Curiosity overwhelming you, both you and Connie entered the visitor's center... you weren't quite as surprised as you could have been to find the keys in your pocket. If not for the existence of a solid record like Connie's family photo, you could believe the changes were retroactive.
Inside, the place was simple and straight forward. Empty displays meant to hold pamphlets, an empty desk and chair, no sign of posters or maps or anything yet. There was a pretty domed skylight however.
You were surprised to find the place had power.
"I hope that the expansions will include some generators because I can barely pay my electric bill as is," you said.
"Our electric bill," Connie said. "To help bring your vision to life is why I'm here. And that means I foot the bill too." Connie began typing on her iphone.
"What are you up to?" You asked.
"Just starting a list of those who serve you, their name, their species, and their function. Best to keep things organized from the start."
On her phone was a PDF with one entry:
1. 'Connie Simmons Eastern Dragon, organizer, personal assistant, confident' followed by her contact information.'
"Is that really going to be needed?" You asked.
Connie rolled her eyes. "Johnny, you've always been a big dreamer, you've had big ideas, but how often did you think about the logistics of things? I guess it's good news that some aliens or gods chose to give you the world. Since anyone you change will have working here for you be their motivation for living. Won't have to worry about unions, and since the changes aren't questioned deeply by others, we don't need to worry about the IRS or the Better Business Bureau wondering about our workman's comp or our employees basically working for free.
"Sadly we don't know yet how many logistics the transformation takes care of, but the more the better."
"But is it really going to take that many people to run a theme park?" You asked.
Connie rubbed the top of her snout. "Even if you don't decide to assimilate all of humanity into our work force, (or even just the tri-state area) we're going to need numbers! It can't just be you, me, and a few friends."
Connie faced you and stood tall counting off with her claws.
"The Seaside Boardwalk employs 750 people during winter and 1,600 people during summer.
"32,000 are employed at Wizzy Land, and 77,000 people are employed at Wizzy World!
"We're going to need tons of employees if we want to be a size that can compete with the market." Connie shook her head holding it. "Which means you personally zapping all of them is gonna become a pain."
"Well... we should FIRST focus on getting ANYTHING to show guests. We can worry about being the size of a mom and pop anniversary celebration or Sunday church fair first, before becoming the size of say a county fair."
"Those tend to be fairly large anyway."
You had a sense of unrealness wash over you, in the span of five minutes, you'd found out magic or alien super science was real, assuming you weren't dreaming or drooling in the corner of a mental hospital somewhere of course. And you'd turned your roommate into a loyal and obedient dragon woman and could apparently transform as many people as you wanted without consequences, which would make the park you envisioned grow and grow.
"The point is that we're starting small, so let's focus on the steps right ahead of us for now," you said, figuring it would keep you focused instead of your mind spiraling in a million different directions.
"True. We can worry about competing with the big boys later, we can focus on our novelty for now. Which right now is just me. Which is a paradox. People need to not think too much about my changes, but also need to be interesting and novel so people actually come here to visit!"
Connie then made a polite cough.
"And for the record, I was saying before about framing your pitch, once the loan was yours you could have proven the park WORKED and gone from there and it would be too late for the investors to do anything and they WOULDN'T do anything since they'd be getting their money back and more. But, that's not here or anymore. So, ahem, boss," she stopped herself before she called him 'Master.' "Who's next on our list? All of humanity is ours to take right? So do we just start walking down the street and begin absorbing people into the park?"
You were kinda overwhelmed with how casual Connie said it, and the concept left you a bit overwhelmed on top of that! 'Stay focused!' You told yourself.
"Before we begin zapping bus' full of random people, I think we should visit someone who could help us."
-
"So did your internet profile already list you as 'working at under construction amusement park?'" You asked as Connie drove for you.
"Sure looked that way. Seems like we aren't going to have to worry about too much paperwork for assimilating our work force. I'd ask if you really think she'd help you, but thanks to the penlight I know she will."
"Lara isn't bad, she's a loving cousin, she's put up with me a lot more than anyone else. And helped me a lot more than she ever had a right to."
"What about your older siblings?"
"They both live in other states. Not exactly, close."
"Oh, sorry."
You drove into the gated condo buildings, all painted gray with large numbers on the side. You came to one in particular and buzzed the intercom.
"Hey Lara, it's me."
"Oh, hey Johnny, give me a minute," came Lara's voice.
Five minutes later the door finally opened. Lara was thin, wore a pair of thin rimmed glasses, and had a short mob of dyed blue hair with her natural blond sticking through. Her clothes were loose and simply.
She looked at you and Connie calmly and casually.
"Well come in," she said, not reacting much to Connie's presence beyond if Connie had gotten a new hair cut.
Sitting down in her living room she asked,
"So cousin, what do you need now? Did your pitch meeting go well?"
"Well... not really. But it turns out another unnamed benefactor was interested."
"Unnamed? Johnny, what have I told you about scam artists?"
"Trust me, this isn't a scam," Connie said. "I checked it out for myself. For everything I can tell, it's legit. Which brings to why we're here... Well, I'm assuming why."
You nodded. "Lara, I've gotten the means to finally begin work on the amusement park, and I want you on the ground floor."
"... Thank you Johnny, no, seriously, thank you. But I already have a job. My contracts as a graphics designer are busy as is."
Connie grinned. "Oh, I'm sure you could cancel your contracts if needed. This is big. Super big. Trust me, you WANT to be in on it."
"Really Connie? I expected that kind of magical thinking from Johnny, but you?"
Connie frowned. "Okay, stop right there. First, that isn't what magical thinking means. Magical thinking is when you think thinking bad thoughts at someone will make bad things happen to them. Second, I think you'll find it's what you want to do with your life after Johnny shows you the light."
Taking the hint, before your cousin can respond wondering if you're starting a cult, you took out the penlight and flashed it at Lara.
Lara stood at attention at once. Light brown fur covered her body as her clothes vanished, already hiding anything indecent. Her body became more plump and well rounded, as she shrank a couple inches shorter. Her chest developed creamy white fur, while her forearms and forelegs became chocolate brown.
A round, fluffy tail grew from her rear, gaining dark brown stripes. Likewise a white and dark brown 'mask' formed over her face like a panda. Her ears becoming dark brown triangles with white insides, moving to the 'corners' of her head. A short muzzle grew from her face. Her feet became paws, much like her hands, except for the opposable thumbs. As her body became shorter and she gained layers, so did her chest expand out. Across her torso formed a diagonal strap that carried a hip pouch with a flap opening.
She had a huge grin on her face as she stared out bright-eyed.
She was a tanuki.
She giggled and began hopping in place, making her breasts bounce with her.
"Yes, yes, yes! Of course I will! Of course I shall!" The short-stack tanuki bowed. "Anything for YOU Master! Command me and I shall obey!"
"Master?"
Connie laughed and put a hand on your shoulder. "I always knew Lara had a controlling streak! Now little tanuki, you ready to help bring Master's vision to life?"
"Oh yes, yes!" Lara did a backflip and landed on the backrest of her couch perfectly balanced and the couch barley wobbling. "Screw my old jobs! Screw my old life! This is the only one I need!" She looked at you still grinning. "I promise master! As your graphics designer, I WILL make the people trample over themselves to visit our theme park once its constructed! Now, have you decided on your mascots, themes, and iconography? We can get started right away!"
She stared at you expectantly.
You rubbed the back of your head.
"Lara, I don't WANT the park to have mascots. I want every anthro to be unique."
"Come come Master," Lara wagged her finger. "Guests come to a particular experience, and to have a particular encounter with a mascot. Mascots are a BIIIIIIG part of marketing for an amusement park! We need iconic characters, marketing, and people wanting to MEET those iconic characters! To make guests come to YOUR theme park! Sacrificing some individuality to create variances of the same iconic character for different parts of the park is a small price to pay for success!"
Connie checked her phone, only to find the information was already updated.
2. 'Lara Jones, tanuki, graphic designer, creative team head, confident.'
Connie said, "Seems even brainwashed and obedient, Lara is still Lara."
"That's, actually kinda a relief really," you said.
"Don't get cold feet right at the starting line," Connie grinned. "We've got a lot more humans to change into extensions of your vision."
'In for a penny, in for a pound,' you thought.
"Maybe you should see our starting location first," you suggested to delay things a little. You didn't like at all what Lara was suggesting, but you also couldn't deny everything she was saying made absolute sense!
"Pst!" She waved. "I don't need to see a location to design the best imagery for it."
"I think it would be for the best," you insisted.
"Well if it makes you feel better Master then fine. I'm already ready!" She stood up straight at attention while still standing perfectly on the back of the couch.
-
"So this is what we've got to work with Master? Well! It's a challenge!" Lara said as she strolled around the lot taking out a drawing pad and pencil.
"It'll expand as we get more converts," Connie explained. "Right now I think we need to reach a critical number so we can actually run the place as an actual amusement park no matter how small."
"AH! And this place doesn't have symbols, logos or anything? Ha! I always knew you never thought of details Master!"
"Hey!"
"Apologizes Master!" She bowed. "As your confident, I'm supposed to give my opinions!"
"Have them be CONSTRUCTIVE opinions," Connie crossed her arms looking down at the tanuki.
"Well, as I told Master, you need mascots. Having animal ladies as the park's staff, and imagery is one thing, but you need a NAME! THIS PLACE needs a name! It needs CHARACTERS with names who guests will always remember and link back to this place! You can't stumble about blindly Master! This might be Merry-Go-Round Mogul we're playing Master but that doesn't mean we should be sloppy!"
You hated to admit, but Lara was right, even if you could change anyone into an anthro lady shaped building, attractions, fountain and everything else. You needed now to seriously consider WHAT those rides would be! What themes your expanded park sections would have! And the anthro ladies who would be needed to man and operate all of them. You wished you'd played more Simulation Suburb.
And if you were going to accomplish that... you'd need 'raw material'.... you'd need people to convert.
It had been morning when you'd come to the empty lot... now it was afternoon. The visitor center now had an office in the back for you, Connie, and Lara, all fitting to you particular tastes: you could tell with Connie's covered in manga posters, but of handsome men rather than busty ladies like it would have before, while Lara's was full of geometric shapes and abstract art. Yours? It was mostly blank. With a map of the empty lot on the desk.
And from what Connie said, and the obscene number of converts you'd need, right now you couldn't afford not to transform every human you laid your eyes on.
You should have been disturbed by this, you were, but you'd spent your entire adult life chasing this dream, now at 39 years old... this would be your last chance, your only chance to make your dream a reality. You'd sacrificed so much already for nothing, what was sacrificing more for something?
And if these cosmic beings had really given you legal protection to do this... you were reminded of the experience where people were told to shock individuals who got questions wrong...only for them to fake getting questions wrong to see if they'd really keep "shocking" people if ordered to. Excuses from authority could make people do anything.
Still... Connie was right, this was your vision. You needed to decide how to spread out from here.
There was a knock at the door. You and the confidants reached the glass double doors.
On the other side was a young lady in a white jacket and skirt with her blond hair in a ponytale and a pink tank top.
"Can I help you?" You asked.
"Yo, I just wanted to ask, do you have any idea how long until you guys open? I mean, I know you just started, but I wanna do an online news article about this place."
Your vision.
"That very nice of you miss, in fact I think you could help us with any PR and media network presence."
"Wow! Really? I'm not sure I could handle it."
"I know you can." You flashed the penlight.
She stood at attention. Pink fur covered her body while white fur covered her chest, feet, and hands... a familiar cat's tail grew from her rear along with a white tip, her figure became that of a super model. Her blond hair turned white with a pink stripe. Her eyes became big and blue. Her feet became digirated paws. Her head besides her hair became a cat's. Her hands had paws and claws. Her clothes had naturally all vanished, replaced with a wallet around her neck.
She stepped inside, and kicked her feet together gaving a salute. "Aye-aye sir! Reporting for duty Master! People will be showing up from all around to check this place out by the time I'm done!"
"Happy to hear it!" Connie praised clapping her claws. "Welcome to the team!" Connine looked at her phone. "Courtney?"
"That's right!" The pink kitty nodded.
Lara swaggered up to Courtney looking up at her.
"So Courtney, it's safe to assume you'd do anything to bring the Boss' vision to life right?"
"Oh yes!" Courtney nodded happily.
"Anything?"
"It's what I live for!"
"GREAT TO HEAR!" The shortstack tanuki took out a leaf, and placed it on Courtney's head. There was a poof of smoke. When it cleared, Courtney still stood, but not the same.
Instead of fur, she had colored plastic skin, her joints visible like a child's doll, she was devoid of nipples and other things that before her fur hid. Her eyes were glass but moved about. At the base of her throat was a star burst of tiny holes signaling a speaker. Her tail still moved, but segmented underneath the rubber that covered it. Courtney's wallet had vanished.
"Ready to serve and obey to help all our future guests be happy!" Came Courtney's voice from the speaker.
"Ahh! No 'This Unit' or other robo-speak?" Lara lamented.
The doll's head turned and the voice from the speaker said, "I might be a robot, but if I talked like a robot, guests would be totally creeped out by me! It's why I have a speaker instead of my mouth opening and closing, and protecting against lawsuits of kids sticking their fingers in my mouth! This way I'm like a big dolly!"
Connie did a check, and you were both surprised to find 'Courtney' was now listed as park property.
"Isn't this great Master?" Lara presented Courtney like a brand new car. "No need to eat or sleep! No medical! No need to pay her! No workers comp! And she's still smart enough to do as she's told and not try to turn the world into paperclips!"
You remembered what Connie had said... about how robots would have been more practical... but still... to see these changes. And Lara had used MAGIC? Well, were you really that surprised? Connie was a dragon, why shouldn't Lara have magic tricks like the tanuki of folklore?
"Do NOT transformation Master's employees without permission again!" Connie snarled, hot mist rising from her nostrils. Connie either wasn't surprised at Lara's magic, or just more upset at Lara modifying your vision without consent.
The Courtney robot didn't react, but Lara did hop back a little, using a leaf to create a balloon to float out of Connie's range until she got reminded eastern dragons didn't need wings to fly.
You look at the Courtney robot as it simply stood there smiling at the antics.
"Courtney... are you feeling okay?"
"BZT! This Unit Does Not Compute The Term 'feel'! Just kidding Master! I feel more happy than ever! If anything, I feel purified."
You took in a deep breath. "Connie, Lara, that's enough, calm down."
"Yes, Master," they echoed and linked up.
"And Lara, Connie's right... don't... don't transform employees unless you have instructions on it. If the park is populated totally by doll robots, there won't be anyone warm and fuzzy to hug the guests."
"Ah, I see, alright Master," Lara bowed.
Connie miraculously resisted the urge to kick Lara so hard in her extended posterior that she'd bounce.
Thinking of the Courtney bot and if it was self powered or needed an external power source, you wondered if the transformations took care of utility bills too... And if the magic would take care of repairs and supplies, or if that'll all be on you and your staff once things are up and running.
And Lara transforming Cortney on the spot and Connie telling you when to change Lara... You thought of how the original owners of NickGonalds and Captain Chicken were thrown out of their own companies and couldn't even use their own names afterwards because it violated corporate owned copyright of what they themselves were created.
But that was silly, their loyalty was to you AND your vision. They weren't about to pull the old 'you're in the way of your own vision', right? Right? Maybe you should focus on HAVING a theme park to begin with before you were worried about such things.
There was another knock at the door. Outside they saw a jock with a buzz cut wearing a football jacket.
"Excuse me? Sir?" He asked, perfectly polite. "I think yer robot's got my keys!"
"Ah! Yes I do!" The Courtney bot said, tapping a side of her leg and opening up a compartment that showed various items, including an ID card that had a barcode and a line that listed her as the property of the yet unnamed amusement park. She took out a pair of keys.
You noticed a convertible car parked just outside the lot through the glass doors.
The Courtney bot walked to the door and handed the keys to him. "Here you go Billy."
"Thank you," he again said politely, he looked at the tankui, dragon, and robot with interest and surprise, but not shock or alarm.
Billy didn't seem alarmed at all Courtney was a robot. Had Lara's magic... actually mingled with the perception filter? Or was that something her own magic did?
Your vision.
"Excuse me!" You said quickly. "Our robot here is going to be helping spread awareness of our park! And I think I have a perfect position for you as well! What would you say to being naked outside advertising our park?"
"JOHNNY! TACT!" Connie hissed steam by both definitions.
Billy laughed. "Definitely sounds fun! But don't ya think we'd get in trouble for that sort of thing?"
"Not really," you said as you flashed the shapely penlight at him.
Billy turned and walked away, his clothes melting off him, his skin turning smooth reflective chrome silver. The Courtney bot just continued its plastic smile.
As Billy continued to walk away from the visitor's center, he grew a bit taller... as his body became lithe, an subtle amazon beauty. His figure became graceful and alluring, but not exaggerated or vulgar, a metallic silver fox tail formed from his rear, as his entire body took on a perfect female shape. Her breasts were round and flawlessly smooth. She lacked a belly button and any other such details like a doll.
Halfway between the visitor's center and the hedge of the lot, Billie began to dance ballet. Her head became that of a fox except for the tied up dreads down her neck. Her feet became digigrated and her hands sporting pads and tiny claws. Her whole body was solid shiny chrome. As she extended on one foot with her arms and legs outwards, she began to slow down, her eyes also solid metal that no longer moved. Once perfectly still, a thin pillar rose meeting the tip of her toes. A wide basin filled around her, with colored lights shining underneath the water's surface. Then at last, a stream of water suddenly shot from her mouth into the big stone basic below. The stone patterns having glitter mixed in and smooth, tiny micro lights shining from within.
Connie checked, the Billie fountain, was on the list listed as park property, like the Courtney bot.
'This is what I wanted, I did say robots would be more practical, but Master did have a point of wanting to keep our audience comfortable. And he likes warm fur.'
'Am I beautiful? Wait, don't answer that, of course I am!' The Courtney bot heard the feminine and vain voice in its mind.
"Well, I'm going to answer anyway! And yes you are!" The robot praised. "I know EVERYONE is going to love you!"
'Why thank you anyway then! Ha!'
You and the others were surprised as well, the statue fountain, could speak with its mind? You knew the instructions said they'd still be self aware but still...
"At least this'll cut down on security cameras," Connie remarked.
"VERY well done Master!" Lara nodded in approval.
'Master, if you may all, turn around for a split second? I wish to show you something.'
Hoping she didn't attack you while blinking, you did as the fountain asked. When you looked again, it was in a different ballet pose with its arms above it head and its feet together.
'Whenever one of your transient fleshy types or motion addicts aren't being blessed by the sight of me, I can switch to a new pose! There will be spreading urban legends about me in no time! You'll have all the guests you could want, Owner!'
"That's a GREAT WAY to spread park awareness! Isn't that right Owner?" The robot asked.
Still a bit in awe of the change yourself, you said awkwardly, "Just, be sure to do your part too..."
"Aye aye Owner!" The robot saluted.
Transforming your fellow humans into anthro women or park attractions was going to be easy, actually forming the park in a cohesive whole that was appealing to guests? That was going to be hard.
In World War 2, people had thought Germany was a very efficient if oppressive nation, in reality, its perpetual conquest was the only way its economy could stay afloat. You had to make sure this amusement park would be able to function AS A AMUSEMENT PARK, and not just a honey trap to transform people with.