Jenny was calm as she changed out of her work clothing and into something a bit more comfortable. It wasn't casual, but it sat on her a lot better than what she wore to work. It would do for the party. She had had another meeting with Helen Lwow as she came into work in the morning and received further instructions on her bachelorette party. It had been to meet a new restaurant called Ani's which was on the east side of the town she and Clemens lived in. She was looking forward to this, mostly as if to sate her curiosity as to what the party would be. She had gotten along well with Helen Lwow, but hadn't expected her to the one to invite her to her bachelorette party. She had to figure out what it would be, and with the nonsense her more antagonistic coworkers settled for the moment, she would have the opportunity to figure out what the party would be.
Once changed and ready, she made her way back through the apartment. Clemens by now was preparing something for his own dinner and was in the kitchen as she went out. He looked dashing and beautiful now that his old skin had come off and fresh scales practically glittered as light reflected off of them. He also looked a bit more comfortable now that he wasn't itching at the old layer of scales.
"Well... I'm off," Jenny announced to him.
"Have fun," Clemens replied to her.
"I'm sure I will," Jenny gave a smile, "don't wait up."
Clemens nodded as she went out the door and began digging for her car keys in her purse. From there it was a quick trip the restaurant that the party was to be held at. She pulled into the parking lot and rapidly found a large gathering of cars in one particular area of the parking lot. She could see Helen there, along with members of her bridal party lead by her sister-in-law and maid of honor, Emily, and to her surprise her coworker who was also named Emily. As she parked her car, she noticed them comparing something, though she couldn't tell for sure. She parked and expected a fairly warm welcome as she got out of her car.
"And here we have our guest of honor," Helen said politely and with a slight smile, "I'm glad you could make it."
"And why not?" Jenny smiled back, "I've actually been looking forward to this."
Helen gave a rather shy smile as they all turned to the front of the restaurant. The front was a brick and stucco building with a metal outline of various animals with the name "Ani's" in cursive with the animal outlines being in the background.
"Then hopefully you'll like this," Helen answered as they began to walk in, "the restaurant is actually on my way home and I think it'd be a place you could take Clemens when neither of you feel like cooking.
Jenny looked at the front of the building again and figured that much of its theme had to do with animal people. They were a new race, but many businesses and services were now starting to try and play to that new race there were now more than a dozen or so victims of a lunatic to far more than that who had become animal people willingly. They all had different needs and at first, animal people had to take care of their own needs completely. But with more of them now, businesses had been starting to cater to their needs, likely sensing business opportunities. Clemens had commonly followed a lot of these businesses.
"They cater to animal people?" Jenny asked.
"Not just animal people," Helen answered, "they serve a relatively basic menu for people... but they also put together a great deal of specialized meals for animal people. Things that are all meats but with some spices for carnivores and specific vegetarian servings for herbivores. Food made from grains for animal people that in nature graze on grasses. Fruit salads for animals that eat fruits. Certain other vegetables are also available for herbivores as well, but like certain spices for carnivores they are only side dishes for herbivores. They've also had the willingness to increase portion sizes for animal people that need to eat more"
"So... its a family restaurant that is more willing to alter its menu for animal people," Jenny commented.
And that was true. Other family restaurants had often restaurants often refused to alter menus for animal people. They didn't want an unbalanced food supply due to carnivores not being able to safely digest most plant matter or herbivores not being able to safely digest meat. Most also didn't like the idea of increasing the serving sizes as would be needed. Jenny remembered the visit to George and Molly's cabin. Clemens' own portions weren't that different from when he was human, mostly due to the slower metabolism that came from his semi-cold blooded system allowed for. The two tiger people, however, took much larger portions. At the time, Jenny had been amazed and surprised, but Clemens also did tell her that the men who cared for the zoo's big cats commonly served around ten pounds of meat to their specimens a day just to keep them alive and healthy. Restaurants might be willing to increase the portion sizes, but only with a corresponding increase in prices. When animal people either refused or lacked the funds to pay, the restaurants then rejected increasing the portion sizes.
"Yes," Helen admitted, "and I suggested we have the party here when Emily... er..."
"When I contacted her about the party," coworker Emily said calmly, "though your sister-in-law was also quite helpful."
Jenny looked over to her brother's wife, who had a pleased smile on her face and shrugged.
"You never told me you had such well named friends, Jen," sister-in-law Emily joked with a side glance to coworker Emily.
"It never came up before," Jenny said slowly, "I trust you aren't too upset...?"
"Me, upset?" sister-in-law Emily laughed, "never. Just amused the coincidence."
"We aren't here for coincidences!" one of the other members of the bridal party spoke up, "we're here to party and congratulate Jenny!"
"HOORAY!" came the cheer from the others before dropping off into some amused chuckling. Jenny found herself laughing along with them as they began to walk in. Coworker Emily and Helen lead the way. They entered into the main lobby with Jenny looking around as they did so. The interior had a rather modern feel to it, though it was well decorated with plants which looked very real to Jenny. She didn't get much chance to fully investigate them as Helen then spoke to the one of the restaurant's employees who stood at a wooden podium with what looked like catnip decorating it. Jenny also noted that the man was an animal person, a dog person based off of a Beagle.
"Hello and welcome to Ani's," the Beagle person stated, "do you have a reservation?"
"Yes," Helen spoke, "for Lwow... for a party."
The Beagle person looked to Helen and then back to Jenny. He then looked down again, as though he were checking something.
"This is the bachelorette party, I assume?" the Beagle person asked.
"Yes," coworker Emily said from beside Helen and then pointed to Jenny, "this is Jenny... our guest of honor. Engaged to Clemens Patten."
The Beagle person looked at her for a moment, blinked and then spoke, "welcome, madam. Congratulations on your engagement."
"Thank you," Jenny answered.
The Beagle man nodded, "now, if you'll come with me, I'll show your party to your table."
He lead them to a back corner of the main dining area. It was a large round table that stood a bit taller than what she expected. It wasn't as high as the bar's counter would be but it was also taller than the dinning table back in the apartment she shared with Clemens. The chairs were upgraded to a similar scale and had an open back to them. Jenny figured that was deliberate as while someone could chose become an animal that didn't have a tail, like Gorillas, there were still many animal people that had become animals that did have tails, like Clemens. The open backed chair was more for their comfort and the taller table and chairs were to provide greater accessibility for animal people who had become species that were larger than humans.
"Your server will be by shortly," the Beagle person said politely and then returned back to his post while Jenny and her group sat down.
"So what do you think?" Helen asked nervously.
Jenny looked around, noting a couple of other people there, some were animal people while others were human. The background music was soft and friendly. It was in the perfect setting for a family restaurant.
"I think it looks nice," Jenny answered, "a little odd setting for a bachelorette party..."
"Well," sister-in-law Emily commented, "it was suggested for a more racy setting..."
"But Helen here had a bought of shyness," coworker Emily finished, "so this is where we agreed to meet. We bought appropriate cards to congratulate you and collected notes for what would be appropriate marriage advice."
"We'll give them to you after we've ordered," one of the other bridal party members said with a wink.
At that time, their server, a human male arrived and provided them with menus. Jenny looked them over and found that the restaurant did have a rather lengthy wine and alcoholic beverage list. This surprised her, as while Ani's might have a balanced menu for both animal people and humans, she figured that the more animal person based menu and even portion sizes would mean that things that were bad for animal people would be in much more limited supply. George and Molly didn't have any alcohol when Jenny and Clemens visited their cabin. Clemens didn't have any alcohol.
"Heh..." the waiter gave a chuckle after being asked on the presence of alcohol on the menu, "for the most part alcohol isn't as bad as one may think... The affect it would have on animals is roughly the same as the affect it would have on people. Think on any drunk squirrel videos you might have seen on YouTube. Those cases came from them eating "fermenting fruit" and got drunk as a result. The real issue that comes into play with regard to alcohol and animals, particularly pets, is that they are physically so small that their bodies cannot handle the level of alcohol commonly in the alcoholic beverages and they succumb to alcohol poisoning... the same way humans can succumb to it if you give them too much... Though most animal people haven't ordered from this part of the menu too much... some do, and we are obligated to warn them of the potential dangers, but not many order."
"So why have such a well stocked menu?" Jenny asked, referring to the alcohol.
"Because our human customers do order from that part of the menu and on the odd occasion an animal person does," the waiter answered, "we simply wish to keep things balanced out."
Jenny looked to the other girls and shrugged. They then made their orders and waited patiently for what they ordered to arrive. This gave them time to resume some of the festivities that Jenny had been curious about ever since Helen had made the invitation to her. The other guests had bought various cards of congratulations, all of which wished her luck with Clemens. Some of the cards were tasteful and rather sweet. One, however, which was from one of her bridesmaids named Sharon was a bit racy and included some ideas that made Jenny blush.
"What?" Sharon asked, "I do wish you to be happy."
"I'm sure," Jenny answered, her cheeks turning red, "but half of what you've suggested... well... I'd be a python by now if I did that..."
"Something sexual, I'd presume?" coworker Emily asked.
"Yeah," Jenny answered.
"Come on," Sharon answered, "there are plenty of sexual things that wouldn't transfer the Animatrix Serum to you. They say it can't survive in the open air. So you could take his tail and use it like a very special toy... or get him to give you a bit of tongue, if you know what I mean."
"I know what you mean," Jenny answered, and noticed that Helen was also embarrassed by overhearing the conversation. "It's not something we should be discussing in this setting."
Sharon shrugged, "just find a way to be happy with him."
Jenny nodded. The joke might have been a bit racy, but Sharon's heart was probably in the right place. And on some levels she wasn't necessarily wrong. The Animatrix Serum was for the moment infectious, but it couldn't survive in the air. This meant that things that came in contact with the air, skin, fur, scales, feathers, and even saliva couldn't infect people with the serum and an open wound wouldn't be that much of a threat unless there was a way to match it to another wound and keep the area airtight. That could allow for more sexual, but despite their mutual interest old action adventure cartoons, movies, and related conventions, neither Jenny nor Clemens were really into experimenting with what they could do sexually that wouldn't lead to Jenny's transformation.
Once all the surprise over cards was over, sister-in-law Emily produced a notebook and handed it to Jenny.
"In here are all the things you'll need to know to have a happy marriage," sister-in-law Emily said with a smile, "some serious, some humorous, some..."
Sister-in-law Emily glanced to Sharon and then finished, "...adult rated."
Jenny flipped through the list and found things that included, "let him think he's right, even when he's clearly wrong. It'll keep your stress levels down and keep him confident in his own ability." It was an amusing list, though a few of the suggestions made her blush with embarrassment as well.