Derrick stared at his brown-haired, brown-eyed Caucasian reflection - he as cuter as a kid, but still pretty average. "Yes, please! I'd like to be a cave man.. a Neanderthal. Is that too much to ask?" He flushed. "I never experienced magic before, and that would be really cool."
With a chuckle, Hebe began massaging and rinsing again, and he felt odd pulling in his chest. Looking at the rippling reflection, he realized his body was changing proportion, chest getting deeper and wider, and his skin darkening. "I believe this is a first for me, and that is saying something. A new and very primitive life." She poured water from her cupped hands over his head and pressed her fingers against his forehead.
Derrick had to blink as more grit appeared and ran down his face. Hebe repeated the action again before he saw the changes - his brow was heavier, and his forehead less pronounced. His eyes and hair darkened, and he started to ask her how little she would make him. "I'm going to be a really lit...?" The words caught in his throat as she stroked his neck, emerging as grunts and clicks. Try as he might, he could not make normal speech sounds! He stared at his reflection, his lower face protruding slightly and his teeth scummy and large.
Hebe's hands felt larger, and he understood he was getting younger. It was harder to tell just how old he was now that he was so different looking, but he was sure he was no more than 7. Another rinse over his head and he felt confused. Things were missing in his head! He remembered that he used to be able to speak, to write, and understand symbols. But now just the vague concept remained - he could not think of a single word, not even his own name! Another rinse of mud seemed to fill in blank areas with new information. He knew what bugs tasted good, and how to gut and prepare small animals for the fire. Another rinse, and oddly, even some of that new knowledge faded as he dwindled to a five year-old.
Derrick had to concentrate hard to remember his past, and he still watched in happy fascination as he became four, then three. The child reflected back was lean and oddly dirty, hair matted and nose crusted with mucus. He could probably pass for an ugly human toddler, but Derrick knew he could not function in modern society any more. That should have bothered him, but he splashed and grinned at Hebe, eyes bright when she took away another year. Now two, Derrick splashed and grunted, feeling suddenly disoriented. Large hands hefted him up, not from the stone tub, but a mud puddle.
Confused, he looked up to see a coarse featured woman smiling at him as he balanced him on her hip with one hand and guided a swollen, drooping breast towards his face. He found the teat with his mouth and began to nurse automatically. There were others moving about - it was warm and humid, and the tribe was resting. The toddler Neanderthal watched them all with fascinated eyes, dimly aware that this was all new to him. Or was it? He felt sleepy now, and vaguely confused. Such strange things in his head, but they were evaporating like smoke. Even before the Neanderthal toddler fell asleep on his mother's hip, he had completely forgotten his life as Derrick, a human teenager's lifetime of memories replaced by those of a primitive two year-old.