O O O
"Fun" was not the primary word Wend suspected he would choose to describe this situation. At the moment however, it seemed to fit rather well. How else could he describe the sheer blissful sensation of slipping through the water, rolling, spinning, in a limited space, though no less enthralling. Oh, how he wondered what he would do with entire pool's worth of water to swim about in.
The effect of being an otter appeared to be infecting him, making his thoughts more fragmented and smooth and simple and generally…happy. As if he were taking a drug that completely fogged his mind and let his cares slip away (not that he had ever taken drugs to make such a comparison). As much as he wanted to, he couldn't get himself to properly worry about being an otter. Every time he tried to focus on that point, it eluded him, leaving him thinking about fish or swimming.
Only something as powerful as the term "calculus exam" managed to break through the otter hazed mental block. This served as the cold bucket of water for Wend's fading thought process. He slithered out of the bath then slipped across the linoleum floor for the door, before he realized even on his hind paws, the handle eluded his grasp. The calculus exam. How had he forgot?
OK, actually, he had every good reason to forget, being an otter and all, but the point was his grade practically hinged upon being at that exam. Without at least a sub-par grade on that exam, course grade was liable of falling into the black hole of flailing, and then his dad would use that tone to tell him he was "disappointed" and how "expensive" college was and that it required "responsibility" and…he could not put up with that again.
A swim would help make him feel better. He started trotting towards the bath again. No. He stopped. He tried to refocus to what Luke had been saying. Selkie. Otter skin. Not being able to turn back. Perhaps he wouldn't have to worry about college period. Perhaps he would be able to be donated to a zoo and just… No, he would not roll over like that. He would beat this. Wend concentrated. He needed to get to that exam. He needed to think big. He'd seen this sort of thing in the movies. He needed to think really hard about being a human. Human. Human. Human. Fish. Mmm…fish… No…human. Human.
Wend found himself chewing on the sushi. Mmm…but, wait…his muzzle hadn't filled the entire bowl before. He rose his head. Well, the concentrating had done /something/ at least. He stood up on his hind paws, a little easier this time. Wend now stood tall enough so he could reach the door knob. In fact, he stood tall enough to use the sink and reach the light switch. But he didn't appear to be that much more human than before. Just an over five foot tall otter. He looked into the mirror and patted his round streamlined muzzle and tweaked his black nose. "Hello there," he said. The voice sounded a little squeaky and his mouth looked strange trying to say the words, but at least he could speak now. He looked at one of his paws. Still webbed otter paws, though with something of an opposable thumb now. He glanced at himself in the mirror again. Last night came back to him, what had seemed so strange about Luke's suiloilette. It had the odd shape of an otter about it. That explained a little. Sorta...
Now what the heck was he supposed to do now? He looked at the bathroom clock. He had a little under a forty-five minutes to get to the exam.
Improvise.
One baggy pair of sweatpants, one baggy t-shirts, one baggy hooded sweatshirt, a scarf, a baseball cap, a trenchcoat, and some some sunglasses later, Wend looked over himself and realized something: he looked like an uncoordinated idiot.The fact his legs were half the size and his body torso was double the usual length were only a few of the issues this body had with human clothing. His hind paws were not going to be covered, period. Wend hoped they would be brushed off as unusual slippers or something. The fore paws he could cover with the over-extended sleeves. The muzzle was covered by the scarf.
All he could do now was go out and hope no one would dare ask if anything was wrong. Thankfully, the usual brand of college student had about as much reaction to the unusual as a zombie, without any of the motivation of brains (so perhaps a little less possible reaction). This theory held true rather well as he walked in his bow-legged way across campus. Students on the route may have chanced a glance, but besides eye-rolls, little notice was given to his oddly shaped form. He wondered if it would have been better if he had just went without anything on. His tail felt exceptionally uncomfortable stuffed down a leg of the pants.
With minutes to spare, he waddled into the exam room, slipping into a seat in the back. He had underestimated how hard it would be to actually sit down. Otter had the rudder like tail behind them, and as Wend tried to sit, he slipped right off. Growling, he got back up and looked over the class. Everyone was staring at notes or checking calculators, distracted by this exam barreling down at them. The professor entered with a mound of papers in his arms. All focus fell on him.
Quickly, Wend reached into his sweatpants, fished the tail out so it hung over the back of the pants, stuck the tail through the hole of the seat back, and sat down. He carefully took out his pencil and calculator. He then saw the girl, two seats down (every other seat empty, on account of the exam), staring at him strangely.
"You know if you keep staring, Prof Doom might think you're cheating," Wend whispered.
She appeared not to want to take the risk, and turned away. Professor Dominic passed the exams down their row. The exam had begun.
Wend didn't think the exam was too bad. Besides his odd form and limited digit dexterity, he was able to press through most of the problems. His speed was slower than usual, but he thought this actually helped him consider each set of numbers more carefully before getting to a solution. By the time he had finished the last story problem and headed to the front with his test, he was one of the last students left. With only a few minutes to go, he thought, setting the exam on the table where the professor sat.
"Wait right there," Professor Dominic snapped. Wend froze. "Sit in the front there." Wend slowly backed to the front row, his tail feeling suddenly exposed as he remembered he hadn't tucked it back in his pants. He sat down awkwardly, twiddling his paws inside his sleeves. After the last student had finished and left, the professor rose. "You, come with me to my office."
Wend felt his tail twitch at the tone of the voice. He followed warily behind Professor Dominic, out of the building, across the Memorial Building courtyard, into another building, up an elevator, into a hall, into a small cramped office with mountains of papers on both sides, a desk in the valley in between. He had not said a word the entire way. Wend wondered if he should have ran.
"I know exactly what you're up to," Professor Dominic hissed.
"You do?"
"Yes, I run into one of you little snots every semester."
"...really?"
"And you try this same game. Putting on a ridiculous outfit, taking the exam, and then leave, acting as if nobody is the wiser. Well, I'm not buying this rubbish. Take off the scarf."
"...why?"
"I'll tell you, Mr. Keith." Professor Dominic opened up his laptop and jabbed a finger at a photograph, Wend noticed it from his student ID. "I took the liberty to check up on you after you turned in your test. You're not Mr. Keith, are you? You're one of his friends. He /paid/ you to take the test for him. Do you realize how serious an offense this is at this college?"
The pieces fell into place. "Oh! No. Wait, I'm Wendal Keith. This is just a misunderstanding."
"Then take off that getup and prove it."
"I...I..." Wend fumbled for a proper excuse. "I have a horrible rash."
"Then prove it, or I will call the Dean and have both you and Mr. Keith suspended from this university." Professor Dominic's hand hovered over his phone.
Wend felt himself getting very warm. Lightening hit outside, followed by thunder that rattled the room. Rain started pounding against the window. In the sudden fall of shadows, Professor Dominic's feature grew demonic. A sudden storm, like that morning's, and again, Wend could almost feel the energy of the turmoil flowing from his soul, his defense embodying itself. He noticed the mounds of paper on both sides of the office stir. He slowly pulled off the scarf. Drops of water splattered onto the desk's notes, ink blurring upon impact. The electricity in the air seemed to cause Professor Dominic's hair to stand on end. His expression fell as he noticed strange occurrences.
Above, a swirling mass of storm cloud had formed, sparking at the edges. The wind picked up, throwing the papers into waves of rustling white. The rain stared sheeting down on them. Wend threw down his hood and shed the trenchcoat and baseball cap. He rose to his full height and leaned over the desk to the now cowering Professor Dominic. "I. Did. Not. Cheat," Wend growled, in a deep soul-shaking voice from the darkness.
Professor Dominic screamed, jumped to his feet, swam through the cyclone of papers, and made it to the door, before someone else entered. A man in a tweed suit, who looked about at the office storm, as if it were some minor if amusing event. Professor Dominic yelled, "Doctor Griff! The student! The student. A monster. He...he!" he gestured wildly at Wend. "Call the police! Get someone! A STORM!"
The man looked Professor Dominic over. "You seem to be over-reacting."
"ARE YOU INSANE?"
"No. Just appears your student is a selkie," the man waved at Wend. The storm abated as Wend waved back, becoming aware again. wondering who the man was.
"A WHAT? LET ME GET PAST I NEED...!"
The man clicked his fingers. Suddenly, his features shifted, until a large beak graced his face, feathers covered the rest of his head, and his hands looked very much like talons.
Professor Dominic fainted.
"Ah. Much better," Doctor Griff said, turning his attention to the large otter, "Now, you must be Wendal."
O O O
Luke slurped his over-sweet coffee beverage nervously as he paced the fish pond. Dr. Griff had said he would meet him here at four and now it was half past. He looked up at the overcast sky. He'd swore he'd heard thunder in the distance, but had yet to see storm clouds. This made him think of Wend. Perhaps he should have checked up on him. This was all very bad. Why did he have to be a selkie? Why did he have to deal with loosing his skin? Why couldn't he be like a normal shapeshifter, who didn't have that absurd restriction. Tanukis did not have to deal with this. He kicked a stone into the pond.
"Good afternoon, Luke," a familiar voice said. Luke turned to see Dr. Griff walking through the woods.
"Thank you for coming."
"My pleasure, Luke. I am your college advisor, after all. If there is any issues you have with your college experience, I am the one to turn to. For mythical issues at least," he said, with a wink at the end. "You have a breach in your skin's security?"
Luke rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeeeeeah. It's not my roommate's fault, really. He had no idea."
"I did say you could room with another mythic on campus. That kitsune fellow had an opening."
"I know," Luke grumbled, "But...I wanted to get the full college experience."
Dr. Griff chuckled, letting his human form slip away, beak, feathers, grand wings, until there stood a full grown griffin, eagle front, lion back, golden eyes staring down with bemusement. The glasses, his tweed coat, and his messenger bag remained on his visage. "Oh, I can't tell you how much I've heard that line, from both mythic /and/ mortal. The 'full experience' is what is sought when in reality, the full experience is whatever you do in life. There is no easy way through and no water down adventures. Life is life, no matter how you play it."
"I know," Luke sighed, "I really feel horrible what happened to Wend though. I really wanted to be his...friend." He looked over the pond, which reflected the gray mood of the sky and Luke. "I tired to be nice to him, but he just seemed to be so...sad."
"Humans are fickle creatures, and college is tough. That's the short version. The long version is much more complicated and riddled with swearing," Dr. Griff said. "But I'm sure Wend didn't really think badly of you. Just didn't know how to react to you. You are a strong personality in a closed in space, Luke."
"Do you think he'll forgive me? Even if this can't be fixed?"
"Why don't you ask him that yourself?"
Luke turned back to Dr. Griff. "What?"
An otter head popped out of the messenger bag and barked.
"I found Wend in the Math Department today. It appears his calculus teacher Dr. Dominic, you may have heard him by the nickname Professor Doom, awakened a storm within him."
"He didn't. How...?"
"Wend apparently discovered a way to get into mid-form after you left him. Appears the motivation to not fail calculus is an untapped energy to be reckoned with," Dr. Griff said, rubbing Wend under the chin with a talon. Wend squeaked in pleasure.
Luke slapped a hand to his face, "You've got to be...I'm so screwed."
"No, don't fret about it. Professor Dominic will never explain what happened and I don't think Wend caused too much stir otherwise. Much stranger occurrences have happened on campus. Trust me. Anyway, the storm drained a lot of energy, obviously, and he reverted back to his current default form."
"Is there a way we can...you know...remove the selkie skin?"
The griffin rubbed the underside of his beak. "This case is unusual. Selkie skins being stolen and kept is common enough. Being worn and activated, is frankly unheard of. You mentioned what you were told as a pup about the dangers. Most of that is just heresy and stories told by selkie parents to keep them from trusting humans so much. Which is in itself interesting, considering selkies willingly give their skins to humans they love..."
The griffin laughed, deep, beak clacking. This not the time or place to discuss that tangent of selkie lore," he said, using a talon to ruffle Luke's hair. "All myths have their dark and light sides. This case is in the middle, and I've called in a few favors. I have a fellow coming down through the wormhole messenger byways to meet us here. Should be here before nightfall. Why don't you grab some food from your house, I'll make a fire and protective barrier. As for Wend, I will let him have a little swim." Dr. Griff winked at Luke.
Luke smiled back, knowing the full meaning of "a little swim."
"I think Wend would like that."
O O O
Dr. Griff picked the otter out of his bag, like an owl would pick up a rodent, though, thankfully, not with the intent to kill and with less of the element of surprise. Wend, at a nice calm mood now, let his body go limp in the grasp of the talon. In any other situation, he would run at the sight of this massive bird-lion creature, though now, he could look into the golden gaze of this fearsome creature with a quiet amazement.
The griffin's brown flecked feathers glittered in the sun beams and the sharpness of its beak accentuated in the shadows. He let the details settle in, until the griffin tossed him at the fish pond.
He managed a surprised bark before he hit the water.
Except, he didn't quite hit the water. Wend flowed into it without a splash, diving under the surface of the murky water. And then the details all changed. The bath had nothing on this. In the bath, he had received a brief taste of what magic water could hold. And the bath in comparison, was just a flash, a tiny spark, of what wonders water could hold. In all Wend's time of swimming lessons and brief fleeting visits to the ocean, he could not have imagined /this/.
Underwater was another planet. His entire body moved through the murky waterscape, slipping through with no resistance, his very movements made for speed and fluid dexterity. Wend did not use his webbed paws as much as he thought he would, perhaps to claw through the water to get speed. No, it was his spine that moved, from head to this tip of his apply-described rudder-like tail that propelled him. He skirted the muddy bottom of the pond, seeing vague shapes of reeds and rocks with his eyes, seeing these same details in shimmering clarity with his whiskers. He stuffed about his snout in the mud, seeking something he couldn't quite compute at the edges of his instincts.
He rose up, surfaced, to replenish his air supply. He idlely floated on his back, looking at the golden hues of the evening sky, which profiled the flying griffin. Dr. Griff waved as he made a lazy circuit of the pond's perimeter. Tendrils of sparking light played off his hide. They arched over the pond, and Wend vaguely remembered the speak of a barrier. His instincts pulled him under and he dove again.
On the way down, his whiskers detected a target. He pulled his forepaws closer to his body and pointed his snout like a laser sight. He spun and banked this way and that, looping and careening, always keeping focus on the target, trying to predict its next move, coming ever closer, closing the gap. His jaws reacted as his snout made contact and his paws came into play. His entire body wrapped around the target as it struggled in his grasp. He broke the surface, splashing, holding down tighter with his jaws, trying to make purchase on the silvery scales. He got the proper grip and bit, hearing the crack of the fish's spine and tasting the flavor on his tongue. The fish stopped thrashing. He was a the master of this pond. A predator. No fish could out swim him. Wend swam slowly to the shore, fish still gripped in his teeth.
Dr. Griff and Luke were waiting there, sitting around a small fire. Dr. Griff clacked his beak. "Ah, a trout. On your first try too. Of course, this pond is populated with a good supply of such fish for the local fishes so you had a perhaps a higher probability of catching such a big specimen...still, brilliant show. Looks like a good meal." His pointed tongue licked poked out of his beak.
Wend growled and hugged the trout to his body.
"You should know better then to threaten a selkie's meal, Dr. Griff," Luke said, rolling his eyes.
"I do, which makes it so much fun to mess with them," Dr. Griff countered.
"Somebeast say something about messing with people?" a new voice said.
"Ah, Noone, you're here."
Wend cautiously lightened his grip on the fish and tried to see the source of the new voice. A figure wearing a crooked pointed cap emerged from the shadows. As it turned out, the odd pointed cap was the most normal part about the figure. It could almost be described as a wolverine, though walking on its hind legs, wearing a light vest and carrying a pack, what appeared to be scrolls sticking out of the edges. He also wore a tall pointed blue cap, somewhat like a dunce cap, but it bent to the side halfway up.
"Luke and Wend, meet Noone. He is a gnome."
"Don't give me that look," Noone growled, pointing at Wend, who didn't know he'd been giving a look, "You were expecting a little human guy with a beard. That was an image propagated by the gardening community. Humans have never properly /seen/ a gnome, only seen our hats, and..."
Dr. Griff cleared his throat. "Noone. Do I need to hear this rant every time you meet someone?"
"It's not a rant! I'm stating truths!"
Dr. Griff rubbed the bridge of his beak. "Noone...please. Anyway, Luke, you know the basic facts about gnomes. As for you Wend, I will give you a brief crash course. Gnomes are basically protectors of the forest and what things it contains. They keep the cycle of life balanced as best they can. Their responsibility in the last few thousand years as been regulating human forest activity..."
"Griff! Why are you giving the spiel. I can do my own introduction, thank you very much," the gnome snapped. He stalked up to Wend and took him by the cheeks. "I make sure humans don't do anything stupid in the forest. Big job, I can tell you. Do you know how many forest laws any given human can break on a single picnic? There is a list as long as your body. So I teach them a lesson or two so they learn if they break some laws..."
"I still don't understand how turning someone into a badger over a thrown away piece of gum is fair retribution," Dr. Griff inserted.
"Do you know how long it takes for gum to break down? Let along how difficult it is to get out of fur?!" Noone yelled, hackles raised. "The forest laws are very complicated!"
"I'm sorry. You're the expert, continue," Dr. Griff said. Wend got the sense that the griffin enjoyed prodding the gnome.
"To cut to the chase," Noone grumbled, "I've been told of your situation. And I'm an expert in the transfiguration from human and animal and back again. Speaking of which, remind me that there's a few squirrels I need to find on this campus. I think I'm overdue at getting them off their sentence...by perhaps a few...days."
"It's more like a few years, isn't it?" Dr. Griff said under his breath.
"I need a proper organizer!" Noone half-growled, "Doesn't matter anyway. With the wards and the reality tangents, no harm, no foul. Perhaps the side-effects of nut obsessions and hoarding and...NEVERMIND. Point is, let me take a good look at you. Lay on your back."
Wend, though nervous, obliged. The gnome felt its claws across Wend's stomach, under his neck, around his face, looked into his mouth, pulled at the tail. "Tricky. Tricky. Though not hopeless. I've never done a hide removal before. At least, not officially, but I think I can manage this one. Just might be a little...messy." He cracked his paws.
"What do you mean by that?" Luke said, "You'll wreck the skin?"
Wend barked what he hoped translated to "Yeah, thanks a lot."
"Oh, sorry."
"No, no, no. Not messy as in bloody. Nooo. More messy as in mentally jarring. Can already feel that in the mental some selkie elements have burrowed in. I bet you're feeling a little drained, as if you're forgetting some things? Eh?"
Luke stared at the fire. "A little," he said, just a bit over a whisper.
"Now, pulling that away from this fellow is not like pulling off a velcro strap, this is more like...you know that wax human's use to remove hair?"
Uncomfortable silence and shuffling.
"I'll take that as a yes. Pulling this hide off might do that. How it might do that, I have no idea. He might forget who he is, his personality might change, he might think his name is Frank. I just don't know. What I do know, is the hide needs to come off now, rather than later, or you might not get your skin back period."
"I...think that's up to Wend."
"Really? The human?" Noone eyed the Wend. Wend rolled into a ball, tucking his face under his tail. This felt more comfortable. He didn't want to think about everything that was said. He just wanted to enjoy his fish. He wanted to swim. He didn't want to go back to college. And he didn't even know if that was what he really wanted. He couldn't remember what his father had yelled over the phone. He couldn't remember why he was so worried about college. The memories were fleeting as he tried to focus and his recognition of the faces around him and himself were fading.
"Wend. Do you want to go through with this?"
Did he? He didn't really know now. Perhaps he could get another fish. Then he would know. Just one more fish.
Luke knelt next to him and rubbed Wend's back. He looked up at Luke. He saw the expression. Luke knew how this all felt. He was giving Wend the choice. How could he give him the choice? He knew how being an otter felt. He knew everything. He could see it. And he thought, in a moment of clarity, if he stayed like this, it would pull away Luke's very lifeblood, his entire world.
He'd experienced this for these fleeting moments, to have this experience taken from someone who'd lived as this?
Wend barked.
Noone came forward. He placed a paw on Wend's chest. "This might sting, like taking off a bandaid," he said.
And it did.
If magnified a few thousand times at least.
Thankfully, afterwards, Wend didn't remember a thing.
O O O
Two Months Later
Wend hung up his phone and wandered into the kitchen.
"Was that your dad?" Luke asked through a mouthful of something.
"Yeeeeeah. He'd doing...better. Not sure if he agrees with my choice of degree."
"Awwwww, what's wrong with forestry? They have those awesome hats."
"I think you're thinking of park rangers."
"They have the hats with the built in ear muffs?"
"I think those are Canadians. Which is to say, close enough," Wend said, snickering. "What's for breakfast? Widening your pallet yet?"
"I made an omelet."
"Are those...sardines in that?"
"Yep. Want some? I made enough"
"I suppose it can't hurt," he said, pulling out a chair. Luke pushed an over-full plate of fishy egg mass towards him.
"How goes classes? Are they fun?"
"Oddly enough, not too bad. Calculus has been much better since Prof Doom took a sabbatical. Yeah, really wish I knew /that/ full story. There's a rumors flying everywhere. He may have had a nervous breakdown. I dare not consider the student that'd be able to give Prof Doom a breakdown." He took a bite of the omelet. "This is oddly good."
"How is the new teacher?"
"Dr. Griff? Really good actually, though he really can make you squirm with that gaze of his, he literally must have eagle eyes. I hedge all bets and just sit in the front row. Ya know, almost seems like he knows me. I've went in for help in his office a few times. Though...he does have dead rats in his mini-fridge...don't spread that around. A good calc prof is a good calc prof."
"My maw is sealed. By the way, you got a package in the mail. Looks important."
"Really? Mmm..." he glanced at the counter, a wrinkled package sat there. He took a final bite of omelet, crunching on a sardine, before getting up to investigate. "No return address. No postage either. Someone drop this off? See who?"
"Nope, just found it in the mailbox."
Wend brought it to his room.
Luke stared at the bedroom door. Wend would open the package, he would find a piece of paper, he would read it, confused, then he would open the door again.
The door opened, "Hey, Luke, did you apply me for something?"
Luke shrugged. "Why?"
"This says your the..." Wend looked down at a paper in his hand, "What am I candidate for?"
"Ooo, there was this contest for a fishing boat that I wanted another chance to win and I put your name in could that...?"
"No. That's not. Just a moment."
Luke took another bite of omelet. Ah, the application had went through. With the help of Dr. Griff, of course. He didn't know if the Mythos Council would let it pass, but after they'd heard the circumstances and some testimony from Noone... Wend would return to the package. Find a sweatshirt with the logo of the college. He would look at it a moment, he would shrug and pull it over his head. He would exit the bedroom.
Wend emerged from the room. "You got me a sweatshirt? That's really nice, Luke. Thanks. I'm sorry about being snippy a month ago. I really feel bad about that still. After that...what was it, fishing trip you brought me on? Really turned stuff around. Wish I could remember it actually..." He hugged himself. "This sweatshirt is really nice. I best get ready for class."
Luke smiled as Wend entered the bathroom. Wend would have a feeling of de ja vu. He would look at the sleeve. He would see an inscription. He would read the inscription aloud.
Luke heard the startled bark.
Luke got up, walked into the bathroom, picked up the confused otter, went out, placed the otter in the closet, and closed the door.
"Don't worry Wend, I've done this before."
Luke went to start the bath, smiling.
