Zeydaan to the Cerritos

Zeydaan is currently moping around the kitchen, making herself a sandwich as she softly hums to herself – it had been a very long day. With little to do, and not a whole lot to look forward to a good while, life was feeling pretty dull for the Fay Wolf as of late, and she was looking for something – anything, to break up the monotony. She takes little nibbles out of the sandwich post-preparation, pacing around the kitchen as she tries to make the meal last for a while.

This was no good, no good at all.

She couldn’t stay like this for a moment more, she was craving adventure! Some action! Though of course, this was easier said than done, as not a great deal came to mind for her to actually do, especially with the little amount of money she currently had stored for such an occasion. Whatever she decided to do, it would have to be something small scale or cheap. Zeydaan finishes her food, throwing a small amount of leftover bread crust into the bin before taking a seat at her dining table. With her chin resting upon her hand, she spent a brief moment thinking of possibilities for some fun, though she could have never known that at that very moment, an opportunity for adventure had come directly to her instead.

Sitting upon the kitchen table, lies a small metallic badge. It’s in the approximate shape of an arrow, with curved edges and a sleek, futuristic design to it. Though thanks to their plentiful knowledge of pop culture iconography, Zeydaan knew what this shape was already – it was the insignia of Starfleet. Specifically, this was a communicator that crew would wear on their uniforms. She reached out and picked it up, inspecting it closely. It had a decent amount of weight to it, and from that, she could quickly deduce that this was no cheap plastic replica, and that some real care had gone into the creation of this badge. “Where on earth did you come from?” Zeydaan asks out loud to no one in particular, glancing around the room to double check that she was in fact alone. She did have a friend over for a little bit two days ago… maybe they had left it as a gift for her, and they simply had missed it until just now? That was the only logical explanation that came to mind, though instead of pondering this mystery any further, something far more exciting came into her mind…

What if she could engage in some simple make-believe? Instead of being stuck at home, Zeydaan could instead be in space, aboard a starship! Doing her duties, exploring the galaxy… and perhaps recording all of her thoughts in some kind of log too? Yes, that’s exactly it! she could try out doing some solo roleplay! Zeydaan’s wings flutter a little with glee, as she grabs her laptop and boots it up on the dining table. Various scenarios race through her mind, almost overloaded with possibilities regarding what she could now try out and overstimulated after having finally thought of something to end her boredom. She grabs the badge and fixes it to her top, then proceeds to lean over and click her mouse to start recording herself...

“Ahem – this is Doctor Zeydaan of the U.S.S… erm… thingy. I, uh… am about to run some routine tests on our systems in the medlab to make sure that everything is running up to speed! We’re expecting to arrive at our destination soon… erm, I suppose that we’ll have to prepare to keep the crew healthy and fit for that… and, um… I-I don’t really have much else to say at the moment, so I guess that I’ll sign off for now! I’ll provide an update in the morning, once the ship has arrived.”

She ended the video, smiling to herself as she rewatched the video before putting the device back into her pocket – it was quite an amateur attempt at acting the role of a doctor out, but Zeydaan was sure that she’d pick it up soon, with a bit of practice of course. It was getting rather late now, and seeing the sun setting on the horizon, Zeydaan figured that it would be best to continue this in the morning. Having a fun idea for tomorrow all planned out, Zeydaan decides to head to bed, turning the lights off as she heads up the stairs. However, as she ascended the stairs, something… strange started to happen.

Zeydaan’s pupils start to shift, going from a circular shape into feline slits whilst her iris and sclera merge together into a soft, yellow tone. She didn't notice this however – there was no sensation coming from this change, and even if there was, the Wolf was simply feeling too sleepy to even register it. Arriving at the top of the stairs, she heads down the hallway, scratching the back of her head which had started to sprout new blonde hairs all over her scalp, gradually replacing their old pink ones as she simultaneously starts to miniaturise. By the time she reached the door of her bedroom, she had unknowingly adopted a new style. The follicles are quite thick and densely packed together, getting automatically styled into a rather messy cut as if some unseen, amateur hairdresser was tending to Zeydaan’s new head of hair.

Taking off her clothing and throwing it into a heap beside her bed, her nose shifts to become a soft pink colour. It’s slightly damp to the touch, and yet another feline feature upon Zeydaan’s rapidly morphing face. Clambering into bed, she closes her eyes, and tries to drift off to sleep, though after a few minutes pass by, she finds this rather hard to do. Everything seemed too loud – the rustling of leaves outside of her room had become much rowdier, and it took a good while for her brain to subconsciously tune them out. Evidently, this was merely a side effect of her ears transforming. She had become much more sensitive to sound, and as she was traveling upwards to the top of her head, she also began sprouting ginger fur all over. She pushed through this unwanted noise, and at last, she drifted off. Their sleep is dreamless and deep, but the world around was never to be the same again – not that she’d notice this however…

Her eyes opened slowly, though the rays of sunshine that usually greeted her in the morning were now strangely absent. Not only that, but those ambient noises that kept her awake for longer than expected were now gone, and instead replaced with the sound of a deep humming noise. Of course, this noise never went away though – Zeydaan was on a starship of course, and the subtle sound of the engines purring was constant. Now that she thinks about it, it was strange that she even stopped to consider this. Sitting up in bed, she stretches and yawns, her body having undergone even more changes in her sleep.

Her once black/cream fur was covered in a new layer of fur, and much like that which had grown all over her new ears, it was a desaturated ginger colour. Dense and short, it hid the skin beneath it, with some sections of her body having longer fur, all of which looked scraggly and unkept, much like her hairstyle. Some weight loss had occurred, too. Zeydaan’s body shrunk in stature slightly, body fat having been shed off of her frame, and consequently leaving her with a lean, scraggy look more befitting of someone older than herself. Her chest had diminished in size to a small degree, also baring new fangs within their mouth. her once large wings had been reduced in size to nothing but small bumps upon her furry back, and soon, not even these would remain, as each passing minute had resulted in them getting minimized more and more, like a balloon slowly deflating.

Wiping her eyes, she swings her legs out from the bed and starts to get dressed into her uniform. It was her usual Starfleet one, with her signature light blue lab coat going over the top of it, though despite this, it seemed strangely foreign to her. It was as if by wearing it, she was stealing it from a stranger. The Doctor chalks this thought up to her having worn this same look for so long, and that her brain might’ve been subconsciously telling her to shake her style up a bit. She didn't bother to style or groom themselves before leaving, and she didn’t have time for a shower either – this cat had a job to do. She picks up her equipment, and heads out of her quarters.

Whilst striding down the hallway, her tail is the next target for these changes, as it shrinks and slenderises over the course of around half a minute. The many halls of the starship are like a labyrinth, and as she walks to her destination, she taps her communicator, wanting to record another log on the way there.

“This is Doctor… uh… I… a-anyways, I’ve been feeling sort of unusual this morning. Everything seems rather out of place and unfamiliar to me, not to mention the fact I’m feeling sort of… spaced out right now. Did I drink too much yesterday or something? I can’t remember much of anything at all… it’s all… quite muddled up. Anyways, I’m going to do my daily shift now, and I’ll report back later this evening. Maybe I just need to work and apply myself to something… hopefully that’ll set me straight again.”

She noted that their voice was uncharacteristically dry and mature sounding, having a different accent to boot. She coughs, her throat feeling scratchy as her words come out sounding rough and coarse, though she didn’t think much of it, doubting soon after if it had simply always sounded that way. And come to think of it, she felt more like a ‘she’ now as well – it just seemed far more natural. What didn’t feel natural however, was how she was feeling so lost in these corridors. She lived and worked here, right? Then how could she get lost like this so easily? This surely should be routine for her, though the ship felt so unknown to her this morning. It took her much longer than usual to arrive at the medbay for her shift, having taken many wrong turns and spent some time wandering around on the wrong floor. In the end, she ended up having to ask the ship’s AI for directions, which of course it provided straight away. Being the chief medical officer, she felt a bit embarrassed by this, though she sure as hell wasn’t going to embarrass herself even more by asking a fellow crewmate instead.

Upon entering the medbay, she finds it rather desolate; no one else is here aside from her, when she recalls what today was – most of the crew were down in the hangar doing drills. “Ugh, this is going to suck.” she mutters under her own breath, as her brow furrows with thicker eyebrows than what she once had a moment ago. It was most likely going to be a day of working alone. Sitting down at her desk, her hands start to make unpleasant cracking noises, her fingernails turning into claws. From within her shoes, new claws appear upon her feet too, coupled with some padding on her soles.

She went to work, answering messages that she had been sent by others and working on a cure for a rather nasty but contained virus that had been discovered by crew on an away mission recently. It’s hard work, though as she gets lost in this, any memory of what she had been before starts to sink into the recesses of T’Ana’s mind. It’s almost as if she’s been put into an autopilot mode, coasting through her work whilst not taking much of it in either. After some hours of working, her head starts to lean down, as she decided she had earned a short nap…

After an hour, she awakens again and takes a look around. The feline alien felt strangely befuddled about her surroundings, or about what she had just been doing a moment ago. She could see that she was sitting at her desk… tricorder in hand… computer switched on too. Pondering for a moment, she formulates an answer, that being – “Ah shit, did I doze off or something? I feel like crap.” she says out loud, rubbing her eyes and blinking a couple of times.

She felt totally exhausted, and as she checks the time, she figures that it’s about time to make another log entry. She never was fond of doing these, though it helped sometimes to get your thoughts and feelings out of your head, even if that sentiment sounded dumb to T’Ana.

“Doctor T’Ana here. Log… eh, who gives a shit. Ugh, I hate having to make these things… does anyone here even look over these? Ugh. Nevertheless, I’ve completed my shift, and everything seems to be in order. I had a feeling earlier that something wasn’t right with our scanners, though that doesn’t seem to be the case. I’ll do a more thorough check tomorrow at 0600. I don’t know… maybe I’m just imaging things… either that, or I need a break. Healing phaser burns and resetting bones all day, every day really does a number on you after a while.”

She minimizes the computer, the LCARS system shutting down as the screen returns to its offline state once more. “Lights off.” she says out loud, as the computer obeys her wishes and shrouds the medbay in darkness. It had been a long, productive day, and as the cat lady cracked her back, hands simultaneously held around her waist, she let out a long sigh. She gives her furry cheek a scratch, purring softly as she does so, whilst making her way down the long, futuristic hallway and towards her quarters, this time with less of a delay. She had earned a good night’s sleep, and was certainly ready for it. Though one thing was for certain – this job never got boring, and for as long as she is the chief medical officer, she was sure to never have a dull moment whilst serving aboard a Federation starship, and venturing out into the unknown.