I woke still in my stealth clothing, sprawled across the bed at a diagonal, having wrapped myself into a safe little burrito. It took me several moments to even register where I was, and then remember what had happened yesterday. A single, damned, day. Everything had changed in one day.

I groaned and fought my way free of the bedding, unable to keep comfortable with all my buckles and sheathed knives digging into me. I felt gross, so very gross.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I rubbed at my face with my hands for a second, that bloody mirror visible through the cracks. I sighed. Alright, fine. I said I’d face you in the morning, mister mirror, and that’s what I was going to do. Mist wasn’t a coward, she was a rooftop jumping acrobat! Wait no. He was a rooftop jumping acrobat… they were a rooftop jumping acrobat? God, I was so fucking confused. Did I really have to change how I thought of myself because my body had changed?

Point was, Mist was going to be a badass. Or, they would be, once they figured their shit out. Once I figured my shit out. Which meant... step one, get naked.

What followed was five minutes of not following step one, and instead continuing to sit on the bed and psych myself up for it. It was just so… terrifying. Visual confirmation that I had been changed against my will into something I shouldn’t be. My family… my parents, they had had to teach me this lesson, and it had been painful. I closed my eyes as that day tried to resurface again.

It was hard to remember much. I had been very young, five or six… and what time hadn’t obliterated, the terror had done much of the rest. I remembered wearing a dress, I remembered a friend, a girl… although her name was lost to me. I remembered my mother’s furnace forged expression, wild with rage. I remembered my dad’s cold sneer. The rest, a blur. I hadn’t even liked the dumb dress, that’s what I’d tried to tell them. I’d thought maybe, I’d like the dress, but no. The cute pink coat on the other hand… NO.

No. No. No. I wasn’t going to tread that path again. It just led to pain. It led to my parents looking over my shoulder if they sensed something, it led to… hold on. They were gone. They were gone, and no one could give a shit anymore. Still, the idea had me squirming, but I could relax, right? I didn’t have to actually use the women’s clothing that was in my dresser, unless I needed a disguise or something? That had been the excuse when it was all put in there.

Fuck it, no more sitting around. Confidence, Mist… con-fid-ence.

I stood up and moved towards the mirror, stopping to inspect my face. Yeah… if this face had been someone else, I’d be finding myself attracted to it. My eyes were such a great shade of blue, a gentle hue that didn’t sear your retinas, like some people’s eyes did.

Lips were the next best feature, full and ever so slightly naturally pouted. I pulled my bottom lip into my mouth and bit down, giving myself a smile. And… almost fell over from the force of it. Wow! I was real fucking cute! Wow! Oh my god! Standing there in the mirror was this badass looking chick, a little bedraggled but still, lithe and strong and sporting a cocky smile.

Reeling from the image of myself looking like that, I stepped away from the mirror and rushed back to the bed, flopping back in a boneless heap. Jesus fuck. I felt lightheaded, why did my chest feel like I’d eaten all the balloons from the movie UP?

I had to rest for several minutes as I tried to figure out what the hell was happening inside my head, but I came up blank. I had no idea what the hell had just happened, other than I’d liked seeing what I just saw. Then the part of me that knew it was wrong to like that had clawed up to attack me? Hadn’t done a very good job though, I was still smiling like an idiot.

Figuring I was finally ready for round two, I stood back up and stepped over to the mirror. Except… I paused. Maybe I should take this stuff off and then step in front of the mirror, rather than giving myself a strip tease. Yeah, that was probably a better plan.

At first I was pretty stumped by the outfit, how the hell did I take it off? That ended up requiring the mirror for the first part, as it had a series of buckles at the back. It was thankfully not a one piece ordeal, and the top came off after a lot of wriggling. That wasn’t all though, because I’d been outfitted with a very modern looking sport’s bra for my tiny boobs. There wasn’t a whole lot there honestly, and I couldn’t tell if I was disappointed by that or not.

Shoes went after that, as well as gloves, belts and finally, pants. Eyes closed, I tangled with the last two items, my underwear and my sport’s bra. My heart was beating loud and obnoxiously in my ear as they came off, my hands unable to keep from brushing stunningly soft skin. I was so, so very nervous, shaking with it slightly.

Come on Mist, you can do this. You can. I stepped sideways before I could second guess myself and opened my eyes.

Silky smooth skin without a single blemish, and it was everywhere. Mostly hairless too, except for a small patch of gold above the apex of my thighs. Thighs that were wider than my head, hips that were massive, wide and sturdy.

My eyes travelled up, meeting my own gaze in the mirror for a moment, and again it felt like I’d just been hit square in the face by an emotion shotgun. The image in the mirror was… amazing. Some might not have agreed, including myself a few days ago if you’d told me where I would be standing.

Here and now though, stood a woman with presence. A stunned smile beamed out at me, eyes wild and blue, hair tousled and free to drift down my back and tickle my shoulders. My shoulders were actually somewhat like Basilisk’s, although a little thinner. They still looked strong, but they were a little more dainty.

The rest of my body was a contrast of soft curves and lurking muscle. I had the gentle suggestion of abs, pointing down towards my crotch, where the dreaded vag awaited. Except in a rather odd turn of events, I didn’t care. I mean, I was attracted to them right, so it’s not like I’d mind if I had one… right? I’m pretty sure that’s how it works, because… wait shit no that doesn’t work.

A straight guy is attracted to them sure, but also because he wants to put his dick in it. Can’t do that if you don’t have one. Damn you logic… damn you. Oh well. If my subconscious wasn’t freaking out about it right now, we’d shelve the topic and do it right as I was trying to fall asleep. It was just the way that type of thing was done. There was a procedure to follow.

Honestly, I really should be freaking out a whole lot. I mean, my body was… so much. My waist was just as thin as it had been when I first ran my hands down it, and my hips were just so good. Wait, good?

I swung them side to side experimentally, and once again a thousand helium balloons inflated themselves inside my lungs. Oh my goodness, oh my dear sweet fuck. Crap shit damn god fuck bugger tits.

I rushed away from the mirror again and ran my hands through my hair, emotions that felt like panic rushing through my mind at a million miles a minute. Except, it was like… happy panic? Why was I happy about this? Why was I smiling so damned hard? Oh wait, what did I look like naked and smiling?

I rushed back to the mirror and grinned at myself, cocking an eyebrow like I’d seen Basilisk do. Oh crap! Wow! I was like… hot. I was hot, and like, kinda badass looking? Like, seeing a girl who was both strong and soft, smiling unabashedly despite her nakedness… my heart fizzled and bubbled. Again I ran away from the mirror, heart pounding and cheeks hurting from the force of my smile.

I wandered over to the bed and flopped back into it, bundling myself up again in the blanket, where I promptly began to giggle. There was no denying that it was a giggle, nor that it had turned to full on laughter soon after. Moments after that, I was crying, a bed worm of tears as I smushed my face into the pillow and cried because like holy shit there were so many emotions inside me and they just really needed a place to go.

A knock at my door came while I was mid cry, and I didn’t really have the willpower to call out. I just lay there, a Misty caterpillar on the bed, hoping they would go away. The knocking stopped, thankfully, but then very much not thankfully, the bloody door opened.

“Mist?” Basilisk’s voice asked, her head poking through and into the room. “Getting up? Like, any day now? Please? We have work to do.”

I sat bolt upright and stared at her, crap, what had I forgotten? Oh! The magic thing! She began to laugh at what was probably a rather amusing image of me in caterpillar form, all cocooned up in the blanket, but then promptly tripped and stumbled into the room.

She had that reaction, because I leapt out of my cocoon stark naked, forgetting about the whole… stark naked thing. “Right! Sorry! I forgot, I was just… oh shit. I’m sorry!” I dove back for the bed, tripping on my stealth armour and falling with a whump onto the bed again.

In a maneuver that only this new body could achieve, I managed to fall in a way where I could wrap myself back up in the blanket using my momentum.

Once again safe, I wiggled upright and grinned at Basilisk. “Sorry about that… I uh… yup. I don’t really have an excuse, other than I had perhaps, a lot on my mind just now. Or something. Fuck it, I don’t know. I hope you enjoyed the view, I guess?”

She stood there gaping at me, her mouth working open and closed, her eyes very much not holding their usual intensity. Her cheeks were a bit red too… had she actually liked what she saw? Very interesting.

Finally, she cleared her throat and shook her head like she was trying to clear the image of my naked body from her mind’s eye. “Wow. Mist… I have so many questions, but I wasn’t joking. I’d like to test your magic sooner rather than later. I do have a band of thieves to run.”

“Wait, you do?” I asked, feigning shock.

“Yes, did you not just…? Oh, by the goddess’s perky tits!” she exclaimed, brushing at her hair in flustered exasperation. “Did you get swapped out for a twin last night or something? Where are these… antics coming from?”

“No idea!” I laughed, giving her another happy smile. “I really am sorry though! Give me a few moments to find some clothes and I’ll be out.”

With a deep breath, she nodded, and I watched her gaze drift down to my blanket-clad body for just a single moment. “Don’t keep me waiting. Bras are in the bag, if you haven’t checked. A few sizes, we’ll see about getting ones that actually fit later.”

Oh. Bras. Crud. “Thanks Basilisk,” I told her sincerely, trying to tone down my weird and hyperactive happiness. “Seriously, you’ve been so good to me.”

“Not a problem,” she said with a proper smile. “Call me Bassi, by the way, and also get that rather large, tight ass out of that bed and dressed. Both of those are orders, by the way, in case you get distracted or forgetful.”

“Yes, ma’am!” I smirked, giving her my best salute.

She just gave me a strange look, then turned and left the room, closing the door behind her in the process. My big dumb grin leapt back onto my face the moment she was gone. That had been absolutely hilarious! Oh wow, I kinda wanted to find ways to fluster her even more now. Wait, I had orders. Not be naked, be downstairs. Onwards!