Alex turned at the sound of footsteps to see a pair of shemales standing behind her. The one on the left was tall and blonde, muscular in an athletic way. The brunette beside her was shorter and mousier, the glasses she wore giving off a librarian look.
"I hope we're not interrupting," said the blonde, "but we were hoping to use the press."
"Not trouble at all." Alex replied. "I was just trying to find out more about it. Seeing someone actually get…petified would certainly help."
"Dianne, Ella, I see you two finally came to a decision. Do you have all the paperwork finished?"
"Right here Paulette." the blonde said, pulling a quarter inch thick stack of paperwork out of her satchel.
While Paulette scanned through it, I asked, "So which one of you is becoming a pet?"
"I am." the mousy brunette said. "I've wanted to be one for a long time, but you have to be over 18 and all…and….well…"
"Ella was scared about not knowing her owner." The blonde, apparently Dianne, finished as she wrapped an arm around Ella's shoulder. "When she found out I was looking for a pet she jumped, literally, at the opportunity."
"You were so nice to me in high school, even though you were a jock and I was a…a…"
"Nerd?" Dianne kissed Ella on the cheek. "You have to remember some jocks like brainy girls. I was honestly flattered you wanted to be my pet."
"Getting to sit around and read all day, not to mention playing with you, would be a dream come true."
"Just remember, I'll be dragging you along to my 6 AM runs just like all the other shemales with pets. I know how much you like to sleep in, but you have to hold up your side of the bargain."
"I will, as long as you give me a bath afterward. With lots of bubbles."
They kissed again, breaking apart as Paulette said, "It looked like all the paperwork is in order. I'll get it notarized and then Ella can step into the press. Joyce!" The last word she yelled deeper into the store.
There was a blur of motion and suddenly a burst of color was sitting on the counter. Joyce seemed to have been through the press herself, now resembling a cross between a human and a parrot. She had wings instead of arms, covered in swirls of red, blue, and yellow feathers. More feathers clung to the undersides of her breasts. A long clutch of them fell from just above her butt, the parrot-shemale's tail falling almost to her feet. These too had changed, with two gripping toes in front and two in back. Each toe was tipped by a wickedly sharp claw.
"Your notary is a pet?" Alex asked skeptically.
"There are a few exceptions to the no jobs thing I mentioned earlier. Almost all our transactions require one, due to the serious implications. They also tend to happen at random times, depending on customer wants. Keeping a full time notary around would be expensive, not to mention we'd need more than one to cover all shifts without breaking a ton of labor laws. Joyce here is a perfect solution. She lives over in the bird section so she's always available and we literally pay her in crackers."
"Crackers, crackers." the bird shemale echoed. "Joyce wants crackers."
"You'll get your crackers, silly bird, when we're done. You have to work for them, remember?"
Joyce turned to Ella. "You wanna get pressed, it's fun in the press."
Ella nodded. "I do."
"Paperwork check out?"
This time it was Paulette's turn to nod. "It does."
"Then let's get squishin." Joyce flipped to the last page of the document before pulling something out of her feathers with a dexterous foot. It appeared to be a small stamp. Joyce pressed it into a square on the last page before returning the stamp to her feathers. "Squish time now, have fun." Joyce turned to Paulette. "Work done, you owe me crackers."
"Let me get Ella into the press, then I'll feed you until you're too fat to fly."
Ella and Dianne kissed on last time before the former followed Paulette through a swinging door.