Gah… Morning Cellie. I had the weirdest dream. I had been cast into a village of young, relatively I suppose, individuals from different worlds and realities who had yet to mature into their domains and aspects as gods, demi-gods and deities. I made friends with three people, a guy that seemed to have been there for a while and made me think of a turtle horse, a young woman who was a griffon, and another who reminded me of a feathered and cheerful rapture or harpy. It was really strange in the sense that everyone there felt larger than life, having a bigger impact and presence than they were supposed to.
At one point a little spat between two of the friends about where they went for a date turned into a big thing. The sky got dark and weeds and thorns started growing around as they argued over the typical couple issue of who picks where they go to eat on a date. We had been eating some sort of strange purple speckled fish that I swear tasted like avocadoes and rice. I compared it to sushi. That’s what started the spat. Apparently griffon girl wanted to have pizza.
In the end, when the dream was fading I overheard the harpy girl, I really can’t remember what her domain was supposed to be, mentioning to the griffon that she could hear a faint voice talking to me at times. The weird thing is, there actually was a voice, and just before I woke up that voice started talking again. I don’t remember exactly what she said, but it was something about staying calm and… and… I can’t remember…
Gah! This is so frustrating. Do you think I really might be in some sort of test? A proving ground or something that I was chosen to be a part of and my mind only interprets it as something familiar?
It’s only been one day. It’s way too early to be going mad.
Anyway, it’s 3am. I’ve been up almost an hour now and I can’t seem to get back to sleep. Maybe I did go to bed too early last night.
Sleep was awkward to say the least. Everything about my body was new and it took a while to find a comfortable position. I really miss my fingers and toes right now. The fact that I can arch my back like a cat and flex my tail makes stretching different, and not necessarily in a bad way, but what I’m missing is like a void. No, more like something just out of reach.
I think I might have underestimated my wings. They are a lot more like hands in structure than I first realized. I still can’t manipulate them properly, but I’m getting better. Maybe the sleep helped? Even if they were in the way half of the time, I might spend some time today getting a better feel for them. Still, thanks to them I might still have five functional fingers, including a thumb. So what if they are webbed and the digits are longer than I’m used to? People have gotten by for years with far less. Actually, I should see if I can find videos and research on amputees and how they adapted.
Wing practice, research and getting Darcy to download as much things as we can from the internet. I confess I didn’t spend as much time as I might have on how it all came together, but I do know the servers that support the internet itself are scattered across the continents and they all need power and some degree of maintenance.
Game plan for today
1. Set Darcy to download whatever databases and webpages that might be useful
1a. Music. Get lots of music, maybe movies
2. Try and acquire the ATV from the neighbour’s place
3. Find as much as I can (videos, articles, pictures, stories), on amputees and how they adapted
4. Find videos on how animals walk. Felines, canines, goats, horses and deer might be useful. I’m still very awkward with quadruped locomotion, with good reason
5. Take the cart (or the ATV) to Walmart and Canadian Tire
5a. Gas maybe useful. Solar panels and charging kits. May raid electronic as well.
5b. A portable speaker would be useful. These ears will work with regular earbuds. Maybe get a set of the expensive headphones and use them like neck mounted speakers?
5c. Perhaps more computers to speed up data acquisition? Now, I have nothing against libraries, and plan to hit it soon, but I’m still a child of the digital age.
5note: I need to visit the college and university at some point
5d. Printers and ink. I’ve only got a low end model here at home, but with the end of everything and all, I can get a five finger discount on one of the pricier ones. Ellen can print over Bluetooth, after all.
5e. Range boosters for wifi. I can set up a home network or local intranet. There’s bound to be a book with instructions somewhere. Maybe get some cameras and set them up to watch for movement? No clue why, it just sounds like it could be useful.
5f. Radios. How did I not think of radios? And a book (or books) on how to set them up. There are two radio stations in town… Actually, there’s a TV station in town. When I set up home base better, I need to get to those. I might be able to contact other survivors (well, perhaps that’s not the best term…) on the standard broadcasting bands!
6. Spend some time roaming, to see if anyone else is around in my immediate vicinity. The speakers might be useful for that, playing music. I know I would come out if I hear music. Alternatively, maybe I should use silence and listen?
7. Figure out a good way to carry things. The pouch around the neck was fine for small things, but what about larger things?
8. The dentist… they have those small X-Ray machines. They have never looked that hard to operate. Detail on my new biology would be amazing. What if I injure myself? What if I break a wing? Jeeze. That might be fatal if I can’t properly apply first aid. Actually, I should bump this up the list.
9. First aid supplies. I don’t know how I didn’t think of this before.Speaking of, did I tell you my hearing is more sensitive now? I wasn’t sure at first, with no one else being around, but I didn’t need to turn up Darcy’s speakers as loud when I played some music earlier.
Hmm… this game plan might be for several days rather than just one, looking it over.
Hmm… I know it’s weird, but I’m considering going au natural. Until I get some clothes that properly fit, it’s only going to be confining and irritating. I need proper wing slits and a tail hole in the least. Not to mention that the cut of most outfits do not account for my current morphology. Not like anyone is around to complain about my streaking anyway.
Right; my forelegs have a crazy range of motion, pretty much on par with hands, disbarring the fingers, that is. I can shrug, roll my shoulder, raise a leg above my head, extend them to the side and more. I was pretty pleased with that discovery. Not every animal can do that.
I’m going to grab some breakfast. Eggs I suppose. I might need to find some chickens. Fresh food might be a problem soon. Perhaps I should try to start a garden as well. I’m going to be sticking to the simpler proteins and foods for now. I’m not one hundred percent certain what my new body’s dietary requirements and limitations are, so I’ll have to experiment as I go along. Hopefully I don’t poison myself or get too sick. Still, I spent years doing biology in university. I must have learned something useful!
I’m also aware that that biology student argument also postulates that I should have recognized the wings earlier, but I had other things to focus on. Was postulate the right word to use there?
I should add ‘practice using mouth for things’ to the ‘get familiar with wings’ point. I know it sounds weird, Cellie, but I’ve got to be frank. Hooves are clumsy and don’t have much grip. I might have fingers in my wings, but I have no experience with them. For now, my mouth is the most familiar manipulator I have. People used their mouths all the time as kids. Just need to remember what it was like. Moose, horses and camels have rather powerful and skillful tongues and lips too. They break out of their cages at the zoo all the time with them.
Okay, maybe not all the time, but enough. Did you know I can write with my mouth? Well, of course you did. You’ve got some of my chicken scratches in you. I need to practice a bit more with it though. Okay, a lot more. But it’s proof of concept. My new body’s lips, mouth, jaw, tongue and I think neck, are plenty strong and flexible. I’m a tool using species still! I just need to adapt to the new quirks.
Jeeze, I have a lot of stuff to do.
Oh! I downloaded the song ‘It’s the End of the World’ by Rem. You know; the one they played in the movie Independence Day? It seemed fitting. And….
I got a couple packs of beer. The beer store was right there, so… I’ve never drank before. I used to joke that it would be the end of the world before I started drinking. Well, guess what?
I’m not quite there yet though. So I stuck them in the cupboard.
Sleep is still not coming, so I’m heading out, Cellie. Talk to you when I get back.
Robin whistled a few chords from the song as he made his way down the street, trying to work out which house was the right one. He paused as a realization hit him, a grin spreading over his face. “I can whistle now!” Still grinning, he started walking again, his steps a little lighter. It might have been a little silly, but in the situation, the little pleasures were important. “I wonder what other sounds I can make…”
Oddly, he found the night to be brighter than he expected. He blamed the eyes. They did look like feline eyes. They probably had much better night vision than his old ones. He was just happy he hadn’t seemed to lose any of his colour vision for it. At least, he hoped so. The new eyes were big enough to fit a lot more cells inside than the old ones. Mentally; he added a visit to the optometrist to his ‘to do’ list.
He had rigged a saddlebag from two messenger bags. One of them had been replaced with the other when the zipper broke, but for the moment an open top bag was far better than nothing. He sourced two adjustable straps from the storeroom, likely kept from other bags that were thrown out or replaced when they got old or broke themselves. The straps let the bags rest across his back, just behind his wings, and a loop around the lanyard would help keep it from sliding off, hopefully without strangling him. Not bad for a ten minute effort. Maybe he could find some of those quick release buckles in a craft store and strap it around his barrel.
His current conundrum was which house to do to. While he knew that one of his neighbours had an ATV, and would have been able to recognize them on the street, he wasn’t exactly sure which house was theirs. It should be one of the three on the outside of the avenue’s curve, so he picked one. It quickly resolved into a new conundrum. The door was locked and resisted all his attempts, be it with mouth or hoof, to open it.
“Come on, couldn’t I just have this one?” Robin whined sitting on his haunches dejectedly and staring at the locked door, his saddlebags on the porch behind him. He pawed at it futilely. He didn’t really want to break down a door, partially because he didn’t want to ruin a perfectly good shelter.
“Yeah, yeah, It’s a dumb idea,” Robin muttered to himself as he contemplated the door. Hoofed animals were known for having strong kicks. He thoughtfully rubbed his jaw with a hoof and tapped on the door. Nodding to himself, he reared up on his hind legs, walking his way upright, using the door as a support.
“Easy now,” he cautioned himself as he removed first one hoof, then the other from the door. Instinctively his wings flared out and his tail waved, helping keep his balance. He wobbled slightly and dropped back to all fours, grinning widely. “I can work with this.”
Robin positioned himself before the door and reared up again. Idly, he mused on how his wings worked except when he wanted them to, but squashed the thought before it cost him. Drawing his foreleg to his chest, he kicked out with them, bashing the door and staggering back from the recoil that numbed his hooves momentarily, falling back to all fours. He scowled at the door, the wood marred with the slight imprint of his hooves, but far from compromised. “Stupid door…”
His ears pricked as he heard movement coming from inside the house. Hope of another survivor welled and he pressed his head against the cool wood. Hope was harshly dashed when loud barking and snarling came from the other side. Yelping and letting out an odd sound, he jumped back, his wings flaring and flapping, somehow managing to clear the entire porch and land painfully on the steps, rear hoof catching on the edge and sending him tumbling, his head striking the walkway.
“Ah, son of a gum chewing fudge monster!” Robin swore, cradling his head with his forelegs and wings. He grit his teeth and ground out a series of far less distinct and muffled complaints for a few moments more, hissing to himself as the dogs continued barking. When the pain finally dulled, he awkwardly got back up, rubbing the throbbing spot with a wing. Feeling wetness, he extended his wing to look at it, finding a few traces of blood on his fur and membrane.
“Oh, brilliant!” he exclaimed, glaring at the door. The dog had decided to run around to the breakfast nook window, and was barking his canine brain out and baring his fangs at Robin. Robin flared his wings and hissed back. “I hope you’re happy ya mutt! Now I got a cut.”
Robin fumed, collecting his bags and awkwardly pulling them back on. He checked his injuring with his wing again, pleased to see that the blood flow seemed negligible to none existent. “At least my blood is still red. Yay hemoglobin!” he cheered blandly as he walked to the next house. “Not a Vulcan critter.”
Robin paused and looked at his wing again. He extended it, moved it up and down and finally folded it against his side, fumbling a bit before he found what felt like a natural rest position. “I can move them? When did tha- no! Not complaining! This is awesome!”
He hoped in place, his wings popping open and flapping. He wasn’t sure if he fell any slower or not, but his wings were his now. “So awesome! Alright. One down, one to go!”
-----o-----
This time he didn’t try for front door. He instead tried the garage, hoping that the home owner was one of those that didn’t lock that door. Getting the garage open was tricky, and almost too much for his still developing coordination of the new body, but he managed to get the doors high enough to get inside. The garage itself was more a dedicated store room, and he had to carefully pick his way through the assorted ‘stuff’ on the ground to get to the door.
“Please don’t be dogs, please don’t be dogs,” he muttered as he reached for the handle. Cautiously, he grabbed it in his mouth, using mainly his lips and teeth, rather than tongue, and turned it, letting his body weight push it open. “So far so-”
BEEP-BEEP-BEEP- BEEP-BEEP-BEEP- BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!
“Find me in the alps!” Robin growled, his ears pressed flat against his skull in a futile effort to block out the sound that seemed to be piercing into his skull. Moving as quickly as he could, he stumbled over to where the alarm system’s control was mounted on the wall, which was also the source of the wailing. Rearing up again, he tried pressing random buttons, which didn’t do anything towards ending the acoustic assault.
“Ah, forget it!” he winced. A few solid whacks from a hoof broke the entire control from the wall, leaving it to dangle by a few wires. He clamped his teeth on the small box and dropped to the ground, his weight and the sudden force yanking it the rest of the way out and bringing sweet, blessed silence. He sighed and dropped it, kicking it into the living area.
“Ow…” he whined, rubbing at his ear, the ear on the opposite side of his wound. “Note to self; loud shrill noises can hurt. Or just be very irritating.”
-----o-----
“I hate you,” Robin said to the ATV as he poked around it, trying to figure out how it worked and if it had gas. It had been sitting quite comfortably in the garage of the last house he checked, because fortune would have it no other way. The plow attachment was leaned against a nearby wall, along with what looked like a mowing attachment to hitch to the back. Both would be handy in the future.
“You are going to be plenty useful and all, but I really hate you right now,” Robin continued, slightly muffled by the keys in his mouth that he found hanging from a hook on the wall. The ‘insert key and turn’ part was pretty straightforward, but he was still trying to work out what else was needed to get the machine running. “Would it have killed you to be in the first house? No, it wouldn’t. But you just had to let me suffer through dogs, falling off a porch and a blasted alarm.”
The motor finally turned over when he found the right switch. Robin nodded and fumbled to find a position on the seat. His unusual flexibility was about the only reason why he could actually ride the ATV. Hooves and pastern wrapped around the bars, positioned close enough to the cluster of buttons and switches that he could reach them if he needed to. “I am going to make you work so hard to make up for the stress you’ve cause me today.”
It took him a few tried to get the hang of controlling the machine, but he was soon pulling out of the garage, probably looking somewhat comical; wings half flared, speed unsteady as he tried to master how to operate the gas and brakes of an unfamiliar vehicle with unfamiliar appendages. He was even blushing slightly, mostly because he was regretting not working on fixing a set of pants to wear.
“Okay… your name is now Sophia. Sophia Quadri. And we are going shopping.”
Hey Cellie. I love Sophia. She’s the used ATV I added to our family. Today would have been much much more difficult without her. It took a little while to master how to drive her, but once I started picking up on the tricks, it was fun. Sure, having hooves made controlling the gas and brakes dicey, but it helped build my finesse. I can almost hold a pen now!
I can work my wings now too. I’ll also admit I almost flew off Sophia a few times. I tend to flare when I get nervous, and even though they are too small to fly with, they still catch wind. I might be able to glide short distances down from high places with them. So… not a total waste of bio-resources? I’m still working out my new biology. I still think I’m an omnivore by the teeth and the fact that I haven’t had an upset stomach. My spine seems freakishly flexible, same for my neck and shoulders. The wings are too small for real flight and too big to be vestigial, so maybe gliding…
I did stop by the dentist place, but I need a second set of hands to work the system. Um… second set of hooves?
Anyway, back to Sophia. I headed down to Canadian Tire and got one of those trailers and hooked it up after a lot of trial and error. I made so many trips back and forth today. I admit; I didn’t get everything on the list, but maybe half of them? I realized I haven’t really prepared in case power or water cuts out, so I started working on that. Containers of gas stocked up from the stations. I got lots of water, those big bottles made for coolers. Grabbed a cooler too, since I had space. Got a couple solar panels. I didn’t hit the stock in the back, I’ll save that for another day.
I did get a better printer and a few more computers. Spent an hour or two setting them up and putting things to download. The internet in crashing. More and more webpages are down. The wikipedias downloaded, and I’ve started collecting as many maps and academic resources I can. I did get a portable speaker and a headphone from Walmart. I’ll spend some time tomorrow riding around the community for a while looking for people.
I couldn’t find any of the more complicated radios, but I got a simpler one and checked a few bands, but didn’t hear anything. I did get a printer though. Bluetooth and everything. Ellen already printed off the other records for you. As for ink… the best place for that would be Best Buy or Staples. Those are maybe a ten minute drive away. I’m reluctant to head out that far yet. Oh, I found a few things to make a better set of saddlebags. And pants. I used one of those heavy staplers to pin some velco straps to two messenger bags so now I can wrap it securely around my barrel and flank.
I did the same to some soft shorts and shirts after cutting slits in them. I’ve tried them out, and the slits let my slip my wings and tail though while the bits of velco let me close them back. I’m a genius!
Tomorrow I ride through the community then hit the mall. It’s nearing midday and I’m starting to nod off. I figure I’m inclined to a nocturnal or at least crepuscular schedule now. No real reason to fight it I suppose. I’m going to practice my finesse with some eggs and balls I grabbed when I was in Walmart until I get too sleepy.
Night Cellie. Well… Good day? I’ll figure it out. Laters.