Bronwyn thought carefully about the slim set of options available to her and Christine right now. She certainly couldn’t go and find a real human body for Christine - she had created more than enough problems already with just the two of them, she couldn’t rope another person into this.
But what Bronwyn lacked in real human connection, she more than made up for in her devotion to fictional characters. Strewn all over her bedroom were figurines, posters, representations of the cartoony human form in all shapes and sizes. It occurred to her that she should’ve never taken her magic zipper out to the zoo in the first place when she could’ve just inserted herself into one of these. Perhaps, when this was all over, that would be her next adventure.
But right now, it offered a solution to a much more immediate problem. She could turn Christine into something resembling a human, a temporary improvement on her current predicament. Bronwyn scanned the room, glancing at each human-shaped toy. They were all tiny, though. To be able to speak again and walk upright, but reduced to a few inches tall and fit easily in the palm of a person’s hand - well, it was exactly the sort of thing Bronwyn would be into, but she didn’t think Christine would be likely to appreciate it.
The only thing she had that was roughly life-sized was the body pillow that was currently curled up at the head of her bed. The pillowcase bore the printed image of one of Bronwyn’s favorite anime characters. Maybe…
“Okay, Christine,” she finally said aloud. The leopard at her side perked up to attention. “I have an idea. I’m not totally sure this will work… but I think it’s worth a try. Zipping you back up while you were inside the leopard costume somehow made you into a real leopard. So what if…” Bronwyn reached for the body pillow, holding it up so Christine could see the animated face on it. “We tried putting you in a human costume?”
She watched as the leopard that was Christine recoiled a little, and made a skeptical-sounding noise. Bronwyn continued, “I know you wouldn’t become your normal self. We’re going to have to work that out later. But if this works, you would at least be human again. We wouldn’t have to worry about someone trying to find the stolen leopard. And if it doesn’t work… I’ll let you out of there immediately. No harm done.”
Christine’s front legs buckled and she let out a wheezing cough - the closest she could get to a shrug and a sigh. Then she nodded her head.
Bronwyn grabbed the zipper off the floor and stuck it onto the side of the pillow. Opening it up, it was as though the pillow itself had just disappeared, leaving behind only the empty pillowcase, like she was about to do the laundry. Christine leapt up on the bed and crawled into the opening. That was a lot easier when there was someone else to hold it open for you. Once she was fully inside, Bronwyn didn’t wait for a signal of readiness - she just pulled the zipper back up. She had to admit, though, that she had no idea what would happen to Christine now.