The Weredog of Babylon

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 19: Tam’s Teasing

“Well that was by far the most humiliating day of my life.” Will grumbled and flopped face-first onto the couch.
“That’s not true.” Tam snickered and sat next to him, reaching over to stroke his tail. “You’ve had PLENTY of more humiliating days. Remember that time in kindergarten when you wet your pants in front of the whole class? Or that time in third grade when-”
“Shut up.” Will turned his head to glare at her. “And let go of my tail!” He reached back and snatched the appendage away from her. “Why do you think you can just touch it? You AND Alexander, both.”
“Because you like it.” She giggled and poked at him. “I know you do, even though you’re being a cranky little fluff-butt.”
He sat up and snorted at her. “Ugh… You’re insufferable, you know that?”
“You love us.” She giggled.
Alexander let himself into the house. “Sorry I’m late. I had to go to my own house to pick something up first. I got something for you, Will.”
Will scowled at Alexander. “It better not be a dog toy or I’m gonna BITE you the next time I full shift.”
Alexander dejectedly tossed a rubber bone aside. “I thought it was funny.”
Tam suddenly perked. “Oh! I almost forgot! I had gotten you some stuff in case of a longer episode! I never got to give it to you because your mom walked in on us trying to figure stuff out and rushed you to the doctor!”
Will grumbled, putting his ears back as he watched Tam dig into her backpack. “It’s not MORE dog toys, is it? I’m not sure I could take any more teasing from you guys. You’re supposed to be my best friends!”
Tam shook her head. “No! No, no, it’s not… okay, well a LITTLE bit is. Sorry. I couldn’t resist.” She pulled out a shopping bag from the pet store and held it up. “Most of it is practical. Like… I got you a fur brush.” She reached into the bag and produced a double-sided brush, with one side being stiff bristles and the other being metal, like a regular hairbrush.
Will sighed and reached out for it. “Okay, I’ll admit that’s kind of practical. What else?”
She dug in the bag again, tossing aside a tennis ball and another chew toy before producing a bottle. “Dog shampoo. It’s made for fur, so it won’t make you poof up like you did that first time.”
She handed over the bottle. “And the last thing… doesn’t really apply anymore.” She pulled out a small bag of kibbles. “It’s just a little something you were going to be able to hide in your room in case you were feeling doggy and weren’t able to come out to dinner.”
Will stared at the bag of kibbles for a moment, then set it aside, sat up, and hugged into Tam. “That was very thoughtful. Thank you for that.”
Tam blinked, surprised, then patted Will on the back. “Are you okay, dude? You seem like you’re going from one extreme to the other and back again.”
Will shook his head, hesitantly prying himself off of Tam. “I am… very not okay. I think I might need some therapy. And a string cheese.” He suddenly turned and walked into the kitchen, opening the fridge and sticking his head inside.
Alexander frowned. “Is cheese a good idea? I mean, you’re more dog than human right now, it might upset your stomach.”
Will paused, straightening up thoughtfully. “You know… I don’t know. How much does my diet affect me when I’m not full shifted? Like, if I ate chocolate or grapes right now, would I get sick?”
Tam walked over and started trying to pull the little individually wrapped cheese out of his hand. “Let’s not find out, shall we?”
Will’s grip tightened on his cheese, and he gave a little growl. Tam would have sworn she saw him actually get an inch or two shorter. “Keep your mitts off my cheese, woman.”
She threw her hands in the air and stepped back. “All right, all right, settle down, I won’t take your cheese. But if it makes you gassy, I am SO out of here.”
He stuck his tongue out at her and started prying the wrapper off.
Tam frowned, turning to Alexander. “Is it me, or does he act more juvenile when he’s fluffed out?”
Alexander shook his head. “It’s definitely not you. I suspect his dog brain just has trouble regulating his impulses. I mean, dogs do things they’re not supposed to do even though they know they’ll get in trouble all the time, so it would make sense if they don’t have the most developed impulse control.”
Alexander thought for a moment, then nodded as if confirming his own suspicion. “I do believe I read somewhere that the prefrontal cortex on a dog is smaller in scale compared to the rest of the brain than a human’s.”
Will grumbled, looking up from peeling a tiny strand of cheese off his cheese stick. “I can hear you talking about me, you know. I am NOT more juvenile like this!”
Tam silently put one finger up to indicate that they should wait, then left the room. She came back a moment later with Will’s little bag he took with him when he went out as a dog, digging in it to remove the rubber chicken. After a few seconds looking Will in the eye, she gave the rubber chicken a single squeeze, causing Will to snicker, his tail wagging.
After a moment, his face fell, and he scowled. “Okay, so maybe I’m a LITTLE more juvenile when I’m fluffy. So what?” He put the cheese stick in his mouth to hold it, then snatched his bag from Tam and stuffed the rubber chicken back inside.
Tam shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s just kinda weird that you act like a different person. You’re not even fully fluffed right now.”
Will shrugged and grabbed his cheese stick, carefully peeling off another tiny string. “And thank goodness for that. Mom wants to take me shopping for clothes that fit my fully fluffed form next time I shift because she says that’s what the school board’s going to want me to do about my shifting. The problem is, that means I’ll have to wear little kid’s clothes, and I don’t WANT to wear little kid’s clothes.”
Tam and Alexander glanced at each other behind Will’s back, and then Tam smirked and grabbed Will’s tail. “I don’t know, I bet you’d be cute in little kid’s clothes. Maybe a tee that has a picture of a dinosaur on it. Or a train. Or those little cartoon characters from little kids’ shows.”
Will turned around to get his tail out of Tam’s hand, then looked her in the eye. After a moment, he seemed to realize, and his ears went back. “Oh, no. No, no, no. You’re not gonna. I won’t let you.”
Tam smirked and grabbed Will by the hips, lidding her eyes and looking down to him. “Did I ever mention how adorable you look with your little ears and that fluffy little tail swinging around behind you? They’re so expressive. I could just… KISS you.”
Will’s face burned, and he backed away, finding his back to the wall as Tam leaned down and kissed his forehead, having to lean further down as he shrank away from her, literally. When she straightened up, she giggled, ruffling his ears. “It’s too EASY.”
Will pouted and stuffed the rest of his cheese in his mouth, scooping up his pants off the floor and turning to stomp off to his room. “You guys are so MEAN.”

[Amazee Dayzee]

I don't have much to say about the story except that when this is over Will needs to cut these two bozos out of his life. With friends like these, who needs enemies?

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

That's just how teenagers are when they have a lifetime of friendship together. They're not ACTUALLY being mean to one another, they're just very familiar with each other and it comes across as mean from the outside.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 20: Outfits

“Mooo-oommm…” Will gave a little whine, rolling his eyes. “I get WHY we have to do this, but can we please at least TRY to pick out clothes that don’t look like they were made for six-year-olds?” He kicked his paw backward against the cart and glared at Mom as she ignored him and continued to pick through a display of tee shirts featuring cartoon dogs from some TV show he’d barely even heard of.
After a moment, he put his ears back and looked around. As he’d expected, she’d brought him straight to the children’s section upon their arrival at the store and immediately started picking through the most juvenile-looking outfits she had been able to find. She’d even put him in the shopping cart’s child seat like he was a little kid again.
He started to climb out of the seat. “Mom, I’m in high school. I can walk on my own.”
“Sit down.” She commanded without even looking up.
He grumbled and slid back into the child seat, looking around again. “Mom, can we PLEASE just get plain tee shirts and jeans? I’m gonna look ridiculous walking around school in little kids’ clothes!”
“You ALREADY look ridiculous, dear. You’ve turned yourself into a dog.” She didn’t even glance up.
“Not on purpose.” He grumbled, glaring at his paws dangling over the floor. “You can’t stay mad at me forever!”
Finally, Mom looked up from the stack of tee shirts and looked at him. “William, it has been three days. I’m still processing while trying to keep everything together. Not only do I have to worry about the usual household things, but now I have to worry about THIS.” She gestured to him. “And now I need to buy you a whole new wardrobe, which I can’t REALLY afford, while worrying that your school is going to call me at work to come pick you up. So yes, I’m still mad at you!”
Will’s ears went back, and he looked down again. After a few moments, he hesitantly looked up. “I… don’t really need a WHOLE wardrobe. Just one or two outfits. One to bring with me to school just in case, and maybe a backup for if the first one gets used. It’s not ideal, but… surely just two outfits is better than a whole new set?”
Mom stared at him for a few moments, then sighed, snatching a shirt off the stack and holding it up to him. His ears went back as she wheeled the cart across the clothing section, then stopped next to the changing rooms. She lifted him out of the cart and plopped him on the floor, pushing the shirt into his hands. “Go try this on for size and make sure you come out so I can see.”
Will sighed and got a tag from the attendant before going into the changing room and pulling on the shirt. He glared at his reflection in the mirror, noting that the shirt fit well before pulling his ears back and slinking back out to his mother.
She squatted down to him without a word to tug and poke at the shirt, checking the fit and pulling it down around his hips, then whipped out her phone and took a picture. “Okay, go change out of it. I think this size will do. We’ll worry about pants in a little bit.”
Will felt his cheeks warm up. “Did you make me try on this babyish shirt JUST because you wanted a picture?!”
She gave him a sly grin, then waved him back toward the changing room. He huffed and turned to go, entering the changing room and stripping off the shirt before exiting, snatching his room tag, and turning in both the tag and the shirt to the attendant before marching back out to Mom.
Mom winked. “Okay, now that we’ve got your size, let’s go take a look and see what we can find in clothes that look normal.” She turned and walked back in among the racks of clothes.
Will jogged after her. “You’d BETTER not send that to grandma.”
“Too late.” She paused at a display of plain colored tee shirts. “What color do you think would go best with your fur color? I can’t believe I just asked that.”
“You and me both.” Will looked over the options. “I think… red or blue would be good.”
“Okay.” She skimmed through the stacks and picked out one of each. “Now, on to pants. You’re not walking around school with your fuzzy tush hanging out.”
Will reddened and glanced around to make sure no other shoppers were in audible range. “Mo-ommm, you can’t SAY things like that in PUBLIC!”
“Said my son, who is, by the way, currently completely naked.” She rolled her eyes and started pushing the cart over to a display of jeans.
“I’m not naked. I’m wearing my collar.” He tugged at the strip of fabric around his neck.
“Yeah, speaking of, where did you get that? That color looks awful on you. Actually, it just looks awful anyway.” She glanced at him.
“Oh, Tam got it for me. She was worried that animal control might see me wandering the neighborhood and assume I was a stray.” He glanced down at it. “It really IS an awful color, though. I think it was just what she could afford on her allowance.”
She looked over at him, then grabbed two pairs of jeans off the shelf and tossed them in the cart. “We’ll get you a proper one. What color do you want? Red? Blue? Some other color?”
Will stammered, surprised. “Er… Red is fine…”
“Good.” She meandered through the underwear aisle, snatching a pack of plain white briefs and tossing it in the cart.
The walk across the store to the pet section was quiet and awkward. Mom seemed a little less upset and angry than she had been, but still wouldn’t look directly at him. When the pet section came into view, Will hesitated, then spoke up.
“How… are you doing? I know this isn’t exactly how you planned to spend your week. It wasn’t how I planned to spend mine, either.”
Mom sighed. “Well… of all the unexpected things that could have happened to you… I suppose this isn’t the worst. You could have been hit by a car, or gone to jail, or been kidnapped… at least you’re a lot cuter like this.” She finally looked at him with a smile.
Will gave a sigh and a nod. “Yeah, I keep hearing that.” He watched her pick out a collar, test it against his neck, then toss it in the cart. “I’m hoping that, given time, we’ll understand what’s happened to me and I’ll get some control over it.”
She gave him a little smile. “Yeah, hopefully. Let’s head to the checkout.” She turned the cart around and started walking. “It’s about suppertime and I don’t feel like cooking. What do you feel about stopping for burgers?”
Will’s tail wagged a little. “I think I’d like that.”
Mom reached down and ruffled his ears. “I always meant to get you a dog after your dad left. I just never got around to it. I guess you decided to do it yourself.”
There was a pause, and then Will laughed. “Yeah, I guess I did. You could say we’re inseparable."
She flicked his ear playfully. “I guess so, huh?”

[Amazee Dayzee]

If you were worried about making all your female characters totally trash people I don't think you need to anymore at least with Will's mom. Yes she freaked out a bit about her son turning into some weird human-dog hybrid but she came around pretty quickly and is in on the teasing.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

What the kids call a "justifiable crash-out," I believe.

[Amazee Dayzee]

But then again there could be another reason why she is now OK with what is going on. Maybe the doctor prescribed her some anxiolytic medications to keep her from flipping out.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 21: Revelations

Tam burst into Will’s house and looked around, then rushed to his room and slammed the door open. “Will!”
Will gave a startled yelp, snatching his blanket off the bed and pulling it up to cover himself. “I’m CHANGING, Tam! Go wait in the hallway!”
“No time! I got an idea!” She started pacing, leaving Will holding the blanket around himself like a robe. “You got cursed because you were playing with that magic book, right? Well, that book had to belong to SOMEONE. So if we take it BACK to the library, we might find out WHO it belongs to, and THEY might be able to help us!”
Will hesitated. “It’s a good idea. Go wait in the hall for me to get dressed and we can discuss it.”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s not like I haven’t seen you naked before. Just get changed.” She turned her back to face the wall, crossing her arms over her chest and tapping a finger impatiently.
Will flustered. “I- well- as a DOG! You’ve seen me naked, AS A DOG!” He snatched up his pants and sat on the bed, trying to pull them on under the blanket without unwrapping himself.
“Whatever. Close enough.” She rolled her eyes. “I swear, you’ll walk around the neighborhood in nothing but a collar but you draw the line at me seeing you in your boxers. They’re not even particularly CUTE boxers.”
With his pants now firmly covering his backside, Will tossed his blanket aside and grabbed a shirt, starting to pull it on. “And if I were to walk in on you changing, you’d beat me senseless.” He muttered.
She spun around and looked at him. “All right, you’re dressed. Grab the book and let’s go.”
“We can’t.” Will frowned and walked to his closet. “Doctor says I can’t drive until we figure out for sure what causes me to shift. Can’t risk me shifting behind the wheel and crashing, and you don’t have your license.” He opened the closet door.
She scowled at him. “You’re gonna let a little thing like THAT stop you from potentially getting uncursed?”
Will bent down to retrieve the spellbook from the bottom of his closet, smoothing out a rumpled page. “No. I’m saying we gotta call Alexander first. He’s got a driver’s license. He can drive my car and get us to the library.”
Tam grumbled. “But that’ll take FOREVER. You know what he’s like when he’s studying.”
“You could call him yourself while I pack a go bag. I have to have extra clothes with me at all times now.” Will turned and scooped up his little tote backpack, pulling it open and looking inside to see what was already packed.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m going.” Tam grumbled and left the room, pulling her phone out of her pocket.
Alexander sounded distracted when he answered his phone. “Uh, yeah?”
Tam paced the living room. “It’s time for a study break, Alexander. Will and I think we have something on how to get him uncursed.”
“Oh? Nice, nice, fun.” Alexander mumbled. Tam could hear a pencil scratching on the other side of the line.
Tam groaned and rolled her eyes. “ALEXANDER. I need you to put down the pencil and listen to the words I am saying to you.”
There was a pause, and then a gentle clattering as Alexander dropped the pencil. “Sorry, I was just trying to get ahead of next week’s classes.”
Tam grunted. “I said, we might have a way to uncurse Will. We need you to come drive us.”
“Why do I have to drive you? Is Will having a doggy weekend?” Alexander sounded a little confused.
“He says he can’t drive with his curse because he could shift in the middle of driving and cause an accident. And I can’t drive because I don’t have my license yet.” She tapped her foot impatiently. “So you have to come and do it.”
“But I don’t have a car. If I need to go somewhere, I usually borrow my dad’s. He’s not even home today. He went fishing with his buddies.” Alexander sounded like he was getting distracted again.
“Will says we can use his. Now get your butt out of your studying chair and get over here. The library is only open from noon to five on Saturdays!” She looked at her watch impatiently.
There was a pause, and then Alexander spoke. “But it’s only ten o’clock. Not EVEN, actually.”
“True, but I want slushies. And I just know that as soon as I hang up, you’re going to forget I called, go back to studying, and I’m gonna have to come over there and GET you.” She paused, listening. “Let me hear you walk out your door. Right now, I wanna hear you opening doors.”
“All right, all right.” Alexander grumbled. The sound of a door closing came through the line. “I’m walking through the house. I’m putting my shoes on.” He narrated to her. There was a rustling. “I’m walking out the door.”
“Good. I’m hanging up now. Will and I will meet you outside in five minutes.” She hung up the phone and turned around to go back into Will’s room. “I got Alexander off his butt. You ready to go?”
Will looked up from pulling on his socks. He had his bag strung over one shoulder. “Oh, yeah, ready. Um… oh, right, the book.” He unslung his bag and opened it up, then picked up the magic book off his bed and tried to stuff it inside. It was too big, and he frowned.
“Give it to me. I brought an old backpack with me.” Tam reached for the book and Will handed it over. She carried it out to his living room and stuffed it into a backpack waiting by the door. “Okay, let’s go. Alexander is supposedly walking this way.”
Will hesitated, then looked around until he found the keys to his car hanging on a hook. “I hope it’s got gas in it.”
“William! You didn’t check if it had gas?!” Tam stared at him, shocked.
“It’s been a while! I was a little bit preoccupied!” Will threw his hands up in self-defense, then turned and walked outside.
Tam followed him with a grumble. “If it needs gas, you’re paying for it.”
“Fine. Whatever.” Will threw his hand up and waved over the porch railing at Alexander, walking down the sidewalk toward them. Alexander waved back, and Will locked the front door before walking down the porch steps to meet him.

[Amazee Dayzee]

Why yes Tam with everything that is going on of course Will didn't think to make sure that the car had gas in it. It's not like he had other things on his mind fairly recently. So glad I'm not a dumb teenager anymore.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 22: Librarian

Will paused in the entryway to the library, putting his arm out to stop Tam from entering, then pointed at a sign hanging next to the door: “All outside food and drink aside from a leakproof bottle of water are to be finished before entering the library.”
Tam scowled at the sign, but took a moment to suck down the last few dregs of her slushy before depositing her cup in the trash can. Alexander followed suit, as did Will, and they proceeded inside.
The front lobby of the library wasn’t anything interesting, just an empty space where people could queue to check out their books, a few comfortable chairs where people could sit to read, and a table where a puzzle was picked at by the occasional passer-by. A librarian was sitting behind the checkout counter, checking in books that had been returned. She glanced up at them, then did a double-take, staring at Will for just a moment before smiling. “Hi, welcome. Let me know if you need anything.”
Alexander gave a wave. “We will.” He turned to Tam and lowered his voice. “Okay, this was your idea. What now? How do we find someone who might be able to help us?”
Tam shrugged. “I don’t know. Find out if anybody’s been missing a book of magic?” She glanced around. “Where’s Will?”
Will, meanwhile, had been watching the librarian as she frequently glanced his way. After a few moment’s consideration, he broke from his friends and approached the counter. He wasn’t sure what he was going to say, so he started with, “Excuse me, maybe you can help me.”
The librarian finished scanning in the book she was working on, took the due slip out of the pocket and put it back on the stack, and put the book on her cart before turning to face him with a forced smile. “Maybe I can. What kind of help do you need?” She looked directly at him, as if searching his face for something.
Will stammered for a moment before he noticed that he could smell the librarian. She smelled like old books- vanilla and cinnamon and leather and paper- but also like something else, something he’d smelled before, but couldn’t quite place. He was sure she was who he was looking for, but he wasn’t sure how to breach the subject. Certainly this wasn’t the right place. “I’m looking for… books. About real-life witchcraft. I mean, like, rituals and curses and how to lift them, stuff like that. It’s… for a school project. We’re studying Salem.” He lied.
The librarian stared at him for a moment as if considering, then opened the drawer in the counter and pulled out a pad of sticky notes and a pen. She scribbled down a number, then tore off the sticky note and passed it over to Will. “Check in this section here. I think you might find what you’re looking for. Or maybe what you’re looking for will find you.”
Will gave a weak smile and took the sticky note. “Thank you. Thank you very much.”
He turned and noticed Tam and Alexander watching him. He hurried back over to them. “Hey, guys.”
Alexander frowned. “What did you say to her?”
Will shrugged. “I asked her for books on witchcraft. I told her it was for school. She gave me this and told me to check this section.” He held up the sticky note and frowned at it. “It just has a number on it. 720.495.”
Tam took the notebook and looked at it with a frown. “Just a number, huh?”
Alexander took it and looked at it. “Well, that’s a Dewey Decimal System number, but that can’t be right.” He turned and walked into the non-fiction section.
Will followed with Tam on his heels, frowning. “What can’t be right?”
Alexander shrugged. “Well, the Dewey Decimal System is for breaking up reference books into broad subjects. The more specific a number gets, the more specific the subject is. But seven hundred- that’s for arts and recreation. Witchcraft would be under either two hundred, for religion, or nine hundred, for history and geography, depending on if you were looking for the practice of witchcraft, or the history of witchcraft.” He walked through the stacks with confidence, glancing at the numbers on the bookshelves. He found the beginning of the 700 section against an interior wall and started walking along it.
Will frowned. “And seven hundred twenty?”
“Architecture.” Tam pointed to a sign between two sets of shelves that declared it thusly: ‘720, architecture.’
Alexander frowned and looked at the shelf, then back down at the sticky note, moving sideways along the shelf as he skimmed the books. “Okay, then. 720.4… point four nine…. Point four nine five…”
Will watched as Alexander pointed to a shelf of books at about waist height. “Something on that shelf. Guess we’d better get reading.” He stepped forward to reach for the first book, but Will grabbed his arm.
“Wait, let me look for a second. It might not be necessary.” He knelt and looked at the books. Most of the titles were in Greek, with English translations listed underneath on the spine.
While Will was examining the shelf, Tam looked around. “This is pretty close to where I found the spellbook, actually.”
After a few moments, Will pointed at a book, tapping it with his finger. “This one. Secret Passages through the Ages.” He hooked his finger on the book’s spine and tilted it out, expecting some kind of machinery to activate and move the bookshelf or something dramatic.
Instead, there was a quiet click, and the shelf swung out as if it was on a hinge. It didn’t swing very far; Will frowned and tugged on the shelf, watching it swing open almost silently. The wall- although it turned out to actually be just a piece of carefully painted wood that matched the wall behind the rest of the shelves- swung with it, exposing what appeared to be an almost perfectly-normal looking meeting room behind it.
The room had plastic chairs and a rolling table with a couple stacks of plastic cups on it next to the base for a drink dispenser, a white board with a pull-down projector screen and a projector along one wall, and a U-shaped array of tables around the center of the room. The only thing that separated this room from any other meeting room one might find in any building in town was the stone pedestal in the center of the room, covered in intricate carvings. The U-shaped array of tables surrounded it neatly, as if it was perfectly normal to have it there.
The quiet sounds of footsteps in heels marched toward them steadily from down the stacks, and Will turned to frown in the direction they were coming from. The librarian was marching toward them, a book in her arms and her glasses dangling from the granny strap they were attached to. She walked right past them and into the room they had uncovered, then paused and turned toward them. “Well? What are you waiting for, an invitation? Get in here. Close the door behind you.”
Will blinked to snap out of it, then walked into the meeting room, gesturing for Tam and Alexander to follow. He grabbed the fabric strap hanging on the inside of the door and tugged it gently until the door latch quietly clicked back into place with no fanfare.
That done, he turned around with his mouth open to speak to the librarian, only to find her standing right behind him with her face inches from his. She seemed to examine him for a few moments, then picked up her glasses and put them back on. “Okay. Let’s see about that curse.”

[Amazee Dayzee]

Obviously this woman isn't exactly your average librarian and probably dabbled in some of the stuff that was in the book before the three of them got their hands on it. While she might not be able to lift the curse she could help Will learn how to switch back and forth from a human to a dog when he wants to.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 23: Curses

Will swallowed nervously as the librarian suddenly stepped away from him and turned on the projector. It hummed as it started to warm up, and she turned to the pedestal in the middle of the room, doing something to it that made the engravings start to glow in various colors, slowly pulsing through red, green, and blue. She set her book on the nearest table.
“So… you’re a witch?” Will finally managed to stutter out.
“Most librarians are witches. You think we can maintain all these books ourselves without magic? She turned to him, then waved him over.
Will nervously stepped forward, looking at Tam and Alexander for support. Alexander seemed to be distracted by the pedestal, but Tam gave him a thumbs-up. Whatever that was supposed to mean in this context.
Once Will was in reach of the librarian, she looked him over. “All right, let’s have a look at what we’re working with here.” She reached out and grabbed his nose, giving a little jerk.
Will got a sudden wave of vertigo, wobbling unsteadily. He reached out and grabbed the table next to him, then looked up at the suddenly much-taller librarian. He looked down at himself, standing in a puddle of his pants and shoes with his shirt dangling down almost to his paws. “Wait, how did you…?”
“Oh, you’re a cute one, aren’t you?” The librarian grinned, putting out her hand to help him steady himself as he stepped out of his shoes, kicking one of his legs for a moment to get his sock to stop clinging to his paw. “Why’ve you done that to yourself?”
Will put his ears back. “I didn’t do it on purpose.” He mumbled.
“Right. Up on the altar with you, let’s have a look at your spellwork. You don’t happen to have the book you used with you at the moment, do you?” She patted the stone pedestal, inviting him to sit on it.
He started climbing up the pedestal, finding it easier than he expected. The engravings made great grips for his claws to hook onto. “Uh, Tam’s got it in her backpack.” He pointed over at Tam.
Tam reached into the bag and set the book down as if she was worried it would cause more trouble. “Sorry for taking it. I guess I just got a little overexcited.”
“That’s quite all right. It never would have let you take it if it thought you meant any harm. I’ll have to speak to my coworkers about leaving books from the private collection out in the stacks.” She looked over and scooted the book toward herself, seeming relieved to have it back, then turned to Will. “All right, let’s just have a peek at your spellwork, here…” She poked him in the chest, and immediately the projector flickered to a new screen, showing a circle of symbols that seemed to shift and glow without moving at all.
Will blinked at it. “What’s that?”
“That’s your curse.” The librarian grabbed her book and stepped closer, keeping to the side so as not to block the projector, and opened the book to take some notes. “It’s really interesting, it looks like you were TRYING to do a one-off temporary transformation and fumbled it just the wrong way so as to turn it into… I guess not really a curse, so much as a permanent spell web. A complex one, too.”
Will’s ears perked. “Can you remove it? Um… Dispell?”
The librarian shook her head. “No, I don’t think I can.” She pointed at the center of the circle, where a couple symbols pulsed in unison. “It’s taken too much of a liking to you… or maybe you’ve taken a liking to it. Anyway, the point is, it’s settled far too deep to be removed. I might be able to modify it, though. I’ll have to speak to my colleagues about it.”
“Oh.” Will sagged for a moment. “Well… what can you tell me about it? Maybe I can learn to control it?”
She nodded and glanced around at Tam and Alexander, blinking like she’d forgotten they were there. “Why don’t you two have a seat? This might take a moment.” Once they were seated, she turned back to the display. “Well, this part here is pretty clear- become a furry friend.” She gestured to a sequence, then pointed to another sequence. “This here is the trigger. It’s fascinating, one or two misspoken words can weave themselves into something so complex. There are three triggers interwoven- part of it is whether it is safe for the curse to activate, so before it does anything, the magic determines what it can do without causing harm. Then there’s a bit here about your emotions- I’m a little rusty at reading raw magic like this, but it says something about emotional highs and lows triggering the magic as a safety, to get you out of situations that have you tense, nervous, excited… basically, in a situation where you’d rather be anywhere else, or where you probably SHOULD be anywhere else. Dangerous or boring situations, most likely.”
Will nodded. “We had figured out that certain things can trigger it. Like Tam teasing me and acting like she’s going to kiss me.”
The librarian grinned knowingly at Tam, then turned back to the board. “The last bit here is about intent. You can change at will with just a little bit of focus.” She paused for a moment to finish taking notes on the screen, then turned and waved her hand. The altar’s colors faded, and the screen turned off. “I imagine, if you were to try right now, you could probably switch back to how you walked in here on your own. It might take a few minutes.”
She paused, then looked at Tam and Alexander. “Er… actually, you two better leave for this part. Since his clothes didn’t change with him, I imagine he’ll probably want the privacy.” She walked over to the door and opened it. “You can go read a book or something while you wait.” She ushered Tam and Alexander out, then closed the door and turned back toward Will, pulling a blanket seemingly out of nowhere and wrapping it around his waist.
“I’m going to talk you through it, okay? It should be just as easy as focusing on being human again. It might take a few moments for it to work; just keep focusing, and you should take control.”
Will nodded and closed his eyes. “Human again, huh? Five fingers, tall, no tail, normal ears…”
For the next twenty minutes, he practiced. It took a good five minutes before he was able to shift back on his own the first time; after that, he grew quicker. Three minutes to shift into a dog. Two minutes to shift back again. One minute to shift into a dog. Thirty seconds to shift back again.
The librarian stopped him. “That’s probably enough. You should get dressed again. I have no doubt that, if you keep practicing, you’ll be able to take full control of your form, and only lose control in extreme situations.” She turned her back to let him dress. “But I should warn you, a spell like this needs to be exercised. You won’t be able to stay human full time. You’ll need a couple days a month where you let yourself shift, or the power will build up over time, and you’ll shift whether you want to or not, and won’t be able to shift back until the power’s burned itself out.” She smiled at him over her shoulder. “If you need help again, come back to this room. You remember how you opened the door?”
“Yeah. Book about secret passageways.” He finished buckling his belt. “Thank you so much. Now that I have at least some control over it, I think it’ll really help with my nerves.”

[Amazee Dayzee]

Seems like Will is stuck with the curse permanently so learning to control it will actually be a must for him to have a somewhat normal life. I guess that whatever completely totally scientific method they came up with to reverse Marion's wish at the end of the comic's last arc isn't going to help him in this case.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

This concludes this story. I hope you enjoyed it! Sorry for the delay; the site decided to take a big ol' dookie for four days. I'm gonna take this week's Wednesday and Friday off so that when we start the next story, it doesn't throw off my chapter count. Thank you for reading! I hope to have Will return again soon!

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Chapter 24: The Meeting of Two Friends

Will opened the front door to his house and sighed happily, stretching out on the couch. “I feel SO much better, now that I know I can switch back and forth at will.”
Alexander nodded. “I do feel better knowing you won’t get stuck that way.”
Tam grinned as she walked in. “And now that I know you’re not going to dog out on me, I can do THIS.” She grabbed Will by the shirt and pulled him in, kissing him on the mouth.
When she was done and let him go, Will squeaked, stammering, his puppy ears popping out. “Oh… wow… I… uh…”
She grinned at him. “We’re dating now. Got it?”
He stammered a moment more, then gave her a shaky thumbs up.
Alexander snickered, then blinked out the window. “Oh, look, it’s your little dog friend coming up the walk.”
Will sat up and walked to the window, peeked outside, then grinned and walked to the door to open it. “Hi, Buddy! You’ve never come to visit before!”
Buddy looked up at Will with his little crooked grin. “Hi, Will. I was wondering if you could come and play.”
Will glanced around at his friends. Alexander shrugged. “I have to get back to studying.”
Tam grinned. “Go for it, fluff-butt. It’s the weekend. I’ll see you Monday?”
Will grinned back. “Monday, it is.” He looked down at Buddy. “Give me a couple minutes to go change?”
Buddy nodded and let himself in, watching Alexander close the door behind him on his way out. Will grinned and darted down the hall to his room.
“Come here, fuzzball. I wanna talk to you.” Tam grabbed Buddy’s hand and walked over toward the couch.
“Um… okay?” Buddy frowned as he followed her.
Tam sat on the couch and grinned at Buddy. “So, you’re interested in Will. You wanna date ‘im?”
Buddy blushed a little bit, putting his ears back. “Is it that obvious?”
Tam snickered. “Not to Will. Tell you what. You can have him when he’s the dog. I’ll take him when he’s human. And, when he’s partway… we can share him.”
Buddy squeaked. “O-oh, really?”
Tam grinned. “Yeah. Of course, we’ll probably have to get him to agree to it, but I doubt he’ll put up much of a fight. He’s been carrying around that rubber chicken you gave him like some kind of secret treasure, so I bet he’ll be fine with it.”
Buddy seemed to relax. “That’s a relief.”
“What are you two talking about?” Will trotted back into the room, fully fluffy and wearing his new red collar with his tag and medical ID identifying him as a human.
Tam shrugged. “Oh, nothing much. Now go have fun with your little boyfriend. Call your girlfriend when you get home.” She walked to the door and opened it. “Oh, and Will? Stay safe, fluff-butt.”

THE END

[Amazee Dayzee]

Really was a very wonderful story that you told and I do hope we see what happens with Will in the future! Happy to see things starting to work out well for Will now!