Taryn sat there, holding her number in hand. She had to get one of the lower numbers, in the mid to late hundreds. All this meant was that she’d be at the DMV for hours. The tigress gave a chuff and sat back, trying to get as comfortable as she could in the plastic chair. Luckily no one else was around her for now. With a bit of a scowl, she pulled out her phone and started to play a game as a podcast played in her left ear.
“Could at least offer a TV with the news or something...”
Taryn’s right ear twitched as she heard that. She looked out of the corner of her eyes and saw the wolf three seats down. He was black with a white spot over his right eye. A smirk formed on her face as the gorgeous tigress went back to watching a video and playing a game thanks to split screen. It was true though, a little background noise never hurt anyone. A TV would be a welcome distraction, especially if someone brought their kids in.
Today was a busy day at the DMV too. No kids, but the tigress noticed a lot of people there for renewals or changes in address. She clutched her papers, hoping it would all be enough. It hadn’t been that long since the change, but enough people were stressing out around her that she didn’t need to do so as well. Going through the folder, Taryn checked that she had everything. She had two doctor’s notes, one from Doctor Smith and one from Doctor Holloway. She also had one from a Doctor Honeycutt, a Canmephian, just to be sure. She had all the correct forms filled out and her old ID.
“Rest in Peace, Lou...”
The change was a world wide event, though not everyone changed, that had been cased by someone dumping huge quantities of alien nanotechnology. People had their DNA overwritten, some died because they had no template, others were based on their ancestry since they had furry DNA. It was a dangerous time, some comparing it to September 11th of the past. Others were ecstatic because they became what they wanted to be. Some became females, other became herms. Some were smaller. Some much bigger. It was a chaotic mess and still a terrorist attack that the entire world was trying to fight.
Taryn, formerly a male named Lou, was one of the lucky ones. It turned out that she had tiger ancestry somewhere in her line, though it happened to female. Lou hadn’t been too upset by it, figuring at least she was alive and healthy. A flex of her arm as she looked up to the number indicator, she still had to wait forty numbers, showed she got the good end of the deal.
The tigress wasn’t on the big end of the spectrum. At least, she wasn’t as big as her new friend, Admiral RedWolf, but she wasn’t a ninety pound weakling. Taryn had a fit body, with hints of abs developing and biceps emerging when she was moving.
The tigress purred as she checked her messages. She got one from the aforementioned RedWolf to call her if there any problems and another from a foxy friend named Erin saying that they should go shopping after everything was said and done, Taryn’s treat of course. That earned a chuckle from the tiger. Though she was female now, the tiger hated to shop. It was long, tedious and she had no use for most of the clothing. Taryn being a sweatpants and bra kind of person. That or typically she went pant-less, seeing reason to cover up her long, athletic legs.
Today, though, was a rare feat. The poor girl was dressed in best blouse, a nice set of earrings and some flattering, anthro exclusive make up to make sure her new ID photo was simple perfect. Nothing had been done about her hair though, as she saw no reason to change the straight and midback style.
“DING!”
She looked up and sighed, thankful at last. Her number came up and walked up to the desk, doing her best to ignore the glances. It hadn’t been long enough for her to get used to the stares and the comments. It wasn’t that she didn’t like being attractive, Taryn wasn’t used to it. She hadn’t been attractive as a man.
“May I help you?”
She looked down at the middle aged rabbit and sighed. Taryn was being judged from behind the glasses, she could tell. The tigress wanted to give some kind of primal roar, but for now just meekly handed over her application.
“I’m here, as a victim of the change, to change my identification...”
“I see.”
The hackles on the her neck stood up, ready to fight if necessary. The rabbit read all of the information and then looked up.
“You do have the proper letters, yes?”
“Yes, I have letters from three separate doctors, my old ID and the new temporary ID as well as bills in my new name if necessary.”
She handed over the pieces to the rabbit as she listed them off, her ears hurting from standing up so tall at hearing the attitude in the rabbits voice. Taryn had dealt with all kinds of prejudice already but this one was hurting more. She could hear the contempt in the rabbit’s voice.
“I see, everything seems in orde...oh..hmm…”
The rabbit tsked.
“You forgot to sign here. I’m afraid I can’t do this, you’ll have to sign, get a new number...”
The tone in the rabbit’s voice showed that she didn’t particular care, as though she smirked the entire time she talked. She gave a click of the pen before silently dismissing Taryn. The tigress whirled her back around in the chair, not caring who saw at the moment. It was a simple signature, not the entire document!
“ARE YOU CRAZY!? IS THAT YOUR PROBLEM!?”
The roar in her voice was evident, and intentional. Taryn had an anger problem to begin and now she was going to use it to her advantage. Taryn bared her teeth, watching as the rabbit recoiled a bit. She counted to ten and gripped the desk to keep from smacking the woman.
“P...Pardon?”
“It’s a simple signature. It’ll take two seconds for me to sign it, and hand it back to you. I have been here for what feels like an eternity. I can tell that you don’t like me and that for some reason you probably see victims of The Change as freaks and whatever else. I could easily file a lawsuit for your attitude.”
Taryn knew that she couldn’t. Even as a state official, the rabbit had the right to her personal opinion and there’d be no way to prove that her attitude was discriminatory. Still, the tigress had to try.
“I have very big friends in very high places. And they all know that tigers. Do. NOT. Do. Lawsuits.”
If the rabbit could have, she would turned white. Taryn signed her signature, and watched as the woman processed everything and took her picture. A digital signature for the card later, and Taryn had her knew ID. She walked to the public transport pick up, texting Erin that she’d be at the mall in thirty minutes and that lunch was on her.
