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Iris had just dropped into one of the seats and was staring uninterestedly at the very food she'd cooked the noise of a door unlocking met her ears. She could do little but blink rapidly when Fiye finally walked out of the room and sat down, chewing the stir fry monotonously. The four-armed girl could only stare in shock, her second set of arms twitching slightly. She could feel the hair standing on end on them.

Before she could stop herself the words came spilling out. "What the ******** happened to you?! Holy crap! You just like... what the hell!" This was followed by a string of curse peppered nonsense noises. "You're...like...What did you do?!"

True, Iris was not fond of theives, but first of all this girl was the one paying for the apartment that she would be sleeping in tonight, meaning that if she randomly dropped dead, which appeared to be a reasonably possibility, then that wouldn't be very useful or particularly good at all. Secondly, Iris had been on a job with some rich family on the other side of town when their son had walked out of a room looking paler and more pitiful than usual, freakishly similar to how Fiye looked now.

"Lemme see your wrists, little lady. Oh, I swear, if I've got another suicidal nutcase on my hands..." Iris continued babbling pointlessly while she tapped her foot and waited for Fiye to reveal her wrists. With any luck it would be a sudden onset flu or something, and the criss-crossing scars that had lined the boy's wrists would not exist, nor would there be a fressh line to explain the sudden, drastic paleness.

{{277 words. 2TXP. *shrug* I felt like Iris should be all spastic as a defense mechanism. This seemed like a good thing to throw in. Can't fix yourself, then fix some food and try fixing someone else. And, what's better than a history with a suicidal kid to make a girl's paranoia instincts heighten up a bit?}}

"A walk would be good, I suppose," Fiye remarked as she looked up at Shrian, before pushing the plate away and burping. She gave a sigh as she pushed in the chair and turned to the man in front of her, "I'd like a chance to talk to you alone about some personal issues," Fiye added, remembering the monster she had seen. It was such a disgusting creature, could it be her? Or was it something else.

'Might as well tell him. She can figure it out later' Fiye responded to herself as she slowly moved to the door and opened it before stepping outside. She gave a sigh as she moved for the elevator. Riding it all the way down and moving outside. She liked the cold of the night. It was refreshing to her skin. Maybe she could drop the appearance for once. Maybe she would be turning into that horrible monster if she kept on abusing her powers.

She liked just about everything abou tthe moon. The eletrical lights that humanity put on, the moon that was thousands upon thousands of miles away from the earth, and the darkened sky. It was something she enjoyed, and with the small body of hers, it didn't take much to warm herself up if it was ever needed.

((216 = 2 TXP.))

{{TT.TT

Oh well, it's fine. Bedtime for the Iris being! *snicker* I'mma have fun with that.}}

Iris nodded mutely as the pale Fiye and completely unsurprised Shrian pushed past her as if she didn't exist, Shrian mentioning something about Fiye being fine and going to bed before walking right out the door.

"Alrighty then," she huffed, wrapping her arms around her chest, her second set flitting in annoyance, "See if I ever bother helping you again." She stuck her tongue out the air and marched stiffy towards the bedroom Shrian had shown her earlier. She noticed mildly that her new arms seemed haevier, but chalked it up to exhaustion. She didn't even see the few downy white, and one sleek black, feathers that had landed silently on the ground before she had stalked off.

She yelled a hasty goodnight to the still loitering unsettlingly Nitebyss, trying to supress the shudders that such an odd and mildly violent sounding name dredged up, before slamming the door shut and beginning to tediously remove her clothes.

Have you ever tried getting a shirt made for a two-armed person off of a four-armed person without snapping any bones? It's hard. Things will inevitably be ripped. In the end she just glared at the two spaghetti straps of her running camisole and shoved one in her mouth. The damned fabric was refusing to rip by her hands, so she would try biting through it before looking like an idiot and getting scissors.

To her vast amazement, when she snapped her jaws down on it the fabric broke. Twice. Leaving her with two unattached strings on her shoulder and a mouth full of cotton-polyester blend. She limply shrugged the top off, and the fabric pooled around her waist. There was also a coppery taste that fabric shouldn't have had on her tongue, and Iris recognised it immediately.

Blood, she thought slowly, trying to wrap her mind around the fact that she'd just bit open the sides of her own mouth. What...the...hell? But...that wsn't even...I mean... Her tongue ran over the freshly made cuts, and lo and behold, it stung like hell and they were real. Then her tongue slid over her eyeteeh on the way back to the center of her mouth and she nearly screamed. As if new arms weren't enough, there were now little pointy things there instead of her usual teeth.

Okay... I'm just going to..uhh... With a vague sense of dizziness, she flopped bonelessly onto her mattress. At least they aren't huge... she thought wearily, noting that the new teeth were barely any bigger than her old ones. In fact, they were technically smaller due to their rounded thinness, but the points stuck further out by just enough length to be disconcerting.

In one unthinking motion she pulled her shirt and track pants down to join her long abandoned windbreaker on the floor and slid under the large comforter on the bed, only to be met with a stinging pain. She roughly shoved the comforter down to her hips and rolled uncomfortably onto her stomach, her new arms twitching unconsciously.

With a distinct refusal to acknowledge the existance of her now pointier teeth, she drifted into sleep, more from exhaustion than relaxation. The various times she woke up in the middle of the night to find she rolled onto her back and was crushing her arms, she was still so groggy that she didn't register the feathers littering the mattress beside her. That would be a discovery for the waking hours.

{{566 Words, 5 TXP}}

Shrian's eyes traveled back to the ground as Fiye started speaking. When she buried her face in his clothes, though, his eyes widened and he stopped in his tracks. "F-Fye?" he stuttered slightly. It was the first time she'd ever done anything close to this, but as he listened, his eyes softened as he understood where she was coming from. He'd seen shape-shifters of different skill levels, so he could confidently tell her what he knew. "Fiye, you're not becoming a monster." His voice was soft and soothing, a small assuring smile blossoming on his lips. "Transcendant abilities seem to evolve on their own as time goes by, so maybe you're just temporarily losing control as it goes to the next stages. Besides..." As he spoke, he reached out to his friend, laying a hand gently on her shoulder. "You're Fiye, and you always will be. Your appearance won't change that."

When she spoke about taking her mask of, though, he blinked. 'So many firsts tonight...' he mused silently to himself, shaking his head slightly. "If you're comfortable doing that, Fiye, I'd say go for it. You can wear your mask all your life, but it's not really who you are, is it?" His smile changed to a warm, friendly smile. He could understand her fear of change, as he'd seen it in many of his former acquaintances.

[[228 words = 2 TXP]]

Blinking once again as he was pulled to the wall by Fiye, Shrian's head buzzed with thoughts as the scales started to shift on her face. 'Well I've seen this before, so I know it's not abnormal...But why now?' he thought distractedly, watching curiously as the scales stopped shifting, studying his friends' face. He blinked once again, looking down at a lovely young woman, quite different from the small girl that'd just stood there. The shirt seemed slightly too small for her now, but she didn't seem to mind.

Blinking once again as Fiye embraced him in a small hug, he smiled slightly, hugging her gently back. As she backed away back to the wall, the smile stayed as he surveyed her as if for the first time. 'I guess people need to change now and again...' he thought with a bemused smile. "What do I think? I think you've been hiding your beauty for too long, Fiye." he said with a small laugh. "I'm glad you finally did, though. Makes me feel like I have someone I can trust finally." He smiled sheepishly as he spoke, running his fingers through his long dark hair.

[[195 words = 2 TXP]]

Shrian smiled warmly at his friend as he spoke. "Well, I'm just going to guess that you haven't shown your true self to anyone in a long, long time. I just take it as a symbol of trust. I could be wrong, though." he said with a small shrug. He blinked as she mentioned liking her, though, smirking slightly. "You told me to comment, didn't you? You're gorgeous, there's no reason to hide it."

Looking to his left back to the apartment, Shrian bit his lower lip in thought. "Well, it's only about nine thirty...How about a walk in the park?" he asked, turning back to Fiye with a smile. As far as feeling went, he didn't really know what he felt for his roommate. She'd been such an enigma over the past month, so he didn't know too much about her. Yet she was the first person to actually stay as more of a permanent resident, being someone he could consider a friend. He looked forward to getting to know her a bit more.

[[Icky short post.
D:

175 words = 1 TXP]]

Shrian laughed lightly, eyes sparkling slightly in the moonlight. "You wouldn't have to steal it. If you wanted it, all you'd have to do was ask for it back." he said calmly, slipping the wad of bills from his pocket and waving it in front of him playfully. When she asked if he liked her, though, his hand stuttered for a moment before continuing it's waving path. "You'd have to give more elaboration on that question, I think..." he remarked with a smirk.

As they entered the park, he thought for a moment, considering what she was asking. "How could I not like you? Even if you are a bit rude and childish at times," As he spoke, he made another face, sticking his tongue out at Fiye. "we've lived in the same apartment for over a month now. I enjoy your company." Shrian said simply, eyes turning from his friend to the trees, which had covered the moon and faint stars. The moon flashed between the leaves every so often as the wind blew gently at the branches. He glanced over at the shining lake, the surface smooth and glassy as the reflection of the crescent above glimmered on it's mirror-like cover.

[[203 words = 2 TXP]]