Izzy: she/her
Emi: she/they
Deacon: he/him

New canon unlocked: Izzy has boots for feet because she’s a silly billy (it’s ok she doesn’t mind!)

———

“Emi!! Deacon!! Look!!”

Izzy burst through the front door and rushed into the living room with the sound of heavier-than-normal footsteps following her. Her long axolotl tail swished behind her as she presented herself to her tanuki and shark partners, curled up on the couch watching TV.

Emi yawned and sat up, pushing herself out from under Deacon’s arm. “You’ve been down in your lab all day. What have you been-“

“So, okay, uh,” the eager gadgeteer interrupted. “Axolotl feet aren’t exactly super compatible with living on land, right? I’m always slippin’ and slidin’ all over the place and stuff.”

Deacon rolled his eyes. “Right… Which is why we always tell you to-“

“Yeah, so, I had an idea!” She lifted up her left foot and placed the heel on the coffee table. “Check this out!”

The shirtless shark sat forward and squinted. “Um… nice boots?” He complimented, cocking an eyebrow. Sure enough, Izzy’s foot was clad in a thick pink boot, with few features to speak of apart from the ridged rubber sole on the bottom. “They match your skin colour though! That’s cool.”

“Well, yeah, ‘cause…” She pulled back the overalls covering her leg right up to her knee, and to the others’ surprise, there didn’t seem to be any visible gap between the boot and her calf. There was no way to tell where her leg ended and the boot began. “It IS my skin! This is my foot!!” She gave the toe an affirmative tap.

“Huh?” The tanuki and shark both groaned in unison.

“Go on, touch it!”

Deacon scrunched his face. “Hun, I’m not sure if I wanna-“

Emi, however, was all too eager, leaping out of her feet and knocking against the toe of the axolotl’s foot with a curled fist and tapping the sole. It felt like a real boot; the main part was stiff and leathery while the underside was rubbery and a little softer. Izzy giggled as her partner’s paw graced her strangely-shaped foot, leading Emi to assume the axolotl could still feel with her new feet. “How in the heck did you do this??” She asked, a mix of confusion and wonder warbling her voice.

“Oh, that’s boring. Though I couldn’t have done it without Remy’s electric channelling. Wish I could do that myself. That’d make things so much easier…” She shook her head as she pulled her foot away and excitedly stomped both her clompy boot feet on the rug on the floor. “But I figured, boots would help me get around easier, y’know?”

“R-right,” Deacon stuttered, pressing a pair of fingers to his temple. “So why didn’t you just… buy a pair of boots?”

“Uhm.” The axolotl tapped her chin. “‘Cause turning my feet into boots whenever I want sounds more convenient!”

“So you can turn your feet back into, uh, feet?”

“Yes!” She proclaimed confidently… before her shoulders slumped and she let out a nervous chuckle. “No.”

“Whaddaya mean, ‘no?’”

“Turning my feet into shoes was the easy part, but it’s not like, when you turn something into something else, that something’s form is stored somewhere for easy reversal whenever you wanna undo it, y’know?”

Emi shook her head with a worried smile. “So, your real feet are… lost?”

“…Yeah.”

“So you’re stuck with boots for feet.”

“Yeah.”

Deacon sighed. “Oh, Izzy.”

“What?? I got excited. Besides,” Izzy shrugged, trying to find the silver lining in this strange scenario. “It’s not like this is necessarily a bad thing.”

“Yeah, I suppose heavy duty stompers are better for land than axolotl feet,” Emi empathised, “but-“

“Really, don’t worry. This is no big deal, okay? It’s a bit silly but at least I’m not like Beau, with nothing between his legs or anything. I don’t need smelly old toes.” She threw her hands behind her head and wandered into the kitchen. “Hey, what’s for lunch?” She beamed, as of her predicament had already been banished from her mind.

“Hey wait!” Deacon leapt to his feet. “This just like that one movie, Overcast with a Chance of Rissoles! You remember th-“

Izzy’s head poked out from around the corner with a dirty snarl. “IT’S LIKE WHAT.”

“It-“ The shark felt like his life was suddenly in danger. “It’s like… Obercast with-“

“NO. BAD SHARK. I HATE THAT MOVIE.” She thrust a pointed finger in his direction. “SAY THAT AGAIN AND I’LL KICK YOUR ASS.”

And despite the axolotl being half his size, Deacon, for a fleeting moment, believed her.