It was a pleasant springtime day, the sort where going for a walk in the park with your boyfriend was a romantic and enjoyable way to spend the day - so Kay and Violet were doing just that.
Kay was a well-built and fairly tall black furred kangaroo, evident even below his grey t-shirt, his long tail trailing from the back of his jeans and blue hair flowing down his back unrestrained, a handsome specimen. Violet however, was a little shorter, and a little slimmer, the slender lilac-scaled and purple-haired dragon more likely to be described as beautiful or cute, even by those who weren't mistaking him for female thanks to his androgynous build and manner of dress. Light lavender robes edging hung loosely on his frame, veils running from his wrists to just above his tail, and a small face veil made the dragon give off the impression of a belly dancer, as well as making him very much live up to his name. It certainly helped the 'cute' factor, which is exactly what the violet coloured drake planned.
The black-furred kangaroo held the hand of his purple-skinned dragon lover, feeling the warmth of the sun on his darker fur. His reptilian boyfriend was enjoying that warmth far more than him, of course, meaning Kay was considering removing his shirt.
"You're thinking about taking off your shirt again aren't you?" Violet smirked from behind his transparent veil.
"...Yeah."
"I know you wanna show that handsome bod off, hot stuff, but you know how awkward it can get... How about you save it until later, just for me?"
"I'll hold you to that as long as you're shirtless too, at least... But it's a little unfair, everyone gets to see how cute you are," Kay noted, ruffling a hand through the shorter purple hair of his boyfriend.
"Ack, and your fix to that is trying to make me look cuter?!" Violet gently swatted the laughing Kangaroo's hand away.
The park was as busy as one would expect: kids playing, families picnicking, other couples walking around, all shapes and sizes. The pair found themselves wandering past a display of statues and photographs, a short Coyote sitting at a table where signs displayed prices.
"Hey, these are all pretty cool," Violet noted, studying the works on display.
There were a quartet of sculptures each depicting a pair of nude statues displayed as one work. Two handsome male foxes in bronze giving cheeky grins while holding hands, a pair of marble lionesses sticking tongues out and making fake rabbit-ear peace signs behind each other, a male wolf and a tiger in a rubbery black with arms around each others shoulders - the latter a little androgynous bar his prominent pouch, and a buff Griffin with a beautiful Dragoness girlfriend locked in a tight embrace, looking almost real bar the sheen of plastic..
The pictures displayed many couples, including four frames marked out and showing the same couples as the statues. The photos however were mostly clothed. Only the lionesses of the statue-couples apparently posed nude.
"Guess they must have been the models for the statues?" Kay wondered.
"That's correct, sir, you and your pretty partner seem to have a keen eye!" The Coyote smiled.
"So what's the story with these photos and statues, friend?" Violet asked.
"I'm a photographer professionally, and a sculptor as a hobby, working in many mediums as you can see. And my passion is for handsome and cute couples - like yourselves, if I may be so bold. I just find it rewarding to try and capture the love and devotion between people in love, in photograph and in statues."
"You only sell the photos then?" Kay said.
"Yes... I've been told the sculptures would fetch far more, but I find myself unable to part with them all - I display them in my gallery. A photograph is about speed, about capturing the moment, or about trying to have the moment posed. It's easy to copy a photograph, but a statue, well... It may sound odd but I feel just a photo isn't enough. It's just a picture of the love the couples share. If I make a statue, I pour love and devotion of my own into it, making it more personal than the snapshots. "
"You use the same models for both?" Violet wondered, looking over some of the other photos.
"Oh yes. I take my photos, and sculpt my works, but not every couple's photograph makes a statue. I try to only take one perfect shot, to get the best base for the statue. I wonder, though, would you two perhaps wish to... model for a photo at least?"
"Ooh! I'd love to, how about you, Kay?" Violet said in excitement.
"Well, it spends time with you, that's what I love doing," Kay winked back.
Despite himself, Violet still felt his cheeks warm with a blush at his handsome Kangaroo's flirting.
"...Do all your statue models pose nude?" Kay then asked.
"Sometimes I just make it up later, though I ask about their likenesses being nude," The coyote said.
"Alright, because a certain someone here doesn't want anyone else seeing me shirtless, apparently."
"If you didn't have a shirt though I'd have to fight off so many people who'd want to take you from me!" Violet mock-whined.
"They'd never manage it, I've already got you, no one else compares. But maybe we let our friend here use his imagination and see what he makes?"
"You really are a wonderful couple. I would so love to make a statue of you too..."
"Alright! We'll pose for you, and we're fine with you making a statue of us if you want! Freebie, though, this guy here, his chest is already pretty scuplted!" Violet winked, causing Kay to blush a little, thankful for his dark fur.
"Wonderful! I'll do my best to capture your love together forever. Here's my card, come to my studio later today if that's okay?"
The couple happily agreed.
The Coyote met them at his door a few hours later, ushering them into his studio.
"So, is your gallery private?" Violet asked.
"Well, I do open to the fee-paying public some days, but once I take the photograph, you can have a look for free, spend as long as you like..." The Coyote said.
The Kangaroo and Dragon were shown to a room with a camera set up on a tripod, bright lights, and a white backdrop. Kay sighed a little at how warm the lights felt.
"Hey, shirt on, we made a deal, buster!" Violet joked.
"I wasn't even thinking about it!" Kay lied.
Violet's smirk let him know he'd spotted the lie, so Kay just stayed silent.
"Now, this won't take long at all. Just pick a pose between you two, I don't like forcing it. Your natural love will come across with your own choices," The Coyote said.
The pair stood close, Kay's right hand up holding Violet's left, their other hands on each others hips, like dancers standing straight. They stared into each others eyes, and were each lost for a few seconds, Kay's red eyes like Rubies, Violet's purple shining like Amethyst.
"Perfect! And hold that..."
The camera flashed, and the pair felt themselves feel a little stiff, but thought nothing of it at first. They were still staring deeply, still felt the warmth of the other's body (Violet still radiating some heat from the sunlight he'd bathed in all day), still smelled each other's scents, the woody cologne of Kay, the earthy-flowery parfum of Violet.
Kay wanted to lean in to kiss his boyfriend.... but found he couldn't move.
'...What?' He thought, alarmed to realise he couldn't even speak.
Couldn't even blink. And given that the glittering eyes of Violet held his frozen gaze without blinking, Kay knew that he and his dragon lover were both afflicted with whatever odd paralysis had hit them.
'Kay?! I can't move, what's happening?!' Violet fretted in his motionless head.
"Wonderful. You'll be breathtaking when you're statues. I just need to do a little prep..." they heard the Coyote say, his voice echoing.
They caught sight of him in peripheral vision and when he was behind the other, taking scissors to their clothing, stripping the paralysed pair to their unvoiced protests. Kay saw most of him first, as the Coyote began cutting at Violet's robes.
'Leave him alone you bastard!' he raged helplessly
"Ah, so you're both males. I was honestly not too sure, you are a very cute dragon, sir," the coyote grinned, as Violet felt mortification at coldness from nudity, but felt a phantom warmth from where he imagine the Coyote's gaze landed
Soon enough, Kay felt his warm fur cooling as his shirt and jeans were shredded, the frozen pair standing in their embrace. They stare unblinking, unbreathing, not even a single hair or scale twitching.
"I am sorry to have misled you a little, but you were so perfect a pair, I had to immortalise you. Why, some day, you may have grown apart! I couldn't risk that. Now you're together forever," The Coyote smiled.
Kay and Violet could only listen as he worked away out of their sight.
"Now, let's see... what material works best?"
'He's making US into the statues?!' Violet realised with shock.
And then there was another flash, and each watched helplessly as before them their lover transformed, shining silverly metal seemingly coating the other from head to toe - and feeling the cool sensation of it flowing up their own bodies. Both wanted to shiver, to try and run, but were locked in place watching the ruby or amethyst eyes turn to mirrors. They now stared into mirror globes that reflected their own steel forms, felt the chill of cold metal rather than the warmth of their lover. And felt both anger and helplessness, rage and sorrow.
"Hm, not too bad, but let's try another..."
With a flash, the steel began shifting, and for a second, each thought they were returning to flesh and scale. But as their black and lilac shades came back, both realised with dismay they were in fact plastic, not flesh. Warmer than the steel, but still colder than life, their glossy eyes not reflecting as well.
"Oh, that's not bad, but maybe something more uniform.
Another flash, and Violet was the one showing the most obvious change - for the black rubber that seemed to be coating over them only flattened out Kay's fur somewhat, already close to his natural shade. Dark rubbery orbs shined staring at each other, the blackness reflecting almost nothing but the shape of themselves in a shadow.
"...No, you two were golden. I've been foolish so far. Love as precious as yours deserves only the best!"
With one more flash, they began turning metal again, this time as if Midas had reached out and caressed them, their bodies becoming the yellow-shine of pure gold.
"Perfect! Let's lock that in!"
One more flash, and they felt not a new change, but an odd tingle.
'What did he do?!' Violet wondered, and Kay gasped mentally.
'Violet? I just heard you! Can you hear me?!'
Violet's mind gave a delighted but slightly hysterical laugh.
'Yes! I can! And this is all my fault, isn't it?!' The dragon said/thought sadly.
'We both agreed, how were we to know this coyote was a mad medusa?!' Kay thought, gently but with some force underlining it.
"By now you may realise you can hear each other, the last part of the work. I don't wish to separate you... and now you're as one, bodies and minds, just one statue, one perfect golden couple. Forever..." The Coyote said.
The pair voiced their angry opinions of the Coyote in their minds, a cathartic excercise, as he pulled over a dolly and began to wheel the sculpture they'd become away.
They were carted past dozens upon dozens of works, each presumably petrified pairings like themselves. What they saw together filled them with more anger, to realise they were just one pair lured in by this Coyote, one pair of many. And likely not the last.
'...We're here forever, aren't we?' Violet shuddered.
'Someone will realise what this sicko's up to soon enough. There's got to be a way to reverse all this," Kay thought.
'I wish I was that confident. But... Kay? I'm glad we can talk at least. And if this is forever, well, at least it's with you.'
Despite his cool golden cheeks, Kay imagined he felt the warmth of a blush spread.
'...Me too.'