Opening conversations

"So, Umara got bored with tricking nymphs and decided to trick a human into taking her place." Blizzy commented, gesturing a thumb towards Chloe.

"Either that or she couldn't find any other water nymphs to trick." Flora said.

"Look," Chloe began, "I need to get out of here and get some clothes on before -"

"'Get out'?" Fyra asked with a half hearted laugh as she leaned against a tree. "Lady, if it were that easy to get out, don't you think we would have flew the coop and killed Umara by now?"

"She's right." Blizzy commented, "This place has a magic barrier surrounding it that allows magical creatures in, but makes sure they don't get out. Only humans can get in or out with the barrier up."

"Well, how am I suppose to stop people from seeing me?!" Chloe asked.

"Um... Oh!" Flora suggested with a sheepish smile, "I can create some bushes for you to hide behind."

"I can't hide behind bushes all day!" Chloe exclaimed, "And I can't let people see me naked!"

"I mean, with a body like yours, I wouldn't -"

"Don't!" Chloe spat as she glared at Fyra.

"Well, you're not going have enough time to worry about that." Blizzy said.

"And why is that?"

"Because this place opens in..." The ice nymph looked up at the sky before finishing, "Fifteen minutes."

"What?!"

"There it is!" Rosaline exclaimed as she, Conrad, and Elizabeth made thier way towards the entrance of the zoo. The trio were just about to be the first ones through the gates when...

"Hold it!" Mr. Foxmarry's Daughter said as she extended her arm, stopping the three. "You can't come in!"

"What?!" Rosaline exclaimed, "Why?! The zoo's about to open and we just beat the crowds for seeing the new exhibit! I see no reason why -"

"Not you! You can come in." Mr. Foxmarry's Daughter said before gesturing to Conrad and Elizabeth. "They, on the other hand, have to stay outside! No Familiars allowed."

"What? I've been coming to this zoo since before I was out of diapers, since when are Familiars banned?!"

"Since two years ago when my dad discovered a new species of dragon that he put on display. Nota Comedentis, the Familiar Eater. That's how I..." The Woman sniffled as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a locket, her lip quivering. "That's how I lost Mr. Cuddle Buddy."

Mr. Foxmarry's daughter turned the locket to Rosaline, showing a picture of her and her late familiar... A fully grown Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Needless to say, both Familiars let out a nervous whimper.

"Look, Ms. ..."

"Jodi Foxmarry."

"Look, Jodi." Rosaline said, "I can't explain right now, but it is very important that I get in there!"

"Well, as I said before, you can come in. They can't." Jodi said, pocketing her locket. "That's why we have this magical barrier around the place to make sure it doesn't get out! Now, either leave them out here, or go home!"

"I... I'm sorry." Umara said, blinking at Ophelia. "You want me to make people like you?"

"Mmhmm." Ophelia said shyly.

"Wow! You're a genius, aren't you?" Lilith asked in sarcastic mockery.

"... Fine. I'll do it." Umara said with a sigh. "First things first," the water nymph ripped the dummy out of Ophelia's hands as the young woman let out a squeak, "Lose the hunk of termite food. If you can talk normally through it, you can talk normally without it. Not to mention, people will like you more if you weren't a grown ass young woman playing with stupid dolls!"

"Hey!" Lilith snapped, spinning her head all the way around to face Umara. "How'd you like a 'stupid doll' and 'hunk of termite food' to rip your freaking nose off, Bitch!"

"GAH! It's alive!" Umara shrieked, throwing the ventriloquist dummy to the ground. Turning to Ophelia, she asked, "How is your stupid toy alive?!"

"... Lilith's my Familiar..." Ophelia said quietly as she helped the puppet to her feet. "... One reason they make fun..."

"It's one of the reasons those asses bully and make fun of her!" Lilith said as she jumped into Ophelia's hands. "She's the only one who made a ventriloquist dummy when everyone else summoned animals! I mean, you'd think summoning a living hunk of wood would be more impressive, but nope!"

"Okay, we won't lose the dummy." Umara said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "How about we try fixing up your appearance?"

"My... Appearance...?"

"Meow!"

"Yes, Conrad, I know!" Rosaline said as she paced back and forth in a wooded area, watching as several hundred groups of people were lining up to wait in line to get into the zoo, Jodi needing extra help keeping the crowds back before the zoo opened officially. "We have to get in there and prove that Chloe isn't an nymph, and with you being a witness, we'll have a strong case. The problem is, assuming that Jodi's story is true, we can't go in and have you two get eaten by that Familiar Eater!"

"Growl?"

"Well, even if it's not true, I've never broken a rule in my life, Elizabeth." Rosaline replied, "Besides, even if I started now, I could probably get away with sneaking a twenty pound house cat into the zoo, but a four hundred pound lioness?"

"ROAR!"

"Sorry, sorry! Three hundred seventy-two pound lioness."

"Chauff."

"Just let me think." Rosaline said as she tapped her foot and closed her eyes, racking her brain. "The zoo won't allow Familiars in..." Her eyes suddenly widened and she smiled as an idea came to her, "But what if I didn't have Familiars with me, but two humans?"

"Meow?" Conrad mewled in confusion.

"Growl!" Elizabeth growled nervously, lowering herself to the ground.

"Yes, I know I haven't perfected the transfiguration spell yet, Elizabeth." Rosaline said as she pulled out her wand, "But I mastered it enough to turn animals into humans and then back again. I turn you two into humans, we get in, find a way to break Chloe out, turn you back, and Conrad can explain everything. After all, only Familiars can tell the difference between humans and nymphs disguising as them."

"Meow?"

"Of course it's perfectly safe... I think." Rosaline said as she aimed her wand at the two, "Now hold still. Transfiguratio in homines."

Within seconds, a light blue aura shot out of Rosaline's wand and enveloped the two cats. After a full minute, the aura had disappeared, leaving Rosaline stunned.

In Conrad's place was a short, spindly fair skinned young man in his early twenties with jet black hair and green eyes. And where Elizabeth once stood was now a tall, slightly muscular tan skinned woman the exact same age with long and flowing sandy brown hair and yellow eyes.

Both were completely naked and still had their ears on top of their heads.

"MeoooooooooOh my gosh!" Conrad exclaimed in shock, "We're human!"

"It worked? It actually worked!" Rosaline exclaimed excitedly.

"Whoa!" Elizabeth chuckled as she looked over her new biceps. "Check out the size of these -" the former lioness looked over to the former cat and blushed, "Well, hello there! Thanks for the special treat, Rosa! I mean, I knew he was attractive when we were both cats, but... Wowza!"

"Huh?" Conrad asked as he looked over to Elizabeth, letting out a squeak as he looked away and covered his four inches of glory. "I... Am not the only one without clothes on right now, Elizabeth."

"Hmm?" Elizabeth asked as she looked down. "Ooh..." She slowly placed her new hands over her B cup breasts and turned to Rosaline with a sheepish grin, "And I suppose we'd run into problems like this?"

"Uh, yeah. Big problems." Rosaline replied sheepishly, turning away from the naked newly transformed humans. "I'll go see if I can grab you two some hats to cover your ears... And pants. Definitely some pants."

"This is not good! This is not good!" Chloe panicked, frantically running around the enclosure as Flora and Blizzy watched on. Fyra merely laid back against a rock, not paying attention. "I can't be seen like this!"

"So what's the big deal?" Flora asked, "Some other humans see you naked and mistake you for a nymph. It's not the end of the world."

"The 'big deal', Flora," Chloe explained, "is that Foxmarry's is the largest and most popular zoo in the country! And it is bound to draw twice as much attention now that people think it's got one of each species of nymph on display!"

"Eh, not quite..." Blizzy commented, "See, I'm actually kind of a subspecies of storm nymph, and we have hundreds in that family. Thunder nymphs, lightning nymphs, hurricane and tornado nymphs - which, in and of themselves, are subspecies of wind nymphs -"

"My point is!" Chloe shouted, "Is that, if I ever get out of this, the entire world will have seen me naked!"

"So just hide your face!" Fyra said in annoyance.

"Y'know, it's bad enough I kept getting ridiculed by nymphs all day and am now going to be seen naked by the entire world." Chloe growled as she glared at the fire nymph, "Do I really need you calling me ugly, too?!"

"Not like that!" Fyra groaned, shaking her head. "Geeze! You humans are supposed to me the intelligent ones. Look, you're a student at that witch school, right? And many of the people who are going to attend are your classmates and teachers?"

"Thanks for reminding me..."

"They've all seen your face, right?" Fyra asked, getting an eye roll and nod from Chloe in response. "Well, how many have seen what you look like naked?"

"None, but I... Wait a second." Chloe said as she connected the dots. "If they can't connect my face to my body..."

"Ha! There is somebody upstairs!" Fyra laughed mockingly, tapping Chloe's forehead.

"Why are you so mean?" Chloe asked in annoyance.

*BONG! BONG! BONG!*

"What was that?!"

"The Zoo is open..." Flora replied.