The Hunt (A Fox TF)

    Walks in the woods had never quite been like this before for Eve. As a hunter, her entire professional career took place in these woods, bagging rabbits and deer to both eat and sell. She was simple, but proud. But this walk was different. There was no hunt today, no work, no prospective buyers. It was just her now, her and the inevitable. Looking at the small hairs sprouting on her hand with a weary look, Eve carried on, deeper into the forest. How much time left she knew not, but it couldn’t be more than a day at most. It was quiet, as usual. The most exciting things in these woods would be the odd bear waking up from a nap. As her boots crunched on twigs and leaves, Eve took a sporadic path. These woods were like a second home to her, she knew practically every turn and bend within the forest. But now, it was beginning to feel like a first home, not a second. She didn’t think she’d be leaving it for a while.

    Magic was something most people spoke of in hushed whispers. Mages tended to stick to their own kind, consigning themselves to their studies and academies, practicing the arcane in privacy. Yet, it was not unheard of for a mage to leave the comfort of their dwellings and go about the world. Most commonly, these would be young mages still eager to see the world and immensely confident in their abilities. They’d often join up with groups of travelers for a year or so before returning back to their homes to settle down and focus their lives on studies. Unfortunately for Eve, one such mage paid her a visit in the market earlier today. The mage demanded ludicrously low prices for three of the rabbits she had caught that morning. Eve was firm in her prices, and the temperamental mage was having none of it. In an instant, an incantation was uttered, a sickening shudder going through Eve’s body like an electric current. With a smarmy grin, the mage left Eve with a haunting parting message “Have fun hunting your dirty rabbits, you’ll be catching a lot more soon, it’s a shame I doubt you’ll be able to sell them!”

    That was an hour ago, and already the signs of the curse were presenting themselves. It had started with her hands, the dark hairs poking up from her skin mere moments after her altercation with the mage. The hairs themselves were soft, but offered little comfort to Eve. By this time, there were dark patches of the hairs all over her hands. The coloration was very familiar to her. This dark, almost black fur was the same color of those on fox paws. Thinking back to the parting words of the mage, Eve almost chuckled. Every so often she’d take off her gloves to check on her hands, each time she did so revealed the fur enveloped more of her skin. After some while, the fur felt strange against her leather gloves, so with a huff she removed them, tossing the work gloves to the forest floor. Her fingernails had grown in length since her last check, not only that they seemed to be getting more pointed. Eve rested against a tree, analyzing her nails, if you could call them that anymore. They resembled claws more than nails.

    Testing these claws, she slowly scratched them against the tree. Despite them not even being fully changed yet, they stripped a piece of bark from the tree with ease. Eve’s hands were at this point fully furred, and a strange numbness was very much present. Not seeing much else to do, she slid down to sit under the shade of the tree and watch the changes on her hands. It was much like watch a pot of water boil, so arduously slow that changes seemed invisible. In fact, the first change she noticed only happened after she lost focus for some time only to snap back to focus after some time. Her palms had a strange texture to them, they were rough like sand. Paw pads. Eve knew she’d have a few more of these before the day was over, her fingers already seemed shorter and wider. The prospect of waiting for these changes under the tree lost its appeal, and Eve decided to continue walking. She stopped checking her hands for a while, just looking around the forest.

    Birds were chirping softly in the trees, the sunlight filtering in through the canopy of branches above. It was just becoming autumn. The temperature around here was always nice this season, and the leaves would soon begin to fall. Eve always enjoyed the woods this time of year, right before the winter where hunting grew near impossible. How ironic that this was the time of year she was to be consigned to this forest forever. To become one of its denizens, not a visitor within it. She soon came across a small creek, and her thirst became very evident. Eve knelt down to scoop up some water in her hands, only to find that quite impossible.

    Without her noticing, her hands had finished their changes. Her fingers had become digits on a paw. Each digit crowned with a sharp canine claw. The size of her hands had also decreased, as she noted her sleeves felt looser around her wrists. Curious, she pushed her sleeves up with her paw, a task greatly hindered by the lack of grasping capabilities. The dark fur was up her forearm now, and she noticed that orangish-red fur had began to grow above it. In all her small coat stretched to roughly her elbow, the farther from the hands the less thick the coat was. Thirst was still very much an issue however. Sighing a little, Eve dipped her face towards the creek, supporting her weight with her new front paws. Lapping from the nice, cool creek was a rather nice feeling, for a moment her situation seemed distant as she quenched her needs.

    After Eve had quenched her thirst, she continued her aimless trek. It took some getting used to at first, but now she was somewhat used to her paws. Of course, she knew that she wouldn’t be using her paws as hands for long, but the fact that she could have some function for now made her happy. Soon Eve had removed her coat, after a few tries she had managed to hook the garment on her claws and wriggle out, revealing just how fast the fur was growing now. All the way up her arms and just now hitting her torso was the blanket of hairs. Her lighter undershirt being the only thing covering her chest felt nice, it was getting sweltering with the fur inside the sleeves of that stuffy coat. Eve decided there was no reason to draw things out anymore with the clothes, it was only going to get more awkward as things progressed. Grunting, she disrobed, revealing tiny hairs sprouting all across her body. Much more surprising than the small hairs was the sight she saw when her boots came off. Without her noticing, her feet changed in tandem with her hands. Not wanting to freak out, Eve merely counted this development as a blessing in disguise. At least walking barefoot wouldn’t hurt.

    It was starting to get dark. By Eve’s accounts she had shrunk a few inches, and the fur was beginning to cover her entire back. This whole time she had the slightest pressure on her bosom, her chest receding down and down in size. By time time her breasts were gone, their replacements were already following in tow. They were small, yes, but noticeable. Four small spots of her torso raised up, almost as if a goosebump had gotten swollen. She ran her paw over them, only to blush in response at the soft pressure her teats felt. Soon her newest additions were covered for the most part by the soft fur, her underbelly a soft white color. There wasn’t much left to go, her legs, her face, and her body structure. She was initially afraid of the possibility of pain when her changes reached their peak, but that fear was all but gone now. Though strange, the sensation of her changes had not hurt thus far.

    It was a strange sensation when Eve found herself crashing to the forest floor. It felt so sudden, but she knew that was not the case. This whole while her body had been reconstructing itself, slowly preparing for the big moment. The decrease in height was the most noticeable change, first slow, but now almost too fast. The trees were tall before, but now the gnarled plants now absolutely towered over her. It would have been frightening if Eve didn't feel so used to this place. Her bone and muscle structure no doubt had undergone countless shifts in this time, but each shift so subtle it raised no alarm. By the time the changes were noticeable, she was already a permanent member of the quadrupeds. Almost to cap of this momentous change, she began to notice a new appendage. It wasn’t much at first, but within a few moments it was rather large. Curious, she looked back, greeted by a large flowing tail. It wasn’t a perfect method, but she could some of the movement the tail made.

    Walking took some getting used to once she realized she wouldn’t be standing on two legs again. Luckily, her small paws were designed for this, so she knew it wouldn't be impossible. Her first step was an unmitigated disaster. One wobbly movement of her front left leg sent her tumbling to the ground with a soft thud. Cursing to herself, Eve tried again, slowly but surely getting more comfortable with moving four legs as a unit. A few moments later, she found walking as natural as it had always been, Eve wasn’t sure if that was thanks to practice or fox instincts kicking in, either way, she was proud of herself.

    During her adventures in walking, Eve’s face began to slowly catch up to her body. Hair and fur were practically indistinguishable from each other at this point, and her ears popped almost constantly. The feeling was weird, Eve wasn’t used to her ears popping, and every so often her surroundings would get immensely loud before returning back to a good volume. She batted at her ears with her paw, the discomfort causing her no end of grief. Each time she batted at it, the shape was a little different. Somewhat a little more pointed, a little higher on her face, a little hairier. On and on these small changes added up, before two small triangular ears were affixed atop her head. The discomfort soon came to pass, leaving Eve to experiment with her knew ears. They’d instantly focus in on a sound, a twig could snap or a bush could rustle and she’d know where and how far. Eve would have killed to have ears this good back when she was a hunter, but that time seemed so long ago.

    Her changes soon reached their end. The sensation of her face pushing out and mushing into a muzzle though weird was in some ways an anticlimax after all her other changes from the day. As the moon was beginning to rise, Eve knew her changing was over. Curious as to how everything turned out, Eve made her way to a body of water. Sure enough, in her reflection was a vixen. If she had run into herself, she probably would have tried to bag her to sell the pelt. The thought made her chuckle, though it came out as more of a bark than a laugh, not that it surprised her.She had thought she’d be more upset by the time the changes had finished, but right now she seemed just fine. Stretching her sleek animal body, Eve left her reflection in lieu of finding shelter for the night.

    Months passed. Eve lived in relative comfort. She had a den right next to a water source, plenty of food around her, it was a simplistic paradise. Just as before the curse, Eve lived a simple life, simple but good. Hunting as a fox was almost too easy. She was fast, had good eyes, and even better ears. Combining that with her hunting know how, getting herself a rabbit for dinner when she was craving meat was no problem whatsoever. In her months after the curse, Eve reflected on if she’d ever go back if given the choice. In all honesty, she still didn’t have an answer to that. Both lives were just fine to Eve, no real complaints were looking to be voiced. She did suppose that the one biggest edge being a fox had over being a human was solitude. Nobody expected things from her, there was no arguing to be had over prices, no worries about money, no status to uphold. It was just Eve and the wilderness, and that was nice.

    Of course, you couldn’t blame Eve for being curious about the status of her old world. Every so often the vixen would leave the comforts of her forest and enter the world of man once more. She’d lay low and move quietly, getting caught in the middle of the market is not something a fox would enjoy, but always keep a fixed eye on the happenings. The world had moved on without her, Eve expected as much. Everybody was so talkative and loud squabbling over the merits of prices for a dozen eggs. Every so often, Eve would push her luck more. Sneaking up on a stand, she’d pluck something from the edge of it before darting off back to the woods. She had to admit, the fat man running the booth selling pheasants had quickly become her favorite person in the world, he was just so careless. A flaw in his book was a virtue in her’s.