Julie's purr warbled as Joy continued scratching her chin. Professor Lupo took advantage of the show the sisters were unwittingly putting on. "As you can see, our volunteer is thrilled at the attention. Isn't she, Joy?"
"Yeah! It's like she can't get enough of it!" Joy answered, copying Julie's contagious enthusiasm. "She's just like a cat we had growing up. He'd always rub his cheek on us so we'd pet him."
Julie murmured as she felt an itch heat up her cheeks. It was a minor irritation, but it was really souring her good mood. She cocked her head and dragged it hard against Joy's outstretched finger. The relief was indescribable.
Joy giggled gleefully. "Just like that! He loved doing that!" Julie pulled her head back and scraped again, this time getting three of Joy's fingers. She didn't want to stop, and fortunately, Joy was happy to oblige. She scratched her sister's fluffy white cheek and Julie's purring intensified. Julie realized another feeling was building, farther below. She bit her lip.
Lupo was quite pleased, though definitely not as much as Julie was. "And there you have it, folks! Our new friend in the animal kingdom, Julie the Tigress!"
The crowd applauded once again. A few people started stamping their feet on the bleachers and shouted "Encore! Encore!" Lupo raised a gloved hand to his ear in true vaudevillian fashion. It only made them chant louder. Through her cloud of bliss, Julie wondered what another round would even mean. She was close to bursting with delight as it was.
"Our audience wants an encore, ladies!" Lupo said, turning back to them with clasped hands. "What do you think, Joy? Shall we oblige?"
Julie blinked. Joy? Oh no...
"Hell yeah!" her sister shouted. The wonderful scratching stopped. "I'll have what she's having!" The audience laughed and cheered. An irritated Julie leaned toward Joy and bowed her head slightly to continue nuzzling her fingers.
"Well, you're in luck!" Lupo said, sliding effortlessly to Joy's other side. "Now that your sister has been turned, it's quite a simple matter to transform you."
Though she couldn't stop pushing her cheek against Joy's hand, Julie tried to quash her purring, but she only managed to halve its volume. "J...Joy, come on."
Joy took away her hand and gave her sister a sideways glance. It told her twin a great deal: "You just had a great time. Let me have this. I want it. Don't try to stop me." Julie processed the look and sighed as she shrugged a concession. Her purring finally ceased. Joy grinned and looked at Lupo.
"My dear, please stand over here." Lupo guided Joy to the rear of the stage. He lifted an arm and a little orange corner of fabric dangled out of it. "Go ahead and take this handkerchief." Joy eyed him quizzically but did so. She pulled, and an unexpected amount of orange and black cloth undulated from within his coat cuff. She used both hands, yanking until a massive sheet of tiger-printed fabric was piled in her hands. "Oh my, I suppose it's more of a body-kerchief."
He took it from Joy's grasp and whipped it in the air to spread it out. "There we go. Just stand still." He turned to everyone. "My friends. Lovely Julie. Our second brave volunteer is about to shed her humanity in solidarity with her twin sister. When you next see her, she will be an identical match for Julie, with all the mannerisms you've seen this amazing tigress demonstrate on this stage today. Take your last look at Joy the Human..."
He raised the striped cloth to totally obscure Joy from sight. Julie gulped. She knew Joy wasn't really going to change unless Julie believed she would. She tried to imagine that last image of Joy with her fresh skin and blond streaks in her hair. The tiger-print cloth made it hard not to imagine her with fur, but that wasn't much of an issue.
What made it really hard to hold onto the image of human Joy was the knowledge that Joy wanted to change, and that Julie no longer saw a downside to it. Why was she fighting this? Everything felt so good now. And she didn't know for sure Lupo would refuse to change them back. A few minutes ago, Joy was confident he would restore their humanity. If they wanted that. Did either of them want that?
"...and your first look at Joy the Tigress!"
The image in Julie's mind was already gone by the time Lupo flashed the cloth away. Standing next to him now was a dead ringer for Julie's new tigress body. Joy was covered in the same soft, striped fur and to-kill-for cinnamon hair. It framed her lithe body all the way to her knees. Her midriff was exposed, showing her black tube top. The lavender shirt was gone. Not on the floor, just gone. Oh wait, there it was: in Lupo's hands. The striped sheet had vanished.
The crowd clapped and cheered. Joy looked herself over in confusion. "What? But..." She looked at Lupo, then her sister. Julie saw a crushing look of disappointment in her twin's eyes. Joy didn't believe she had changed, and she was right. This time, Julie was the one hallucinating. The vision looked so real, but she knew from experience it was not, and wouldn't be. Unless...
Lupo beamed. "How does she look, Julie? A perfect match?"
Julie looked between the smug showman and her upset sister. God, she was gorgeous. Did Julie really look that good too? Joy had the shape of a human, but the striped pattern of her fur, complimented by her mane, gave her a wildly sexy appearance. Big white splotches on her brow surrounded a thick black natural eyeliner that came to points at the corners, making her vibrant green eyes almost glow with a fierceness. Her normal nose appeared larger and more prominent thanks to a dabbing of black of fur on the tip and underside. The white section starting below her cheeks and continuing under her jawline made her black-lipped mouth look like it was sitting in the middle of a small muzzle. Julie subconsciously licked her lips.
"Julie?" Joy whined. "What happened? Why am I still human?" Her sparkling eyes pleaded silently for good news.
Julie had to tell her. She was the only one who could.