Perspective Flip
Page 22
Her eyes shined and her nose twitched. "I had to." The needle lay empty in its case.
"No, you didn't have to." My hands were exploring her, finding a body still soft and fragrant. The full reversion, to something like her original human form, would take hours. Plenty of time.
She said, "It's the right thing to do. I need to — I mean, I'm choosing to help. If I have to hide my real self away for a little while, it doesn't matter what other people think, right? They don't get to define me."
I smiled. "When we return, you can come roaring right back to what you want to be."
Alice's whiskers retracted to nothing and her fuzzy ears were losing their near-comical size, but she was my friend no matter what she looked like. She nosed my own ear and gave a husky little roar that made me shiver. "So that's what you mean by being free? Having a bunny-girl wrestle you to the pillows?"
"Fringe benefit." I pulled aside a blanket. "For me it's having someone choose to do that."
Alice smiled and let go of me. She slipped away, climbed off of the bed and posed for me, with a luxurious stretch. I'd never told her, but it was her eyes that caught me the most. The intelligence and the drive that showed when she willed them to be there. When she was most alive. She looked me over and said, "There's work to do, eh, amigo?"
I nodded.
"Since you need me for this trip, you owe me big time." She was giving up external beauty, slowly fading into a dream deferred, all so that she could help bring others here. Maybe Alice was just doing this for my sake, not understanding what my work meant to me — but maybe on some level she did understand. After all, she'd chosen this change by her own hand, and hoped to accomplish something by it. There was courage in her.
Alice looked me over as though I were her payment. She seemed to like what she saw, despite all my faults. Despite my holding back from changing into something wild and fun like her... for now. She made her decision to collect, and pounced me.
Author's Note
Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this book, please consider giving a rating on Amazon so others can find out about it!
If you like the combination of a breakaway island nation with advanced tech and bunnygirls, check out Phil Geusz' "Freedom City" books. Liked the castaway on an ocean planet? See the game "Subnautica", which inspired it. "Safari Swap"'s loony corporation? My online gallery has a story called "The Seeds of Doom" which started that little setting.
As for "Island Tail", I'd like to create an interactive story/"visual novel" following that premise. Let me know if it's something that might interest you.
See next page for more works by the author.
About the Author
Kris Schnee has been a parrot trainer, an MIT graduate, a zoo intern, a lawyer, a game designer, and most recently a software developer. He lives in Florida.
Galleries:
http://www.amazon.com/Kris-Schnee/e/B00IY1HDDY/
(Amazon author page)
http://kschnee.deviantart.com
http://kschnee.xepher.net
Interested in hearing about new books by the author, and commentary on writing and world-building? Sign up for a mailing list at http://eepurl.com/cRvqWH.
The Thousand Tales Series
Thousand Tales: How We Won the Game
2040: Reconnection
The Digital Coyote
Thousand Tales: Extra Lives
Thousand Tales: Learning To Fly
Also By Kris Schnee
Everyone's Island
Striking the Root
Dragon Fate: Interactive Fiction
Perspective Flip
Mythic Transformations
Anthologies containing Schnee's work include "Different Worlds, Different Skins", "Roar #6", and "Gods With Fur".