A very insensitive phone rang out: [Mental resistance has reached level two.]

 

“Not now phone! I’ve got to get out of here!” Alex squawked.

 

The door would not open. Alex tried batting it with wings, biting it, clawing at it but nothing caused it to budge.

 

The room remained still throughout Alex’s little panic attack. “I can’t get out.  Is the only option to complete the dance class?”  In the mirror a cute white and pink feathered harpy stumbled around.  She didn’t seem to understand the difference of how bird legs worked compared to human legs. As panic started to take hold the harpy in the mirror ran around, stumbling to the ground.  

 

It reminded Alex a little of a headless chicken.

 

Lacking arms, the birdy lady face planted into the dance floor.

 

“Ooof,” Alex groaned.  “Wings are not useful for stopping a fall.  Also, what is with these claws?  It feels like walking on my tip toes.”

 

The harpy in the mirror struggled back to her feet (claws? talons?) The wings were not much help in the process.  They were about twice the length of a human arm but without hands, the motion just caused feathers to slide along the floor. Also, the flapping tore the sleeves of the harpy’s blouse.

 

“Darn it!” Alex cursed.  

 

The harpy in the mirror didn’t look as cute now that she had torn clothing.  Another odd thing was the way the harpy stood.  Her resting stance was with her backside stuck out and slightly hunched forward.  Trying to stand up straight made the claws dig into the floor.  Apparently that was the motion birds used to latch onto something.  Walking felt more like tip-toeing than a normal human walking.

 

“How to fix this?  Can I even hold a needle and thread with no hands?” Alex worried aloud. At times like this Alex missed Fufi.  Sure, the pink bird had an agenda but the only thing worse than being trapped in an unfamiliar place was being trapped in an unfamiliar place with no one to talk with.

 

Alex looked to the carriage in the corner of the mirrored room.  Carefully standing on one leg, the harpy grabbed a waist-high level and pulled it back.  A panel retracted and showed the area for working on dolls.  Everything was laid out nicely.  

 

Rose, Lily and Edelweiss sat front and center against the wall.  A row of stuffed animals lined the wall, right next to the ceiling.  The harpy struggled to remove her torn shirt, and failed.

 

“Well, I guess this is dance class.”  Alex glanced at the completely still marionettes.  “I need to get changed, don’t peek.”  Using the carriage like a screen, Alex danced.  The harpy in the mirror danced. It took a few minutes of stumbles and fumbles before the clunky movements were actually considered a dance by the skill but eventually the three dolls sprung to life.

 

“Ha!  Even harpies can be cute enough to dance.” Alex said to the harpy in the mirror.  

 

The three dolls whirled around and helped the harpy get out of her outfit.

 

Alex concentrated, controlling the dolls to do sewing was something extremely complex.  Wings flapping, the harpy stomped about in intense concentration.

 

The tree dolls hopped up and down.  Lily, Rose, and Edelweiss changed the harpy from the crafting outfit to the magical girl dress with little effort and lots of flourishing. Next, they changed out the whole outfit.  For a short while the only thing the harpy in the mirror were the panties that Luna gifted. 

 

The dance slowed down a bit.  The dolls gracefully dressed the harpy in the mirror in the magical girl outfit.  However there were some problems. The bottom fit fine but the top did not.  The sleeves would have the same problem as the other garment.  And with the harpy’s quite substantial chest, it just wasn’t going to work.  Apparently, the corset was the only thing that saved the previous blouse from busting a button.

“Okay miss harpy, dressing you is going to be tailoring but in hard mode.” Alex said to the harpy in the mirror.  There were a lot of odd awkward movements in the harpy’s dance.  While Alex did some strange interpretive dance, the dolls hopped into the carriage and started crafting a chest wrap.  Alex made little scissor motions and the three dolls cut a bolt of cloth in the shape of the wrap.

 

Lily, the most dexterous of the dolls danced a few circles around the harpy in the mirror.  The archer doll jumped up and down a few times to secure the boobs into place.

 

Feeling less exposed gave Alex a burst of confidence.  The harpy in the window closed her eyes and her arms flailed about in similar motions to cutting and sewing.

 

This dance was an endurance test.  Unlike some of the quick battles or mining operations creating two new shirts using only a doll control skill wore Alex out.  It took a couple hours but after that Alex had two new shirts that would fit the harpy in the mirror more comfortably. 

 

Using the dancing dolls to dress the harpy in the mirror was  the easy part.  With some awkward wing movements and some helpful doll button action the harpy in the mirror donned the magical girl dress.

 

Alex stepped out from behind the carriage and sat down on the floor, panting heavily.

 

A phone rang out from the carriage.

[Skill increase: Dancing level two]

 

The buzzing caused the phone to fall out of the skirt pocket and onto the floor of the wardrobe.  

 

Alex held the phone with one claw and poked at it.  The harpy in the mirror’s nose seemed to peck at the phone like a bird.  Eventually, after many fat-fingering errors a status screen popped up.

 

Checking the status page it read:

Name: Alex Parker

Class: Magical Girl

Sex: Female

Race: Harpy

Strength: 12

Constitution: 8

Dexterity: 17

Intelligence: 7

Cuteness: 16

Skills:

Cleaning: 2

Cooking: 1

Dancing: 2

Tailoring: 3

Toymaking: 1

Feats: Empower Doll

Spells: Animate Doll

Lesser Grow Plants

Traits: Mental Resistance: 2

 

Harpy Alex had much higher cuteness, the key stat for a magical girl. Strength went up. Constitution went down. Bird girls were frail apparently. Dexterity increased by one point. Overall, it was about what one would expect for harpy stats.

 

The not very precise nose movements also had an unexpected result. Either a hard press, or swipe in the character sheet menu brought up a log.

 

Saving throw failed versus disease: Infected with bird flu.

Saving throw failed versus disease: Transformation progresses. Feminization 60%-> 80%

Saving throw failed versus disease:  Feminization 80% -> 100%

Saving throw failed versus disease: Transformation progressed. Harpy 0% -> 20%

Saving throw failed versus disease: Harpy 20% -> 80%

Saving throw failed versus disease: Harpy 80% -> 100%

Saving throw succeeded versus mental: Mental degradation resisted.

Saving throw succeeded versus disease: Bird flu infection overcome.

 

Looking back through the logs, Alex noticed some stuff about nymph transformation.  The screen showed much more resist successes but there were just so many entries that eventually it got to 100% nymph.  Alex cursed apple pie for being so delicious.

 

Leaving the cell phone in the carriage, Alex regarded the marionettes.

 

They all seemed to be in different positions.  Were they dancing behind Alex’s back?  Also, the ratio seemed to have changed.  There were three less female marionettes and three of the male marionettes were replaced by doll sized ones.  Suspicious.

 

Trying not to think too deeply, the harpy in the mirror approached her dance partner from before.

 

He was standing poised, offering her his hand.  Also, he hadn’t moved an inch this whole time.  The message was clear, take the marionettes hand and continue the dance.

 

The harpy in the mirror did just that.  She placed her wing in his hand and the other one along his arm.  It didn’t fit as well as being hand and hand and arm in arm.  If a harpy put the tip of a wing in a human’s hand then his other arm wouldn’t be long enough to read around her back and let her lean into it.  Also, a wing didn’t have the same range of motion as an arm.  Alex could see things going poorly for the harpy when the lead pulled the wing in a way it wasn’t meant to go.

 

As they started with the basic step, the marionette seemed to sense the harpy’s unease.  He barely used the arm to lead her at all.  Almost everything was apparent from the hand on her back.

 

Step, step, triple step.

 

Alex’s skill activated.  The three dolls came out and paired with the marionettes of the same size.  Fully extended, Alex’s… er… the harpy in the mirror’s wings would go all the way around the marionette’s back.

 

The instructor noticed the problem and moved the wings to be half extended and resting along the same spots a hand would be.  “Remember, your lead is being foundational, the follow is the focus of everyone’s attention.  Stick your tail feathers out, bend your legs and make the most of your opportunities to show your moves off.” 

 

The three dolls danced with their partners, following their lead.  

Alex thought it was cute how danced in pairs around the mirrored room.  It was like an elementary school dance but they actually could do things other than the two-step that seemed to be the only thing anyone could do with partner dancing back in the old world.

 

The dancing continued uneventfully for the rest of the class.  They practiced swing, balboa, ballroom dancing.

 

“Congratulations class, you have completed my course.  May your days be filled with exciting dance partners.” The instruction marionette bowed and vanished.

 

The other marionettes all vanished a second later. 

A gold-trimmed treasure chest appeared in the center of the room.  Alex danced up to the chest and with the help of three cute dolls placed the chest in the carriage.  

“Let's get out of here ladies.” Alex walked in a stylized fashion to keep the dolls active.  Edelweiss and Rose hopped into their spots and Lily stayed out.  

[Alex’s phone rang out:  Level up!  New feat acquired!]

Feat Name: Dance Partner

Duration: One minute per intelligence

Cost:  N/A

Components: N/A

Effect: Become the perfect dance partner for a single target.  The user of this mirrors their stats and can follow the lead of the target letting them react in such a way as they are the dance lead and the user is the follow.

As the carriage returned to card form, Lily collected it.  Alex took Lily and headed out the now-opened door.

The receptionist bid them a good day and they headed out of the portal.

 

Alex walked up the stairs into the common area and was greeted with startled shouts.

 

“Oh no!  Another harpy!” One human shouted, chair tumbling to the floor.