=::= Maia's PoV =::=

"Woah!" Maureen gasped as she scrambled out of the booth and took another couple steps back. "What the hell just happened?!"

Meanwhile I was staring wide-eyed at the seat next to me, where my daughter had been just a few seconds earlier. In her place sat a small fox, perched atop Krissy's clothes. It had a coat of soft black fur, along with little tufts of lighter grey floof in its tall pointed ears. And the tip of its big fluffy black tail was white.

I forced myself to stay still, so as not to spook the small animal. Although so far it seemed fairly calm, it hadn't moved yet apart from looking at Maureen when she backed away. With my eyes on the fox I asked in a soft level voice, "Krissy? Is that you? Do you know what just happened to you?"

The fox turned its head to look up at me with its bright amber eyes. Then it looked down at itself and let out a 'Yip' sound as its tail started to wag happily. It made a few more happy noises, then stood up on its hind legs while its front paws leaned on the table. Finally it reached out and gently placed one paw on that little plush toy that was sitting next to Krissy's lunch.

The fox made a 'Yap' sound, and a moment later I was staring at a familiar-looking young woman. She actually looked a lot like the girl I saw in the bathroom mirror a few minutes earlier, except for a few key differences.

First there were the two tall black fuzzy fox ears standing up on top of her head. Second was the long floofy black tail with the white tip, that was slowly swishing back and forth behind her. Her eyes were next, where mine were bright green hers were amber, and her pupils were vertical ovals rather than round. And finally there was the fact that she was completely naked, kneeling ontop of Krissy's clothes piled on the bench next to me.

Despite how much she'd changed I could still recognize her as my daughter. Her cute attractive face still bore a family resemblance to mine, even though they'd both become softer and more rounded, with smaller noses and full pink lips. Her body had even shrank to about the same size as mine had become. In fact I realized with a bit of shock that we'd probably pass as sisters now, we even looked to be about the same age.

That thought sent my heart racing with joy again, although I wasn't sure how my daughter might feel about it. Likewise I wasn't sure what she'd think of her new ears and tail, but apart from that I was positive she'd be happy about the rest of her new body.

"Krissy?" I asked nervously, while making a point of not looking any further down than her shoulders due to her lack of clothes. "Are you ok?"

She glanced down at herself then let out a loud squeal of joy as her tail started wagging up a storm behind her, "Yeah! I'm better than ok! Oh my gods I have to see this, I have to check the mirror!"

I didn't even have a chance to get out of her way, she just climbed up over the back of the booth then dashed stark naked for the bathrooms.

After a couple seconds of silence Maureen demanded, "Ok what the hell is going on here?! First you turn into a girl, then your daughter turned into a little black dog? This is crazy!"

She was still standing a few paces away from the booth where the three of us had been sitting, looking confused and uneasy as she stared at me.

"She was a fox," I corrected her as I turned to face the older woman. "Not a dog. And I'm sorry Maureen, I don't know what's going on or how any of this happened. Hopefully we'll get some answers once Krissy comes back from the washroom."

Then I gently suggested, "In the meantime why don't you sit back down? Our lunch is going to be cold by the time anyone gets to enjoy it."

"All right boss," she sighed as she slowly moved back to the booth and settled into her seat across from me.

"So your girl's a fox huh?" she commented, before finally taking a bite of her sandwich. As she chewed she continued, "I guess I really do need to get my eyes checked. I'm glad I didn't make that mistake while she was here. Especially not after screwing up with her first thing this morning."

I couldn't help smiling as I told her, "If you need some time off to make arrangements that's not a problem. Just give me a day or two warning, if you can."

"Thanks boss," she replied, before taking another bite of her lunch.

After a slight hesitation I asked, "Maybe you could call me Maia, instead of boss?"

Maureen looked at me for a second or two then smiled, "All right Maia, I'll give it a try."

Hearing her use my new name sent my heart fluttering, but before I had a chance to respond Krissy finally returned. Her tail was still wagging up a storm as she clambered over the back of the booth behind me then dropped down onto the seat next to me. Then she fussed with her pile of clothes for a few seconds, before finally pulling on her black cardigan. That was it though, the rest of her outfit stayed on the seat for now.

Then she beamed at both me and Maureen as she exclaimed, "It's perfect dad! This is the magic I've been wishing for all my life! It's amazing and incredible and perfect and I'm so happy I feel like I might burst!"

I couldn't help smiling at her enthusiasm and excitement, "I'm happy for you hon, and you look fantastic! I'm a little concerned about the ears and the tail though? I'm also curious about how all this happened. You said a customer gave you that plushie? Maybe you can tell us about it while the three of us enjoy our lunch."

"Ok dad," she agreed. Then her tail twitched as she added, "Don't worry about the ears and the tail though ok? I love them!"

Between bites of her toasted bacon sandwich she told Maureen and I, "Anyways it was just after that transmisic asshole this morning. I was serving a table of four young women, three were about my age while one looked more like a high-school student. And one of them was tiny, like she couldn't even finish a kid's order of banana pancakes. The wild thing though is she had fox ears too, and three tails! I assumed they were fake, like obviously there's no such thing as magic and kitsune aren't real so I just kind of ignored them? Except duh, now we know magic's real and she must have been a real kitsune!"

"And she's the one who gave you the fox toy? The tiny kitsune girl?" I asked.

Krissy shook her head, "No, it was her girlfriend, the teenager. She had messy brown hair and seemed kind of shy, but she's the one who gave me the plushie and the note."

"The other two were a tall redhead and a petite girl with silvery-grey hair and purple eyes," she added. "The redhead and the little kitsune were the ones who chased that asshole out of the restaurant, while the brunette and the silver-haired girl stayed with me to make sure I was ok."

Maureen commented, "I know two of those girls. The tall redhead and the short girl with the premature grey hair, they're a couple regulars. They're not in here every week, but I'd say at least once a month they come in for brunch. And sometimes they have friends with them."

"Can't say I've ever noticed a tiny three-tailed foxgirl before though," she added.

I thought about that as I chewed on a mouthful of my sandwich. Then I asked my daughter, "The note said you already knew what the plushie would do. Do you know this 'Kid Chaos' from somewhere?"

"It's something I read about online," she explained while her tail swished slowly back and forth behind her. "It was a while back, about a year ago maybe? Some trans people were talking about these enchanted plushies, that gave them an instant magical transition. Along with some cute fuzzy ears and a tail."

She was smiling again as her tall black vulpine ears twitched and her tail wagged. Then she added, "I knew magic wasn't real so I didn't think much about it at the time. Hard to believe Kid Chaos is actually some shy high-school student though."

Maureen suggested, "Maybe this chaos person's really one of the older girls? Or a friend of theirs. Or one of their parents."

Krissy shrugged, and I sighed as I finished the last of my sandwich.

"I guess if we ever see them here again we can always ask?" I commented. "The enchanted plush toy explains Krissy's magic, but we still don't know what happened to me. I definitely didn't touch any magic toys, and I never even saw those four customers let alone spoke to them."

My daughter reminded me, "Maybe not directly but I passed on what you said. I told them their food was on the house and that you were grateful for them looking out for me. Maybe that was enough? Who knows how this magic stuff really works anyways?"

"You're ok though right?" she added as she leaned closer and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "Are you still happy about how you've changed? Do you still want to be Maia?"

"Oh!" she added as her tail swished around again. "Should I start calling you Maia now? Or do you want me to keep calling you dad?"

I found myself both smiling and blushing as I hugged her back, "Don't worry hon, I'm happy. Very happy, for both of us. I'm still a little worried about you, those ears and the tail might cause you some problems with folks? But I'm beyond happy that you got your magic. And if you want to call me Maia I'm definitely not going to complain."

My smile shifted to a grimace as added, "The way I look now, people will probably look at us funny if you keep calling me dad. At least out in public."

"Alright Maia," Krissy responded. She leaned closer and gave me a little kiss on the cheek and whispered, "You'll always be dad to me though, ok?"

My blush grew brighter as my smile returned. I gave her a gentle squeeze and replied, "Thanks hon. Just like you'll always be my little girl."

• • • • •

I set the cheese and onion omelette under the hot-lamps, next to a toasted western sandwich that was already waiting. Then I tapped the bell with my spatula, before turning back to the other dozen tickets I had going on the grill.

As I started preparing the next order for service I heard Maureen come in through the door behind me so I asked, "How's it looking out there?"

"Busy," she replied as she loaded the two plates onto her tray. "We got a line of folks waiting for tables, so I hope you're not thinking about taking a break any time soon."

I laughed as I looked over my shoulder at her, "No ma'am, I'm good. How about you?"

Maureen was wearing a new pair of glasses that I thought looked really good on her. They were subtle, with thin gold-coloured frames. I knew she was worried at first that glasses would make her look older, but I thought they made her look more distinguished.

"Too busy to stand around here making small-talk with you, Maia!" she insisted as she headed back towards the dining room.

That left me with another smile on my face as I started assembling the next order and moving the plates up under the lamps. We were in the middle of another busy Sunday brunch rush, and I couldn't be happier. A couple weeks had passed since that fateful day my daughter and I first experienced magic, and despite some initial concerns everything seemed to work out just fine in the end.

The first few days were incredibly hectic, since both Krissy and I needed an entire new set of clothes. Although it was equal parts convenient and awkward to discover we could share almost all our new things, from jackets to footwear. About the only things we couldn't easily swap were pants and skirts, because all hers needed special openings at the back for her tail.

There were still a few things we hadn't sorted out yet, like neither Krissy or I figured out what to do about our ID. She'd already gone through the name change process but she needed new photo-ID, while I'd have to do everything at once. It wasn't a huge priority just yet since she was able to convince the folks at college who she was, and I didn't have to prove myself to anyone at the restaurant.

Soon enough the next order was ready to go, a grand slam special over easy with bacon and ham, cheese omelette, kid's combo scrambled with bacon, and a kid's french toast. I gave the bell a double-tap then turned my attention back to the grill again.

It wasn't long before I heard the door to the dining room swing open again as Krissy announced, "Perfect timing! Those two kids were starting to get really impatient."

That was another nice surprise that came up during all the hassles and ordeals of that first week, right in the middle of me reintroducing myself to the rest of my staff. Sally needed to cut back for health reasons, she was getting on in years and while she wasn't ready to retire she couldn't keep up with the busy weekend shifts anymore. Angie was back from holidays but she didn't want to take any extra hours either.

I was able to shuffle things around so both of them were happy, but unfortunately it meant I was short one waitress for the busiest day of the week. Or so I thought, until my daughter volunteered to make her emergency shift into a regular thing. Now she was coming in every Sunday to work with me and Maureen.

"It's a kid thing," I said as I glanced over my shoulder at her. "I think time must move slower for them."

Krissy's long black hair was pulled back into a pony-tail, same as mine. And her triangular black fuzzy ears were standing up tall and proud, although one of them was turned back so she could keep an ear on the dining-room behind her. And finally her tail was down low behind her legs, while the tip twitched slightly from side to side.

"I recall you were pretty impatient yourself when you were a little girl," I teased. Then as I turned back towards the grill once again I added, "Tell the children the chef said she was sorry for keeping them waiting."

Even with my back to her I could imagine her either blushing or rolling her eyes as she responded, "I'll do that."

Then she hurried out to make some children and their parents happy while my focus remained on all the food cooking on my grill. And as I worked, a wide smile settled on my face.

I was in my happy place, in my restaurant next to my grill, making food for lots of hungry people. My daughter had started working with me again, and she seemed to be enjoying it almost as much as I did. We were both trans, although she figured herself out long before I did. And we were both blessed with miraculous magical transitions.

About the only remaining thing I could wish for was the opportunity to thank the young women that gave Krissy and I these wonderful gifts.

In fact I was so happy I started humming to myself as I began assembling the next set of plates under the hot-lamps. Then I tapped the bell and turned back to find yet another new ticket waiting in the printer. It was for one of my daughter's tables, and something about it seemed familiar.

In fact it made me think back to that fateful day once again, and the four girls who gave Krissy that magical fox plushie. My smile grew wider as I reached for the eggs so I could get started on their meals.

Eggs-benny poached soft with peameal bacon for the tall redhead. Chocolate chip pancakes a-la carte for the girl with the silvery hair. Kid's pancakes with banana slices for the tiny kitsune girl. And a regular combo for the shy brunette, three strips of bacon and three eggs, sunny side up.

~ The End ~

PurpleCatGirl

For folks who aren't familiar with the four magical guests, the tall redhead and the girl with the silvery hair are from our story Aka Amy, while the tiny kitsune and the shy brunette are from our story Club Luna. And the little enchanted plush toy concept comes from our 'capsule plushies' series, which begins with the short story Meow!

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