"You're not splitting up, are you?" Brawn asked nervously at one of the Homosexuals Anonymous meetings, though one that was a bit different than normal.
Normally they met at Doctor Jones' clinic to use one of the larger "group therapy" rooms, one of the conference rooms, or at the Claw Coliseum, should one of the meetings be for more than just talking and working through things that related to the instinctual influences that the Animalia Virus had on those that had happened to be homosexual before they became Animalians. The result was that the new Animalians became more bisexual and thus holding attraction to members of the opposite gender. When Horizon began to report some of these side effects that came from such conversions, that then lead to changes in policy when those that had been looking for ways to get rid of homosexual behaviors then saw Animalia as a cure for it, and that had in turn lead to some cases of people being nervous about joining Animalia. After all, no one wanted to give up who they were.
Thus Homosexuals Anonymous was put together as a means to help those that converted understand that they wouldn't lose who they were and they wouldn't have to give up any love that they had with those of their own gender. And Animalia's main same sex couples tended to number among those that lead and provided assurance through the meetings, and this included Eliza Marigold and Beth Jonson. And even with the present pandemic forcing things to go online by Skype or other tele-conference methods, the meetings did go on, which had lead to the off hand comment that Brawn had responded to.
"Oh no!" Beth and Eliza both said together and then paused to let each speak on heir own.
"Some of it's just proverbial cabin fever coming from the fact that so many things are being... or have been... shut down," Eliza commented, "It doesn't affect my love for Beth..."
"Or my love for Eliza," Beth picked up, "it's more a level of excitement that we're looking for right now... it is nothing to worry about."
Brawn watched as the dog and cat Animalians paused to nuzzle each other's muzzles. As they did so, he gave his own words of encouragement, "Well that's good to hear."
"So... how have you been fairing, Brawn?" Eliza then asked him, "getting used to things?"
"Yeah," Brawn nodded, "Snowflake is quite accepting that from time to time... I will want some male attention. And in a way, I suppose that's partially why I've come to like her so much... Though the biggest thing has been being an adoptive parent... Particularly when Daisy moved in..."
"Wasn't she already an adult?" Beth wondered curiously.
"She is... was... but for whatever reason, she was lobotomized when she was young," Brawn answered, "Project Phoenix seems to have helped... but not necessarily completely..."
"Jiori's conversion produced similar results," Eliza commented to Beth.
"And it made for an interesting meeting between Daisy and Dan," Brawn answered and then began to explain...
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Meeting Daisy had found that while she was in much better condition than she was before her conversion, there were some clearly obvious differences and that presented their own issues to overcome. There were times where Daisy would forget things or say the wrong thing at the in opportune time, which Horizon had surmised was likely a result of the fact that while the Animalia Virus could restore the brain tissue that had been removed, it wasn't quite so perfect that Daisy was returned to the state she was in or would have been if allowed to develop on her own. It was something that made Brawn frown as to how or why doctors would call that "science," but it was what it was and despite his name, Brawn was more than just the muscle put on.
He and Snowflake had taken in Dan, when finding that the young bull had been "picked on" by the cattle in his herd before his uplifting because of his extra limbs and had been left without a real home, and they had seen Dan perk up a bit in having a real home environment, which was something Brawn approved of. And while Snowflake worked with Brawn to help him with his own confidence in dealing with the changes to his sexuality, going from homosexual man to bisexual Spanish Fighting Bull Animalian, Brawn was also willing to help give those who needed a loving home a loving home. He felt it something everyone needed and Snowflake agreed, though possibly more because the two might have calves of their own in the future. Now, with Daisy converted and essentially needing to heal after everything that had happened to her, it made sense to Brawn to do the same with her.
"You live here?" Daisy asked as Brawn lead her toward the home he'd settled into, "where is the barn?"
"Uplifted cattle don't need a barn," Brawn told her, "we live in our own homes, just like Humans do. I live here with my bond-mate, Snowflake, and our adopted son Dan. Snowflake has been working on a room for you to stay in."
Daisy looked around with her ears alert at the word "snowflake" as they approached the door.
"It's not snowing now," Daisy told him.
"Yes," Brawn managed, "Snowflake is my bond-mate's name."
"Oh," Daisy said slowly.
Brawn then opened the door and held it open for Daisy to come through. She did and wiped her feet off on the heavy throw rug just inside the door before making her way deeper into the home. She looked around the living room and then dutifully followed as Brawn identified the rooms and answered some questions here and there on what would be allowed and what would not be allowed. The last bit of the tour was Dan's room where the young bull was working on his homework from WSA. Brawn knocked quietly on the door to let Dan know that Daisy had arrived.
"Dan... can I interrupt you long enough for you to come meet Daisy?" Brawn said through the door and waited for a brief "sure" to then be heard through it.
The door then opened and Dan stepped into the doorway to his room, which soon saw Daisy smile tremendously. Dan supposed this was just a friendly gesture as while some Animalians might be a bit surprised by his extra arms at first, they often got over it reasonably quickly and were quite kind. He'd heard some what Daisy had gone through, and wasn't opposed to taking her in, particularly after Brawn had explained the details of what a lobotomy did and why the procedure was eventually stopped. Though what followed was not exactly what Dan expected.
"Brother!" Daisy declared and pulled him into a firm hug, "How are you?"
Dan looked to Brawn, who looked about as surprised as Dan was, as Snowflake came out from where Daisy's room would be.
"I've always wanted a big brother," Daisy added.
"Uh... I'm fine," Dan managed and patted Daisy's back to return the hug, "but I think you're a bit more mature than me... So you'd have to be older."
"No, you were here first," Daisy pointed out, "so you have to be the big brother and I am the little sister. We'll have so much fun."
Dan again looked to Brawn and Snowflake, who could only shrug in response. From a certain point of view, Daisy's logic wasn't that bad, but then it was also hard to hide that Daisy had been double dosed. In this, even if Dan was a converted Human and not an uplifted Animalian, Daisy was easily older than him. Dan, Brawn, and Snowflake could all see that, but given that she was essentially having to build things up again after allowing for Project Phoenix to heal her from the effects of a lobotomy, it appeared that Daisy didn't. It was also something that Horizon had told Brawn that Daisy might have to go through a lot of her schooling again to help her regain that which had been lost.
"Okay..." Dan managed, "and you don't mind me having four arms?"
"That makes you four times as strong, right?" Daisy wondered.
"I'm not really sure how all that would work," Dan managed.
"It's okay, I don't mind," Daisy told him, "and besides so much of Animalia seems neat... so I don't mind the extra arms."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"And that's pretty much how a lot of it went," Brawn finished, "Daisy will probably need to go through a lot of schooling to get things together..."
"Which would confirm the problems that lobotomies can cause," one of the other members commented from his part of the screen, to which Brawn nodded.
"But she really thinks she's younger than Dan?" Beth wondered.
"I can't really say," Brawn said weakly, "in terms of behavior... she does treat Dan like an older brother, even though she is older and would look older. She may recognize that when they stand next to each other in front of a mirror... but if she just sees Dan as "small" instead of younger than her... she might rationalize that Dan is older but is just small."
"But she is friendly to him, right?" Eliza asked.
"She's been very friendly," Brawn managed a small smile, "and while it may take her some time to get her intellect built up... she has kindness like you wouldn't believe. And that I think will make it workable. Snowflake and I both think that will help Daisy and that so long as we treat her with kindness... she will be fine."