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Description

Recently, my friends El_Mariachi249 and Fiona-sapphire got me into the game Goodbye Volcano High, a very sweet game with some lovely music and an excellent NB character Fang. Despite being a recent release, noticed there wasn't any TF related things for the game at all. Thought I'd rectify that.

Song being sung is "Good Riddance" by Green Day

Story below done by HudsonSpacecraft

“Okay, okay, good job, everyone! Now let’s take five,” Zeydaan directed their fellow employees. It was a busy day at the local Maiden Menagerie in the bustling city of Mailor. Granted, that could be said about every day (to say that running a business period was mentally taxing was to make a rather obvious joke), but there was reason to feel particularly stressed out at the moment, for it was today that the humble establishment hosted its first major event in quite some time: a Pride Memorial Concert. This had been something that Zeydaan had been pushing for a good while, since their non-binary upbringing and empathy for their kin in the queer community made them quite vocal about advocating for civil rights on their world of Schism Earth. In the current state of their state’s politics that actively marginalized “nonhumans” and currently had no plans to change that, the fae-witch had taken great pride in establishing events like this to make the minorities of their world more heard. As a being of adept magical power, they additionally And to that end, what better place to promote solidarity than at their current place of work?
Zeydaan had proudly worked at the Menagerie for years. It wasn’t the most high-paying job in the world, but it certainly kept the lights on for them (their career as a “superhero” in the Hawkmoths often dealt with more ‘fate of the world’ than starting political conversations), and they had a certain amount of rapport with their coworkers as well as their superiors. Upper management was thankfully all for their concert idea, though in their initial pitch to the other staff, it was brought up that the musical talent that their budget could allow was on the smaller side. In lieu of established musical talent in town, however, Zeydaan graciously volunteered to be the one performing a concert’s headlining song. There was one snag, though: they didn’t exactly have the qualifications to do so. They were far from musically illiterate or unskilled with instruments, but they had only picked up the guitar a couple weeks ago and had only learned a couple of elementary chords by now. Their singing voice was slightly above average, but to pretend it was anything more than that would be to embarrass themself. However, they would not have signed up if they didn’t already have a plan in place, and all they needed to do was see if the decorations would suffice before they went back home.
“Hmm…does this look good?” Their fellow dragon employee Blue asked as they took a step back and admired the job they did. It’d taken all morning and even a bit of the afternoon to set all this up, but their work definitely paid off. From the hanging lanterns providing just the right amount of mood lighting to the assorted collages of photos from all of Zeydaan’s work with their team, the Hawkmoths, in their rallies for nonhuman and queer rights, to the pride flags on the wall with complimentary miniature flags for every denomination they could think of. At this point, the staff (which barely was more than half a dozen people) felt like calling it a day
“Alright, I think we’ve done a good job so far…how are we doing for time?” Zeydaan asked, getting a bit antsy about if they could work out their plan in time.
“Concert starts at eight, so…like seven hours?” Another employee enlightened them.
“Oh, thank goodness…” Zeydaan sighed as they rushed out the door. “Take your time, give me about an hour and I’ll be back!”
Quickly, they raced to the other side of town to their humble cottage, where their instruments and the next step of their plan awaited them. Once to their chair and with their guitar in hand, though…hmm, they couldn’t quite do it just yet. Was it anxiety? Maybe. Either way, Zeydaan couldn’t help but have their mind drift back to the not so distant past.
“Hm…are you sure you’re going to go through with this?” Zeydaan’s fellow teammate Alvis warned them as they were about to conjure up a portal to a different dimension. “I just want you to know full well that you’re entering ‘incoming apocalypse’ territory. Many people are as good as dead already.”
“Yes, I know, I won’t try to tear myself up that much about it,” Zeydaan nodded. Earlier, when they had spotted this dimension through their scanners, an unstoppable fleet of asteroids were headed for collision with the planet they were now traveling toward.
“Plus, if on this trip, you somehow die—”
“Don’t worry, I won’t. It’s just when I saw the scan of this dimension…I couldn’t help but feel like it’d be a waste to have it all disappear without a trace. All the people with no one to tell their stories. I’d like to at least document some things before it all goes down.”
“Alright then, just be back at the earliest opportunity. You wouldn’t want to worry us.”
“Got it,” Zeydaan said as they ventured into their portal. At the other end lay a seemingly normal town, the name of which they gleaned as Caldera Bay. Not wanting to attract more attention than they already would have (being someone who made their entrance through a swirling dimensional portal), they used their shapeshifting abilities to blend in with the prehistoric-looking population. Walking around the city was a healthy population of dinosaur people, and this opportunity granted Zeydaan the privilege of seeing a multitude of people go throughout their final days. Granted, there were a fair share of people who wanted a way out (to which Zeydaan gladly allowed them a ferry through one of their signature portals), but they were certainly taken aback by the number of people gladly coming to terms with their own mortality.
During their travels, though, they had found themself in a celebration called Calderafest, among a sizable crowd. Truthfully, they’d been just going wherever the wind took them for the afternoon, but the clamoring of the people around them made them think they were about to see something good.
“Hellooo, Caldera Bay! How are we feeling tonight?” The announcer walked up on stage to say as hype slowly started to build around them. “Welcome to the last concert you’ll ever see! I know you’re all dying to see Worm Drama right now, am I right?”
Crickets.
“That got dark,” the announcer replied. Failed attempts at an introduction aside, Zeydaan stood patiently as the three-piece band got up on stage and started to play, with the crowd noticeably quiet and letting the music speak for itself. And what music it was, Zeydaan thought, allowing the tones to wash over them like the tide.
We won't sit around and let the world go by
We're gonna fly around the big, black sky tonight
And when the fire falls from on high,
We can be the pretty heroes if we try, tonight
As the song continued on, Zeydaan’s appreciation for it only grew, with the fae-witch appreciating the lush instrumental, powerful lyrics, and especially the soulful vocals by the lead guitarist. They’d certainly have to meet with them after the show, they thought as they continued with another song.
Back seat baby with the wind whipped high
When we said goodbye
Got my eyes up baby with the pulling tide
I did not know why
I had my eyes up looking for a flag or a sign
Just a sunset sigh
With the concert coming to a close, Zeydaan was one among dozens of people clamoring and applauding at their marvelous performance. After Worm Drama had gone backstage, they couldn’t help but flag the band down to engage in a bit of casual conversation.
“Hello, don’t mean to intrude, but I just wanted to say I was a huge fan of your performance back there,” Zeydaan greeted them. “Who are you, anyway?”
“Oh, thanks!” The guitarist of the trio was taken aback slightly by their praise. “Well, I’m Fang. Those are Trish and Reed back there. I like the outfit, by the way.”
“Thanks,” the fae-witch replied as they looked down at their distinctly goth getup this run around. “My name’s Zeydaan, and I did actually want to ask you something.”
“Shoot.”
“If you were given the choice to start anew somewhere else with all of your friends, would you do it?”
“Nah. I mean, I wouldn’t wanna take the easy way out, honestly. I did all I could in this life…it’s not worth thinking about all these ‘what ifs.’ We just had the best performance of our lives just now, and I wouldn’t have any other way to go out.”
Zeydaan admittedly kind of knew that Fang would respond that way (that was kind of what they were singing about in the first place), but their response touched their heart all the same. The two proceeded to talk it up further about the life they had lived up until that point, and how they harbored little regret as they were about to witness their incoming demise. Out of everyone they had asked that day, even among those who had similarly reconciled everything in their lives before their demise. Perhaps the fact they’d just listened to their wonderful song was at play, perhaps it was their chill tone of voice, perhaps it was the comfort in talking with a fellow enby (their “they/them” pin on their bag said it all), but that talk with Fang and their fellow bandmates was probably the best they had in quite some time. As Zeydaan departed on their portal back home on Schism Earth, they waved Fang goodbye. They’d made a new friend that day, even if they only knew them for a couple of minutes.
Their memory came to a close as Zeydaan looked at all the photos that they had taken that day once more. There had to be at least a hundred different photos of locales and people of this dimension, yet it didn’t feel like enough to Zeydaan. At the end of the lengthy list, however, were the couple of photos they had taken with Fang.
Even though they were…well, dead, Zeydaan didn’t exactly feel the most comfortable appropriating their lyrics like this, so they decided to start playing another song they thought would fit the concert well. Pulling up a bit of sheet music, helping themself to a couple of meat-fruit, and having a quick change of clothes, they started to practice their song.
“So take the photographs and still frames of your mind…” Zeydaan sang, getting through the first part of the song as the first inklings of transformation were about to unfold within their body. It began to take form within their hair. Their shoulder-length haircut cascaded down to their waist, with them having to flick their head back to get it out of their eyes as to not take their hands off their guitar. In addition, it lightened itself to a luminous silver color, as did their eyebrows. From the back of their scalp sprouted a good-sized white horn with triangular gray stripes lining its top, giving their profile a distinct silhouette, especially as a thick, spiked bracelet materialized right on top of their hair. Zeydaan blinked their eyes as their irises became striking amber and their pupils gained a reptilian, almond shape. Subtle bits of makeup appeared at their top, their red and blue color sticking out next to the rather plain gray and white. Zeydaan could hear the quality of their vocals improve in real time as the changes descended down their mouth and throat, the distinct voice of Fang beginning to come through. Along the way, their snout was about to transform as well, becoming much more angular, with their nostrils migrating to the base of said snout. Within their mouth, their rather unassuming teeth at least doubled in their number as they shrank down to compensate, creating a new set of pointy little things as Zeydaan’s mind momentarily drifted to how Fang’s dental appointments must have been. They digressed, however, as the changes departed from affecting their head.
“Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time…” Zeydaan continued to sing as the transformation soon moved on to their torso, leaving a new set of off-white down in lieu of their coat of fur they had before as well as a prominent choker on their neck. Zeydaan continued to go off on their guitar as well, their timing and execution getting better by the second as they could feel Fang’s skill build in their mind. As they did, they felt their jacket they’d loosely worn on their person begin to fade away, as well as the yellow shirt they’d worn underneath shading itself to be jet black. The sleeves soon deprecated themselves, along with its lower half to become a crop top, complete with a couple of tears at the bottom. A small skull necklace also appeared on their chest and wrapped its string around Zeydaan’s neck. From this part of their body, they could also feel themselves getting quite a bit thinner. Granted, Zeydaan wasn’t very heavy, usually, but they couldn’t help but notice the rather thin physique their body now possessed as it became that of Fang’s.
“Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial…” Zeydaan felt their arms beginning to change, with them similarly replacing the pelage they had before with the white down that the pterosaur possessed. Their muscle and bone structure altered themselves as well, several prototypical avian elements inserting themselves into the anatomy of their appendages as the down feathers grew particularly thick near their elbows. Reaching their wrists as a thin Calderafest bracelet popped up on one of them, the transforming fae-witch momentarily felt themselves get off-groove as their hands were becoming more petite and delicate-looking, coinciding with long, black claws sprouting at their fingertips. Thankfully, they were able to get back into the swing of their song as soon as they could. In fact, they were starting to really get a kick out of it, so much so that they could feel their fae wings appearing, though this could’ve also been because they were about to undergo a transformation themselves. Their butterfly-like shape was soon disappearing as a wide array of feathers was coating itself around their paper-thin surfaces. While the sections close to their body was covered in a relatively thin down, on the lower edges of their wings grew several long feathers, which along with them generally expanding outward, allowed a wingspan that was easily double what they had before. For a brief moment, they actually wondered if they could fly with these things…another time, perhaps.
“And for what it’s worth, it was worth all the while…” The changes reached Zeydaan’s legs, with them similarly thinning out as the fashion there refined itself to match the rest of the clothes on their body. The comfortable pants Zeydaan usually wore grew a leathery texture as several holes were torn around the pair, not out of the transformation pushing the limits of their resilience but simply to match the style carried by the rest of their garments. The magenta-and-pink sneakers they had on became a uniform black as they became similarly leathery, along with their length extending way past their ankles and their laces extending and criss-crossing along the way. As their tail shifted to become a relatively short appendage that matched the shape and colors of their horn, Zeydaan could feel the magical energy that accompanied all of their shapeshifting subside.
As their transformation came to a close, Zeydaan was in the groove, entering an utter flow state of music where they felt invincible on the guitar. Pretty much any riff they could think of, they could do without as much as a thought. A chord progression appeared in their mind, and boom! with sheer muscle memory, it was good as shredded. In fact, they had a certain amount of fun improvising new things right off the cuff. Yet, they managed to curb their enthusiasm after a while, managing to have a look at themselves in their mirror. Hey, looking great, they thought. They recalled Fang complimenting their goth-inspired outfit back at Calderafest, but Fang certainly had an impressive look themself.
Their vision drifted to their wall-clock soon enough, however. 4:07? They’d been at this for a couple hours longer than they thought! The other menagerie employees must’ve been worried sick at this point. Noting the half a dozen missed calls on their phone at this point, they hastily rushed out their door, guitar in hand.
Back at the Maiden Menagerie, the other workers were quite impressed at their form, yet not so impressed at their relative tardiness. Yet, the preparations for the concert continued without a hitch, with them even setting up signs advertising “Zeydaan/Isabella as FANG from Worm Drama” around where they would perform. As the time of their performance came, they couldn’t help but appreciate the number of people, regardless of gender or species, that showed up.
“People of Mailor, queer folk and allies alike! Are you ready for a night of fantastic performances?” The concert’s announcer hyped the crowd that had formed around the stage, with their attempts at hype thankfully landing much better than the emcee at Caldera. “We wouldn’t want to keep you waiting, so we’ll start off with a bang. Let’s give a hand for our very own Zeydaan as Fang from Worm Drama!”
Zeydaan confidently strutted on stage as they didn’t give one moment of hesitation before starting. After all, they had the skill on the guitar of someone who’d been practicing it all their life! They felt they could do song after song, yet they put the most effort into their final one of the night. As the crowd reactions reached an all time high, they could only smile as they sang their last few lyrics.
“It’s something unpredictable, but in the end it’s right…I hope you had the time of your life…”

Description

Recently, my friends El_Mariachi249 and Fiona-sapphire got me into the game Goodbye Volcano High, a very sweet game with some lovely music and an excellent NB character Fang. Despite being a recent release, noticed there wasn't any TF related things for the game at all. Thought I'd rectify that.

Song being sung is "Good Riddance" by Green Day

Story below done by HudsonSpacecraft

“Okay, okay, good job, everyone! Now let’s take five,” Zeydaan directed their fellow employees. It was a busy day at the local Maiden Menagerie in the bustling city of Mailor. Granted, that could be said about every day (to say that running a business period was mentally taxing was to make a rather obvious joke), but there was reason to feel particularly stressed out at the moment, for it was today that the humble establishment hosted its first major event in quite some time: a Pride Memorial Concert. This had been something that Zeydaan had been pushing for a good while, since their non-binary upbringing and empathy for their kin in the queer community made them quite vocal about advocating for civil rights on their world of Schism Earth. In the current state of their state’s politics that actively marginalized “nonhumans” and currently had no plans to change that, the fae-witch had taken great pride in establishing events like this to make the minorities of their world more heard. As a being of adept magical power, they additionally And to that end, what better place to promote solidarity than at their current place of work?
Zeydaan had proudly worked at the Menagerie for years. It wasn’t the most high-paying job in the world, but it certainly kept the lights on for them (their career as a “superhero” in the Hawkmoths often dealt with more ‘fate of the world’ than starting political conversations), and they had a certain amount of rapport with their coworkers as well as their superiors. Upper management was thankfully all for their concert idea, though in their initial pitch to the other staff, it was brought up that the musical talent that their budget could allow was on the smaller side. In lieu of established musical talent in town, however, Zeydaan graciously volunteered to be the one performing a concert’s headlining song. There was one snag, though: they didn’t exactly have the qualifications to do so. They were far from musically illiterate or unskilled with instruments, but they had only picked up the guitar a couple weeks ago and had only learned a couple of elementary chords by now. Their singing voice was slightly above average, but to pretend it was anything more than that would be to embarrass themself. However, they would not have signed up if they didn’t already have a plan in place, and all they needed to do was see if the decorations would suffice before they went back home.
“Hmm…does this look good?” Their fellow dragon employee Blue asked as they took a step back and admired the job they did. It’d taken all morning and even a bit of the afternoon to set all this up, but their work definitely paid off. From the hanging lanterns providing just the right amount of mood lighting to the assorted collages of photos from all of Zeydaan’s work with their team, the Hawkmoths, in their rallies for nonhuman and queer rights, to the pride flags on the wall with complimentary miniature flags for every denomination they could think of. At this point, the staff (which barely was more than half a dozen people) felt like calling it a day
“Alright, I think we’ve done a good job so far…how are we doing for time?” Zeydaan asked, getting a bit antsy about if they could work out their plan in time.
“Concert starts at eight, so…like seven hours?” Another employee enlightened them.
“Oh, thank goodness…” Zeydaan sighed as they rushed out the door. “Take your time, give me about an hour and I’ll be back!”
Quickly, they raced to the other side of town to their humble cottage, where their instruments and the next step of their plan awaited them. Once to their chair and with their guitar in hand, though…hmm, they couldn’t quite do it just yet. Was it anxiety? Maybe. Either way, Zeydaan couldn’t help but have their mind drift back to the not so distant past.
“Hm…are you sure you’re going to go through with this?” Zeydaan’s fellow teammate Alvis warned them as they were about to conjure up a portal to a different dimension. “I just want you to know full well that you’re entering ‘incoming apocalypse’ territory. Many people are as good as dead already.”
“Yes, I know, I won’t try to tear myself up that much about it,” Zeydaan nodded. Earlier, when they had spotted this dimension through their scanners, an unstoppable fleet of asteroids were headed for collision with the planet they were now traveling toward.
“Plus, if on this trip, you somehow die—”
“Don’t worry, I won’t. It’s just when I saw the scan of this dimension…I couldn’t help but feel like it’d be a waste to have it all disappear without a trace. All the people with no one to tell their stories. I’d like to at least document some things before it all goes down.”
“Alright then, just be back at the earliest opportunity. You wouldn’t want to worry us.”
“Got it,” Zeydaan said as they ventured into their portal. At the other end lay a seemingly normal town, the name of which they gleaned as Caldera Bay. Not wanting to attract more attention than they already would have (being someone who made their entrance through a swirling dimensional portal), they used their shapeshifting abilities to blend in with the prehistoric-looking population. Walking around the city was a healthy population of dinosaur people, and this opportunity granted Zeydaan the privilege of seeing a multitude of people go throughout their final days. Granted, there were a fair share of people who wanted a way out (to which Zeydaan gladly allowed them a ferry through one of their signature portals), but they were certainly taken aback by the number of people gladly coming to terms with their own mortality.
During their travels, though, they had found themself in a celebration called Calderafest, among a sizable crowd. Truthfully, they’d been just going wherever the wind took them for the afternoon, but the clamoring of the people around them made them think they were about to see something good.
“Hellooo, Caldera Bay! How are we feeling tonight?” The announcer walked up on stage to say as hype slowly started to build around them. “Welcome to the last concert you’ll ever see! I know you’re all dying to see Worm Drama right now, am I right?”
Crickets.
“That got dark,” the announcer replied. Failed attempts at an introduction aside, Zeydaan stood patiently as the three-piece band got up on stage and started to play, with the crowd noticeably quiet and letting the music speak for itself. And what music it was, Zeydaan thought, allowing the tones to wash over them like the tide.
We won't sit around and let the world go by
We're gonna fly around the big, black sky tonight
And when the fire falls from on high,
We can be the pretty heroes if we try, tonight
As the song continued on, Zeydaan’s appreciation for it only grew, with the fae-witch appreciating the lush instrumental, powerful lyrics, and especially the soulful vocals by the lead guitarist. They’d certainly have to meet with them after the show, they thought as they continued with another song.
Back seat baby with the wind whipped high
When we said goodbye
Got my eyes up baby with the pulling tide
I did not know why
I had my eyes up looking for a flag or a sign
Just a sunset sigh
With the concert coming to a close, Zeydaan was one among dozens of people clamoring and applauding at their marvelous performance. After Worm Drama had gone backstage, they couldn’t help but flag the band down to engage in a bit of casual conversation.
“Hello, don’t mean to intrude, but I just wanted to say I was a huge fan of your performance back there,” Zeydaan greeted them. “Who are you, anyway?”
“Oh, thanks!” The guitarist of the trio was taken aback slightly by their praise. “Well, I’m Fang. Those are Trish and Reed back there. I like the outfit, by the way.”
“Thanks,” the fae-witch replied as they looked down at their distinctly goth getup this run around. “My name’s Zeydaan, and I did actually want to ask you something.”
“Shoot.”
“If you were given the choice to start anew somewhere else with all of your friends, would you do it?”
“Nah. I mean, I wouldn’t wanna take the easy way out, honestly. I did all I could in this life…it’s not worth thinking about all these ‘what ifs.’ We just had the best performance of our lives just now, and I wouldn’t have any other way to go out.”
Zeydaan admittedly kind of knew that Fang would respond that way (that was kind of what they were singing about in the first place), but their response touched their heart all the same. The two proceeded to talk it up further about the life they had lived up until that point, and how they harbored little regret as they were about to witness their incoming demise. Out of everyone they had asked that day, even among those who had similarly reconciled everything in their lives before their demise. Perhaps the fact they’d just listened to their wonderful song was at play, perhaps it was their chill tone of voice, perhaps it was the comfort in talking with a fellow enby (their “they/them” pin on their bag said it all), but that talk with Fang and their fellow bandmates was probably the best they had in quite some time. As Zeydaan departed on their portal back home on Schism Earth, they waved Fang goodbye. They’d made a new friend that day, even if they only knew them for a couple of minutes.
Their memory came to a close as Zeydaan looked at all the photos that they had taken that day once more. There had to be at least a hundred different photos of locales and people of this dimension, yet it didn’t feel like enough to Zeydaan. At the end of the lengthy list, however, were the couple of photos they had taken with Fang.
Even though they were…well, dead, Zeydaan didn’t exactly feel the most comfortable appropriating their lyrics like this, so they decided to start playing another song they thought would fit the concert well. Pulling up a bit of sheet music, helping themself to a couple of meat-fruit, and having a quick change of clothes, they started to practice their song.
“So take the photographs and still frames of your mind…” Zeydaan sang, getting through the first part of the song as the first inklings of transformation were about to unfold within their body. It began to take form within their hair. Their shoulder-length haircut cascaded down to their waist, with them having to flick their head back to get it out of their eyes as to not take their hands off their guitar. In addition, it lightened itself to a luminous silver color, as did their eyebrows. From the back of their scalp sprouted a good-sized white horn with triangular gray stripes lining its top, giving their profile a distinct silhouette, especially as a thick, spiked bracelet materialized right on top of their hair. Zeydaan blinked their eyes as their irises became striking amber and their pupils gained a reptilian, almond shape. Subtle bits of makeup appeared at their top, their red and blue color sticking out next to the rather plain gray and white. Zeydaan could hear the quality of their vocals improve in real time as the changes descended down their mouth and throat, the distinct voice of Fang beginning to come through. Along the way, their snout was about to transform as well, becoming much more angular, with their nostrils migrating to the base of said snout. Within their mouth, their rather unassuming teeth at least doubled in their number as they shrank down to compensate, creating a new set of pointy little things as Zeydaan’s mind momentarily drifted to how Fang’s dental appointments must have been. They digressed, however, as the changes departed from affecting their head.
“Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time…” Zeydaan continued to sing as the transformation soon moved on to their torso, leaving a new set of off-white down in lieu of their coat of fur they had before as well as a prominent choker on their neck. Zeydaan continued to go off on their guitar as well, their timing and execution getting better by the second as they could feel Fang’s skill build in their mind. As they did, they felt their jacket they’d loosely worn on their person begin to fade away, as well as the yellow shirt they’d worn underneath shading itself to be jet black. The sleeves soon deprecated themselves, along with its lower half to become a crop top, complete with a couple of tears at the bottom. A small skull necklace also appeared on their chest and wrapped its string around Zeydaan’s neck. From this part of their body, they could also feel themselves getting quite a bit thinner. Granted, Zeydaan wasn’t very heavy, usually, but they couldn’t help but notice the rather thin physique their body now possessed as it became that of Fang’s.
“Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial…” Zeydaan felt their arms beginning to change, with them similarly replacing the pelage they had before with the white down that the pterosaur possessed. Their muscle and bone structure altered themselves as well, several prototypical avian elements inserting themselves into the anatomy of their appendages as the down feathers grew particularly thick near their elbows. Reaching their wrists as a thin Calderafest bracelet popped up on one of them, the transforming fae-witch momentarily felt themselves get off-groove as their hands were becoming more petite and delicate-looking, coinciding with long, black claws sprouting at their fingertips. Thankfully, they were able to get back into the swing of their song as soon as they could. In fact, they were starting to really get a kick out of it, so much so that they could feel their fae wings appearing, though this could’ve also been because they were about to undergo a transformation themselves. Their butterfly-like shape was soon disappearing as a wide array of feathers was coating itself around their paper-thin surfaces. While the sections close to their body was covered in a relatively thin down, on the lower edges of their wings grew several long feathers, which along with them generally expanding outward, allowed a wingspan that was easily double what they had before. For a brief moment, they actually wondered if they could fly with these things…another time, perhaps.
“And for what it’s worth, it was worth all the while…” The changes reached Zeydaan’s legs, with them similarly thinning out as the fashion there refined itself to match the rest of the clothes on their body. The comfortable pants Zeydaan usually wore grew a leathery texture as several holes were torn around the pair, not out of the transformation pushing the limits of their resilience but simply to match the style carried by the rest of their garments. The magenta-and-pink sneakers they had on became a uniform black as they became similarly leathery, along with their length extending way past their ankles and their laces extending and criss-crossing along the way. As their tail shifted to become a relatively short appendage that matched the shape and colors of their horn, Zeydaan could feel the magical energy that accompanied all of their shapeshifting subside.
As their transformation came to a close, Zeydaan was in the groove, entering an utter flow state of music where they felt invincible on the guitar. Pretty much any riff they could think of, they could do without as much as a thought. A chord progression appeared in their mind, and boom! with sheer muscle memory, it was good as shredded. In fact, they had a certain amount of fun improvising new things right off the cuff. Yet, they managed to curb their enthusiasm after a while, managing to have a look at themselves in their mirror. Hey, looking great, they thought. They recalled Fang complimenting their goth-inspired outfit back at Calderafest, but Fang certainly had an impressive look themself.
Their vision drifted to their wall-clock soon enough, however. 4:07? They’d been at this for a couple hours longer than they thought! The other menagerie employees must’ve been worried sick at this point. Noting the half a dozen missed calls on their phone at this point, they hastily rushed out their door, guitar in hand.
Back at the Maiden Menagerie, the other workers were quite impressed at their form, yet not so impressed at their relative tardiness. Yet, the preparations for the concert continued without a hitch, with them even setting up signs advertising “Zeydaan/Isabella as FANG from Worm Drama” around where they would perform. As the time of their performance came, they couldn’t help but appreciate the number of people, regardless of gender or species, that showed up.
“People of Mailor, queer folk and allies alike! Are you ready for a night of fantastic performances?” The concert’s announcer hyped the crowd that had formed around the stage, with their attempts at hype thankfully landing much better than the emcee at Caldera. “We wouldn’t want to keep you waiting, so we’ll start off with a bang. Let’s give a hand for our very own Zeydaan as Fang from Worm Drama!”
Zeydaan confidently strutted on stage as they didn’t give one moment of hesitation before starting. After all, they had the skill on the guitar of someone who’d been practicing it all their life! They felt they could do song after song, yet they put the most effort into their final one of the night. As the crowd reactions reached an all time high, they could only smile as they sang their last few lyrics.
“It’s something unpredictable, but in the end it’s right…I hope you had the time of your life…”