(People to Various)

The quiet night had long since been shattered, courtesy of a raucous party. It wasn’t the first of its like, but it was the most significant of its participants’ lives. Though they’d often headed to the ‘Party House’ this was the first time the owners had made the mistake of insulting their neighbor.

From said neighbor’s windows emanated a sickly green light, mistaken for a seasonal decoration. Little did any of the partygoers know, this was the warning that they should dearly have heeded.

“This will teach those kids to call me a witch,” Esmerelda cackled in a very witch-like manner. She was fully aware of how she looked and sounded, but that didn’t excuse rudeness. As far as she was concerned, her appearance was just a consequence of her knowledge.

And tonight, said knowledge was about to impart her neighbors with dire consequences…

In the Bathroom…

Eric swayed, clutching the sink for balance. Maybe he really did have too much to drink. Or maybe it was the fact that his mermaid costume had forced him to hop around all night. Whatever the case, he couldn’t keep from wobbling unsurely.

It was the weirdest thing. The room wasn’t spinning like it normally did when he got this way… But on the other hand, he was definitely seeing things. It looked like his reflection sported longer hair than he’d had a moment ago, and he was sure that his chest wasn’t so… soft.

Eric chewed at a lip that was much plumper than it had been a moment ago, thinning arms reaching up to grope at himself. He was alone, so it was totally fine. Probably.

To his delight, his new chest was softer than it should have been. And more sensitive. He looked to the doorway and quietly clicked the lock, turning to head back towards the mirror.

His legs betrayed him.

Instead of moving as they should, they stubbornly clung together. His arms flailed, but any attempt to catch himself was stalled by the sight of his breasts – what else could they be – ballooning out to the size of his head.

“What the f-umph!” He fell forward into the tub, his chest cracking against the rim. The wind was driven from his lungs, and his wheezes rose in pitch as he fumbled for something, anything to help him stand.

All Eric found was the faucet handle, which he accidentally turned to a full pour.

Much to his surprise, the sudden rush of water made him feel better. A lot better. He shivered, letting out a gasp that sounded oddly feminine.

His scaled tail slapped against the floor as he swung himself into the cool water, a breathy whimper slipping out as it kissed his flaring hips.

Maybe he could get used to this…

In the Living Room…

“Come on, arm wrestle with me! You won’t!” Linda bared her teeth, much sharper than they’d been a second ago.

Normally, Paul would have refused. But normally Ben didn’t sport another few hundred pounds of muscle. He had started the night dressed as a lumberjack, and had since filled out the costume nicely.

He dropped his elbow onto the table, his large paw of a hand outstretched. “Oh yeah? Bring it.”

“Are you sure it’s okay? Linda looks… I mean, kinda ripped, right?” Rose called from behind him. By some stroke of luck, her Red Riding Hood costume matched both of theirs… Even if Linda’s werewolf outfit was oddly realistic.

There was something else about the costume, though… The more Rose looked at Linda, the calmer she felt. It was weird, like her wolflike appearance was somehow… Soothing?

Ignorant of his girlfriend’s confusion, Paul let out a gruff bellow of laughter. Linda’s hand met his with a loud clap, and the two started their game.

In the Kitchen…

Rocco tugged at Tammy’s hair playfully, his nose twitching. She moved with his motions, giggling as her hands dexterously chopped up another smoked salami. Their costume was a work of genius: he was a rat, she was a chef, and their dog was a portly pig.

It was funny. Even though she was dressed as a chef, she felt like she could cook for the first time in her life. Normally, she was the kind of person that could burn toast. But today, her hands were like an artisan’s.

“You know, maybe you really are helping me,” she giggled.

“Yeah?” Rocco replied, a little proud. Somehow, they’d really gotten their act together. It was like she knew his every thought, and was cooking as well as he normally could. “Maybe I’ll have some, after you we fix up something for the guests.”

A crash came from their living room, and Rocco sighed. “Keep it down over th-EEK!” His voice lifted in pitch to a light squeak, and he coughed.

“Someone’s getting into their role,” Tammy snickered.

Rocco looked back to her, unsure whether to play along or tell her something was wrong. His reply faltered as he looked back to her, finding that she was a good deal taller than she used to be.

To his right, Rex let out an oddly loud snort, and he looked over to find their dog was far fatter than he should have been, too.

“Something’s wrong,” is what Rocco intended to say. Instead, what left his mouth was a tiny squeak, drowned out by the clatter of their pan on the skillet.

“C’mon, babe! Let’s try something a little more advanced!” Tammy giggled.

Rocco had to hop to grab hold of her hair again, and he found his feet lifting off the ground. To his surprise, panic was bleeding away into a numb, almost natural acceptance. He tugged at her hair, watching her cook proudly.

By the time the two of them were done cooking, neither of them found anything odd about their current arrangement. Well, then again, it couldn’t be any odder than the state letting Tammy marry a mouse.

She giggled, petting Rocco’s head affectionately, turning back towards their dog with a smile. “And lucky you, someone gets the bacon grease! Even though maybe you’ve had a bit much lately…”

She felt that it might be a bit mean to dress such a fat dog like a pig, so she lifted the ears from his head, plopping them atop her own. She didn’t know why she did it. Maybe Rocco had gotten her to? Either way, she hoped that the rest of her food might calm down the guests outside.

It almost sounded like there were wild animals in the room!

In the Gaming Room…

“Wow, I can’t believe you dressed as someone from that has-been game,” Amelia snickered.

Hana crinkled her nose, folding her arms. “What’s that supposed to mean, huh? This is my uniform.” She had no idea why this little detective-dressed girl was mocking her.

“Mhmm, sure it is. And I bet you get, just like, a ton of simps that way. But that gooner Overwatch crowd isn’t going to keep your channel afloat. Just step aside, and let a real streamer show you how it’s done.”

Hana had no idea what the girl was talking about, or even why she was sitting in this chair. She vaguely remembered a trio of nerds planning to get drunk and play some kind of video game. But all the same, she wasn’t sure that really applied to her.

For one, she wasn’t some short fat neckbeard. And also, she definitely didn’t remember the other two nerds being some little detective girl or some Cthulhu cosplayer. Speaking of… She sent a glance to the third person in the room, finding that they were quietly reading a book, held in their… tentacles?

That had to be a costume, right? Hana squinted, flinching at the girl turned a page with her tentacles. “Hold on, what the hell?”

Amelia shrugged. “Oh, that’s just Ina. She’s like that, don’t worry about it. But more to the point, get off the computer! I’ve gotta show you off to my fans!”

In the Witch’s House…

“What the…” Esmerelda leaned closer to her scrying mirror, squinting at the victims of her curse. They almost looked like they were having fun? Well, that wouldn’t do at all. This was supposed to be a punishment, not a blessing!

There was only one thing for it. As any proper witch would do, she added a pinch of mischief to her hex.

In the Bathroom…

Erin arched her back, moaning as she cupped her heavy breasts. This felt good. Too good. So good she could-

“OARK!”

Her eyes snapped open. Did a dog get into the bathroom? Her tail splashed at the water as she turned, finding herself still alone.

“H-hello?” She still wasn’t used to the sound of her own voice. However, it had lost some of its musical sibilance in favor of a… Roughness. It wasn’t like her old voice. Instead, it was almost feral.

Something about it was oddly familiar, and she furrowed her eyebrows. “Where have I ORT!”

Erin’s head jerked forward as she barked again, tail splashing at the water. Her back started to cramp, and she whined. Did she actually hurt herself when she fell? That couldn’t be it, right?

No cause met her mind, she was too distracted by how uncomfortable it was to sit on her plump, scaled ass. She turned in the tub, some water splashing past the rim as she shifted her weight. More water splashed out as her weight shifted her.

Erin was growing, swelling. The beautiful scales on her mermaid tail had dulled, melding together into sleek, gray skin. It looked almost like blubber.

She wasn’t that vain of a person, not normally. But now, seeing her thin body fatten flooded her with distress. She tried to stand, but the mass of her body kept her firmly wedged in the tub.

“Somewuh-hhORT!” She barked again, desperately trying to call for help, keenly aware of how seal-like the cries were.

In the Living Room…

Whatever had once passed for a wrestling match was now a feral brawl. The bear snarled, looking at the mother wolf across from himself. Her cub whimpered from behind him, which… Why was he even protecting the thing anyways?

He didn’t have an answer for that, nor did he have time to think. The wolf lunged again, and he swiped a massive paw at her shoulder, batting her onto her side.

Something about her body was wrong. Her legs were a little too long, too slender. No… As he looked at her, he noticed that they were properly swelling in a canine fashion. So what was it about her that had seemed so odd?

Why did he think she was a friend?

His mind would have drawn a blank, were it capable of art. But his nose told him she carried his scent. It didn’t make much sense to him, but then again, nothing really seemed to anymore. As she bared her fangs at him, he simply dropped his bulk atop her.

Rather than biting him, she let out a strained yip, then started to lick his chest, pawing at him to push him off.

As expected. They weren’t really fighting, were they? No, they had to be friends. Which probably meant that it was safe to sleep.

He hugged the mother wolf to him a little tighter, drifting off to a contented slumber.

In the Kitchen…

Tammy shoveled her face into the fridge, its cool air doing little to soothe the burning heat of her bulk. At least the sounds from that other room were quieting down. Though… Was that really a good thing?

With it this quiet, she could hear herself snorting like a fat sow.

Sow.

It’s what she was becoming. She couldn’t deny it at this point. Her husband had long since scampered off into some hole in the wall, leaving her almost alone with her appetite. Almost.

She became keenly aware of Rex’s interest as he moved from slobbering at his bowl to noticing his fellow pig.

From deep within the wall, a little mouse twitched his nose, hungrily watching the pigs gorge themselves. He couldn’t join them though, not yet. He had the distinct sense that there was still danger from somewhere in the house, one last human presence…

In the Gaming Room…

Hana squeaked, trying to pull the octopus off of her. It didn’t make any sense. One second, she was watching in horror as the weird detective girl turned into a bloodhound. The next, an octopus had latched onto her back, tugging at her plugsuit.

“What the hell is going on here!?” She wailed, a newfound strength letting her pull free of the octopus’s suction cups. She threw it onto the bed, where it landed with a wet squelch, then tore from the room. She had to find Rocco and Tammy, to warn them of something strange going on.

But the more she moved, the more she too changed. She passed the bathroom, ignoring the deep barks behind the door. Her arms bulged within her suit, muscles stretching the fabric to the point of tearing through it.

“Something’s wruh-wrong,” Hana stumbled on her words just as she stumbled over her own feet. Her hairy hands slapped at the ground, and she began to awkwardly clamber forward on all fours. “Gottuh… Find… Fuh…”

Despite how quickly she was moving, her mind was slowing to a crawl. Some instinct told her not to disrupt the bear and wolf that were currently cuddling in the living room. The same instinct made her pass the kitchen, even though her stomach rumbled.

She kept growing, more fur itching from her skin. Her forehead sloped, and as her skull pressed against her brain, her eyes unfocussed. Drool dripped past her thick lips onto the ground. She couldn’t remember what she was looking for, actually.

Outside? That sounded nice. She grunted, taking slow and stumbling steps forward into the cool autumn air. A bright light flickered from the house to her left, and she tilted her head toward it curiously. But whatever it was, it didn’t interest her dimwitted mind.

At the Witch’s House…

“Yes, a gorilla!” Esmerelda did her best to sound like a good, concerned citizen. “I just saw it running out of the house at the end of the lane. It sounds like there’s more animals in there too, you’d better send animal control or something!”

There was a pause at the end of the line. “Ma’am, I hate to have to ask, is this a Halloween joke?”

Esmerelda stiffened. “Why do you say that? You don’t think I sound like some sort of… Witch, do you?”

“No, Ma’am, we just have to check. You know, it is Halloween, after all.” The officer rustled through something on their desk. “But if you’re serious, just give me your address, and I’ll send some folks to check it out.”

Esmerelda beamed. It looked like some kids lately still had manners. Maybe there was hope for the generation. Still, she wasn’t sure what to say. ‘That’s lovely to hear, I almost unleashed a pox upon your station’ just didn’t seem appropriate.

“Okay, got your address.” The officer paused, then laughed. “But I have to admit, I really did think you were doing a witch impression.”

Esmerelda’s gaze darkened. “Well, thank you for your time. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you soon.”

“Sure? Oddly ominous, but have a good night, ma’am.” With that, they hung up, clearly perturbed.

Esmerelda looked back to her hex, letting more magic flow into it. “Oh, I fully intend to.” She began to cackle once again, her mirth filling the emerald-tinged air.