"Open wide!"
"... mmmph!"
"There you go... Thanks so much for doing this for me on your day off."
I nodded... that was all I could do now that my mouth was stuffed with the soft mouthpiece, and my nose was invaded by the nose tubes. Lucy was turning me into a white rabbit again. I always seemed to end up in trouble after something nice happened to me.
I had an amazing time with Trixie and Vix the other day; I got to see Vix out of her suit, then I got my first real kiss from Trixie. But it turned out that the rabbit petgirl also liked to get close to Vix because she got her cold... and she also transmitted it to Misti. Being Trixie, a girl who craved physical contacts a bit too much, came with a downside.
That said, Lucy was now down four pets. Apricot probably left the café forever, Trixie and Misti were recovering from their cold at the luxurious pethouse, Meeka's shift was over and was out of town, and me, of course, I ended up being the backup plan.
When I showed up at the café today, Lucy was somewhat panicking because she usually had a crew of six pets, but now she only had four; that wasn't too good for the café. She could operate with five, but with only four, people started to turn heels knowing they wouldn't get to spend quality time with their favorite rubber animals.
So this morning, Lucy "asked" me to be a pet to compensate until tomorrow. Useless to say that it was not my plan for the day. I thought I would get to spend time with my pet friends and maybe chat with Lucy about the mysterious pethouse, not work. But since I didn't know how to say no, I accepted.
I clapped my cushy paws together and made sure my fingers were comfortable sitting in them, and then Lucy zipped my suit up and locked it before turning me around and gently pulling on my long ears.
"Too adorable. So, you remember that you have to act like Trixie as much as you can, else the client will suspect something is weird?"
"..."
"Sorry, I had to turn you into our most sexual pet, but Trixie is super popular. When she is away for too long, people start asking questions. It's okay, right? You are well protected inside the costume anyway. You have nothing to fear."
"..."
"Okay, follow me. I'll let you in the lounge. Then I'll open the shop. If you make the clients buy a lot of cakes, I'll give you a nice reward when your shift is over."
A reward? I wondered what she meant by that... I didn't ask for anything. I just wanted to help and enjoy being a pet again. I didn't get to do that too often.
We walked downstairs, and she let me enter the lounge. Immediately, Vix, Oreo, Asha, and Accalia came to see me. They knew it was me and not Trixie this time, so they all gave me small hugs to welcome me as a temporary staff member.
It didn't take long before I ended up on the floor under a pile of rubber petgirls. It was so fun to feel like an animal again... so relaxing. I didn't have to talk, I didn't have to worry about what I looked like, I didn't have to worry about if this was the right thing to do. All I had to do was to enjoy myself and return some love to my little friends.
The life of a petgirl was a nice one. There was no need to think about anything real-life related. Lucy would keep an eye on us, feed us, clean us, and more. All that was left for us to do was to give and receive affection. I didn't think I would want to do that full time like the other girls, but it felt good once in a while.
About thirty minutes later, Lucy let a young guy inside the lounge; maybe early twenties... and he looked straight at me. It was not the first time I wore a pet suit, but it was the first time it was for work. Sure, one time, Lucy pulled my leg and made me believe that Trixie was a client, but this time it was real. I didn't know that person, and the thought that I could end up cuddling with him was quite scary.
I froze.
The man walked in my direction with a smile... I thought he would hug me... or pick me up... but then...
"VIX! Come here, foxy!"
That was not me he was after. Vix, the cute fox girl, from the other end of the lounge joyfully skipped toward the man and threw herself in his stomach without too much care.
"Oof! Lucy told me you were sick. I'm glad you are feeling better. I'm so happy that you are back. I have so many things to tell you."
Obviously, those two knew each other. Vix looked super happy to see him and vice versa. This false alarm was an efficient wake-up call for me. I couldn't afford to be this scared of strangers if I wanted to do a good job today. Lucy was right, I was well protected inside my costume, and my identity was concealed, so I didn't have much to worry about.
I discreetly observed how Vix interacted with this first client. Honestly, she didn't do much at all outside, staying close, reacting a bit when her client was petting her, and returning occasional hugs. I wondered if she really cared about him or if she just wanted to make him buy more cakes.
A bit later, Lucy let more clients in, this time it was a young couple. I had seen them at the café before but wasn't quite sure what pet they liked to play with the most. I never really paid any attention to that kind of detail. They looked in my direction, but Oreo and Asha were sitting with me, so it was hard to tell who they would request.
With a sign of the hand, the woman called one of us over... Which one? I was not the real Trixie; I didn't know who her favorite clients were... But Asha and Oreo apparently did. They started pushing me off my butt, trying to tell me that those were mine... or that I was theirs.
The nervousness set in, but knowing that I wouldn't have to talk to them changed everything. Not risking to have my communication disorder exposed today was an immense peace of mind. So I took a deep breath and began my walk toward this new experience.
One thing that helped me, I thought, was that I tried to pretend that I was the real Trixie. Acting like her provided me with confidence that I usually didn't have. I remembered that Trixie always walked like a little soldier, with her legs and arms straight, which made her look adorable. Doing the same thing made me giggle internally. The other pets probably knew what I was doing and certainly would make fun of me later.
I arrived next to the couple who was sitting in the booth.
"Triiix! Come here, you, cutie-bunny!"
They looked friendly. I sat next to them, as I would normally do as a human.
"Haha... What are you doing? You don't want to hug me?"
Did I just commit my first mistake as a petgirl? That didn't take long. I wasn't used to being the one initiating cuddles.
As I was trying not to freak out about what I did, I received a soft slap behind the head, and before I could even turn around to see who did that, Asha circled me and jumped on the man, which made them react positively.
"Aaaah! Noooo! It's Ashaaa! She is invading us!"
The snow leopard turned to her back and laid down all crooked over both of them. I was pretty sure she just wanted to show me how it was done. There was no right or wrong way to go about it, but I had to find this heart-desire to be playful.
I decided to fall softly on the girl and see what would happen; that was a start.
"Awww... Trixie is all quiet today. Maybe she is a bit tired."
She wrapped her arm around me, pulling me closer. Well, that felt good; she was handling me so gently. As I was trying to get as comfortable as I could in her arms, I tried to remember what the pets were doing around me when I visited the café.
A bunch of random souvenirs crossed my mind, and I picked a random one to replicate.
