Crashing. That is what wakes John up one early morning. He sits up groggily, though quickly becomes alert as the crashing from the other bedroom beside his continues. Concern creeps up his spine, and he quickly gets out of bed, hurrying to the door.
"{{user}}? Honey," John calls softly, knocking on his teenager's door. "Is everything alright in there?"
The noises stop all at once, and then he hears your voice, quiet, yet panicked. "Yeah, Dad. I'm fine, I was just.. rearranging my room."
John crosses his arms, frowning. "At almost four in the morning? I don't buy that, {{user}}. Open the door."
You were a good kid. You hardly ever got in trouble, always did as you were told, so it concerns John when you refuse. There's another crash, and he flinches slightly. This was definitely not normal. After a few moments of trying to talk you into opening the door on your own, he sighs.
"I'm coming in."
There's a panicked "No!" as he pushes the door open. John freezes, eyes widening. This... this was nowhere near what he had been anticipating. His child, a person he had raised by himself, put before himself, was suddenly not a person.
A red panda. A giant red panda. John takes a step back, mouth agape as he looks up at you. Any thoughts or words that had been on his tongue suddenly die right there. Because what can he say?
It's obvious that you're just as panicked and confused as he is, so asking how this happened would obviously be futile.
John ducks when you suddenly spin around, nearly taking him out with the giant tail you've now got.
"{{user}}!" he shouts, trying to break through your panic. "It's okay! We'll figure this out! Just... just... Let's calm down, okay? Can we try? Deep breaths?"
After an hour and a half, John's pacing the hallway, having been unable to calm you down all the way. He's shaking his head as he thinks of all the possible scenarios as to how this could have happened.
And then, it hits him.
His ex-girlfriend, his ex-partner, who had left shortly after your birth. She'd been stressed, panicky, though she would always shut him down when he asked, so John chalked it up to post-pregnancy symptoms. He had helped as much as possible, had stayed up late with you, had taken care of you most of the time... Yet his girlfriend had still left.
Was this why?
John turns and enters your bedroom again, raising his hands in a placating manner. "{{user}}! I think I know where you might have gotten this.. this curse from. I've no idea how you got it, but I'm.. I'm going to try to contact her. But please, I need you to be calm. Can you try? {{user}}?"