As I lay on the floor, listening to the humans talking, not understanding who they really where, except that one of them fed me and took care of me, I shifted my leg up and began to scratch myself along my neck, forcing my foot up underneath the collar. As I did this, the thought that something was wrong crossed my mind, but I was unable to figure out what as an odd sensation settled in place all along my jaw and right at the end of my tailbone.
"Come along, Alexis," the voice of my caretaker announced, distracting me as I felt something attached to my back pulled and looking up, I received a shock as suddenly the two shifted somehow.
Leaping to the side without giving it a second thought, I listened as my caretaker gave a laugh and the second said something, the only word that made sense being Bucky, to which I suddenly had a mental image of another ferret as well as the scent, and feeling the tug again, I began to follow, the feeling that something was off continued to both bother and elude me as I attempted to figure out what.
Outside, I sniffed at the grass as I was led along and pausing at one point, I squirt a section, marking it as my territory, something that caused my caretaker to say something and leave me with a feeling of being proud as I once again felt the tug and continued along.
As we got closer to another of the places the large ones lived in, scents became more and more clear and as I understood this, I also came to an understanding that one of those scents was familiar and that what I was smelling was what my caretaker and the other one called Bucky. Feeling suddenly frisky, I let loose with several playful noises, something my caretaker commented on as she reached down and began to do something to the piece fitted around my chest and shoulder joints, and with a 'click' I knew that she had removed whatever she had been using to lead me and looking up, I received another one of those jolts as both my caretaker and the other shifted again, my mind unable to process the fact that they were for some reason getting bigger.
Instead, what I focused my attention on was the smell of the male ferret nearby and slinking forward, I followed the scent and when I found him, I felt one of those weird sensations that said something was off, but decided to ignore it as I began to greet Bucky and after a moment, started to play with the other ferret, all too aware that he wanted me to lift up my tail at some point, something I was not about to do as the odd feeling in my mouth and tailbone grew.
-----
Being a ferret, my life was suddenly a whole lot easier. The only thing that bothered me every so often was the odd shifting my caretaker and the other one did, which passed after a while. I was not aware of days passing and found myself only caring about was whether my litter pan was clean, my bedding prepared and whether I was able to see Bucky. Even the sensation in my mouth passed, though the odd feeling in my tailbone still persisted, but seeing as it did not really bother me, I did not give it a second thought as I let myself drift along, blissful in my new life, only aware that something was definitely wrong only a couple times in passing.
Then one night, I found myself dreaming, something that was odd in and of itself as I did not often remember my dreams anymore, but found that parts of this one would stick with me for the rest of my natural life, however long that was.
I found myself in a winter setting and shivering, I hugged myself, suddenly understanding that not only did I have arms instead of front legs, but I also had once again regained the ability to walk on two legs. And then it dawned on me that I was totally aware of who I was and what had happened to me and looking down, hoping that I would see my normal human self, silently telling myself that if I did I would totally give up dressing in clothes of the opposite sex. But then my hopes crashed when I saw what I was wearing.
Gazing down, I saw that I was wearing a long, blue coat with pearl buttons down the front and white faux-fur trim along the hemline, collar line and cuffs. My hands, I saw, were covered in soft brownish-black fur and thinking this off, I reached up and touched my face, finding it furry to the touch and that my nose and mouth pushed out into the shape of a ferret's muzzle.
"I'm still an animal," I thought, despairing at the thought as I carefully began to undo the front buttons of the coat.
When I had finished, I found myself even more upset by the sight of the light pinkish-white shirt, which was pushed outward in what left no doubt in my mind where a pair of breasts, and the tight white pants, with my bare feet poking out of the end of each, covered in the same brownish-black furred as my hands, to which I noticed, that oddly, I was balanced on the balls of my toes. A movement from between my legs caught my attention and leaning forward somewhat, I noticed that I had a tail, also covered in the same shade of fur my hands, which I noted only hand three fingers and a thumb, and feet, which only had three toes each.
Pulling my attention away from the appendage that was poking out of the back of my pants, I shifted my attention elsewhere and running a hand over the front of my pants, finding no bulge that hinted of my normal genitalia, I paused for a moment and then placing my hand down my pants, something that was not really easy to do seeing as how tight they were, and feeling the flat skin out front, I forced my hand down even further till it was between my legs where I clearly felt something odd.
Scared, visions of what I saw in the bathroom mirror flashing in my mind, I hastily withdrew my hand and asked myself, "Are a girl's genitals really between her legs?" feeling more and more confused as I gazed at the swell of my chest.
Reaching toward the front of the shirt, seeing that it was fastened in some way that I could not really comprehend, I gently pulled one the two front sections of my shirt and after a second the front split and I found myself looking at two, fur-covered breasts. Touching the light brown fur, amazed at how soft it felt, I found myself torn between liking the feel of my hand cupping my breast, while at the same time feeling like it was inappropriate for me to be touching myself in such a manner.
"When you are down exploring your body and feeling yourself up, we do need to talk," a voice announced suddenly and spinning about, unconsciously pulling shut my shirt as I did so, I found myself looking at a woman, who simply smiled and tells me, "Please. It's not like I haven't seen anything you have before."
Unsure, feeling lost and like I was suddenly sinking, I start to button up the coat and opening my mouth, I attempt to speak, but find that nothing comes out.
Not finding this to be the least bit odd, the woman told me, "My name is Beth Milansky and I require your help with something," and holding out a hand, she explained, "I will fill you in on the way. But we do have to hurry. Tommy and Ariel are waiting," and gazing at the offered appendage, question after question forming in my head, I hesitate.
Still smiling, holding out her hand, Beth repeated, "We do have to hurry," and seeing something in my eyes, she added, "Do not worry. This is both a dream and not a dream you are having. I merely used a bit of my powers to bring you here and make you more humanoid in appearance. I just did not count of you appearing as a ferret or a young woman. Though, you should note, that if you want to avoid this fate, becoming a Jill ferret, when you do wake up you need to get away from the one calling herself your sister and the other one that claims to be her friend."
More questions fly about my head, but a feeling that I could trust this woman overruled those questions and after a couple more seconds, I gingerly took her hand and allowed myself to be led, the winter landscape around me suddenly turning more and more whiter as I...
-----
I awaken with a start, the house I noticed dark and silent. Next to me I feel a warm, furry body and the scent of Bucky came to me and shifting, I gently extract myself away from the other ferret, aware of the fact that I sleeping on a blanket in a cage with a hob, that some time has passed and that most of that time I have spent at Beatrice's place, which I am aware was both behind and above a shop her parents owned.
Moving across the blanket, I find that I can easily make my way in the semi-dark around me as I exit the cage and pause. Sitting back on my haunches, I attempt to stand up, but only succeeded in flopping forward as I hear a slight jingling noise coming from around my next. Attempting next to move my arms and hands to explore what was around my neck, I find myself disappointed as they refuse to work in the way I am sure that they are supposed to.
Confused about this, I roll over onto my back and tilting my head so that I could look down the length of my body, I notice that something about my vision appeared off. After a moment it came to me that I had little to no depth-perception and that I was seeing everything in shades of black, white and gray, except the harness I was wearing, which I thought was a red.
Shifting so that I was lying on my side, I carefully examined my body, noting that I have four legs now and that my length appeared to be about twelve inches, with an odd growth extending off my tailbone and for a couple seconds, it confused me as to what it was before I came to an understanding that it would one day be my tail. My genitals, I noted, where a lot smaller and closer to my body and slowly I came to the conclusion that this was because I was gradually transforming into a female ferret.
As I turned myself back over so that I was resting on all fours, I made another quick examination and saw that I was still without fur and aware suddenly at how exposed I felt, understanding that I was naked, the feeling of wanting to just curl back up with Bucky washed over me and I almost did exactly that.
But then I shrugged off the feeling and moving cautiously across the room, I located the door out, which was left open a crack, and squeezing my way through, I began to nonchalantly make way down the hall, aware of all the smells that greeted me, stopping once to run one of my front legs and paw over my face when it dawned on me that my face felt different. And when I felt that my nose and mouth had fused together and pushed out into a muzzle, I nearly flipped out.
Instead, I forced myself to remain calm and telling myself, "You can undo this. You just have to think," I once again started down the hallway.
"I don't think I will use any of those clothes to turn him back. He makes such a cute ferret. And Bucky isn't fixed, so we could wind up with a litter on her hands, so it might be interesting to see what Alex would do if Bucky attempted to mate with him," a giggling voice announced and stopping where I was, I listened as my sister continued talking with Beatrice about how she was going to leave me in the form of an animal.
Enraged, I wanted to dash in to the room the two girls where in, but stopped myself from doing that as I understood that I did not know what I would do once in the room and that my sister and her friend would only see me as a ferret. Turning away from the room, feeling dejected and thinking about returning to the cage, I asked myself, "Would life as a ferret so bad?" as I weighed the pros and cons of choosing the life of an animal versus being human.
After a couple minutes, I decided that being an animal was not for me, especially if it was a female animal, and all too aware that I had the mind of human stuck in the body that was transforming into an animal, I made my decision and proceeded onward.
It took me longer then I thought it would to get into the shop, mostly due to my poor eyesight and the fact that I found myself depending more and more on my sense of smell. And when I finally was able to get into the costume store, I paused and wondered for a couple seconds what it was that I exactly planned to do, the smell of Bucky coming to me as I crouched in the dark under a rack of outfits.
Mentally shrugging away the other scent, figuring I was just smelling a place the hob had been recently, I decided that what I wanted to do was find a way to become human again, and glancing about, sniffing the air, I started to move and the first chance I got, I began to climb up on top of the racks.
Exploring the area, something I found to be really slow, I paused as I heard something and looking about, flattening myself down to make myself the least likely target, I sniffed the air again, still smelling Bucky. Then, something shadowy moved and before I could do anything, Bucky leapt out of the dark, making playful noises as he did so, and landing on me, he attempted to roll me over and instead succeeded in knocking us both off the rack.
Scared, I twisted about in midair, costumes falling around me and landing on the floor, I felt something soft land on top of me and attempting to wriggle away from it, I only managed to squirm into what was clearly a shirt, which felt odd as a queer sensation rippled through my body.
Vaguely aware that I was transforming faster, I wanted only get out of the garment I was twisted up in, while nearby I could hear Bucky thrashing about and coming to the conclusion the he as well was stuck in something, I continued my attempt to get free as it dawned on me that I felt for some unknown reason really tired and only wanted to go to sleep at moment.
Struggling against both the garment and the sensation only seemed to make it worse and my last thought before unconsciousness claimed me was that Bucky had gone silent and worried about the hob, I wanted to go to him, but instead found myself drifting off faster and within a couple minutes I was asleep.