a moment or two ago, is making his way back to the front of the store so he can take back over at his check-out lane as soon as he's needed. Not much going on here...*

[Whatevr89532]

"Well I wouldn't be lying if I told them I 'hadn't seen you since this morning'...and even if they think you look a little like, uh, like what you normally look like they would never guess it is you, right?" Emma tries to keep her voice down again, which doesn't really seem to be one of her strong points.

By the time Jamie reaches the car and sits down, she might noticed her hair is almost long enough to accidentally sit on. Her ears get a little stronger of an itch for a few seconds, and checking them this time will find them a little fuzzy, like short little bits of hair have grown all over it. While she drives, the dashboard and wheel seem to gradually rise just a few inches up, and the angle of the mirrors get just a little off. It's slow enough that she probably doesn't even notice it for a couple of minutes. Jamie will find she has actually lost those inches in height, yet her clothes still seem to fit the same as usual...

"Whoa, sorry, sorry!" Kyle apologizes to the guy even though it may not have been his fault; once he's safely not in the way of cars he thinks, Wow, that was awesome! How did I even do that? Then he's distracted by the odd buzzing feeling. He shudders briefly at the odd feeling, then just shrugs it off. It isn't all that unpleasant, so surely nothing is wrong, right? He keeps going.

"'Scuse me!" While Pat's on his way through the store, a little boy of maybe twelve years or so starts trying to get his attention. The kid's parents aren't anywhere in sight, and he seems have noticed only that Pat is an employee by the store vest, with no clue he's supposed to be on check-out. "Mister, 'scuse me, can you help me?" The boy's run right up next to him by now.

((Well, I changed my mind. Not gonna just barrel forward or anything, but I would hate to leave this in stasis too long again.))

[Ookalf]

"'Scuse me!" While Pat's on his way through the store, a little boy of maybe twelve years or so starts trying to get his attention. The kid's parents aren't anywhere in sight, and he seems have noticed only that Pat is an employee by the store vest, with no clue he's supposed to be on check-out. "Mister, 'scuse me, can you help me?" The boy's run right up next to him by now.

Hm? *Pat stops for a moment and looks around. Spotting the kid and realizing he must be talking to him, Pat adresses the boy.* Oh, sure... Is everything all right, kid?

[Zilla]

As Jamie pulls out of her spot, she checks herself in the mirror, when she feels something tugging the back of her head. She leans forward to feel what could have tugged on her hair, and notices her hair is MUCH longer than it was this morning. Her breath stops for a moment and she brakes the car hard, too shocked to risk driving at the moment. Her heart thunders. "Oh my god... Oh my.... ohmygod....! Omaigad omaigad omaigad!!" She quickly makes sure her windows are rolled up tight, door secure... and then...

"YES!" She screams. The excitement roars her! And this was just the start...

She takes a deep breath, and calms herself down. It's too early to freak out about this... there's plenty more to come, right? If it were to stop here.... she'd just have long hair. Very nice long hair, longer than she'd ever had before, but... they may just think "he's a hipster" or something. She pulls herself together for now, and adjusts her mirrors to suit her new, shorter vantage point. She doesn't fully notice the fuzz growing in on her ears, and she's too excited to care at the moment. She backs out, and speeds off toward school.

I hope I can get there early.... she thinks, I just want to sit in my car and watch as I change.

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

The next crosswalk flicks over to WALK, just like the last one, right as Kyle reaches the corner. But the strange feeling picks up as he crosses, and his waist cinches in, tightening, and accentuating his hips. He may not even notice more than just the feeling subsiding... or relocating. It seems to have spread upward, like a rising, tickling, bubbling soda. It feels nice...

Something flashes out of the corner of his eye; a bird taking off. A strange instinct to chase the bird briefly flares in his mind, before the black crow is gone.

[Harri-chan]

Karen winced a little at the volume of Emma's voice as she sat working her way through the sandwich, although the embarrassment on her face hadn't lessened in the slightest. "You're right... they'd never suggest that I'd been turned into a kid... ", she said, before wiping her mouth with a napkin. Her brown eyes glanced nervously at some of the other customers before she leaned forward, "If I have to head home... I'll need your keys. I left mine in my locker at the station... ".

[muffinstud]

Carter's final push through the door has her running straight into another poor pedestrian--a man in his mid-twenties who she might notice is of about average attractiveness. Her wings seem to instinctively flap around a bit to keep her balanced and on her feet, but he isn't so lucky, landing on his side and getting some scratches on his hand and arm from the concrete. They aren't life-threatening or anything, but they look pretty painful. "Oww..." he groans, while a few more people around stare. There is a small thought in Carter's mind that it would be really cruel of her to just leave him like that.

{Thanks for waiting for me, but I'm also glad the others didn't lose out because of my absence. Let's continue, shall we?]

Carter gasps and reaches down to the guy. "Oh crap, I'm sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going. That looks like it really hurts." She takes his hand and attempts to pull him up. She flutters her wings for added stability, since it seemed to help before.

[CalypsoNymph]

Riley is doing what he does best. Being invisible.

It's still lunch break at the high school, and he's just sitting, outside, under a tree, eating some relatively healthy snacks in the shade, eyes comfortingly closed. He raises some food to his mouth, puts it in his mouth, closes his mouth, chews with his mouth, swallows with his mouth, and then repeats the process again and again. Lazy, and simple. He likes that.

On the other hand, his ears are currently listening into the conversations around school. Something about a stolen police care... that new magic defense force the goverment has or whatever... ah, the local bully bragging about how he can freeze water. Ooooh, terrifying. Blarg. Better keep an eye out for him... he's getting a big head again.

Hum... he idly wonders if that one person was going to bug him again today... something about 'aplying himself' or whatever. He never really payed attention. Why bother to apply yourself when you can just be at peace, alone?

Ah... solitude. There's nothing quite like it.

[Whatevr89532]

The kid seems delighted Pat is answering him. "Yeah, I'm okay..but I can't find the milk! Mom sent me to go get some, and I dunno where it is."


The slow loss of height continues for a bit of the drive, eventually leaving Jamie a little on the short side. Meanwhile, the little bits of fuzz on his ears grows out a little bit, and Jamie starts to get a sense of the air blowing across her ears because of them. The ears seem bigger, and seem to start wiggling around occasionally, all on their own. The ears keep growing after her height stabilizes, and at that point she starts to feel her t-shirt getting slightly looser around her stomach, and her jeans start to feel a little bit tighter on the sides. Strangely, she doesn't seem to feel any movement going on in her lower body, and only the results point to a change happening.


Kyle finds himself grinning as he crosses the street, and as the odd feelings continue he even giggles quietly a little bit. He pauses after the stoplight, thinking, What am I doing, what's so-- before his thought is interrupted by the bird and his eyes snap to watch it fly away. Darn! Too late! Wait..why do I care about a bird? He scratches his head, wondering what's going on..and then starst moving again. After all, the museum's still ahead of him.


Emma starts digging in her purse for her own keys; she pauses, thinking of something, and starts talking again, but doesn't stop looking for them. "Are you sure you don't want me to get you there, in case there's any more trouble? I could take the rest of the day off, I don't take all that many vacations anyway..."


"Yeah, you're sorta--huh?" Somehow Carter manages to grab the hand the man just had scraped against the sidewalk, even though that doesn't seem quite the natural thing to do. He lets himself be helped up anyway, but is just about to complain when a small white glow surrounds the area her hand is in contact with his. He was wincing in pain a second ago, but now his expression is a little confused. "Wha..?" The white glow spreads down his arm, only along the injury, and stays there for only a couple of seconds. When the glow is gone, his arm looks completely healed, except that it's a little dirty and still has the small bit of blood on it that had already come out before she'd grabbed his hands.
She has a vague sense, once it's done, that she feels just a little more tired, fatigued than before. As if she had an invisible muscle somewhere and had just exercised it for the first time in a long while. It's only a minor discomfort, but it's definitely there. Meanwhile, the guy looks over his arm. "Whoa! That is awesome! Are you, like, a real life..?"


The lunch break drags on for a little while, and at first it seems like Riley might actually be safe today. Then it happens again. Courtney Channing, the girl who's in everything, all the hard classes and student council and a number of things most of the people at this school hasn't even heard of, starts walking right toward him. She's smart, pretty, and popular enough to get voted onto the student council twice in a row now. Why does she waste her time talking to someone who's clearly trying to be invisible? That's how the rumors go every time she does this. She's still way over there, but she's walking with a purpose; maybe he has enough time to get away or look busy or something.


((Zilla, I hope you don't mind me grabbing Courtney from several pages back and making her a legit NPC so Calypso has something to do here...
Calypso, I hope this is okay with you too. Actually, either of you let me know if this isn't okay via PM and I can work out an edit to fix it.

On an unrelated note, would you guys find it easier to keep up with which paragraphs respond to who if I used quotes of the player(s) being addressed before each one, or is it clear enough as it is right now?))

[CalypsoNymph]

Riley's mind starts racing. Courtney. Courtney. Not again! Slip up one time... help her with one math problem... great. Just great. He'll always regret that lunch. That'll show him to help a pretty girl. His best chance would be to get out of there as fast as he could... but then he'd be showing that he actually, you know, could go fast.

Riley mentally moans. Why did this happen every lunch? He, most certainly, didn't need this. He zips up his lunch box... bless his mom for making him one every day even now... and pretends to fall asleep. Hopefully it'll work this time. ...Hopefully.

((This all seems fine to me.

As for the paragraphing, maybe you could just add something else between the paragraphs, like: --Calypso: to show that you're switching people.))

[Ookalf]

The kid seems delighted Pat is answering him. "Yeah, I'm okay..but I can't find the milk! Mom sent me to go get some, and I dunno where it is."


((On an unrelated note, would you guys find it easier to keep up with which paragraphs respond to who if I used quotes of the player(s) being addressed before each one, or is it clear enough as it is right now?))

(What we have now is making sense to me, at least...)

The milk? Oh, well, that's easy. If you'd like, I can lead you there now...