Herman Taurmaatz and Jason Max had always been rather close to each other in many ways. They'd met in college and struck up a good friendship. It let them hang out and share interests and experiences, though at first neither of them knew the other was gay. Accidentally stumbling into each other at a gay bar while on date had actually been what lead to their discovering of the other's sexuality. They laughed it off, and because of how close they'd been, the two soon struck up a deeper relationship that both greatly enjoyed. Though because of the nature of their courtship, she soon found that both had contracted Herpes. Neither knew for sure who caught it first and which one of them infected the other, but they simply found out about it and were left in a hospital examination room in Los Angeles while talking with the doctor.
"I didn't mean to..." Herman said to his partner with an apologetic smile and privately feeling like it was his fault that Jason had contracted the disease, "If only... if only I'd been paying more attention."
"No... Herman," Jason spoke with a small frown, "this was my fault... I should have been paying more attention."
The two took each other's hands and looked to each other, trying to find some nature of comfort in at least being together but couldn't fully get over it. The doctor watching the two was quiet for a moment or two, but he did keep his focus on both the notes from talking with them on when they first started experiencing the symptoms. Both seemed to first experience them at around the same time, which meant while it was possible that one of them had infected the other, it was also possible that they both caught it from someone else, which was something of a problem that went around with many sexually transmitted diseases. Some didn't know and passed them on, and some did know and purposely hid it to pass it on. He'd seen a couple news flashes that had reported woman purposely spreading HIV/AIDS for some reason with even some discussions with the staff to be prepared for increases in patients for those diseases thanks to the reported individual, though much of that was simply an "alert" at the moment.
"To be honest... both of you could have been paying more attention, but it's been my experience in treating many of these sorts of cases that it's likely that whoever infected you either didn't know they were infected or deliberately withheld that information from you," the doctor spoke calmly, "In this... I wouldn't put too much thought on blame. All we can do now is move forward."
"But there's no cure for Herpes... is there?" Jason wondered with Herman looking up beside him to the doctor.
"By normal means... no," the doctor spoke, "though if you would prefer an alternative form of medicine... there is Animalia."
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And Animalia proved to be an intriguing option. Herman and Jason had seen some of the news reports that had reported on Animalia's existence, though neither had really had much interest in joining a community of anthropomorphic animals prior to their present issues. However, Horizon had done a good job with Project Phoenix, and nearly every hospital in the country had some measure of contact with Horizon with the offer of using Project Phoenix to help heal grievous wounds and injuries or even serious diseases. With them being diagnosed with Herpes, that issue had thus come up, though this soon brought up some differences on what to be.
"An Orca? Really? The formally dressed whale?" Jason asked.
"The Killer Whale!" Herman answered, "I actually liked a lot of the shows that Sea World did with them... a shame they got cancelled..."
"So now you'll perform as an Orca Animalian with jumps and flips?" Jason raised an eyebrow.
"It'd make for one hell of a show, and PETA can't complain because I'll be volunteering for the show... show off all the acrobatic skill I can muster!" Herman said with a smile, "You've seen me with my gymnastics routines back when we were in college. This will be no different."
"And the fact that some Orca and Great White populations exist in a clear predator/prey relationship doesn't concern you?" Jason asked, referring to the fact that he personally favored the Great White Shark.
The fact that both had interest in marine creatures wasn't too much of a surprise, as both did enjoy swimming and going down to the ocean. Which had then lead to them researching things on the internet for what sea creatures Horizon had DNA for. Most of them were gathered after the initial outbreaks in Lyre from their own aquarium, though there were some additions that Horizon also had as a result of their colonization of Mieni. This essentially meant that they had the DNA for the Orca and the Great White Shark, which they were now debating as they filled out the last of their required paperwork in one of Horizon's waiting rooms after a long drive from southern California.
"I wouldn't think that'd be a problem," Herman answered, "we're both men, so it's not like we could get each other pregnant. Which means we won't have any issues with their Edicts. And what we checked on the Internet has also shown that Animalians get along with each other rather well... regardless of species. So, while I wish you'd choose to be an Orca too, I don't think being a Great White Shark would mean that I'd suddenly want to eat you... at least... not in the way that you'd hate."
"Tease," Jason shook his head and resumed filling out the paperwork.
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The two stayed together, which gave Horizon's staff some difficulty when they got to the actual conversion. It meant that Herman and Jason had to wait one of the beds in the transformation room while the staff gathered the personnel needed to handle converting both of them. But that didn't take too long, and the two soon received their injections and official "welcome" to Animalia from the staff that provided the injections. From there, both of them could feel their transformations begin, with tingling warmth going through their bodies.
"You're turning gray!" Herman spoke as he noted Jason's skin turning to a grayish color on his dorsal side. At the same time he could see what looked like lines forming on the sides of Jason's neck, which he guessed would be Jason's gills developing.
Jason glanced down to see webbing forming between his fingers with the gray coloring on the dorsal side of his hand. It was also likely to rough in texture, which all shark skin was. He then turned to Herman was going through similar changes, which actually mirrored Bennie's changes. Herman's skin was either darkening to a shade of black or lightening to a white shade, which was typical of the Orca as a species. There was even a white spot above Herman's eyes that contrasted with the black skin around it. Jason also noted that like him, Herman's hands were gaining webbing, though for Herman the finger tips were rather smooth. Jason's fingers ended in tips that almost looked like claws, but Herman's fingers looked like the only change for them was their coloration.
"I think we're both changing colors," Jason gave a small smile and approached Herman while running his tongue over his teeth and finding them already shifting into the razor sharp triangular teeth the Great White was known for.
Herman returned the smile and Jason could see his partner's teeth also taking on the conical teeth that the Orca was known for. The two slowly approached each other, getting some sensation of what was happening with their conversion. Jason could watch as Herman's head pushed forward into the rounded nose and mouth for the Orca and Herman could watch as Jason's own nose pushed forward into the more pointed nose and mouth for the Great White. And as the two smiled to each other, there was the sensation that there was no aggression, even as their bodies took on more and more Animalian form.
"And they're good colors," Herman said to Jason and then paused in his approach as he felt a bit of a tingling at the base of his spine.
This was soon accompanied by pressure in the back of his pants. He managed to glance over his shoulder and watched as a very whale-like tail began to grow out from his backside. The growing appendage couldn't fit inside his pants, and at the same time his swelling musculature was making the rest of his clothing rather tight as well. That wasn't super comfortable. Herman tried to wrestle with it and even got some help from Jason, though it was pretty clear that Jason's clothes were struggling to contain his growing muscle mass as well. It lead into a clumsy effort on both of them as their pants ended up being ripped off or ripped apart as their tails grew out behind them. Their shirts didn't last much longer before an Orca and Great While Animalian stood together in the changing room.
"This is better," Herman gave a few panting breaths.
"Not by much," Jason answered with a sigh.
"But we're free... unrestrained," Herman answered.
"We're also naked," Jason answered, "and the instructions we were given also include a check up here, which will confirm that the Animalia Virus cured our Herpes. Not to mention the acclimation classes..."
"Thank goodness for stored up vacation time," Herman managed with a shrug.