Lena Lizarre came from a relatively comfortable family and one from the rural parts of Alabama. Her father worked as the head cook in a local diner and was very good at it while her mom ran the cash register at a local bakery that sold everything from bread to cakes. They had enough for basic internet service and that had allowed them to follow the news that came out of Lyre, Nevada regarding the birth of Animalia. It was interesting and bizarre in many ways that a whole community of beings that were essentially half human and half animal could come into being, but at the time, Lena had also been young enough to enjoy a fair number of animated moves that largely revolved around talking animals. So, her interest in Animalia was largely written off as a kid's fad and the Lizarre family simply moved on with life.
Though, it was one that was not without its own immediate problems. Surrounded by food and parents who knew their way around a kitchen, Lena learned to cook before she was ten and came to enjoy a lot of the things that her parents cooked, and some might say she over-indulged in some of the sweets that her mother brought home from the bakery. The result of this was that Lena, like her family put on weight and for a time made little real effort to try and curb it. Losing weight and being healthy was always up there on her new year's resolution list and then forgotten when her father wanted to test a new recipe for steak. This in turn lead to some isolation at school as Lena completed her high school years isolated, as the athletes made fun of her for her weight and even some of the other heavy-set kid/teens were hesitant because of a speech impediment. About the only good thing that came out of high school was the nickname "Lizzie" from those trying to pronounce her family name.
From there, other issues set in that were more financial. The Lizarre family didn't live beyond their means, but with a lot of the focus having been on food over the years, major colleges were unaffordable for Lena. The result ended up being that her father ended up working out a deal with the owner of the diner that Lena would work as an apprentice under him while attending a small scale "cooking school" that would essentially give Lena the documentation that she knew how to cook and something that her parents had been doing for years. Things seemed fine until her yearly physical came up.
"What do you mean her cholesterol is high?!" her father practically berated at the doctor while Lena only sat still and looking at the linoleum floor, "she's smaller than I am, and MY cholesterol has been good!"
The doctor looked over to Lena's father and said with a sigh, "a lot of these things can depend on the individual. Some may just have higher numbers than others. The chief point that I would make here, and one I've made with you and your wife when you come in for your physicals, is that your weight increases the risks for things like high cholesterol and heart disease and various other factors. These things can be controlled with a healthy diet and exercise..."
"That'd take ta-ta-ta-imm-uh though," Lena managed, "and dad's cooking has bu-bu-bu-in good."
"I never said things were easy," the doctor replied, "and you aren't necessarily at a point where things are critical... but your cholesterol numbers are elevated and pushing into a point where if changes AREN'T made, they could become critical in the future. Particularly as these things could raise other risks related to Covid at the present time."
Lena said nothing for the moment and looked down again, while her father only scowled. Things like the pandemic were sort of a touchy subject for him, as he'd long been of the opinion that economics and work were the most important part of all things, and smart individuals didn't need the government telling them what to do to know what was important to do. He'd also believed that the policies to try and "save lives" hurt the economy and did other sorts of damage and thus caused deaths from other causes. It was something that lead to Lena avoiding politics at all costs.
"Couldn't there be something faster?" Lena asked.
The doctor looked between them and then sighed, "well, the cost may be a bit higher than the physical and blood work, and it may take some travel. BUT Horizon has advertised that Animalian Conversion can handle a lot of these issues. Their Project Phoenix is still ongoing as a means to deal with disease, genetic deformities, injuries, and so on and published results do show increased health post transformation. The only thing that would be expected would be the change in species..."
"That'd work..." Lena gave a bit of a smile, "an... the Ani-ani-ani-muh-muh-muh-ail-e-e-e-ns seem to work well..."
"Yes, but it'd only be a reset," her father warned, "and you wouldn't be able to work..."
"Her working ability wouldn't change," the doctor commented, "the "reset" aspect of it would be true, as it may solve your present cholesterol issues, but you would need to manage some self-control and healthy habits to maintain what you'd gain from the conversion, and once done... it can't be undone or done again."
"It'd still be fun," Lena said simply.
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And ultimately while Animalia wasn't the biggest thing for her parents accepted it, and even with the choice of Animalian to become. They didn't come with her to Lyre/Animalia for the conversion, but they did help pay for it and allow for the time that would be required for the acclamation classes that would be provided. There was of course and added lecture on budgeting and the workload that Lena would have to carry when she returned, but Lena accepted that and filled in the paperwork to become a Lion Animalian, though she also included the nickname "Lizzie" as an alias. It wasn't her actual name, but it was what people called her and was one of the few things that came out of her time in high school that wasn't aimed at her.
From there, Lena went to Lyre and went through with her conversion. The changes were quick and surprising. She knew from reports that people that had been overweight lost their weight when they became Animalians, at least in the sense of being "overweight." A few actually got heavier when they became Animalians, but the weight was all muscle and bone, and in this, Lena expected some of this to go on, as the African Lion wasn't exactly a small animal. But the reports never went into great detail as to what happened with that weight. She couldn't be sure if it just vanished or something else and thus, she didn't learn on what happened until it happened. There had been a lot of heat in the transformation, which made her sweat a lot, and as that happened, the flab that had been under arms, around her belly, and legs, and provided some of the "sag" in her chest seemed to drip out of her, like she was in some kind of ultimate sauna treatment. A lot of that happened before her fur and more Animalian features began to grow in.
Though, as tawny gold fur began to grow over her body, the effects of the loss of weight began to change. Her sweating slowed and stopped, and what remained didn't lead to her arms getting "smaller." In fact, the opposite seemed to happen as her existing muscles began to suddenly and massively enlarge and she felt courses of energy run through her body. It was like all the fat that accumulated over the years was converted into the energy needed to fuel the more animal side of the transformation. Her muscles enlarged, and her finger and toenails lengthened into the recurved claws that all cats, regardless of their size, were known for. As her feet grew longer, she also soon found that while the baggy clothing that had fit her Human from technically covered her, but they were also proving to be too short in the leg and the torso and that was all before her breasts began to balloon in size and firmness. They snapped her bra and bounced before Lena figured it'd be a good idea to get out of what wasn't fitting as well.
When it ended, Lena had found herself far taller than pretty much all the female Lion Animalians that she'd seen reported on, and her breasts were at least a full cup size larger the other Lioness Animalians. Which said something, given that all Animalian females were pretty busty to begin with. She didn't grow as large in the chest department as Jen or Marjorie down in Dino City, but Lena knew she was bigger than she'd been before and was bigger than the other Lioness Animalians she'd seen when she'd been able to get the time look at some of the Animalia Ambassadoria updates and other things. Though the thing that drew the most attention was all the muscle that she'd put on. It left her with firm biceps, triceps, abs and everything else. A part of her even mused on her tail having some extra muscle to it. From there she got new clothes and was offered to be part of an interview with the latest Animalia Ambassadoria team.
"So... "Lizzie" is..." Jen Jen asked while raising an eyebrow before the formal part of the interview began.
"A nickname I picked up," Lena answered, "mostly because people had trouble pronouncing my last name. Ultimately... the nickname isn't bad and so, I've kind-duh-uh stuck with it."
She stuttered a little bit. Becoming an Animalian had actually helped with that and that provided she took things slowly her impediment wouldn't be too noticeable. However, she'd also been so pleased and excited by the things that related to her transformation and the attention that she got after it that the pace of her words picked up and could make her impediment more of an issue. She couldn't help herself with regard to being excited and the Animalia Ambassadoria crew seemed to either not notice the impediment at the moment or were doing their best to be polite.
"So... what made you pick a Lion?" Miles asked curiously.
"Well... let's just say Disney and the story of Elsa," Lena answered.
"From Frozen?"
"Born Free," Lena corrected, "that lioness' name was Elsa. My parents figured that was a better movie than what Disney put out."