More Than Human

Chapter 71: All Bodies Change

Price had dragged Gaz back to his room and made him sit down on the bed to do some more thorough investigating of his son's new additions. He had Precious retrieve some tools and a few of his books and materials on dryads and other plant related monsters.

He got to work on measuring Gaz's branch antlers and documenting them in his personal research journal. He had Gaz spit into a potion that served as a sort of litmus test. The clear liquid was instantly stained a greenish yellow in the vial.

"Interesting..." He murmured.

"Is it?" Gaz raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"It is!" Price insisted, "Your body is somewhere in between your flesh and tree forms. Your spit is reacting to the test like plant nectar would."

Gaz just hummed. So much for having a productive day of getting work done. He supposed that as long as Price felt like he was getting research done then it must have been at least slightly productive.

"Have you noticed any other notable physical changes like these?" Price asked, gently tapping one of the branches with his pen.

"Captain, I hadn't even noticed those until all of you guys did." Gaz laughed, "I just slipped some clothes on without really thinking about it."

Price nodded and took note of something in journal before re-reading what he had written and chewing on his pen. He seemed to have picked up the habit in lieu of smoking his cigars.

"Well, maybe you should go check." he suggested.

"Why? Should there be something else?" Gaz asked, mildly concerned.

Price looked up and shook his head, setting his journal aside, "Not necessarily, but from what I understand, dryads change depending on their environment. They can be very different." He reached over and grabbed one of the books, he held up a few illustrations of reported dryad sightings and pointed out how many of them had different plant based features and characteristics. But he was right, they weren't all the same.

"I just think it wouldn't hurt to check real quick."

Gaz huffed but nodded, "Yeah alright. I'll be right back."

He pushed himself off the bed and went to his adjoining bathroom. He gave his face a better examination in the larger mirror. He hadn't noticed the slight change in shape of his pupils. They were slightly more elongated, as if they were in the process of becoming slits but weren't quite there yet. He pulled back from the mirror to strip down and give himself a full body turn around in the mirror.

Alright. Well. There were definitely a couple things he hadn't noticed.

He had a couple of strange divots just beside his shoulder blades. He rolled his shoulder around to examine them a bit, but wasn't able to really glean anything from that. The other noteworthy feature was a small bump in his skin on his lower back. It was directly centered on his spine, at the very base of his long burn scarn. He pressed on it, but it didn't feel particularly strange, just a lump.

He slipped his pants back on but kept his shirt off and exited the bathroom to show Price hsi back.

"Anything?" Price looked up when he came out.

Gaz nodded and turned around. Price crossed the room and started to carefully examine the features himself.

"They hurt at all?" Price asked, gently pressing a thumb to one of the scar-like lines by his shoulder blade.

"Um, not really." Gaz wiggled his head back and forth in a so-so motion, losing a couple leaves and petals in the process, "When you push on it, it feels sort of like a bruise."

"Bit tender then?"

"Suppose so."

Price hummed and stepped away to make a couple more notes. Gaz imagined that this is what it felt like to be a little kid at a doctor visit.

Gaz sat back down and Price used a small penlight to examine his eyes and pupil dilations. He made a couple more notes and let out a light chuckle, "You're gonna match Precious pretty soon with those eyes..." He trailed off and a realization seemed to dawn on his face. He snapped his fingers, "That's it."

"What is?"

Price grabbed Precious from where she was about to knock one of his vials over and held her up, "Dryads adapt to what's around them. And since emerging from your first dormancy, the first other monster you were around was...?"

He gently waved the creature around and she let out an inquisitive meow.

"The cat? Out of all the things my body could have chosen?"

"For your information she is a dragon." Price said a little defensively, "A very mighty beast! Aren't you, my little princess?" He flipped Precious around and pet her soft belly.

Gaz scanned the little dragon. His antlers reflected her horns, his sharp teeth too. The pointed ends of his ears. He made a note to examine his tongue to see if it was becoming forked. And his eyes, obviously. He looked at some of her other distinctive features.

"Am I growing wings?" He asked incredulously.

Price laughed and nodded a bit, "Seems that way. Don't know if they'll be functional or not. And you both will have matching tails!"

Price talked like a man with twin children that he was excited to dress up in matching outfits. Gaz pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling himself flush green with embarrassment.

"Oh come on, Kyle." Price chuckled as he groaned, "You love Precious. And to me, it seems like quite a noble form to take. I mean, a dragon? I doubt many dryads have ever done that before."

"It's the principle of the thing, Captain." Gaz rolled his eyes, "Out of all the dragons to take after, I chose the tiny cat one."

Precious made a little brrp from Price's arms, purring loudly as if she knew she was the topic of conversation.

"Also," Price spoke up, changing the topic, "you never answered me when I asked what could have caused your sudden change."

Gaz blushed even harder, trying to change the subject again, "These are some pretty strange changes."

"Well, everyone's bodies change. Some species more than others. You're just a bit of a late bloomer is all."

"Was that a pun?"

"It might have been."

"You need to spend less time with Ghost." Gaz flopped backwards onto his bed, "And I do not need to have a puberty talk with you right now."

The Captain laughed again, "Alright, alright. But if you ever have any questions-.

"Price!"

Price gave a final snort before pressing again, "Now answer my question, Sprout. Was anything different about yesterday?"
At that exact moment there was a knock on the door. Price was closer so he opened it up revealing a grinning Roach.

"Hi, Captain!"

"Need something, Gary?"

Roach peered around Price and saw Gaz on the bed and made an excited buzz before pushing into the room. He launched himself up and bounced a bit on the mattress when he landed beside him.

"Look!"

Roach practically shoved something into Gaz's face in front of his eyes. Just when he thought he couldn't blush anymore. Gaz sat up a little bit further and held out his hands for what Roach was offering.

It was a tiny green caterpillar, wiggling across his two palms.

"Found it in the garden!"

Price watched, eyes widening slightly as more blossoms popped up on Gaz's branches. He looked between the two men sitting on the bed, Roach excitedly talking about the caterpillar and more importantly Gaz. Kyle was watching him like a man entranced.

"Fuckin' hell."

Price knew exactly what was going on here.