Something strange

It's only been two days but I was glad to return home. I arrived during the evening, Claire would most likely be playing games at that time. Since it's also been more than a day since I last wore a skin, the cold returned once again, worse than ever. It was still manageable for now, though.

I opened the door and announced myself. It didn't take long for me to hear her footsteps coming closer and her appearing from behind the corner, almost jumping on me as she hugged me.

"Welcome home, Ed!" she said with a smile.

"Hey, how are you?" I asked. On text, we didn't talk much, she only mentioned that she hung out with Dahlia yesterday and had fun.

"I'm feeling really good, actually. I'm so relieved that nothing bad happened to you." she replied as she hugged me again.

I smiled back and patted her head. "I told you I'd be careful."

"So, what did you do exactly?" she curiously asked. I only told her that things went well, not what I did. I thought it'd be risky to detail things too much over text.

"Let me order something and then I'll tell you, I'm pretty hungry. Want some pizzas?"

"Sure." she nodded.

She seemed more relaxed than usual, but I attributed that to me being safe. After a quick call, our pizzas were on the way. In the meantime, we sat on the couch and I started explaining what I did during the trip, all the while booting up the console to play some Tekken with her.

"You really wore George and father?"

I sighed. "Yeah, it wasn't a good experience. Especially father. Being him was so awful." I stuck out my tongue, mimicking an expression of disgust.

"I can imagine." she simply said.

"And you, what did you do with Dahlia?" I asked back.

She started fidgeting with her fingers and sheepishly replied. "Hmm... We got to know each other better, as we agreed. She's really nice."

I chuckled. "Unpredictable and puckish at times, though."

She giggled. "Indeed, but it's part of her charm, don't you think?"

"She's a bit too much sometimes."

The game started and we each chose our characters. I chose my usual main, Steve, but Claire decided to pick a different character than usual, Lili.

"Why the change?" I asked.

"Oh, no reason, just felt like it. She's cute after all." was her reply.

When we played, though, I felt like something was wrong. She was far better than that normally, but here, I was easily beating her. She was way more amateurish, almost as if...

I glanced back at her, eyes wide, a potential realisation hitting me after thinking back of her earlier comment, only to be met by a teasing smirk, confirming my fears.

"D-Dahlia?"

"Hehe, I hoped to keep the charade up a bit longer, but it's hard when I've never played this game before."

I immediately held her by the collar of her shirt, gritting my teeth and trying to contain my anger. "Why are you wearing Claire?"

"Ed, calm down!" said another, familiar voice from the direction of the bedrooms.

I turned only to be met by... Dahlia? The redhead was standing there, looking worried. I glanced back and forth between the two of them, completely clueless and confused.

"W-what? W-what's happening?"

'Claire' spoke first, chuckling. "It was her idea, you know? Come, Claire, tell him."

"You're... Claire?" I asked the familiar redhead who sat next to me.

She nodded sheepishly. "Y-yeah..."

It was so strange to see the always teasing redhead acting so shyly, but I could definitely recognize Claire's demeanour.

"How did this happen?"

Dahlia answered in Claire's voice, her tone far more confident than Claire ever was. "Yesterday, I told her more about our skinwalker abilities, since she was curious and wanted to learn more about our kind. I explained how we extracted the souls of the people we skinned and how we could restore them afterwards, and she asked if it was possible to restore a wrong soul inside a skin. It was actually something I myself had been wondering about since shortly after I became a skinwalker, but considering that I had no one who knew about my nature, I couldn't test it out."

I narrowed my eyes. "And you used Claire as your guinea pig?"

Claire held my hand and leaned against my shoulder. "Ed, calm down please. I volunteered to it, she didn't do anything without my consent."

"Indeed. I would like if you could finally trust me completely, Ed, as I've always been honest with you. This was just a little prank we wanted to pull on you because we thought it'd be funny."

I held my forehead and groaned, but Claire pulled me in a hug. "Ed, I am fine, I promise. I... I just wanted to see how it'd be like. It is really interesting to be someone else... Seeing my reflection in the mirror being so different compared to the appearance I always had, it's surreal. It's... a small way I can relate to you, to what you're becoming..."

She was trying hard to accept my new nature... It made me happy.

"Don't worry, Eddy, I'll return us to normal later, it was just for a day. Dahlia is my identity and you know how possessive I am of it. I am Dahlia now, and plan to keep being her in the longterm."

"I... I see..." I sighed. "Can you... warn me next time you try something like that?"

Dahlia chuckled. Seeing her mannerisms while she was wearing Claire's skin was pretty strange. She made Claire look so much more confident.

"Sure, don't worry. Anyway, now that we can speak freely, continue where you left off."

The pizzas arrived shortly after and I finished my explanations while we were eating. Claire seemed conflicted, but it was understandable. She may have hated our parents but they were still family. Dahlia, on the other hand, was pretty excited, looking at me with pride.

"You really are a quick learner, hmm? That was a really interesting way of using our abilities. Maybe you do have what it takes to be a vigilante after all."

I remembered that I wanted to ask her something. "When I skinned George, for some reason, I felt so bad... Like if my skinwalker instincts were scolding me for doing it. Do you know why?"

Dahlia suddenly had a smug grin plastered on her face. "You really didn't notice why? Then let me tell you." she said as she leaned closer. "You felt this way because of your repressed desires... Because he was a man."

"What? What do you mean?"

"Once a skinwalker gets a taste of what it's like to be the opposite gender, they become addicted. Skinwalkers who were born female will tend to prefer wearing male skins and male skinwalkers will prefer female skins. It happens to a majority of skinwalkers, from what I've heard. So it's natural for you to crave being a woman again far more than being another man. Deep down, you want to know how it feels to be a woman through and through, and since you keep deluding yourself, your skinwalker side doesn't like it."

"I... I don't-" I was about to protest again but Dahlia interrupted me, putting a finger on my lips and giving me a compassionate smile.

"You're not a pervert or a deviant because of that, you know? There's nothing wrong with having these feelings. A lot of humans have similar feelings, they even write stories where this is the main focus, calling it 'gender-bender'. Stories where characters suddenly switch genders and usually have to learn how to live again as their new gender and discovering more about themselves along the way. For normal humans, stories like that are usually either comedies, fetishistic fictions, or wish-fullfilment stories for transgender people. In any case, something that will stay in the realm of fantasies. But for us, this can be a reality. We have the power to experience that first hand. Also, I can assure you that your sister would still love you even if you were to choose a woman as your next permanent skin."

Claire chipped in as I felt her hold on my hand tightening slightly, her voice soft but kind. "I would. You know I'll always love you, no matter how you may look."

I lowered my head, closing my eyes and letting out a long sigh of exasperation.

"Eddy, listen, I know that you're conflicted and that it's hard for you. Why don't you give it another try, just to see how you'd feel? There's this bitchy girl in my class, acting somewhat similarly to the old me and who's disliked by most people. You can always try being her for a few days? If I am wrong and you really don't like it, just remove her afterwards and we won't speak about it ever again."