-- Vivian POV, New Fairhagen --

  "Tom!"

  She was shocked, "Tell me this is not true."

  He had said they were going to buy food for her and a communicator. Now they stood in front of a weapons store.

  He seemed to squirm some, "Cannot do much about it. It's a requirement by the police after your test results."

  "I want to take the test again", she crossed her arms, unwilling to enter the shop.

  He shook his head lightly, "They don't give you much of a chance. But if you want, you can try every three months."

  He pushed the door open and took her wrist to make her follow him. Once inside she tried to appear as small and invisible as possible.

  The walls were lined with racks and shelves filled with firearms of all sorts. The classic projectile types as well as energy weapons. From behind a counter a salesman nodded to them, "Dear Madam, Sir, how may I help you?"

  Tom scratched his neck, "It's a bit a delicate issue. Can you scan her transponder quickly? It might explain some."

  She wanted to sink into the ground.

  The salesman pointed his communicator towards her, tilted his head sideways while he read the readout.

  Tom continued, "Police says I need a stun gun to take her down in case she loses control. She can run faster than me, I have no chance to catch her. She is stronger than me, I cannot stop her. So I'm required to carry a stun gun while we are out in public."

  The man kept looking at her. She looked back and tried to appear as cute and innocent as her new body allowed. Which was very cute and sadly not that innocent.

  He looked over her from top to bottom and she decided to admit all her crimes, "Yes, I failed badly on the test. All what is written there is true. If I'm angry I can bite his arm off. Not that I want to, but the police thinks different."

  The man nodded, "Alright, I see the problem. Hmmm ..."

  "If there are choices, I want something that doesn't hurt for hours afterwards. Not the stuff the police uses against criminals." She had been stunned by police weapons in her former life and that was certainly not a pleasant memory.

  "Agreed. Police weapons are made to take out even the hardiest. No need for that here. Let me think about this for a bit" ... he turned to Tom. "Sir, do you have an info sheet about her body? Might help to select something that works but isn't too bad."

  Great. Now they were discussing how to take her down with the minimal effort and she could only pray it wouldn't hurt too much. Was there no place to hide?

  "I think I have something for you. She's not augmented against shock, so a light stunner should be strong enough", the salesman explained after a while.

  She sighed, "Please, man. This is just terrible. Don't make it even worse."

  "I'm trying to save you a headache or worse, Madam. Not trying to be rude", he tried to excuse himself

  "I know, it's just the whole idea which is terrible." She hissed a little sigh.

  "I can understand, I wouldn't like it either to be in your position", he walked to a rack and picked up something that looked like a light ray pistol.

  "A light shocker, usually meant for self defense. Effective range up to twenty meters. Past that it hurts, but doesn't take out people. Power settings. For self defense you keep it at max power all the time, but in this case I'd say setting one is what you want. That is the weakest."

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  She watched how Tom took the thing and aimed ... luckily not at her. She rose her hands anyways, "Don't make a mistake Tom. We want to go shopping!"

  "Yeah, don't really want to use it either. It's just to comply with the police requirement", he agreed.

  The salesman handed Tom another item, "Charge pack, good for ten shots on max power, forty on setting one. Check the indicator now and then, these lose charges over time. You'll need to purchase fresh packs every few months."

  Tom inserted the pack and checked the settings on the gun, "Setting one."

  "I'll need a holster to carry this as well. I've never carried a gun before."

  Yikes. Things got serious now. She pretended to be suddenly very interested in some guns in the farthest corner of the shop, just to avoid hearing and seeing any more of this. Sadly, she could still hear them.

  "Vivian?" She heard Tom's voice after a while and turned around.

  "Yes, Tom?" She looked at him.

  "I think I've got everything. Next we'll look for a communicator for you. Food we better do last, it's probably sold deep frozen and we shouldn't carry it around with us for a longer while."

  The man behind the counter nodded to her and gave a light shrug, "I'm sorry Madam."

  She shrugged as well, "Not your fault man. Hope you sold Tom a good one."

  "Best offer that I could make. Quite modern, good quality. But honestly, none of these are made to be particularly gentle on the target. These are all for self defense", he let her know with a curt tilt of his head.

  "Thanks for trying anyway", she tried her best to smile at least a bit.

  They left the shop, "Tom can you imagine how crazy it feels that the one person I'm supposed to live with just bought a stun gun particularly to take me down?" Her fur bristled.

  He put an arm around her, "You know the other choice was that you cannot leave home at all. I don't plan to actually use it, but if police stops us, I need to show them that I have one as required."

  They walked towards where Tom had parked the hovercar, "Tom, can I buy a weapon?"

  He shook his head, "Not right now. Maybe once you pass the safety test."

  She shook her head lightly, "Honestly I don't think I have a chance at the test. Different question, do you know about a sports club that has an athletics field? Or some sort of park, where people can let their dogs and other pets run free?"

  He opened the car door for her, "Why do you ask?"

  She slid into the seat and waited till he had closed the door and entered the car as well, "Cause I want to run and jump. The city isn't the right place for that. I'm itching to move."

  He started the car and nodded, "That shouldn't be too hard. Which of the two would you like better?"

  "Both should be alright. Just a place where no one whines if my claws tear chunks from the soil if I really get moving", she shrugged.

  "I'll ask around and search online too. There should be several option which we can reach easily with the car. Just don't know the membership conditions of the sport clubs", he was steering the car to their next destination.

  For a while she watched city buildings passing by while Tom drove to the electronics shop, but the itch to move didn't fade.

  "Tom I feel like a dog who just waits till their owner has time for a walk", she let him know.

  He looked over to her for a moment before he focused on the traffic again, "That bad?"

  "It gets to me. Please park the car a few hundred meters from the shop and let me run there and back to you at least once."

  "If it helps, we'll do that", he pulled the car over after a while, got out and then helped her as well to get out of the car.

  He pointed down the street, "See the big sign there 'CTK General'? That's the shop. You can run there and back to me. I'll walk."

  "Thank you Tom", she gave him a quick hug before she bounced a few times to limber up. He watched her, "How can you have so much energy?"

  "I eat meat. Maybe you should eat more meat too?" She grinned at him, "Anyways, I'm off. Don't get nervous I'll come right back."

  Before he could answer she already was ten paces down the street. The concrete of the sidewalk was a bit harsh on her feet but good enough. There were some surprised yelps as she wove through a group of pedestrians. Unfortunately, but she didn't have time to explain this to them. The sign of the shop came closer. She jumped over an advertisement panel on the sidewalk, then over a garbage bin. She needed to ask Tom to find a place for steeplechase.

  Her legs began to burn and she was panting, trying to get more oxygen into her blood. Good. There was the shop sign. Turning at this speed was difficult and her claws scratched badly over the concrete. Could she get steel caps for her claws? A question for later. She was running back towards Tom, trying once more to give it all.

  There was Tom!

  She didn't really stop but just jumped and caught him mid flight, held him in a steel hug and made sure none of them fell over till her momentum had been used up.

  "Vivian!" She heard him shout.

  She clung to him, panting, "I'm back."

  "I noticed. But, can you do this a bit more gentle? It feels like you crushed half my ribs!"

  "Sorry, the concrete just grinds my foot claws away if I try to break hard. We need to find a place with grass."

  She caught some breath and released him from the hug, "I feel better now."

  "You're sweaty", he noticed. Of course she was. Who was not sweaty after a quarter mile sprint like that?

  "Do I smell fine?" She smiled at him encouragingly. Say yes, Tom!

  "At least not bad ... yet. But you definitely need a shower once we are back home."

  "That's alright", she took his hand to pull him towards the shop, "Come, let's go."