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Kennedy was a rather young man of African descent, 23 years to be exact. He wasn’t the most outgoing, nor the most social butterfly in his environment, but he wasn’t certainly a loner and had a decent number of friends he hung out with, both in college, work, and life. One of these friends is a rather enigma of a woman. A girl that comes all the way from Częstochowa, Poland, named Lechosław Matuszczak, though her friends call her Lexy. She arrived in America during Kennedy’s first semester of college, and despite her coming into America from a foreign place miles away she spoke perfect English, though with a slight accent of course. She came to America to pursue studies in biochemistry, anatomy, and zoology, gaining a PHD in all three subjects. Kennedy and Lexy both had quite a great friendship, and on some occasions on and off dates. However after college they were strictly great friends, with no plans to share some kind of love life once more.
Kennedy lived a good 20 miles away from Lexy, so both would drive up across the bend to meet each other whilst they were on their days off. Kennedy worked in a bakery, and was paid quite well. Lexy, however, was self-employed in her own home, gaining her revenue from selling boxes filled with elements that were of a mystery for Kennedy to people online. On their off-days, they would hang out and discuss all kinds of things, though for Lexy the topics she would discuss were quite foreign to Kennedy. She didn’t talk about what Polish life was like when she lived there, though she did mention her home country occasionally. What she talked about was more related to things that sounded fictional to him. Aspects such as cell manipulation, shifting matter, and a strange fascination with flesh and clay being one in the same. He always thought she was merely larping, as she has mentioned to him before she was quite fond of roleplay, but still she mentioned it quite a ton too many times that it felt like she was hinting something to him.
One afternoon, whilst reading a car magazine, Kennedy’s phone rings. It’s from Lexy. He picks it up immediately and listens in. “Hey, Kennedy! Sorry for calling you during work but may I ask, does your job do delivery?” it was quite a question, but certainly one he knew the answer to. “Yeah, we do Lexy. Are you looking to order something?” it took a second or two before she responded, “Yeah, does your place by chance sell brownies?” his face turned with a slight sadness, though it was of an innocent nature rather than something pure and genuine. They in fact did not have brownies, at least not anymore as they were sold out. However, he knew something that was of a similar multifariousness, “Well, sorry no we don’t. But we’ve practically just started our Spring seasonal sale of blondies. They have white macadamia nuts in them, and I have tried them before and they’re very good!” he could almost hear Lexy’s eyes heart up at the hearing of blondies. She starts to giggle, which he caught through his call, “Hehe! I love blondies! My mom used to make them back in Poland, plus cream cheese cookies and plesniaka!” she said joyously. “I would love a box of them. Never had a bad blondie, and I doubt yours are bad.”
It took about 30 minutes for him to pack some blondies and drive his car to her house. Rather quick for most deliveries. As he steps out of his car with the box, he sees a sign on the door. ‘Knock on the garage. Please and thank you’. This sign confused Kennedy, but he thought nothing of it. He never saw that sign before though, but Lexy was also working at these hours too, so it’s probably just nothing to worry about.
He went over to the garage and knocked on it a few times. He heard a faint, feminine voice radiate through the door. Suddenly, the steel door opened up slowly, with Lexy standing before it. As the door slid completely open, it was very immediate that Kennedy’s eyes had been drawn to how peculiar his friend’s garage was. It was quite spacious for a garage, with a lot of room, at least three cars worth. However, the space wasn’t what distracted him. The garage was, to some stretch, not even that at all. It looked more like a lab, and certainly that of a mad scientist. It had a large metal table in the center, multiple cabinets on the far back wall, and shelves full of vials and jars of weird liquid substances of various colors. Lexy also looked strange, wearing a black bodysuit and a white lab coat that went down to her ankles, with steel goggles to boot. At first, Kennedy rationalized this as her doing some kind of solo larp session, however it felt too bewildering of a session if it was. Besides, why would anyone order food while roleplaying?
She looked happy at her friend, smiling joyfully, “Thanks, Kennedy!” She grabs the box of blondies off of Kennedy’s hands in a heartbeat, and slapped a 20 dollar bill on his left hand, “I bet these will taste amazing!” She went over to push a button, which he could only assume to be the button that closes the garage door. “Uh, hey wait a second Lechosław.” Hearing her name froze her. No one calls her Lechosław unless they are just meeting her, or it’s for something important, and clearly this was of the latter. She turned to Kennedy with a raised brow, “Hm? Yeah?” He stepped inside the laboratory, also with a raised brow, “What is this?” For a split second, she felt confused, but then realized he was talking about the lab, “Oh this? Oh it’s just my work.” That answered something, but he certainly needed to know more, “I…I can see that but, what is it you actually do here?”
Lexy nods and places the box of blondies on her work table, opens it, and grabs a delicious white macadamia treat out, “Well, it’s a bit weird, but…” She takes a bite out of the blondie, and almost immediately her eyes light up in happiness, “Oh these are so good!” She says in glee, “Hold on, w-wait here I need to put these in the fridge! I just GOTTA save these!” She runs out of the garage through a side door, almost as quick as a cheetah, but certainly less agile.
As she ran out, Kennedy was confused. He could leave now, but he still needed answers. If he didn’t, he would wreck himself to bed each day just wondering what his best friend was doing. He looked around the lab, looking upon the shelves of bottles, flasks, and jars. The liquids within these glassy objects were mesmerizing, almost hypnotic. Swirling around in a ray of various colors, textures, materials, and filled with a sense of life. These drinks merely heightened his curiosity, reading the labels upon each bottle and flask. Most of the brews were labeled via different animals, though most had an A or a W at the front (A. Centipede, W. Cat, A. Bison, etc). Usually the bigger the animal, the bigger the cup needed for the liquid. Kennedy did not quite know what to make with all this, especially since it still seemed so foreign to him. Moving a few shelves down, he noticed a heap of small jars that weren’t labeled. Grabbing one of them, he observed the liquid, seeing its red colors swirl and whirl through a mix of purple, beige, and white. He opened the jar, sniffing the liquid within. It smelled like brown sugar and strawberries, but also with a hint of sweet morning sausage. It smelled like a good breakfast. It probably wouldn’t hurt to drink it, at least in secret. After all, if Lexy made all these liquids herself, she could just make another one of these.
Putting his lips on the rim of the jar, he started to drink the solvent. It had the consistency of a smoothie, but the taste of peanut butter and apples.
Finishing the drink, he placed it on the lab table, not quite knowing what he just drank, but if it tasted that good, then he just suspected Lexy was working some odd brewery job. That was at least what he thought, until he felt a strange feel all over his back. “Ugh, what the? Maybe I drank too much…I am gonna sit down.” Kennedy says in a strict confusion. As he moved to a stool by the lab table, his legs wobbled and tripped down onto the ground. Groaning a bit, he shifts around and looks at his legs, seeing what their deal was. The shape they were in was confusingly different, especially the feeling of his feet. He could barely feel all of his shoes. Fearing for the worst, he ripped his shoes off, but instead of finding a bloody mess and a torn off foot, he saw hooves. The feeling of his back persisted, almost at an alarming degree, almost like something was pushing out, wanting to be free. Moving forward, Kennedy stands up, swaying a bit as he feels what is pushing out from his waist down, looking down and around and seeing something he didn’t think would happen to him. His waist was extending outwards, rather quickly, ripping his jeans from the back. It didn’t feel uncomfortable, nor painful, but it was certainly an odd feeling. Hooved legs sprouted out from the body of the horse-like waist. Kennedy was now basically a centaur, which certainly wasn’t on his list today.
The odd feeling on his back persisted, though it was now above his new-found horse body. He felt something sprouting below his arms. He felt new arms starting to grow, flesh and tendons forming anew, to create an additional two arms that looked identical to the ones he always had, though they felt slightly more sensitive. It was weird enough as is until he felt an odd presence on his face. He caressed his cheeks, and recoiled feeling a sensitive, wet, and glossy organ. He grabbed the lid of the jar he drank from to see his reflection. He saw smaller, but still of his own eyes below his regular ones. His sight didn’t quite change, but he could move those new eyes almost like they were always there. In fact, he was almost already used to his new body, at least as used to as someone who just underwent a transformation into a four armed--four eyed centaur could be.
Jittering a bit as he heard the door to the garage open, turning his head, he saw Lexy looking at him with a strange expression. She walks up to him, looking at his new body up and down, almost as if she was analyzing a Greek statue. She had a smile on her face as she did so, lightly touching the new horse body that Kennedy found himself having. It was bewildering how calm she was to him, but perhaps this state of being isn’t quite new to her. She looked up at Kennedy with a small smile as she readjusts her lab coat, “So, how was it?” He tilted his head at the question, not really knowing what to make of all this. “Uh, what do you mean by that?” “Your transformation. You definitely drank one of my brews, and I doubt you ever transformed before. So, as a newbie to the whole transformation experience, how would you rate your first time?” With both his old and new arms, Kennedy shrugged, unsure on how to answer the question, “Well…I don’t know it didn’t hurt, it wasn’t uncomfortable. Hell it felt just more weird than anything, growing new bones, muscles, and nerves on a dime was kind of odd.” She clasped her hands joyously, “Ah good!” She walks over to the empty jar and tosses it into the trash.
“Uh, Lexy?” Kennedy says, “I am still so confused…why’re you so calm about this? I mean, look at me, I am like some creature from Dungeons and Dragons or whatever.” Lexy merely just looked at Kennedy with a grin, “Simple, creating these transformation potions is kind of my biggest interest. This whole stock you see before you is a collection I made all on my own! Ever since I was young, I had a fascination with biology and chemistry, and always imagined myself being something other than human. This fascination led to a practical obsession, which led me to moving here as a way to gain more effective studies in order to find the best formulas and ideas for my transfiguration dreams. Ever since, I have been effectively creating brews that cause painless transformations, and even started to work on commissioned brews so people can become whatever they wish. Though, this stock you see all around you is all for my own personal fun. I am basically my own test subject. The potion you tried was most likely a chimera brew.” That certainly revealed some things, especially her odd behavior, but Kennedy was still confused. “Oh, alright, but now my question is if this is permanent?” This question caused Lexy to nod her head, “No. After a day your body will revert back to a human state. However, the effects of the potion don't disappear completely. Since your body has gone through such a big spike in new cells, tissues, nerves, and bones, your mind will have saved this form in a memory bank, allowing you to basically freely go back and forth from this form to your human form. I basically call this state of being a sort of new species for the homo genus. I call it Homo Lutum, or in a more casual sense, Nu-mans. Oh, also, stick out your tongue, I need to see something.”
Doing so, Kennedy sticks his tongue out, and it is weirdly much, much, MUCH longer than normal. It felt like a snake got into his mouth. Analyzing it, she nods agreeably, “Perfect, the anteater genes still are very fresh in that concoction.”
Her statement before calmed him down quite a bit. He could easily make an excuse for not coming to work later on in the day and tomorrow too, but still all this was more than crazy. So crazed in fact, Kennedy started to gain some fascination with Lexy’s work, almost in a similar fashion to his friend. Certainly not enough to go in and study biochem, but certainly enough to gain respect for his friend’s work, and possibly explore the wide world that transformation could allow. Clopping around her, Kennedy gives a queer look towards his compadre. “I know this might be a bit much to ask but, could I perhaps borrow some of your potions?” The question surprised her, but Lexy soon smiled from ear to ear. It was almost cute to Kennedy. She grabbed a box and placed the glass flasks, jars, and bottles in it, closing it up tight with some protection. She hands the gift to Kennedy, which he grabs with all four of his arms, “I am so glad you wanna try some more of my work! You’re gonna have so much fun I bet!” He nods, looking at his best friend’s pearly hazel eyes. No romantic love is felt between the both of them, but they have found a shared love that is beyond words.
They are both the odd Nu-mans.