It was a nice and peaceful day out, the sun casting it’s blazing light over the park. Underneath a tree sat Barley, an anthropomorphic shark woman with beautiful blond hair and eyes. She was meditating under the tree peacefully, her breathing calm and collected. However, she quickly lost her focus when she heard footsteps behind her. She quickly looked up and peeked around the trunk of the tree, only to spot a familiar-looking face. It was Bisque, her human friend with an odd sense of fashion. 


        “Oh, hey. You scared me for a minute there.” Barley stated, walking over to her friend to greet him, “What’s up?” Bisque chuckled, one hand rubbing the back of his head, “I just wanted to check on you is all, I saw you were around so I figured I’d say hi!” Barley looked him over suspiciously, “Are you sure that’s all?” “Alright, alright you caught my bluff,” Bisque said, humming some sort of strange tune as a box of some sort appeared out of thin air. As he opened it he spoke, “When I was walking around earlier, before I saw you, I spotted a very unusual vendor with a shop set up right in the middle of the park. When I got closer, I noticed they were selling these boxes full of sodas, cherry flavoured to be precise, I wasn’t going to buy any but then I remembered that you love cherry flavoured things so I bought some for you!” He tossed a can to her, “Try it!”


        Barley looked at the can she now held in her claws, it was a brand she had never heard of before. The can was a dark vermillion color, with a design with what looked to be a mix of a dragon and a shrimp on it, with bold text reading “Cherry Melody” plastered on the front. Barley shrugged and pulled the tab on the soda, deciding that nothing seemed ominous about it. She took a small sip just to try it, not expecting it to be anything special, but found herself pleasantly surprised. The drink was sweet, tasting mostly like cherry as one would expect, but also with a hint of vanilla. 


        “Thank you Bisque! These are amazing!” She stated cheerfully, not noticing the strange stretching sensations in her joints. Barely was always taller than Bisque, towering over him at seven feet tall, but she seemed just slightly taller than usual after trying the drink, although Bisque shook this off as just his imagination. Barley licked her lips and chugged the mysterious drink, finishing it relatively quickly and crushing the can between her hands, placing it back in the original box. She was considering grabbing another can, but as she looked over at Bisque, she noticed he looked much smaller than usual, in fact, everything did! She hadn’t grown incredibly big, only about four feet larger, but it was still quite alarming. 


        “Bisque, what happened!?” She asked, alarmed, trying not to knock anything over with her new size, she crouched over to hear her tiny friend. “I-I don’t know!” Bisque stuttered, slightly intimidated by his friends’ new size. “It must have been something in the soda!” He exclaimed. “Well then, it’s not like I can do anything about it,” Barley shrugged, “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to drink another, I mean maybe it was just the one can-” She began to reach for the box, although Bisque showed visible concern on his face. Barley noticed this and nudged him gently, “Hey, don’t look so down!” she said, downing another can. She quickly grew to a whopping seventeen feet, “Whoops…” she said, giggling slightly. 


        Bisque looked up at her with a mix of fear and curiosity in his eyes. “You’re so tiny now,” Barley teased, poking at Bisque with a claw, her small friend tumbling to the ground. Barley giggled again, “I kind of like this actually, you look so adorable at this size!” “This size?” Bisque quipped, “You’re the one changing sizes here!” “Maybe so,” Barley responded, eyeing the soda box again. Bisque’s eyes followed her gaze until she spoke again, “Hey, hand me another soda, will you?” “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Bisque said, grabbing another soda and tossing it to his friend. 


        Barley crushed the can between her fingers and let the drink spill into her mouth, growing nine feet taller by the time she swallowed it. “Thanks,” Barley said with a wink, tail wagging. Bisque sighed, “Let me guess, you want another?” Upon hearing that, his friend flashed him a toothy grin. 


He anticipated he was going to be there for a while.