First Waves Day +6

    He came back from the grocery store incredibly exhausted by the world outside. Of course he’d expected stares, but not so incredibly many, considering he wasn’t the only one running around as an animal hybrid. He kind of knew the problem was in his now ill-fitting clothes that drew attention, but he really didn’t want to go to the mall. Especially if it meant getting something… feminine. A shiver trickled down his spine at the thought. No, he told himself, ripping the back of a few plain t-shirts to let his wings breathe had already been plenty enough.

    “Got the stuff?” he asked, curling the corner of the phone book and climbing out of his seat to come help with the bags.

    “I mean…” she started, rummaging in the one she was holding. “I just took the usual, and…” She brought out a bottle of concentrated nectar, fresh from the animal aisle. “Three of these.”

    He gave her a pat on the back. “I’d say ‘you’ll get used to this’, but let’s keep that for after trying out if that’s actually right.”

    The animal aisle, he thought, looking at the bottle. It had been devastated today. From what he’d heard while waiting in line, many had seen a change in their dietary habits after the event… He’d heard about almost any and all variations: people going carnivorous, or giving up meat, a vegan woman that said she was glad she’d stayed just that, even one person being happy with the ‘upgrade to their sense of taste’, as they’d put it.

    In fact, from what he’d heard, the one variation that was notably absent was that not a single person had gotten a food regime they weren’t okay with. He decided to keep that info in the back of his mind, in a vague attempt to put together why exactly things had happened the way they did. He hoped it’d give him insight into his own... unique changes. Even in his thoughts he couldn’t call it what it was; he had to use evasive language like that. Maybe it made it feel less permanent that way.

    He closed the phonebook and put it off the table, letting the groceries rest on it while he triaged what went in the cupboards and what needed to go in the fridge. “Did about a quarter of the book today. No doctor I called was available.”

    She muttered a half hearted “Oh,” having fully expected that result.

    He thought quickly, searching for the most useful question to ask. “So, gathered any info from your immersion trip?”

    “I mean…” she started. “Apparently vegans are still vegan?”

    “Uh.” he did a little shrug with his shoulders. ”Wonder what that could mean.”

    He… had an inkling. If his hunch was right, that meant nobody got something they were fundamentally opposed to getting. But that couldn’t be right; he clearly didn’t fit in that picture. His heart was beating out of his chest at this thought.

    He told himself he couldn’t draw conclusions from a single point of data, and replied “Yeah… me too,” his voice quavering.

    His roommate took a glance at him, and a quick silence was exchanged between the two. “Go sit on the couch. I’m cooking today, alright? Take it easy. Plus you must be starving…”

    He sighed in relief. Yeah, that trip outside had already been a shock. His roommate had been experiencing this new normal for six days already and had started to adapt, but this was still a brand new thing to him, what with his delayed hatching. He took a step and fluttered to the couch, letting himself crash on it belly down.

    …

    …

    Wait what had he just done—

    … 

    Rush to the bathroom

    Grab out the scale from under the sink

    …

    Holy crap. He was… nearly weightless. How the hell did that even work? Add that to the list of weird clues. But then, that means he hadn’t imagined it?

    He looked at the wings on his back, shifting idly back and forth, and tried flapping them up and down. And, to his surprise, he found himself lifting off the ground. A look of realization dawned on him and he just found himself getting lost in it for a couple seconds. He couldn’t believe he was genuinely thinking that maybe this body was good.

    That came crashing down pretty quickly when he accidentally caught a glance of his face in the mirror and the immense smile plastered on it. Embarrassment took over again, and he let himself float back down to the ground.

    No, this wasn’t his body. It was a woman’s. He couldn’t keep it.

    When he came back to the main room of the apartment, his roommate was placing two plates on the coffee table, one of them filled to the brim with a huge variety of food. Vegetables, fruits, meats and cereals, salty and sugary snacks, milky desserts… Trial time was here.

    She was eyeing her plate in silence, her roomie realized. He knew this meant she was overwhelmed by choice… He did the usual, stepped in with his suggestion. “I’m thinking we start with the stuff we’re already almost certain is off the table now, okay? Get the disappointment out of the way first.”

    She nodded with a little “Hmm,” and turned her plate so that the little variety of meat was right in front of her. Tentatively, she prodded at a bit of beef with her fork, and brought it to her face, letting it hang in the air in apprehension.

    After a couple seconds of nothing happening, he thought it good to speak. “It’s okay if you think you can’t—” but before he got to finish his sentence, she tentatively licked the little cube of meat and coughed, her tongue rejecting the taste. She dropped her fork back on the table, and he came to her aid, calming her with soothing rubs of his hand just above her wings. “Okay, so meat is a no. That happens.”

    She sighed. “But I liked burgers so much…”

    “I’m sorry…”

    The results were an immense series of rejections. None of the vegetables, meats, dairy products and cereals were tolerated by either his sense of taste or his stomach. He was now limited to fruits and water, his sweet tooth was all he had left — and even then, most candies were off the table. Though lost in his thoughts, he still faintly noticed his roommate patting him comfortingly.

All he had left to test was what he was dreading most of all. The little bottle of nectar placed next to his plate. He was almost certain he would like it, and that was so scary an idea. That he’d changed so radically. That he couldn’t just keep things as they were. That bottle of nectar had become his representation of every little change there would be going forward. 

    “I can’t…” he whispered. “I wish nothing had changed…”

    His roommate let him sob for a few minutes, get everything out. “Do you want me to mix it for you?”

    He felt like he was supposed to refuse. This was his fight, he had to face it alone, he couldn’t ask others to do it for him. But he found himself rejecting those thoughts and nodding… There was nothing wrong with not being alone. There was no value in exposing himself to hurt, it wouldn’t make his journey more valuable.

    One drop, two drops, three drops. The rest of the glass was filled with water, then mixed with a spoon. It was almost like medicine. His roommate handed him the glass, which he awkwardly took.

    And, slowly, he brought it to his lips. After a nervous gulp of his saliva, he started downing the liquid… And found himself entranced. An explosion of happiness from deep within him. It was, dare he thought, better than anything he’d tasted back when he was a human.

    And this repulsed him even more. He expected to be disappointed, he expected a bland sugary taste, and instead he discovered something he loved more than anything he ever had before.

    He was scared this would make him enjoy what he’d become. That he would end up not wanting to go back. But he had to, didn’t he?

    His roomie’s face, usually so reserved and dull, had become so expressive since yesterday, and this moment was no exception. The joy was readable on her face. He smiled. “Is it good?” he asked, despite not really needing the confirmation.

    He was surprised to hear a meek “It’s okay…” as an answer, as her face drooped again and she put the glass back down. Knowing her, she was feeling self-conscious for liking it, no doubt.

    He turned on his seat to face her slightly better. She moved her head towards him when she noticed it. “Hey, roomie,” he started, “you’re allowed to enjoy it, you know. Don’t let anyone forbid you from going about your life the way you want to, and especially not yourself. You got that?”

    She seemed to be trying to muster a response for a while, silent. Eventually, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and let herself smile again, although her eyes betrayed her mixed feelings. “Yeah. Okay.” She grabbed the water jug and mixed herself a new glass of nectar while he rubbed her back again.