Toronto 11:00 AM
Leo and Aeris walked down the sidewalk towards the center of town. Leo was hesitant about making Aeris walk the whole way, but he didn't have a car and while he was pretty well off he didn't want to waste money on a cab. As they walked, Aeris constantly bombarded Leo with questions: "What is that?" "What does he do?" "Why is that creepy guy poking that kid with a spoon?" and "Why are we walking faster?"
Leo patiently answered all of her questions, maybe not in an entirely truthful manner, but he answered them anyway. Leo couldn't resist the small smile tugging at his lips as he looked down at the kitten skipping happily beside him. Truth be told, he was just happy to see Aeris smile. Aeris had just run into trouble with her last job and got disciplined for it. She was lucky to still have it even, not many places will keep you on after you empty a customer's drink over their head, twice. At least the bar was generous on sick days, Leo had called in saying Aeris had fallen ill and he was afraid it was contagious, not exactly a lie either, and that she would be gone for an undisclosed period of time. As luck would have it, the bar staff had just finished passing around a bad stomach bug and had just gotten well right before hiring Aeris, and they did not want a repeat of that fiasco, so they bought it hook, line, and sinker.
Leo led Aeris into the mall and into Brats 'R' us, a store specializing in children's clothing and toys. "Ok Aeris, let's find you some clothes. You can pick out what ever you like. You need a few pairs of regular clothes, some pajamas, and a pair of play clothes." He told the wonderstruck kitten beside him. She turned to him with a look of complete disbelief. "Really?" Leo just nodded his head in response. Aeris squealed with glee as she ran into the clothes section with the speed of an Olympic runner. Leo chuckled and followed her in.
Aeris was not one to spend a lot of time on a decision. Even as a small kitten, she walked through the clothing and just picked up the ones she liked and left the ones she didn't. Leo was actually surprised when he noticed most, if not all, of her shirts had actually come from the boy's clothing section instead of the girls. He had kind of figured that since this version of Aeris was extremely happy and bright, that she would also be girly. It was reassuring to see that the Aeris he knew was not a recent development.
Leo and Aeris made their way to the check out to pay for their goods. As they walked Aeris spotted something out of the corner of her eye and ran off to grab it. "Hey, Aeris! Where are you going?" Leo called in slight distress, as he couldn't just run after her while holding the clothes. He didn't have to worry though as Aeris returned shortly with a stuffed animal in her hands. Aeris walked shyly up to Leo and mumbled something he couldn't quite catch. "What was that? You need to speak up." He asked. "Um, I really, really hate to ask since you have been so nice to me, but could you please buy this too?" She asked as she held up the stuffed animal. It was a grey cat with a blue shirt on. Leo didn't know why the store would even carry something like that, although when he thought about the other toys they carried he decided to forget about it. "All right, but you have to promise to take care of it." He told the kitten, all while trying to sound very serious, and failing. "I promise!" She said, almost in fear of losing it.
Leo paid for their items and left the store. It was about lunchtime by now so he took her to the food court. They each got a slice of pizza and sat down at the able. Leo couldn't help but smile, Aeris had insisted on carrying her new friend with her the moment they left the store and was now eating her pizza with it sitting in her lap. 'I should be recording this for blackmail once she is back to normal.' His grin quickly faded as a terrifying thought hit him. 'What if she never goes back to normal? What if this is permanent?' He thought, and honestly, the thought terrified him. Aeris had always been there to help him with the hard decisions. Even with the ones he made on his own, Aeris was still someone he could fall back on if it went wrong. 'I've been doing pretty well with not messing this up so far. But what if I goof this up and she gets hurt?'
Leo was brought out of his darkening thoughts by a small pair of hands rapping around his neck. Aeris had climbed onto the table and was now hugging him as if he would disappear. "Aeris, what's wrong?" He asked in concern as he returned the hug. "You looked sad. I don't like it when you are sad." Aeris said with a bit of a sniffle in her voice. Leo picked her up and set her on the table facing him. "It's ok. I'm not sad, maybe a little scared, but not sad. It's nothing you need to worry about. So wipe that frown off and be happy. Let's throw away our garbage and I'll take you to the park." Leo said as he picked her up off the table and set her on the floor. When Leo said the word "park" Aeris' eyes lit up like beacons. "Yay! Park!" She cheered as they walked out of the mall.
They arrived at the park without incident and Aeris walked off to go a round on the swings while Leo sat on the bench and checked his watch. "1:53. Seven minutes and he's late." Leo mumbled as he searched for his friend. "Why don't people ever, oh I don't know, look up?" He heard a voice say from above. In slight panic Leo looked up and saw what he was looking for. In the tree branch sat Pantsman, the city's best, and unfortunately only, "hero".
"So what's this emergency you called about? Xbox lose its save files?" Pantsman said as he dropped onto the bench next to Leo. Leo only responded by pointing at Aeris as she happily swung back and forth. "Uh… dude, that's a kitten, a young cat. Nothing to worry about." Pantsman said in slight irritation. Leo sighed and began to explain the situation to his friend. "Look closer, notice any similarities?" Leo asked the stumped pantsed crusader. Pantsman squinted his eyes for a bit then turned back to Leo in disbelief. "She looks like Aeris. Did Aeris have a- No! You two didn't…" Leo was quick to correct this misunderstanding. "No! Loom closer, that IS Aeris!" He growled at Pantsman. Pantsman stared at her for a bit more than started laughing.
"Wow dude, you must have been more wasted than I was last night. You really think your roommate somehow regressed almost by almost thirteen years and is now a kitten? How retarded are you?" He asked between giggle fits. Leo resisted the urge to channel his inner Aeris and smash his chortling friend's skull in. "I'm serious! Last night Aeris and I got into a fight and she locked herself in her room. I went to check on her later and instead of Aeris, I found her. And to top it all off, she says she is Aeris and apparently can remember some basic things like names and such." Leo explained to Pantsman. "And there is no chance she snuck out and decided to play a prank on you?" Pantsman asked, his skepticism still high. "Yes, the windows in her room don't open, and she couldn't have left the house without me noticing." Leo concluded his argument. Pantsman mulled it over in his head for a bit then sighed. "And I am guessing you want me to help try and find out what happened to her, and how to change her back?" He said in a dejected voice. Leo nodded in response. He sighed. "All right then. I guess the first thing we need to do is see if she really is Aeris." He said as he started forming a plan in his head. "How?" Leo asked as he had tried to answer that question himself, with no results. "I know a guy that will probably be right at home helping us with this. He wont be happy to see me, but he'll help." Pantsman said as he stood up from the bench. "Cool, when do we meet him?" Leo asked as he stood up and they started to go ad collect Aeris. "Right now, better to just get it over with." Pantsman replied.
Author's note:
Woot! some funny stuff/fluffy stuff. Now to solve the mystery. Just a heads up, OCs ahead. I mainly have them in it because none of the normal characters fit what I needed, so I added my own. Also, on another note, in the first and possibly second chapter Aeris talks with a noticeable lisp and what not that young children tend to have. She still has it, but I have just been forgetting to write it that way, so I will be going into the chapter later, possibly after the whole thing is done, and giving her the young child speak the story deserves. But until then. Onward, to victory!