Brian was up late, unable to sleep, idly browsing the web. As of late, he was feeling rather bored with his life. There was nothing wrong per se - his finances were stable and he was able to maintain a comfortable living without any major issues - but he couldn’t say his situation in life was particularly interesting. As a result, sometimes he felt a bit down. Tonight was particularly bad, affecting his sleep. And perhaps even his judgment, as he normally wouldn’t be browsing a website he hadn’t looked into first, let alone be considering downloading something on a wild whim. But eh, he had antivirus software, so he’d be fine, right? A part of him knew that was wrong, that even the best antivirus wasn’t infallible, but right now he wasn’t listening especially closely to his better judgment.

The website he’d found himself on was an odd one. It listed various software, but it only gave the names and sizes, and all the sizes were absurdly low so either the site was lying or they couldn’t be very complex. Each program had rather unhelpful names, such as “Bat Ears” and “Crow’s Beak”, each named after an animal body part. Normally, he would just browse away from the site, but his curiosity overcame his better judgment, so he decided to click on one of the download links.

As he predicted, the download bar filled up quickly. But though he didn’t tell it to auto-run upon download, a dialogue box instantly popped up. It had no buttons to click and no visible way to close it, simply having a progress bar and the text “INSTALLING...” on it. Naturally, even in his current state, this raised alarm bells in his mind. Surely this was a virus! But before he could react, perhaps pull the power cord to halt the process, he felt something right above his rear.

He looked back, at which point his computer became the least of his concerns. Rapidly sprouting from behind him was a large, very fuzzy brown thing. He stared in awe as he watched it grow to about as large as he was. He felt the thick fuzz with his hand. it felt so soft and warm... but more alarmingly, it felt like some new part of his body - one which should not exist - had just been touched. He ran his hand along the fuzzy thing, finding that at the base of it, it was attached right above his hind, through a neat hole in his jeans that did not exist before. He willed this new appendage to move and it did so readily, moving side to side at his mental command.

He had a tail. A big, bushy tail. A squirrel tail, just like the program name had said. And sure enough, when he looked back at the computer monitor, the dialog box said “INSTALLATION COMPLETE!” with a button at the bottom to close the box.

He closed the dialog box and opened up his programs list. The Squirrel Tail program was in there, with an uninstallation option available. He breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that he’d be able to get rid of this tail. Except... thinking about it, did he want to? It was so soft and comfortable. Sure, it meant he wouldn’t be able to continue having such an ordinary life, but wasn’t the source of his poor mood the fact that his life was so soul-crushingly ordinary? Besides, there was no harm in trying this out for a bit. It’d be a while before he had to leave his house again and he could apparently reverse the changes whenever he liked. And if that was the case, why stop at a tail? Why not try out more?

And so, he began his next download. He clicked the link, then watched the installation progress bar, feeling his ears rise up and lengthen. At the end, he reached up and felt his new long, fuzzy bunny ears. Another download was soon to follow, and after that he was running his hands through his big, busy lion’s mane. A couple more clicks gave him the brown feathery face of a horned owl, complete with large, round yellow eyes and a curved beak.

Next, he gave himself the taloned feet and legs of a raven, taking a moment to get the hang of such a radically different foot shape before continuing. There was not a trace of his socks remaining, as the program had apparently removed them as part of the transformation. He spent some time walking around his room with his new feet and legs. It felt a bit awkward, but then again most birds tended to rely more on flying than walking.

He started two more downloads, no longer even waiting for one to complete before starting the next. He found himself with the torso of a raccoon and the wings of a bat, at which point not a bit of his human self remained. He looked at his computer. Perhaps giving himself wings wasn’t the best idea, but... eh, he’d be fine. He’d still be able to use his mouse and keyboard as needed, even if it involved a bit more of a literal interpretation of “hunt-and-peck”.

In the meantime, it was time to test out this new body of his, particularly his wings. It was time to take a nighttime flight.