I couldn't wait any longer. I was getting too fidgety and my sister kept looking at me because I was interrupting her cartoon-viewing.
"I'm off to Jake's now. See you later!" I called to my mother who was in the neighbouring room. She called back with the typical stay-safe, watch out when crossing roads stuff. I left through the front door but hurried round to the garden where there would be less prying eyes. Checking that nobody was around, I removed my outer layers, now only in my leotard. I grabbed my clothes and put them in the shed at the bottom of the garden which nobody really used and then closed my eyes, focusing on the image of a seagull. It was similar enough to my other avian morph that it was a straightforward process. As my feet finally grew webbed, I waited, opening my eyes. After about a minute, I still couldn't feel any strong instincts. Well, this was easier than expected!
I clumsily took off and was soon airborne. It was interesting to see my neighbourhood from a bird's eye view. The seagull vision wasn't as amazing as eagle vision, but I could see things well enough. I saw some spilled food in the car park as I flew over McDonalds. Man, it looked good. I wasn't hungry, but I was fixated on the food. Before I knew it, I was scooping up fries with my beak and swallowing them down whole. <Euuuw! Gross!> I snapped out of it and took off. After several incidents in which I ate or almost ate food out of dumpsters and off the ground, I made it to the beach.
I saw another bird and felt a rivalry spring up. I wouldn't let it steal any food off the ground- no, I didn't care about that. I scouted out the area- it was busy, what with there being a gathering and all there. I headed for one of the furthest sand dunes, away from the mass of people. Landing behind it, I checked very carefully before demorphing. A wave of fatigue hit me as I returned to human form. This morphing thing was tiring. I figured I might be early, so I didn't want to morph again right away in case I was pressed for time later. But then again, this was just a scouting mission, so I should easily be able to get out of there and demorph. After a five minute breather or so, I pictured the German shepherd and began shrinking. This time, it was my hands and feet that changed first, fingers melting together and fingernails forming claws. I fell onto my hands and knees as my limbs began to change and my skin started to become tan and black-coloured. As my mouth turned into a shout and my nose grew wet and black, fur sprouted from my body. My eyes rapidly changed as I felt sharp teeth form in my new mouth. Before long I was completely dog.
I was happy! Full of the joys of life! Everything could be made a game! I managed to clamp down on the instinct to run around and chase my tail, but the happiness continued to bubble underneath my human thoughts. It was hard to be really serious with a dog brain. I bounded out from the sand dune, taking in all the scents. My vision was a bit weird, I guess like a bit colour-blind, but the scents! I could smell lots of people, food, everything! I felt like a master detective. As I ran across the beach, tongue lolling out of my mouth like a carefree pet, I almost ran into someone familiar.
<Sam! Shh, it's a secret, but I'm a dog! What are we going to do?> I stopped in front of him, clearly wanting to be petted. The happiness of the dog mind was infectious and it was making me strangely perky. It was really easy to play the role of a friendly dog who just wants everyone to pet him. My tail wagged as I sniffed and memorised his scent, slowly realising that if we happened to get separated I could now follow it.
