Day 9 of the 25 Days of TF-mas! (Contains girl to reindeer tf)

Life could be difficult for a girl like Gloria. The slender, taller-than-average brunette didn't do well with people. It wasn't as though she were incapable of fitting in or even making and keeping friends, quite the contrary. Gloria had been quite popular in her younger years when a cloud of lout was tantamount to one's very value. However, over the years she had come to realize several important things. Things that she know couldn't imagine living against. She came to place her self worth in more important things than other people. Her hobbies, varied and fleeting as they may have been, gave her more fulfillment in each passing moment than she felt the entirety of her school days had obsessing over fads and the opinions of her peers. Secondly, she came to realize how much she despised interacting with people. Now, Gloria did not hate anyone that she could think of per se, but she also had trouble coming up with a shortlist of people that she actually enjoyed even being around. The embrace of this isolationist aspect of her personality led both to greater self actualization and worse experiences dealing with the interactions she could not avoid. Even passing strangers in the grocery store was beginning to feel grating. Another important lesson she'd picked up over her years since high school had come to her attention more and more as time went on; Some people, many, in fact, had never grown out of high school. Gloria knew those that she would call neighbor, loathe as she was to have neighbors, talked about her. She knew this because they made it a point to let her know. Whether it be conversations spoken a bit too loudly or outright reactions to her abrasive personality, Gloria was no stranger to how the people around her thought. That alone did not bother her. What bothered Gloria was that these opinions of her were beginning to cause more interactions as some took it upon themselves to heckle or even confront her about her attitude. She blew these off as well as the rest, but it was getting annoying.

These thoughts and feelings are what oft drew Gloria to the wooded nature trails that spread out near where she lived. While there were a degree of man-made additives to the paths, such as a bridge or a sign here and there, it was designed to be mostly kept in tact. This was especially true the further one went out. Compared to the highly modernized hikes near the entrances, the places Gloria chose to spend her time were more or less an island of wild surrounded by the society that she was so sick of. Naturally, this aspect was what drew her out so far in the first place. It was impressive to her that a gluttonous cluster of expanders managed to preserve as large a clump of real estate in the making as they did, and she planned on enjoying every single minute she could of it all. Snow muffled her steps through the woods, and few birds remained to chirp and sing; no doubt they had gone for warmer climates by now. The silence was beautiful. Gloria took a seat on a rock, unbothered by the snow that would seep through the typical glorified yoga pants that her peers passed as winter gear. She scoffed to herself imagining one of them leaping into the air with a shriek. Even woods like these as small and fenced in as they were would be too much for their kind. A noise drew her attention. It was a rustling, and a series of steps in the snow and underbrush. Was another hiker about to spoil her moment of serenity? Gloria groaned, stooping to grab her bag and get out of there before some hipster tried to hit on her with barely researched tree facts. Something moved into view in her periphery and she froze.

"Wow..." she breathed, not daring to make any sudden moves or loud noises as she turned her head to look at the thing directly, "I didn't know we had reindeer out here..." Before her was an incredible beast. Truly something out of a fairy tale. Its horns spread wide in fantastic twists and curves - a tapestry of power and beauty that led her eye to its stalwart body. This was a huge specimen, clearly a powerful creature despite its classification as a 'prey' animal. The king of this park, if Gloria had to think of a name for an uninspiring headline. Its body moved slowly, deliberately, through the path beside her. It got close enough for Gloria to see its muscles ripple beneath its skin. By far the most impressive sight she'd seen in her life that trumped anything in the city. She was stunned into silent stillness long after it had moved on into the woods, the only evidence it had been there being its hoofprints in the snow. Something caught her eye in the divot of a print from her seat on a rock. Despite being stepped on, it fluttered to life in the gentle wind that slid through the trunks of the trees. It was a clover with four leaves. A symbol of luck if you asked Gloria's mother, or any number of others to be fair. Gloria stooped to pick it and spun it by the stem in contemplation. Her mother always used to encourage her and her siblings to make wishes on many symbols of fortune from clovers to shooting stars. Those memories came back to her now.

"I wish... I could follow you into your world," she said, looking out in the direction that the reindeer had disappeared, "And leave mine behind."

Gloria suddenly felt a bit foolish, standing there in the woods holding a clover. She tossed it aside, along with her wish, and headed back in the direction she'd come. Back towards the city she hated so much to live by the neighbors she didn't like and breathe the air pumped from industry's cold, black cesspool. Her skin itched just thinking about it all. It itched a lot actually... Gloria found herself scratching at her arms and sides, shifting uncomfortably in her winter clothes repeatedly. Was she getting some kind of rash? That would be just what she needed - a reason to go into a store, or worse, a doctor's office. Finding the matter too pressing, and being alone in the woods, she pulled off her coat and lifted her shirt. The frigid breeze actually offered relief to her overheating abdomen. She could feel the wind in her fur, soothing the itch and-

Wait. Fur?

Gloria's hand shot to her exposed belly and felt the soft touch of fur in return. She stared in complete wonder at it, idly groping her sides and stomach. This was unbelievable, and her body moved faster than her brain for her next act. She yanked her winter pants down and observed the fur spreading rapidly down her body. It seemed to move even faster once it was exposed, coating her legs in a matter of seconds. Another session of running her hands over her legs confirmed that it was indeed a coating of animal fur. She probably should have been terrified or upset or something, but she wasn't. This, if it was what it seemed, was precisely what she'd wished for, no? Did she or didn't she wish to join that great beast in its own world? So it was with bated breath that she stared at her hands as the fur covered her arms. They had begun to cramp and feel as though a great force was squeezing them into themselves. Her fingers shrank into her knuckles and her lump of a hand began to harden with enamel. These new nails grew and split to resemble a reindeer's hooves better. Even as she stared in abject fascination Gloria could feel the structure of her legs shift. She preemptively dropped to all fours and though it was awkward for her to stand this way now, her bones were already moving and growing to ease that issue. Her torso began to bulk up, building and pushing out to house the regality of the beast she was becoming. Her spine realigned with her new hips and all four of her legs to better support her growing body. Soon enough she felt her spine also stretch out of its limits of her rear, leaving her with a furred little tail - just a tuft really. Her neck bulged and swelled, much to her relief. A human's neck was not meant to bear the weight of her shifting head. Her nose and lips grew, pushing forward into her field of vision quickly. Gloria chomped her teeth, the sensation of them moving about and changing to match the size of her mouth and her new dietary requirements weirdly the strangest feeling for her so far. The rest of the process felt downright natural. Pleasant. Right. It felt right. She shook her head, feeling her ears grow and shift to their proper place with the movement. She was nearly complete, and already exploring the woods from a whole new point of view, but something was missing. Gloria pondered this for a moment until she felt hardened nubs protrude from her scalp. It was a bizarre feeling that caused her to involuntarily call out and shake her new body about. Her antlers flourished like a blooming flower in a time lapse. They grew and split off into branches ending in points to form a beautiful crest of sorts to finish off her new body. She sniffed the air and found just how much she'd been missing walking these woods as a human. The scent of that other reindeer still lingered and gave Gloria an easy to follow trail. Easy enough for plenty of sight seeing to be fit into her trek, which the proud beast was looking forward to. With a triumphant stomp on her bag - the remnant of her former life, Gloria marched her way through the woods. Through her woods, and towards home.

Kat watched Gloria go, smiling. Reindeer were such pretty creatures to watch.