"I've been thinking--"

  "Dangerous past-time" Carolyn interrupted me. "Sorry, I've had that one in the barrel for a hot sed. What's up?"

  "Rude. Anyways, I've been thinking, I don't really like how my fur is like bristles and my skin is all tough and stiff. Like, Isn't it ironie to be literally thick skinned? Holy, it seems inappropriate."

  Carolyn chuckled amicably and sat up from her puter. She did a big stretd then wheeled over to me. "So what are you thinking? Hairless?"

  "Not quite, maybe just, fuzzy from the waist down like Deyha. And I wondered if you had highnd cow geashed somewhere for the fluffy curly texture."

  "That would still be pretty thick skin…" she took my hand and ied it, turning it from side to side. "I get what you mean, However, if I reverted to your old skin and hair genes, you would have the soft skin again. Then I could switch the hair geo curly and make you shed less. I'm not certain what that would do to the hair on your scalp, but then you'd have pretty thick curls from the waist down, forearms… ah but then you'd probably grow a beard too."

  "Rats are pretty soft." I suggested.

  "Iing that you thought of rats in particur before cats s, but we don't have to unpack that now."

  I ughed. "There's nothing to unpack, they're just the only kind of pet I've ever had besides fish."

  "What is there to unpack I wonder." she tapped her . "You never did expin the horse cock."

  "It's not a very iing story."

  "I'll be the judge of that, dear." Carolyn wheeled back to her desk and collected her mug. "Go on, I'm listening."

  "You're not going to let this go?"

  She only shook her head in response.

  "Do you wao try and unpack every single reason I ended up being a furry?"

  She shrugged and sipped her coffee.

  "It started with the mermaid cartoons--"

  "I expected it to be some sort of movie but as I far off base with the genre."

  I rolled my eyes. "Do you need a moment to fill out your bingo card?"

  "No, no. Please tihough I'm sure Deyha would love to hear this as well."

  "I'll tell her ter. Anyways. It was mostly geuff, wanting to be a girl and being unfortable with my body. First puberty was a lot of knee and back pain that nobody took seriously. It was just literal growing pains and they went away but it kinda set a pret to minimize my feelings. The idea of a mermaid tail and swimming sounded like heaven."

  "So how have you felt about hooves?"

  "Holy, it's less about them being the real me and more about being a real tangible thing in on with Deyha." I held my legs out in front of me. "I miss socks though."

  "Nothing is stopping you from wearing socks, but more importantly your body should be about you."

  "I'm keeping the hooves. Anyways. After mermaids there were of course all the talking animal shows-- and the shape shifter books. I never uood why the goosebumps story about kids turning into dogs was supposed to be horror."

  "You are a bit of a puppy."

  "I know. The thing was that I desperately wao be a nurturing presence. Dogs are loyal and protective, but I've always been more about supp than defending. Healing instead of shielding, if that makes sense."

  "S, and with the breeding kink… yeah I see how you arrived where you are."

  "Listen, I didn't open up just to be eviscerated."

  Carolyn rolled back over to me, "I know baby, I know. I'm sorry for always making fun."

  "I'm going to bite you now."

  She ughed and threw her arms around me. "You try, but I bite back."

  "Promise?"

  "Gods. Okay, e over here." She pulled me along to her desk and took up position behind me. Resting her on my shoulder as she hugged me.

  "What am I looking at?"

  "This is my library. It's all the building instrus that I have either discovered or verified."

  I clicked around. Date modified, date created, animal type… I hovered the cursor over "cow" but something caught my eye, just a few entries up.

  "Chimera?"

  "Uhhh."

  I clicked it.

  "Babe, those aren't--"

  I sorted them by date created, and then checked the author.

  Doctor Carolyn Davis.

  "It was you…"

  "What are you talking about?"

  "You designed Deyha's mods."

  "Why the acg tone?" She let go of me and I turo face her.

  "She told me she was modded against her will. Does she know it was you?"

  "Of course she does, I've been maintaining them for her sihe beginning! What do you mean against her will? She said that?"

  "Well not that exactly--"

  "What exactly did she say?" Carolyn seemed stri now. "Please, I need her exact words."

  "I--. I'm sorry. I don't remember."

  Carolyn's eyes filled with tears.

  "Carolyn, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to--"

  "Give me a moment." Carolyn pushed back. She held her hand over her mouth, she looked like she was going to be sick.

  "I'll go get Deyha."

  "No-" Carolyn reached toward me and then grasped the empty air. "No." she whispered. "You're right. We o sort this out."

  "I'm sorry--"

  "Now I owe you two bites--"

  "Is this really the time?" I asked, "Really?"

  "You're right. You're right. It's just… She never said…" she stared at her hands. "She never said anything... Why did she lie?" she met my eye again. "Why would she lie?"

  "She knew you'd revert them."

  "Of course I would-- of course I will! Nobody should have to live like that-- for years?" she put her head in her hands. "Are you sure you didn't misuand?"

  "I'm sure, but let me go find her."

  Carolyn nodded, but she seemed really shaken. "Yeah. hurry back."

  "I will."

  "Deyha!"

  It felt like I had to check half the farm before I found her. She looked up and smiled but only an instant before seeming to realize how frantic I was.

  "What's wrong? What happened?"

  "I messed up. I told Carolyn that you didn't want your mods."

  She held my shoulders as I caught my breath. "Why?"

  "I don't know it just… I misuood, somewhere along the way I misuood and now Carolyn is freaking out and--"

  "Where?" she shook me. Her eyes wide.

  "Her b."

  Deyha was off, running faster than I could ever hope to, faster than I thought possible. By the time I got back to the ic I could already hear the raised voices.

  "You had nht!" I reized Deyha's voice, heavy with hurt.

  "You 't live like this, it's not okay!"

  "It's my choibsp;

  "Clearly it wasn't!" Carolyn shouted back

  I arrived at the door, panting, but they only spared me a gnce. I sank to my knees.

  "Get them back." Deyha spoke through ched teeth.

  "I t." Carolyn tered.

  "Figure it out."

  "I won't." she stared up at Deyha, bloodshot eyes stony with resolve.

  Deyha stared for a moment longer before taking a step back. She kicked a stool, sending it careening across the room. The wall shook with the force of the blow and what was left of the stool scattered across the floor.

  Before either Carolyn or myself could react she was out of the room. Doors smmed in her wake.

  After a moment Carolyn sank to the floor as well. Staring at her hands. With ay expression, Like something vital had been carved out of her.

  I struggled to my hooves, brag myself against the doorframe.

  "Maddie…"

  I grabbed my things from my desk.

  "Maddie, baby, what are you doing?" She sounded so tired.

  "I have to fix this."

  "Some things 't be fixed."

  Rage fshed through me. I stared down at her, trying to see the girl I loved in all the debris. "Since when did you back down from a challenge?"

  "It's not just a challe's a--"

  "It's far more important. It's a life. It's our life." I headed for the door.

  I found Deyha sitting on a bench just outside the front door of the ic. Her tail hung limp on the ground behind her as she stared out. She scooted away from me and patted a spot beside her.

  "What's going to happen now?" I sat down and stared out with her.

  Deyha took a deep breath a out through her nose. "Carolyed my genemap."

  "Isn't that… a death sentence?"

  "No, nothing that drastic, she make something for me to use… but she 't recreate my mods."

  "Not even if it was exactly the same?"

  "That's just it." Deyha sighed. "It would have to be exact, down to the st bit, the very st shred of metadata or ued code. If the hash doesn't mato dice."

  "And there's no rec the deleted file?"

  Deyha ughed bitterly. "Would you believe it, she thought of that exactly. She copied everything else off, and obliterated the drive."

  "This is all my fault, if I hadn't--"

  "No. This was a long time ing… to tell you the truth, I figured this would happeually, some part of me hoped that if I told you, eventually we would all have a discussion about it. I was just too much of a coward to tell her myself after all this time."

  "I'm not sure I would call that a discussion."

  "Aggressive iations?"

  "You're terrible." I ughed despite everything.

  "At some point, I have to wonder. Why am I fighting so hard to be miserable? We aplished what we set out to do. A dozen pharmaceutical panies were bankrupted and absorbed into the gover. A piddly litre of venom a month ish shattering-- I mean, it used to be worth like ten million because its really fug difficult to farm the little buggers, but I'm not making enough for the whole world. I never did. People still farm it, but they just 't charge as much for it." She sighed, "Which motivated them to find cheaper ways to produce it and automated away some of the human cruelty."

  Deyha looked at me. "I guess I could have warned you, Carolyn and I, our vis be like unstoppable forces and immovable objects."

  "But… She said some things 't be fixed."

  "Probably talking about the data recovery. you… go che her?"

  "e with me."

  She shook her head. "I'll be along, just follow your heart. It will all be fine."

  I kissed her cheek and made my way baside.

  Carolyn was at her puter. She seemed ser focused and she clicked her mouse increasingly hard until she was hammering her fist on the ter.

  "Hey."

  "Maddie!" she spared me a gnce. "You're right. I know it's out there somewhere, If I hired a hacker to hit the database--"

  "Carolyn."

  She paused and looked at me again.

  "Deyha se's going to be okay."

  "Is she okay? Gods I don't know what I would do--"

  "We're all going to be okay. e get some air."

  "Already? I don't think I face her. I 't believe I was so impulsive--" she glowered at her puter "and thh…"

  I tugged at her arm. "e on. The su is beautiful."

  She let me pull her upright "eh, You see one, you've seen them all."

  Regardless, she let me lead her out of the building.

  Deyha looked up as we stepped outside. "Greetings brats."

  Carolyn choked a ugh as I stuy tongue.

  "Hello… I don't know what to call you in turn. Should I just call you 'mommy' whenever you do that?"

  They both burst out ughing.

  "Genuinely, please don't." Deyha patted the spot that I'd taken before, but Carolyn was quicker.

  "You're sure I don't have to separate you two?"

  Carolyn ed her arms around Deyha. "Attempt at your own peril."

  I sat down oher side and joihe hug to plete the sandwich.

  "Sorry about your wall."

  Carolyn ughed. "It's okay. I'd be pretty mad too if someoold me 'ge or die'. Besides, I'm not the one who is going to have to patch that." She leaned forward and looked at me. "I'll give you two guesses who the handywoman of the farm is."

  Deyha chuckled. "I suppose that's true. When do you want to start on my new mods?"

  "Whenever you're ready. Though…" Carolyn paused, "We should probably have something lined up before the end of the week. We make a whole day of it though, you both sit in on my process while you shop around, I know Maddie has some things she wants to tweak as well."

  "Oh?" Deyha looked down at me. "Tired of the hooves and fur already?"

  "No!"

  "Oh it's adorable, she wants to keep the hooves just to match you!"

  "What if I don't keep mine?" Deyha nudged me with her shoulder.

  "Then I might just persist with them out of spite. Besides, that would mean I get all your old shoes."

  Deyha cackled. "What shoes?!"

  "Horses wear down and develop cracks after too long on hard surfaces…"

  Carolyn was ughing too now. "Well you don't have horse hooves, now do you?"

  "Cow hooves, five me for lumping them together but--"

  Deyha cut me off. "I'll let you in on a little secret, we don't have cow hooves either."

  "Hooves are hooves okay? They walk around on the balls of their feet equivalent-- what now?"

  Carolyn cackled.

  "Stop ughing at me!"

  "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

  "Deyha, bite her please."

  "Is that how that works?"

  "Okay, okay," Carolyn cut in. "I'm n to poke fun, I'm just genuinely amused, a little fttered even, that you assumed they were the geicle."

  "What, are you going to tell me you desighem from scratch?"

  "I did! Your body doesn't have a snapshot of how you are now, it just has the instrus to get you there, so what I have to do is make the instrus to take you from where you are, to where you want to be. That's part of what went wrong on the first serum, the process fender affirming mods is a well doted process, but when I tailored it for you I applied a wildly incorrect pag to the development.

  "So… anything I could ask you to ge would be… shit tons of work. Hours and hours of painstaking bor. Why didn't you say something sooner?"

  "Maddie, you kly why, I practically see your two brain cells guilt tripping each other from here."

  "Wow."

  Deyha and Carolyn were ughing harder now.

  "I 't believe I'm out here busting my ass to keep this family together and you're calling me dumb."

  I stood up. "I also 't believe that you went so overboard too! How much effort did you put into makihis horny all the time?"

  Carolyn was chewing her lip really hard.

  "What's that face? Deyha, what's that face mean?"

  "I'm not ughing at you." Carolyn stood up and took my hands. "I promise I'm n to make fun of you…"

  "Why don't I believe you?"

  "Because you really aren't going to like the truth." Her voice shook with poorly disguised mirth.

  "Try me."

  "I haven't touched your hormones sihe very first serum."

  I shrugged. "So? You ged a lot of stuff back then."

  "No, Baby. That only took a single night because of how little I ged."

  "Fuck."

  "I ouched your sex drive."

  "Fuck fuck fuck. You're kidding me."

  "I look into it if it's making you unfortable but, Babygirl, brairy is way above my paygrade."

  I looked at Deyha. "Did you know this?"

  She nodded. "I actually ended up asking her about it."

  "So all of this is just… Me."

  "That was always the goal, you know."

  "Cute is what we aim for…" I grumbled.

  "I guess?" Carolyn tilted her head to the side.

  "That's the name of the band that wrote my theme song."

  "What's the song?"

  "Deyha sing it for you." I let go of Carolyn's hands and headed for the barn.

  "Wait, where are you going?"

  "I'm going to go take a shower."

  Deyha and Carolyn caught up to me pretty quickly. "Are you mad at us?"

  "Heh. Mad cow. But no, I'm not mad."

  Carolyn caught my hand and wove our fiogether. "Then what's wrong?"

  "You two have been bullying me for the st couple minutes and I've had enough."

  "So… you're mad."

  "No" I sighed "But my vibrator is roof."