To A Better Life
A friend of mine wrote some charity propaganda
Lenny was feeling great, he'd just gotten his acceptance email. He was getting to move in to the new development as his fursona. He was pretty happy, it was good to be able to go there and live a better life than he had been, the people were sure to promise that. After waking up and getting dressed, he made his way over to the address marked on the envelope, barely stopping to focus on anything. Until...
He tripped over a mop bucket, falling to the floor with a crash as the dirty water got all over him.
"Ugh... all wet..."
"Agh! Sorry!" a voice said, a fox woman holding a mop who looked like she had been the one handling the area.
"Ugh... my clothes are ruined... why don't you watch where you're mopping?" Lenny said.
"Right, sorry. I'll be more careful next time..." she said, righting her mop bucket and going off.
Lenny, meanwhile, tried wiping himself off. Ugh, well, hopefully he'd get new clothes when he'd get his new body, he didn't want to look like this. He focused on trying to find the place where the letter told him to go, and he went in, a deer sitting at the desk. A placard on his desk read 'Del Bosque'.
"Oh, hello there, you must be Mr. Daube. Please, have a seat." the deer said.
Lenny sat down as the deer asked. "Sorry about the clothes, ran into someone."
"Ah, guessing it was one of the janitorial staff?" the deer asked.
"Yeah, she wasn't looking where she was mopping and I ran into it, now my clothes are ruined. Am I going to get new ones when I move in?" Lenny asked.
The deer considered for a bit. "No worries, Mr. Daube. We'll be sure to give you some new clothes to fit your new station in our fair development."
"Oh great!" Lenny replied. "When do we get started with the... changes?"
The deer cocked an eyebrow and gave a smirk. "Hm, eager are you? Well, I suppose that's to be expected. Follow me, please."
The deer led Lenny over to another room containing a chair and several cabinets. The deer opened one and it gave way to several pills.
"Now, you said you wished to be a lion, correct?" The deer asked as he was sorting through them. "If so, then please take a seat in the chair. I'll deliver your medicine to you."
Lenny nodded. "Yeah, lion. This is gonna be great!" Lenny said and then went to sit in the chair.
"I would say remove your clothes, but you're presumably not worried about them." The deer replied as he brought a pill and some water. "Alright, now take this with water and just sit here for a bit. The changes will be gradual, but shouldn't take too long."
Lenny nodded, took the pill and swallowed with some water. The deer nodded.
"Excellent. Now, while you wait for your changes, Mr. Daube, why don't you watch some television?" The deer asked, a monitor coming down from the ceiling and beginning to play some shows.
Lenny sat for a bit, drumming his fingers as he watched, but eventually they started clinking a little more, he looked down and saw them becoming a little plumper, his fingernails having formed into retractable claws. Oh, and nice, looking at the other side of his hand, he's getting paw pads too! The golden fur is coming in nicely on his hand, spreading up his body, seeming to become a little more muscular, just like he was hoping. His shirt was beginning to get a bit tight.
Around then, the screen began to change to a commercial. Ech, looked like a corny one too. He was more focused on how his tail seemed to be forming, coming out from the tailbone with a tuft that was beginning to get fluffy. His foot paws were beginning to come in like his hands, as he kicked off his shoes. His focusing on his changes was interrupted, however, by a voice over the speaker.
"Would you focus on the monitor, please, Mr. Daube?" the deer's voice came in.
"Aw, do I gotta?" Lenny said, his words slurring a bit as his mouth jutted forth into a snout.
"It's part of the process, yes."
Lenny sighed, watched the monitor, and perked up his ears, which were beginning to change shape, moving to the side of his ear up it. It was the same commercial. Seemed to be something about a lion cleaning a counter in a slightly sultry manner, a bottle of the stuff he was using with the label prominently displayed, CLeo-ning Fluid it looked like.
"Ugh, cleaning products. Why do I have to watch this?" Lenny said. Still... something was... drawing about the lion's movements, he thought, as his teeth began to become all pointed like that lion's. He kept watching, getting awfully drawn in, eventually finding himself oddly slack jawed, watching the lion continue to scrub the counter in hypnotic circles. As his own mane began coming out, nice and bushy, he found himself half-aware as the lion turned to the audience and seemed to addressed them.
"Hey there, I noticed you're staring. Making you really wanna buy some CLeo-ning Fluid, huh?"
Lenny gave a bit of a dismissive huff, not realizing the oddity of the situation due to his half-aware state. "Course not, I'm not the one who's gonna be going the cleaning."
The lion shook his head. "Aw, y'know, that breaks my heart. I bet you'd look pretty sexy doing the cleaning. You sure were watching me." He says with a smirk.
Lenny stammers for a bit and the lion in the monitor laughs. "Come on, now. You came here because you wanted a better life, didntcha? Might not be what people think of when they think of glamour, but I bet you'd do a great job at it."
"I would?" Lenny said, seeming to buy into it somewhat. "I mean, you did make it look..."
"Heh, I know..." the lion chuckled. "Now just keep watching me and I'll show you how to clean real well."
The lion got to cleaning, he cleaned the whole house he was in over time, kitchen faucets, floors, washing the bathtub, toilets, you name it. Lenny was oddly entranced as he watched, just thinking of how he could be like that lion. His form seemed to be shifting as a result.
"Now, one more thing. You'll look a lot better if you're happier while you're doing it. You can be happy for me, can't you?" the lion asked. Lenny just nodded, smiling. The lion chuckled.
"Well, then, I'd say that'll get you all ready. Welcome, Lenny. Your new uniform's right behind ya." The lion says with a wink and the screen clicks off.
Lenny the lion blinked and looked at himself. He was a lion now, a nice muscular lion. And... well... what did he come here to do again? ...Honestly, it didn't matter what he was going to do, he just wanted to help keep the place clean. He looked behind his chair and saw a uniform, it looked a lot like what the fox woman was wearing.
...The fox woman. He'd kinda been rude to her before, he should apologize. He was a changed lion. He'd be a good coworker for her, he thought, as he got out of his old dirty clothes and went into the new ones. Yeah, they fit nicely, like a glove. He flashed a grin and then went down to get to work. He felt like he knew where he should go...
Indeed, after looking he ran into her. Making sure he was wearing gloves, he gave a grin and leaned against the wall.
"Hello there, little lady, I believe I owe you an apology."
The fox was a bit surprised. "Uh... Oh, hey, Mr. Lion. Do I... know you?"
The lion gave a laugh. "Well, we met before, ran into you before I looked where I was going, blamed you for it. Sorry about that."
The fox looked a bit surprised, but then seemed to have a realization. "Oh! Oh... thanks."
"Now, then, how can I help? Any place that need cleaning?"
"Uh..." the fox considered. "Well, the men's room is probably due for cleaning."
"On it!" the lion said with a grin. "And I'll be sure the stalls get a fresh coat of paint too!"
And with that, he sauntered off, his tail and butt wiggling, the fox woman finding herself staring a bit before blushing and getting back to work. As she did, the deer showed up.
"Ah, Ms. Barre, I see you've met the new and improved Mr. Daube."
The fox was startled. "Oh! Mr. Del Bosque!"
"Uh... yeah, I met him. Guess it really works, huh."
"Indeed, well, sorry to spring someone like him on you after your first meeting, but I'm hoping you'll be a great team in the future."
"Hopefully... At least if that ass of his isn't too distra- I mean..."
The deer laughed. "It's quite alright, Ms. Barre. The way we hypnotized him did rely on that a lot."
"Hm... well, alright. Honestly, I wasn't expecting him to apologize to me like that."
"Thought it would be helpful, Ms. Barre. After all, as different as he is now, it is still nice to see improvement."
"Yeah..."
"Uh, anyway, I think I'm gonna go... help him in the men's room." The fox woman said as she rushed off in that direction.
"I'll leave you to that, Ms. Barre." The deer said with a nod and headed back, time to see if there were any other well-suited applicants.