#hyper city

And then it was the silence. A silence not of the city but of the two animals as they relaxed in each other's presence. Occasionally looking at their respective phones, Alexis occasionally sneaking looks at the corvid daughter of hers she brought along, but mostly just soaking in the afternoon’s air and energy. It was the tigress who broke first with a warm tone, as if she had just woken up from a rejuvenating nap.

“It's nice to hang out like this. I feel like we don't see each other often.”

I raised my brow: “We work together, Alexis. I literally saw you, like, 2 hours ago.”

“I mean like this. Away from our jobs. Away from always another case, a person, to care for. Away from the fulfilling stress that's become of our lives. Just relaxing in a park, enjoying each other's company.”

“I do hafta admit it's nice.”

And the quiet continued. As it grew, so did my discontent. I always felt so much smaller than the tigress, and I don't mean because she was a towering predator. I've watched her grow and I'll forever be eternally in awe. From her transition to her other accomplishments, this was a woman I felt was eternally in another league. The fact she extended her hand towards me, consistently, will never not make me waver inside; insecure at everything I saw her excelling at.

But I'm happy, too. Someone I view with such esteem decided that the best way she could spend the afternoon atmosphere was with me, soaking in the air tinged with the first missionaries of night’s cool oxygen. The street lamps and headlights of cars flickering on like a luminescent fog. I cross my arms and gripped either side of my hoodie before it is my turn to sunder the silence:

“It's hard to continue, you know? I love helping the critters of this city. I want to help everyone… But I know you see the same news I do. The constant bills being pushed forward, the vile rhetoric smothering us, the exhaustion of our peers. The fear that one day they'll find some loophole, some ill-inked document that justifies their abuse. I want to help, but I'm tired and a coward… I'm scared of the future…”

“Aren't we all?” the Tigress interjected, gripping her cane tightly. “You'd have to have the confidence of a mediocre white man to not be scared at these changing winds. And I know it's trite and cliche…”

The Tigress took a long sideways glance at the Corvid Therian now crouching in a tree, gesturing excitedly and enrapturing her friends with some tale I'm too far away to hear, but which has captivated those sitting beneath her.

“I do it for her. I don't know what else I could do, honestly. I want to actualize a future she would be happy to live in. That treats her and all other therians with the respect, access, and dignities we achieved later in our lives. And if I cannot guarantee these things… then she, and everyone, will see me fight and claw and bite until they are. I will not allow anyone to fool themselves into thinking we are a community that will go quietly.”

I couldn't help but laugh, not in jeer but in cheer. She did shake off my brainworms, if only for the night. I raised my arms high: “And they'll learn that a cornered cow is just as dangerous as any tiger!”

She smiled; and soon we settled into the ritualistic infodumping of hyper fixations, the water from which girls like us drink. Eventually the first star punctuated through the light pollution and that heralded that night had finally arrived. While the alabaster-colored predator would do just fine during these hours, and in fact preferred it, she did still have such responsibilities like her child and occupation to take into account.

We gave each other one final hug before we bid our farewells. Nothing extravagant, we'd see each other in the morning after all. Still, it was comforting. To be invited out like this, to spend the afternoon just enjoying each other's company, to find solace in a like-minded creature. To be a source of support for her but also knowing she was watching my back.

It was nice being friends with her.

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You ever have a rough day and an imaginary conversation with a friend gets you through it?

@tigergirltail is a great friend of mine (she also did the art!!!! Look at her stuff it's so good!!!) and I'm so happy to know her.

“GODS DAMMIT… ugh fine.”

Thank you for your purchase!

Curi: Thank you for this interview Dr. Mutts. I understand you don't get out much, so if you don't mind me asking, why did you agree to interview us?

Mutts: Well Curi, first of all, thank you for the chance. In light of some recent events within Hyper city, I thought it would be best to speak my mind as an ally to therian kind.

C:Well then, let’s start with the question on everyone’s minds. How did you become a doctor for exclusively transitioning therians? What about humans or fully transitioned therians?

M: That’s a great question. You see, a lot of people assume that therians are native to Hyper city, which is just not true. Most therians come from our own worlds only receiving treatment in Hyper city. But that means at some point one of your patients is going to be a mermaid pushed into the emergency room. It made me realize how much more doctors would have to study if we wanted to keep up with the changing times. So I quit my job. Used my savings and started to learn about the burgeoning world of therian biology. 

And to answer your other question. I still treat humans, and those who have a more mythical or non-animal medication. But if you brought me someone who had fully completed, say a bird hrt. I'd recommend a vet! Haha!

C: Hahaha! Well then, tell us what you have learned, from our research it seems you've been a doctor here for a good ten years. And I must say you don't look a day over 40!

M: Haha! I get that a lot. Well first off, I was taken aback by the whole idea of magic. I'm a man of science, never believed in anything that couldn't be proven, so studying magic was incredibly difficult. But it was incredibly simple to find the materials to learn. That's what I like about Hyper city, it's a lot less red tape. 

C: So what kind of magic does a doctor study? Surely you don't just have access to magics that perfectly heal someone to full health after a day?

M: Unfortunately no. Any kind of magic like that doesn't exist in Hyper city. And all forms of magical healing that do are incredibly regulated. I can thank my PHD granting me the license to study something like that. And it's mostly just to keep patients stable. With magic doing that, it's a lot less stressful to study the diseases and injuries that affect different therians in different ways. There have been a number of times I almost cut into the wrong part of the body before I looked at the MRIs again. When you're so used to cutting into humans, sometimes instinct takes over. 

C: Well that's a morbid way of putting it. But you've certainly got the skills to back up your jokes. Do you get a lot of patients? What sort of things do you see?

M: Of course. I guess you could think of me as something like a medical PI. There's a lot of hospitals that call me if they run into a therian case and don't have any experienced surgeons on hand. As for what I see a lot, well, that's patient confidentiality. Not something to talk about in an interview.

C: One last question. The one everyone is asking about. What is the reason behind your seclusion?

M: Well I just don't get out much haha!

Close window

“What the hell… What went wrong, Curi? Who's fault is this.”

About the editor: Elliot Pal Click

Elliot Pal is one of our top editors here at HHCT™. Always friendly, and always ready to assist our authors with any help with correcting stories with fact checking and bringing articles more in line with the type of truth seeking we here at blah blah blah blah blah

About the author: Curi Romana Click Error: 404

“Poor kid, they took her hard work and gutted it… like a fish, pfft heheh… feasting on the remains… It would have at least been nice if they marked the article as pure fiction, I don’t enjoy being portrayed as some cheery figure too stupid to care about the world. Well I suppose they at least got a few things correct. But it also looks like they just copied it straight from my other articles.”

“That severance pay better have been good for her. Was I like that? All spunky, full of energy, eager to learn about everything? And ruined because I tried to do anything. I… I think I was, at least that last part.”

“I told her to make up a story. She probably tried to get the real one published. That tape to anyone else would be the ramblings of a recluse senile doctor after a bad fever dream. No one knows what I sound like and anyone can claim to be Dr. Mutts. No one ever listens, these reporters just assume the truth needs to come out and then break their own hearts when they realize the truth likes to stay buried in a hole. She was nice, Maybe I should see if she'd want an assistant position. Assuming I didn't outright terrify her into avoiding me forever. That reminds me, I need to burn my copy. Now where did I put that tape recorder… There.”

Ka-chunk

“Thank you for meeting with me Dr. Mutts.

“Please, Call me Fredrick. Fred, If you like.”

“Fred, ok. Well, I-

“How are you feeling Ms. Romana? I can grab a humidifier if you need. I don't know exactly what stage of your hrt you're in. Oh, and I hope the ramp was alright? It’s not exactly wheelchair accessible here.”

“I’m fine. Honestly. I'd just like to start the interview. I've got so many questions, I've done so much research, I mean some of this stuff. I don't even know where to-

“Deep breaths Ms. Romana. Start with your first question.”

“Ok, ok. What’s with the rumor to your success? From the research I’ve done, it shouldn’t be listed as 100 percent. I found several cases where-

“We shouldn’t give specifics for the record. But to answer your question. No idea, I’ve failed to save my fair share of patients. Any good doctor worth their salt has failed to save someone. A lot of people assume it’s only a failure if you’re midway through a surgery like in some cheap drama. No, I’ve seen it so many times, laying back in the hospital bed, staring out the window, phone calls with loved ones. There’s just a point where a patient under your care knows they’re about to die. And unfortunately, you can never save them.” 

“I don’t know where that cheap rumor came from, it just haunts me like a damn ghost. Maybe I can see a witch about removing it. Sorry, but I'm still trying to figure out who keeps circulating it. Next question please.”

“Alright, how about we start with why you're so keen to help therian clients. You even moved to Hyper city and took jobs without any pay.”

“No comment.”

“No comment? Ok fine, how about this then. I have proof you've entered into Hypercity under false documentation! What's your real name? What are you hiding?”

“No comment.”

“I have proof!”

“I'm terribly sorry Ms. Romana. I think there might be a misunderstanding when I asked for this interview. I didn't ask for HHCT, I asked for you, so I could tell you a story. Once I finish, feel free to do with it as you please.”

“…alright.”

“Are you ready?”

“Will this story answer my questions?

“Yes.”

“Go ahead then, the tape's still running.”

“When I was a young man, I was considered a prodigy in the field of medicine. I actually had never failed to save a patient at this point. I was the go to discussion point for a patient's praise, and punching bag for every other doctor who wanted the title of best doctor just as much as I did. You didn't get to be as prestigious as me without being a complete ass. Though, in my defense, I had a lot of natural qualities that my colleagues despised. I thought I was really going to make something of that career. But I was still a woman at that point, and most wished to see me removed for simply being that.”

“Wait, when did this…”

“Please. Save your question until after I'm done. Now then, I think it was sometime in the late spring, early summer. A patient was brought in suffering from multiple bites from some opium addicted lunatic. Apparently the man had attempted to eat the patient. Something so completely insane, until I actually looked at what I was dealing with. On my operating table, was a mermaid. You know the story, I'm sure. Those who eat a mermaid's flesh will become immortal. From what I hear, her attacker died shortly after being jailed, so I can't say much on the validity of it. But can you imagine it? The talk of the town and suddenly you're staring down the death of your career and a patient's life.”

“The bites were bad. Some of the worst I'd ever seen. you'd think an eel or rabid bear would be the worst. But there's something horrific seeing the same shape you'd see after taking a bite out of a burger. I was lucky there wasn't any major organ failure. There was organ damage though. Something that looked like a kidney and something that I'd only later learn was a buoyancy sack. Looking back, I honestly think she would've, no, should've died on that operating table, but myself and a few other doctors managed to stabilize her. We thought she'd make a full recovery and we'd be written about in history books. The first humans to discover a real mermaid and save its life! We were all such fools back then.”

“I talked with her a lot in those days. Three months, fourteen days, and eight hours. I doubt she understood anything I was saying, but it didn't stop me from talking about my day. About the latest movie, the hospital directors awful toupee, or how I felt a burning jealousy every time I looked at a man. I think she knew, somehow. She never said anything. She just kept staring out the window. Waiting for the reaper to reach through it. She never spoke to anyone during her time there. Except for that last day. It was so strange, she didn't look any different than when she first arrived. She never healed but she never got worse either, but when all of the staff woke up that day, we just sort of, knew. That this would be the day she'd die. No one spoke the entire day, not even the other patients.”

“Maybe it's old age but believe me when I tell you that those three months, I can't recall hearing or seeing anyone breathe. It's like we were all stuck in a single moment of anticipation. No one ever died either. That sounds normal but we had terminal patients, and yet when she was in that place, death and life, they didn't exist there.”

“I was the only one that visited her on that final day. She stared at me for what felt like hours, and I didn't blink once, then she spoke to me in a language I will never know but I listened anyway, and then I nodded, and then I blinked. She had passed, and everything went back to normal, and her wounds finally started to bleed through the bandages. Then six hours passed and I woke up in the hospital bed. Her body was gone.”

“I was fired a few days afterwards, I think since she was under my care, the hospital just assumed I'd be bad luck now. And I was already dressing more masculine and that was a very big no no in those days. Didn't even know transgender was a word back then.” 

“I didn't stop researching about mermaids until suddenly the internet exploded about Hyper city. Imagine my face when I heard that you could just travel to a different dimension just by thinking about it for a while, and that you could find all sorts of non-humans there. It didn't outright solve the mystery, but I took it as a sign that maybe I should repay her in some way, and that brings us to today… The end.”

“Right… I… You… You make it sound like you were haunted by a wraith rather than taking care of an injured mermaid.” 

“Maybe… but, a wraith doesn't explain certain things.”

“When did this take place?”

“Let's see, hmmm, I believe it was 1951, I was 44 at the time. I've been 44 for a while now.”

“Did you-”

“You're the first one brave enough to ask. But I'll refer you to question one and two.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“To be completely honest, you remind me of an old friend, Ms. Romana, and I like the stories you write. There's a number of stories like those three months that I could tell you, one that happened a few days ago. Though you won't ever know what incident it was. This is the confession of Dr. Mutts, Who will soon be reported as dead, most likely by you, who tragically burnt to death after leaving one too many candles lit. Now then. You'll need assistance to leave the building in that wheelchair. I'll help you of course, Mermaids and fire tend not to mix.”

Ka-chunk

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Hey y'all, Been a bit. We're still working on the Animal HRT VN script. But it's been difficult with the frequent bouts of insomnia we've been suffering from. So progress has slowed down quite a bit. We'll keep working on it, and in the meantime, we decided to write something after our like 5th relisten to the magnus archives. This will probably be a one off story unless y'all ask for more. We do love writing stories about animal HRT and Hyper city. So let us know what you think of this. Thank you for reading.

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