Eric picked up the soda and began drinking it as Mary unwrapped her burritos and took a bite out of the first one. She watched Eric, anticipating his change. The idea of snuggling with him with both as ottsels excited Mary.
"Tastes great, thanks for getting them," Mary said.
Eric took a few more sips.
"You're welcome," he said.
When he took one long sip, Mary noticed fur starting to sprout on his cheeks and chin. This definitely wasen't a beard growing. Mary beamed when she saw the fur spread from a few fledgling buds as it started making its way over Eric's face.
Something, however, was wrong.
Rather then the orange and beige fur that Mary had, Eric's was growing in baby blue and white!
It spread up to Eric's hair even as Eric continued to sip from the cup. When it reached Eric's hair, Eric's hair turned baby blue and started growing rather then receding!
"What's wrong?" Eric asked.
"Er, nothing, everything's fine," Mary said
Mary watched Eric's ears grow smaller until they were gone. Alarm spread over Eric's mouth (which itself growing into a short muzzle) and he looked back and forth.
Moments later, his ears reemerged as two longer ears atop his head. Eric blinked and felt around his face with his free hand.
"What's going -- you did something; what did you do?" Eric asked.
Mary watched the fur spread down Eric's neck. He started itching at his chest before Mary saw baby blue fur sprout all over Eric's forearms.
Eric dropped his drink as he gasped and started itching madly at his shirt.
"I wanted you to be an ottsel too. Once you see how great it feels, you'll be happy. I just wanted you to be happy! We can still change back," Mary said.
Eric looked back and forth at the other people, panic was forming on his face.
"Okay, okay, you were just trying to have some fun, but people will see us," Eric said. "We -- we have to get out of here before it's too late."
Mary noticed that Eric's shirt seemed to be getting longer. Eric stood up, waited for Mary to put her purse back on her back and grabbed Mary before standing up.
"Just calm down a bit, you'll be fine," Mary said.
"Mary, I don't feel fine, I..."
Eric cringed and his grip on Mary loosened. Mary could only watch as Eric shrunk fast enough that he fell below the table. Mary crawled and peered over the table to see a pile of clothes with something moving under them. She watched as blue furred ottsel crawled out from under the clothes and stood on top of them. Mary jumped down to the chair and then the floor beside Eric.
She noticed two things that seemed to be wrong. One, she was actually a little taller then Eric. Two, Eric's scent seemed different then Mary would expect; his was closer to hers. Three, his body shape and features were also similar to hers. All that combined with Eric's hair being longer made it dawn on Mary what had happened; Eric had become a female Ottsel!
"Mary, what happened to -- okay, I know what happened to me but why am I a girl?" Eric cried. "Even my voice is a girl's voice!"
"Okay, okay, calm down, we'll figure this out," Mary said.
"Easy for you to say, you're not the one that just changed gender," Eric said.
Mary put her hands on her hips. "You find something wrong with being female?"
"It's not that, I just -- why did you make me a girl? And what's with the blue fur?" Eric asked.
"I guess it mixed with your soda or something," Mary said. "Look, just stay calm, I'm sure there's a vial that can fix this. I'd have never changed you unless I could reverse it."
Eric was looking back and forth at a growing crowd of people.
"Maybe we should do this somewhere else," Eric said. "People are watching us and they can see us naked!"
"Why do you think I wanted to get some clothes?" Mary asked. "Though, you make a cute female ottsel; why hide it?"
"Mary!" Eric said.
"Okay, okay, let's get out of here then," Mary said.
Eric reached into his pant's pocket and grabbed his wallet and keys before he and Mary took off through the mall. People were making comments about two escaped ferrets or meerkats. Some of the kids and teens however were mentioning ottsels. The kids seemed more accepting of the idea ottsels actually existing then the teens (who wanted to know how it was possible).
Mary didn't want to take the time to explain. Rather, she wanted to figure out what had gone wrong with Eric and she wanted to be alone with him.
She felt bad about changing Eric against his will, especially into a female by accident. Eric however was still appealing to Mary even in his current form and gender. Mary worried that she was discovering something about herself that perhaps she didn't want to know. She, however, assured herself that since this was Eric, it was all right to see him that way, even if he was currently a she. It was Eric she desired, not just his body.
They reached the doors and ran outside, sticking to the sidewalks. Groups of people parted as Mary and Eric ran toward a park not far from the mall (in human walking terms anyway).
"That sun feels nice on my fur," Eric said. "A little too nice."
"Don't be afraid to enjoy it," Mary said. "Maybe you'll like being a girl and we can stay this way."
Eric chuckled. "Don't bet on it."
Mary shrugged her shoulders. "Was worth a try."
By the time they'd reached the park, they'd both worked up a good sweat and were growing tired.
They found a bench that no one was sitting on. Mary offered her shoulders for Eric to climb on after he tossed his eyes and wallet onto the bench. Once he was on the bench, he took Mary's purse from her, pulled it up to his level and then offered a hand to help Mary up. Once they were both on the bench, they both lay down on their backs.
"That was some hike," Eric said.
"Hike? That was only a couple of kilometers," Mary said.
"Yeah well, it's not like we're used to walking when we're only two feet tall," Eric said. "And that's still a good walk, even for an adult human."
"You should exercise more honey," Mary said.
Mary noticed that Eric kept looking at his chest and between his legs.
"Eric -- honey, relax. Remember, we can make you a boy again with a simple sip from a vial," Mary said. "Anyway, does being female feel *that* bad?"
"No, I guess not but how will I face my friends and family as one? I'm not sure I want to tell my Mom and Dad that they now have two daughters," Eric said.
Mary stood up, walked over to Eric and lay down on top of him.
"Mary. My God, you're so warm. A little sweaty, but warm," Eric said, sticking his tongue out.
"Hey, you try carrying that weight for that distance in the warm sun and try not sweating," Mary said, sticking *her* tongue out.
Eric put his arms around Mary. "I didn't say I minded."
After planting a kiss on Mary's mouth, Eric gasped.
"Wait, this doesn't make me a -- you know," Eric said.
"Did you kiss me because I'm me or because I'm a female ottsel?" Mary asked.
"What do you mean?" Eric asked.
"If I was a boy ottsel, would you still have kissed me?" Mary asked.
"As long as I knew it was you," Eric said. "Though you being a girl helps. I guess I still like girls."
"That's okay honey," Mary said. "It's not like I have any right to judge you over that sort of thing anyway."
"So, what do we do now?" Eric asked. "I mean, I know we gotta change back -- me into a guy too but before that, what do we do?"