Morning Glory

[`Terra Aetara ♥]

Growing up, many had referred to Terra as a tree. Her appearance reflected that of young sapling, slender and shapeless, hardly a feminine look to her. She was small, childlike, and always looked like she could be snapped in half. It was her appearance that she was often teased about, ragged on because she was already fourteen and still had yet to grow.

She'd gotten to the point where she thought she would always look like a gangly kid. A stick, a tree, rather than the pretty flowers of the Aetara gardens she tended to with great affection. While everyone around her grew and changed, blossomed, she was left behind. Her fellow Powers with their many suitors and admirers, and she the girl who still played in the dirt while she was left behind. Not that they intentionally did it, and she held no hard feelings at all. She just felt uncomfortable, an odd one out, and often chose to spend her time with the trees that her appearance seemed to reflect rather than follow her friends around.

She was still just a kid, after all.

But she had not anticipated the morning of her fourteenth birthday. Like that of the morning glories that she fancied, the flower that only bloomed in the morning, like a slow undulation of petals unfolding into a beautiful part of nature, somewhere in the night as she slept, everything had changed. She didn't notice it at first, it wasn't something she would have been looking for. She'd resigned herself to always looking like a kid. It wasn't until she tried to pull on one of her dresses that the first strings of panic set in. She'd thought perhaps the dress had shrunk, but every dress thereafter she tried to put on, would not fit.

With wide eyes, and a particularly confused frown, she tossed yet another gown to the floor and moved across the room for her robe. That, of course, would have to fit, right? But as she crossed the room, her reflection slid across the tall mirror on her wall. She paused, glancing back briefly at the odd reflection. The reflection gazed back at her, and as she rose her hand to her face, so did the woman in the mirror.

Terra jerked her hand down, stumbling back, the mirror reflecting each of her movements. Panic was the first emotion, and then wonder as she forced herself towards the mirror and tapped the glass with her pointer finger.

"I... wha?" she muttered. "That just isn't possible. No."

She didn't want to believe it, it was too hard to grasp her mind around it. Great rolling Earth, she looked like a.... a.... female!

She was happy, yes, to finally be catching up to the others, and it wasn't until she glanced back at her bed and saw red that panic set in again. Turning from happiness to horror in a flash. Something really was wrong with her!

She wheeled away from the mirror, grabbing her robe to throw on before fleeing the room. Through the winding hallways, down the staircase and into the dining room. By the time she reached the room, her family around the breakfast table, she was breathing heavily, her face flushed and eyes wide in horror.

"Maaaaaamaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!" she screamed, clutching the robe about her in attempt to hide everything.

Pernicious looked up from her meal and stared at her daughter with realization. The Pernicious of this time was not as harsh as she would become, for she had not foreseen what would happen in later times. As of now, Terra and Maelstrom were but her children, and part of the future of Elementis. Not those who could destroy everything she had worked for.

"Terra, you know that breakfast is a time for dress," she said, but there was an underlying amusement.

Peregrine just looked confused.

"But- but.... my dresses won't fit!"

"I'm sure there must be somethi-"

"No! There's something wrong with me! I- I- it's..... I don't know! But there's-"

"Terra, nothing is wrong with you. You're just becoming a woman."

"That's not supposed to happen in one night! I have... I have..." Terra trailed off and pointed to her chest in jerky motions, and then her hips. "And, and, and I'm.... I'm.... I think I might be injured because I'm blee-"

By this time, Pernicious had risen from her seat and grabbed Terra by the shoulders. "In hindsight, I realize we should have had this talk before now, but that's natural. It's just part of the moon cycle."

"The.... oh." See, Terra did know what that was, she just hadn't know what it involved. "Oh. Oh! But, but, I.... Make it stoo-oooop. I look weird!" She turned to her father, and then Maelstrom and blushed. She hadn't noticed they were there.

Peregrine was confused for another long moment, before it suddenly dawned on him. He coughed, spraying his mouthful of juice in all directions. His face reddened. "I just remembered I have a meeting," he said quickly, "Have a good day, kids. Happy birthday, Terra, and um, everything will be just fine. Well, I'm off." And he hurriedly left the room. That was one conversation he could have lived without.

Pernicious glared over her shoulder at his exit, muttering, "Traitor." before turning back to Terra. "I'll have the maids alter your dresses. Tonight is your birthday ball, and I will not have you hiding just because of something so little."

She didn't wait for a rebuttal before she went off to start ordering the servants around.

"But, but, oh, hells," Terra stammered, before dropping into a seat at the dining table and letting her head fall against the table.

[maelstrom]

A snicker from across the room. Then a snort of contained laughter. Followed by a full on roar of utter amusement. Maelstrom fell from his chair, laughing so hard that tears rolled down his cheeks. No words could be formed on his lips while they were stretched into such a smile. No, he just rolled there, completely astounded into hysteria over his little sister's misfortune.

He had had the great luck of transforming as the winds do. From a slight breezy boy to a stormy teenager. In the worst of moods, he was cold and calculating as a winter frost, and in best a warm summer wind that refreshed everyone around him.

He had been lucky, and his little sister had most definitely not.

[`Terra Aetara ♥]

At Maelstrom's laughter, she stomped her foot down on the ground in offense. Okay, she was throwing a temper tantrum. She head swivelled to the side so she could glare at him, before she went stomping past his chair. But, being the brat that she could be when angered, as she passed, a nice man-eating plant shot up from the ground and took a big bite out of his chair.

"Not all of us grow up as easily as you," she said, crossing her arms over her chest as the plant tried to have a go at her brother. She wouldn't actually let it get him, but he didn't need to know that. "And... and stop laughing! It's not funny! I look weird, and, and, just.... ARGH!"

[titan]

Maelstrom continued his laughing fit, unable to curb the desire to shift into Terra's new form. Now she was laughing at herself so to speak. He also created a little air bubble around his currently female self, making it impossible for the demon plant to get him while he laughed himself silly. Out of spite, he poked his newly grown breast and laughed even louder.

[lily tomlinson]

Terra made an inarticulate noise in the back of her throat, angry at him but also amused and not wanting to be amused. She stomped her foot down again, before throwing herself at him only to wind up bouncing off his air bubble and rolling to the floor. Gah, she couldn't even get to him.

"You're so mean," she said, not even bothering to get back up yet. She pursed her lips to keep from laughing herself. It was funny, but she didn't want to admit it.

[maelstrom]

"Now don't mess the floor," he managed to get out before continuing his laughter, "We hardly need stains."

Yes, he was a mean older brother, and he liked it.

[lily tomlinson]

Terra quickly got back up, blushing. "You keep laughing, brother," she said, placing her hands on her hips and staring down at him with narrowed eyes, "I'll have Vita turn you into a female on her moon cycle. Then we'll see how you like it."

There was a determined glint in her eyes as she spun on her heel and ran for the doors. She'd do just that, too, if she had too. She wasn't violent, but that didn't mean she couldn't harass him some other way. And Vita's powers were perfect in this instance.

[maelstrom]

And he did. The house was swept with his laughter like wind over a green hill in the summertime, and the housekeeping staff couldn't help but laugh along with him. Soon, most of the household was laughing. Probably had no ideas as to their fate. Poor suckers.

[`Terra Aetara ♥]

With his continued laughter, Terra kept to her threat, storming through the acres of land around the estate and ran for the temple. She wasn't the type that handled embarrassment very well, and with the whole household laughing at her now, she would not come back until she found Vita. She had to help.

It took her almost an hour to find the fair-haired girl, curled up in the shrine room with a large tomb in her lap. Terra resisted the urge to wrinkle her nose at the history book. History was not her thing at all.

"Vita!" she called, rushing into the room with a pout, the skirts of her dress flowing behind her. Well, it wasn't hers. It was one she'd borrowed from her mother before leaving the house. It was still a bit too constricting but it was better than running from the house in a flimsy robe. Ugh.

Vita looked up with a soft expression, her eyes slightly cloudy as they adjusted to reality over history. She'd been in the process of soaking up all the knowledge held within the pages of the tomb, sorting through all the imprints of those that had written the tomb and the sudden entrance of Terra had startled her. "Terra, what seems to be the problem?" She was truly interested, as she was unused to seeing the redhead so flustered. The girl was usually always smiles and giggles, gentle and solitary.

"Ah, don't tell me," she went on with a sudden smile. She could read the signs, and if she used just a bit of her power, she could tell that Terra's aura was different. Rapidly darkening from a light peridot green to a more emerald color. Growing and shaping. "You finally joined the rest of the females in womanhood?"

"How- how did you know?"

"I know life's stages very well," was all she said, before shutting the book and carefully setting it aside. "So, then my question would be, why were you looking for me?"

"Maelstrom is making fun of me," Terra said, shifting from foot to foot. "I was wondering if maybe.... you could..."

"Teach him a lesson?" For a moment, Vita's smile was of a devious charm, flashing so briefly that it was barely seen. "I'd be glad too. We've been threatening our male kin with that trick for so long, and I've had yet to act upon it. This should be an... awakening experience."

Vita stood in one graceful motion and gestured for Terra to lead the way. Through the temple grounds, and the trees that guarded the Aetara home and into a laughing household. Terra's face reddened, but Vita laid a hand upon her shoulder, a quieting finger to her lips. And then she gave a conspiratorial wink and swiftly edged into the tea room.

"Maelstrom," Vita said in a softly scolding voice, shaking a finger at him. "You've been an unkindly brother this morning, so I've heard. For such an offense.... well, I'm afraid turnabout is merely fair play."

And as she spoke the words, why, she made true on Terra's wishes. Maelstrom was quickly transforming into a woman on her moon cycle, all the pains and problems that went along with it too. Should teach a man to be a tad more understanding...