A New Hat Trick

(contains human to anthro tiger fursona TF)

Commission for Max-O-Zuma

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Selling hats at a convention. What an unusually quaint idea. Shiftcon had given itself the impression that it was more towards a fantasy-furry kind of theme. Of course, whatever dunderhead was organizing this event barely made anything specifically known about it. While there was its fair share of fuzzy suiters and animal people's art, they were mingling with anime and sci-fi cosplayers too. No one seemed to mind since it made for some really wild photo opportunities.

The variety of goods to be had inside the dealer’s den was no exception. A bit of headwear was not the strangest commodity Max had seen this morning, but they easily caught his attention. He could probably never afford a fur suit, but hats never went out of style. Something with a good, classy design was all the young man needed to stand out, especially when it matched his brown hair and blue eyes.

This table had such a hat. Hanging off an outer peg beckoning to Max was an orange-colored trilby with a black band. His eyes hovered over this perfect specimen of fashion for longer than he cared to admit until a gentle nudge from passing con-goers snapped him back to reality. The proprietor of this stand was already busy interacting with some girls interested in animal eared hats. It was a wonder they could conduct any business dressed as a mouse partial with a collar suit. Those giant mascot heads were hard to see out of.

Still, there were plenty of vanity mirrors hanging around. As long as he did not look ready to run off with it, they probably would not mind. Just enough logic for Max to pluck the hat off for a test run. It was only when his hands slipped through them he noticed there were some decent sized holes cut into the rim. Looking back, he noticed one of the customer girls was wearing a pair of large wolf ears. Both she and her friend seemed elated to find they flicked about almost perfectly to her emotions.

Talk about a clever marketing twist; selling animatronic ears and hats to fit around them. Max was sorely tempted to go for the bundle package already. But first he slipped in front of a mirror, letting the trilby drop atop his head. Just like he expected the thing looked positively perfect on him. Its bright orange blended perfectly with his eyes, meshing seamlessly with his hair. Some quick turns left and right allowed him to admire what the brim’s front slop did to his profile. Too bad he did not have a striped suit to go with it. Dressing in a complete tiger theme to match the tiger ears would be a great way to stand out among furries.

Max froze as something about his reflection suddenly felt off. Blue eyes sparkled in the glass as they shifted their gaze towards the top of his head. Poking out the hat’s pre-cut holes was a pair of exceptionally fuzzy rounded ears. They reacted almost immediately upon being noticed, swiveling to face their lobes forward with curiosity. Definitely some impressive technology for them to react in time with his thoughts, but Max was certain he hadn’t put on animatronics at any point during this con.

“Ow!” Okay, trying to forcefully yank them off was a painful mistake. Max recoiled, cradling the tiger lobes trying to ease their ache. Slowly the eyes of his reflection grew to the size of dinner plates with a sunning realization. Hands drifted down to the sides of his head no longer finding the usual drooping human ears, just flat skin covered in soft orange fur. “What the-nya!?”

“Gah! Careful buddy.”

Max tried to back away from the mirror as if that was some way to escape the strange series of afflictions imposed on his reflection. In doing so he ended up backing into a woman strolling past lost in their own shopping. He retreated to the mirror, offering his best apologetic smile over his shoulder. The woman raised a quizzical eyebrow but decided not to halt her walk and soon vanished into the roaming herd of shoppers.

It was pretty clear what perturbed her when Max took fresh stock of his reflection. His sideburns had been converted into a fine pelt of orange fur that continued to spread across his neck and eyes like some kind of mask. This changed drastically to a snowy white around his mouth down the front of his throat. A pair of black stripes grew out along his dimples like some kind of divider between the two sharp colors, yet his hair remained brown and fairly untransformed.

“HRRK!?” The rest of Max’s face, on the other hand, still had some apparent changes to suffer through. He could only stare dumbfounded at the mirror while his lower jaw clicked and flopped about barely under his control. The entire structure of the man’s skull was changing, elongating into a wide blunt snout. Thick fiber whiskers sprouted out the sides of his upper lip before the nose bridge popped into a slow extension. Eyes went crossed to observe his own nostrils creeping into the bottom field of his vision. The skin turned to a wet rough black texture as Max felt his nose become flush with his upper jaw. He tried to utter a few more words, but his tongue was too short to function, needing a few extra seconds to catch up with a much bigger mouth. All the loose lip flapping made him notice the many rows of sharp fangs his teeth with shaping into.

Max’s reflection lifted a hand to feel the ends of his distinct tiger muzzle. It was a shockingly familiar face he never expected to see in such a realistic fashion. Almost every furry had an anthropomorphic representation of themselves, but few got to experience the warmth of their own fur.

A bit of whisker poking made Max eventually take notice of his hand itself. The fingers grew tipped in sharp claws while the fingers and palms had swollen with plush black pads. More of the snow white fur covered it and his other changed hand like a glove. Pulling back the sleeves confirmed they only traveled halfway up the forearm before going to the orange and black stripped tiger patterns.

He was not about to strip in the dealer’s den, but Max could tell by the itching that fur was sprouting all over. A sharp pop in his lower back caused him to lean against the table with a groan. Something extra thin and fluffy slinked its way out Max’s pants to swish gently across his butt. Twisting to get a view, he was barely surprised to have grown a tiger’s tail. He was more taken aback his jeans had somehow gained an accommodating hole for it.

There was little time to consider that when hard cramps seized his feet. Max kicked off his shoes, anticipating what was to come. Not a moment later, his heels gave a series of sharp pops that reconfigured them into high arches off the ground. The front of his feet swelled to compensate with toes inflating into round golf balls straining their cotton socks. His coverings lasted a few seconds but soon as sickled claws grew out the bulbous meatballs everything exploded in a mess of cotton scraps. Max shuffled awkwardly trying to adjust walking on the toes of his new cat paws feeling his facial fur burn red.

“HEY!”

“NYA!” Max nearly tripped right off said paws staggering for balance with his stripped tail sticking straight up, fur puffed on end to make it look extremely thick.

The table’s mouse dealer seemed to have finally noticed the transformation completing its course on the poor attendee. Her green eyes were narrowed with ears folded back in a scowl. It made Max realize she was also not in a suit; a kind of ‘no duh’ moment after what he had just been through. If not for the spontaneous transformation, he might have found her mixed humanoid features adorable.

Not that the mouse found any of this amusing either. A finger stiffly jabbed its manicured claw at a sign that Max was fairly sure had not been under the mirror before.

‘Magic transformation hats contain one charge only! You wear it; you buy it.’

Max read the sign six times over, glancing up at his reflection each time. The shock wore off fast. All things consider he liked how the hat matched his looks even more now. A sentiment he carried when turning to give a toothy smile to the little mouse girl.

“Do you take credit cards?”