9 AM--The Bridesmaids
"You did what? I don't believe this." Lateisha was trying hard not to yell at Jenny. "Some husky comes up to you the morning of the wedding day and wants to change the ceremony and you agreed? Do you know how hard John's been working on this?" She sighed. *No point taking this out on Jenny* "OK, point out the husky and let me give her a piece of my mind."
Katie saw one of the does approaching her breathing fire and wondered what was wrong. She didn't have to wonder long.
"You had a whole week to do this. John is terrified at the thought of anything going wrong. He's been knocking himself out the whole week trying to make everything perfect. Then you come along the morning--the morning--of the wedding day and get Jenny and Spike worked up about an addition to the ceremony. You couldn't talk to John? You couldn't talk to me? What the hell do you think you were doing?"
Katie was wilting before the blast of Lateisha's wrath. "Rings, you know, for a wedding. I thought they would be nice."
"THIS IS NOT ABOUT RINGS! This is about you not having any respect for what goes on here!"
Katie was getting a better idea of how Harry and Zack had felt after their last meeting with Naomi. "I'm sorry, OK? I didn't think."
"Yeah, you didn't think." Lateisha felt the edge of her anger go off. "Let me talk to John, maybe there's a way to work it in. You get any more bright ideas--any of you huskies get any more bright ideas--you clear it with him or me first, is that clear?"
Katie felt her head lower and her tail go between her legs. "Yes, ma'am." Lateisha stalked off.
9 AM--Juanita
Juanita couldn't take it anymore. Yes, she remembered she had taken the vow with the rest of the founders of the park not to assume her true form until anthros had achieved societal acceptance. But none of the other founders were working around people who wore their own true form every day! And the huskies were mostly people who preferred the human form and planned to go back to it, which made the whole thing even more irritating. And now every anthro in the Park, it seemed, would be attending the wedding, relaxing in their wonderful anthro bodies. And as a human she couldn't even go.
*OK, just one day. And as a husky I can blend in. No one has to know, I can erase the transformation logs. Naomi can just introduce me as a new husky.*
Juanita picked up the dedicated communicator that connected her to Naomi.
9:05 AM--Naomi
*What is that doe yelling at Katie about?* Naomi wondered. She was about to intervene when she felt the vibration of her collar telling her that she was about to receive a communication from Juanita.
"Naomi, I want you to come back here as soon as you can. There's something that I need your help with. It should take around twenty minutes. Don't tell anyone I called you."
"OK, it should take me a few minutes to get things set up here."
Naomi walked over to Katie, who seemed a bit down after being yelled at. "What was that about?" she asked.
"I, uh, tried to give them something for the ceremony, and she got mad at me for interfering." *I'm in trouble now* Katie thought.
Naomi was torn. Obviously, Katie had screwed up, and Naomi would need to get to the bottom of this sooner or later. On the other hand, pack leader Juanita's wishes had to take precedence. "Is the situation resolved? Yes or no."
"Yes."
"OK, I have to go for about a half an hour. You're in charge till I get back. Don't screw up any more."
"Yes, ma'am." Katie barked. Naomi loped off.
9:15 AM--Juanita and Naomi
Naomi wasn't bothered by the fact that pack leader Juanita wanted to assume anthro-canine form. If anything, that seemed to make things a little more logical, that the pack leader would be of the same species as the pack. But she was having a hard time getting her head around the idea that the pack leader in her new form wanted to be treated as another member of the pack, in fact as one of Naomi's underlings. She wasn't sure she would be able to carry this off.
Still, if that's what pack leader Juanita wanted. Naomi watched the transformation chamber work its magic, as Juanita's skin erupted into fur, as her face narrowed and her nose pushed forward, as her fingernails were replaced by claws. The newest husky stepped from the transformation chamber, her face transfigured in one of the purest expressions of joy Naomi had ever seen.