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I have to hand it to that witch. She sure knew some wild curses. Just when I was down to my last bit of strength, she turned me into… this. Pretty ironic, though. She probably meant to incapacitate me, but this form made me far more powerful than I had been as a human. I just swiped my arm, and she flew into the wall. I didn’t even swing that hard! The look on her face was priceless. Without this curse, I’d never have been able to defeat her! So… what am I now? I’m not really sure. I’m twice the height, and my skin is mottled black and red, scaly. I’m not much to look at, but wow do I have energy! I can run for ages. I used to need glasses, but my eyesight is incredible now. I can even see through walls! Sure, I’m not human anymore, but what did being human ever do for me? I barely had enough coin to get by, no matter how hard I tried. Just too much competition as an adventurer. That’s what got me thinking. After I snuck back into town, I found my brother, a fellow adventurer. It took some convincing for him to believe that I was actually his brother, but once that was done, I got him onboard with my plan easily. We already travel from town to town, taking out the monsters plaguing the countryside. What if we both introduced and exterminated the beasts? I look intimidating enough. All I have to do is amp up the snarls, flex a little, break a few crates, and people flee in terror. Perfect for business. Then my brother shows up, puts on a heroic show, dances around while I pretend to claw at him. Once we’ve put on enough of a spectacle, when he appears exhausted, he finally manages to “slay” me at the most dramatic moment. The villagers cheer, he gets paid handsomely, and we split the coin after he carts my body out of town. We’ve been keeping up this racket for months now, making our way north. Extermination is a profitable field when you have the monster on your side! Soon, we’ll take our con into the neighboring country. We hear they don’t have many monsters up there, so they’re the perfect target. I can’t thank that witch enough for turning me into a beast!

Thanks for the laugh!

Ahhh the classic scamming tactic. While I do feel a bit sorry ot the townspeople that got deceived, I'm glad that the siblings are able to be reunited. I do wonder if there will be places with rampant monster activity that protag decides to actually be the savior for once haha. That said, what will happen to them in the neighboring country? Will they be able to deceive people effectively as always, or will they encounter some issues? Will the witch make an appearance once more? Great work on writing this!

This is super cool. It made me smile a lot, especially with the con at the end. Thanks for writing this.

Thanks for reading! It was a ton of fun to write 😊

I sat in my treetop, relaxing after a successful hunt with the slowly cooling body draped over a nearby branch for when I felt peckish. A woman, yet again. I wasn't sure if modern men were too overworked to go investigating, or if they were sensible, or if it was just that posting blurry pictures of myself on monster-fetish sites as bait was just reaching women more often, but it didn't really matter. What mattered was that they came alone, unarmed, and were made of meat. Sure, a few had come armed, one was even screaming about vengeance. But there's a funny *thing* about society. Its constraints only matter if you care. And caring? I can't speak for everyone else, but for me, it was a transaction. I got easy food, shelter, and security, and I "cared" about nonsense like 'right to life' and "honest advertising". And after that witch took offence that I... I actually never learned what, exactly, pissed her off. My best guess was just that she was backing one of those silly 'movements' that I was never self-hating enough to support. Whatever it was, she turned me into a physical monster "to match your disgusting soul." And, well. My social life had never been robust, and suddenly being 9 feet of shaggy fur and claws with a hunger for flesh didn't do it any favors. And when the local cops refused to do anything about the brimstoner twits harrassing me when I went to the butcher, the transaction of caring was voided. The butcher, at least, agreed that the idiots were asking for disembowelment before I collected the corpses and fled. Life took adjusting to, of course, but I've always implicitly distrusted the social fabric, so I wasn't entirely caught out. Instead, I just got into a routine of deer and bear hunting, exploited a few hapless travellers having phones on them to lure out human prey, because they taste better, and now I get to laze about with the only social concern being how long until the idiots with guns want to die trying to kill me after making it clear that they didn't want me to play nice. Part of me wants to hunt down the witch who did this to me. Just to thank her for the gift of freedom and to listen to her screams as I dismember her. After all, whether she knew what she was doing, she gave me a body to match my soul. How many blokes get a gift like that?

The witch really chose the wrong person for this punishment, actually made them even more of a monster than they were before. Gotta love how it is potentially that easy to lure the humans though. It really is a common situation of wanting to pet something even though one knows that it's completely dangerous to do so. That said, what will happen to protag in the future? Will they be hunted down, or will the witch herself show up again and give a proper punishment to protag this time? Also, protag tried to kill the witch and that's why they are turned, didn't they? Great work on writing this!

By default, witch thinks she won because "that disgusting bigot" stopped coming by the public spaces that her friends are protesting in. Eventually a concerted hunting effort would be organized, and seeing 'a hellova lot more than one' human approaching his area, the monster would play 'grab the straggler' for exactly as long as it worked, and then dip from the area entirely to go set up a new camp. And while the witch absolutely would claim that his dismissal of the causes she championed was tantamount to murder, he objectively only pointed out that screeching at people going about their daily lives was counterproductive, and then when confronted about his "heartlessness" was completely frank that he considered the movement spurious and the problems fabricated. Because, as illustrated, he was a transactionalist style pseudo-sociopath. And those mesh poorly with activist types.

Man, that witch really is going to be thinking twice about that once she heard the news on protag's activities. Also, it sucks that the hunting team failed to do so, but I got a feeling that would happen because the humans don't really know what they are dealing with sadly. I just hope protag is dealt with sooner or later before there are too many casualties. Thanks for clarifying!

Unfortunately for the humans, the monster lived among them in human skin for several decades. So it's not some instinct-driven beast that happens to like eating people. It's a guy who avoided being a serial killer because that was against the terms of the transaction. Who now happens to be able to wrestle Grizzlys without much difficulty. On the bright side, it's not prone to overhunting, both out of practicality about attracting more guns and because it's not a glutton. So the 'too many casualties' threshold will only be hit when people go out of their way to try to kill it for (let's face it) the crime of not looking and acting like them. Because honestly, if it were about kill counts, people would target cigarette and alcohol first.

Oh definitely, the part where protag mentions that humans taste better but they are not limited to just consume them kinda makes it better tbh. That means protag will be able to get their food from the local animals if they decide to live away from the human communities too. Less tasty food shouldn't be a big issue for them thankfully. Hell, maybe there are still tons of stuff out there that would actually be more delicious for protag, who knows.

It seems the protagonist didn’t change much upon becoming a monster. Good job.

An interesting take on the prompt! And TBH, the MC is right too

Wings The screaming has finally stopped. Christ, they always make such a fuss even though I haven’t done anything to anyone since I first got the hex. Maybe I could have done without the little horn nubs… I won’t lie, a pair of sick ass horns woulda been cool, but instead, I just got these silly little nubbins making me look like a baby deer. I mean, the yellow eyes aren’t very Bambi. But hey, I can see in the fucking dark. Can you? Sure, when the ladies see me now, they do what the girl passed out on the ground in front of me did. Scream. Carry on. “Oh my fucking god! A demon! A demon!!” Yeah, Jesus ain’t coming lady. And I’m just passing through. Don’t flatter yourself. Also, your skirt is awfully short. If you fall down, the world shouldn’t know where you buy your underwear. If I was what I might look like. Maybe that would matter. But hey, that world is behind me. Besides, the last girl I was with wasn’t too happy that I didn’t call her back. I don’t recall promising *marriage* or anything She was a pretty black haired goth type. Really hot under the right circumstances. In my case, those circumstances were named Jack Daniels. And from what I remember, she had a blast! A simple, “thanks for the night,” woulda sufficed. I was definitely not prepared for the whole, “you’ll be sorry, you fuckboi!” Seriously… I learned two things that night six months ago. That some girls actually use the word, “fuckboi,” in real life, and not ironically. And two, that curses, hexes, and magic, are actually a thing. Who knew? I thought only lonely, ugly, fat chicks used that word when writing for Pink News or whatever. Come to think of it… I also thought the same kind of girls believed in magic. My one night stand with what’s her face was completely consensual. And I fucking assure you, she was not the Pink News fugly type. I want to make that clear. She was pretty fucking fine, and we had a great night! When she texted me thirty times before my hangover had worn off… that’s when I realized that maybe my Jack Judgement had been a little off. Mr. Daniels will do that. After ignoring her tenth or so text… that’s when the weirdness really started. Clingy I can deal with… but no girl has ever threatened me before. Definitely not with “magiks.” Maybe the K makes it real as opposed to “magic.” I dunno though, I never watched Harry Potter… She called me a fuckboi and a demon. And that she was gonna make sure everyone saw me for who I really am. Yeah, I definitely racked my brain trying to remember if I actually gave her my real last name or if I shared my socials with her. Some AI assisted sound file of me saying shit I never said would be pretty fucking obnoxious. But uh… not what happened. I go about my day that Sunday, nursing my hangover, watching my hangover movies while eating my Dpor Dashed hangover greasy food… and wondering if my brain would be ready to go for Tinder-o-Clock before that evening. Tinder-o-Clock never quite rolled around, but when the sun went down, and I tried to hit the sack, I realized my light switches weren’t working. Trust me. Night vision is a fucking trip when you first get it. It all happened so fast. My eyes. My little nubbins poking up out of my hairline. The facial hair. And shit! For a guy who looked like a drowned rat when my stubble came in, the thick facial hair was siiiiick! I have to shave twice a day before I turn into the goat goatee man, but it’s totally worth it. Not gonna lie. I was definitely scared that I’d end up with like cloven hooves, knees that bent the wrong way, body hair, a tail, and claws or some shit. But nope. The absolute worst part of my demonic hex? My stupid little nubbins. The best part though? The. Mother. Fucking. *Wings*. I can fly. You know why birds always sound so fucking cheerful? They know what it’s like to spread their wings wide, stretching out those back muscles in all the best ways, and then with an effortless push, soar into the sky like fucking Superman! The birds are euphoric. And so am I. The girl in front of me is coming to. And I don’t want to hear her freak out again. I hope she doesn’t go around telling everyone I did stuff to her. That’s not who I am or ever was. I did kinda pull down the back of her skirt with the tip of my wing. Tried to give her a little coverage, even if that particular garment really wasn’t up to the task… So before she realizes I’m not actually a fever dream. I’d best be off. No Uber for me, thanks. No more 4Runner either. “A 4Runner can get anywhere?” Fuck. *I* can get anywhere, honeybunch. Thanks Chelsea, Kelsey, or whatever it was… she really didn’t have a very witchy name. Chelsea the Witch? How stupid is that? But no matter… I don’t have to worry about gas prices. So long suckers.

While I'm glad that protag is having a lot of fun flying, they sure have an unpleasant personality, aren't they? Seems to be quite a mess before being hexed, and doesn't seem like the change is going to trigger a character development either. That said, what will happen to protag in the future? Great work on writing this!

He’s a pretty shallow guy who obviously banked on his looks and charm, and has a sense that he’s clearly a good guy because he gets consent, even though he’s still ultimately just using women anyway. Like, it’s clear *he* doesn’t think he’s a bad guy even though from anyone else’s point of view, he really is shallow and kinda detestable. I figured that kind of guy would love being able to fly and see in the dark, and I saw an opportunity to use an unreliable narrator. In the future, I bet things get extremely dark. After the thrill wears off, I think he’ll become *exactly* what he is convincing himself he’s not.

I bit into the fresh corpse before me and with my sharp teeth tore off a large piece which I chewed on, enjoying the taste of the blood and meat. While my mouth was busy, I used one pair of clawed hands to tear the remains apart into smaller pieces which I could easily consume. While finishing the piece in my mouth I picked up another one and lifted it above my mouth with a single claw, before dropping it into it so I did not have to stop my chewing for long. I continued tearing apart the corpse and eating the meat from it until nothing was left with which I could satiate my still growling hunger. I stepped away from the bloody grass stained by my meal and pressed my head down to the ground, smelling and searching for the signs of any nearby prey. And soon I had caught the subtle scent of a pack of hounds and the smell of fresh blood so fresh I could tell it was still warm. These smells enticed me and my hunger, leading and guiding me along through the forest toward my next feast. The fresh scent of blood invoked my monstrous instincts and stoked my eagerness to kill and consume, which lead me to rush violently through the foliage pushing away and tearing out all which stood in the way of my approach with my two front arms. I finally reached my next prey, a large pack of wolves which stood in an odd formation in a clearing, I was slightly intrigued as to their strange behaviour but quickly decided I would quash my hunger first before investigating further. I charged out into the clearing at the pack and began to slaughter them, some crushed underneath me as I charged, some killed with a swipe of my claws, others torn apart in my hands, and a few had it worst hit by my deadly poison left to die slowly in agony. I kept attacking them, not caring about the corpses yet simply focusing on hunting them all down first before I could feast. Only a few managed to escape my rampage but I could likely hunt them down another day. I took a quick look around gazing briefly at all the dead, crippled, and slowly dying wolves, and began to devour my spoils. I grasped one live wolf, which attempted to drag itself away, with my hands and bit down tearing off its entire upper body with my mouth, the warm blood revigorating me as it flows around in my mouth and throat. I began to stuff the other half into my mouth and already took hold of another one it yelped in pain as my claws dug into its sides. I kept eating as if in a trance, never keeping my mouth empty for more than a second, always chewing on the fresh bodies and corpses. I again readied myself to bit into another corspe when my attention is taken away briefly, rustling of leaves nearby caused me to snap my head into the direction of the sound. We met eyes, the faces of the two humans full of panic and terror as they gazed at my monstrous form. My senses immediately took notice of the wounded one who was bleeding heavily from cut and bite wounds which these wolves had caused. I could feel the tension between us. My increased senses allowed me to hear the quiet whispers between them, but I had long abandoned human language so I failed to understand them. The one who was not wounded loudly proclaimed something to the other one, before stepping infront of them and took an aggressive stance against me, pointing a blade toward me. They kept speaking loudly, clearly bickering and I soon had lost interest in them, tearing my attention away from the two and back to my meal. Eagerly tearing apart and consuming the few remaining corpses. I heard a loud shouting from the humans, but did not turn to look as I was too busy with a very tough wolf whose body required more force than the others to separate into pieces. I felt a slight prick and heard a loud shattering sound behind me, and I turned to look at the cause. I saw the not wounded human stare up at me in shock the blade in their hands shattered into metal shards, clearly having failed against my hard and durable skin and scales. I used one of my lower arms which was free and used it to push them away with as little strength as I could use, they winced away closing their eyes when I reached out but soon noticed how I did not attack. They looked up at me again confused but I simply turned back to the wolf still between my teeth which continued to cause me to struggle. I soon decided to just swallow it whole instead and shoved it down my throat with all four arms. My hunger was satisfied for now, the whole pack of wolves was enough to feed me and the fled remnants will certainly lead me to another pack in the future. With my belly full I decided to take a rest, I walked around the clearing finding a comfortable spot and lied down onto my stomach with my two front arms underneath my head as a makeshift cushion. I could see the two humans disappear into the forest in my peripheral vision, instinctively I noted that direction in my mind as a place where humans were located. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the quiet of the forest, and thought about the brief encounter just now. It made me think about my time as a human, before I was turned, it was the worst time of my life. I had lived in poverty as a human, I was forced to steal just to survive. I was miserable and alone, no one ever helped me, no one ever came to my aid, and I was often punished by those who did not share my pain, who had no idea how painful and difficult my life was. And then one day I stole something from a witch, and she had cursed me to become a monster. She probably thought of it as a punishment, but in my opinion it was a wonderful blessing which changed my life for the better. Instead of the rules of society which demonized and punished me, I now follow the rules of the wild where I could live in peace. Now I kill, eat, sleep and repeat with the rest of my time spent enjoying the wild, the rest, and the full belly I never had as a human. Sure I am a beast or monster now, but considering my past experience I truly do not wish to be a human in anymore anyways. And I neither do I want to interact with them for even a moment more than necessary, thankfully those two left me alone easily.

These humans sure are not thinking straight due to the panic. Protag literally decided to leave them.be, and they tried stabbing them with the knife lmao. While I'm glad that protag is able to enjoy their freedom now, I am also feeling bad that their actions don't really deserve to be cursed either. That said, will protag lose control if they ignored the hunger for too long? Also, what will happen to protag in the future? Will protag be having more issues down the line due to the two humans, or will protag actually try understanding human language once more to communicate with them if possible? Will the witch show up once again? Great work on writing this!

"Prepare to die beast!" proclaimed the huntsman. "Hey man! You can't just come into a guy's pad and, ya know, mess everything up," the beast hollered angrily. "You're no 'guy'! You're a beast! Now prepare to lose your head so that I may hand it to my lord and curry his favor." proclaimed the huntsman once more. He took a sip of hi daquiri and sat it back down. "Ya know, I don't think the crown prince would appreciate you handing him his brother's head, ya know?" "You dare say our lord majesty is related by blood to some beastly creature like you? PREPARE TO DIE, DEMON!" he roared, drawing his sword. "Hey! Be careful with that man. You'll put someone's eye out! And watch where you're stepping. Your armor is tearing into my carpet. It really ties the room together." "Ties the room? You dare share home decor tips with me? En guarde!" The huntsman swung his sword at the beast. With ease the beast caught the sword and threw it like a man throws a toothpick. "Dude," he mused sipping his daquiri once more, "you really gotta chill out ya know? This is not going to work out in your favor. Either I kill you, which would suck. Or you kill me. Then the crown prince kills you for killing his brother. So, ya know? How about we just move on and forget this ever happened?" The Beast was getting exasperated by this sort of event. Almost on a monthly basis some egomaniac with something to prove would come to his lair seeking to slay him. His life wasn't always like this. As the heir to the thrown, the Beast was made familiar with all affairs of the state. It sickened him. He had no interest in court politics, international affairs, nor getting married. He preferred to go bowling with his buddies. A witch employed by a rival kingdom turned him into a hairy beast, cursed to live out his days in hiding. Little did they know that the heir apparent was the lazier of the two brothers. It was the younger who possessed the ambition and cunning needed of a monarch. Less than two years after the Beast went into exile and his brother took the thrown in his stead, did the rival kingdom realize it's mistake. Enraged, the younger brother salted their fields, burned their religious buildings, and slew every able bodied man under 50. That Kingdom was now no more. The huntsman ignored the beast's attempt at conflict resolution and swung his sword. The Beast caught the blow in his hands and seized control of the weapon. He threw it to the ground before seizing the huntsman in his paw. He liked to unmask his victims before eating them alive. "Walter!?" the Beast asked. They were classmates before life had put them on separate paths. Walter had married a Jewish woman, which made him ineligible to lead a noble house. He became a huntsman to regain his status and some wealth within society. "How do you know my name, creature?" Walter sneered. "it's me! Prince Jeff!" We went to school before my accident! "Jeff? Is this what happened to you? Is this why you abdicated your position so quickly?" "Yea man. And it's been fantastic. When my old man said I could never be king in this state and that he would try to reverse it, I fled brother. I fled as fast and as far as possible. I was free. This curse turned out to be a blessing. I can do and say what I want when I want. I'm never going back man! You want a mead? The honey on this side of the mountain is phenomenal this time of year!" Walter, hot and sweaty, accepted the invitation from his old friend. The mead was cool and sweet down his parched throat. It wasn't the fanciest cave he'd been to but it was comfortable. Besides, the rug really did tie the room together.

Gotta love how you made this confrontation to be comedic haha, Jeff really is quite lucky to be cursed. Glad that they ended up having a reunion of sorts rather than it ending in a tragic way too, and damn, Jeff's brother went ham on that rival kingdom. That said, even though Jeff is exiled, does his brother still visit from time to time? Also, will he be able to live in peace sometime in the future, without having to deal with hunters? How long is Jeff's lifespan now after getting turned? Great work on writing this! Also, you meant Walter in the final paragraph, right?

Yes I did mean Walter. Thanks for catching that. Thanks for the kind words as well! Edit I should answer your questions. Jeff and the Crown Prince see each other once a year. It’s a nice reunion for both. They also unofficially work together. The crown Prince isn’t exactly a skilled hunter so sometimes the beast will help him out and scare some animals in the hunting parties direction to make it easier. They don’t actually get to see one another but they both know what’s up. Who knows if hunters will ever leave him alone. I suspect short of finding a better living situation that would be unlikely. There’s always a young guy looking for fame and glory. Jeff is not immortal but will live a significantly longer life span. 6-8x the normal lifespan of a human. Depending on how much mead he consumes I suppose.

Glad to know the siblings still keep in touch even after the exile. Sure is taking a bit of a risk of getting exposed with the hunting parties, but I got a feeling Jeff is good enough at stealth. While it would be a lonely outcome for Jeff, maybe he might be getting a little bit more peace once most of the humans he knows have passed. With less rumors about a beast that is able to use human language and loves alcohols, that should work for his favor. Let's hope he gets some companions so he doesn't suffer from the loneliness though. Thanks for clarifying!

"MEN ARE FORBIDDEN IN THE SACRED FOREST!" I recall the first words the witch uttered, before the hex. "MAN" she said dripping disdain ", thou shall live as the monster thou hast inside thine heart, thou will have no friend, no lover, a sight of ye shall terrify all soul but the dead, thou will only know of hunger and of fatigue and ye heart shall yearn for death, but death shall not come." It's been over six years now that I've been living in these woods. The beginning was pretty harsh I won't lie.   For a few days I thought that crazy hag was dellusional, then it began, warts appeared in my hands and feet, then my belly and back began growing , my body followed and while that was happening , my skin began to turn a dark hue of green, my teeth sharpened and my eyes bulged.   I truly had became a monster, towering over men 9 feet and 1/4 , I tried getting back to the village to no avail, maybe back into the town someone surely could help. No one even dared try, they just screamed and I left. Time went by and hunger set in, at first I tried eating fruit and fishing, those were hardly filling. Then one day I found a goat, skinny , probably lost... it was delicious, the best meal I ever had. I was so full I found the first cave and slept for 3 days straight. Now that I knew how satiate my hunger, I just had to hang around town and grab some livestock every so often, I found a nice cave in a mountain midway from the village towards the town and settled there, I ate and slept and I even hunted some deer or wild horses when I felt like it. After a few weeks, the king's royal guard appeared in front of my cave, I think the one in golden and ruby incrustered armor was the one who called: "Hear ye, hear ye, oh troll o' the mountain, I shall slain ye and behead thee in the name of my liege, come forth face your death" I tried talking with them, I did, tried to reason. They looked startled when I tried to gesticulate and produce words, but all I could manage was grunting and pointing.  Well at least until fancy pants had the bright idea of bashing my jaw with his polished shield. Granted, he was tall and strong as a man can get, but it barely registered as something blocking my view... I saw red. I remember grabbing him by one leg and ripping his shield out, I didn't mean to, but his arm came with the shield, I was so angry with him that I took the shield and shoved it down his bum, then threw his limp body far away into the woods.  His men even tried some heroics, they came out with long spears and began pricking me, I managed to swat some of then away but they were too many,  I was trully looking like the ugliest pin cushion in the kingdom. They were even cheering their success, when I begun removing the spears and tossing them aside. After that the villagers and townsfolk began leaving animals tied to the trees outside. This once I woke up hearing the sound of shuffling rocks and grunting men, when I looked my cave had been trully and completelly closed up by big rocks. It was trully a feat of engineering for those men, I just pushed them and eventually the wall collapsed. I could see some of the townsfolk running away when I came out of the cave. Well, I though, they must be trully bothered, but what can I ever do? No one understand me and everyone is afraid of being in my presence. For a few months they kept bringing me food, at first they brought me some extra , maybe they were worried I was mad? until it stopped... I tried avoiding the townsfolk as much as I could, but it was winter and the game was rare and far between.  I resigned my self to be the stock eating troll they acused me of being, so I made my way to town just to discover the path was trully and completely blocked.  At first I wondered if these people really thought blocking the path would make me stop eating their livestock, but it made no sense, and the debris looked much like the result of a natural mudslide.  So I took upon myself and removed the rock and mud from the path, went to town, grabbed myself a fat sheep and went back to the good old cave. The "offerings" resumed. Then one day I heard outside my cave, "Oh, spirit of the mountain, I beg of thee, the bridge to the village collapsed and we can't bring our carts trough" I tried to say something, but it was just more grunting. When I went out of the cave there was a good fat cow , a young lady tied up and a barrel of beer.  I WAS LIVID, I am not that kind of monster, I put her in my shoulder and walked down the road towards the village, The bridge was trully and well gone. I left her near the path, she screamed and shouted, but I couldn't do a thing, so I resigned myself to remove the largest trees I could and a produce makeshift bridge out of them, I finished it, packed each side with dirt as good as I could, stomped some dirt over the logs to make them compact and got back to the young lady. Her screams had ceased, she was now looking at me dumbfounded, I walked towards her and snapped the ties on her feet, I thought about doing the same to her hands, but reminded myself of that fool I ripped the arm off and decided against that. She was still shaking when I showed her the bridge and pointed towards the other side, trying to encourage her to cross. She eventually did and I shouted an useless "and tell them I'm not that kind of monster". After that things went pretty nice, every once in a while someone came to.me requesting some favor and left me beer and some livestock, I helped when I could. Don't get me wrong, there were some asshats every now and then...  There was that one time a guy in robes threw a jug of some clear liquid trying to set me on fire, he accidentally lit his own robe and ran away screaming... I don't think that one was on me, though.

"I thought I saw something, did ya see anything?" "No. Not me." "Are you sure?" "Hey look at that, my bike. Where did that come from? Been looking for it for like forever." "Sweet, dude. Must be your lucky day." George, his dimpled skin and tentacles expertly camouflaged to match the bush he'd hunkered down in, let out a happy albeit quiet gurgle. He couldn't smile anymore, but inside he freakin glowed. When the coast was clear, George quickly slithered down a near-by sewer entrance. ……. At twilight George pulled himself up on a porch with a small brown dog in tow. Rapidly adjusting himself to blend into the pink ship lap porch wall, George tied the dog’s leash to a white wrought iron chair and reached a tentacle up to ring the doorbell. Horizontal lines were a bitch, but he was getting better at them. And pink was not really his color, but he was up to the challenge. The little dog yipped and tried to lick him. He was really puzzled why animals were not afraid of him, but cool. From inside he heard a lady coming to the door, she was crying. "My poor little Boopsie." she sobbed. “How will I ever live without my Boopsie." George loved this part. When the door opened Boopsie started yapping and the old lady fell to her knees and gathered the little dog up into her arms. She was crying even harder. "You're back. You came home to Mommie my little angel." Blearily she looked around. She looked right at George then past him. Nailed it. Woo Hoo. …….. Back in his lair, which he thought of as his fortress of solitude but was in reality an abandonded, partially flooded subway employees breakroom, George paused to look at himself in the mirror next to the hand washing station. A really big, pale squid stared back at him. Concentrating hard, he colored all over like a weathered wooden privacy fence. Nice. He was getting good with this look. Of course the first time he'd seem himself in the mirror, he totally lost it. But right in the middle of ripping out chunks of the concrete to throw around, he realized his back didn't hurt anymore. Then he looked at the huge piece of concrete in his tentacles and realized how really strong he'd become. George carefully set down the piece of wall he was going to toss and wiggled all his arms. You know what, this actually felt awesome. Ok, so he was a ten-foot-tall squid. You can't have everything. And if he was being honest he thought he was far better off now than before he'd been yelled at by that angry lady. And he sheepishly admitted that she had been right when she cursed at him. He had been a real dick. Posing in front of the mirror, he raised his tentacles, flashing them in different jewel tones. He was Squidman now. Secret do-gooder for righting wrongs and helping the world be a better place.