CURIOSITY, A BRIEFCASE, AND THE MYSTIC SHADOW PHOENIX

Strange New World

She had some money, but only enough to handle getting her hair cut into a feminine style and some food for lunch, which meant that she would have to acquire everything else through some other means - namely, the same five finger discount program she had used so many other times to aquire necessities, otherwise known as shoplifting.

Her mother didn't make much, and most of what she did make she spent on rent, utilities, and food, so Iona had learned long ago, if she wanted things, she had to take them. Even the money that she did have wasn't really hers, but had been pilfered from her mother's tips, a few dollars at a time over the past few months.

Content with her appearance, Iona hesitantly left the bathroom and her apartment behind.

There were some definite nerves as she stepped out onto the street for the first time. It was a strange mix of fears, although the only real difference between today and previously was the fact that today, she wasn't actively trying to hide her feminine body from the world and she had on a pair of her mom's old shoes, a pair most guys would never choose to wear.

The fear she felt was from the fear someone from school would see her and beat her up for looking more feminine than usual, and from, some tiny, subconscious male part of her that was still angry over the decision to go through with taking the serum in the first place.

While the first one was clearly just nerves, Iona pushed the latter aside as much as she could. She'd known going into this that there might be extreme changes, a price that she'd been willing to pay for the promised power of the serum - a promise that it had certainly been fulfilling given how strong and energetic she now felt.

Her ability to fight had continued to improve over the past few weeks. The last time someone had tried to attack her had shown her that no one could hit her at all anymore, her reflexes were too acute and too fast.

Anything they threw at her was met with a perfectly matched block or lightening-quick dodge and she had been able to easily lift the much larger attackers into the air and toss each of them across the room with no effort at all.

She was not going to allow the remnants of her male self to cause her to second guess any decision to take the serum. It has been the right choice. She was convinced that going through the rest of life as a girl was worth it just for the new superhuman defensive ability she had gained.

In the middle of a work day, the sidewalks were mostly empty, leaving Iona nearly alone as she walked to the bus stop at the end of the block.

The few people that did pass her, definitely looked at her, adding more to her nerves. Nervous or not, though, she forced herself to keep going. She would not let fear of others keep her down anymore. That was Ian's life, not hers.