The forest was beautiful. Dappled light shon through red leaves onto the mossy forest floor, and the ashen trunks of the trees.

And on a young woman. She looked to be about seventeen, and lay sprawled on the ground as if a large hand had tossed her there. She wasn't a human woman. Hidden in the loose strands that made up her bun were two, long pointed furry ears. From the base of her spine sprouted and equally long, dark and fluffy tail. No tracks led up to her, it was a mystery how she had appeared. A mystery with nobody to investigate.

Her tail twitched first, then her hand, then she opened her eyes. For a few moments, she was just still. Her surroundings weren't familiar. That was the first thing that tipped her off to the fact that something was wrong. Trees weren't suppose to have red leaves, though how she knew that...she didn't know. Infact, she didn't know much of anything. Not her name, the colour of her eyes, her age, nothing.

She quickly pushed herself up, then paused looking down at her hand. Big enough to tell her that she wasn't a child, but that wasn't the reason she was staring. The reason she was staring was that at the end of each of her fiingers was a perfectly placed translucent claw. She did not have claws. She was 100% certain on that one. But, clearly, she did.

Or perhaps she was the victim of some horrendous experiment. Or her soul had been put into somebody elses body.

She almost leant back, but felt a strange pressure at the bottom of her spine. Her spine that continued far further than it should've. Looking over her shoulder, she grew positivley pale. No fucking way.

She had a tail. A tail!

She ran her hands over her body, her face, her head, looking for any other extra bits she was otherwise unaware of.

Ears. Pointy ears. Canines. Her tongue was too rough. More claws on her feet. That seemed to be it. Nothing that made her too hideous. She couldn't say much for the clothing she woke up in though.

No pants, no, instead she had some sort of cloth nappy. No bra. A sack-like dress that kept her important bits out of view of the rest of the world. No shoes, and the soles of her feet were smooth so she was going to have fun walking places.

It wasn't the end of the world, she told herself. Hell - some of the stuff might even come in handy. Pointy ears meant better hearing. A tail meant better balance (as soon as she worked out how to use it). Claws and canines were natural weapons. She could do this. She wasn't doomed. There had to be people near by right? People that could answer her questions? Perhaps even people who knew her.

Unsteadily she rose to her feet, her tail whipping unsteadily behind her. Walking upright made her unsteadier still. Walking through the undergrowth she eventually settled on walking slightly bent over, almost creeping along. Not once did she pinpoint her source of unease in the forest though.

No birds singing. No insects buzzing. Not a sound but for the rustling of the trees as they whispered to one onother about the stranger in their midst.