While others were preparing for the Year of the Rat's celebrations or competing in the contests that went along with it, Evelyn was being lead along by a pair of Wolf Animalians dressed in police uniforms and this made her a bit nervous. For while she had ultimately struck a plea deal after she'd been caught that effectively left her to Animalia's care, she also knew that being converted was only to cure her of the HIV/AIDS virus that she'd been carrying for years. It was not the full disciplinary action for her actions.
Some of it was to attend the regular therapy sessions with Doctor Jones, as part of a means to get her feelings regarding homosexuality, her upbringing, and everything else that related to it, and that wasn't so hard. Doctor Jones really didn't judge her, or at least not in a way that would contradict the oaths he'd taken to be a good therapist and it often struck Evelyn that when he did do something more "judgmental," it was more to get her to react and state a point that she'd felt she'd burred. His humor made it a bit of a dirty trick at times, but since it was just the two of them and he always included a question on what she felt about those things, Evelyn ultimately accepted it.
However, not all of the punishments that were coming were designed to be as therapeutic as the sessions with Doctor Jones, and Evelyn had some suspicion that this would be one of them. After all she was be lead toward a back door to one of the buildings Lyre that she didn't recognize... of course much of that was also the fact that prior to now she had never been in Lyre or Animalia and thus didn't know either town's full layout or anything of that nature. She had some memory of things that had been reported about a year or more back regarding a "Heather Wilcox" and how Animalia published a different method of dealing with crime. In this, while she didn't know where she was going, she suspected that something wasn't going to be fully pleasant. She didn't expect torture, but potentially something embarrassing.
That was only confirmed when the door was opened to reveal what looked like the inside of an elevator and the fact that the two officers essentially shut the door behind her. That was the real surprising thing, as Evelyn could feel through her tail that the platform she was on was fairly firm but that there seemed to be no other way out than the door that had just been shut. But that meant she had go somewhere to get through this punishment, but the room was relatively small, like it would fit over the area just before a flight of stairs and looked like a elevator, complete with polished steal. Evelyn thought she could even see her own reflection in the surface, but she wasn't sure as the lighting wasn't that great.
However, there wasn't something right about the platform. The material looked metallic and shiny, but it didn't feel that way on Evelyn's scales. In fact it felt more like paper, and as she moved against it, Evelyn had brought her full weight onto a section of the platform that was near the corner. As she reached that corner, Evelyn heard a "rrrrrrrRRRPPPP" noise start underneath her and then with great surprise to her, the paper she was on fully ripped and she fell through an opening in the platform. She landed on a metal slide that felt a bit wet and with her tail flailing as she had no control over standing. The result of that left her sliding down on her back and she let out a scream as she hit a curve and then slid down and was dropped into a large tank of water that was at the bottom of the slide with a great slash.
"Not the most graceful landing I've ever seen," Evelyn heard a feminine voice speak when she surfaced, "but then I suppose you weren't expecting a dunking."
Evelyn looked around, and she had to let her eyes focus as the lights began to come up. She found herself in a large open basement area and could see a long metal slide that had been placed over a flight of stairs that lead to the tank she was in. The floor was a gray concrete and that made things look a bit dull, which contrasted deeply with the figure slithering forward into her line of sight. The figure was female, and while not as "tall" as Evelyn, this newcomer was another Cobra Animalia. The new arrival seemed to be wearing what looked like a black leather corset with an open front that let Evelyn see some of the female's belly scales through the laces. The cups of the bra that were part of the corset also looked to be black leather and she work a black skirt as well. If Evelyn weren't soaking wet, a part of her might have been rather curious in more ways then one.
"I'm sssoaked!" Evelyn declared as she attempted to rise to her feet and climb out of the tub.
"Of course," the new comer answered, "do you think a bath would be done dry?"
"A bath?" Evelyn looked around as the other Cobra Animalian reached the tub and was able to leverage Evelyn back down and was soon disrobing her.
"Think of it as a "part one" of cleaning up your act," the other cobra answered, "as while you were vaccinated after your conversion, that vaccination would only be good for a year. After that... it wares off and the last thing we want is to have you decide to head off and forget about that... then starting to spread the Animalia Virus around. Given the political climate... that probably wouldn't be welcomed."
Evelyn didn't immediately answer as her clothes were tossed onto the concrete with an audible "splat." Though she had seen enough on the news to give some indication of that. America's present government had certainly been trying to legislate Animalia out of existence, only to run into either miswording the laws that left them "unconstitutional" or tripping over other biases that made keeping Animalia more desirable, and then since 2019 the division between the House and Senate. However with some of the other things going on, Evelyn also expected that the present administration would regain full control over the government following the upcoming elections and triggering some kind of excuse to punish Animalia by spreading the Animalia Virus was the last thing Evelyn wanted.
"Who are you...?" Evelyn asked after a moment.
"You may call me, Sabine," the other cobra answered as she returned with a folding step ladder with a series of brushes and soaps on the top step, "and we will start with getting clean..."
Sabine started with a brush and the soap and started at Evelyn's head. The brush was fairly simple in terms of design, but Evelyn found that the bristles were very tough. They didn't penetrate her scales, but they did pull and bush at their edges as Sabine moved the brush and lathered the soap over them.
"That stingsss a little," Evelyn managed after a moment.
"Of course," Sabine answered as she scrubbed harder "must make sure nothing got under the scales... Fleas... ticks... bad habits."
"I haven't got any fleasssss!" Evelyn hissed back as Sabine worked the brush down the back of Evelyn's hood.
Sabine only paused brushing to dip the soap into the warm water of the tub and then bring it back up to the brush. It let some water take on a bit of a soapy color and smell, with a small bubble or two, but most of that was part of the process of keeping the soap wet.
"At present, yes," Sabine answered, "I'm sure you don't. But remember... you are a snake Animalian now. The belly scales on your tail MUST be kept clean and at all times. And some times the sides two, as that will help you push off against points of friction. Particularly for those of us that are cobras. We aren't like an un-uplifted Puff Adder that can just pull their full mass forward in a straight line. Which means that even if you don't catch a flea or a tick or some other parasite... you might still come into something that might not be good for your health. That's why keeping clean is a must."
"Well if this is for my tail... why are you..." Evelyn began as Sabine finished with Evelyn's hood and began to scrub down her neck and even onto the tops of her breasts.
"It's a process," Sabine gave a knowing smile, "let you know that rebirth isn't just "you get a new form and all is forgiven." That's why I included "bad habits" earlier."
"This is to clean out what I did?" Evelyn cringed a little.
"More a reminder on the work and "pain" it will take to stay clean," Sabine answered, "and hopefully give you some advice on dealing with attraction in a way that doesn't cause problems for others..."
"You're homosexual?" Evelyn asked weakly.
"No... I'm straight," Sabine answered, "but WHO we're attracted to is irrelevant when it comes to things like honesty and decency. When I met my husband and bond mate... it was under different circumstances than most people's first meeting with their loves. I was sort of a prize as part of a Saint Patrick's Day contest for those who wanted to convert... and my Bazooka happened to win me. Or maybe I won him, but then when we met, marriage wasn't exactly the first thing on my mind or his."
"And?" Evelyn managed as Sabine held one of Evelyn's arms up and scrubbed it. Evelyn had to resist flinching when Sabine scrubbed the underside of the arm. Even with the stiffness of the bristles, she was a bit ticklish.
"I told him what I wanted most and wanted from him," Sabine answered, "let him know what I was looking for up front and let him decide if he'd accept that and gave him the wiggle room to get out of it if he didn't want it. He said yes... and I got lucky to have a wonderful mate and father to my children, whom we raise together."
"Interesssssssting," Evelyn managed.
"It's more than that," Sabine answered, "it's wonderful... and the full result of what real honesty brings."