Brian Walker was asleep.
Or, at least he thought he was, until a male voice asked, "So, why do you think you are the way you are?"
Brian woke up(?) and looked around.
Instead of laying in his bed, the were-otter found himself lying on the couch of a stereotypical psychiatrist's office, with someone sitting in a nearby chair holding a notepad and a pen.
The fact that Brian couldn't make out who was sitting there in the shadows didn't bother him.
After all, it was only a dream.
Right?
"I know it's a big question, so I'll repeat it. Why do you think you are the way you are?" the man asked again.
"I was born a were-otter. Both my parents are were-otters," Brian replied.
"No. I meant emotionally, not physically."
"I don't understand."
"Why do you think you are so crazy for sex?" the man asked.
"Who says I'm sex crazy?" asked Brian in return. "I'm just horny." A LOT!
"As are a lot of other teenagers, even if they aren't weres. But your situation is different," said the shadowy figure in return, as he pointed an unidentified object at Brian.
The were-otter started to panic and was prepared to roll off the couch, thinking the man was pointing a gun at him, when suddenly a TV near his position came on and Brian realized the stranger was just holding the remote control.
"Your father abandoned you at a young age," began the man, as the TV showed a picture of the Walkers in happier times. Brian's mother and father looked great and much in love together as they held their infant son between them.
Then the image suddenly changed as his father disappeared and the mother was left holding a slightly older Brian alone.
"That was no fault but his own, and he will get his comeuppance in time. Even if you hadn't recently had him declared legally dead through your computer skills," promised the man, as the image changed again.
Now it showed his mother dropping Brian off at the first day of school before she went on to work.
"Your mother has had to hold down at least 2 jobs on any given day to help make ends meet and keep your heads above water financially with the mountain of debt he left when your father deserted you," the stranger said, as if recapping previous events in a soap opera.
"I know all of this," Brian said angrily, sitting up on the couch.
"It's noble that, now that you're old enough to know what's going on and can do something about it, to want to help your mother, but becoming a gigolo isn't the answer."
"How—" Brian began, wanting to ask how this stranger knew that, but instead said, "My mom won't let me hold down a regular after school or part time job because she believes education is important."
"It is," confirmed the stranger.
"But I have to do something to help. We get at least 2 Past Due notices a month as it is."
"Even for the best of reasons, becoming a male prostitute isn't the answer," replied the stranger, as he clicked his remote control and the image on the TV screen changed again.
Now it was a live action scene of aslightly older Brian and some unidentified weretigress having sex in a posh looking bedroom.
"Oh yes! Yes! YES!" screamed the weretigress, digging her claws into Brian's furry were-otter shoulders as he continued to fuck her.
Suddenly, the bedroom door was kicked open and there was an angry weretiger standing in the doorway.
"Phil!" screamed the woman. "What are you doing home so soon?"
"You cheating bitch!" yelled the man in return, before he pulled the gun out from behind his furry back and first shot his cheating wife, and then Brian, before turning the weapon on himself.
"Three lives will be senselessly ended that fateful afternoon, if events stay on their current course," replied the stranger in the shadows, as the screen went dark.
The last thing he saw was the fading image of his dead and bleeding body lying on top of the deceased weretigress.
Brian was silent for a long time, staring at the dark TV screen, before he turned to face the shadowy figure again.
"E-e-even if that's true..." he began, after finally finding his voice, "what am I supposed to do?" I couldn't have been more than 15 or 16 in that scene, realized the 14 year old were-otter.
"Be open to other opportunities," replied the stranger, as he clicked his TV remote again. "Not that there is anything wrong with sex itself, but you are seriously confusing sex with love. Your father's long absence. Your mother hardly ever being there for you because of her family responsibilities and increased debt because of your father. Finding out the hard way Julie Stovall didn't truly love you, she was just using you as a stop gap to scratch her own itches because she couldn't have Eric Anderson," he explained, as the TV displayed pictures of all the people in question, before showing he and Julie that night in her family's fresh water swimming pool when Eric stumbled across them.
"The answers, and the love you truly want, are out there. Just be open to the possibilities when they cross your path," said the man, as a weird buzzing sound started to be heard in the background.
"Good Morning Moon Lake! It's six am on a rather mixed looking Friday morning here at radio station KMLC—Moon Lake College Radio," Brian heard the announcer say as his mom's clock radio alarm went off.
Brian looked around.
He was still in his were-otter fursona, lying on the bed in his room, but somehow Brian Walker had the strange feeling that things would never be the same for him ever again.