Doctor Julian and the Faun

Story by Leo_Todrius on SoFurry

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Written by and

Commissioned by Fishboynw

Feeling the weight of unsuccessful job hunts, a young man ventures into the wilderness to lose himself and his worries. What he finds, instead, is a secret laboratory and far more than he bargained for.


Doctor Julian and the Faun Written by Leo_Todrius and Trickster_D Commissioned by Fishboynw

A light rain came down across the trees, the sound almost like a sea of static as the drops rolled down the leaves and dropped to the forest floor. The air was rich with the smell of peat moss and wet wood, but still the sun found ways to send down columns of light and rake them across the landscape like fingers caressing a cheek tenderly. Somewhere in the distance was the lone highway that bisected the forest, but other than that interruption it was virgin land untouched by development. A deer leaned down and nibbled on some plant life a bit before it lifted its head, turning to face the intruder to the wilderness. Its nostrils flared a bit before it darted off, leaping and bounding into the brush.

Riley, unfortunately, still wasn't in the right mood to appreciate such a genuine and immaculate display of natural wildlife; even though the very reason he had decided to take a trip into the woods alone was to regain some peace of mind, everything his brain and his body seemed to focus on was the negative aspects of his impromptu trip: his big, choke full, bumpy backpack bouncing against him with every step, the raindrops falling on his short brown hair - he had brought everything with him, and the only thing he had managed to forget was an umbrella - and the innumerable mud puddles that seemed bent on sucking his boots away from his feet. The young man managed to avoid tripping on a particularly nasty looking root, that was protruding from the moist soil like a wooden snake, but while turning around he was hit straight in the face by a wet, elastic young branch. The scream of impotent rage Riley let out resonated among the trees like a gunshot, making some scared birds fly away in sudden fear.

"Fuck..." Riley murmured, opening and closing his fists in intense frustration. He was feeling on the verge of tears, more because of the maelstrom of emotions that was storming in his heart than the negligible pain the branch had inflicted him. Inside his mind, he could hear a chorus of voices ranging from the bored and detached to the downright malicious. We will call you, that's what they repeated in an endless, horrible mantra. We will call you... But no, they never did. No one ever called him back.

In the midst of Riley's reflection, an unwelcome glare caught his eyes for just a moment. The sunlight breaking through the clouds had caught a bit of metal and was at just the right angle to flash across his face. Whatever it was, it had come from further up the hill.

"D-damn..." the young man instinctively raised a hand to protect his sensitive, pale blue eyes from the light that had blinded him for a second; that glint was unmistakable, a sunbeam reflected on a steely surface, and in his heart the sadness left its place to a burning red rage. "Isn't this supposed to be a national park or something?" he growled, starting to march upwards, his steps heavy, his backpack weighing him down a bit.

After several minutes trek, nestled in the midst of the trees, Riley could see the unmistakable shell of a glass and steel structure. It was a slice of civilization in the middle of nowhere. Despite being clearly artificial in nature, though, the modest structure hadn't made much of an impact on the surrounding wilderness. There was no access road and the building seemed to be designed to the slope of the hill itself, taller in the front than it was in the back. The only thing that wasn't clear was just what the building was for. Riley, however, still feeling enraged with the owner of such a bizarre and out-of-place building for no particular reason apart from his inner frustration, was well-intentioned to uncover the secret: with a clenched fist, he started hammering on the steel lined glass panel that mostly resembled a door.

"Hey!" he screamed in the meantime. "Anyone there? Hey!" He looked a bit like a madman, but he honestly didn't give a damn about that. The door hissed gently and slid open, allowing cool, fresh air to spill out. The other side of the door had a bit of a foyer with potted trees and a couch looking out across the forest. In the corner there was a large coffee machine and a stack of paper cups. It felt oddly almost like a doctor's office.

"What the...?" the camper murmured, looking around with weirded out eyes. What was the purpose of a place like that in the middle of a supposedly uninhabited forest? It didn't seemed abandoned, on the contrary... Everything looked new and pristine clean. "Hey, is anyone here?" Riley repeated, trying to get the attention of whoever lived there; he was still angry, at least a bit, and he felt like he deserved an explanation.

Across the room, it wasn't a person that responded to him but a mechanism. A cup slid out of a slot and hot tea began pouring down into it. Once it reached the top, a touch screen indicator asked if sugar or milk was necessary. It was one of the most sophisticated machines that Riley had ever seen.

"Ah, I'm sorry... I'm not used to having company so everything's set up to be automatic." The comment came from a soft, almost melodic voice. Purple eyes gazed down at Riley as the man moved out from the upper level, coming down the stairs. The man had fair skin and dark brown, almost black hair pulled back into a ponytail. His lab coat was impeccable, betraying a robin's egg blue shirt beneath. Despite looking a little young to be a scientist, he carried himself with a grace and confidence well beyond his apparent years.

Riley grunted. Well, at least the guy - whoever he was - was polite. "I didn't know someone lived here in this forest," he blurted out in a sullen tone. "What the hell are you... I mean, why are you here? And this place is..." His eyes lingered over the steamy hot cup of tea. "That thing seemed right out of Star Trek or something!"

"My, my... Where to start." The man said, reaching the lower level where Riley was. he offered his hand and a friendly smile, "My name is Julian, I'm a scientist working out here to study various biological processes in the absence of over-abundant electromagnetic waves, this is my laboratory, and... I used to work for a very large, very advanced corporation and I managed to keep a few of their nicer toys." Julian smirked, shifting his posture a bit, "So who are you, why are you here?" he asked, turning the questions to the questioner. After a brief moment of hesitation, Riley grabbed Julian's hand and shook it.

"Riley," he said, still a bit wary. "And I'm, well... Just a random camper." He shook his head while pursing his lips. "I came here to be alone with my thoughts but... gaaaaah, now everything's ruined, again!" Riley stared at Julian with wrathful eyes, as if he was trying to convince the young scientist that it was all his fault and that he was expected to solve the problem.

"Well, let's start with some tea... I find tea helps me with my thoughts, but sometimes it's talking with someone else. What has worked you up so? I assume it's some aspect of the big city, or you wouldn't have come this far out." Julian said, withdrawing the cup from the machine, offering it to Riley. The camper grunted again, but accepted the cup and took a quick sip.

"And why exactly should I tell you about my problems? What are you, a psychiatrist or something?" After a couple of seconds, however, the young man sighed and one of his mud-encrusted boots started scratching the squeaky clean floor of the strange laboratory in embarrassment. ""Oh, whatever, it's not like I have anything better to do. Can we, like... sit or something? This backpack's straps are cutting my shoulders."

"Of course... You can put your things wherever you like. I have a small bathroom if you want to wash up, or we can just sit." Julian offered. With all the wrath in Riley's heart, this scientist wasn't making it easy to hate him. The camper took out his dirty boots and stared at them with somewhat guilty eyes.

"Sorry for, um... that," he murmured. "And sorry for having screamed at you." Without being invited to, Riley sat on the couch and took another sip from the cup of tea. "I'm... yanno, this is one of the problems I have. I'm too goddamn impulsive." His eyes sank into the amber-colored depths of the hot and sweet liquid he was holding in his hands. "It's, um... easy for me to get angry with other people and stuff."

"I've known several people with the same problem, it's alright... And if you weren't impulsive, I wouldn't have anyone to talk to today." Julian smiled, sitting down next to his guest. Riley nodded.

"Well, yeah, I guess so..." he mumbled under his breath. The tea in his stomach was making him feel warmer and the friendly young scientist was indeed really difficult to stay angry at; the camper sighed, trying not to sound excessively pathetic. "I... well, I came here to think, as I said. I've recently finished college and, you know... I couldn't wait to find myself a job, a house for myself... My place in the world, so to speak. But then..." Riley's words devolved into uncomfortable silence as his blue eyes once again sank into the tea.

"Life rarely turns out the way we expect." Julian said, his eyes drifting to the window, "Such promise and hope, but then it derails. Life and love lost..." he murmured, taking a long breath, "The important thing is how you plan to get it back on track, even if you don't wind up where you expected." Riley bit his lips.

"Well, that's the problem... After all those job interviews, after having been rejected so many times... I'm not sure if there's actually a place for me in the world." Riley get up on his feet with mechanical gestures, his face grim. "Fuck, I came here to try and forget all of that and now I'm going through it all over again. I'm sorry, Julian, I should probably go now... I don't want to take advantage of your hospitality any further." The camper, desperately pushing back the tears he could feel forming in the corner of his eyes, tried to give the young scientist the tea cup back, pushing slightly the white ceramic against Julian's slender fingers.

"Or you could consider the job opening I currently have..." Julian said, accepting the cup back. Riley stared at the young doctor, dumbfounded.

"I'm sorry, what?" he said. "Are you serious? 'cause if that's a joke, it's not fucking funny, dude." Julian chuckled a bit despite that.

"You'd be surprised how hard it is to find a research assistant who is content to live with no cell phone or internet, no contact with the outside world for months at a time." Julian said. Riley shook his head.

"Well, don't mind those thing, but... How can I help you with... well, whatever you've been doing here? You don't even asked me what I majored in!" His rage forgotten, now the young camper was supremely confused: he felt like he had stepped outside reality and inside a strange, incomprehensible dream.

"Well I do want to get to know more about you, of course, but unless you were majoring in genetic divergence or organic chemistry I'll be giving you more mundane fetch and carry tasks. Not glorious, not honorific, but the grant covers twenty two thousand a year for research assistance." Julian said. Riley pursed his lips again, but he couldn't help a single tear to stain his right cheek.

"I... I-I don't know what to say, Julian... I thought that... No one was gonna give me a job ever..." he shook his head and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. "I'm... sorry for this. I've been on an emotional roller coaster for quite a while, you know..."

"Well, before I run you through the gamut of the application, even if its a formality at this point, why don't you get washed off and have a bit of a nap? There's an over-sized couch in one of the spare rooms... I'll try to get you something more substantial for the long haul." Julian offered. Riley nodded.

"I... Um... Thanks, Julian." Riley did his best to smile at the doctor and apparent savior, before he took refuge in the small bathroom Julian had pointed out to him. He still couldn't process what had just happened to him... But if that was a dream, he thought, lying against the bathroom door for a moment, it wasn't a dream he didn't want to wake up from anytime soon.

****

Despite being just a couch, the modest accommodations had afforded Riley one of his best naps in years. He had sunk down deep into colorful and vivid dreams before waking up feeling remarkably refreshed. The air was just a touch crisp and cool with hints of the forest, though much of that was likely the potted ferns in the corners of the room. Like most of the recreational areas, the day room was aimed outward, giving a view of the forest beyond. It wouldn't take much to convert it into a bedroom once Julian got the supplies, and the bathroom was just down the hall.

Lying on the couch, his eyes staring at the simple, uniform ceiling, Riley let out a deep sigh of relief: for the first time in week, he wasn't feeling depressed, or angered or sad to the point of tears. He still didn't know if he was going to be able to help Julian with his work - whatever the professor did in that strange lab in the middle of nowhere - but at least someone had given him a chance, and that was making him extremely happy... It was like he was at least worth something, and that was one of the best sensations ever.

While the room had been sound proofed enough to allow him rest, Riley's waking mind was picking up on sounds coming from beyond. There were whirs and bubbling noises coming from the lab itself nestled in the heart of the glass building. The man got back on his feet - realizing that he was now wearing a different, much cleaner pair of socks - and walked outside the room, looking around uncertainly.

"U-um, Julian?" he asked, his voice full of doubt. "You around?" There was movement before Julian appeared once more, this time wearing safety goggles.

"Ah, Riley, welcome back to the waking world. Did you have a good sleep?" he asked, moving to add droplets from an eye dropper he had onto several glass slides. Riley nodded and stretched his arms with a delighted noise, much like a cat.

"Yeah!" he exclaimed. "Best sleep I had in ages! Everything is so peaceful here..."

"It really is. I'm a bit more used to dry environments, but there's no place like here to get away from it all." Julian smiled. Riley nodded again.

"Well, I'm sure silence and tranquility are perfect for... well, whatever you're experimenting on," he said. "I mean, unless you're experimenting on loud noises, in that case it'd probably be counterproductive..." Riley chuckled at his own lame joke while staring at Julian, hoping the scientist would reveal to him at least the general content of his researches. Julian chuckled brightly at that before nodding.

"Well, you're right... Other than experiments on loud noises, peace and tranquility are good for pretty much any experiment, but it's especially useful for me right now. I'm conducting research on genetic modifications to a degree where the most precise adjustments are required. My equipment is fairly well shielded, but sometimes outside interference can cause the whole experiment to fail." Julian said. Two words of the short monologue made Riley's ears perk, so to speak.

"Genetic modifications, you say? Like, creating hybrids? Crossing together different species?" he asked, a bit confused. To him, that seemed like something straight out of a science-fiction novel. "Seems... quite advanced stuff." Julian looked a bit startled that Riley had jumped so far in his assumptions, but soon his good natured smile returned.

"It is advanced, but at one time so was having a vaccine against polio. Sympathetic hybridization has always been easy... Different species of tomatoes or peas to get the best of both worlds, but what I'm trying to do is to bridge the gulf between the unsympathetic, to open up more possibilities." Julian said. Riley scratched his cheek.

"You mean like having a dog grow wings or something? 'cause that would be a kickass pet!" he exclaimed.

"I like how forward thinking you are..." Julian smirked, "One day, I hope that's exactly what we can accomplish. Still, it's going to take a while. Why don't we get you scrubbed up and start our crash course of laboratory assistance." Julian offered. Riley looked at him with wide eyes.

"You mean right now? Awesome!" He nodded eagerly. "Yeah, I want to be of some help! Do you think I can assist you in that kind of experiments? Because that'd be so cool!" The young man now looked like a kid in a candy factory, his rage and depression totally forgotten.

"I'm sure you'll be a lot of help." Julian said appreciatively, eyeing the young man up and down with a grin on his face.

****

The days had started to stream past for Riley. He'd been passingly familiar with bunsen burners and chemical reactions from school, but Julian had given him a crash course he'd never forget. He was getting handy with three different kinds of microscopes, cyclotrons, sample misters and many more kinds of equipment. When they were done toiling during the day, he was getting brief classes on genomes and genetic markers for the world's diseases and strengths. It was a lot to take in, but each night was capped off with a meal cooked by the doctor himself.

Rich smells wafted into the air as Riley approached the kitchen. Sauteed and stir fried vegetables, baked squash, and his eyes revealed a vast bowl full of salad complete with baby corn and bamboo shoots. As he entered, Julian moved up to put the finishing touches out, giving his assistant a smile. While Julian was an excellent cook, the meal seemed above and beyond even for him. Riley lifted his chin a bit - a chin that was now adorned with a short but curly goatee - and smelled the wonderful aromas that saturated the room, a gesture that made his tongue start salivating.

"Mmmh, that looks even more heavenly than the usual!" he exclaimed, sitting at the table in front of his empty plate. "And I bet it tastes even better!" He replied to the smile with an equally cheerful and sincere expression: getting along with the scientist was ridiculously easy, and he had a way of explaining stuff that made his lesson both really entertaining and instructive at the same time. Riley couldn't have asked for a better - or a more patient - teacher.

"Well, given that this is our one month anniversary - of you starting, I mean, I wanted to celebrate." Julian said, bringing out a rather aged bottle of wine. He removed the cork manually and began to fill two glasses with the dark burgundy liquid. The heady aroma wafted into the air, smelling like fruit and forest all rolled into one. Riley lowered his eyes on the plate, his lips pursing... but he looked really happy.

"Y-you shouldn't have, Julian! Really, it's no big deal... I'm just happy that I can be of some help, seriously!" the young man tried to dismiss the issue. Julian chuckled once more.

"You have no idea how much I appreciate some good company. Now, drink up." Julian smiled, offering him the wine glass before setting the bottle down on the table, taking a sip of his own. Riley nodded and drank half of the contents of the glass in a single sip: it was sweet and fruity, and yet... unexpectedly intense, so much so that it made his eyes water a bit.

"And I appreciate yours!" he exclaimed. And it was true: Julian was a great companion, he was intelligent and humorous and extremely friendly. "To be honest, I don't know how could you survive here alone before I arrived, since you seem everything but a loner... But I guess that was kinda the point, huh?"

"Well.... I've done a lot of work on my own, but I usually like to have one or two people around at least. It's just hard in my line of work I guess. But that's different now, now you're here." Julian said, watching Riley, watching Riley eat and drink as he did the same. The young man pointed a fork towards him, a fork where a baby corn had been speared.

"So you mean you did have assistants?" he asked. "Why did they go away, if I may ask?" Because I can't see any reason to leave such a place and a guy like you, Riley added mentally. At first that thought seemed weird, but then the young man realized it was perfectly normal: the lab and the surrounding forest were a veritable garden of Eden, so peaceful and relaxing, and Julian was such a brilliant and resourceful guy! Riley couldn't possibly imagine a better boss or friend.

"Some... went on to bigger and better projects." Julian said, his normally happy facade cracking a bit, "Some... had health problems and couldn't work anymore. Time just marches on, you know?" Julian murmured, taking a bigger swig of wine. Riley stuck some vegetables in his mouth and munched on them, even though his face looked suddenly glum.

"Oh..." the assistant muttered. "That's... kind of sad. I m-mean, maybe it sounds weird, but I feel so happy and peaceful here... Right now I couldn't stand the idea of going away, of having to face the outside world again."

"Well, you don't have to. You can stay here as long as you want to." Julian smiled, his purple eyes glittering in the light. Riley raised his stare immediately, a big smile on his face: he looked cheerful once again.

"Really?" he asked. "Oh, man, this is totally a dream come true! I don't have to worry about anything, I'm learning tons of new stuff and I'm working on something that will probably change the world..." His gaze shift, becoming somewhat dreamy and distant; he sighed contentedly, scratching his new goatee. "And it's all thanks to you, Julian! I honestly don't know how could I repay such kindness..."

"Oh, just helping me is all I could ask..." Julian said with a fond smile. Riley smiled back and poured himself another generous glass of wine.

"Great!" he exclaimed before gulping down the incredibly intense beverage. "Man, I've never been a wine type of person, but this one... Mmh, it just feels so good, so... I dunno, it's like I'm not even getting drunk in the least by drinking it!"

"Be careful." Julian chuckled, "When you don't think you're drunk, that can be when it's the strongest... But I'll be here for you Riley." The assistant's cheeks reddened, but it was difficult - even for him - to determine if it was because of the wine or because of Julius's words.

"U-um... I'm... I'm glad you're here for me, Julian. S-seriously," he murmured, putting the empty glass down.

"I'm glad you're here too, Riley." Julian smiled softly, gazing into the assistant's eyes. He was always so calm and gentle, but there was something behind those lilac irises that betrayed a deep wisdom, experience, and a hidden dominance. Riley tried to bear that strange, magnetic gaze, but he was soon forced to lower his eyes, biting his lower lip.

W-what's happening to me?, he asked himself, trying to think as clearly as he could despite the alcohol shrouding his brain like a fruit-smelling fog. A-am I feeling... something for Julian? B-but I'm not gay or anything... Man, I must have drunk way more wine than I should have... "I..." Riley tried to get back on his feet, even though his legs were wobbly and unstable. "I should probably rest a bit. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get drunk..."

"It's alright, I'll help you to bed. It's my fault, celebrating too much." Julian said, swooping over. He lifted Riley's right arm and slid it around his shoulders, using his left to support him and keep him upright as they headed toward Riley's room and the queen size bed waiting within. The young assistant let the doctor guide him towards his bedroom and into the comfy bed; before he fell into a dreamless slumber, he smiled peacefully, enjoying the subtle smell of aftershave and sandalwood that came from the doctor's skin.

****

Riley was experiencing a particularly restless dream. The young man kept turning in his bed, his forehead glistening in sweat, his hands grabbing the white sheets; in his mind, he was running through the dark forest, his breathing hard and heavy but his body strangely at ease. Despite the absence of light, he moved quickly and relying only on his instinct, certain that he was on the right path, that he was going to reach his goal soon, and that thought filled him with an incredible, sparkling and intoxicating joy...

And then he woke up before he could discover where he has been running to. Still panting. The waking world began filtering back in; the sweet air of the guest room, the thin pale blue light of an early dawn... and an uncomfortable pressure. Riley's bladder was quite full from the drink the night before and it was as if his manhood had stiffened up to try and keep the fluid in until he was ready. It was hard and throbbing, sticking out against his undergarments. Rilen sat up and glanced out the window to confirm it was already morning. With a groan, the assistant lowered his feet really slowly until they touched the cold floor. As they touched, the almost electric shock that travelled through his legs was enough to wake him up almost completely.

With another inarticulate sound, Riley tried to get up on his feet, but his legs - probably because of the imaginary run through the woods - seemed strangely unresponsive. The young man massaged them through the fabric of his pajama pants, hoping to stimulate the blood circulation, but as he touched them he couldn't help to think there was something strange. Riley took a deep breath and pulled one of the pants legs up to the knee.

The leg he saw before him seemed like it belonged on someone completely different. The flesh below the cuff of the pants was excellently tanned with copper and cinnamon tones, but the skin was barely visible beneath the thick wisps of curled hair. It was like a second puberty had been unleashed, drawing out the most masculine of qualities. Riley quickly checked the other leg, and saw that the changes had spread there too.

"W-what... what the hell?!" he exclaimed in shock. Those weren't definitely his legs... They looked more like the legs of a mountain climber or a professional athlete, at least judging from the bulging muscles right under the veritable forest of bronzed fur. "This is... ungh, weird..." Riley tried to get up again, but his feet seemed strangely numb and unresponsive. "J-Julian!" he then resorted to shout. "Julian, please! Come quick!"

The moments passed and somewhere at the edge of his senses, Riley could hear his compatriot coming... but not fast enough. His toes throbbed and ached, the skin looking unusually soft and wet. The hair was thickening even more on his legs, closing in and getting so dense that the skin beneath was disappearing. Contrasting the pain in his feet, though, was the nearly mind numbing pressure from his groin. His erection was harder than it ever had been, pressing against the fly of his underwear, straining the button and the fabric alike.

"Riley? Are you okay?" Came Julian's voice from the other side of the door before it opened up. Riley gritted his teeth, the pain in his feet intensifying with every passing second until it was almost intolerable.

"N-no!" he managed to shout. "I'm not okay!" It was a cry of rage, frustration, confusion and fear all mixed together; Riley, in the eye of his own personal cyclone of emotions, suddenly realized he only wanted for Julian to hug him, to tell him everything was going to be alright, and then to get even closer and stick his tongue into... The assistant shook his head. What?! he somehow managed to think despite the pain in his feet.

"Oh Riley... oh wow..." Julian murmured, looking him over from head to toe, "We need... to get you examined. Does it hurt anywhere? Do you feel any extreme discomfort?" Julian asked, moving over to take Riley's pulse and check his breathing. The young man looked up at him, his formerly pale blue eyes now displaying a slightly more intense shade of azure... And there was something strange in his pupils, as if they were bigger and somehow misshapen.

"Y-yeah, my feet... W-why do they hurt so much, Julian?" Riley murmured, trying to get closer to the scientist as much as he could, his raging hard-on apparently ready to burst out of his pajama pants despite the physical discomfort he was experiencing. "W-what's happening to me?"

"I... I think that you might have become exposed to some of the genetic testing at some point," Julian said meekly, "but we should get you in for more examinations to confirm." he added. Riley wasn't sure what Julian was doing next until one arm looped under his shifting legs and the other behind his shoulders. By that point, Riley was off the bed and in the scientist's arms with surprising ease. Julian carried Riley out of the room, heading for the lab.

Riley was still confused and scared by what was happening to him... but the moment Julian picked him up, his feelings of fear and puzzlement somehow got numbed, as if they were more distant. Despite what was happening to him, he was feeling strangely secured and protected in the scientist's arms; almost instinctively, he closed his eyes and nuzzled against the other man's chest, letting out a tiny moan.

Julian held Riley close, carrying him through the twisting and turning pathways before they got to the back of the building. He slowly set Riley down onto an exam chair, trying to make him comfortable. During the short duration of the trip, it seemed that Riley's toes had fused, the skin growing together. The toenails had been reduced to an amorphous dark coating spreading between the merged flesh.

A soft pinprick in Riley's arm alerted him to the presence of the needle but in moments it was back out, along with a sample of his blood. Julian blotted the wound before he extracted the vial for the gene analyzer. Riley sighed, staring at his now deformed feet.

"I d-don't know what happened..." he murmured, tears staining his cheeks. "I've been r-really careful, I always followed your instruction..."

"I know, I know Riley... We'll figure it out, don't worry. Everything will be okay." Julian said soothingly, giving Riley's hair a stroke as he started the analyzer. The changing young man lowered his eyes in shame.

"P-please, Julian, don't... don't send me away, okay? I don't know what happened, I s-swear... Please, believe me..." Riley's worst fear, in that very moment, more than the mysterious transformation warping his body, was the idea of being away from his boss and his friend.

"Why in the world would I send you away?" Julian asked in surprise, continuing to caress his head, "I'm here to help you." Riley did his best to smile at him.

"I-I know..." he murmured. "I-it was just that I was s-scared, b-because what happened must be my fault..."

"Sometimes science is unpredictable..." Julian said, "We can't change the past, we can only move forward... and find what makes this tolerable." Julian murmured, reaching down to slowly slide his hand over Riley's bulging groin. Riley squirmed in his chair, a mixture of conflicting sensations seizing his heart like strong vines.

"W-what are you doing, J-Julian?" the young man murmured, his cheeks reddening a bit. He panted, his breath suddenly heavier. "D-don't touch m-me there, please..."

"I-I'm sorry Riley, I just wanted to make you more comfortable but I crossed a line." Julian said, blushing, "Just lay back, I'll run the sequencer, try to figure out where we're at. Do you want anything for the pain, well, once I clear a blood panel to make sure it's safe?" Riley managed to nod.

"Y-yeah..." His feet now didn't hurt that much, but the emotions pounding against his chest were too strong... He needed something to dull them down, even if it was just for a handful of moments. Julian checked the computer, running several tests before making sure it was safe enough to administer something. After a few moments there was a slight pinch in Riley's arm and a wave of euphoric numbness started washing over him.

****

The days had passed, but Riley's condition had not revealed itself as either a bad dream or a temporary condition. His legs had continued to remain marred by an abnormally, almost animalistically thick coating of fur like hair. Along with that, his erection raged for hours at a time before giving him small windows of relief. Needless to say, Doctor Julian's focus had shifted away from the project at hand to Riley specifically. Every blood panel had been checked ten times over. While the early work in the lab had flowed easily, however, Riley's recent experience had been to one failed test after another. Nothing was yielding any answers and the condition was only increasing.

Doctor Julian seemed even more enigmatic than he had before. On the one hand, it was this older scientist's fault that he was in this mess. Riley had merely been on a hike trying to find himself, and now he was changing into something else... but on the other hand, Julian had been so kind and now he was so dedicated to researching it all. It was hard to stay mad.

"So... Any news?" Riley asked, stretching himself as he rose from the exam table and stretched his arms. Despite the strange, bestial changes in his physique, the young man was feeling quite well lately... He was full of energy, and his new legs were definitely more muscled and stronger than ever before.

"The whole process still seems to be in flux, your body is trying to resist but it isn't working so far. I'll try to see if interferons can help." Julian said, going over the materials before him. Riley lowered his eyes, shaking a bit: he was wearing a pair of light blue shorts and a sleeveless shirt that complimented his increasingly athletic body quite well, but fear and doubt made him feel smaller and frailer than he was.

"S-still... in flux?" he murmured before biting his lower lip. "Y-you mean... If it keeps going like this, I won't be human anymore?" Riley sighed, a noise that sounded almost like a soft bray. "I... I don't..." Words failed him, and the young man just stood in the middle of the laboratory, desperately trying to fight tears back. Julian moved over and rested his hand on Riley's shoulder.

"We'll figure this out, it'll just take time... and I'm sure no matter what happens, we can find a way to make this bearable." Julian said fondly, looking into Riley's eyes, "Now, how about I get you some tea? Calm the nerves a bit?" Julian asked.

"Y-yeah..." Riley managed to conjure up a small smile. He closed his eyes and lowered his head, gently brushing his forehead against Julian's in gratitude and enjoying the contact with the warm skin of the scientist. "C-can I have some green tea?" he asked hesitantly.

"Of course, whatever you like." Julian said, giving Riley's shoulder a squeeze before he turned and ventured off toward the kitchen area, leaving Riley in the lab. It was an isolating sound; the fan of the computer, the chirp of the machines and nothing else. The transforming assistant sighed again through his teeth - they seemed different too, somehow... flatter and larger than before, albeit just slightly - and started pacing up and down the lab, his new black hooves clicking against the floor.

"P-please..." he muttered to anyone in particular. "I don't want to become a beast... or a monster." No one replied, of course: Julian was too far away to hear him whispering. Riley browsed through the entire room with his strikingly intense blue eyes, trying to find something that could help him, anything... But of course, if Julian hadn't found a solution yet, how could he - nothing but a lowly novice to the delicate arts of genetics - succeed in that?

With another sigh, nonetheless, he walked to the consolle, trying to figure out the contents of the computer screen. Usually he wasn't allowed to operate the PC: according to Julian, there were a lot of very sensitive data in there, and the scientist couldn't afford to lose him because of his assistant's carelessness. "Well, I'm just looking at the screen, right?" Riley murmured, as a way to justify himself.

The screen was fairly underwhelming, showing genetic tests and blood sample results. There was a partially completed DNA screening... but what jumped out at Riley was the little Genetech logo in the corner of the screen. It was a company operating system from one of the largest pharmaceutical firms in the world... but it was also a connection that rang in the back of his mind. Unsolved Mysteries, America's Most Wanted, tip lines with massive rewards all linked to the mysterious disappearance of a Doctor Julian from Genetech before Riley had even been born.

"Well, he cannot be my Doctor Julian, that's for sure. That one should be an old man by now..." Riley said, nodding. Still the Genetech folder in the corner of the screen kept getting his attention, as if he was the flute of a snake charmer; on a random whim, the young man grabbed the mouse and double-clicked on the logo. "I'm sure it will have a password or something anyway..." he muttered under his breath.

While no password prompt appeared, the touch screen illuminated with dozens of circles to trace a pattern to unlock the folder. Riley had seen Julian work his finger across the screen numerous times but he had never known what it was for. For a moment, he was ready to give up on his futile attempt to access his boss' secret files, but... well, as they say, in for a dime, in for a dollar. Riley, his tongue stuck in a corner of his mouth, one of his eyes closed in a concentrated expression, tried to reproduce the gesture made by Julian by relying only on his visual memory.

The first attempt was met with a red grid, indicating failure, but Riley felt he was quite close to the correct gesture. "Let's see... Left, left, down... then a half circle on the right, and..." he muttered to himself, reviewing every passage in his mind. The grid turned green and the folder opened, revealing a terabyte of information. There were documents, test results, pictures and videos. It seemed to be a patient database... and some of the files had been created in the late nineties.

"W-what the..." Riley murmured as he started browsing through the files... And the more he went on, the more his brow furrowed and his eyes grew larger. The names were evocative enough, but as Riley bumped the mouse, one of the pictures was opened. The screen filled with the image of a young man with long black hair, though white stripes ran down his flowing mane. His eyes were yellow, his nose darkened, his ears pointed. He showed several traits of skunk DNA worked into his own.

"He... he looks like..." Riley muttered, one of his hands caressing the fur covering his own legs. "N-no, this... this cannot be..." He said, shaking his head; frantically, he opened another one of the pictures. The second photo showed a man in his late thirties showing quite a few wolven features, including a tail down to the back of his knees. It was clear that Riley's condition was not an isolated incident.

"I... I..." As if the mouse was suddenly on fire, Riley let it go and took a couple of steps back, his eyes still transfixed on the computer screen. He could feel an unpleasant, icy sensation spreading through his stomach and intestines and turning them into a dry, cold lump; he had been living a lie, all those months... Julian had been lying to him. Not only the professor knew perfectly well what had been happening to him... Riley wasn't even the first one he had changed.

The young man didn't know what to do, but one thing was clear: he couldn't stay in that place anymore. Otherwise, Julian would have succeeded in turning him into... whatever he had planned for him. "I... I have to go," he said to himself, rushing to the lab door and causing a metal tray full of forceps, scalpels and other medical equipment to fall on the floor with a deafening clang. Riley didn't care, though: he kept running desperately through the big house, trying to reach the front door before it was too late, before Julian could notice what he had done.

"Riley? RILEY!" Julian's voice echoed from behind, but it was too late. The door hissed open and the forest was around Riley as he fled the scene of such betrayal. The young man didn't stop: he darted between the trees, not caring a bit about the direction he was running to, a shroud of tears clouding his eyes. The only thing he could think of, is that he wanted to be as far from Doctor Julian as he could.

****

Sitting on an old log covered in moss, Riley was massaging his own forearms with nervous, mechanical gestures; the only soundtrack of his inner turmoil were his own sighs and the murmurs coming from a nearby stream... Not enough noise to cover the voices rumbling inside his head.

At first, it had started with an inaudible whisper, nothing more than random words spoken by a weak, unknown voice in a very remote corner of his brain. The thought was so feeble, so far away that he had had trouble interpreting it... especially since he, in that moment, was running away from Doctor Julian's laboratory and all the horrors it contained. But after a while, when his lungs had started burning and his new legs aching and he had to stop his desperate getaway, the stray thought had become stronger, slowly but surely.

"I want to be with Doctor Julian." That's what the voice was saying... And the worst part was - Riley realized at one point with a shiver of horror and disgust - that the voice was his own. There was a deep void that had opened up when he ran away. All the uncertainty and confusion that had disappeared with Julian's kind offers and hospitality were back with an even more cutting edge.

The young man nervously munched on his thumbnail, a heavy drop of sweat rolling from his shaggy hair down his forehead. "No... I'll never go back to him," he said out loud, as if hearing the sound of his own voice could help him make such a difficult, life-changing decision. "He turned me into a monster..." He added, looking down at his own misshapen legs. "And what's worse, I wasn't even the first one."

And yet, the voice in his head observed, what other choice did he have? He certainly couldn't go back to the real world with hooves in place of feet... He would've be treated as a freak. In the best case scenario, he would've been locked into a lab for the rest of his life, and in the worst... probably dissected by some heartless scientist trying to understand the secrets of his body. The resignation seemed to bring an odd coolness over his body. His legs tingled as the fur thickened on the spot, darkening and curling into thick wool. It felt oddly comforting despite its oddity.

"W-Well..." Riley tried to raise an objection, even though this time his voice sounded less firm and confident than before. "I could always live here in the woods. I'm sure I'd be able to find a place to stay in... A cave or something like that. And there's water, and even food all around, and..."

But no, that was a plan destined to fail, Riley perfectly knew that. How could a city boy like him hope to survive in the woods for the rest of his life? On the other hand, Doctor Julian's lab had every form of comfort imaginable, and... well, the charming professor was there, too.

"What's this supposed to be?" Riley groaned in confusion. "Stockholm syndrome?" Riley's subconscious seemed to lack his sardonic, sarcastic considerations as a wave of pleasure swept over his body, leaving his muscles tingling. What was left of his feet continued to shift and transfigure, the keratin coating hardening and completing the change that had started in the lab. So much science was involved, and yet his newly finished hooves looked so natural.

"Nngh... That's not helping..." the young man half-groaned, half-moaned. But the energy coursing through his body was undeniably blissful, and even when his feet had been altered in a drastic way, he had only felt pain in the very first moments. With trembling hands, wanting to ascertain the magnitude of the transformation, the young man bent over and started massaging his brand new hooves.

The hooves were firm and hard and powerful, too thick to give him a direct sensation, but something else was triggered in Riley - pride. He was strangely proud of how big and strong his hooves were, almost like that of a bull. The flesh above the bone shielding was still soft, though furry, and was receptive to the ministrations of his hand. Despite his heavy heart, the transforming young man couldn't help but giggle in stroking the tender flesh just above the hooves.

"It's... it's not that bad, I guess..." he whispered, surprised by his own words. After all, his legs were feeling much stronger - and were more muscled - than they had felt when he was a human. After all, that was the very goal of Julian's researches, right? Make what the nature had created even better, tougher, faster... and more beautiful. A spasm spread through Riley's body, so powerful that he fell off the log and onto the ground. It was a nearly blinding sensation of pleasure as if his body had been holding back and was finally ready for the big release.

The only point of pain, or rather points, came from his forehead. The pressure built and built, the skin irritated beyond belief. It was reddened and swollen and just when Riley felt as though he was about to scream out, the skin was pierced and two thick, dark nubs began to emerge... but they didn't just come out a little. The horns curved back and as they extruded from his skull, Riley felt as if he was getting two of the best erections of his life. It felt so oddly fulfilling to have that added weight on his head. After several moments they slowed to a stop, following the curve of his skull backwards, ending in sharp tips... but now it was his chin that felt strange as thousands of silky soft hairs began emerging from the skin, growing centimeters each second, drifting down to catch the wind.

Still bent forward, Riley opened his mouth to suck air in, festoons of drool hanging from his lips and then plummeting into the grass. Even his teeth seemed to shift in his mouth, blunting and flattening as his lips plumped up just a bit. The smells around him became ever more intense, ushering in hints of moss and grass, of jungle, of the fresh water in the stream and even the salamanders wandering along the edges.

"O-okay, scratch that... This is... awesome..." The sensory overload the young man was experiencing - especially through his nostrils - was sending his brain into a frenzy, making it pump endorphins and adrenaline through his body: Riley hadn't felt that energetic and happy in months; his dazzling blue eyes sparkled at the realization, and his enlarged pupils - already slightly misshapen - were warped and flattened, becoming horizontal and rectangular. The small and yet drastic change enlarged the young man's field of vision enormously, adding even more stimuli to his already taxed mind. More saliva dripped down the corner of his now luscious lips, as his mouth let out soft but decidedly animalistic brays.

Riley could nearly feel his blood tingling with the change at the genetic level, the change that had somehow been kept at bay for so long. His nose started to blunt and widen, softening and losing some of its human quality as the nostrils tipped forward and tapered down. His ears, too, were less than human as they gained fuzz on the pointed tips. Faint freckles began to appear across the bridge of his nose and cheeks, giving an illusory compliment to the color of the fur on his decidedly animalistic legs... legs that were starting to bend and flex in strange ways as muscle and bone reworked themselves... but the most pronounced change was just starting.

It was hard to comprehend at first, but after an entire lifetime of peristalsis, his body working food and substances in one constant and irreversible direction, the muscles in his intestines started to pulse in reverse. His colon began to enlarge and deepen, working up into him like a hollow worm, wriggling and changing... as if making room for something very large. The sensation soon stopped, but left a gaping absence inside him, a void that needed to be filled.

Without even thinking to what he was doing, only following his new instincts and the inescapable hunger that was currently filling his stomach, Riley dropped to his knees and started grazing, his flat teeth perfect to tear long and juicy strands of grass and munch on them. Soon, the lower half of his face and his beard were tinged of the same green of the leaves he was so greedily feeding on. The nourishment only seemed to encourage his facial hair, his lower face tingling with an exotic arousal as his goatee descended still further, stretching to six inches, then eight, and soon a full foot of silky wispy hair.

Soon, the patch of grass around the log Riley had sat upon until some minutes earlier had been reduced to bare ground, his modified stomach working on the vegetal material to turn it into cud; with a contented sigh, he lay down for a moment, his hunger satiated at least for the time being. With lazy gestures, Riley caressed his own nipples and ran his fingers into his brand new, thick beard.

The slightest touch of his masculine extension made Riley feel as if he was a pool of jiggling jello, sending out waves of endorphins through his body that left him feeling content, loved, needed and fulfilled... but the sensations were fleeting coming from his own hand, leaving him with a craving for someone else's fingers to stroke his beard. His new strange, alien and yet incredibly beautiful eyes opened again, revealing sadness and a deep need for company. Riley sighed, his fingers grabbing a handful of warm ground and bringing it to his nose, as if the smell of the earth could help him overcome the growing melancholy.

"W-why did I leave?" he asked himself, unable to find an answer. "I need... I need him. I need Julian." And, as if admitting what he had tried to deny himself freed his body and his mind from metaphorical chains, Riley found the strength to raise back on his hooves again. "I'm coming for you, Julian..." he murmured, a tender smile appearing on his lips as he started walking. The walk soon evolved into a full-blown run, the furry legs pumping against the uneven ground with certainty; when he was escaping from the lab, he hadn't chosen a specific direction and had proceeded at random, but despite that he instinctively knew the road back... the road home.

****

Julian stood in the empty lab, genetic profiles scrolling by on the screen, his lips pursed a bit. He had gotten used to things unfolding as he anticipated. Between his intellect and his years of experience, he had managed to stay several steps ahead of Genetech and continue his research. He had perfected stable anthropomorphic hybrids, but he wanted more. He wanted the mythical, the unusual, and it was there he had started to find some stumbling blocks... He lifted his wireless microphone in his left hand and clicked the button.

"Test SY-441 results update, September 16th, 2014. While it seems that the genetic template introduced over the course of treatment was integrating into the test subject, the behavioral modifications did not appear to take complete hold. Moreover, the transformation process was far less rapid than previous experiments. Either the matrix is less stable, or there is an increased immune suppression - perhaps even like my own. Much like the vampire experiments, I'm wondering if there's a psychological inhibitor that-" Julian paused, seeing a light flash on the far wall. The front door had been accessed.

The scientist turned off his recorder and put it down, locking his system with a new algorithm. He moved over and sat down on a stool and turned to face the door. There was no way Riley could have reached civilization and returned so quickly. Either he had a change of heart or had come to confront him.

Riley's arrival was heralded by the sound of hooves stomping against the floor and a series of equally heavy breaths; after some seconds, the lab door was opened, revealing the young man in all his full glory. He was half a foot taller than before, his legs those of a mighty beast and his upper body nothing short of that of a Greek god, with a carpet of virile golden fur covering his chiseled abs and swollen, heavy pecs. His ears were long and a bit droopy, terminating in a tuft of soft hair, and his eyes - so charming and yet so alien and fascinating thanks to his new horizontal pupils - were full of joy and lust. A set of powerful horns surmounted his head, growing seamlessly out of his skull, the true symbol of what he had become: a satyr, straight out of an olive tree forest to seduce some young, innocent shepherd boy. Riley opened his mouth, revealing a set of flat, strong teeth, and let out a soft bray as one of his hands went down to stroke his semi-erect dick.

Even in its semi limp state, the flesh descended a foot from his groin, curving over balls the size of oranges. The size was a perfect compliment to the rest of his most charming physical qualities. Julian's jaw dropped somewhat in surprise at that, both turned on and quite curious as what had happened when Riley left the lab. Had it come on all at once? Had it been the sterile lab that had been holding him back? Julian slowly walked across the lab and reached up, caressing the satyr's smooth cheek before his fingers curled around the goatee and gave it a slow, languid stroke.

"Welcome back, Riley." Julian said softly. The satyr shivered, the touch of the scientist's hand like a balm on his skin; another noise escaped from his lips, as drops of dense pre dripped over the floor and the smooth, black surface of his hooves.

"I... I'm home," he murmured with a gentle, meek voice. "Sorry if I made you worry, doctor..." His dazzling eyes lowered and he sighed, looking appropriately sad.

"I was so worried about you, the way you ran out of here..." Julian said, his hand moving to start petting one of Riley's long ears. Being so close to the scientist, Riley could smell so much about him... Julian smelled of lavender and musk, of strength and virility. He smelled as though the winds of the world had blown across his skin for ages, and yet his scent was still fresh and young. He was an enigma, a puzzle, and he was finding all of the most amazing pressure points to caress.

"I... I was scared, doctor," Riley admitted, still looking like a small, lost child despite the fact that he was a powerful creature from the age of myths. "Scared by the changes that were happening to m-me, but... It was so silly, right? I mean, look at me..." He fell silent for a moment, contemplating his own body, from his perfect musculature to his towering dick. "I... I am beautiful. I m-mean, I am beautiful, right, doctor?" he asked with an uncertain voice. Deep inside him, Riley was feeling a growing need for validation... And the only one who could answer his doubts was Julian, and no one else.

"You're more than just beautiful... You're exotic, special, unique... You are an achievement and a tribute to the potential of mankind... And damn sexy too." Julian grinned softly. Riley smiled back, his expression innocent and relieved: it was like the changes had stripped him of every superfluity, every doubt, every stress originated by his previous human existence and had left with something pure, primordial and harboring infinite possibilities.

"Thank you," Riley said. "I... I think you're very sexy too, doctor," he confessed, his cheeks reddening a bit. "You're so smart and charming and fascinating a-and... you gave me all this and made me see my whole life in a completely different way. I will never be able to thank you enough..."

"And yet, I still must apologize... I should have been honest with you, but... I didn't want you to be scared away from your true potential. I saw this amazing satyr in you and knew he needed to be shared with the world. Do you forgive me?" Julian asked, turning so they were groin to groin, pressing together. Riley raised a hand in a timid gesture and caressed the stubble on the doctor's cheek.

"Yes, I forgive you... But only on one condition," the satyr murmured, his exotic eyes staring deep into Julian's. Julian's eyebrow rose in curiosity.

"What is the condition?" he questioned. Riley shivered for a moment, fearing that the other man might get angry.

"W-well... All those people I found the files of in your computer... All the men you changed during all those years..." the satyr gulped, a hard lump in his throat. "I dunno what happened to them, I guess you probably helped them finding their place in the world, but... I think my place is here. Here with you." Riley raised his eyes again, while his long ears lowered. "W-will you... let me stay, doctor? Forever?"

"You can stay with me as long as you want, Riley. I'd never chase you away..." Julian whispered softly, leaning to kiss Riley's forehead between his horns. Tears glistened in the satyr's eyes, as another smile appeared on his lips.

"Oh, doctor, I love you so much..." he said, in a perfectly natural tone. "And I will do anything for you. I will be the best assistant you could ever imagine... And much, much more!" His smile, even if for a split second, turned into a manic grin, as he leaned his face and licked Julian's ears before murmuring. "I will do anything..."

"I know you will, but why don't you start by calling me Julian..." The doctor smirked softly, ruffling Riley's hair, "And... I think I know the perfect way for us to celebrate." Julian added with consideration.

****

The moon was large, hanging in the sky, larger than life. The light filtered down through the trees and across the creek, leaving the white blanket to appear as an ivory sea on which Julian rested. He'd dressed in a black sleeveless shirt and shorts, let his long hair down and was barefoot. After working so long in the lab, it was time to relax. A basket sat to the side with a chilled bottle of wine and some glasses, but Julian's eyes were directed to the facility where Riley had been finishing getting ready.

It was hard to believe it had worked, but apparently in one massive psychosomatic experience it had all clicked together.

Finally, Riley emerged from the front door of the lab in all his flawless glory; the only things he was wearing were a skimpy black leather thong - it would have been a shame to cover his body anyway - that hardly covered his bulge, and a crown of large, bright green grape leaves around his head, highlighting his handsome features and his massive set of horns. He was an apparition straight out of Greek mythology... and yet he immediately rushed to Julian's side like a small puppy, brushing his head against the professor's shoulder and looking up to him with admiration and total and complete loyalty.

"I love you, Julian," he said, his voice powerful and resounding but with a quality of meekness that made perfectly clear what Riley's role in the relationship between the two of them was. Julian reached up and ran his fingers through Riley's hair, caressing his scalp, brushing one of the powerful horns.

"Riley, you are an amazing individual, do you know that?" Julian whispered, "And the grape leaves are a nice touch too." He smiled, kissing Riley's head. The satyr giggled in pure bliss, his blue eyes sparkling.

"I knew you would've appreciated," he said. "And of course I know I'm amazing... You made me into who I am now, Julian, and there's no one in the whole world who's more amazing than you."

"I don't know about that... I'm just a scientist that was getting tired of being lonely..." Julian said, his arm sliding up and down on Riley's shoulder. The satyr shivered at the gentle touch, the softest bray escaping from his plump lips.

"And what is it that you want now? More than anything?" Julian asked softly. He almost felt guilty at what he had done... He had created Riley's new form to fill a physical void, to help him in his research... but like all of his creations, he did want them to be happy and find a place in this world. He pushed aside his concerns and moved his hand to caress the satyr's pointed ear. Riley closed his eyes and moaned again, this time a bit louder; it was like every square inch of his body that was touched by Julian's fingertips almost instantaneously turned into an erogenous zone.

"I want to be with you," he replied in complete earnest. "You took pity of me and gave me a place to live, a job and a purpose... And a new, sexy body to boot. I'll never be able to repay such kindness, not even in a thousand years..." His voice was melancholic and vibrant, as if he was singing instead of simply talking. Julian reached down slowly, wrapping his hand around Riley's large member finger by finger. He applied pressure before he began to slowly stroke.

"Then you shall have your wish." Julian whispered before he leaned in, tilted his head and they locked lips. Julian slowly pushed Riley onto his back on the grass, moving atop him, kissing him and stroking his manhood between their two bodies. The satyr's fat, thirsty tongue entwined with Julian's, his desire burning in his chest and clouding his brain as if he had just drank a whole bottle of the sweetest wine ever existed.

"I want you, Julian..." Riley murmured, his eyes lost in the perfect immensity of the starry sky above him. "More than anything, more than anyone. You are everything and everyone I need." Julian smiled more at that and drew his hand off of Riley's member, using it instead to open the fly of his pants, revealing that he had no underwear on beneath. As the scientist's body came down, their hot and hard cocks pressed together, sandwiched between their abdomens. Julian pressed down and gyrated his hips, grinding against Riley as they kissed once more. The complex structure of emotions building up into the satyr's mind suddenly exploded, and tears of joy started dripping down his cheeks as his hands kept exploring the scientist's toned body.

"Make me yours, Julian," he whispered in the human's ear. "Now and forever. Mark me as yours..." There was nothing in Riley's mind more pleasurable, more appealing and more splendid than the idea of belonging to Julian, to be his assistant, his lover and his loyal pet.

"Oh Riley... You are so perfect... But do you want me to fill your tail hole, or your mouth?" Julian asked, grinding harder, feeling so very aroused. Under his handsome beard, Riley's cheeks were tinged purple by the question.

"T-the... the tail hole, please," he whispered, while his newly sprouted appendage - nothing more than a stub covered in silky fur - begin to wag against the grass. "T-though it's my very first time, so please be gentle, Julian..."

"Of course, my love..." Julian murmured. He carefully assisted in rolling Riley over onto his stomach, taking in the appearance of the young man's furry ass and tail. He experimentally reached down, stroked the tail and guided it upwards away from the cleft of those muscled ass cheeks. The satyr quivered in anticipation, his breathing heavy and his cheeks flushed.

Julian grinned to himself. It was fun having a partner so into the encounter. He lowered down and dragged his shaft along Riley's ass, feeling the fur against his flesh before he tipped his hips and let the head of his shaft start pushing into the satyr. The virgin ass was a bit tight at first, but the muscles inside seemed to be beckoning him, drawing him in, aching for his presence. Under Julian, Riley let out a long bleating as the initial pain of being penetrated for the first time turned into dull pleasure... and something more, a sensation that wasn't easy to define but at the same time was totally and unmistakably right. Only with Julian inside him, the hole in the soul that the satyr had experimented since the completion of his change was filled; he was complete once again, a brand new being that nonetheless could exist only thanks to another creature. With instinctive movements, Riley started to push his powerful ass back, inviting the professor to bury his dick even deeper.

"F-fuck me, Julian... Please..." he murmured, innocence and malice alternating on his face every few seconds; he had the body of a creature of supreme sex and lust and the mind of a happy, naive young man... And the happiness he was feeling started to blur and erode the lines between the two.

Julian pushed down with his hips, sliding deeper into the satyr. As the friction mounted, he slowed and pulled back, only to thrust down twice as hard. As the moments passed, the speed and depth built up more and more. Soon Julian was grunting with each thrust, burying his face in Riley's shoulderblades. The air was full of the scents of sweat and lust already, but soon Julian reached around Riley's furry hip to resume the hand job he had been giving the satyr earlier. The fingers of the scientist wrapping around his shaft were enough to make the satyr dribble some precum, and his desire to be fucked, to be used - to be the best lover ever for his Julian - only but increased.

"Oh, y-yeah..." he growled among indistinctive moans. "Fuck me hard... My ass is yours, Julian..."

"Your ass and every part of you is mine." Julian growled, thrusting hard, slamming down into Riley with such speed and force that his ass soon made soft squelching noises. Julian groaned hard, squeezing his eyes shut as he felt his cock squeezed and massaged by those hot depths, knowing somewhere in there he would soon strike Riley's engorged prostate and awaken in him levels of pleasure he never knew existed.

"Y-yeah..." Riley murmured, a manic grin appearing on his face... And then, finally, Julian's dick brushed against his pleasure spot, and fireworks of red and purple light clouded the satyr's vision. He could feel every part of his body with perfect clarity - the air caressing his flat teeth, his heavy horns almost burning, his tail twitching against the base of Julian's dick - and at the same time he felt as if he had changed again, turning into nothing but pure, absolute pleasure. A long, unarticulated bray escaped his lips, momentarily annihilating his ability to speak and making him revert to nothing but a lustful, needy beast.

Having experimented on finding the perfect spot, Julian was content with his success. He kept his pace up, striking Riley's prostate over and over again. He wanted to reduce his assistant into a quivering gelatin, a sea of lust and pleasure. Julian panted hard as he went, his balls throbbing. He thought of how amazing Riley had turned out, with his oversized member and his plump, super producing balls. Once more that stinging, burning jealousy reared its head for but a moment. Julian longed to be anything else, to feel what Riley was feeling, but he suppressed that feeling and went back to celebrating the pleasure of such a fuckable, slutty ass beneath him. Under Julian, the satyr squirmed like a fish, still trying to have the professor bury his cock as deep inside of him as possible; he wasn't thinking, just acting according to the ancestral instincts of his new heritage.

"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck," was the only word that could escape his lips in such a state. "Fuuuuuuuuuck..." The mere idea of being penetrated by his boss, his lover - his master - had dulled his mind, but being actually fucked by Julian was in itself the most magnificent sensation he could have ever hoped to feel in his life. His hand - fingers twitching madly - joined Julian's in stimulating his own mammoth dick, milking more and more precum as he pumped up and down.

Julian bore his teeth, grinning madly as he felt the juices flow over his hand and pool on the picnic blanket beneath them. He imagined in a weeks time that Riley's fur would be soaked with their juices, messy from countless sessions of love making. Julian groaned harder, fucking as fast as he could manage, his hair falling across his face in a messy cascade. With the mane of hair over his face, being blown away from his mouth with each pant, it was the first time Julian had appeared as anything other than in control in a long time. It was a primal feeling, a visceral power.

Riley clenched his flat teeth, the hair on his forehead messy and covered in sweat, spots of green matting an staining the fur of his legs where the friction had shredded the grass under him. The stimulation of Julian's dick against his prostate was too much to handle, especially now that he was a satyr and his libido was off the charts: the conjoined efforts of Julian's hand and his own finally pushed his dick past the point of no return, and thick, creamy yellow spunk was sprayed all over his chest; it had a fruity, pervasive scent, that mixed with the smell of the two men's sweat, creating a wild, entrancing fragrance.

The pitch, the fever, the speed... It was more than Julian had felt in some time. His fingers locked into the fringes of wooly fur, he bore his cock down deep into the hot depths. Stroke after stroke, he knew he wouldn't last much longer. With one last triumphant thrust, he lodged himself as deeply as he could into Riley and held himself there. Julian gasped, drawing breath in as his head tipped back. Riley could feel the fleshy manhood in his ass quiver and pulse before a hot, wet flood sprayed into him, coating his insides.

Julian came for a long moment, several in all actuality, but eventually the flow began to subside. Julian's muscles weakened and he leaned more into Riley's back, panting and sighing, his eyes glazed with the afterglow of amazing sex. He languidly relied on Riley's softness for his own support as he tried to cope with such bliss.

Riley huffed and puffed in joy; the sex had been great, but the fact that Julian had been his partner and had fucked him was even better. The satyr closed his eyes and exhaled another deep, satisfied breath, feeling the comforting weight of the scientist body against his own, enjoying the quiet energy of the forest all around them. He knew that - thanks to his new, incredible body - it wouldn't take long before he was ready to fuck again... and, Riley realized with a smirk, he couldn't think at a better way to spend that wonderful night.

****

When Riley woke up that morning, in the king size bed he shared with Julian, the satyr yawned with his still sleepy eyes closed, basking in the sunlight filtering through the window; it was only when he extended his arms to caress the body of his lover that he realized with dismay that Julian wasn't there with him. He immediately felt a pang in his chest, as it always happened when he didn't know where the doctor was, and dashed out of the door, now fully awake, his large ears perked in order to detect any possible sound that could betray Julian's presence in one of the rooms of the house. After a few seconds, the satyr darted towards the door of the laboratory; when he opened it, however, he didn't see Julian immediately, but something caused his brow to furrow under his impressive horns: the place looked way... cleaner than the usual.

As Riley moved deeper into the laboratory, it became clear that it wasn't just clean. It was being stripped down. Cases were stacked on counter tops, holding microscopes and genetic samples. The computer not only been disconnected, it had been dismantled. The hard drive was conspicuously missing from the case, being prepped for transport. Everything had been wiped down and the cupboards were empty, but sitting in the center of the room were two large cases. One was marked Riley, and the other Julian. Riley scratched the base of one of his horns, more confused than ever.

"Are we... going somewhere?" the satyr asked to the doctor, who had apparently just finished packing. Julian smiled at that and moved over to give Riley's bare shoulder a squeeze.

"We have a lot of work to do. There are more species to create, more medical advances to explore, a life to save... but I've started to unearth a mystery, one that's nagging me something fierce. The company I used to work for, Genetech - It's just gotten itself involved with one of the largest, most secretive government contracts anyone's ever heard about. Right now, all I know is that its code name is project Triad, but if they're involved that deeply, I want to know why." Julian grinned, reaching over to gently caress the satyr's bare shoulder blades. What had started as an experiment to fill a physical need had inadvertently become one he was very drawn to. Riley needed him so much, Julian didn't want to let him down. The satyr shivered in pleasure at the touch of the other man's fingers.

"Everywhere you go, I will follow, Julian. I can't stand the idea of being apart from you..." he murmured, brushing the side of his face against Julian's hand with a beatific smile on his lips. "After all, I am your masterpiece, am I right?" he added, his smile turning into an impish grin.

"My finest creation... amazing in every way." Julian said, reaching down to stroke Riley's goat tail. The satyr raised his stubby appendage, giving the doctor a good view of his muscled butt.

"W-well... do we have time for a last fuck before we go?" he pleaded in an innocently erotic tone. "My ass feels so empty, Julian, I dunno if I can last a whole trip..."

"Well... one more before we go wouldn't hurt, although I was thinking I could go for a relaxing drive with your throat wrapped around my cock too..." Julian said with a wide grin. Riley turned around and kissed his creator sensually, his hand going down to massage his groin through the fabric of his pants.

"Why not both?" the satyr asked. "You know I love drinking your man juice..."

"I think I know a way to temporarily increase my production by about six times the volume..." Julian murmured, looking into Riley's eyes. The satyr, in hearing those words, couldn't help but drool a bit, his penis trying to escape the confines of his jockstrap.

"S-six times?" he repeated, his fingers mechanically caressing and tormenting one of his rock-hard nipples. "C-can you do that now, too? I want you to feel my ass with all that wonderful cum..." he pleaded, before kissing Julian once again.

"I think I have enough around here for one more experiment before we go." Julian whispered before he returned the kiss, their lips lingering in a long embrace before finally, and reluctantly, the scientist pulled back from the satyr. Julian reached up to give Riley's goatee one last stroke before he turned to start mixing chemicals, getting ready for the long trip ahead.