The whole reason Minerva was up in her bedroom was so she could go to bed. The day had been long and tiring, nothing but work, study, and more study, nary a moment spared for personal time. She just wanted to slip on her night clothes and snuggle up into her lovely soft sheets, all nice and cosy. But no, instead she was still in her full uniform, hat excluded, staring out her window. Eyes locked on the the gigantic, glowing, pearlescent Full Moon gleaming at her in the night sky.

The blasted rock wouldn't leave her head. Every time she attempted to move away, she found herself overcome by a desire to go back and stare at it again. She tried disrobing, didn't even reach the wardrobe. She tried going downstairs to brew up some warm milk, the kitchen window bore the same sight. She tried grabbing a book to read, her eyes refused to retain the words. Nothing. Bloody. Worked. The overgrown asteroid had her under its spell, she was enthralled, hypnotised, completely snatched up in its elegant glow. She didn't know why, no matter what her PHDs in psychology or biology dictated, nothing could explain why it was distracting her so much. It was just how it looked up there, the pitch black sky devoid of clouds and bejewelled with stars, the image of it floating proudly above the quiet, peaceful night was something akin to a fine work of art.

It was just....beautiful.

So infuriatingly beautiful.

Thus, there the good doctor stood, staring up at the fine, wonderous moon, frustration and excitement mauling each other in her brain. This was stupid. Illogical. Downright ridiculous. The hour was far too late for her not to be asleep. She didn't know how badly she needed rest with this....new body of hers, but she didn't want to screw up her well-crafted routine. She was tired. Eager for the morning. Longing for lovely snuggly bedsheets. She. Wanted. To be. In. Bed.
But this damned moon, it would not let her ignore it. It was calling to her, making her feel...snug, in this bedroom. In this tower. Indoors at all. She wanted rest, but wanted something else even more. Fresh air? A bit more space? Or perhaps to just...play? Energy was filling her body, she felt like a puppy whining and howling for their owner to take them outside. Coincidentally she also felt like the puppy's owner who wanted the beast to have such an experience, but wanted to just sit down almost as much. It was a mental teetering scale, with her human logic on one end, and her raven's savage instinct on the other.

Instinct? Instinct..it was instinct that was egging her on....ah, of course.
Her beast form was an avian was it not? And now that she thought about it, Minerva couldn't help but notice that her eyes weren't glued to the ground, but to the sky above it.
Minerva wanted to fly, to feel the wind under her wings, the chill breeze against her bare skin, to just exist in the wide, open air.

Gods above, what a moronic idea! Flying?! At this hour?! When she was already so exhausted from the day's work? When the nastiest of monsters awaken? Where any patrolling night watch, outlaw or official, could see her plain as day in the stupidly bright moon?! Absurd! Witless! She was such a bloody, incompetent, idiot for ever thinking of such a terrible time sink! She had things to do tomorrow! Plans to make! A private militia of criminals to oversee! She should just close these stupid curtains, put on her onesie, and sleep like any logical, normal human would do!

Well, teeechinally she wasn't like...entirely human anymore. And to be fair, she wasn't really feeling that tired. And the moon was just...so...pretty. So, so, so pretty....

Hold on, was it physical fatigue she was feeling or....emotional? Like, she wasn't sluggish, she wasn't struggling to keep her eyes open. If anything she could barely sit still, as if every cell in her body was screaming in demand for movement. She just...wanted something nice, and the bed was at her forethoughts. So warm. So cosy. So...so....boring....

Boring.

She wasn't tired. She wasn't upset. She was just....so....bored..
She wanted to sleep so she could wake up and do something.
She wanted to snuggle up in her bedsheets because she longed for something soft and comfy.
She wanted to take this stupid, stuffy, suddenly rather tight uniform, off, all of it, off!

"Hoooohhhh..."

A low, inhuman growl gurgled in Minerva's throat, her fists clenched so hard that her gloves creaked. Her heat was pounding, throbbing, churning and pumping in her chest.

Buh-bump, buh-bump, buh-bump, buh-bump-

"Hoooorrrgh!" A steadily warming blush began to burn on her cheeks, as now even her deepest, innermost lusts and desires were drawn to take that damn moon's side.

Buhbump-buhbump-bubump-buhbump-

"I...I-I-I...!" She whimpered.

The work day never did drain her. For she wasn't craving rest. She was craving indulgence.

BUHBUMP-BUHBUMP-BUHBUMP-BUHBUMP-

"hrrrrrRRRRROH FFFINE! FINE!" The plague doctor suddenly yapped to what was either herself, her body, or the moon itself. "I'LL-...I'll...oh bollocks to it, a few minutes can't hurt...."

Cree-eee-ee-eeaaak...

And with that, Minerva's frown turned to a sheepish smile, glowing yellow eyes swivelling down to watch her boots inflate.

Rrriiii-iii-iiIII-PAFF! PAFF!

Custom tailored leather stretched, strained and burst open, the silky tights underneath digging into bloating talons. Within the bedroom's electro-lantern light, the plague doctor's shadow bulged and billowed out, looming taller and taller as scraps of her clothing snapped off her puffing muscles and flopped to the floor, the back of her coat exploding against erupting wings and tail. Minnie's tight clad, mutating feet could somewhat feel the rough shape of the floorboards as they stepped off the steadily shrinking remains of her boots, but not in any manner that let her feel the full textures. Her feet were still largely covered up, even if the tights were somewhat thinning. Fortunately, as another growth spurt gurgled across her body, Dr. Talos chirped and squirmed with unfiltered glee as her bubbling talons swelled to hulking size, ripping and ripping the expensive silk apart as it snapped and burst across glistening flesh, sinew bunching and bulging across the lass' whole body as the soft and smooth skin of her increasingly bare feet pressed into the warm polished floorboards with thick, meaty stomps.

Tugging and ripping the last bits of her tights off her wiggling toes and swelling ankles before tossing the silk scraps to the floor, Minerva breathed a sigh of relief as she felt her scrambled thoughts and rampaging anxieties peacefully still themselves into a focused, inhibition devoid train of thought. Honestly, now that she was able to go easier on herself, the good doctor found herself more willing to accept the full moon's nagging invitation, as her glowing predatory eyes gazed back into its glow, her cheeks blushing and her beak curled into a smile.

"I'm aware you're just an astral body just so you know." Her deeper, more sultry tones cooed as she still talked to the moon regardless. "This state you're in is just releasing some strange, subliminal hypnotic patterns that seem appealing to animal brains. Nothing to do with magic, just how the light's reflecting on your surface, it's basic science."

Minerva chuckled at her comments, yet something about the moon's vast, ethereal glow made this chuckle falter, as the scientist soon found herself second guessing. She felt kinda...guilty for saying that, as if she accidentally offended someone she didn't want to upset, which sadly was not an uncommon sensation for the poor girl. However she pushed it the feeling back, choosing to obey rationality. It was just the moon after all, most of this was her just enthralled by natural beauty and aching to join in.

Speaking of which, she should probably satiate this hunger for outdoor indulgence before the hour stretches into unreasonableness, so with a soft yet heavy thumping of her big cuddly talons, Minerva strode over to her bedroom window and swung it open. The night was windy, a heavy, if pleasantly warm draft wafting into the bedroom and knocking over much of her stationary, but those could easily be reorganised later. Right now, Dr. Talos proudly soaked in the breeze and confidently gripped the windowsill with her toes, feeling their gratifying strength.

Then, a soft grunt came from her beak as she rose to her full height, as the front of her coat and undershirt pinched her tight around the chest. This was one of her smaller uniforms back when she was a teenager, and while human Minerva barely grew at all from that size, beast Minerva was now finding the attire faaar too tight. If she made any sudden movements, it make burst even further, potentially stripping her...her....naked!

....Well, she was kinda covered in feathers right now. She had checked previously, and despite retaining her more...private human parts, the bird form adapted to them well, and thanks to the abundance of fluffy feathers her modesty was retained perfectly. She only kept her clothes on because frankly she just liked the visual of their tattered forms against her body, really gave her the "Scientist in a monster's body" aesthetic, and she loved it. But honestly, the wind was feeling quite nice, she was feeling a tad more primal then she usually did, and she wouldn't really be much of a scientist if she wasn't willing to...experiment.

"....Eh, what the hell." Minerva simply shrugged before gripping the front of her coat, shirt and bra, any hesitation she'd have over the idea already suppressed by the inhibition reducing side effect of her body's wild magic. "Could feel nice."

RIIIIP!

With that, the legs bunched and thrust forward, the wings spread and flexed to catch the air, and with one forceful tug and a loud rip of leather, Minerva was bare-chested in the full moon breeze.

"Ooohoohoo!" She shivered. She already exposed a lot of skin to the elements as a raven by default, but this was almost her entire body, including her breasts. But blimey, was it refreshing. "Oh my....that IS nice! It-it's....hmm....might as well go all in..."

RRRIP! RIP!

RIIIIP!

With a few more tugs, not only were Minerva's sleeves wrenched off, but the entirety of her trousers, underwear included. She was naked. Fully exposed. In. Her. Birthday suit. And she didn't care. In fact, it was blissful. She had ran out of words to say out of sheer satisfaction, but the chirps, squawks, caws, and giggles she bellowed as she soared off into the sky were largely enough to get her general opinion. She admittedly preferred having clothing, especially since she desperately needs to cover up as much as she can whenever she shrinks back into human form, but this was still a stepping stone so subtle that not even she fully realised it.

Quite literally throwing her modesty to the wind was something human Minerva would never dare to even consider, given how overbearing her phobia of exposing her feeble failure of a human frame was. But with the mutation, with the blessings of her wonderful curse, it barely registers. She could just do whatever she wanted, like a normal person, if not more so.

Honestly, with the world of this primal, mysterious, almost otherworldly power being so welcoming to her, how could she really turn down any of its invitations?

She....she can turn them down if she wanted though right?

....right?

---

Okaaaaaaay, another one that took a while because I couldn't figure out what to do with it from the start. The story creation wasn't that interesting, though the backstory of this particular image is interesting, more elaboration here: (https://www.furaffinity.net/view/52763174/)

But yeah, this should give a little bit better insight into Minerva's mindset in regards to herself, I suppose. I dunno I did this whole thing in one sitting and now I'm sleep deprived. No that has nothing to do with the story context what you talkin' about?

Artwork by:  MoonBeast-AR