College Brings about Change pt5
#5 of College Brings About Change
Bruce continues to cope with his changing appearance, and becomes better friends with Jeb.
[Thursday Afternoon: 2 days remaining]
Bruce let out a yawn, and stretched from where he lay on his bed. Looking down, the hill of fat that was his gut made it impossible to see anything beyond it, so with a grunt, he sat up. The waistband of his shorts was now at its limit, and it appeared that Bruce had gotten taller between this morning and now.
"Damn, look at that." He said, checking himself out in the mirror. His eyes, once hazel, were now more of a forest green, and his whites had turned just a bit gray. His teeth felt heavy in his mouth, and a quick inspection confirmed that his lower canines were starting to grow. His hair was almost black now, and both longer and messier. Running a thick hand through it in an attempt to straighten it out, he was mostly met with knots.
"Ugh, I guess I'll have to borrow a comb." He said, before rubbing his hand on his chin, which had a bit of stubble. "A razor as well for my face." he looked at the sides. "Hm, might keep the sideburns if they're any good though." he decided.
He decided to take a shower, and about halfway through heard the door open.
"Yo, its just me." Jeb said. "I got you some new shorts, I'll leave them here where the other ones are.
"Thanks man." Bruce said from under the showerhead.
By the time Bruce had gotten out of the shower, Jeb had brought in all the food, and there was also a stack of books on the bed. Jeb himself was leaned back in his usual spot, looking a bit bored.
"Jeez I was wondering when you were gonna get out of there." He laughed. "You forget how to take a shower or something?"
"I've got a lot to shower off here." He said, pulling on the new pair of shorts, and pulling the drawstrings tight. "Besides, I need some time to get used to all this."
Jeb shrugged. "Yeah man its cool. Hey sit down and have something to eat. Nothing better than a good meal after a good shower."
"I hear that." Bruce said, sitting down across from Jeb and digging in. As usual, the food was amazing, and he enjoyed every bit of it.
"Oh, I brought the books you wanted." Jeb said, pointing over to the bed. "I didn't know what specifically you needed, so I brought whatever looked like might cover it."
"Thanks man." Bruce said between mouthfuls of food. He knew it was rude but he was starving.
Jeb leaned back and rested his hands on his gut. "Books and food aside, I'd be happy to answer anything else you want to know."
"Yeah." Bruce took a swig of beer. "What exactly do these other guys look like. I mean, size wise."
"You mean like height? Or weight?"
"Both. I want to know what I'm up against here."
"Huh." Jeb said, looking thoughtful. "Everyone around here is pretty big." he patted his own gut with a grin. "I'm the heaviest around though, you look like you might catch up if you keep eating like that. As for height..." he got up and raised his hand above his head a bit. "I'm pretty average in height, but this is probably as tall as the tallest guy I can think of."
"So most guy orcs are as big as you?"
"Yeah, but it depends on where you look. I've seen guys twice as fat and twice as muscular as me, but were only to my chest."
"Damn." Bruce said, putting another forkful of food in his mouth.
Jeb returned to his seat. "I can't say what you'll look like, but you seem like you'll end up fine."
"I hope so. I'd hate to look like a skinny dweeb compared to you guys."
"Nah, no such thing." Jeb waved a hand. "Skinny ain't a word that applies to us around here."
Bruce laughed. "Sounds good man."
"If nothing else, I could let you work with me. That'll bulk you up some."
"You sure are proud of that." Bruce noted.
Jeb beamed. "Nobody trusts a skinny chef, you know."
"I suppose."
There was a knock at the door, and a young male's voice came through. "Yo, pa. They need you back outside. Let the prisoner eat some of his own food, you know?" the mystery person laughed.
"That's my kid. I guess I have to split. You want anything with dinner?"
"Yeah, a comb. My hair is a mess, and it's annoying."
"Yup. Alright. I'll get back here later to collect all the dishes." As he left, Bruce tried to peek around the door to get a glimpse of the speaker, but Jeb managed to keep the two from making eye contact.
Finishing the rest of his meal in peace, he paged through the books, taking mental notes of interesting facts he'd need later.
For example, he learned that the previous king of the country had fallen in love with an orc woman, and burned her name into a field of crops, unknowingly securing the victory for her own kingdom's army against a long time enemy.
"Well that's convenient." Bruce said aloud. "I guess a ring would be too simple."
Another fact he learned was that they used to keep wild pigs as pets here, but eventually the population got so out of hand that they simply started eating them to keep it down.
He continued to read on, getting lost on the books until a knock on the door jolted him out of his daze.
"Room service." Jeb said, coming in, and looking over at him. "Man you're still at it? You didn't even notice when I came in here and took the dishes form lunch. I thought you had fallen asleep sitting up until you turned a page."
"Oh, sorry about that." Bruce said, setting down the book. "Ah, just in time. I hadn't noticed how hungry I was."
"Its cool. I'm glad you're taking all this as well as you are."
"Well, its not so bad." He looked over at the books. "Well, unless I want to propose to someone, in which case I might have to borrow some oil and a lighter."
"What?"
"Nothing. Its nothing." Bruce dismissed. "Anyway lets dig in."
"I thought you'd never ask."
Bruce continued to talk about what he learned from the books, and Jeb corrected him whenever he made a mistake. As weird as it all was, Bruce was actually having fun hanging out with the orc man. He was like a good friend, even though they had only met a few days ago.
Eventually it was time for Jeb to get back to work, so he cleaned up the plates, bit a goodbye to Jeb, and left for the night.
Bruce continued to read until it was too dark to do so, and then went to bed.
That night, Bruce had the same dream he had earlier in the week, before all this started, only this time, he was sitting in front of a campfire, talking with a group of other orcs. He didn't know what was being said, but he had a feeling that he was enjoying himself.