A man and a woman lounge by their favorite fountain in the park, looking out to its denizens with smiles on their faces. To all the rest of the world, it looks like they are playing some sort of word game, but the truth Is a little more magical.

"Pan." "Nail." "Lightbulb." "Bathtub." "Bust." "Teddy." "Damn, pass. I wanted her, too."

The man, Thomas Westling, sticks out his tongue at his partner in crime, Ramona Hardy. She responds by sending a smug grin his way. Then she lifts a hand towards the jogger they'd sighted.

Immediately, the woman's run slows to a staggered halt. Sweat beads on her face as she begins to feel singularly uncomfortable, an odd sensation sweeping throughout her form. Before she can quite place it, she coughs, and a puff of cotton flies out from her mouth.

The jogger has just enough time to begin to panic before her whole form begins to shrink, furry hairs jabbing out from her pores and making her unbearably itchy as her clothes billow out around her; as the world grows larger and larger.

Here, she tries to scream, but opening her mouth only causes another torrent of stuffing to erupt from past her lips. Her silent scream is followed by a hard fall onto the pavement, her legs suddenly too weak to support herself.

In time with this enfeebling comes a sharp pain along the bottoms of her feet as stitching races up her legs. It starts at her feet, the stabbing of thread heralding some new and horrific transformation, and as the line draws upward her humanity fades.

Arms and legs become cottony paws, a sexy hourglass figure becomes a fat teddy bear's paunch, and her head becomes something hollow and ursine. Her eyes literally glass over as the stitching forever binds her mouth shut, and with that she becomes nothing more than a teddy bear.

Thomas immediately scans the park, seeing a dog walker having noticed the woman's changes. It's another woman, this one someone at least halfway through her life. It seems that her years of experience haven't covered magical transformation, and she soundlessly gapes at the sight of the small bear covered by a jogger's tight outfit.

"Xylocarp." He begins offhandedly, nodding towards the dog walker.

"Pail." "Lilac." "Croc. Like the shoes." "I got you. Chewtoy." "... We need to make a rule to ban words that end in 'y'."

Ramona admits her surrender with a quiet pout, and watches her friend get to work. In truth, she's not that choked up about losing this round. The transformation is interesting, and besides that; it's interesting to see Thomas work.

He's a far stronger magic user than she is, evidenced by the fact that he doesn't need to so much as lift a finger. Just one look at the woman is enough to turn her body a bright shade of green, her skin replaced with rubber on the spot.

Of course the dog walker notices this, and she begins to scream. Well, she tries to scream; at least. But instead of a human cry escaping her mouth, a loud squeak passes her lips. It gets the attention of her dog immediately, and she lets out another squeak as she begins to shrink.

Unlike the last woman to have changed, this one isn't becoming something remotely human. Small knobbly spines jut out painfully from her back as she begins to ache with the cramps of inflation. All of her innards, from bones to muscles to organs, simply vanish and are replaced instead by a constant pressure.

The woman squeaks again as she bounces against the ground, her arms and legs pulling back into her body until they're just four little paws, and her face pushes out into a pointed muzzle. She has precisely enough time to realize that she's now a squeaky rubber hedgehog before her dog sets upon her, its drooling jaw clamping down and biting hard around her transformed body.

A loud squeak erupts from the hole in her belly, and the woman's eyes widen, only to dwindle away to two small-painted on dots. Her mouth seals over into a silly painted smile, and her nose and ears simply vanish. Horrified, the woman only wants to scream; to beg God for help. But her tiny form is capable of only making small squeaks, and her dog seems more than eager to produce more of them.

Both of the two mages chuckle as the squeaky toy's vocalizations begin to sound more and more distressed, and the two look out to try and find their next victim. Ramona's eyes alight upon a bookish looking man with a couple of extra pounds on his body, and she grins.

"Boxers." "Stocking." "Golf ball." "Lipstick, are we allowing second words?" "Kendo helmet. It's the only way I can keep up with you, Mr. Dictionary. Two words, no abusing adjectives." "Tarp." "Pool toy." "Yarn." "Night light. Good save there." "Tire swing."

Ramona blinks at the last word, her mind going temporarily blank. Then she shrugs, letting Thomas work his magic once more.

This time the transformation is a harsh and violent one, the young man letting out a strangled yelp as his body circles backwards into an 'o', bones popping at his skin begins to darken. Any further attempts to scream are cut off as all of his features flow together, his body melting and becoming a ridged rubber surface.

Pain unlike anything he's known before in his life floods his mind as his organs are burned from within him, his skin hardening until it's tough enough to support the weight of a car. He doesn't notice as his clothes become ropes that dig into his flesh as they wind around him; then shoot towards a branch, latching him onto it and leaving him to swing idly.

Blind, deaf, and mute; the man can only mentally scream in discomfort as a young child jumps onto him, happily using him for his new purpose.

Ramona chuckles as she looks at the little girl, recognizing her as the daughter of a witch they know. Of course, that makes her off limits; but it's still cute to see her enjoy their handiwork. Then she frowns, seeing a man leering at the girl with undisguised lust.

"Dirt." She says, nodding in his direction with a scowl. Thomas nods in agreement.

"Tampon." "Nose piercing." "Gutter." "Rake." "Effigy." "Yo-yo."

Ramona says the last word with a twinkle in her eye, and Thomas chuckles, letting her win the round. While it might be interesting to see the man become an oboe, it's been a while since Ramona had such an inspired look.

She brings both of her hands forwards, harnessing as much of her power as possible and grinning malevolently. This isn't just a change for her own sport. This time she wants the man to suffer.

He doesn't even have time to scream before his body is violently reformed; as though a hydraulic piston with a yo-yo mold has clamped around him. His bones shatter and nerves scream before they disappear completely, and tears drip from eyes that are now practically mashed against his groin.

A wave of pink plastic sweeps across the man, enveloping his deformed body and removing all trace of humanity from it. He dissolves within the hard plastic confines of his new form, another silent plea for mercy joining those that have gone unheard today.

Ramona takes extra pleasure in making his string, changing his tongue into a thread that wraps tightly around his peg. It's an awful sensation and one that will no doubt get worse when he's used, forced to feel the appendage uncoil and recoil around him again and again.

He clatters to the pavement noisily, and Ramona lets out a sigh of exertion, wiping some sweat off of her brow. "Okay, I think that's it for the day..." She sighs, looking out to the park with a groan. There are still so many people to transform, but she's spent after that last change!

Thomas looks to her with a chuckle, remembering how low his limits had been when he was her age. That said, every time he takes her to the park like this, she gets stronger. He grins and looks to her, deciding to reward her for today's training. "All right, then... Ten people, ten words, thirty seconds. No double words, no repeated words, and no giving up; or else I change you into a dictionary."

Ramona blinks at that, then smiles. Thomas must have agreed with her that there are still too many people in the park. Even if this might be a challenge, she's more than willing to tackle it. She takes a deep breath, then begins to point towards people and recite.

"Worm, mailbox, xylophone, earring, grapefruit, tub, bulldozer, raincoat, towel, lovedoll."

She beams with pride as Thomas changes the strangers in the park one at a time, instantly replacing them with the objects of her desire. Clothes flutter to the ground in some places, explode from too-large bodies in others. Finally, he gets to her last word to find her pointing at herself with a blush and a cheekish grin on her face.

"Seriously?" He asks, rolling his eyes. "You're incorrigible."

"And in the mood. You know, you being older really plays to your advantage sometimes, you know how to-SQUEAK!" Her sentence is snatched from her mouth as she becomes a human-sized inflatable doll, her mouth rounded into an 'o' and her arms and legs poking out from her clothing at odd angles.

Thomas smirks and picks her up, the woman's inflated body weighing next to nothing, and he hums a jaunty tune as the remaining humans in the park begin to panic at the sudden appearance of a bulldozer. "All in a day's work. Now, let's see what I can do to make tonight interesting."

Ramona mentally shivers with delight and anticipation alike, her air-filled head racing with dreams of what's to come. These word games really are the best, she thinks contentedly.