A Romantic Moonlit Dinner
"Oh yeah? Well, I found it first," you growl. Hunger is making you irritable - or maybe that's just the big cat in you taking offense at what is, basically, a not-so-big dog. Your new instincts don't take kindly to competition. You move closer to the dead animal - which, just to confuse things even more, seems to be a moose - and the hyena snarls at you. "Mine!" she snaps again.
She's smaller than you, but the hyena also looks a lot nastier. You decide you'd rather not fight her if you can avoid it.
"Come on, this thing weighs more than you do." You attempt a reasonable tone, trying not to echo your growling stomach. "There must be enough for both of us." The hyena looks doubtful, and your patience slips slightly. You bare your teeth just enough to show how much larger they are than hers. "Do you really want to fight me over it?"
She hesitates, then seems to relax a bit. Without a word, she walks over and bites into the moose. You do the same. When the hyena doesn't attack you, you decide to take that as an agreement.
The raw meat is surprisingly tasty. Maybe it's just because you're hungry. What you'd rather not think about is why the dead moose is here at all. If you didn't kill it, and the hyena didn't kill it... What did?
The hyena gulps down the meat with the most horrible ripping and slurping noises you've ever heard - although, with no hands, your table manners aren't a lot better. Finally, she lets out a very human belch and flops over onto her side. Her stomach is the size of a watermelon.
"Don't look at me," she snaps, catching you staring. "I'm naked."
So are you, but it probably wouldn't help to point that out.
Now that you're no longer starving, you're free to think about your situation. What exactly is going on? What was in that drink, and how long are you going to stay this way? Who is this hyena?
More importantly, what's that rustling in the bushes?
Written by Chrysalis on 13 June 2010
The end (for now)