After pacing the floor for thirty minutes or more, Dan finally sat down on the couch, sulking in defeat.
"It's no use," he thought, staring at his right claw. "Kat's a witch and I'm not. I guess I might as well just see where this goes."
Then he felt his left hand tense up.
"Oh, no, not that one, too!" he whined as it swelled and hardened into another big claw. He felt a familiar pinching on his sides and looked down to see two more of the littler claws sprouting out of his right side and one more on his left.
"Well, at least I'm symmetrical again," he thought, trying them out as soon as they were finished growing in. He couldn't see that his toes had already merged in his socks into little hook-like feet of the sort that adorned his new walking legs. His human legs had also started to subtly weaken and shrink; soon they would no longer be able to hold up his wait all on their own, but Dan was not yet aware of his imminent posture change. For now, he sat there basking in the surreal sensation of mentally commanding 10 different limbs. They were all his now, twitching and fidgeting at his whim: two big pinchers, two seemingly normal legs, and six secondary appendages. He clicked the big claws in tandem, then in alternation, then randomly, watching with fascination at their responsiveness. He moved every leg gracefully and separately from every other, gazing at the lobster-like scene flanking his sides. It would have been a powerful feeling, except he couldn't get the image of those ominous restaurant tanks out of his mind.
"I can't believe I'm turning into this," he thought. He'd walked lobsters dead and alive many times without giving them any thought, ignoring their complex and admirable forms, and now here he was experiencing more and more of their form for himself. It was disturbing, but deeply intriguing and even somewhat pleasurable.
Dan's heart sank a bit as he realized that's how Kat thought of him: something to be dehumanized and ignored. Of course, he admitted he'd never really paid much attention to her feelings either.
"Although, I have to admit I'd never turn her into an expensive dinner," he thought to himself.