Still feeling the excitement from making a horse-man, you decide that you should try another animal. As the slightly horse-like baristess lady makes her way to you, you formulate a plan. You try to keep your smile from looking too sly as you watch her take care of one more table before she walks directly towards you. It seems to work as she gives a smile back.
"Hey," she begins, "sorry if I'm not checking up on ya enough-- it's real busy today!" The young woman makes her eyes go big as she mentions the business of the store.
"It's no problem," you say before adding, "the corner was just a bit too drafty."
You both look over at your old spot, and you hear her hum in acknowledgment as you both look at the ventilation above it.
"Anyway, I just wanted to ask if you could reheat my coffee, miss--" You lead on, feigning ignorance about her name tag.
"Rose, but people here call me Rosie", she says, smiling and tapping said name tag, "and sure thing."
"Rose? Is your favorite animal a fox?" You laugh and hand her your coffee. You try to be sly as you lean on your fist with the light firmly clenched, bottom pointed toward your mouth. You think it heard you say it.
"Actually, I'm more of a horse girl, but I do like their Jewelry." She says kindly to you, taking your cup.
You smile and nod all the while laying the light on its side towards Rose. Well, if the flashlight didn't hear you, then today might be her lucky day. You pull the switch and a bright pink shines over her-- her lower portion was protected by the table. Naturally, she clenches her eyes shut as the bright pink does its work. Her equine features quickly dissipate as her long ears grow more furred while simultaneously triangular. Her just barely distending nostrils quickly continue to pushing forward, but rejoin each other before turning inward and dark like a canine's nose. Her hair quickly shifts from that of a black horse to a ruddy red. Thicker haired than the horse-man, her clothes morph from a knee-length apron and rolled up sleeves to a thinner, looser blouse under a short apron that ends just below her hips. By the time she brings up a hand to shield her eyes, it's already orange-red with fox fur that turns as ruddy as her hair the closer it gets to her hands. Paw-pads were already forming on her hands, prompting you to quickly flick off the light.
"Oh!" You pull the flashlight underneath the table in mock surprise, "I'm sorry! It's a good flashlight, but it tends to turn on by itself. I was trying to fix it earlier."
"It's a very good light," the newly half-fox woman agreed, squinting her eyes, "Yeah you were shining it earlier as well. Just please don't distract the other guests, sir." You give another nod and smile. She returns the gesture and twirls her new snout the other way, making her way.
You watch her carry on business as usual, visiting the same table from earlier. Now not in front of her, you let yourself give an even bigger smile. It worked! Bad luck for her not getting to be her favorite animal, but still-- this was oddly exciting. You calm yourself down though. You were only half done. You look back at the horse man. You're a bit curious to see if he was caught in the light, but he seems to be unchanged. You kinda wish you could focus the light a little more, but you suppose beggars can't be choosers. You're brought out of your thoughts again by the loud obnoxious beep of the microwave behind the bar. Rosie quickly pulls out your coffee onto a tray and begins her way back to you. You prep, and as she rounds the corner you once again shine the bright pink light, this time underneath the table, leaving it on your lap, away from your own skin, and placing your hands on the table to make it look like an accident.
"Oh," Rose says as she walks into the beam, "there it goes again."
You once again pretend to be surprised and reach for the light, but hesitate slightly as her height drops by a good three inches and a red furry tail bursts into view. By the time you actually switch off the light, her clothes were beginning to shimmer like the horse-man's shoes. You worry a little-- you might've gone too far towards animal and removed her need to wear clothes. Although the idea doesn't really seem that bad to you. With the flashlight off, you lean past the small table to inspect your handy work. You're a bit taken aback. Instead of just red furry legs, you're greeted with distinctly canine hind legs. She's standing on paws now, claws jutting out onto the tile wooding of the shop. Her clothes did indeed change, but somewhat thankfully are still there. Instead of leggings from before, it seemed to be the bottom portion of a one-piece bathing suit? It was the same color of the apron. He could see her secondary fur color on the insides of her new legs.
"Here's your coffee, sir?" Rose says a little cautiously as she sets it down. You immediately look up. It's hard to tell her expression on her new fox face, leaving you just a bit embarrassed. Looking at her, he can see that she is indeed wearing what looks like a one-piece bathing suit, its dark color showing through the thin blouse as it covers her breasts. On top of your embarrassment, you realize you're totally checking her out.
"Sorry," you say, unsure of how to save yourself.
"It's fine." the fox lady says waving a clawed hand in the air. The big grin on her snout is easy to catch and her tone is forgiving, letting you relax. You smile back, and the now foxy Rose does her usual nod and goes on her way. You watch her tail flutter along behind hair as she effortlessly navigates the tables with her paw-feet. You sit back into the chair. The Animal Mode definitely worked. Why was she in a one-piece? Maybe it was her fur? Maybe they need less clothes the more fur they have? Should you keep trying the animal mode? Or switch it up?
You watch the steam waft from your coffee as you think.