Changed

The wave told him that the internal changes had begun. He grabbed a large bin with a toilet seat on it. He removed Lottatna's shoes, socks, pants, and undergarment before shifting her body enough to place the bin securely in the bean bag. He rolled her body back over, centering her butt on the seat so she wouldn't have to lay in what would soon be eliminated.

Her abdominal muscles tightened and she started to bleed. It came out of her urethra and vagina. Light in color at first then darkening as decomposed organ tissues were pushed out. The bladder, the kidneys, and all associated tubing; the uterus and uterine tubes and the ovaries. The clitoris came off too and dropped into the bin with the rest of the crushed organs. A little more blood followed with the contracting of her abdominal and pelvic muscles until the skin healed over leaving no opening, save her anus, in her lower body.

Lottatna's muscles relaxed and Reseterits rolled her off the bin to empty it. Then he returned the bin to its place and sat. He waited for the next change to come. His aquatic mammal nose twitched in anticipation. The tube of her esophagus would merge with her tongue and grow little teeth of its own. The air sacs in her lungs would change to be able to take in water and air, her liver and gallbladder would enlarge and hollow out to form 2nd and 3rd stomachs. All the bile pathways would blend with the gastric juices.

The spleen and pancreas would move down to where her kidneys once resided. Their tissues would blend to filter out anything her new body no longer needed. Then once that was complete, her abdominal muscles would contract again. The contractions would separate the small and large intestines. The large intestine would attach to her current stomach to deal with meats and fats. The small intestine would attach to the new stomachs to deal with the rest of the food. Their ends would merge for a couple inches just inside her anal opening.

Reseterits watched and waited until close to midnight before her abdominal muscles shifted. The contractions were steady and some blood dripped from her anus. The contractions continued for nearly an hour before bloody, but well formed, masses came through the hole. Dinner had been processed and she wouldn't need to eliminate anything else for the rest of the night. He removed the bin and cleaned it out.

Then he pressed on the bean bag, adjusting it to more fully support Lottatna's body. Gently he removed her purse, her shirt and bra. Setting her clothing aside, he pulled out one of his spare blankets and lay it over her. Then his head came up and turned to her purse. Did Lottatna have to work tomorrow?

He dug through the bag looking for something that even remotely looked like a planner. There was nothing in the big pocket. He searched through her phone with nothing. He dumped out her purse then looked again. Still nothing. Resetarits nearly tore off the smaller pockets looking. It would not do for Lottatna to miss work without notice. He found a palm sized planner in the small zipper pocket on the front. After the house clearing this morning, Lottatna didn't have anything scheduled until Saturday afternoon. He frowned and nodded.

He put the planner down then padded over to his couch. He curled up in a ball under the blanket. He looked at Lottatna's face and wondered how he was to explain everything to her once she woke. He drifted off to sleep. He slept lightly and got up a few hours later. He checked on Lottatna. Her body was cool, but not cold. He opened her mouth to be sure that the changes had not stopped. Her tongue shifted slightly and chomped its teeth once at him before lying still.

Her jaw muscles pulled her jaw closed. The bone structure of her body would shift next and pull the muscles into a slightly different alignment. The realignment would allow her the ability to move around with ease whether on her feet or all fours. Resetarits preferred being on all four after spending countless hours on two among these people. He found something to eat while he listened to the popping of Lottatna's vertebrae and rib cage. The shifting would cause her body to burn the fat that created her breasts and send the glands and nerves to her deep abdomen where they would be held until she mated.

Her shoulders would only hunch forward if she wanted them to. Resetarits did while he was around people to better hide his multiple tails. The bones and muscles in her head, neck, and face would come next. This shift always caused the head to twitch in all directions because of the nerve stimulation that occurred while everything readjusted. The cartilage of her nose cracked and fragmented, leaving blood to drain out her nose. He washed it away as the bones continued to shift. The aquatic mammal nose bulged from the skin and her lips thinned. Her head pulled to the left a little as the bones settled in place. He threw away the rag he used to wash away the blood from her face then mixed together a protein dense shake. He poured this into a bottle and took it to Lottatna's side.

Her jaw opened easily. Her esophagus tongue chomped its teeth ferociously at him and he set the nipple of the bottle in the hole. The bottle contents were drained greedily. Resetarits set the bottle to the side before getting the toilet dish and setting it beneath Lottatna once more. He pulled the blanket away and brushed away the pubic hair. A soft moan escaped her lips and she shifted just a little before a small pebble dropped from her anus. Lottatna's chest rose for the first time since her heart stopped beating. He set his hand on her sternum to feel her heartbeat. The beat was steady again. Just under 24 hours for the majority of the changes to occur.

The last thing to change would be the growth of her tail or tails. According to Resetarits' people, each tail represented a past life they had lived successfully. How much of that was really true he didn't know. But not that it mattered now anyways. He shifted Lottatna enough to pull the dish out from under her then covered her once more with the blanket. She shivered and he tucked the ends under her. He cleaned out the dish then a little more of his apartment while she continued her sleep. He was sure that he put all of Lottatna's belongings back into her purse. He lay down again as evening fell, curled under the blanket and slept.

Resetarits woke a couple hours later to the rustling of the bean bag. Getting up, he checked on his friend. She had rolled over and was trying to pull the blanket out from under herself to cover her backside.

"Just lie still," he told her then covered her with a second blanket.

Lottatna curled into a ball then stilled. He was about to step away when the blanket started to move with the rapid growth of her tails. He returned to the couch and closed his eyes until the sun started to come in through the windows. Lottatna hadn't moved at all since he'd covered her. He prepared several bottles of food, knowing she would be hungry when she woke.

But when Lottatna hadn't stirred once by noon he was beginning to worry. Resetarits knelt beside her and set a hand on her shoulder. "Lottatna?" he asked.

"Resetarits?" she replied. "Where am I?"

"My apartment."

"How did I get here?"

"I carried you. Do you not remember what happened?"

"Snow Dragon… Bump… Sleepy."

"It was more than just sleep, Lottatna."

"Then I really died?" she asked.

"You did," he said. "You were dead for nearly 24 hours while your body changed."

Lottatna's brow furrowed. Her stomach growled.

"Can you sit up?" he asked.

She shifted under the blanket and pushed herself up into a sitting position. She swayed a little as she pulled the blanket tighter over her naked body. Resetarits had gotten up and gathered the bottles from the kitchen. He steadied her as he held the nipple of a bottle to her lips. She opened her mouth and her tongue wrapped around the end. She tipped her head back against Resetarits' shoulder while she continued to feed and breath together. She opened her mouth when Resetarits removed the first bottle and gave her a second. She felt weak and let her eyes close again. The second bottle became a third bottle and a few cups of warm broth before Resetarits lay her down to rest a little more.

She only rested for a few hours before she got up and shuffled to the bathroom. She kept the blanket wrapped around her. It was pulled tighter around her when she came out. She sat on the bean bag and stared away. Resetarits left the kitchen and brought over several cups of soup. The bean bag shifted as he sat next to Lottatna. He fed her several cups of something semi-solid. She ate it all.

"I'm sorry you have to experience this, Lottatna," he said.

He wrapped a second blanket around her shoulders and she raised her eyes to look at his face. She took in his slightly larger eyes and his sea lion's nose. His lips were as thin as she had seen them to be, and the rest of his face didn't seem that different from the Human face. Tears filled her eyes and she felt her face change. Resetarits set a hand on her cheek.

"That's the face for out there. Don't lengthen your recovery by using it here."

The shift faded and Resetarits held her firmly in his arms as she cried hard. His chin rested against her forehead. Her nose shifted, her whisker tips brushing against Resetarits' neck. He rubbed her back a little.

"Would you like me to tell you what has changed for you?" he asked, gently.

Lottatna shook her head. She already knew she was missing her genitals and she had a sea lion's nose. If there was more, she wasn't ready to know what it was.

"Okay."

He held her for quite some time. Her tears gradually slowed and she started sniffing Resetarits' neck and shoulders. She was picking up the scent of his pheromones and she pressed herself closer to him. He took a deeper breath and patted her back. Then he let go and started to walk away on all fours, tails held high. Lottatna pounced on him, tackling him to the floor. He curled his tail tightly and tucked them between his legs. The smell of pheromones departed and Lottatna sat on her butt with her feet and hands on the floor.

She only watched Resetarits for another moment before turning back to the beanbag. She crawled under the blanket and curled into a ball. She wept. Resetarits pushed himself up to sit like a child playing Leapfrog. He kept his tails curled and tucked. It was mating season for his people. The only time when the pheromones Lottatna picked up on were this strong. The pheromones she emitted were stronger. The larger the number of tails one had, the stronger the pheromones.

Resetarits took a step toward her. Then made himself turn away. He would not add to her distress by leaving her pregnant, since mating always brought offspring.