The door swung open a few seconds after we knocked, but rather than invite us in Shirley sort of froze in the doorway. There was a confused, incredulous look on her face as she stared for a second or two, before she finally found her voice.
"Who are you?" she half-demanded. "Where is Aster? And why do you have a bird on your head?"
The small arctic kitsune had a wide smile on her face while her tails all swished back and forth happily behind her as she replied, "Hi Shirley, I'm Aster's headmate Yuki! We've spoken a couple times in the past, but this is the first time that I actually look like me!"
"Aster is in our headspace at the moment," she added. "And the raven is our new friend Cara. Oh and she's on our head because she's too big to perch on our shoulder."
Our sister continued staring for another few seconds, while a frown settled on her face and her mouth opened then closed a couple times. She finally demanded, "Is this some sort of prank or something?"
Before Yuki had a chance to respond Wes came up behind our sister asking, "Hey Shirl what's - oh wow, cute kitsune! I love the ears and tails! What's with the raven though?"
"Hi Wes, it's me, Yuki!" my headmate greeted Shirley's boyfriend with a smile. She flicked her ears and swished her tails as she added, "And thanks, I love my ears and tails too! And the raven's name is Cara, she's our new friend."
"Woah!" Wes gasped as he stared at the arctic kitsune's ears and tails. "Those look almost real! How'd you get them to move like that?"
Yuki announced happily, "They're totally real! And since you're both here I'm going to swap with Aster. She and I agreed that this would be a good way of proving that it's really us."
Shirley and Wes exchanged a look, then they both turned their attention back on Yuki and I just in time to see us trade places. The little arctic kitsune came into our headspace and we shared a quick hug, then I stepped out and took over our body. And just like we planned, our body shifted from her appearance to mine as soon as I took over. Our hair and fur darkened from arctic white to deep black, and our eyes changed from Yuki's pink irises to my purple.
"Holy hell!" our sister yelped as she took a step backwards. "What?! How did you do that?"
At the same time Wes's eyes almost bulged as his jaw practically dropped and he mumbled another quiet "Woah!"
"Hi sis, hi Wes. It's Aster here now," I greeted them both. My tails and ears drooped slightly as I added, "Sorry for freaking you both out like that? We figured letting you see some of this impossible stuff might help convince you it's really us."
Cara added in a dry tone, "By 'we' she means Yuki and I. Aster agreed to our idea because it was the simplest and most direct option."
I sighed as my cheeks started to colour, while my ears drooped a little more and my tails twitched in irritation. "You didn't need to tell them that Cara. And will you please get off my head?"
"No," the raven stated. "Not until we've been invited inside and I find somewhere more comfortable to sit."
By that point both Shirley and Wes were staring at us in shock again. My sister half demanded, "That bird's not talking is it? Birds can't talk!"
"Of course I can talk," Cara replied in a matter-of-fact tone. "All birds can. Many of us even have adequate singing voices. I however am one of the rare examples who can also communicate effectively in English."
My ears and tails were still hanging down as I glanced nervously up and down the hallway before asking, "Shirley can we please come in? It's starting to feel really awkward discussing this stuff out in the hallway."
She frowned at me, "Are you really my sister? Are you really Aster?"
"It's really me," I nodded, although moving my head like that got Cara flustered. "The last forty-eight hours have been crazy sis, and I promise I'll tell you all about it. But please can we do that inside?"
The raven added, "I believe there was also talk of dinner?"
"Oh shit dinner!" Shirley suddenly gasped as she turned and ran for the kitchen, leaving us alone in the hallway with her boyfriend.
Wes gestured, "You may as well come in then. I figure dinner will either be ready in a minute, or however long it takes to get something delivered. Depending on how burnt it is."
"Thanks Wes," I smiled as I moved past him into the flat.
It was a fairly standard two-bedroom layout, although the second bedroom was mostly storage along with Wes's desk and gaming computer. We went into the living-room where I settled into the comfy recliner and he parked himself across from me on the matching sofa. I put my pack down on the floor by my feet, and Cara finally hopped off my head and settled down on the wide padded arm of the chair next to my right hand.
Shirley joined the rest of us a couple minutes later with the news that dinner would be another thirty minutes, more or less. Depending on how busy the local curry house was. Then she got us drinks, a glass of juice for me while she and her boyfriend had sodas.
"So while we're waiting for dinner," my sister stated as she stared at me again, "How about you tell us what happened? How in the world did you end up looking like that?"
I had a gulp of my juice then nodded, "Ok sis. Like I said the last two days have been pretty crazy, but I swear all of this is the truth. It all started late Tuesday night, or maybe early Wednesday morning? It was somewhere around midnight anyways..."
Over the next half hour I did my best to explain everything that happened to us, starting with the earthquake that woke us and the flood that nearly drowned us. Yuki chimed in now and then to remind me of details or correct me when I got things wrong, although Shirley and Wes couldn't hear her. They could hear Cara loud and clear though, whenever she corrected me or elaborated on certain points.
Every time the raven spoke up it got my sister and her boyfriend staring at us again. Same with when Cara stole sips of juice from my glass.
By the time the food arrived I'd only gotten as far as almost being struck by lightning after climbing the mountain barefoot in the dark. We stopped on that cliffhanger so Shirley could answer the door while Wes grabbed us all some dishes and cutlery.
After the brief disruption we continued the story over dinner, except at that point it was mostly Cara talking since I spent half the day unconscious in headspace. The raven also helped herself to some of my dinner as she talked. Yuki contributed to the story as well, and I relayed everything the small arctic kitsune said so Shirley and Wes could hear it.
The timing worked out so I'd just about had enough to eat as we reached the end of the story, "So we managed to get a good sleep in the hotel last night. Then we texted you this morning during breakfast at the restaurant. After that it's been a full day's ride getting here from Grantown-on-Spey."
"Don't forget to tell them about your ears," Cara reminded me, before leaning in and stealing a piece of chicken right off my fork.
"Right!" I nodded, too excited about that revelation to complain about the food theft.
My tails swished around in between me and the back of the chair as I explained, "I couldn't wear my bike helmet over my fox ears, they're too tall and even if I fold them down there's not enough room in the helmet to fit them? Except somehow I managed to turn them into human ears for the ride home! Then when we got here, as soon as I parked and took off the helmet I turned my ears back to normal again!"
"You're calling that normal?" my sister asked as she raised an eyebrow.
I nodded happily as I had another forkful of curry. Then I added, "I haven't had time to really figure out how it works or what else I can do. We'll be working on that more tomorrow for sure!"
Shirley slowly shook her head and sighed as she chewed on a bite of her naan. She finally responded, "Aster you nearly died! Twice! Your entire body's different! You've got animal ears! And tails! How come you aren't freaking out about all this?"
My ears and tails drooped a bit at my sister's words, but our raven friend spoke up before I could say anything.
In a helpful tone Cara corrected Shirley, "Actually it was more like four times that they almost died. First when the earthquake brought the trees down around them and their hammock. Second when the flood washed them into the loch. Third when they were almost struck by lightning. And fourth, that knocked them into a little pond of glowing magic water, where they could've drowned a second time."
My sister facepalmed, then sighed as she rubbed her forehead. Meanwhile I cringed a bit in my seat while my ears stayed down on either side of my head.
Shirley finally addressed the raven, "What's your part in all of this? Do you know what's going on? Did you do this to Aster? Or are you just a normal raven? I mean a normal raven that can talk."
Cara sounded almost indignant as she replied, "Excuse me young lady, I'll have you know that I am an exceptional raven. And that's got nothing to do with my command of the English language."
"Fine," my sister rolled her eyes. "That doesn't answer my question though. What's your part in this earthquake and impossible mountain stuff? Why did you let Aster bring you here, hundreds of kilometres away from your home? And most importantly, why are you in my flat eating curry with us?"
The raven scooped up some rice from my dish before answering, "I am as much a victim of the situation as Aster and Yuki, I had no part in orchestrating it. And I'm here because I'm friends with Yuki and Aster. Also, Aster agreed to be my support fox. She does what I say and in return I look after her and keep her out of trouble."
"I'm not your support fox!" I insisted as my cheeks flushed. "We're going to have to talk about this when we get home."
Cara sounded almost condescending as she replied, "Of course Aster, whatever you say. Now be a dear and tear off a piece of naan for me, won't you?"
I sighed as I ripped a little bit of bread for her, "Just because I'm sharing my meal with you doesn't mean I'm your support fox."
"Mhmm," the raven responded. And I'd swear she was smirking at me despite not having any lips.
Shirley sounded exasperated as she suddenly exclaimed, "This is all nuts!"
"It's totally bonkers is what it is," Wes agreed. "Wild though. Like you got turned into a kitsune, that's amazing Aster! And when Yuki fronts your body turns into her? So ok you had a few near-misses with death, but now both you and your headmate got to have your own affirming bodies? You must be beyond chuffed, right?"
I found myself grinning happily, while my ears perked up and my tails started wagging again.
"Yeah!" I nodded, "I mean our bodies aren't perfect, not yet at least. Three tails is pretty good, but if we're talking perfection then we should each have nine tails."
"Other than that though, you're right!" I added happily as my tails continued swishing around. "It's as close to perfect as can be. Seriously, you have no idea how amazing it was when I realized I was in my own body! I mean this, like the body I always saw myself as in headspace? I can't even describe the euphoria Shirley, but it was amazing."
My sister watched me for a few seconds, then she gave me a warm compassionate smile. "I'm happy for you Aster, I really am. I'm still freaking out over here about everything else, but I'm really happy that you're not stuck dealing with dysphoria anymore, that you're actually happy with your body now."
"Thanks sis," I smiled back at her. "And yeah, there were some really rough spots. Almost dying wasn't fun, and so much happened in that first twenty-four hours or so it's almost all blurred together? But getting to be my real self makes everything else worth it."
Shirley continued smiling at me for a few more seconds before it finally faded as something else seemed to occur to her. She gave me a worried look as she asked, "So have you figured out what you're going to tell mom and dad? And what are you doing to do about work?"
"For that matter what will you do about your ID?" she added. "And pretty much everything else? You know nobody's going to recognize you, right?"
My shoulders slumped as my ears and tails all drooped again. I sighed and shook my head, "I have no idea what we're going to do, about any of that. I can try to convince mom and dad who I am, but they won't understand why I'm a kitsune now. And they don't know about Yuki at all yet, so that's going to be another huge hurdle to get past with them."
"My ID already has the right name on it," I added, "But I don't know what to do about the photo part? People won't believe it's really me."
Cara volunteered, "I'll vouch for you Aster."
I tried not to roll my eyes as I responded, "Thanks Cara. I don't know how much that'll help, but I appreciate the offer."
"No idea what to do about work yet either," I added as I looked over at Shirley and Wes again. "I guess we'll figure this stuff out as it comes up? Take it one day at a time."
My sister nodded slowly, "All right sis. I don't know if there's anything I can do to help, but I'll do what I can. At least when it comes to mom and dad, I can try and smooth things out with them."
"Thanks sis," I smiled as my tails started wagging slowly. "I really appreciate it."