Personal Adaptations

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

11/23/98:

The night was hot and very humid. Almost pressing in it's
heat. I found it nearly imposable to sleep in such
conditions, though Oria was quite happy. It reminded her of
home.

I sighed, sinking back into my chair and looking out the
window at the night sky. Prid was currently facing away from
the galaxy, and the stars were far and dim. Prid was located
two hundred light-years out from the edge of it's galaxy, so
even when it's facing towards it, it was still an empty sky.

Reaching over I tapped the on switch to the desk lamp,
giving the room some dim light. Folded out on my desk was a
dozen papers involving the IMF and the shipyards. Most of it
work I had been putting off and putting off. This time of
night though, with nothing to do, it was the best time to
catch up.

I couldn't make myself do it though. I just sat in my chair,
looking down at them, my tail swishing slowing as I pondered
actually doing the work. It was no use though, I could not
force myself to do it.

Leaning back into my chair, I let my eyes drift back to the
window. With the light on this side of the glass, it made it
act like some sort of mirror. Reflecting my image back to
me.

I was still a lioness, but it wasn't something that bothered
me to any great extent. It was kind of strange to look into
a mirror and see a female reflection of one's self. I looked
just like Rhea always did in my mind. A slightly longer the
normal muzzle, with a pink nose and two little white spots
on each side of the pull of the hair-lip. My slitted eyes
were still the same ice-blue they always were anymore. It
was strange to see.

Though come to think of it, in my mind Rhea's eyes were
gray.

Then, without so much as a blink, I realized so were the
eyes in my reflection, but it wasn't a reflection any more.
I was looking at Rhea, standing a few feet away.

Glaceing around, I found that we were in the middle of a
grassy plain. Alone, just the pair of us, identical twin
sisters I guess.

"Hi," I said, raising a paw to her. "You've been quiet the
past few days."

She snorted, turning her back to me. Her long brown hair
flipping out behind her.

Taking a step forward I placed a paw on her shoulder.
"What's wrong?"

No answer came, but her ears were starting to lay down into
her hair.

"Did I do something?" I ventured.

"Something!" She yelled out, spinning around to look at me.
Glaring at me with anger in her eyes. "Did you for one
moment stop to think how I would feel about this change of
yours?"

I shook my head slowly. It had never even crossed my mind.

She sighed, "no, I wouldn't expect to have. You were so
excited about the prospect of not being cut off from your
friends when you are me. You never even considered that we
had a deal, that when you where in my body, it was mine."

"I'm sorry, if you want the control, I will gladly give it
to you."

She shook her head, her eyes locking with mine. I saw a deep
sadness inside of them. "This is not me though. Being off
four legs is just not right. I am an animal, not this," she
waved a paw over her body.

I placed my paws on her shoulders. "Rhea, I really didn't
think, and afterwards I didn't think you would mind. When we
talk your always like this, it never occurred to my that it
was wrong."

She gave  me a sad smile, taking one of my paws in hers, and
pulling it to her cheek. "I know Fox," she said, nuzzling it
gently, "we're so much the same in many ways. Same memories,
same mind in many places. I understand why you did what you
did, and why you where so excited about it."

"I'll have Ken make a gem for us," I suggested, stroking the
side of her cheek with my other paw. "Maybe we can do
something like every other month, or do six days, half as
you, half as me."

She smiled, a look of startled excitement crossing her face.
"You would to that for me?"

I nodded. "Of course. We're sisters now."

She laughed softly, jumping forward and hugging me tight
around the waist. "Thank you Fox!" she said, nuzzling my
cheek.

"Your welcome," I responded, petting her shoulder.

"You have no idea how long I've waited to hear you say that
to me," she told me, her voice fading into a whisper, as her
touch grew less.

Blinking, I sat up in my chair, back into the real world.
Smiling to myself, I shook out my hair and stood up. Turning
around, I was surprised to find Jadith standing in the
doorway, dressed only in a nightgown that was barley opaque,
and hung over her chest in ways that got me a bit more
excited then it should have.

"Hello," I said, feeling slightly shy around her.

"What are you doing up so late?" She asked, walking over to
me.

I shrugged, trying hard not to look at her almost viable
body. Waving a paw back to my desk, I explained. "Hoping to
catch up on some work."

She nodded, glancing over my shoulder. "Then why did you
seem to be sleeping for a few minutes?" She asked with a
playful smile.

"Oh," I answered, "talking to Rhea."

She nodded again, taking a step closer. "Are you feeling all
right? You look kind of flushed."

"It's the heat," I explained, "if I was human I would be
sweating."

She smiled, reaching out to touch my wrist. "It's not that
hot. Would you like me to give you a quick once over, see if
your OK?"

I nodded, a quick checkup couldn't hurt.

Placing her other hand on my shoulder, she closed her eyes,
humming softly to herself as she worked. After a minute she
stepped away, rubbing some blood off her nose. "That was
interesting," she commented to herself.

"Any problems?"

She seemed to hesitate for a few seconds before shaking her
head. "You're the same species are Oriana like this?"

"Yes," I answered, slightly perplexed.

"And," she stopped, hesitating again, "how much do you know
of there menstrual cycle?"

I paused, starting to get the basic idea of what she was
trying to say. "You mean, I'm in heat?" I asked, sounding
slightly startled.

She nodded.

I let out a deep, long laugh. "That explains why I feel as
horny as sixteen year old."

She smiled. "There's something else as well. Are you nipples
bother you at all?"

I blinked, that was a bit of a forward question. Looking
down at my chest, I shrugged. "There a bit tender, but I
think that's from the bra, I'm slightly larger then Oria is.
Eventually I going to have to get some clothing for this
form."

She shook her head, slow enough to know that my answer
seemed silly to her. "Fox, it's not that simple."

I raised an eyebrow, my tail flicking slowly. "Why? What's
going on now?"

"Well, I'm not quite sure why," she answered, adjusting her
nightgown a bit, "but your body was try to start you
lactating."

I blinked, twice this time, my tail swishing a bit faster
behind me. "That's unusual."

She nodded. "Maybe, you'll have to ask Oriana about it. It
could be perfectly normal for her species. I finished the
job for you, I thought that Oria would like a break from
nursing Beca."

"Sure, ya," I said dumbly, rubbing the back of my neck as
what she said sank in. "I can deal with that." I sounded a
bit surer then I felt.

"Deal with what?" A new voice came from the doorway.

Looking past Jadith I saw that Sora was standing just
outside, looking in though the door.

I paused for a few seconds to think about this. "Is everyone
I knew female?" I muttered to myself.

"What?" Jadith asked.

"Nothing," I said, shaking my head and waving a paw at her.
Though to think about it, the only male I had in my group of
friends was Ken, and that was strained to say the least. It
was strange, I wonder why I never noticed it before?

"I though I would find you around here," Sora said, stepping
into the room. She was dressed normally for her, in a lose
shirt cut for her wings, and a pair of almost to tight
pants.

"Come on in then, you might as well join the party," I said,
pulling my chair around and sitting down in it. Being
careful to put my tail thought the hole in the back. An
action I have a tendency to forget if I don't make myself
think about it.

Jadith took a few steps to the side. "Sorry for abandoning
you at the table," she told Sora, "but I though I would talk
to Fox."

Sora waved it off with one hand, her wing on the same side
fluttering out a bit. "It's all right."

"You two stay up a lot at night?" I asked.

They both shook her heads in time. "Not at all," Sora
answered first. "I was making a late dinner and Jadith came
in."

Jadith nodded, yawning softly. "Speaking of late, I'm about
ready to fall asleep standing up. So if you ladies will
excuse me I'm going to bed."

I jumped a bit at the mention of ladies. I still hadn't
gotten used to the changes in the language that came with
the change in gender.

"Sure," I said, recovering quickly. "I wanted to talk to
Sora anyway."

Sora looked slightly shocked, giving me a sharp glance with
her red eyes.

"Good-night then," the elf said, nodding to the pair of us
as she slipped out of the room.

Sora looked to me, flexing her wings slowly; her eyes
drifting over my form as I relaxed in the chair. "This is
the first time I've gotten a good look at you like this,"
she commented.

I smiled, spreading my arms, "what do you think?"

A smile spread out across her muzzle. "You seem to be
comfortable with it."

Letting out a short laugh, I leaned back in the chair. "It's
feels natural for me."

"I think being me would feel natural to you," she said,
spreading her wings out as far as they would go inside the
confines of the room. "Your soul-bound."

That was a strange term, "what does that mean?"

"That your 'self' is part of your soul, not your body." She
explained, pulling her wings back, letting the tips drape
over her shoulders. "Most people's sense of self is attached
to there body, you remove the body and there lost. Your's is
part of your soul. You can change bodes, forms, or even lose
your body, and you would still know yourself."

With a quick shrug, I leaned forward a bit. "You weren't
there when Oria and I were first switched. Neither one of us
took it very well."

"Yes," she said, crossing her arms. "But to hear Jadith tell
it, you recovered very quickly until something happened
between you and Ken. After that it was like you shattered."

"And Oria spent a lot of the first few days working hard to
stay together mentally." I added, with a slow nod, my tail
curling around the one leg of the chair. "I think I see what
you mean."

She smiled, "If you were killed in a particularly nasty way
the odds are that you would leave a very annoyed ghost
behind."

Removing my tail from the chair leg, I stood up and walked
over to her. "Lets not think about that shall we?"

She nodded, smiling a bit more. "What did you want to talk
to me about then?"

I laughed softly. "What I've been trying to talk to you for
about," I couldn't come up with a number, no matter how much
I groped for one. "Well, just too damn long. Why don't you
show me what you pulled from the computer stuff we salvaged
from your ship."

She smirked slightly as she watched me fumble though the
request. "I suppose, I still have everything set up in my
room, but I just thought that it wasn't that you were no
longer interested in."

"I'm going to be interested until I get you back home." Her
winged flared out slightly as I said this. "Lead on."

She nodded, pulling her wings back and walked out the door
then towards her room. I followed right on her tail, arms
held behind me back. As I walked I took mental stock over my
body, the fact was I hadn't been joking with Jadith, I was
horny as anything. To add to that my breasts (gods, what a
phrase to think about one's self) were feeling tight in my
bra, and some what full.

It was all quite strange for a guy.

Sora opening the large door to her room, and I stepped
inside. It wasn't actually a proper bedroom, but some sort
of 'great room'. The kind of place where you would hold a
large party at. Sora liked it because she could get a full
extension of her wings when she sleep.

Along one wall was a kind of lab, computer equipment was
spread out all over, with a other assorted pieces of
hardware laying in a mess over the long table. At one end
was a large monitor that was the main terminal in the room.

Walking over to the terminal, she typed in a few commands.
"There's not much to see, most of the recordings are just of
normal space flight. Only one thing really stands out."

She punched in a few more buttons, and the screen filled
with a star field. The picture was distorted, static running
downwards and across the frame. It was a bit difficult to
look at, but I could make out that the star field was slowly
drifting from the left to the right.

A point of light in the background grew bright, expanding
slowly as it showed itself to be some kind of space ship. As
it came nearer, it began to turn in a slow bank that brought
it up along side where the camera had been.

Then, in a series of bright flashed of light, it fired. The
picture flared, then went black.

"Shit," I muttered, shaking my head slowly.

Sora placed a paw on my shoulder, "Not quite my reaction.
Though who ever they are, they attacked us without warning,
if we hadn't gone back for the computer we would have never
know."

I rubbed my chin. "Do you think the guy who sent you knew
about it?"

"His name is Graven, and I'm sure of it."

I blew air thought my teeth. "This definitely changes
things."

She nodded.

"Is there anything else?"

"No," she answered, shaking her head.

"Ok," I said, pushing some hair out of my eyes. "I'm going
to have to think about this. For now though I think I'll get
some sleep."

She smiled, turning of the terminal. "Good-night then."

I smiled in return, turning around and leaving the room.
After a short walk I slipped inside my own bedroom. Not
turning the lights on, I closed the door as quietly as I
could. The light from the windows giving me enough to see by
with my enhanced eyesight.

"About time you came to bed," Oria mumbled from under the
covers.

I chuckled softly, pulling off my shirt as I walked towards
the bed. "Couldn't sleep,"

"Ah," she muttered.

"Talk to Jadith," I continued, taking off my bra as I sat
down on the edge of the bed. "She says I'm in heat."

Lifting her head from the pillow she gave me a quizzical
look. "Are you sure?"

I nodded, taking my pants and panties off, then slipping
under the covers. Curling up next to Oria I rubbed my paws
over her belly. She was really starting to show now, not a
small bulge, but a nice belly. She seemed to like it,
flaunting it a bit when she was dressed.

She laughed softly, kissing me. "I guess you had to do it
sometime, and here is the best place. No guys around, and we
don't need you getting pregnant, at least not yet."

Chuckling, I kissed her in return. I never thought about the
idea of getting pregnant, just not something that ever
applied before. "Next time then," I whispered, nuzzling her
cheek.

"Speaking of which," She said, pulling herself a bit closer
to me. "How does your chest feel?"

"Jadith brought that up herself. I guess she pushed it ahead
for me. Though why am I starting to lactate?" I asked,
reaching over and tweaking her tail tip.

She smiled, "It's perfectly normal, when a female is
pregnant she puts out pheromones that effect any females
that live with her; causing them to start to lactate as
well. When the doctors induced it in me, my body started
producing those pheromones, and since your a female of my
species..." she trailed off, smiling in such a way that
implied I was to finish the statement myself.

I nodded, licking her nose. "I see."

There was a click as the baby monitor next to the bed kicked
on. The sounds of Beca's fussing filled the room.

Reaching out, Oria tweaked one my nipples. "It also means
it's your turn to do the midnight feeding."

I laughed to myself as I sipped out of the bed, and started
for my granddaughters room.

-----

This story is (c) 1999 by Fox Cutter, hardcopy reprints
limited to one a person, all other rights reserved. This
story may not be distributed for a fee except by permission
of the author, and this copyright notice may not be removed.