A stormy night many moons ago

Charybdis stood on the edge of the dock as rain pelted against his oilskin duster, the bright green hues of his fur hidden, shrouded in darkness and safe from the cold downpour. His stoic eyes peered intensely out to the frothing sea, the inky black void punctured only by the flash of lightning illuminating edges of waves like mighty mountain peaks; a tumultuous realm to cross on such a stormy night, but such weather brought it's advantages too. Harder to track boats in weather like this, made it far simpler to sneak them past watchful eyes.....
The wind howled like a mournful ghost, its wail a weaker man may have taken as a bad omen, as the sky itself crying out against what he was doing- but Charybdis merely pulled his hood in tighter around his ears with a grumble and maintained his watch with absolute focus. No time for superstition, far worse things to worry about if he got caught.

Across the sea something other than lightning flashed, a sequence of deliberately timed lantern dashes and dots that he recognized as the signal that the ship he'd been waiting for was pulling in.

*Is it clear?* The flashes read, and Charybdis reached down to pick up his own handheld lantern to signal back.

*All clear, proceed to dock.*
He felt his heart jolt, adrenaline spiking as he realized this was it; the time had finally come to reap the reward he had been working so hard towards. It was finally happening.....

He stood and watched as the small dark ship puttered up to the dockside and came to a halt, swaying in the stormy waves; before a figure appeared aboard its deck, tossing a rope down to Charybdis who tied it expertly off to keep the vessel from drifting away from the dock.

"Ahoy!" He called up.

"Keep your voice down damn your eyes, heads pounding from the waves..." Grumbled the figure as they staggered down to meet him on comparatively stable thought hardly able to be considered 'dry' land.

"Rough journey?"

"Aye, you could say that. But I have it. We did it Charby, it's...It's done."

Charybdis's eyes grew wide and his pulse raced even faster as he glanced up at the ships dock, fighting the urge to run up there right away.

"All of it?" He asked quietly, "The amount I need, it's..."

"And then some. It's all there. But, Charby? Are you certain about this?"

Charybdis stared at the figure for some time, trying to comprehend a world in which he could possibly ever be unsure about this.

"If they find out...."

"Yeah, yeah I know." Charybdis replied.

"I know you do but- Charby, come on is this really worth it?"

Charybdis shrugged, tugging his hood down and looking up to the sky, rain streaking across his snout as his eyes shimmered in the dim moonlight.

"Listen bud, I didn't ask to be born into this world feelin' more like a project than a person, like I was made to look a certain way, act a certain way, fulfill someone else's purpose. I spent half my life wandering around feeling like the face I saw in the mirror wasn't my own, like It belonged to some smarter shmuck than me and I was just borrowin' It." He said, memories clouding his face with a dour expression.
"Everyone wants to tell me I should be able to just live with it, that I should be okay with it-grateful even. Hey I get to live and I wouldn't have before! Ain't that a miracle of science! And don't get me wrong I tried, I did; made me damn miserable pretendin' I didn't feel trapped in a body that wasn't my own. So, I'm doing what I gotta. If this what it takes to feel like me in this world well then.......That's how it's gonna go, I don't care about 'purpose' I got free will and agency and I'll make my body my own if it kills me. One day I'm gonna wake up and look in the mirror and feel like my own, like I get to decide who i am; that's all that matters to me, you don't gotta worry about it none, if this job is getting too much for you then-"

"No, no its fine I just....I worry about you." the figure interrupted.
Charybdis shrugged.

"I can look after myself, don't need anyone worrying. Besides, be more worried about what happens if I fail, if we give up."

The figures shoulders sagged, then they nodded. It seemed the momentary doubt had passed.
"Alright, your shipments on the deck. The pallet jack is next to it, go careful down the dock ramp with it; gonna be slippery in this weather."

"I appreciate it." Charybdis said, placing one hand on the figures shoulder reassuringly and slipping them a little pouch of prestige for their troubles with the other, before walking up onto the boat.
He made his way across the slick wooden boards of the deck until he reached just what he'd been waiting for; a crate, which when he cracked it's lid just to check all was right revealed it's contents in the little slither that could be seen; Astatine, lots of it.

"Wow," Charybdis let out a whistle through his teeth, "It's a lot more than i expected; how're you getting this much?"

"Five years we've been working to put this together, have i ever answered that question once Charby?."

For the first time that night Charybdis's snout broke into a grin.
"You got me there."

It was easier to smile and feel some levity even in the perilous situation now that he knew he had exactly what he needed, the precious commodity that would let him change his body to what felt right and correct; to transform into a body he could finally feel comfortable in. He almost felt a spring in his step as he maneuvered the crate onto the pallet jack and pushed it down off onto the dock and off towards home, saluting his comrade as he went past.

"Wait, Charybdis!" Their voice called after him, stopping him in his tracks.
"What're you going to change? You've never told me, what's your plan?"

Charybdis smiled and shrugged.
"Maybe I'll come find you after it's all said and done and you can see for yourself!"

"Yeah well.... I'd like that, for peace of mind at least. Be safe out there stranger, i hope you can do it Charby, i really do."

Charby nodded, one final solemn wordless goodbye, knowing he most likely would never see his comrade again; it'd just be safer that way, they could tell each other they'd seek a meeting after it all but.... If a paper trail led back to them, well it'd be disastrous.
This was it, the end of an era.....
Time to be reborn.

*Many years later.*

Charybdis stood in front of a mirror, watching the morning sun gleam off of transparent, slimy skin with a glittering sheen; like a thousand stars in a green galaxy laid out against his arms and tail. His notched and ridged ears twitched, jewelry adorning them jingling softly, and four jet black eyes blinked as he took the sight of all those years work in. He was unrecognizable, not an inch the same man he once was; and it felt....Perfect.
A smile spread across his fanged snout, laughter bubbling up inside his broad chest as he saw the man he always knew he was supposed to be in the mirror; pure joy that came so freely to him now and had been so rare back then. It had been a dark, dangerous, frightening journey, but he'd always known it the right one....
He was his own man, He finally truly felt he was Charybdis, totally and completely.