Honeymoon Suite 1: Strangers

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Cole sat up with a start. It seemed he'd been lying down on a couch in a completely unfamiliar location—a large, lavish living room with the seating all facing a big fireplace. There were skylights above letting in some golden, late-afternoon light. "Ugh..what'd I drink last night?" he wondered aloud, rubbing his head. It didn't feel like he had a hangover, and even the mild headache he thought he'd had vanished suddenly, as though it had been merely psychosomatic. But—waking up in a place this unfamiliar, with it being so late in the day, he had a hard time thinking of any better explanation than getting knock-out drunk the night before.

He stood up slowly, just in case, and approached a half-wall that opened into a kitchen—a fairly big kitchen for a residence, looking fairly well-supplied at that, with plenty of modern-looking appliances. There was a window over the sink letting in the same light as the skylights before. When he turned back around toward the living room, he jumped—noticing the motion first, then the actual presence of a guy in a doorway on the opposite side of the room.

"Sorry," he said, looking apologetic. He was a bit on the tall side, brown-haired and brown-eyed, looked kind of fit. He was wearing boxers and a tank top, the same as Cole now realized he'd woken up in. "Didn't mean to uh..surprise you. Guess you're up now?"
"Uhh, yeah. Who're you? And..?"
"I'll answer what I can," the stranger said. "Name's Alex. As for where we are, uh...no clue. Seems like some kinda penthouse apartment or something, but there's um..there's no...door...to outside?"

"What, seriously? You're screwin' with me!"

"Go have a look," Alex said, gesturing. So he did, being careful not to get too close to the stranger or let his guard down too much.

The other guy had come from the place's one bedroom. It was as lavish as the living room was, with a single huge bed, some dressers and a big full-length mirror, and two bathrooms adjoining it, each of which also had an attached walk-in closet. One of the bathrooms opened into a little room with bookshelves full of books lining its walls and a single easy chair in the middle, seemingly for reading said books on. The library had another door into the living room, and next to that door was a door into the kitchen. The kitchen was attached to a dining room with a cabinet of fine china and a big table in the middle; its other door went to the living room. And besides connecting to the dining room and living room, the kitchen also had a door that led to a small laundry room-slash-pantry—with a modern washer and dryer against one wall, and some shelves half-full of dry food along the other. There were no TVs, computers, or phones as far as Cole could tell, but there was electricity and running water. And...it was true; there was no door going outside.

There was, however, a gigantic window in the bedroom. It was right there next to the bed, letting the golden light of an approaching sunset in. The sun itself wasn't visible through this window, but rather the kitchen's, meaning the bedroom was probably on the east side of the building. And, looking out through it, Cole discerned that this set of rooms had to be some forty stories high. There was a cityscape out there that he didn't recognize, with skyscrapers around, roads far below...it would be a beautiful sight if not for the bizarre circumstances that led him to seeing it.

He eventually went back to the living room, where Alex had been patiently sitting on a chair waiting for him, and flopped back onto the couch, exhaling at the same time. "So...yeah, no easy exit I can see," the brown-haired stranger said. "I woke up a couple of hours ago...I think; there's not any clocks here to really be sure."
"Uh-huh...well, I'm Cole," he said. "I'm still not sure you didn't put us here," he added, crossing his arms.
"Yeah, that's fair. I guess I don't know you didn't, either. Although I dunno how you could have. Through the windows or somethin'?"

"I'm not strong enough to carry another guy, let alone several stories up a building," Cole pointed out.

Alex nodded: "True, yeah. I mean—I don't think you did it, just..."
Cole sighed. "I guess I'll take for granted that we're both in the same weird situation...for now, at least. So, let's see...

"Do you remember anything weird happening yesterday? Or, like, whatever day it was before you woke up here?"
"Me? No, not really.."
"Nothing even slightly odd?"
"Well, uh...hmm. I had some Indian food? I mean—not like, Native American, but from like actual India. It was pretty good, but—"

"Anything with a possible potential link to our current situation?" Cole clarified impatiently.

Alex seemed to really think about it this time. "I guess—I visited a weird website I usually don't? Some of my friends were playing around, and showed it to me, we all thought it was a joke. All it had was just this form asking 'what is your greatest desire', and like, 'what would you,' um.."
"'What would you give up for it'?" Cole finished for him. "Great, we've been kidnapped by a sketchy website."
"Wha—no way!" Alex declared dismissively: "That's impossible!"

"I'd say it depends on who owns said website," Cole said. "How much info they could find on us using other methods.." He trailed off, but wasn't sure why.

"So, uh, what'd you answer? To the website thing?" Alex asked.
"Uh—something about...look, it's kinda embarrassing."
"Promise I won't tell anyone else," Alex half-joked. "Look: Mine was pretty embarrassing too. I said my desire was 'a sexy kitten to come home to at night'. Preeetty sure, those were my exact words. Y'know, I've been having some bad luck with dating and all, and uh.."
"Yeah, okay. Mine wasn't...so different," Cole admitted. "It was uh...'a wild woman to wake up to in the morning'. Dumb, right?" The sunlight through the skylights was turning an increasingly golden shade, signaling the approach of sunset. He wasn't sure why, but Cole found the knowledge that the sun was setting slightly..distracting, somehow.

"Hahah, not any more than mine, I guess."

"I mean, if you think you've had bad luck, just look at me," Cole continued, gesturing to himself. He was small and scrawny with pitch black hair, the spitting image of a hopeless nerd with just glasses missing—which some relatively recent eye surgery had only recently relieved him of.

"So, uh, what about the..other part of the form?" Alex said, seeming to feel awkward about comparing their appearances. "I just said 'whatever', like not meaning literally anything, but 'cause I thought it couldn't be serious, right? It's gotta be a joke!"

"I said..." Cole was feeling slightly short of breath. The sunlight was getting a bit weaker now as the sun went down, and he felt a bizarre urge to go back to the bedroom so he could watch the light fade through the largest window available. "I said 'anything'. I kinda...meant it, too."

Alex seemed to realize at this point that something was off. "Hey..are you okay?"

"Y-yeah...I just..." Cole stood up. "L-leave me alone for a minute, okay? I'm gonna go to the bedroom."
"Uh—sure. I'll be...um..here, I guess."
"Thanks..."

Now that he'd started that way, Cole found himself in quite a hurry. He dashed into the bedroom, quickly shutting the door behind him as he went up to the bed, staring out the window on the other side of it. The sunlight was...still there, but just barely. Why was he so concerned with the sun? Sure, the evening light playing across the cityscape below was pretty, but there was their entire situation to consider right now! His rational mind continued to complain like this, even as he slowly knelt on the bed, then made his way down until he was lying on his front looking out the window, watching it grow steadily darker. He felt..nervous, apprehensive, and yet...also excited somehow, to see it happening. All of this had him even more confused, as the reason why he felt that way continued to persistently elude him. That was, at least, until the sun had fully set, and he was staring out into the night sky, feeling all of that buildup finally starting to resolve into something...

It was so dark out now...like his hair. Cole found himself raising a hand up to brush through it, and when he did, it seemed able to brush out more hair—longer and more voluminous hair—and brushing through it again brought on even more growth. As dark as it was out there...Cole had the strangest thought that such darkness was no problem for him; he could see in the dark just fine. He didn't see it, but when he blinked his eyes a couple of times while staring out the window, they changed: First the irises turning a bright golden shade, and then the pupils growing into tall slits. What he did notice was that, indeed, he could see much better after that second blink, even though the light in the bedroom was still off.

"I-I'm..wha..?" he mumbled quietly, brushing some long, wild locks of black hair out of his vision and feeling the weight of such hair all the way down his back. His ears were tingling faintly, as well as a spot on his lower back. He shuddered slightly as this tingling spread down through his face to his neck, arms, and all the rest of him. He had the strangest sense of...some kind of softness taking over his body through this tingling, and when he pushed himself up on an elbow and looked down through the long black hair, he saw that his arms were missing nearly all of their body hair. "Wh-wha..?" He quickly got up and turned around, sitting on the side of the bed opposite the window to look down. Past the boxers, his legs too had turned soft and smooth, losing every bit of hair they'd once had. He even reached a hand up to touch his cheek, and found that the same thing had happened to his face.

"H-how..mmngh...?!" The tingling of Cole's ears progressed at this point into a strange sort of stretching, pulling sensation. A very similar feeling was coming from the base of his spine, the other place that had started out tingling. But that wasn't all: He began to feel a distinct pressure all across his body, making him shudder again. "Mnn~nh, aa~aah.." he mumbled softly, hearing his voice squeak strangely. The pressure was oddly pleasant, like some sort of massage, but he panicked slightly as he realized that it was having an effect on his body's shape. Before his eyes, his arms and legs grew slimmer, his hands and feet smaller; his shoulders narrowed, and his waist pulled itself inward.

"Wah, w-why~y..mmngh..?!" A young boy's voice came from his mouth as he tried to question what was happening. Not only was he squirming around in response to the feeling of these changes; the thing that had stretched out from his back was beginning to whip itself back and forth behind him, driving air across some sensitive hairs covering it. His ears, too, were flicking around excitedly as they grew bigger and bigger, and brand new hairs all across them not only felt the air moving across them, but also the soft hair flowing from his scalp as they pushed their way insistently through it. His face..felt warm, and down between his legs..!?

"I-I'm, mm~mmmnnh..!" Cole's manhood felt..rather excited. But also, it seemed...smaller than he was used to, for that state? And it was tingling increasingly sharply, even as the pressure across his body faded, and the tingling on his ears...and tail, was what it was...eased off, too. "Aah, aa~aah..!" Squirming around even more, Cole could feel the tingling giving way to a tugging, slipping sensation; his manhood was steadily being taken away! And yet...as an increasingly high-pitched, girlish voice came from his lips, he felt a sort of..realization creeping its way into his mind.

"Mnngh, mrr~rrh..!" An adorable, feline purr rumbled through his throat. This was what he'd been waiting for, why the sunset had interested him so. It was because..when the sun disappeared, the cat came out. "Mrr~rroowh..!" Beginning to sound, and feel, rather catlike, Cole comprehended the meaning of everything that was happening to his body: The long hair, smooth skin, shrinking, and now...his swiftly-vanishing manhood. He was...! About to be a girl...!

A rather girlish "Aa~ah..!" came out as a particularly sharp tug hit him between the legs. And then a high, feminine gasp came in as Cole felt himself—felt herself—changing sex! The air came out in a helpless "Mm~mMM~MMM~Mmmnhh..!" as girly parts instantly replaced all that had once been male about her, instantly assaulting her with a deeply, addictively pleasant fuzzy feeling down between her legs.

Her ears continued to twitch around and her tail whip back and forth excitedly as she enjoyed this feeling in spite of herself. She could feel her hips spreading apart, her bottom growing larger and her thighs thicker. "Mmn-mm~mmh—mrr~RROOooowh~..!" she cried out softly as a steady push from her chest—the budding and blooming of a pair of brand new, womanly breasts—seemed to intensify the wonderful feeling down between her legs. She felt, irrationally, as though she'd always wanted—always been meant to be—what she was turning into right now. That was: A curvy, sexy woman, with kitty ears and a tail—a beautiful, soft, adorable catgirl!

A quiet, kitten-like mew came from her lips in a high, cute soprano. She slowly blinked her eyes open, feeling the excitement and the blush of the afterglow of the change..and the girly feelings it had suddenly brought on. A giddy grin played across her lips, even as she remembered that—well—she wasn't exactly alone in this strange place!

Indeed, her big, fuzzy catlike ears picked up the sound of footsteps, and Alex's voice calling "Cole? Did you hear a—?" He opened the door at this point, and finished his question very quietly with the word "...cat?" as he was suddenly faced with her new appearance.

"Um...heheh...y-yeah...th-that was just me," she said, feeling giddy and shy all of a sudden. Now that...now that she was a girl, Alex looked...pretty cute!
"Wh—Cole!? What happened!?"

"I, I dunno," she said, dropping down onto her feet. At some point...the tank top seemed to have morphed into a nightgown, and the boxers into a pair of panties. She didn't particularly mind that; it was nice to be in something that fit her...and that showed off her new looks. "I just..came in here, and watched the sunset, and then suddenly...uh, poof! I'm aaa, catgirl, I guess?" The way the hem of the nightgown fluttered around her upper thighs felt kind of nice, too.

"S-seriously?"

"S-seems like it," she shrugged, taking a small step forward—toward him. "So how do um, how do I. How do I look?"

"How do—why is that your first question in this situation!?" Alex demanded.

"It's uh—it's not. I mean, obviously there are a lot of other questions going unanswered here. But it's—um..it's something I thought you might have some chance of being able to answer?" she offered uncertainly. "I mean I'm feeling pretty um...s-sexy right now, but..a second opinion would be nice?"

"I mean..you're super hot, sure," he said, gesturing her way, "but you were a dude like thirty seconds ago? Which is really weird!"
"Y-yeah, that is really weird," Cole admitted, although she found it hard to focus on the rest of his statement when being called 'super hot' by him had made her heart race and her face burn with even more of a blush. "This whole thing is really bizarre! But I...I dunno, it just feels...nice?"

"Turning into a girl. Feels nice," Alex repeated for her. "You realize you sound crazy, right?"
"I—yes, I do. I'm, feeling pretty crazy right now, I guess. I think the—whatever, happened, that turned me into a girl, screwed with my head or something," she admitted, still helplessly grinning up at him—her face alight with a blush, and her tail flicking back and forth behind her. "But I kinda...like it this way, I guess. I still feel, mostly like me, aside from um..being a catgirl. I dunno if I can explain it!"

At some point, she'd started moving closer to him, one little step at a time—and so far, she hadn't stopped. By now she was well and truly into Alex's personal space, and being so close to him gave her this irresistible urge...! Giving in to it, she pounced up at him like a cat after its prey, wrapping her arms tightly around his torso in a sudden hug. "Wh-what're you—!?" Alex started to ask.
"I c-can't, h-help myself.." she managed to gasp out, half-over his question, while leaning in closer, before her lips connected with his and she drew herself helplessly into a kiss. He was trying to pull away, but she grabbed the back of his head to keep it going for a few seconds until she ready for it to stop. Then she leaned back out of it with a soft smacking sound as their lips disconnected, and let go of him, landing lightly on the floor before taking a couple of steps back.

"Hff...phew...sorry. I really, genuinely l-lost control for a minute there. I'm feeling...better, now," she said.

"I-if you say so.." Alex was rubbing the back of his head where she'd grabbed him, making her wonder if her fingernails were now claws and she'd scratched him there or something. "Please don't uh...do that again. Without asking. And me saying yes."
"I'll uh..t-try not to? Like I said, something's..messed with my mind," she admitted. "It's not so..overwhelming now that we've ki—uh, that....that happened," she stumbled. "Let's um...you wanna go back to the..living room and...talk? I mean, since we're both stuck here, but there seems to be power and food and water...we could um...g-get to know each other, a little bit?" Anyway, she was suddenly feeling a lot more interested in who he was and what he was like.
"Uh..yeah, sure. That's...better than...what was just happening. Seriously."
"Y-yeah," she agreed, nodding, but feeling not fully sincere about it.

Alex hurried to sit in the chair rather than the couch, maybe so she couldn't sit up close to him...she kind of didn't blame him. Suddenly jumping at someone and kissing them, especially such a near-total stranger was...! Nothing like her at all! And, while it was weak enough for her to...suppress it and act relatively normal now, she still felt an urge to hug him, kiss him, and...more. She couldn't stop feeling...attracted to him!

"I uh..m-maybe I should start with...since we only know each other's names?" she said nervously, sitting down on the couch and finding her legs instinctively crossing themselves. "I'm uh, a software engineer...I play a lot of video games. I used to, uh, used to wear glasses around. I g-guess you could say I'm a huge nerd, and that'd be pretty accurate..."
"Uh, sure..." Alex nodded. "I'm an accountant, actually...I just, y'know, work out. I played sports in high school and college, but, like—we're talking about a little private university team. I knew it wasn't a career, just did it for the scholarship. I, uh, never got into video games, but some of my friends are really into that kinda stuff. Closest thing I've been involved with is, like, board game nights? Once a month."

"I..don't have too many friends, myself," the catgirl admitted. "Sometimes I...go to the bar and get blackout drunk. Apparently I'm a funny drunk, so I don't always end up paying the whole tab...hah, I kinda thought that might be what happened when I woke up here, buuut...n-no hangover..."

"Man, I tried alcohol once I was twenty-one, in college. Hated it. Beer, wine, whatever...even the stuff people say is 'fruity' and 'barely alcoholic', I just can't stand."

"H-heheh..yeah, I...don't drink for the taste either, to be honest," she said, looking away and feeling her ears fold themselves down.

After a brief, awkward silence, Cole thought to pick up what they'd been talking about before...well, before the sun had set. "Sooo...that website. Or whoever's behind it. May, somehow, be responsible for...all of this? What's the..last thing you remember, before waking up here? It's—not the website for me, I think I just...went to bed last night?"

"Yeah...me too," Alex said, nodding slowly. "I mean, I'm not really sure if it was 'last night'. There's no way to tell what time it is here, or what day...besides the sun, I guess."
"Mm-hm..."

"I'm pretty sure we could like...break through the floor or something? To get to the room below ours? Or just smash a wall," Alex suggested.
"Yeah! Th-that might work. I feel um..pretty weak though, so I guess I won't be much help with that. Err, not that I would've been as a guy, either, though."

"I guess I'll give it a shot..." He stood up and went over to a wall—a wall which, at least according to the brief tour Cole had taken earlier, didn't have a known room behind it. "Friends of mine have punched through interior walls before—like, as dumb teenagers, let alone full-grown men. It's usually not even that hard..."

He drew a hand back and punched the wall, evidently as hard as he could. However, despite the noise of a very solid flesh-on-wall hit, the fist didn't go through. Alex was left drawing his arm back with an "Ooowww..." and shaking the hand around through the air to try to dispel the pain.

"Soo uh...that didn't work," Cole pointed out. Despite some rational disappointment that it hadn't worked, a certain part of her rather...liked the aggressive, strong attitude behind the decision to just confidently punch a wall. "You wanna um..use a tool or something? Like, I think I saw a broom in the washroom.."
"Nah, that felt like punching metal!" Alex said. "Way too solid there."
"Still—if you're gonna try a different wall..." The catgirl hopped to her feet, heading for where she'd seen that broom. "Better than bruising your hand, right?"
"I guess so..."

After handing him the broom, she followed him around pretty much the entire outer wall of the space they were in, watching him bat or stab its handle against one section of the wall after another. There was never more success than that first attempt with his fist. After feverishly trying a final few spots in the bedroom, he set the broom down, cussing a few times in between panting breaths.

Cole sighed. "I guess if something..was able to just, kidnap us here, then it can reinforce all the walls too. Just out of curiosity, though..." She pointed at the wall next to a doorway, the other side of which was definitely a bathroom. "What if you hit there?"
Shrugging, he lifted the broom and batted it against the wall with a grunt. The effect was no different from the outer walls. "Guess they're all just, magically invincible!" Alex declared in frustration, letting go of the broom violently enough for it to clatter on the floor.

"Yeah. You uh...must be exhausted," she said. "Are yoouu..hungry, by any chance? I'm a little hungry myself."
Alex turned to face her, making her heart flutter a bit just from him scanning her face. "You're not like...worried. About the food here?"

"A little," she admitted with a slight shrug. "But if whatever...did this wanted us dead..we would be, right? I mean, apparently it can do, uuhm....this...?" she said, raising a hand to point at one of her feline ears. "...without me even eating anything!" She'd been tempted to poke her breasts instead, but this choice was more surreal and less provocative.
"Fair point. You know how to cook anything?"

"Um." She paused for a moment, blinking. "I was gonna say I know how to..microwave things...but..." Her head tilted itself. "All of a sudden I'm feeling confident I can do a lot more? Must be more of the...screwing with my head that happened. But maybe the knowledge is real? What's, uh, something you like? Since I haven't exactly contributed much here..."

"You...think you could make some burgers? I know that's nothing extravagant, but...something familiar would be nice. In this, situation," Alex said.

"Understandable. Just uh...take a seat in the living room. I'll have it ready soon," she said, feeling strangely confident about that. Although—she also wanted him out of sight out of concern that her..urges might distract her enough to mess something up.

It made her feel...strangely happy to be cooking something. It was definitely nice to suddenly, inexplicably have a skill she'd never put in the work to learn—maybe even one she'd always wished she had! But it was more than that. A part of her...was very happy to be making something...for him. She wanted to see Alex's happy face when it was all done and he was eating something she made. But they were...they were still practically strangers! And she'd kissed him—but felt..happy about that? What was happening to her?!

It was nice sitting at the table in the dining room across from him, watching him eat what she'd made. She almost forgot to eat, until he gently reminded her. "Aren't you hungry?"
"Oh!" She blushed, feeling her ears fold back briefly. "R-right..heheh..." She tucked in then, and it was pretty good! She felt strangely..proud to have made something that tasted so good.

They chatted some over dinner, getting to know each other a little more. They went back to the living room and traded thoughts on just what had happened and how, tried to brainstorm ways to escape or at least communicate with the outside world. But they didn't act on any ideas right away—considering the failure of that first attempt, and how tired Alex still was from all that effort. Before she knew it, they were both yawning.

"Um..I guess, we should sleep. Try to figure things out in the morning," Cole suggested. It took nearly all of her restraint not to suggest that they sleep together. Pushing back hard against it, she instead said: "I'll...I'll sleep out here. On the couch! It's, it's comfortable enough. You can have the bed tonight."
"You sure?" Alex asked.
"Uuhhh yes. Consider it..consider it an apology. F-for...what happened. Right after I turned into this. Maybe I'll take a turn, on the bed, tomorrow night? I-I mean, if we're still stuck here then!"
"Yeah. Okay, thanks," he nodded. "I'll...at least get you some covers, though.
"Th-thanks," the catgirl said, feeling her face flush, her lips grin, her tail flick around excitedly. It was nothing more than a small expression of concern, but it still made her feel like that...!

Lying down on the couch, she found it strangely easy to get comfortable. Her body seemed unexpectedly flexible and limber, and there was a bit of an instinct to curl up like an actual cat. The only problem was that she felt sort of...restless. A part of her still wanted to get up and kiss him again. Barge into the bedroom and demand he cuddle with her to help her sleep. But...she resisted. Being controlled by—by her body, seemingly, meant losing to whatever had happened to them here, whoever had done this to them. And..it was wrong! He didn't want that, especially without his consent. Somehow thinking about it that way, that it wasn't what he wanted, was the most effective argument to convince herself. In this way, she gradually managed to get to sleep, hugging and nuzzling a pillow and letting out a soft, feline purring sound.

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This is a little bit like The Academy, but also quite different. The concept behind this story started out as an extremely vague sketch even before I had the idea for The Academy, but I only started writing it as a proper story after that one was finished. Similar to The Academy, I'm using generated images to do something I probably couldn't without them, but what that something is is different for this story (you'll see). I was hoping to finish or mostly-finish this one before publishing any, but I ran into a bit of a block a few parts in, and at this point I'm hoping that publishing the parts I have completed will help inspire me to do the rest.

The other thing I'll say about this story is that the destination is probably quite predictable, but I feel like all the fun is in the journey anyway.