(AN: Iphis has formally bowed out for the epilogue, there is no need to wait for him.)
Epilogue -- The Park and Free Range Deer, Oh Dear.
He was magnificent. That was the first thought most deer had at seeing Jeremy. Lord Jeremy himself just considered himself lucky, able, and with a clear head on his shoulders when it counted. Leticia too was considered magnificent, but considered herself beyond lucky, and possessing the resolve to stand by her decisions, and the courage to see things through.
The presence Lord Jeremy gave off even among non-deer was left one impressed. Over the past five years, Lord Jeremy and Lady Leticia had ceased to be guests at the park and had become more a fixture of it. Against all odds, Lord Jeremy had managed to hold onto his station as herd leader, even if he had consciously resigned himself to the inevitability of his ultimate dethronement.
Around nine months after their wedding, their first fawn, Larry (as had become the tradition among the TG anthros) had been brought into the world. The herd leaders had stayed within the park at the Management's request, to keep an eye on this the first one of their species to be born and not made. EVERYONE was ecstatic when Larry had no deformities or cellular degeneration.
As the months past and Larry grew, Jackie and Keith had their litter. Again, the geneticists patted themselves on the back when none of the panther's kittens died horrible malformed deaths.
Larry might have been considered an exception and not a rule, but Keith and Jackie's litter gave people much more confidence, and the baby-boom that Naomi had foreseen, came in at full swing and people hopped on the gravy train. Then came the day when a couple of wolves after their cub had been born wanted her converted into a human immediately. The park's defense that she didn't have a human form to be changed back into, had sparked quite a storm. And the subsequent demand for a human template for natural born anthros who'd want to become human, an even larger storm (something that somehow seemed to turn the Management on it's head with confusion). And of course weather parents had the right to alter the DNA of their child for the sake of that child's happiness, had been the biggest storm of all. But in the mist of that storm, the Herd Leaders and their fawns stood firm and true and apart from the conflict.
Larry was -almost- treated like a prince. Both Jeremy and Leticia made sure to make sure Larry was given a complete mouth full of the rough and tumble lifestyle that being park of the herd entailed. Technically Larry had no contract with the park, but it was the only world the now five year old fawn knew.
What had shocked Jeremy more than anything was when Father Tyminski had asked when Larry's baptism would be. Jeremy and Leticia had almost completely forgotten their promise to the raccoon priest. That their fawns would be raised catholic. There was no legal binding to this agreement, and the American people had a natural paranoia about priests, all Lord Jeremy had to say was that Father Tyminski was lying and that would be that.
The baptism became almost as big an event as the wedding. While it didn't draw in the on-lookers, it did get a LOT of attention. Larry, in one form or another, was now the first anthro to be introduced into the church.
Whatever reservations the Herd Leaders had about their fawns being taught the raccoon priest's ideas, Lord Jeremy had given his word to the at the time to the pastor that their fawns would be raised catholic, and the Herd leader was nothing, if he was not true to his word.
Ironically, it wasn't soul, or sin that bought up objections to the anthro form, it had to do with people who felt it was the same as tattoos and body piercing: inherently dangerous, screwing with your own body, and expensive to undo later if you changed your mind. For this reason, the parents all agreed to keep their children (with the exception of Jenny and Spike who chose to face the risk head on and weren't offered the same deal by the park anyway), within the park for a bit more for protection.
Eventually the cats felt staying within much more would have been cowardice, and took their litter and left the park. Of course they got media coverage, but the bad press mysteriously always seemed to burn out. By this time, Leticia was pregnant again.
By this time, many deer had entered and left the herd with Jeremy in control, coming to see him more as a moderator than just another guest. Only the wolf pack, had formed such a stable hierarchy. And the Management, had grown to enjoy the ordered Jeremy was able to maintain over the rowdy bucks. No one had brought up, or even really thought about Jeremy's expiration date on his 'vacation' time.
Weather due to some trace primate DNA or perhaps just how faux evolution playing out that way, Lord Jeremy sported a fine beard, adding more to the image that this man was a leader. Indeed, Lord Jeremy had come a long way from the collage boy being dragged along to the park along with the rest of his frat. If they hadn't seen the transformation over the course of the years with their own eyes, those who knew him most wouldn't have even recognized him! Jeremy moved with an air of authority and command. His body now showed scars he wore as medals from the fights with new bucks who had managed to climb to the top to challenge him, and he had built up his body beyond what the gene splicer had given him. Some bucks said he looked like a heroic version of Spike as a buck. Jenny herself would concede this, saying "He looks how Spike was supposed to be, or rather, should have been," indeed, young Spike had grown to admire the herd leader greatly.
Lady Leticia was currently in her third pregnancy and her second pair of twins. Her figure was round, but still womanly, and some said that pregnancy was an ancient sign of sexuality. Given how the buck's 'culture' was building from the ground up, it should have been no surprise that the bucks all somehow found her even more beautiful with child. And beautiful so was.
None of their fawns had left the park yet. The world of humanity that lay beyond had become a frightening yet curious place to them. And the tales Spike told whenever he visited of the world of humanity beyond both scared and fascinated them. Lord Jeremy knew that them leaving the park was even more inevitable than his dethronement.
MANY of the deer hoped that Lord Jeremy could hold onto his position long enough for Larry to become a buck and take over the herd from his father. Jeremy knew this was a fantasy. While Larry had been learning the basics within the park, Lady Leticia would be damned before she sacrificed her fawn's education for her position within the herd.
Lord Jeremy and his family walked away from the church, there was pretty much nothing there to define it as a church, but it was a place people gathered to worship and therefore was a church. Archbishop Tyminski having completed his latest sermon, the near naked raccoon spend on his way to put on his priestly robes and attend his patrons outside the park in New Eden. While nudist colonies were always allowed to do as they would, being a mix of humans and anthros, the evolved animals were still expected to obey some of western cultures social creeds.
The idea of clothing, and modesty, was something else Lady Leticia knew she would have to ultimately teach her fawns. For her fawns, Archbishop Tyminski's leaving the park and entering it again (one of the few 'employed' by the park allowed to do so on a regular basis), made it seem like he was coming from and returning to another world.
The story of Adam and Eve, in particular the after effects of eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, as always, sparked some livid questions and answer sessions among the fawns. Since Archbishop Tyminski was forced to leave soon after his mass in the park, Lady Leticia was the one who took the brunt of these questions, not only from her own fawns, but the other cubs and what not that had begun to crop up in the park. She had actually begun to have discussion with the Archbishop just so she could answer her own fawn's questions better.
Lady Leticia sat in the stone throne that beheld the bucks testing ground, Lord Jeremy standing at her side. The surprise from the bucks with was silenced with only a look from their male Herd Leader, Lady Leticia was pregnant, she needed to sit down more than her husband did. True, the predator cubs made her uneasy, but she knew it was rude to simply exclude them.
Once a year, every year, on their wedding anniversary (the only true way they never forgot when it was in the calendar less TF Park USA), Marcus Enders, Jeremy's father, entered the park as a buck, and checked up on his son, and his grandchildren. While he still felt Jeremy was letting his education stagnate, he was proud to see his son maintain the level of control he did in the park, much to the Management's approval apparently.
The cousins also visited in this time, the only time grumpy about it was when it happened on a Saturday, the elder cousin, now fully on her way to becoming a doe, or adult of any species, getting over her modesty, began to wonder if there was a career in being a model of various species.
And Maggie, still legally bound from ever entering the park, waited outside each year every year for Marcus to emerge and give her an update on her son. And to ask, every year, if he had forgiven her yet.
Leticia's family also visited the park once a year, to make sure she hadn't forgotten them or that she used to be human, and of course to see the new additions to their family. They also provided a nice reminded to both Jeremy and Leticia of the world of humanity, least the couple DID become immobile fixtures of the park like the rocks. Bettina always chose a doe, while the rest of Leticia's family had begun to chose forms more suited to their tastes, including some predators much to Leticia's silent discomfort. Leticia's father still called her 'son,' but otherwise made no attempt to convince her to become male again, he seemed more interesting in entertaining the fawns anyway. And the grandparents, still refused to ever be de-aged on any of their visit.
Lance had been the last person anyone would have expected to be scared of returning to the outside world. But faced with the humiliation of his frat mates of being pawned by Jeremy, and the disproval of his family of being a 'weakling' Lance, much to the shock of everyone, had become the park's first feral. Against all beliefs and odds, Lance had survived the last five years since condemning himself to ultimately die in the park. While he was still a member of the herd, and long since loyal beyond question. Some began to wonder about him. He still went on two legs and spoke coherent english, but anything else human about him seemed to have dissolved. His memories of being human, and the world that existed outside the park, had simply become fiction to him. And the idea of humans as mythical as the fae some still say they saw in the park from time to time. Still, he never harmed anyone, never assaulted the does, and took care of himself, so they let him live as he would.
The idea of fae in the park, true or not, had begun to attract a few fantasy enthusiast, who were disappointed to learn that mythical and fantasy creatures were not on the menu for TF states. Like any people determined however, they made due. Evolved Goat for the satyr fans, and evolved horses for the centaur crowd, and of course, the fox clan saw a influx of members for the kitesune wannbee fans. The fact insects were not on the list was felt by the fairy and pixie wannabees.
Drake. Drake left the park without one negative world to Jeremy, his herd leader. His company formed numerous ties with the other business' involved in the park, all that new construction around the park had to come from somewhere after all. It was only under the stern control of the Management that from the view of the fence, that the forest there stayed in tact.
A year later Drake return to the park under a one year vacation contract, as a wolf. Some of the bucks who were still with Jeremy from the beginning called Drake a traitor. Drake for his part, never treated the deers with any more negative feelings than one would towards any friendly rival. And even though no longer a buck, he still referred to the herd leader as Lord Jeremy in or out of ear shot. Drake would seriously consider giving Lord Jeremy a position in his business when the Herd Leader left the park and completed collage.
Drake quickly rose to Alpha Male, or Beta Male at the beginning of his cycles. This was good business, after all, he couldn't end up being submissive to his men while as a wolves. And Lord Jeremy held his respect for his former second in command.
Drake would go through a cycle of six months of humanity to a year as a wolf, his business partners and subordinates giving him updates and receiving instructions via one month vacation contracts that overlapped.
This cycle of becoming evolved beast and evolved ape had the effect of his men left wondering if they were humans who became wolves or wolves who become human, after two years of it. Some simply began to stay wolf form even while out of the park, feeling it made things less confusing. Even the members of his business pack that held onto their humanity began to think in a pack mentality within their business walls. It was even considered a right of passage to spent a month as a wolf within the park to properly understand how the company worked.
While Drake seriously considered at least twice to simply maintain his wolf form, he simply felt that it was still the world of humanity, and for the sake of good business, he best maintain that human form while working with his fellow men.
Drake, a corporate shark, who had once considered betraying and being betrayed as simply the nature of the beast, now found himself more loyal to his work hands, and valuing loyalty more than he could remember. And strangely, his profits increased.
John had left the park with one last good-bye to Lord Jeremy and Lady Leticia and never looked back, least of all on Lance. While it had felt odd to be 'naked' again and to be missing his antlers. Lateisha had been there to welcome him outside. Finding out that Lateisha was an African had, in all truths, been the most surprising, and least shocking thing that could have ever happened to John. After seeing so many different species of such radically different appearances and nature, to be shock over skin color felt rather absurd.
The woman Lateisha had teased and played with the collage boy John, enjoying seeing him twisted around her little finger. John had been surprised when Lateisha had opened up her beauty parlor for evolved animals, having seen his own time in the park purely as a learning experience. Still, John couldn't deny that she was right that it was a market ready to bloom then boom.
Given John's old opinion that he had been 'all that' for women, Lateisha certainly taught him more than a few things. They also found their talent for working in sync had crossed over the species barrier. She trusted him to the point where she let him run the parlor on the day of the reunion with the does. John still hadn't ask The Question though... yet. He currently had a surprise quiz and a ring waiting for Lateisha went she came back.
John had maintained good connections with Robbie, who had gotten out the same time as John and the rest of the frat brothers who hadn't gotten someone pregnant or had gone feral. Robbie, who had felt girls should have felt honored to spent a night with him, and the prince of failing grades, had DIVED into his studies in a way that left some wondering if the park had turned the real Robbie into an animal person zombie assassin and replaced him with a flawed clone (yes, some of them were former members of Monty's club).
The change had surprised his family and friends as well, wondering what had happened in the park had changed the collage lad. Sadly, Robbie did NOT accomplish his goal of completing collage in the six months before Jenny and Spike left the park. He wasn't super human after all. Jenny did catch wind of what Robbie had attempted to do however and was touched. Both were disappointed, but not surprised, when the human male and the doe hadn't felt any psychical attraction to each other upon seeing the other. Spike however, was still a living hyperactive little thing, and while confused and surprised at Rob's 'new' form he was still eager to play with him. Rob found he quickly had to get in shape to boot, just to keep up with the fawn.
Rob told his family an edited version of Jenny's and Spike's tale. Telling his family Jenny was a single mother he had met inside the park whom both she and her son had to continue to keep their anthro forms for medical reasons. Not a total lie, and Rob's family had grown callous to when Rob was telling the truth or not. As it was, they were willing to help Jenny and Spike in any way they could. After all, they were pretty sure she had something to do with the vast improvement in Rob's behavior.
The fact that Jenny didn't go looking for a buck to leave the park, had thrown Rob for a loop. A part of him had been sure they would have gone their separate ways after seeing each other as different species. "Don't be silly, Spike loves you way too much for that!"
As for Spike's last set of foster parents, they were, while shocked, and put up a short lived legal battle over him, were secretly overjoyed that Spike had changed for what seemed the better. For Spike, this world was strange, new yet familiar. Spike didn't begin to cave until after some of the more unyielding aspects of human society had started to come down. While Spike's personal memories of his previous life seemed to fade like dust in the wind, his impersonal knowledge, seemed to come back in bits and pieces as he got older. All the same, Jenny had him attend school... and after one day quickly took him to home schooling.
Robbie heard about it, found every tiny bit of courage he had in his life, took a quick vacation... and a week later came out with the antlers that he had been missing for a year. Spike, after his recent dilemma, was overjoyed to see the 'old' and 'original' and 'normal' Robbie back. And the creepy black spiders that had been slowly crawling out of the depths of his now innocent soul, fled in total and absolute terror at the suddenly bright light, never to return.
Robbie a few months later finally asked Jenny the question, and they were married another year later the day after Robbie's graduation day. Yes they had their arguments, but they made up afterwards, yes they had their differences, but they stuck through it to the end. Yes they had to spank Spike sometimes, but they always loved him. In other words, they were a perfectly normal newly wed couple. Rob had been given the job of baby sitting Spike when Jenny visited her girlfriends. Rob knew Spike becoming human again was the boy's own choice, but hoped his adopted son would have the courage to face the world of humanity head on. But no matter WHAT happened, he'd be there for his family.
Sadly Marth's stay was not extended, the shot apparently had been made to make sure Hannah didn't become pregnant in those six remaining months. The Management was surprisingly quick to give Hannah a LARGE amount of support for her education and career without so much as putting up a fight to make amends to her six months of sterile nature. Hannah didn't seem half as surprised as everyone else at how fast the Management caved. it was almost as if they wanted it.
When Marth's month ended, Maria quickly got her affairs in order, and as fast she could, signed a new vacation contract with the park, and returned as Marth a second month later. For his part, Marth was faithful to Hannah, having do his best to make sure his contract ended on the same day as Hannah's year contract.
On the day of Hannah's return to the outside world, Laurie met Marth that day, and effective met 'Sally' for the first time too. Laurie had kept her word, and was there to greet Hannah as a human being when the doe emerged from the park, the first anthro to ever do so, followed very shortly thereafter by Jenny and Spike. Needless to say the news had this information leaked to them ahead of time and the RIGHT news stations and groups were given the heads up and beheld the bizarre yet fantastic creatures that were evolved animals that used to be humans.
Sally never returned to the park in those six months, figuring it would be too painful for her, and for Hannah. After learning in amazement of everything that had happened from Laurie and from Marth, The first thing she did when she saw Hannah the doe, out in the outside world, the real world, was hug her. It was strange, it was like meeting a fairy or a dragon right on the street! Being and seeing the anthros in the enclosed world of the park was one thing. But out here, in the world of humanity, it was unworldly.
Sadly, Maria had to wait another month until she could be allowed to become Marth the buck on the outside of the park. The Management figuring to slip the buck under the radar while the media fixated on the does and the fawn. It was aggravating for her, feeling like she didn't know precisely who she was, or what she was. In the end though, with Larry gone, and Leticia married, she needed a companion, and so did Hannah, and so was Marth ultimately there to stay.
Laurie was able to give Hannah heads up on the progress and lives of Jasmine and Mike after having been contracted by TF Park Canada. She had also chosen to move to Canada to be closer to her daughter, so while she was there for Hannah, she wasn't always close by. This wasn't so bad though, Lateisha and Prof. Su Yin as humans were both able to give Hannah her full support. Hannah even ended up attending some of Prof. Su Yin's lectures.
Sally didn't felt comfortable around bucks, not because she feared them, but because it reminded her of what she had done to Spike. It had taken no less than two years to drag her finally in front of the fawn, who was fast to make friends with her, much to Sally's surprise, confusion, and ultimately, relief. It was only after that she returned to Anthro Park, though this time as a doe, and this time brought along her family, whose children, like many, wailed and moaned at the lack of video games. Spike for his part, never understood what humans saw in 'ved-eoh' games.
Marth, in spite of himself, returned to the park regularly even before Hannah had been given her formal position there. And somewhere down the line, he actually DID manage to become friends with the two herd leaders equally. Then on the day Hannah, with the support of her friends and the aid of not very mysterious benefactors, she earned her psychology degree.
There was something else of course, of course, deep down, Marth felt fear that he would lose Hannah too if he didn't move fast enough. It had taken a lot of convincing on Hannah's part to make Marth believe that Hannah wasn't going anywhere, and didn't have any spouses hiding in the closet. Hannah had seen Marth's question coming a mile away, his ability to hide it was awful. She also knew if she had told him 'no' it would have utterly destroyed him. But it wasn't out of pity she gave her answer, she knew that Marth was like her now, wandering down this road looking for someone to walk along sides. And Hannah had agreed to be the one who would walk along side with him.
She used his question and her answer as the bomb shell during the reunion with the Saltlick Symposium, it had the desired effect, does and women alike were floored. She couldn't help but grin as best she could with her muzzle.
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Epilogue - AR Tech
While there were those in power who didn't mind the idea of being able to cheat old age forever, insurance companies didn't like the idea of an 'immortal' upper class, and the majority of share holders feared that they would be crowded out by ageless market sharks. Oh and the undertakers were upset too, but that goes without saying.
Needless to say, the 'fountain of youth' part of TF Park's technology was quickly being socially looked down upon. Anything from wrecking havoc on the economy, to cheating death, to just plain making it WAY too easy for certain types of pornography to be produced!!! Not to mention the less thought of but perhaps even more disastrously powerful AP side of the tech was attacked with more social firepower the likes of which hadn't been seen in America in a century.
As it was, the Management was left with no choice but to slowly tighten the leash on what park guests could receive this technology, and who could keep it. However, those who had already been regressed, naturally slipped past the radar, and it was successfully argued that it would morally wrong to progress them against their well: such as Spike, Mike... and Lexy.