Personal Development
Two contemporary high school seniors go on a field trip for their philosophy class and discover the animals in their own minds.
Personal Development
In a Dream Updated February 6th, 2012 Daniel leaned against the locker, arms crossed over his abused abdomen. He could glare at the jock who had just put a fist into his gut, but that never did any good and usually only got him punched again anyway. So he held his face in as pained a look as he could. "Every day you screw up, I'll remind you," the jock hissed. "Don't look at her, don't glance at her, don't fantasize about her, just forget it fucker. She's mine and she's gonna stay that way. You ain't big enough to satisfy her. The guys don't call me 'monster' for nothin'. She likes my size, and I ain't talking about my muscles. I don't want twerps like you lookin' at her. Makes me angry. You don't wanna see me angry." Daniel didn't want to see this asshole at all honestly, but it was hard to avoid the guy in this senior year at high school. Daniel stayed late to help the theater department. Tony stayed late for sports. Then Tony hunted Daniel down almost daily regardless of whether there was a real offense or an imagined one. The issue Tony had was that Daniel had an elective philosophy class with Sandra, the girl in question. Tony couldn't stand that class. Daniel was pretty well-liked in the class and the top student there, so Sandra talked about him to Tony, and Tony harassed Daniel because of it. Not much he could do about it really. Tony left him with his aching gut and stalked off down the hallway. Daniel was seriously considering dropping the class. He didn't need it to graduate. But he was looking forward to the field trip that was coming in three weeks. As long as Tony didn't do anything too extremely bad he should be able to make it through. Considering that Daniel did actually have his eye on Sandra from a distance, he had more reason to be worried. He'd been in school with her for almost 10 years now. Once he got past the "girls are icky" stage, she kept his attention most of the time. But she never really seemed like an achievable goal, so he didn't worry. She was very fetching, though not the best looking girl in the school. She was very fiery in her personality and a very intelligent young woman. Some guys had wooed her in the past because she was very big about the idea that when she old enough, she wanted to experience the pleasures of the flesh with a boyfriend. Tony was the guy lucky enough to be her long term boyfriend finally. Everybody knew that Tony was hung like a mule. He made a point of wearing pants tight enough to show it off anyway. At least until that physical attribute got Sandra. Daniel honestly didn't care about Sandra's desires for sex like every other guy did. He had an early birthday himself, so he had turned 18 barely into his senior year. Not that he needed that as an excuse anyway. Unlike most of the guys who wished desperately for some sex and boasted about it even though they had never seen a girl naked except online, he had a bit of experience even before he turned 18. Not that his parents would ever find out. Daniel had enough extra study in the category that he attracted the attention of a number of really ditzy girls who liked a mature, intelligent, senior... with money to buy stuff for them. Daniel wasn't rich, but he saved what he had well and spent wisely. Which meant that none of his girlfriends ever stuck around when they found out he wouldn't shower them with gifts. So he was stuck with greedy girls looking for him and the one girl who actually appeared to have a mind and attracted his attention was taken by the huge dick. The huge dick with a big package. Daniel tried to lay lower in the class for the few weeks of wait. It was halfway effective for the most part. Tony only managed to bug him about every other day instead of every day. Sandra did approach him directly at several points regarding his change in attitude in the class. He brushed her off since he didn't want her discussing him with Tony. The weeks went by without too much other event. Daniel dealt with his sore gut and waited patiently for the field trip. Finally the day came. A full day off school to travel about three hours away by bus and get a showcase of some philosophy and psychology technology. He was looking forward to the demonstration part of it especially. It was described as a computer-generated mass trance of self-discovery and personal development. Daniel was always interested in the way the mind worked and the mention of a computer-generated trance was intriguing to him. He liked to study psychology and philosophy to figure out as much as he could. What made people tick? What made him tick? Daniel was delayed by the instructor before they loaded onto the bus so he ended up being the last person in line to get on. It was a full bus. The field trip was limited to the top students in the class with about twelve left behind. At first he considered being ecstatic about the fact that the only seat remaining was the one beside Sandra, but he realized that everybody else was afraid of her boyfriend. Tony was bad enough to even accuse some females of being lesbians and trying to hit on Sandra. Everybody just avoided her for the most part. He took the seat with some trepidation. Sandra smiled at him and started to say something but he didn't catch it as he pulled out his iPod to listen to his music. He didn't want to give Tony any more ammunition so he couldn't afford to fraternize with Sandra. He worked hard to ignore how close she was. He tried to overlook the fact that she was reading a book he liked. He tried to ignore her pleasant smell and good looks. It was all hard enough as it was. When she fell asleep and slumped to lean against his shoulder, her hand falling onto his leg, it became distinctly more difficult. The trip was over too fast though and he nudged her awake so he could get free to stand up. She thanked him for the shoulder to sleep on but he turned his back on her, red-faced as he made his way off the bus. He glanced long enough to see that she was hurt, but there wasn't a thing he could do. He had to hope she didn't tell Tony that he let her sleep on his shoulder or he'd end up with more than a sore gut. "Man, you have some serious balls, Dan. Tony's gonna kill you if he finds out you let her sleep on your shoulder," one of the other students murmured to him. Daniel considered for a moment and sighed. "It was almost worth it though. She likes the same books as me." "What, you weren't staring at her tits? You had a perfect view down her shirt!" "Didn't notice. Don't care. Had enough girls flash their tits at me anyway." "So why didn't you stay with them and get some hot sex?" "Too expensive and too ditzy. I have money to spend because I work hard and save it, not because I have rich parents or anything. If I spent it on some mindless chick, I wouldn't have any, would I?" "Aw, man, but the sex! Ya gotta think about the sex!" Daniel looked at the guy. "If I just wanted to pay for sex, I'd hire a cheap whore. Cost less than these girls anyway. Probably smarter too." "Fuck that. Just be careful about Sandra. Tony hits hard." Daniel shrugged and nodded, then just walked away as the class started heading towards the building. The whole trip was very interesting. Daniel found it so at least. He saw that some other students didn't seem bored either. He was pleased to see that Sandra was lookinginterested also, though he couldn't show it. She tried to approach him a few times in the tour, but he found a way to avoid her each time. He noticed that she was hurt by his avoidance and he didn't like having to, but her boyfriend was seriously dangerous. They finally got to the part Daniel was looking forward to. The computer generated trance. They were all ushered into a small auditorium where a man in a lab coat took the stage. Daniel hardly paid attention to the man's speech. He was distracted by the fact that Sandra had pushed her way to take the seat beside him. He at least caught the mention of some of the more important parts. The computer would generate a trance in everybody with visual and audio signals. Some of the aspects of the trance were controlled by the signals, while other aspects were controlled by each individual's psyche. The trance itself would only last about 30 seconds of real time, but participants would be in a lucid dreaming state that could seem to be days or even weeks of time during this trance. They could meet anybody in the trance or nobody at all, though they were more likely to meet people sitting nearby or who had a major influence in their lives. People would invariably find their own personal appearance changed in the trance. Hidden aspects of their psyche would contribute to their self-perception in the dream as well as their perception of other people they saw. The computer aspects would cause their mind to set forth challenges for them in an attempt to help itself grow. When they came out of the trance it would fade like a dream. But the accomplishments in the dream would stay with them and for most people would help in their real life. Daniel was more distracted as Sandra glared at him for a moment before watching the screen with a huff in his direction. He felt bad for ignoring her but he really didn't want to get Tony on his case. He really did have a harder time of ignoring her after the close proximity in both the bus and here in the theater-style seating. But in a moment, he'd have thirty seconds of real life... and who knows how long of dream time... where he wouldn't have to worry. The doctor left the stage and the room darkened as a test pattern filled the screen. Daniel focused on the spot indicated on the pattern as a rising tone fed though the room. The screen changed to a strange set of flashing patterns and the sound changed to what seemed to be just white noise. It definitely made him feel dizzy as he got the sense of blacking out. The last thing he was aware of was Sandra's hand falling on his thigh before his vision tunneled to black.
* * *
Daniel blinked at the light from a sunny sky shining down on him. He felt strange. His clothing felt odd. His hearing seemed wrong. His balance seemed off. And there was something protruding from his face. He reached up to swat away whatever it was and ended up smacking his own nose. "What the hell?" he muttered, rubbing the projecting nose and peering at a furred and clawed hand. His eyes followed fur up his arm and beneath the t-shirt. He felt his own face, discovering a pointed muzzle, whiskers, and thick fur. Two pointed ears graced the top of his head. He looked down at two large footpaws and his legs were definitely the wrong shape. They were like animal hind legs instead of human legs. "I'm a werewolf?!" he exclaimed. "Dude, you look more like a fox. Fluffy red tail and all that shit," said a voice behind him. Daniel spun to see the guy who had talked to him after the bus ride standing there dressed like a mobster. "At least I ended up human." "Whatever. Doesn't matter since we each have our own vision," Daniel grumbled. "You're just a figment of my imagination." "Good point. I'm outta here. Have fun, fuzzy," the other guy said, straightening his jacket and walking off behind an outcropping of rock. Daniel blinked and took a moment to examine his surroundings. He was standing in a gulley, thick grass beneath his feet and a stream flowing through a cut in the rock nearby. He ran up the stream to where he had seen the other guy go, but there was no sign of him. Must have vanished or whatever. Daniel could see no easy way out of the gulley. Sheer rock walls about ten feet high bracketed both sides of it. He jogged a ways upstream, looking for an exit, but ended up facing a waterfall coming down a good fifty feet or more. No egress there. Turning around, he tried the other way, but the walls closed in before the flowing stream vanished beneath them in a space far too small for him to fit through. What the hell? Was his dream world limited to this tiny stretch of stream in this gulley? He took some time to examine the walls more closely, looking for any way to climb out, but they really weren't going to allow him any shortcuts. Finally he gave in and tried jumping up out of desperation. The first thing he discovered was that his new legs had a lot more jumping power than he would ever have in real life. He was able to get his fingers up to the edge. Unfortunately the second thing he discovered was that even with claws, he had absolutely no grip on the stone edge and simply fell back down. How frustrating! "Daniel?! So you became a fox. How interesting." He looked up the rock wall behind him, across the stream, surprised to hear Sandra's voice. What was she doing here? He was even more surprised to see her in the form of a humanoid cat. Orange tabby from the looks of it. "You're a... you're... a..." "Cat. Observant of you. Took this to get you to stop ignoring me, huh? What the hell is wrong with you Daniel? You've been avoiding me for weeks! Get your tail up here. You've got some explaining to do." "I can't get out. Smooth rock walls and no grip at the top," he replied meekly. "Oh, fuck that," she spat, leaping over the gulley and landing atop the ledge above him. She squatted down at the edge and dropped her hand down towards him. "Grab on." "Are you strong enough to pull me up?" he asked, surprised. "Cats are strong. I'm a cat. I can try at least." He shrugged and jumped up, catching her hand. She reached down with her other hand and caught his wrist more securely, pulling him partway up. Then she paused. "You'd better promise not to ignore me here, or I'll drop you." "Well, we each get our own vision, so I guess I can promise that. She's just in my head," he muttered to himself. "What was that?" "Okay, I promise," he said more loudly. She hauled him the rest of the way up, overbalancing herself and falling over backwards, pulling him atop her accidentally. She was no less appealing covered in fur than she was in real life and the situation definitely brought red to his face, though he doubted it was visible through the fur. He tried to roll off her with an apology, but she wrapped her arms around him and kept tight hold of him. "You keep trying to avoid me! Quit that!" she hissed. "Well, I wasn't on top of you before..." "Okay, okay... You're the only person I've found here that I like, so you'd better not go anywhere." She let him go reluctantly. He rolled off her and sat up beside her, taking a better look around now that he was out of the gulley. The entire area was rolling hills and grass and copses of trees. He could see the cliff that the waterfall came down and the path leading up it. It reminded him a lot of Nagrand from World of Warcraft in fact. Weird what the psyche brought up. "So why have you been avoiding me so much?" He looked up to see her staring at him intently and averted his gaze. "I'd rather not say. It's a me thing." "Fine. Then we'll talk about something else. What do you like to read? I saw your music list on the bus. Nice songs. Do you like movies? Do you like sports? What's your favorite color? What do you think of the chaos theory?" His gaze shot up at the last question. "Errr...?" "If we're going to have who-knows-how-long in this dream, I wanna talk to somebody with a brain," she said. Daniel thought about this. This was his perception of her. Maybe he was flattering himself, but hey, there were worse ways to spend the dream trance. There were no rules about what he did, or what he didn't do. So spending time with her was perfectly reasonable. "Well... You were reading one of my favorite books on the bus..." he began. It went well from there. They ended up spending days just talking. It seemed that in the dream trance, they didn't need to sleep or eat or anything. He might have been putting his own words and thoughts into her mouth, but he still found it pleasant to chat with her in a place where he didn't have to worry about Tony. Finally they ran out of easy things to talk about. A small awkward silence ensued until she suddenly perked up. "There's a lake up on that cliff! We can take a nice swim!" He looked up the cliff. It was night, but the weather in his dream was comfortable. "Okay, I guess that sounds like an idea." She scrambled to her feet and scampered off towards the path leading up. He followed close behind, wondering if his own tail looked as interesting from behind as hers did. Soon they were at the top of the cliff and there was indeed a lake there, cut into a natural depression in the rock. He dreamt well. He was peering at the crystal-clear water when her movement caught his attention. His mouth dropped open when he realized she had just pulled her shirt off and was busy unclasping her bra. That fell to the ground and she began to unfasten her shorts before he caught his wits. "What are you doing?!" She looked up at him. "Undressing. You've never gone skinny dipping before? Hell, I don't want wet clothes -and- wet fur. Anyway, it's just a dream vision from the trance thing. What does it matter?" Her shorts fell around her ankles. "You can swim in your clothes if you really want to though." Her panties slid down her legs to join her shorts and she stepped out of them, then into the water, leaving him gaping. Even with a cat body and animal-shaped legs, she was lovely. He mulled over her observations. She was right; it was just a dream. He pulled off his own shirt and tugged off his pants and underwear. He was surprised to find that he had a sheath beneath his underpants, like a dog did. What was this? Some hidden kink of his or just his deep psyche? But at least it helped him feel more comfortable, since he wasn't dangling. He stepped into the water, enjoying the chill feel of the wet through his warm fur. This was really a pretty cool experience. Something he would definitely buy if he could. He was waist deep in the water and just decided to sit, sinking in up to his neck. Sandra stood up instead and stretched backwards in the moonlight. Okay. He thought she was feetching before, but doing that, she was just plain beautiful. His attention was evident to her in his perked ears and slightly lolling tongue. Strange how animal forms created communication that the human form didn't. Her tail flicked avidly as she watched him, then suddenly pounced, knocking him back in the water. He sputtered as he came up for air, nose to nose with her. "Enough of this 'me thing'," she growled. "Why have you been ignoring me?!" He drew back, his ears laid flat back, but she dug clawed fingers against his shoulders, keeping him from moving further. Finally he gave in. "Tony hits me just about every day for even just looking at you. He doesn't want me looking at you or even being around you. If I'm not careful he'll beat the crap out of me." She blinked, obviously surprised at this answer. "He threatened you? And hit you?" "He does that to everybody," Daniel informed her. "He even threatens girls who get too close to you and accuses them of being lesbians and trying to get you. He's very possessive." "What a shit head..." she muttered, shaking her head with a sigh. "Well, he is your boyfriend," Daniel muttered sullenly. "Yeah... He is..." she said sullenly, her ears laying back. "You don't sound happy. Why are you with him then?" She looked at him measuringly, struggling with herself for a while. "You have to promise not to laugh or think badly of me..." she murmured. "I promise. I've heard a lot from people." "I just like his cock..." she whispered, almost too softly for him to hear. "It can't be that important, can it?" "I... I think I'm a nympho... Or something. I crave sex. Kind of. Well, really I crave the feeling of sex.... and other good things. But I don't want to be a slut. I just want one guy. I did try other guys before him, but really it just wasn't too good. He's just as fast as the other guys but at least he fills me up more, so it kinda makes up for it. I want the feelings and I don't think I can do without them." She hung her head, looking ashamed. Daniel was speechless for a while. What a thing for his mind to come up with. But he could play along with it. He thought for a while. "All fast guys? Did you try with any older guys?" She looked at him with a frown. "I'm 18. I want somebody my age. I'm not like those girls who want cradle robbers and old guys." "It sounds like you're a hedonist," he observed. "A what??" "A hedonist. You said you want the good feelings. A hedonist is somebody who likes things that feel good. Sex is part of that for some of them." "Well, yeah, that sounds about right. Just all the guys want is sex. It feels good enough, so it works." She squirmed slightly in response to the candid discussion. "Sounds like you need a guy who does more making love than having sex," Daniel muttered. "Yeah, as if such a guy exists. Romance novels aren't real, Danny boy. That's why girls need to read them." "You've only seen high school kids though." "Yeah, and as long as they jump, hump, pump, and dump, I'm stuck with needing a big cock. Nobody does anything else." "You're kidding. You haven't heard Emily's gossip? Oh, wait... Emily was threatened by Tony too..." "Yeah, she avoids me too. Nice to know why now though. So what about this gossip?" Daniel realized he was in a bind all of a sudden. "Well, um..." "Spit it out." "Well, she was happy about a guy who made her cum twice without even screwing her. Then a bunch of bitchiness because he dumped her because he said she wasn't his type," Daniel said carefully. "Huh... yeah, I remember that. Guess I did hear about it." She glanced at him sideways. "Danny... She was bitching about you." He felt heat beneath his fur again. "Um... yeah... She was..." He fidgeted. "Well, she really wasn't my type. No mind, no thought, just wanted presents and stuff. Expensive ones." Sandra stared at him, her feline eyes glowing in the moonlight and her tail agitating the water behind her. "Did you really make her cum twice?" Daniel fidgeted more and averted his gaze. "Er... yeah." He felt her stare burning into him and her claws tightened on his shoulders. Then she began to shake. He winced, but he suddenly heard her giggling. "You look so cute with fox ears back like that!" She composed herself. "Daniel... I've never had anybody make me cum. I mean, toys, sure, but never anybody else but me." "That's... um... sad? I'm sorry." "Will you?" He jumped and looked up at her. "What?" "Will you make me cum? You said I should find somebody who makes love instead of just fucking. You can show me, right? It's just a dream trance after all. Can't hurt anything." Daniel wasn't sure if he could believe what he was hearing. What a hell of a thing for his mind to do to him. But his ears were perked and his libido piqued and she was right. What could it hurt? "Um... Okay. But we should get out of the water." "Why?" she asked, suddenly snuggling closer to him. He couldn't help but react physically. "I've done it in the pool with Tony." "Well, the water washes away natural lube. Makes things chafe." She jumped. "It did! So that's why it felt all wrong!" She got off him and strode out of the small lake, making good use of the sway of her hips and tail to get his eyes and finally himself to follow quickly. "I'm all wet... and it's fur... and you look like a soggy were fox... Wet Robin Hood. Ewww. I wonder..." She planted her feet wide and shook herself off furiously, sending water flying everywhere and laughing joyously at the results. "Ha! Now you're wetter! And I'm... all frazzly." Daniel grinned. "I bet I can fix that... But let me shake off first I think. I'm still dripping." He walked a ways away and shook off with slightly less vigor so that he would not re-wet her with his droplets. He turned back to her to see her lounging sultrily on the thickly mossy bank. "Yeah... You're not nearly as big as Tony. I don't think anybody is though," she observed. "Hey, don't ruin the mood!" he griped, his tail swaying in annoyance as he walked back to her. She was definitely frizzy, as was he. He dropped to sit beside her and leaned over until he was nose to nose with her. "I wonder if this will be easier or harder with a fox tongue and you having fur..." "If what will be...?" she began, but he cut her off with a kiss. She was reluctant at first. Likely never had a good kiss before. But he kissed her tenderly, not trying to tag her tonsils like he knew other guys liked to do, and she slowly began to relax as she discovered that kissing didn't have to involve the guy trying to choke her with his tongue. Once he had her relaxed and comfortable from just the kiss, he broke it and began to... well... groom her he guessed. Around the world in licks on a human girl... but grooming worked for a word here. He graced every inch of her body with soft licks, paying attention to what she liked and smoothing her fur, and soon had her purring in delight. Literally. She was out of breath when he was busily nibbling on her toes, his ears perked to her squeaks of delight. Then finally he began to let his hands play over her. Her squeaks became moans in short order as he tried his best to delight her and show her how much better things could be. It was almost an hour later, her body writhing in delight and him quite pleased with the results when she began to try to pull him onto her. She tugged at his flesh and pulled him closer. "Three for me and nothing for you. Daniel, you've shown me the good stuff. Show me how you get the good stuff too." He was sorely tempted, but reluctant. She sensed this easily in the tilt of his ears and his trying to pull away. "It's a private dream," she purred. "Nobody else will know." He gave in and moved to meet her. Maybe he was an average guy in size, but he kept his mind on helping her enjoy this part too. He did his darnedest to prove that size doesn't matter as much as how you use it. Judging from her reaction and her fourth explosive peak just before his own, he did a good job of it. They laid together in the afterglow with her soft purr creating a comfortable echo of both of their pleasure. "This is nice... This whole thing was so good. Tony just hops and pops and then rolls off and falls asleep or heads home. What a fucktard. I'm going to dump him and go with you instead if you'll do this for me." Daniel winced, his ears dropping back. "Tony would kill me if you did that!!" She grinned at him, sharp fangs accentuating the evil look in her eyes. "No he wouldn't. I know some stuff about him now that he definitely doesn't want anybody else to know. I can blackmail him into leaving you alone." Daniel reeled at the thought of things actually working out. Wow. Hell of a plot his subconscious came up with for this trance dream. His amazement snapped as he noticed Sandra crying quietly. "What's wrong?" he asked, concerned for her even in his dream. "I've wanted you to be like this ever since I started reading romance novels," she murmured. "I really want to dump Tony. He's such an asshat. I'd love it if you were like this for real. But I realize this is just my dream. You're just of my desires in my mind. You're not even real, no matter how much I wish you were." Daniel stared at her, shaking his head. "No, wait... this is my dream, so you're the one who's not real. I enjoyed this and all, and I really wish it could be this way, but I'm not going to let a creation of my imagination tell me I'm not real. I mean, you're a really great dream, and I still feel this way about the real you, but you're just the in my head you." He noticed the look of shock on her face. "Er... Aren't you?"
* * *
A loud ding suddenly broke him out of his dream as the thirty second trance period expired and the system woke everybody up. Daniel felt Sandra's hand clench on his thigh and his eyes met hers, both pairs quite wide. Nothing was spoken for a while, then she whispered, "Fox?" His jaw dropped and he nodded. "Cat?" She nodded, turning pale before she blushed furiously. "Did you have a dream with me in it as a cat, and I helped you out of a ravine, and we talked, and swam in a lake, and..." "And I... um... demonstrated what Emily was happy about?" Daniel finished, his own face turning red. She nodded rapidly. "Do you really do that in real life?" she demanded in a whisper. "Um... yes..." "Will you go out with me? Please?!" "What about Tony?!" "I already told you, I know something..." "...And can blackmail him out of the picture," Daniel finished. A huge smile crossed her face and she nodded. "Then I'd be so happy to do that for you. I've liked you since I can't remember!" They were left staring at each other in amazement as the lights came back up. They were vaguely aware of the person saying that the DVD was for sale on the web site and was recommended as a good way to develop your psyche better and overcome fears and other problems. Then they were ushered out, Daniel and Sandra leaving hand in hand and creating quite a stir amongst the other students. The guy who had stopped Daniel after the bus ride stopped him again, pulling him to the side as Sandra got on the bus. "I thought that would be more interesting, but I really only had some odd nightmares and flashes of stuff. Nothing really cool." Daniel looked at him cautiously. "No mobster scenes or streams of foxes?" "Nah. Just stupid flashing lights and stuff. Guess it doesn't work for everybody. But dude. What's up with you and Sandra? Tony is gonna hang you up as a punching bag when he finds out." Daniel grinned. "I'm not too worried anymore. Guess that the trance thing helped me get over that fear." "Fear, hell. Hope it helps you get over the pain too." Daniel shrugged and got on the bus, happily taking the seat beside Sandra and letting her snuggle against him. Seems the video trance thing worked wonders. Time for life to take a turn for the better. Sure enough, true to Daniel's word, the school was shocked when Sandra dumped Tony and he didn't do a thing about it. Amazing what a bit of personal development can do. * * * Liked the story? Click here to send the author a tip!
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