The New World: Changeling (Part Three)

The week passed. We ended up just spending the time hanging out at my place—nothing much of real interest happened. I was standing outside the gates of the school, wearing a new female outfit. I was kind of uncomfortable—it was my first time here since the transformation. Though, since such a thing was to be expected, the administration didn't see any reason to introduce me as a different person—Which I would have preferred, given the circumstances, but they said that it was a healthy choice to go as what they called a 'changeling' – A person that had undergone a complete and total physical transformation.

"I'm a changeling now, huh...?" I muttered. It was really a thing that I didn't expect myself to say. Well, sure, perhaps in another ten or so years, but not this young, and not without having made a conscious choice. To utter those words... It gave the thing another level, almost—it seemed to make it less surreal, and more... real.

"Scuse me, commin' through!" I heard an unfamiliar female voice say, before feeling a knock to my shoulder as a girl practically dashed right past me, without even looking back. I rubbed my shoulder, wincing a little. The girl was... rather tall, stunningly beautiful, had knee-length shimmering white hair, and pure white angel wings. I felt an odd sensation, a kind of buzz in my mind.

I shook the feeling off, and entered the school. Everyone else on the vacation with me had already left for their homes yesterday, so I unfortunately had to walk to school alone. This made me incredibly self-conscious.

I felt as if I wanted to crawl into a little ball when I walked into the school grounds. I kept getting glances—hearing people gossip about me, and was being stared at... I wrapped my hands around my chest, blushing a little, silently cursing Illaena for making me so, well, to put it bluntly? Attractive. I wouldn't mind so much if it weren't for the staring. ...Was this what all girls felt like? Surely not. Although in my case I guess it was a standout one due to Illaena's... erm... bodily enhancements.

My tails flicked a bit as I took to running, just to get out of plain sight. I entered the lobby, and then began to race up to the Ares houseroom.

"You're not starting your first day back without checkin' in with me, are you?" I heard a voice from behind me, which made me practically skid to a halt. I recognised that voice.

I turned around, and offered Lilly a nervous smile. "Ah, um, I kind of... Wanted to get out of the, er, you know, public eye..." I said, quietly.

"That's understandable." Lilly nodded. "Though you do realise that there would be people in your houseroom too, right? –I assume that's where you're heading at this time of the day."

"Ah, yeah... But it'd be a place where I can sit down and try to calm down without it being so—you know, open..."

Lilly nodded. "Want me to come with you?"

"—Would you even be allowed in the Ares houseroom? I mean, it's only for Ares people..."

Lilly smirked, and winked. "And school administrators~" She waggled her finger playfully.

I nodded. "Ah, I see. In that case... Yeah, that will help a lot." I offered her a smile, as she began to walk.

"Well, let's waste no time dilly-dallying! It's not nice ot keep a god waiting, after all~" She said, as I began to walk alongside her.

"How you holding up?" I asked.

"It's been a day since we last saw eachother. A day. I don't think much has changed, Naema." She snickered.

"Okay, true... Though you do seem a little more upbeat than normal."

"That's because I love being at school—Even one as crazy-weird as this!"

"Makes sense to me, I guess." I shrugged.

We walked for a moment, before I saw someone familiar walking down the hallway—it was that girl! That girl from earlier, the one who rushed into me!

Something made me feel uneasy. Lilly must have noticed something, because I felt a tug on my shirt. "Naema, what's wrong? What are you looking at?"

I narrowed my eyebrows. "That girl—that winged chick. Do you know her?"

Lilly frowned, and shook her head. "'fraid I don't. I think she just got here today. New arrival. Though there was nothing in the school databases that hinted at her appearance, so my guesses as to why she's here and who she is are as good as yours."

"...Hmm..." I said, quietly. I walked up to the winged girl with the white hair cautiously.

"Um—hey?" I asked.

The girl turned around almost immediately, and smiled. She had one blue eye, and one green eye. "Yeah, what is it?" Her voice was almost singsong in nature, though even with how heavenly it sounded, it sent chills down my spine.

"You.... Bumped into me earlier, right?" I said.

She blinked, and gave a slightly concerned look, but it only came off as offputting.

"Yeah, what? – ohmigosh, I didn't hurt you, did I?" She said, walking up to me and looking at my shoulder.

"Ah, um, a little, but it won't even bruise. ...Hey, what's your name?"

The girl looked at me a moment, as if she were considering an appropriate answer for that question. She then seemed to have come to a decision. "Remia! Yours?"

"Uh—Vixen." For whatever reason, I felt uncomfortable giving her my real name.

I could hear Lilly snicker in the background, but ignored it.

"Oh? Vixen, huh? Seems to suit you, an' those cute ears~" She winked, patting me on the head gently as she grinned. Her carefree nature was almost uncanny.

"Ah, yeah... Not used to that..." I admitted, nodding my head.

"You a changeling too~?" She asked, assuming a more natural pose.

"Yeah. Only been like this for about a week." I nodded.

"Must be exciting! But why didn't you get wings?"

"Excuse me?"

"You know, wings! Awesome, feathery things that allow flight!"

"Ah, I guess, they just, uh, didn't cross my mind." I lied.

She smiled softly. "There there. I'm sure Myria will be able to grant you them sometime. Perhaps at the next festival, mm~?"

I blinked. "Uh—yeah, sure, whatever, let's go with that." I said hastily. For the life of me I couldn't figure out a better response. I guess I wasn't good with conversations like this in the heat of the moment.

"You okay? You look a bit flustered." She frowned.

I shook my head. "N-No, I'm fine, I just--" Before I could finish my response, I could hear the 5-minute warning bell ring. "Oh shit, I gotta go, see you around, Remia!" I said hurriedly, and began to rush to the Ares homeroom.

Lilly joined me. "I think you liiiike her~" She grinned.

"I—Ah, um, n-not like t-that!" I stammered.

"Your lips say no, but the blush on your face says yes~" Lilly teased.

"I'm not!" I said, in a bit more of a harsher tone than I wanted.

"Eesh, It's okay, *vixen*, I'm just teasing~" She giggled. Oh god, she HEARD that? I'll never hear the end of it!

I quickly entered the Ares houseroom and took my seat. Lilly elected to take a seat next to me.

The room was already quite full, though Rin didn't appear to be here just yet.

"...Oh! Oh, it's—It's you, isn't it?" I heard a voice say. I blinked, and turned around, looking at the seat to my right. It was a boy, who looked to be about a year younger than me. He had scruffy red hair, and was covered... In wolf fur? His eyes were slit like a cat's, and he had wolf ears atop his head, though he was mostly human aside from that. A wolf's tail swished behind him.

"E-Eh?" I said, confused.

"Naema, right? The guy from a while ago? I heard you got changed!" He said.

"I—Uh... Um... Y-Yeah, that would be me, yes." I said, quietly, deciding it wouldn't be good to hide it.

"Whoa. So the rumours that you turned into a girl are true! What's it like?"

"It's—unique."

"Unique? Come on, you gotta say something more than--" He paused for a moment, his eyes turning towards my two tails. "—Oh, wow! Two tails? Why didn't I think of that!"

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"When I got changed this weekend! I should have totally thought of that!"

"Changed this weekend? What do you mea—oh, you mean at the Festival?"

He nodded excitedly. "Yup! I won a contest and Myria offered to change my form to anyhtin' I wanted!"

I couldn't help but feel a little envious. "I see... Why a wolf?"

"Because wolves are freakin' awesome, you know? –Oh, plus, I got these too!" The guy grinned, and extended black-feathered wings from his back, as if they came from nowhere.

I raised my eyebrow. "Wings, huh? That's kinda cool." I was reminded of something Illaena said... I'd gain the ability to summon wings at, what, three, four tails? It was something to look forward to, I guess. I'd always dreamed of having wings, but my parents thought that changing at a young age wasn't something to be encouraged... Something about 'being old enough to make a reasonable, mature, responsible choice'. Whatever THAT meant.

"Yeah. I can totally fly with them too! I even flew to school!" He said, grinning. He sounded rather full of himself.

"Well... Good for you, I guess. What's your name, anyway?"

"Call me Luke." He offered a handshake, which I accepted.

"A pleasure to meet you, Luke." I said. Then, the doors to the houseroom swung open and Rin rushed through, covered in soot!

"That damn Alana house! Where'd they get all their pyrotechnics?!" He said, angrily, slamming the door shut behind him and taking a seat to the left of me, folding his arms, looking rather annoyed.

"Alana IS a dragon goddess." Luke pointed out.

"Yeah, but—Rrrrgh, I guess you do have a point.... But that's only been her 'thing' for what, 200 years?"

"Yeah. Before that she was a mermaid... Or something like that." I said. Gods did have periods of change, where they'd take on a different appearance, and attire. I think even their own forms get stale to them sometimes.

'I've been a Kitsune for a good thousand or so years.' Illaena said in my head. 'Before that I had the form of... ...Well, you're going to laugh. I had the form of a Pegasus.'

I snorted, amused. 'What, a Pegasus? Why?'

'Hey! It was fun, alright? I was a Pegasus for about 100 years, intermittently, of course. Before that, I was a dryad.'

'Interesting.' I replied.

Soon enough, everyone was seated, and the blackboard flickered into a monitor again, revealing.... Ares' face!

He just stared at me, with his piercing gaze. No words were spoken. An eerie silence filled the room.

I looked back. I didn't feel like shrinking down in my seat this time. Instead, my gaze met his, and we locked eyes.

We... I suppose you could say we studied each other for a moment. Though on my part, it was more attempting to piece together the bizarreness of the situation. For Ares... It was like he was studying the fundamental core of my being.

He leaned back on the screen, and I blinked. Wait—were those...?!

"Wait, wait, WAIT. Ares is a girl?!" Luke exclaimed.

Ares smirked, and shifted his—err, her—face into a more feminine one. "Yes. I figured it was time for a little change to keep things fresh. It has been a while since I assumed a form such as this!"

...Was this some kind of signal or something? Was he—err, she—trying to send me a message with this action?

'It's his way of trying to tell you that it's not that much of a big deal, Naema.' Illaena told me, bluntly.

I blinked, and rubbed my temples a bit. 'Seriously? That's it?'

'It is what I believe to be the case, yes.'

'Is Ares always this blunt?'

'He could see the struggle in your eyes. And he knew that you needed something to drag you back down to earth and stop worrying so much. This world is FULL of change, Naema. Becoming a girl shouldn't be that much of an issue here. Or even vice versa.'

'I guess...'

"Anyway! Classes today continue as scheduled." Ares said, twirling a lock of her hair with her finger idly. "I have also provided a few more supplies in the supply room. Watch out, some of the traps may activate on touch. Be sure to carefully read the labels. Don't touch anything you're unsure about. Dismissed."

The screen flickered back to a blackboard, and a silence filled the room for a moment, before a discussion broke out about the recent developments.

"Seriously? A girl? I mean, whoa... I was NOT expecting that! Last time I saw him, he was totally a dude!" Luke exclaimed.

"I know, right?" Rin said, leaning over his desk to look at Luke, noticing his wolfiness. "And you were totally a human."

"Eh. The past ain't what matters, you know?" Luke gave a shrug.

"Then why are you surprised Ares now assumes the guise of a woman?" Rin raised his eyebrows.

"...Just wasn't expecting it, I guess!"

"Fair enough."

Lilly smiled, standing up and walking back over to us. "Well, I thought she looked rather cute." She offered.

"True. She managed to capture this kind of savage beauty. She looked so damn attractive and yet like she could snap your neck without even trying." Rin shuddered.

I stood up, feeling a little invigorated. It wasn't really such a big deal— I could stand this. I had to not let it take so much of a hold of me as it had been. I was... More confident, I guess.

"You ready for class?" I asked Rin.

He grinned. "Oh, I'm ready."