"Would you pay attention. Sheesh, I want to be the lazy one for a change." Susan griped.
"S-sorry. I'm just... distracted." Barry stammers as he turns back to the books piled up in front of him. He was sitting on his knees to be high enough to read them, but had thus far not done any reading at all.
"Because of that hug?" Susan scrunches up her mouth and points her pin in an accusatory way. "Oh I know exactly what's distracting you."
"What? No... That's not it at all. I mean it was nice..."
Susan interrupts him. "Mmm Hmm. I'm sure it was."
Barry groans in exasperation, then protests, "it's not like that."
"Isn't that exactly what you wanted? You got her attention, you got invited to her little party. You even got your face right in her boobs." her tone bites slightly at the end before she continues. "So what's the big deal?"
"She wants me to wear a dress!" Barry hissed.
"So wear a dress." Susan retorted flippantly.
"No!" Barry nearly shouted, as he sat upright. He frowned, "Agh. I don't want to wear some stupid dress... I've changed enough "
Susan sighed, and her gills flared, a sign Barry recognized as irritation. "You've already turned into a bunny rabbit for her, what's the big deal over wearing a dress too?"
Barry scowled at the reprimand, and stared intently at the table. Seconds passed as Susan continued to write notes for the report. At last Barry spoke up. "... Will... Will you help me?"
"Huh?"
"I fought my mom the past two days to NOT wear a dress, I can't ask her, and I certainly can't ask dad."
Susan rolled her eyes, an expression that was drastically exaggerated by her fishbowl lenses. "Fine, if it will make you pay attention for a change."
"Thanks."
"Whatever." Susan pouted.
Susan's mother was sitting on the hood of her minivan, sunning her shimmering golden tail as the pair approached. Her lethargic demeanor quickly changed as her eyes fell on a cute little bunny in overalls walking beside her daughter.
"Ohhh you're wonderful dear!" her golden tail swished excitedly as she slithered to the ground. "And so adorable, I could just gobble you right up." The serpentine slit of the woman's eyes and the fangs in her smile gave Barry pause, wondering just how literal she was being. The woman didn't seem to notice Barry's hesitation, "You must be so thrilled to have gotten a wonderful transformation."
"Uhhh... Actually." Barry began as he finally looked at the woman. His eyes dilated, and heart began to race. He froze in place, as the woman continued.
"Mythological is in vogue right now, people love the rare changes, and all the attention, and five minute fame, but adorable and furry will always be in style."
This woman... She seemed nice, talkative. Dangerous The way her scales slid across the earth, the way her eyes focused on him... targeted him... He had to get out of here.
"MOM" Susan interjected, shaking the bunny from his dark thoughts. "This is Barry, that guy we talked about."
"Berry! How lovely! It suits your body so well! I'm Mrs.Harper Susan's mom." She exclaimed. "I asked Susan if she wanted a new name, maybe something from the Greek water nymphs, but she was never too excited about it all."
"Barry, " Susan interjected, emphasizing the pronunciation of his name. "Isn't too excited either."
"Oh..." The fiery haired naga considered this new information.
Barry, who had begun to not-so-subtly hide behind Susan's wheel chair nervously spoke up. "I didn't even want to get changed."
Susan's mother pondered for a second. "Oh..." she said again, then pondered, "Susan told me you were interested, so I thought you would have been excited."
"I mean, I was interested." Barry explained, his primal fear and social annoyance conflicting in his brain, causing him to step forward. "But I didn't actually want to do it. Some weird app popped up on my phone and changed me. There's... Some investigation to find out what happened." He tried to explain.
Susan and her mother shared a knowing glance, and a brief silence hung in the air.
"Anyway," Susan spoke up, "I was wondering if you could take us to the mall to go dress shopping."
"SUSAN!" Barry protested, finally shaking the fear of his Lagomorpha instincts, and replacing it with annoyance at his friend. "I don't want a dress." He tried to explain frantically. "I just need one for a ... a party..." His words trail off as he realizes how poor of an excuse that made.
Susan's mom smirked slyly. "Ohhh~ Of course I can drop you off." She slithers around to the drivers side of the van. "Hop on in! And don't worry Barry," she says, making sure to pronounce his name correctly, "I'm sure you'll look wonderful in a dress. I'm sorry things didn't turn out the way you wanted, with your change and all, but it won't be so bad, You'll see. There's a lot of fun to be had. I've been trying to get Susan out of the house for months, I think this will be good for the both of you!"
Barry slowly makes his way to a back passenger seat, as Susan rolls up a ramp that had automatically folded out of the back cargo door.
He unlocks his phone and spies 7 missed texts, all from his mom. He had told her he was going out with friends hours ago... but hadn't checked his phone since.
"Hey. I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with you going out on your own yet."
"I just want to make sure you're comfortable in your body."
"Who is this friend, do I know them?"
"Are these the friends who pressured you into changing?"
"Call me between classes."
"Come on home, I'll take you where you want to go after we talk."
"Barry I'm here to pick you up so you don't have to ride the bus."
Barry scowled, then hammered out the text. "Already with my friends, sorry I missed your texts."
a message shot back immediately. "Where are you?"
"Mall"
"Come home." His mother insisted.
"In a bit." He shot back
There was a long pause.
"We'll talk about this later."
Barry sighed, and rolled his eyes, then glanced up to the boisterous woman in the front seat, who was musing out loud what sort of styles would suit a snow white bunny and couldn't help but smirk... Snake or not... Her friendliness and tactless enthusiasm was strangely refreshing after being so sensitive and upset with himself for the past few days.
