Tail pull
She was a tiger, whether this was some stupid dream or not. Most people would just be startled, or hell, even amazed; but not Daniel - he didn’t want to be a tiger, he wanted to be a regular human being! Maybe if I just… Daniel hesitated for a moment before he reached around haphazardly for that darn swishing tail; she managed to grab it in her massive paw, yet again hesitating before he gave it a quick, but firm yank. As he did so, a mix of a yowl and a roar escaped her lips and his jaws parted, showing off rows of sharp white teeth, black gums, and a thick pink tongue. The brief pain shot through his backside from the abrupt tug; he figured pinching his skin through fur wouldn’t work well, so he had to make do with a tail tug to prove he was dreaming. But...Daniel didn’t jolt awake. He just stood there, numb with fear and the uneasiness creeping throughout his entire body. This wasn’t some stupid, crazy dream; this was reality, and as that sunk in, Daniel’s panic only worsened.
“What the hell happened to me…?” Daniel wondered aloud, unable to help but stare at himself in the mirror - he found himself observing the unusual movements of his jaw, the way his lips formed words in this new, foreign animal form. None of this made sense; he was walking and even talking, but yet his body and face betrayed his species - tigers couldn’t talk, and they certainly couldn’t walk on two legs either. And...well, as far as Daniel was considered, they didn’t change sexes either. I’m a boy; but, I guess I’m a girl now? Gosh, this is all so weird...Mentally battling with his, or rather, her pronouns, Daniel shifted uncomfortably as she placed a paw on the mirror, spreading out the fingers to study them; but the longer she looked at them, the more uneasy she got. She felt his heart beginning to pound and she was quick to pull his hand away, looking at her palm anxiously and flexing his fingers. Doing so caused the long claws to pop out, which made Daniel yelp in panic and stare at her paw, stunned - how the hell would she be able to control this?
What if she scratched herself on accident, or hurt someone? That was one nightmare she was terrified to think of. Daniel’s mind started to reel with the moment of panic, feeling her stress levels rise considerably as she stepped fearfully away from the mirror and gripped one paw’s wrist with the other. She gulped nervously as she looked down at his paws, growing more anxious as she found himself flexing those massive claws again, moving her fingers a bit more till she managed to retract the black, sharp weapons, much to her own relief. She’d have to learn how to control these damn things - otherwise, she’d be terrified of her claws popping out again out of nowhere. The last thing she wanted was to hurt someone, like her mom or any of her friends; the idea of that was more terrifying than he could ever imagine. Daniel felt herself begin to shake as she looked down at her paws, slowly releasing the tight grip on her wrist now that the claws were out of sight; her heartbeat was still going a mile a minute, but it eventually began to go down now that the panic was subsiding.
Written by Jasondicks on 24 September 2019
