=:= Katie =:=
"It's two o'clock, sis. Final count-down." Stacey said. "Fifteen minutes and you're good to go."
Her fox-girl sister had moved the coffee table back and she had her laptop up and running, a camera app was recording everything as Katie sat waiting nervously on the sofa next to her daughter.
"Whatever you decide to do mom, I'll be here for you." Sarah said.
She nodded, smiling "Thank you both, Sarah, Stacey. You two have been great. Thanks for being so patient with me."
After the revelations last Thursday morning, she and Sarah had given up on their tourist plans for the day. Instead they'd spent most of the day talking, and by the time her sister was off work, Katie and Sarah had both agreed to postpone their return flight.
Katie hadn't been sure what her plans were, but she continued doing the prep spell. Now it was Monday afternoon, the full moon would peak soon, and she was going to do...something. She told her daughter and sister she was keeping it secret, but the truth was she still wasn't clear in her own mind what she wanted.
She could return to her original size, shape, and age. She could put the whole thing behind her as an interesting experience. Or she could just try and restore the height and strength she'd lost last month, and keep the rest of the changes.
She was still having trouble admitting she'd come to enjoy her feline traits, even to herself. And her size... She just wasn't sure how she felt about that. It was so much easier to pretend everything was annoying or irritating, to pretend to be frustrated and upset.
Her sister had loaned her a bathrobe which was ludicrously huge on her currently tiny frame, but it would fit just fine once she was normal-sized again. If that's what she decided to do.
Katie had another sip of water then set the bottle down on the little table next to the sofa. As the minutes ticked down, her anxiety was building up. She still hadn't made her mind up what she was going to do. It really would be a last-minute decision.
"Ten minutes," Stacey announced, watching the clock. "Video is recording so we'll get everything when the time comes."
Sarah asked, "You have the spell ready on your phone, right mom? The right spell, don't accidentally do the prep one."
Katie rolled her eyes, "Yes, I have it ready." She picked up her phone where it was next to her on the sofa. "All good to go, Sarah."
"You're still not going to tell us what to expect?" Stacey asked. She had a look of concern in her eyes, and there was some worry in her voice.
After working on Thursday, her sister had been off for the past four days so the three of them spent all that time together. They'd done some more sight-seeing and touring, but there'd also been a lot more talking. Stacey and Sarah had both been supportive but they were obviously still worried.
Katie couldn't blame them. If the roles were reversed she'd be worried for them too. As it was, she'd had to do a lot of soul-searching and introspection, which were things she generally avoided in the past. And even now, she still wasn't sure what she wanted.
"You'll see, Stace." Katie shrugged, "Just another ten minutes then we'll all see." She mentally cursed, realizing she'd just sort of admitted she didn't know yet herself. Fortunately neither of them called her on it. It was too close to the full moon to get into that discussion anyways.
At long last, Stacey nodded to her, "Any time now sis."
Katie nodded and took a deep breath. She looked at the phone in her hands, and started reciting the spell. As soon as it was finished she closed her eyes and tried to concentrate, but she found it impossible. A few images and thoughts flitted through her mind, but nothing stuck.
She felt the magic shift inside her as the spell triggered even though she didn't have an image fixed in her mind. It was too late, she didn't even have a chance to panic.
With her eyes closed, she couldn't see the light-show. She wasn't sure if it happened or if it was over. Her heart was racing though, wondering what she'd find when she finally looked.
She sat there with her eyes shut tight, not knowing what to do or what to expect.
Finally, Sarah asked softly "Mom? Are you ok?"
Katie took a deep breath and opened her eyes, looking to the right where her daughter was seated. She still had to tilt her head upwards to look at Sarah's face. "Nothing happened?"
"Something happened," Stacey said. "The swirly magic stuff happened."
Sarah said, "You look the same though."
Katie got to her feet. She was just as tiny as she'd been five minutes ago. Her ears and tail were still there. But something felt different. Her eyes drifted down to her hands, and she grinned. "I've got claws."
Her hands were just as small as before, but her fingernails had changed. They didn't seem retractable, they weren't completely cat-like. But they were rounded, pointed, sharp, and strong. Her focus shifted to her feet, and she smiled wider as she realized her toenails were the same.
"You made yourself more feline?" Stacey asked. "I... That's honestly the last thing I'd have expected, Katie. Well, except making yourself even shorter."
Sarah was still watching, and asked "Is that the only thing, mom?"
Katie took a few experimental steps, then picked up her backpack where it was sitting nearby. She was able to easily hold it one-handed now, as she grinned "Stronger too."
"Was this your plan, sis?" Stacey asked, still staring at her.
"Honestly Stacey?" she shook her head, then giggled. "I had no plan. I thought I'd make a last-minute decision, but I couldn't even do that. After I did the spell my mind froze up and I kind of blanked. I didn't 'pick' anything, I had no focus. I guess my subconscious made the choice for me?"
Sarah looked alarmed, "What?! You cast the spell without any idea what you were doing? Mom what if something bad happened?!"
"Cindy said it was foolproof," Stacey pointed out. "I think you're right, sis. Without your conscious mind in the way, the spell probably just went with what your subconscious wanted. Which kind of suggests this is 'the real you'."
Katie started to blush, but she smiled as well. "Yeah. Maybe it is... Maybe this is me."
• • • • •
"Oh my God Katie! Seriously?!" Stacey momentarily vanished from the screen as she doubled over giggling. When she came back into view she was still giggling as she asked, "Then what happened?"
Katie smirked, "I bared my fangs and hissed." She finished the story with a satisfied shrug, "Between the claws-on-the-chalkboard and the angry hiss, I had all eyes on me for the rest of the lecture."
Stacey dissolved into another fit of giggles, before finally sighing "That's... I honestly wish I could have seen that, sis."
"I did end up getting called in front of the dean and the board after that," Katie admitted. "I was ah, asked to tone down my 'theatrical antics' and not do anything that could be misinterpreted as threatening." She rolled her eyes. "So I guess no more sharpening my claws in class."
It was the end of September now. Another full moon had come and gone, and with it another sixteen or seventeen students had changed themselves. Added to those who'd tried the spell over the summer break, there were now almost a hundred students at UBC who'd done it. Katie was still the only member of the faculty to do so.
Her big reveal had come at the end of August, at a meeting of department heads. She'd strolled in and taken her seat, in all her four-foot-nine-inches, cat-ears-and-tail glory.
As soon as the meeting began and someone questioned her identity she stood up and announced who she was, what she'd done, and that it was her intention to take any challenges all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. She wanted to make case law, to ensure users of that spell would have all the protections, rights, and freedoms that everyone else enjoyed.
And as soon as everyone realized who she was, they knew she was serious. Katie Saunders had a reputation, regardless what she looked like. Exactly like Stacey had said, people respected her for her achievements, her knowledge, and her stubbornness. Her stature, her physical appearance, those were interesting footnotes but had nothing to do with her academic and legal successes.
On the other hand, dealing with students had been slightly different. Especially the two classes she taught to first-year students, where they didn't really know who she was and maybe weren't as aware of her reputation. Those were the times where she'd needed her physical size and presence to dominate the classes and lectures in the past, at least until the students got to know her. And now, those were the times where she'd been playing up the 'feline antics' instead, to get people's attention.
Stacey wiped some laugh-tears out of her eyes as she calmed down. She asked, "And how's the legal challenge stuff coming?"
Katie smiled, "Well the university flat out refused to challenge me. I think they decided they didn't want the publicity of being the 'bad guy'. Which is nice, I mean they've accepted me and supported me one-hundred-percent, issued me updated ID and the whole thing. Same goes for all the students who've used the spell, the university is supporting them fully. So I'm probably going to go after one the provincial ministries, since they refuse to update my ID or even acknowledge my existence."
She continued, "I've been talking quite a bit with Maria and Jessica over at QSAW of course. There's some people in your area who're planning to go after Ontario ministries for the same reason. So we're pooling resources and sharing information and strategies."
"And of course, I understand that the spell was originally created to help trans people, it wasn't really meant for cis folks like you and me." Katie was on a bit of a roll now, "So I've been getting more active in our local LGBTQ community, meeting and speaking with several trans people, to get a better handle on what needs to change for them. Things like making sure that people's names and gender markers are part of the ID reform, not just their photo and physical attributes like height and eye-colour."
Stacey shook her head slowly as she smiled, "Wow sis. I'm really, really proud of you."
"How have you been managing with ID?" Katie asked. "Or any other identity-related stuff?"
Stacey shrugged, "I've been ignoring it. My drivers license and health card still have the old pictures on them. We'll see what happens next month when I have to renew them. And I do all my banking online so that hasn't been an issue." She added, "Of course I'm blessed with a very open and accepting job, I know that's sadly rare. But between you and Maria and other people fighting for the cause, I hope it'll be a lot less rare soon enough."
"I hope so too, sis." Katie nodded. "Anyways, it's the end of my lunch break so I'd better get going. Sarah sends her love. Talk to you again soon!"
Such a good chappyyyy
"I bared my fangs and hissed."
This is gold
BC would definitely be the first Province to accept the new situation.