"What the hell is that?" Michelle asked startled, pointing at the apparition leashed on a park bench. Sheryl followed her gaze and cocked an eyebrow. 

"An elephant, obviously." she observed, apparently unimpressed and Michelle shot a withering look at her friend. 

"Of course it's an elephant." Michelle responded tartly. "That I can see for myself. What I want to know is why it is only the size of a pony and why it is leashed to a park bench!" 

"Hm..." Sheryl pondered. "Perhaps that's simply someone doing Leashing." 

Michelle looked at Sheryl with a blank look on her face. "Leashing?" 

Sheryl sighed. "Yes, leashing. Girl, you need to stay in touch with the current social media themes. Look, there's someone taking pictures of the elephant!" 

Indeed there was a boy in their age shooting images of the small elephant with his smartphone. Which, in Michelle's opinion, still didn't explain shit. 

"I still can't follow. Of course someone is taking pictures. I mean, pony-sized elephants are probably quite rare, aren't they?" 

"Arrrg!" Sheryl rolled her eyes. "You ever heard of planking?" 

Again Sheryl made a plain face. 

"Okay, don't worry. That's so 2009 anyway. Planking is... was some internet meme where people laid themselves face down on structures - banks, walls, desks, whatever you think cool. And then you let someone taking a photo of you in this position. You with me so far?" 

Michelle looked at Sheryl incomprehensibly. "And you're doing this because...?" she stressed the last word. 

Sheryl shrugged. "Dunno. It's cool." 

"Laying down on a park bench is cool?" 

"It was. In 2009." 

"Okay, I get it. Not. But let's skip that. What's that to do with this tiny elephant?" 

Again, Sheryl sighed. "That's leashing, the current internet meme. You use the Venn Machines to transform into some animal or creature, then you're going to some location where you're lashed to something and then your partner who transformed you takes a photo. And uploads it to the internet." 

Now Michelle seemed to comprehend for the first time. "Ahh... so this elephant is actually...?" 

"His girlfriend, perhaps. Or a friend. I don't know." 

"Hm..." Michelle thought a little about this. "I still don't get it." 

Frustrated, Sheryl threw her hands up in the air. "Oh, Jeez! Sometimes you're that much removed from reality that it isn't funny anymore. Okay, practical example. There's a Venn Machine in the mall nearby. Come, we'll go leashing." 

Purposefully, Sheryl strode away and Michelle followed confused. 

"Practical example? Venn Machine? What are you talking about?" 

"What I am talking about?" again Sheryl rolled her eyes. "About the obvious. We'll go to the Venn Machine, I'll enter a bill, we'll both go into the booth, I'll transform you into a leashed animal, take a photo, upload it to the internet, leashing, all right?" 

"Wait, what?" Michelle blurted out. "Oh no, you're not transforming me again! The time when you wore me to your sister's wedding was horrible!" 

"Oh come on... I already apologized for this. I didn't know that being shoes sucks, and since you made such a cute pair of white pumps I just had to show you off by walking in you as much as possible. But okay, if you won't want to be transformed, then it's the other way around. You transform me into a leashed animal and you take the photos. What do you say?" 

"I still say I see no sense in this!" Michelle retorted stubbornly. 

"So what? We're young. We're still going to high school. And we're having holidays right now. So maybe there is no sense. But perhaps it's fun. Let's at least try it out, okay?" 

Sighing, Michelle finally carved in and five minutes later, with a victorious smile on her face, Sheryl put a bill in the machine, setting it to eight hours. 

"So what animal should I transform you into?" Michelle asked inside and for the first time, Sheryl had the blank look on her face. 

"Um... I don't know? Simply choose something." 

"What animal have you been before when you went 'Leashing'?" Michelle inquired and Sheryl shrugged. 

"I've never done this. In fact, I've only been clothing so far. And a cat-girl. Aside from this... nope, nothing. Would be the first time for me becoming an animal. Now that you mention it... that's going to be interesting. Simply choose something interesting. And don't forget the leash!" 

"Okay, okay..." Michelle looked at the interface, thinking. "Animal." she said then, and several bubbles appeared with cats, dogs, birds. Although nothing... interesting. "Africa." she probed farther and now she was getting somewhere. She did a couple of more specifications and finally she was satisfied, choosing the animal Sheryl should become and adding a leash. 

"You ready, Sheryl?" she asked loudly and got an enthusiastic "Yes!" as an answer. 

"Then let's do this..." she murmured and pushed the green button. 

Shortly thereafter, Michelle left the Venn Machine, looking at Sheryl's door. Where now a pony-sized Zebra exited. Curiously, Sheryl craned her equine neck, inspecting her new body. Then she walked towards a shopwindow with clopping hooves, viewing her striped body in detail. 

Michelle giggled. Sheryl's small Zebra body was somehow cute. 

"You having fun?" she asked and Sheryl looked back at her, neighing enthusiastically. 

"Oh my. You're such a cute, tiny Zebra." she said, stroking Sheryl's fur. Then she took the long leash which was attached to Sheryl's body and looked at her friend. 

"You wanna go?" 

Again, Sheryl neighed and started walking towards the exit, pulling the grinning Michelle with her. 

And, much to Michelle's surprise, it proved indeed to be a fun endeavor. Sheryl pulled her through half of the town, prompting her to bind her on all possible and impossible kinds of things and taking pictures, including cars, lamp posts, trees, banks, humans, traffic lights... in the end, Sheryl spend the whole eight hours as a tiny Zebra, using the final hours to play around in the park. 

"That was awesome!" she exclaimed after she'd changed back. "Being a Zebra was so cool! I felt so lively! Come on Michelle, you have to try it as well!" 

****************************************

I should have said no. Michelle reflected the next morning, standing inside the Venn Machine, Sheryl on the other side already making selections. This is simply to crazy. Becoming an animal!

"You ready to be turned into an animal?" her friend asked enthusiastically over the interface and Michelle nodded insecurely. 

"Perfect. Because I have the right thing in mind for you!" grinning, Sheryl pushed the green button and Michelle felt her body change. Gingerly, she stepped out of the machine.  

What am I? she asked herself while she tried moving her body. For once, she was big, nearly to big for the machine. Then she was obviously standing on four legs with cloven hooves and there was a strange weight on her head... 

Amazed by the fact that she could move on four hooves without problems, she walked towards the same shopwindow Sheryl had mustered herself in the day before. To be rewarded by a surprise. In the mirror image, she could see a majestic deer standing there... but with large antlers!

Only male deer have antlers! she thought. Does this mean that I'm...? startled, she rubbed her hind legs together, and indeed there was... 

Sheryl's laugh yanked Michelle out of her (or now his?) thoughts and accusingly, he looked at his friend. 

"Yeah, Michelle, or rather Mike, you're now a deer buck. I just thought that you'd look awesome on pictures, and therefore..." 

She went forward and patted Mike's nose. By now, Mike was realizing that his senses were different as well. He was only seeing in black and white, but his field of vision was much larger. And suddenly he was hearing so much better. And then those smells...! 

He was still wondering when Sheryl took his leash. 

"So, my good boy." she said. "Let's go doing some Leashing!"

Mike was still marveling at all the new sensations his deer body was providing as Sheryl started pulling out of the mall. 

Well... he thought. Sheryl is right. That probably is going to be interesting...

And dutifully, he followed Sheryl to the mall's exit, internally grinning at all the people who gave him in his deer body strange glances. 

I think... Mike finally contemplated, ...while Leashing indeed is senseless, it definitely is fun. 

"Told you so!" Sheryl said, as if she'd read Mike's thoughts and he bellowed approvingly. 

Leashing had just gotten two more partakers.