A short I wrote today in English class, based on my new RPG character (who - purly coincidentally, I assure you - happens to be named Daniel Boese.. ;) ), it seems appropriate for the Transformation Stories list.. :) People interested in transformations themselves, as opposed to the causes and aftereffects, will be fairly disappointed.. but I'm fairly pleased with the work (and character ;) ) myself. Part 2 will deal with life as a rat for a few weeks, should be done tomorrow. Here's a short I wrote today in English class.. Part 2 will deal with life as a rat for a few weeks (up until the game itself starts), and should be done tomorrow. New Pet, part 1 of 2 "Yes!" cried Daniel, "I'm finally /out/ of that school - with a diploma, to boot!" Similar sentiments were being expressed throughout the room, and the post-graduation party was in full swing. Other than complaining about how rotton high school was, and how everybody was going to miss it, the main topic of conversation was, "What will you do now?" "Off to Waterloo U.!" "Niagara College, myself." "Changing my part-time job to full-time. How about you, Dan?" Daniel grinned, hiding his nervousness. "I've got a new job at the library-" Ignoring the whistles and catcalls - Danny was well-known for continuously reading everything he got his hands on - he continued, "-until I can find a better paying job. Not everybody gets a scholarship, you know." Two months later, he was still looking. Shelving hundreds of books every day - without getting to read any of them - was getting tiring, too. Until, one fine air-conditioned summer's day, he found a rather bulky tome that somebody had left in a secluded work-cubby, and tried to shelve it. "Hmm... 'The Morphonomicon". Whatever. Looks like the Dewey Decimal sticker's been ripped off - ah, let the next guy who takes it out worry about that,", he thought to himself. He flipped through the first few pages, wondering where to place it. "Definately occult - 133.4 or so." He continued paging through the book as he climbed the stairs to the second floor, the Adult Non-fiction area.. but stumbled as he came across a series of pictures. "That's /quite/... graphic. Maybe 614.9 would be a better spot... or fiction; Some of these don't even look /possible/ for humans..." Intrigued in spite of himself, he took the hefty work to the staff coatroom and slit it into his knapsack to peruse more thoroughly when he went home. As he stood up and turned around, he discovered a stranger standing in the doorway. "I'm sorry, but only library staff are sup-," Dan started. "You have something of mine," the man stated, taking a step into the room. Daniel frowned, scratching his head. "Lost and found is-" "-not what I mean." Dan scratched his head again, which was itching fiercely. "Then what i...n the world?" He hand had just brushed his ear - only it was halfway up the side of his head, pointed, and covered with light fuzz. The stranger chuckled. "You must have found the pictures. They're the best place for the anti-theft charm. Now - you can either return my book, or turn into a rat." Dan frowned again. "That's not poss-" At that point, his spine lengthened into a scaled tail, sliding down into his pants leg. "Um... right. Will I change back if I do?" The man shrugged, obviously enjoying Daniel's discomfiture. "Only one way to find out, isn't there? I'll tell you this, though - if you don't give me back the Morphonomicon, you'll be sleeping in a Habitrail house from now on." Daniel started, then paused a moment in thought. (During the pause, he shrank eighteen inches and started growing a coat of light fur.) "...Would you be willing to let me read some novels and newspapers, and maybe leave a TV on?" It was the strange man's turn to start in surprise. "You'd actually /want/ to live as a rat, the rest of your life? What about your job, or family, or whatever?" Dan tried to shrug, but his shoulders had reshaped themselves, and he was unable to. As had his face and mouth - "Wait abate tem? Ay messed yaniversitay aend kallage, tish ish ae daed-aend jabe... aeeree chee!" His words finally collapsing into squeaks, as he continued to shrink, his clothes billowing around him. The man glared at the eight-pound near-rat, and stepped over Dan to the knapsack and retrieved the tome. He flipped to a specific page, mumbled a few words and made a few gestures in Daniel's general direction, and.. nothing happened. In fact, the transformation also stopped happening, and the two-foot-tall rat blinked up at him. "Just my luck if I'm snake food now..", he thought to himself. The mage chuckled. "Not at all, little thief. In fact, I happen to like rats." Dan started. "A telepath?? /Great/, just my luck.. Mary had a little lamb, mm-hmm la de da, no thoughts, no thoughts..." Chuckling again, the man reached down to pick Dan up and drop him in the knapsack formerly occupied by the tome, soon followed by his clothes and wristwatch. "I'm not the telepath.. the magic I used lets you broadcast your own thoughts, since your mouth is rather unsuited to anything but chattering. You should figure out how to turn it on and off in a minute." Struggling upwards through the (shockingly smelly - "Must be my new nose.", he silently thought) cloth, Dan poked his nose out of the pack.. only to be tumbled back inside when the mage picked it up and started walking. He shifted into a somewhat comfortable position, his tail twitching in slight agitation. Concentrating, he broadcast, "Um.. if you don't mind my asking, what happens now?" Glancing back at the pack, the man grinned.. "Now, I take you home, and let you live a rat's life. I've got a rather large - and escape proof! - setup for various rodents. You'll have to jump if you want to read any of the paper before it gets chewed into bedding, but a TV's easy to arrange." He shook his head. "I don't believe anybody would /want/ to live as a caged pet.. if you want to change back after a few months, we'll talk about it." But Dan, tired from the change and lulled by the rocking, was asleep even before the man reached his car. New Pet, part 2 of 2 After the traditional surprise/shock wake-up scene, Dan investigated his new surroundings. He was in a dark, somewhat rough tube barely wider than he was, smelling strongly of cardboard, and a rather pleasant musky scent he couldn't quite identify. Scrabbling forwards, he poked his nose and eyes out the end.. and was rather suprised, and a touch pleased, at what he saw. Apparently his "owner" had an obsession with rodents. "Which explains why I'm a rat, and not a worm or beetle or something," he thought. About one quarter of a rather large basement had been surrounded by a fifteen-foot ("It /can't/ be that big.. I must be really small.. can't be taller then four feet or so.") glass wall, the rest of the room filled with empty cages, bags of food and litter, various pet toys, and so on. Much more interesting was the crowd of rats, hamsters, gerbils, mice, guinea pigs and other, less identifable rodents, were running, playing, sleeping, mating, fighting, eating, excreting, nursing, hiding, and he couldn't tell what else. Strewn almost randomly through the area were "Habitrail" cages and tubes, food dishes, water bottles, toys, cardboard tubes like the one he was in, exercise wheels, wire cages, Kleenex bottles, small anonymous cubes (several with tails or ears peeking out), a maze of plastic pipe in one corner, an aquarium filled with gravel, torn kleenex, paper, and cardboard, and pieces of wood of various sizes and shapes. All in all, a rather palatial home... he suddenly 'heard'.. Another rat, a small fraction of his size, scurried over to Dan. He blinked a few times, then tried 'saying', in the same way that he'd heard, The female (for so his nose was now emphatically telling him) tilted her black-furred head, as if trying to puzzle some great riddle. Date: Wed, 17 Jul 96 01:33:00 UTC 0000 From: j.filpus@genie.com To: dboese@freenet.npiec.on.ca Subject: RE: New Story: "New Pet" 1/2 Daniel: Cute story. I've printed it out to show to a friend who raises rats for pets. -- "Dr. John" Filpus