It was, finally, May.
Spring had held on a bit too long for her tastes, as far as she was concerned – snow hanging in on the weather forecast until mid-April was, at best, an annoyance. It had its place, sure, but… well. Winter had it’s time in the sun, and Spring had come and gone.
Which, of course, meant Summer.
Basil had always had a soft spot for summer, which, of course, was why she was currently stuffing a few bottles of sunscreen into her beach bag, towel folded over her shoulder. The local pool opened as soon as the weather hit the mid 80s, and today was a good ten degrees hotter than that – a great day to lay out in the sun and splash around!
It wasn’t even really that long of a walk, either, though the summer heat and the pounding sun certainly made it less than ideal; as far as she was concerned, though, that just made the prospect of a nice time in the shade and cool pool water even better.
Surprisingly, as the cat finally made her way up to the gate, the pool seemed… empty? The only things in the water, as far as the cat could tell, were a couple of fairly mundane inflatables, grinning away in the summer sun.
She paused, glancing over at the hours. Plenty of time left in the day, and no closed signs, or… any indicator it wasn’t open? Had she just showed up at a weird time between busy hours? Lifeguard on lunch break?
…Huh.
Shrugging, Basil pushed the gate open, padding across the warm concrete pool deck and dropping her bag on one of the many unoccupied chairs. A large inflatable seal occupied the chair next to it, close enough she could touch it if she really wanted to. Bright, tight, and yellow, it wobbled a little in the slight breeze.
Something felt… off, about this whole experience, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on what it might’ve been. Had she missed something? Forgotten something at home? Some holiday she’d somehow overlooked?
The cat was so deep in thought, in fact, she didn’t notice she’d brushed up against the seal… and, as a result, her paw had begun to swell.
“Probably not very safe to have no lifeguard on duty,” Basil grumbled to herself, starting to tug her shirt off to reveal the swimsuit – just in time for her paw to loudly SQRRRK from the pressure of being flattened by the sleeve, instantly drawing the cat’s attention and stopping her thoughts in their tracks.
The shirt flew off, discarded without a second thought, and as she stared, wide-eyed, her arm ballooned outwards with the tell-tale hissing of inflating plastic.
“H-Huh?! What the hell?!” Basil protested, her midsection already beginning to hiss and swell as she stumbled away from the grinning seal, now gently rolling away from where her surprised flailing of her new tube of an arm had knocked it.
The changes crawled higher, her shoulder smoothing over and becoming more or less jointless – and before long even her nose had begun to fill with the smell of chlorinated water and soft vinyl plastic, snout beginning to soften and push outwards, simplifying as it went. Her mouth, puckered as the pressure made it feel, flattened – spreading across her new plastic snout into a very simplified and cartoony “W” shape even as her midsection grew more toyish and lighter, the bottom-heavy sensation the stumbling, mumbling cat causing her to wobble around as she tried to begin making her way for the gate.
Higher (and lower!) the changes crept, new tummy valve appearing with a quiet pop! of plastic snapping into shape, her swimsuit already barely hanging on by threads as the body it hugged grew right through it – yet, still, she wobbled towards the gate… until, with a sudden foomp!, everything went… fuzzy.
Her eyes had, as far as she knew, gone the same way her mouth had – but for whatever reason, she couldn’t exactly… see…?
Up her big, inflatable paws lifted, squeaking against a smooth, unnervingly simple face – the “UwU” print it had become almost laughably cheaply printed, even as the cat overstepped her next wobbly, hissy, inflating step – plunging directly into the cool water of the swimming pool with barely any splash at all.
Basil lay there for a moment, swelling into shape – until, suddenly, it all stopped.
Cool water lapped against her inflated body, caressing it like a blanket – and the warm summer sun, earlier almost unbearable, was… perfect.
The inflatable cat would’ve grinned if she could’ve.
Well. There’s today, sorted.
There was a sound, somewhere nearby – the tell-tale sound of the gate being unlatched, and the instantly recognizable sound of someone swearing under their breath.
“Oh, jeez. Again?”
Paws against concrete, and someone leaning over them. A poke. Another poke.
“Uh. Hello? Somebody took the no entry on lunch break sign down. Sorry about the uh… the toys?” She could hear the sheepishness.
“I really hope this wears off by tomorrow or I’m so fired.”