A Fox in the Works Secondary Event By Fox Cutter 03/18/2000: I took in a deep breath and let it slowly trail out as I tucked my tail around my legs. As my lungs emptied I tried to focus my powers on more than just my paws. I pulled and stretched at it, trying to get my body to properly shift. I pushed, and I pushed, but every time I did my powers pushed back at me, and my powers once again won. Letting out a sigh I dropped my hands onto the bed and shook out my hair. At least I had avoided the headache that my powers usually brought, but that was probably because I hadn't changed at all. <> Rhea asked from where she rested on the floor. "Nothing new," I said as I slid off the bed and walked across the bedroom. My fur was still damp from the shower, giving me a slight chill as I pulled some clothing out of my dresser. <> she said as she watched. I glanced back at her as I pulled on a pair of panties and adjusted them around the base of my tail. "What do you mean? How could my problems be anything but?" I asked her as I slid on my bra and closed the hooks. <> she said. "Isn't that the exact same thing?" I asked her as I walked towards the closet. Rhea rose to her feet and followed me across the room. <> she told me. "Why does everyone keep telling me the same things?" I complained as I pulled a pair of blue jeans out of the closet, and a black T-Shirt. <> I sighed and pulled the clothing on. "I've tried that, Rhea, I've tried that a lot, but it doesn't work," I said as I pulled my hair free of my shirt and fluffed it out. I turned to look at myself in the mirror, frowning a touch when I saw the lioness looking back at me. Rhea let out a mental sigh and gently butted me in the legs. <> she told me. "You're not the first person to tell me that," I told her as I started out of the bedroom. <> Rhea replied as she followed me out of the room. I gave Ravindar a short nod as I left the room and he fell in behind me. It was a short walk as I headed towards the kitchen, hoping to get a bite to eat. I was alone in the house that day. Oriana had taken the children to the Temple to celebrate the twin's birthday. Kalie had gone with her, but I had elected to stay at home; I wasn't really in the mood to deal with religion. "So what are your plans for today?" Ravindar asked as I started to dig around in the kitchen. "I'm not sure yet. I might go into the shipyard; I need to look over a few things on the new ship and check out the preliminary plans Malia has for the new fighters," I said as I debated making a real lunch, or grabbing something from the freezer. Real food won out, and I started making a sandwich. "You want one, Ravindar?" I asked. The tiger shrugged his shoulders as he sat down at the kitchen table. "I'm not hungry at the moment," he said. I nodded and continued making my meal. <> Rhea said as she padded around the table. "Alright," I said as I finished making my own meal and set it aside. I went to one of the lower cupboards and pulled out a couple of packages of raw beef. It wasn't exactly pet food, it was actually just stew meat wrapped in plastic and treated to stay fresh but it was exactly what Rhea (and myself when I was non-morphic) needed to eat. I opened the packages and dumped the contents into her bowl, then added a little steak sauce to go with it. I placed the bowl on the floor and slid it over to her. I took my plate and sat down at the table, but I hadn't gotten more than a few bites in before the phone rang. I rolled my eyes and set my food down on the plate and picked up the phone. "Hello?" I asked, wiping my muzzle clean. "Hello, Fox," Rachel said from the other side of the line. I smiled slightly, my ears perking up as I leaned back against the wall. "Hello, Rachel, what's going on?" I asked her. "I have some things I need to talk to you about. Do you think you can move to your office?" she asked. "Sure, call me back in about five minutes," I replied, glancing down at my watch. "Of course," she replied and hung up the phone. I placed the phone back on the hook and picked up my plate. "I need to head to the office," I said as I started down the hallway. Ravindar followed after me, but Rhea stayed to finish her own meal. I unlocked the office door and stepped inside, leaving Ravindar in the hallway, as usual. I took a seat at my desk and tried to finish the last of my sandwich before Rachel called me back. The phone rang as I was gulping down the last bite. I took a moment to clean my muzzle before I answered the call, this time turning on the video. "Hello again, Rachel," I said as her imaged appeared on the screen. "Hello, Fox," she said as she set a few things aside. "I hope I didn't call you at a bad time," she added. I gave her a smile as I leaned back in my chair. "No, I was just eating lunch. So, what's up?" She licked her lips and flipped through some papers that were just out of view. "I have some information on your Mr. Black," she said. "I'm glad to hear that, I was worried that nothing would come of that," I told her as I took out the notebook I kept of Marn's personal insanity. "So, what did you find out?" "His name is Morten Keller, and he's dead," she said. I chuckled softly and noted down the name. "Why am I not surprised? Clark is dead as well, officially," I said with a small smirk. "Officially? Yes... Unofficially, it's starting to look like he may not be as dead as we thought. Some of the transactions to Keller came from some of Clark's old accounts, accounts that we are just now finding, and that were still active as short as a year ago. Some of the accesses were made with Clark's biometrics. He's the only one who could have provided those." I blew air through my teeth and nodded my head. "That's far from the best news we could have gotten. How sure are you that Mr. Black is dead?" I asked. "About as sure as we are that Clark is dead. All we have is a death certificate, but that doesn't mean that much. We are still back tracking accounts, but now that we have both a name and his DNA. We are trying to track anything we can about him." I nodded my head and scratched a few more notes, my tail flicking. "That's something, and now that we have this we can track down more of the people that Marn named," I said. She nodded and set her notes aside. "I'll have the full set of documents sent to you by courier, along with a few things for the Consortium." "Thanks," I said as I set the notebook aside. I looked closer at my friend, realizing that I hadn't spoken to her since I helped her move. Between fetching the last item, and trying to deal with what had happened to me, we just hadn't talked. The items! I hadn't told her I had gotten the last one yet. "I managed to get the last of the items on Graison's list," I blurted out, the words rushing over themselves as I spoke them. Rachel's ears lifted at this as she leaned closer to her screen. "That's good to know. I'll have to call a few people and see what they want done with them. How did collecting the last one go? I know you had big plans for that." I tensed up, pulling my arms in a bit closer. "There were problems," I told her, trying not to say anything else. "What kind of problems?" my friend asked, a look of concern on her muzzle. I bit my lip and tried to relax, I didn't want to show her just how badly things had actually gone for me. "I would rather not talk about that... it just went bad," I said, shifting uncomfortably in my seat. She frowned, but nodded her head, getting the message. "I understand. If you need someone to talk to, just give me a call," she said. I gave her a small smile. "Thank you, that means a lot to me," I said, meaning every word of it. She nodded a bit. "I'll get back to you on what you should do about the items," she said. "It would be nice to have them out of the safe," I told her. "You have a good day," she said. "You, too," I said as I hung up the line. As the screen went black I let out a sigh and slumped down in my chair. Looking down at my paws, I flexed my fingers, wishing for the millionth time that I could actually change my form. Once more I was able to change my paws into hands, and once more it didn't last. I made sure to pull it back before the headache hit, and let out a sigh. "At this rate I'm going to be stuck as a female for the rest of my life," I said as I dropped my head into my paws. It wasn't that it was a bad thing, and after the last few years it was something that felt normal to me. It would also prove to be the final end of pretending to still be human, and that might be a good thing. Maybe Doctor Starker was right, that I should pick a female name and just settle into it. I wouldn't be playing a role, not like last time I was being female. This time it I would just be myself. It would be better this time, a lot better. Then again, being a female named Fox did throw people off, and I did like being named that. Maybe I could settle on being called Vixen, or some derivative of that. I would have to talk to Oria about it first. If I actually did take a new name I wanted her help to pick it out. Standing up, I stretched out my arms and walked across the room. I filed the idea away for later. I still had things to do, and Oria wouldn't be back till that evening. It could wait until then. * * * "What are you up to?" I asked Samantha as she walked into the kitchen. She had changed out of her normal street clothing and into a long black dress that showed just how curvy she actually was. She wore a silver chain over her hips, and over the base of her cloth tail, as well as a pair of short heels. I was even surprised to discover that she had painted her nails. She gave me a smile as she set her purse on the kitchen table and started to peruse the cupboard. "I have a date tonight, Fox," she grinned. Her tail flicked happily as she took out a glass and filled it with milk. "That's the fourth one this month," I said, and set my PADD down on the table. "You two must be having a good time. When do I get to meet the lucky guy?" Samantha smiled and took a sip of the milk as she rested on the edge of the counter. "Soon enough, he'll be here to pick me up in about ten minutes," she said. I nodded and ran a paw through my hair. "I can't wait to meet him. I'm sorry that Oria isn't back yet so she could join us." She rolled her eyes and shook her head, her auburn hair bouncing around her shoulders. "You two are like my parents all over again. I guess you're entitled; I'll probably be bringing him back here some night or another," she said, smirking at me. I waved my paw at her, my ears turning down slightly to hide the blush that ran over them. "Just don't make too much noise, and stay safe," I told her. Samantha laughed. "I'll keep that in mind, Mom," she teased. I shook my head and picked up my PADD. "I want to thank you for suggesting that restaurant. It was nice to be able to eat fish again," I said, a purr building slowly as that night played over my mind's eye. "I bet it was," she said as she finished her milk and set the glass aside. "I may have a few more places you could go. Mallory has an eclectic taste in food and we go someplace different every night." "Then keep me informed. I've learned it's worth trying anything, as long as no one tells me what it's made from," I said. It was a policy that had been useful over the years, and had only backfired a few times. Samantha walked back to the table and picked up her purse. She riffled through it for a moment before pulling out a small mirror. She used it to look at her face, then touched up her lipstick. "You make that look very natural," I told her. She shrugged and returned her items to her purse. "Years of practice," she said. "Of course," I replied as I set the PADD back down on the table and rose to my feet. "Do you know where you are going tonight, or is that a surprise as well?" I asked her. "It's going to be a surprise, but he hasn't picked wrong yet," she told me as she and I started to walk to the living room. Rhea was already there, lying over the couch with her muzzle resting over one paw as she watched the small television screen on the table next to her. She turned her head to the side to watch us as we entered, and reached out with her other paw to turn the set off. The controls on it were sized large enough that she could use them with only minor problems. I walked over to my sister and ran my fingers over her large flank. She responded with a soft purr and a flick of her tail. "Are you going to hover over me until he gets here?" Samantha asked as she took a black leather coat out of the closet. "Naturally," I said as I pushed gently on Rhea's side. She got the idea and slid off the couch, and I sat down in her place. Samantha shook her head and started to zip her jacket up, stopping when it was only half closed. She adjusted her dress under the jacket, showing just a bit more cleavage than before. Rhea walked over to her, circling the young woman as she sniffed at her. <> she told Samantha. "That is the idea," Samantha said as she fluffed out her hair. Rhea flicked her ears back and nodded her head. She paced around the woman once more before coming back to lie down next to the couch. "You have clearly succeeded," I told Samantha as I reached down to pet my sometimes twin's ears. "Thank you," she said, turning her head when there was a knock at the door. She rushed over to it, pulling it open with something almost like a giggle, allowing her boyfriend to step into the house. My mouth fell open when I saw him, but I snapped it closed just a moment later. He was huge, and different enough from anything I had seen before to make him clearly an alien. He crouched slightly on his double-kneed legs as he came through the doorway, his tail tapping softly on the ground as he walked. "Hello, Mallory," Samantha said, walking up to him and giving him a firm hug. "Hello, St. Clair," he replied, his multi-jointed jaw spreading into a smile before the two of them kissed. It was an odd kiss with the different jaws, and just a quick peck, but the two of them seemed happy. Samantha pulled away slightly and motioned to me. "Mallory, this is my friend, Fox Cutter," she said. The tall alien looked over me, his head bobbing lightly as his unbroken golden eyes looked at me. The lack of an iris was decidedly odd. "The same Fox Cutter who is on the Presider's Advisory Council?" "One and the same," I said as I rose from the couch. He flexed his lower jaw as he looked me over a second time. "I was under the impression that you were a male human. That was clearly wrong," he said. I shook my head as I walked over to them. "I usually am, just not at the moment," I said, and offered out my paw to him. He wrapped his three flexible fingers around mine, and gave me a firm shake. "Whatever you may look like, it's a pleasure to meet you," he said. "Likewise," I said as I looked between him and Samantha. Her tail was flicking rapidly behind herself, and I suspected she would be purring if she had been physically capable of it. Mallory's tail was bouncing gently on the floor, creating a soft rhythmic tapping that hung just at the edge of hearing. The alien wrapped his arm over Samantha's shoulder, and gave her a smile. "We must be going. Our reservations are in an hour, and it would be best not to be late for them," he said. "Of course," she said, her own arm draping over his back and stroking over the top of his tail. "You two have a good night," I said, and held the door open for them as they walked outside. <> Rhea said once the door was closed. "No argument there," I replied with a smile as I started back to the kitchen. Ravindar was standing in the doorway, a smile on his face. "What do you think of him?" I asked the tiger. "I would like to see what he is like in a fight," Ravindar replied. I chuckled and nodded my head. "If he hurts her, you are more than welcome to kick his ass," I told him as I started towards the kitchen. I paused for a moment as I heard the fold room door hiss open. With a burst of speed I ran down the hallway to meet my wife as she walked out of the fold room, with Adric cradled in her arms. Kalie was behind her, holding Becca, and Santhera had Romana in her arms. "How are you, love?" I asked, as I leaned forward to kiss her on the nose. I then took my son from her, holding him against me as he shifted gently in my arms. She stretched her arms out as we walked towards the nursery together. "I'm tired. I've been on my feet all day," she said. "We'll have to get you off of them," I told her. She responded with a purr, her tail flicking out to rub against mine. My purring soon joined hers as I gave her a knowing smile. It didn't take much longer to get the children into bed. Romana started to fuss a bit, but that was ended with some gentle rocking. Once they were down we all filed out, my wife and I heading next door, into our room. Oria flopped onto the bed as soon as the door was closed, kicking her feet back and flexing her toes. "That's the only problem with the Temple, the floor is to hard," she said, and dropped onto her back. I sat down next to her, crossing my legs as I pulled my wife's foot into my lap. I started working my thumbs under her toes, stroking my fingers down her footpad to her heel. She let out a soft moan, purring deeply as she stretched herself out. "That feels so good," she said. "I aim to please," I said and worked my fingers back down to her toes, pressing firmly on the spots I knew would be hurting. Primarily that was where the thickest callouses were on her feet. My wife shifted a bit, her tail flicking up between her legs as the bed rumbled from her pleasure. "I love you so much, Fox," she said. "I love you, too," I told her, and moved to her other foot. She shifted sightly and propped her head up to look at me. "I think anyone would love you with foot rubs like this," she said. I chuckled softly. "I learned it from you," I said as I tickled the fur on top of her foot. Oria laughed and kicked at me. I held on tightly to her, ticking her more, right where she was the most ticklish. She laughed even louder, struggling with me until I let her foot go. "That was mean," she said as she rolled on the bed and rose up on her paws and knees. "What are you going to do about it?" I asked her, and then stuck my tongue out. She lifted her ears, a low growl starting inside of her as she hunched back on the bed. With a yell she pounced me! Her outstretched paws hit my chest, right under my breasts, and sent us both tumbling back over the bed. We came to a stop face to face, and kissed each other firmly as we pulled closer. Her paws ran down my back to play with the base of my tail as I pressed my paws into her shoulders, holding onto her like my life depended on it. * * * I slid out of the bed near the middle of the night, after lying awake for hours, listening to Oriana as she slept. The cute little sounds she made brought a smile to my muzzle, and reminded me why I loved her. Once I was settled on the floor, I tiptoed around the room and picked up my robe, pulling it tight to my female body. I opened the door slowly, trying to make as little sound as possible. One I was sure that I had not awakened my wife, I stepped outside and closed the door. <> Rhea asked. I jumped slightly and looked down at her. She was lying against the wall, placed just where I wouldn't have been able to seen her without looking for her. "I'm going for a walk," I told her as I started down the hallway. <> she told me, following in my footsteps. I shrugged as I walked into the kitchen. "I'm not sleeping," I admitted. <> she told me as she put her forepaws up on the kitchen table. Her head turned to track me as I started to make myself a midnight snack. <> I snorted as I made myself a bowl of cereal. "I think that would be obvious," I told her. I sat down at the table and looked her in the eyes. Rhea nodded her head, and then dropped it into onto the surface of the table. Her ears fell slightly to the side as she watched me eat, but she said nothing. "What is it?" I said with an exasperated sigh. <> she said, her ears flicking back. I grunted softly and set my spoon down. "I've been through this before. Frankly, everyone I know has had this conversation with me before," I said with a touch of annoyance. She nodded her head and dropped from the table. <> she asked, and butted her head against my leg to emphasis the point. "I have been," I said, then stood from the chair, stepping around my sister so I could put my bowl in the sink. "Most of the advice I've been given has been bunk, and hasn't help me control my shifting powers," I said. <> she snapped. <> I shook my head, my tail flicking in agitation as I walked towards the living room. "You don't think I've tried everything I can think of? However you cut it I simply cannot force the power into the correct shape. I'm just not strong enough." Rhea rushed passed me and block my way. <> "That wasn't the same," I said. She butted my legs again. <> she said. I let out a low growl and glared down at her. "You think I don't want to be able to shift? You think I want to stay stuck like this?" <> she snapped. "You have no idea how--" Rhea cut me off. <> My growl grew deeper as I bent down to glare at her. "What do you think? Of course I want to be human again," I said. It was the first time I had told someone that, and actually meant every word of it. This time there were no conditions, no buts, just my pure ego. Rhea jumped upwards, her large forepaws smacking into my chest and sending us both to the ground. I landed hard on my back, the air being forced out of my lungs as my sister landed on top of me. <> she ordered as she lowered her face until we were nose to nose, her hot breath ruffling the fur on my face and blowing my whiskers back. "I can't," I snarled, trying to push her off of me. She shook her head. <> she said. I pushed up at her belly, but it was hard to move a four hundred pound lioness when she didn't want to. "Get off," I ordered. <> I glared up at her, then reached out and smacked her on the side of her large muzzle. "Damn it, Rhea, get the fuck off of me!" I snarled. She pulled her head back around, growling and baring her teeth. <> "I would if I could!" <> she yelled, her mental voice ringing in my ears. I growled, my ears falling back into my hair as I pushed at her, pushing with everything I had as I tried to dislodge her. Then something happened, something moved in a way I was unfamiliar with, and I was kicking my sister off of me as I finally shifted. Rhea rolled along the floor and smacked against the wall, grunting as she hit hard. I pulled myself onto all fours, panting softly as I glared at my sister, my ears still laid flat as the fact that I had changed form started to sink in. ::Very good,:: Rhea said in the way that only she and I could use to talk, and that no one else could hear. ::I knew you could do it!:: ::I'm glad one of us did,:: I said as I looked back at her, and finally walked to her side, rubbing my muzzle against hers. She smiled and rolled herself back onto all fours. ::Can you do that again?:: she asked. I was about to protest that I didn't know if I could, but I held my tongue. Instead I thought about what had happened, what I had done and how exactly it had felt. I reached inside of myself, pushing gently at my powers, feeling them in my mind. Taking my powers in my mental hands, I tugged at them gently. Instead of pulling them out, trying to force them into the shape I wanted, I gave them a gentle push. And I was human again. ----- This story (AFiW #504) is copyright 2005 by Fox Cutter. Hardcopy reprints limited to one per person, all other rights reserved. This story may not be distributed for a fee except by permission of the author, and this copyright notice may not be removed.