File type: Text File (.txt) [Download]
-----------------------------------------
Rico practically sprinted to his apartment door when he heard the doorbell's chime. It was here! It was finally here! Days ago he had ordered a set of body paints. Not many people knew this about Rico, but body painting fascinated him. He'd seen what people could do with the human body as a canvas, and he'd always wanted to try it out. This was his chance.

Opening his front door, he found the mail person had already left, a medium-sized cardboard box sitting at his doorstep. Practically bouncing, he happily picked it up and heaved the heavy thing to his art room. Really, it was the second bedroom, but he didn't exactly have a roommate, so an art room it became!

Carefully cutting through the box's tape, Rico pulled out the instructions, brush, and seven small cans of body paint. Examining the label on each, he noticed each was named after an animal. Otterly Ochre, Cloppin' Chamoisee, and so forth. Pushing the instructions to the side (as if he even needed instructions for how to use paint), Rico quickly picked out Pawprint Pink and pulled out the brush.

What to paint first? The name of the paint gave him an idea of having cute little pawpads on his hands, making him giggle. Might as well! Rico slowly and carefully painted little pawpads on his palms and fingers, one hand at a time. Setting down the brush to admire his work, Rico smiled. They looked so cute! And... oddly realistic.

Then, the fur sprouted. Rico stared in shock as his hands shifted, his fingers growing shorter and thicker as the pink pads bubbled out into actual pawpads. His hands, now no longer quite hands, were growing white fur and morphing into something between a cat's paws and a human's fingers. His pinky finger even shrunk down and moved off to the side, just like on an actual cat's paw. His fingernails sharpened, got covered in skin and fur, and then started to feel weird. Experimentally, he flexed the paws. Claws erupted from the tips of his new stubby fingers before retracting again when he stopped flexing. The fur, meanwhile, continued up his arms before stopping at his shoulders.

Rico had paws. Touching them to his face, they felt... weird. And... sort of nice. Rico had always thought it might be neat to see what it would be like to have certain animal parts... his eyes were drawn to the paints again. He needed to try more. It was... almost a compulsion. Rico stripped in preparation for a full-body painting. This was gonna be so cool!!

Reaching for Cloppin' Chamoisee, Rico quickly grabbed the brush again, now magically clean, and got to work on his feet, painting cute little horse hooves and excitedly watching as his feet and legs stretched, his toes merging into the length as his toenails overtook the tips and thickened into black, solid hooves. Brownish fur cascaded up his legs as they took on a more horse-like appearance, yet stayed just human enough for bipedal locomotion.

Rico giggled happily and felt his new hooves with his paws. So weird... so cool! He needed more. More!!!

This time, he reached for Creamy Carmine, which had an image of a cow on the front. Rico doodled a quick little udder on his belly, which swiftly ballooned out into a cute little cow udder. Rico happily rubbed the new addition before thinking about a tail. Reaching over, he picked out Otterly Ochre and just covered his backside in the paint. At this point, who cared about painting? He just wanted to be the coolest hybrid ever! His back erupted into brown fur, cascading down to his rear as his spine extended an inch, then a foot, then four feet until he had a long, adorable otter tail. Yes... yes! Rico moved his new appendage up, then down then in a little circle happily before bringing it to his front so he could hug it.

Rico was quickly snatched from his tail hugs by that desire again. The desire to change more. Piggy Peach, perhaps? He knew just what to change. Quickly covering his nose in the peach-colored paint, he watched in glee as his nose pushed upwards, then out, flattening in front as his nostrils grew larger, giving him an adorable piggy nose, which he happily snorted. A quick glance at the paints revealed his next target: Banana-eatin' Brown. He didn't care too much about the remainder of his torso changing much, but a little change would be nice. Rico applied the substance to his chest, and all the areas around his udder, giggling as the front of his torso took on a more simian shape. The change was subtle, and mostly added fur, but it was there.

One last paint can was left unused, and his ears were practically screaming to be changed. Dipping the brush into the can of Bunny Bronze, Rico quickly got to work on his ears, giggling as he felt them lengthen and become covered in fur. Wiggling his new ears, he was completely estatic. With an excited giggle, Rico practically pronked out of the room on his new hooves, eager to share his new, beautiful form with the world. Off in the corner of the now-empty art room sat a set of instructions, long since forgotten. On the first page, a warning: CHANGES MAY BE PERMANENT IF MULTIPLE PAINTS ARE APPLIED TO THE SAME BODY.

But even if Rico saw the warning, he probably wouldn't care now. He was adorable, and he was happy with his new look.