If you think Darcy had it bad, spare a thought for poor Tegryn... A big thanks goes to Meg and Spongey for their reviews.
How can I change the World
If I can't even change myself? (1)
Tegryn stared dumbfounded at the image that greeted him in the mirror, the image of a certain young witch who had been bugging him ever since he had arrived in Magix all those many months ago. The only difference is that he had never seen her without makeup before nor seen anyone with morning hair quite this bad, which was shocking enough as it was. He performed all the clichés correctly - rubbing his eyes, shaking his head, tentatively pawing at his face, hoping against hope that this wasn't real.
But this was real. Her face was now his face. Her body was now his body. For all intents and purposes, he was Darcy.
He also couldn't help noticing that these surroundings were very unfamiliar. Gone were the architectural styling of the Trix's previous lodgings in Shadowhaunt - instead, he was in a much sparser environment, chilly and damp with bare stone walls. He guessed that their new home was a cave - very apt for a coven of witches. At least it was a cave with mod-cons, judging by the ensuite bathroom located to his right.
As he took in his new surroundings whilst still in a near catatonic state of shock, he was completely oblivious to the loud knocking on the bedroom door.
"Hey! Hey Darcy! Are you awake yet?" a voice yelled from the other side.
After a few seconds of no reply, the door opened and Stormy stepped through.
"Hey! Magix to Darcy, are you there?"
Tegryn gave a little start and slowly turned around. When he saw the weather witch glaring at him, he breathed a little sigh of relief. Out of all the Trix sisters, Stormy was the one he hated the least - as far as he was concerned she was an annoyance, rather than the ultra-sadistic bitch-queen that Icy was, or the right royal pain in the butt whose body he was now stuck in.
"Stormy?! Wh-what are you doing here?" he asked, trying to mask the fact that he was completely disorientated, and failing miserably.
"Yeah, that's what I wanna know too. I'm not your bloody alarm clock, you know!"
"I... I..."
"Man, what is up with you Darcy? You look even rougher than usual!"
"Um... I, er, kinda had a bad night last night. Didn't get much sleep," he hastily explained.
"Yeah? Well we've got a busy day ahead of us. Planets don't trash themselves, you know. You'd better freshen yourself up pretty sharpish - by the looks of you, you can start by taking a shower," she said, nodding her head in the direction of Darcy's ensuite bathroom.
With that Stormy walked out, leaving Tegryn trembling in her wake.
"A shower? In THIS body?!" he groaned. "Oh man. My first day as a witch and I've been thrown in at the deep end!"
He peered down and shivered. Faced with this very uneasy situation, his new breasts seemed larger than ever, so much so that they almost seemed to be mocking him. He closed his eyes and thought hard. Even though this was his body for the time being, the last thing he wanted was to see himself naked - after all, what would his darling Musa say? Trouble is, he knew full well he wouldn't get away with not taking a shower - after all, morning hair of this magnitude doesn't just magic itself away. That is unless, of course, you just happen to know some rather spiffy hairdressing spells, which unfortunately for him he didn't.
"I suppose I could try showering with this nightdress on," he pondered as he rooted through Darcy's drawers, "Mind you I won't get properly clean and I guess I should at least be courteous enough to take proper care of this body, even if it is Darcy's. And drying this nightdress might be tricky too, unless... aha!"
He grinned broadly as he pulled a long silk scarf out. "Perfect! I can blindfold myself! Now I won't have to look at myself at all!" He pulled the scarf over his eyes and tied it behind his head. "Right! Shower, here I come!" he said triumphantly as he slipped his nightdress off his shoulders and let it drop to the floor before confidently marching forward.
It was a great plan... for a couple of strides at least, as right at that very moment he struck something very solid indeed, sending him sprawling inelegantly onto his behind. He pulled the scarf down a little and peered over the top.
"Note to self: watch out for that wall, it's a doozy!" he muttered as he rubbed his forehead.
Checking to make absolutely one-hundred-percent sure he was facing the right direction, he pulled the blindfold back and groped his way into the bathroom. After a minute or two of fumbling around, he eventually found the shower and clambered in. Before long, he was enjoying a nice hot shower, making the most of it as he knew that this would probably be the most pleasant thing he would be experiencing in the next few days.
Indeed, just a few minutes in he became aware of a strange sound which he could hear every few seconds. It was a quiet sound, only just loud enough to be heard over the trickling of water. Very strange indeed - it sounded very much like someone taking in a sharp breath.
Tentatively, he lowered the blindfold and peered around the shower curtain to see Stormy standing over the bathroom sink with her back to him. She stood there with one arm up in the air, and in her other hand she held a pair of tweezers which she raised carefully up to her armpit and then, after a while, pulled it away sharply with a wince.
Tegryn shuddered. The sight of a witch plucking her armpit hairs is the sort of thing that sticks with you for a very long time, and with the rotten day he was having, it was the kind of the mental image he really could've done without.
"Stormy? What are you doing here?!" he yelled.
Stormy turned around with a start and began to answer, before stopping and looking at Tegryn with a very curious look on her face.
"Darcy? Are you... wearing a blindfold?" she asked, pointing at the dripping wet black silk scarf which was now covering his nose.
Tegryn gulped. "Erm... I'm using this to, um, keep the shampoo out of my eyes," he quickly explained.
Stormy furrowed her brow for a second before resuming her plucking.
"Yeah, whatever," she muttered. "You're behaving very strange today."
"You still haven't answered my question. What are you doing in my bathroom?"
"Icy's hogging the other bathroom so I'm using yours. I don't see why you get to have your own bathroom while I have to share. It ain't fair," she grumbled.
"Yes, life's a pisser, ain't it?" Tegryn replied as he looked in vain for his towel before realising he had dropped it in the bedroom. "Ummm, Stormy? You couldn't get my towel for me, could you?"
He watched as she walked over, picked the towel up and brought it to him.
"No peeking now," he said.
"Pfft! Yeah, right Darcy! As if seeing you naked would make my day. Besides, it's not as if you've got something I haven't!"
Tegryn quickly towelled himself dry whilst still behind the shower curtain, making doubly sure his hands and eyes didn't stray where they shouldn't, before jumping out and into the bedroom, leaving Stormy to continue her plucking.
So what next?
He knew exactly what was coming - it was time to get dressed. He was still a boy inside, so the thought of wearing women's clothes made his stomach churn – unluckily for him he had no choice, not unless Darcy just happened to have a sturdy pair of combats and a thick woolly jumper in her collection. A brief inspection of her wardrobes revealed that this was not the case - unfortunately for Tegryn, her taste in clothing was most definitely feminine. He closed his eyes and sighed. This was not going to be easy, but it was a necessary evil - after all, he couldn't run around the place wearing just a towel.
It was time to take the plunge. He rooted through Darcy's drawers, found the plainest pair of panties he could find and pulled them on as fast as if his life depended on it.
Then, he opened the next drawer and gulped. Out of all the tasks a guy trapped in a girl's body would face, this would probably the toughest of the lot.
It was time to put on a bra.
He gulped as he pulled out a black strapless number, and stared at it for a while.
'Well... here goes nothing!' he thought to himself. Clenching his eyes shut, he let his towel drop once more to the floor before carefully positioning the cups over his breasts (a concept he was still having considerable trouble with).
Now came the tricky part. Keeping a firm grasp on the two ends, he awkwardly reached behind his back as he tried in vain to attach the hooks. After a few painful seconds of failing miserably, he grunted and gave up. Then he tried again... and failed again.
"How the hell do they do this?" he said as he gave it one last attempt.
"Do what?" Stormy asked as she poked her head around the bathroom door before staring in disbelief at what Tegryn was doing.
"Darcy? What on Magix are you doing now?"
"What does it look like?" Tegryn snapped back.
"Sheesh! Do the hooks up around your front, then turn the thing around," she said, shaking her head with a snort. "What is wrong with you?! You'll be asking me to teach you how to use a knife and fork next!"
Sheepishly, Tegryn did as he was told. He turned the bra around and brought the two ends together, briefly glimpsing down to check his progress before clenching his eyes shut and wincing.
'Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!' he thought angrily. After all his heroic efforts ensuring he didn't look upon something he shouldn't, he let his concentration slip for just a second and had copped an eyeful. As far as he was concerned, there'd be hell to pay if his beloved Musa ever found out his eyes had been unfaithful. Feeling sick with worry, he hastily clipped the bra together and covered himself up as quick as he could.
"At last. Just hurry up and get dressed - we've got a busy day ahead of us, and Valtor doesn't want to be kept waiting."
Tegryn watched Stormy as she left the room, making sure to take note which way she went by arranging his towel into an arrow shape on the floor before shutting the door. After everything that's already happened, the last thing he wanted was to get lost in this strange new place.
"Valtor? Who's Valtor?" he asked himself as he hurriedly got himself dressed, "He must be that new guy Darcy mentioned in my dream."
Making sure everything was in place and that his new hair was looking as witchy as possible, he made his way down the same corridor Stormy took and, after a while, he found what he supposed was the main chamber. There, Stormy was standing next to a man with chiselled features, high cheekbones and long blond hair tied in a ponytail as they watched a projected image on the wall in front of them. Cautiously, he made his way to join them before a familiar and unwelcome voice made itself heard behind him.
"Oh there you are! We were beginning to think you didn't want to join in the fun today!"
He turned his head and see Icy standing in front of him. Almost instantly, he could feel his hand clenching into a fist as all-too-fresh memories of their last meeting came flooding back. The sadistic way in which she laughed as he lay on the ground, bloodied and in agony - the mere thought of that moment sent waves of anger pulsing through his body.
"Hey wi-yatch, what's with the evils?" Icy asked. (2)
Tegryn quickly regained his composure and mumbled "Nothing" before going to join the others.
"And what's with the au natrelle look?" Icy said, continuing her questioning.
"Au natrelle?" Tegryn replied.
"Yes. You're not seriously going out without your slap, are you?" (3)
"My slap?" he asked, touching his makeupless face. Right then, he realised he had committed a cardinal sin - a witch without makeup was a fairy without wings, or so he heard.
"Might as well leave it Icy, she's been acting weird all morning."
"It's not her time of the month already, is it?" Icy said, laughing mockingly. That feeling of anger quickly returned to Tegryn as an overwhelming urge to plant his fist in her face made itself at home in his mind.
"Enough!" Valtor suddenly shouted, causing Icy and Stormy to stop immediately and focus their attention back on him. "Look at them," he said pointing at the image on the wall.
Tegryn's eyes widened - there in front of him, he could see Musa and the other Winx girls on Andros, standing on a shoreline as they attempted to catch what appeared to be a hideously disfigured old hag with a fish's tail in a bubble of magic, but to no avail.
"How pathetic," Valtor said, his voice tinged with some amusement. "To think that those nauseatingly charming little girls can break my hold over my mermaid minions."
Icy cackled quietly as she slapped a fist into her palm. "It'll be fun creaming those do-gooders."
"Too right," Stormy snarled. "After what they did to us in Shadowhaunt, we owe them some major payback." (4)
1. 'Salve Mea' by Faithless
2. Evils (UK Slang): a dirty look, as popularised by Vikki Pollard from Little Britain - "Hey! Don't go giving me evils!"
3. Slap (UK Slang): makeup.
4. See chapters 28, 29 and 31 of Day of the Ifrit.
