story 7- on winter's eve (holiday special)
What should’ve been yet another unremarkable winter’s eve and winter’s day suddenly becomes “a christmas carol” for one kelxvern as she gets sent through a wild and horrific dream.CONTENT WARNING: beyond swearing, this story contains parts with some rather disturbing and graphic content, as well as religious themes. If you dont want to read about these subjects, please stop reading this. If you do continue, well, reader’s discretion is advised. ____, “....can't i just…you know…use my regular body wash and stuff?” the kelxvern asked. She sat on the ground, the odd sensation of tiny, thin, fly fishing wire that covered the top of her head being scruffed up as her other kelxvern friend helped dry off the short, poofy black hair. “Temporarily, yes. Long Term, no. It's bad for both hair and the skin underneath” her friend irena answered, as she stopped drying her hair and placed the towel back on the floor. “Besides, tabitha, coily hair like this is gonna need some proper shampoo and conditioner if it wants to be in perfect condition.” “Even if it's short like this ?” Tabitha asked. “Even if it’s short like that.” she replied. “But don't worry. Shorter hair obviously is much easier to take care of. Surprise you don't want it lopped off like all of us plane-borns do on our first day.” Tabitha looked around the bathroom. It hardly looked like a bathroom anymore; it felt more like a warehouse or a sort of indoor art installation to give one’s self the idea that they were really small. Small, like a cat. Or chicken. Or rodent.…or human. The kelxvern raised her paw to her face and looked at it. It was bizarre. She spread her paw out; it was bony. Bony, segmented into five long and slender toes. On the end of each “toe” was a singular, short blunt nail. She took notice of how the paw’s palm was lighter than the rest of her skin. Her skin was brown; dark. Darker than her friend irena, whose skin was more of a tanner color. She looked at her friend’s hair, who was the same black color, but more wavy than what her friend called “coiled”. Still, she continued to look at her paw. “These…weird…monkey paws…?” Tabitha remarked. “Monkey paws?” irena replied “...yeah…” tabitha said. Irena sighed. “Yeah, humans ARE primates, after all. Just…make you try not to call yourself a ‘monkey’. It’s can be taken the wrong way because of your human form’s race’ “...sorry.” She apologized. “It’s ok, it’s alright. You didn't know.”, irena grabbed the cloak right next to her, and handed it to tabitha “after all, you weren't human last night. Or the day before. Or really most of your life up until this point. I’ll try my best to teach you about human customs and such, but right now I want to focus on making sure you get used to your human form first.” Tabitha looked at the cloak. It was soft, large enough to cover her tiny human body completely. “Suppose humans don't like being ‘naked’ at home” she thought to herself as she continued to hold the thing. Thoughts about last night filled her head. A burning question was still stuck in her head, fresh from when she woke up in half-terror-half-confusion this morning. “Are you gonna put that on?” irena asked, “trust me, human bodies tend to get pretty cold pretty easily compared to the giants like you were. especially at this time when your body’s still figuring out what’s going on” Tabitha continued to stare at the cloak that was in her hands. The inside was made of soft white sherpa, the outside made of fleece. it's pattern consisted of blue, white and gold stripes, not unlike that of an ugly sweater. “Question…” Tabitha asked, “do…hallucination or dreams have any meaning?” Irena stopped and stared at her for a couple seconds. “Like….do they have some truth behind them?” Tabitha tried elaborating. "do they...like, have anything to do with the real world?" “Well….” irena finally replied. “not literally, but kinda yes? it depending on the kelxverns beliefs and such…most of the ‘meanings’ are more or less just the hallucination picking up many real-life things the kelxvern experienced. The transformation, the past, what their beliefs are and such. trust me, lots of kelxverns who just 'wake up' as a human or plane say that they had pretty wild dreams during the night. I mean I can't blame you for thinking that because that was some intense shit you had last night…” The thoughts of the imagery last night sent chills down her spine, forcing her to put the cloak on her small body, feeling the softness of the sherpa touch her sensitive human skin. She, still to this very moment, felt such conflictions about what occurred.__________ “-CDC, FBTS and tranforgee centers are urging kelxvern who have not changed yet to get vaccines against the recent jet flu strain to not only protect themselves and others from, but also to decrease the risk of changing. The FBTS has seen a rise in calls about unchanged kelxverns having their first change whilst testing positive for bird flu, and especially for jet flu. Many reports state that the disease worsens the symptoms of transformation sickness, and in the past year over 201,000 kelxverns were put in hospitals due to said symptoms. At least twelve cases have resulted in death this year, most of which were immunocompromised individuals who could not get vaccinated. In addition to vaccinations, other ways to prevent catching jet flu are wearing a mask in public, washing your paws with soap and warm water, using paw sanitizer, and maintaining social distancing. Beings should also quarantine for at least seven days if you they any flu-like sympt-” The newscast was cut off as Gideon exited the Freecast and onto the TV’s main menu. “Hey Tabitha, I'm gonna put on netflix, you wanna watch something there?!” the gray-colored C-5 galaxy called out to the kitchen, hoping his girlfriend heard him. Inside the small trailer home that sat on a hill, a lufthansa A380 sat at the kitchen table, disposable engine masks covering both left engines, of which leaked gross, clear mucus - a clear and obvious symptom of jet flu. Jet flu was awful. It was an awful strain of bird flu, an awful strain of aeroflu at that. jet flu's biggest target? jets-engined elkinets like her. It was caught like all other forms of flu; transmitted via the breathing, coughing and sneezing of the infected. The symptoms were the same as every other flu; fever, chills, nasal discharge, coughing and a mild headache. The thing that made it different was, of course, the biggest tell-tale symptom: mucusy discharge from the engines. It was every bit gross as it was uncomfortable; like a stuffy, runny nose that was on your wings. But, that wasn't their main concert at the moment. Across the table was a 747, a mostly white one with a red tail. This jumbo jet was one of her friends, irena. Irena rummaged through the duffle bag that she carries. “I know I have it in here, I know it- found it!” she exclaimed, pulling out a pill bottle. “Rabilapril” was the name of this medication. A medication that she’d heard her friend talk about all the time with her patients. She handed her a small capsule pill. “Take this,” she said, as she handed Tabitha a glass of water alongside it. “It’s basically just a NSAID but for A-class kelxverns. Should keep some of the pain down for tonight and hopefully lessen your symptoms” Tabitha looked at the small pill that sat on her paw, and at the pillbottle that sat right in front of her. Irena wasn't just a sheplane looking out for her best friend; she worked as a mobile kelxvern specialist. She would go out to housecalls to tend to whatever a kelxvern needed, mainly those who struggle with their abilities and forms. However, it was Gideon who called her in the first place; he contracted jet flu first, perhaps catching it from god knows whatever customer was at his computer repair shop he worked at. it was only when he stopped exhibiting symptoms and tabitha began to feel the flu’s effect did he call her to come over. “This isn't one of those stimulators that starts your transformation is it?” “Oh, nononono, it’s just a pain and flu med.” irena replied. “That stuff's done intravenously. It is why most people go to the clinics to get activated instead of at-home. Not unless they’re brave enough to take a shot twice a day and change the next.” “It’s not gonna change me, is it” “Uh, NO taby. It’s just a pain and flu med for fucks sake. It has all the damn same side-effects as the regular shit.” Irena said in a mildly annoyed tone. “I havent started changing yet and you’re already handing me this? Can I just take regular pain and flu meds since it shifts with me anyways?” “No.” Irena replied “it may shift with you, but non-shifter-friendly medication does not remain exact when it comes to your other form’s dosage. it’ll only change to a rough estimate based on your weight; a ROUGH estimate, mind you. You could be underdosed, you could be overdosed, it might give you some pretty bad side-effects that all the commercials spout out...maybe times a hundred....really, It helps to have the real deal that’ll get it exact.” “Irena,” she said to the 747, “I haven't even STARTED CHANGING YET! ” Still, the jumbo jet persisted. “Did you NOT just hear what the news just said?!” irena raised her voice, pointing her wing to the television that broadcasted the news a minute ago. “Look, I get it, you want to have it ‘happen when it happens’, but you’re at an increased risk right now. Especially since you’re well into your twenties; most of us kelxverns have their first change somewhere between 17 and 19. And, especially because transformation sickness can disguise itself as all the other symptoms you’re feeling, if not double the intensity. Now just take it. Take the damn thing. it’s not gonna hurt you, and if it doesn't happen tonight it’ll at least make you feel better. Worst case scenario: You get a little drowsy. That’s it! THAT'S ALL!…” both airliners looked at the clock above the TV, as it read “9:38pm”. Irena looked back at Tabitha, before continuing “...look, a nice good night of rest wouldn't be a bad idea right now. especially with how you're feeling physically.” As much as she wanted to deny it, irena was correct. She had yet to transform, and the jet flu could easily cover up any of the typical transformation sickness. Irena would know all this because, unlike her boyfriend Gideon, she was a kelxvern much like her, and fittingly she knew alot about being a shifter like her. She had the same thing happen to her, as well; a simple flu covered up her actual pre-transformation sickness. Then again, she was already in the kelxvern ward of the local tranforgee center, so she was in the best place for when she began her slow transformation to a human. And, even if it wasn't irena with the concerns, Gideon himself was twice as scared about it. Gideon was a galaxy who was raised around the much smaller sophonts. She and Gideon had practically been friends ever since highschool, ending up going to the same college, but only recently did they finally become boyfriend and girlfriend. Gideon, in spite of being the penultimate gentle giant, was still worried about her safety and didn't want anything to go wrong should the changes begin. He’s heard the stories before; he doesn't want her to suffer any more than she would during such changes. the two of them were a sort of unstoppable force of concern at the moment; irena being rather pushy about "being prepared" and gideon more or less just overall worried about her being sick at a time when she could just suddenly change species. she didn't want to think about it. she didn't want to think about the idea of turning human. she never hated them; she actually didn't mind humans at all. but at the same time she never like the idea of becoming what many of her kind would call "small, weak and flightless" (or so was said by the planes with such distain for the earth apes). the last thing she wanted was to become that small, weak and flightless human. but, as life would had it, it was an inevitability that she'd have to face. looking down at the pill, she begrudgingly accepted her fate. “...fine…” tabitha muttered, as she downed the pill and one huge swig of water, “there, you happy?” “Yes,” Irena replied, giving a sigh of relief “and no need to get pissy with me. I’m just trying to help.” She sighed before she then walked over to where Gideon is. He laid curled up on the couch, having already selected yet another cheesy winter’s day romance movie. Tabitha could still hear the convo between the two. “Sorry about bringing you here on winter’s eve….and her attitude…” Gideon tried to apologize “Nah, don't be sorry,” Irena said. “ I'd much rather spend tomorrow here than with my family… Too much drama… and politics… and political drama.... Besides, I already let my supervisor know and they allowed me to bring my supplies and stay the night.” “You’re not worried about catching it?” he asked her. “Not really…vaccination and shapeshifting gives you pretty good immunity toward species-specific diseases like jet flu. Besides, i got an entire two weeks off for holiday so even if i do get sick i’ll have all the time in the world to quarantine. all i really need to do is call my supervisor to let him know i'm sick." “Yeah, but you know why she isn't happy about the whole transformation thing, right?” “Yes, and it’s because she’s not taking this whole thing seriously” irena replied “It’s common for elkinet born-kelxverns like her to think being human isn't a big issue. Especially since humans tend to be pretty small, anyways. I’m just glad you’re here as well for her. Especially your history around humans and other E-class races. Better to have somebody that can get her around safely than a complete stranger….” As the two of them conversed, Tabitha looked down at the scars on her right wing. The marks of glass that pierced her wings were small, but noticeable; gray like her legs, just two small, barely noticeable gray slivers of raised skin. A permanent reminder of that one winter’s day when she was just an aeroling.___________ Her mother was a solid ogrinist. No, wait; she wasn't solid ogrinist; she was ogrinsim getting sucked into a blackhole and crunched down to the most dense object the universe could offer. She wasn't just a religious extremist; she WAS the embodiment of religious extremism; complete with the cherry-picking of religious texts, the power-tripping over having the “correct” religion, and the ever-so-present “everything can be twisted into a sin if you try hard enough” attitude toward life. she especially hated humans and any non-aircraft being. she'd keep tabitha away from what she considered "vermin", not that being an a-class aircraft prevented her from even being close to humans at the time. But of course, she put on a show about how great of a person she was for believing in ogrin and letting ogrin into her life. She’d donate to ogrinist-ran charities and dragged her daughter - an illegitimate daughter from a previous marriage - to church so that she would be closer to ogrin. She did everything a “good ogrinist” would do. It was clear that she was only doing “good things” just so she would be seen as a “good plane”. That was, unless you were anything BUT ogrinistic, in which best case scenarios she’d turn her head to the other way and drag tabitha away from them. Her father, the 747 her mother somehow managed to marry, was different. Although part of the same religion, he wasn't of the extremist kind of ogrinist; he didn't believe any of the extremist ideologies that her mother did. Indeed, he too did all of the “good things” her mother did (charities, church, random acts of kindness), but unlike her mom, her dad truly meant it. He didn't give a shit about species, ethnicity, livery or even religion for that fact. he was pretty impartial to humans; to him they were nothing more than tiny flightless elkinets; just like them in many different aspect. Where her mother was every bad stereotype of the religion, her father was the opposite: a truly good tom who only does what’s best for someplane. And yet, He was the one that also had to twist things and cherry-pick bits and pieces of the religious texts just so Tabitha could have a regular childhood. Holidays like turning year’s and winter’s day were a 50/50 shot on whether she’d celebrate it that year or not; whether her mom would force her to stay home that day or whether she’d be driven to her father’s side of the family to celebrate the so called “evil anti-ogrinistic holidays” It was a constant battle between the two of them: mom pushing her ideologies onto tabitha, dad trying to correct tabitha and assure her that she did nothing wrong, mom spewing out all the reasons that “X was sinful” and the “Only xortanics worshipers do X”, dad trying to spin carefully thought-out words to something that her mother’s little rotting brain could understand. Sometimes it worked, and her mother let things go. Other Times, it didn't work, and tabitha was dragged by the tail to her room and forced to “Pray out the duck-headed xevil [xortan]”. All of this, whilst little tabitha was stuck in the middle of it, struggling to understand what was even going on, let alone not knowing who to believe. and she wasn't stupid, either; being a “good ogrinist sheplane” has lead to actually listen to what goes on in church and reading the ogrinist scriptures, and realizing that everything between the parents was so contradictory. And if they both contradict each other, then who was she to believe? The sheplane who controlled her life with an iron fist, or the tom that had to practically lie in order to let his daughter be free? It all came to a head on that particular winter’s eve. She was only 10 on that fateful day. She was shut in her room as one of the many times she was forced to confess her non-existent sins to ogrin. For what reason? Saying the word “duck”, and through mental gymnastics her mother assumed she was talking about xortan. But, instead of confessing the sins, she was trying to ask ogrin what she did wrong, and why cute little waterfowl were deemed “demonic”. After all, none of the scriptures mentioned ducks being the xevil (the elkinet word for “devil”). Why was this suddenly different? Why, only now, did mom believe that the waterfowl were the mark of xortan, when mere days ago they were just out feeding them? or, was it because in the moment she stumbled her words and accidentally made the D sound like a vague F, and her mother assumed she said "fuck"? or, was her mother trying to purposefully make her feel bad about nothing? But her questionnaire to the eagle-headed god that guards Aethorna was interrupted by her father opening the door. She could remember those words that dad said that night: “Tabby,” he said, unusually quietly, “I need you to pack up some stuff in this duffle bag. We’re heading to your aunts to spend tomorrow there.” She initially did not find that too odd; it was common for her and dad to pack some things for the night and stay over at family for a night or two. Especially at that given moment because it was common for her and dad to head to her aunt’s house to help out with the winter’s day party. But, then she realized that it was a ten-hour drive to her aunt’s place in another county. Still, she followed her dad's request. So what? Maybe her father wanted to wait until they ate before they headed out. Maybe he just felt like leaving late so that they were early that morning. But, even as she began to pack up, things felt…different. Her father was helping her pack things up, and things that she didn't really think constituted what was assumed to be a single night or two. “You’ll need to pack two week’s worth of clean clothes…” “I want you to put your body wash in your bag as well…” “Don't forget about your coloring books and other art supplies. I don't want you to be bored while we’re out there….” “Here, I'll take some of your toys into my bag. Right now I just want you to just pack some essentials in yours. Toothbrush, toothpaste. Bring your sleeping bag and a pillow as well.” Something was very, very off. Even at the time when they DID have to pack up and spend the night, they never packed up this much. Why all the clothing? And the bodywash? And all this other stuff? It was so excessive. Even scarier, dad was trying to be as quiet as possible. He tried to keep Tabitha quiet as well. This “quiet” wasn't the typical “don't get caught by mom” silence. It was more like “They’re something very wrong and we need to get out of here without raising suspicions.” kind of quiet. Once they finished packing up, dad told her to wait in her room while he took his bag and went to talk to mom. For some reasons, this feeling of dread and fear began to wash over the poor a380. To a point where she didn't even feel safe cracking the door open. But, thankfully, her father came back from what felt like forever. He then orders her to grab her stuff, and follow him out the back door. “Don't speak, don't say anything, just follow us and be very quiet”. And, followed him out the back door she did. She carried her duffle bag full of clothing and her school bag filled with her art supplies. Her dad on the other hand, carried her sleeping bag, pillow, and his holster where he carried his small pistol. It was 4:00pm at that moment. Chunks of clumped snowflakes gracefully fell from the dusk skies. In the driveway that extended to the backyard sat a large vehicle; the pucklo that they had. It was essentially a small RV that her father used mostly during the times where his job required him to be out for long, extended periods; after all, it was cheaper to live in a pucklo than to rent a hotel room. Usually they only ever used this for when they were heading out the long distances. Even then, it still felt off. The two airliners, still trying to be quiet, hopped inside the vehicle, were preceded to turn the ignition and immediately lock all of the doors; front, back and rear. All of them. tabitha noticed that all of HIS stuff was in the vehical too. and, just like her, it was more than what would be considered for a simple weekend trip. alot of stuff were in boxes, too. “Dad,” she finally asked, “why are we heading out so late?” Her father seemingly was trying to collect himself, before he finally answered. “Because dad had a disagreement with mom and he wants to start heading out now.” he said as he punched in her aunt’s address into the pucklo’s GPS, almost frantically. “we’ll stop by a jester’s to get dinner. Right now I really want to try and get there.” “Does aunt know we’re comin-” “Yes.” he cut her off. “Yes, I talked before we started packing. She knows we’re coming and she’s having the driveway cleared.” “But, we’re gonna be there too early…” she remarked. “We’re just gonna drive for a couple hours, stop somewhere to rest, and con-” he was cut off by the sight of the backdoor of the house swinging open. Her mother popped her head out the door. She will never forget the next thing that her father said. “Get in the back away from the windows… ..NOW!!!” He screamed this, as her mother began to charge toward the vehicle with something in her hand. Tabitha sat frozen in fear, as her mother lunged her body at the pucklo, causing the metal box to violently shake. Only when the object, a butcher’s knife, started to smash into the windows did she finally gain the ability to finally move. She ducked under the table, her father suddenly putting the vehicle in gear and peeling out of the driveway and out into the streets. For the next few minutes, she felt the pucklo shake and claws scratching on the metal outside as her mother chased it with the fury of a hundred angry ravens hunting down a lone barn owl. Whenever her mother got close enough, she could hear incompressible screaming and a terrifying roar from both lungs and engines. Her father the entire time was screaming into the phone as he was given a play-by-play on the situation at hand; every attack on the pucklo, every street they turned on, the speeds they were hitting. And, of course she couldn't forget the fact that he had a gun but wanted them there before he had to use it. It stopped when they were heading towards a tunnel through the hill. Her mother finally stopped the chase, just mere seconds before they passed under the tunnel. perhaps even slamming into it as well. A couple minutes passed before dad finally pulled over; a police colhelm descending on the vehicle. He stayed in the vehicle, as the galaxy walked up to the vehicle. Only after it was confirmed that the police officer was there for the call her father made did he finally hang up on the 911 operator. Her father gestured his paw, and she finally crawled out from hiding. Her father was familiar with police and how they handled situations, especially in this area as they were familiar with her mother and the many calls made against her. He let him pat him down, and temporarily take his gun while questioning him. She listened in onto the conversation. Slowly, it started becoming more and more clear on the reality of the situation, as the convo between the two airplanes continued. “So your wife threatened you and your daughter, correct?” “Yes.” “What threats, exactly?” “Well she first threatened to stab me with the knife she had. But when I began walking to my daughter's room she’d threaten to stab her as well if I took her.” “What caused this argument, though? What exactly was the reason for it?” “Because I wanted to take her to a family member’s for winter’s day. It’s like this every year; I just want me and my daughter to see our family, and she tried to keep us away from it. Tonight we’re supposed to leave for good, but apparently she didn't want us to leave.” She then was taken out of the pucklo to give her side of the story; more specifically, how her parents were. As a child who couldn't even lie without having it burst mere seconds after she began to speak, she told the officer everything. How her mother was very controlling, how her father tried to get her mother to let go of her, the constant arguments between them and the words spoken. All through sacred tears and sobs. Finally, after what seemed like forever, they handed the gun back to her father (as he didnt use it during the incident), and told them to have a safe trip as they search for the evil sheplane. She thought that was the end of it, that they’d finally be free from her controlling nature. But it wasn't. as their pucklo lied in the Jester’s parking lot, her dad was calling everyone in his family about the situation. He really wanted to make sure that everybody knew what happened, and that they were prepared to give out their witness claims. It seemed like Tabitha's father knew that it wasn't the end of it, or at least had a feeling it wasn't. He called her aunt, and explained what went down. Tabitha could hear the words that came from the otherside. Indeed, dad did call her aunt prior, and told her that they would spend some time there for a while. Her aunt could be heard telling him that she’d call the non-emergency line to report it; not that there was anything they could do about it at the moment, but it best to get some records out there in case she somehow showed up again. From then on, her father continued driving. No stopping to sleep, just straight driving. Only stopping for gas and maybe some coffee to stay awake. Of course tabitha, at this point, had gotten over the initial horror, but even then the incident kept her from sleeping. It still terrified her to think that somewhere, there was an A380 that was hunting down the scent of cornfuel. hunting down ever A-class's pucklo she could find. Not that her father really minded; after all, he too was restless. He understood her when she told him she couldn't sleep. Still, she crawled back to the fold-out bed and tried to sleep, and eventually passed out. The next morning, she woke up to see that she and her father had already reached their destination. She was dragged out of the pucklo, and into her aunt's small little home to have breakfast. That winter’s day proceeds as “normal”, or about as normal as it can get for somebody who almost never got the chance to celebrate the holiday. She helped her aunt make the food and decorate the table the gifts would be placed under, while her father and uncle conversed about the wild night that her dad had. By this point, she had completely forgotten about it, too preoccupied with the thought of being able to celebrate the holidays.But things, once again, were not over. It was at the time when the entire family was there, having winter’s day lunch, and conversing with each other. Her and her cousin she barely saw were paying with all of the new toys they got that morning from under the table. Everything seemed like it was all fine, and the world was at peace, that there was no longer any worry about anything anymore. But, then she noticed her aunt calling her father over to the front window. One by one, with the exception of her grandmother to watch over the aerolings, all of the adults came out to that window. Her cousins saw the commotion. The older ones then quietly made their way to where the commotion was. Her grandmother urged her to stay where she was with the confused younger ones, but curiosity got the better of her. Tabitha made her way to the dining room where all the adults were. There had to be something that was grabbing their attention. Was it the odd giant pronghorn or canisaur that often made appearances at her aunt’s house? Was it an unusual package sent by a suspicious tom in a white van? Was it even, perhaps, Ponyhead herself coming to bring back the toys that she took from the naughty aerolings like the legends go? She managed to squirm her little body past the adults to look out the window that overlooked the driveway. That….was a mistake. It wasn't no elkinet-legged pony with a bag full of returned toys, but was in fact the evil sheplane that was her mother. The plane was tearing up what little vegetation was left from the frozen flower garden. Digging out the mulch and dirt right out of the snow, the sheplane was destroying everything in her path. Tabitha looked at the pucklo; it too had been keyed and scratched and dented, one of the windows being completely broken. As they all continued to witness the manic episode, her mother caught a glimpse of tabitha. The young airliner saw nothing but pure madness, pure anger, pure aggression. A wide-eyed look, a tensed up face with teeth bared and bloodshot eyes. The sheplane then turned to grab one of the decorative rocks from the garden bed. With one swift throw, she aimed directly at the window; right at Tabitha and her father. And then she woke up. Tabitha woke up on the dining room floor, staring straight up at the ceiling fan, as it quietly spun in a clockwise motion. It was silent. Very silent. She rolled back onto her belly, as she tried to take in the surroundings. There was blood. There was a lot of blood, as several hectors away she could see her mother writhing in agony with a trail of blood. As she panned over to the right, she saw her father's feet, and she looked up to see the tom. He had a horrified, distraught look on his face, petrified at what he did. His pistol still was pointed at the sheplane. As the noises of screaming and crying slowly began to fade in and replace her deafened silence, it had become very clear. In her mother’s maddened state, not only had she tossed a huge rock straight at tabitha’s face, not only knocking her out but sending shards of glass into her face, wings, and chest. But it didn't end there; she then took the opportunity to jump through the broken window to presumably finish her off. With his child down and other’s lives in danger, her father did the only thing he could do: He took aim and shot her. Her mother, by some miracle, survived being shot thrice; one in the abdomen and two in the leg. Somehow they all missed any vital organs or major arteries. When police arrived, her father tossed his gun on the table and allowed them to arrest him, all while Tabitha could only watch as the paramedics strapped her in the gurney. She could only cry in both agonizing head pain and pure terror while the paramedics and the sheriff tried asking her questions. The family members tried their best to fill everyone in on what happened all the way back to the beginning when her father drove her out of town to escape her mother who threatened their lives. She could remember seeing her father being dragged into the back of the colhelm as she herself was being put inside the EMS aerial. Her father was protesting the officers, just wanting to see his little girl one more time; the officers refused to; they wanted the full story and wanted to get as much out of people as possible. For the next two weeks after being discharged, she stayed at another family member’s place while her father was incarcerated. It wasn't until the court case that he was finally set free; it was a rather open-and-shut case, something which she’d later learn was a rarity in that county as self-defense cases almost never get dismissed without some kind of punishment (if they even are able to get out in the first place). Her mother….she never heard of her mother after that. The last thing she heard about her mother was that she was going into a mental facility after she recovered. After that, She didn't know what happened to her, where she went, if she changed, etc etc. The incident didn't just ruin Winter’s day for her, either. As tabitha got older, she began to question religion itself; more specifically the ogrinism she grew up on. How come a sheplane, who was willing to kill her own daughter and husband, still got out alive? Is murder against the idea of ogrinism? Isnt everything that the sheplane did went against the many teachings of ogrin himself? She began to realize that her mother wasn't just this one-time incident. She came to realize that many people are just like her mother: cherry-picking the pieces of scriptures so they can project it onto others. They don't want to be closer to ogrin, or any god for that matter; they just want to get into aethorna. They didn't care about the lives they would ruin or the consequences of their actions. They believed that so long as the labeled themselves as “ogrinist”, they could do whatever they wanted and they’d still get to the forever-starry cloudy gardens in the skies. They weren't actually religious. They were only putting on a play to look good and using it to justify their actions. Just like her mother. From then on, tabitha would become a complete nullist. It wasn't out of the hatred for religion like many would believe, but rather the ones that only partook in it for the sole purpose of putting themselves on a higher pedestal. Tabitha no longer looked up to any god to take control of her life, really. Like every nullist out there, she only believes that the gods were there solely to make sure the place was functioning; ogrin guarding the gates of aeotherna, dhetos making sure the land is good, and xortan making sure nobody escapes the underabyss. Like a group of tired retail managers on black friday, they dont give a shit about god-knows-how-many elkinets on this planet, rather they just want you to get on with your life and stop wasting it on relying on them to “fix your issues”. Tabitha, however, still had interest in all the religions her species had to offer. She took up religion studies; ironic for what humans call “the atheist of airplanes”, but in spite of her beliefs she found it interesting how each and every religion had different portrayals of all three gods. Perhaps deep down she wanted something to believe in, but the trauma from her aerolinghood kept her from investing in any religion that focuses on any god. She didn't want to become like her mother and take the religion to a selfish extreme, less she chooses to be sent to the looney bin with three bullets in the head. At the same time, in spite of her cynical views on life she wanted something she can put some of her faith in, at least just a little bit. But for now, she believed she was on her own in this world._______ Tabitha’s mind was then suddenly dragged back into reality, as irena and gideon continued. “She’s like this every winter’s eve….” Gideon said. “Yeah, I know. Can't blame her, though” irena replied, before quickly changing the topic. “So…” irena asked her “about xortanism and how they portray ogrin…you said they don't actually view ogrin as a bag guy, right?” “No…” tabitha said, “xortanism’s a lot like omyism in that every god had an importance. It’s just that ogrin’s very picky about who comes up there.” “Oh yeah?” Irena replied, intrigued by what Tabitha knew. “Isn't there a whole story about why that is? I mean, I might be wrong here, but there was an incident that led to ogrin being so strict about who was able to go to aethorna straight away?” Tabitha sighed, as she rested her head on the table. “Do you know who Suratus is?” she asked irena. “I’ve…i’ve heard of that name before when talking about xortanism” “Well the story originates in guinea centura, and it starts with a drone tom named Suratus” tabitha said, as she began to tell the story. “Back then, ogrin only allowed planes that were very, very good, just like with omnyism. Unfortunately, a lot of planes only did good things just to go to aethorna. so, ogrin had them do a ‘labor’, which involved them going through some obstacles that test their morality.The main labor was different for each plane, but the obstacles were the same; you had the plane carry a knife, a spear, and a bow with some arrows. The obstacles were animals that 100% posed a threat to the plane, but meant no harm. They had an issue, you have a few choices to fix it, some of them more morally correct than others. For example, an injured tigress would appear, and ask you to try and hunt an animal so it can feed its cubs. You could hunt a water buffalo, but the buffalo would try and kill you. You could hunt a huge snake, but the snake has a den where she’s going to lay her eggs soon. You could try a wild boar, but he’s gonna demand you to show him the tiger so he can confirm your reasoning and might try to run away or attack when he sees her. You could try and hunt the elephant, but the elephant knows that the tiger’s just as well off with fish but needs a good amount of them for her and her cubs to be satisfied. If you don't do it all in a timely manner, the tiger would have no choice but to kill you in order to feed her family. Which one do you choose, irena?” The 747 pondered for a bit, thinking about the answer. “Kinda difficult….” She replied, “I mean, I'd go with the elephant here and try to fish. At least the fish don't have much of a moral dilemma going for them…right?” “As far as you're aware, yes. Fishing would be a good option. that’d be one of them. But the whole ‘sacrificing yourself’ part is seen as a true selfless act, and even more so if you’re willing to put yourself in harm’s way . But, then you wouldn't be able to complete the labor.” “Then… what’s the point of sacrificing yourself, then if you’re not gonna complete the labor?” irena asked. “See, that’s the trick…” Tabitha said, “The labor’s not the important part. It’s how you respond and act to the obstacles. That’s what ogrin was looking for: morality vs end goals.” “So, you’re telling me that, back before ogrin got all picky and strict, he basically set up a macguffin where it was the journey that really determined your worthiness?” “Yes.” Tabitha replied, before continuing. “Anyways, during the entire labor ogrin would have one of his trusted eagles to observe it. Most of the planes that failed the tests usually only took the bad choice one or twice. Like with the tiger thing; if you killed the big snake with the unlaid eggs, that was the wrong choice. But like, most of the time there was at least some decent reasoning, like the snake providing more food because it has eggs, too. At the very least, many of them took some thought into it. Most of the time in that case, ogrin just sent them back where they’d be reborn as one of the animals they encountered. And then came suratus. Suratus was a tribe leader who only did good things because he wanted to get into aethorna; you know, like all the others that go through the labor?. Well, ogrin set up a labor for him; find the golden orchid of the mountain, fill a jug of water from the pools of leaves, and bring them back so ogrin can make some kind of tea. Well, the labor with all the obstacles ended a lot shorter than it should’ve been. This raised alarms, as it should’ve taken only two days at the very least, let alone half a day. But as ogrin was making the tea, he asked why it took so soon-” “Because suratus cheated?” irena asked, interrupting the story. “...cheated is an understatement…” Tabitha replied, continuing on. “Anyway…ogrin asked about his journey. And Suratus eagerly explains all the monsters he’s hunted that got in his way. He went to explain each and every one of them, and how they tried to make him feel bad but he wasn't having it.” Tabitha saw her friend’s jaw drop, in shock of what she told her. Still, she continued. “Oh yeah, he killed them all. Even the eagle who tried to stop it. Because in his head, the obstacles were just that; obstacles. He didnt think for a second about it, he just killed them and ran forward with it. Anyways, to say ogrin was pissed was an understatement. Not only did he show how bad of a plane he was, but he killed one of the many raptor that ogrin had. Of course you all know that killing a bird-of-prey is a big no-no in practically alot of cultures but it’s even worse when you consider the fact that ogrin considered HIS birds-of-prey as his children. He basically murdered his child. Ironically, he was making the tea for his brother, xortan. He kept silent until Xortan showed up, to where Suratus told him the same thing, and now he had both gods pissed off. The next thing he knows, he’s dragged to the underabyss where he's eaten by nulicust. Now, after the incident, the two brothers decided that it would be xortan who did most of the afterlife work. So naturally, xortan decided the best way to test somebody was to basically force them to re-experience life again. And that's why ogrin’s so picky the xortanist mythos: because one shithead only wanted the end product and ended up screwing it over for the rest of elkind.” Tabitha took another sip of water. “Those kinds of stories were my favorite. goes to show that the gods are not stupid. Too bad some planes refuse to learn from such stories.” she remarked, throwing shade at a certain sheplane that ruined winter’s day (and perhaps most of her childhood). She looked at the time. The clock read 10:00pm. “Suppose I should get some rest…. Maybe ponyhead will give me back some stuff i lost in childhood…” she said, as the airliner got up and walked across the living room towards where their rooms were.. “I’ll see you guys in the morning…whatever i turn into...” She opened the door to the small bedroom where she slept. On the floor sat the mattress of which she slept on. She could remember how her friend irena said that a lot of humans like to have their bed raised above the ground on a “bed frame”. She found it odd that humans would do that, only making the extra space under it more area to get dirty. Still, she didn't have time to ponder about all the things that irena and gideon knew about human culture. She was tired. Her head was beginning to pound, like it did ever since she caught jet flu. Like every time she caught the flu in the first place. She turned off the light, grabbed the blanket from off the floor, and curled up onto the bed. She thought about her childhood toys; a plush uhlahan in particular. it was the aeromorphic kind, with blue-and-white wings. It was one of the rare few times that she got a gift on winter’s day, only accepted by her mother because the golden-furred angelic creature was of course a religious symbol in ogrinism. Her father gave it to her, and told her the uhlahan was meant to guard her. It was one of several toys she had to sell after her dad got out from incarceration, now that he was jobless because of a stained record and missing one-to-many days. She could remember her father asking if she really wanted to get rid of it; she was sure of it. She gave it to a young globemaster and told him to take very good care of it, because it would guard him and keep it safe. The globemaster seemed to understand it, only further aided when her father told the mother about the significance of it. She hoped that the globemaster took good care of it. Already she was tired and began to drift off into sleep. As she was starting to fall asleep, however, something was…different… The room, for some reason, looked different. The blanket felt different. She didn't think about it at first; it could just be some weird visions since she was so tired. But still, it persisted. She couldn't quite put her paw on why it felt different. it...just was... But then it happened. For a split second, she swore she saw something. She swore she saw a small, shadowy figure dash across the room from the corner of her eye. She looked over to where it was, only for it to not be there. And then another figure dashed across the room again. And when she looked, another one appeared. She sat up, the blanket sloping off her back. Suddenly, standing figures began to appear; all around her room. “What the fuck…” tabitha muttered to herself. “What -wh- whaT THE FUCK WHO-WHOA-” she began screaming “GID-I, GIDEE-” she screamed, as two huge figures suddenly came into her room. All of a sudden, the room began to flash different colors and hues, the world beginning to spin at an ungodly speed as the figures began to close onto her. As she sat there horrified at what she was witnessing, it became clear that it was only just the beginning…______ The a380 snapped into a grassy meadow on a warm, sunny day. In the backdrop were mountains with snowy peaks, everything just slightly shifting. Vague ungulate-like creatures grazed on the flowers; something akin to a spadehead or a wildebeest. Tabitha got up and began walking to the creatures. As she did, she noticed that there were small mimicoots that were almost everywhere; on the ground, in the shrubs, out in the skies. They were definitely mimicoots; mimicoots that took on a cacophony of colors; bright pastel blue, scarlet, deep violet, yellow with green wings. Some had the colors of other passerines like bluebirds and cardinals and orioles. Some had the colors vaguely like that of the liveries she saw on airliners like her. She stopped to take in the scenery, stretching her wing out to entice one of the mimicoots onto her paw. Indeed, one did fly to her and perched on her pawtip. She looked at the bird; it was mostly white. But the wings, tail and back were blue, with a golden circle on its back. It was the same colors as her livery, the same variance of livery that hailed from Geranc. She stared at this lookalike, as one of the ungulates, now clearly a spadehead, was now right in front of her. She crouched down and gently patted its head. As she sat down, she looked around herself; other spadeheads had joined her, with mimicoots perched all over their bodies. For what seemed like forever, tabitha sat in this meadow, surrounded by the equines and birds. It just felt so….peaceful. But all of a sudden, one of the spadeheads looked towards the west. Then all other other spadeheads looked to the west, and tabitha too looked to where their heads pointed. At first, it seemed like nothing was there. Then, a single hawk flew out into the sky. Then, a pheasant. And then a mallard. And as if some proverbial floodgates have opened, a whole fuckton of waterfowl, galliformes and birds-of-prey flew into the sky, pouring out from every side of the mountains She panicked, as she saw the sky become dark with the sounds of screeches and honks and clucking, the sound of the respective species of birds. She tried to escape it, but the birds turned into black leaves and started to surround her, spinning all around her and trapping her. Tabitha suddenly fell and tripped, faceplanting into the ground. She quickly got up, only to realize she was somewhere completely different. She looked down at the grass before her. For a second, she thought that she was still in the meadows, with the spadeheads and the mimicoots. She took what felt like a while before she finally looked up at her surroundings. She saw that she was in the skies. Except, she wasn't falling; she was on a cloud. A cloud with a grassy top to it. She continued to look at the surroundings. Every cloud was actually a floating island with a cloudy bottom seemingly holding up land with grass, flowers, trees and shrubs. Every island was connected via a grassy bridge with a golden rim and rails. The skies were both dawn and dusk; there was the sun on the east, another sun on the west; directly in the middle was a beautiful deep purple and naval blue skies with bright, shining stars. But unlike the grassy meadows she was first in, she didn't feel calm but rather worried. Like this really wasn't where she was supposed to be. She then caught a glimpse of something golden, far far off in the distance. She squinted her eyes; the bit of gold looked rather familiar, like she’s seen it many, many times. It beckoned her to come there. Tabitha started her engines and…. …they wouldn't start. She tried again, and again, trying her best to wake them up, but they wouldn't. they were completely paralyzed. She has no choice but to use the grassy bridges to make her way to those golden gates. As she walked through each and every island, she noticed that each grassy platform had an animal on it; a pair of canisaurs guarding their mound nests, two male lion affectionately grooming each other, a pack of wild dogs playing tag with each other, a tiger peacefully sleeping, and an elephant giving itself a bath. But then, as she began to get closer and closer to the gates, she saw the same animals again, but something clearly wrong had happened. The canisaurs looked sorrowfully at their destroyed nest. The two lions were chained to trees, unable to break free from them. The wild dogs were separated into individual cages. The tiger was laying down with bruises and scars all over it. The elephant’s pond has been reduced to a dried, hard depression in the ground. As she made the final stretch to the gate; clearly now the gates of aethorna, the animals once repeated themselves; but now all dead. The pair of canisaurs had bullet holes all over their bodies. The lions too had a single bullet to the heads, having managed to hold their paws together one last time before their death sentence. The wild dogs were nothing more than mummified skin and bones, still individually in cages. The tiger still had all the bloody bruises and scars on it, but now was lifeless having long passed away from the injuries. The elephant was now nothing more than a gutted carcass, a stone dagger next to it. She then began to run. She needed to get away from this horror, get to the gates, hoping she could make it before she was next on the chopping block. What would they do to her? Who did all this? Why would they do this to animals that didn't deserve any of this? What was her fate should this killer catch her? Was she gonna go out in an instant or be tortured and made to suffer in her last few moments of life? She slammed body-first into the gates of aethorna. “LET ME IN!!!” she screamed “PLEASE LET ME IN!!! PLEASE LET ME IN!! THERE’S SOMEBODY KILLING THESE ANIMALS!!!!” Finally, the gates opened as she busted her way into aethorna. She then stopped dead in her tracks. The horror did not end. In the field were dozens and dozens of game birds, waterfowl, and birds of prey, some shot dead, some with stab wounds, some mutilated, some bludgeoned to death. They were all the same birds she saw in the beginning, now all murdered by some mysterious force. “You think you’re above us” The voices made the a380 jump. She spun around trying to figure out the voices, as the sky became blood red. “Look at what you did…” “Look at her…look at your hatchlet.” “Look at the terror in her eyes” “You wanted here so bad you forgot about your own aeroling” “You forgot about her. You abandoned her…” “You don't care. You never cared….” Tabitha finally caught a glimpse at something and found where the voices came from. There, in a circle of dead birds was her mother, of whom was surrounded by three large bird-headed figures. Those figures she had to assume were the three gods: ogrin, dhetos and xortan themselves. They didn't look much like the depictions; they were shadowy beings, just vaguely looking like the avian-headed airplane deities. Her mother was protesting them. Except, she wasn't making any noise. She was completely muted, yet it seemed that she wasn't even aware of it, or even cared for that matter. She continued, a knife in one paw and a rock in the other, violently thrashing them around. The same knife that she had when she lunged at her father’s pucklo. The same rock that was hurled at young tabitha’s head. “SURATUS!” they all began to suddenly chant “SURATUS!!” “SURATUS!!!” “SURATUS!!!!” “SURATUS!!!!!” The deities broke their forms as they became shapeless shadows, consuming her mother in a cloud of pitch black nothingness. Deep down something told Tabitha that she was next. That they would assume that SHE killed all the poor animals simply because she was the last to see them alive. Simply because she was the same species as her mother. Tabitha booked it. She ran as fast as she could, running into the forest. She could feel something chasing her, yet dared not to look behind less whatever what was following caught her. As she ran, she kept getting visions of another place. A place where the ground was wet, puddles of hot, boiling water pooling on the floors from stalactites, as bright blue flames lit up torches all around the dark caverns. She could hear the tortured souls of the damned, all of them screaming incomprehensible things, screaming about how they did not deserve it yet blaming anyone that would listen to their half-assed pleas. It was visions of the underabyss. the place were planes went to suffer the consequences of their actions. Just as suddenly as she was in that vision, she suddenly was back somewhere else. The skies were no longer blood red, but now a dull, quiet gray. It was cold, freezing, and the woods gave off a soft foggy backdrop. Yet the world felt still and lifeless. All of a sudden, that force, that unknown presumably malevolent being chasing her was no longer there. She finally was able to stop to get a good sense of her surroundings. It was a redwood forest. Trees that towered hundreds of hectors above her. Goliath trunks that were covered in moss and ferns. Trees that grew in mysterious ways and unusually yet familiar shapes. It was the Mystic Trees National Park. a state part and tourist trap that she remembers. It was the first time her and her father went anywhere after the winter’s day incident, no longer bound by her mother’s religious extremism. It was the first time Tabitha ever was in close contact with humans, as both her and they kept their distances from eachother. it was the first time she ever felt “free”, the first time she was able to truly take in her surroundings and enjoy the small things in life, however temporary it was. She walked along the familiar trails, taking in the surroundings. Just like in the beginning with the meadows, it was oddly peaceful. There still was no life to be seen beside the flora, and yet still, a presence was still felt; not bad, not good, just there. One again, just like when she was above the clouds in aethorna she saw something golden just barely visible. Once again, she walked towards it. And once again, she saw the animals along the way. Except, it was different. The canisaurs brought a deer’s leg to it -now hatched- babies for them to eat. The two male lions? They now had a whole pride to themselves, consisting of tigers, leopards, and other lions, and even some cubs of all three big cats. The wild dogs let their own pups take the first bite of flesh from a freshly-killed buffalo. The tiger still slept, now with a leopard partner. The elephant wallowed in a deep, crystal-clear pond, gently encouraging their young calf to join them. As she kept getting closer and closer to the golden glow, none of the animals changed. It seemed like they finally found peace in this world, no longer bound by whatever force was torturing and killing them in the first place. Tabatha passed by a sign. A sign that looked like it was made and carved from wood, yet colored not too differently from the signs above the highway. “DHE ‘S AND” it said, a couple words missing. Still, it didn't take a genius to figure out what it meant. She finally made it past the woods into a clearing to see what the golden glow was. Standing in front of her was an uhlahan; not the aeromorphic ones she was used to seeing, but the serpentine ones she’s seen in her studies. baby blue and white wings, too. It stood in a meadow. No, not just any meadow; the same exact meadow she was in in the beginning of this dream. All with the same spadeheads, the mimicoots; even all the animals she saw on the journey were there. And so were the gods. They were still vague, shadowy figures, but no longer did they carry a threatening aura with them like they did before. The aura was more…apologetic. Like they thought that she'd become the same plane as her mother, and only realized that they’d chased an innocent sheplane into the underabyss and reeled her out just in time. Tabitha cautiously approached the group, still unsure of their intentions. But as she walked to them, they walked to her. She then stood right in front of them; the gods and the uhlahan. “You’re forgiven” “You aren't bad” “Your beliefs are fine as is” The three gods chanted, “forgiven, forgiven. Not bad, not wrong, beliefs accepted.” The uhlahan quietly chanted, too, “you’ve earned it” All of a sudden she felt like bits and pieces were being taken away, replaced with something she could only interpret as “human”. Yet tabitha was not freaked out, or trying to fight back for her elkinity. She simply let it happen. She allowed herself to become this new human body. A warm, soft aura surrounded her as she slowly turned into human qualities. All while they continued to chant, their voices becoming more and more echoed. The world slowly became pitch black. “Forgiven, forgiven..” “You earned it” “Forgiven, forgiven..” “You earned it” “Forgiven, forgiven..” “You earned it” “Forgiven, forgiven..” “You earned it” “Forgiven….” “You earned…..” “Forg……” “You…..” “.......” “........” “.......” “... 99.8. Seem li….” “....is she fine?....” “.......” “......” “......” “...taby?”____________ Vague, familiar voices echoed in her head. Gideon and irena conversing together. She could feel herself wrapped up in something soft, a heavy yet gentle object holding her close. As she outreached her human paw, she tried to talk. But, still barely awake and barely even conscious, they only ended up becoming incomprehensible, slurred words coming from someplane who still was unsure of what was going on. Still, she slurred some other words, before finally, FINALLY, was able to say one single question: “Who…were they..?” Her paw grabbed at something leathery that covered her. “Who were they?” she continued asking. “Who where what?” she could hear Gideon ask. Something was off about his voice, hoverver. Like it was a little….louder? Not deafening, but…louder? “Who were they?” “Taby? taby you awake?” irena asked “Who…were….they?” “Put her on the ground again, she looks like she’s gonna freak out” irena said, as suddenly yet slowly did it feel like she was being lowered down like some soft plushy elevator. “Who WERE THEY?!!” as soon as she was placed on the ground she sprung right up, only to fall back onto gideon. “WHO WERE THEY?! WHO WAS THERE?!!”” She continued to scream that, as Gideon held her close to him, both him and Irena tried to calm down Tabitha as she screamed, as she continued asking about who was there. Who was there in her room? Who were those figures that came in? Who did she really see and who really killed the animals and who did each and every animal represent? As she shrunk back against Gideon, she began to calm down. The dreamlike state started to get lost, as reality began to set in. She was just a scared human, fresh from a horrible nightmare, seeking out the comfort of a gigantic aircraft whilst another human was making sure she was ok. “....what happened last night?” she asked. She half-expected to get some answer that claimed she was a human all along, that her life as an elkinet was nothing more than a dream. That she died and got reborn in the middle of another human’s life story. “...you…changed…” Gideon hesitantly replied. “You…you just had your first transformation last night. It was pretty bad….” She looked incredulously at gideon. No, she looked UP at gideon. He completely towered over her, even lying down sitting like a cat. He and her room were massive, at least from her perspective. Even irena in her human form was unnerving, seeing the “chicken-sized” being as big as she was. There was no way that she just “simply changed” last night. Not after what kind of dream she had. It just didn't feel like that’s what happened. She surely had to be dead. But, Irena spoke, quick tp confirmed what happened. “Yeah that shit was intense” she said, “we heard you screaming last night and saw you beginning to change. We thought you were in pain but I quickly realized you were hallucinating too.” “Neither of us slept…” gideon chimed in, “you kept talking nonsense and tremoring in your sleep. Irena kept checking on you and taking your temperature. I just….kinda stayed in the corner. Just keeping an eye on you..” “See! Told you she wasn't gonna die!” irena remarked to gideon “...but i….really wished we would have brought you over to the tranforgee center instead of having it here. You would’ve had a much better night's sleep-” “am i dead?…” tabitha interrupted. “.....what?” Gideon replied under his breath. And here, she began to explain what truly happened last night. The shadowy figures in her room, the meadow with the spadeheads and the mimicoots, the animals that she saw, alive, tortured, dead and their happy-ever-afters, the encounter with all the gods. The journey through aethorna, the glimpse of the underabyss, dheto’s land, and right back to the meadow she was in. Everything. Down the minute details she could recall. Down to the emotions. Down to everything she could come up with. From the seconds it began to the second it all ended. She could see the faces of Gideon and Irena, a weirded yet intrigued look on both their faces. “I..i cannot…i just…” she stammered. “How…how am I alive after that? What was any of that for? Wha-what even was any of it..i, i just….” tabitha to stop herself. Perhaps she realized it was way too early to start even trying to comprehend the dream last night. “Why don't we worry about all that later..” Gideon said. “Right now we just want you to rest. Are you….ok, though? You don't seem to look sick.” It was here that she suddenly remembered how sick she was last night. Surprisingly, she didn't feel like complete physical shit. A slight nasal congestion, a bit of aching, but she wasn't in feverish hell. Was last night really just a horrid fever dream? Was someone or something trying to tell her something? But, once again, it was too early to start thinking about it.___________ She had never really considered how weird it was to be carried around everywhere, let alone in the literal paws of someplane like a baby bird. And yet, here she was, held in the paws of gideon as they made their way to the living room. It was a completely new feeling of oddness; to be practically cupped against the chest of a giant. Yet at the same time it felt rather endearing knowing that someplane loved them enough to almost immediately accept the fact that for the next 24-ish hours their loved one would become a tiny, flightless mammal that they’d need to help get around. She could see the coffee table with a few wrapped up presents on it. A bag, a couple boxes, and something which kinda looked like a tiny house. As soon as they were at the coffee table he kneeled down and gently lowered tabitha to the ground. She thanked him as she stepped off his paws. Irena waited besides all the presents in her human form. “Welcome to your FIRST winter’s day….as a human.” Gideon said. “Should’ve been turning year’s…” tabitha remarked “that would’ve been a better time to change…” Gideon looked down at the presents under the table. “Suppose i should help unwrap these presents…” he said, as he began to grab the wrapped-up gifts. Meanwhile, Tabitha made her way to the small house that Irena stood by. Though, perhaps “small” was the wrong answer; it felt like the same size as the trailer they lived in. Actually, it looked alot like a trailer-shaped box decorated to look like a trailer; door, windows, a small two-step solid stairs. It even was a striped light blue-and-white color, much like a lot of trailer she saw. It had two hinges on the top side of where she stood, and presumably a latch or two at the back. “Care to give me a tour of this…house…thing?” she asked irena. “Mine as well…” she said, loud enough for Gideon to hear. He gestured his paw, a kind of “whatever” sort of wave. The two of them walked up the whole two steps, irena opening the door to let tabitha in first. As soon as tabitha was in, irena flicked on the light. Inside was an almost fully-furnished home; tabled, chairs, couch, a television, a bed even. She quickly made note of the fact that there were no walls or anything to separate the spots into different rooms; the home was just one big room. Strangely, there was no kitchen; just a table and some chairs, with a hard carpetless floor akin to a kitchen floor on the right end of the home. She looked back at where the bed was, all the way at the left end of the home. In that area were hooks that held clothing; human clothing. Pants, shirts, coats, sweaters. A drawer sat right next to the bed, presumably holding socks and undergarments and maybe even shoes. “This is your human home.” irena explained “it’s mean for you to hang out in relative safety if you don't want to be out in the open when in this form. As you can see to your left, you not only have a bed but also an assortment of shifter-friendly clothing to wear. And the furniture is all drilled in to keep everything from flying everywhere when carrying it. It’s fully electric, takes standard batteries, has wifi and all.. It’s just a second home.” Tabitha began to walk around the home, looking at everything around her. It was hard to believe that this was, indeed, a sort of “human home” since it felt so much like a regular home she’d been in prior to her change. As she looked around and checked the place out, Irena continued. “I figured even if you hadn't changed last night you would’ve needed that anyways. It would’ve been a just-in-case thing.” “Is this…common?” “Oh, VERY COMMON.” irena replied, “even with some of the smaller kelxverns. Like I said, it’s a sort of safe space when in human form.” “It's kinda nice….” Tabitha said, “it’s nice…i..” she then turned to looked at irena. “Look, I'm….sorry…irena.” “What do you mean ‘sorry’? Do you not lik-” “Nonono! I’m NOT talking about the home!” Tabitha corrected herself “No, i’m just…sorry that I treated you like shit last night…I just, I just…i..didn't know this would happen. I didn't know I would trip clouds last night and have a…borderline religious awakening of sorts…if you can call it that...” Irena sighed. “No, no it’s ok. I know what you were going through last night. Besides, you’d be surprised at the amount of plane-borns that don't think much about dealing with their first change and then freak out once it DOES happen. I’m just glad you’re taking this new form so well. I mean, you still walk on your toes and you still use the whole hand instead of your thumbs and fingers, but apart from that you’re doing pretty well.” “Oh gee…” Tabitha remarked “make me self-conscious about grabbing and walking…” “It’s better than falling face down because your tail’s barely there anymore.” irena chuckled “besides, that tail’s basically useless. It’s only still there to give your elkinet tail a base to start. Anyway…about that dream with ogrin and stuff….i’m kinda wondering…” irena paused for a second, seemingly thinking on how exactly she should word it and such. “About the dream…did it….change how you view religion? Or is it still too early for that?” Tabitha looked at irena. “Honestly…i think i’m still sticking to nullism…for now. I mean…in the dream they…never said I was wrong for not believing them. If I really want to believe it as a real experience, I think they knew I wasn't doing anything wrong. I never did anything bad, so…why punish me?” “Huh… go figure. You’re not gonna let this all go to you head-” “No. I'm not my mom.” Tabitha quickly replied “I'm just gonna take it as is. They accepted my decision, and I'll respect their decisions.” “Well, ok. That’s a good sentiment to have.” irena remarked, before quickly switching the subject “hey, why don't we see how gideon’s doing with the unwrapping stuff?” Tabitha nodded, as they made their way to the door. But, before irena opened the door, she stopped in her tracks. “Hey…about the uhlahan…” “Which one? The toy or the dream?” “Well, both actually. You said that the toy uhlahan you lost was golden, right?” “....yes?” Tabitha replied. “And it had baby blue and white wings?” “....both, actually…” she remarked. “Yeah…my childhood one was the elkinet one and the other was the dragon one…” “Well… I think you’ll like what we got you regardless…” With that, she opened the door, tabitha now closely following. As soon as Irena stepped down, Tabitha stopped right in her tracks. Right in front of the little box stood a plush, serpentine uhlahan. It was golden, and its wings were baby blue and white. What would’ve been the same size as her childhood, huggable elkinet-like uhlahan stood as big as the one she saw in her dream The new human slowly walked up to the plushy. All the while, the dream’s ending and the words spoken echoed in her mind. “Forgiven, forgiven..” “You earned it” “Forgiven, forgiven..” “You earned it” She finally ran to it and hugged it. It was like a long-lost childhood friend who, just like her, was reborn into a new life. Perhaps, there were such things as a higher being, or several of them. They may not be in control of anyplane’s lives in the living world, but they don't completely ignore them either. Either that, or it was just one big, life changing introspective dream. Either way, she didn't complain. She knows she’s gonna begin her different outlook on life, both from her newfound shapeshifting abilities and one wild, wild winter’s eve dream…
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