This story was originally conceived to be a stand alone tale, but it fit Dorothy's M.Y.T.H. universe without too much modification. It starts about a year before Help! My girlfriend is a Unicorn!

From the previous chapter: Cindy gripped tighter and squeezed the breath out of me. Again.

Mom rolled her eyes. "I'll just leave you two to work it out."

"Help! Don't leave me alone with this meanie meanie bobeenie!"

Cindy released her tight hold and backed up enough to look me in the eyes. For the first time since I started this adventure, she looked vulnerable.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" I asked.

"For being so mean. For coming to you before you were ready. For... I dunno... confusing you? I saw you sleeping there and you were just so darn cute! I couldn't resist curling up on top of you."

I wrapped her in a tight hug. "Oh, sweetie. You didn't do anything wrong." Tears leaked from my eyes. "I have never felt happier and full of life. I love you and Mom and Dad so much! I love my new life and my new body. I love the way that you all have welcomed me into your family and home. I love the way we tease each other. I even love it when you call me 'little sister.'"

There was a look of profound relief on her face. "Mom and Dad warned me that you wouldn't be ready to fully embrace the freedom that comes from being were and fey. Some changelings never do."

"Yeah, I went from grumpy old fart to jailbait in less than two weeks. To me, you are so adorably cute in all of your forms. But it's hard to see you as anything but jailbait -- cute and sexy, but off limits. It took all I had to playfully goof around... to... I dunno... There's a part inside that's afraid of looking like a dirty old pervert."

"Compared to Mom and Dad, you are barely out of the cradle."

"You, even more so," I replied.

"How young were your kids when you started taking them out in a canoe, riding the quads, hiking, fishing, hunting, and all that other fun stuff?"

I sighed. "Yeah, I know what you're saying. Sex has about the same significance as any other recreation. It's us humans that have messed up something that is perfectly natural."

"'Them humans,' not 'Us humans.'"

"I'm still getting used to that, too. Have I really lost my humanity?"

"Not in any way that you don't want to," she replied. "Humans, fey, all kinds of weres, unicorns, mermaids, naga, witches, dragons... We're all people. You have gained some important abilities, but you haven't lost a thing."

"Aside from a certain appendage," I snerked.

"You'll be able to get it back any time you like. But you won't have it getting pinched in your tight shorts anymore."

I chuckled. "How would you know about that?"

"I have been told. And I tried it, just to see if they were exaggerating about how annoying it can be."

"Were they?"

"Were they what?"

"Were they exaggerating?"

"No! Not even a little bit. I don't know how you guys can stand it."

"Well, I figured that it was easier to tolerate than bleeding every month."

She scowled in disgust. "I'm sure that's even worse. Sometimes, in my prayers, I thank God that we were don't have to put up with that shit."

"What about sweaty boobs? I'm not looking forward to that."

"We don't sweat unless we want to. And a little bit of shifting takes care of most annoyances."

"Any more little details that I might want to know?"

"I'll tell you about them when I think of them." she said loftily. "But one thing you can look forward to is that shifting puts you into a fresh body. Everything that you don't want, both inside and out, will be gone. You'll never need to poop or pee again. You can even make some changes inside yourself so that you don't even have to shift to get rid of it. It'll never get made. It'll all go back into the ether."

While we were talking, she had curled up next to me, and I curled around her. Fuzzy foxy! I was stroking her fur and scritching her ears.

She turned to me. "You seem more relaxed and comfortable."

"I'm no longer worried about being inappropriate, or pushing the boundaries, or being seen as a dirty old man."

She snickered. "Pushing the boundaries? Not even close!" Then she got just a bit more serious. "Does that mean that you might, uh, make a little more use of your new-found freedom?"

"Is that an invitation? I didn't know that you were a lesbian."

"Like most fox fey, and a lot of other were fey, I am bi. You will probably get there, too."

I had to admit that I wasn't particularly worried one way or the other. I like curves and breasts and smooth skin. I'm not fond of hairy bodies. Fur, on the other hand...

She looked at me. "Well? You didn't answer."

I shrugged. "I'm not ready yet. But you can ask on occasion if you like. Just don't take it personally that I still have some old fuddy duddy in me."

She snerked and gave me a tight wiggly hug. "That's OK grandpa little sister!"

I ruffled her hair.

She suddenly jumped up. "Oh! We need to get showered and dressed! Or, you need to get showered and we need to get dressed. You need to show the farm sitter around."

"Farm sitter? I'm not planning on going anywhere."

"Oh, we didn't tell you yet. We are all going camping. Jimmy Jenson is watching everything. He's a fey nature mage. I think you'll like him because he's a nerd, too."

"Jimmy... Is that Mark and Donna's son? Is he old enough to watch the farm by himself?"

"He's kinda like you," Cindy said. "Teen on the outside, grumpy old fart on the inside."

"Well, the guest room is ready. I'll just have to make sure that the larder has enough food that he likes."

Cindy shook her head. "Don't worry about it. He'll be sleeping in his own room and coming here through the foxhole from his home to ours."

I jumped up and headed into the shower. Ten minutes later, I came back. I rummaged through my closet for my cargo pants and stuff.

"You can't wear that stuff! We Lupo dress nicely, even when we dress trashy."

"Like, when we aren't wandering around in our altogether?"

She smirked. "Just stand there for a second." She shifted to her teen human form. "Don't look all shocked. It's just us weres here. And it's just us girls here."

That got a smile from me.

She grew a little taller. Her body changed to match mine. The size did, anyhow. Then, a pair of thigh-high boots appeared on her.

My surprise must have shown. "I though you did your reading. If we can make hair and fingernails appear and disappear, why not other nonliving organic substances?"

"I thought it took years of practice to be that good at it."

"It does," she said. "Now twirl around."

I twirled around, then did some jumping jacks just to be a smartass.

She adjusted her size minutely.

"Hmmm... Not showing enough leg." The boots shrunk so that they came up to a little below her knees. A mini skirt appeared, then a halter top that tied at the bottom showed off her breasts to good effect without making it too obvious that she wasn't wearing a bra. She did a twirl before the mirror, nodded, and took it all off.

"There ya go, little sis. Get dressed!"

"Ummm... Underwear?"

She snorted. "You don't need those. It's just us weres and fey, remember? And even if there are normies about, just don't bend over and reveal yourself. Unless you want to."

I sighed, then started getting dressed.

"Oh! Remember when I told you that I'll give you the information when I think of it?"

"Yeah. That was just a few minutes ago."

"Well I thought of something. I'm not a teen-ager. Not really."

She put her hands on her hips. "Don't give me that look! You know that we can look any age we like.

"I remember when you were first christened at church. I watched you grow up."

"Now, you're a genius nerd and stuff. It shouldn't be too hard for you to figure it out."

"Oh! You must have spent a lot of time in a pocket universe with the time running fast."

"Got it in one! See? I knew you were smarter than you look!"

"Hey! I iz rocket scientist. I make things go boom boom."

Cindy snickered.

I went over and picked up my web gear and stuff. "This is going to look really funny with my mini skirt."

"You don't need that stuff. Your body is a lot sturdier than before."

"I always carry it. And I'm allowed to be eccentric. That's one of the privileges of age. And being a were, or fey, or whatever."

"OK. Just plop it on your bed and I'll take care of it while you make me some coffee, pancakes, sausage, and eggs."

"Who said that I was going to make that for breakfast?"

"I did, little sister. Not hop to it! And let big sis take care of your eccentric little toys."

I turned to her and bowed low. "Yes, madam sensei foxy chick!"

The eggs and sausage were in the fry pans, and I was just pouring the fresh blueberries into the batter when Cindy came down. She was wearing clothing identical to what she made for me, except she had on a belt with what looked like pockets, but were way too small to actually hold anything. She was carrying a second belt. As I was pouring the batter onto the griddle, she reached around me and attached the belt. Then she grabbed my free hand, held it over the belt, and did something. I felt the power travel from her hand, through mine, and into the belt.

"There, your very own utility belt! I just tuned it to you and made it yours. Nobody else can get into it. Don't say I never made ya nuthin!"

While the pancakes were cooking, Cindy showed me how the utility belt worked. The pockets looked way too narrow to hold anything but, like Dad's pouch of holding, the openings expanded way out and the interiors are way bigger than the exteriors.

I explored the pockets and found everything that had been on my web gear and in my backpack. Even my hand cannon. I must be the first person to ever have a fifty cal five shooter in deep conceal. Someone could strip search me without finding it, since I am the only one in the world that can open the belt. Well, Cindy can, too, with some effort.

Then she handed me a small, dainty purse. I looked in it and found kleenex, tampons, pads, lipstick, and stuff like that.

"You need the tampons and pads in case someone needs one. And also people will be less likely to notice that we don't have a period."

Then she put her hands on the hand that was holding my purse and made it mine. That's when I noticed that there were a lot of pouches inside, kinda like the hanging folders in a filing cabinet. When I opened one, I found that the opening would stretch for anything from a foot to a few yards, and the depth ranged from about two feet to several yards.

A little later, Mom and Dad came in. "Perfect timing!" I told them. "Cindy, how about setting the table while these pancakes cook? The jam and maple syrup are in the fridge."

Cindy went over and whispered something to Mom, then started setting the table. The coffee finished, so she filled up the dewar carafe and put it on the table, along with a container of half and half, some raw sugar, cocoa powder, and vanilla.

I put the six pancakes on a serving plate, poured another six onto the griddle, and set the timer for four minutes. When I turned around to put the pancakes on the table, I noticed that Mom was wearing clothes identical to Cindy and me.

Dad looked at the three of us. "Methinks that my girls are up to something."

I pointed at Cindy. "Don't look at me. It's all her idea. I was just going to wear my cargo pants and a t-shirt."

Cindy stuck her tongue out to express her distaste at that idea.

After we were done eating, Mom called Jimmy Jenson. It took him all of three minutes to get here. He came out of the library foxhole.

"The cat food is here," I said as I showed him around. "Make sure that they all come in at night. I hate losing them to the coyotes."

Jim looked at Mom. Mom said, "You don't have to worry about that anymore. When we put in the foxhole, the wards were automatically extended to the house. I extended them to the rest of your property without even thinking about it."

"Wards?"

"Animals leave your stuff alone. Everything that isn't a pet has an aversion to coming into your house -- including mice and flies. Predators won't eat your animals, though they will still eat wild animals. Herbivores won't graze in your garden. Your livestock won't challenge your fences. Your animals won't leave the property. People with ill intent will find a reason to not trespass."

"Will it keep the JWs away?"

Mom chuckled. "In general, they don't have ill intent. They are just doing what they see as their duty. But if you ask them to leave, they won't come back. At least, they won't come back unless they use strength of will to overcome the aversion."

We walked through the barn and around the pens, most of which have been empty since my ex and the kids moved out.

We came to a large fenced in area. There was an outer and inner woven wire fence with strands of electric fencing held a few inches away. The inner and outer fences were separated by four feet. Chickens wandered around in that corridor, snatching up any bug that might dare to try to cross to the inner part.

The inner area was separated into four squares, with a chicken coop in the center. I led them to the coop and showed Jim where to collect the eggs and add food and water.

One of the four squares was planted with my vegetable garden. The 'chicken moat' protected that garden from bugs.

The gate between the moat and a second square was open, and contained about two dozen laying hens and two roosters. They were all free to wander the moat, their pen, and the chicken coop.

Another of the four pens had fifty little cornish rock chicks. I reminded Jim that the cornish rock chickens could only have food available for twelve hours a day or they would have heart attacks and flip over.

The last pen was full of older cornish rock chickens, almost ready for butchering. I already had an appointment with a local Amish farm that did butchering to make a little more cash.

"I keep about half a dozen breasts for myself, and send the rest of the meat to the Shepherd's table and two different food pantries. The younger birds will be ready in time for the Shepherd's Table's big Thanksgiving meal. I'll be raising another fifty in time for Christmas."

"You keep the breasts? Does that mean that you are a breast man?" snarked Cindy.

"Actually, I am a leg girl," I replied.

Cindy smirked, then posed, showing off her long, silky legs. I made sure to visibly ogle them. She giggled. Jim, on the other hand, looked a bit disappointed.

"Now that I have a family again," I said to Mom, "Should I keep back a little more meat? I can definitely raise more chicks to make up for it."

"If you want," she said, "But it isn't really necessary. We can raise whatever we want as fast as we want in a pocket universe with the time sped up."

Cindy piped up, "You're eating with us, remember? Instead of just keeping the breasts, how about keeping the whole bird for us dark meat lovers?"

"So, you're a leg girl, sis?"

"I like all of the parts," she said to me with a smirk.

It was my turn to primp and pose.

Jim looked like he felt left out.

I thought about the time accelerated weed free bug free pocket universes and smiled. "I am sooooo going to have fun with that."

"I can help," Jimmy said. "I can help you develop plants and animals that are better than you can buy."

I smiled at him. "Thanks! That sounds like fun. And maybe I can even teach my little sis how to cook."

Cindy stuck her tongue out at me.

I led them through the garden, showed him what was getting ready to harvest, and wrote down where he could send any excess.

I led them to the chicken coop and let Jim collect the eggs.

"It's a chicken sedan," Dad said.

"A chicken sedan?" I asked.

"Yeah, it has four doors. If it had two doors, it would be a chicken coupe."

We all groaned.

"Where are you going to put the garden next year?" asked Jimmy.

"It's going where the young meat birds are now. They will be butchered a little before Thanksgiving, which gives me time to throw on some mulch and let the manure age so that it doesn't burn the roots of the plants. Just before the snow really flies, I'm going to let the egg girls in for a while to scratch everything up and eat any seeds that might have come in with the mulch."

"Good system," he said with approval.

"Thanks," I replied.

Mom and I spent some time going through some of the characteristics unique to the North American Kitsune. Dad shares some of the skills due to long association, but he is a were wolf, not a were fox.

One of the skills Dad shares with us is an aura vision that is sensitive to what is inside the mind, or soul of the person.

I also found out why our church promotes the PRH, or Personality and Human Relationships method of fostering growth.

It turns out that the concepts taught in PRH are very close to what we see when we look into someone's aura -- the part of the aura that shows who they are inside.

The PRH folks like to talk about there being five components to the person, but it simplifies well to the body (which PRH doesn't really address, as it can't be changed. Or, more accurately, diet and medicine are out of PRH's purview.)

They draw a diagram like an egg. The shell is the body. Everything external interfaces through the body. Inside, like the white, is the sensibility. It is where most people live. It is the part that is sensitive to the world and feels both positive and negative emotions. Near the top is a circle they call the "I" -- the intellect. That is the part that thinks. Pure, dry, analytical.

At the bottom is what they call the "Being". I like to think of it as the soul. It is where we are connected to God. It is the real person -- the place where we are all good.

I have always thought of the sensibility as the flesh as described by the Bible. It is tossed and turned by the pains and pleasures of life. When something painful hits us, we can feel it and let it go by, but we usually shove it down. We generally learn to push our pain down as kids and continue to do so as adults. Those pockets of pain just sit there and fester and get worse, coming back at the worst times.

Sometimes, some little tiny thing will happen that we will overreact to. Really, was getting cut off in traffic that bad, or did it remind us of something that caused us such profound pain in our past that we just shoved it down? The PRH folks call that a disproportionate reaction. I call it an overreaction.

When too much pain is shoved down, the pockets of pain crowd the being and keep it from growing. Finally, we are puppets that remain angry and react harshly to everything that happens in the world

So we are all of those things. When we live in our sensibility, we are the shallow folks that just go through life trying to get what we can from it, and lashing out when things don't go our way. When we live in our "I," we analyze everything and try to do what is optimal, but don't really live -- don't really allow ourselves to feel the joy or pain of life.

I have to admit that I have lived from my "I" way more than is healthy. I did it to escape the pain. It doesn't really work, but it allows one to work around and with the pain -- to do what is right while trying to not react too much to the pain.

But does Mister Spock really live?

But is it worth it to constantly deal with the pain just to say that you are living?

We all have to make our decisions and work with what we have.

Ideally, we want to live from our being -- our soul -- our true selves. If we can't? Well, some people seek out all the pleasures that life can give, while cursing every cause of their pain. Others try to rise above it and live intellectually. Or exist intellectually.

But we all have talents deep within us that want to be expressed. We all have gifts that we need to use -- that the creator of our souls want us to use. If we can live from our being, we live a truly satisfied and satisfying life. We stand on firm ground while the storms of life lash at us with little effect.

It is something I aspired to, but only recently got a good taste of.

I lived from my being as much as I could before, but it always remained mostly out of my reach, despite my best efforts. Despite the efforts that I eventually abandoned as futile.

I love my daddy. That bite delivered me. I'm just now, finally, starting to learn how to live.

When bedtime rolled around, I took a quick shower and crawled into bed. I couldn't resist posing in front of the mirror. For the first time in my life, I liked what I saw.

I crawled into the bed and laid on my side, slipping one long, silky leg over the other. I luxuriated in feeling of being who I have always wanted to be.

I can't say that I was always this way inside. My mismatched body didn't let me feel this way. I ached to feel this way, but never really convinced myself.

Until now.

I grabbed my Cindy plushie and held it to my chest, hugging it tightly.

The cats hopped up and took their positions on and around me. I used to joke that some of them like to lay respectfully at my feet.

I stroked the cats that were in range. Some wanted petting, and others were content to stay out of my reach.

Sleep was just starting to take me when I felt a heavy critter hop up on my hip. Even with the covers over my head, I could tell that it was Cindy in her foxy form. I love having aura vision.

I quickly flung the covers back, grabbed Cindy, pulled her to my chest, and wrapped my self around her, squeezing her tight.

"I just love my fluffy cuddly little pet!"

She struggled, but I paid her no mind. "I've got you, little foxie!"

She started to shift to her three quarters form. As soon as her front legs turned into arms, she wrapped them around me. "On the contrary. It is I who have you," she said in her best Bugs Bunny voice.

I made a few token struggles, but I felt loved and secure. The fact that I could see the love in her aura made me feel even happier. And who can get upset about cuddling so much fur? I kept my arms wrapped around her as we both dropped off to sleep.

I had never been able to sleep cuddled to someone like that before. Being large made it cumbersome. Being heavy meant that we both ended up with cramped and tingly arms. I love how we both are light, yet sturdy enough that we aren't bothered by a little weight laying across our limbs.

It turns out that aura vision can act as a kind of alarm system. Even in my sleep, I felt the approach of two people. I also felt that they meant me no harm. Just the opposite, in fact.

"Those two are just too cute!" snickered my mother. Dad nodded.

I could feel them lovingly probing me. I was asleep, but I later woke up and vividly remembered everything.

"It's amazing how much her being has grown since she started her rebirth. And her sensibility is largely cleared," Mom said.

"You should have seen all the junk that was there before I bit her," Dad replied. "It's amazing that she could function at all. About half of it popped free as soon as she realized that she was a were fox."

"I'm surprised that she believed you so quickly."

"She's a smart kid," Dad smirked. "The instantly healing wounds, along with the deep feeling of release that all changelings report, convinced her. And seeing the Michigan Dogman didn't hurt."

"Her being has been growing by leaps and bounds," Mom smiled. "Far from slowing down, it sped up when she woke up as a girl. She's going to be amazing in a century. Actually, she's going to be amazing soon after her final conversion."

"I think she survived for so long by living through her 'I,'" Dad said. "Her 'I' has had to carry the load for so long that it has grown really powerful. Then, when her body was released piece by piece, all the pockets of pain related to her not being her true self vaporized. That released a lot of the related pain."

"I think the rest of the pockets of pain are going to fade away just because they aren't being fed. Though she'll be able to get rid of them faster if she does the exercises."

"Heh. Yeah, on the occasions when she has a recurring disproportionate reaction. I haven't seen any of those lately."

"They'll come eventually. She's just too gleeful right now. And she's still heavily into her 'I.'"

Mom and dad hugged. "I'm so glad she's our daughter now."

As they started to walk back to the foxhole to the main area, Mom chuckled. "You know what? I think her fey powers grew a little more than we expected. She's hearing us in her sleep. She's going to remember our conversation when she wakes up."

Dad just chuckled. "That's OK." Then he turned to me. "Sleep tight, sweet girl. We love you!"

I smiled in my sleep.

When I woke up, I remembered it all.

With my new utility belt and purse of holding, I had no trouble packing for the camping trip. Actually, I packed for a major expedition. I stopped short of packing all of my scuba equipment, since I don't need an underwater breathing apparatus. And my wetsuit and drysuit no longer fit me. And my prescription lens mask was useless to me. I just tossed my flippers in for the heck of it. Come the full moon, I'll be able to shift and therefore won't even need those.

I started boxing up stuff that I would no longer need and put them into the back of my pickup. After that, I started stacking boxes around the garage. Having a new energetic body allowed me to get stuff done that I had been putting off for years.

I played with my ham radios, but didn't use voice. I used digital modes and morse code.

I spent a lot of time learning some of the finer parts of being were from my new family. I explored my new home. I swam in the magical pool, and also in the fresh and salt bodies of water in the various pocket universes.

Mom and Dad had been building our home for centuries. It wasn't just a matter of making the pocket universes and manifesting the contents. The ecologies had to be designed, experimented with, and allowed to run at high speed for a while until they were reasonably stable. Ecologists would love to be able to run experiments like my parents have been doing for centuries.