"You're wanting to convert?" Juliet asked to the two women that had come to her chateau, which essentially served as France's Animalian colony in the Champagne region of France, just south of the Marne River and not too terribly far from the village of Mardeuil, where these two women were from.
"Yes," the first said with a confident smile, "we've actually been setting up a sort of spa type resort for you, and all the others that live here with you."
"A spa?" Juliet asked tilting her head to one side and lowering the ear on that side.
"Yeah," the second woman spoke, "it'd mean having to come into Mardeuil on a regular basis, but Phoebe and I figured it'd be something to help you all integrate into things a bit more."
Juliet slowly noted and remembered some reports on a decent sized building springing up in Mardeuil. It was more modern than many of the other buildings in the town, which in a way matched a lot of the conditions of Juliet's chateau. It dated back to well before the revolution and managed to survive all the parts of French history that had the potential to destroy it. The revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, the two World Wars, and various other events. It was something that Juliet attributed to the survival of France's champagne region, in that even destructive and violent politics couldn't destroy it. There had been some gossip about this new building changing things, but Juliet had not heard much on what it was.
"And this spa is for what purpose?" Juliet asked with some curiosity.
"It'd be like a bathhouse," the first woman, Phoebe, spoke, "Vive and I figured it would be something that would help you and all the others living here relax... particularly after cold or stressful days. And it's complete with electric heating that will help provide for steam and other parts of the experience. It would even be open to all those that have been tired from work in the fields and everything else. Human and Animalian alike could all relax and get together."
"That sounds like it would consume a lot of power," Juliet said slowly, with some curiosity remaining in her voice.
"That was probably the biggest thing," Phoebe nodded, "but we worked with an engineer, and we figured a way that would allow the building to get the electric power needed, and it took time to get the generators and all that set up for the building. But you'll get a hot bathhouse without having to worry a loss of power or anything like that."
Juliet nodded and let that much go. There had been some reports on additional wind farms and other related tech also being brought in, and she figured that this hot bathhouse that Phoebe and Vive were wanting to start. In some ways it made sense in that way, largely as from what Juliet had read, many of these instillations often played to some natural geothermal hot spring as part of it. However, the Champagne region of France DIDN'T have that. There was water, yes, but much of it came from the rivers in the region and was often used to water the fields to feed the grape crop for the year. There was no fault line or naturally occurring hot spring, and thus the building would need a separate source of power. There might be some case of concern over how much water it would consume, but from what reports Juliet had seen in the papers, this construction project was only just completed in the past few months, so there was no way in knowing how much water would be used for it.
"And now you've come here to become an Animalian?" Juliet asked.
"Yes," Vive nodded, "and you'll have to forgive us... but we were also inspired by a pair of Animalians already living here at your colony... And we were hoping for their help in our conversion... so I could be a Striped Skunk Animalian."
"And I a Dog Animalian," Phoebe added, "and it wouldn't have to be anything sexual or anything like that. Besides... the only one I could make love to is Vive. She's been so good to me."
Juliet blinked at that but said nothing. To some degree, same sex relationships always struck her as odd, but that was also one of the things she wasn't going to get hung up over, so long as any and all relations were handled with decorum and real love. If Phoebe and Vive loved each other, Juliet wasn't going to tell them how to live their lives. The only thing she had left was to figure out on what would need to be done regarding Phoebe and Vive's conversion. She had the paperwork, regarding what they'd read and studied and could pass that on to the Horizon staff that contributed to the chateau's medical wing, but there was also some question on what would be needed.
"Was there any specific manner in which you wanted to be converted?" Juliet asked, "the Horizon staff can do the shots easily... and for Phoebe, that could allow for plenty of choices regarding the breed of dog she'd like to become. If something else, that may take a little while so that I can get the help from Fifi and Gigi. Phoebe and Vive didn't seem to want to convert through sex, but that didn't mean they might prefer milk from Fifi and Gigi rather than shots. Though, if there was a fear of shots, that would have to be faced in order to make sure the Animalia Virus in them wouldn't be contagious.
"I would prefer it to be through a drink," Phoebe spoke, "it'd be pleasant, civilized... and we could then think of a way to sell things further for our business... bringing your chateau and Mardeuil closer together... at least so far as business partnerships go."
Juliet slowly nodded, "I can escort you to the medical wing. The Horizon staff will see to your conversion there... though, in the meantime, I'd also need to get Fifi and Gigi."
Phoebe and Vive both nodded to that...
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It took Juliet about ten minutes to get the two businesswomen to the medical wing and then to find Fifi and Gigi. With their own Christmas break approaching, they had some spare time and had been playing with some of the new students. Though Juliet also noted that this was often a time of the year when her students often left the chateau to have Christmas with their families. Her school recruited and brought in people from all over France, and not just the Champagne region. Thus, when Christmas came, parents often came to get their children for the holidays. Juliet often offered to let them stay at the chateau as well, but many times, the parents had thanked her for the offer and still wished to have Christmas in their own home. Juliet had never been able to refuse them.
Though, with her first group of students, as they became Animalians and began to really grow from where they had been, there came an ever more sense of their becoming more and more adult-like in ways. Olympe was even looking more and more like she might be looking to take the lead in a lot of the direct work in the chateau's Vinyard and often had the uplifted stallion following her. Juliet hoped that if there was real romance there, Olympe would be happy. Olympe's parents at times seemed to see this too. Fifi and Gigi were a bit different and saw a bit more fun with the club that had been built on the chateau's grounds, but they did still tend to their studies as best as Juliet could manage them, and in some ways, Juliet could respect that in them.
Now, the three of them waited for Vive and Phoebe to come out following their conversions.
"They would be like us?" Gigi wondered.
"They would become the same Animalians as you, yes," Juliet answered, "but they were a pair of businesswomen in town... and had been setting up a kind of spa/bathhouse in town."
"So, they're smart," Fifi surmised.
"As are you, now," Juliet answered.
"Will they live here?" Fifi asked.
"I do not know," Juliet answered, "I do not think so... but even with that, they wouldn't be that far away."
It wasn't long after that that the door creaked open a bit. Juliet had heard some of the steps and the creak of the door sooner, a result of the building's age, but there was no trouble. Phoebe came out first, and like Gigi, had a largely black coat of curled fur that puffed up under a heavily strained shirt. Vive followed a bit behind and looked fairly pleased with herself as she looked herself over, though she also fidgeted a bit with her paints as her black and white tail moved above them.
"Thank you," Phoebe said to Gigi, "your milk was tasty... and it's made me feel very good... though, I am currently in need of a good groomer."
"I have some ideas," Vive commented, "I'd love to try them out."
"I'd think it best to start with professionals," Phoebe looked back over her shoulder to watch Vive give Fifi a thank you hug.
"The shot for the vaccination didn't hurt?" Fifi asked.
"Not much more than any other shot I've ever had," both Phoebe and Vive laughed, "the new wardrobe might actually hurt more than the vaccinations..."