That's Not Bathwater! (Patreon)

(contains human to anthro kangaroo, public TF, and minor growths)

Roux had been staring at the Artist Alley table for almost a minute now. Its merchant had noticed the brunette during that time, but put his focus on having light conversation with people that approached. On paper there was nothing inherently wrong with this scene. Another person in a tabby cat fur suit was trying to peddle some wares to people having a good time.

There was just something about the way he moved. A nagging part of Roux’s mind was fighting the idea that this guy was not wearing a suit. The tail and ears curled in ways too fluid for animatronics. Nor can you fake the spark of life behind those blinking eyes. How on earth were other people not noticing this creature in their midst?

It took waiting until the latest passing patrons had left before Roux got the courage to step up. The merchandise itself was mundane looking compared to the owner. Most of it was for hygienic purposes; perfume bottles, bath bombs, soap, deodorant, makeup. Of course, all of them were given funny animal labels to fit the location. The sight of a small rack of ‘anthro bathwater’ gave Roux a hard pause.

“Hi there,” the feline merchant offered after letting her stare at the little bottles for a bit. “I’m Cait. Cait Sith number Twenty-nine.”

“A bit of a mouthful.” Roux giggled, offering a hand that Cait shook. Even the pads on his hands felt warm and alive. “What happened to the other twenty-eight?”

“Perished in a tragic river dance accident ten years ago. So, the cat finally catch your curiosity?”

“Yeah...a bit,” Roux returned a nervous smile, glancing around to see no other shoppers were nearby. “Speaking of which, I have to ask; are you real?”

“As real as the day I was grown! I mean, some of this stuff was ordered online, but I infused it with my own artistic flare to make it worth the price. Not many people can make chocolate soap work, I tell you. I even got the bath bombs to stop working literally.”

“Okay, cool. That’s not what I meant by...wait, what about bombs!?”

“Huh?” The cat stared blankly at a confused Roux. It felt like they had both missed something very important.

“...never mind. What’s with the bathwater?”

“It’s just a flavored drink, nothing special.” Cait laughed, waving it off. “It’s like those flavor drops, or kool-aid; just add a splash to water for max effect. Try a sample if you want?”

“Oh?” Roux glanced in the direction Cait gestured, finding a water cooler between tables. “Eh, why not?”

While Cait sold off some crocodile shampoo to a pair of oddly excited men, Roux filled up a cup for a quick drink. Refreshed with cold water, she refilled it before returning to the table. A trio of partially filled bottles were placed before her, only leaving the woman further confused. They were each labeled panda, dragon, and roo, but no clear indication of what ‘flavor’ they might produce. She almost considered taking the dragon just because it was nearly empty, a sign of a popular taste.

Hands flew to the roo bottle at the last second, perking Cait’s triangle ears. Roux always had a bias for the awesome marsupials down under, anyway. Maybe this had some kind of taste similar to an Australian fruit. Not that she knew what grew there.

“BLEGH!”

Or it could just taste like dirty tap water. That was an unexpected, but not impossible, result in hindsight. Roux took several gulps before the taste registered on her tongue, sending what remained splashing at her feet with the dropped cup. A few other dealers turned their heads, watching the girl choke in an arguably over dramatic fashion. All of them quickly turned back to their work with a knowing eye roll.

“This...this is actual bathwater, isn’t it!?”

“I flavored it too!” Cait insisted with his happy grin. “I think the mint and nutmeg really help compliment the aftertaste of kangaroo fur.”

“You sick fuck. Ugh! I’m going to be sick.”

Cait said nothing, watching Roux storm off, still sputtering and fuming. Part of her wondered if it would be worth throwing up what water she drank into a trash can. The other could not help wondering where that twisted merchant got access to a kangaroo’s bath. Forgetting that, she needed to report this to con staff or something. No way whatever this strange talking cat was doing could be hygienic.

It did not help that her outburst was no exaggeration. Roux brought a hand to her stomach as she walked, feeling it do spin cycles against the neighboring organs. Her trip across the convention center slowed to a forced stop. The world wobbled on an awkward axis, while hard foot cramps made it painful to stand. It was all she could do to plop onto a bench by the stairs leading to her hotel.

Roux kicked off her shoes, trying to ease the aches. No way a few hours of walking would tire her out already. That damn poison was making her tense all over, skin rippling with goosebumps.

“Um…” she blinked a few times, eyes locked on the floor. There was something off about the way her feet stretched out their cotton socks. They almost looked longer, unable to fit in the protective shoes laying next to them. The fronts had become especially swollen, giving her toes a lumpy appeal.

SCHUTT!

“What the ffffff…” Roux bit her lip seething a long breath. Harsh cramps seized her left foot, tearing it out the sock tip in a massive growth spurt. Black claws pierced through the fabric with ease, dragging long strands of cotton under their sickle curves. They rode on swelling toes too misshapen to be human anymore, with the middle ones becoming enormous while stuck between nubby outer digits. The base had grown just as pronounced with a rough leather pad supporting the sole. A stark contrast to the stretching thin middle leading to an ankle raised in a high arch off the ground.

“Aah! Aaaah! Nnngh!” Roux fidgeted as her right foot repeated this process. She slouched back into the bench heaving with exhausted panic at their intense transformation. Given the location, it was easy to recognize what was now animal paws at the end of her legs. Both were abnormally large, fuzzy, and displaying swollen pads a lot of her friends enjoyed in artwork. Some reluctant effort even got the toes to wiggle. “Seriously...what the hell!?”

“Oh, dear. Are you alright?”

Roux gave off a startled yelp in her grapple to stay seated. She looked up to find a rather huge grizzly bear looming overhead. One second of eye contact was all she needed to know that was not a padded suit either. This convention was getting surreal fast.

“I...I just...mmh. Uh oh!”

Roux felt an itching move up her pant legs. Rising fur underneath visibly rustled the fabric. Dense muscles and sinew better suited for jumping beefed up her limbs, making seams pop along their sides. Rich tufts of the soft fur bulged through while the cuffs of her pants slid halfway up much thicker shins. In fact, her whole body seemed to get bigger, exposing her stomach between shrinking shirt and pants hem and making eye contact with the bear a bit easier.

She was just glad her butt did not split the back when it puffed in size. Although, it pushed down the waistband in an embarrassing view of her fuzzy crack.

“Ah, first time transforming?” The bear nodded with a casual understanding that alarmed Roux way more than half her body growing animal hair. She could only gulp and nod stiffly. “Great paws so far, miss. You a bunny? Nah, got to be Kangaroo. The inner grooming claws are a dead giveaway.”

“Kangaroo!?” The mere mention of what her lower half vaguely resembled brought a stunning series of epiphanies to Roux. She leapt onto her new paws only to topple forward with the alien balance of walking on tiptoes. Thankfully, the bear shot out a massive paw hand to catch her arm. “That damn cat tricked me with spiked bathwater or something. Is this freaking stuff normal?”

“Oh...him…” The bear’s eyes diverted to the side in an expression Roux could only guess was a mix of contempt and fear. He quickly passed back into a cheerful smile, trying to pretend it never happened. “Yeah, it’s not uncommon to see changed furries at cons, if you look hard enough. That guy is just...all I hear is rumors that con security has trouble keeping him out every year.”

“Well, that’s great to kno-oo-ooooohhh! Fuck, it’s still going?”

Roux involuntarily clenched her hands into fists, watching fur fuzz out their backs and quickly cover her fingers. When she uncurled them it was to the reveal of finely manicured black claws and lighter palm pads matching her foot paws. The hair shot up the rest of her arms in a wave, inflating the flesh underneath as they went. It was no body builder levels of improvement, but Roux could not deny having firmer biceps felt nice, however furry.

“Heh, oh they rarely stop half way. Come on, I know a better place to relax and enjoy the change.” The bear gingerly released his hold on Roux’s roo arm, leaving it hovering a few inches away. “Can you walk?”

“Guess I have to like this. Ugh! It’s so hard with everything weighted forward.”

“You’ll probably get some counterbalance when your tail grows in.”

“Fuck! I’m going to grow a tail!?” Roux’s paw hands instinctively grabbed her rear, as if they could stop the sequence of changes overtaking her body.

The bear could only offer a chuckle. “Yeah, and roo’s get big ones too. You don’t want to be here when that busts out.”

“Agreed. Where are we going?” Roux took a few wobbling steps after the bear, eventually finding a decent stride.

“I was just heading to a little gathering that might help you.”

“Oh, thank goodness.” Roux felt some relief that might mean an antidote center, or something. Anything that prevented her from having to prance around in naked fur or look for new clothes would be grand. Judging by the increased size and muscle definition, none of the pants she brought would fit her hips anymore.

The walk still felt like a march of death thanks to another interruption. Roux scratched her hair to ease a sudden itching and discovered her usually long brunette locks were shortening. She could not help pausing at a lobby mirror to watch everything in back dwindle to a tomboy shaved mane. It was almost like the length moved into her bangs. They were swishing out into a thick bush that hung off the side of her face. By then the pigment had finished shifting into an anime level of bright purple.

A hairstyle Roux felt silly for not recognizing earlier.

“W-wait a second. Am I actually turning into my...Argh. Gaah!”

The bear gave another affirming nod, watching the girl's nose turn black, bloat into a thicker meatball, and then get pushed out with the sharp popping of a forming muzzle. “I would probably guess if you think so. That’s one thing our resident TF jerk does well is fit things to a person’s tastes.”

Roux could not offer comment, unless you counted the discomforting snarls her extending jawline was eliciting. She could watch as the bigger nose rose into her vision at the end of a very long, furry bridge. The girl in the mirror quickly lost her human features with ears sliding up her skull into long flexible points. Strangely, the fur only grew down to the base of her neck, leaving her torso still smooth and normal. It was still a face easily recognized as her fursona, right down to the muzzle freckles.

“Blarh!” she sputtered, testing her raw jaw muscles for the first time. After a few clicks of a longer tongue, Roux admired her much sharper teeth in the mirror. “This is even weirder than having paws.”

“Yeah, you’re coming in a bit uneven. Most of us start at one end and work our way to the other.”

“Gee, thanks?”

“Heh, this way. Sorry, I’m Ben, by the way.”

“Roux. Thanks for the help.”

“Anytime! At least you are not changing with a gut like mine.” Ben smacked his belly while leading Roux down a side hallway.

She giggled a bit, noticing after a few signs they were in one of the hallways for panel rooms. After a quick left, her bear escort opened the first double door they came to with a gesture that allowed her first access.

“Ooooh,” her voice dropped off after getting three feet inside.

A white board at the far end of the room proudly declared this place a social panel titled ‘so you’ve just been transformed?’ with a busty raccoon woman sorting out some papers on a folding table. Over a dozen other people were already socializing in small groups, with only three of them clearly still human.

“This isn’t a place to get an antidote, huh?” Roux asked Ben as he fell in behind her.

The question carried further than expected, causing several others to glance in her direction. Soon everyone else was also starting with the realization she was only in a partway stage of changing. A soft chuckle drew Roux’s attention to the raccoon up front.

“Trust me, there is not, but you still came to the right place.”

“Jason here knows all about spontaneous transformations,” Ben added as he moved to fill up two seats. “It’s a great way to survive the rest of the weekend.”

“But I don’t...oof!” Roux barely got to a chair before the next waved squeezed at her lung. More itching signaled her torso was growing a fine pelt of purple fur, with a much lighter shade over her front.

Then her shirt grew suffocatingly tight. Not from additional muscles, but the slowly rising chest spheres outlined by the fabric. After a few seconds of shocked gawking, Roux gave into the sharp pressure and struggled to unclasp her bra. Much like her shoes, the newly grown breasts looked ridiculously large compared to the cups they had just been in.

“Damn,” said one fox, watching her metamorphosis. “I forget how awesome a TF is to watch.”

Roux crossed her arms, trying to hide her fresh grapefruits squished under them. At least everyone seemed more interested in her change itself rather than how it improved her physique.

“Awesome? Yeah right,” squawked a cardinal that was eyeing their own flat tank top with disdain. “At least she kept her boobs. I hate when people don’t label the anatomically correct stuff.”

“Try going for a cow next time, Ted. We could use the free drinks,” Jason said with a smirk, earning a few laughs from the others. She flicked her ring tail, looking to Roux. “You look almost done. Want a skirt to wear back to the con after we’re done?”

“A...a skirt?” Roux parroted with confusion. “Why would I need a-YIP!”

The pressure hit too hard and fast for any kind of response. In hindsight, Roux probably had no idea how to react to a thick, muscled tail exploding out the base of her spine, anyway. Many furs blushed and looked away as the denim was rent down the middle by a powerful fifth appendage. It rushed through the opening, flinging the charge out from under the startled roo with its girth. Thankfully, it’s tip hit the ground way sooner than her rear could.

“Ahh...w-what? Wow!” It took Roux a second to realize she would not fall painfully on her butt, and then another second to realize her insanely thick tail made a perfect log to brace on. Many of the gathered furs expressed her admiration for a complete roo transformation that it filled her with a strange sense of joy.

That was until the air conditioner kicked on, tickling the fur of her exposed lower area in a soft chill. Attempts to close the torn gap in her jeans proved fruitless. The base of her tail was so massive it forced her whole pelvis into a wider spread.

“Y-yes, a skirt would be...fantastic,” Roux averted her gaze, hoping silently there was also a private spot to get changed. This weekend would go a little differently than she had planned.