Deciding on gender was easy, in fact not really a conscious decision at all. Maggie knew that her authority over Jeremy was based on being his mother, an authority that would be lost if she switched genders. Species was harder. She didn't know what species Jeremy had chosen, so she couldn't just go with that. She knew she didn't need to be big and powerful to impress Jeremy, but it might not be a bad idea to be dealing with these Transformation Park creeps from a position of strength. Big, powerful bodies were just flat-out more intimidating.
OK, Maggie thought, might as well max out. She picked "grizzly bear" off the carnivore menu and "female" off the gender menu. She sucked in her breath, and hit ENTER.
Her first sensation was an itching that covered her entire body except for her palms. She saw coarse, brown hairs erupt from her skin. *This actually works* she thought, with wonder.
Her next sensation was a crawling and swelling beneath her skin, as immensely powerful muscles grew on her rapid expanding frame. *God, I'm huge* Maggie thought, as she felt herself at a much greater distance from the floor, and much closer to the walls of the small transformation room. She flexed her massive new arms.
Then she felt bombarded by sensations from all over her rapidly changing body. Short, sharp claws emerged from her fingers and toes. Her face reshaped itself, with her nose and mouth extending outward into a muzzle as her tongue grew long and flexible. A short tail grew from her muscular rump. Her insides changed to those of an anthro-bear, different from a humans.
The door opened, and Maggie the anthro she-bear shambled into the park. She felt ready for anything, and more than ready to get her son back.
++++++
"May I speak with you?" Jenny felt an absurd desire to add "My lord" as she sought an audience with Jeremy after the foxes's show.
"Yes." the herd leader answered.
"I'm worried about Spike. What if someone decides to get revenge by hurting him? He's really a sweet fawn. He's not like what he was at all. I think maybe someone hurt him, when he was young, and made him what he was, and maybe now he's regressed to an earlier stage. I just don't want anyone to hurt him again." Jenny pleaded desperately. Ever since the bucks had found out about Spike--it was impossible to conceal him--her nightmare had been one of them deciding to take out his humiliation at the tournament on an innocent--yes, dammit, innocent--fawn. She hadn't had the nerve to venture far from her girlfriends with her new responsibility.
Jeremy turned to Robbie, who was hovering around the herd leader, hoping for a chance to demonstrate his obedience. "Spike is under my protection. Anyone who hurts him--anyone who hurts any fawn--better pray the huskies find him before I do. Spread the word." Robbie hurried off.
Leticia, at her husband's (that was how she thought of him now) side, felt herself melting. Jeremy was going to be such a wonderful father!
++++++++
"Now the foxes want to go back out into the world in their anthro forms?" Juanita asked.
"Yes, Ma'am." answered Naomi. "Although I don't think its the anthro forms so much as what goes along with them. Jasmine wants to stay female and Mike wants to stay young and healthy."
"We had this set up to go slow and start with Hannah." Juanita muttered. "OK, tell them we need to meet. Make sure that whoever talks to them doesn't promise anything."
"Yes Ma'am." Naomi wagged her tail and hurried off. She really hoped that Jasmine would be able to stay female. Canines and vulpines were close enough that Naomi was able to appreciate Jasmine's, well, foxiness, and although the vixen seemed totally straight, it was still nice having her around to look at. And Naomi tended to think males who wanted to be ascend to the higher state of femaleness were displaying good sense that should be rewarded. Still, she knew she would go along with whatever her pack leader Juanita wanted. It felt good to have a secure place in a hierarchy. Naomi wondered if she would re-up when her term expired. Human life, with all its ambiguities, didn't seem very appealing.
+++++
It was ironic, Jackie thought, that our first big fight was about me not wanting to hunt, and now we're fighting over me wanting to hunt.
Jackie and Keith agreed that it wouldn't be right for Jackie to do big-game hunting while pregnant--going after wild pigs and cattle was just too dangerous. But Keith wasn't sure he wanted her to hunt rabbits or ground squirrels either. Honestly, sometimes it seemed like he thought she should just sit around the house and watch soap operas all day so as not to endanger her kittens. The problem was that there was no house, no tv, no couch, and no soap operas.
Jackie knew that both human and cat mothers benefited from being active in pregnancy, at least until the very last stages. She intended to hunt her own food, and she knew she would be eating a lot. Keith would come round, he usually did.