Chimerae. Mythical beasts, yeah? Head of a goat, body of a lion, tail of an alligator, you chase one, but the harder you try to reach it, the further you get.
Auralie's NOT one of those.
She is, however, a scientific chimera. A combination of human and animal DNA, with some tweaks to both. She's the first of her kind, to her knowledge, but not to the knowledge of the scientific community at large. After all, she was Top Secret. That, however, is getting ahead of ourselves.
She was, of course, born in a test tube. Conceived in one, at any rate. She actually has a mother, who was, in fact, the donor of the human egg used for the whole process. A not very impressive research assistant, she was nevertheless a pretty damned good scientist herself, and she wanted kids, so she volunteered. Unfortunately, they ran out of funding before it all ran its course, so she was compensated, set up with a modest fund to take care of the kid, and asked to keep logs of her development, in case there was going to be any interest in the future.
When she was born, Auralie was perfectly healthy. However... well, due to her nature, they had to have the birth at home. She was given a water birth, with a surgeon standing by just in case a C-section was needed, but somehow, the birth was both painless and trouble-free. Auralie was a perfectly healthy baby girl, with three key differences.... a pair of wings, and a stubby tail. She had quite the healthy set of lungs, though, howling loud enough to wake the neighbors until she was carefully scooped to her mother's chest. It was love at first sight, for her mother, and a brilliant success for the onlookers. Damned shame they ran out of funding.
From there. Auralie had a normal enough childhood. She was homeschooled for a few years, the introduced to a private institute for gifted children, where she could make friends and learn how to interact with people. Her mother was gentle, and loving, and Auralie was a well-behaved little girl(A bit energetic, and occasionally there were incidents with her flying around the house). All seemed to be going perfectly well. However... there WAS one little problem.
As it happened... her food needs were rather significant. It was manageable when she was younger, even if she did have the apparent metabolism of a hummingbird, but as she got bigger, her needs increased. She was a hungry teenager to put other hungry teenagers to shame! Frankly, she was eating her poor mother out of house and home... and her neighborhood out of various wild animals. She WOULD have gone for the pets, too, but her mom caught her with a cat halfway down her throat, and made her spit it out. And later, when her growing pains hit, things became unbearable!
Fortunately, after about a year of extreme discomfort(physical and financial), with a few awkward moments, things stabilized. Her dietary needs dropped lower, though they were still significantly high, and she wasn't constantly squirming in discomfort, or outright pain. She managed to go back to school more often, and even found a bit of romance! Which... fell apart, when she overheard something her 'boyfriend' said. He disappeared some time afterward, oddly enough, leaving a note saying something about moving to another country.
Now, well, Auralie's a (fairly) normal, well-adjusted adult! ... you know. if you ignore the fact that she's blatantly inhuman. However, as new technologies have emerged, and other beings somewhat like her have started being made, she's stepped out into the open, though she's still a bit awkward around people. She prefers to stay in a city, where she gets odd looks but most people don't bother her, with the added benefit of easy access to food and plenty of thermal updrafts. All the same, though, she has to make ends meet somehow.... currently, she's splitting her time between odd jobs, mostly tutoring and babysitting. Still, she's doing well enough.
Oh. Just because it is kind of important, she's 5'4.
More pics!
Auralie meeting a friend after an enjoyable flight!
Auralie resting in the winter.
Alt by The Tower. Click picture, receive altlist.
