//------------------------------// // Unexpected Visitor // Story: I Am a Pet Changeling // by Queen Sanguine Dreams //------------------------------// "How large do you think you are now, Blue?" Soft asked, taking part of a blanket from Rough to use for themself and sitting down next to them. I used my magic to float the undissolved right foreleg of mine closer to me, eventually holding it in front of my face. "Well... guessing from this limb of mine, I'm at least twice as large as I was. This leg here is about half of my new leg... and I don't think I'm even finished yet." "Seriously?" Rough asked in surprise. "You were kinda tiny before, yeah, but we never even measured you. I mean, you came up to my belt, and I'm about five foot ten.... so you're... you must be massive!" "We could get measuring tape for when she's out of the cocoon and find out for sure." Soft suggested. Timid was still off somewhere upstairs 'posting their video' or something, and absent from the conversation. My cocoon had slowly been turning a blue tinge mixed with the green of before. "Well if that cocoon of yours gets any bigger, we're gonna have to shove it into the basement before it blocks off the whole front of the house." Rough pointed out, trying to pry their blanket back from Soft. I turned myself inside of the cocoon by placing my hooves on the inner walls, allowing me to maneuver. My wings weren't able to help as much inside of this goopy fluid, but being suspended in the stuff was strangely soothing. I saw that my cocoon had grown considerably, nearly reaching the side of the door with a slowly spreading resin that hardened after a few seconds exposure to the air. "How would you even move me?" I asked curiously. "I think this cocoon is larger than the doors now." A slight pause before Rough replied with, "I don't actually know. I mean before when this was just starting it might've been possible, but now it's just silly." A quick thumping was heard and all eyes turned to the staircase to witness Timid racing down. "You guys, we got a problem!" "What happened?" Rough and Soft asked, worried. Timid reached the bottom of the stairs and stood in view of all of us, adjusting their glasses. "The problem is... nobody cares." "Huh?" Rough blurted. "The video I posted? They think its CGI. Really good CGI, but still fake." Timid pouted. "They don't believe it?" Soft asked. "They think that it's super-fake and they downvoted it for a click-bait title. I mean yeah, 'Alien on Earth is Real: Exclusive Footage' was probably over the top for a youtube video, but it isn't getting any views." Timid explained. "So that just means we'll have to go bigger, won't it?" Rough suggested, sitting upright. "How about we take Blue to Wal-mart again, undisguised? Then people will get out their phones, call the police, start recordin', stuff like that?" Timid wasn't convinced. "Oh yeah, sure, that's a brilliant idea. You might as well stand on the white house lawn and yell 'Look, I found aliens! Believe me its true!' to the entire world. What would you do if you were a cop and you got a bunch of calls saying 'Aliens are here'? Cause I'd ignore it and leave it alone." Timid took a breath and continued ranting. "And suppose people do take it seriously, what then? Do we really want to explain to a bunch of police and government types that we had an alien with us? What if things get violent?" There was an awkward pause as the three considered their options. I took it as an opportunity to continue examining myself. I pressed my hooves together experimentally, and found that they glowed a bright blue with the more force I placed on them. Was it my hoof hardening spell? That shouldn't be how it worked, but here it was... just... there now. A part of me that simply was. I looked behind myself at my wings and tried to buzz them, finding my wings to work perfectly, if only a bit slowed from the ooze. "You okay in there Blue? It sounds like you're hammering the daylights out of that thing." Rough asked with concern. "I was testing my wings, Rough." I replied concisely, halting the buzzing of my wings. I felt 'Eugh' from Rough. "Those wings are going to be freaky when you come out of there..." Rough complained. "Oh come on, Blue is an alien! She probably thinks you're freaky, Ricky." Soft countered. "Actually..." Timid proposed, "What do you think of humans, Blue?" "Well," I began abruptly, "For the most part, you're all kind, caring, considerate, very emotional (Which is a big bonus) and you look out for one another almost without fault. You provide for your families and each other as best you're able, you cheer each other up when they're feeling down, you have close families and you trust easily. I also have no idea how you stand upright without falling over." I paused to hear their replies, and received nothing in return for a moment. Eventually, Rough spoke up. "That's probably the nicest reaction to humanity I could've ever hoped to hear..." "Wait, you can't figure out how we stand?" Timid asked with surprise. "You don't have a tail, you don't have wings, yet you stand on two legs without difficulty like it isn't even an issue!" I explained in slight exhasperation. I couldn't even imagine trying to disguise as one of these not-minotaur-- er... humans. I would fall on my flank in half a second! I noticed that the three hadn't been paying attention to my last comment, as they had all been looking out of the window. "Hello?" I asked. "Blue, Keep quiet! Someone just pulled into the driveway, and it ain't Mom!" Rough quietly snapped. "Ah crap, what are we gonna do?" "Just keep calm! They don't have any reason to come inside, do they?" Timid replied, trying to pull blankets off of Rough. "What are you doin', Karol!?" Rough whisper shouted. "I'm trying to cover up the giant alien Chrysalis in your living room, Ricky!" Timid shot back. "He's getting out of the car!" Soft reported, peeking through some blinds. "It's Officer Brady!" "Can you tell what he wants?" Rough asked, flinging blankets off of themself and onto the floor where Timid would quickly pick them up and huck them on top of my cocoon. Some of them stuck to the sides, others simply crumpled down when they hit a hardened part of the cocoon. "He's got a shovel?" Soft asked rhetorically before pausing a moment, then smacking their face. "Ricky, when you hit Blue with the shovel, did you pick it back up?" "Uh... Oh crap!" Rough blurted, wincing in embarassment. "No! I was caught up in the excitement of it all!" "Well Brady is comin' this way, and he doesn't look too happy!" Soft replied, hiding next to the door frame. Three loud wooden steps were heard outside, my own hearing muffled by the ooze. Three loud knocks followed soon after on the metal door. "What do we do!?" Soft whisper shouted to the other two. "We can't just ignore him! Mom will come home to the police in her driveway!" Rough countered. "Then we gotta let him in." Timid said with finality, their hand grasping the door knob and pulling it open despite the protests from Soft and Rough. The door opened inward, concealing me from the conversation that was taking place just a short distance away from me. I could see that some of my resin had flowed from the cocoon and further along the flooring, coming just into the entryway where this conversation was going to take place. "Hello, everyone." Kind announced to the three. "How is your evening?" "Uh... interesting." Timid replied uncertainly. "Would any of you folks happen to be missing a shovel?" Kind asked, the sound of scraping wood on the floor ending shortly after their sentence finished. "A certain shovel with the name 'Monte' duct taped to the handle?" "U-uh, Yeah! Where'd you find it, Officer Brady?" Rough asked nervously. "Well, the funniest thing happened. I got a call last night about a meteorite impacting a farm. The farmer, Josh Andrews, was understandably concerned that his wheat fields might catch fire. I was on-call that night, so I got out to the farm and discovered the crater. The interesting bit is that there wasn't a meteorite! Like someone had come in a big hurry and carried it off somewhere. Now, knowing that isn't very likely, I looked around and discovered a slim trail of trampled wheat leading away from the meteor, but no other path that would've been coming towards it. Now, it's entirely possible that someone came to the meteor impact site, being very careful to go exactly there, despite the fact that its nearly impossible to see over all of that wheat, and then leaving the way they came with an obscenely heavy meteorite filled with precious metals... or..." I heard a metallic clanking noise come from behind the door. "Or there could also have been a well known duo of trouble makers out that night as well that I just so happened to run into, speeding away from the very same wheat fields like they had found a demon in the back seat..." Kind's voice had gone from soothing to accusatory now. "I also found this shovel this morning, with your last name on it, abandoned in the middle of the street. Now, take a look at this indentation and tell me what possibly could've made that kind of a mark, would you?" Anxiety, fear, worry and dread were coming from Timid, Rough and Soft in gigantic waves. I could see that Soft and Rough were sweating as well. They all shared a very fearful look with another before Timid gulped and spoke up. "O-officer Brady?" They trembled. "Yes, Miss Karol?" Kind replied expectantly. "There's... something we should show you." "Karol, what the heck are you doing!?" Rough blurted before quickly covering their mouth. "Oh, well now I'm interested!" Kind sassed. "I was worried I'd come all the way out here for nothing but a visit!" "Look, maybe this is what we need?" Timid explained, turning to Soft and Rough. "We need to get Blue popular on the internet, right? People didn't believe the story was real, but maybe Officer Brady could help? Police are... well, somewhat trusted, no offense Officer Brady, but still!" "Who is Blue, one of your druggy friends?" Kind accused. "You know I don't do that stuff anymore, Officer Brady." Rough grumbled defensively. "How about you come inside and we can talk about it? I have cocoa made!" Timid offered. "Well... you three don't have a history of violence and we know each other... Still, I'm going to stand right here in full view of my dash-cam." Kind mandated. "Well... It's kind of hard to move it to you." Timid replied vaguely. "What, do you admit to being on Mister Andrew's property last night?" Kind asked, still hidden by the door itself. "Eh... Maybe you could just stand right here and take a look?" Timid pointed towards the center of the living room next to the couch that I had fed from Rough on. "No funny business, alright?" Kind warned, taking a few careful steps into the home. They soon came into full view of me with their back turned, and I was still in the cocoon of course. "Alright, are you ready?" Timid asked carefully. "Don't freak out, alright?" "Freak out about what?" Kind asked, turning to look behind themself at Timid and instead focusing on the very large cocoon in front of him. "Holy Jesus! What the hell is that!?" He yelped in surprise, desperately trying to pull something from their belt. "Nonono! Officer Brady, stop! She's good!" Soft cried desperately, putting themself between Kind and myself with their hands raised. Kind was pointing something small, slim and metallic at me. "The hell do you mean 'she', Maria!? The hell is that thing!?" Rough stood next to Soft, also barring the way. "This cocoon is holding our guest, named Blue. She's an alien. From space." Rough paused a moment in amusement. "I never thought I'd say something like that in my lifetime." "An alien? Yeah, sure, and I'm actually Superman in disguise." Kind sassed, lowering their metal thing a short distance, pointing towards the floor. "Blue is in some kind of cocoon stage and we don't know how long it will be until she's free of it." Timid explained, joining the barrier on Soft's left side. Kind looked between the three humans and my cocoon in complete disbelief. "There's no way." They muttered, placing their metal thing back on their belt. "There's no freakin' way." "Hey Blue, you still awake?" Rough asked from over their shoulder. "I can speak now?" I replied, my voice wavering once again and deeper from the friction of the ooze against my wings. I felt a wave of pure fear come from Kind as they backed away and nearly fell over a table in their retreat. "It's alright, Brady. She's fine!" Soft insisted. "That thing just talked!" Kind blurted, standing further away now. "The hell is wrong with you people!?" "We found Blue on the side of the road on that night you pulled us over. The wings you saw underneath the jacket? Those were hers..." Rough explained. "The imprint on that shovel was... well, that was me panicking like you are now and hitting her in the face with it." Kind's mouth was open in disbelief. "You met new alien life, and the first thing you did was hit it with a shovel?" "You were about to shoot her, Brady." Rough retorted. Kind grumbled something under their breath and calmed down a bit. "Alright, you've got me there." The four of them stood awkwardly in the living room for a moment, just looking at each other. "So..." Timid asked, "What now?" "You know what?" Kind asked rhetorically with some heat to their voice. "This isn't happening. I didn't just walk in here and see some horror show hosted by a group of college kids. Nope, It was a halloween decoration. That's it. Nothing wrong here. No aliens, no freaky cocoon things in the living room, Not even a shovel with a mysterious dent in it! Nope! Sorry Captain but everything checked out fine!" Kind ranted, flailing their arms around. "I do not get paid enough to deal with this shit!" Kind proclaimed before slamming the door shut behind themself. After a shocked pause from the three I asked, "How much do you think Kind owes the Swear Jar?"