Tentatively, Erick sipped at the tea and found it had a pleasant ginger taste to it. Having never played at having tea, or actually drank any, he was not sure what else he was supposed to do. Glancing across the table at Angela, he listened as she prattled on about what they could do together.
"There is so many different games we could play. We could play ballerina princesses, like you suggested Kit. But we'd have find something that fit you because of your tail. Or we could play hide and seek. Of course we wouldn't go beyond this room and the two connected to it, as the manor is so big and easy to get lost in and finding each other might be hard. I wish it wasn't raining, as we could outside to play. Perhaps we could play in the garden. We'll have to watch out for the gnomes," the little girl rambled before turning to her plush and exclaiming, "What do you think, Lilac?" as if she expected the white dragon-thing to answer.
Absently, Erick reached for a tiny sandwich and slowly eating it, he tried to get a word in edgewise. The girl nodding and continuing to talk to, first, the white plush then the black dragon, he found it difficult to explain to her that he didn't have a tail and that his name was Erick. Trying to keep his patience, he thought, "It's only her game. Play her game and get away as soon as possible," as he reached for two more sandwiches and finished his cup of tea.
"Lilac says she is enjoying the ginger tea, even if it is Vulpes brand. And Summer says you can have the rest of the neska premena sandwiches. And they both agree we should play school after we finish our tea," Angela suddenly stated and trying to focus on her, Erick listened as she told him, "I'll be the teacher. But, before that, we have to get you and Lilac ready. Summer really doesn't need anything."
None of this made sense to Erick and as he grabbed the last three sandwiches, he watched as Angela poured him another cup of tea. Scarfing down the last of the finger sandwiches Brutus had brought, feeling kind of off and thinking it was something in the tea, Erick blew on his tea and thought something about his hand looked off. Sipping on his tea, unaware that Angela had gotten up and rushed off somewhere, the sixteen year old stared at his hand and setting down the cup, he thought that, if he didn't know any better, it appeared to have turned black and that it appeared he only had three fingers and a thumb.
Everything around him seemed to spin and as he flexed his hand, he noted that the darkened hue of the appendage seemed to go about halfway down his arm before it gave way to a medium red colour. Thinking, "What the fuck is happening to me?!" he reached for his cup of tea, finished it and without giving it a second thought, poured himself a another cup.
As he set the tea pot back down, he noted that neither of the plush, nor Angela's cup looked to be full, though he was certain he'd seen the girl pour some of the hot beverage into them. A disconnected feeling that he connected with how everything around him appeared to be spinning, Erick thought, "I need to stop. Need to get away," and trying to push away from the table, to stand. Finding his legs didn't work, he stumbled and collapsed next to the table.
"Oh, shit. She's poisoned me," he thought as he lay there, a prickly sensation washing over him as he felt a weird, ticklish, tugging sensation that originated in his groin and spread outward. Reaching upward, he tried put his hand on the table and brushing against his tea cup, he grasped it.
Unable to stop himself, the need to finish it overpowering his reasoning, he turned his head and greedily gulped down the beverage. Starting to feel a weird stiffness wash over him, he dropped the tea cup and lay back. Staring up at the darkened ceiling, thoughts about being drugged and poison ran through his mind as he struggled to stop the spinning feeling and force himself to stand. Failing to do that, his arms stiff and not reacting to his commands, he almost screamed when Angela cried out, "I'm back."
Yet, Erick found he couldn't even utter a single thing. As he lay on the floor, he was taken by surprise when the little girl appeared above him and then reached down and picked him up. Wanting to tell her to let go, Erick listened helplessly as Angela squealed, "Kit. You know that tea time means you must sit up properly at the table," in a scolding tone.
His thoughts muddled, he noted that her touch didn't feel right as she cradled him close and carried him around to the other side of the table. Trying to struggle, Erick was alarmed to learned that he couldn't move and as the girl sat down, and lay him on the table, Erick tried to figure out what the hell was going on as he thought that, if he didn't know any better, Angela was a lot bigger while the two plush he could dimly see out the corner of his eyes were now about the same size as he was. Attempting to scream, "What the fuck did you do to me," but still unable to open his mouth, he stared up at the girl and listened as she said, "I think it is time you and Lilac got dressed for school," in a motherly tone and then reached down beside her. Picking up several things he couldn't quite make out at first, he wished he could groan as she began displaying different garments, all clearly for a girl Erick noted, and prattling about how pretty they were how Erick and Lilac would look in each one as she did.
And as she said, "I think you should wear the white shirt and the jeans with the body suit, Kit. And Lilac can wear the white skirt and purple shirt," Erick found it disturbing that all he could do was lie on the table as he was forced into what he was slowly coming to understand was a set of dolls clothes.
Horrified that he was being dressed, frightened of what had been done to him, though he was still unsure what, Erick soon learned exactly what had happened when Angela finished dressing him and Lilac, picked him and the two plush dragons up, cradled them close and skipped over to a mirror. Setting down Lilac and Summer, she promptly held Erick up before the reflective device and proclaimed, "You look so pretty, Kit. And now you are ready to go to school. And I will be your teacher," and gazing at his reflection, Erick found that, if he'd been able to, he would be screaming.
Before him he saw Angela reflected in the mirror. But, instead of his normal reflection, Erick was instead found himself looking at a plush red fox. Studying his reflection, thinking his legs and arms didn't look like front and back legs of an animal, but would appear normal on a human, except that they were covered in red and black fur, he took in how much he looked like a girl fox. Unfamiliar with the word anthropomorphic, horrified by what he was seeing and how the doll clothing he'd been forced into enhanced the appearance of him being a girl, he wanted to cry. Trying to scream out, "I don't want to be your damned stuffed animal," he caught a fleeting glimpse of his mouth, which looked like it was a black line stitched in a smile across the fox muzzle that now dominated the lower half of his face, and then he was whisked away from the mirror and towards another part of the room.
Placed in a small chair that was connected to a desk, Erick watched as Angela went and collected her plush dragons. Aware of his plush body, and that it was clearly the body of a female humanoid-fox, he found he wasn't sure how he could still feel, think, see, yet he could not move, talk, blink or anything but remain where he was placed. Wanting to cry, to run away, he watched as the little girl arranged Lilac and Summer in two desks that matched the one he'd been placed in. Afterward, she lit another lamp, which he wasn't sure how she did as she did it without any fire, yet it was clear the wick had been lit, and stood before them and said, "Today, we are going to learn to count," in her best authoritative voice, which Erick thought it made her only sound more childish.
Trapped, forced to listen as Angela pretended she was a teacher explaining how to count to ten, Erick thought, "This is a fuckin' nightmare. I don't want to be no damn stuffed animal, let alone a girl toy," as he tried to come up with a way to either wake up from a situation he desperately wanted to convince himself was simply a bad dream or find a way to make himself move so that he might be able to get away.