Shifting Eyes

CHAPTER ONE

WAYLON stares down at the dirty black floor, lost in her own thoughts. Despite the fact that Namlin was always cleaning, The Collector's floor remained dirty.

Red dirt and random debris coats the ground—along with the junk that customers always brought in from their boots. Creatures from all over the Galaxy track in the worst things—including themselves.

It's rare that The Collector meets with a respectable customer. They either have bounty on their head from several planets, terrible reputations, or terrible manners—which Waylon can usually ignore.

She can forgive and forget a lot of things because of the environment she grew up in, but the audacity that some creatures had was just outrageous.

"Look alive, my pet. They're expected to arrive at any moment," The Collector warns her. He brings a hand to her chin, lifting her face and causing the mechanical collar around her neck to pinch her skin.

She cringes at the sudden prick of pain as he examines her face.

"Fix the eyes—they're wider than that." He lets go of her face and she begins to fix the placement of her eyes. The main goal being that she looks identical to an average Gambian.

Getting the proportions right was the most important step.

If the color of the eyes were off no one cared. Her teeth are not as long as they should be? Some would probably just think that she got some cosmetic things done. But the proportions? It can change the way someone looks entirely.

As a result of them being so important, Waylon has the most trouble with them. She always has. Even back when she was with her House Mother on planet Hojinn, in The Refugee Home For Lost Children Of War, (a mouthful, she knows) she had trouble imitating the features of those around her.

Granted, she was less experienced, but nonetheless, getting the proportions right on someone or something while shifting was and always will be a difficult task—for obvious reasons.

Even when her House Mother, or "Grom" as they called her, made her use her abilities more than any of the other children, she continued to have a weakness.

Grom made sure that Waylon was in constant use of her powers. Her ability to shape shift into other creatures had aided them greatly in the scams they used on other people to gain more money.

Waylon closed all six of her eyes to adjust the spacing on her face. She felt her eyes shift and sink into place into her skull once she was finished.

She opened them once again just in time for Namlin to bring in the potential customers for that night. Regardless of the fact that Taneleer Tivan's nickname was "The Collector", he was also known for placing his spares on the market.

Waylon watched as Namlin led them slowly through all of The Collector's exhibits, making sure to recite a speech about him and the achievements he's made in his lifetime.

Tonight's customer was a large male Darin with a few Ogrulians as his bodyguards. Male Ogrulians are great to hire as protectors—they're absolutely humongous and their large tusks, if wielded correctly, are quite dangerous to anyone to gets close. The female Ogrulian on the other hand, gives birth to many children a year, for many years in a row. Because of that, they're perfect to hire as nannies and babysitters.

Waylon's Grom was an Ogrulian, but she was nowhere near "motherly."

"And here's the man of the hour; Taneleer Tivan, The Collector." Namlin stops the group directly in front of his desk as he dramatically turns around.

"Friends. So glad you could make it." He gives an exaggerated bow and walks around the desk towards them to be closer.

"We've been waiting for a long time for this deal. Do you have it?" One of the Ogrulians bluntly asks, not moving to reciprocate the kind greetings.

The Darin in the middle—clearly the boss and brains of the operation—places a hand on the one that spoke.

"No need to be so hasty. Is that the way we greet one of our closest business parters?" This shuts him up, grabbing a hold of his the boss' leather coat when he shrugs it off.

"I appreciate the sentiment, Karu. Allow me to introduce my assistant." The Collector gestures to Waylon still standing beside his desk.

Realizing that this is her que, she walks up to the men and gives a polite bow.

"Nice to meet you all. My name is Waylon." They all look skeptical of her, wondering what her purpose to The Collector was.

"Waylon comes from the planet B-12. She holds special abilities that are beyond the normal capacity."

When Waylon transforms her body into something else, there's usually two ways she goes about it. One is fast. When she is defending herself or running from the law enforcement (which has happened more times than she's wanted to admit), she requires a quick and simple change in her appearance in order to mask herself into society or shift into a deadly creature.

And two; slowly. This is when she needs to entertain.

When she transforms for customers, like she's doing now, she goes slow; letting her old features bleed into the new. This is a longer process, but still quite quick to the untrained eye. This allows the whole transformation not seem so jarring.

She transforms her body into a female Darin, figuring it would be best to transform into someone whom the Darin can relate to.

When the change is done, she looks over at Tivan, making sure she did what she was supposed to.

"How-how did she..." The Darin was left speechless, unable to form a simple sentence.

"Do not be alarmed by my new appearance. I am still Waylon."

Despite her outsides changing, her voice remains the same. This was one of the reasons she doesn't change into many male creatures. It was purely out of preference.

"Waylon is one of my most important collections. I've never met another like her."

That's one of the reasons she was in a home for refugee children. She's never met another like her.

They all continue to stare noiselessly at her form. Some seem curious, others are alarmed.

"Shall we get on with our arrangement?" When none of the other men were saying anything, The Collector suggested to show them around a bit more before sealing the deal with whatever he had planned with them.

As they walk away, Waylon turns towards Namlin who was wiping down a clear box. She notices her staring and stops her cleaning for a moment after making sure The Collector was too far away to hear or see them.

"I wish I had the freedom to walk out of here." She briefly meets her eyes before they dart to the entrance of the building.

Namlin and her barely talk. Part of that is due to the fact that they never have time to. The other reason would be because The Collector forbids it.

Waylon don't feel very close to her, but they share very similar interests.

"Me too."