Nate quickly clopped over to his local bus stop. He was hoping he might see another mythical creature on the bus, but it didn’t even take that long! Leaning against the stop was a large minotaur idly scrolling through his phone.
Pan alive! This actually worked! Nate couldn’t stop wagging. Rather than looking like he had stepped out of a fantasy novel cover, the minotaur appeared to be clopping around town in a t-shirt for one of the local gym chains. This was amazing! Nate quickly realized he was probably wagging to an excessive degree and finally managed to get himself to relax by the time the bus showed up.
The bus driver was a human, but she didn’t bar an eye at a shirtless satyr climbing into one of the seats. The bus started making its way into the city, which begged the question, where should Nate go to people watch at this hour?
The library was only a couple of stops away? That seemed as good a plan as any. Nate practically bounced in his seat as the bus rolled down the street. Life seemed same as it ever was, save for the two mythical creatures casually riding a city bus. Wait- No. Some of the advertising on the bus seemed updated. The lawyer with the phone number that was all the same digits was now apparently representing people for “Magical Mishaps” instead of just car accidents.
After a short ride, Nate hopped off the bus and quickly headed over to his city’s book repository. He poked his head insider eagerly and- Oh. Just humans. Hmpf.
One in ten was a big change, but maybe not that big a change. Still, it was a little bewildering to watch them not bat an eye at him clopping by. A satyr clopping into the library was just an ordinary part of life now apparently. Owen really had managed to pull this off!
Nate eventually clopped up to the second floor. He let out a bleat of surprise when he saw an honest to goodness cerberus restocking one of the shelves. One of her heads looked over at him and gave a very canine, “Shush!”
He gave her an apologetic smile and pretended to browse one of the book shelves. Then he actually started reading the book spines. Nate had apparently wandered into the history section, and there were some pretty eye-catching titles staring up at him.
Nate spent most of his evening browsing the library’s non-fiction books. He has meant to be people watching, but these history books were just as fascinating. World events had played out mostly as he remembered, with a few odd wrinkles here and there. The early days of horseback combat mostly came down to who were on better terms with the local centaurs, and having a bunch of werewolf running around during World War II lead to some noteworthy silver shortages that had apparently spoiled the idea of silver jewelry up to the modern day. Nate was happy that he had apparently missed the surprisingly recent mythical creature civil rights moments. He couldn’t seem to find a mention of a satyr ever having been to space though… there might be a few things he’d need to adjust with his Chronivac later.
Owen for his part stayed quiet throughout most of the evening. He only spoke up when Nate got home to ask to be recharged. It was a whirlwind of a day, and honestly Nate could use some rest too. He knew he should be asking Owen to undo his changes, but he really wanted to see what office life would be like.
Nate woke up bright-eyed and bushy tailed the next morning. (It was fine, he manage to get it combed.) After a quick breakfast, he scurried into his office to see what work life would be like as a mythical creature. Reality ended up being a bit of an anti-climax. Sure Nate knew reality had changed, but his coworkers had years to get used to working with satyrs.
Satyrs! There were three on their floor! Nate never really had a regular lunch group before. It was nice having some friends clop by and ask if he wanted to hit up the salad bar. Nate was a little startled to have memories of years of office banter with these goat men, but it was easy enough to roll with. He was pretty sure he had remembered seeing one of them around the office back when he was a human, but they hadn’t ever spoken. It apparently took having hooves in common for them to become friends. Nate couldn’t help but wonder how Owen picked who was going to become a mythical creature and what species they’d end up as.
All things considered, it was a fun day. Nate was a little tempted to just… live in this moment. Still, be couldn’t just leave reality completely out of wack forever. Eventually someone from TransDem would show up to yell at him for changing the course of human history.
Right?
Nate hung up his loin cloth and settled in at home. He got Owen out of his satchel and set him down on his coffee table. The satyr plopped down on his sofa and looked down at the gadget.
“Alright Owen, I think it’s time for me to turn back to normal,” he rubbed his ear self consciously.
It took a moment for the Chronivac’s screen to turn on. A thinking indicator appeared again. Finally Owen said, “You are normal sir?”
Nate let out an amused bleat, “I know, you did a very good job. But we should turn me back into my old self.”
“Your old self?” The Chronivac seemed to try and emphasize the confusion in its artificial tone of voice this time.
Nate felt a shiver run down his spine.
“Yes? You changed me yesterday? Turn me back to my human self!” Nate started to raise his voice.
“I’m sorry sir, my records indicate that you’ve always been a satyr?” Owen said after a bit of thinking, “This is your default form.”
“Default- Baah!” Nate started to go pale, “Owen, I’m supposed to be a human!”
“If you say so sir. I have no records on file of you ever being a human,” the Chronivac insisted.
“I thought that default meant- That’s just how people would view me…?” Nate felt the fur on his neck stand on end.
“This is your default form sir. It’s the natural state I return you to if you request I undo a change,” the Chronivac’s synthetic voice was distressingly calm.
“Oh baah. I think we messed up…!” Nate wagged nervously, “Owen, please display all of the changes you performed in the last two days.”
“Of course sir,” Owen said agreeably. A familiar set of commands popped up on screen.
• Wardrobe Adjustment: Update user’s outfit to a loin cloth.
• Transformation: Update user’s species to “Satyr”.
• Speech Modification: Updated user’s cultural references.
• Mental Shift: Grant user satyr sensibilities, instincts, and mindset. (Modern, Urban.)
• Clothing Preferences: Update user’s tastes to “Nudist (Extreme)”.
• Profile Update: Set user’s current form as default.
• Reality Alteration: Add mythical creatures to society. (Common, Appx 1/10.)
• Reality Alteration: Update user’s genealogy. (Father 100% Satyr, Mother 12% Dryad, 4% Nymph, 84% Human.) [Pro]
• Perception Filter: Current settings will be perceived as societal status quo for at approximately 5 generations. [Pro]
• Perception Filter: User is only entity aware of changes.
“Baah! See, right there! You turned me into a satyr!” Nate sat up, pointing at the phone.
“It would appear I did,” Owen observed, “From what I do not know.”
“But- Oh baah…” Nate stared at that last entry, “Owen, you’re not aware of your own changes!?”
“Typically I am, but you specifically requested only you perceive the results of that group of instructions,” the Chronivac explained.
“Baaaah!” Nate’s ears shot up, “Do you have like, an undo button!?”
The device spun a bit, “Yes, but I would to know the output I’m trying to achieve. I’m designed primarily to return users to their default state.”
“So I’m stuck like this!?” Nate pulled on his horns anxiously.
“No sir,” Owen replied, “I’m still a Chronivac 5 Pro. I can still change you into anything your heart desires.”
“Because that went so well last time!” Nate huffed. He scanned his list of changes again looking for some easy way to undo all this and- Hold on. When did he ask Owen for a new mindset? Oh jeez this AI took his comment about satyr sensitivities way too seriously…!
“Look,” Nate pinched the bridge of his nose, “Just show me a preview window of myself as a human.”
The Chronivac’s screen shifted back to the preview window Owen had shown him the day before. A photorealistic render of himself with goat legs appeared, and then the preview lost its fur as Owen toggled the “Species” field from “Satyr” to “Human”.
Nate watched the changes play out over the course of a few seconds. His hooves turned into feet, his horns disappeared, and his fur faded away. Humans and satyrs did have a lot more in common than most creatures, but it was still odd to watch the shift play out in real time.
He squinted at the image. It was… off. Nate couldn’t fully put his finger on why exactly. Owen had just gotten some of the smaller details wrong when shifting him from a satyr back into a human. It was like looking at a photocopy of a fax.
The old him didn’t have a mullet for one. Nate swiped through hair styles until he was able to find something a bit closer to his older fashion sense. He grabbed the “body hair” slide and dragged it nearly down to the bottom. He was pretty sure his old self didn’t have much hair on his chest. Owen had done a good job of trying to visualize a human version of his satyr appearance, but he had clearly leaned on making some of his more goaty aspects shine through.
Nate winced, toggling off his goatee. His satyr pride took a small hit there.
His preview was starting look close to his old self. He didn’t exactly stare into a mirror on a regular basis. I still didn’t feel quite right. It was like he was trying to recreate himself in a video game that didn’t have enough options. He could poke and prod all the sliders, but everything felt a quarter percentage or two off of the old him. He might just have to live with his eyes being a little larger or further apart than he recalled.
If it was any conciliation prize, he was able to whiten and straighten his teeth. That would have to be enough.
“Alright, I… I think I’m ready Owen,” Nate gulped, setting the Chronivac down on the coffee table, “Let’s do this.”
“Affirmative sir!” The device beeped. “Applying changes.”
Nate was getting increasingly familiar with this device’s progress bar. He held out his arms and legs, watching as his fur started to recede.
It felt weird to watch a part of himself fade away like that. Nate reached up reflexively to rub his ear nervously, when he suddenly found himself grabbing at an awkwardly small little furless flap.
“Weird…” he humbled.
Nate patted his head, realizing his horns had all but slid back into his head. Wagging his tail was starting to feel strange too but…
“Hmpf,” he huffed softly, “Does my… voice sound weird?” He spoke out loud curiously. His tone of voice was missing that characteristic warmth that came with his bleats.
“Negative sir,” Owen’s speech was a bit more synthetic again. He was still probably focused on changing him, “You sound human.”
“Right,” Nate rubbed his throat.
Nate leaned forward on the sofa and watched his hoof split into five distinct toes. The black hoof tips shifted into lighter toenails as the fur completely faded from his legs. Being able to wiggle things down there felt weird.
“Woah, that feels kind of….” He experimentally put his feet on the carpet.
His eyes went wide, “Gah!” He lifted his foot up. Nate experimentally lowered it again and… woah. That was weird. He could feel the bottom of his feet rub up against the carpet! What if he stepped on a rock or something…!? Man, it was so sensitive…!
“For Pan’s sake…” Nate experimentally stood on his human legs. “How am I supposed to walk on these things…?”
Nate took a few timid steps around his apartment. The feeling of carpet under his feet was odd, but there was another sensation he wasn’t quite used to. He looked down at himself and saw the answer dangling between his legs, “Wait? Aren’t I supposed to have clothes?”
“Change complete!” Owen spoke up finally, “You didn’t specify clothes sir.”
“Oh! Sorry. Blue jeans, boxers, and a t-shirt please,” Nate couldn’t believe he forgot such a key detail.
The Chronivac beeped and a nondescript pile of clothes appeared in front of him.
“Right uh, let’s see… Human clothes. I’ve got this,” Nate picked up the boxers. He’s seen people wear these before… It shouldn’t be too hard. Two small openings for his legs, one big one for his torso.
“The tag goes in the back sir,” Owen corrected his first attempt before he could get too far.
“Right, thanks.” Nate anxiously reached up to rub his ear, but the habit didn’t make sense when it was this small.
Nate managed to get the clothes on without any more prompting from Owen. They were naturally his size but…
Nate scratched the shirt on his chest, “Owen, is there something wrong with these clothes?”
“No sir? Those are standard human clothes,” Owen said from the table.
“But they don’t feel right,” Nate did a quick lap around the living room. Maybe they just needed worn in? No, that wasn’t it. “Owen, none of this feels right…!”
“Would you like me to make any further alterations?” the Chronivac offered.
“No, I just- I need to get out of these stupid things…!” Nate stopped pacing around and finally gave into the instinct to tear his shirt off. He frantically undid the clasp on his pants and kicked them to the floor. He didn’t even bother trying to keep the boxers on.
Nate panted softly, “That feels better…”
Wait. Huh. That did feel better? He felt better without clothes on. Oh man…
“Satyrs typically don’t wear much in the way of clothing sir,” Owen replied, “You may want to make some mental adjustments to yourself to better suit that form.”
“But I’m not…” The realization came to Nate like a minotaur headbut. Nate was reacting to this whole experience like a satyr stuck in a human’s body.
And he absolutely hated this.
“I- I want my hooves back,” Nate stammered, “I don’t like this.”
“Sir?” the Chronivac spoke up.
Nate took a deep breath, “Owen, turn me back to normal.”
“Affirmative sir,” Owen beeped.
Nate felt an immediate wave of relief as fur started to grow out over his legs. He felt his ears twitch and his tail start to wag behind him. Baah! He hadn’t realized how… pent up humans were! Satyrs had so many more ways of letting their anxious energy out. He let out a nice long sigh of relief as things started to feel normal again.
Normal…
This really was his default self now. With one simple, “Would you like to do the honors?”, Nate had managed to fundamentally change who he was as a person. He wasn’t some human pretending to be a goat man. He was a satyr in a satyr’s life.
He still had the Chronivac at least. He could still change things about himself. His ear twitched in annoyance at the thought though. This felt good! He didn’t like feet. Being a human felt off in so many ways. If he changed his species again (big if), Nate couldn’t imagine shifting into something that didn’t have hooves.
So… he was stuck like this? The Chronivac would tell him he could do anything his heart desired. But he didn’t want to be human. He could maybe whip up some big bullet point list to trick himself into tolerating the form. Turn off his perception of the changes or something… But what if that made him miserable?
His old human self clearly wasn’t that attached to his humanity. Or at least he was more up for species swapping than Nate was now. Maybe that’s all it came down to?
Baah, Nate could use some fresh perspectives. Owen was great and all, but these big open ended questions didn’t seem to be his forte.
Nate could just picture calling his some of his friends. “Baah! Hey guys, guess what I accidentally got stuck as?” He doubted his satyr buddy Marcus or his human friend Allen would believe his tall tale about a reality changing gizmo. They’d probably need a demonstration and- Hey. Now there’s an idea.
He could swap their species and get both their thoughts on it! Now this was a plan!
Nate reached down and picked up his pho-
“Anything else I can help you with sir?” Owen asked cheerfully as Nate picked the Chronivac up.
“Oh, sorry!” Nate set the Chronivac down and clopped over to his actual smartphone, “I’m just going to call some friends.”