31. Bird Mode (Patreon)

A/N: Hello! I'm back! Sorry this chapter is so late, I was up until 4am finishing it last night and passed out before I could edit it. I've been thinking, lately: I really hate using bold text for written words in Bioshifter, because I think it's way better if bold is kept exclusive to spell names. Unfortunately, I have very, very few options for other ways to represent writing. The best one I've found is using a different font, but Patreon doesn't support different fonts. I'd have to change to uploading each chapter as a pdf or epub or something instead of just posting it as raw text, because Patreon's text editor is absolutely the worst thing I've ever had the misfortune of trying to publish with. Thoughts on that?

Anyway, enjoy the chapter!



"Hello, sir?" I ask, approaching a customer and pointing out the window. "Is that your car?"

"My dog needs shade," he says with the kind of defensive tone that means yes, it is his car, and yes, he absolutely knows it's not allowed to be parked there. I give him my best customer service smile, my voice so perfectly polite that it's even less human than my body.

"I'm afraid you're blocking the storefront. I need to ask you to move your vehicle."

"People can get around me," he argues.

They shouldn't have to go around you, you self-centered twit. What part of that do you not get? Sure, it's not a huge imposition—he's not in front of the handicap ramp, at least—but parking lots have parking stalls and we didn't put any parking stalls in that direction for a reason. You're in the way!

Whatever. Simply asking him to conform to the rules is a flop, and an appeal to basic decency isn't getting through to this guy. Time to change tactics to the good old 'nothing I can do about it, sorry!'

"Apologies, sir, but the landlord owning the lot requires all cars exclusively be parked in stalls," I say demurely. "We're not the only store in the plaza."

He regards me with an irritated sneer, giving me the sort of 'are you stupid?' facial expression that I quite desperately wish I was allowed to send right back his way. I have no idea who this guy is, just some jerk with short-cropped black hair, a hawkish nose, and the sort of clean-pressed business casual outfit one wears while telling themselves that they deserve every cent of the money they're currently embezzling. I'll forget his face in less than an hour.

"You guys don't allow me to bring my dog inside," he accuses, countering my plea with the classic 'completely change the subject instead of acknowledging my legitimate argument' technique. "So I need to keep the car in the shade or he'll overheat."

"I'm afraid we can't allow non-service animals into the building for allergy reasons, but you're more than welcome to eat on the patio with your dog," I answer, blocking with the 'imminently reasonable alternative' defense.

"I don't want to eat outside," he says simply, and I twitch. If you're not going to go outside with your dog then don't bring your dog, you absolute soggy-bread numpty! Screw this, it's ultimatum time.

"Well sir, I still have to insist that you move your car regardless," I tell him, politely but firmly. It's the sort of voice that has an implied 'or we'll call a truck to move it for you' at the end.

He glowers furiously, looking over my shoulder in an attempt to find someone in a fancy uniform to complain to in my stead. He locks eyes with my boss, but my boss just gives the man a very nonplussed look, glances to me, and raises a phone questioningly. That gets the man to finally get off his butt and go move his car. Finally! With a sigh, I head out of the dining room and return to my post. There are a bunch of orders that need bagging now, thanks to all that wasted time.

"Thanks for handling that, Hannah," my boss smiles.

"I want to eat that man," I grumble quietly. Then I go stiff with terror because I did not mean to say that out loud! Or think it! Or honestly believe it! Aaaaaah! My boss seems surprised for a moment, but then he just chuckles.

"Brutal, but I understand the sentiment. You did good, though."

Oh thank the Goddess I actually have a good boss.

"We're going to have a nasty review tomorrow," I say glumly.

"And I'm going to turn the review into a Karen meme with my manager comment privileges," he shrugs. "Don't worry about it."

I manage half a smile, not that he can see it, and get back to work.

"Incidentally," my boss continues, "next time you have a minute, would you come to the back? I wanna talk to you about some things. Nothing bad."

Oh crap candles. You can't just say 'nothing bad' and expect me to believe it!

"Sure," I confirm anyway. "No problem."

He smiles, nods, and heads back to do whatever manager stuff he does when we're not critically understaffed, which somehow we aren't today. I get back to work, taking orders and bringing people food and just generally having a normal, easy day. In some ways it's a nice change of pace from the usual hustle and bustle, but overall I feel like it's leaving me with way too much time to think about the crazy nonsense that just happened. I have a magic spell that turns people into monsters and I accidentally used it on my crush but she still wants to date me. Every single thing in that sentence is just increasingly more ridiculous and unbelievable, but it's somehow still all true! Why do I have a spell that turns people into monsters, though!? Spells are a reflection of who we are, right? This seems like the kind of thing Brendan would love more than I would. Oh, shoot, how's Brendan going to react to this? Is he (or maybe she? Aaaaa!) going to ask me to use it on him? What would even happen if I did? I don't know how this spell even works! Oh shoot, I don't know how this spell works! What if I can't control it any better than I can control my self-transformation spell? No, no no no. Hold on. Only Autumn is changing, and only Autumn was hit by me channeling my Transmutation magic. That's very much evidence of an active, conscious effect. If I don't cast it again, I won't have any problems.

…It's kind of extremely relieving to know that someone other than me is having these problems, though. I'm really looking forward to talking with Autumn about it more. To have someone that gets it. I feel bad for thinking that way, since I kind of ruined her entire life probably, but… still. It's nice. I kinda want to text her, but… no, I'm at work. Also I'm supposed to go talk to my boss now that it's slow. Oh shoot aaaaah I need to go talk to my boss!

I head to the back, where a little inlet for a simple computer hides behind the walk-in fridge. The manager's 'office,' as much as it can be called an office without even a cubicle wall to delineate it from the rest of the cramped restaurant. This is where the boss spends most of his time, doing General Manager stuff like fiscal reports and scheduling and how-do-you-do.

"Hannah, hey!" he greets me as I approach, and I give him an awkward wave in response. "So, two questions for you."

"Lay 'em on me, boss," I say with a casualness that I don't at all feel.

"Number one: your birthday is next week, right?"

Wait, it is? Oh, fuck, it is! Goddess, I'm going to be an adult. I don't like that at all. How does he know that? Wait, he knows everybody's birthday, we have to give it to the company when we get hired.

"Uh, I guess it is," I manage to reply, and he chuckles.

"How old are you going to be?"

Why are you asking me that!?

"Eighteen, I suppose," I admit, my heart beating concerningly fast. Please don't hit on me please don't hit on me please don't hit on me nooooooo.

"Nice!" he grins. "I just noticed you were scheduled on that day, and I do actually get a budget to use the company card for 'team-building reasons,' so do you want like… cupcakes or something?"

…Is that why there are cupcakes here sometimes? I guess he has done that for other people, then. Probably not hitting on me. Calm down, Hannah, it's just cupcakes.

"Emphatically no," I say anyway. "I mean… I guess I wouldn't mind cupcakes, but I don't want anyone to know it's my birthday. You can just buy some treats and take all the credit for it if you want."

He laughs and nods.

"Okay, I can do that!" he agrees. "No problem. So the other reason I ask is that shift managers have to be eighteen. And I think if you want to start training for that starting this week, I could definitely use another manager over the summer."

Oh? Oh! Oh dang! I'm getting promoted!? Oh heck yes, my mom's gonna be so happy, she'll get off my case for weeks!

"I… that'd be awesome," I agree, nodding in confirmation. "I'd be happy to."

Assuming I'm still human enough to hold a job at the time, I mean.

"Great!" he says. "You already know how to do every position, so that's good. What we're going to be focusing on is having you actually manage people. Stepping up into a position of leadership. You're a very hard worker, but you tend to keep to yourself. When someone else isn't doing their job, you step in to compensate for them or help out, which is great. But now I want you to try giving them advice or just reminding them of the rules rather than just doing everything for them."

Oh crap that's right, managers have to talk to people. I might even have to learn people's names.

"I'll be letting people know that you're training for a shift manager position so they don't give you too much lip," my boss continues. "You're not going to be the only person I'm training and the number of positions available will be based on the number of people who quit over the summer, so this isn't a guarantee that you're getting the job. But you do great with guests so if you work hard I'm sure you can pick up the skills for handling employees in no time. Okay?"

"Yes sir," I say, though the truth is that dread is pooling in my belly. This breaks my work routine. I like my job as-is, just cleaning and dealing with customers and cooking and whatever needs doing at the time. Talking with patrons isn't social interaction, it's an itemized script that I've successfully memorized and perfected. I need a whole new playbook if I'm going to be expected to interact with my co-workers beyond the bare minimum necessary to do the job. Geez, I'm going to have to actually remember their names, and figure out the best way to present criticism to each of them, and I should probably learn some conversation topics that each person likes talking about that won't require me to say very much, since if the managerial position is a competition it's at least halfway a popularity contest because that's how humans work. Should I start taking notes? Writing down the things I remember about everyone? I mean, that's not going to be a very long list. Ugh, this seems like way too much work. I'd wing it, but how am I supposed to have an interesting conversation with someone outside the context of a hyperfocus?

…Wait. Is this why Teboho thought I was autistic?

"Order up!"

Ah, right, my job! Let's just shove that thought into the box with the others. The fact that I get along with Brendan so well is because he's cool and everyone else is lame and for no other reason. Not that… y'know, not that it would be bad if I was autistic, I'm just. Not. Like a doctor or something probably would have noticed, right? My mom took me to a bunch of those as a kid.

I spend the rest of my shift mostly doing my job like normal, attempting to work up the courage to talk to my co-workers and mostly failing. I can correct them and stuff, that's pretty easy. Asking them to do things that are already part of their job rather than just doing it for them slots into my work routine without too much trouble, but it definitely isn't making me any friends. I get a nasty glower when I ask the other front of house girl to help me clean tables instead of look at her phone. But what do I even do about that!? It's a job, she's here to work. Why is she mad about working?

Whatever. Just weird human things, I guess. The shift isn't so bad, all things considered. We even finish the closing routines in a reasonable amount of time thanks to not being understaffed. When I finally get home, I pull out my phone to find a bunch of texts from various people.

Hats are against the dress code, right? Autumn asks.

Oh shoot I think they are, I confirm. You need something for your ears, right? Hoodie and a headband?

I look at my text from Brendan next.

Hey so Ida has my number apparently and she says you have a TF-other spell???

TF? I ask, and see him reply almost instantly.

Transform/Transformation, he answers simply.

Oh. Yeah. I don't think I can control it though.

Moving on! I have a text from Ida as well.

i told tallboy about ur magic for shits. have fun

Thanks, Ida.

I was gonna tell him anyway, I send back. Ooh, I have a reply from Autumn!

How are those not against dress code if hats are against dress code? she asks.

I dunno, but I've seen tons of people wearing them so it's probably fine? I answer.

u kill anyone at work btw, Ida asks.

No! I send back. I mean, I definitely wanted to, but that's just retail!

lol imagine having to work retail and not being born with twelve silver spoons in ur mouth. loser.

Why am I friends with you???

im hot as fuck

I sigh.

…You're high, aren't you? I ask.

bitch im sneering down at the sun

I have a really colorful friend group, don't I?

Shit, that's a problem, Brendan sends me. It's not really the kind of spell you can experiment with safely, is it? If it's anything like the magic changing you, it doesn't have a reverse setting. I doubt it's safer to not test it, though. Does it work on animals or do you have to use people?

I don't know and don't intend to find out, I send back.

I guess you're right, I've seen a lot of people with hoods up, Autumn sends. Okay. I guess a hoodie for me and a headband for Jet? She'll need it for gym class.

Ah, okay, she's Alma then. I had a feeling.

I recommend both for you, I tell her. More layers is better than fewer. Redundancies in case of an accident. Also, bring medical supplies and extra clothes in your backpack in case you mutate more.

Wait, am I going to mutate more???

I have no idea, I answer honestly. I hit you with that spell days ago and you're only starting to change now, though. Bring stuff just in case.

hey hannah banana if i becum a monster will that make you more likely to fuck me or less be honest

Okay, you know what? This is too many conversations at once.

I'm making a group chat for magic stuff, I send all of them simultaneously. Use this to talk about things. Autumn, meet Brendan. Brendan, Autumn. I'm exhausted and need to pass out soon, but Brendan can help you plan out the things you'll need if you're going to school tomorrow.

which is a TERRIBLE fuckign idea but what to i know im just the smartest and best at everything ever, Ida sends.

I don't want to have to explain to my dad why I missed two school days in a row, Alma answers.

oh there's two of them now fantastic

Then Brendan sends me a three-paragraph diatribe in our personal text instead of the group chat and I decide to give up. I shut my phone off and collapse face-first onto my bed, waking up shortly afterwards as Kagiso shifts her weight in our cozy, cozy bedroll. Ah… this is a nice way to wake up. Way, way better than I'm used to. No limb confusion, no mutation panic, just soft, warm cuddles. …Wait, should I be doing this if I'm dating Alma? Hmm. I guess I'll ask her about it. Whether it's due to a biological incapability or just a weird quirk of our relationship, my feelings for Kagiso are strictly platonic… but boundaries should be established regardless.

That's a problem for tomorrow, though. For now I'll just keep on enjoying myse… wait nope I'm super itchy I need to move. Specifically, I need to molt. I wriggle my way out of the bedroll and shortly afterwards I wriggle my way out of my own skin, stepping into a barren zone and leaving the dead bits of me behind. Much better. The pockmarked, chaos-damaged chitin I was covered in yesterday is now replaced with a pristine new epidermis, although that's not the limit to the changes I notice.

For one thing I'm bigger, if only by a little. It's hard to tell but I think I've grown at least a few inches since I first burrowed to the surface, but molting because of growth is pretty normal and expected by molting standards. What really bugs me—pun intended—is that I'm pretty sure I'm not perfectly symmetrical anymore. It's subtle: my body isn't exactly a sphere, two of my legs are fractionally longer than their neighbors, etc. But it's there. I'm changing into something else, something that isn't the cute little ball of legs I've gotten used to. It's kind of frustrating, honestly. Just when I'm getting used to the idea of being a monster, I have to go through the pain of changing in reverse. I can't describe it as anything but cruel.

Hmm. That's an interesting thought that almost slipped by me: 'changing in reverse.' For some reason I'm confident that's what's happening. Sure, I had a theory that my human body was getting hyperspider bits and my hyperspider body was getting human bits, but I don't have any evidence stronger than circumstantial. Ugh. I hope I don't end up as just a normal human on this side of things.

…Actually, wait, why would that be bad?

"What the fuck are you eating?" Helen snaps, jolting me out of my thoughts. The baggy-eyed Chaos mage glowers at me with her usual suspicion, guarding our camp from the same log she sat on during our chat yesterday.

My molt, I write.

"So like… your own skin? That's fucking disgusting."

I mean it doesn't taste great, I admit. But I feel an urge to eat it anyway, so I'm eating it.

"Couldn't you just not?"

Can you, Miss Chaos Mage?

She scowls and turns away. I can't help all the weird monster instincts I have now, okay? Put down that brick until you get out of your glass house.

"...It's not the same," she grumbles quietly.

Okay, or don't. Though she's not totally wrong, I guess.

Not exactly, no, I admit. Though I also get urges to kill and eat people sometimes. Those are scary.

"You do?" she asks, turning back my way and raising her eyebrows.

Yeah, I confirm. My Transmutation magic really messes with my head. I guess maybe my Order magic too? Though the before and after there is subtler.

"Wait, what do you mean 'before and after?'" Helen asks.

I swallow the last of my discarded skin, trying to think of the best way to explain this. I guess simple works.

I wasn't born with magic, I say. I didn't have any until recently.

"Huh. Wild. So magic fucks with your head? Just another reason it sucks to be me, I guess."

My own magic hasn't forced me to do anything, though, I warn her. Just little… temptations, I guess? Well, sometimes big temptations. But my actions are my own.

Helen reads that silently, giving me a small nod. I scuttle over closer to her and hop up onto her log, which she stoically allows. We sit and wait, wordlessly agreeing not to wake Kagiso until she gets up on her own. It doesn't take too long, at least, and I watch with amusement through my spatial sense as the fuzzy gremlin arches her back and yawns like a six-limbed cat before pulling herself completely out of the bedroll.

"Why light?" she mumbles, wandering over to us.

"Well that's what happens when the sun comes up," Helen snorts.

"No. Why light?" she repeats, yawning again. "Was supposed to take third watch. You no wake me."

Helen shrugs. My super-keen senses detect a slight blush forming on her cheeks.

"Didn't get tired," she mumbles. "Now come on, let's pack up camp and get going."

Aww, she's grumpy but she cares about her friend. I guess as long as she doesn't commit any more mass murders Helen might be pretty okay. I mean, she has killed an obscene number of people, but if Kagiso forgives her I guess I'm not really in any position to hold a grudge. …Except maybe for Teboho. Damn it. I miss him.

I let out a long sigh, then jolt a little in surprise when it doesn't come out as an eldritch hiss. Wait, that actually kinda sounded pretty normal! Can I talk now!?

"Heeehuhhh? Ehsing!" I gargle out incomprehensibly. Aw, shoot. My respiratory system doesn't connect to anything resembling a tongue or teeth, so I don't really have any articulators. Still, though! Progress! I'm finally maybe mutating the ability to speak!

"Wuzzat you?" Helen asks, walking up to me and leaning down to hold out an arm. I nod and scramble up onto her shoulder, her overflowing backpack already prepped and prepared to depart.

"Huh. Learning to talk? That'd be useful," Helen nods. "It's boring as shit waiting for you to scribble words out all the time."

Well excuse me for being mute! I hiss at her, delighted to find that I still can make horrible eldritch noises when I need to. She freaks the fuck out and nearly drops me, but it's totally worth it.

"Hee hee. Friends getting along," Kagiso grins, walking up alongside us with the rest of the packed-up camp on her back. "Walking time."

Walking time indeed. Our gang of freaks departs, and the usual boring day on the Tree of Souls begins. Like, yeah, sometimes things get really crazy over here with bandits or mind control or jerkwad paladins, but the vast majority of my time spent on the world tree has just been traveling, hanging onto a friend's head and occasionally chatting the day away. Sometimes I'll hop off of Helen's head and onto a nearby tree trunk to go hunt a tasty friend noodle or two, but most of the day passes without anything of note happening at all.

It's nice. It's relaxing. My days have been way too full of things of note lately, and if I can't sleep off stress like a normal person I really, desperately need time to rest, time to repair myself mentally instead of just physically. Being able to spend the whole day doing effectively nothing? A little boring, but still oh so needed.

I barely even talk with Kagiso and Helen, partly because we're all quiet people but mostly because I don't have Teboho to make me a writing tablet or Sindri to form a mental link (thank the Goddess). The methods of communication I have available to me don't work all that well when we're on the move, and while I could probably figure out a solution to that if I tried, it isn't really a huge deal for me. We chat a bit when we stop for meals, and we chat some more when we stop to camp for the night. I encourage Helen to obliterate large chunks of ground, making huge holes with her Chaos magic, and I happily start filling them back in. She calls me a weirdo. She says this probably isn't what Hagoro meant when he said I could help her spend energy due to being an Order mage. She's right on both counts, but digging is fun and now I get to do so much digging while the others go to sleep for the night. I enjoy playing around in the dirt until it's time for me to get Kagiso up for second watch (she insisted), and then I head to bed.

Waking up on Earth, I smile as I remember I don't have to worry about finding control of my lungs; I have them in both bodies now, and I can take a deep, relaxing sigh before starting my usual morning routine. Figuring my limbs out, I stretch as I rise from bed, noticing my phone on the nightstand has a crapton of text messages waiting for me. Ah, it's the group chat I made! I guess everyone actually used it.

You be quiet, Autumn writes. By the way, um, hi person I don't know. Brendan?

That's me, Brendan confirms. I'm Hannah's friend. I've heard a little about you but I have no idea what your current situation is. I assume you're the reason we know Hannah has a spell that transforms others now?

Um. Yeah, I guess so. It's… really weird. But also kind of exciting? I have tiny wings now!

activate 🐦mode Ida butts in.

Well, are they small enough to hide in a sports bra? Brendan sends, ignoring her. You and Hannah have gym tomorrow, right?

lol does she still creep on ppl in the locker room

Aaaaaand now I'm blushing.

Ida, shut up, Brendan says.

Uhhh… Autumn types.

right right sorry ill be serious, Ida says. tomorrow. when my bloodstream is not eighty percent weed.

Wait, isn't that illegal here? Autumn asks.

goddess damnit hannah youd better not be dating a cop

Can we please focus? Brendan pleads.

I can't help but giggle a little at the byplay between my friends, though I am a little worried about whether or not they'll get along with Alma. Things seemed to have gotten copacetic as the night wore on without me, so that's good. I send everyone a good morning text and head for the shower.

I think my new eyes might be getting slightly light-sensitive, but otherwise they haven't really changed much. Makeup and hair cover them easily. More skin falls off my mutant leg—I'm almost to my hip now, and that joint will probably look interesting. Some skin is also starting to fall off the palms of my hands, though not a lot. Just a bit right by the knuckles. Overall, not much happening in mutation land.

Bus stop. Chat about RPGs with Brendan. Desperately desire to ask about transgender things but resist the urge in public. Head to class with Ida. Act normal. Gym class is a bit strange, with Jet there with a headband and a thicker shirt than usual but otherwise looking totally innocuous. We jog together, chatting lightly until the more serious question of Alma and I dating comes up.

"So, I definitely want to hear this from your mouth directly," I say. "Dating. Alma says she still wants to try."

"I'd call her crazy but I suppose that's why I exist," Jet grumbles.

"I don't think you're crazy," I insist.

She gives me a long look, and then huffs out a quick, frustrated burst of air.

"It's probably healthy for her to have a relationship, and since you have us wrapped up in your bullshit it may as well be you," she scowls. "I don't know if it's really my place to stop her anyway. Go for it."

"Really?" I grin under my mask. "Aw, thank you Jet!"

We finish the warm-up run side by side, coming to a stop as we rest and wait for the remainder of the class to finish. Jet stares at me, suddenly looking really intense.

"I just… I need you to understand something," she says. "If you two start… getting physical, and something pulls me to the front? I am suddenly smack-dab in the middle of an extremely non-consensual situation. The instant we say anything that might be kind of a little bit adjacent to a no, you get the fuck off me and you go to a completely different room. You skirt the line even the tiniest bit and I will end you, Hannah. Is that clear?"

"Uh… y-yeah," I agree, nodding. "A hundred percent."

"Good," she growls, and then the intensity vanishes a little. I take a breath I didn't realize I was holding. …She's a Pneuma mage. Did she use mind control to be that scary? No. No, no, no, calm down. I relax my toes, pulling the claws out from the deep gouges in my shoes. Jet's not controlling my mind. She's just an intimidating person.

"So, uh… did you figure out any of your magic after I left?" I ask, because I'm still scared of the answer anyway.

"Not a lot," she answers, speaking quietly. "But some. I think my magic helps me hide things. It's… useful."

"Oh, that's interesting," I smile, a bit of tension leaving me… though not most of it. "You like it?"

"Begrudgingly, I think I do," she admits.

I nod, a bit of my smile returning. Magic is pretty cool. How could you not like it? I mean… okay, I guess Helen has a good reason to not like it, but other than people who are being oppressed because of it. I wiggle my extra limbs underneath their bindings in silent embarrassment.

"...Don't take things too fast with Alma, by the way," Jet suddenly continues. "Let her make the first move for stuff. We're both pretty nervous about this, though she'll never admit it."

"Um, okay, I can do that," I nod. "I'm not really very touchy most of the time anyw—"

"We need control," Jet insists, cutting me off. "You have to let us have that. Let her have that. Okay? Suggest, but don't order, and… and… make sure to give her space when she needs it, or else she'll just turn into me."

"I… okay," I say as calmly as I can manage, because Jet seems to be getting really agitated all of a sudden. "I'll take things slow and steady. Don't worry. I know I have wandering eyes but I'm not going to pressure her into anything she doesn't want to do. Okay? I promise."

"Okay," Jet says, nodding slowly. "Okay. That's fine then."

I hesitate, taking a moment to work up the courage for my next words.

"...Are you okay?" I ask hesitantly.

"Yeah, I—" she says immediately, then cuts herself off for a moment, holding back the automatic response. "...I will be."

I nod. That's a good answer. An honest one. …I should try to give answers like that more often.

"I'm sorry again," I tell her. "About the monster stuff."

"I'll figure something out," Jet says, shrugging. "I always do."

The rest of the day isn't all that eventful. Autumn makes it through the whole school day without an incident, I somehow make it through a whole school day without an incident, and my other friends actually have the capacity to not cause problems in the first place, the cheating jerks. It's unfortunate that my work day is all weird now that I'm supposed to direct employees a little, but I get through that, too. I'm actually kind of starting to feel normal again, which is both jarring and an intense relief. It almost makes me forget that I have to go see a therapist in two days.

…Aw, crap, I remembered that. Dangit. Panic time. Good thing I'm about to pass out anyway!

I wake up on the world tree and search for a distraction immediately. Hmm! Well I suppose Kagiso's boobs are nearby, but I'm not going to touch those. I wiggle out of the bedroll instead, finding that once again I need to molt. Two days in a row, huh? Maybe I can talk now!

"Hhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrraaaararaaaa," I declare eloquently.

Aw, butter side down. No luck. My internal organs are shifting a bit, though, my lungs consolidating and some of the openings on my body closing as the whole organ system starts seeking out my throat to be its orifice of choice. With it is the continuation of the changes I noticed yesterday… well, this universe's yesterday, I mean. Some of my legs are ever so slightly starting to change shape, a bit more thickness here and a bit more length there, while my body likewise has a few bumps and valleys where it used to be nice and hyperspherical. It kind of feels like my changes here on the world tree are accelerating, while my changes over on Earth are decelerating. That feels… significant, somehow.

"You're really gonna just eat your own skin every day, huh?" Helen grunts, walking over next to where I'm munching away at my molt.

Every day some of it falls off, sure, I confirm with one leg.

"You're weird as fuck," she grunts. "And you're also basically immune to fire, right? Powerful Transmutation mage? Help me cook some shit."

I agree, only to find out shortly after that by 'help me cook' she meant 'stand in the middle of the campfire and let me hang stuff on your legs.' Which turns out to absolutely be a thing I can do heat-wise, but I start to suffocate almost immediately and have to back away, coughing my still-mutating lungs out.

"Huh," she grunts. "I guess I should have thought of that."

I want to angrily agree that yes, yes she should have, but I'm the one that actually walked into the middle of an open flame just because someone asked me to so I'm in no position to talk. The two of us sit down next to the campfire and cook things much more normally for a while, once again waiting for Kagiso to wake up together.

"So… we'll probably make it to that city today," Helen says. I turn my body like I'm looking at her to indicate that I'm listening, though it's entirely performative. My eyes already see in every direction other than straight up or straight down. "There should be a decent number of nychtava there, and your mindfucker's money bag should be more than enough for one of them to take us down to the Slaying Stone."

There's a pause.

"At which point we'll part ways," she finishes.

I should hide in your backpack in the city, I write.

"Why… ah. Okay. Yeah, that makes sense," she nods.

I hesitate, debating whether or not to say what comes next, but ultimately… sure. I've earned a bit of bravery.

Kagiso won't want you to leave, I tell her, even though I'm sure she already knows.

"Kagiso doesn't know what's good for her," Helen grunts.

Ah, I write. You're doing the thing.

"What?" Helen asks, sending a confused glower in my direction. "The fuck does that mean? What thing?"

You know, the thing the grumpy or traumatized character always does in stories, I write. They push everybody away when they need the most help, and it always goes badly for them.

"This isn't a fucking story," Helen snaps. "Real life doesn't have happy endings, Hana."

Happy or not, there's a reason no stories show the people going off alone as making a good decision, I write. That wouldn't be realistic, after all.

Helen just scowls for a moment before pointing her finger at the words and causing a sphere of Chaos to swallow them up into nothing. I quickly jump away to avoid getting disintegrated, hissing at her but getting the obvious implied response. I have just been told, I believe, to shut the fuck up. Oh, well. I tried. Pushing away my friends is the one big mistake Brendan made me promise not to do, but if Helen insists I can't really stop her. She's certainly not my friend, at least not yet.

Kagiso eventually crawls out of bed and we eat breakfast together with the food I nearly suffocated trying to cook like a total moron. Helen and I silently agree to not talk about it as we chow down on some recently-caught meat, Kagiso giving us jealous glances as she consumes her collection of roasted fruits, vegetables, and leaves.

"Don't look at me like that," Helen grumbles, but it's devoid of malice. Unlike usual, her tone is a fake admonishment, sounding more like an in-joke. "You know you get sick if you eat too much meat."

"Texture better," Kagiso mumbles, her mouth full.

"Yeah, but the taste is worse and you know it. Eat your sugary little plants, Kagiso. They're good for you."

Well, I for one like the taste and texture of this meat. I've been eating a lot of raw food over here on the world tree lately, so it's kind of nice getting something cooked for once, even if I prefer the firm slice of uncooked meat through my fangs. This is conversely pretty tender and easy to swallow, which feels nice to my more humanoid side. I keep my opinion to myself, though, just listening to Kagiso and Helen bicker good-naturedly throughout the meal. It's nice.

Before long, however, camp is packed up and we're back on the road. Literally! It's only a couple hours into our walk today that we run into a somewhat-crumbling cobblestone road about fifteen feet wide. I scuttle into Helen's backpack to supply her my aura and hide me from potential cultists, and I'm still stuck in there when, another couple hours after that, Kagiso reports that there's a city in sight. I sure wish I could see it! It sucks being luggage sometimes.

"Alright, moment of truth," Helen whispers, and at the edge of my sensory radius I see a pair of sciptera—the cute little bat people I saw in the last city we went to—staring at us with the sort of intensity one might expect from a guard. Our auras are probably being checked. No one flies at us and attacks, though. No one even talks to us. We pass through a checkpoint and Helen lets out a slow, careful breath.

"I can't believe that actually worked," she mutters.

This city, from what I can see with my spatial sense, is at least an order of magnitude smaller than the huge dentron metropolis Sindri took us to. Most of the people here are sciptera as well, fluttering about in pairs, holding tail-hands, play-fighting in the sky or gripping the side of a tree to rest and chat. It's much calmer, much more casual than Grawlaka ever was, even at night… though perhaps due to that, we seem to attract a bit more attention. A pair of sciptera start fluttering around us, squeaking and chirping noises that seem like they're probably words in a language I don't understand.

"Uh… either of you speak Middlebranch?" Helen hedges.

"Human!" one of them chirps, apparently proving the answer to be 'yes.' "What human doing here?"

"Fall and hurt yourself, human!" the other cackles.

"Landbound! Root-foot!"

"Back to Slaying Stone!"

"That's exactly what I'm trying to do, thank you," Helen says, surprisingly without any display of bad attitude. "Any of your bigger cousins live here? Nychtava?"

"Cousins!?" the first one hisses angrily. "Stupid! Not related to nasty nychtava!"

"Well then direct me to one and you'll get both of us out of your hair," Helen bargains, pulling out a small amber coin and flicking it towards the pair of harassers. One catches it with their tail, the other tackles them, and the two fall to the ground in a heap, cackling and hissing. I'm worried at first, but I don't think they're actually hurting each other. I think they're having fun?

"End of branch!" one of them announces between play-bites. "Nychtava live at edge!"

"Thanks," Helen nods, and we leave the two of them wrestling on the ground.

We walk the rest of the way in silence, Helen doing her best to keep her head down while Kagiso looks around, wide-eyed and possibly salivating as her head whips back and forth to track the fast-moving sciptera.

"Kagiso, please don't fantasize about shooting people," Helen hisses quietly.

Kagiso jumps slightly, clearly startled.

"...Wasn't," she lies.

I chuckle quietly to myself as my friends continue their long walk to the other end of the city. I wonder what nychtava are, anyway. I've heard the name a few times since waking up in this world, but I haven't seen one. Helen called them 'cousins' of the sciptera, though, so maybe they're also bat people? I wonder what the difference is.

"I mean it, Kagiso, I really need you to hold in your creepy organ fetish," Helen insists. "We're dealing with nychtava. I need you to not do—or think—anything stupid. If our ride starts feeling like you wanna fight, they're gonna fucking drop us."

"Understood," Kagiso nods.

"I do all of the talking. You do none of it. Okay?"

"Okay, Helen."

Helen nods, letting out a nervous exhale. Geez, now I'm nervous too! We start to near the edge of the branch, or at least I assume we do with how the trees around us are thinning out and the dirt below us is getting shallower. Soon enough, there aren't any trees growing around us, bar the world-sized one at our feet, and the dirt gives way to fourth-dimensional wood. I guess when those sciptera told us to go to the end of the branch, they really meant the end of the branch, because on either side of us I start to sense the dramatic downward curve that indicates the uncomfortable closeness of the abyss, the threat that at any point you can just walk a certain direction until you fall off the tree entirely and plummet to your death. Soon, the space we have between us and the edge is only forty feet on either side, then thirty, then twenty, then ten. For the first time today, I'm glad I'm stuck in the backpack, unable to see. My spatial sense can't tell me how far we'd ultimately fall. We're teetering over our own death in every direction before Helen finally stops walking and calls out.

"I'd like to hire a ferry!"

The branch shakes. Only slightly, but Helen and Kagiso each drop to one knee regardless, taking no chances against the certain death below us. Then, from the lower edge of my sensory range, I sense something rushing upwards. It does sort of look like a sciptera, in the way a mountain might resemble a jagged stone. It ascends like a storm front rising to block the sun, its two pairs of leathery wings so large that both ends go beyond my fifty-foot sensory radius. Its relatively thin torso transitions into a long, sinuous tail thicker than my human body, covered in fur and tipped in a wicked, three-fingered claw. Its head ends in a long, thin snout, like a fuzzy alligator, and multiple rows of wicked, jagged teeth line the inside like a saw. Not that it would need to use them, since the monster seems more than large enough to swallow all three of us whole.

With a horrifically powerful rush of air, it crests over the edge of the branch and emerges into line-of-sight, the massive creature twisting its upper wings while flapping its lower ones to hover in place, sending bursts of air our way with more force than a helicopter. The monster opens its mighty jaws, and for a moment I'm sure we're all about to die.

"Then make it worth Our while, landbound," the nychtava demands, its voice like thunder.

Wait. We're going to be riding that!? Helen just responds by tossing Sindri's moneybag at the giant monster. Literally the whole bag. The nychtava's tail flashes and suddenly it's holding that bag in its claws, pulling it open to inspect the contents.

"Hmm. This is acceptable. We will take you two branches lower."

"I'm looking to get to the Slaying Stone," Helen says firmly.

"Two branches. No more, no less. Do not ask Us again."

Helen hesitates only a moment before nodding.

"Two branches, then. But close to the trunk so we can descend."

"We accept this deal," the hundred-plus-foot-wingspan bat-dragon declares. It drops below the branch again, then returns once more with what basically looks like a huge birdcage held in its tail. It sets the contraption down in front of us, then opens the hatch.

"Alright," Helen says, looking over to Kagiso. "Last chance to back out."

The thought doesn't even seem to have crossed the dentron's mind. She steps into the deathtrap and Helen follows, closing the door behind her. Welp. I guess we're really doing this.

"We depart now," the nychtava declares, lifting the cage (and us with it) up into the sky. "Hold fast to the bars."

Then my heart seems to fall into another dimension as we drop, entering a complete free fall with only an instant of warning. I scream. I know luggage isn't supposed to do that, but I can't help it.

Hopefully I'm not that audible over Kagiso and Helen doing the same.