I smell Rob standing over me before I see him. He must’ve worked up a sweat, I can almost taste his rank B.O. from here. I groan as I turn onto my side and try to open my eyes. First, I notice him standing over me, and second, I notice that it’s night out. Given that it’s January, I knew it would be dark out soon, but that must mean I’d been out for an hour or so.

“Hey uh, Wolf,” he says, offering a cup up to my lips, “drink this water for me, if you can? I remember needing it when I passed out after I changed.”

“Oh, thanks,” I reply, noticing a strangely lighter tone in my voice. I gulp down the water, noticing the mouth it’s going down seems…longer? Perhaps whatever’s happened to me has–oh! I’ve changed, haven’t I?

I try and lift myself up to get to a mirror, feeling my paw pads struggle against the floor before I collapse back onto the floor, wincing at the pain it causes in my chest. I decided it’s best for now to just lay on the floor and let Rob watch over me.

“Easy there, kid,” he says, “I don’t want you straining yourself. That was the fastest I’ve ever seen anyone change.”

“Oh,” I say, “is that bad?”

“No, just…” he trails off, thinking, “well, it’s probably best that I get one of mama’s mirrors and show you.”

He walks briskly out of the room, and I try to focus on moving my tail. I quickly realize it’s already moving, wagging at the prospect of seeing the changes. If you could see my skin beneath my fur, I’d probably be blushing. They say the transformation reflects a form you’ll love, but I’m curious about what that says about me. Heck, if I didn’t know better, I’d say my voice–

“Hey, here ya go,” he says as he walks back in, offering me the mirror and turning the light on.

As I blink away the initial sensitivity to the light, I begin to look at myself. My face is thin and defined, definitely attractive. My eyes are now an intense golden color, just like the rest of the family. My ears are much bigger, compared to my head’s size, than the rest of my family. That’s for sure. I see a lot of resemblance to…mom.

“Hey Rob,” I ask, “isn’t it kind of weird that I look kinda…girly?”

“Hey, I don’t mean to alarm you,” he replies, “but you should really look down.”

As I look down, I see weird protrusions coming out of my t-shirt. As I go to poke at one, I wince as I pull back. Those are…

“B..breasts?” I ask, noticing for the first time just how intensely feminine my voice sounds when alarmed. I cover my mouth in shock.

“Yeah uh,” Rob replies, rubbing the back of his head, “I think you’re a chick now.”

“Oh man, oh man, oh man,” I begin to whine, “dad is gonna fuckin kill me.”

“Hey, you don’t know that!” he replies assuringly.

“You know what he said about the trans woman down the street the other day? I don’t exactly want to repeat it, but it ain’t pretty,” I reply curtly.

“Well, I mean, it’s different if it’s…”

“Do you really believe he’s gonna change his mind in a day, or see a difference?”

“You know, Wolf,” he replies, “I’m not sure if I do. But a guy can hope, yeah? I gotta protect my little…sister.”

“I’m not sure if I’m comfortable being referred to like that yet,” I say, sitting up and crossing my arms across my chest, half for modesty, half for emphasis.

“Alright, little sibling,” he replies, ruffling my head fur as I growl a little in protest, “we’ll figure something out. I gotta at least call mom though, otherwise dad’s for sure gonna find out.”

“Thanks Rob,” I call as he leaves, “and please close the door!”

“Can do!” he obliges, slamming it a little hard, with a distant ‘sorry’ echoing after he does so.

And so, I’m left alone in a room, in a body I’ve simultaneously, to some extent, wanted for years, and yet, feels totally alien to me. I stand up, steadying myself experimentally on the bed, until I find my footing. First things first, I close the blinds. No way some pervert’s gonna see me like this. A good thing too, just as I do, my jeans slide all the way down.

“Huh,” I mutter as I look down, “I guess I really am a girl now.”

I throw off my shirt and look in my pile of clothes in the closet for something that fits, but it is a little hard when I think I’m at least a few sizes smaller and three inches shorter. I mean, Christ, I can still probably lift twice what I used to, but that’s nothing compared to any of my brothers. I definitely feel stronger, but also smaller. It’s weirdly nice.

As I rummage through my closet, I eventually find a shirt that’s about the right size, big enough to not be, ahem, revealing, and pants from when I was younger that I can just about hike up every so often if I need to go somewhere. The tail definitely gets in the way, but there isn’t much I can do about that.

I look in the full-length mirror next to my bed and examine myself. I definitely have the hippie girl look, especially since the shirt has a 70’s rock group logo on it. Well, the unkempt fur doesn’t help either. Rob always messes up my hair, my fur isn’t any different, I guess. I lick my paw and then smooth it down, grinning at what I see in the mirror as a result. I’m…pretty?

Rob knocks on the door and I open it, and see just how different our heights are now almost immediately. He’s still 6’7”, just like always, but now, well, I’m 5’5”. So, I’m basically a midget compared to him.

“Noticing you're tiny?" he asks, smirking.

"Fuck off," I reply, walking past him into the kitchen.

"Don't get short with me, you look great!" he exclaims.

"I said, fuck off."

“Hey, I’m just saying, man, you definitely didn’t get the short straw.”

“Whatever.”

“Damn, man,” he says, lounging on the sofa again, “you’re already nailing the part.”

“What part?” I ask, narrowing my eyes as I pour some corn flakes into a bowl.

“The whole, snarky wolf chick part, you know,” he says, gesturing wildly with his paws.

“I don’t think that’s a trope, shitforbrains,” I reply, pouring milk into the bowl and chowing down. I grimace at the flavor. I never liked it before, but apparently I like it less now.

“Taste changed?” he asks, noticing my expression.

“Yeah, I think so,” I replied, “we got any of that beef sausage from last week?”

“Sure, but don’t overdo it!” he says, opening the fridge and tossing me a few links, “I made that mistake a few too many times my first full moon.”

I look at the links of sausage, pondering. I never had liked how…slovenly my brothers could be when eating, so I elected to instead delicately tear a chunk out of it, slowly munching my way through all three links.

“That good for now?” he asks.

I nod, and think to ask, “Hey, did mama get back to you?”

“Yeah, she says she’ll handle it. You don’t gotta worry about a thing, kid,” he replies, ruffling my hair once again.

“Would you quit that? I just fixed it up from when you messed with it earlier!” I growl, surprising myself with how aggressive it sounds.

“Oooo, I’m so scared,” he replies, “what are you gonna do if I don’t?”

In one fell swoop, I tackle him to the ground, pinning him momentarily as we slide across the floor, up against the wall. He looks shocked, then begins to laugh as he shakes my arms off.

“Damn,” he says, “you’re definitely faster than me now, Wolf, not stronger, but faster. I’d say you clocked at least thirty in that jump.”

“Thirty?” I ask, cocking my head sideways.

“Thirty miles an hour, yeah, or at least, it felt like it,” he replies, picking me up off him and setting me down on the floor next to him, “I don’t think you’ll need that bike anymore, that’s for sure.”

“Fuck, dude,” I reply, slumping against the wall, “that’s pretty fast.”

“Yeah,” he says, pointing to his arm, “wolf muscles’ll do that.”

We talk for a few more minutes, shooting the shit as siblings do sometimes. He explains to me some of the car stuff, to which I look blankly at him, but respond as if I were interested, and he does the same with some of the chemistry stuff I’ve been working on. As the conversation winds down, I hear mama’s characteristic knock on the door.

“I’ll let her in,” Rob says as he gets up and walks over to it, opening the door cautiously.