for weird kins: I completely forgot about this one! Gregor Samsa from Metamorphosis by Kafka! Shoutout to the Whitney, different source but the school essay part helped me remember. You'd be surprised how disorienting it is to wake up as a beetle, and I mean beyond the additional legs, being turned on my back was a lot like the feeling when you hang upside down off of something. And based on what I remember, I was a darkling beetle– the kind that mealworms pupate into! I recognize how grim it is to be excited about that, since it wasn't exactly a comfy experience, but I was under the impression that it's a minor point of contention given the novella's lack of specificity. So I feel vindicated having solved the mystery for myself! (this is that same gregor from, like, probably over a year ago, btw! don't remember if i had a tag or not but i probably won't need one.)