Commissions – deep future

High Calorie Intake (commission)

Six months in space didn’t seem like a particularly long voyage, really.

Once upon a time such a voyage could’ve taken years – a cross-system haul from Mars to the outer Kuiper, delivering heavy equipment and open-vacuum lubricants to a mining installation on Makemake – but new realspace drive tech made it trivial, if… boring.

So, as Cai yawned, reclining on a few of the crates as dockside drones loaded the rest, they were surprised to find someone else was walking over.

“Oh! Hey West,” Cai offered, sitting up a little.

“Hey!” West replied, the demon smirking about… something. Pre-voyage jitters, maybe? “I took the liberty of picking up some replacement rations here in New Paris, something about being “better suited for deep space nutrition”, whatever that means.”

“…Nutrient paste?”

“Nah, real stuff! Well. Tube stuff, but not paste, I think.”

On cue, the demon tugged a small tube of the stuff out of their pocket, offering it. Garishly yellow and white, the tube was around the size of a standard ration – and obnoxiously loud visually, with “Upsize Travel Ration” printed in huge red letters. The flavor was, apparently, “Turkey Dinner.”

Hm.

It…

The bunny’s eyes lit up as they squeezed some into their mouth, wiggling a little in place. It was incredible!

“Good find!” Cai cheerily exclaimed through a mouth full of ration, hopping up and grabbing a box.

“Mind helping me load? And bring those, too – might have to find extra room, for them…”

West and Cai settled in easily enough, and soon the ship was underway. The days passed slowly as the cargo ship crawled out of Martian space into the open system, but Cai began to notice… a problem.

West had been spending much, much more time around them than usual – and, as the bunny realized for the first time their flight suit was beginning to get a bit snug, fluffy tummy peeking out ever so slightly over the waistband.

“Hey, uh,” Cai mentioned to West in the ship’s mess one day, sitting their empty ration tube down. “Where did you get these, again…?”

“Dock quartermaster,” West replied quickly, giving the bunny’s tummy a pat. Or two.

“Which one? I think they might be a bit… uh, bad for me?”

For emphasis, Cai hefted their belly slightly, visibly a bit bigger than ever before. Even Cai’s face was softer, rounder, clearly at the very least well-fed.

“Oh, nonsense. It’s all the intake in zero-g, it’ll burn off when we’re done.” West grinned, walking out of the room… after, naturally, leaving a few more on the counter. For later, of course.

By the third month, the freighter had arrived at Makemake, dropping the supplies off – and embarrassing Cai as they found they didn’t.. quite fit in the usual crawlspaces they’d started the voyage off frequenting, working on engine conduits and power wires. West, helpfully, offered to take on some of the work for them – giving their tummy a rub, off-handedly mentioning they’d already prepped a few rations, why not have some?

Cai had agreed – even a little work had been working up appetites, lately.

Soon enough, they’d outgrown their poor flight suit despite trying to cut back – the rations apparently having been swapped out for even richer, larger-portioned versions! When had West even brought those aboard? What happened to their original journey supplies?

Still, Cai had bigger clothes – backups for the stranger situations they’d encountered in their many voyages across the stars, which… this was beginning to count as.

“West,” Cai asked, squeezing between two of the chairs in the ship’s lounge one evening on the return journey, plopping down on a couch next to West with a quiet groan. “I… think I need to go back to the old rations. Something’s wrong with those.”

“Wrong?” West asked absently, barely looking up from their tablet.

“They’re making me…” Cai prodded their tummy. “Big.”

“Well, yes,” The demon shrugged. “I know.”

“You… know?” The bunny frowned.

“Yes?”

“…You did this on purpose.”

West grinned, sliding down the couch slightly and leaning over to lay on the bunny. “Maybe.”

Grumpy, the bunny stood up, going off to find something to do – and the rest of the trip passed relatively quickly, the freighter eventually returning to Mars in the sixth month, empty and awaiting a hefty payout.

Unfortunately, hefty was the word of choice for Cai, as well – nearly double West’s weight, and twice as wide. As the ship touched down, Cai began to disembark – their tummy wedging itself firmly into the narrow gangway door just as West rounded the corner, flushing a bright red.

The bunny sighed, holding up a paw.

“Next time I get the supplies, okay?”

Grower and a Shower

My half of a trade I did for Avenue!

“The new you is just a few clicks away!”

Avenue was no stranger to banner ads – most of the internet seemed to have a few these days, scattered here and there. The strange thing, though, was somehow this one had managed to make it through his ad blocker. How that was possible, and why it had decided to appear now, he couldn’t quite answer.

…and, worryingly, was simply spread across his desktop, seemingly locking their inputs aside from clicking directly on it, as if funneling his attention directly towards it. He clicked here and there, hoping he could simply minimize it until he found a way to remove whatever malware had delivered the pop-up in the first place, but it stubbornly refused to budge.

Their first instinct was to simply turn the computer off and call someone to diagnose it, but the drawing open behind it hadn’t been saved in what felt like hours, and… losing it simply wasn’t an option. Sighing, Avenue clicked – hoping that opening whatever page it led to might let him close the ad for good.

Oddly, instead of the usual scammy pop-up laden page he expected, it led to nothing. A broken URL, with a “we’re sorry! this page has moved” message scrawled across it, joined by a little “:(“ at the middle of the page. Whoever or whatever it once might have led to was long gone, which… made the adware useless. Funny, in a cynical sort of way.

“Well that’s certainly a way to advertise,” Avenue said flatly, closing the page. Behind it, oddly, was another window – this one advertising a “ceiling strengthening” service, with a stylized stick-dog with a broken roof perched on their head like a hat. “Spend a lot of time counting shingles?” It read in bold, black font. “Sometimes growing pains don’t need to be so painful – Kaiju Roofing is here for you, no matter the height, no matter the problem!”

Avenue rolled his eyes and clicked the “x” there, too, only to be met with a series of “are you sure?” and “last chance!” pop-ups, until, finally, his desktop was clean and clear. He waited a few moments, expecting it to return with a vengeance – but nothing happened. He did feel slightly… tingly, but that could’ve been anything.

Now, drawing time.

He reached for his tablet pen, and realized something strange. It felt… smaller, in his grip – not exactly enough to be noticeable to the eye, but strangely different to hold. Had he just never noticed? How would he not have noticed it when he’d sat down earlier?

Come to think of it, his desk seemed a little smaller too, monitor just that tiny amount further away. Sighing, he leaned over, intent on continuing – only for the sound of ripping fabric to draw his attention away, again.

Slowly, Avenue glanced to his right where the sound had come from… and saw his white fluffy fur peeking through a long tear down his sleeve, surprisingly buff arm seemingly flexing right through it in a show of strength.

“Um.”

He felt it, now. A surge, building in his paws and barreling upwards with all the force of an earthquake – and, doubling over, Avenue began to swell. His midsection thickened, muscles he’d forgotten he even had thickening up with the physique he’d wished for so long to have – but that wasn’t all. Panting, the wolf realized that everything seemed further away, again.

Except the ceiling, of course. That was closer.

“M-Mmf… not again,” He whined, clothes barely hanging on as another surge swept through him. Somehow, despite the drastic size increase, Avenue’s underwear managed to hold on – even if knocking over the keyboard and mouse and sending his tablet flying was part of the deal.

He swelled larger, bracing a meaty paw against the ceiling, but the changes showed no sign of stopping, shirt finally giving out with a colossal RRRIP and falling to the floor in tatters, pajamas following suit as he quite literally flexed his way right through them. It was almost intoxicating being this strong and enormous, and despite his best efforts to rein it in he was wagging, tail sweeping wind across the increasingly small room like the rotor of a helicopter. It wasn’t that he was enjoying it, exactly, perhaps, but he was… enjoying it, quite a lot. The sensation of being so sensitive, the new strength flowing into his muscles with the force of a river, it was invigorating in a way he couldn’t quite describe. It was perfect!

Still taller he grew, starting to hunch against the ceiling of his room more and more with each swelling surge – until, accidentally, he crushed his bookshelf by trying to grab it to steady himself. Well. At least it’ll end soon?

Unfortunately, as the next surge proved, ceilings were not built for half-dragon wolves, no matter how sorry and apologetic he was about growing right through it. With his cheeks a rosy pink, Avenue tried to hunch back down – finding their enormous knees and thighs could barely even fit now that their pecs and biceps were so huge, making even attempting it difficult.

Still larger he grew, shingles and roofing falling from his impossibly fit frame, until, with a crash, his bulge went somewhere. It felt cold? Cold, and slightly wet, like morning… grass?

Glancing down, Avenue realized with (embarrassing) satisfaction it had literally broken straight through the wall, collapsing the computer desk and sticking straight out into the neighbor’s garden.

“S-Sorry, agh…!” The wolf managed, steaming in the cool morning air as the small figure of their neighbor peeked out in alarm – and shut the door as soon as they’d seen what happened, intent on leaving this behind until coffee was finished.

With a loud crash, the house gave up – and Avenue was left sitting in a pile of rubble and shingles, nearly thirty feet tall and nearly as wide – just in time for their computer, somewhere in the pile, to confirm their free trial. Thoughtful.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the swelling stopped, the tension in their growing muscles fading away to be replaced with something worryingly like satisfaction, a desire for more of their neighbors to see what has happened. A dragon’s pride, maybe?

“P-Phew,” Avenue sighed, wiping their brow and leaning back a little. “A lot to fix, but…”

There was a snap, and, without warning, their waistband fell loose.

With a titanic crash, their poor neighbor’s fence was ruined.

“Ah. Oh dear.”

ESCAPE (commission)

a commission for radiocabel!

“I’ll have his head for this.”

“Yeah, yeah. Move along your highness, you’re not special in the Icebox. Nobody is.”

Roughly, the guards shoved them further along the ice-crusted gangway – giving Kye their last glimpses of the world beyond iron walls.

Hyelon was a prison moon of the Compact – a relic of cycles past, marred by ancient ash and frigid skies. It was where the worst of the worst from across Compact space were kept, and… due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time, political prisoners as well. The prison was constructed into the side of a crevasse, sheltered from the bone-stripping frigid winds that blew across most of the exposed surface above. Temperatures outside of the climate controlled complex hovered just around -90C – a perfect barrier to escapes.

The rabbit was hustled through the depths of the prison, regal demeanour replaced with something more closely approaching a coiled viper. Every guard they saw, complicit in the schemes of the Compact, was as good as dead – but all that was forgotten when a familiar face glared back at the them from the bars of their new home.

“Well, well. It seems my aim faltered.”

“As did mine, you misbegotten bastard. I should have killed you when I had the chance.”

“That’s certainly no way to speak to your cellmate,” Maddie purred as the guards slid away, watching them go.

“I do not intent to stay for very long.”

“Perhaps this is one matter we can agree on.” Maddie frowned. “I trust you’ve not become a legendary raider of the Spur in the year we’ve been apart, Lord Celan? Surely you’re here for a visit.”

“I am not sharing my business with a traitor.”

“We have naught but time, as I’m sure you’re well aware. While not an olive branch, I simply wish to ensure I’m not pondering escaping a prison with a criminal.”

The glare the Prince gave could have frozen stars.

“I shall take that as a “perhaps”, then.”

“An assassin helping their quarry escape sounds rather far fetched, does it not?”

Maddie sighed. “You are no longer my quarry. My failure to produce you led to… complications. And if you would listen for a moment, I would be happy to explain?”

While still visibly furious, the rabbit took a seat – what little of one there was in the bare monocrete cell.

“While I personally would have enjoyed seeing the light bleed from your eyes, I no longer have… incentive, to do so. At least, for the moment. I’m to understand you’ve escaped prisons in the past?”

Kye frowned. “Perhaps, but not with assassins. Where are you going with this?”

“I’ve been here for nearly six months, and the schedule is regular. Shipments come in every two weeks, and depart on the third. Mostly supplies for the guards – foodstuffs, rations, stims. The freighters are automated. No crew.”

The white-furred rabbit flashed a grin. “No witnesses.”

“And the hundreds of guards in the Icebox? On Hyelon?”

Maddie simply grinned.

“…Alright, fine. What are my assurances this plan won’t get us killed, though? How are we supposed to get to the freighter in the first place?”

Maddie pointed out of the small cell at the hallway. “Assassins memorize routes. I know the way, and… let’s just say a few guards gave their lives for the information, hm?”

Kye glared. As much as they wished to the end life of the assassin – as much as they wished to kill them with their bare hands for what they’d done, they… needed their help.

Begrudgingly, Kye nodded. “Fine. Most of my magic is dampened by this damn device, but I should be able to help… some. When does the freighter arrive?”

Maddie shrugged. “Three days.”

“Great.”

To the surprise of Kye (and Maddie, but they weren’t telling), the plan’s first stages were executed without a hitch. The first guard had been dispatched as silently as could reasonably be, his keys and biopass lifted. The hallways were byzantine but navigable with the aid of the card and Maddie’s memory – and what few items needed to be grabbed off of guards or out of offices were easily obtained with Kye’s limited gravitic attraction.

The problems arose when the freighter landed not on the internal pad, where the others before had – but above, exposed to the wind.

Hyelon required hazcon suits to even think about going outside during a storm – and the racks were empty.

“Well what now?” Kye exclaimed in frustration, staring at the other rabbit with barely hidden fury. “All this for nothing?”

“I… I can’t believe–”

The airlock warning sounded, alerting them of a cycle.

Both dove out of the way, just in time for a pair of guards in the suits they needed to enter carrying crates of rations and medical supplies.

“Phew. Why do we always get the shitty courier duty?” The first guard, a deer, grumbled – his partner trying to shake feeling back into his paws even through the gloves, walking slightly out into the hallway. “I mean, aren’t there nearly two hundred of us here? Why us? Is everyone else just busy?”

The deer trailed off as there was no reply, and turned to see the hallway empty.

On cue, they felt a heavy object hit them from behind – and their world went dark just in time to catch a glimpse of glowing white flowers and furious purple eyes.

“Little more bloody than I prefer, but good hit.” Maddie was grinning, tugging their stolen suit on – shaking the gloves to slip their fingers in.

Kye, disrobing the concussed deer, dragged him into the hallway and left him there. Once the suits were on and securely checked, it was time for the last hurdle.

The freighter.

The door opened. Bitter wind howled inside, ripping at anything unprotected – and the two escapees braved the storm, the landing lights of the interstellar craft shining through the storm.

It was, unfortunately, not unmanned – a guard detail of around ten stood around the landing site overseeing a pair of loaders hefting crates – and Maddie’s plan of sneaking failed almost immediately, proximity sensors tripping when their biosignatures didn’t match authorized personnel.

Maddie leapt into action, blade singing through the blizzard – but Kye, trying to yank a blade over with their suppressed magic, took a round to the neck and spun away.

By sheer chance, the metal round had not found the flesh it sought. The shards of the dampener swirled away in slow motion, caught in the wind – and the might of the Darksea poured through their veins, howling for blood and justice.

Black fire erupted across the pad as the Prince voiced their displeasure, erasing the few guards remaining after Maddie’s spinning assault. Already, the whine of the ship’s engines was rising – clearly someone had made it aboard and was trying to make a getaway.

“No time to waste!” Maddie shouted, pointing. “On the ship, now!”

Wordlessly, Kye followed – their palms wreathed in notlight, ready to leap away at a moment’s notice.

Four more guards died in the trip to the freighter’s bridge, and the Captain’s gurgles marked the end of his final voyage.

Soon enough, the freighter had lifted off with new cargo aboard, and the prince and the assassin once again found themselves at odds.

Gone was the scared, unsure swordsman, though – Kye was powerful.

Besides. Maddie didn’t have a contract.

“Course is set for Holmen,” Maddie said after a few moments, the dark blue giving way to stars beyond the freighter’s windows. “We part ways there.”

“A shame,” Kye muttered sarcastically. “We make such a team.”

“Don’t tell me you’re finally tired of prison breaks?” Maddie grinned, crossing their arms. “But yes, I agree. When next we meet it will be as foes, yet I must admit… it was enjoyable, Lord Celan. You fight well.”

Kye rolled their eyes.

“Mention this to no one. It remains between us, until the other falls.”

“A fair deal.” Maddie grinned wider, offering a paw – and with a shake, the two parted to find their own areas of the ship until the autopilot made port, the soft whoosh of a transition into the Tides washing over them.

Instant Decorations (commission)

a commission for ehksidian!

The box was… pretty plain, if she was honest.

Not that Xena was complaining, of course – a gift was a gift, even if generic brown paper and a twine bow didn’t exactly scream “effort”, to her. No return label, either.

Oh, well. Maybe it was like… jelly of the month, or something? A gift that keeps on giving.

Looks more like a bag lunch.

Still, as she carries the little brown box in from the rainy day outside, she was curious – after all, any package timed to arrive on her birthday had to be something special, at the very least, right? Surely?

Tearing the paper and removing the twine was easy, but that didn’t… quite explain the box underneath. Party Time?

There was a note there, but she was so focused on figuring out the box she simply sat aside, completely ignoring the large “PLEASE READ FIRST” scribbled on the back in urgent red ink.

The box was…

…empty. Completely empty, aside from a weird sparkly glitter coating everything inside, some of which was thrown into the air by the force of her opening, tickling her nose.

Phew. Who sends an empty box as a birthday gift?!

Xena, fuming, picked up the card – and frowned.

“Party in a box? What the hell does that mean?”

Her question, funnily enough, was answered – loudly, and immediately.

Instantly, a loud hissing reached her ears – the sound of a balloon slipped over a helium tank, a cold, filling sensation sweeping across her tummy. The drakkai only had time to utter a bewildered “WHAT” before her tummy began to swell and stretch, scales giving way to an expanse of soft, pliable rubber. It was soft to the touch, squeaking beneath her claws – and for a moment there was silence, almost comically quiet.

Just a moment, though. The hissing returned, twice as loud.

Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, she wasn’t growing, exactly. While the changes were more or less proportional, she felt her clothes start to bunch and bag, but there was no way…

As she tried to press on her tummy, hoping to squish it elsewhere, her tail began to shrink down – softening, losing definition as she began to round out. A brand new balloon knot tipped the end, and as she hurriedly tried to read the note (which, she now noticed, said very plainly not to open facing yourself), a long orange ribbon snaked to the floor from it. As she watched, her claws began to feel oddly flat – and, to her bewilderment and confusion, fell apart into a little pile of Xena-print napkins.

That, unfortunately, was the least of her worries – ribbons and decorations began to pop up here and there, conveniently drakkai themed and colored. Clearly magic was at work here, and it was decorating a party with her.

Xena was beginning to feel a bit full as her clothes grew baggier, tummy swelling into her clothes even as her arms and legs receded into her shirt and shorts – a bad sign, if she’d ever seen one. Her hair, usually long and fluffy, felt oddly scratchy – and as the swelling continued, slowly slid away as so much confetti – scattering the table, and floor, and… everywhere, really.

“S-Stop, damnit!” The drakkai protested, flailing for the table – and slipping completely out of her shorts, which fell to the ground with a thud of dropped fabric. Worryingly, she wasn’t touching the floor anymore with her claws.

…more worryingly, she couldn’t feel her claws – and a glance downwards only showed an increasingly generic ovoid shape, like… a party balloon. One of a few, now scattering the ceiling. She couldn’t see them, really, but had a sinking feeling she knew exactly what was on them.

Party in a box. Duh.

Cursing her bad luck, the drakkai began to shrink further as her midsection began to round out, slipping through the neck of her shirt and dragging the ribbon along with her! It was a slow, gradual rise – clearly she only just now held enough helium to be buoyant, not that it really made her feel any better. She was a dragon, not… a toy! Usually. Mostly? Verdict was out, on that one.

The pressure continued to build inside as the hissing grew louder, her face feeling as if it was being flattened with a rolling pin – until, gradually, everything went dark.

…the next thing she knew, she could see. It was an oddly fixed view, roughly in her “middle” – but it gave her a fine view of the front door for… however long she floated there. It was a bit hard to tell, but if she had to guess it was at least a few hours – as, a little before six, the first guest arrived. First knocking, and a confused grunt as the door swung open, clearly not shut completely before she’d opened the box.

“Um. Xena?” A familiar voice rang out. “Hey?”

No reply. Not for lack of trying, of course.

The rabbit glanced over, clearly recognizing the box open on the table – then down at the clothes, and with a weary realization, up, at the drakkai-print balloons bobbing on the ceiling. The expression was almost comical, a mix of “should’ve known” and “this again.” Clearly in the habit of sending these boxes.

“…You realize I wrote instructions for a reason, right? The big red “please read” didn’t strike you as important? Honestly, why does nobody ever read the card…”

Muttering something about “it’s like they all WANT to get changed,” the rabbit plopped down at the table.

“Should change back at the end of the night, but uh. Open it away from yourself next time, okay?”

Beep Beep (commission)

a commission for aurapuffs!

It was a cold, cold evening – as December evenings often are. Snow was falling beyond the frosted glass of the bedroom’s window, lit faintly by the bedside lamp, and as far as Aura was concerned it could stay out there! He was cozy, all snuggled up under three blankets and a duvet, as comfy and tucked in as a plushie fox could be.

Still, though, for whatever reason he couldn’t make that final leap. His eyes were droopy, he were all cozied up and warm, but tonight sleep simply wasn’t coming to him like it should’ve.

Oh, well.

He laid there a while, watching the snow – before, finally, turning the lamp off.

Ten minutes passed. Then an hour. Then an hour and a half, the brightly lit LEDs of the alarm clock framing the “1:30” in harsh relief against the streetlight-lit dark.

Sigh.

“C’monnnnn,” Aura groaned, sitting up. What’s the point of being all sleepy beepy if you can’t go-to-sleepy, anyway?

Sitting there in the dark, the plushie fox plopped back down on the bed – sinking in beneath the sheets and blankets, letting the warmth of his pillowy bastion against the cold creep in. One of the blankets was even wool, he thought sleepily. Like a sheep. Heh. Beep beep.

The plushie fox could hardly even really focus on anything else, seeing as there wasn’t really much to focus on. Squeaky sheep were just… the best. He dozily thought about how nice being all puffy and wooly would be. Wouldn’t need to worry about the cold then, would he? A built-in pillow and mattress!

Aura began to feel nice and soft, the faint sensation of swelling the best trick of his imagination it’d played yet. He could almost picture it – huge, oversized squeaky hooves squishing into a beach ball of a white fluffy squeaky sheep, blush plastered to its cheeks. Yeah, that’d be the stuff.

Heh. Sheep counting helps with sleep, doesn’t it? Let’s see… 1…. 2…

Before he even got to three, it was over – and the plushie was falling asleep.

…only to suddenly be back in his bed.

It happened so quickly the fox wasn’t really even sure if they’d actually fallen asleep, but what happened next couldn’t have happened anywhere else – a faint, distant hissing reached his ears.

It sounded… like a balloon being blown up, complete with the breaths between, and as Aura watched, surprised, his blankets began to slide away, revealing an expanse of expanding, squeaky white rubber.

“W-Woah!”

The blanket, finally not having enough friction against the swelling tummy, fell aside – and Aura got a good glimpse of his puffy paws, swelling and stretching and squeaking over into toyish approximations of black squeaky sheep hooves.

This HAD to be a dream. Couldn’t be anything else!

Pressing his paws to his tummy, the fox pushed – effortlessly squishing in, and with a loud POOMPH his handpaws followed suit, squeaking over before his very eyes. He wiggled them and rubbed them together, delighting in the feeling of stretchy, swelling rubber.

“G-Gosh!” The fox giggled, cheeks rosy.

He could still see his puffy hooves for the moment, a good gauge of how big he was – but, as he began to swell sideways and up, the fox started to find it a bit tougher. Not that he really minded, of course, it felt…

…well, great. To be big, and squeaky, and sheep-y, who wouldn’t wanna spend the holiday season as a baa-lloon? Nobody, that’s who.

He squished his hooves into his swelling squeaky tummy again, hoping to change a little faster. His wish was answered by a loud puff, midsection swelling against his neck and head like a neck pillow – and, to his delight, his hooves disappeared over his tummy’s horizon, squishing into the rest of him as his arms began to follow suit. If he listened closely, he could hear the muffled squeaks of trying to wiggle them echoing through his tummy.

Heh.

The squeaks and squirks practically filled the room as he kept swelling, echoing off the walls and through him, right up into his chest and hollowing-out snout.

He’d never had a dream like this before, but what a place to start! He’d have to have pizza before bedtime more often if this was the result he got…

Aura woke up in his bed. No swelling sheep fluff, no squeaks. Just the dark, the snow lightly falling outside, and the alarm clock.

1:14.

…Huh?

Just a dream. Ugh.

Lifting the pillow and fluffing it a little, the fox laid back down – thoughts of sheep still spinning through his mind. Okay, where was I? 3? 4. 5…

SQRRRK.

Aura’s eyes snapped open, just in time for his snout to swell outwards, ballooning into a baa-llooning snout, printed grin and oversized overfilled squeaky rubber taking up a good quarter of his vision. He couldn’t see past his round, squishy white tummy, but he knew somewhere down there were an enormous pair of black squeaky hooves, easily the size of his pillow.

“B-Baa?” Aura giggled, even as his wool began to swell out around his head…

He glanced over, dreamily, spotting the clock. 1:45.

Huh.

Aura woke… up?

All that filled his vision was an expanse of white, and the faintest light of the streetlights outside. Snow?

Wool.

He wobbled, trying to do anything more than wiggle his arms in futility, and received little more than a symphony of squeaks for his troubles. G-Good. Perfect!

He’d have sighed in content, but… having a squeaky sheep snout doesn’t make that easy.

Oh, well.

He was so comfy, so full, so squeaky-sheepy that he felt as if he’d be able to doze off right then and there – and the thought of counting sheep made him giggle, again. Well. One, clearly.

Aura woke up just as his alarm went off at 7:00, on the dot. The sun had just risen, shining bright and cheery through the winter wonderland outside.

Wow, that was the best sleep I’ve had in years! Aura thought to himself, opening his eyes – greeted with a snowdrift. Wait, no. That’s my tummy.

His huge… balloon sheep tummy, massive squeaky black hooves faintly visible through it in the morning light.

“M-Mmph,” The squeaky sheep managed in realization. He had to still be dreaming, right? All he had to do was… was fall back asleep, right? Easy. Easy peasy, even.

The squeaky sheep shut his eyes, trying to will back the sheer comfy feeling he’d felt before, but… he was simply too full, too well rested.

He’d have to try again tonight, it seemed.

…was that hissing…?

Party Time! (commission)

for kaydearcane!

“Ugh… I’m gonna be late for tonight’s party at this rate,” The goat sighed to themself, frowning at their watch. Stupid party store had taken almost an hour to get their order ready, AND traffic was awful – they’d be lucky to make it at all!

Still, as they fussed with the keys and unlocked their place, the one saving grace was that getting dressed for the occasion wasn’t an issue. Kayde, in fact, had made a very sound investment indeed – a Dress-O-Matic 3000, guaranteed to impress even the hardest to please partygoer!

Kayde, naturally, had never used it.

First time for everything, right?

Party supplies dropped on the kitchen table, the goat hefted the heavy machine from its resting place under the cupboard, squinting at the manual. Like most gimmick devices in the 2020s, it was connected to the internet – making this device more thing than most internet of things connectors. Oh, well. Maybe it would… download a suit. Or something.

Fussing with the tiny screen, they finally managed to connect it – and it sprang to life, projecting a large selection screen with many, many options to choose from. So many it beggared belief.

After a few moments of browsing, Kayde settled on a nice suit with a red rose in the lapel – but, just at that moment, someone noticed the new connection.

Or, rather, something – snooping around open WAN networks for stuff to do had grown intensely boring for Cai, lately. You could only see so many shared folders of movies and old games, after all, and… well, a cyberintrusion suite wasn’t named that for show. Why not test it out? See what oysters held pearls?

The bunny peeled back the nearest network’s security, peeking inside… just as Kayde’s device connected to it, tugging the bunny’s attention as surely as a knock on a door.

Huh! Some fun settings, here – but what if they were more fun?

Snooping around further, Cai accessed calendars and information stored on the network. A party, huh?

They had the perfect idea!

Kayde hit “start” – but… no suit appeared. In fact, the screen appeared frozen for a moment – before, with a roulette sound, the menu began to spin.

“Huh?”

It finally clicked to a stop on an option Kayde hadn’t even seen when they’d browsed the list a few minutes earlier – “party favor.”

Party… favor? Like-

Their whole body began to feel… odd, as if it was being squeezed by invisible hands, as before their very eyes their snout began to stretch and reshape, smoothing over into soft, pliable red rubber.

“MMPH?!” Kayde cried out in alarm, snout tying itself into a knot – and leaving the goat to watch as the changes began sweeping upwards, Kayde’s facial features flattening out into drawn on sharpie!

Their midsection, too, began to swell – rounding out beneath their clothes as loud squeaks and squirks began to fill the air, balloon rubber struggling against the tight confines of a t-shirt and shorts. In a panic, the goat tried to press the “reverse” button flashing on the panel – but only managed to squeak a hoof against it, their hooves almost magnetically drawn together as they began to swell and redden, hissing loudly.

Cai, to their credit, seemed surprised – but not enough to really do anything about it. They’d been right – this was much better than watching another movie.

They did notice something interesting, though. The more the goat changed, the more the machine stored a “backup” – clearly intended to reverse situations like… well, this, as the goat began to shrink into their clothes, ears inflating into generic red balloon dog ears, arms swelling out in front of them.

Curious, the AI bunny grabbed the form data for the balloon dog Kayde was becoming, copying over the saved goat and dumping the copy into Kayde’s backup – unfortunately making the default the device recognized a simple red balloon animal, the same one that was currently shrinking down into their clothes a few feet away.

Kayde, inwardly blushy but outwardly red, finally stopped shrinking a moment later as the device beeped, thanking the user for using the system, and asking for feedback.

One star, they huffed internally.

It was then that they heard… something.

The sound of paws hitting their carpet, as if dropped from… somewhere?

“PHEW,” An unfamiliar voice giggled, their world suddenly lighting up as the shirt was lifted off to reveal… a bunny?

A grinning yellow-and-white bunny, visor on their forehead, the last vestiges of some odd digital pixelation clinging to their clothing.

“Hey! Thanks for the way out – but you’ve got a party to get to, right?”

They plucked the balloon animal out of the pile of clothes, lifting it to eye level.

“Mind if I tag along? I’ve always wanted to go!”

Kayde tried to wriggle, confused.

“I’ll take that as a yes! C’mon, you’re late!”

With that, the bunny headed for the front door – leaving the machine, and the overwritten backup, to autosave to the server.

It Suits You! (commission)

A commission for @Ehksidian!

The worst part of being online the weekend of a con, in Xena’s opinion, was the feeling of being left out.

Sure, she was busy, and sure, there was no room on the schedule for a weekend trip, but… ugh! It’d be so fun to go, to hang out, to fursuit in a friend’s suit…

The drakkai sighed, tossing her phone aside and flopping back on the bed. Maybe she should’ve… made time, or saved up PTO, or… something.

Ugh. Flying sucked though, and she’d have to book a room and bus passes and…

She fumed for a little while, finally picking the phone back up and squinting at it. A fuzzy bunny face grinned back at her, held under an arm of a fursuiter surprised by a photo in the headless lounge.

Still wish I could go, but… hate the hassle. Oh, well.

Out of all the things the drakkai expected, her phone dinging out of the blue with a message… wasn’t it.

“Granted.”

Huh?

She sat up, squinting at it. No system message would say… just granted, and it certainly hadn’t had a sender. What the-

Xena was suddenly struck with the oddest sensation, as if a shock had run the entire length of her body from the very tips of her toes to the very tops of her ears… but, for whatever reason, it seemed to be strongest in her hands.

Bewildered, her vision drifted down, watching as her fingers began to change before her very eyes; darkening, slowly, as the numbness grew stronger.

Her fingers, stiffening as they turned a soft, fuzzy black, suddenly felt… hollow. Empty?

Confused, Xena lifted them to eye level, her face the very image of confusion – which swiftly changed to surprise as, one by one, the new fursuit paws that had a moment ago been her hands plopped softly onto the sheets.

“WHAT THE HELL,” Xena exclaimed surprised. The changes began to spread up her arms, softening them into simple empty tubes of black and neon green fabric, sweeping across the bewildered drakkai like spilled ink.

Her footpaws followed suit, plopping free onto the bed as they became comfy, oversized fursuit paws fit for slipping over shoes – albeit, now that she was able to take a closer look, a little poorly made.

She was turning into a fursuit?

How?!

Worryingly, the harder she tried to find a cause, the more she found she was looking forward to the next con. She had a suit, right? A wearer?

Wait-

Shaking her head, Xena was surprised to find her midsection a bit more… floppy, than she remembered. Black and green lines now covered the bits she could angle down enough to see, as she struggled to hold herself up with increasingly loose arms and a torso at least halfway made of felt and faux fur. There was a sudden sensation of intense cold as a zipper’s catch worked its way down her back, thankfully zipped; though, for some reason, she… kept thinking about it.

Would it be so bad to be unzipped, and worn? Paraded around in, have photos taken of?

The changes crept higher, Xena finally collapsing backwards onto her bed as he midsection completed its transformation into the bodysuit of a protogen fursuit, uncombed and frankly a bit amateurish, but… still a fursuit.

Being empty had an odd effect on her addled mind, but as the changes continued it just couldn’t seem to focus, anymore. Thoughts of being worn filled its ~~her?~~ mind, until it was all it could think about.

I need a wearer I need to be worn I’m a suit-

Its tail was finally back to its usual fluffy self, draped over the bed where it’d come apart from the bodysuit, neatly arranged for easy assembly – and, to its excitement, the changes began to creep higher, her snout beginning to stretch and reshape, flattening out and hardening as her mouth, nose, and eyes all blended together into a uniform expanse of black plastic, clearly drawn-on features in glow in the dark green marker appearing in their place.

Its ears, too, reshaped – becoming soft, fluffy triangles as the horns dwindled away into nothing, hair vanishing beneath the twin onslaught of a new visor and the magic itself. The last few bits of detailing began to inscribe themselves, a garish green star on each cheek and a few swirls of green amidst the stark matte black fur on its back – and, finally, the changes slowed to a crawl.

After a few more moments, it was done – and, with a soft sigh of fabric against fabric, the fursuit’s head popped clean, rolling to stare at the ceiling, far away. The bodysuit unzipped, gently folding as the world around it began to darken, closing in, nice and cozy…

The fursuit wasn’t sure how much time had passed, really. The ceiling of the box it occupied was dark, though occasionally sound came from beyond it. Trucks, warehouse workers, more trucks…

There was the sound of rustling cardboard, and tape – and, after a long, long time, a box cutter. A face stared in at it as the box was opened, bright and bucktoothed, headset draped over one of their ears.

“…-lright chat, let’s see what it looks like! Con’s this weekend, I can’t wait!”

Poolbunny (commission)

A commission for @poutine_sheep!

It was a cold, cold January day – and, naturally, Emmy was spending it as he usually did. Bundled up beneath a blanket or two, alternating between playing games and watching the occasional movie that caught his eye as he scrolled through the seemingly endless list of cable channels.

The world outside was blanketed in snow and ice – which, maybe, was why the sheep was so surprised when their doorbell rang, and soon enough Cai had joined them on their couch, snowed in and content.

The movie the two had been watching finally drew to an end, credits being cut off by a commercial – one of a pair of beachgoers enjoying the sun, some sort of inflatable flamingo toy being tossed around further down the beach.

“Ugh, winter’s just too cold,” Cai said aloud, tugging their own blanket a little tighter. “Summer’s more my season, even if you guys don’t really get it up here.”

“Winter’s fine,” Emmy rebutted, shrugging. “Get to stay warm and cozy, even if the snow and ice isn’t great.”

“What, not a fan of the beach?”

“I like it! Just… haven’t been, much.”

“Really?” Cai blinked.

“Not exactly the closest thing to visit,” Emmy shrugged.

The conversation dragged for a moment, before, absently, the sheep mentioned… inflatables. The flamingo was back on screen, grinning as it bounced around in the waves. It looked… inviting. Nice, even.

“Probably… nice, you know? All floaty.”

“What, being an inflatable?” Cai asked, a curious look on their face as they snuggled a bit closer, leaning on the sheep.

“Yeah, like… I don’t know. Hard to explain.”

“…Given the chance,” Cai began, eyes twinkling. “Would you?”

“Oh…” Emmy trailed off, thinking. Would he?

“…Yeah, I think so.”

The next thing Emmy knew, they’d been gently pulled to the side – and the bunny had pressed their nose to his, meeting the sheep’s gaze.

“Let’s see, eh?”

The next thing Emmy knew, the bunny had kissed him – completely bewildering the sheep, until, after a moment, their cheeks suddenly… filled with air.

Huh?

Cai took a deep, deep breath, puffing into Emmy with all the care of someone inflating a raft for a day on the waves, and to the sheep’s amazement (and concern) they felt their tummy begin to rise, displacing the blanket as beneath his clothing the sheep’s wool began to smooth over, gently squeaking and squirking as it swelled.

Emmy didn’t know it, but as puff after puff was forced in through the sheep’s soft, pliable snout, he began to get… bigger. Slowly, at first, as puff after puff rounded the sheep, but soon noticeably enough that the blanket wasn’t exactly covering much of him anymore…

..revealing, to Emmy’s surprise, off-yellows and creams, his tummy no longer held beneath the shirt he’d been relaxing in, swollen as it was. Cai, taking a break from filling their friend, grabbed the tummy between their paws, giving it a long, squeaky rub.

“Everything you hoped for?” The bunny asked, grinning up at Emmy in a bucktoothed beam.

“Y-Yeah…” The sheep breathed, giving his swollen, off-color tummy a prod. It gave beneath his hoof like… an inflatable, would. The colors weren’t his, but… if anything, that made him excited.

“Keep going?” Cai offered.

Emmy merely nodded, enjoying the sensation as the bunny scooted over, climbing onto his swollen tummy and lay on him like an airbed, snouts pressed together.

Cai, again, took a deep breath – and pushed more warm, comforting air into the sheep, bursting the buttons on Emmy’s pants and shortening his legs somewhat – hooves beginning to slowly, methodically puff up into inflatable bunny paws, if a few sizes too large.

The bunny guided the transformation, sometimes slow, sometimes quicker, rubbing and squeaking and squeezing at Emmy as more and more of him began to become an inflatable copy – wool shrinking away as it was replaced with painted plastic, internals dwindling away into so much warm, comforting bunny air.

Emmy grew – twice, three times their original size as the bunny puffed, and puffed, the poor couch starting to run out of space as the changes crawled ever higher. A valve, the hallmark of a toy, began to sprout as Cai sprawled across the toy’s huge chest – then a barcode, dotting Emmy’s thigh.

The sheep’s ears stretched, towering, overinflated shapes reminiscent of the bunny filling him – and then came the hair, a molded, bright blond mess of seamed plastic and air. Emmy could barely focus, so lost in the bliss of being so light, and full, and… bunny! They weren’t round by any stretch of the imagination, merely… big! Soft. Squeaky.

Just like he’d wanted.

“Ready?” Cai said, finally, looking the sheep in the face.

“Hm?” Emmy replied, dreamily.

Cai didn’t wait – grabbing the sheep’s cheeks gently but firmly, and beginning to rub – rubbing and massaging and gently squeaking the remaining wool as it, too began to soften and yellow, inflating beneath their paws into the soft, pliable cheeks of an inflatable bunny. Emmy’s eyes began to change, square pupils first lightening to a bright blue – and then changing entirely, rounding out and flattening into the printed decals of an inflatable Cai.

His snout, too, didn’t escape unscathed – gaining a brand new printed-on pink nose and a little plastic bucktooth, shortening considerably!

Lightheaded from the change, the two giggled at each other – and, with a squeeze, Cai hugged… themself.

“Well,” Cai said after a moment, poking Emmy’s nose.

“How is it?”

The sheep-turned-toybunny thought for a moment, resting a cushion-sized pooltoy paw on the bunny.

“…Different.”

You’re Hired! (commission)

A commission for a friend!

As far as Ollie knew, the old Bucky’s Starcade arcade had been abandoned for decades. At least as far back as his dad’s childhood, the empty space on Coral Street had stood stark, and abandoned – slowly decaying away as the town around it moved on, bright and growing.

Maybe it was the faded announcements of 70s retro-games and the promise of unexplored urban space that drew the dog in – or maybe, just maybe, Ollie wanted to be the first to step inside for who knew how long. Maybe they’d always been curious what lay behind the boarded up windows and fogged over front door, permanently affixed with a “Sorry, We’re Closed” sign that stood in stark contrast to the building with its bright reds and whites.

So, it was with a frankly brave amount of courage that the dog pushed open the front door one sunny afternoon, tugging their phone free of their pocket and clicking on the flashlight. The lock had rusted through, revealing a room full of dusty arcade games in various states of disrepair… but, oddly, nowhere near as bad as nearly fifty years of neglect would have suggested. It looked almost… new?

Bewilderingly so, as Ollie realized the place was less of an arcade and more of a play… center? Nothing outside had suggested this – maybe an owner or the company that’d run the place had kept it clean, inside?

As the dog’s eyes adjusted to the dark, they realized a few things. First, the place apparently still had power – red exit signs glowing in the dark, a little faded but definitely intact.

Second, the arcade had a few oddly out-of-place items scattered around, like an old ball pit and a plastic play place. Still, as Ollie wandered around, snapping a few photos to show his friends later, the place felt… homey. Nostalgic, in a way the dog couldn’t really quite place. It must’ve been quite the hangout spot in its heyday, all wood grain and old posters. Oddly enough, most of the posters included a yellow bunny – clearly the place’s mascot – drifting around cartoon stars, or dressed in almost Flash Gordon-esque spacesuits. There’d even been a statue of it near the entrance, tall and oddly… shiny.

The dog was in the middle of photographing an old Space Ace machine when, to his incredible surprise (and slight horror) the lights turned on. First a bright white, then… yellowing?

Bright, clearly relatively new – and a sign that this place wasn’t quite abandoned, yet. Ollie’s thoughts shot to it having a security guard, the dog spinning around to explain how he’d definitely just gotten lost and wanted to go home…

…and coming face to face with one of the strangest sights he’d ever seen. A big, slightly see-through tummy, multicolored shapes scattered around inside. Ollie’s gaze drifted up, across squeaky paws and arms, to the huge, grinning face of a bunny.

An enormous, ten foot tall inflatable bunny, yellowing the fluorescent lights shining down through it. The mascot statue hadn’t been a statue at all?!

“UH?”

“A new hire?! And I wasn’t TOLD?”

“YOU TALK?”

Ollie was so taken aback, in fact, that he froze in place – just in time for the huge bunny to heft him up under the arms, lifting the bewildered dog to eye-level.

“Where’s your outfit? You’re not in uniform!”

“I don’t work here-!” He protested, confused.

The bunny clearly wasn’t listening – as, with a wink, it opened wide, stuffing the puppy in with all the care of someone taking a bite out of their lunch.

The slick plastic was about impossible for Ollie to find a grip on, pushing against the stretchy vinyl and only managing to deform it slightly. It also didn’t help, unfortunately, that the phone slipped out of his pocket, sliding away onto the carpeted floor of the arcade as its owner was swallowed with a loud, greedy squirk.

Ollie didn’t fall far, landing with a thud in the huge toy’s tummy amidst a veritable sea of plastic balls.

“LET ME OUT,” he shouted, pressing his paws into the interior of its tummy, but… to no avail. In fact, the act of doing so made his paws feel odd.

Weird. Sticky?

With a huff, Ollie plopped down on the “floor”, kicking a few balls away. Surely somebody would see him in here?

He thought about calling for help, but… the phone laying in view outside of the toy rabbit crossed that off the list. Maybe he could…

Could.

Ollie frowned. His thoughts, for some reason, kept returning to toys. Toy rabbits. Toy dogs?

It confused him, enough that he rubbed his chin-

Squirk.

Ollie blinked, glancing down – and blanched, as much as a white-furred dog could. His tummy, before his very eyes, had begun to swell. A new bump had appeared in the middle, tenting his shirt outwards, and with shaky hands he tugged the fabric back to reveal a very soft and slightly pink inflatable valve, quietly hissing as air began to fill the dog’s midsection.

T-The toy had to be doing this, right? He had to… to…!

Squeaking, Ollie stood up – legs almost giving out as he realized they, too, had begun to become simple plastic and air, filling out his shorts as the waistband began to force pressure into his tail.

Climbing was out of the question, it was far too steep and slick – and the bunny toy hadn’t moved in a little while.

It seemed content to watch.

“Let me out!”

No reply came, aside from a big, bucktoothed grin.

The changes climbed downwards, Ollie’s toes sticking together as his footpaws inflated into big, toyish paws with painted-on pawpads, tummy riding his shirt up as a brand new barcode faded in on their see-through side.

“P-Please?”

Higher it climbed, spreading down his arms in a cascade of squeaks and hissing as it met the already-changed paws from the dog’s earlier contact with the tummy, rendering their paws largely entertainment use only.

Their clothes, too, seemed to have begun to succumb – shorts tearing down the sides as his air-filled thighs simply proved too full to hold, shirt flattening out as it slowly shifted from real, red fabric to a new printed-on red-and-white striped pattern on the inflatable toy dog Ollie was becoming!

Ollie’s neck was next, gaining a printed-on big blue collar as his mouth began to taste ever so faintly of vinyl – and, as the changes reached his head, the puppy was stricken with the worst case of lightheadedness he’d ever felt.

In… fact, all he seemed to be able to think of was how nice it was to be a toy. Right?

He’d been hired today as one, after all. Can’t reopen an entertainment business without entertainers…?

Ollie’s paws slowly raised to his face, cupping his snout as it swelled and stretched and reshaped into a cartoonish vinyl recreation of itself, glasses molding themselves perfectly into place with only the faintest of painted-on reflections, and, after a few moments, it was finished.

The dazed toy plopped down on the ruins of his shorts, swaying slightly.

“Well, someone’s ready for their first shift,” The big toybunny giggled, giving its tummy a pat.

“Welcome aboard!”

Salvage Trouble (commission)

A commission for @vanillayote on twitter!

“Delivery for… uh, Ran?”

The coyote blinked, looking up from their desk at the newcomer who was hanging around the entrance to the salvage shop, a hovering dolly loaded with a crate or two of miscellaneous junk drifting behind him like a lost duckling.

“…Rain?”

“…Sure,” The delivery man shrugged, holding the pad out as the coyote crossed the shop and placed a palm against it. It dinged a confirmation chime, lighting up bright green as the dolly hovered inside – and, unceremoniously, dumped the boxes on the floor.

“Have a good day!” The delivery man said cheerily, turning on a heel and wandering back out into the busy exterior of the station’s dock district – leaving the confused coyote and the two mystery boxes in the middle of his shop, standing out starkly as clean and white against the shelves upon shelves of random starship parts and scrap they’d managed to accrue over the last year and a half, mostly from the various scrappers and salvagers who frequented the docks.

Maybe that was who’d left these for them?

Rain hefted one of the crates, peeking at the label – merely listing where it was to be delivered and to who, but… little else. Their contents were marked as scrap, so, at the very least, he had new inventory… but…

After a few moments, Rain simply shrugged. Oh, well. A good samaritan sending leftovers to be resold wasn’t exactly a bad thing, was it?

They did have to at the very least sort through it, though – which was where their own dolly came into play, scooping the two crates up and carrying them into the back for proper inventory and sorting.

The first few pieces they’d gone through were standard fare – burnt out control circuits, a valve for a MKXIV plasma conduit on an old backup reactor, a few old couplings – but, as they made it to the second crate and sent their few helper drones away to place the first crate’s new inventory in its proper places, something caught their eye.

Sitting atop the contents of the second crate was a curious square object – brassy and rectangular, inset with three sets of vertical blue lines. It reminded them vaguely of some sort of datapad, but… seemed off, somehow.

Curious, Rain plucked the object from the pile. It was surprisingly heavy, given its size – but lighter than the materials would’ve implied, already giving the junk dealer some ideas about composition – and possible sale prices.

At least, they were; their paw suddenly exploding outwards into a couch cushion sized inflatable paw slightly ruined that train of thought.

“WHAT.”

The tiny object was catapulted into the front of the store, landing in a pile of junk with a clatter – as Rain’s predicament, naturally, began to worsen. Their outfit began to tighten as his body underneath began to expand, fur flattening out into soft, pliable plastic – their attempts to tug at it with his still-unchanged paw eliciting enough squeaks to give the confused coyote enough clues to piece together what exactly might’ve been happening.

“OH THIS SUCKS,” Rain shouted to nobody in particular as their pant legs shredded, new inflatable thighs expanding outwards until they were practically the size of chairs themselves, the coyote managing to stumble and squeeze their way back out into the front of the store just in time for their tail to knock over a few shelves, expanding out into a ridiculous size and gaining a brand new valve of its own.

They tried to scramble for the pile of junk they’d seen the little device land inside, only to suddenly feel their midsection wedge against the ceiling – the loud hiss of expanding plastic playing about the coyote’s ears as they scrambled against the floor, squeaking and squirking without moving an inch. Then, suddenly, their other paw followed suit – rocketing outwards into a shelf to their left, knocking the shelf over with a loud clatter before it began expanding outwards and upwards, overshadowing the coyote’s still normal-sized chest and head! At least, until the hissing suddenly grew louder.

And closer.

Uh-oh.

With a loud FWOOMP, Rain’s muzzle suddenly shot outwards – printing itself on as a huge expanse of softly rounded plastic, cheeks falling victim a moment later!

“MMPH?” The coyote squeaked in protest – but, as expected, it wasn’t of much help. Their ears followed a moment later, and as the hissing grew even louder, Rain found that they’d become an enormous inflatable coyote – and at the rate they were expanding, there wouldn’t be an inch left in the already cramped and mostly-filled store that they hadn’t covered…!

A few hours later, a rabbit stepped off of the station’s lift – squinting at their little wristpad for the map the dockmaster had given them. A few turns, a trip down the stars, and some walking later, and they felt as if they should have arrived… right? Wasn’t the salvage shop supposed to be…

They skidded to a stop, glancing first at the store in front of them – and then through the glass, a huge slightly-see-through mass of… something, squishing up against it.

A huge black nose and a pair of worried eyes were pressed up to the front doors of the shop, bulging out into the station’s walkway ever so slightly.

“…I think I’ll come back later?” The rabbit managed, blinking a few times.

“You, uh, seem… busy.”