Contains a woman becoming a storm in the shape of a bird.

Wrote this meeting my 2K daily goal and am rather happy with the setup and ending but not so much with the actual change. All this proves to me is that I need to work on feathered transformations a bit more.

Still I hope whoever reads this enjoys it.



After extensive tinkering Riley was certain that the only thing still working in her car was the radio, its ability to seat two people, and its inability to roll anywhere at all. Sadly it was more comfortable for those two people to sit on the hood of the car. Not only that but she could only receive two radio stations from her driveway. Said stations involved people talking in either monotone or excitement and the subject matter of both stations seemed regulated to religion as well as politics. Generally it was hard for her to tell the difference.

She was twenty six going on thirty in two months yet it really didn’t show. Her face was mostly free of any blemishes except for a soft scar going from her lower lip on the left side down to her short and somewhat boyish chin. It was a permanent reminder that you should never run on stairs, even if you had a really, really, really good reason. What that reason had been was lost to the woman however.

Her hair was short, wavy, and the color of a sunset over an industrial park. A slender hand with short, chipped, and nibbled nails brushed a burnt orange lock out of her eyes as she bent over the engine. Chances are shed have to get a haircut again soon or else too many assholes at work would give her shit for well, being a her. North Carolina was not north, east, or west enough for the general population to believe she was any good at much of anything despite the North in the state's name. There had been more than a few times where she'd been turned away at the door, toolkit in hand by backwards mouth breathers. And that was fine, they could go without someone fixing their AC in august for a few more weeks then.

Sometimes Riley thought that she should have been a welder instead of an HVAC technician. At least she'd have a mask to stop any sort of stupid comments some of the time. In the distance she heard a roar from the heavens and turned just in time to see light spark across the dark clouds which would soon consume the low hanging afternoon sun. “Fuck it.” She growled, slamming the hood shut. “And fuck you piece of shit.” a fist came down to bang the hood which somehow made the poor red hatchback look even better despite the new dent. It went well with the many, many, many other dents after all.

“And James can go and suck someones cock for tricking me into fixing you.” Her harsh look turned into a sort of sad expression of disbelief as she sat down on the machine's hood. Gently she patted the auto's hood as if apologizing. “Its not your fault that idiot drove you in the durby, nor is it your fault I bet him two hundred dollars I could fix you by Monday. Just...” A sigh escaped her lips as she slumped backwards, laying down on the car with her head against the roof. “I could have really used a bit of extra money towards getting out of this third world state.”

The storm seemed to rumble softly as if apologizing which made Riley laugh ever so softly to herself for having such a thought. “You do make a decent seat though.” She said as a soft smile spread across her lips. Her teeth were as straight as they were white and even though she complained Riley wore her retainer ever evening. Despite how much she loathed this place her parents always did right by her. It was her father that encouraged her to get into mechanics and both he and his wife paid for every cent of Riley's education. Even if the vast majority of people here were shit birds, some could be pretty nice.

The lightning was spectacular to watch and she adored the sensation of thunder vibrating through her core. Riley could feel her hair standing on end now, the air electric with the energy of the storm. For a moment she considered going inside before letting out a billowing laugh. A little rain would help clean all of the grime off of her outfit and her tanned skin. Admittedly her lime green work tank top was more of a sludge colored brown at this point and this current pair of Jeans was almost beyond salvation but it was more of an excuse to enjoy the storm than anything else. Riley scooted back a little bit more on the car and crossed one of her black booted shoes over top the other, enjoying this moment.

For once she didn’t feel like gnawing on her fingertips with a moment of downtime. In fact she felt utterly at peace in this moment as the storm stretched into a panoramic before her. Her green-blue eyes gave a second life to every bolt of lightning that reflected off of them. Soon she shut them and allowed herself to breathe, feeling the sounds of nature vibrate deep within her. It was peaceful to hear raindrops in the distance mixed with sporadic thunder and the soothing sound of rustling leaves overhead. She only opened them upon feeling a drop of rain strike her four head, followed by another on her left thumb, and another, and another, and another.

It was a pleasant downpour soon enough and she spread her arms as if to welcome it. The rain was not fringed for once, but instead the temperate of the air itself. Soon she brought her hands up and cupped them over her four head so she could watch the storm that was enveloping the world around her with a manic grin spread across her face. Bolts of electricity danced before her in mysterious shapes without apparent rhyme or reason.

Yet the more she watched the more she noticed a pattern. A shape was emerging in the ionized echos of every arc of lightning. What could it be? She edged forward on the car, and was soon sitting on the hood to look at it more clearly. Moments later she was standing in front of it with squinting eyes. This was not a natural display, after all lightning tended to be wild and chaotic. This was something that seemed to be able to control that chaos, to control this storm, to control what should be uncontrollable.

The shape was that of a massive bird, constantly being carved out by lightning against the clouds. Or was it that the bird was causing lightning to emerge out of it? Like any twenty first century human Riley reached into her back pocket for her phone only to realize that she had left it in the house. Perhaps that was for the best because as soon as she realized she didn’t have it the idea of taking a picture of whatever was happening before her seemed...sacrilegious. Almost as if taking this moment and trying to put it anywhere else would lessen its gravitas.

Riley could feel her heart welling as she experienced this sight. Her body seemed to only inhale and exhale when the thunder rolled around her. Strangely it was a rhythmic noise now that matched someone taking deep breaths that did not at all match the phenomenon coming closer and closer to her. And the lightning was no longer behaving naturally at all. It wasn’t appearing for a split second before fading away anymore, instead it simply was. Before her was a giant bird etched into the clouds with light.

And it was moving.

Most people at this point would run inside and hide in the lowest bathroom they could for safety, but not her. Riley instead continued to grin and walk towards the strange creature that was now soaring through the sky. “Bad-fucking-ass!” She shouted at the top of her lungs up at the being, hoping that it could hear her. It deserved to know what she thought after all and Riley had a feeling that not many people tried to communicate with whatever this thing was.

The elemental response was not quick, but instantaneously. Her entire world roared with thunder as an arc of red light cascaded down from the heavens and consumed her. Her scream was inaudible against the sound of the storm and every part of her was consumed with its energy.

Yet she was still standing, still breathing, and still very much alive, despite the fact that her heart was pounding harder than it ever had before. The rain had stopped and all around her was a storm that stretched out for what looked like an eternity. She spun, taking in the horizon which was much less tree filled than before. In fact her house was gone as was the car she had been working on. Riley was now standing in a massive field that stretched on in all directions much like the horizon. The only colors she could see were of the foreign golden grasses around her, the dark storm around her, and the many shades of lightning.

It wasn’t just blue and yellow in this strange place. It was read too like the bolt that had struck her. It was green, greener than any green she had ever witnessed. It was violet and vermillion and pink and cerulean and every color imaginable, cascading in amazing luminescence in all directions. She realized that the reason why storms were so dark was so that lightning could contrast against it. It was a simple truth that made her smile.

Riley reached up to wring the water out of her hair only to find it dry. Dry and long...longer than she had ever allowed it to be. Admittedly she had only once grown it down to her shoulders but it was now reaching down to the small of her back. Slowly she took her left hand and moved a few locks in front of her to look. What she saw caused her to gasp before taking her right hand and pulling more of her hair around to see.

It really couldn’t be called hair anymore, not with electricity visibly flowing through the much more red strands. Every moment multiple sparks of blue and yellow would travel up and down various strands of her hair only to puff out upon reaching the bottom in a small clap of thunder. For a moment she wondered just what had happen and what was happening to her before she realized that...well...

She didn’t care. Riley had never felt so very much alive before. She had never felt so right before. As if she had always had hair this long she tilted her head forward before whipping it back to straighten everything out behind her. This caused a massive boom of thunder to effeminate from her hair which of course made her break out into a fit of giggles. She sounded different too...younger for one...and almost as if she was signing despite her attempts to laugh.

Experimentally she began to hum and the noise almost made her fall to her knees from its ethereal beauty. Better still the heavens themselves seemed to be providing a beat to her song with the low rolls of thunder. Riley only took a moment to catch her breath before she began to sing. It wasn’t really words, but more of a harmonic melody that was richer and higher than anything any human could produce. Every chord filled her with pure joy and the storm around her reflected that with a brilliant whirling light show.

As she sang Riley either didn’t realize or care that she was beginning to rise off of the ground. Instead she simply twirled with outstretched arms as she ascended. She could feel her herself kick off her boots. She seemed pleased when a wave of energy went through her from a nearby cloud that disintegrated her belt, causing her jeans to tumble down towards the earth. That didn’t matter. In fact she knew deep down that none of her old life mattered.

Still singing she felt an instinctive urge to stretch her toes and legs as much as she could. Lightning was freely flowing from her splayed fingertips now which only seemed to draw distant bolts closer and eventually within her. Each one filled her with a sense of purpose, grace, and raw power. So she stretched, trusting these new feelings as she arced her head back to sing even louder. Below she could feel her feet shifting, changing, becoming as they always should be.

All of her flesh below her knees was becoming dark, almost burnt, and ringed. Yet Riley felt no pain, only a welling sense of joy and acceptance. She could feel all of her smaller toes fading away into one digit whilst her biggest one seemed to extend as well. The changing human let out a soft pleasant cry as she felt her heels extend as well, the sensation both alien and familiar. The noise of tearing fabric interrupted her singing for just a moment before she resolved to let her tones echo even longer and louder. Her new talons were shredding her soft white socks, twitching and stretching sporadically as Riley grew into her new body. Her remaining clothes were getting in the way of her changes however so she shut her eyes and willed another bolt of lightning to strike her which vaporized every thread she had been wearing.

To her it was a lovely sensation that caused every inch of her to tingle pleasantly. Her eyes blazed brightly as she summoned another bolt, and another. And with each strike her tan flesh began to give way to something else. Something soft and warm something better than any set of clothes Riley had ever worn. She could feel countless pinpricks emerging all over her body and every single one felt better than the last. Whatever she was now, she wasn’t really human anymore. Humans weren’t clad in countless obsidian feathers or had massive talons instead of feet. But like everything else, this did not bother the changing avian, it excited her.

Soon her spine shifted with a loud thunder crack before forcing her into a new upright position. Instinctively she began to bring her arms down beside her before raising them again...and again...and again before allowing them to outstretch. Riley was flying of her own volition now, only bothering to move her wings when she wanted to feel a crack of thunder vibrate within her. Her human features were almost a memory now as her wings continued to form. She could feel her fingers stretching...and stretching, until they were almost nothing.


There wasn’t much of Riley left anymore. Her eyes were tempests in and of themselves now. After all she wasn’t so much of a bird but a storm in the shape of a bird and the windows into her soul reflected a storm. Her face was so much more angular now and in seconds she knew her ability to speak in any human tongue would fade. But she didn’t bother to speak as her lips pushed out into a their new and much harder shape. There was no need to layment the passing of her old life. Instead the newly born Thunderbird picked up speed, going faster and faster as lightning trailed behind it. Her song echoed all around her, now the very thunder itself. She didn’t feel right she simply felt. She simply was. And she had to share her splendor with everyone she could.

Somewhere far away from that place and that time electricity began to shake the air. A man emerging from his swimming pool saw a strange storm in the distance and instead of heading inside he sat down on a deckchair and cracked open a beer to watch the beautiful lights. Nearby the parents of a young woman who had graduated with top marks form her trade school sat on there patio and watched the lightning in the distance. And a young man on his drive home from work watched the tempest in his rear-view and decided not to charge his friend for loosing a rather silly bet.