Kodama forests's Curse

Chapter three - The Big Ask

Waking up the next morning, having fallen asleep out of pure exhaustion, was the worst. He got up in what felt like -and probably was- pain, the thought of what was happening to him had been completely removed from his brain. That is until he passed by the mirror in his hallway. Eyes now completely black with the glowing pupils, hair was tinged greyish brown at the ends, his nose was turning black and his canine teeth were sharp enough to pierce his tongue. The tail remained, his arms were longer.. or were his legs shorter? As he observed his strange new appearance his sister began the daily tradition of calling her brother down, which shocked him to begin with. In the attempt of running back into his room he tripped and fell, the thump echoed through the house.
"Jeremy!?" She called, and began to walk upstairs. In a quick jolt of pain every new limb, extended finger and shrunken bone of his returned to normal. Just in time for his sister to see him curled up on the floor like an animal.
"Uh.. Dare-moo-id?" She began with, then muttered under her breath "Fuck, still cant say it." Then she returned to a normal tone. "Um.. Need a hand getting up?" Reluctantly holding out her hand for him to take. Dauirmuid looked up at her in an almost zoned out kind of trance for a few seconds, and got up quickly.
"Let's not talk about that." He said. And walked away. He could feel his sister staring at him as he made the journey downstairs, then realising he left his bag in his room. And he wasn't dressed. And he was a sleepy mess. He ran back upstairs, avoiding eye contact with Kayleigh, and slammed his bedroom door loudly.
He took a minute to recap on what had happened the previous night. He stared down at his hands, they seemed to be back to normal, except they were shaking. He then tried to force a transformation on them, resulting in the familiar long claws taking their place. He could feel the muscle in his fingers morphing into paws, it was slightly uncomfortable and made his fingers stiff. He then thought of what had happened in the hallway, the way his sister stared at him. and the claws disappeared again. After repeating this process a few times he got up and got dressed. Heart racing as he almost struggled to stay in human form.

College was far from average. He was constantly in a stiff sitting position and always zoned out, Drake had to keep pestering him to get his attention. The only thing he could focus on was the pure fear of the entire situation he was in, he felt like he was going to burst at the seams. There was one thing that seemed to keep him sane. Lexi. The way he would gaze with those glowing amber eyes, the way he seemed to majestically dance into the shape of that lightest brown fox, the sound of his voice made him fluster a little on the inside, like his lungs had turned bright pink. He felt himself smile a little at the thought of him. Drake reached over to poke him, but he had to look twice at Dauirmuid. His sclera had turned a hollow black with a white seemingly glowing pupil, there was somehow still a lingering emotion behind those new eyes.
"Hey, uh. I think there's something in your eye." He whispered. Dauirmuid jerked slightly and looked over at him, his eyes were back to normal.
"Hm?"
"Oh, never mind.. its gone now." And Drake continued to take notes as Dauirmuid returned to his original dreamlike state. He then realised how weird he was being, thinking about some random guy he met on the internet like this. He wasn't attracted to men. What was an anchor a few seconds ago turned into something more to worry about. Suddenly everything went spiralling, he rubbed his eyes, stood up and ran to the bathroom. Not looking back at the man yelling at him to come back as he sprinted as fast as he could.
Upon reaching the bathroom he could feel his hands had returned to the state they were in the previous night. He was alone. His new claws gripped the sink, cracks evading the edges of them. He looked up at the now unfamiliar face in the mirror, staring back at him. His canine teeth sharpened so quickly he could taste the blood from his tongue as they pierced through it. His nose now tinted black, his sideburns had extended to below his chin and his ears were now furrier and further up his head. His hair now a completely different colour, greyish brown to match the colour his eyes once were. He had to calm down, and quickly too.
"SHIT!" He exclaimed as he sat on the floor, forgetting about the tail again.
The fuck am I supposed to do?? Balancing college and all this bullshit is gonna be terrible. What if this whole idea to remove this curse doesn't go to plan and I stay this way forever!? I was so desperate I had to ask some random guy on the internet for help.. He heard footsteps racing to the bathroom, he had to hide. Dauirmuid looked around the bathroom for a few seconds before noticing one of the pipes below the sinks were missing.
"Jeremy?" The familiar voice of Drake called out. "Are you in here?" He asked. There was no reply, or any sign of Dauirmuid. He eventually concluded that he was not there and shut the door. The pipe under the sink began to shake, until it eventually fell out of place and took shape of a raccoon. Dauirmuid scrambled to his hind legs and turned back into a human. Making sure no animal features remained.
Well, that's new. He thought to himself as he looked down at himself in slight confusion. It felt as if he still had the body of that strange raccoon thing he became before he completely turned back. He knew he had no choice but to run out of college, fast as he could he jolted out of the bathroom into the hallway.