Grayson stood watch at the main entrance to the freshman dormitory, casually drying his fur and keeping anyone from leaving before the RAs had a chance to explain things to the new students. He didn’t like having this job. It made him feel like some hired goon trying to intimidate a bunch of scared kids, so he at least tried to keep a smile on his face while he blocked the door and pointing anyone who came by to the common room.
And oddly, the smile helped quite a bit. The sight of a tall, muscular otter-man standing there was enough to send most freshman into a panic attack (or at least an existential breakdown), but the big guy just had such a friendly smile and kind demeanor that he was usually able to settle them down. He could hear a few shouts of surprise coming from the floors above him as Stripes and the rest of the RAs went from door to door, alerting the students to the changes that had occurred overnight and trying to convince them to head downstairs.
Grayson knew they wouldn’t be able to convince everyone, but given time most people came around and accepted it. And it was usually better for them to accept it before the changes started rather then after.
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“Okay, good morning everyone!” Stripes said cheerfully, looking out over the collection of stunned faces gathered up in the common room. He did a quick headcount, and was pretty sure they had the right number of people there. Milo was right in front, his eyes wide as he took in the strong, intensely powerful body of the zebra that his RA had become. Or rather, that he had always been. At his side were an equally powerful lion and a slim raccoon, the RAs for the other two floors of the dorm, though they seemed to be letting Stripes do most of the talking for them.
“I’m sure you’re all very confused by what’s going on, right?” Stripes continued, and that got the students in the room chattering and talking amongst themselves. Stripes raised a hooved hand to silence everyone. “Okay, okay. Understatement of the year, right? I’ll just come out with it then, since there’s no point in hiding it.”
He took a deep breath and launched into his explanation, which the college had more-or-less written for him and that he’d been practicing for weeks. He needed to keep it short and simple, which was hard because there was so much that was decidedly not simple about what was going to happen.
“Claw Valley U is… it’s a special place. I guess it’s two places in one, which overlap. There’s the college that you toured yesterday, and then there’s the college that exists on the ‘other side’, where people like me and the other RAs are from. Animal people, furries, anthropomorphs, therianthropes, whatever you wanna call us. The whole world is like this, with a human side and an anthro side, but here at Claw Valley and a few other places around the world there’s a few more ‘holes’ to let people move back and forth from time to time. And that’s what’s happened to you all last night. You’re on the ‘other side’.”
The people listening once again burst into wild chatter, some of them terrified at what they were hearing and others already excited to get a chance to explore this new world they had found themselves in. Most were somewhere in between, scared and excited and curious all at the same time. Milo was definitely in that boat, though he was learning more toward excited than scared. Not only was he heading off to a new school and getting a chance to make a new life for himself, he got to do it in this in a brand new world with people he could never had dreamed of meeting before. Stripes waited patiently for the cross-talk to die down a bit, and soon everyone was waiting on his every word to hear more.
“You’re going to find that this world is mostly just like your old one, just a little fuzzier,” Stripes said with a smirk. That line usually got laughs, but not so many this year. Tough crowd. “And when you came over to this side, things about you started to change too. Like if you start living in a different country, you start to pick up the language without even realizing it. Your bodies are going to adapt and become… different. You’ll be like me and everyone else on this side, a mix of human and animal. It might take a week, it might take a few weeks, but it will happen to you. That is an inescapable fact of Claw Valley.”
It took nearly ten minutes for everyone to settle down upon that bombshell being dropped. Some people started making a run for the doors, others nearly fainted, while most just stared in disbelief. Plenty of older students were there on-hand to try to calm them down, to convince them that everything was going to be just fine and that they had nothing to be afraid of. Stripes shifted uncomfortably on his hooves seeing the ruckus. He hadn’t heard about a group taking things quite this badly in quite a while, and he wondered if perhaps there was a less stressful way to break the news to the new students. Once things settled down some more, he continued his prepared speech as calmly as he could.
“I just want you to know that when these changes start, they will not be painful, and most of all they do not need to be permanent. If, at the end of the semester, you decide to return to the other side again, you’ll be just as human as the day you were born, no baggage whatsoever,” he said, leaving the implication hanging in the air that they didn’t need to go back if they didn’t want to. “Changing from a human to an animal might come with some new… instincts, you might call them. New feelings, new ways of looking at the world. These are perfectly normal, and you can always come talk to me and the other RAs if you’re feeling overwhelmed or scared or just need a shoulder to cry on. You’ve all been registered to take Anthro 101, which should help you understand more about what’s going to be happening to you.”
Stripes looked out over the crowd of faces, seeing hundreds of different emotions playing out on everyone’s faces in rapid succession. However, his eye was mostly drawn to Milo’s, which was positively glowing with excitement that only grew brighter as he learned more and more about the magic of Claw Valley U.
“And… This is going to be that hardest thing for you guys, but I need to just come out and say it,” Stripes sighed, glancing at the other two RAs. “…The only time you can return to the human side is between semesters. Until then, you cannot return to being human. Expect your first changes within the day, and a full transformation by the end of the month at the latest. That is all, please enjoy your time here at college. It’s really not as scary as I’m probably making it sound.”
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As soon as Stripes’ speech finished, half the people in the common room stumbled for the exit, which was still being blocked by Grayson, who did his best to settle everyone down.
“We’re not holding you captive here or anything,” Grayson said with his usual big smile shining. He’d practiced a lot in the mirror to keep his smile ‘friendly’ instead of ‘terrifying’, since he knew humans could get a little freaked out if they saw too many sharp teeth. “We just don’t want you running off and getting lost on your first day, okay? If you’re feeling overwhelmed, just take a walk around campus, talk to a few people, and you’ll find out there’s nothing to be scared of. And if you get lost, just ask for directions back here and anyone will be able to point you back here.”
Once again, the big friendly otter’s charming demeanor was enough to calm even the most frightened of freshmen. The still-worried freshmen slowly headed up to their dorms or out onto the campus to explore for a bit, often checking the backs of their hands for fur or feeling their faces to try to detect any of the ‘changes’ that Stripes had alluded to…
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Back in the common room, only a few people were still sitting around and trying to come to terms with what they had just been told. Not only were they going to be turning into animal peoples, they couldn’t even go home or talk to their families for months. These were college freshmen, most of them straight out of high school, so getting hit with a bombshell like this right off the bat was a bit much for some of them.
Milo sat on a couch, staring off into space. He barely registered it when another person sat down on the couch next to him, a person that was heavy enough to sag the couch down and cause Milo to fall sideways into the other person’s shoulder. A warm and muscular shoulder with a light coating of short, soft fur.
“Feeling okay there, Milo? Know it’s a lot to take in,” Stripes said, putting one of his hooved hands onto Milo’s shoulder reassuringly. “Honestly, it’s not the way I’d do it if I had a choice, but I gotta follow the college’s orders.”
“…I guess I’m fine. A little scared. A little… I dunno what to call it,” Milo replied quietly, his eyes looking right at the hooves on the ends of Stripes’ arms. At the bright white and dark black fur on his body. He wanted nothing more than to reach out and touch it, to know whether they were real or just some fever dream he was having. Stripes saw the younger man’s gaze and chuckled to himself.
“Go ahead, touch whatever you want. Just don’t tell my boyfriend about it, okay?”
Milo’s eyes went wide hearing that, and he cautiously reached over and ran his finger up and down Stripes’ arm, feeling the short and slightly stiff fur between his fingers, then nervously tapping a fingertip against the big zebra’s hooves and feeling the smooth surface.
“…It really doesn’t hurt? Changing, I mean?” Milo asked. That was the only thing that was worrying him at this point.
“Nope, not at all! It usually goes nice and slow, gives you lots of time to get used to everything!” Stripes replied cheerfully. “And let me tell you, growing a tail is… Wow! Lots of people who come here say it’s one of the best parts of their whole college experience! So, have you thought about what you might want to turn into, Milo?”
“W-what I want to turn into…? You mean I get a choice?” Milo exclaimed excitedly, a huge grin spreading across his face. “You didn’t say anything about that!”
“That’s because you don’t get a choice, bud,” Stripes said with a wink and a cheeky grin. “But, thinking about it early on can help you get used to it easier. Gets you ready for the changes, mentally speaking.”
“Oh… right,” Milo said, feeling dumb for getting so excited. “Umm… I guess I don’t know, then. I like all sorts of animals. Used to like to go to the public zoo whenever I got a chance to, which wasn’t all that often actually. State housing, basically a fancy orphanage, you know? So I didn’t get much time to go have fun…”
Stripes listened carefully, letting Milo say whatever he needed to. He gently rubbed a hoof against Milo’s shoulder, wanting the younger man to feel at home and safe here at Claw Valley.
“Anyway, I guess I’d be okay with turning into just about anything,” Milo sighed. “Something strong or cool or just… different. Basically the opposite of wimpy, uncool, average me.”
Stripes sighed hearing that, feeling terrible for the poor kid. He’s always heard that people came to the Valley for a reason, to work out their personal issues and grow into new people. So he was used to hearing all sorts of sob stories, but they still stung him deep down whenever he heard them.
“Milo… I’m sure that whatever you grow into will be exactly who you need to be. A handsome, smart, and kind young man. And whatever animal form you end up taking won’t change that, even though I’m just as excited as you are to find out what it will be,” Stripes said pulling Milo into a tight hug and patting him on the back. “Now, let’s see about getting you some breakfast, okay?”
The two men stood up, with Stripes naturally towering over Milo by over half a foot.
“Oh yeah, I forgot to ask… How did Daryl take everything that was going on this morning?” Stripes asked curiously.
“Daryl? No clue, he was still sleeping when I left the room, so-” Milo started to reply, only to get cut off by an earsplitting shout coming from up on the 3rd floor.
“…Well shit. I guess I miscounted,” Stripes groaned as he started to make his way up the stairs. “Don’t tell me I gotta give that whole spiel a second time…”