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Amidst the feverish scrubbing as he tried in vain to wash off the darkened grey skin, he heard the knocking and seriously contemplated just what to do. It obviously wasn't Gaius, as he would have announced his presence already...maybe it was Marshall...could he face the penguin-boy after what he'd done.

His physical actions slowed to a snail's pace as thinking took over. He watched the foamy bubbles drift by...his dark skin visible through the water, like some great oily slick in the bath.

"C-come in! I won't be a minute," he shouted from the bathroom, his voice hoarse and rasp from his previous primal screams the other day.

In a last attempt to 'pretty' himself up, he scrubbed at the fur all around his neck and at the thick mop on his head, fingers cautiously running over the embryonic skull crest found in adult male gorillas. Oz lifted himself from the bath in a mighty sploosh of water, and draped himself in the extra large towel he'd asked from the labs.

OH s**t! Its Sayuri! Does she know? Oh god, I can't let her see me like THIS!

Oz panicked. He had worried in the very deepest pit of his stomach that she might come to see him, or that he might bump into her. And if she hadn't known about the accident at the work site, how would she react? Could he reall take such repulsion from some so dear to him?

He couldn't take that chance.

"Sayuri?! I'm...I'm so happy...you've come to see me," he said, fumbling for words as much as his towel.

He fidgeted around, as confirmed by all the ruffling sounds of cloth, and engineered himself so that a baggy pair of shorts kept his lower end covered, and his large towel covered all of his torso...including his head.

"I was...just taking a bath, gotta keep clean," he said as he opened the door for her to come in.

Oz looked rather ridiculous, like a poorly made ghost costume. But at least this way, only his darkened legs and feet were on show, and whilst his greatly increased height was noticeable, he crouched to help hide that a bit too.

With the thick towel obscuring his view, he ruffled greatly at his head and neck to dry his fur, unaware of Sayuri's polite gesture to let him pass from the bathroom. All the while only one thing niggled at his mind - I had not seen. He didn't want her to see him, but how long could he really wear this towel as a veil?

Oz stopped all movement, hanging his head solemnly and leaning down onto his wash basin, feeling it creak under his weight. With a great sigh, his expansive torso heaved with the effort.

"There is something you need to see Sayuri..." he began, his already choppy voice cut up further by his nervousness.

Quickly and abruptly, he removed the towel from his head only, revealing dark skin, thick fur, a flatter and broader nose, and a truly Neanderthal profile with protruding eyebrows and slight sloping brow.

Oz's first and most gut reaction was to just turn away at her first gasp, so he couldn't see the look of horror on her face. He didn't want that haunting his nightmares for the rest of his days. Soon after, he pulled the towel back over his head in a childish gesture and further spoke in his hoarse voice, slightly muffled by the towel.

"I...I...didn't..want you...ugh, I feel like a monster," he said, physically pained as he crouched over, doing nothing for his misproportion.

Oz heard Sayuri mutter an 'ow' and just hoped that she hadn't fallen on any of the few remaining tiny shards of mirror that he had yet to find and remove. She certainly caught his attention, and whilst he was still 'towelled,' it was obvious he was looking right at her.

Her second remark filled him a little more dread, obvious in his sudden tenseness and hesitation. It was a request of his fair lady, but could he oblige? Could he really make her look again? It felt more like a punishment for her than him...

With a heavy sigh and a slight grunt, he removed the towel from his torso entirely, his dark grey skin in stark contrast to not only his pale blue shorts, but to his earring and n****e piercing. The towel, however, remained tenderly grasped in one hand, as if it was his security blanket.

Aside from the new facial features he had already shown, he'd grown considerably in height and a little in width too. A thick patch of fur encircled his neck and dusted his shoulders.

It was the various little things about Oz that might cause alarm. His nostrils now noticably flared when he sighed, since they had become larger with the broadening of his nose. He had two thick movable eye ridges rather than eyebrows scribbled on his forehead. Their only redeeming feature was the extra emotion and expression they now bestowed on Oz's stress-weathered face.

In fact, as a whole, he had started to take on a ragdoll sort of of charm - patchy with fur and misproportioned throughout.

Oz physically flinched at her touch, leaning away from her for a few moments. He wanted to hug her as much as she him, but could his new body be trusted? What was he capable of now?

Before he could think of answers to these questions, his body spoke for him....

"Agghh..." he mumbled, mixed with a very animal-like growl.

His back was hurting again, no doubt from trying to walk upright and straight. He stumbled back to the bath's edge and perched on the rim. At least now he wasn't so tall.

"Its...just my back, it will go away soon...I hope," he replied, forcing a smile and muttering the last part under his breath.

There was bound to be a lot of miscommunication here. Sayuri, in her fragile wiles and devotion to him, and Oz, with his denial of his changes and the fear that she might be totally repulsed. He found it surprising that she came to his side, and moved to embrace her, changing his mind in the last moment.

Instead, a different reflex took over and he gently reach out an inhumanly long hand to her head, running the very tips of his fingers down the soft curves of her face. He was still capable of gentleness, much to his inner delight.

"Very pretty today," he smiled.

"For me?" he asked, his smile growing wider, fighting against the back ache and the paranoid fear of how he must look trying to smile.

His reaction to his mere reflection was one of self-loathing and un-tethered anger. That poor mirror took the brunt of his rage but nothing else had yet to suffer. What...what if he hurt Sayuri one day? Even by accident? Like...Marshall? That was an accident and he broke his arm...

His inner turmoil clouded his face for just the briefest of moments before he shook it off and attempted to push his worries aside. He should be strong for Sayuri. Thats it...he should be strong for her...for her.

He opened his arm for her, for a hug.