Getting To Know You

Story by CalexTheNeko on SoFurry

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#8 of Transformation

Patreon reward for Rimme on FA and first of a three part series featuring two of his characters.

We see the return of his character Nick the griffin! Nick decides to go on a camping trip with a squirrel coworker named Deb. Deb really just wants the opportunity to get to know Nick but is met with some resistance of both the personal and transformation type as she attempts this.

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Getting To Know You

"So Spring Oaks is a rather nice campground from what I here. It's miles out from Switch City so you won't have to worry about noise or light pollution. It's also near a lake and they say you can catch fish as big as your head in the morning! Apparently, it's considered a pretty romantic getaway too. They say a couple that camps together here can really learn about how they see each other."

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!

"NICK!" The squirrel that had been talking gave a shout as the car she was riding in suddenly swerved slightly off the road.

"Sorry Deb!" The griffin that was driving jerked the car back into the road. The run down vehicle made noises no working machine should ever make, but it was going. He twitched nervously a bit as the car jerked back and forth ever so slightly as he continued down the road.

"Honestly you need to calm down," Deb said with a sigh. She studied the griffin. He was overweight and tended to sag his shoulders as if the entire weight of the world were constantly crushing him. She supposed he was kind of cute in a sad ugly puppy sort of way. "I don't think anything said in the pamphlet warranted that strong a reaction."

"Sorry!" Nick reiterated. The griffin slowly began to steady the car as he managed to finally maintain his lane on the old dirt road.

"Just trying to make some conversation," Deb said. "We've literally spent the last 45 minutes of this drive sitting in absolute silence."

"Sorry," Nick said yet a third time.

"Come on surely you have something to add other than sorry," Deb tried. "Come on, Penny for your thoughts?"

"Um..." Nick hesitated then stared out at the road ahead of them. "Is this the turn up here?" He asked.

"Yeah," Deb replied with an annoyed sigh. "That's the place. Turn off there."

Nick pulled the car off the dirt road and into what could have been called a parking lot but would have more accurately been called a grassy field. There were a few other cars parked within the grassy field but no signs of anyone nearby. The area was completely silent with the exception of the occasional buzzing of insects. Were it not for the cars it would be possible to suspect this place had been untouched completely by civilized animals.

"Uggh," Nick got out of the car and stretched his legs and wings. His tiny wings may have been stunted and useless but pressing them into the back of a car seat for a two hour drive was still far from comfortable.

"Bet after that you're ready for a stretch right?" Deb asked as she walked to the back of the car and opened the trunk. The squirrel bent over to trunk and began to dig supplies out.

"How far is it to the camp site?" Nick asked.

"It's over a mile walk," Deb said as she stood back up with a bag slung over her shoulder. "Hope you wore comfortable shoes."

"Uh," Nick looked down at his shoes. They were his normal work shoes, hardly ideal for a hike through the forest. "Right..."

"Make sure we don't forget anything," Deb said. "We'll have to hike all the way back if we get it."

"Right," Nick grumbled as he moved to the trunk and unloaded the canvas bag containing the tent. He huffed under its weight.

"Um, you going to be okay carrying that?" Deb asked.

"Yeah, it..." Nick paused to reposition the bag so it hurt his shoulder less. "It'll be fine."

"You sure?" Deb asked. "Because seriously, it's a long walk. Do you need me to help?"

"I've got it!" Nick insisted as he stumbled away from the car towards the edge of a field. A nature trail started where the field ended leading beyond the tree line.

"Are you sure because you look like you're really struggling," Deb tried.

"I said I've got it!" Nick said getting very flustered. He struggled to move towards the trail faster and end the conversation.

"Okay, okay," Deb replied. She hurried to catch up with the griffin. It didn't take long before the griffin was huffing and panting as he tried to carry the tent on his back. Every now and then she considered offering to help again but didn't want to risk insulting Nick. Instead they marched in silence until they arrived at a spot where the trees were thinner.

"Here is good," Nick said as he dropped the tent on the ground and then sat down in the grass breathing heavily.

"We're still pretty far from the lake," Deb started to say then looked at how tired Nick was. "But then again we'll probably have more privacy being back away from it."

"Right," Nick said as he continued to pant. He was slowly recovering his breath. "That was probably my thought." He sounded unsure of himself.

"Any idea of what you want to do first?" Deb asked as she took a seat in the grass next to Nick. She curled her tail around her feet looked at him.

"Um," Nick hesitated. Why was she sitting so close to him? He could feel the edge of her tail touching his leg. "I um well, wasn't sure yet. Did you have something you wanted to do?"

"Well, we should probably set up the tent first," Deb said. "But after that, do you want to walk down to the lake? Then we could fish or skip stones. Or if you're tired we could stay here and talk a bit."

"Talk about what exactly?" Nick said. "I mean I guess we could talk about work?"

"Come on, we can have other things in common besides work," Deb said. "Isn't there anything else you'd like to talk about?"

"Um..." Nick hesitated. "I guess, we both obviously like camping? Though I don't really do it very often."

"It shows," Deb chuckled a bit and then stopped as she saw Nick looked hurt. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"I mean it's always been an interest," Nick tried to correct. "Just never really got around to it." He paused considering something then looked up at Deb. "Why did you invite me to go camping with you anyway?"

"I thought it'd be fun," Deb said. "And well, I've seen you around work several times. You seemed nice, so I thought why not get to know you better."

"What?" Nick asked suddenly even more on edge than normal.

"Well I mean you're a bit jumpy and no one ever knows what's on your mind," Deb explained. "But I thought if you were willing, why not invite you out here? Figured we could get to know each other better."

"Wait, you mean like a date?" Nick's ears flattened as his tail twitched nervously.

"Not exactly," Deb muffled a laugh. "I figured a chance to learn more about each other was in order first. I don't think I've ever gotten more than a passing 'hello' from you at work before now. If it leads to something down the line then we can explore that then."

"So... So..." Nick hesitated still clearly on edge. "You brought me all the way out to be alone with you?"

"That is generally how camping works," Deb noted. The squirrel gently reached a hand to put it on Nick's shoulder comfortingly but withdrew it as the griffin flinched. "You can't exactly just pitch up a tent in the middle of a crowded city... Well I suppose you could, but that would be really weird."

"But you still pulled me all the way out by myself," Nick said. "Away from everyone and everything."

"Nick, are you alright?" The squirrel tilted her head. "You're starting to sound less nervous in a cute way and more nervous in a genuinely concerning way."

"Look I don't..." Nick started and hesitated. "It's just I..." He struggled. He couldn't figure out how to put what he wanted to say into words. He would have had a hard time explaining to himself what was going on inside his head. Explaining it to another person was an almost impossible task.

"Okay calm down," Deb said. "I think you might be having a panic attack." Deb stood up over the griffin unsure of what to do to try to calm him down. What was wrong with him? He had been extra twitchy ever since she invited him out here. Now it was like something she said had broken his brain.

"I'm fine it's just," Nick turned to look up at Deb. He looked like a creature of absolute misery.

"You're not fine," Deb said. "Look forget I said anything, just try to relax. Don't worry about doing anything today, just lay down and relax." She studied Nick. She already knew he was a bit of a Nervous Nelly but this was taking things to a rather extreme level. As she studied him, seeing the look in his eyes as he stared up at her she felt like a predator who had cornered a harmless prey.

"Look things are just..." Nick started then stopped. "It's just in the past..." He still couldn't say it. He looked up at the squirrel almost accusingly as he tried to piece together what he was processing. She looked so large and menacing now, he could swear she was getting bigger as she loomed over him.

"Nick!" Deb gave a shout suddenly sounding very alarmed.

"Please don't shout!" Nick squeaked. Why did the squirrel look so intimidating now? Why did she have to loom over him like that?

"Nick look at yourself!" Deb shouted again a panicked edge to her voice.

"What?" This demand was strange enough to give Nick pause. He looked down at himself and paused as he examined his own hands. His talon-like hands were looking noticeably less avian. They looked more paw-like similar to a mammal. However unlike most mammals they were completely naked of fur and exposed pink skin. Nick fell backwards in shock as he examined this. As he did he became aware of his pants and shirt were rather loose on his body. They had been a rather tight fit his portly body and now felt ready to fall off.

"Nick I!" Deb stared watching her coworker change before her eyes. He was clearly shrinking into his clothes and she had seen his talons change. This was not a situation she had any idea how to react too. People don't just magically change. She quickly reached down a hand to grab Nick and help him up but stopped when she saw her own hand. Her once brown furred hand was now covered in black fur and ended in sharper claws. "What?" Deb took a step back in shock. As she did she stepped right out of her shoes revealing that her foot fur had also turned black. She was changing too! And much to her alarm realized that her clothing was also starting to grow loose on her.

"Ugh," Nick couldn't produce words. He was in a panic as the changes started to accelerate. Nick and Deb were both shrinking in size, but Nick was shrinking much faster. He tried to sit up off his back after falling down earlier. His shirt clung very loosely to his shoulders for a few moments before falling down around his stomach. His chest fur normally cream in colored now matched the same shade of brown as his head and back. As he struggled free of the shirt his wings began to dwindle away. They were already stunted but after a few seconds they shrunk out of existence completely. With the exception of his beak there were no avian characteristics left of Nick! Then even that changed! His beak became more smooth and shrunk into his face. It soon looked more like a snout as soft fur covered it and then whiskers sprouted from the edge of either side of his new muzzle. He had a tiny pink nose on the end of his muzzle that began to twitch as soon as the changes were done. Nick was now 100% mammal. All traces of the former griffin being part bird had been removed.

"Nick, I'm not feeling so hot," Deb was undergoing her own changes. She remained standing upright but her jeans were starting to slip from her waist. As they fell to the ground she could see the black fur on her feet ended at her feet. Above her ankle her fur was bright red! Slightly higher than that parts of her upper legs and above were covered in white fur, at least on her front side. Deb's muzzle began to grow outward longer from her face. It was thinner and longer than a squirrel muzzle would be. Her ears were also noticeably less squirrel-like. The round ears were developing points. Her ears were covered in red fur like most of her body now, but the very tips of it were black colored.

While Deb's ears gained pointed Nick's ears became round. Even though Nick himself was getting much smaller his ears were proportionally larger on his head. He hadn't stopped shrinking in size either. His shoes were no longer attached to him and he was less wearing his pants and more swimming in them. Nick scrambled to keep from getting lost in the fabric. He could fit inside a single pants leg by now! He squirmed and managed to get back onto his feet, specifically four feet. He let out a squeaking noise as he managed to see more of himself. His feet, or now hind paws had the fur completely recede from them. What was left looked like the paws of a rodent more than the paws of a mighty lion.

"Nick I arf!" Deb tried to say something but her sentence ended in a barking noise. She wobbled back and forth before falling onto all fours. It felt like a more natural stance for her. She shook herself off trying to get her bearing. His shirt fit for a humanoid squirrel refused to stay on her now smaller quadruped form. She shook herself off while her shirt slipped right off her head and forepaws. She thrashed her tail wildly. It was also different. It was still quite fluffy, but the shape was more round. Most of it was covered in red fur but the very tip was white. "Yip arf!" Deb tried to say something.

"Squeeeek!" Was all Nick could respond with. The former griffin spun around in place looking around. Even blades of grass were taller than him now. He looked at his tail. The fur was falling out of it, and he was left with a thin tail that was wormlike in appearance. "Squeak!" Nick tried to shout but his voice refused to form into words.

As the changes finished both of the two former humanoids sat in silence. A mouse and a fox sat staring at each other discarded articles of clothing scattered about in the clearing. At first both of them were far to shocked to react at all to the sudden changes.

"Yiiiiiip," Deb was the first to come to her senses. She shook herself off and walked in a quick circle examining herself. "Yip yip!?" She made a panicked noise but Nick couldn't understand her meaning. "Yiiiip!" She said and she stared down at the small mouse.

"Squeek?" Nick looked up at Deb. He twitched nervously as he did. A fox might be smaller than a civilized animal but they were still quite a lot bigger than a mouse! Nick found himself hyper aware of how much more threatening Deb now looked at him. He had never been scared of foxes before, but he had never had one tower over him before! Well it was still Deb right! Deb... who brought him all the way out here alone in the woods! Still it was her in mind? Right?

"Yip..." Deb responded glumly. She reached forward a forepaw and attempted to gently pat Nick on the head in an attempt to comfort him. She was scared, but he had started freaking out before the changes occurred. She realized he probably even more scared out of his mind than she was. Somehow, that helped her calm down. Focusing on trying to help someone else was enough for her to set aside her own panic for now.

"SQUEAK!" Nick however did not respond positively to her attempts. He pulled back away from her as a thought entered his head. What did foxes eat in the wild? Was it mice? He was pretty sure mice were on their menu. That meant he was on the menu. He started to back away from enormous fox. He didn't want to wind up as her prey.

"Yip!" Deb tried to object as she saw Nick start to back up. She stepped forward slowly trying not to startle him further.

"SQUEEK!" But Nick saw her coming forward as an act of hostility. The mouse bolted at full speed through the grass. He suddenly became happy that the grass was taller than him. It gave him a form of cover as he disappeared; taking off as fast as he could deeper into the forest.

"Yip arrrrrrrrf!" Deb called out after Nick. She ran forward slightly as she saw him take off further into the woods. However looking around she had no idea which way he had gone. She didn't understand what had happened but... Why would he run off like that!? She could understand being scared, but she was scared too! At this point the best thing they could do was stick together until they could find help!

Yet, now she was alone. Deb sat back down and sighed. What was she to do? There was no way for her to find Nick now. The small mouse had taken off. She really hoped that he would be okay on his own. A little mouse alone in the big forest? It didn't sound safe. Maybe his nervousness might help him look out for danger. For now she was forced to look out for herself. Even if she knew the way to walk back to town she couldn't help. She supposed for now it was best to just focus on survival. How did a fox survive in the wild?

She supposed Nick had it easier there. A mouse would just have to find nuts and berries to eat. What did foxes eat though? She slowly stood up and walked deeper into the forest. She supposed she was about to find out.