Coin Toss

Rain Showers

 Sophia stayed in that position until she began hearing thumps from the next room and then she began shoving her emotions back behind the door in her mind. She didn't think whoever was out there could hear her, her version of crying was one that others found painful to watch. Silent, but it seemed like the tears were ripped from her violently and the little sound she did make was reminiscent of a small animal choking to death on its own blood. She despised crying. It made her feel weak and helpless, two things that she refused to see herself as and she wouldn't do it with an audience. Not even her husband was allowed to see her cry. She felt that it was even more important in this situation that the beings, Oncs he had called them, didn't see any sign of weakness from her.

She struggled to her feet, not wanting to use the wall to balance herself because she could still remember the texture. She reached for the soap and began to wash herself, scrubbing whatever substance was coating her vigorously until her skin shown pink. The soap had a pleasant smell but not one she could place. It seemed to shift and change not unlike the clothing the Oncs had been wearing. One second, apples, the next pears, and the next something else swirled around her, each scent coming to her individually instead of assaulting her all at once. The shampoo had a similar quality but she realized pretty quickly that she was going to need to do something about her hair before she could use it.

She stepped out from under the spray and looked up, unconsciously speaking to the ceiling as if asking a higher power for a favor. She described to the room what she wanted and, on the wall in front of her, a mirror and bathroom sink appeared. For the first time she could see herself but the image was so different from what she was expecting that her jaw dropped.

She had known that she had long silver hair, could feel it brushing against her almost to her knees, but she hadn't been prepared for the rest. A quick glance reassured her that she was still human but a longer one revealed the details. Her face was elfish; high cheekbones, pale skin, a full mouth, and a sprinkle of freckles across her nose. She checked her ears and was relieved to find that they didn't come to a point but they weren't too important. New eyes stared back at her. The same general color as they had been previously but otherwise entirely different. Previously, her face and eyes had been rounded, what people called a baby face. Now, it was longer, more angular, the eyes seeming to come to points at the outside instead of rounding softly. She did have the normal features of a human eye, whites, iris, and pupil, but the irises were a smoky blue color. Not just color but they seemed to almost swirl like smoke too. Bright, almost electric blues streaked through this smoke and they seemed to move like Teon's had. Leaning into the mirror to get a better look, she was relieved to see that they weren't actually swirling and moving, they just appeared to in the light. She thought that they were beautiful and fascinating but couldn't quite believe that they were hers. She turned her attention to the body shown in the mirror. It had the same pale, freckled skin as her face and looked like it would break if you breathed on it hard. She was taller than she had been previously, and thinner. It also looked like she had lost a few years somewhere in the process. In her mind, she wasn't seeing herself but was instead seeing a young actress filming a coming of age story or first love story. If it wasn't for the fact that she could look down at herself and verify most of what she was seeing in the mirror, she would have thought that the koef was showing her something like a movie or projection.

She didn't want to spend too much time in front of the mirror, it created too many questions and threatened to put her back in the floor trying to hold onto her sanity. Focusing on the hair that stuck wetly to her, and only on the hair, she asked the koef for a pair of scissors. It seemed to know what scissors were and produced a pair that she plucked from the wall. They didn't feel right but she pushed it out of her head and began hacking at the hair. She didn't care if it looked good or if she cut it straight, she just wanted it to go away. Starting at her shoulders, she cut across dropping nearly 3 feet of hair to the floor with every snip onto the floor. When she was finished, the silver hair hung just above her shoulders in almost a bob cut. She looked around for somewhere to put the scissors down and, finding nothing, ending up pressing them into the wall where she had gotten them. They stuck and then were absorbed, disappearing with a few seconds into whatever this material was. She finished her shower, spending several minutes making sure that the hair was rinsed clean before stepping out and reaching for the towel. Drying herself she looked towards the doorway to the left and took a deep breath.