Vlad raised an eyebrow at Shinobu. "What, making sure Yoshi gets the care she needs?" he said dryly. "I'd say so."

"I wonder what Yoshi's mother would say about all of this," Shinobu muttered, holding her muzzle in her paws. Vlad sat back, rustling the magazine as he raised it again.

"If it's not 'wow, I'm so glad Shinobu is respecting my daughter's identity,' who cares?"

Shinobu just scowled. Vlad looked back down at the magazine, but continued in a quieter tone, "Michi isn't here, Boss. It's just you and Yoshi. Trust her, all right?"

Shinobu looked over to see that another dog-headed person--this one with very short, liver-brown fur and ears that stood straight up--had leaned over and was holding a tissue for the little boy to blow his nose loudly into.

"I suppose," she said.

Someone said her name just then, causing her ear to twitch in response. A green bipedal creature in scrubs was standing near one of the doors, holding a thick clipboard.

"Would you like to come back?" they said. Shinobu practically leapt out of her seat.

"Y-yes."

"--We spent a little time going over Yoshi's history, just to get a good starting point for her transition."

The exam room was well lit and clean, with posters on the walls and the window shades drawn. The doctor, a tawny peryton with dark markings around his eyes and neck, was leaning against the sink. His nametag bore both a picture of his current form and one of a human-looking man with blonde hair that was tied back in a small ponytail; it identified him as Felix Kildeer, DO, a family physician at the Trillium Borough Walk-In Clinic.

"I know some other providers have said mixed-species people are too hard to treat in this regard," Dr. Kildeer went on, "But that's simply not true. We just need to take a little extra care. To that end, we should talk about this nighttime shapeshifting issue."

"Oh?" Shinobu said critically. She was seated next to Yoshi, who was fidgeting with her sleeve. "What's that got to do with this?"