[COM-15] Juniper and Her Body Image

Story by Runa on SoFurry

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Commissioner - jayri-veradian-avieock

Writing - Runa

Art - anchee

Juniper - jayri-veradian-avieock

Ceylon - Runa

In this story, a young yet strong willed quadruped feline by the name of Juniper heads to the NoThEn labs headquarters to be a test subject for a new Form-shifting potion.

As a quadruped, she feels her mind is going to waste as the world of academia isn't equipped to deal with a quadruped creature, and so few take her seriously as an intellectual. In this world, Quads are seen by some as lower forms, even though they're every bit as intelligent as Bipeds.

When she gets there, however, Sir Ceylon the CEO of the company and world renowned transformation expert confesses that there's more to be given to her than meets the eye!

(This story was supposed to be ~5000 words, but I got a little carried away)


Juniper and Her Self Image

Juniper kept her head held high as she walked up the pathway from her home in the Great Yelfritian Woods. After many months of self-reflective deliberation, she was finally ready to take the next great step in her personal growth.

She, like many other females in the modern world, was not happy with her body. However, the reasons for this were not that she felt she was too fat or didn't have large enough breasts, but that was born with a body that she felt did not suit her. Juniper and her entire family were quadruped felines, which meant that she was born into a world of bipeds that didn't properly respect her and wouldn't take her seriously. While most of her siblings had come to accept this and had settled into a life that suited them, Juniper had no interest in letting the limitations of her body keep her down.

In truth, life wasn't as bad for quadrupeds - known as quads - as some made it out to seem. Quads were proven to be stronger, faster, and more athletic than their upright companions, and had access to jobs that bipeds couldn't handle that made them invaluable and an integral part of society. The problem was that the general perception of Quads kept them in the lower class, as many believed that quads were inherently less intelligent, and the paws and talons they possessed left them unable to contribute to the sciences or attain higher education.

Juniper knew for a fact that this wasn't true, which is why she had been dedicating much of her life to the study of two distinct and incredibly rare types of magic: physical and transformation. Both of which were immensely difficult to pull off, though transformation was the more challenging of the two. Her plan was twofold: either master physical magic to the point where she could remotely manipulate objects and overcome her physical disability that kept her from writing or progressing through school, or failing that, dive headfirst into the realm of transformation magic to give herself an upright form that would make others respect her.

Years of failed attempts at mastering physical magic had left her with no other choice. She had to go for the riskier but ideal option of subjecting herself to the studies of mages in an attempt to finally make that permanent change in her life.

Though she was happy as can be as she strode down the path way with her head swinging along every forward step, part of her felt like she'd given up on her first plan. Juniper had spent her entire life cultivating an image of strength and self confidence, eager to prove everyone wrong who dared oppose her and her quest to be a better lioness. Yet, after years of studying and tutelage, she couldn't master physical magic like she regularly mastered virtually everything else she attempted. She was a feline of unshakeable willpower that took on all challenges head on - even if that meant she got a concussion - but physical magic eluded her.

In her mind this wasn't giving up, but a different way to tackle the same problem. The end goal was to go back to school and get a career more befitting of her intelligence than what she was doing, and the only way to do that was to overcome her lack of thumbs. If that meant she learned to use physical magic to manipulate objects without them, so be it; if that meant she subjected herself to an experimental potion that could change her into the form that would unlock her potential, so be it.

That was where she was at, after years of reading and digging around in books and browsing the internet. As it had turned out, a local laboratory had begun tests on an experimental potion that was said to change one's form. To an outsider it seemed awfully convenient for her to have found such an ideal solution to her problem, but in reality she had been waiting for this many years before the solution presented itself to her. This was the skies telling her that she had been waiting long enough.

Of course, she still planned on studying the physical magic, as she was making some progress and was capable of moving objects, just not with the precision needed to do experiments or take notes. If this experiment didn't work and the potion didn't give her the body she needed to proceed with her studies, then she would return to the Yelfritian Academy of Science and Magic to keep working at it.

She was one lioness who had no interest in giving up. That was not her style.

After emerging from the pathway that lead from the street to her destination, she gawked and smiled, looking up at the twelve-story tall building before her. Above the entrance way, a bold red sign simply read, 'NoThEn Labs, Yelfritian Headquarters', with a bubbling, upside down potion forming the 'Y' in Yelfritian and the B in 'labs' looking like a flask. The building itself was surrounded on all sides, with a dense forest and a series of tall cliffs wrapping around the clearing that contained the skyscraper and the parking lot as well as what appeared to be a dome on the other side, function unknown.

As she stepped up to the front of the building, the doors slid open, revealing the secretary and dozens of other employees milling about in the foyer. Giddy, she bounded in and sat gently before the front desk. "I'm here for the lab tests." She explained simply. "The ones for the transformation potion that's currently in development."

The secretary - a tall and elegant looking avian with a long neck and shiny black feathers - trilled at her and gave Juniper a stack of papers. "I'm glad to hear it! You're actually the first to arrive! What I'm going to need you to do is take these papers, read through them, and sign at the designated locations to say that you accept any and all risks, and that NoThEn Labs is not responsible for your health beyond the front door." The secretary paused a moment before narrowing her eyes a bit. "Don't worry if you can't sign your name, that's sort of part of the test to validate your need for the procedure."

Juniper's eyes went stern as she tried her best to not let that subtle insult get to her, since she knew and understood that it wasn't intended as such. Instead she broadly smiled and nodded, taking the stack of papers in her maw while being careful to not drool on them. "Oth Courpsh!" Her response was muddled, which only proved the point farther and made her feel more self-conscious about her body.

She hopped over to the waiting room and laid down the stack of papers on a nearby table, using her claw tip to lightly turn each of the pages as she quickly read through the whole agreement. The document basically stated what the avian secretary had said, noting that since this was an experimental potion and had not been attempted on all races, that they weren't responsible for issues if something went wrong. Sort of a 'submit yourself to scientific experimentation at your own risk' kind of deal.

Content with the chances of the grandiose reward, she was prepared to risk it. Plus, as she read the small print, she did notice that NoThEn Labs was willing to directly deal with any medical needs that the subject required as a result of the potion. In essence, they were accepting their responsibility to Juniper if something went wrong and were eager to help where necessary, but were not legally bound to pay out if Juniper chose to take something to court.

Seemed fair; a little callous, but it made sense in the context of what was on the line for them.

As expected, Juniper struggled to use the pen to sign her own name on each of the half dozen dotted lines, but did eventually make it through with a signature that looked quite good to her.

What seemed like mere seconds after she finished her last signature, a tall black and white bipedal gryphon with no wings and brown tufts around the neck wearing a three-piece suit walked into the waiting room, beak agape in a grin as they looked down at Juniper. "You must be our test subject for the day. Is that correct?"

Juniper paused before she answered, looking up and down this gryphon as she processed what she was seeing. They looked quite familiar to her, and the moment it dawned on her who it may be, her jaw gaped open. "Are you Ceylon, the CEO of NoThEn Labs?" She was quite sure of this, but had to ask because it seemed so outlandish that the CEO themselves would be the one speaking with her.

Ceylon laughed and nodded, clicking their beak. "The one and only. I believe you are the only one taking the test today, so if you'd like I'd be happy to escort you to the testing floor to initiate this." They extended their front talon for a paw shake, which Juniper happily indulged. Up close, she was shocked to see that, while she was larger than Ceylon, the gryphon was actually quite large themselves!

"Yeah, sure. No problem!" She bowed gently as Ceylon took her stack of papers, then followed them past the cubicles to the elevator, sauntering with head held high the entire time. Like Ceylon, Juniper was adorned with white fur and black stripes all over her body, with a black mohawk-shaped mane going half down her spine and a big black tuft on her tail tip. She had looked up to Ceylon since she was young, as the CEO was one of the only people who was able to successfully change their body shape from that of a quadruped to a biped, which is what got them the position they held on this day.

That magic that the gryphon possessed may have been for form shifting first and foremost, but it also allowed them to shift their gender, which is why Juniper was not referring to them as he or she, for Juniper did not know what the CEO preferred at this time. Given the fact that Gryphons looked the same both male or female, with no overt features giving away their gender even if you saw their naughty bits, Juniper was not able to discern Ceylon's sex on this day.

The reason that this information was well known was that Ceylon was something of a rock star in the potions industry, having founded NoThEn Labs decades prior and holding dozens of world records for 'most potent potions' in many categories. Ceylon was considered to be one of the best magic users in the world, and had done so much to make progress towards a world where people were not judged for their body or magical ability.

Juniper looked up to Ceylon, and she knew that if this gryphon was the one who was in charge of the potion she was going to have to use, then she knew she was in the best talons she could hope for.

In the elevator, She sat on her haunches and tried her best to act nonchalant and professional while Ceylon flipped through the pages of the agreement so she didn't look like a fangirl. However, she couldn't help but ask the question that Ceylon likely heard dozens of times a day. "So, uh, if you don't mind me asking, what gender are you today? I know it's really none of my business, but my inner monologue is having a hard time using only gender neutral pronouns." A silly concern, but she knew from reading interviews and researching Ceylon's history that it didn't upset them.

While still reading through the papers and not looking up, Ceylon responded as nonchalant as they could. "Honestly, you can call me whichever you'd like. I have not equipped myself for either gender today, but I can change to whichever you feel more comfortable. Male, female, both, neither, it's up to you." Their response was so simple, like such changes had no effect on them! That was so very refreshing to Juniper, as a quad who had lived a life of ostracized exclusion, to hear that with the right application of science and magic, she too could be cavalier about her body's shape and gender!

"Well, I suppose it would make sense for you to be male in my eyes. I've always seen you that way growing up before I knew about the whole gender swapping thing, and I am female, so..." she paused and lowered he gaze, fearing that she may have said something embarrassing to Ceylon, thus making a fool of herself.

He scoffed gently and gape grinned at her. "No need to be bashful, Juniper. It's quite common for people to request my gender be that which they are attracted to; when you're able to transform at will to anything you wish to be, that becomes a defining trait. That trait becomes your identity, and people project upon me in such a way that it's almost become second nature to take the form my company prefers. If you could shift freely between quadruped and biped, wouldn't you do so?"

She looked back up to him with eyes wide, catching the slightest hint of a bulge forming in his pants as she imagined how nice it would be to go to school in the form of a biped but still return to her proud family as a quad to keep them happy as opposed to alienated. The prospect was of course quite appealing, but her mind found itself transfixed on something else Ceylon had said. "Wait, how did you know my name? I don't recall giving it to you when we met."

Ceylon peeled back a few papers to point at the signature. "You wrote it right here. Five times."

"You can read my paw writing? Really?" That raised her spirits a bit, only to have her heart drop into her belly as she theorized that such a quality signature might disqualify her from the tests, as the secretary had indicated when she said that physical writing was part of the vetting process.

Sensing that Juniper may have been worried about this based on the look upon her face, Ceylon clarified. "Well, it's not easy to read, if that's what you're worried about. I've spent a lot of time deciphering people's bad handwriting in the past, and you're not the first person to offer yourself for testing of this type. Don't worry, you're not going to be disqualified, because what most people don't know is that this isn't actually a potion we're testing, but a potion we've nearly perfected."

That was wonderful news, but Juniper's mind was sharp and she couldn't help but correct him. "If it's nearly perfected and not perfected, then I believe that you are still testing it!" She puffed out the fur on her chest and stood tall, grinning to show how proud she was that she was able to correct a bird of such high esteem.

"Well, I can't argue with that, so let me clarify. The potion works and I know it works; I enchanted it self from my own ademane extract. There are no negative side effects that can't be easily worked out and fixed by the user, but we don't know how long it will work on you in particular. Different people have different reactions based off their innate magical ability, volume of ademane in their system, form, gender, size, and a slew of other factors that fluctuate as time goes on. The 'test' isn't to see if it works, but to see how it works on you in particular so we can take down your vitals and get a proper swath of data that will allow us to sell the potion to others with an accurate label."

Juniper looked over at him, somewhat confused. This all sounded too good to be true, so she had to ask why there seemed to be no catch. She was too smart to accept that there was no catch. "Wait, so hold up a moment. You are telling me that you've nearly perfected a potion for form shifting - the single hardest and most unreliable form of magic the world has ever known - and you're not only willing to offer it to me free of charge but are also paying me to take it? Something isn't adding up."

"Data is valuable. Are we not paying you enough? I can double your payout if you're willing to come back in a month or so to let us get more data from you." Ceylon casually offered.

"What's the catch?" Juniper knew there had to be a catch, and with all the benefits that were being touted, the catch had to be something significant. Despite her life long journey to be shifted to a biped or to at least gain the benefits of such, she was suddenly nauseous worrying about the catch to the point where she was considering changing her mind and walking out right then and there.

Her fears were alleviated when the door opened to show a whole floor full of lab and medical equipment all being operated by scientists mixing and enchanting and taking down data and running simulations. Ceylon stepped out with his foot holding the door for her. "No catch, Juniper. I'm literally one of the most wealthy people in the entire world and would be even more wealthy if not for my charity. Every now and then, I give away my hard work to others who need it more than I do, and you fit that description. I didn't know your name from the signature - your paw writing is atrocious - but from the research I did on your history before we started targeting you for our next round of tests."

"You researched me?" Juniper had no idea how to react to this so she let Ceylon carry on before she passed judgment or let the creeping sensation of dread take a hold of her chest.

"Yes, I did. You're quite prolific when it comes to your activism, and I've read the many reports you've typed up to encourage the papers to advocate for quad rights. You're not exactly the shy type, so I don't know why you'd be shocked to hear that others know about you and what you've done for your kind. Our kind." He clarified with a smile, referring to the fact that both he and she were born quad.

Juniper was utterly amazed at what he had just said to her. This was basically the equivalent of when a ... no, this didn't need an analogy, it was its own example of how outlandish it truly was. A world renowned mage and powerful business person who had set records and made history knew about her and was personally extending a wing for her to come and take his offer to make her life better.

This may very well have been the greatest day of her life. She was struck unable to speak.

"Well, if you're coming, I'd love to continue talking, but this elevator door keeps trying to close and this is getting awkward. Come, come." He ushered her out with a gape grin and a light avian trill.

She shook herself free of the shock and awe that had built up in her to hop out of the elevator and stand tall next to Ceylon, her mane up high and her tail flicking behind her. "Of course, sorry Sir Ceylon. I just, I'm sure you understand my stance. This is all so surreal to me."

"I'm sure it is, but it's about to get a whole lot more surreal, that I promise you. Come this way, the testing chamber is over here and I will need to be in there with you to take notes on the process. Remember, data is valuable, and while I may be altruistic I do expect to get some data out of you in exchange for a supply of the potions. The more data you give me, the longer I'll supply you."

Juniper's mind was blown then and there. Not only would she get the potion, but she could actually get more of it after the day's experimentation was complete? This had to be a dream, for it was truly too good to be true. "As you wish!" That was all she was capable of saying before being lead through the laboratory floor to the corner room without the windows.

That could have been seen as ominous, but nothing about Ceylon's actions or attitude told her that she had anything to be worried about. Together, they passed by tables with potions on them, sizzling chemicals with vent hoods above them, walls of computers, a collection of drawers with vials in them, and dozens of workers all diligently working. Near the end, there was even a small scaled fellow with a needle in his arm, a glowing teal liquid being extracted into a beaker. As they walked, Ceylon went ahead and talked to explain a few things.

"I hope you don't mind, but we are going to have to take a lot of data from you before we administer the potion. We have to take your height, weight, size, dental records, ph balance in your vaginal canal, bacterial swabs in your anus and mouth - don't worry, we'll use a different swab for each end - urine samples, stool samples, the whole gamut. We need every bit of data before and after the transformation for our studies. I know you signed already, but if you're not comfortable with any of the above, please let me know now, because without that data there's no real benefit to doing this."

Juniper shook her mane as she blinked and licked her lips, trying to find the words while contemplating all the things she would have to do for the sake of science. Though she knew she would be uncomfortable - and a little violated - she also was a student of the sciences and understood that sometimes sacrifice was the answer. "I am fine with it. If this gets me the body I need to pursue my academic endeavors, then I will gladly do it."

Ceylon grabbed a clipboard and bowed to her, his steely blue eyes piercing into her. "There is one last thing, though, and I can't stress enough that it is fully optional."

"Go ahead, can't be more invasive than having you take a vaginal swab."

He laughed, every chuckle a cute little chirp. "No, it's not like that, but for documentation purposes, a photographic record of your body will greatly help for before-and-after comparisons. This would include portraits, profile shots, a shot of your maw to go with your dental records, and even some of your vulva." Ceylon paused to let that sink in. "Purely scientific. I know the vagina bit might seem too much, but your genitals might change or they might stay the same in the transformation, we genuinely don't know. I've seen some remain feral in nature while others go more humanoid, so-"

"It's science, Sir Ceylon. I know it's awkward, but I walked here wearing only a belt that held some of my belongings. Nudity doesn't upset me, and I'm sure people have seen more of my body than just my rump cheeks when my tail sways too far. Go ahead, but I must ask, will these be published in a journal? Will others see this?"

"The images will be for our team's research purposes only. If it turns out your body reacts perfectly to the potion and we wish to use your portraits in a scientific journal, then we may reach out to you at a later date to get permission. Such permissions are not included in this package." He raised a hand over to a sterile, pure white room. "If you don't mind, my assistants will take your samples."

She nodded once and shook her mane off, dislodging her reservations. If things went well, she would not be in the same form by the time she finished this procedure and left the lab. This made her nervous and significantly uncomfortable while the half dozen lab assistants all started poking her with needles, clipping at her hair, shoving cotton swabs in her maw, and measuring everything about her. They clipped her nails, scraped off some of her paw pads, had her piss in a cup, gave her an enema, and finished by spreading her open with a speculum to get swabs of her intimates.

The entire procedude was made worse by her inner monologue, the voice that told her she was making a huge mistake and that this procedure could ruin the life she already had. She had to internally quash those concerns, as she had spent and wasted many hours and days fantasizing about this and had made the purely logical choice to take the risk a week prior and had spent the entire time since then reassuring herself and arguing and convincing herself that this was the right path.

Once the very uncomfortable speculum had been pulled from her loins, she lowered her tail and left it there, not wanting anyone else to touch her there, having felt a little violated. A small part of her mind thought that it was a shame that the last touch her quad lady parts would be stimulated was by a lab rat in a coat with a speculum and a q-tip jabbing at her cervix.

Still, she was ready. "Okay, on to the pictures. Who's going to be clicking?" She unabashedly called out, trying her best to feign confidence and self pride in the wake of the thorough defilement she had been given. In the name of science.

Ceylon stepped up and took a few notes. "Same people who have been taking your samples."

"I hope they have a better sense of direction with a camera than they do with a speculum!" She joked, a soreness bubbling up in her groin. She then turned to Ceylon, "I kinda wish you could take the pictures. Is that weird? I mean, I think it's kind of weird, yet here I am asking for it anyway." Juniper couldn't help but to start babbling as her heart raced, fluttering in her chest as adrenaline surged.

The gryphon looked up from his tablet, clicking his beak. "It's fine, I'm sure my employees are plenty capable of snapping a few pictures for archival purposes. That's one of the many things I pay them for." The look on his face made it clear that he was trying to be as professional a she could.

So Juniper prodded a bit, hoping to get him to change his mind. "Well, if you're in the market for making your biggest fan's dreams come true, I can't think of a greater honor than to pose for you. I mean, I know it's weird, we both know it's a little bit weird, but maybe just doing it one on one would alleviate my nerves a bit. The whole sterile lab rat orgy thing isn't doing it for me." It was an odd suggestion, but the fact that she seemed to know that it was odd nullified it's peculiarity.

He put down his tablet and cocked his head to the side with one ear down. "You sure you want that? Seems a touch odd that you want to be alone in a room with me."

"Is it, though?" She countered, cocking her head to the side with ear down to match him.

"I suppose not. Alright. Go on into the observation room. I'll join you in a moment." He pointed her towards a steel door along a pure white wall that took up the entire corner of the floor.

Juniper lowered her head and hopped on in to find that the room she was in suddenly seemed a whole lot bigger than it actually was. Every wall was perfectly painted off-white, with a texture that made it look and feel bumpy all over. However, the paint was so perfect and the grooves in between the walls were so gentle that it looked, to her, like she could walk for hours in any direction. She felt like, aside from the metal door behind her and the single gnarled tree in front of her, there were no walls and she was on an endless plain of white nothingness.

This was remarkably disorienting to the point she felt like she was having a dream. The ethereal feel of the room was so uncanny that the single, gnarled tree and the few tufts of grass around it reminded her of a time when she was young. Her childhood home when she lived by the cliffs next to the ocean had a tree like that on one of the rocky outcroppings. She also noticed quickly that there were no lights and no windows to the outside world, yet everything was perfectly illuminated. "What is this place?" She marveled, glancing around.

Ceylon slid in and shut the door behind him, the metal of it seeming to disappear behind the whiteness of the walls. He had a satchel over his shoulder and a camera in his hand. "This is our serenity room. It's where we do much of the transformation magic. The tree annoyed me at first, but it's grown on me and now I can't imagine it not being here." He turned the camera on and laid the satchel on the floor. "So are you sure you're ready for this? It might take me a bit longer since I'm only one bird and not a team of a dozen trained lab technicians."

Juniper laughed as she threw her head back, trying to look like a model as her mane rippled with the motions. "Well, I'd rather take an hour with one person than have it all sterile but over with quickly. No, this should be fine." She hopped up onto the tree and looked back at Ceylon, tail up to expose her dark-fleshed vulva and rump. "I hope you capture my good side."

After a gentle eye roll, Ceylon shrugged. "Well, I guess the data is needed, no harm in enjoying it. NoThEn Labs was founded on the idea that people should not be ashamed of what they like, and that they should embrace their passions no matter how challenging they might be to attain. If your thing is being photographed by me, then I suppose I'm the only one who can fulfill that fantasy, aren't I?" He got down to one knee and started taking pictures, starting from her side to get the look of her flank.

Juniper began changing up her poses, looking everything from sultry to sensual to meek and everything in between, trying her best to get the proper model experience. "Well, I am very proud of my body, why not have my idol and I do a shoot? You know, what time I haven't spent trying to advance my academic career, I've been working out. I go for runs, endurance tests, strength training-"

Ceylon waved at her to get her to stop. "Wait, you love your body? Then why are you striving so thoroughly to change it?"

She kept posing. "I'm proud of my body, I didn't say it was ideal for my future. I want to get as many pictures as you can before we change me forever."

"The potions are not designed to last forever, you know. This is a trial run so see if this can be a viable product going forward." Ceylon explained, still dutifully taking pictures. "I just don't want to foster false hope in you or anything."

She got into pounce position for him, looking the gryphon in the eyes. "Well I'm I an interesting mood, so please don't ruin it for me. You know, I am the kind to do this with my friends - to randomly start an impromptu photo session - but something about this place is making me just want to take everything I want regardless of the risks involved. I just want to have my form changed, I want to..." she paused as she looked him in the eyes. "I want you to...you know. This is the last time I'll be in this body at least for a while. You could take advantage of that, since nobody is watching."

"Juniper, darling, I'm sure you understand why I cannot do that."

She blushed a bit and looked away. "Why not? I just-" she stopped to shake herself off, realizing how odd she was acting. "What am I saying? Sorry Sir Ceylon, I didn't mean to impose."

Ceylon took a picture of her while she apologized. "It's fine. This isn't entirely your own doing. The lab pumps a positivity serum into the air so that depression and other unhelpful thoughts are repressed. Basically, there's a light concentration of potion in the air here specifically meant to make it so that you are always making progress and never telling yourself no. It's like an inhibitor blocker, but it is meant to serve one's desire to learn and not let things get in the way of that. In you, I guess it meant that you couldn't help but reach out to me in an attempt to act brash in the wake of your upcoming transformation. Does that sound about right to you?"

"I think so?" She pursed her lips and looked away as she thought to herself. "That does sound right, so if that's the case, I have an excuse for asking: Would you do me the honor of enjoying my body with me before I transform it away?" Her eyes locked with his as she crooked a half smile. "For science. Think of it as getting extra data of what it's like before and after."

His ears perked up as he chuckled. "Well, I really shouldn't. You are a client, after all, and I'm not so sure it would be a good idea to ruin the sample by giving you my seed. This potion we're going to be using was cultivated by my own ademane, who knows how it would interact with my fluids?" His tone was curt, matter of fact and to the point, which actually aroused Juniper more.

She stepped up to him and stood tall next to him, her eyes at his height as her shoulders and torso sloped down, making her larger than Ceylon even if a hair shorter. "You're telling me that a laboratory founded on the ideals of sexual positivity, that you don't have condoms somewhere in that suit of yours? You've got me dying to see what it's like to be with the great Sir Ceylon - or any gryphon, really - so you'd be doing a disservice by not experimenting with me." She knew her words were outlandish and decidedly crazy, yet she couldn't stop herself from speaking.

The craziest part about her lengthy tirade was that it appeared to be working on him.

"You're not wrong, Juniper. I do endorse positive sexuality and positive self image, but you do know, even in your potion-affected brain how odd it seems to be asking this of me, right?"

Juniper sighed and spun in place to go back over to the tree, tail swaying and vulva pursed out to give the gryphon a good look at what she had underneath. "Yes I still have an air of lucidity about me, I am able to see though this cloud of uncertainty so understand the peculiar nature of my request. However, whatever it is you're pumping into the air to make your scientists more self confident is giving me the gumption to lack shame in my pursuits of this endeavor. I can see from the look in your eye and the way your feathers ruffle every time I show off my goods that you want it as much as I do but I theorize that your built up immunity to the serum in the air is allowing you to resist in the wake of your unflappable professionalism." She hopped off and slithered up to him so that her muzzle was nearly touching his suit on his fluffed out breast piece. "So don't lie to yourself, and don't lie to me, just take what you want and call it data." She gave him a brisk lick on the beak before stepping back.

Ceylon cocked his head to the side - a common expression for him - as a smirk pulled at his beak. "Well, I certainly chose the right woman to be my test subject; nothing gets by you." He tossed the camera back onto his satchel and grabbed at his tie to loosen it, wiggling it back and forth and tugging it down. Once he had enough room, he started unbuttoning his shirt. "But I want it to be known that you are the one that incited this, not me."

"Who cares who incited it, this is for science!" She coiled around him like a house cat, purring deeply as she nuzzled at his haunches. "Who says you can't enjoy your work."

"Certainly not me." He confessed, completely undoing his buttons and tossing both shirts and tie into a pile next to his satchel. "And it would be a shame to waste such a perfectly good opportunity with such a well equipped test subject." He reached out and cupped her between the legs as she walked away, his fingers lightly caressing her moist lips in the process. When he pulled his hand up to his beak to sniff, he felt that he needed to take some notes so he knelt next to his satchel and started writing notes into his tablet.

In response, Juniper leapt over to him and nuzzled into his rump, gently nibbling at his suit. "Come on, have you got a condom in there?" She asked, glancing towards the satchel. "If you use the condom you won't taint the sample - me!" Her tail flicked excitedly as her mind felt itself jumbled with mismatched emotions and feelings. She loved the boost of confidence she got, but in the back of her mind she knew she was being too demanding.

This was not a problem as long as she kept getting what she wanted.

"I do, just give me a moment as I prop up my tablet for note taking. Much as I am happy to give in to your desires and enjoy your company, I do still have a lot of data to collect, if you don't mind." He tapped the screen a few times and reached into his bag to grab two things: a tiny vial of glowing teal fluid and a single-wrapped condom. "Which one first?"

She glanced from one to another, not sure how to go about making her demands. "How long will the potion take to start affecting me?"

"We genuinely don't know, that's one of the primary functions of your job as a test subject. Could be seconds, could be hours." He put both the vial and condom in one hand while his other let loose his belt, followed by unzipping his pants and pulling them down to reveal that he was not wearing any underwear. "How about we go slow; more time equals more data."

Juniper pushed into him and rubbed her cheek across his belly, just barely missing his swollen gryphon sheath. She came to a stop as her rump was in perfect alignment with his loins. "Up to you, but slow need only apply to you once we've started; please don't make me wait." While she was nearly as tall as Ceylon, with her head nearly at his head height, the slope of her back had her groin only a bit higher than his hip level, meaning she needed only a gentle squat and a raising of her tail to permit him access to her loins. After looping around again for another round, she was quite pleased to see that Ceylon had stuffed the vial in his beak and was opening the condom wrapper.

The image of Sir Ceylon, the world renowned mage and CEO of NoThEn Labs was stripped down to nothing, with a beak of transformation potion in his beak and a condom held gingerly between his fingertips while he rubbed his sheath to awaken his loins, was a tableau of heaven for Juniper. Nothing she could fantasize about would be a higher concentration of all the things she loved in this world, and while the image itself was nice, what Ceylon and the potion represented for her future meant more. The convergence of all these elements made her loins ache and her knees grow week as she felt a single bead of arousal trickling out to tickle the fur around her well-hidden vulva.

Yes, even after the violation with the speculum, she was still able to be aroused.

Ceylon leaned into her and cupped his hand around her groin, this time using his thumb to press gently against her lips, parting them before slipping into her in one fluid motion as he rubbed down on her anterior wall. "I see you're more than ready for me." He chirped at her through the vial in his beak, standing tall behind the feline as he continued to rub at her now-tender inner flesh.

When she looked back, she saw him with his other hand placing the condom over his exposed cock tip. He kept massaging her, rubbing with his thumb in circles against her erogenous spot and clit alternatively while his other hand slowly rolled the condom over his member, peeling his sheath back and exposing his knot in the singular, smooth motion. The final lurch had the band of rolled up condom snapping around the base of his un-formed knot.

"I'm not sure if you're familiar with gryphon anatomy, dear Juniper, but once I feel that condom around the base of the knot, I can't hold myself back from tying with the condom itself. It's an odd but important step in my race's evolutionary ladder." He ran his hand down his length, squeezing the condom tight and removing all the tiny air bubbles to let them squirt out the base of the condom; when he was done the condom could barely be seen, as it was snug and fit tight against his member so that only the natural colors of his flesh could be seen with a gentle, partially opaque film covered his length.

She nodded and growled at him, smiling as he urged him on. "Go for it, sir. Don't make me wait or I might come to my senses and change my mind."

He nodded as he gave her depths another rub before leaning into her, using his penetrating thumb as a guide to her petite folds. As a feline, her loins were characteristically miniscule compared to the rest of her body, but luckily for them both she was a naturally big girl and the copious lubricant she'd secreted while she fantasized more than enough to help his condom wrapped member slip into her with ease.

Her lower back dipped as she gasped and pushed into him, head held high and mane trembling in delight as each of the gryphon's cock ridges popped into her one by one. It had been a while since she last felt the touch of a male, and Ceylon's barbed tip felt just right to her, even if he was a bit thicker than what she was used to with other felines. Of course, the shaft wasn't what she was concerned about, but the bulging knot that was throbbing to life bit by bit as he eased himself in deeper. Had she not been so aroused at the thought of sharing her last intimate moments with a well respected person whom she had admired her whole life, she might have had a hard time accommodating him.

However, the blood pumping to her loins kept her flesh malleable and her walls slick with desire, which tightly held his member in place as he leaned over her haunches. She was tight, for sure, but she was also needy to the point where he could have forced his knot into her with a pop and any pain she may have felt from that would be translated into the pleasure of an aggressive lover.

Ceylon purred at her as he stroked her lower back, claws tickling her haunches while his member twitched inside her. "You're so very tight, Juniper. Very snug." He looked down at his cock, relishing the warmth and friction he felt as her lips throbbed around him. She was so tight that they could actually feel the others' heartbeats as they relaxed. He kept patting and stroking along her spine, deliberately avoiding the act of grabbing her tail as he lightly started pumping in and out. Problem was that she was so tight that any attempt at plunging his length into her made her rock back and forth as she struggled to accommodate his girth.

Juniper could feel his reservations, as his motions were slow and loving as opposed to the more brisk and borderline violent matings she was used to. This allowed her sex to gradually relax and stretch farther to accommodate him. The sensual thrusts he offered were more fulfilling than any feline stud she'd ever been with, and that made her wonder if that was a gryphon thing or just a Ceylon thing. As her loins pulsed around him and she grunted to push down on his length, she smiled back at him, eager to urge him on. "You know, if you want to knot me, I think I can handle that."

She wasn't sure, in fact the idea terrified her as she'd never been on the receiving end of a tie of any kind before, but she knew that if something went wrong her partner was one of the best in the world at correcting such issues with his immense healing power. Nobody mastered transformation magic without also mastering curative magic.

"Are you sure about that? I really don't want to hurt you." He cautioned her as he leaned in hard against her rump, grinding his knot against her swollen vulva as he tentatively grabbed at the base of her tail, smiling at her as he tested her to gauge her reaction to his grip.

Juniper offered only the faintest of nods and a blush. She did want it, and she was more than eager to feel a gryphon's knot inside her as Ceylon's barbs would splay out and tickle her depths, which was something she'd been curious about for ages. As a feline, she was half of what Ceylon - a gryphon - represented, so his knot was the closest thing to a feline member she would feel. It of course helped that she possessed an adventurous spirit, in that the anticipation of the unknown was as much a stimulant to her sex as her desire to be with a gryphon.

Offering only a grunt of resistance as she leaned all her weight into Ceylon, Juniper took in a deep breath to prepare herself for the popping of the knot, something she knew would be shocking and unpleasant at first, as her body was not prepared for that. Still, she kept at him, grinding and swaying her hips in the hopes of feeling those swollen lobes pressing out against her tight little feline pussy. "Go ahead, I trust you." Probably not the most well thought out thing she'd ever said, but she was confident that Ceylon would not let her down.

He nodded and gave her haunches a bit of a pat as he leaned into her with all of his weight, vial of potion still in his beak as he chirped at her. "If you say so, my dear. I want you to know that if I do manage to get into you, there won't be any parting ways for a while. Might be hours." His hands danced around her hips to grab at her thighs, claws digging into her flesh as he gained leverage over her. "I mean, I know feline bodies aren't-"

She threw her head back in a low-key roar, the sound reverberating off the endless whiteness that surrounded them, shaking the leaves of the gnarled tree. When the echoes stopped, she smirked back at her gryphon companion. "Sir Ceylon, darling, I wouldn't be here subjecting myself to your experimental potions if I couldn't handle a risk. Go ahead, I want every bit of you in me." She slammed her hips to his, tight lips swallowing his every ridge up to the top of the knot.

In response to her vigor, Ceylon picked up his pace a bit, gently thrusting into her as his spine moved in waves, hips gyrating with every motion. It was clear he was enjoying himself, as his barbs were starting to splay out within the condom to tug on her inner folds with every motion.

Juniper worked with him, rocking back and forth opposite his thrusts to slam her tender lips against the top of his knot time and time again, and each time she felt him slip a little bit deeper as her flesh spread just a little bit wider. After he had tenderized her vulva a bit, he started pausing at the top of every thrust to grind his knot into her, rolling each of the lobes in a circle to find the right angle. She worked with him, teasing his member with her twitching loins every step of the way.

Then, in a sudden change of sensation, she felt her sex start to tingle in an unexpected way as her lips distended and dilated, stretching to accommodate his knot and swallow it up in one glorious, juicy squelch followed by a deep lurch that had his entire member disappear into her. Whatever air was trapped inside her hungry sex was pushed out in an audible grunt that spattered her lubricants all over Ceylon's lower belly.

Without giving her time to relax and adjust, Ceylon leaned over her with their hips locked together and grabbed the vial of potion out of his beak. He popped the cork with his thumb claw, then offered it to her. "Take this. If my calculations are right, then it will take effect quickly and we won't be stuck like this for too long." As he spoke, he kept idly grinding his hips up at her, his knot lobes rolling and swaying inside her flesh among the supple flesh of her twitching walls.

Juniper's toes curled in orgasmic delight as she felt a subtle flow of her arousal trickle out of her and onto Ceylon's balls; To her surprise, there was absolutely no pain whatsoever even as his massive member swelled within her, pressing out tight against her tight passage. That is why, as Ceylon offered her the potion, she happily wrapped her lips around the opening of the vial and threw her head back, gulping down every bit of the fluid with one swallow. After spitting out the vial, she leaned forth to have his member give a gentle tug on her depths, but her vulva wouldn't let go of him.

They were tied, deeply and officially. His thick knot was what she felt the most, but deep within her, she could feel the tickle of his barbs throbbing in time with his many spurts of gryphon essence. She did somewhat regret having him use a condom, as the steady ejaculations of his seed were filling the condom instead of her womb, giving her a squishy feeling that actually lessened her pleasure and the sensation of his barbs on her depths.

Her distraction was short lived, because what appeared to be mere seconds later, she felt a grinding sensation in her neck, one that trailed down her spine and into her chest. While the pleasure from Ceylon's throbbing knot remained deep within her, permeating her hind end, it was soon overcome by an odd sensation of cramps in her upper body and forelegs. As she looked at her paws, she saw each of her digits expand and stretch in place, her claws poking out and retracting back inside.

She kept tugging at Ceylon, wanting to focus on that pleasure that he was giving her, but she couldn't pry her eyes away from the image of her foreleg shifting and melting and rearranging itself before her eyes. Juniper's dewclaw grew and lengthened as it slid up her forearm, joining her other four fingers as a thumb, a thumb that would - on its own - unlock much of that potential she sought.

It wasn't clear to her what that sensation in her loins had turned into, whether it was Ceylon's mess dribbling out the end of the condom or her own arousal, but it didn't matter. Aroused and excited or not, she was transfixed on the transformations that were happening to her body.

Even as her fingers were forming and her shoulders were shifting, the most deeply uncomfortable feeling she experienced was the reshaping of her skull. She could actually feel her bones groaning and weakening and hardening in order to make a more biped-friendly facial structure, followed by her jaw grinding and slamming shut before opening again. Her muscles clenched and released, her ears melted from their place atop her head, and she could actually feel the deeply unsettling sensation of her mane hairs being sucked back into her body by her spine.

The more of her body that shifted and melted in place, the weaker she felt. Not only was she lowering her chest to the ground with Ceylon still tied deep to her sex, but she was starting to feel small, weak, and insignificant compared to him. As she glanced back at him, he seemed to loom over her, at least twice her size, maybe three times her stature. She also caught a look at her own body, her shortened fur, her skinnier legs, and her shorter tail. After mere minutes, she had shifted from that of a massive, bestial quadruped form into a lithe, relatively tiny biped.

Juniper felt weak - there was no denying that - but what she lost in strength she made up for in dexterity, something she was able to prove as she balled her hand up in a fist, then extended her digits one at a time, waving each finger independently of one another.

Her fingers.

She couldn't get over the fact that this had actually worked! She had fingers now, her body was skinny and flexible, her tail still flicked out behind her and she had shed the clumsy yet powerful weight of her birth body in lieu of a more modern, capable body to fit her mind! She went to pump her fist in glory, but the motion tugged on Ceylon's knot and made her wince in pain for a moment as she felt her new pussy lips strain at the thickness within her.

"Ooh, careful there, Juniper." Ceylon cautioned her as he patted her on the haunches, slowly getting to his knees so that she was no longer hanging from their tie. Even on his knees, he was nearly tall enough to still be inside her while she stood straight up. She did have to squat, but that just threw her off balance, forcing him to catch her and hold her close. With his hand on her belly, Ceylon turned and leaned against the tree, cradling her in his lap as his knot throbbed within her. "You know, I'd like to go over a few things with you before we part ways."

Though she listened and was intent on learning everything Ceylon had to tell her, she got easily distracted by her own toes, curling them before her and wiggling them like she had her fingers. Eventually, she let herself sink into the gryphon's chest floof as she allowed herself to accept that this had truly, really happened. Only then did she address Ceylon. "Wh-what is it that I need to know?" She immediately noticed that her voice had gotten slightly deeper, which was odd but she liked it.

He patted her on the lower belly to rub at his knot through her abdominal flesh as he told her everything she needed to know about the transformation, its effects, and how to get the most out of it. He told her that the effects were not permanent, and that they'd last a month, perhaps a month and a half; this surprised her even though she remembered him saying something like that prior, but she accepted it, allowing him to move on.

She was welcome to stay in the lab as she got used to biped walking, as Ceylon knew for a fact that getting used to walking on two legs was a balancing act compared to four legs. Juniper, being as confident and strong-willed as she was, vowed to master that action before she left. In the mean time, with them still tied together, Ceylon and Juniper shared stories of what brought them both to this position in their lives, with Ceylon mostly talking about the previous test subjects and how they reacted, Juniper talking about all the times she tried to use her intellect to make her life better while struggling with her body making it difficult for her.

Both of them agreed that their union on this day was a good thing for them, even if it was a little strange that she'd so willingly present herself to him. In retrospect, once the physical needs had been expunged, they both concluded that it was out of character for them both. However, Juniper happy admitted that the serum in the air had blended with her own anticipation and excitement for the change in a way that rendered her malleable to any random suggestion her mind conjured up. In this case, it was her, with her tail up, enjoying her body one last time.

Of course, it wasn't so much that it was 'one last time' than it was just her wanting to have an excuse to get laid. She confessed that she hadn't mated in months, and a lot of it had to do with her body image, and the single minded quest for a change that had brought her to NoThEn Labs, there on Ceylon's lap. This amused the gryphon, who then told her that if she ever needed a top up on the potion once the effect was gone, she was to call or reach out to him.

He then used his magic to transform himself to his agendered form, having his cock shrink and pop out of her at will as he clenched the base of the condom to ensure that none of his mess leaked out as the pressure was relieved.

She felt like a great weight had been lifted from within her, as her loins seemed to return to what she felt was a normal, natural tangibility. Ceylon explained to her that, for the next couple of days, her body would be remarkably susceptible to stimulation, so if she ate a lot she would get fat quick; if she worked out a lot, she'd get toned quick; if she had sex a lot, she would get very loose. Everything she did over the next two days would be amplified to treat her as though she had been doing it for years.

This meant that she had her next few days planned out almost immediately. She could focus on her body's adaptations until she had the desired form, then worry about her academic pursuits soon thereafter. And, since she now had the positive self image she needed to seek out companionship in a world populated by dragons, gryphons, equines, and other large males, she felt the first step would be to meet a drake of some sort to have some fun. As Ceylon had explained, her body would be malleable and tangible for days, so if she found someone that night - no matter their size - she would accommodate them!

"Sir Ceylon, I thank you for your time and your generosity. You have no idea how much you've already made changes in my life, but I must now go follow my dreams! I must grab a hold of life, and show the world what I've got within me!" She got up from his lap and went to take a step away, only to fall flat on her face with only her breasts to cushion the fall. The now-biped feline laughed at herself as she rolled to her side, realizing that she was not ready for the first step in the rest of her life.

Apparently, she still needed to practice biped walking before she would go on any sort of journey towards her new life. She also needed to find herself some clothes, as bipeds were not the type to walk around in the nude as her quadruped form would.

She had a lot to learn, but knowledge was her forte and she was ready to take on the world!