The terminal responds with a chirp as you tap your phone against it to pay. The shiny bat smiles at you and your friend and then leaves to prepare your drinks.
A few minutes later, you’re sat across from the furred bengal tiger at a table just large enough for 2 people. They take a sip from their spiced mocha as you glance down at the polished steel canister in your puffy paw. You look up and look around at the other patrons in the cafe: a furred binturong typing away at a laptop, an inflatable otter with a phone in one paw and a canister just like yours in the other, 2 shiny pandas deep in conversation. You return to your tank and bring the nozzle to your lips. A gentle press of the button, a quiet hiss,, and your mouth is filled with the spice of flavored neon. You squeak happily and swallow, feeling your vinyl skin grow just a little tighter. You give a satisfied “sqrrk”. They giggle and you feel your ears grow warm with a blush. You’ve always liked places like this; furs and inflatables mingling together and enjoying food and drinks. Behind the counter, you can spot the mixed machinery for preparing drinks for furs and gases for inflatables. They did seem to have quite a few more tanks than grinders though. These kinds of cafes always did have fewer furs, but you’d noticed more of them joining in the past few weeks.
“Wanna head back to my place tonight?” they ask. They’ve got a chocolate milk mustache right below their nose.
You nod and then the two of you finish up. They take their cup and your tank back to the counter and then the two of you walk out into the afternoon sun, your skin just a little more tight than when you entered.
#inflatable #furry #ShortStory