With Scott in tow, Kendra strode up to a game booth. A big wooden sign above the booth depicted a cartoonish dart piercing a balloon, with a big spiky explosion behind it. In the back of the stand, lined up in a row, were small balloons tied upon sticks. They alternated in colors red, yellow and blue. Hanging from the ceiling, several rows deep, were numerous animal-themed accessories, including tails, ear headbands and paw gloves, in different colors and shapes for various species.
"We have got to get some ears to go with our faces!" Kendra explained as they reached the counter.
A short, thin man with slicked-back hair and wearing a typical striped shirt smiled at them. "What a fine pair of felines, come to grace this humble game stand. Welcome! Pay three bucks, get three darts. Pop balloons of all three colors and win a prize! Which one of you cool cats would like to go first?"
"C'mon, Scott, I bet you're good at this!" Kendra stepped aside. The man's gleaming eyes fixed upon Scott.
"Uh, I dunno... I'm not... actually..." Scott stammered.
Kendra hugged his arm. "It's just three bucks. Try it!"
"Okay, fine..." He wriggled his arm out of her grasp. "Be careful not to mess up our paint." He examined his arm and was surprised to see that, not only had Kendra's pink paint not transferred to his arm, his stripes hadn't been smushed in the slightest. Kendra's arm pattern was similarly pristine. "That's weird."
"Weird? It's just fast-drying paint. Now c'mon. Ears." Kendra grinned in a feline way. She looked incredibly cute, Scott had to admit.
"Not so fast that it didn't transfer some pink to your hair," he remarked, pointing to a pink-stained streak of hair on the side of her face.
Kendra screwed up her eyes and pulled the lock in front of her. "Huh? I didn't notice this on the video."
"You gonna play?" the booth man chimed in.
"Yeah... okay." Scott fished three dollars out of his pocket and handed them over, receiving three darts in exchange. He suspiciously tapped the point of one to confirm that it wasn't dull. "Three different colors, right?" he asked the man, who nodded back.
Scott stood firm and lifted the first dart to the side of his head. He lined up his shot and took it. The dart zipped toward a red balloon and POP!
"Fan-tas-tic throw, young cub! You've got a good arm there, and I'm not lion about that."
Scott grimaced at the man's chipperness. He felt very silly. He threw the second dart, but in too much haste, as it flew over the balloons and stuck into the plywood backstop.
"Ugh!" Scott threw his head up in frustration.
"Tough break, but it happens to everyone," the carny said. "Pink tigress, would you care to try your skill?" He pulled out the stick carrying the popped balloon and replaced it with a fresh one.
Kendra gave Scott an appreciative smile for his effort. She paid the man and took her darts. Taking a breath, she poised herself, then blew out and threw the dart.
POP! went a yellow balloon.
"Nice shot! A couple more of those and you'll have a prize in your little claws!"
POP! went a red balloon.
"All you need to win is a blue, just like your pretty eyes!"
Kendra squinted. Her eyes weren't blue. As she furrowed her brow, she noticed that she could see the outline of the balloons incredibly clearly. It was like the sharpness on a camera filter turned up to max, while everything around the edges got blurry. She fixed her gaze on a blue one and flicked her wrist hard.
The dart whizzed through the air. Its shaft grazed the balloon and the plastic tail bounced off it, sending the little projectile spinning to the ground.
"Tough break, tough break," the man said with a glaze of sympathy. "You're real good, miss."
Kendra grunted, reaching into her purse for more cash. "Another shot? I really wanted those kitty ears," she whined.
"Kitty ears? What for?" the carny asked as he pulled the darts out of the backstop. "You've already got a nice pair y'self."
"Huh?" Kendra went to run her fingers over her ear, but only felt hair. With both hands, she felt her head and discovered two furry things sticking out of her hair, higher than where her ears should have been. She could even feel her fingers through them; an entirely new sensation. "What the fuck?"
She turned to Scott and saw a pair of purple ears on his head. They had little tufts of white fur sticking out of the insides. Scott looked at her, puzzled, his eyes wide. His ears suddenly twitched. "Kendra, you... you, uh..." He gestured to his own ears.
"We've got cat ears!" she yelped.
"'We?'" he echoed, feeling his own head. "What's going on? And your eyes! I thought I was seeing things before, when you were throwing, but they're different!"
Kendra whipped out her phone to again use it as a mirror. Her eyes had changed. It looked like she was wearing feline contact lenses. Her pupils were vertical slits and her irises were wide and shining blue. The pink round ears on her head flattened themselves over her hair, which had even more pink in it than before. She squealed.
"This is so weird! But... it's so cool!" She whipped her head around to the carny. "How did you do that?!"
"Little lady, this carnival is a one-of-a-kind experience. The only question worth asking is how much fun do you want to have tonight?"
"Kendra...," Scott said warily. "I don't think this is a trick." Kendra looked back over at her feline boyfriend and saw his bright yellow eyes were looking down. Clutched in both of his hands was a thick, purple-and-black-striped rope, with a white tip. She followed the other end of the rope down, around his legs, and up beneath the back of his shirt. Her eye slits narrowed even further as she realized he had a tail...and it was moving.