Today had promise to become a special day. Roger had agreed that she might invite Trisha for a visit. She'd have preferred to visit Trisha in New Fairhagen, but she couldn't travel alone and Roger didn't want to spend any time on it. So, inviting Trisha had been the only option.

  She checked the clock once more, 2:55pm. It couldn't be long anymore for Trisha to arrive. The tube train from New Fairhagen was supposed to arrive at 2:42pm, and then it would be about fifteen or twenty minutes with a hovertaxi from the train station to Rogers flat.

  She was pondering options to pass the time faster, but there was nothing to do. The table was set, coffee and cake prepared, and all she could do was to lay on the couch and flick her tail left and right. Should she try counting the seconds?

  She hissed a little sigh. Certainly Trisha would arrive soon, there was about nothing that could go wrong. Hovertaxis were fully automated and never on strike, and if there was a problem with the tube train it would have been shown in the schedule. Or Trisha just would call and tell there was a delay.

  The door bell rang and she was already running to the door. Stupidly, Roger had set the door not to open for her, and she wasn't sure if it was for legal reasons or just something Roger considered right. Anyways, she had to wait for Roger to open the door, and once it opened wide enough she jumped with a happy shout, "Trisha!"

  Trisha had been too surprised it seemed and her jumped-in hug send them both off balance, and even that they couldn't avoid to fall she managed to end up below and act as cushion to keep Trisha unharmed, "It's so nice to see you!" She smiled at a very baffled looking Trisha.

  "Eh, hello Vivian", Trisha managed, "Take it a bit slower, please? And let me get up."

  "Sure!" It was no problem to lift Trisha back up with her and set her onto her feet, and Trisha tried to arrange her clothes properly again, when Roger spoke up, "Good afternoon Miss De Messier. Are you alright? I had no idea Vivian would be this enthusiastic to see you again."

  Trisha attempted a smile, "That's how she is, well at least how I got to know her before everything went south. Good afternoon Mr." there was a pause, "Rose?"

  "Roger Rose, indeed. Please come in." Roger gestured towards the open door.

  They followed Roger and Trisha remarked, "You're quite tall now, Vivian."

  She shrugged and tried an apologetic smile, "Sometimes it's nice, sometimes not so much. My legs are good though. Dancing, running and jumping, no problem at all. Maybe I was better at narrow turns before, but it's hard to say."

  While Trisha and Roger took seat at the table, she fetched the cake from the kitchen corner and brought it to the table, a few slices cut, ready for each of them to take onto their plates.

  Eating with friends once again felt like a strange ritual, with Trisha and Roger enjoying cake and coffee while she held onto a glass of water. The everlasting problem of not being able to properly eat with people. She wondered why the designers of her body had chosen this path, most normal food was just boring, uninteresting to her senses and only meat was of importance anymore. And even if she had meat, the hunger didn't let her stop till it was all eaten. So it was better to eat alone and in private.

  She was woken from her thoughts by Trisha's voice "You sure have changed, Vivian".

  She looked up from her glass, "I do?"

  "Yes, quite. When I met you first, you had all golden fur and everything was natural about you. Now it's a whole different you," Trisha replied and she seemed to hear some disapproval in the statement.

  She nodded a little, "It's mostly just cosmetic, I'm still the same as I was then," and tried to show an assertive smile.

  Roger chimed in, "I think she's looking good though."

  Trisha put the fork down and looked at Roger, eyes narrowed slightly, "Maybe to your eyes, but have you ever asked her how she'd like to look? Even that Tom guy who put her into this body just let her be herself after that moment."

  "Trisha please. Tom wasn't a bad guy," she tried to mediate.

  Trisha gave her a quick look, "I'm pretty sure he planned it right this way, but I admit from what you told, he made it as good as he could afterwards."

  Now it was Roger who asked, "Planned what?"

  Trisha looked at him again, "He gave her this body, and I'm pretty sure he knew what will happen if you put a weak willed mind into a body with such strong instincts and sensory feedback. Vivian gets overwhelmed all the time."

  Weak willed? She had opened her snout to protest, but just closed it again and said nothing. Maybe Trisha was right in some way, but she still wanted to give Tom the benefit of doubt. Both he and the medics had tried to support her.

  Trisha wasn't done though yet, "And now you use her lack of will to just shape her like you want her to be, to act as mascot for your club. Just look at her. Black fur, metal fangs and claws. Her chest, her legs. There is almost nothing left of her former self."

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  Roger shook his head, "Please, I beg your pardon. Vivian chose the modifications, I only made suggestions."

  "And you offered her a whole lot of money. That's quite some pressure for someone who's completely broke and cannot buy anything at all. Anything she wanted she could only get by saying yes to your plan," Trisha said in a stern manner.

  "Trisha, please," she tried to stop the argument, "I'm happy that you are here. Let's talk about something else, please. How are your plants doing?"

  Luckily Roger did not reply to Trisha's statement and Trisha seemed willing to go a more peaceful route, "Now that your not constantly bothering them anymore they are doing fine."

  She chuckled, "Yeah, they were quite tempting often. I kinda miss them though. Maybe we should get some plants here too?" She looked at Roger, who still seemed to be grumpy about Trisha's words.

  "Plants in a loft styled as a factory hall?" he voiced his doubts.

  She nodded, "We could have a corner with plants and the rest kept in industrial style? Maybe move the couch to the plant corner?"

  Trisha, picked another piece of cake to eat before she added, "Plants are also good for the air. They can filter chemicals and add some humidity."

  She quickly kept her snout shut before she could say, "And some taste really interesting."

  Roger seemed to think about the idea, "Maybe. What sorts of plants would you like, Vivian?"

  She leaned her head lightly left and right, "Trisha knows better than me. At least from those in her apartment. But if we visit a garden center, I can certainly tell which ones have a nice scent, and you can chose which ones look good."

  Roger nodded, "Guess we can do this."

  Trisha looked at her again, "So, Vivian, how are you doing?"

  She shrugged, "Can't complain. I get to do sports with the security guys at the club, and I like to dance, so that is all fine. I still miss the sports club in New Fairhagen some, and playing fetch with Frank or you. But maybe I can talk Bruno into that, he's a furry like me."

  "Bruno?" Trisha asked before she ate another piece of her slice of cake.

  She nodded, "Bruno's a big wolf guy, the head of the security team. At times he's a bit rough, but nice enough and he likes to laugh a lot."

  "And your test?" Trisha asked.

  "Which test?" She tilted her head in light confusion.

  "The psych eval to become a full sapient again. You said you can try it every three months, so when's the next chance?" Trisha clarified.

  "Ah, right. Six weeks? Eight? I haven't really been checking, but I think I have a better chance now at succeeding," she showed a cautious smile.

  "Will you take the test?" Trisha didn't let the point pass.

  "Not sure if I try this time. Maybe rather in half a year. I don't want to get known as the one who fails again and again, and only do it if I'm sure to have a good chance at passing."

  With a shrug she added, "For the next five years it won't matter much anyway. As Roger's companion it's almost the same if I'm a full sapient or not. Well, I could run errands for Roger all by myself, but that's about it."

  Trisha nodded, "I'd say you try anyways as soon as you feel confident you can pass. Better have it done."

  She looked down at her glass of water for a moment, took a sip and replied, "Guess you're right. I'm just quite anxious about it. Can't do much about the smell tests, but I do not need to pass all of those. Just the self control tests, cause of safety reasons. They are the most important."

  Now Roger chimed in, "Half a year should be a good time. Vivian sure has become much better at her self control. Eating at a restaurant, a train ride, being out in public, she's got it all."

  Now Trisha smiled and put her hand on hers, "See. Have some confidence. Half a year and then you take the test, promise?"

  She smiled in return and nodded a little, "Yeah, I think that should be fine. Then they know I didn't try at the first chance but came after some preparation. Might help to make a better impression."

  Roger and Trisha finished their cake and then came the big question, what to do next?

  "We could play some holo games? Roger's infotainment system has a selection of games", she suggested.

  "Got a new racing game", Roger explained, "Should be beginner friendly for you two. Each one flies a space racer through an asteroid field, needs to hit the checkpoints in the right order and the fastest one wins. The controls are easy to learn."

  "There are also some classic board game emulations. There is a Chinese Checkers version which works nicely for three players," she suggested.

  Trisha nodded, "That sounds better, I'm not in the mood for too much action now. And Chinese Checkers is easy enough so we can chat while we play."

  She looked over, "Roger, what do you think?"

  He shrugged, "Not a big fan of it, but if you two want to play, I'll join in."

  She smiled, "Sounds good. Can you set up the holo board right here on the table? I think there is a saved preset for that."

  The hologram came with configurable game pieces, she took something which reminded her of yellow beavers, Roger chose blue dwarfs with pickaxes and Trisha picked stylized cats of a color which she could not easily identify. Dark yellow to her eyes, might be actually red for humans. Green used to look like a pale yellow if not pale blue.

  The random number generator was against Trisha today, and rolled Roger to start the game, she got the next move and Trisha was the third to draw a piece. The start was a bit slow, but soon they could hop pieces half across the board towards their home quarters.

  Luckily it was all a hologram, her claws might have interfered a lot with handling such small items like the game peaces. More than once she accidentally scratched the table's surface and got a disapproving look from Roger.

  Maybe her strategy was bad, maybe Roger was more lucky. Roger's dwarfs made it home first, she let Trisha have the second place and eventually her last yellow beaver made it home too.

  Trisha checked the time on her communicator, "It seems I must get going, if I want to catch the tube train back to New Fairhagen. Otherwise I'll have to wait till late in the evening and I have to work tomorrow."

  Roger turned off the holographic game board and she nodded, "Ya, time runs fast. I'm still happy that you came for a visit. Maybe some day I can visit you over in new Fairhagen too."

  Trisha put a finger on her nose, "You just need to pass the test. I mean it seriously, Vivian. Don't let the circumstances trap you here if you can be free. You know you can do it."

  She rubbed her snout against the finger, "I know. Give me some time to prepare though, alright?"

  "Half a year, we said, remember?" Trisha looked seriously at her.

  She nodded, "Promised. I'll take the test in half a year."

  "Good", now Trisha was smiling too and she hugged Trisha tight, then lifted her up to hold her cheek to cheek for a while, "Thank for coming over, Trisha. I've missed you."

  "No issue Vivian, but please, put me back on my feet, will you?" Trisha asked and stroked once, twice over the back of her head.

  "Sure!" She gave Trisha another good squeeze before she put her down again.