Grant tried not to flinch as the light darted across his eyes. Doctor Raymond Schnauf, thw wolf from yesterday made a satisfied noise in his throat. "Well, other than going a little fast, your changes are fine. Nothing out of the ordinary that I can tell. The muzzle coming in wasn't painful?"
"Quite the opposite." Grant admitted, with a look for Tanner who sat in the corner. For some reason he had insisted the kangaroo stay with him in the exam room. It felt right to have him there. Despite fur having covered his face last night, his hair hade remained long and black, enough that he could still pull it back into a short tail. Which didn't bother him, Tanner seemed to like to play with it though.
"Any new personality quirks?" The doctor was asking like everything was completely expected.
Grant's eyes flicked to Tanner then back to the doctor. "I guess you could say that."
"No attraction to men before? How do you feel about women now?" HE kept jotting his notes, and Grant caught Tanner trying not to burst into a fit of giggles.
"None. And about the same, I guess." Grant answered honestly after he thought about it for a moment. But was it men, or was it Tanner that had specifically pulled his eye. He looked at the doctor, who was decently in shape, he could tell even under the lab coat. Thought what he might look like without the clothing in the way, forcing himself to fantasize a little and felt a twitch of excitement between his legs. Baseball. Cold showers. The news. Anything but that.
"Name of your high school and its mascot?" The doctor asked in the same flat tone.
"Desert Sands High, mascot was a roadrunner." Tanner suddenly looked like he was about to run out of his chair, but the doctor just looked at him calmly.
"Are you sure about that? Can you remember another one?" Grant opened his mouth. That had been the wrong answer. But it wasn't. His parents lived down in New Mexico, that's where he had grown up, spent his whole life until he moved out to New York for college. He thought on it but could only bring up images from the new high school. Friends, bullies, his first crush who he managed to take to prom, an adorable mountain lion named Christopher, no, he went to prom with Chrissy. There it was, he could focus on some of it, bits and pieces but nothing solid.
"Barely. It's more like.. old photos than memories. I thought people got new memories and lives here anyway." Something told him this wasn't right though.
"New yes, but they just suppress the old memories, they're still there, just faint and dreamlike. Yours seem to be vanishing completely. Judging by how much you lost yesterday, and then from then to today, the decay is slowing but it's still there." He felt two hands take his, holding it gently. He hadn't even realized he had reached out for Tanner until the kangaroo responded.
"Will they come back if I go back to the human world?" Grant asked. Something about all his memories vanishing and being replaced disturbed him. Far more than the thought of just getting new ones. Like he was losing a giant piece of himself.
"Perhaps, or you might end up an amnesiac. We don't have a lot of studies on people repeatedly moving between worlds." The doctor said, leaning back and watching Grant.
"I thought this place flipped back and forth." Grant was looking for some answers now as he tightened his fingers in between Tanner's.
"It does, but we don't leave the boundary, and typically humans that joined us don't want to. The ones that go back don't come back. Doctor Oakton supposes they forget too much going back to know what they gave up here." Raymond shook his head. "I stepped out once, I felt the pull to come back almost immediately."
"How long?" This was Tanner's voice, Grant was trying to work moisture into his own mouth.
"Judging by the rate they're disappearing and his physical changes, they're happening together. I'd say, maybe Sunday both will complete. I'm sorry Grant, you'll probably forget the human world altogether other than what any resident around here knows. It'll be like you were never on the human side at all, much less lived there." Grant felt one of Tanner's arms around his shoulders.
"There's one more thing I'd like you to do while you're here if you don't mind." Grant looked up, curiously.
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He had not expected Sheriff Niles to still be here, or sitting outside of one of the rooms with his hat in his lap looking worn out. "Sheriff." Grant started, then looked to the room. "Something the matter? I thought I man like you would be busy."
Niles barked a short laugh. "You'd think that, wouldn't you. No, it's been a calm few days, other than our incident. Has he agreed, doc?"
Raymond shook his head. "Hadn't explained yet." The wolf looked at Grant. "Yesterday you mentioned having highland bulls for a father and a younger brother." Grant nodded his head, those memories were getting clearer. His father who was a rather calm and docile man unless riled up, a history buff, his brother a bit more rambunctious but always careful about his size.
"Does explain the height." Tanner said, trying to sound jovial as he tapped the top of Grant's head.
"We want to see if you can identify someone." Raymond put a paw on the room Niles had been watching and opened the door. The lights were dimmed and on top of the bed lay a half-changed figure. The start of horns stuck out from their head, and the feet were completely hooves, shaggy red fur up them until it disappeared under their gown. The face was masculine, with a thick, broad muzzle forming with more shaggy red fur growing in, a thick neck leading to slim shoulders, then a surprisingly petit torso with breasts.
"Is that?" Grant started, but shock kept him from saying anything else.
"The young woman from yesterday, yes." Niles said with a nod of his head. "She seems to be becoming a male bull, it's rare but it happens. The Valley seems to be trying to push her as far away from her old self as possible. Focus on the face though, is she.. he familiar."
Grant squinted, the face being halfway between that of a human man and a bovine bull made it hard to tell. "I'm not sure, that type of fur definitely is, though."
"What about his scent?" Niles asked, causing Grant to stare at him blankly. "Your muzzle came in, surely you've been noticing stronger smells. Close your eyes and inhale, see if anything sparks a memory."
Feeling just a little silly, Grant did just that. And instead of the normal mess of scent in the room he found he could pick them apart. A spicier scent that got his heart racing he associated immediately to Tanner. Two sharp scents that tickled something in the back of his mind that whispered, 'Predator. Run.' But the instinct was faint and dull. He knew they were no harm. Then another smell, earthy, familiar but mixed with something less so. It did spark a memory in his head. "Benny."
Niles nodded slowly. "Oakton thought you two might be connected now after what happened. So, she's becoming your younger brother."
Grant only vaguely heard it, he was taking a seat by the bed, focusing on the face. Ho had he missed it? All the memories were there now. His cautious, careful little brother everyone took for dumb just because he liked going slow. Grant was the one that would speed off without thinking, Benny was his anchor. He took a hand in his own, ignoring the small hand and slender fingers. There were voices chattering behind him, but he had them filtered out, his ears flipped forward, almost vibrating how hard he focused on the bull's steady breathing.
"Grant?" That word stopped all the talking. Benny opened his eyes and looked at him. "Where am I?"
"Hospital." Grant said, trying to sound reassuring as he placed his other hand atop Benny's head, brushing back the shaggy red fur. "You had an accident, don't worry, everything's going to be fine."
Benny took in a deep breath, back arching, and they all watched as his shoulders suddenly broadened along with his chest, the breasts flattening out before a bit of muscle grew in heir place. He fell back to the bed, as if he didn't even notice what had just happened. "Are you okay?"
Of course Benny would ask that. "I'm fine. Don't worry, just rest." The bull nodded his head and drifted off soundly.
Niles and Raymond had retreated back into the hallway to talk. Eventually Tanner led out a teary-eyed Grant. "For now, we'll put Mr. Long as next of kin and keep him updated." Raymond was saying to a nodding sheriff.
"Me? Why me? I thought Janey had a brother at the college?" Grant asked, wiping an eye dry with the back of his hand.
"That's not Janey Howel, it's Benjamin Long." Niles said with a nod to the now closed door. "Once that changes are to the point where memories are settled in, it's best to respect them. Unless you know your new family's contact information and want to add them instead. The bull didn't even hesitate on seeing you, he knew exactly who you were. I wouldn't be surprised if the memories were complete in his head."
Finally, Grant nodded. He knew he couldn't say no. His own memories and feelings were too strong. Even though he knew he had nothing to do with the person in that room, everything inside of him wanted to protect him with every fiber of his being. "But consider letting Janey's brother know what happened?"
"Oakton is working on that." Niles assured.
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Grant lifted his head at the scent of warm tea, blearily looking up at Tanner who was setting a steaming mug on the bedside table beside where he lay. "How are you feeling?"
"Confused." Grant admitted. It was a lot. "Losing who I was, gaining this whole new person in my head. Am I even me anymore?"
"Are you you?" Tanner mused. "Kind? Good with his hands? Easy going? Good with his hands in other ways?"
Grant smiled but snorted. "Tanner, thank you, but we've only known each other a few days, you wouldn't really know if something big about me changes. What foods I liked, my favorite movies, my old friends, I'm just feeling lost."
"To be fair," Tanner said softly. "Food tastes almost always change for humans coming here. When was the last time you wanted meat?"
Grant opened and closed his mouth, then blinked. The thought of a steak was actually more than a little unappealing. Especially considering his family. "Okay. You can have that one." He sat up and took the tea, sipping at it and feeling his stress ease a little. More when Tanner moved to the other side of the bed and climbed on, flopping down next to him his head head in his hand, propped up by an elbow.
"Why did you pack up your life and move away? What has always been your dream?" Tanner asked. "Don't think, just answer."
"New York wasn't home anymore, my marriage fell through." There was a Sandra over here, a rabbit. They had met in college. The whole arc of their relationship matched except for the closer presence of his family in it. Benny being his best man at his wedding, still managing to look shaggy in a tux. His support when he told him he planned to ask for a divorce. "My dream? This." He looked around him. "A B&B on a lakefront, running it with the person I love."
Grant blinked as those words came out of his mouth, opening to object but Tanner just hushed him. "I know, I asked your dream. I'm not expecting you to give me that word yet. Even in your new memories we've only recently met." For a moment he looked a little guilty. "I almost feel responsible. I've been wanting someone to share this with, then you came along, and I might have.. sent the thought out into the universe it might be nice if you stayed."
"Don't be. Just, I haven't decided yet." Grant said with a small smile. This really was nice though, and it was so tempting to just slip into this new life and just stay. He felt a hand on one of his ears, tickling the fluff inside. He melted a little under the touch, even as something else stiffened. Oh god, this is what he did to Tanner in front of the doctor.
"If you go, I hope you have it in you to let us be together, just once. Just for the memory." Tanner sounded miserable even saying those words, but they meant quite a bit to Grant, and he knew no matter his decision, Tanner would be happy to let him make it.