Really Strange Stuff

=::= Bailey's PoV =::=

"Here's a thought," Callie commented as she brushed her hair. "Why don't you ask Kid Chaos for help? I'm sure she could take care of it."

Serenity was putting the final touches on her make-up but she stopped for a moment to agree with our petite calico girlfriend, "That sort of thing would probably be a snap for a goddess to fix."

"I don't know," I sighed as I fiddled with my glasses. "I guess I could ask her, but the thing is I kind of like them? I know some people think I'm crazy, but I feel like they're part of my identity."

I continued making small adjustments to the arms as I added, "I've had people suggest I try contacts, or even get laser surgery? And yes, sometimes they're annoying and every so often I wish I didn't need them. But honestly, I like how I look with the glasses. They're part of how I see myself, and how I want other people to see me too."

By that point I had the arms bent just right. Instead of trying to hook them over my non-existent human ears I'd straightened them out then bent them slightly inwards, so they slipped easily into my hair then hugged the sides of my head a little tighter. It wasn't perfect and I found they still needed tweaking throughout the day, but at least they were a lot less prone to falling off now.

Eventually I'd get myself a new pair that was designed to fit right from the start, but these worked ok for now. So I slipped them back on, then as the world came back into focus I found myself looking at my reflection in the mirror, alongside my two girlfriends.

Once again the first thing that caught my attention was my eyes. Nearly two weeks had passed since I first used my fox plushie, but I still wasn't entirely used to the way my eyes had changed.

Even hidden behind thick lenses they seemed to sparkle and draw people's attention. Part of that was due to the colour, they were amber now same as Callie's. Plus they had vertical pupils, just like both my girlfriends' eyes.

A moment later one of my ears flicked, and that's where my gaze moved to next. The two tall fuzzy triangles standing up on top of my head were warm and soft and sensitive. They had short orange-red fur on the outside that darkened to black at the tips, while the insides were a pale pink colour. Except at the bottom, where they both had a cute little tuft of off-white floof inside.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about my new ears though was how much better they worked. I could hear things now I'd never even dreamed of before. Neither of my girlfriends ever mentioned how much their sense of hearing had improved, but they both confirmed afterwards that they had it too. Except my ears were bigger and taller than theirs, which left me wondering if maybe I could hear even better than they could.

Being able to twist and turn my ears was just as incredible. Most of the time I didn't even have to think about it, they naturally moved around on their own. Either to focus in on specific sounds, or as a reflection of how I was feeling.

After staring at my vulpine ears for a couple seconds my attention shifted to my hair. It was still red, but not the same shade as before. The colour was lighter now, with more orange in it, so it matched the fur on the outside of my ears. And on my tail.

That was the next place my eyes went, past my reflection to the long floofy appendage that was slowly swishing back and forth behind me. Focusing on it only made it wag quicker, and I couldn't help smiling. It was an amazing sensation, just having a tail and feeling it moving around. Being able to hug it and stroke it was incredible. Even better though was letting one of my girlfriends stroke and pet it.

My tail was long enough that the off-white tip could rest on the ground behind me if I let it, which I never did. And it was floofy enough that I could easily hide my face behind it when I wrapped it around and hugged it to my chest. But most of the time it was back there moving around on its own, conspiring with my ears to broadcast my emotions to my girlfriends and anyone else who happened to see it.

"Bailey?" Serenity asked. "Are you just about ready?"

I finally pulled my attention off my tail and gave the rest of my reflection a quick once-over.

Unlike my catgirl girlfriends, the plushie didn't actually change my over-all appearance that much. My eyes, ears, and tail were the big ones. And my hair colour was a minor difference. My face hadn't changed at all, I was still recognizable as me. In fact there were really only two other minor changes, and I wasn't going to complain about either of them.

First up my body had become just a little bit more physically fit. Like I felt healthier and a bit stronger. And the second thing was I'd grown slightly taller, but that was almost imperceptible. Barely more than an inch, and it seemed like that was all in my legs.

I'd gone from five-foot-five to just a touch over five-six. Mostly it just meant I needed to lower the hem on all my pants, although they all needed to be altered anyways to make accommodations for my tail. The only other time my small growth spurt made any difference was with my girlfriends. Or with one of them that is.

Somehow gaining that extra inch made Callie seem so much smaller by comparison. I was now officially more than six inches taller than her, and maybe it was a psychological thing but standing half a foot taller than my petite calico girlfriend did things for me. For both of us, in fact.

Despite her boisterous exuberant personality she'd always been a lot more passive in bed, and becoming a petite catgirl only amplified that. Now that I was a slightly taller, slightly stronger foxgirl, it was even easier for me to take charge of the small calico. And both of us had been enjoying that new twist quite a bit lately.

On the other hand the extra inch didn't seem to make any difference when I compared myself to Serenity. At five-foot-ten she towered over Callie, and since she tended to wear heels most of the time she frequently seemed to tower over me too. And once again, all three of us were pretty happy with that.

So while it was easy for me to get a bit dommy with our enthusiastic but submissive little calico, it was even easier for the tall sexy ravenette to take charge of both Callie and I. And that honestly worked out really well for all three of us. So well in fact that my cheeks started to colour as my thoughts drifted back to last night.

"Bailey?" Serenity repeated herself a moment later.

"Sorry!" I blushed a little brighter as I grabbed my hair brush, "I just need a minute or two then I'll be ready."

Callie teased, "She's probably still thinking about last night."

Our tall sexy girlfriend rolled her eyes but smiled, "Maybe. But if we're too much longer here we're going to be late."

Fortunately I didn't actually need to do much more to get myself ready. The three of us were already fully dressed, Serenity was in another of her fashionable outfits while Callie I both opted for comfy leggings and short dresses. I quickly finished brushing my hair then added a bit of bright red lipstick, and I was good to go.

It was December twenty-first, and the three of us were heading over to my parents' place again to celebrate the winter holidays. It was a little different this year, we were getting together on a Wednesday ahead of the actual holidays because my girlfriends and I were going to be busy later on.

We'd all agreed that the twenty-fifth would be just for us, the three of us were going to stay home and have a private little celebration together. Then the twenty-sixth we'd be piling into the car and driving down to Conway, a town just north of Little Rock, Arkansas. We'd be spending four days there visiting with Callie's family, before heading back home again in time for new years.

"Told you we were going to be late," the tall ravenette catgirl said as we pulled up in front of my parents' house. My uncle Greg's car was in the driveway behind my dad's car, which meant we had to park on the road this time.

"I said I was sorry," I pouted as the three of us emerged from Callie's car.

I had the bag of gifts with me as I led them up to the front door, where my dad was already waiting. One extended round of hugs and greetings and drinks orders later everyone was relaxing in the living-room. I was sitting on the sofa in between Callie and Serenity, while Heather and Jasmine were both sitting cross-legged on the floor nearby. Or maybe it was Jasmine and Heather, I couldn't tell today because this time they were wearing identical outfits.

"I still can't quite believe it," my mom commented as she stared at me. "First your cousins, then Callie and Serenity, and now you."

My ears drooped a bit as I asked nervously, "You're not upset with me are you mom?"

"Of course not!" she shook her head. "I'm sorry hon, I didn't mean it to sound like that. I'm amazed and surprised, but I'm not upset. I'm not disappointed or angry either. If you're happy, then that's all that matters."

Aunt Kelly smiled at her twin foxgirl daughters as she added, "That goes double for you two. I know you girls already know that, but I just wanted to say it again."

"Agreed," Uncle Greg nodded. "Your mom and I were surprised at first, as you girls know. But we love you both no matter what."

That put smiles on everyone's faces, especially Heather's and Jasmine's. Then my dad added, "Seems redundant now but I'll say it as well Bailey. Your mom and I love you no matter what."

"Thanks dad," I smiled back at him, while my big floofy tail tried to wag against the back of the sofa behind me. "And thanks mom. I love you both too."

Then my aunt addressed my girlfriends, "How are your families handling things, Callie and Serenity? If you don't mind my asking."

Our little calico spoke up first, "My folks are doing ok ma'am. We're actually going to visit my ma and pa next week? All three of us are driving down to Arkansas on Monday to spend some time with them. And hopefully while we're there we'll also get a chance to see Dean and Savanah too. That's my brother and sister."

"My parents have been good," Serenity added with a happy smile. "Honestly I was a little blown away at how supportive and understanding my mom's been. My dad's still adjusting, but he's been pretty good too."

She added, "They live out in L.A. so we haven't had a chance to even think about going out there for a visit. Although the last time we spoke on the phone my dad said something about him and mom possibly coming out here instead? Nothing's been decided yet, but he suggested maybe they could visit in February, so they'd be here to celebrate my birthday."

Aunt Kelly responded, "That's wonderful. I'm glad both of you have such caring families."

Serenity agreed, "Me too. I know a lot of people aren't as lucky as us, but hopefully by being out there and visible we can help fight ignorance and intolerance."

"Let's hope so," my uncle sighed. "Kelly and I have heard some horror stories about unsupportive parents and families."

The twins both pouted as they nodded unhappily, while their ears drooped sadly. Then my dad changed the topic, probably to try and keep the conversation from getting too depressing or upsetting.

He asked my girlfriends and I, "Are you three still busy as ever?"

"Even busier," I replied. "Episode two of our new series drops this Friday evening. Meanwhile we've only just started editing the third episode, and we've already begun recording the fourth."

Callie added, "Plus we're still doing our regular monthly live streams, and we've got all our usual research going on, and we've just started a monthly newsletter."

"That's mostly to help with all the new subscribers we've picked up lately," Serenity elaborated. "Our podcast and video channel have practically quadrupled in size this past year, so there's a whole lot of new viewers who don't necessarily have all that background with us?"

She continued, "They could watch our backlog and pick up a lot of information that way, but we agreed that a newsletter would be a good way to get people up to speed on all the RSS lore. Plus it's another way we can connect with all our supporters and fans."

The arctic foxgirl twins' tails both began to wag when my calico girlfriend mentioned the stream, but they waited until the two catgirls had finished before speaking up. Then one of them, I still wasn't sure if it was Jasmine or Heather commented, "We watched your December stream."

"So we got to see Bailey use her plushie," the other twin added. "It was cute!"

The first twin nodded, "We both got zoomies the first time we transformed too."

I blushed, but my tail started wagging again. "It was pretty exciting. And it's fun, too. Running around like that, I mean?"

The two of them smiled as they nodded in agreement. Callie and Serenity were both grinning as well. All three of us tended to use our plushies at the same time, so we could zoomie around the house together before curling up in a furry cuddle puddle in some sunshine or next to one of the heat vents.

"Huh," my dad said as he got a funny look on his face. Then he glanced at mom, before looking at Kelly and Greg. "I just realized, the foxes and cats have us outnumbered. There's more folks in this house with tails than without."

Aunt Kelly smiled, "I noticed that too. I also noticed it's all the younger ones with the furry ears and tails, not us parents."

I couldn't help teasing, "If you need help with that I might know someone who could set you all up with some magic plushies of your own."

My dad laughed, "No thanks hon. I don't mind if anyone else wants that, but it's not for me."

"Same," my uncle agreed. Then a thoughtful expression settled on his face as he added to his wife, "Although I can't help wondering what kind of critter would be a good fit for you, Kelly. What would you rather be, fox or cat?"

My aunt rolled her eyes since Greg was obviously teasing. "I'd go with wolf, if that's an option. But I'd pick something cute and gentle for you Greg. How do you feel about bunnies?"

That got both twins' tails wagging as one of them exclaimed, "Ooh! Bunny dad! Then we could chase you around the house!"

That led to some laughter all around, and a fun what-if conversation where we all voted on what plushies would work best for the four parents in the room. By the time dinner was ready both dads were voted to become bunnies, while we all thought my mom would make a good cat. And enough of us agreed with my aunt that she got voted to be a wolf.

It was fun and silly, but it was also really nice. In fact by the end of the evening I decided it was my favourite family xmas get-together so far.