The sun is a gleaming ring. The day is dark as night.
And you glance over at your friend, who looked so oddly terrified to see the moon suddenly block the sun -
At first, you aren't surprised by the fact she's grown a dozen times her size and become a full sized dragon. She's a dragon, she does that. That smiling humanoid form, happily sipping iced tea at a cafe with you just a moment ago; that's both a convenience for interacting with the world and a relic of her old life, a remnant of the two decades she spent thinking she was human.
But this isn't the big smiling beast you've come to know, either. That familiar gleam in her eyes, that always busy energy she'd hold... they're missing.
Something is off about her. Her scales seem... melted, almost. Their shapes turned from a simple overlap to strange, assymetrical patterns. Before your eyes, more spurs and branches bud from her already impressive horns. Her tail fan has become long and trailing, the patterns on them shifting imperceptibly. Her mane is shaggier, her wings stranger-shaped.
Her eyes are transfixed on the eclipse. They're orange-gold as usual, but they seem to glow from within. The wind is blowing harder. And harder. And harder. You swear you hear a bell.
You open your mouth - about to say something about how she shouldn't be staring at the sun like that. But no words come out. Oh, you feel your vocal chords vibrate and your lips and tongue move as always, but there are no words, not even ringing through your skull. Just wind and a distant bell. Clang. Clang. Clang.
It... hurts to look at her. Why would it hurt? You know her. Your good friend, An... a-... her name started with an A, right? Why can't you remember it?
The wind is blowing harder and harder. Your friend- is it still her? It has to be, right?- rears upwards and spreads her wings. The undersides, normally a fine cream scale, are black as night and covered with stars. You recognize constellations - Orion, Crux, Draco, Auriga. Wait, those shouldn't be visible in the sky at the same time, right?
She takes off, towards the eclipsed sun. And as you watch her, you notice that the stars are shining in the black sky above. But they're wrong. Those constellations in her wings - they're all missing, the stars are out of order, and as she passes in front of them, they shift.
Four hours later, with the eclipse finally over, your phone rings. It's Andréa - wait, you can remember her name now!
She sounds exhausted and embarassed and apologizes profusely. "I'm sorry, eclipses make me... not myself. Cuz I got sky magic, y'know. Tied to the sun and moon and all that. But that time was different. First time I've ever seen a solar eclipse..."
Her voice belies worry and self doubt. Discomfort, as if even she didn't understand what she had become. You reassure her, tell her you don't blame her for anything, though it was really fucking weird and creepy at the time.
You hear a relieved sigh, from the dragon on the other end - once more herself, but perhaps with depths yet to contend with.
