During the height of summer, the Brumation House was closed on account of it was already too hot outside. The reptiles and other cold-blooded Animalians found it more than enough to keep them heated. Conversely, the Ice Haus was doing booming business as not only were the arctic Animalians looking for a way to keep cool, but plenty of human tourists were wanting to get out of the heat.
One guy who had come from Vermont found the heat rather hard to deal with so he made frequent visits to the Ice Haus. Just walking in from the hot July weather was already refreshing. He could see plenty of the arctic-inclined members of Animalia make visits here. The White family tended to stop by during the hottest parts of the day. The volunteers of Project Cenozoic also frequented the Ice Haus. There was often a joke about them trying to avoid their ancestors' extinction. Even the seal Animalians, who didn't strictly belong to the colder climates tended to come over to cool off.
The guy from Vermont, Landon, had thought he had seen all that Animalia had to offer regarding the cold-loving animals. There didn't appear to be that many. But one day, he walked in to see a penguin woman seated inside. She was undoubtedly a penguin. Her black and white feathers were unmistakable. There were plenty of them on display considering the navy blue two-piece swimsuit she was wearing in spite of the cold. She was certainly built a lot differently from the bird Animalians that Landon had seen so far. Naturally, she had no wings since penguins can't fly. She didn't have very big tail feathers, which gave her a very human body shape.
Landon sat next to the penguin woman and said, "Hello there. Name's Landon."
"My name's Mari," replied the penguin woman.
"You know, you're the first penguin I've seen in here," said Landon.
"I guess there aren't a lot of penguins around," said Mari, "Some people wouldn't want to become animals that depend on the cold."
"You'd think rockhopper penguins would be more popular," said Landon.
"Actually, I'm a Macaroni penguin," said Mari, as she pointed at her crest feathers, "See the unibrow. Also, my feathers don't stand out as much as a rockhopper's."
"Huh, and what made you choose a Macaroni penguin?" asked Landon.
"I didn't. I was born a penguin," said Mari.
"Oh, I'm sorry," said Landon, "I wasn't sure if birds kept their hair after conversion."
"Some do," said Mari, "Though I wouldn't know for sure."
"So, how are you liking being an Animalian?" asked Landon.
"It's certainly different from being a penguin," said Mari.
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Penguins have become more vulnerable to extinction in recent decades. While humans didn't live in Antarctica, they still had an impact on their population. Part of it was because of the global warming making more of the ice caps melt. Another part of it was because fishing in the Antarctic Ocean was depriving the penguins of their food. However, there have been movements made to help the penguins, to reduce global warming and overfishing. There were certainly plenty of penguin populations thriving in zoos and aquariums.
As a matter of fact, the Macaroni penguin exhibit in one aquarium was getting a little too crowded. While new animals are typically a welcome addition, there were only so many penguins that one exhibit could hold. The aquarium reached out to other aquariums and zoos to see if they would like to take a few birds. One of the people to respond was rather surprising. Horizon Labs had been wanting to expand into Antarctic species for a while and a Macaroni penguin seems like an ideal place to start.
The one purchased from the aquarium, named Mari, was transported to Horizon Labs in a refrigerated van. While penguins wouldn't immediately wither in the heat, they are more comfortable when it's cooler. Still, Mari was friendly with people, even if they were strangers. She allowed the humans to take her into the testing room. She did squawk in protest when they put that needle in her. But they left plenty of fish for her to eat after they left.
But Mari soon lost her appetite as she suddenly felt queasy. Then it seemed that queasy feeling spread all over. The penguin made a discomforted squawk as her body suddenly surged in size. Her bones stretched and popped into new formations. Her almost-indiscernible legs stretched out and became more defined with muscles and curves. Her flightless wings became much thicker as they grew into slender, yet toned arms. The wingtips grew digits as they became hands. However, these hands were broader and possessed some webbing between the fingers, making them look like flippers. Her waist became more defined as her torso reshaped into a more feminine shape. Her hips and rear expanded out into pleasing shapes while a pair of sizeable breasts pushed out of her chest, a pair of black nipples in the middle of the white feathers.
Mari gasped as the transformation came to an end. So much was rushing through her head now. She looked at her new hands and said, "Well, that was strange." She was a little surprised she could talk, but she was taking in many surprises right now. She looked down at her enhanced legs before bending them up and down. "So that's what my knees look like," said Mari with bemusement. Though it was a bit hard to see her knees with her new breasts in the way. Her new knowledge told her these were what mammals used to feed their young. What they were doing on a bird, she didn't know. Feeling them, she was surprised by both the pleasant feeling and the milk that started dribbling out of her nipples. "Well, this would make it easier to feed chicks than throwing up fish into their mouths," said Mari.
Just then, there was a knock on the door and Judy stepped in. "Feeling better?" she asked.
"I feel pretty good," said Mari, "But what exactly happened? Why do I look like a human?"
"You're an Animalian now," said Judy, "But you're not the only one. There's a large community of uplifted animals like us and humans who have become animals. I can help get you started with learning about them."
"That does sound interesting," said Mari. She bent down to grab her food dish. She tossed a fish up and easily caught it in her beak. With a little work, she got the fish pointing head down and swallowed it easily. "You want one?" she asked, holding the dish out to Judy.
"Er, no thanks," said Judy, "I'm a vegetarian."
"Your loss," said Mari before swallowing another fish.
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"So now that you're an Animalian, what do you do now?" asked Landon.
"Well, I was uplifted a little too late to sign up for the IAC games," said Mari, "But I've been doing some training for the next big swimming race."
"I was wondering about that," said Landon, his eyes drifting down to Mari's large chest.
"Hey," said Mari sharply, "I"m not that kind of girl. I'll have you know that I'm an active member of Endangered Awareness group."
"Penguins aren't that badly endangered, are they?" asked Landon.
"They could be," said Mari, "Humans need to understand that their actions affect even Antarctica."
"Well, yeah, they should," said Landon, "You do anything else besides that?"
"Hmm...well, I was thinking of getting a pilot's license," said Mari.
"But penguins can't fly," said Landon.
"They never had hands before," said Mari, lifting up her hands and wiggling the fingers playfully.