Marth stared. "What did you call her?" Marth was still thinking too much of Larry to really care about the fear she was feeling towards this Mama Bear.
"I called that fake doe a tranny, what did you think I called her?" Maggie said causally.
"Don't you think that's kind of curt?" Marth asked cautiously.
"A fake doe or fake buck is a fake no matter what you call them, so what's the big deal?" Maggie ask calmly. Maggie was only now beginning to realize the major tactical mistake she had made in calling Hannah that in front of Marth, in particular in considering Marth's other half.
"Look, I don't know what makes a person feel that they're the 'wrong' gender. But . . . " Marth tried to think of the right words, "Don't terms like that try to push them down below being people?"
"So? Maybe it'll knock them straight, like that boyfriend of yours."
Marth's hide under his fur paled, it wasn't from fear. "What did you call him?"
"I said maybe it'll knock that tranny-" 'Mistake, Stupid,' Maggie's tactical mind shouted at her now over and over again.
"Screw you!" Marth said to her face, sounding more male than he had since the transformation.
Now it was Maggie's term to be angry. "What?" She growled darkly.
"I said I'm going to get back Leticia or Larry, -whatever-, WITHOUT the help of a wicked witch like you telling me how I can cheat! I'm going to beat that top buck the right way! I don't care if I have to through all his middle men and lieutenants first! I'm going to win! And you're going to sit on your big, black furry butt at the sidelines, and watch me do it without you telling me what to do! Your deal with your fawn is your own business! I'm going to hand him his antlers in a hand basket!"
Maggie's anger, combined with a bear's temper, had been reaching a boiling point this entire time, and blow the whistle blew. The capper being, naturally, that Marth had just implied he intended to do permanent damage to her cub.
"YOU!" She roared, bearing claws and fang, crouching as she did so.
Weather fear or common sense, this was when Marth realized this was his cue to run for it! Bounding at a speed in a body he just wasn't used to, and imagining that Maggie was a heartbeat behind him, his antlers got catch in branches, and his hooves tripped themselves up repeatedly.
When his body finally ran out of steam, his legs and head were covered in a pattern of cuts and scratches. Catching his breath and looking behind him, he saw no sign of Maggie... Marth knew in retrospect he might have just thrown away the only person in this entire park that was likely to be on his side for this. But he knew he couldn't have worked with that Mama Bear...
Marth knew what he had to do, he had to find the lesser bucks and does, ask them about Jeremy's fights, learn what he could. And he had to get used to this damn male body first! He had gone from having two targets on his chest to one between his legs! Whatever spell this transformation had over Larry, Maria feared that if he didn't break it here, then it would likely never be broken.
First things first though, he had to find out exactly when this wedding was so he had an idea of exactly how long he had to prepare!
++++++++++++
In fact, Maggie hadn't moved from where she was standing when Marth escaped from her. She had bigger fish to try. The chances of yet another buck coming through after her getting lucky like that were close to zero. She had also could not have asked for a better buck to use to bring her cub back to his senses! The fake doe's mate in the real world! Maggie berated herself again and again for such a small mistake as a slip of the tongue costing her everything.
That was when her senses had picked it up, it was the fake doe, heading straight towards her. What was this? Her sense of strategy and instincts all told her this was totally illogical. Had the fake doe gone mad?
The fake doe clearly shaking like a leaf, looking around and looked at Maggie face, avoiding the eyes. "Where is Maria, Marth?" She asked more boldly than she had anything since her species change.
Maggie's tone was like ice, "Your fake buck boyfriend apparently doesn't want to actually have help in getting what he wants. Stupid idiot. We both want the exact same thing, and he doesn't want to work together, what an moron."
Leticia felt her cheeks burn, "Maria, Marth is not stupid. He was honestly a lot smarter than me sometimes." When she had been male, she knew ladies cheered at this admittance, now of course it would sounded sexist to an ignorant outside observer.
"Then go back to your fake buck Fake Doe and let my cub be!" Maggie said in a dangerous tone.
Leticia open and closed her mouth. She had been hoping to have Marth here. Figuring that if she saw him, she could decide for herself exactly where they stood with each other now. At which point she could either move on, or start where she left off. But encountering only Maggie had thrown all of that out of whack. Leticia wasn't all that sure what to do now. Leticia had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, no matter what choice she made, she'd end up hurting someone.
She couldn't say yes or no to Maggie because she didn't know which to say to herself. But she did know one thing, "You dominating Jeremy like this is wrong, Madam. He's a man, he needs to make his own choices."
"A man?! It'll be the first time in his whole life he'll have acted like one!" Maggie snarled, "He's bent over backwards to everyone around him! I waited forever for that cub to grow a spine!"
"... Maybe he learned to be that way from how he was suppose to act around you."
Maggie roared. "How dare you! HOW DARE YOU!!! I've wanted nothing but the best for my son from day one! All I've wanted is the best for him! YOU WILL RUIN HIS LIFE!!"
Leticia nearly fainted for the life of her. She'd swear in court she felt Maggie's hot breath on her tail for a mile until John found her and escorted his Boss-Lady back to the herd.
++++++
"Zack?" Harry asked.
"Doesn't count! Doesn't count!" Zack said reading from the park guest behavior creed. "She didn't maim anybody it doesn't count! There is nothing in the park charter that says she can't scare the Hades out of other guests as long as she doesn't remove internal organs or otherwise cause serious injury in a way that is not considered 'natural' to her species."
"That's screwy!" Katie exclaimed.
"That's mother nature." Harry moaned. Harry marched to his room though his shift wasn't over yet, and came back three minutes later wearing blue jean shorts with a tail hole cut in them.
Katie stared.
"What?" Harry asked. "Consider this an act of good faith on my part."
"The twins just got themselves another victim to torture." Zack said.
Harry ignored the prophecy of doom. "So what you do think? White flowers? Of course white flowers, if it's going to effective be her wedding dress. You think we should do rush delivery so they show up before the wedding?"
+++++++
Spike overheard his mommy and Uncle Robbie talking. He had to go away soon? Yes, that was right wasn't it? He had to be a grown up again? Right? That was it he was fairy certain. But.. he had to leave his mommy behind?
He remembered when he had been playing with Uncle Robbie, and had met a kitty cat who was his age. She said she wanted to have an en-tur-view with Spike. After she asked some boring questions, she began to loosen up and began to play Twenty Questions with him, which was a lot more fun. She also got ride of that serious grown up expression on her face. After they finished Twenty Questions, Uncle Robbie watched them play Tag for a while. She was really fun to play with for an icky girl! Then her big brother came and he seemed worried that she was too happy or something. Spike didn't understand it at all. They waved good-bye and promised to play again later. Her big brother then hurried her along with that worried look on his face still.
Then Spike's memory sparked, wasn't there a way he didn't have to be a grown up again? That he could stay with mommy? Hadn't the white doggies talked all about it?
"Doggies!" Spike shouted out sneaking away from Mommy and Uncle Robbie for a minute. "Doggies! I wanna talk with you! Nice doggies!"
"Yes, and what do you want dearie." Said one of the white doggies, a girl doggies, she appeared out of nowhere just like a Fairy Goodmother. She looked at him kindly.
"I don't wanna leave Mommy. I wanna be a Fear-rule."
The white doggie's face went black with shock.