Field guide No. 1461
Molt
Vending machine sheds its skin
A yellow vending machine has split open in a wet yard, and a smaller, shinier machine stands inside the peeled husk. It needs a few days to harden before it takes coins.
Field noteVending machines don’t grow, so shedding a casing to step out one size smaller is backwards twice.
Also possible, also breaking category
Octopus scattered across the seabedFive arms vanish into five separate burrows, so the octopus is in several meetings at once.
Stranded jellyfish filled with autumn leavesJellyfish swallow what drifts in. This one met a lot of leaves on the way to shore.
Emerald frog’s concentric dew chorusCalls are sound; dew is water. A croak arriving as droplets swaps one for the other.
Silver crescent in a bruised skyClouds that colour like a bruise round a crescent. Skies only look hurt; this one took it literally.