This story takes place in the same universe as my first two

Were stories, and was one that I had come up with at the
same time I was writing the original Were. But as this one
has a different main character, I decided to call it
something other than Were 3.
Be Were
By Morpheus
What do you say to a gorilla who's wearing an apron
and offers you a mug of hot chocolate? In my case, it would
be, "Thanks Mom."
This gorilla in question... my Mom is a Were, a
creature that comes straight out of myths and legends. But
instead of being a werewolf... she's a weregorilla. Like
the legends, she does transform on the nights of the full
moon, but unlike the legends, she can make herself
transform at will on any other night, though the changes
vanish with the morning sun and she turns back into an
ordinary human.
My name is Trey Maxwell, and I was a fairly ordinary
16 year old, discounting the fact that my Mom was a Were. I
was average size and average build, with short brown hair,
though I always wished that I were a bit taller and more
muscular. It was always a little embarrassing to know that
my Mom was a lot stronger than I was, but then again, that
was when she was in the form of a gorilla.
At the moment, I stood outside my back door, staring
out over our large back yard, at the many trees that
surrounded us and the lake that was at the back of our
property. We had very few neighbors and none of them very
close. I guessed that it made a lot of sense since it would
be hard to explain to people why a big gorilla was doing
wandering around our property, and Mom liked to do that
pretty often.
Then I slowly looked up at the sky, frowning slightly
and feeling extremely nervous. That night was going to be
the first full moon since my birthday a week before, and
that meant it was my Changing Day. And for a Were, Changing
Day was quite important. It was a coming of age thing...
and the day that they would transform for the first time,
discovering what animal that they would turn into.
"Changing Day," I whispered, knowing full well that
it very well might not be mine. That I might not have a
Changing Day.
Though my Mom was a Were, my Dad was not. He was a
perfectly ordinary guy, at least as far as that went,
though I didn't think most guys would be able to take their
wives turning into gorillas quite as easily as he did. But
since my Mom was Were and my Dad was normal... I didn't
know what that made me. You couldn't be half Were and half
normal... it didn't work that way. You were either one or
the other. I had a 50 percent chance either way, and
wouldn't know for sure until the sun set.
I was filled with mixed emotions as I thought about
Changing Day... about what it would be like for me to
actually turn into a Were. Of course, I guessed that it
might be kind of interesting to turn into some kind of cool
animal, and it would make me sort of special. I liked that
idea... of being special.
However, there were a lot of things that made me
uncomfortable as well. Did it mean that I would be less
human? A look at my loving Mom helped ease that concern,
but not completely. And what if I turned into something
gross or embarrassing... which I heard happened pretty
often. I didn't like the thought of becoming something like
a turkey or a skunk. I also wasn't sure that I liked the
idea of being a Were... of being so different from everyone
else. It was a scary thought.
And then of course, there was the fact that being a
Were changed your perspective. It made you see the world in
a different way. Like my cousin Darek. He'd changed for the
first time several months back and he hadn't been the same
since. He had turned sort of 'save the trees' on me, which
I didn't understand.
Then again, I didn't even know what it was that Darek
turned into, though my Mom mentioned something about him
being a mythic. But if he really was a mythic, I figured
that he would have shown off about it rather than getting
all embarrassed and going quiet. So, I figured that he was
just a normal Were, and probably a stupid one too.
I let out a deep sigh as I turned around and went
inside, trying not to think about what was going to happen
in just a little while. I was nervous as hell, though I
certainly wouldn't admit that to my Mom and Dad. I didn't
know what I would do if I turned out to be a Were like my
Mom, though for the most part... I sort of hoped that I
wouldn't. That I could just be a normal guy like everyone
else at school.
"Ready for the big day?" my Dad asked as I went
inside, looking just a little uncomfortable with the whole
thing but obviously trying to be supportive.
Mom was immediately next to me, putting her arm on my
shoulder, "Don't get your hopes up too much," she warned me
gently, though I could see the hope in her eyes, "You know
that it's just as likely you won't change." She gave me a
quick kiss on my cheek, making me pull away in
embarrassment, "But I'll love you just as much either way."
"Mom," I protested as I pulled away, wiping my cheek
off as though it was infected. Geez, I was way too big for
her to be doing stuff like that to me. At least it wasn't
somewhere in public where I'd really have been embarrassed
by it.
A short while later, the sun was just beginning to
set. Mom had come out dressed only in her robe, the really
large one that she usually wore just before changing. She
gave me a smile that was supposed to comfort me, but didn't
do much. I was way too nervous, though still trying hard
not to show it.
"You should put a robe on too," Mom warned me, giving
me a careful look. "If you do change, you have no idea what
it might be into and it's always best to be prepared."
"I'm fine," I grumbled defiantly, deciding that I was
perfectly fine in the jogging suit that I'd put on. After
all, I was sort of hoping that I wouldn't change at all
anyway and didn't want to help that along any more than I
really had to.
Mom just rolled her eyes at that, muttering something
that sounded like, "Teenagers..." under her breath. Then
she looked up clock and said, "We should get outside now."
She gave me another speculative look, "Just in case."
I grumbled at that but did as she asked, realizing
that if I did turn into something like an elephant, being
inside the house might not be such a good idea. However,
the thought about it kind of brought a smile to my face.
Then Mom turned to Dad, giving him a steady look.
"You should probably stay inside for awhile." She gave him
another look that suggested that he had better do as she
said.
Dad nodded, then turned to me, "Good luck Trey." And
with that, he went back inside, leaving just me and Mom out
there on the porch.
After a few seconds, Mom stepped off of the porch and
into the grass, taking a few more steps before stopping and
looking up at the sky. I hesitated, then glanced down at
the porch and remembered the whole elephant thing again. It
probably wouldn't be a good idea to stay on the porch
either... just in case.
I stood on the ground, though made sure to keep a
good distance from my Mom. This whole situation was weird
enough and reminded myself that whatever happened, Changing
Day would soon be over... or never even have happened.
A minute later, I noticed it. The changes in my Mom's
face. I'd seen her changing often enough to recognize the
changes at the first sign. And at the same time, I suddenly
aware of a strange tingling through my own body. I let out
a faint gasp at that, knowing exactly what it meant. I
really was a Were... and this was my awakening as such.
"Mom..." I gasped out, unsure of what to say as I
could feel the changes occurring within my body.
Everything inside of me seemed to be moving around.
All of my bones and muscles were altering... changing. But
into what, I didn't know. Even my skin was beginning to
feel strange, though I couldn't quite explain how, even to
myself. All I knew was that soon, I would no longer be
human... and that I was scared.
Suddenly, my legs seemed to turn to jelly and dropped
out from under me. I collapsed to the ground rather hard,
feeling the tingling especially hard on my legs. There was
a strange sensation from my crotch, then a strong
discomfort from my jogging suit pants. I suddenly wished
that I'd listened to my Mom's advice about wearing a robe
instead.
With a grunt, I pulled at my pants, noticing that my
hands looked different. My fingers looked sort of longer
and more slender. However, I didn't spare time to examine
them as I finished pulling off the jogging suit pants, then
got a look at my legs, letting a loud gasp as I did so. My
legs were sort of fused at my crotch... and quickly fusing
more and more all the way down. It was like a single piece
of flesh all the way down to my knees... until they too
fused into one.
The changes that ran through my body seemed to take
forever, yet at the same time they were occurring with
incredible speed. They were happening so fast that I
couldn't take note of all of the changes or keep track of
what was still changing.
Another look at my legs revealed that they had fused
completely... that they were now being covered with blue
scales. My legs... now looked like a tail, similar to a
fish tail. But that was impossible... Mom had told me that
there weren't any Were fish... or Were insects. That it
just didn't happen that way.
Just then, the changes finally stopped, though I
remained where I was on the ground, feeling extremely
strange and confused. I sat myself up, fully aware that I
still had arms so couldn't be a fish, but that only made me
even more confused.
I took a long look at my legs... or the blue scaled
tail, which had taken their place. The moonlight seemed to
shimmer off the scales in a strange... and even beautiful
way. However, that effect ended at the waist... where my
skin became normal human skin... or at least something of
the kind since it was smooth pale and creamy.
"What the?" I gasped, suddenly noticing the weight on
my chest.
My hands grasped at the large mounds that were now
present on my chest, and there was absolutely no denying
the fact that they were breasts. I had a pair of boobs...
though a part of my mind quickly filled in that they were
very nice boobs at that. Big, round and firm. Yes, very
nice. With nipples that were a lot bigger than my old ones
were too.
"Holy shit!" I exclaimed, only barely stunned at the
fact that I could still talk.
A quick look revealed that even though I had that
blue tail, from the waist up I seemed to be completely
human. Except of course for the fact that I happened to be
a GIRL human. And quite a shapely one from the little I
could see. Then I caught sight of my hair, which now
spilled down, around my shoulders. It was blue. Dark blue.
"Holy Shit," I repeated again, feeling completely
confused.
Finally, I looked over at my Mom, who was now
entirely a gorilla. And she was staring back at me with as
much of a look of surprise that a gorilla's face was
capable of showing. But there was even more surprise in her
eyes.
"What am I?" I demanded in fear and anger, though I
already knew the answer to that. After a single glance, I
would have had to be completely stupid not to.
Still, Mom went up to the porch and came back with
the blackboard and chalk, which she used to communicate
when she was in gorilla form. She quickly wrote, "MERMAID"
on the board, confirming what my own eyes had already told
me. Then she wiped the chalk away and wrote something else,
hesitating a moment before showing me the boards words.
"YOU ARE MYTHIC."
For a long moment, I just stared at my Mom as if she
was crazy. I wasn't a mythic. I couldn't be a mythic. They
were the rarest kind of Weres... the strange even among the
strange. But then again, being a mermaid... that's exactly
what I was... like it or not.
I grunted and shifted position, frustrated that I
couldn't get to my feet. Then again, at the moment I didn't
even have any feet. I could only drag myself around, which
wasn't a very pleasant idea. Fortunately, the grass that I
was on was pretty soft.
Just then, my Mom held up a hand for me to wait, then
went off into the house. She came back several minutes
later, holding the mirror off of the living room wall. Then
she held it up so that I could get a good look at myself.
My eyes went wide at the sight, seeing that I had a
very pretty face, framed by all of my long, dark blue hair.
And then there were the eyes. They were a little larger
than normal and almost entirely blue within. Definitely not
the normal eyes of a human.
For several minutes, I just stared at myself, first
in the mirror then directly. Then I looked up at my Mom,
feeling completely stunned by what had happened.
"What am I going to do?" Tears went running down my
cheeks... coming unbelievably easy.
Mom just stared at me, then looked off across our
yard for a moment. Finally, she wrote something on the
board and showed it to me. "SWIM." Then she pointed across
the yard to the lake before writing something else.
"MERMAIDS LIKE WATER."
"But..." I started, thinking that now was not the
time to go swimming. I was a freak... I couldn't even stand
up on my own like that.
However, without wasting time to write any more, Mom
picked me up and used her gorilla's strength to carry me
towards the lake... in spite of my protests. Then at the
end of our small dock, she unceremoniously dropped me
straight into the water.
I tried to yell at her, but was completely surrounded
by water. I quickly came to the surface and splashed my Mom
as hard as I could, but she'd stepped back and avoided most
of the water. Then she just stuck her tongue out at me,
making me angrier... until I burst out laughing. A gorilla
sticking it's tongue out at you is an odd sight.
Suddenly, I realized something strange. The water
should have been extremely cold... but I felt perfectly
comfortable. I didn't feel chilled in the least. Obviously
it was something to do with my being a mermaid at the
moment. And as I floated there, I was rather amazed to
notice just how comfortable I felt in the water. At just
how good it actually felt against my skin.
"Weird," I whispered.
And unable to help myself, I dove under the water,
submerging myself completely. It felt so incredible, and to
my amazement, my eyes remained open when my normal
instinctive reaction is to close them when I'm under water.
And even more amazing was the fact that I could actually
see... and quite well at that. Far more than I would have
been able to wearing goggles during the day.
Then with a nervous grin, I decided to try out my new
tail. With just a couple swishes, I was propelling myself
through the water with unbelievable speed and grace. And it
was easy. So easy to move around in the water. My altered
body was certainly built for just that environment.
As I shot through the water, after several minutes,
it dawned on me that I hadn't gone up for air yet. Nor had
I felt any need to. It took me another few seconds before I
became aware of the fact that I had been breathing the
whole time... though certainly not the normal way. It had
just been so instinctive to breath through what I assumed
were gills of some sort, that I hadn't even noticed it
until then.
I shook my head, grinning faintly in spite of myself.
Then I decided to check out the bottom of the lake so
headed down. It was quite a disappointment, making me frown
at all of the mud, gravel and stuff. There were even a few
tires and cans, but very few. But for the most part the
lake bottom seemed to be pretty free of that kind of junk.
For the next... I don't know how long, I swam around,
trying to get used to my new body and the unbelievable
freedom that it gave me under the water. I never would have
imagined it possible before then. I could even out race
some of the fish... proving that by catching one of them in
my hands before letting it go. My disgust at turning into
what I had was quickly evaporating under the thrill of
exploration.
Eventually, I surfaced again, finding that I was
almost all the way on the other side of the lake. But
somehow, I had already known that, sensing exactly which
direction I would have to go to return home, even though I
had been all over the place and in every direction under
the water. It appeared that I had some sort of ability to
sense where I was as well.
"Cool," I gasped into the night air, suddenly
thinking about the fortune that I could make searching for
sunken ships and lost treasure. I would be better than any
normal diver ever could.
After waiting a few more seconds, I started back
towards the shore. I quickly arrived at the dock and
started pulling myself up onto it, finding that it was
quite a bit more difficult to do without legs. Fortunately,
my Mom saw me and helped me back up, then much to my
embarrassment; she picked me up again, this time carrying
me towards the house.
"Put me down," I protested, though she didn't do so
until we were inside.
She set me down on the couch, though I couldn't help
noticing that she'd already spread out some thick blankets
over it before we'd gone in. Obviously she didn't want me
to get it all soaked, which I was already doing to some
degree.
"Man this is weird," I muttered, looking down at
myself, then at my hands. And for the first time, I noticed
that not only were my hands very feminine... but that I had
a little bit of webbing between my fingers. "Double
weird..."
It was only then that I noticed my Dad standing off
to the side, staring at me with both his mouth and eyes
wide open. I almost laughed at the expression on his face,
though he quickly tried to recover and act as though
everything was normal. That just made it harder for me to
contain the laugher.
"Um..." my Dad started, gesturing towards me and then
turning his eyes away.
"Huh?" I asked, looking down and realizing what he
meant. I had a nice big pair of boobs... and I was
completely topless. But that was normal... at least the
topless part. Still, I flushed in embarrassment and used
one of the blankets on the couch to cover myself up with.
"I can't believe I'm a fish," I snorted, flicking my
tail a bit and drawing my Dad's attention to it. Better
that than my boobs I guessed.
After a minute, Mom came back in the room, this time
wearing the apron that she often wore while in her gorilla
form. And she was carrying a tray with several cups on it,
handing one of them to me. I smiled as I picked up the mug
of hot chocolate, thanking her before taking a sip. It even
had the marshmallows in it that I liked.
None of us said a word as we sipped at our chocolate
and watched TV, or at least pretended that we were watching
TV. There was no doubt that not only my attention was on my
altered body, but so were my parents. It was definitely
strange, not just the way I felt but the way they were
looking at me and trying to pretend that they weren't. Dad
was especially bad about it.
Finally, Mom glared at Dad and used the board to tell
him to go to bed. After all, he did have to get up early
for work in the morning. Dad didn't even argue with her,
even though it was obvious that he wanted to stay a bit
longer. But then again, Dad never really argued with Mom
when she was a gorilla. Maybe that was the reason that she
liked spending so much time as one.
"Um... good night," Dad told me as he got up to
leave. Then he paused to give me a gentle smile and rubbed
my hair, just like he did normally. And even though I
normally didn't particularly like that habit of his, at the
moment it felt comforting. It made things seem just a
little more normal. "See you in the morning son."
"G'night," I told him, turning my attention back down
to myself and giving a wry smile as I thought that the word
'son' might not be the most accurate at the moment.
Fortunately though, I knew that all Were transformations
would end with sunrise and I would be back to my normal
self. At least until the next full moon... or unless I
decided to change again on my own.
I remained where I was for a few more minutes, then
began scratching at my skin. I pulled back the blanket,
feeling just a little dry and itchy. Mom noticed that and
stared at me thoughtfully before going into the kitchen and
coming back with a wet sponge. Without wasting the time to
write on the chalkboard, she handed the sponge to me and
stood back.
"What's this?" I asked, giving her a curious look.
She took it back, then wiped the sponge over my shoulder,
making the itching stop there. "Oh," I responded in
understanding. Apparently my mermaid skin preferred being
kept damp and Mom had figured it out. "Joy."
With that, I gave myself a careful sponge bath on the
couch, feeling much better once I had done so.
Unfortunately, I realized that it could provide a small
problem when it came time to go to bed. I mean, I might
have had the body of a mermaid but I sure as hell didn't
have any intention of spending the night in the lake.
For the next several hours, I stayed up late and
examined my body. My Mom had excused herself from the room
with a real flimsy excuse just to give me that opportunity.
I was kind of thankful for that since I was definitely
curious about my altered body and needed a bit of privacy
to look it over.
Eventually though, I was pretty tired and ready for
bed, though somehow I didn't think that I'd actually be
able to get to sleep. However, there was still the problem
of my skin drying out while I slept since I'd had to sponge
myself about every hour or so it seemed. Of course, once I
thought about it, the solution was pretty obvious, though
not extremely comfortable. I ended up going to bed in the
bathtub... with it filled about half way.
"Damn skin," I complained as I tried going to sleep,
feeling cramped but at least moist. Somehow, I really
didn't think that I'd be able to handle sleeping in the tub
every full moon.
As I lay there in the tub, my hands slowly roved over
my body, amazed by the smooth skin of my human half... and
the strangeness of my new tail. And of course, they rested
for a very long period on my new breasts and nipples,
finding that it felt rather nice. It was in that position
that I eventually drifted off to sleep.
When I awoke in the morning, I was stiff and
uncomfortable, especially as I was laying in 4 inches of
water. But it hadn't been just that which had awoken me,
but the sensations of my body changing back to normal. I
climbed out of the tub, emptying it as I did so. And though
I briefly thought that I might as well take my morning
shower while I was already in there... I decided that I'd
already had my share of water and the tub for the moment.
"Just great," I complained as I grabbed a towel to
cover myself and then made my way to my nice soft
comfortable bed for a few extra hours of real sleep.
After several more hours, I was finally ready to get
up for real. I sat on the edge of my bed, staring down at
my familiar body. I gulped as I thought about the night
before, knowing that it hadn't been a dream. It had been my
awakening.
"I'll never think of the Little Mermaid the same way
again," I grumbled as I got dressed and made my way to the
kitchen for breakfast.
Mom was already sitting in the kitchen when I got
there, sipping at her coffee and reading the newspaper. She
glanced up at me but didn't say a word as I went about
pouring myself some cereal.
Finally, Mom asked, "Are you all right?"
"Just peachy," I muttered.
She gave me a steady look at that, setting her coffee
down and saying, "I know that it will take a bit to get
used to, but your Were form is just as much a part of you
now as this one."
I grunted at that and took a bite of my cereal rather
than answer. Mom just sighed, shaking her head faintly.
"Well," she told me with a faint smile, "I suppose
that with your... unique Were form, we should get what we
need to help make things a little easier."
"Things?" I asked blankly.
"For one," she stated matter of factly, staring me
straight in the eyes, "I think that a bikini top might be
in order for when you change." Then she gave me a look as
if daring me to argue with her. I might not like it, but I
wasn't dumb enough to do that at the moment, even if she
wasn't currently a gorilla. "We can get a large wading pool
too," she continued thoughtfully once she saw that I wasn't
going to argue, "For you to sleep it."
"I'd prefer a bed," I grumbled, though seeing that a
wading pool would be a hell of a lot more comfortable and
roomy than the bathtub.
"Well maybe we can put a tarp on your mattress and
let you use soaking wet blankets," she muttered, almost
more to herself than to me. "That might work too. But we'll
still need the pool..."
At this, Mom drifted into her own thoughts and I
stopped really listening to her. Instead, I was thinking
about how my being a Were was going to change my life. It
was definitely going to make having any dates on a full
moon night out of the question. Unless maybe she was into
skinny dipping...
Then I suddenly thought about my cousin Darek,
wondering what he would think about my being a mythic. And
about being a mermaid. It was definitely strange,
especially the part about turning into a girl when I went
Were. No, I decided that I wasn't going to tell Darek. It
was WAY too embarrassing, and somehow I just didn't think
that he would understand.
For a long time, I just remained where I was,
thinking about what this meant for my future. Of course
things were going to change. Of that there was no doubt.
I'd always known that there was a good likelihood of being
Were like my Mom, but not like this. At least some things
were still going to be the same, even if that included some
of the ones I wasn't thrilled with. Things like school and
acne. Now, I would just not only have to deal with being a
teenager and all that came with it, but I would also have
to deal with what it meant... to be Were.
THE END