Seeing Things with Other Eyes

Dora couldn't think straight. She was lucky her clothes didn't fell off her body, Doppelganger's body becomes intangible while midway through transformation, that's why most Doppelgangers don't bother wearing clothes, as they can camouflage clothing as well, but it was a different thing entirely for Wolfgang and her, what if they would have to take off one or other piece of clothing?

Luckily her form just flickered and she didn't turned completely intangible, but still anyone could have seen her.

"Dora?" Basillia's voice brought her back to thinking straight.

Dora looked around. Apparently no one were staring at her.

"Huh, yes?" the doppelganger replied, still not sure if there was ok to relax.

"Are you ok?" Basillia seemed worried.

"I-I am, of course, I'm just..." Dora's mind raced to make an excuse "I'm just having a period... It was the cramps... It sucks, but I'm gonna live".

"Oh..." Basillia seemed really embarrassed "We Basilisks are reptiles, so we don't have periods... Acctually we also don't lay unfertilized eggs like the harpies too, so, I can't begin to imagine what you're going through...".

"Hey!" Wolfgang called "Are you just gonne stand there? The session's about to begin".

"Let's go Dora" said Basillia.

Dora was about to say another thing as they walked, but, Basillia was faster "You know, I'm kinda sorry for you to have to go through all this pain every month. It must have been really bad, because you felt like you would fade into the air from so much pain".

Dora kept on walking, but she was in as much of a shock as when she thoguht someone could have seen her.

"She knows!".

Dora tried to keep her cool while they walked towards the seats, conversation still rolling.

"Have you ever played the Warcraft games, Kana?" asked Yoko.

"Oh I started it once" he replied "Played almost a week straight, barely stopping to sleep and go to the toilet. That was also the cause of the fight that got me the closest to brake up with Harumi. So I sold the game."

"Well I suppose being addicted to MMO does not strengthens monogamous relationships" she said giggling "POLYGAMOUS on the other hand...".

"Bullshit, you cannot be in a relationship Yoko, not even polygamous" teased Kinshi.

"Oh, fuck off, I can if I want" she said.

"Yeah? Well, I can count the girls you broke up with in my fingers" he replied "But only those you broke up with this month".

"That doens't count, they all broke up with me!" she countered.

"Yeah, because they all found out you were dating them at the same time" Said Kinshi, giggling.

And Kinshi's victory was sealed as Yoko punched him hard on the shoulder.

Dora was the only one not in the mood of laughing at the Wolgang's friends goofing.

"Dora, you don't seem ok" said Basillia, as they stopped in front of the benches.

The two girls sat as Wolfgang blabbed something about that's the reason he didn't even bothered to date.

"Dora?" insisted Basillia, when she wouldn't answer.

"I-It's noth-thing, I'm alright" she answered.

"Dora, it's ok" Basillia grabbed Dora's chin and made the doppelganger look at her as she continued "I'm not gonna tell anyone about your period" she spelled the last word to hint more clearly what she was talking about.

Dora was trembling. She felt relief tears coming to her eyes, but somehow she managed to hold them.

"Thank you Basillia. I'll explain things better to you when we get back home" on her voice there was only a hint of the tears she held, but Basillia caught the hint, realizing even more how importante the situation was for Dora.

At that time, the projection started for the commericials, and most of the room went silent.

"Oh, here Basillia, let me get the headphones for you" said Dora.

Dora gave the basilisk girl the phones and she straightened it confortably in her head as Dora put on her own phones.

"Nervous?" Dora asked, as the first trailer started to be displayed.

"Just a little" Basillia replied, holding Dora's hand tight "You being here helps a little".

Both the girls smiled.

"Thank God it's too dark for anyone to see me blush" she thought.

Dora browsed through the audio-book session of Amazon, trying to find more of her favorite books to download as she heard a knock on the door.

"Who's that?" She asked putting the e-book aside.

"It's me" Basillia's voice sounded from behind.

"Oh, she finished her bath" thought Dora "Come in" she said.

The door barged and Basillia came in.

She was dresssed in brown shorts and a simple, white t-shirt.

Dora sat at her bed and tapped the mattress, to signalize the spot for the basilisk girl to sit.

Basillia did so.

"I suppose you're here for explanations for today at the movie theater, yes?" asked Dora.

"Well yeah, kind of, if you want to tell me, that is, it's perfectly ok if you don't feel confortable..." Basillia would go on but Dora intervened.

"No, no, it's alright, telling someone was the very reason I joined the Cultural Exchange Program to begin with..." the doppelganger sighed.

Basillia nodded, waiting for Dora to continue.

"Well, me and my brother... We're both doppelgangers" Dora's heart was accelerated.

Basillia nodded again, but this time she asked a question "Is your father a doppelganger too?".

"No, father's human" Dora answered "He met my mother at the beginning of his career as a fighter, he wasn't even professional yet. He found out very soon she was a doppelganger, but he didn't cared. He protected her and loved her..." Dora stoped there.

Basillia kept silent along before asking another question.

"I'm guessing something bad happened to your mother" she said.

Dora nodded "Some humans found out about us..." her long held tears began to fall there "They went to the police. Luckily the police didn't believed them, but they didn't gave up..." Dora couldn't keep going with the story because she was sobbing too much.

Basillia placed one of her hands on Dora's shoulders and hugged her. Silently waiting for her to let all tears out.

Dora recovered enough to keep the story up eventually "Mom went to work one day and she never made it back. Dad never told us exactly what they did to her, but we never saw the body afterwards..." she sobbed more before continuing "We revert to our natural form when we die... Dad had to dispose of her body to protect us..." Dora dismonted herself in tears after that, not even embaressed of laying on Basillia's shoulder to do so.

And Basillia held her, conforting the doppelganger almost by instinct.

"You know something, Dora?" asked Basillia as Dora seemed to have calmed down a little.

Dora straightened her posture, which immediately made Basillia regret a little for speaking "What?" her voice was still weepy.

"Since you shared the story behind you joining the Cultural Exchange Program, I think I should share mine" she said.

Dora dryied up her tears and listened.

"Well... I said it was mostly just my parents and I most of the time, right?" Basillia waited for an 'yes' and kept on "Well, Basilisks don't go well with big groups, mostly, there are too much risk for accidents, and sometimes they happen even in small family groups. In big groups of more than ten people there is almost a casualty per year by turning someone to stone. The more of us together, more chance of it to happen, but there ARE advantages of sticking together... You see, we're way too deadly. We're a threat to basically everyone, human or liminal. And you bet the liminal races hunt us.".

"Wait, they hunt you? Like, to eat?" that was a hideous notion to Dora, who aways lived among humans.

"Some of the carnivore species do, but that's not the point, even the full herbivore ones like the centaurs hunt us, because they don't want to risk having us around" Basillia explained "That's why sticking to big groups has it's uses, the more people we have to fight, better the surviving odds in case of attack".

"I can't believe it, even now this happens? Even after the liminals revealed to humans and began to enter human society?" Dora asked.

"The attacks decreased, yes, A LOT, to be fair, but they still happen, and just because we're not full-on hunted doesn't mean we're welcome either" she explained "To be fair the agressive posture of some clans does nothing but to mud our reputation, still there's no excuse to assume everyone of us are savages".

Dora nodded in agreement "Is that how your parents died? In an attack by other species?" she asked.

Basillia shook her head negatively "No".

Dora waited a few seconds and asked "How then?".

"Well... One thing to counter our high mortality rate, is, obviously a matching birth rate" she explained and took her time to get to the next part "Wanna take a shot on how many siblings I had?".

" 'Had', this does not sound good" thought Dora before answering "I have no idea".

"Eighteen" said Basillia "That's counting only the ones who were born after me... All of them died before becaming ten years old".

A tear sneaked out of Basillia's glasses. Her breath was heavy, yet her voice was not weepy neither she was sobbing.

"Mother and father were tired of having all their children die. I presume you understand the feeling. So they made a deal with the king of a clan, he would accept us among them" she continued.

"I'm feeling it was not that simple" Dora said.

"Indeed..." Basillia cleared her nose as another tear runned through her cheek "He would only accept us if I joined his personal harem. My parents accepted, and even told me after they got back from the negotiations" Basillia laughed the most genuine sarcastic laugh Dora ever saw "I was so angry with them I could tear them apart... What the fuck was I thinking?" but then she sobbed.

She sobbed but quickly regained control of her emotions "I ran off. Like, alone, in the middle of the night, I made them believe I accepted their decision, but after that I fled".

Dora was so concentrated on Basillia it was giving the basilisk the shivers. Basillia recomposed herself and finished "I got back two days later and found two beautiful stone statues of my parents, kneeling, looking at each other lovingly... Their tears turned to stone too, even the blood and poison that flowed out the wounds in their shoulders, someone of the clan had bit them...".

Dora listened to the end of the story in dead silence, not moving except to hold Basillia's hand tight "It wasn't your fault" she said.

"Not only mine, it certaily wasn't" Basillia answered, with tears and a sarcastic smile "If it was all my fault I wouldn't bear being alive. Part of the guilt is already more than pain enough".

Dora didn't say anything else.

"Do you know? We Basilisks have a sort of a fairy tale, if you can call it that. Looks a lot like human's Romeo and Juliet" said Basillia "It ends with the two lovers looking at each other's eyes, therefore transforming each other in stone, just like my parents".

Dora asked herself why Basillia told her that.

"I never gonna die in such a romantic fashion" the Basilisk girl declared.

"What do you mean?" Dora asked.

"Basilisks are forbidden of being gay. Way too much need of births to have anyone not breeding" she explained "I must be the only one who's proud and fucked up enough not to leave the feelings aside for the greater good. No one of my species will ever love me" she answered.

"Well in my book, a cause that kills it's own people presumably for the survival of that same people is anything but the greater good" said Dora.

"My people woudn't agree" declared Basillia.

"Than why would you want them to love you?" asked Dora "You deserve better".

"Everyone needs someone to love somehow" she said.

"Someone who's good to you. Otherwise the love has no meaning" Dora breathed deeply "Finding someone to love out here will be piece of cake for you".

Basillia hesitade, but laid her head on Dora's shoulders.

"Would it be too soon if I asked if she could be the one to love me?" the Basilisk girl questioned herself.

On the next Friday, Basillia laid confortably in the couch, listening to the audio-books Dora borrowed her.

She was spending most of her time listening to the stories, she had never been in touch with most of human pop culture, the isolation of the Basilisk population adding to their visual disability made sure pretty much all that ever made to Basillia's knowlege was music.

Now most of her day was spent on the e-book and even some nights where everyone else was sleeping were spent catching up to TV shows and movies.

She listened to some noise at the front door "Must be Wolfgang or Dora coming home from work" she thought, unconcerned.

As the door opened, Basillia paused the book and took of the phones to greet whoever arrived.

Wolfgang and his new acquaintance Sakura giggled and shared smooches and gropes as they walked in and closed the front door.

Basillia felt confused, on top of the unknown female voice, their heartbeat was loud enough she could discern it from the couch, which mean it was loud, she normally could just hear it form very close.

After a few seconds the noise of making out made sense to Basillia and she realized what was going on "Shit, I shouldn't be here" she thought.

But before she could react or move properly, the girl saw her.

She immediately stopped making out and goggled her eyes "What the hell?".

Wolf stopped too and looked around, seeing Basillia with an awkward expression on her face "Oh, sorry Basillia, didn't saw you there" he apologized, embarressed for letting her see his arousement "This is Sakura" he introduced.

"Ew, does this thing lives here?" said the girl, oblivious to everything Wolfgang said.

Wolfgang felt that phrase like a punch in the face "She is not a 'thing' and she lives here, yes, my sister's a Exchange Program host".

"Wow" her voice still dripping disgust "Are you really ok with living with these things? I mean, aren't you afraid? Don't they smell or anything?".

Wolfgang looked at the girl like he was just seeing her for the first time "I did wanted to have sex with her didn't I? I can't remember what could possibly justify that wish now" he thought.

"I'm afraid acctually. I'm afraid you should leave right now" he grabbed her arms and walked her back to the door.

"What? But you just drived me half the city to get here!" she protested.

"Yeah, who cares?" he said as he opened the door.

"Are you really trowing me out just because of that monster-thing?" she continued to complain as Wolfgang closed the door, leaving her screaming to the doors.

Wolfgang walked embarressed in Basillia's direction and sat by her side.

He sighed "Sorry about that. Dora aways says I shouldn't just grab any pretty girl who flirts with me, that I should be more picky..." he remained silent for a little "Guess I was aways too afraid I coudn't find someone who would want me still knowing I'm not human" he confessed.

Basillia nodded "It's okay for me at least, it wasn't the first time, or the last for that matter. Was that the first time anyone told what they think of liminals to your face? I mean, someone with that opinion?" she asked.

"No" he replied, but than he completed the answer "But it was the first time it came from a person I... Liked... In a way".

Basillia nodded again "Well, you never really get used to it, but the pain from previous times kinda eases the pain from the new ones" she said.

Wolfgang nodded "Well, fuck pain. I'm going upstairs and shapeshift into the hottest guy I can imagine and post photos on tinder just to see how many likes I can get in an hour, if you want anything knock the door before going in" he standed up as Basillia laughed.

A few seconds later Dora arrived.

As she went through the door she immediately saw Basillia and then she said "I'm home, how are you, Basillia?".

"Fine, how are you? What about work?" replied the basilisk girl.

"Well I could be better if Kaori wasn't such a dick... Say, do you know who's that girl I saw just leaving here?" said the doppelganger, still taking of her shoes.

"Oh, just a girl Wolfgang brought, probably with the intension to mate" Basillia answered naturally.

"What?" Dora seemed shocked.

"Don't worry, he sent her away just as they got in" Basillia explained.

"... Really?" Dora still seemed shocked, for a different reason this time.

"Yeah, she freaked out when she saw me. I probably grossed her out. Wolf disliked it" she said.

"... Well, I DO aways tell him to look more carefully where he thrusts his dick. I wonder what would be her reaction if he shapeshifted during sex" Dora joked.

Basillia laughed, almost gagging "Well, wouldn't that be a sight to see?".

"You bet it would" Dora laughed alongside her.

Basillia heard Dora's footsteps as the doppelganger walked on her direction and took her place next to her in the couch.

The two girls just sat there, in quiet smiles, still thinking about the girl running naked out of Wolfgang's room, in panic.

"I should say something" thought Basillia "otherwise, she'll go to her room and I'll loose the chance".

Basillia cleaned her throat "You talked about Wolfgang transforming" she tought it was probably better if she didn't mention the 'during sex' part "And I realized I didn't saw you yet. When you let me see you, you were shapeshifted, not in your natural form".

Basillia didn't saw Dora blush, but she did hear as her heartbeat accelerated.

"W-well... Yeah... What do you mean by it?" she asked.

"Well..." it was Basillia's turn to blush, and Dora could see it very well "Do you think I can? I mean, see you in your natural form?".

Dora swallowed dry and blushed even further "Well, you do know I'll loose my clothes if I shapeshift, right?".

Basillia considered saying "I know, and I'm ok with it if you are" but she preffered "I can wait for you to change clothes, no problem".

Dora nodded to herself "Well, ok then" she hesitated, but took Basillia's hand and said "Here, come with me".

"What?! I thought she were going to change and would come back down there then. Why is she taking me with her?" Basillia thought, almost in panic as she followed Dora.

They entered Dora's room and the doppelganger left Basillia sitting on the very bed where they shared their suffering stories and immediately shapeshifted to her normal form, letting her clothes fall to the ground, before she could think further on the matter and don't run the risk of changind her mind.

"Oh my God, I'm naked in front of her. Oh my God, I'm naked, in front of her..." She thought in loop as she collected her clothes and dressed them as quickly as she could.

When she finished, Dora dropped herself on the bed, already with her eyes closed "You can take your glasses of now".

Basillia did that, and felt things happening inside her shorts as she saw Dora laid in her bed with the t-shirt up just enough for her belly button to appear.

"She's even more beautiful in her natural form" she thought.

Dora's huge long hair was clean white, like Basillia's own hair and feathers, surrounding her body like streamers, going in and out of her clothes, looking like it was moving on it's own "I heard Doppelganger's powers come from their hair" she thoguht. Her skin was brown, a little darker than Basillia's tan. Her ears were slightly pointy, but far less than Basillia's.

Dora felt Basillia going above her. Not really mounting full on, but she could feel her skin pressing against her.

Once again, Dora felt Basillia's breath on her lips, the urge to open her eyes "... I wish I could open my eyes and see you right now..." she declared.

A few seconds of silence "...Well, you can" said Basillia.

"... Really?" Dora asked.

"Really. I have my eyes closed" she answered.

Dora opened her eyes.

She could see Basillia's face on full detail. Her angled jaw, the round cheeks and cheekbones, her pointy nose, the pointy teeth showing form out her rosy lips, the almost transparent eyelashes, the eyelids bruised from constantly using the glasses.

Dora just couldn't hold herself, when she realized it, her eyes were closed again. And they were kissing.

Epilogue: Wolfgang walked out of his room still dressing his t-shirt, hurrying to the ringing phone.

"Dammit, what the fuck is Dora doing? She usually answers the phone" he grumbled.

"Hello" he said as he answered the phone.

"Hello, Agent Weaving speaking. I'm looking for miss Dora Takeda" said the voice on the phone.

"Oh, Mister Agent, Uh, I can call my sister, but, what is it? Is there a problem?" he asked, worryied.

"Oh, no no no, I just called to ask her when would she be ready to recieve her next homestay" the agent replied.