Shapeshifter's Journal - Part 2

2828 Words
2023-10-15

Day 3 - 4:30

Despite the fact everything feels very alien to me right now, that was probably the best sleep I’ve had in years. It looks like I moved a lot in my sleep; I woke up curled up, using my tail as a pillow.

The sun has yet to rise, which made me discover something else about this form: I woke up to a faint blue glow near me. The goo glows in the dark! I’m a living glowstick! That’s honestly so funny to me. I’ve been giggling at myself for the past 5 minutes because of it.

I’ll spend some more time relaxing, try to stretch a bit and then I’ll get going again.

Day 3 - 6:00

I made it to a lake! I was surprisingly close to reaching it last night. Or maybe I’m picking up speed from gradually getting used to walking in this body. Speaking of, I only tripped 2 times! Very proud of myself for that one.

I was right with my assumptions: There is a decent amount of fish in the water. Now just gotta figure out how to catch them. I really should’ve thought about that…
I know! I’ll do like a bear and catch them without any tools. Easy!

Day 3 - 6:15

That was a terrible idea. Wet fur SUCKS. I feel so heavy now and on top of that, it feels like I almost drowned. Thankfully, good ol’ doggy paddle got my back.

I’ll stick to berries for now. If this is a more permanent situation, I need to figure something else out because I will not survive the winter like this. Got plenty of time until then considering it’s still summer so that’s a problem for future me.

I’ve got some good news at least: There’s cell signal here!
I have to think of my words carefully to not make everyone worry too much. I’ll start giving that some thought and send something later today.

Day 3 - 9:00

It takes forever to dry.. Even under the summer sun, outside, with a small breeze, I’m still not completely dry after.. How long has it been? 3 hours? I don’t know how I didn’t see that one coming but noted: Water is the enemy.

In the meantime, I’ve been practicing walking by pacing around the lake. I am actually getting better at it! I actually got lost in thought at some point and kept pacing around without any issue. I guess it also makes sense in a way. Walking has always felt weird when actively thinking about it.
I was lost in thought from thinking about what to tell my friends and family so that they don’t worry about me. Although, I am in a pretty bad situation… I’m probably going to lose my job too. They’d never accept “I was turned into a weird glowstick creature” as a good excuse to not show up. Just another L for the ever growing pile of it, I guess.

Day 3 - 11:00

I decided to look around for more food and I spotted a few peach trees! They made me figure out something really cool about this body: Climbing trees is really easy and kind of fun too!

Another weird thing I found out: I can eat a lot. I ate maybe 15 peaches and still feel like I could go for more. I’ve never really had that big of an appetite so this is really surprising to me. I believe peaches are in season right now so they’re really nice and juicy.

After a nice and filling feast of peaches, I decided to take inventory of all I have in my bag.
I’ve got:

Day 3 - 12:00

I have sent the message. Also, fun fact: It’s almost impossible to use a smartphone with paws. Good thing my pen has a little screen nib on it’s cap or I wouldn’t have been able to manage to contact them without spending possibly hours typing it up.

I wrote them the following:
“Hi everyone! I won’t be coming back home for some time. Something happened to me, I don’t know how to explain it. I can at least say this: I am okay, alive and well. Do not try to come find me. I won’t be able to check back often because I have no way to charge my phone and I want to still have battery when I figure everything out. I’ll message again once I know more.
I love you all <3”

It really hurts to send something like that. I think it is for the best though. I can’t go back out there like this.

Day 3 - 16:00

I spent the last few hours trying to run on and off since I feel like I’m really getting the hang of walking. I have faceplanted more times than I cared to count. I am surprisingly not injured! It still hurts every time but there’s no lasting damage. Every time I fall, I manage to run longer. It’s really nice to see the improvement in real time. Running also feels really nice to do just in general. Especially the wind against my face, against my fur. I get why dogs want to poke their head out of car windows now.

Another development happened while I was resting between runs: I managed to control my tail!! I’m not very dextrous with it yet but honestly, it's so cool!

Day 3 - 19:00

Today has felt really productive! I feel a lot more in control of my own body, found more food and I’ve been learning a lot about new things I can do as well as things I should avoid. And on top of that, I found simple ways to have fun.

I’ve been practicing moving my tail since I figured out how to do it and it’s surprisingly strong! I managed to lift my entire body without much difficulty!

I’m going to make this my last entry for the day and go back to messing around until I get sleepy. My goal for tomorrow: Find the creature that did this to me. Traveling through the forest feels a lot less daunting after today so it doesn’t feel like as much of a lost cause.

Day 4 - 7:00

I once again slept amazingly. Just like yesterday, I woke up curled up, laying my head on my tail.
I’ve been thinking back on yesterday and, honestly, I could get used to this.
Feeling well rested, eating lots of fruits, not having any real responsibilities, actually being free to do anything you want. No rules, no laws, just enjoying yourself to the fullest.

Of course, I can’t do that, right? I can’t give up and accept my fate this quickly and easily. I’d worry everyone who cares about me if I never came back. I need to at least try to see if there’s an antidote to this or something along those lines.

I’m going to stuff my bag with more fruits and walk back towards the trail. If this creature is going around stealing food from campers, it’s likely hanging out around it.
I’m going to try finding people camping and hope to find the other creature there. I need to be careful not to be seen though.

Day 4 - 12:00

Found some folks! They look like they have a lot of supplies so they’ll likely stop somewhere along the trail to camp. Turns out really sensitive hearing like I have is very useful to find noisy people.

The hikers are taking a small break right now. I’m glad there’s so much vegetation over here because I don’t know how I’d stay hidden otherwise.

Sounds like they’re getting ready to get moving again so I gotta go too! Can’t let them get away.

Day 4 - 17:00

They’re setting up camp!
I really hope I’m right and that the other creature is going to show up too. I climbed up to a branch in a tree, holding a vantage point on the campers. I don’t think they can see me from where they are. Either way, people are notoriously bad at looking up so I’m not too worried.

Day 4 - 20:00

These people called it a night really early. They must be morning people I guess.
And sure enough, the other creature is here as I expected. They’re navy blue with a white belly and brown accents. Just like me, they have a blue goo-tipped tail. They're carrying a shoulder bag with them, are wearing goggles on their forehead and some sort of fabric around their tail. It looks like they’re making noise on purpose. Are they trying to scare the campers? It worked wonders for me at least.

I’m going to get down from the tree and try to talk to them once they get a bit further away from the camp. Having these campers hear the creature who probably just scared the shit out of them talk does not seem like a good idea.

Day 4 - 21:00

So… the campers actually ran away while I was climbing down.

I met with the other creature. He seemed really excited to see another of his kind around here and offered to share the campers' food. I obliged and we talked while eating.
His name is Tycho and, judging by how he looked at me when I asked him how long it's been since he got changed, either he was born like this, or he does not remember ever changing.

I ran into an issue I wasn’t expecting despite how obvious it is in hindsight: Talking is different. I’m fine with most sounds but some of them I just can’t figure out. Thankfully, Tycho seemed to still understand most of what I was saying anyway somehow. The whole conversation was actually really nice! It felt nice to talk to someone. To not be alone anymore.

He told me a lot of funny stories about campers' reactions to his presence. Lots of screaming, running away. One story stood out to me though. A few days ago he tried scaring off a camper but all that he got out of it was sounds of scribbling and heavy breathing. It's apparently not too uncommon for people to stay in their tents but he found the scribbling odd.

I told him that I'm the one from that story and he looked like he became really excited, scared and also confused at the same time. Right after, that fucker bit my arm and ran away. It really hurt! Why'd he do that??

No point in getting upset about it. I'll have to figure something else out to learn more about this. For now, I'll get away from the trail and try to get some sleep.

Day 4 - 22:00

Tycho woke me up and apologized for biting me. I'm guessing he felt bad about it after we had a rather pleasant chat?

He told me to meet him nearby at sunrise. He wants to make up for it and learn more about me. Maybe try to help me out too? I'm not too sure on that one.

I'm heading back to sleep. I'm kind of worried about what'll come out of tomorrow but I don't really see any other options to learn about what I am.

Day 5 - 8:30

I made it to the meeting spot after Tycho. At first, he looked really cautious around me and was paying very close attention to my every movement. We spent the whole morning talking about humans. He had so many questions. I told him about what it's like living as a human, what kind of food we eat, where we live, what a typical day looks like, etc.

He was paying close attention to every word I was saying. His cautiousness gradually turned into excitement. He told me he was very interested in humans as a whole but was always too scared to talk to one of them. I'm actually the first one he's ever gathered the courage to talk to. Likely because I'm not really human anymore and because we got to talk before he got to know about the fact I was formerly a human? I'm not sure honestly.

He told me to wait here while he gathers up some breakfast for us. I'll be asking about whatever the fuck we are when he gets back.

Day 5 - 10:00

The food haul he got back with was absolutely massive and so diverse. He definitely knows his way around here way better than I do.
There was a lot of variety of fruit. Peaches, apples, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries. On top of that, he even stole food from campers to top it off. It was a real feast that he carried back here in his bag and his pouch. Because of course, these creatures can have pouches.

I say "can have pouches" because, after double checking, I do not have a pouch. These creatures are so weird honestly.

I told him about all that happened the day after he invaded my campsite. How I tasted some of his goo that he had somehow left near my tent, how I spent most of the day hanging on to consciousness, writing down things of note. I showed him my journal but, apparently, he can not read so we quickly moved on from it.
I told him about how I've been learning to navigate this body. About needing to go back to my old life, needing to go back to all I lost and reassure all those who are probably worried sick about me.

He looked amused while I was talking about going back. I'm not sure why. I didn't think my tale was that funny?

I questioned him about his amusement but he has yet to explain.

Day 5 - 12:00

I still can not believe how far my jaw dropped when Tycho finally showed me what he was giggling to himself about. Supposedly, this was so obvious to him that it was a bit of a shock when he figured out that I didn’t know about it!

He transformed his paw into a hand right in front of my eyes!

We can shapeshift?!

He told me to start with something small, like my colors, to get a feel for it.
So I did. I decided to copy one of my old fursonas' colors and patterns. I couldn't copy it perfectly due to my slightly different body type but it's close enough.

Sure enough, without much effort, my fur became orange and cream, with large stripes of those colors going along my limbs.
I also changed the color of my eyes and of all the goo to be light pink.
I've always liked this color combination.

I could feel my tail wagging behind me once I got done. I’ve imagined myself being that sona in the past but I didn’t expect that it’d make me so happy to have it happen! Or at least. to have it kind of happen? I don’t know. It’s weird.

Wait.. Shapeshifting! That means I can go back home!

Day 5 - 12:30

Fully shapeshifting back into a human was really easy! I ended up pretty quickly shifting back to my new long and fluffy body, mostly due to the speed and protection against the elements that this new form gives me compared to my human body. I also decided to stick with the orange and pink colors. They make me happy!

I turned around to thank Tycho for his help but he disappeared? Maybe because of the human form? Who knows with that one!

Day 5 - 14:00

After failing to find Tycho after he disappeared, I went back to my campsite which had been left untouched for the last few days and packed up my tent and everything else I had left out here. I used the last of my phone battery to look at bus schedules and sure enough, there’s a bus I can take to get home in a few hours. I need to make sure to catch it but I’m not too worried about time as long as I get moving soon.

Time to trek back to the road!

Day 5 - 17:00

Waiting for the bus now. I shifted back to my human body. I didn’t give myself time to fully experience it earlier but wow. I feel cold, my clothes feel itchy and all the smells are overwhelming. If I could manage to get used to whatever that was, I’m sure I can get used to what I've been my entire life too. I didn’t remember this body feeling so restrictive though. Something feels off but I can’t put my paw on what it is.

No matter. I’m going home!

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Notes

Tycho belongs to my friend Corrin :3