Just Another Day

Earlier, <Phaedrus> inscribed:

> 
>  First of all, I just wanted to applaud everyone on the list; there's been
> a lot of great stories and discussions lately.  (No thanks to me. :-) )

>  *You wake up, and find that you've turned furry overnight--into an animal
> of your choice, or into a humanoid version of one.  How that happened is up
> to you.  (No, you don't get magic powers or anything like that, and you
> don't get to be a unicorn or other mythical beastie.  And you can't change
> forms; you're not a were-whatever.)  Nobody else has changed.  What now?

Just Another Day.

I remember it... well, not clearly. There's not a lot I remember clearly - even before the change happened, I wasn't exactly known for a sharp memory outside of technical issues - I can remember exactly how I fixed a broken network nine months ago, but can't remember what I had to eat yesterday.

Tsk. I'm digressing.

In any event, I woke up in the early morning of my 27th birthday to find myself being smothered by the pillow on my face. The pillow was being much heavier and hotter than I remembered it, and the sheets had gotten tangled up as well. It took a few moments of disorientated flopping and struggling to get my head out from underneath the smothering weight. Pins and needles were running all over my body - at the time, I assumed I had just slept badly and cut off my circulation, resulting in numbness and poor coordination.

The first clue I had was when I realized that I was staring blearily at the red LED display of my alarm clock and seeing it clearly without my glasses. I think the numbers 5:34 are going to be clearly imprinted in my mind for the rest of my life. Around 5:36, something clicked in my head and I realized that things were... different. I was seeing considerably more nose silhouette than I normally did, and as the pins and needles feeling faded from my body, my body was not going back to feeling 'normal'.

Also, everything in the room looked bigger. A lot bigger.

It was in that half-awake, half-asleep state common to those missing sleep, caffiene, or both, that I pulled myself free of the tangle of clothing that I had mistaken for the sheets. My mind was functioning on automatic at that point as I attempted to examine myself in the red light of the alarm clock. Some sluggish mental functions yielded the recognition that I appeared to be a ringtail, or cacomistle.

Satisfied that by recognizing that I was now a ringtail solved the mysteries of why the pillow had been smothering me, my mind shut back down, and I returned to sleep.

At 6:20 AM, the alarm clock went off, and then things got particularly interesting.

To the changed ears on my head, the beeping of the alarm clock was particularly shrill, and I nearly hit the ceiling when it went off. The next few minutes were taken up by mad scampering and running around as I realized (in my now full awake state), that I really was a ringtail, and it was not a dream. After that, my practical side reasserted itself, and I turned off the alarm clock, fumbling at the switch with my paws until I managed to move it off.

In an enforced calm, I made my way to the bathroom mirror and climbed up onto the sink to look in the mirror. (On a side note, the experience of climbing up a table leg, or seeing what's under the couch, is an oddly fascinating experience from that point of view.) I was a ringtail all right. I doubt anyone would have recognized me as the one pound ball of black and white fluff and tail I was now, excepting that when I looked closely in the mirror, I could see deep into my own eyes and saw a familar trait - a distinct lack of sleep.

Now *that*, people could recognize.

Hopping down from the sink onto the scales verified I only weighed a pound. (Another interesting experience, that. The three or so foot drop from the sink to the ground takes on a whole new meaning when one is just over two feet long, and half of that tail. Jumping down the equivalent of fifteen feet took a while to get used to.) A brief attempt at speaking convinced me that I could not, and probably would not. No magic powers demonstrated themselves when I concentrated, nor could I find any way to shift my form. No mind powers manifested themselves when I stared hard at the door knob to my room and willed it to open. My mental facilities (as far as I could tell barring caffiene) were intact - I was painfully aware of all the technical issues I was still having to deal with at work.

On the plus side, this made a hell of a sick day excuse. With that in mind, I padded over to my desk and hopped up to my computer, and started sending email to my roommate upstairs - "Hey, can you come down and open my door? Thanks." To work - "I don't feel well today - not myself. I won't be in for a while." To the TSA - "Okay, which one of you bozos caused this?" And so it went...

Life was a whirlwind of tests and questions and such for a while, but the complete inexplicability of the incident stumped people into frustration, and things were soon forgotten or accepted. I could still type, and thus develop software and manage systems and networks. It was a little hard finding work I could telecommute at without needing to make phone calls, but I managed. On the plus side, I no longer needed to worry about clothing, couldn't use the car anymore, didn't eat as nearly much or expensively, and needed much less living space.

My cost of living dropped dramatically. I moved into one of the closets after having it remodeled into several levels, installed a laptop with a custom small keyboard, and had a network connection put in. Without having to worry about a car and insurance, I could easily afford someone to take care of my taxes and other paperwork for me. I rented my old rooms out to another friend of mine for a good price, too, while I worked out of the closet. Most of my friends were online anyways, so I didn't miss much of anything there. (Okay, so there was a flood of email on the TSA list that flooded my mailbox.)

So, overall life is not that bad. I'm comfortable, making less money, but saving more because my costs have dropped, and the work stress is much less. (Okay, I did develop one mind control power - I can manage to look incredibly cute and fluffy at people and weaken their wills.) I also sleep better now.

The cause of my present state, the reason behind the change, has never been figured out. No clues have been found, nor any hints... excepting one...

A few weeks before my birthday, I wrote a story about becoming a ringtail after reading an email on the TSA-list...

Earlier, <Phaedrus> inscribed:

> 
>  First of all, I just wanted to applaud everyone on the list; there's been
> a lot of great stories and discussions lately.  (No thanks to me. :-) )

>  *You wake up, and find that you've turned furry overnight--into an animal
> of your choice, or into a humanoid version of one.  How that happened is up
> to you.  (No, you don't get magic powers or anything like that, and you
> don't get to be a unicorn or other mythical beastie.  And you can't change
> forms; you're not a were-whatever.)  Nobody else has changed.  What now?

Go figure.

Zzzzzzzz.

Kim

"Growing Wilder"

Transformation Contest 1, Category 3

"Just another Sunday..."