"The ones who used to be Peahens?" Fabina wondered as she looked over to the herm Peafowl that stood before her.
Things were largely otherwise quiet in the Meat Market. There was some clinking of glasses and bottles and things, which was often part of the preparations for the club's open hours. Most of the rest were setting things up that would work better with "pride month" in terms of decoration and things of that nature. Some of this was to give same sex couples and those Humans that came to visit Lyre/Animalia that were trans a sort of "safe space" to enjoy the desires that they always had but couldn't always work with elsewhere in the country. Not all of Animalia's same sex couples came. A prime example of that was Elisa Marigold-Jonson and Beth Jonson-Marigold. The former was WSA's high school principal, and the latter was now a high school teacher in a town in California that was within relatively easy commuting distance from Lyre/Animalia. So far as Fabina knew, the cat and dog Animalian married shortly after Beth graduated from college and were now living together, though, because of their work in education, showing up at a strip club wouldn't work well career wise. Fabina was fine with that, as there were often plenty of others that would come in for it.
Meeting with Paula about hir group of herm Peafowl was all part of that sort of thing, and Fabina even figured that some straight Animalians might even come, seeing it is a way to show support for those that were gay, trans, or whatever else. Animalians seemed far more open and accepting on these issues than so many Humans. Much of what Paula had already mentioned made sense and was helpful, but she caught on to the last sentence rather closely. That there where a group of Peahens that were uplifted to be herms, that struck her as a surprise. Some of this had been done by Horizon before, but so far as Fabina knew, much of that was also to see how well the herm gene would work with an uplifted animal and often came with additional paperwork. In most cases, when animals were uplifted, they stayed within the gender that they had.
"That's a bit of a story in its own right," Paula gave a shrug.
"This isn't the case of another animal somehow getting onto a cargo ship that sails from India to the US and is somehow never discovered in route?" Fabina asked.
"No... I think with these birds, they came from a private collector of exotic animals," Paula answered, "though... he either didn't pay to the appropriate licenses, never sought them, or just flat tried to hide that he had them. From what I was told and when... the birds had been confiscated and were in California's state custody. But the official sanctuaries were either full or over-tasked with other animals. To a degree, I'm not even sure what led to their being taken into state custody or what happened to the owner. For all I know... the guy died of old age and the birds were left without care, and a neighbor reported in odd "noises" and stuff like that. I really don't know."
"I take it that they called Horizon?" Fabina wondered.
"And Horizon called me..." Paula nodded and began to go into her explanation.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"And you called me?" Paula asked as she looked over the group of Peahens moving about in a small area inside one of the lab rooms at Horizon.
Shi'd been told that this was something that was often done when several animals, or large or dangerous animals were to be uplifted. From what shi'd experienced in hir own becoming of a herm Peafowl Animalian, the transformation could get many things started that could be "weird" to those unprepared. And there were plenty of things that had come from the stories on Animalia's founding where animals when they were uplifted might not fully aware of everything at first, and some of that was taken to the extreme when Heather Wilcox-Green became the first Dinotopian.
"Wouldn't they well... want to be their own gender?" Paula wondered.
"To a degree... but we've also found that as Animalians, they can also be quite accepting of things that are different," Judy commented, and then noting with one eye that the birds were also looking over Paula rather closely. "At the same time... there could be the potential for one or more of this group that may wish to be your mate. Some may be thinking about that now."
"That's probably because I have the male's bright colors and flashy tail," Paula pointed out and raised and spread hir tail in the distinctive fan male Peacocks were known for, "and as mundane birds... they probably think I'm an unusually shaped male."
"Possibly... but you'll be surprised at what they'll pick up on once they're uplifted," Judy countered, "unless... you've already met someone considering becoming an Animalian. Some of our herm Animalians have met and found love before their partner became an Animalian. But as I said... Animalians can be surprisingly adaptive to things. I think the first herm Dinotopian was an uplifted bird and took to hir condition quite easily. So, these peahens wouldn't necessarily have a problem."
Paula breathed a sigh of relief and then thought for a moment. Shi'd had platonic friendships with the others that had joined hir and been especially good friends with Santaga and Amarina. However, while many of the others had had similar issues to Paula, there had never been any real romantic interest in them on Paula's part and things were rather platonic in their opinion of hir. The time with both Santaga and Amarina was fun, but that rapidly became a case of "friends with benefits." For the moment, Paula was content be good in show, but shi did have to consider that at some point, a mate and loving marriage, like what Santaga and Amarina had was desirable.
"Well... I suppose it couldn't hurt if they won't mind," Paula then said to Judy, "though... I'd wonder if that's Horizon's only interest."
"Some of Horizon's curiosity is more in what would happen with species that are known to have color differences between male and female," Judy admitted, "which is present in a lot of bird species... not all, but a lot of them. Thus, in the course of the uplifting, we're curious as to whether or not these peahens would gain the male's bright blue coloring that you have, or would they retain their more mundane coloration and only gain the long tailfeathers and... reproductive equipment... Testing on feathers that have been preened hasn’t revealed anything more than what many other tests with the Animalia Virus have already confirmed. It can't outright create something out of shed fur or feathers... or revive the dead."
"Eww... don't try to start a zombie apocalypse," Paula pulled the back of her lips back. Things would be more obvious that she was cringing, but that was where hir hard beak got in the way of that.
“Don’t worry, we aren’t,” Judy commented a small chuckle.
Paula breathed a sigh of relief at that, "Okay then... then what will you need from me? Some of my milk or something?"
"We actually have some of the formula used for your conversion, and we can use that to add do some water," Judy spoke, "which would work better with them right now. We've found that while non-mammal based Animalians will need and will drink milk from their mothers once they've been born or hatched, while they're still mundane animals... they don't and may not drink from the milk because of the scents to it."
Paula nodded. The small group of peahens were mundane birds and they looked to hir on occasion, but the looks instinctively told Paula there would be the need to dance and display to hold that attention. Things that were instinctively part of how courtship between the males and females among peafowl worked. And while the idea of having a mate was a nice one and was there, Paula wasn't going to completely do things on instinct, and Animalians also saw the need for a sort of "barrier" between mundane animal and Animalian.
"We wanted you here... that if you were okay with the idea, you could talk with them after they've converted," Judy spoke, "provide them with some of your experience as herm Animalian. As they are likely to be more puzzled by this than other Animalians would."
Paula nodded and agreed. Shi ended up leaving the lab room to let Judy carry out her work and having some sense of an idea that it would be best that the peahens would deserve some privacy while they were uplifted. From there she watched as a couple of other Horizon workers came in carrying a large water tub, which likely had the herm variation of the Animalia Virus for birds that Paula carried. A few moments later they came out with the wire fencing that had been keeping the peafowl penned up. Judy was the last to come out and she shut and locked the door as she did so. She held up a thumb's up to Paula.
"Now all we have to do is wait," Judy commented.
"Anything risky?" Paula wondered.
"Not really," Judy answered, "they may not all drink at once, but they will all drink and that will lead to the biggest part of the year for them."
Paula nodded. Shi remained still and twiddled hir thumbs for a moment or two. Shi wasn't sure how long shi and Judy waited before there came a faint tapping at the door from the inside. That was taken as a bit of a clue that the uplifting had been done. Paula closely approached the door and turned hir head to it, mostly to see if the newly uplifted Peafowl Animalians would have enough recognition to note that while many things in Horizon had been "soundproofed," things weren't entirely perfect.
"Hello?" Paula asked.
"Hello," came the answer faintly through the door, "are you the bird like us?"
"If you mean herm Peafowl, then yes," Paula answered.
"Herm?" came the response.
Paula looked over to Judy who moved over to the door. Judy motioned to the lock and then pointed for Paula to go in.
"It's short for hermaphrodite and would essentially mean for a being that has both male AND female sexual equipment," Paula answered, "I'm going to come in so we can talk more openly... the Horizon staff will be by with clothes for you soon."
The door was opened, and Paula made hir way in, and did hir best to make sure her long tail feathers wouldn't get caught in the door when it shut. The peacock's long fan was part of hir reason for becoming a Peafowl Animalian, and hoping that the herm formula would let hir have the male's bright colors while gaining some of the feminine physical features that Paula felt fit more in line with who shi was when shi had been Human. Gaining those feathers, though, had also meant for a lot of work to keep them in good order and undamaged. The completeness Paula felt at being what shi was now was enough to make that work "worth it." Shi could only hope that these new Peafowl Animalians came out well and accepted their own changes.
Shi found the three Peafowl Animalians waiting calmly, and they were beautiful. And so far, as what Horizon was looking for, some of the changes did occur. Their head and neck feathers did gain the blue or bluish-green coloration that male Peafowl were known for, but the tassel of feathers at the back of the head were still tipped with the brown coloration that Peahens normally had. That would give some indication that these three had all been female before their uplifting. They had also grown the long train of tail feathers, brightly colored and with the distinctive eyespots. However, going down their chests and torsos, there were more signs of their original gender. Their newly grown breasts were large and bountiful, and about the same size as Paula's own bosom, though smaller than Amarina's. However, from just below the clavicle and across those bountiful orbs with erect nipples poking through the feathers, was the Peahen's normal white with gray to dull brown flecks.
"You're more... male... than we are," the first of the three said to Paula, which hurt Paula in a way.
"I have a Peacock's coloration... but in many ways... before this, I felt like I was in the wrong body... the wrong gender," Paula answered, sounding a little defensive, though shi didn't intend that. The new herm Peafowl Animalians were adjusting to a new condition and didn't understand the point on things like "transgender" and related issues.
"We... do not understand," the second of the three said, tilting hir head.
"Of course... you've all just become Animalians and are experiencing new things that go beyond just..." Paula began and waiving one hand.
"Gaining a cock and flashy feathers," the third of the three spoke.
"And these liquid filled sacks... and they leak," the first added while gently rubbed one of hir breasts.
"Those are breasts, Human women have them... and so do female Animalians," Paula explained, "the liquid is milk and is used to feed infants... or at least Mammals use them to feed infants. Non-Mammalian Animalians have also gained them and have had reason to use them to feed their own children as well... or at least the milk."
"So, the milk is supposed to come out?" the first asked.
Paula nodded, "Yes... and they let all of you keep your femininity. And you will also still have all your female equipment to lay eggs in the future as well. The penis and tail feathers... they're extra. When I became an Animalian... it was to be female. The herm treatment is the best Horizon's been able to manage."
"You wanted to be female, like we were?" the third asked.
"Yes," Paula answered, "but I've liked the male's flashy colors and wanted that to... It would be good to dance with and provide some sense of entertainment... which is often aimed more at those that don't understand why mundane Peafowl are the way they are..."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"And from there, it was mostly just explaining things on Animalia... what "transgender" is and things like that," Paula then finished.
"That must have been a surprise to them," Fabina commented.
"Many things were, but Judy was also ultimately right that they adapted quite well and were accepting," Paula answered, "they were also curious about Humanity's concepts on femininity..."
"Of course, Animalia has some differences," Fabina pointed out.
"True, but it'd be something of a learning experience that they're looking forward to," Paula nodded, "and that even got them curious on the idea of putting on a good show and looking into things that would be both male and female... and so on. The act we have wouldn't entirely be nude, but it'd come relatively close and lets things move forward."
"And I'll look forward to the act," Miss Fabina commented, "though, I trust they're going through acclimation right now."
"And also working with Amarina and Santaga," Paula nodded, "they were actually most curious about Amarina going from a female Human to herm Peafowl Animalian. That's all part of curiosity and everything else... and I think they're making great progress."
"And that's good to hear," Fabina smiled.