“What?!” Anthony screamed.
The squirrel girl had arrived at the office dressed with what she could do in her body. The clothes already felt a bit warm on her fur. She stared up at the desk, not quite realising just how stark and large it had become.
“The board has decided… that you are no longer capable of acting in their interests.” Alex explained, slowly taking a tissue and wiping his glasses with it. “There is no likely change in their position.”
“The Hell I’m not!” The squirrel shouted. She felt her blood boiling and pumping. She had got dressed, went through Freak Street, worked her ass (and now tail) off for this?! “Well, you can find a way around this right?!” Anthony demanded. “Alex, this isn’t possible. I built this company! I am the bloody company! These assholes can’t take it away from me!” her tail raised up higher as she became more and more angry.
Alex cleared his throat. He looked down to the squirrel girl. “Your financial position has become… precarious. You have no severance pay as such… but you will be given a month salary with a slight extra bonus… and then you are dismissed.”
“…dismissed… DISMISSED?!” The squirrel suddenly jumped ‘onto’ Alex, her small claws gripping his shirt, his smaller feet paws clinging tightly. “Do you have any idea what I’ve been through? The risks I took… they were my risks. This was MY work and-“ Suddenly Anthony found herself being thrown onto the ground. Her body seemed to automatically twist and turn so that she was not quite hurt as badly as she ‘could’ have been. However it was all so sudden.
“…I would ask you not to do that again. Sir.” Alex’s voice was a little cold.
Anthony stared at him. “…it was you… my taxes are all locked up by you. You convinced the board I am not capable any more… you have been working slowly to take over my company…” She stared at him. “…I trusted you.”
Alex slowly stared back. “… It is not as you are thinking. I trusted you as well… you were very capable as a human… your tenacity never ceased to amaze me.” Alex sighed. “…however as you are now, you are a risk… a liability. Tell me Anthony, if that water had hit me… what would you do? If I turned into a… I don’t know… some kind of giant spider… what would you have done?”
Anthony imagined it. She imagined the conversation… ‘I’m sorry Alex, you would have to be replaced. You are not able to bring enough confidence to our work… I’m Sorry Alex, Spiders are not exactly family friendly… I’m sorry Alex but we have a certain health-code you are now violating-‘ Anthony bit her lip as she realised just how screwed she was. “…don’t you have any heart at all in this?” She asked quietly.
“…the fact you even ask that, shows how much you have changed,” Alex explained with a shrug. “The rules are quite clear that if you are in a state that has lost the confidence of the board… the next one qualified must take control. That would be myself, until someone more suitable arrives. I aim to show I can competently control the company. I am doing this for the employees just as much as for myself… after all if the company fails ‘I’ am also out of a lucrative position. You have often said a sacrifice must sometimes be made… and you have become something we must now remove.”
“…It’s my company.” Anthony growled. “ITS MY COMPANY!” she suddenly launched herself- surprisingly quickly on the large table. “If you want it take it from me!”
Alex pushed a button on the desk. “Security, please escort this… animal person out. She is now trespassing.”
So Anthony found herself tossed out of the building in a rather ‘easy’ fashion. She was as light as a child. She screamed the entire way though. She even threw her tail into the face of the security guards as they walked her up, their arms crossed over her small torso. “You can’t do this to me! You can’t!” Yet apparently, they could. She was thrown unceremoniously onto the muddy street… suling the suit she had been given. She looked down at herself… utterly confused. How could this be happening?! She slowly stood up, with as much dignity as a changed animal-girl could. She glanced around as others noticed her. While there were some concerned looks, nobody paid further attention.
Anthony was no longer in charge… she couldn’t use the company assets to find a cure for her changed body.
The next couple of days were very hard on Anthony. She mostly wasn’t too sure what to do with her time anymore. She kept an eye on the news… and she wasn’t even mentioned yet. Was it being kept quiet? Was it even important enough to be newsworthy?
She spent some time looking at how she could get back in charge, exploring some legal routes… but knowing Alex, he would have shut down all those options. It would appear that everything she had worked for was gone. She also noticed that star-sparkles company had been destroyed… she made statements of how angry she was but life continued.
“Well at least she made the news,” she muttered to herself. “Urgh, what am I saying this isn’t a competition of the biggest loser,” she laid down on her couch turning the TV off.
The squirrel-girl started looking at her options. She ‘could’ try to build up another business… indeed being in charge of something new would make her feel a lot better, then if she was simply another ‘employee’ again. Though she knew animal-folk didn’t generally get the best deals. Convincing humans to work for her might also be a challenge… she knew how humans thought.
…she knew how ‘she’ would have thought.
Anthony sighed. She then glanced at the leaflets offering counselling… She didn’t ‘want’ any help but… she had been isolated for almost a week. Things were not progressing… her life was at a standstill. The world was going on without her… and this did seem to be a way to at least see what other people did. ‘Think of it as a meeting’ she decided. “Heh… yeah. I’ll get to see the solutions that other people come up with…”
The squirrel girl had reached a small building just around the corner of Freak Street. It was quite a tall building almost like a tower. She pulled her long coat over herself as she saw a few people go inside… a few… other freaks. She glanced around awkwardly before walking there as well, cautiously ensuring not to catch her tail on the door.
There was a reception area… plush green carpet and blue walls. All colours that would make one feel calm and at home. There were other changed people. A young boy with antlers on his head, with his mother trying to sort out the hair around it… some kind of ‘demon girl’ who had a bit of a ‘goth’ vibe. She was wearing a black T-shirt with skulls and bones on it. She looked like an older teenager. There was a receptionist… who appeared surprisingly human.
“Hi there. May I have your name?”
Anthony approached quietly. “It’s um- Anthony Douglas.”
She nodded. “Would you like to use another name for this? It’s quite alright, many do.”
“Um… no… I’m… still me.” She said quietly. “I’m always me…”
The receptionist typed on her computer. “Hm… We have a session in an hour you are welcome to join. Please just wait here a while. We can get you some tea if you like?”
Anthony shook her head. “No thanks I um- I’ll wait here.” She was a bit surprised by the next person coming through the door… or at least ‘trying’ to.
“Ah- It’s a bit too small’ A voice spoke as her body squirmed through, yellow talons starting to kick out. The second door at the side gave in slightly and it was just enough to let the rather oddly configured body through. It appeared to be a bird…girl?! She had the lower body of a bird... with a human torso at the top. One might call her a ‘bird-taur’ or some kind. Though that face Anthony recognized. “John’s girlfriend?!” she gasped. John mentioned she had taken her change worse then the harpy-boy. She stared at her body in quiet wonder.
“Just what are you looking at?” The woman huffed placing her arms on her hips… which caused a similar posture on the wings below.
“Um-“ Anthony blinked. “I- I think I know your boyfriend.” She whispered. “Is his name John?”
“Oh?” She turned suddenly, her large feathery behind brushed against the green wall. “Yeah… he became a harpy. You know him?”
Anthony nodded. “He mentioned it was… your idea to go through the change.”
“Hmph. Yeah. Fine, I made a mistake. I thought I would be an Angel, okay?! I was promised wings…” she clenched her fists… and Anthony could see that her limbs while feathered around her arms… she had actual hands. Her bird-body however had its own set of wings. Anthony quickly looked away though not wanting to upset her more while she went to the receptionist to register.
At that point another person came in. It appeared to be a woman… though she had a rather ‘stiff’ posture. Anthony realised she was a machine- well- that word didn’t do her beauty justice. She was more like… a doll? It was hard to describe. She was an artificial human of some kind perhaps. She didn’t look artificial until one looked a bit closer. Bright white hair that shone almost like moonlight as it cascaded down her back. She had a ‘perfect’ face with eyes of dazzling purple. She looked to be in her early twenties with somewhat large, perky looking breasts and wore some kind of T-shirt and jeans. Her figure was like an hourglass. She even walked perfectly… any guy would be staring at her.
The robot girl had a shy nature to her as... someone else began to guide her.
“This way sweetie.” The slightly older woman gestured. Was that her sister?
“Is this the place mommy?” the robot-woman asked.
Anthony’s jaw dropped. Wait… was she…
The woman guided her young child… who looked like a grown-up woman into the office. The receptionist smiled. “Ah yes come on in. We have the children session set up already.” A door opened and the robot-woman... with her mother was let through.
Anthony gave a quiet whistle. “That’s… That’s not good.” She whispered to herself though audible enough for others to hear.
“Yeah, completely inappropriate, someone looking like they are the wrong age,” the demon-girl whispered with a slight smirk to the squirrel girl. “can’t be having that can we?” She folded her arms as Anthony gave a very defensive look back.
“Hey- I wasn’t going to do anything!” Anthony clenched her paw-like hands. “It’s not like that!” Anthony wasn’t going to just ‘jump’ on one of the changed or do anything stupid-
“You look like a kid, I think you’re worse than her frankly.” The demon girl said. “That’s what I thought when you first entered in. I mean an adult, pretending to be a kid? That’s messed up.”
“You know I didn’t get a choice in ‘that’!” Anthony felt like she wanted to just leave.
"Whatever. You're the one wearing kid underwear." The demon shrugged again.
Anthony stared at her. What the heck was up with this demon girl? ‘remember the plan… just learn what you can about them…’
After another half-hour, Anthony and others in the group were called in. She glanced slightly towards the door where the changed-kids were. It made sense they would have their own issues to deal with after a weird transformation… she felt rather saddened about it. Most kids she knew tended to be resilient though… they even enjoyed their transformations. Perhaps it was the aspect of innocence and a quality in the youth… but still some changes would be harder then others.
Given what she was dealing with, she didn’t want a kid to go through that. “Maybe this water should be banned after all…” she half wondered. What benefits did it bring? Some… but what a cost… what a change to the world… what misery…
The councillor in the room was a goat-woman. She gave an easy-going smile, as chairs were set up. Her cloven feet echoing slightly on the harder floor. She also had small horns at the top and a white beard flowing down her face. “Come now, let’s all sit down. We have some new members today.”
“I can’t sit,” said the bird-taur woman. “…I just break.. it all with my fat ass.” She looked down at herself angrily.
“We’ll have some cushions there if you like,” The goat-woman explained. “So, you are Anthony?”
“Um- yeah.” The squirrel girl whispered. “I’m- Anthony. Nice to… meet you.” She slid her tail through the chair as she sat down, her feet dangling in the air.
“Wrong age, wrong gender, wrong species,” The demon girl laughed. “You really are a freak.”
“Sally,” The councillor sighed. “I know you can’t help speaking your mind but please, we are all here to understand ourselves better.”
“Whatever you say goat-mom.” The demon-girl groaned as she also sat down on the chair.
Anthony was already having second thoughts about this…
