As I looked around, I spotted the billboard for the local zoo, and remembered one of their exhibits on big cats. I felt my self almost immediately start to change, then I made myself pause. I didn't want to forget who I was this time, or become just a simple animal! I concentrated more specifically on what I wanted and then let the change happen.
Yellow-gold fur started sprouting all over my body, dotted with rosettes of black fur. The tips of my fingers changed and flexed as my fingernails were replaced by claws. I felt the weirdest sensation of my ears moving towards the top of my head, and then I could make them turn and swivel. I added some modest extra muscle to my frame until the definition could be seen through the fur, and my rather battered t-shirt. In a few seconds I had a short, feline muzzle filled with sharp fangs and graced with whiskers. I wriggled the back of my jeans and underwear down a couple inches to let a new matching-furred tail grow out, then waved it idly through the air behind me.
Karyn stared at me. "Jon, what did you do?"
I smirked, a very smug feline expression. "I decided I wanted to be a were-leopard." Stretching was a wonderful experience as I practiced it, then yawned. "I almost thought about being a talking leopard for a bit, but decided I wanted to keep my hands and clothes." I grinned and posed. "So, what do you think?"
"I'm just glad I made that wish that no one would notice anything unusual about us this morning!" Karyn just shook her head, then grinned. "Okay, you don't look too bad. Not what I expected."
"So? You were the one who didn't want me to be me," I replied, sounding faintly irritated. "Of course, I still don't want to be me. I wish you wouldn't mess with me like that until I can figure out a way to straighten this out." Unfortunately when I said it, Karyn still had the stone in its box.
Karyn grinned. "I dunno, this is kind of fun." She leaned over and reached up abruptly, then started scratching my ears before I could protest. "Mmmm. Nice, soft fur. I like that."
Darn if the ear-scratching didn't feel good. I swished my tail a bit. "We're going to be very late soon for school, Karyn."
"You're going to go to school like that?!" she exclaimed.
"Why not? Thanks to your wish, no one is going to notice anything strange for the morning," I pointed out smugly.
"Uh-huh. I do like the fur, though maybe you ought to be something less conspicuous, though..."
I felt a faint stirring of not wanting to be a were-leopard, and spoke quickly, "Oh come on, let me have some fun with this! I like this shape."
