**This story falls in continuity with other texts whose main characters are Nicole and Julie. Some magical properties/background/lore of how magic would affect normal people in these works may not be completely explained in this text to lighten its content. **


Julie repeated again as she poured herself a glass of wine:

"Just remember : Since she didn't bond with anyone, she's not gonna notice anything if things change around her okay?"

I nodded. "Except if you decide to breathe fire out of your nostrils for a reason."

'Yeah that was a one time thing. And if I did, her mind would just bounce around for a while. My nose hair took way too long to grow back for it to be worth it, anyway."

"And how about the burns on your..."

"DON'T EVEN MENTION THAT!"

I laughed out loud and opened my own beer, taking a sip of it as I looked at my phone. Victoria (Vicky for short) was down the corner and would be here any minute now.

I got up and put some prog music on the stereo. With several 12 minute songs on the same album, this one would definitely do the trick. Julie came around and briefly massaged my shoulders before hugging me from behind. Suddenly, we heard the knocking pattern from Frozen being hit on the door. As I tried to free myself from her, she bolted ahead of me and pushed me back in the living room. She quickly turned around and shouted:

"I'd get a chair if I were you!"

I sighed and resigned on my fate for tonight. It was going to be hard though. 

"Wow, you're getting cockier every passing day you know that..."

I grunted and massaged the sting in my right leg to make it go away when a strange feeling hit me. A tingling sensation emanated from the middle of my spine and pulsed outwards. First through my torso, then into my arms and legs, all the way to the tip of my fingers. Like a shiver, it came back through my limbs again, leaving them all warm and fuzzy. Only my left leg still felt normal, which meant I really needed to get seated. I hopped to the lazyboy close-by before hopping once or twice to the closest chair. My sock had fallen off on the way there, not that it was going to be of any use now, but at least I had left my beer on the table before getting up. I laid my hands on the table and contemplated my options. Considering the speed at which my arms vanished at the moment, and the feeling of emptyness that laid beyond my wrists, I grabbed my beer almost between my elbows to drink a big gulp.

I slicked my hair back and repositionned my ass on the chair, lifting my body up using a single leg, and looked back at my arms. Only upper arms now. The spell traveled upwards, erasing my bones, muscles, and skin from the face of the world. I began panicking, now terrified at my imminent state of helplessness. I felt an irrepressible urge to get a grab onto something before losing my limbs but all I could do was clench my toes against the floor. I tried reaching for my beer with my arms but the damn thing was too far away! I stood on my leg again, used the remaining half of my right thigh to bolster me up on the chair, leaned my body forward on the surface of the table and stretched as far as I could. I managed to secure it between my arms for a second but before I could sit down they shrunk another inch and the can slipped away from my grasp. I felt like bursting out in tears. Hearing my friends coming down the hallway, I plopped back down and closed my eyes to try to calm myself, bringing my stumps together above my breasts until they no longer touched. My panic drifted away and my breathing came back to normal.

Vicky greeted me with a case of beer and a bag of potato chips as I wiped my eyes on my shoulders. Victoria's one of my good friends from university and, conveniently enough, Julie got familiar with her quite rapidly. We had had a couple parties with her already, went to several bars (a few wizard ones but mostly normal bars) and all went well between us three. She dropped her purchases on the table while I got up on my remaining leg to accept her hug. I could've stayed there forever, my head resting against hers. The proximity I could achieve with her (or anybody I guess) without arms was truly unique and amazing. I noticed Julie trying to catch her breath, slightly leaning on the wall. She winked at me. I heartbreakingly left Vicky's embrace and she kept a securing hand my naked shoulder.

As we exchanged incomprehensible girl gibberish, I rested my short leg in her open hand which she presented just below my buttcheek. After a few seconds, I noticed how weird the situation was since not even a minute ago, this leg was still a fully grown normally working limb, rapidly shrinking back inside my body. Also, this pant leg was cut and sewn up to my stump now? Victoria thought nothing of it, her eyes not leaving mine as she kept me in balance, silently bearing a bit of weight to make me comfortable in a standing position. She seemingly always did in these situations. I'm also pretty sure I felt her hand give me a gentle pinch, like you would shake someone's hand harder on the last go-down to avoid an awkward semi-handshake for a fraction of a second. I smiled at her and sat down, instinctively rolling my shoulders back to grab the back of my chair. My landing was a bit hard, but at least I hit the chair. She sat down herself, soon followed by Julie, who seemed to have control of her breath once again.

"Man, this sure is better than watching Netflix with my cat on a friday", said Vicky in a relieved tone. "Are you girls deep in alcohol yet?"

"Nope, both on our first drink", I said. Julie snaped her fingers to spawn a straw inside my beer and I leaned forward to take a sip from it.

"Cool, so I don't have any catching up to do." She opened her own beer, and poured it in a glass that Julie had brought for her. The melody of bubbling beer filled the room for a few seconds. She went on again: "So Julie, how is your semester going? Have any exams or papers coming up?"

"Not really", she said. "I just got out of a long stretch, so I can have some fun. For now at least." She exaggerated a wink at us and they both laughed. I smiled again and effortlessly brought my feet up on my stump.

"I just can't seem to remember what you are studying, though, I'm so sorry! Could you remind me, please?"

"Oh there's no problem really, I'm not the center of the universe you know?" She swirled the liquid inside her glass. "I am basically studying to become a wizard, since I was born with magic imbued blood, you know. Two weeks ago I had a potion exam which I miserably failed, an advanced spell demonstration, and a presentation about the psychological dangers of prolonged animal transformations. So basic stuff, really."

While Victoria's eyes were fixed on Julie, her brain was being remodeled by the fabric of magic itself, preventing her from comprehending or even processing any of these informations. She smiled after a few seconds and raised her glass, oblivious to what just happened.

"I drink to that, then!"

I tried to grab my beer using my toes but Victoria brought hers to mine instead. I shrugged it off and laughed. 

Following her toast, we spoke about everything and nothing, school, work, makeup, recent movies, and school again. Warmed up by the alcohol and the presence of my friends, I kept my foot on the table and, once or twice, waved it around like a hand as I spoke. Victoria had met a cute guy last week in one her her classes and thought it might work out with him. She thought about asking him out for a drink, which Julie strongly deplored, referencing quite a lot of cheezy Hollywood films in which the the guys were always the ones to make the first steps. On the contrary, I told her she could be surprised how at how satisfying it could be to ask him out instead, taking the lead like a modern woman. She playfully listened to our pleas and said she would think about it in the following days. I broke the short silence that ensued.

"Time to break my seal. I'll be right back..."

Saying it out loud made me realize the extend of the challenge that was ahead. But as I rotated on my chair, I saw the most unexpected, yet welcoming, sight : a wheelchair. I transfered to it and used a lever located on the foot rest to drive forward. That was that. Now, how about dropping my pants and... well shit. I bonked against the bathroom door, Julie shouted :

"You have five minutes, cupcake!", and she loudly snapped her fingers once again.

I felt a rush of electricity go through my body and noticed something laying on my lap. I had hands again! I looked down and there they were: glowing in light blue arcs of energy, hovering in mid-air. Same size and extension range, but no arms in sight. I managed to hold on to the walls, get my pants down and sit on the ring, closing my eyes to relax while I peed. My right leg was so short I had to keep my muscles tensed to prevent it from falling inside the toilet and getting wet in piss. With all my business done and cleaned, I hopped once to the sink and inspected my reflection in the mirror. Man, that was trippy. I could see the smooth skin of my shoulders through my t-shirt sleeves even though at the moment I had hands. Floating, immaterial, magical, not-connected-to-my-body hands, but still hands. I'll have to thank her for those. Then, by the time I wheeled myself back to the kitchen and sat down again, my hands disappeared. Went I bent forward to drink, my breasts slightly brushed against the table.


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