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The News

I walked in the door, knowing full well that the wrath of the hounds of hell would be after me.

"YOU!" I heard Lethias roar as he stormed down the stairs as fast as his wings would allow him.

"Hey m..." I started before Lethias made it to the bottom of the stairs, grabbing my throat and pressing me against the wall. His eyes were filled with anger, but I could tell he was afraid as he was angry.

"Dude, Chill out." I said calmly, but he just held on tighter, his claws digging into my neck. I heard his growling deep in his throat, but didn't retaliate. The last thing we needed was to destroy the complex in a fight.

I saw Ember out of the corner of my eye, standing at the top of the stairs. "Would someone help me out here!" I shouted to her.

"No, you deserve it." She said coldly.

I took in a deep breath and pushed Lethias off me, flinging him backwards into the wall, some of my flesh and fur going with his claws.

"Fuck off dude, mellow out!" I yelled at him as I brushed my fur off. He clearly wasn't thinking straight.

"Mellow out? You just exposed yourself and all of us to the world! What do you think they're going to do to us?!" he hissed, his wings flaring as wide as they could in the cramped hallway.

I bared my teeth a little to show I was serious. "And what do you think was going to happen, eh? You were gonna stay here in hiding for your whole life? Think about that. Look deep down inside your body, do you really want to spend the rest of your life indoors? You can't go outside except in the night! Look at you! You're a DRA-GUN!"

Lethias took in a deep breath, smoke oozing out his nostrils. "SO? This is my body, not yours. You don't decide what I do, I DO!"

"Look here you scaly bastard! You don't HAVE to do shit! I didn't say anything about any of you folks. You can all stay hiding here if you want, living cowardly like a bunch of animals, scared of the humans, I'm going out there, I'm doing my thing. If you don't like it, that's too damn bad!" I growled as I pushed him aside as I went up the stairs.

Ember still stood up on the second floor living room, staring at me, arms crossed over her chest.

"Don't tell me you're all upset too." I protested.

"Upset? Yeah, I'm upset. We all voted on something, and you went and did your own thing anyway, how can we trust you? Is it so hard to just sit for a little while?" She growled and walked away, her fur was puffed up in anger.

Frost and Cooper sat on the couch, not really phased at all, except when Frost looked over to me. "Just don't wreck the place, I still have to live here." Then he went back to his TV.

Cole sat there in the chair, claws digging into his knees as he gritted his teeth. I didn't even bother asking him what was on his mind. I knew he was upset too, but didn't want to say anything. I wasn't gonna encourage him to bitch.

I heard some thumping as Lethias finally made his way up the stairs. Ember was in the kitchen, pacing in anger. I could tell she wanted to just go be by herself, but she wasn't at home anymore, so that would be pretty hard.

I raised my paws as if calming down a crowd, "Look guys, I don't think this is nearly as bad as you're all making it out to seem. I mean, sure, there's always that chance that they could have a hard time taking to some of us," I nodded towards Lethias, who was still standing at the top of the stairs, "but my experience this morning showed that there was a chance people could like us."

"Well, it's still not your decision!" Ember called in from the kitchen.

"Is it really a big deal?" Cooper asked as she stood up. "I mean, truthfully, Runa's right, if people weren't afraid in the first place, I don't think they're gonna be too upset overall."

"Well then, why don't you just stroll outside and say to the world, 'look at me, I'm a walking talking animal!'?" Cole said from the chair.

Cooper stood up, smiling at us all. "I think I will."

"I dare ya to." Frost encouraged her.

Coop just smiled and ran down the stairs. We all rushed to the window, where we watched her go outside in the plain sunlight. She raised her paws to the sky and yelled. "Look at me and my fuzz!"

She stood there for a good thirty seconds, nobody did anything, so she came back in. "See? I'm fine. We're animals, really big, cuddly animals."

All of us just stood there. I started a slow clap for her. "Good for you Coop!"

Ember, Lethias, and Cole stared at me.

"That's good for you two, but what about the rest of us?" Ember asked. "You two are both drawing people to this house. We can't stay hidden here if you're making sure that everyone knows that the furries are here!"

"You don't have to stay here." Frost said. "It's really up to you. We're not forcing you to be here."

Ember looked as though she was about to say something, but she just growled and left to go to the bathroom. She slammed the door behind her.

I just sighed. "Okay guys, look. Watch A Channel tonight, there'll be a little news segment on the Ribfest. Some dude interviewed me, and I did some cool tricks for the camera. The crowd seemed to be in love with me."

"And what else did you do?" Lethias asked. "Did you blow something up with magic? Maybe used some telekinesis?"

I shook my head. "No, magic is something we DO have to keep secret. We can't show people that we have special powers like that. If anyone found out we could do that kind of shit....well...you remember all those comics where the superheroes were accused of random superpower related crimes, like in The Incredibles? Well, it'd be something like that."

"So you're saying that we'll be seen as too dangerous to have around?" Lethias asked with a hiss.

"Yeah, something like that. Our bodies are cute and fuzzy. You, being a dragon, are cool. If we leave it as cool physical anomalies, then that's alright. But if we start making fires with our mind...well, that changes everything. The perception of us would change drastically."

Ember opened the door to the bathroom and poked her head out in what would be a comical manner if she still wasn't pissed. "So you're saying you're the judge of what we can and can't do? It's okay to go out, tell everyone, but you can't do this or that? Come on Runa, you know better than that!"

I took in a deep breath and rolled my eyes. "No, if you guys really want to do that, and use your magic, then go ahead. I'm not going to. Like you, I'm going to see if I can pass off myself as a harmless cat."

The room fell silent for a moment. Why? I do not know. I didn't say anything particularly astonishing, nor did I say something rude. I would say it's just one of those awkward silences that come out of nowhere.

But during this awkward silence, I heard a car pull into the driveway and shut off. Everyone else kinda froze, Ember and Lethias went to the window to see who it was, but I had a pretty good idea who it is.

"It's Welnis!" Ember exclaimed in joy.

Yeah, I was right.

They didn't knock, they knew they didn't need to. Cooper went downstairs to greet them and bring them back upstairs to the living room.

I saw two of the cutest furries yet. Ether, a big cute skunk with a big fluffy tail and wild black hair. Welnis was a cheetah, black spots all over, and blonde hair atop his head. Despite their changed features, it was easy to tell who they were.

The last person to come up the stairs was Gemini, Ether's mother. She was still human, unfortunately. Apparently she didn't change either.

"This is so cool guys!" Ether grinned. "Look at all you! Lions and tigers and bears, OH MY!"

Ember jumped into Welnis's arms. "Oooh, Welnis. I didn't know you changed too!"

Welnis hugged her tight. "Well, I didn't know you changed!" He said back. They both just hugged each other for a few minutes.

"Welcome to the furry brothel." Frost said. "Enjoy your stay."

Gemini stepped in front of Ether and Welnis so she could get a good look at the rest of us. "This is so cool." She said quietly.

"Yeah, it is." I smiled.

"It is pretty cool, that's for sure." Cooper said. "We can do anything. Now we just need to figure out what we're doing."

"Yeah, I imagine it'll be hard to do anything outside." Gemini observed.

"Yeah, that's been a bit of a problem." Lethias growled, looking at me.

Gemini just went over to Lethias. "You look so cool....can I touch your scales?" It was cute, that's fur sure, like a kid in a candy store or something.

Lethias sighed, but he was really holding back a smile. You could tell he was overjoyed. "Go ahead, gimme some scritches."

Gemini obliged, which made Lethias quiver in pleasure. Frankly, I didn't see how, since I'm sure the scales would have diminished his sensitivity.

We all took turns explaining what happened, what we did the morning we woke up changed, and our stories so far for the next hour or so. Ember, Lethias, and Cole kept mentioning how stupid I was for going out in public, whereas Frost didn't care, and Cooper backed me up.

We asked Ether and Welnis, and they were both for exposure. Welnis said that ever since he came out of the closet for being gay, he wouldn't wish secrecy on anyone, ever. Ether was always one to just tell people about himself. Said there was no point in hiding it. He also said it would be good advertisement, and he'd be the first band that had an anthro on drums and singing.

So now the vote had swung around. Four on three. Frost was now neutral.

I tried to use this to my advantage, saying that I was right after all, but they just reminded me that given the thought process at the time, I still had no excuses for doing what I did.

Frankly, I didn't care. Lethias expressed his unhappiness, so did Ember, while Cole sat there quietly. I didn't want to disturb him. I was sure I was going to get a stern talking to by him later. I'd deal with it then.

After a couple hours of chatting, we turned on the TV to see the report on the ribfest. It started off nice and simple, with the introductions, telling us where he was.

He then panned over to me, showing my body, with the caption, 'Tiger Man likes ribs'. I thought it was appropriate. They showed the entire interview with me, and they cut out the bad part where I growled at him. After the interview, he went back to talking about ribs, and how the festival was a great thing. His last sentence was, "and even tiger men love ribs. I'm Josh Newman."

Not a bad thing said about me.

"See?" I exclaimed. "Perfectly safe!"

"That report wasn't about you." Ember explained. "It was about ribfest. I don't think he even thought you were real."

I shook my head, "No, no. he knows I'm real. I showed him my teeth and my tail. I even let him pinch me. He knows it's not fake."

"Well, that news report didn't give me the impression that you were a real tiger man."

DODODO, DEDEDEDEDEDEDE, dedededededededededede!

Aw shit. My phone was ringing again. "Excuse me guys." I said as I left the room to answer my phone.

"Ola!" I greeted the caller.

"Where are you?" My mother asked. I just sighed again, I already explained that to her.

"I'm in London mom, I already told you that."

"No, where in London are you? I need an address. We're coming to get you."

"We? Who's 'we'?" I asked.

"Dad and me."

I took a long pause. I wasn't sure if I really wanted them to come get me. I wasn't sure if I was ready to show them. But with a few moments of thought, I decided to go ahead. It would be fun to see their faces, and I knew that if I was to 'come out' entirely, they needed to know.

"Give me a minute, I'll ask Cooper what the address is." I quickly ran upstairs to get the address, then I went back downstairs, and I told them the address. "And don't forget to bring Sam, he knows the place, tell him it'll be worth it." I was sure to add.

I hung up the phone. I could tell mom was upset. So was dad, mom wouldn't even let him on the phone.

I went back upstairs. "Well, that was my mother, she's coming to pick me up." I explained.

"Oh, that's just great." Cole groaned. "Your parents seeing me like this."

"Give it a rest Cole, you can hide here if you want."

He just sighed and didn't say a word.

"So, what are you gonna do?" Frost asked. "I mean, you seem to be so intent on going public, so does this fit into your grand scheme?"

I shrugged. "No, not really. But it kinda works, if they do what I think they're going to do."

"You better not bring them in here." Lethias said. I knew he didn't much like my parents. There's a long history between them. It's a shame, really, but at the same time, I understand it.

"I won't bring them up here. Sam will come, he's gonna be the one doing all the communicating with us. He'll like us." I reassured him.

Cole stood up. "Yeah, Sam will be cool. This much is true."

Lethias nodded his understanding.

Cooper and Frost were still on the couch, talking amongst one another, which I found odd. The two of them generally don't seem to get along all that well. Welnis and Ether were both sitting together in a chair, Ember at their feet, while Gemini was busily looking around in awe at the furries.

It was all well and good till I heard the door open downstairs.

We all turned our heads to wait to see who it was climbing up the stairs.

"Why hullo Thar!" I heard a deep familiar voice say from the stairwell.

Immediately, Cooper stood up and ran for the stairs. "STRYPE!" She cried as she jumped into his arms.

They shared their hug for a while before Strype put Cooper down and looked her up and down. Strype was a hell of a buff Tiger, not like me. I was average girth, whereas he was well muscled, well toned, and well shaped.

Kinda made me wish I was like that.

"Where were you?" Cooper asked.

"Just out, doin my thing. Gotta test myself, see what I can and can't do." Strype explained.

"So why didn't you just tell me that?" Cooper asked.

"Well, I knew you'd understand. You know how I am." He said to her, gave her a small kiss on the forehead. "So how are you all? I see there were a few of you who changed as well."

There was a collective nod from the crowd. All of us.

Ember even came over to give Strype a big hug.

It was like the furmeets were real now. A dream come true. I could repeat this over and over again, but it would be a waste of time.

"Hey Strype, we took a video of Runa on the news, you want to see?" Frost offered.

Wait, they filmed it?

Strype sighed. "Don't tell me you did something stupid Runa."

"Well, it depends on what you consider stupid." I said, somewhat nervous.

Strype just stared at me for a moment before shaking his head. "You know what....no! I don't want to see that. I've seen enough to know that he was probably shoving Denmark up there!"

We all got a good laugh out of that. Eventually we got to tell Strype about what happened to all of us, the stories we'd told multiple times already.

Strype told us about all the things he was doing in the forest, and how he was practicing his own magics on rusty old cars. I was intrigued, but I knew I couldn't exactly ask for a demonstration here and now.

So, in the interest of curiosity, I asked Strype, "So, do you think it would be best to stay here in secret, or tell the world about us?"

He stared at me for a split second before answering me. "Well, I don't think any of us should stop doing what we're doing. We should just live our lives. Yeah, it's cool that our bodies have changed, but our minds haven't."

I grinned at Ember and Lethias. "See, you have nothing to fear."

But Strype corrected me. "Actually, fear is good thing. It keeps us aware and it keeps us from doing stupid things that could get us hurt. Fear is natural, really. This is something new, you can't all expect to just be at peace with it immediately."

"So what about you?" Frost asked. "Why are you so calm."

"Because this is what I've felt inside for so long. It seems like what's inside me just made it's way out."

"But what about the rest of us?" I asked. "I mean, we're all the same, really. We all wanted this, we all hoped for it deep down inside."

Strype nodded. "Perhaps, but at the same time, maybe it's all about what you expect the world to think. Those who think they're too scary, like Lethias, would feel fear for people, fearing that people wouldn't take too kindly to them. Maybe it's those who are less at ease with themselves that seem to be so worried."

Ember and Lethais kinda looked away.

"But what do I know? I'm just Strype, and I say it's RAPING TIME!"

We all got a good chuckle out of that too, this was Strype, that's just how it was.

It was just then that I heard a truck drive into the driveway.

"Well, that'll be for me. You guys should stay up here." I said as I got up and went downstairs. Sure enough, it was the black truck. I saw Sam, Mom, and Dad all get out of the car. Only Sam came to the door. He went to knock, but saw me inside.

His eyes went wide and be backed up. "Whoa, Cool!"

I opened the door and walked outside.

"Take that silly suit off." Dad commanded.

"It's not a suit dad." I growled.

"What, is it 'who you really are on the inside'?" He asked sarcastically.

"No dad, it's actually me. This is my body now." I took in a deep breath. It wasn't starting off too well, and I really didn't want to start an argument. "Sam, come here." I instructed him, and he did. He came up and poked me a few times. I had to keep myself from giggling because of the touch.

"That's really not a suit is it?" Sam asked, his face beaming.

I had to keep myself from rolling my eyes in exasperation. "No Sam, it's not a suit. You know I'd never use a suit. I think they're silly too."

Mom came up to me and looked me up and down. "Oh my god." She said.

"Yeah, see? I told you it was kind of a big deal." I said dryly.

Mom and Sam were looking me over, checking out my body, Dad hung behind, unable to really fathom what was happening. I didn't really care about what he thought. He'd been giving me a hard time about being a furry ever since I came out of the closet with it. I didn't expect him to understand. Besides, as he put it, he used to beat up people like me in high school.

Oh well, fuck him. I was happy.

"How did this happen?" Mom asked.

"This is so cool!" Sam said as he grinned at me. "How did it happen?"

"Well, I actually don't know. All I know is that I went to the furmeet, I wasn't feeling all too good that night, but when I woke up, I was this."

"You just woke up a tiger?" Dad asked with a hint of cynicism.

"Dad, I wish there was more to it, but yeah. I just woke up like this."

"And why couldn't you tell us?" Mom asked, still staring at me. Watching my lips as I talked, the twitch of my ears when I was annoyed.

"Because dad would be an ass about it." I answered simply. "And you'd ask too many questions."

"Gordon, you know I'd be supportive of you." Mom soothed. Dad just shook his head at the accusation of him being an ass. Unfortunately, I was right about him.

"Mom, I don't really care about support. I just didn't want to tell anyone at first. Only the other furries would really know what it was like, so I talked to them. My family is not the first group I wanna tell when something like this happens."

"And why not?" Mom asked. "Haven't we always been there when you needed us?"

"Well, sure, but that's besides the point. These are my friends. They would understand better than you would. Sometimes you just need someone who would understand."

Dad finally stepped forward and gave me a quick glance. "And how did you get here?" He asked.

I smiled and laughed. "You aren't going to believe me, but I ran."

"You ran?" Mom and dad both asked at the same time.

"Yeah, he ran." Sam answered. "He is a tiger now, so of course he can run."

I patted Sam on the back then pointed to him. "What he said." I laughed and smiled, maybe this would be easier than I thought.

But just then, Sam pulled away from me and ran into the house. I was going to stop him, but Sam's cool, he would love them all.

I heard a collective gasp from inside as sam made it up the stairs.

"We need to get you to the hospital to see what's wrong with you." Dad said.

"There's nothing wrong with me dad. This is really cool, and if there IS something wrong with me, I don't want to change it. I'm stronger, I'm faster, I have better senses, and a whole bunch of other special features. Frankly, I don't want to be fixed."

"We're still taking you to the doctors to see what happened." He insisted.

I considered resisting him, but I thought that no real harm could come from it. I shrugged without a word and got in the backseat of the truck. Dad called Sam down, and we all left.

They, of course, had to ask me a whole lot of questions, but I tried to keep my answers very minimal. I wanted to get this over with. Sam was the only one that I really wanted to talk to about it. He was genuinely interested, even jealous. Mom was interested, but worried, dad just thought this was a bad thing.

Who knows, maybe this would have a very good factor.

I herd some things about us furries. I wonder if the doctors had.