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Description
Maribelle ducked under a low-hanging branch, the leaves stroking the top of her head as she passed. The forest wasn't her normal habitat, that was for sure. She was far more at home in an oily workshop than she was surrounded by nature. There was something different about this forest which drew her to it, though. Rumours that a now-bankrupt company had been performing some kinds of experiments out here had piqued her curiousity. Perhaps there would be some leftover scraps of machinery to salvage from whatever had been experimented on? It was certainly worth a look. After all, who knows what technological gems she could unearth? The thought of having something completely new to tinker with excited the engineer-girl and, judging by the faint crackle of electricity she felt in the atmosphere, she didn't think she was going to be disappointed.

Wait? What was that? It was in the corner of her eye, but Maribelle thought she spotted something hidden within the roots of an old, gnarled tree. Something that gave off a dull, metallic shine amongst the earthy-tones of the undergrowth. Sure that she'd found her prize and overflowing with anticipation, she turned back to the tree and crouched down to peer through the twisted roots. Sure enough, there was a small metallic box sat in the middle of them. It looked old and as though it hadn't been touched for some time, so she took great care when she lifted it out from the tangle of bark.

She couldn't lift it very far, though, because it was attached to a network of thick wires that sank into the forest floor. There was a dial set into the top and a small, red light beneath that, which suggested that it was still operational, but it had definitely been a while since it had been held by human hands, because it's metallic shell was covered in a thin layer of soft, green moss. Maribelle set it down on the floor in front of her, knelt down and used the back of her glove to wipe the moss away. "Automatic Weather Synthesiser" read the letters she uncovered, whilst around the dial she had revealed a series of faded icons, ranging from a sun to a snowflake.

"Score!" said Maribelle. "This must be some kind of weather control device, think of what I could do with something like this! I guess this whole forest must have been used to experiment with aritificial climates and stuff, huh? Hmm... I wonder if it still works?" She looked into the sky towards the rays of sunlight piercing the canopy of leaves overhead. The dial was indeed pointing to the sun icon, so maybe if she just turned it to the water-droplets one, she could create a little rain...

"Ahem," said a female voice behind her. "What do you think you're doing here?" Maribelle knew that voice, she drew her hand back from the dial before she could turn it and turned to face her sister, Astrianne, who was standing there, her arms folded and a stern expression on her face.

"What am I doing here?" said Maribelle. "What are you doing here, Astrianne?"

"Me?" said Astrianne. "Why, I'm keeping a watchful eye on my dear sister, of course. Someone has to make sure you don't start operating strange old machines you don't understand and get yourself into another of your... situations."

"Hey, I think I'm a little more careful than that," said Maribelle, irritably.

"Oh?" said Astrianne, allowing herself a small grin. "Then what are you doing with that device on the ground there?"

"What? I was just going to try..." said Maribelle, her face beginning to flush a little. "I mean, I'm sure it's safe... Look! I can take care of myself! I don't need you following me about all the time!"

"Oh, Maribelle, Maribelle, Maribelle..." tutted Astrianne, folding her arms again and shaking her head. "Dear sister, I would love it if that were true, but you continue to provide compelling evidence to the contrary. Need I remind you that, had I not got involved, you'd still be stuck as a- Huh?" There was a click as she leaned against the trunk of a tree. Turning around in confusion, she saw that her shoulder had inadvertantly pressed a button set into a small box attached to the tree.

"Hah! what was that about not operating strange old machines, sis?" said Maribelle, grinning up at her flustered sister.

"I d-didn't mean to!" snapped Astrianne, her own face flushing now. "I didn't know it was-"

But she was cut off by a robotic, female voice echoing through the forest, saying, "Artificial humidifier activated." Maribelle leapt to her feet and Astrianne nearly leapt from her skin as a series of hatches opened in the forest floor, which released a steady stream of warm, moisture-filled air. Rising up with it was a puff of pink spores, which the two girls both swallowed an accidental lungful of.

"Wha- What was that?" said Astrianne, between coughs and splutters.

"I guess that some kind of fungus got into the humidity system," said Maribelle, who was also coughing. "I guess it makes sense... Fungi thrive in dark, humid environments..."

"A fungus?" said Astrianne. "Augh! And now my lungs are full of it! Oh what if it's poisonous or-" but she couldn't finish that panicked sentence, because her body was racked by another, violent fit of coughing - with Maribelle suffering the same - and, between the dry coughs and the feeling of her lungs burning, she could see her hands starting to... glow pink? She turned to her sister and saw that her body was prickling with spots of pink light as well. She would have screamed, were it not for the coughs, as both of their bodies were engulfed in the garish, pink glow.

The light faded and Astrianne opened her eyes again. She breathed a sigh of relief. Her coughing had stopped and her lungs no longer left as though they were on fire. ...But why did everything seem so big now? And what was that strange glow all about? She tried to hold out her arm to check whether it was back to normal or not, when her sigh turned into a scream. She didn't have any arms to hold out. What was going on? She looked down and saw that her body had become smooth, nearly featureless and pale, completely lacking in any limbs and was embedded into the moist earth beneath the grass.

It wasn't a body at all, she thought, with horror. It was a stalk. Terrified by what she might see, she looked up and screamed again. Attached to the top of what she wasn't sure she could still call her head, was a wide, fleshy cap, with the dark gills that comprised the underside of which blocking out her view of the sky. It was true. It was really true. She wasn't a young woman anymore. She was a mushroom. Nothing more than a small, simple fungal growth on the forest floor. What was going on? Why had this happened to her?

"Astrianne?" said Maribelle's voice, from just behind her. "Is that you? Are you a...?"

"A mushroom!" said Astrianne, despairingly. "I'm a mushroom! Oh, Maribelle, please tell me you're still you!"

Maribelle sighed as she looked down at her own, pale, slightly-curvy stalk from under the shadow of her new cap. "No, I'm a mushroom, too," she said, glumly. "It must have been those spores... what did you have to go and press that button for, huh?"

"I didn't know it was there!" shouted the mushroom who had been Astrianne, who now knew that what she could feel touching the side of her new cap must have been Maribelle's own toadstool cap. There was something almost comforting about that in their current situation. If they had to be mushrooms, at least they were planted next to each other. "Besides, this is no time to blame each other, we have to think of way out of this! What do you normally do when you get transformed into things?"

Maribelle tried to turn to face her sister, but found that, with the bottom of her stalk buried in the soil, she could only wiggle the top of her new, mushroom's body a little, just capable of catching a glimpse of Astrianne's new, fungal form in the corner of her eye before she snapped back to facing forward. She sighed and decided to give up on moving. "Well... To be honest, what normally happens is you find me and change me back to normal," she said.

"What?" said Astrianne. "But I'm a mushroom, myself! I can't do anything to change us back, not when I'm a fungus!"

"Um... well..." said the Maribelle mushroom. "I guess we'll just have to get used to being mushrooms for a while and hope that someone else finds us soon, then."

"But no-one else knows we're here!" wailed the newly-fungal Astrianne. "Oh, Maribelle, I don't want to be a mushroom! I want to be a girl who can walk and has arms and... and lives! What kind of life can I have as a wretched toadstool, forever rooted to this damp forest floor?"

Astrianne wiggled her stalk as much as she could in a futile act of desperation and despair, causing Maribelle to wobble slightly herself as their two caps clipped against each other. "Listen, Astrianne," she said, with a sigh. "It could be worse, trust me. At least we can still talk, which is a big improvement on some things I've become before, and we've still got each other for company, right? Even if you are one of the more annoying sisters who's ever lived. Besides, someone is bound to come along and find us at some point, I'm sure. Someone always does in these sorts of situations."

Astrianne let out a deep sigh. "I suppose you're right, dear Maribelle," she said. "We do have each other and there really is no point in struggling is there? We're stuck like this and wiggling my... stalk won't do anything to change that. But, Maribelle, when you say someone is bound to find us...?"

"Yeah? What about it?"

"Um, forgive me for mentioning this, but, well... what if the first 'person' to find us happens to not be a person at all, but some manner of forest creature that... well... eats mushrooms? I mean, we have changed into a rather common foodstuff for badgers and their ilk..."

Maribelle didn't say anything, but her stalk went rigid. If she still had blood, it would have run cold. If she still had sweat glands, she would have been beading with perspiration. Of course. She hadn't thought of that. Animals ate mushrooms - just like the ones she and her sister had become - didn't they? And animals couldn't speak, so you couldn't tell them not to eat you because you were actually a girl who had been accidentally transformed into a mushroom. Suddenly, the forest seemed a much more frightenting place to be stuck in such a helpless form, and she found herself desperately wishing for a human being to come and happen across their new, fungal selves as soon as possible...

The first part of a commission for (Astrianne and Maribelle are his characters). Hope you like it!

Description
Maribelle ducked under a low-hanging branch, the leaves stroking the top of her head as she passed. The forest wasn't her normal habitat, that was for sure. She was far more at home in an oily workshop than she was surrounded by nature. There was something different about this forest which drew her to it, though. Rumours that a now-bankrupt company had been performing some kinds of experiments out here had piqued her curiousity. Perhaps there would be some leftover scraps of machinery to salvage from whatever had been experimented on? It was certainly worth a look. After all, who knows what technological gems she could unearth? The thought of having something completely new to tinker with excited the engineer-girl and, judging by the faint crackle of electricity she felt in the atmosphere, she didn't think she was going to be disappointed.

Wait? What was that? It was in the corner of her eye, but Maribelle thought she spotted something hidden within the roots of an old, gnarled tree. Something that gave off a dull, metallic shine amongst the earthy-tones of the undergrowth. Sure that she'd found her prize and overflowing with anticipation, she turned back to the tree and crouched down to peer through the twisted roots. Sure enough, there was a small metallic box sat in the middle of them. It looked old and as though it hadn't been touched for some time, so she took great care when she lifted it out from the tangle of bark.

She couldn't lift it very far, though, because it was attached to a network of thick wires that sank into the forest floor. There was a dial set into the top and a small, red light beneath that, which suggested that it was still operational, but it had definitely been a while since it had been held by human hands, because it's metallic shell was covered in a thin layer of soft, green moss. Maribelle set it down on the floor in front of her, knelt down and used the back of her glove to wipe the moss away. "Automatic Weather Synthesiser" read the letters she uncovered, whilst around the dial she had revealed a series of faded icons, ranging from a sun to a snowflake.

"Score!" said Maribelle. "This must be some kind of weather control device, think of what I could do with something like this! I guess this whole forest must have been used to experiment with aritificial climates and stuff, huh? Hmm... I wonder if it still works?" She looked into the sky towards the rays of sunlight piercing the canopy of leaves overhead. The dial was indeed pointing to the sun icon, so maybe if she just turned it to the water-droplets one, she could create a little rain...

"Ahem," said a female voice behind her. "What do you think you're doing here?" Maribelle knew that voice, she drew her hand back from the dial before she could turn it and turned to face her sister, Astrianne, who was standing there, her arms folded and a stern expression on her face.

"What am I doing here?" said Maribelle. "What are you doing here, Astrianne?"

"Me?" said Astrianne. "Why, I'm keeping a watchful eye on my dear sister, of course. Someone has to make sure you don't start operating strange old machines you don't understand and get yourself into another of your... situations."

"Hey, I think I'm a little more careful than that," said Maribelle, irritably.

"Oh?" said Astrianne, allowing herself a small grin. "Then what are you doing with that device on the ground there?"

"What? I was just going to try..." said Maribelle, her face beginning to flush a little. "I mean, I'm sure it's safe... Look! I can take care of myself! I don't need you following me about all the time!"

"Oh, Maribelle, Maribelle, Maribelle..." tutted Astrianne, folding her arms again and shaking her head. "Dear sister, I would love it if that were true, but you continue to provide compelling evidence to the contrary. Need I remind you that, had I not got involved, you'd still be stuck as a- Huh?" There was a click as she leaned against the trunk of a tree. Turning around in confusion, she saw that her shoulder had inadvertantly pressed a button set into a small box attached to the tree.

"Hah! what was that about not operating strange old machines, sis?" said Maribelle, grinning up at her flustered sister.

"I d-didn't mean to!" snapped Astrianne, her own face flushing now. "I didn't know it was-"

But she was cut off by a robotic, female voice echoing through the forest, saying, "Artificial humidifier activated." Maribelle leapt to her feet and Astrianne nearly leapt from her skin as a series of hatches opened in the forest floor, which released a steady stream of warm, moisture-filled air. Rising up with it was a puff of pink spores, which the two girls both swallowed an accidental lungful of.

"Wha- What was that?" said Astrianne, between coughs and splutters.

"I guess that some kind of fungus got into the humidity system," said Maribelle, who was also coughing. "I guess it makes sense... Fungi thrive in dark, humid environments..."

"A fungus?" said Astrianne. "Augh! And now my lungs are full of it! Oh what if it's poisonous or-" but she couldn't finish that panicked sentence, because her body was racked by another, violent fit of coughing - with Maribelle suffering the same - and, between the dry coughs and the feeling of her lungs burning, she could see her hands starting to... glow pink? She turned to her sister and saw that her body was prickling with spots of pink light as well. She would have screamed, were it not for the coughs, as both of their bodies were engulfed in the garish, pink glow.

The light faded and Astrianne opened her eyes again. She breathed a sigh of relief. Her coughing had stopped and her lungs no longer left as though they were on fire. ...But why did everything seem so big now? And what was that strange glow all about? She tried to hold out her arm to check whether it was back to normal or not, when her sigh turned into a scream. She didn't have any arms to hold out. What was going on? She looked down and saw that her body had become smooth, nearly featureless and pale, completely lacking in any limbs and was embedded into the moist earth beneath the grass.

It wasn't a body at all, she thought, with horror. It was a stalk. Terrified by what she might see, she looked up and screamed again. Attached to the top of what she wasn't sure she could still call her head, was a wide, fleshy cap, with the dark gills that comprised the underside of which blocking out her view of the sky. It was true. It was really true. She wasn't a young woman anymore. She was a mushroom. Nothing more than a small, simple fungal growth on the forest floor. What was going on? Why had this happened to her?

"Astrianne?" said Maribelle's voice, from just behind her. "Is that you? Are you a...?"

"A mushroom!" said Astrianne, despairingly. "I'm a mushroom! Oh, Maribelle, please tell me you're still you!"

Maribelle sighed as she looked down at her own, pale, slightly-curvy stalk from under the shadow of her new cap. "No, I'm a mushroom, too," she said, glumly. "It must have been those spores... what did you have to go and press that button for, huh?"

"I didn't know it was there!" shouted the mushroom who had been Astrianne, who now knew that what she could feel touching the side of her new cap must have been Maribelle's own toadstool cap. There was something almost comforting about that in their current situation. If they had to be mushrooms, at least they were planted next to each other. "Besides, this is no time to blame each other, we have to think of way out of this! What do you normally do when you get transformed into things?"

Maribelle tried to turn to face her sister, but found that, with the bottom of her stalk buried in the soil, she could only wiggle the top of her new, mushroom's body a little, just capable of catching a glimpse of Astrianne's new, fungal form in the corner of her eye before she snapped back to facing forward. She sighed and decided to give up on moving. "Well... To be honest, what normally happens is you find me and change me back to normal," she said.

"What?" said Astrianne. "But I'm a mushroom, myself! I can't do anything to change us back, not when I'm a fungus!"

"Um... well..." said the Maribelle mushroom. "I guess we'll just have to get used to being mushrooms for a while and hope that someone else finds us soon, then."

"But no-one else knows we're here!" wailed the newly-fungal Astrianne. "Oh, Maribelle, I don't want to be a mushroom! I want to be a girl who can walk and has arms and... and lives! What kind of life can I have as a wretched toadstool, forever rooted to this damp forest floor?"

Astrianne wiggled her stalk as much as she could in a futile act of desperation and despair, causing Maribelle to wobble slightly herself as their two caps clipped against each other. "Listen, Astrianne," she said, with a sigh. "It could be worse, trust me. At least we can still talk, which is a big improvement on some things I've become before, and we've still got each other for company, right? Even if you are one of the more annoying sisters who's ever lived. Besides, someone is bound to come along and find us at some point, I'm sure. Someone always does in these sorts of situations."

Astrianne let out a deep sigh. "I suppose you're right, dear Maribelle," she said. "We do have each other and there really is no point in struggling is there? We're stuck like this and wiggling my... stalk won't do anything to change that. But, Maribelle, when you say someone is bound to find us...?"

"Yeah? What about it?"

"Um, forgive me for mentioning this, but, well... what if the first 'person' to find us happens to not be a person at all, but some manner of forest creature that... well... eats mushrooms? I mean, we have changed into a rather common foodstuff for badgers and their ilk..."

Maribelle didn't say anything, but her stalk went rigid. If she still had blood, it would have run cold. If she still had sweat glands, she would have been beading with perspiration. Of course. She hadn't thought of that. Animals ate mushrooms - just like the ones she and her sister had become - didn't they? And animals couldn't speak, so you couldn't tell them not to eat you because you were actually a girl who had been accidentally transformed into a mushroom. Suddenly, the forest seemed a much more frightenting place to be stuck in such a helpless form, and she found herself desperately wishing for a human being to come and happen across their new, fungal selves as soon as possible...

The first part of a commission for (Astrianne and Maribelle are his characters). Hope you like it!