One of the planned colonies for Animalia was a colony best suited for those based on arctic species and potentially those based on species from the Pleistocene Era (more commonly known as the Ice Age). However, it hasn't been built yet because there has been a problem finding a place for it. One of the initial plans was that it would be built in eastern Siberia. However, due to Russia's position in the world falling out of favor, plans for a Siberian colony has been pretty much scuppered. In fact, several Russian immigrants in Lyre/Animalia would prefer it that way as they left Russia for good reason.
Other potential places for an arctic colony were in the northern remote areas of Canada. However, the Canadian government was less obliging for once and with the president making less-than-subtle motions for expansion, it does not seem like they'd be offering land anytime soon. Greenland was the same case for the same reason. One place that would have less of a territorial dispute would be Antarctica as there were no natives down there except penguins. But no one was willing to live that far south.
Currently, there was some buzz about a colony being made in Alaska where there should be plenty of vacant space. The idea was spurred by the presence of a family of wolf Animalians live up there. However, the Evans family in question found the idea to be silly. The only reason the whole family were wolves instead of just Matt was because he hadn't stored his Animalian virus sample in a place where his mother wouldn't accidentally drink it. Katherine was a bit upset at first about being turned into a wolf without her knowledge, but she has grown to see the benefits of it. She was young again and in better shape than she ever was before, her husband was also younger and fitter, the two of them have been having the best sex they've had in years, and they had another chance to have more children like they wanted. But setting up a colony just because of a little accident sounded silly to her.
Though Katherine didn't need any Animalian neighbors, she still had someone to talk to. The mare who had brought the vaccines the Evans needed to make sure they didn't keep spreading the virus actually had a similar conversion herself. Katherine learned about it during her and Ricci's several online conversations.
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Unlike Katherine, Ricci had know about her son's interest in Animalia beforehand. Kevin had been interested in converting for quite some time, but the prohibitive price of conversion, not to mention the cost of post-conversion supplies (new clothes, furniture, etc.) had kept this from happening. His parents had told him that he couldn't convert until he had saved up enough extra money to be able to pay for everything.
A small part of Ricci echoed Kevin's desire to be an Animalian. Years of being a housewife had left a lot of weight on her. At this point, she didn't have a defined waist, just a midpoint on the round sphere that her torso had become. Ricci might have converted to, but her husband was not too thrilled with the idea of conversion. It wasn't that he had anything against Animalians, but all the special post-conversion supplies always seemed a bit excessive to him. The one fault that Ricci had with Jon was that he tended to be a bit cheap when it came to luxury.
As such, instead of getting a gym membership, Ricci had to jog around her block for exercise. She wished she could do her exercise someplace a bit more private. She must look ridiculous, like a giant chocolate ball running around with her large breasts bouncing in a way that was more comical than sexy. She rather hoped the sweat she produced meant she was burning calories.
It was after one such jogging session that Ricci came back inside, rivulets of sweat running across her dark skin like water trickling down a mountain. She went into the kitchen and opened the fridge. She grabbed the closest water bottle before taking a long drink. Then she heard someone walk into the living room and her son’s voice called, “Mom, I’ve got good news! I finally got enough!”
“Oh, you did? That’s wonderful,” said Ricci.
“Yeah, I hope you don’t mind, but I already gotten my sample,” said Kevin.
“Did you convert already?” asked Ricci, walking into the living room.
“No, I just put it in a water…bottle…” Kevin’s tone trailed out as she noticed the water bottle in his mother’s hand. “That wasn’t in the front of the fridge, was it?”
Ricci looked at the water bottle in her hand with a growing sense of dread. She was just now aware of an odd aftertaste of the water. And she just noticed her fingernails getting thicker and darker. “Uh oh,” she said, starting to feel strange.
“Oh no, Mom, why did you grab that bottle?” asked Kevin in distraught.
“Why couldn’t you have put it somewhere it wouldn’t get drunk?” retorted Ricci. She was feeling the changes happening now. Her ears were growing out and starting to move up her head. Her nose was starting to feel strange, like it was being stretched and smushed at the same time. She hurried over to a mirror to see her reflection. Her nostrils were flaring out as her face was getting longer. “What am I turning into?” she asked.
“That was a horse strain in there,” said Kevin.
“Horse? Hmm, that’s not so bad,” said Ricci thoughtfully.
“You’re not upset?” asked Kevin.
“I think I’m a little too much shock for that right now,” said Ricci, “Should I be taking anything off?”
“Ew, Mom, not- Wait, you probably should take your shoes off,” said Kevin.
“Oh, good point,” said Ricci, her feet already starting to cramp, “Help me get them off.”
Kevin went over and bent down. His mother’s jogging shoes were getting really tight. He managed to pry them off and then pull her socks off. Her toes had already fused together into one chitinous mass as her feet were stretching longer. Up close, Kevin could see fur growing on her skin. It wasn’t quite as obvious from a distance because it was the same brown she already was. “You ok now?” he asked.
“Just…let me lean on you until I get my balance,” said Ricci, her voice was getting a bit nasal as her face was getting longer.
“Don’t put too much on me, you’re heavy,” said Kevin in a joking tone.
Ricci glared and said, “If you weren’t my son-” She was cut off when they both heard an odd gurgling noise. Kevin looked up to see his mother both growing and shrinking. Her hips just lost a substantial amount of mass along with her belly. There was a burst in height that separated her tank top from her jogging shorts. Ricci looked at her arm, her fingertips already sporting hooflike caps. The hanging fat on it compressed and she could see a bit of muscles under the skin. “Kevin, how much was in that bottle?” she asked.
“There was enough for a double dose,” said Kevin, “I kinda wanted to fill out all the way, so…”
Ricci smiled at that. “Then I guess I’m not that upset with you,” she said, feeling new energy flowing into her. Her neck creaked as it started growing longer. She felt the back of it tingle as her hair spread down it like a mane. Her body gave another gurgle as more fat was being consumed. Her jogging shorts felt much looser now. She quickly reached down and grabbed the waist before it could slip off. But she let it down enough to give her lower back some air. She felt her spine tingle before some of it slipped out. Her forming tail soon became covered in long black hair to match her mane.
“Mom, this is getting awkward,” said Kevin, getting a too close view of his mother’s lower half as it was changing from chunky to muscular. The loosening of her shorts was something he didn’t want to see up close, especially as her hips and butt were becoming a much more appealing shape.
“It’s ok, I think I can stand on my own now,” said Ricci, bracing one hand against the wall.
“Ok,” said Kevin, standing up only for his head to collide with something round and weighted. He quickly jumped back and yelped, “I’m so sorry!”
“It’s ok,” said Ricci, now paying more attention to her breasts. Unlike most of her, they weren’t losing as much mass. But they were becoming a lot more perky, especially as her pecs built up. They were also regaining the gravity-defying roundness she hasn’t had since college. So unlike her shorts, her tank top was in no danger of slipping off, but it was being drawn up more. She felt another gurgle as she lost more fat. She felt below her breasts to feel her trimmer stomach. She could practically feel her abs popping up. “It’s more than ok now,” she said as her face pushed out one more time.
Kevin watched as his mother completed her transformation. She was much taller as a horse Animalian, a lot of it coming from her longer hoofed legs. And it looked like most of her fat was used as fuel to make muscles as she was quite ripped. She still clutched at her shorts to keep them from falling, but she had a very curvy rear and hips that kept them from draping completely. Her tank top was more like a sports bra now, holding breasts that were easily bigger than Kevin’s head. Ricci had become a very sexy mare, which made it even more awkward for her son. “Er, Mom, can’t you tighten your shorts?” asked Kevin.
Ricci pulled out the drawstrings as much as she could before tying them off. It took up some slack, but they still dropped rather low around her waist, enough to give Kevin too much of a look at the creases of her lower- Kevin pulled his eyes away and looked away blushing. Ricci smirked a little. If Kevin reacted this way, she wondered how Jon would react. Which reminded her. She picked up the water bottle, which looked smaller in her hand. She swished it around, judging how much water was still in it. “You think there’s enough left for your father?” she asked.
Kevin started before he said, “But Mom, I still want-”
“Don’t worry, you can still have it,” said Ricci, “But I think we better wait until after your father gets home first.”
“I guess Dad’s going to be mad about this,” said Kevin.
“Don’t worry about him,” said Ricci, feeling her larger breasts, already full of milk, “I think I can talk him around.”
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It hadn't taken a lot of persuasion for Jon to accept his sexy mare wife. Especially after she turned him into a sexy stallion. After that, Ricci felt really good about her body. She had been jogging a lot more often, no longer worried about looking ridiculous. She knew she looked amazing. So amazing that when she stumbled across some videos of women 'twerking', she thought she could do her own video. Her video quickly went viral, which concerned Jon a bit. But Ricci had little trouble keeping him wrapped around her hoofed finger.