I picked up my cellphone and answered. To my surprise, it was Vin, Ness' boyfriend. I had forgotten he was in the area and visiting that weekend.
"Hey, Pamii, sorry if I woke you but Ness insisted that I call."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, he said he wouldn't say until you came over. Can you?"
"Uh, yeah, I'll be there soon, just give me a minute to get ready."
"Great! See you soon!"
I said goodbye and hung up. I was somewhat surprised and confused. Vin seemed pretty unfazed by my voice being different. Also, he was right there with Ness. Is Ness in my body, now? I'd assume so, given the fact that I was in his. At first I thought that this was a typical swap for him. I've seen them happen before with Ness. We've done it before, even. But people always knew what bodies were our original ones. And on top of that, there were the changes in my house. I had more questions than I started with! I had hoped that the phone conversation would clear things up but instead it was just the opposite. I would just have to go down to Ness' house and see what he wanted to talk to me about.
I put my phone in my pocket and grabbed my keys and wallet, before heading out the front door. I didn't get far off the front steps until I noticed the moped in my driveway. I didn't own a moped!
Well, last I knew, I didn't own a moped. But then again, last I knew, I wasn't a raccoon, yet I woke up as one! I remembered that Ness had one as well. Maybe I got it along with his body in this swap. As I thought about it, I wondered how many more changes like this I would encounter.
I walked up to the moped and looked more closely at it. It certainly looked to be the same kind of moped that Ness had. I didn't know how to drive one of these. I never even rode a bicycle before! Growing up as a taur, you don't really have the ability to use these sorts of things. Yes, there are similar vehicles designed with taurs in mind, but since we-err, perhaps "they"-tend to be a smaller market, there wasn't as many available for them and they tended to be hasty conversions from their biped-focused counterparts than quality designed-from-the-ground-up-for-taurs machines. Taurs tended to favor walking from place to place anyway, while using public transportation for longer trips. Given the body type, they're better built for footing it. Cities and towns also realized this a while back, so busses, taxis, trains, and other mass transit vehicles tended to cater to the taur body type more heavily. Bipeds still used it, of course, but with taur-accessibility built in, you had more room for everyone.
I decided against attempting to use the moped, given my lack of experience. I didn't want to get Ness' body injured or wreck the moped. I was sure we would be swapping back somewhat soon, so I didn't want to leave him with any major injuries to have to deal with. He is my friend and I didn't want to be careless.
I walked a bit down the street to the bus stop. I had become very familiar with the bus routes and used them often over the years. I even got to know the drivers, and ended up on a first name basis with some of them. As I waited, I became lost in thought about the day's events so far, so I almost didn't notice that the bus pulled up until I heard the sound of its breaks as it settled into a stop and the doors opened.
As I snapped to awareness, I saw Greg at the wheel. He typically had the weekends in the morning. Through habit, greeted him like I typically did. As soon as I stepped on the platform, I became aware that this is the first person I ran into today as a non-taur raccoon. I realized that he probably didn't even know who I was! I started to try and think of something to explain why I knew his name or maybe make an excuse, but before I could even get anything out, he replied back.
"Hi, Pamii! How are you this morning? You seemed a bit lost in thought, there."
I stammered a little in reply. "Oh, yeah, heh. I'm doing ok, just was daydreaming a bit, is all, Greg." That seemed to satisfy him. He replied:
"Oh, ok. Just was curious. I was wondering if I was going to have to come down and pull that ringed tail of yours onto the bus!" He chuckled a little bit at his jest.
I responded with a slight chuckle, "Heheh, sorry about that. Thanks!"
As I started to walk past him, he responded "Not a problem! Just have a seat and we'll get you to where you're going!" Then he checked to see if anyone else was waiting at the stop, closed the doors, and started driving again.
I made my way towards the back of the bus, where there were less people. I sat down and tried to collect my thoughts. My heart was still racing a little bit from being caught by surprise by Greg, so I took some deep breaths and tried to force myself to relax. Based on that interaction, I figured it would be safe to assume that everyone that I knew previously still will recognize me, even though I'm in Ness' body now. On top of that, they see that I'm in a raccoon's body, and even think that it's normal, as if it had always been the case! Greg wouldn't have joked about pulling my ringed tail if I looked like a huskytaur to him. This certainly wasn't a normal swap. I couldn't figure anything more out, so I decided to try and relax and enjoy the ride. Maybe Ness would have some more answers about what's going on.