Phew.
It might’ve been mid-April, but as far as the two raccoons were concerned, their outing in the city park was a scorcher.
It was easily 90 degrees – in the shade! It certainly hadn’t been anywhere near this hot when they’d left the house earlier that morning, and the forecast hadn’t even come close… as far as Okie and Jono knew, they’d skipped straight to summer.
“C’monnn…” Jono was complaining, tapping the bottom of the distressingly empty water bottle for those last few drops, before half-heartedly tossing the empty plastic into a nearby trash can as the pair wandered past. “There’s got to be somewhere to get something to drink, don’t you think?”
“Like a cart or something?” Okie asked, glancing over. Their fellow racc seemed a little worse for wear… maybe another water or something might be worth the stop.
It’d beat the heat, at least.
As the two rounded a corner, a sight they’d both not expected – especially as this was a corner they’d just been around, anyway? – met the two of them.
A little ice-chest on a cart, brightly dressed up as a “free samples!” cart, being set up by a cheery looking red and brown-furred dog. “Bubblite” was scribbled across the front of the cart on a cute little banner, white bubbly font on a bright blue background.
“Oh!” The dog barked in surprise, turning to face the newcomers – jumping behind the cart with enough speed to wobble on a paw. “Customers! Um. I wasn’t, uh, set up yet, heh…”
“What’s the sample?” Jono asked, perking up a little. The dog seemed friendly enough, wagging at the attention.
“Marketing test of some new soda or something,” The dog waved a paw, fishing around in the cooler and peeking inside when their paw didn’t find anything. “Getting paid to stand in the park and hand it out, yknow? Pretty day, at least.”
“And the heat?”
“Well, that’s what the umbrella’s for.” The dog said, nonplussed. “Aaaand here-!”
They held out a paw, a little glass bottle of very bubbly soda swirling around inside. “I’d, uh, recommend waiting for the bubbles to go down before drinking it. It’s… something!”
“Does it have… flavor? Or anything?” The two raccoons asked, peering into the glass. “Do we need a form, or…?”
“Nope! Just…”
The dog trailed off as the clearly parched raccoons both cracked the bottle open, downing the contents – it, uh, must’ve been a bit warmer out than they’d thought. Oh dear.
“W-Well, uh, just let me know how it is!”
Jono and Okie, however, had already finished the fizzy, delicious soda that called the glass bottle home – it had, quite frankly, been one of the best drinks they’d ever had.
Light, sparkly, and bright, it had tasted faintly of tropical fruit and an almost smoothie-like creaminess – reminding the two of them of a beach, somewhere nice and warm. Not humid and gross like today was. There was even the slightest hint of a salty breeze, as the finished bottle was handed back to the bemused dog to throw away, but that was almost certainly their imagination. After all, they were nowhere near a beach!
…which meant, as the two began to make their way back down the path, the quiet sqrks of their haunches as they walked definitely drew their attention.
“Did you hear something?” Okie asked off-handedly, glancing up at the cloudless sky.
“Mrprhprh.” Jono replied, confusedly.
Instantly, the raccoons looked at each other – Jono’s snout beginning to squeak over as their grin flattened out into a cute plastic decal, paws flying to their face – and Okie’s paws going to their tummy, already beginning to swell against their shirt!
“W-What?!” Okie managed, just in time for a cute little chunky pooltoy valve to pop free of the inflatable tummy currently riding their shirt up, their haunches and legs beginning to swell and grow more toyishly proportioned as fur gave way to soft, pliable vinyl – and poor Jono, airheaded as they were, wobbled in place, handpaws hisssssing as they began to swell and simplify into cute little raccoon toy paws, hair solidifying into a cute single piece! Their cheeks blew up first, eyes and nose flattening into cutesy happy decals – and, with a loud SQRK, they squished their cheeks together.
Okie, on the other hand, was trying their best to stop the encroaching plastic at their chest – even as their tail swelled and stretched, gaining a valve of its own on the bottom – after all, it held enough air to warrant one!
Both raccs were quite a bit larger, swelling and squeaking and stretching into their new toyish shapes as they were – so it came as no surprise when, with a loud rrrRIP of fabric tearing, their outfits gave up the proverbial ghost, leaving both toys slightly embarrassed as the loud hissing seemed to grow ever-louder and more noticeable, a confused jogger deciding to take a different path altogether when they noticed what was going on. Okie’s huge toyish paws came in next, just in time for one last big press of their tummy to force enough air into their head for their snout to balloon outwards, new decaled face appearing shocked just long enough to stick.
Jono wobbled, their tummy beginning to swell to match the toyish proportions their upper body had gained – and, with a loud squeak, they fell over.
This, naturally, only forced air into their bottom half – their tail swelling outwards with a squeak so loud the dog back at the cart heard it over the wind and birdsong.
Still, though, the changes weren’t quite finished – Okie and Jono both tried to wobble, plastic joints and round tummies finally reaching their properly inflated pressures, and… maybe even a little extra, if the almost teasing one last hiss was anything to go by.
Both waited for a moment, half expecting it to start back up as the hissing dwindled away into nothing… but it never came.
There was the sound of footsteps, and, after a moment, the curly-tailed cart-puppy peeked into their fields of view.
“I, uh, see you didn’t follow my instructions,” The dog sheepishly offered, brushing their hair out of their eyes.
“It’ll wear off in a day or two, but in the meantime…” The dog’s voice got quieter, conspiratorially.
“Wanna hit the lake?”