Soren took a deep breath and closed his eyes, getting ready to head out and greet the campers. Alex had walked him through his part, making sure he’d be ready to stay human long enough to not get animal control called on himself. “The camp will make it easier, but the first time is always hardest,” Alex had said the last time Soren had seen him the weekend before. “Just pick a place to start and go through things step-by-step. Don’t worry about going fast. That will come with practice.”
Feeling encouraged by the former head counselors’ words, Soren got to work, starting off by working on his face. Soren felt a strange cracking sensation as his muzzle realigned into a more familiar human jaw, his sharp bear teeth buzzing in his mouth as they reformed into duller human ones. “Okay, that hurt,” he mumbled to himself, feeling like he’d just walked out of the worst dentist in the world. “Time for the fur. Hope it’s not too cold this evening.”
The thick fur all over his body slowly started to pull back into his skin, but not as much as he had expected; while he no longer had a dense coat of soft fur, his arms, chest, and legs were thick with fuzzy brown hair. “My balls feel like they’re still wearin’ a fur coat, though,” Soren muttered as he readjusted himself in his pants, looking forward to getting back to his regular self that evening.
Looking at his paws, which looked ridiculous without their fur, he focused and saw their leathery pads start to sink down into ordinary human skin. Soren always kept his long claws filed down for safety reasons (he’d popped too many volleyballs by accident during gym class), but the dark claws began to thin out and flatten, becoming regular fingernails that lay on the tips of his thick fingers. He felt the same happening down inside his boots, and soon the only thing left was to say goodbye to the little tuft of a tail wiggling around in the back of his pants. “See you later, buddy,” he said, feeling the only small thing about him get sucked up into his spine, which realigned slightly to give him a slightly more human posture, and before long he was a human being again for the first time in five years.
“Just like I remember it,” Soren joked, vaguely remembering that he had not looked ‘quite’ like this the last time; at the moment, he still stood close to six-and-a-half feet tall, was packed with muscle and coated in far more hair than the average man, with a fuzzy but well-maintained beard that tipped his round face. His hair was trimmed short and was slightly spiky on top, still somewhat having the texture of his old fur. All in all, he definitely gave off a different ‘aura’ as head counselor than Alex had, but they both had that ever-present friendly smile made sure that nobody, not even the littlest camper around, could ever be truly afraid of the big bear of a man.
“Okay, that should be everything… no. I’m forgetting something,” Soren said, tapping his head to try to remember something very important. He felt something fuzzy still twitching on the top of his head. “…Ears. Alex kept saying not to forget the ears.”
==================
Striding confidently down the path, Soren smiled when he saw that his request to Alex had been fulfilled; As a condition for him to work as head counselor, Soren wanted the sports facilities at the camp to be, as Soren had put it, ‘existent’. Open fields and chilly lakes were fine, but a real basketball court, football and soccer field, tennis court, and pool would do wonders for the campers, especially once they all found themselves with much more energy than they had when they arrived.
Before long, Soren had reached the front gates and already saw a few vehicles pulling into the parking lot. He spotted a rental bus coming in and letting off a few young adults, probably one of the local teams that had asked to use their sports facilities for the weekend. Those who were drawn there by promises of enjoying nature pulled up on their mountain bikes and electric cars, wondering where the charging station was out here in the middle of nowhere. Finally, there was always Camp CritterCreek’s bread-and-butter; boyfriends who’d been dragged there by their girlfriends, girlfriends who had tagged along with their boyfriends, and the usual folks who had been drawn in by the camp’s glowing reviews that promised a chance to feel young again.
Soren took another deep breath and got his clipboard ready, looking down the list for any unexpected additions. Seeing everything in order, he made sure his smile was looking great as usual, then lightly blew his whistle to get everyone’s attentions.
“Everyone’s here for adults’ weekend, right? Come on over and I’ll get you settled in! The name’s Soren, and I run things around here. Have any problems, and I’ll take care of them,” he called, his deep voice oozing confidence and professionalism. “Welcome to Camp CritterCreek!”
He looked over the folks heading toward him to check in, and his eyes were drawn to...