In a room
The sign reads
"Welcome all new travellers.
To continue you must go through a series of doors.
After going through you will pick a costume. You will then become a half- human and half that creature.
After a week(100 mins a hour,20 hrs a day,10 days a week) has passed you may morph and get another costume. To start of with you will only be able to become 40% human to 60% human.
If you put on a costume you will then become that creature, be teleported to it's home town and have to wait a week before being able to morph.
After 50 costumes you may change into one of your other costumes and become 30% to 70% human. When changing costumes you must wait at least an hour before you can change costumes again.
100 different species/gender costumes allows you to gender-morph and become 20% to 80% human
200 different species costumes allows you to combine costumes and become 10% to 90% human
400 different species costumes allows you to return to your world with no more morphing
And 800 different species costumes makes a polymorph and allows you to morph outside of this world.
Also if you have a costume like a centaur then the human part will always be human and is counted towards the human percentage.
Any gender/species transformation magic of yours can only change your gender(if you have at least 100 costumes) and the animal part to a different animal.
When you change into a different costume (that you already have) you may teleport to that species home town but you will have the week penalty where you have no costume changes.
If you die while wearing a costume you will be reborn at the local inn (or appropriate location ). If you have more then 100 costumes you will lose the costume you had when you died and go to an appropriate place for your next costume.
If you fail to make it out in 100 years(100 weeks in a year) one of your possible forms will be chosen and you will be permanently stuck in that form(apart from magic) until you die. Also there will be no possibility of going back to your world.
Also, one final note: should you take a female form and become pregnant, you won't be able to change your gender until the child is born, though the other aspects of your form may change (the child will change to match.) That is all, and good luck!
You realise that you have to do what the sign said to do and go through the doors and grab a costume.
Alternatively you could use the key system to determine the room
Written by Catprog on 11 February 2004
Water Creatures
You find yourself in what appears to be a glass room deep in the ocean.
The stairs are blocked by a force field.
You realise you have to go through one of the three dark blue doors numbed 1,2 & 3.
What door do you want?
Written by Catprog on 11 February 2004
Myth Water
You go through the door.
All of a sudden it slams shut and with no handle on this side it appears that you are stuck.
There are two more doors however and both of them have a sign on them saying
Costume room for Element: Water
Type: Myth
Gender: ????
So which door do you want
Written by Catprog on 01 January 1970
Female Myth Water
You go through the door.
All of a sudden it slams shut and with no handle on this side it appears that you are stuck.
There are five costumes in this room, all of them female, all of them are myth water creatures.<P/><small>
- A shell which you assume belongs to some giant tortoise. (thanks to Mr.Peaches) <span class="female"><li>Hippocampus</li></span>
Written by Catprog on 26 February 2004
Selkie
You stop in front of a particular costume, curiosity getting the better of you. It looks like a mermaid tail, but it’s slick, and brown with a very fine layer of fur. And the fish tail part looks like a single webbed flipper. A Sea lion? Or a seal? Either way, it’s only a tail, and you remember these costumes are still supposed to leave you part human.
But this doesn’t look the right size. And it doesn’t exactly look “leg shaped” like a mermaid tail. You pick it up, pinching it between your fingers as you look at the thing. Would it conform to you? Or would you conform to it? Looked like you’d have to discover for yourself.
You self-consciously glance over your shoulder at the door, then around the glass walls for any peeping eyes. Then you quickly set the tail back down so you can grab your shirt and slip it off. Your hands are trembling now that the moment is finally here, but you move fast to avoid anyone walking in on you changing.
But when you move to slip your pants down, you stop at your underwear, realizing that this was specifically noted as a female costume. Which makes you wonder for a moment what’s going to happen to your male anatomy. Your hands, still pinching the sides of your underwear, freeze as sudden indecision grabs you. But remembering how many costumes you’re going to have to change into, and that if magic promises to change your species then it probably won’t permanently remove your goods, you finally push it down your legs.
You grab the tail again, and by now your heart is pounding. You swallow nervously, and whip out the costume so you can open it up and step awkwardly into it. You rustle around the slick insides, shimmying it up and slipping your feet into the thick flippers of the costume. Only after you’re standing in it do you realize the top edges go well past your waist. You wonder if you’re suddenly going to grow another foot tall just to fit it.
Well, you’re about to find out.
An uncharacteristic sense of calm washes over you. Though your heart still pounds in your chest, your tremors have ceased. You release the tail. The fabric floats right where you left it, eerily still in the soft blue light of the deep ocean. A soft whoosh like a vacuum seals the costume to your body, like a wrinkled trash bag, before slowly expanding. It starts at your feet, like filling a water balloon. It is an apt metaphor, since the part of the tail filling with flesh is cold. It numbs your feet and up your calves, like the magical material is eating away at the human part of you to dissolve it into the tail.
You yelp as you fall, your support suddenly gone. You hold yourself up on your forearms, leering down your shoulder to watch in abject awe as the fabric swells up past your knees, up your thighs and hips to your waist.
You gasp, feeling slightly claustrophobic as the magical swelling presses against your lungs. Your chest cramps painfully before growing heavier with each gasp. You wince, a loud crack of your ribs terrifying you into thinking you’ve broken one. But the sound of snapping bones keeps going, and with each heave of your cracking ribs, your breaths get bigger, as your lungs expand along with the rest of your flesh. You reach to clutch your growing chest, in an instinctive urge to stave the panic.
But the transformation doesn’t stop at the edge of the costume like you assumed. That same feeling of your growing lungs is climbing up your throat, making your gasps bark and echo in the silence of the room. When it finally reaches your throat, you sigh in stunned relief, even as your head tingles. Blinking past the new, thick protective membrane of your eyes, a dark curl bounces in front of your eyes. You blink as more follow its lead, and quickly turn your head to peer down your back. Your hair- dark brown to match the tail- is growing at a shockingly accelerated rate. It folds in on itself and the curly, rolling mess tumbles down your back onto the floor.
And then the magic stops, bringing the room into eery calm once more. You glance down at your new body, blinking down at the large, plump curves of the seal.
No, not seal- selkie. The rim of the costume clings to your body like a sweetheart gown, and your breaths, though steady, fill your whole body deeper than ever before.
Then you blink, and shield your eyes from brilliant sunlight. Salt water and rotting seaweed assaults your nose, crying gulls scratch your ears, and a sharp, cold wind stings your face. You peer through your fingers hesitantly as your dark eyes adjust to the sudden change. Once they do, you can’t help but gasp in awe.
You’re on a shoreline, precariously perched on the edge of a short cliff. To your right, there’s a small, but bustling little town. Filled with many, as you note, women with thick, curly hair, ranging from dark to light brown, or light gray to black. To your left, the cresting waves foam at the shore.
Despite your worry and trepidation before, a new sense of excitement fills you, though it is dulled by pesky indecision. Should you head to the town? Or take this new body for a spin straight into the ocean?
Written by HiddenFruit on 31 May 2016
Into the ocean
It is after your transformation that your mind teases over your options. Each has it’s advantages and disadvantages, though in your current state as a Selkie you question if it is a good idea to walk among humans. Sure your form is more anthroish, but you doubt if humans might respond well to a Selkie suddenly walking among them. Yet, at the same time, you seem worried about the steep drop from the cliff side into the ocean.
What if there are rocks waiting at the bottom of the drop to smash your body to bits?
Then of course there is the matter of, the longer you debate, shifting uneasily upon the rocks, the longer you wait to find out what you can do with this new body. Your curious… it seems so strange that a costume could be filled with such magic. Yet here you are, looking upon your now feminine body with a smile. A hand brushes through those long, dark brown locks of hair you have as you thank whatever higher power above that your new body is something appealing. This is a bonus to the change of events that have taken over your life even if everything else seems a bit strange.
The minutes tick by before you finally give in to the desire to be in the water. The ocean seems the most natural place for you right now and so you edge closer to the cliff’s edge to gaze down at the salty water below. From what you can make out there doesn’t appear to be any rocks waiting for you below… perhaps you were just feeling a moment of paranoia and assuming the worst?
At least now you feel a little more settled about the idea of jumping into the ocean from here. You take a deep breath, aiming to steady yourself, and jump from the cliffside down to the water below. Moments later the cool, salty water of the ocean envelops your body.
You gasp upon reflex, a shiver going down your spine as your body begins to get used to the new temperature. The water welcomes you almost like a lover who has not seen you for some time. You feel at home, and figure that taking your new body for a spin could be a rather interesting and rewarding experience.
Written by HiddenFruit on 04 August 2017
Dive deeper
As you plunged into the ocean, the feeling of the ice cold water was almost relieving the deeper you pierced into the water. You could feel your body cutting effortlessly through the ocean as you continued to swim.
Somehow, you never felt this alive in your life- maybe it was just the cold water on your face, or your heart beating out of your chest. Still, there under the water, you still had that same sense of calm keeping your mind from racing. Before long, you realized how much you actually loved it under there. It almost didn’t seem to cross your mind to come back up to the surface from how large your lungs had become.
Despite having held your breath for so long, you didn’t seem to need a refresher for some time. You could feel your double eyelids closing tightly- though you still retained better vision than if you had your eyes open normally. You loved the feeling of the water swishing against your chest and you almost found yourself being lost in the process of exploration.
Suddenly, your eyes started to pick up on some kind of large object underneath the ice. You quickly took a dip up on the surface before taking a deep breath and sliding back down to see what it was.
When you finally made it to the deeper depths of the ocean, you could see some kind of figure stuck in the ice. Upon taking a closer look, you were absolutely shocked by what you had seen. To you, it looked like frozen animals that you’ve never seen before. For a moment, you wondered if these alien creatures meant you had somehow been transported to an alien world, but somehow, they were similar enough to the animals you were used to.
It seemed as though you had discovered some undiscovered extinct species from simply swimming around under there.
Written by Drifting Dragon on 01 September 2023
Take note of the location and continue.
You were particularly freaked out by what you had noticed, but you took note of the shape of the iceberg sticking out of the water over where you had found the bodies. After looking at the sun and noticing that it was starting to set, you realized that it would be a better idea to not meddle in this situation yourself, at least not right now.
In the moment, you were enjoying your new Selkie body as you continued to swim through the ice. Before long, you notice the sound of seals and their dark shapes dotting the icy shelf just ahead.
Your heart started to beat out of your chest in excitement as you noticed them. Somehow, you figured that in this form, it would be easier for you to meet and interact with your fellow animals. Your heart almost skipped when you thought about the people you would meet along your adventure. Of course, a group of seals would be a nice place to start. You wonder if it’d be a good idea to approach the nearby animals.
Written by Drifting Dragon on 05 September 2023
Approach the seals.
You decide to approach them. You could hear their barking together and after you got a bit closer- when you started to really focus your hearing on their banter, it started to sound like english to you. Before long, you started to make out what they were saying.
“Yeah. The fish nowadays just aren’t the way they were before.”
“I agree, there are far fewer of them as well.” Another voice responded.
“We’re going to have to do something soon or else our children will starve.” You could hear a frantic mother’s voice adding in.
“Mommy, is everything going to be okay?” A youngin’s voice rang out.
“Of course dearie, we’re just talking about what the plan will be.”
“The plan will be to find another place to stay.” Another adult added in.
“How could we possibly do that? We’re barely able to-” Suddenly, they all stopped and turned their heads in your direction.
“Who’s there?”
Written by Drifting Dragon on 07 September 2023
Announce yourself
“Hey, I’m… Uhhh.” In that moment, you kind of forgot your own name. You were mostly just distracted by how everyone was staring at you, showing their sharpened teeth defensively.
“Hey, Is that a human?” You heard one voice cry out.
“No it couldn’t be, humans cannot be in the water without their fur like that.”
“Wait… Something’s different.” You continued to slowly approach them and they watched your every move attentively.
“What… are you.” The curious mother said, slumping her body towards the edge as the other larger males gather around to protect her.
“It’s okay. I’m female as well.” It was the first thing you could think about. In hindsight, maybe it was a bit strange, but you were still adjusting to this body and felt a bit overwhelmed considering everything else that’s going on around you.
“Stay back!” One of the males called out.
“No, it’s okay.” The mother retorted before sliding into the water and swimming up next to you. “You’re not from here, are you?” she said before perking up in the water. “We need to get out of the water. Come with me.” She said before guiding you back onto the sheet of ice. The other seals gathered around you and started aggressively sniffing in your direction just to get a better idea of what you even were.
You looked down at your double set of flippers and for a moment felt almost like a centaur as you slid along the cold smooth ice.
“You’re right. I’m not from here. I’m an adventurer.” You explained.
“Yes. And why are you here?” One of the largest male seals asked, somewhat threateningly.
“I’m here to… Uhh…”
Written by Drifting Dragon on 09 September 2023
I’m here to help
“I’m here to help.” You mentioned.
“Help with what?” he asked. In that moment, you wondered what you could have helped with anyway.
Written by Drifting Dragon on 11 September 2023
With the fish
“I’m here to help with the fish problem.” you mentioned.
“What? How did you know about that?” Someone asked.
Written by Drifting Dragon on 13 September 2023
Lie
“Well. Even I haven’t been able to catch fish the way I used to.” You mentioned. “It’s been rough for us everywhere, and I’ve come from a far away land because of that. We’re all out of fish in my homeland and I haven’t seen my family in years. I don’t know if they’re starving or not, but I had to go to find more fish. I can see that what happened where I am from is happening here and I just wanted to make sure to be able to stop whatever is going on.”
Your speech seemed to compel the others. Some of the seals were looking at you with concern and you almost started to feel bad for them feeling bad for your complete lie. Still, in a sense, in every lie is a bit of the truth, you are away from your family though it may not be as long as you made it seem. You were actually quite enjoying your time here. The sympathy of the others started to feel good as you watched their reaction, waiting for their response.
“Oh my lord. I see.” The woman replied. “Well, what happened to the fish from your home?” she pondered.
“Humans came and took them all.” You said ominously. “The only thing we could do was run away from it. We tried finding new land but by the time we had left it was too late. There were no other fish for miles. I am lucky I had finally come this far and survived. You all are helping me out more than you could understand and for the fish that helped to sustain me this far will be repaid tenfold if you accept my help.
“And why should we believe you.” The intimidating male asked.
“Well. Do you really have any choice?” You asked.
“What if she’s just another mouth to feed? What if she has pups? That would be far more trouble than what it’s worth.” Another random voice suggested.
“But she’s right, we have a lot to lose if the same thing ends up happening to us.”
“Yeah, she seems experienced. Trustworthy.” The mother seal mentioned. “And if she is lying, then she’ll get what’s coming to her.” She said in an ominous tone, other seals nodded seriously as though they understood exactly what she meat.
“Thank you so much. If you want, we can all talk more about some kind of plan we can maybe move forward with?” You asked. “There are a few things we should be talking about, considering you all do trust me. Here’s some of my ideas.” You said before laying it all out to them.
Written by Drifting Dragon on 15 September 2023
We need to leave and find another group
“We need to find another group, with more people we can go hunting easier, and chances are, if we can find a small group, we can send out scouts to be able to find a place where we could all settle where there’s more food.” You suggested.
“That sounds kind of risky.” A random voice mentioned.
“Don’t you think it would be harder to feed more of us?” someone else asked.
“Well, I guess if we have more people, our territories will be more secure, we can protect ourselves way more than if we were as small as we are now.” A male voice replied.
You listened to them all banter for a moment and after a bit of talking things through, the largest male turned to you once more, finally having come to a conclusion.
“We agree. Do you know where we could go?” He mentioned.
“Well, I came from the north, it’s getting worse and worse up there so coming south- here- I found more fish. I assume the pattern will continue if we keep going south.”
“If that’s the case, we’ll leave first thing in the morning.” The giant seal mentioned. It was settled then and there. You could tell by the shere speed that this little group of seals were incredibly desperate. For a moment you wondered if you were actually just taking advantage of them for the sake of your adventure but that thought didn’t last too long in your mind.
You didn’t even think twice about whether or not your lie would have backfired, you just wanted to have fun and do some adventuring while you were here and in this magical new world.
The next day rolls around and you rise with the sun. You could see the others waking up around you and promptly, everyone started on the journey to a new land. Somehow, as you took the long trip with some of what almost felt like your brethren, you started to feel more connected with the earth around you.
Occasionally, you would stop and chat with some of the mothers and they would tell you endless stories about their upbringing and how they plan to bring up their own children. Somehow, it made you feel like you too wanted to be a part of it all. Throughout time, you all traveled several miles and along the way you felt as though you had many friends of them all and somehow you started to feel more whole than you ever would have.
Slowly, you all started finding some more fish and even stopped in a perfect spot for resting and getting some food. You all filled your bellies and many of the other members had finally felt satisfied for the first time in a long time.
“Hey! Where’s my child!” one of the mothers called out. “I can’t find my child!” She started swimming around frantically. “He was just here with me catching fish, has anyone seen him!” She screamed and cried desperately for the others to help out. Of course, you too felt inclined to help the situation as it quickly started to unfold.
Written by Drifting Dragon on 17 September 2023
Dive down and search
“Everyone! Be sure to stay together!” you called out before shooting into the water like a bullet almost instinctively, a few others were still scanning the surface, but not many of them went as far down as you had just to find the mother’s young child. In the chaos, it was starting to hard to make anything out clearly, but you still tried your best to keep yourself composed enough to spot the young seal as you searched around.
Your body was pushed around by the strong underwater currents and before long you found yourself almost swept into a rocky underground area. Fear started to grip your mind as you were being knocked around the sharp walls of the cave and you almost wondered if this was it for you.
A sigh of relief exited your lungs as you were spat out into an underground air pocket- some kind of massive cave opening underground.
“Hello? Help? Mom?” you heard a weak voice echoing out from the darkness.
“Hey! It’s not your mom, but she’s looking for you. Where are you at?” You asked. “Keep talking to me. I’ll come find you. Are you hurt?” Your heart was beating but you stayed strong as you followed the sound in the pitch darkness.
Before long, your eyes had fully adjusted and you watched a small dark figure inching towards you as you. You heard him whimpering and you could see that they were clearly hurt. Their tail was bent oddly and your heart sunk as you noticed the damage that the rough ride had done to his frail young body. “Heavens! You are hurt!”
“It’s okay. I’m not in pain. Aah!” He almost limped towards you.
“Come on, lets get you out of here.’ You said to him, getting behind him and helping to push him along. You used your human-like arms to help move his tail in a way that he wouldn’t feel pain when applying pressure to it. At this point, you noticed that the young child had some kind of spinal fracture. It must have been all those sharp rocks along the narrow snaking tunnel.
You figured you would be able to muscle yourself back out through the flowing water, but you also wondered if the young weak child would have been able to. “Don’t worry. I’ll try getting you out. We have to go through that hole, I’ll try pushing you. Okay?” You mentioned.
“Okay. “ He replied weakly. Soon after, you helped lift the young seal up to the hole and used both of your hands to slide him into the narrow passageway. You inched your way back up and fought against some of the water just to be able to get him out. You could tell he was having a lot of trouble swimming from the way he was jerking around painfully every time you tried pushing him forward. You wondered if he could even get him out from how small and weak your body had become. Though you had built bulk in a different way, somehow, being in this form seemed to impact your strength.
Written by Drifting Dragon on 19 September 2023
Leave him
The decision was easy at this point. You sighed deeply, your muscles were aching with exhaustion at this point and you figured there was nothing more you could have done to help.
“Hey… Kid…” You mentioned. “I don’t think…” You could already see him starting to panic.
“NO! Please don’t leave me!” He cried out. Halfway in pain, halfway in fear. “Just go get my mommy. I want my mommy. Please.”
“Hey… That’s a good idea. Listen, I’ll go to get someone else for you, okay? What do you think about that? We’re going to try to get you out.” You said, lying once again, knowing that no other seal would have the dexterity to come down here and get him out safely. You knew that the pack would have been burning far too much energy just to attempt this rescue mission. “I’ll be back soon.” You mentioned, recalling what you said earlier. “Just wait for us okay? Don’t worry, please.” you begged, knowing quite well your true intentions.
“Okay.” he sniffled. From your time spent with him, he saw you as someone you could have trusted and you knew this. It hurt even more as you inched your way back out to the surface.
Before long, you’re once again at the surface of the water. The other seals are looking around, concerned, but relieved to see you.
“Could you find him?” The mother asked.
“No. I couldn’t find anything other than some shreds of fur. I think something may have got him.” You mentioned. “Something’s following us. We need to keep moving, or else we’re going to lose some others.”
“No Please!” She begged.
“Yeah, she’s right, I don’t want to risk my kids’ life right now, if something else is down there.” Another mother suggested. The crowd started to get tense for a moment, murmuring among itself before the largest male seal stepped up and gathered the crowd’s attention.
“No, she is right. We must keep moving on.” And like that, it was settled. Though the tension between different members of the group was so thick it felt like you were swimming through it even the moments when your upper body peeked out of the water.
Before long, you all seemed to come across another seal pack up ahead and just as you said earlier, you all cautiously approached them with your concerns.
“There are others here.” You could hear the leader of their pack sensing the pack you were with approaching.
“Make yourselves known, make it known we are not a threat.” The leader of your pack said. “We mean no harm, we are in grave danger.”
“State your intent.” The other leader mentioned.
“We are here because of a famine.” the large seal floating in the water said. You then came up next to him and continued.
“Yes. We are also here with a warning. Hard times are coming and we must work together as one.” You mentioned.
“Throughout history, each of our packs had remained separated, but at peace. You mean to bring warnings of hard times?” he mentioned before turning to his pack and muttering amongst them. “We can accept you if you pull your own part. Everyone here works for the betterment of the pack.”
“We agree with that. Though we hope not to intrude during our assimilation.” He mentioned. It was settled then and there. Both packs had started mixing and mingling during their integration and before long it was like one big happy pack.
Written by Drifting Dragon on 21 September 2023
Stay with the new pack
You decide to spend most of your time with the pack, after everyone settled down. Before long, you even found yourself enjoying the time you’ve spent with the rest of the pack. On your journey, you have made lots of friends and some of them were particularly interesting to you.
Even after so long, you couldn’t figure out who your best friend was- there were lots of colorful characters all around you to choose from though. You would spend your days subtly thinking about the new people you had come across.
First, there was the pack leader. He had made himself quite well known to you throughout your journey, and even after. Occasionally, you both would sit and talk about the health and wellness of the pack- you started thinking about it more and more as time passed.
Thenagain, you couldn’t help but think about the mother who lost her child on the way here. Somehow, you kept feeling at fault about it, but you just put those thoughts to the back of your mind as time went on. Still, in a way, maybe you felt the need to comfort her… somehow.
Finally- more mysteriously, you wondered about the pack leader of the new pack, now fully integrating with your pack almost seamlessly. You kept wondering if he had any kind of underlying intent with your original pack. He was being so nice after all, and considering the looming threat to not only your pack, but eventually, even their pack, he was playing it pretty cool.
You couldn’t seem to figure out which one had excited you the most. So you spent a bit more time thinking about which path you would ultimately take.
Written by Drifting Dragon on 09 October 2023
The mother whose child didn’t make it
As you went on this trip, you truly did start to get quite attached to some of your other seal friends. Almost even to the point where you had started to feel some sort of empathy, sympathy, or something like that. There was one seal that you felt particularly sympathetic for and that was the woman who lost her child on the way here.
You almost forgot that you could have saved her kid but didn’t. Regardless you obviously felt guilty about it, so now it was your chance to try to convince her how good of a person you are. It took you a while to discern her from the crowd, but she was quite literally the only female without kids all around her.
“Hey.” You said approaching her and climbing up on a flat piece of ice. There were several other female seals with their kids all around you all but they seemed to stay away. For a moment, you thought you could hear them whispering among themselves- something about unlucky- whatever it was, it must not have pertained to you or the female whose child didn’t make it.
“Hello.” you replied. You didn’t seem to know exactly what to say to her. “How have you been.” The generic option never failed you before, it certainly shouldn’t fail you now.
“I’ve been doing quite well, I’m just grateful we have food now.” She mentioned.
“Yeah, for me, it’s all I could ever ask for!” You replied. The female was silent for a while, just watching her reflection in the water.
“That’s right. Safety is all we could have ever asked for…” She said with deep gratitude. “Who knows how many we could have lost had you not come along. You’re truly a hero for all of us.”
“I try my best. I just really wanted everyone to be happy. It’s the right thing to do!” You said, puffing out your chest like the hero you were.
“Oh you’re so humble.” The woman said with a cute little giggle.
“Thank you.” You replied. “I just wanted to spend some time with you today.”
“Why is this?” She asked, tilting her head.
“I just wanted to really feel like a family with you all, you know. I just wanted to be closer with all of you.” A bright smile spread across your face. You wanted to make sure she understood how open, friendly, and relatable you were being from your expression alone. You stared her down until she returned a cute soft little smile back at you, covering her whiskered muzzle with her flipper.
“I’m glad you feel that way. Thank you for taking the time to spend some time with me.” She replied.
“Yeah. I actually wanted to talk to you about something.” You took a moment to ponder your conversational topic.
Written by Drifting Dragon on 17 November 2023
Talk about the other pack’s leader
“Honestly, I wanted to ask what you think about the leader of the other pack. I wanted to know how the integration is going.” You started. It seemed to be the best option to take her mind off of all the bad stuff in her life, so of course, the best option would be to think about the brightsides and plan for a better future with her.
“Oh… I mean. I suppose you’re right.” She started. “I believe the integration is going pretty well, honestly. There’s a lot of progress, and the whole dynamic of both of the groups are really starting to change up. But… I don’t know if that’s for better or for worse.” She continued.
“Hmm, well I suppose that’d all depend on who you’re asking.” You replied. “Well, have you been bonding better with some of the other members of the new pack yet?” You asked.
“Actually, I kind of have. I think that all works better towards our future you know. I mean ever since I lost my child, it’s as though some of the members of our original pack started to see me differently, and now it’s just become a bit weird, like they’ve been ostracizing me ever since that all happened.”
“Wait, really?” You asked.
“That’s just how I’ve been feeling. I don’t know, things are really changing.” She continued.
“I don’t know why, but for some reason, it feels like I could say the same thing. I can’t quite say I know exactly why, but it’s just something… I don’t know.” You just couldn’t find the words, but it’s as if somehow your instincts made you feel unsettled about what’s been going on. Honestly, it was satisfying to hear that someone else may have felt the same way about it. For a good long while, you pondered what you would say next.
Written by Drifting Dragon on 25 November 2023
Discuss a coup
“You know what. Haha! I’ve actually been thinking about something.” You started. “There are lots of problems going on here. I mean I’m seeing it all around, I don’t know… how much we could do to help with it but… I don’t know, people like you and I have been wronged in life, I think maybe we could work together, figure something out… To get power here in this newly created pack.”
“W-what!” She said, sounding pretty taken aback from your suggestion. “What do you mean… Like…” She was silent, unable to finish her sentence.
“Yes, we would stage a coup.” You said in far more obvious terms. “Would you be interested in that? I know I’m coming off kind of strong, but, there’s an elephant seal in the room here and we need to be able to lay things out as is. I know you’re real like that. I know you can be trustworthy, and I wanted to show you that you can trust me too.” You spoke to her with so much conviction that you were sure she was convinced.
“Let me be honest with you. I’ve been thinking about that myself.” She mentioned. “Like you said earlier, we’ve both been wronged in the past, and nowadays, it’s really hard to find people who are like that.” She continued. “Can I be honest with you as well, can you truly be one of my allies?” She asked. “Because, actually, the leader of the new pack was also thinking about doing something like that. Everyone’s in their own worlds so much to the point where they don’t even see what’s going on around them, even the leader of our old pack has been acting that way.” She explained.
At this point, you had found out a lot more than you had expected from the start, but by the time the conversation was over, you had seemed completely convinced that working with you would have been the right choice. “What do I need to do to help you? How can we help each other?” That was more than enough confirmation for you to begin your negotiations.
The two of you spent some hours chatting with each other about the solution, and after so long, you both ended up narrowing down your options.
Written by Drifting Dragon on 01 December 2023
Overt
“I think… We should be open about it. First, we can spread the word about it, try to rouse some suspicion, maybe, highlight all the other wrongdoings that any other members of the pack may have gone through.” You suggested.
“What do you mean?” The female wondered. “So like, just talk to people about stuff for a while? Share our experiences, and then see if anyone else feels similarly, if we could get anyone else on our side then?” She questioned.
“Yes! Exactly. I think if we just bring this to the people first and foremost, then we would all be able to work towards an even better outcome for us all!” You continued.
“You know what. That doesn’t sound too bad. I suppose.” The female mentioned. “I can’t see how this could go wrong in any way.” She continued.
Upon getting your peer-reviewed confirmation, the two of you started to execute the plan. For a while, it seemed as though you were both garnering a lot of support for your cause. Lots of people were on board, but somehow- something seemed to go wrong after a bit of time had passed. All the tensions- tiny things- all adding up, ultimately prompted you to approach the female seal once again.
“Hey. Amira, do you think we can talk a bit about this?” You asked. The woman quickly agreed, and the two of you quickly went off to find a more private place for you to discuss. “So, have you been noticing something kind of weird going on?” You asked. “Like, I don’t know. It just seems like we’re starting to hit a brick wall with our plan or something.” You continued.
“I didn’t want to make a too big deal about it or anything…” Amira started. “But honestly, I was wondering if it was just me… Or if it really was something going on.” Your heart almost leapt out of your chest with a rush of enjoyable adrenaline when she had agreed with you. “I don’t know what we can do about that? What do you think is going on?” She asked you.
“Well. I think it may have something to do with the outliers.” You suggested. “I mean, of course, not everyone’s been through this, though at this point, we’ve had a lot of the others on our side, but also, there will always be some outliers.”
“If that’s the case, then it seems like there may be someone out here pretending?” She started.
“Do you mean like, someone is only pretending to agree with us?” You pondered really hard for a moment. “If that’s the case, then maybe they’re not being open about this because they’re trying to sabotage what we’re trying to do.”
“Wow, that makes sense.” Amira was baffled by how quickly you were able to figure out what was really going on here. “Who do you think that may be, then?” She asked.
“Hmm. Okay, that one, I’m not completely sure about.” You continued. For a moment, the two of you sat around all day just talking about who it may be. Honestly, you didn’t really even notice that others were cutting their eyes at the two of you as you isolated yourselves. Stuck in your discussion, the two of you didn’t even notice the crowd starting to form around you as you two talked. It had been a while at this point, and honestly, you had been having talks like that for some time now and people had obviously started to notice.
Maybe it wasn’t for the better that you all were transparent and told everyone about your plans. Somehow, being surrounded by all the angry faces looking at you both caused the two of you to stop mid sentence. It caused you to feel a bit insecure about yourself and your decisions up until this point. You could feel your face flushing red and the energy you were receiving from them was completely negative. Someone stepped forward, breaking the silence.
“We’ve heard about what you’re doing. It’s inappropriate.” They confronted you two.
“What are you talking about? Didn’t you agree with us that the leadership is flawed? We need a new leader. Some new age for our pack, especially since everything else seems to be changing so fast.”
“I mean we agree with you to an extent but some of the stuff you’ve told us didn’t set well with some other members.” Another young female added.
“Listen. You’ve been telling everybody different things okay? That’s not right?”
“What! You’ve been doing what?” Amira asked, turning to you.
“It’s not what it looks like.” You said, almost a bit frantically.
“Is what they’re saying true?” She asked. Despite trying your best to talk your way out of the situation, the harsh truth was that they were right. Of course, you had to tell everyone different stories so that you can relate to them even more just to get them on your side. Now, it was all backfiring on you. Your stomach started to feel heavy with a cold brick of anxiety freezing up in your gut. Fingers and flippers fidgeted in anxiety as they continued to confront you.
This continued for a while, question after question and it was like an endless trial of judgment. It really hurt you. It made you reflect about everything you had done so far and the shame associated with your actions and exactly whatever the hell you were thinking when you made them.
You couldn’t really figure it out. It was almost as if something had come over you. Of course, it was something that’s not yourself compelling you to do bad things. It was more overwhelming to you than anything you ever experienced. You couldn’t help yourself, your legs started to move on their own and it was as though you had completely lost control of your body. Quickly, you shambled off into the ocean.
Others started following you, nipping at your tail and banishing you from the tribe. They chased you down for miles and miles and you could feel every muscle in your body fighting just to take you further away from there. You couldn’t say how far you had come, and you couldn’t even tell how long you had been fighting for but before long you could tell that the amount of fight in you was just about all used up.
Before long, you could feel yourself starting to fade. Your body was on fire from exhaustion but the icy cold depths of the cold ocean water started to take its toll on your. The joints in your body started to creak and you could feel yourself really starting to slow down. Eventually, they would push you down under water as they nipped at you and at one point when you went under, you felt yourself slipping out of the suit and back into your own reality.
You were jolted out of your little fantasy story like a rude awakening. Your body was a bit sore and stiff from everything, but after that whole experience, you were just happy that you could simply just try again if you wanted any re-do’s.
Written by Drifting Dragon on 11 December 2023
The end (for now)