Marvelon volunteers for a mail delivery program at Cambridge's School of Magic, undergoing some physical adjustments along the way.

Commission for  marvelonthemagicalcat

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Cambridge University, School of Magic. Marvelon worked hard to get accepted to one of the most prestigious universities with a magic school, and he was just as excited to meet Reskao there. They both had applied at the same time, and both got their acceptance letters at the same time, but Reskao had to take a different way over there since he was coming from Texas and Marvelon was coming from Canada. Arriving at his dorm room, Marvelon finds Reskao’s already made it there as he’s in the room, all setup and studying already.

“Oh, Reskao, you’re here already!” Marvelon’s eyes light up as he enters and sets his bags down.

“Yep, got here three hours ago! This is all so cool! Real magic! I can’t believe we’re really going to learn magic!”

“Yeah, me neither, and I’m so glad to be able to learn it with you!”

“Same here, buddy! Now then, go ahead and unpack quickly, we’ve got orientation in an hour!”

“Oh, right!” Marvelon sets his bags down by his bed and starts unpacking everything, and they soon are on the way to the main lecture hall to attend the new student orientation. The lecture hall is very large, intended only for program-wide assemblies such as this. Despite it being difficult to get into Cambridge’s school of magic, there’s still nearly a thousand students attending orientation. Reskao and Marvelon shuffle their way in just before it starts, and as a consequence of arriving so late they’re stuck in the upper rows in the back. There’s quiet chatter among the students while the faculty prepares to begin, and suddenly they all quiet down as the head of the magic department comes on stage. Notably, there’s no modern technology to be seen on the stage apart from lighting. The professor simply presses two fingers to his neck and begins speaking.

“Welcome, welcome. I trust you all had no trouble finding your way here.” The professor’s voice booms across the lecture hall, as if he was using a professional surround sound system. “Welcome to Cambridge University’s School of Magic! You all have been chosen out of thousands of applicants based on your magical potential and several other related factors. My name is Professor McIntosh. I am the head of the school of magic and will be your host for this orientation. You will meet many other prominent faculty members, as well. Now, let us begin!” A burst of confetti appears in the air near Professor McIntosh’s head, and then he stops talking. He waves his hands and the lecture hall blurs and then settles quickly, and the students find themselves in the main hallway again.

“Now then, follow me!” Professor McIntosh leads the students around the campus, meeting with each of the department heads and seeing many of the classrooms each of them would be experiencing. At the end, they are all taken back to the lecture hall with another wave of the professor’s hand. “Now, before we end this, I have an open offer to every student here. If you wish to earn credits to skip the general education courses, there are openings in the school’s mail department. Simply head to the aviary to inquire about the positions offered. With that, you are all dismissed!” Professor McIntosh disappears with a puff of smoke and the stage is empty once more.

“You hear that, Reskao? We could skip all of our general classes!”

“Hmm…it’s tempting, but I am kind of looking forward to some of the general classes such as magical history!”

“Okay, well, suit yourself! I’m going to head to the aviary now!”

“Alright, see you back at the dorms!”

Marvelon makes his way to the aviary. He heads inside and takes in how expansive it is. From the doorway, one can easily see what seems like for miles. Thousands of birdcages line the walls from floor to ceiling. In the middle is a large courtyard in the middle of a large park complete with numerous different species of trees, shrubs, and other foliage. Marvelon feels a tap on his shoulder and spins around, and nearly jumps out of his skin when he sees an anthropomorphic raven standing in front of him. Though he could not smile, he certainly looked friendly enough. Marvelon tries to speak but keeps fumbling over his words.

“Hello there!” The raven chuckles as he happily greets Marvelon. “I take it you must be one of the new students, you clearly haven’t seen anyone like me before! My name’s Alexander Crone. I’m the chief ornithologist and postmaster here at Cambridge School of Magic! I simultaneously handle all of the birds you may see on the school’s grounds as well as every piece of mail that enters and leaves the campus. You needn’t be shy; I know it must be intimidating seeing a talking animal such as myself, but I promise I won’t bite!”

“Y-You’re a bird! Were you…born like this?” Marvelon finally speaks up with a bit of a stutter and then immediately becomes curious and inquisitive as usual.

“Oh, no, I chose this form due to my love for birds. I started off as a fresh student such as yourself. I obtained a job in the ornithology department during my graduate studies and became a full-time employee as an ornithologist after graduating. Due to working so well with the birds, they also had me handle the mail carriers and soon I became in charge of both! As to how I got like this, well, a third-year student was looking for volunteers for a project he was working on for his transfiguration classes. His project was to transform someone and then study the effects of staying in an animal-like form long-term. He let me choose which form to take, and naturally I chose the raven. Such majestic birds. Anyways, once the project was over, I came to love it so much I just stuck with it!”

“Wow, incredible! How long have you been like this?”

“Oh, it’s probably been four years now! The university has learned much from me, and I occasionally still will provide them more study material for long-term transformations. I really enjoy being able to help in such a way. But enough about me, what brings you here?”

“Oh, I came to ask about the job in the mail department, for the general education credit!”

“Ah, yes! I’m so glad you came, you’re actually the first one here! Yes, I am looking for some additional hands to work on a special project. You will still live out of your dormitory, but since the entire first year is all general education classes, you won’t have to worry about balancing classes and work. Your only focus will be working here.”

“Don’t the birds handle carrying the mail?”

“Yes, but we are experimenting with having a much more sapient species handle a specific task. We’re going to assign personal mail carriers to select students. You will be assigned to one of these select few students and handle all of their mail related needs, whether its just delivering mail to and from, or picking up stationery from our storeroom.”

“I see…does it pay?”

“Yes! Not only will you be paid in class credits, but you will also earn a wage while performing these services! Do you accept the job?”

“Yes! I’m eager to get started!”

“Excellent! Follow me then!” Alexander leads Marvelon back to his office. It looks much like a modern office except in one corner is an alchemy table and a bubbling cauldron. “I’ve just finished preparing a batch of the potion needed for this in anticipation of people coming. I truly hope more people come, as this isn’t easy to make! Wouldn’t want to waste any!”

“Potion? What for?”

“Oh! Just a potion to prepare you for the job. You’ll need to be able to fly, after all!”

“Wait, fly? I’m going to be able to fly?”

“Yep! Just drink this and let it do its thing.” Alexander scoops some of the bubbling concoction into a small glass vial and hands it to Marvelon. Marvelon takes a smell of it before drinking. It smells sweet, and like a mixture of berries but not too sweet like a concentrated fruit juice or soda. He shrugs and downs the vial rather quickly. The potion goes down smooth, and despite bubbling so much in the cauldron, was actually not warm at all. Marvelon hands the empty vial to Alexander who puts it away.

Marvelon then stops, staring at his hand as he notices black scales growing on the back of it, and spreading around. He looks at his other hand which has the same black scales growing in. He holds his hand and feels the scales as they grow in. “What kind of potion is this? My hands!” The scales spread around Marvelon’s hands and soon his fingernails are growing longer and sharper. They thicken into almost a conical shape and curl down, sinking into the nail beds.

“Oh, just a little potion to help you fly! I might have mixed in a little bit of transfiguration magic with the potion!”

Marvelon simply watches in fascination as black, downy feathers spread over his hands. As it reaches his upper wrists, longer flying feathers sprout from his arms and grow in to form a thick layer to assist with gliding through the air. “But…wait, wings? Am I turning into a bird?”

“That part is a surprise! Just watch and see!”

“O-Okay…” Marvelon remains quiet as the feathers spread up and over his shoulders and across his torso. They spread quickly down his legs and a growth comes out of his heel as his toes merge together into two digits. Black scales cover his feet as the two remaining digits narrow out and grow long, thick talons. The growth in his heel grows long and narrow, then cricks downward forming a third clawed digit behind the front two. Marvelon nearly loses his balance, but his arm wings help to keep him from falling over. As the feathers reach his neck, his nose and mouth stretch forward. His lips harden and feel tight as they spread out to form a large, hard black beak with a curled sharp tip.

Marvelon clicks his new beak as his nose flattens against it, with only nostrils left behind. His ears are soon consumed by feathers, shrinking away until only ear holes are left, and his head smooths out as his hair is finally consumed by short, slick feathers. His eyes are pushed to the sides by his beak and a short, feathered tail pops out from his pants, finishing off the transformation.

“I’m…a raven like you?”

“Actually, you’re a crow! Same family, just a different species.”

“And I can fly like this?” Marvelon flaps his arms a few times experimentally.

“Of course! But it will take some practice, which will be the beginning of your training.”

“Oh! When does that start?”

“Now!” Alexander waves a hand and soon the aviary blurs. Marvelon looks around to see where they are going but all he can see is blurs of cool colors. It soon calms down and settles into a grassy field. Cambridge can be seen in the distance. There’s a large perch that almost looks like a football field goal without the vertical posts. “Welcome to my practice grounds! This is where I come to practice flying or to just find some peace and quiet. We’ll be using this field to teach you how to fly!”

“Oh, alright…so how does this work, do I just flap my arms and I start flying?”

“Not exactly, you have to use magic to fly. An anthropomorphic bird like myself cannot fly without the assistance of magic, it’s just not physically possible. But the potion you drank gave you the power you need to fly with magic. Here’s what I do to get going: I take a nice, firm stance, look up at the sky, concentrate on visualizing myself soaring up into the air and then push off. If you do it right, you’ll soar into the air! Once in the air you can flap your wings and generally fly just like normal birds can. Go ahead and give it a try!”

Marvelon nods and looks up at the sky with a sense of deep concentration and holds his arms out to his sides. He stares up at the sky as if he’s trying to read something. He crouches, closes his eyes, and thrusts himself into the air. Marvelon feels the magic well up inside of him and boost him into the air by a good fifty feet. Feeling the wind over his feathers, Marvelon opens his eyes only to find himself hurtling towards the ground. He yelps and starts screaming, while Alexander quickly raises his hands to cast a spell to slow his fall. Marvelon comes within ten feet of the ground when he feels a burst of magic hit him and he stops falling suddenly, but not so sudden that it hurts. He remains floating in the air for a moment before he is gently lowered to the ground.

“Wow…that was…something else!” Marvelon says, chuckling.

“Yeah, I fell on my first time, too, don’t worry! Go ahead and give it another go; I’ll catch you if you fall again!”

“Alright!” Marvelon takes a few deep breaths before looking up to the sky again. This time he keeps his eyes open as he crouches, then pushes off. Just like before, he soars into the air, then levels himself out and spreads his wings. This allows him to glide through the air, just below the treetops. He banks left and right, then starts practicing changing altitude.

“Yeah, you got it! You look like a natural up there! Keep going!”

Marvelon waves down at Alexander as he keeps soaring. He then gains some speed and flies up higher, passing one hundred, then two hundred feet! He looks down as he soars over the school grounds and his heart flutters from the speed and height. Realizing that the air is getting thin, he starts descending and heading back for the field from where he took off. He stands straight up and spreads his talons out and aims for the perch but misses and tumbles to the ground. Alexander rushes to stop his tumbling before he makes it too far and gets hurt, but Marvelon’s clothes are rather dirty and a little torn.

“Woah, that was a rough landing. You made a good attempt at landing on that perch, but you came in just a little too high!”

“I guess I just need more practice then!”

“Yeah! Just keep practicing and you’ll get it!”

Marvelon takes to the skies again, making a few attempts at landing both on the grass and on the perch. After several hours of practicing, he is able to consistently land on target. Alexander even sets up some landing targets for Marvelon to practice on, each one of those being hit with an impressive level of accuracy.

“Now…” Alexander comes to Marvelon as he lands for the final time in practice and pats him on the back. “Let’s go back to the aviary and we’ll go over your specific duties.” Alexander waves his hands again; the world comes to a blur and within moments the two of them are back in the aviary standing in Alexander’s office. “Your job, as a personal mail assistant, will be to handle all mail for your assigned student as well as procure any stationery they need. It is your responsibility to make sure they never run out, so keep an eye on how much of everything your student has. Here, take this.” Alexander reaches into a drawer and pulls out a hat and messenger bag, then tosses them to Marvelon.

“Oh, my uniform?”

“Exactly. The blue cap identifies you as an official mail carrier, and the bag can be used to hold as much as you need to carry. Mail, stationery, everything. Just dump whatever you need in there and it will fit, no matter how much it is. Just remember that this bag is for official use only. Carrying mail and stationery. Any personal use will be found out and is strictly prohibited.”

“What happens if I get caught using the bag for personal things?”

“Then you’ll be spending a lot more time in the aviary, and not as a mail carrier.”

“Oh…” The realization quickly hits Marvelon. “I promise to use it properly then.”

“Good. Now then your assignment…let me see.” Alexander starts digging through a large filing cabinet with what seems to be thousands of files. The drawers extend for several feet despite it looking like a standard filing cabinet. After what feels like an eternity of him thumbing through folders, he pulls out a rather thin one. This one stands out because of how thin it is compared to the others. Must be a new student? Alexander reads through the file and smiles, then looks to Marvelon. “Found you the perfect fit. Here’s your assignment. You should probably leave soon and make sure to get them stocked!”

Marvelon takes the file and reads it over. His eyes stop when he sees the name. Reskao. “Wait, I’m assigned to Reskao?”

“Yep, that’s the one! Curious…do you know Reskao?”

“Yeah! We’re friends, we came here together!”

“Oh! Perfect, then you don’t have to worry about getting along with them, you can just jump right in and get to work. Speaking of which…” He taps his wristwatch and gestures for the door.

“Oh, right!” Marvelon heads off and practically soars for the dormitories, arriving just before Reskao’s first class. He quickly opens the dorm room door and heads inside, catching Reskao completely off-guard.

“Wh-who are you?”

“It’s me, Marv!”

“Marv? What happened?”

“I work as your personal mail assistant now!”

“Oh, I think I recall seeing something about that…well, it feels weird having you as my mail assistant since I’ll need to basically boss you around!”

“Hehe, I don’t mind, it’s all for class credit anyways!”

And so, Marvelon gets to work delivering supplies to Reskao just in time for class. The end of the year comes and Marvelon decides to remain as a bird while he completes the rest of his courses. Him and Reskao end up graduating together just as expected, beginning their new lives in the world of magic.