A Helping Hand

[Dustin]

<<Alright. Here goes take-two.>> Dustin concentrated like he did before he went into the morph, except this time he kept his eyes open and thought about his own body. He made sure to keep both arms in his mental image. He was really excited about that part.

Despite his focus on his arms, the first thing to change was his beak. It sucked back into his face and his full human mouth and nose developed before anything else happened. Which was just as well because next came the hair.

Dusting demorphed impatiently. His legs thickened, his neck shortened, his ears reappeared, but still no changes in his arms. Just when he thought his wings might become a permanent feature, all the feathers dissolved and his skin and morphing suit could be seen underneath.

Both his arms were there, but they still looked like giant uncooked chicken wings. "I can't watch," he said at the last second, afraid to be disappointed. Dustin closed his eyes and completed his morph.

After a moment of hesitation, Dustin wiggled the fingers of his right hand. It was still there. Then he tried the same thing with his left. Houston, we have wiggling.

Dustin opened his eyes and looked down at his perfectly formed, flawless hand. "It- It worked," he said as he stared. "I mean- Wow. Thanks." He stood and wiggled his fingers for a while. Somehow test driving his new hand was way more interesting than test driving a flamingo.

[Jullian]

Jullian almost wanted to hug Dustin. He would have not too long ago but maybe he was a bit more aware of his position now or maybe it was just a natural side effect of being a teacher but it no longer seemed like the right thing to do. He settled for squeezing his own hands behind his back and there was a large smile on his face as he watched Dustin move the fingers of his restored arm.

"I'm glad it worked," Jullian said warmly. He still wanted Dustin to morph again before he left the class but he was in no rush to have him do so. He couldn't really begrudge the trainee his time. It was not every day that something like this happened. At least, not before becoming an animorph.

[Dustin]

"Me too," Dustin said, finally lowering his new hand to his side. He still wiggled it against his clothing a little bit to feel the textures, but his main focus was now back on Jullian.

"Is there still anything left to do today? You mentioned morphing one more time right? Fast or something? How about we get that out of the way then go to the mess hall to celebrate. You know, if it isn't against the teacher code or anything. Maybe we can even look around and see if they have any cakes stashed back in the storeroom."

The uneasiness Dustin had entered the classroom with was now replaced by a sort of subtle giddiness. A happiness that couldn't be easily dimmed. He was sure that even if he was tasked with some horrible duty like scrubbing toilets, his day would still be a great one when he went to bed that night.

[Jullian]

"Sure," Jullian said, a little taken aback by Dustin's new enthusiasm. It seemed like a big difference from the skeptical young man who'd walked in half an hour ago.

Jullian gave some thought to how he wanted Dustin to do the next morph. Did he really want him to try to morph it as fast as possible? If he told him not to would that slow him down? Probably not so he might as well see if Dustin could shave some seconds off his time.

"Alright, we'll morph it once more, as quickly as you can. Then we'll break for the day and go get some food. I don't think we have any cakes but there may be some ice cream," Jullian said with a smile, thinking about what he'd last seen in the store room. Ice cream was his treat of choice and he had mentioned that to a few people who may have been involved in the food shipments to the Academy. He didn't really feel that badly if it was an abuse of power.

"Give it a try."

[Dustin]

"Alright, lets do this." Dustin took a couple deep breaths in preparation, then closed his eyes and began concentrating.

It was a lot easier visualizing a flamingo after having been one. He didn't just have to think about what a flamingo looked like from memory this time. Now he could also visualize what it was like to be in one's body. The way he had to balance on its long legs, the way the pink feathers felt against his skin, what it was like having a neck like a piece of licorice.

The changes definitely happened faster this time, but still not nearly as fast as Jullian had been. But in a couple minutes he was standing there as a flamingo once more. The instincts didn't give him much trouble this time either since he was ready for them.

<<Step one done. On to step two.>> Dustin focused on his human self again. Two arms, two legs, no feathers, no beak. The demorphing speed seemed to be about that same as his morphing speed. Maybe slightly faster by a second or two.

When the last changes dissolved, Dustin was down on one knee breathing more heavily than he had expected. "That... was kinda exhausting. Does it get easier?"

[Jullian]

"Yeah, with time and practice," Jullian answered. "That was really well done," he said, giving praise where it was due. "I think you were a bit faster that time."

Jullian looked over at the broken vial. He still wasn't sure what to do about it. He didn't want to leave the mess here. First of all, they didn't have a cleaning staff so no one would come and clean it up. But even if they had had a cleaning staff Jullian wouldn't have felt right about leaving the mess. Especially if the blood dried. It would be much harder to clean up. He was just glad he'd decided to redecorate and that his rugs were not in the room.

"I guess we'll head to the mess hall." Jullian said, coming to a decision. I'll bring some paper towels back from there after we eat."

((Do you want to continue the thread in the mess hall or end it after your response?))

[Dustin]

((This seems like a good place to stop))

"Thanks, I try," Dustin said with a smile as he finally stood up. "And sorry again for the mess. I'll help you clean it up."

"But first, some grub, like you said. I think I could eat a whole cow right about now." He wasn't sure if it was because of the morphing or because he skipped breakfast, but he was starving. Maybe it was a combination of both. His stomach threatened to rumble as he headed toward the door.

As the door opened and he stepped out into the hallway, Dustin turned back toward Jullian. "I learned a lot today, even though the class wasn't very long. Thanks for teaching me this stuff." Then he turned toward the direction of the mess hall.