"I'll stay like this for now." Derrick grinned at his new reflection. There was no trace of his old self - and no chance his family would recognize him. Well, if his family didn't want to be seen with him, he'd be glad to be on his own for the rest of this vacation. "Do you think I could stay somewhere away from my family, though?"
His almost-brother giggled. "Oh, I think you'll like your family. Go on back to the resort. I am sure they'll find you pretty quickly. And if you like them, you can have them."
"Have them?" Derrick was puzzled, but the red-haired faun just giggled again and pushed him back towards the trail. "Come back tomorrow, if you want. But try being like this first."
Shrugging, Derrick followed the mountain trail. He would have been disappointed, but this younger body felt different and he was having fun just jogging along. He felt so much springier, like he could jump and run faster than ever. The trail was rough, but his feet were still the calloused, dirty extremities of a wild boy. He also now stank of piss, though the odor was not at all offensive to him. As he got closer to the resort, some of the guests saw him and smiled. He supposed he looked like something out of Peter Pan.
"Carter!" An older boy with a tangle of copper-red hair and oddly familiar features shouted at him. Derrick was puzzled and looked behind himself to see who the boy was calling to, only to find the young teen jogging directly to him with a grin on his face. "You having fun? Danny checked out the minotaurs, and I had a good time with the centaurs." He chuckle and tousled Derrick's hair. "Looks like you won't be bathing until we head home."
This was Jimmy. James, 13 years old. How did Derrick know that? And Danny was another ginger, 16 years old. Derrick blinked as new memories flickered into his mind. They were brothers. HIS brothers. No wonder Jimmy looked so familiar. He, Derrick, and Danny were the same boy, just different ages. And his name was now Carter.
"Whatcha gonna do now?" Derrick/Carter grinned up at his middle brother, finding the idea of being the youngest of three brothers very appealing. Jimmy was certainly more accepting of having a wild and dirty sibling than his own sister had been.
Jimmy looked thoughtful. "I had a minotaur cow offer to unbirth me and make me a calf for the vacation. Mom and dad just asked me to make sure I wouldn't have any bull parts left over when we went home. The activity director also suggested becoming a lion - they have some sort of ancient arena game where they have huge fights between lions, people, minotaurs, all sorts of things. No one gets really hurt, and there are a lot of lionesses to play with." Then Jimmy grinned at Derrick/Carter. "What about you, squirt? You just want to stay dirty? You could be a real animal if you wander around in the woods, or join me in a minotaur's womb. You want to be twins instead of my little brother?"