Even here, what Barry had turned into drew an uncomfortable number of looks...
The newly minted small rabbit-girl could only wait for her turn. She was ... in the waiting room of... what was considered a clinic … specializing in transformations. Cold sterile walls surrounded her with some very... strange posters caching her eye. 'Adjusting to a new gender, how to exercise with a new appendage, the ins and outs of... fur grooming.' It was a wall of just about 'every' weird change or new biology that could be conceivably.. conceived.
Though how did one deal with a 'transformation gone wrong'?
People rarely got what they wanted...so they 'desired' a fix. Some people just wanted a little more... That was where this clinic stepped in. A number of them sprang up to deal with transforming the transformed...
Providing 'adjustments'.
Of course, a 'cure' was generally considered impossible... but sometimes a minor adjustment could be attempted. At least, that's what they offered though there were always risks it could get 'worse'.
Barry's parents had tried to assure her that everything would be fine... that they could do 'something'... right? The new girl though knew the truth, given her own research with her passing curiosity. She knew this better then her parents. A 'complete return' to any kind of normality would be impossible... Even considering the rather... unique method of transformation employed. What even was that creature? Nobody would believe her... was it just in her head? Did she hallucinate that whole thing?
What even was she now? A girl... A... girl... A rabbit-girl?
She repeated this in her mind a few times... the image conjured in her mind made no sense forcing her to check again and... continuing that verification. Her mind still refused to accept it. She felt angry.. hurt... confused... Her normal body... was gone, replaced by some girl that her.. brain.. soul.. or.. some 'immutable' part of her was now occupying. That was assuming her brain wasn't changing...
She stared almost unblinking.. just straight ahead as these troubling thoughts and horrifying implications bubbled in her mind. She refused to listen to the sensations of her own body... Ignoring the weird shortness that forced her legs into a horizontal position when sitting.. the weird curves of her small breasts against the hastily wrapped clothing... the tail behind her... and those ears that flopped a little above her head... No- they didn't exist right now... gone...
She focused instead on the others here who probably had.. worse problems.
... right?
There were a few of 'them' in the waiting room... a mix of angry and concerned and embarrassed looks greeted her, their eyes lingering for a moment before looking away in a weird mutual exchange of glances. It was kind of strange seeing people with the same uncomfortable expression yet.. so curious of other people that they dare not be caught 'looking'.
“You okay?”
Barry glanced up at her mother sitting next to her. She no doubt saw that same expression on herself. “...yeah.” The self hypnosis wore off and she was once again confronting a body that didn't belong to her. She stared at her hands.. now... paws. Well- they just about had sufficient dexterity to work as hands, though her thumb was somewhat shorter. She had actual pads on the palm, similar to her elongated feet... just like an animal. Fur... covered her everywhere. It itched a bit- in places she rather not think about.
The change itself was all the more unsettling in just how removed from human she was... yet she was clearly not completely an animal either. If nothing else her face gave that away with human-like awareness shining in those eyes. Then again, if someone saw her would they just 'assume' she was some.. lesser creature? She had sobbed and cried for ages... even during the car journey here. A wet tissue held loosely in her paw as she eventually... ran out of tears to shed.
Her ears were very floppy and... expressive to her emotions. Sadness made them limp to the sides of her head, partially blocking out her hearing. Maybe that was a good thing. She felt like she would be sad forever now...
Her Mother and Father had bundled her up as best they could in some ill-fitting clothes. Her red shirt was... way to big and trailed down over her legs as if she were some kind of child playing dress up. The relatively large paw-like feet kept on poking out from underneath and pulled down on the shirt, risking a constant 'wardrobe malfunction'. Her arms couldn't even reach through the sleeves. Every so often her mom would pull the clothing up to Barry's neck. They had given up on putting any pants on her... what would even work with legs shaped like this anyway?
Her tail was not exactly as long as a cat's or as bushy as a squirrel.. but it was very... fluffy. Big enough to catch attention and not small enough to hide easily. Perfectly sized for someone to.. play with, if they were inclined. Despite the challenge she had tried to conceal the appendage in her huge T-shirt but it seem to flick and move on its own, much to her annoyance.
The 'size' of her body was the main problem though. Barry guessed she was just slightly shy of three feet tall, though she seemed to make up for it with her ears... They were...big. About eight inches long, flapping about the sides when she sobbed earlier but their natural state was higher up and to the side. Her face was... very cute. Large wide blue eyes and she even retained human-like snow white hair on her head. That was actually kind of a relief, even if it was the same white as her fur.. and added to her overall 'fluffy' look but it gave her a more humanized appearance. The slight muzzle of her face though adding more to the animal side of... whatever she was.
She was some white rabbit-ish furball... endowed with small breasts on her chest; not that anyone would notice them unless she wore something skin- fur tight. At least she walked mostly human-like and didn't have to hop around everywhere. (Though maybe she would have to test that out... in private.)
Her mother watched the rabbit-girl sadly. “You know it could have been worse” she tried to offer in solace.
Barry looked down at her large feet.. wishing she could have put her jeans on at least. Did she even need clothes though? She was a furball. “Worse? How?” she almost spat that. This was the worst! Could it have been worse? Really?
“Well...” Barry's mother tried to think on that. “At least.. you are quite uh-”
“...cute?” the rabbit-girl asked.
“Yes. Very.” Her mother said with a light scratching of her child's ears. “I don't really understand why you did it, but...we remain supportive of your decision.”
Barry... looked at her mother oddly. “What... do you mean?”
“Well your father and I know you've been curious about the transformations for a while... we just didn't expect you to try one of those.. freelance clinics...”
The rabbit-girl gave a cautious look. For some reason her mother thought that... he had used... one of those less reputable booths! “But...” Oh- yes.. actually that did make sense. The amount of energy the lesser clinics used was a lot smaller... some considered it a 'safer' way to explore a change as they 'might' be temporary... but in truth it simply slowed down a transformation in highly unpredictable ways.
Such booths were considered dangerous because a transformation could either be very slow, changing someone a little bit at a time after they were exposed... or it went in sudden intense bursts, which- depending on what a person was doing at the time could cause distress or even injury. The problem was the unpredictability and a person couldn't 'know' if their change was done... making psychological adaption difficult. Because of this, the larger 'instant' booths were the government approved system. (The cynical felt it was easier to create new identification paperwork too.)
Barry felt a little... calmer as she felt her ears touched by her mother. That scratching... she couldn't help but feel that was actually quite a.. pleasant sensation. Her mother used to do that when she was human so it wasn't an.. unusual greeting; quite familiar actually.
Her mother suddenly stopped- perhaps a little worried if this was somehow a 'wrong' thing to do. Barry looked up to her.
“I um- I'll go see if I can get them to hurry up a bit,” Barry's mother explained before walking away.
Barry...was alone again... was even her mother disgusted by this? To distract herself she tried to look at the other changed people again... all of them seeking their own adjustments. She watched a... slime-girl. That was probably the scariest thing- er-person. The slime-girl was trying to hold her form into some defined solid state but had yet to work out how. Her body was an amorphous blue blob inside some kind of makeshift plastic container, being attended to by a young man. Such changes were.. weird and they tended to always default female- one of the weird quirks of the universe. She looked to another...
There was a man who was.. trying to get comfortable on a chair. There didn't seem to be anything weird about him... maybe a bit fat- though finally she saw it... an udder! Barry quickly looked away. Maybe her mother was right.. it could have been worse.
The next one that caught her eye was a little girl- though a fox. A little taller then Barry, the girl was staring at the rabbit-girl a little too often, clearly intrigued by her and lacked the social graces to not be 'too curious'. She was as furry as she was after all... with a big bushy tail and almost cartoonish big eyes. Gauging her body, Barry couldn't see any curves that would indicate she was of a mature age. She guessed she was about ten years old perhaps, but with the fur it was hard to tell.. a situation she realized she was also in.
It seemed that curiosity had won the fox girl over as she came over to look at Barry.... her tail waving behind her excitedly. She was only wearing a dress at the bottom with the rest of her exposed torso covered in fur, a white streak on the stomach area. “Hi!” she said cheerfully. “Waiting to see the doc?” She asked with her arms behind her back, swaying a little happy to make a new friend... a friend she seemed to want to... get to know.
Barry wasn't sure what to say. Why did this girl think she wanted to discuss any of it! Though through her mannerisms it became painfully obvious what was going on. 'Relax.. she's just a kid, and she thinks you're a kid too'. It didn't help that this kid was 'taller' then her.
Realizing the situation the rabbit-girl tried to be nonchalant about it, shifting up her clothes a bit- intending to show she was actually older then her but.. only looking more adorable. “Yeah,” she sighed, not sure how long she can hold out on this. Where was her mother? “You too?”
The fox girl shook her head. “Nope, not me. I'm here for my sister” she giggled. “I became a fox! Pretty neat, huh?” she gestured to her body looking quite proud and happy. “Almost exactly what I wanted! Could have done with less fur but I'm not complaining.”
“Uh... uh huh.” Barry rubbed her hands. She really didn't want to know more. These people were crazy.
The Fox-girl flicked her tail a little as she continued. “My sister wanted to be like me and thought the same thing might happen, but she turned into a plant-girl. She ended up rooted though on the spot.”
Barry gulped. “...yikes. Uh- is she okay?”
“Yeah” The fox girl said casually. “We had to keep an eye on her for a month so we could try it again. We hope she can walk again though, that's the adjustment we're hoping for.” She nodded. “You turned out pretty nice though!” The fox giggled. “Are you getting fixes too?” She pouted a bit... clearly thinking Barry was just cute as she was! “Maybe your ears can be made even bigger?”
“No! I- I'm hoping to get back to... human again.” Barry said honestly and pulled down on her ears slightly... embarrassed by such a suggestion.
“Why?” asked the fox-girl.
“Because it's what I'm supposed to be!” the rabbit girl replied.
“But if you weren't supposed to be a rabbit wouldn't you be something else?”
“I- urgh. You don't understand. Never mind,” Children logic... Barry's ears flapped upwards in surprise realizing this kid got closer to her.
“Wow! Your ears move a lot.” She smiled more.
“Um-”
Then the fox girl's attention was fortunately pulled away. “Oh- my sister is here! I gotta go.”
Barry watched as another girl came into the waiting room... carrying a large pot in her arms, and walking with legs. She was completely green skinned. He couldn't really hear them from the distance but they seemed to be happy with the results... at least it was successful for her.
Finally her mother came back too. “The Doctor is ready for us.”
Barry nodded and carefully hopped off the chair. No doubt drawing a few new stares.
Doctor Kathy had seen a lot of interesting changes in her time. Most of all she dealt with those who were 'forced' into a transformation. This usually came across by peer pressure, a parent subjecting their child to it due to a new custom or tradition, and perhaps the rarest of all.. a kidnapping.
Kidnappings and forced changes were rare... very rare... but they did happen. They were big news and there was always an element of intrigue. What would be the motive? What was the result? Did the kidnapper release their victim, or did the transformed person use their new body to escape or even turn the tables?
There were some countries that considered using the transformation as a punishment, in particular if they subjected someone without consent to a change. (The old 'eye for an eye' saying.) However... the results were often not considered 'fair'. Half the time it seemed like a person was rewarded with a new life and those that seemed to get a punishing change were quick to adapt and be just as free- if not more so then had they just been a human in a prison cell.
In the end it was agreed by the majority of countries that the transformation technology can not be used as a punishment, even in the worst circumstances... the lack of fairness could not be resolved politically or justified morally. Until a day could be found that it 'could' be controlled... and on that day countries would find themselves in an even bigger dilemma on what was 'fair' or moral.
Dr Kathy looked at her notes as the latest transformed person came in. “Ah... Barry? Please have a seat,” The doctor said gesturing the rabbit-girl to a chair.
The rabbit-girl did her best to sit on what seemed like a big chair now to her. Everything looked... huge to her. Now these people were all about to decide on 'what' to do with her. She folded her arms on her large T-shirt, trying to stop it from falling off her.
“Thank you for seeing us..” Barry's mother spoke trying to stay calm herself. “Especially at such short notice.”
Doctor Kathy was already looking at Barry. There was a strange... 'perfection' she could see in that face, a very pretty change she could objectively note. “Can you tell me the circumstances you changed?”
“W-well- there was this.. thing! On the internet. It.. fired a.. weird ray-gun at me.” she shivered.
“I... see.” Doctor Kathy noted down that the transformation might have affected the girl's memories. Not an uncommon occurrence. “-and how did you come to be with your parents?”
“He was in his room,” the mother explained. “We found him- er- her- like this.” She tried her best to stay strong despite the situation. “He might have used those... other clinics?”
“Ah...” The doctor nodded. “Well Barry... it's possible that using such a clinic has affected your short-term memory... psychological trauma... can create a weird memory. Your mind is always trying to create order even out of chaos... and re-create the circumstances of your change within your mind.”
“B-but... I never went to such a place!” Barry frowned her ears flopping low. She wouldn't have...
“Hm... tell me, have you ever been 'curious' though to ever go to one?”
“Well.... yes.... I mean- everyone is!”
“It is possible you have gone to one and simply can't recall... unfortunately it would be impossible to find out. They don't keep records.”
“I know what happened though!” Barry protested. “You got to believe me! It was some weird creature! Living on my computer!”
“I see...” The doctor sighed. “Well... leaving that aside, Well.. I can confirm you were subjected to the same transformation energy as any other clinic. I have looked at your blood samples...”
Barry listened, her ears slowly tilting a little.
“...It is a little unusual but the signature indicates there were no meta-weights placed at all. So this had to be quite random...” She explained. “... which would indicate a very basic transformation booth.This makes adjustments in some ways both easy and difficult. I'm not sure how far human we can get you back to though. We might be able to make you a little taller... possibly get you to a more human form but... regaining your gender might be near impossible,” she explained.
“I'll- be stuck like this.. forever?” Her voice trembled. She knew this of course but...
The doctor looked again at her notes. “Well... given enough time and data we can try to model what will happen if we re-apply the transformation... but without a file to go on, I have to work backwards. It's a bit like... trying to decrypt a file without any key at all. Technically possible but... difficult. When we have a file of your change and the conditions we at least have part of that key... but with nothing to go on, changing you again would be quite dangerous. We will have to go very slowly...”
Barry looked down at her furry white body, feeling the weird... motion of her ears. “W-what do I do now?”
The doctor tried to comfort Barry. “Well... just live your life as best you can? We can't do anything anyway for at least a month and we find its best for people to just get back to their lives. There are many changed people that can help you... oh and have a pamphlet” She smiled. 'A big world...', 'Socialising as an animal-girl. The last one the doctor gave her was called 'Fur and Dressing.'
“...thanks.” Barry's ears flopped down again giving away how she felt about the situation.
“Don't mention it.” Doctor Kathy nodded. “I'll speak to a few others to see if we can crack your code... I can also set you up for some group counselling... you have a good day now!”
Larry had run outside to try and catch the thief on her four legs. She seemed surprised though in that she could actually still sense where he had gone. She sniffed the air and a trail just.. appeared in her mind. The damp raining water was starting to make it fade away but... it was almost like a video game.
The sphinx-girl had some... concerns though of just running out though to look for it. She had to... sort other things out.
The fairy-girl watched the sphinx return and shake off the water from her fur. “Not going to get it?”
“urgh. I can't exactly go anywhere. I .. I just realized I don't have any clothes.” She seemed acutely embarrassed of this.
The fairy girls seemed surprised. “Oh yeah- I forgot.”
Larry tensed a bit as she thought of how to fix that situation.
“...So did I.” She admitted. “Until I saw my reflection in the glass...”
The fairy stood on a table looking with a slight smirk. “Maybe it's not so important then?”
The sphinx was not about to even consider that at the moment. This had been a very long day. She was tired... cold.. hungry, and this was turning into the longest shifts she ever had in this clinic. “Mom was right, this wasn't a good place to work... what am I going to do?” The sphinx-girl collapsed.
“Well... I have a favour to ask now.” The fairy asked.
“What might that be.. Shirley.”
“...can I crash at your place?”
“Huh?”
“... it's not like a I take up much space.” The fairy smiled. “Besides... if we are to turn back... we need each other.”
Larry thought about it. “I... don't see how.” She whispered. “You threatened me and...”
“I told you before I don't remember any of that! I'm not exactly the same person. However... what is true is that you and me, we both changed together. That means the transformation process included both of us. I do know that means we should try to change back to normal at the same time again...”
Larry gasped slightly. Damn it- she was right. If there was any chance to get back to normal, they had to be in the booth together. “...fine. We'll get the parts to fix the machine tomorrow... then we can try to get back to normal...”
“Great! Um...”
Larry sighed and let her head closer to the desk, allowing the fairy to climb up on her again- but then she felt something... strange. A weird image in her head...
“Urgh...” she gasped.
“What's wrong?” The fairy asked. “You okay?”
“... I... I don't think I can go home. Something feels wrong... if I go there...”
“How much to unlock it?”
“...Fifty bucks to unlock.. and fifty for no questions.”
The man drew the phone and a bundle of money. “Take a hundred... we never met.”
Five minutes passed and the phone was unlocked. Addresses and contacts carefully explored. “So... is this a friend of his... Larry... hm...”
