The onlookers get brave.
Daniel felt as if she needed the rest, having flown for who knows how many miles only to take a short nap and then run yet further on foot. Her legs were tired but not outright exhausted. She could keep walking or manage to run a few more miles before they felt the strain. Her wings meanwhile were outright sore, a dull ache in her lower chest and along the thick muscles under feathered skin just at the base of those limbs. With nothing else to focus on and a body now at rest it was that much harder to ignore how strange the sensation was. To be sore in a pair of limbs that felt nothing like your actual body. Her arms where somewhere else, her feet were behind her, even the tail was basically an extention of the spine.
What were these? Extensions from the shoulders? It was like having an extra pair of lanky arms jutting from behind your neck, and you used them to swim through air and catch wind. How do you describe that? How do you cope with feeling sore in places you quite literally are not supposed to have?
As human as ever she found the best idea was to not think about it. Focus instead on her surroundings, explore options for how to get back. Take this time and nap while she awaits food and be thankful that she came across kind and understanding people. Let alone people willing to feed the wild animals if put under extraneous circumstances.
Looking around to the rest, almost all eyes on the park were staring directly at her. A winged lioness with the head of a stunningly beautiful black haired woman who had a smooth face and the tan colored fuzzy ears of a cat jutting from the top of her head. Some of the onlookers turned away upon noticing her gazing right back, but most seemed content to watch from whatever safe distance and not appear to mind if she was aware of them or not. Keth and Angel were meeting up with Charley, three fishing rods in hand. But it wasn’t long at all before various people in camping attire or brightly colored shirts with flower decal came up to engage in conversation.
Obviously too distant to eavesdrop Daniel found herself surprised at a voice calling to her from behind.
“H-hey you!” her ears perked toward the male who jogged up to approach. Young, but not a child, wearing loose clothing and covered in fishing lures. “Yeah, uh, lion girl. You can talk right? Can you talk?”
“Indeed I can.” Daniel could tell the boy was nervous but not panicked, turning just her head to face him directly. Once more struck by how incredibly unnerving it was when her face alone was over half the length of his entire body. The guy could sit on top of her head holding onto the ears as reigns and wouldn’t have to worry too much about falling.
“Cool! I mean. Woah. That is so cool.”
“I don’t exactly like my transformation here, but yeah. I guess it’d be a lot harder if I couldn’t talk.” Daniel inwardly gripes about the exasperating riddle problem, randomly taking away her ability to speak is exactly what that annoying curse did. And if it wasn’t actually some creepy magic curse bestowed by a green skinned witch all covered in warts, the sphinx was going to be disappointed.
“You mind if I um … ask what you are? Its for a bet you see. My friends back there all think you’re a robot.”
“What I am is human, or at least I used to be.” Daniel sighs, now panning her gaze about to see if she could spot these friends.
“Haha, good joke. Or do you mean you’re like a transformer or something? Like, more than meets the eye, lion girl’s in disguise.”
“I’m not a g- …” Daniel almost started to say something, but stopped in a huff. “Yeah, something like that. Yesterday I was just a normal teenaged kid having a party with my friends over in Longport. When I wake today I’m somehow in this giant weird body and out in the middle of nowhere. My name is Daniel and I am completely human, up until now an ordinary one.”
The man looked confused for a moment.
His confusion is quick, almost suspiciously so, to turn into anger. To annoyance.
“Look, if you don’t want to tell me your life story then just say so girl, I’ll understand. You don’t have to make up whatever dumb lies to try and throw me off.”
It was Daniel’s turn to look annoyed, staring directly at him with all the fury and anger of a Egyptian woman about to send heads rolling. Before she could say a word it became apparent she didn’t have to.
“Hey, heyheyhey, we cool!” the man held up his hands defensively, taking a step back. “So uh, ignoring the disguise part can you tell me what you are right now? Some kind of angel-lion or whatever? Doesn’t seem to fit seeing as your wings aren’t anywhere near white.”
“I’m a sphinx unfortunately.”
“For real? Aren’t you supposed to have like, a snake head for a tail and the talons of a bird instead of lion paws?”
“No clue.” Daniel answers honestly, her frustration deflated. “I’ve got wings, I’m a lion, I have the head of a human, and at complete random I end up spouting off riddles by pure reflex. Even when I’m trying to say other not-riddle things! If that isn’t a sphinx then you tell me what it is.”
“Ah, cool then. Cool. Say uh …” he places his hands in his pocket, shuffling left and right on his hips while glancing all around with the shiftiest gaze imaginable. “You wouldn’t mind going up to my pals and saying you’re actually a hippogriff, right?”
Daniel raises an eyebrow.
“Like I said.” The boy continues. “It’s for a bet you see, and I don’t want to have to sing on karaoke night.”
Written by Arbon on 04 November 2016