Howard Johnson had always loved fishing with his father out in the lake beyond the old family home. He had been debating whether he would head on out this summer as planned because he'd always taken Heather and Tammy along when he went. Now it just kind of felt that he'd be making a big uncomfortable situation more so with the stress that had been going through his life. Though, after spending his time until dawn catching all manner of fresh water fish at a good rate, he thought perhaps he would go at least to spend time with his parents and talk about what was going on in his portion of the family.
Sedona sighed a bit, but tried to smile as she carried with her a metal chain with hooks on it she'd found in the waters next to the dock. It had upon it seven different fish she'd caught these last few hours. She knew she'd told herself to keep Howard at bay for a month, but it was hard to deny that she was only even here in flesh and blood because he existed first. Still, it was a good run of fish and she couldn't wait to find someone they might actually be for. Gutting one by hand didn't work exactly as planned with her claws and fish-meat didn't seem to quite fit this wolf's appetite anymore… at least not un-cooked.
The restaurant (aptly named "The Crossing Diner") looked like a log cabin like most of the buildings that went to this village. Inside were wooden tables, wooden chairs, and even wooden booths. Wooden everything. The windows were made of the same dirty glass that her little house had and the front door was barely sealed as it shut behind her. It lightly grazing her tail as it did which brought to mind the idea she'd have to be mindful of not shutting it in things.
There were nice big lamps on the ceiling, but they weren't powered by electricity. Instead, they softly burned as oil lamps as did the smaller ones situated in the center of the tables around the room. There was a rug at the front door that was surely made of someone's distant relatives, black and shaggy to grab dirty from patron's paw pads. Around the room were a few wilderness pictures up on the walls that all looked like they could have been painted from real locations around the park proper.
Sedona smiled a full canine grin to the different patrons all around, some of whom were prey animals. Her fur dripped a bit with water as she'd done a few 'laps' as the warmth of the sun had come up over the big hydroelectric damn in the distance to the east beyond the island in the lake south of the dock she'd fished from. Shaking off had been an interesting experience, and a little bit fun. Still, she had decided that if she was good at something and it might net her a few credits, she might as well do it. Fishing for steak, as it were.
"Morning," said a older looking golden retriever woman standing behind the serving station at the front of the restaurant. She was wearing a slim brown skirt with a short brown top. Two breasts… Sedona noted with a glance, looking back up at her. "You wish them cooked, or you've brought us supplies?" she asked politely.
"Supplies," she smiled. "Wondering if I might could trade these for a steak… maybe some credits," Sedona said with a smile and a nod, looking around the room that had about twenty people in it… most of them families. Two breasts. Two breasts. Two breasts, she continued to note as she looked around the room. Every woman in this park has only two breasts, she sighed aloud.
The woman looked over to where Sedona's eyes had wandered to, then back at her. "Problem, miss?"
"Just expecting extra attention from my extras," is all Sedona said without motioning to herself or anything. She glanced to the left and saw a set of wooden double doors that connected the Diner and the Bar on the insides. "If I stay for a drink, appearance-minded men might be distracted by me," she sighed, crossing her arms for a moment, pressing into her center set of breasts just a bit as she did. But, as she looked towards the Bar, she could see a poker table just over the wooden doors. "Ooh. Cards. Hm… with credits, I could clean house," she smirked, looking back to the woman.
"I wouldn't worry about the men too much, miss. Most of the really chauvinistic ones are off in the woods, hackles raised, or antlers smashing together. Most everyone in this village are family guys and married," she smiled to her, handing a menu over. "Our selection of food is limited by our surroundings, time of year, and supplies," she told to her, getting back to her possible order. "You should get good money for the fish as we have a lot of avian visitors upstairs who find them quite tasty," she said. "As well as bears. Oh, I'm Lucy," she bowed a bit, "And I run this restaurant, for now."
"For now?" Sedona asked, holding the chain links of fish out to her. "You don't work for the park like The Nook?" she wondered, looking back towards the kitchen and sniffing the air for any smells she might know. Steak, chicken, fish, and a few spices here and there all lingered in the air.
"Oh, Mr. Nook doesn't work directly for the park, nor do I," she said as she reached out for the metal links. When Sedona let go with her single hand, Lucy stumbled forward at the weight. "Oh, my! You've made quite a catch. Why, I think one of these could be a record," she said, putting her other hand down onto the chain and pulling them back up so she could carry them. "Excuse me for one moment…" she said with a smile, turning to walk back to the kitchen. "you may take any seat you like," she added as she entered the doorway there and vanished.
Sedona nodded and decided to take up a chair at a two-person table over by the back wall at a window facing the mountain side. As she moved across the room, a few woman made a double-take at her appearance, and a single man was punched in the arm by his wife for staring for an extended period of time. She had just barely caught the motion, and remembered times in which Heather would do the same to Howard. She sighed again, looking at her ring-finger where there was no longer a ring.
When Heather filed for divorce, Howard couldn't stop thinking about the ruin of his life. He'd locked his wedding ring safely away in the small fireproof safe of their home so that he wouldn't be constantly distracted by her at work. Now, as Sedona, he realized that a lack of wedding ring might encourage flirting by members of the opposite sex. Then again, with instincts, it might not even matter to them… and he knew that if he had the ring on, he would likely continue to have his mind wander. Yes, better to leave that thought aside for now, she determined.
Lucy returned during the time Sedona was staring out the window thinking of Heather, but she didn't get her attention. She merely waited until she was noticed, and soon enough she was… "Oh, sorry," Sedona said, looking up at her and realizing she hadn't even looked at the menu yet. Opening it up, she thought about what she wanted and said, "Just water will be fine," she supposed. Looking over the different meats, all of which could just be bought 'rare' and she realized she didn't know how much it would cost based on the prices. "How many credits did I make?"
"Two hundred and twenty eight," Lucy smiled. Checking the prices again, Sedona blinked… she had far more than she needed to get herself a decent meal. She was quite hungry, but… "Most of that is actually prize money for breaking our largest caught fish. Eleven pounds is a remarkable catch," she said. "Do you think you know what you want?" she smiled with a tilt of her head, her ears flopping to the side, her tail wagging a bit.
"What's this 'Hibernation Special'?" she asked. "Is it really ten pounds?" she asked. "That seems like a lot, even for a wolf. I mean, a normal wolf might be able to monch down about seven pounds… when feeding for others, and when not expecting any food for a while," she said. "But ten pounds? Bears, I assume?" she asked, looking around but not seeing any.
"Many of our bear patrons take up hibernation in the winters in order to extend their life-cycles," she said. "Most of them are not yet up," she added. "However, you are larger than a regular wolf, even if you don't expend as much energy as they do. The largest, biggest wolves only reach about one hundred and eighty pounds," she said, without guessing aloud how much Sedona might weigh. "However, should that interest you… I should note that finishing the whole thing makes the meal free and puts your name on the board over there," she motioned with a free hand towards the wall at the kitchen.
Sedona looked over. Unlike many restaurants, there were plenty of names on that board with the dates next to them, but they were also listed with their type of animal. Of the names, only two them were not bears. Sedona smirked… "Yeah, sure. Well done," she nodded, handing Lucy the menu. The look on the waitress' face questioned that move and Sedona raised a furry eyebrow. "Oh. Hm. Medium rare," she said, thinking about her new biological make-up. "Ketchup too, please."
"Sides? You get two."
"Mashed Potatoes and… no, wait, I've never… that might be messy with this muzzle," she though about it, tapping her chin. "Baked Potato… and… I heard someone talking about berries? Are those a side? Are they good?" she wondered.
"Oh the berries are…" she trailed off for a moment, "like a natural birth control," Lucy said politely. "Some couples here use it so that–"
"They don't end up having a larger family than when they entered the park," Sedona waved a finger at her. "Never mind then. None of that planned. Even if it's the time of year for wolf 'heat', I don't have to worry about that, right?" she shrugged. "I guess make it two baked potatoes… no sour-cream or chives, please," she added with a smile, her tail going back and forth between the wide two bars of the chair she was sitting in.
"They're plain normally here," she nodded to Sedona. "It will be a little time for that steak," she warned, and Sedona nodded back to her.
Lucy obviously enjoyed her job, but what did she mean about not working for the park. I've never heard of an economy existing inside of these parks, much less one that's being run by the guests themselves, she considered, her journalistic mindset finding a lot of questions going without answers here. "Can I ask you," she started, "If you would be able to talk? If you aren't too busy, that is." Lucy blinked at her. "I just have some questions about living here and it seems like someone who is a guest but works here would have some answers to those kinds of questions.""Oh? Are you looking for a job?" Lucy wondered with a bit of a smile.
"Dunno. I kind'a want to know more about how this whole place runs," Sedona shrugged. "I'm here because of a free vacation, not really because it was a place I set out to experience," she admitted, "So while I understand the basic concepts here, it's not something I'm very knowledgeable about…" she explained.
"So strange for a girl to come all this way, alone, even on a free vacation. You'd think that questions would start getting asked sometime before you grew a muzzle and tail," Lucy said as her grin widened up into nice white canines and she giggled a bit. Reaching forward, she patted Sedona on the hand and nodded, "I'll tell you what I can. Breaks are pretty much whenever I want," she winked at her. "Give me a few," she nodded and turned to head over towards a family that had just walked in to see about getting them seated.
Sedona watched Lucy move among the other guests. There were a pair of rabbits, a boar, a blue jay, six different canines, four felines, and a smattering of other half-human half-animal people that she couldn't quite remember the names of. It had only been about ten minutes of watching Lucy's round little bottom swaying back and forth up and down the isles, her tail flicking playfully from side to side, that Sedona began to feel that attraction up inside her body… that tingling feeling just beneath her skin that she didn't have a name for.
It was kind of a good feeling for her, but a little difficult to pinpoint. Having the same mind as before her transformation but now with a different biology was a little confusing… as even though Howard understood his own body and feelings well enough over the years, learning how to control this one housed a couple of unique problems. Breasts? Yes, but it wasn't just their movement or bounce but also their distance in front of her chest from when she sat down at the table. A much flatter space between her legs, a tail out the back that moved with each step, and even the thickness and wave of her wavy fur mane off her head all created little issues of movement that didn't exist before. Luckily, she understood wolves fairly well, and she still had a whole month to figure this new body out (and all it's 'quirks').
Sometime a few short minutes later, Lucy walked back out from the kitchen with a small basket of four little roll-looking foods. They were dark and smelled of beef with just a hint of blood to them. Sitting herself down at the chair opposite Sedona, she put the basket between them with a smile and wag of her tail. "Meatball Rolls," she said with a smile. "Not so much rolls as they are meat, but they're still tasty appetizers, I think."
"Mmh… Looks tasy," Sedona grinned as she picked one up in her paw and looked at it. Giving it a bit of a sniff, she tossed it back into her mouth like a piece of popcorn chicken. It was meaty and rare, and it made a little trickle down the back of her throat as she chewed on it. "So," she said between chews, "How long have you been in this park?" she asked. "And maybe how many times… Nook said he'd been here before."
"Oh, I've only been here one other time," she said, putting her arms down onto the table and wrapping her fingers together there. "My first time was also a free vacation, but I knew… or thought I knew what I was getting into. We had a raffle at the school I use to work for," she explained. "I was a science teacher," she explained, "Biology, mainly," she nodded, glancing to another person in her same outfit who came in through the front door while she was thinking about what she was going to say next. That person was a rabbit and human hybrid and made their way into the kitchen where Lucy had been just a moment ago.
"I had always wanted to go visit some big science development before… like the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland or the Solar and Wind Fields in Colorado," she gave as examples. "Then these T.F. Parks came about overseas and I was thought to myself 'That is total science fiction', but… there it was." She shrugged, "But when the chance came up to try and get myself into the Beta of a new North American park a few years back… I jumped at the chance," she smiled. "I mean, it really is the bleeding edge science. Sure it was scary, but its a bit like getting into a cold pool on a summer day… if you just jump right in, you adapt faster," she shrugged reached for one of the Meatballs.
Sedona blinked, making mental notes to herself, She was in the Beta, she thought about that line of questioning, I'll ask details about that later. "What were you in the Beta? Animal, I mean… and you say you were a teacher. You're not now, I take it? Living in the park?"
"Oh, well, when you get transformed you get a little terminator gene with your other DNA which basically knows the time and date of you turning back into yourself. Like, if you're here for two weeks, let's say… you get given the reminder by the park staff that your time is just about up and that you've got to get together any of the stuff if you've collected while in the park," Lucy explained. "What happens then is they get you to a nice little hotel room on the other side of the giant metal wall and let you hang out there until you become a normal human again," she continued, really getting into the science of it.
"But they've also got these little… what they call 'toolkit genes' that get put in place, and those basically keep a little record of who and what you were just in case you want to turn back into that form on a return visit," she smiled, loving the science of it and putting a hand on her head. "Imagine its like a biological 'stamp on the wrist'. They can check it when you come back to the park and reactivate that strain of code for you at a later date."
"That seems dangerous," Sedona said, her face shifting back to a guarded appearance, the fur along the back of her head went up a little. "If I get what you are saying, couldn't some biological situation cause it to reappear? Or couldn't they set it so a person would or wouldn't turn into something at a given time?" she asked, suddenly seeing even more military applications than before. Captured by the enemy? No problem. Break the filling in your tooth and set off the chemicals that turn you into a specially engineered killing machine.
Lucy blinked, "Well. I wouldn't have thought so five years ago, but I suppose the science could do that," she offered, her stance becoming a bit more stiff as she sat up, "But that kind of thing is against the law. It was ones of the big issues with bringing the park to the States. We've got a ton of legislation in this country to prevent things like people going into heat and stuff like you mentioned earlier. 'No person may ever be in a position to be controlled by their new instincts' or whatever that one senator from South Carolina use to say," she said, tapping her hands on the table a bit, her tail no longer wagging. "So… um… yeah, its a little strange to see animals without heat cycles going on, but that's now because we all use to be human, so the usually twenty-eight days is the norm," she shrugged, sniffing the air towards the kitchen.
"Didn't mean to put you on edge," Sedona sighed, thinking 'the United States does not commit torture' with regards to what the U.S. would still do with or without legislation against it. "Not sure if this is a whole belief thing or whatever, but I'm still in my first day here, you know? I came to get away, but its only now that I'm asking if its safe," Sedona sighed, swirling a finger in her glass of water. "I mean, obviously its safe or the park wouldn't be open now," she said, thinking there might be a bigger story here than she realized. "So… Yeah, you were in the Beta. What happened there that made you stop wanting to be a teacher?" she wondered, taking up another one of the little meat balls.
"Well. I don't know. Everything about the experience just felt right… like I was experiencing a part of my life I could never get to before. They were toying with this idea of making an area for guests who wouldn't be prepared to rough it out in the full woods and realized they needed amenities and such. Part of the low cost of the park comes from not having to create room and board for every guest… but introducing room and board meant that there would be new costs… sewage, power, running water, and maybe even heat or air conditioning… things like that," she explained. "So the Park Credits were introduced. You can basically pay for room and board by contributing to the economy here. It's a whole 'everyone working together' thing, you see… and so by doing that we can cover our own expenses. It might be working while on vacation, but… there's something about it that doesn't feel like work, you know?" she asked, tilting her head to Sedona.
Sedona just nodded, the scent of different foods going through the air by now with all the other patrons entering for breakfast. Something in her mind started getting this Twilight Zone feeling about what she was experiencing here in this park. Some little intuition or instinct in the back of here mind that swore something about this whole setting was askew. Not all the pieces of the puzzle were yet revealed to her… she would need to ask around the village, but also go off further into the park.
As she saw the rabbit waiter approaching her table with a large platter of steak, she smiled to Lucy. "So it was the community aspect?" Sedona asked. "I could see that. Maybe I'll be a part of the community of things don't work out for me in the outside world," she shrugged a bit, smiling a big grin as a giant side of beef ended up on the table between the two of them, the waiter having to slide the oil lamp towards the wall and out of the way. "I'll let you get back to work," she nodded. "It'd be rude to eat in front of you," she said with a smile.
Lucy closed her eyes and bowed towards the larger canine as she stood up from her chair. Pushing it under the table, she turned to head for the front door as a new pair of residents appeared there. As Sedona took in the scene around the restaurant, she realized one thing about it all that seemed very odd to her. With all the different predators and prey animals… herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores… all the different animal interactions that really wouldn't have happened in nature itself… the one thing that really set her off was that creepy Outer Limits-vibe.
"Everyone's smiling… everyone's happy," she said softly to herself as she looked down and realized there were not utensils for her steak…