“…Remind me again why you invited me along to the beach but wouldn’t tell me why?”
Arlie had their sunglasses raised, blinking at the bird currently struggling with putting up a beach umbrella against the surprisingly strong sea breeze cooling the late August beach off. It was, frankly, almost a perfect beach day; bright blue sky, a few scattered puffy clouds white against the horizon, and a blue ocean, stretching far into the distance.
Hard to have a more ideal day at the shore, really.
“I asked you along because you’d been complaining about spending the summer inside!” Meik said teasingly, giving the dog’s side a nudge with one of her talons.
“Besides, the sun’s good for you.”
“My summer coat thanks you,” Arlie teased, tugging their sunglasses back down as Meik trudged a little further up the beach to grab the bags they’d sat down when setting up their spot. It was by and large the usual affair, sunscreen, goggles, a beach ball uninflated at the bottom of the bag – but there’s one extra tube Meik had slipped in on the way over, one she couldn’t wait to show Arlie.
“Hey! Do you burn easy?” She called over, rummaging through the bag.
“A little!” Arlie replied, yawning. “Why, got sunscreen?”
“Yeah! Here!”
With a little paff!, the tube she’d thrown landed in the sand just next to the dog, who grabbed it absent-mindedly and squinted at the SPF label. 50! Just what the doctor ordered.
Squirting a little onto a paw, Meik watched as the dog rubbed it down their nose and a little over their cheeks, sunglasses gently sliding back into place as she chuckled to herself and grabbed the normal sunscreen, padding back over to plop down on the sand and squeeze a little into her paw.
“Gotcha,” She teased, poking the dog’s side.
“Huh?” Arlie said, a curious tone to their voice. They seemed amused?
“The sunscreen,” Meik continued, not noticing. “Squeakshine. For days at the beach!”
“Funny name,” Arlie replied, not raising their sunglasses.
“…Is it not working or something,” Meik said with a sigh, rubbing their own sunscreen in as the hot summer sun beat down.
“No, no. I’m sure it’ll kick in,” The dog yawned, gesturing with a paw… just as the bird’s hand exploded outwards into a puffy pooltoy paw.
“HUH?”
Slowly, before her very eyes, her arms began to soften and inflate, feathers giving way to vinyl and air as her patterns smoothed out and simplified.
Arlie, however, just grinned.
“In the future, you might wanna put your sunscreens in different bags,” The dog grinned, gently tugging the label on their tube… and it simply came off. Arlie had switched the labels?!
“NO FAIR,” Meik half-shouted, paws squeaking together as the bird tried to force the air out. Naturally, all it really managed to do was cause her midsection to begin changing faster, swelling up against her swimsuit and making a little bit of a scene with all the squeaking and flustered squawking.
Her tummy began to swell, a brand new valve peeking out of the belly button.
Arlie tugged their sunglasses back down, watching a few seagulls fly by overhead. Someone further up the beach cheered.
“Arlie! Stop this!”
“Can’t. Have to wait til it wears off in a few hours.”
“B-But-!”
“Oh, chin up,” Arlie teased, sitting up and watching as the bird’s tailfeathers inflated one by one, her tailfan becoming something closer to the ribbing on a pool raft. “You’ll do fine! Might even take you out on the waves, wouldn’t that be fun?”
Meik frowned, but… couldn’t frown. Her face felt funny.
Without warning, her frown bent upwards into a grin, beak solidifying into a solid, air-filled plastic beak, printed on grin and cheery eyes staring daggers at the dog as they laughed a little, gesturing with a paw to the bird’s new handles.
“Hey, look at the bright side!”
Arlie stretched, peering out at the ocean as Meik’s changes began to wrap up, a cute little barcode and name popping up on her haunches.
“No sunburn!”