Once the now fully-anthropomorphic Amy & Taylor left the store behind them, audible clops with nothing between their cloven hooves and the hard floor, their thoughts began to turn to a more pressing need.
“Whew! I’m getting hungry now.” Amy said, hand over her rumbling stomach.
“Same here.” Taylor agreed. “Better get something before we continue. Just a matter of where.”
“That’s easy, I spotted the food stands earlier, this way.”
Taylor had meant going out of the Mall to eat, but, as she followed Amy, her idea began to make more sense. After all, having deposited their clothes for safe-keeping, they’d left their wallets behind with them, the only currency for them being the Mall-Issued account cards hung around their necks.
“I guess some didn’t have the patience to find a deposit site.” Amy remarked, sidestepping another discarded piece of clothing.
She wasn’t entirely wrong either. Staff moving around to pick up said clothes, some of which showed clear rips and tears in them, and passing one customer ditching the last thing he’d been wearing before they reached the food stalls.
“Here, this one.” Amy directed them to one of the lesser-filled stands.
A smallish diner, with few patrons. Taking a table, they were already deciding on what to order when a waitress approached.
“Excuse me? Are you ready to order?” The waitress in the store uniform queried with a friendly smile, one that hid well her thoughts at the sight of the Gazelle Teens.
“Yes. I’ll go with this Lunch Special you have.” Amy replied, pointing to the Special in question.
“I’ll take the same.” Taylor added, anticipating (correctly) exactly what Amy was wanting.
“Very good choice. It’ll be ready in a few minutes.” The waitress noted down the order (x2) and left for the kitchen.
While they waited, Amy & Taylor took the time to look around them, with so few inside, it was relatively peaceful and gave them a chance to relax and think about things.
“So I was wondering about Emily.” Taylor began.
“Yes?” Amy nudged her on.
“Did it seem to you like she wasn’t the only one who was a little, off?”
“You know…” As Amy thought about it, Taylor did appear to be on to something. While in Emily’s case she could pass it off as nervousness about their skipping school to make the Grand Opening, the other two or three (that she could recall) didn’t have that reason. “…maybe you’re right. Some have been acting kinda weird, but, you know, that’s probably just nerves given how much they got riding on this revamping being a success. That’s what I think.”
“Perhaps.” Taylor squirmed in her seat. “But seriously, these benches really press against your tail.”
“You think we got it bad? Look over there.” She pointed to where one particularly large individual had been forced to leave his bar stool, and finish his meal standing.
“I guess.” Taylor couldn’t help but giggle, just as their own meals arrived.
Massive salads of grass, leaves, and a rich variety of vegetables and fruits mixed into them with Spring Water.
“Hope you enjoy your meal.” The same waitress from before cheerfully told them.
Even before she’d turned around, Amy had already stuck into hers, mouthful after mouthful funnelled into her waiting jaws to chew it right down. And as they ate, they slowly advanced further. Breasts sliding down their frames to become teats by their legs. Slowly their torsos barrelled and lengthened, even their bones and muscles began to restructure again, sliding towards a quadruped design.
Though given that Amy had eaten faster, her continued transformation had since taken a lead over Taylor’s, the former’s hands now melded into cloven hooves, forcing her to dunk he face into the last of the available food.
“Ready to head back out?” Amy asked, still able to speak for now.
“Yeah, let’s pay up.” Taylor, with the usable digits was the one to make the swipe-payment at the till before they left, albeit on unsteady ‘feet’.
“So where should we go next?” Taylor queried once they passed a horse-man and wolf-woman.
“I’m not sure, but there is a new cinema, what about there?” Amy replied, nearly tripping over herself before regaining her balance.
“Well, I did want to see some of the other shops first.” Taylor put a supporting hand on Amy for a moment. “But, they can wait if you want to.”
“Then…”