Donkey Number Five lead him into the break room's locker area. There didn’t seem to be one hundred and seventeen lockers here… That’s when Nate noticed how they were labeled. It was just a few rows of “A”, “B”, and “C”.
“Excuse me sir? What model did you give One Seventeen?” Five brayed.
“B. Same as you.” Mr. Smith didn’t even look up from his phone.
“Hee haw! Oh, uh-“ He glanced down at his stomach, then up at Nate’s slim figure, “Sorry?” He gave a toothy grin. “Our uniforms are over here.”
“What does he have to be sorry about?” Mr. Smith raised an eyebrow.
Five popped open a locker. Inside was about ten copies of the exact same jumpsuit.
“Oh! Nothing sir! Us B models are great! We really keep our nose to the ground!” He waved at the human, “Real attention to detail us Bs!” He handed Nate one of the uniforms, “His jumpsuit’s just not going to fit at first, that’s all.”
“That’s what I thought.” Mr. Smith turned back to his phone. He walked off, sitting down in a chair at the far end of the room.
“Well what are you waiting for?” Five pulled out one of the jumpsuits.
Nate took the hanger and then looked around. “Uh…”
Five just stared up at him. “Haw? Everything alright?”
Mr. Smith called out from the other side of the room, “He’s still got his modesty!” He waved at them, “Five, come here!”
“Hee haw! Yessir!” He started clopping across the break room, “What’s modesty sir?”
Oh jeez. Did he have that to look forward to as well? Nate began to strip out of his clothing. Or rather, he finally just let his pants and boxers fall to the floor.
“Haw…” He reveled in it for a moment. Finally though, he peeled off the rest of his clothes and set them aside in a small pile.
He held his new jumpsuit up in front of him. It had the Paper Corp logo on it, but no other identifying pieces of information. His ID was on his tag he supposed.
The garment was all one piece. It unzipped in the front and mercifully had a tail hole in the seat of the pants. Nate stepped into it made sure to thread his tail in properly as he pulled it up around his waist.
His tail poked through on the other side without any problems. This was an outfit designed for beasts after all. Beasts like him. He turned a bit, trying to hide his boner from the others.
The tail hole might have fit, but the jumpsuit was comically not his size. The ends of the legs dangled halfway up his shins. He slid the jumpsuit over his shoulders and watched as his arms poked out of the sleeves closer to his elbows than his wrist.
Haw…! He was… he was going to shrink considerably before all this was over.
Nate reached down to zip up the jumpsuit and realized he had quite the awkward bundle of folds to deal with. The material sagged down in front of him, and he had a really hard time even finding the base of the zipper.
He glanced over his shoulder at Five. Hee haw! His jumpsuit was taut! Oh man, he was going to get really heavy and... and...
Did he just bray in his train of thought?
He had meant to mentally swear under his breath, but he just thought “hee haw” instead. That was weird. He reached up to rub his head gently, but instead managed to smack the plastic tag against the back of his head. Haw! Oww...
His watch buzzed, ”Attribute Modified: Furry Ears.” The corporate Chronivac’s program was continuing apace. Nate’s ears were starting to itch.
Finally he walked walked back over to the two. He held his old clothes in his arms, awkwardly dangling his two shoes in front of him.
“Haw, I’m finished sir.” He brayed sheepishly, “I don’t have hooves yet. May I put my shoes back on?”
Mr. Smith shook his head, “I need to put your things into storage. Your assets are corporate property now too. You’ll get them back when your contract is over.”
He held out a brown paper bag in front of Nate. Nate nervously put his shoes inside, then his shirt, his pants, and…
“Haw, do I get to keep my phone?” Nate gulped.
“No.” Mr. Smith shook the bag, “Hurry up One Seventeen.”
Nate dropped his phone, keys, and wallet into the bag. The HR rep folded the top of the bag over, stapled it shut, and then wrote Nate’s number on it.
He stood there awkwardly. Some new part of him was hoping for a, “Good beast.”
“Hee haw, come on, we’ll put you on trash duty today.” Five gestured to a small push cart. “Do you know the floor plan of our offices yet?”
Nate nodded, “Yes, I’ve been working here for years.” Five gave him a curious look at that answer.
Mr. Smith got up from his seat, heading over to the elevator, "He worked in building three. You might want to skip that one on your rounds."
"Yessir." Five pulled a trash cart forward, "Come on One Seventeen, help me with this."
Nate walked barefoot behind the cart, helping Five get it into the elevator. It was clear Mr. Smith hadn't thought through riding up with the smelly cart.
"Haw, we don't have to skip building three sir. I want to say hi to my friends." Nate wagged softly.
"You sure you want them to see you like this?" Mr. Smith raised an eyebrow, "Alright, sure. Do whatever you want Five." He walked up to the elevator door, slipping through the second it opened up.
Trash duty with Five went off without a hitch. It was a one person job, so the two of them were able to handle it quickly. He just had to walk down the main aisles of each floor and empty their main trash cans. Every once in a while someone would run up with one of the smaller cans they weren't supposed to have under their desk and ask to get them emptied out as well. Five said he should just smile and nod.
And bray.
Nate could feel people's eyes on him all afternoon. His ears kept picking up comments like, "New Donkey" and "Beast In Training". He had a jumpsuit on sure, but he didn't think his tail was that noticeable yet. He hadn't had a chance to see just how much fur was on his ears yet.
Eventually they made their way into Nate's old building. Five seemed to have forgotten about the significance this building held to Nate. Eventually Five picked up on Nate wagging a bit faster.
"Haw, I was an accountant here." Nate pointed across the room to a cluster of desks, "Not a very good one."
Five tilted his head, "Wow, I can't imagine having my own desk."
Nate couldn't help but notice how thoroughly his space had been cleaned out already. All his personal effects were gone. Hopefully they had been put into storage too? His old monitor and keyboard were just sitting on the empty desk waiting for a new occupant.
"Wait up...!" Nate heard a familiar voice. Haw! It was his friend Clint!
...running up with a small trash can. "Can you empty mine too?"
He blinked, staring at Nate. "Woah, err, hi." He blinked again, "You really did get demoted."
Nate nodded, "Haw! Yeah, I was kinda-sorta lying about my qualifications." He grinned, "I exaggerated on my resume, one thing lead to another and uh... Here I am." He held his arms out, his jumpsuit's sleeves dangling down.
"Wow. Yeah." He blinked, "I don't know what to say."
Nate didn't either. He settled on, "Haw, you see my new tail?" He turned around.
Clint ran his fingers through Nate's tassel (without asking). "Oh man, I can't believe it. They're really turning you into an animal."
Nate nodded, "Just during the duration of my contract. Hee haw! Careful, that tickles...!" He wagged.
"Sorry, I uh- I guess I'll see you around?" Clint stood back up, quickly running off back to his desk.
"Haw? Uh- Yeah!" Nate rubbed his ear shyly. "I was kinda hoping we could talk a bit longer," he mumbled once the human was gone.
Five started pushing the cart, "People don't really know how to talk to beasts. They usually just leave us be."
He stopped next to Nate's old break room. They hadn't emptied any break room trash cans today. Five poked his head inside, "Hey One Seventeen." He gestured him closer. "Come here."
Nate walked up closer. Five practically stuck his muzzle in his ear. "So... We can't remember names well." He brayed, "Us donkeys I mean. They built us that way."
He pointed into the break room. Someone had left out a stack of post-it notes and a pen. "You can still remember yours, right? Go write it down, and keep the note somewhere safe." He patted Nate on the back, "I'll cover for you."
Nate clopped into the break room slowly. He double checked no one was around, then quickly picked up the pen. Just as he grabbed up one of the notes, his watch buzzed.
”Attribute Modified: Penmanship Decreased.”
“Thanks Owen…” He mumbled, writing and N.
His watch buzzed again, ”Attribute Modified: Penmanship Decreased.”
Oh haw! N-A-T- Buzz! He kept going, struggling to write an E. His hand was getting shaky, and wasn’t sure he was holding the pen correctly anymore.
Nate desperately started to write his last name. He could see the messages starting to stack up on his watch screen. It was all he could do the scribble each letter out in scribbly block letters.
Nate’s watch buzzed one last time as he finished writing the note out. Just those two words had taken so much effort on his part. His ears folded back in embarrassment.
Nate hadn’t bothered to look at the last notification, ”Attribute Modified: Donkey Ears (50%).”
He studied the scrap of paper. It technically had his name on it. If you kinda squinted. He gently folded it up and slid it into his pocket.
"You ready One Seventeen?" Five grinned when he walked back out of the break room. "Nice ears."
"Haw!?" Nate reached up to the side of his head. He had felt the fur on his ears before but- Oh man, they were getting really long now! The continued their rounds, and he swore they felt an inch longer every time he reached up to give them a rub.