Contains: Budgie TF, Good Ending.
The first story in my 'Good Witch Reina' series.
Parakeeton
“I’m not sure about this, Emily.” I said to my wife, in the car.
“Why? You told me it’s fine. Besides, we're almost there, dear.” she replied.
She’s always been good to me, but tends to dismiss my worries. To be honest, I’m terrified. After reading an ad about a new magic shop, I simply had to check it out.
My name is Keeton and I love birds, and all things that fly. Emily doesn't understand my obsession, but still supports me. I haven't been able to fulfill my dream of flying, due to our lack of wealth.
Due to our financial situation, I haven't gotten the aviary I want. Instead I've had to settle for a single parakeet in a small cage, in our living room. Coconut is his name, so called for his blue and white feathers and my love of the coconut chocolates that are wrapped in the same colours.
“Well, we’re here. Are you absolutely sure about this, dear?” Emily asks as she pulls into a parking space near the new magic store.
“I know it’s really weird, and I’m terrified, but it has been my dream to fly my whole life, and this might be the only way I can do it.” I reply, taking my wife’s hand in mine, and giving her a reassuring smile.
“Alright, honey. I’ll support you. Come on…lets hope it isn't too expensive.” she replied, and let go of my hand after a loving squeeze.
We approached the Magic shop, it was quiet around this part of the street, pretty nondescript on the exterior too. The windows are blacked out, which is ominous. A single wooden sign hangs above the old door, ‘Good Witch Solutions’ it reads.
I take a deep breath and enter inside, a small bell rings as we enter. The interior has an old Victorian era aesthetic. Wood floor, wood shelves, even a fireplace in the corner. Oddly, I notice the windows are see through on this side, the blackout must be one way. Or perhaps the windows are magic?
“Ah! Welcome! I’ll be right there!” a female voice calls out from the back.
“Okay!” I called back, a little nervous.
I look at the shelves, they’re mostly empty right now. There’s a few objects of different types, but none have price tags, and in fact there are metal labels on the edge of the shelves every few feet that read ‘Not for sale, do not touch’
“Emily, I'm not sure about this…” I whispered to my wife, holding her arm.
“It’s okay dear, I’m sure it’ll be fine.” She replied, giving my hand a reassuring pat.
Just then the proprietor returns from the other room holding what looks like a small action figure.
She is pretty tall, wearing black heels. Her dress robes are black, and have red highlights on the inside and edges. The robe itself is low cut, showing the cleavage of her full round breasts, and showing her legs from her knees down, while having long sleeves that open in a bell shape. She wears a large brimmed witch hat, it was black and the underside was red and velvety, with a red ribbon tied into a bow on the base of the point on top. She has gold jewelry with red rubies attached to them - a pair of earrings, and a necklace. Her hair was a pixie cut bob, and golden blonde. Her eyes shone with a crimson colour. Her skin was caramel toned, and she looked to be in her early 20’s.
“Sorry about that, I was dealing with a client.” she said casually as she placed the action figure on the shelf. “Now. what can I do for you?”
“Well, um, ma’am. We heard this was a…magic shop?” I said, still harboring doubts.
“Yes indeed! Welcome to Good Witch Solutions, good magic for every good desire.” she replied with a rehearsed flourish.
“W-well, I had a request. If that’s alright? Actually... nevermind...” I spoke nervously, this is crazy, I should go.
“Oh for…my husband wants to be a bird!” Emily said in an annoyed tone.
“What are you doing?” I whisper.
“You want this, you begged to be here, so I’m going to support you. Plus I can't have you wasting the fuel we spent getting here, it’s expensive.” she hissed back.
The lady clapped her hands together and walked behind her counter.
“Excellent! Come over and we’ll discuss the specifics!”
I gulped nervously, unsure of myself, but Emily shoved me forward with a loving chuckle.
We stood behind the counter, facing the witch.
“So, what kind of bird do you desire to be? And for how long?” she asked me.
“Um, well I'd like to be a parakeet…”
“What kind? Cockatiel? budgerigar? Lovebird?”
“Budgie! I’d like to be a budgie.”
“And how long?”
I look at my wife, we hadn’t actually discussed it beforehand.
“How about a month? That’ll give you plenty of time to adjust, and you have some vacation time saved up anyway.” Emily says.
I nod and look back at the witch. “One month it is.”
“Excellent!” she reached under her counter and pulled out a paper, and some ink. She also pulled out a small crystal orb.
“Okay, so here’s the deal. You pay me for the magic. This will include a deposit that you will get back after the month. Then, you sign this one month contract, this protects us all legally. Then, I will take your wife's number to remind her when the month is up so you can return, change back, and collect your deposit.”
“O-okay. Um, so, how much? I don't have a lot of money, we’re not wealthy…”
“Hmm.” she thought for a moment and looked me over appraisingly.
“Well it will be a £50 deposit. And £75 for a month-long contract.”
“125 pounds?!” my wife exclaimed.
“Uh, ma’am,” I interject quickly. “I'm afraid the best we can do at this time is 50…”
“I see...alright.” she thought for a moment. “Here’s what we’ll do. I’ll take your watch as payment.”
“This watch was expensive...a wedding gift from my mother.” I said reluctantly.
“I’m sorry, but this is a business...I can tell it’s with a lot, and I can get good money for it, so you will get about £200 in change if y-”
“He’ll do it!” Emily said resolutely, gripping my shoulder tightly.
“I will?” Oh no.
“You will.” Emily’s grip got tighter.
“I will. Yup, 200 pounds, very good ma’am.” I nod quickly.
“Excellent! And please, call me Reina.” she said.
Reina passed me the contract, took my watch, and pushed an ink and quill across the counter.
“Can’t I use a pen?” I ask.
“Too unreliable, besides raw Ink seeps into the paper better which helps with magic conductivity.”
I won't pretend I understand that, so I just sign it. I could swear I saw a shimmer across the text. The whole thing was in latin too.
“Excellent. Now, since it’s in latin, I'll read you the summary highlights.” she began, and filed the contract in a drawer that had others in it.
“Basically, your signature shows that you consent to be transformed for a month. It protects you from legal arguments against your humanity, and protects me from the Magic Consul. It is also a promise that I will turn you back in exactly 31 days, or the contract will signal the Magic Consul as a failsafe.”
“That’s um…heavy stuff.” I say, wrapping my head around it.
“Human life is very important to me, not all witches are heartless.” Reina smiles.
“That’s good…” Emily sighs.
“I’ll need your contact information, your wife needs to hold her phone near my crystal ball.” Reina said, calmly.
Emily held her phone to the crystal orb, and we both blinked in surprise to find a NFC connection to share her phone number with.
“There we go. I’ll call you after 24 days, you’ll have a week to bring him back.” Reina took the crystal orb and slipped it into her…somewhere? Sleeve? Pocket?
“Then I can get 200 pounds?” my wife asked. Of course, financial priorities.
Reina just chuckled and gestured to a door off to the side. “Right this way.”
She led me and my wife into a smallish room, completely stone, and the floor was cobbled. There were shelves filled with books and odd jars, even had a typical skull but pink.
“Alright, Keeton, stand in the middle of the room please. Emily, you stand by the door.” she said.
“Wait…how did you know our names?” I ask, “we never told you…” but she simply grinned knowingly. I did as she commanded, and my wife stood by the door, watching with wide and curious eyes.
“Alright. Now, the transformation will take 30 seconds to complete. You may feel slight discomfort but it will not be painful. Afterwards, you must stay calm. You will have instincts in the back of your mind. They are there to aid you in acting as the creature you will become, and are like an autopilot you can activate or deactivate at will.”
“O-okay...I’m ready.” I say nervously. This is it. Soon I'll become a bird. My dream...
Reina placed a small cage nearby and opened the gate to it. “Resist flying until you acclimate and get home. This cage is covered by your deposit, so bring it back. I recommend staying inside it until you’re in the safety of your home, as you will be vulnerable to predators like other birds... and cats.”
“Oh god. This is real…it’s really happening isn't it?” my voice is shaky, and my heart is pounding in my ears.
“Yes, Keeton.” Reina smiled at me kindly and began weaving magic, it was crimson, and gold.
“Yes it is.”
A bolt of red and gold lighting struck me, and then I suddenly felt something happening. It started with my arms, which began to tingle. The tingle spread across my body, affecting all of it.
-
I notice that I am shrinking, I can feel bones shifting under my skin. My skin becomes rough as quills begin growing out of my body. My arms and shoulders shift and rotate, I feel them bending and becoming wings. I feel stiff feathers growing out of them, breaking free of the quills. My body continues to shrink, as the quills all over my body break open and reveal my new feathers. They are green, and the ones on my wings are black with yellow tips.
My eyes move further apart, and my lips elongate and droop. I feel them harden, and become a beak. My nose flattens and gains a blue coloring, showing my gender.
I feel my hair harden then soften, changing into new crest feathers the same type as my wings. Yellow feathers break out across my new face, spotted with some bluish ones on my cheeks. My ears become flat and hidden under my feathers.
My genitalia and my anus seem to merge together into a single opening, disappearing inside my body - A cloaca. I feel a pressure as a long quill shoots out from behind me, it breaks open, revealing my tail feathers.
My thighs move up my body, growing closer to my torso. My feet transform into talons, with short blunt nails for gripping.
Next is the instincts. I feel a wellspring of instinct and knowledge filling the back of my brain. How to fly, how to eat bird seed, how to preen myself, etc.
-
Then the tingles stop. It’s over. I am now a green and yellow feathered budgerigar. My clothes seem to have transformed with me, as I am not buried under them. I’m about 7 inches from tail to crest, so about 5 inches tall unless I stretch my neck.
I tilt my head and look up at my wife’s shocked face. I feel the instinct to fly up and land on her head, but I suppress it. The witch lady told me to be calm, so I will be. Instead I try to speak, only to find I chirp instead.
“Oh my gosh, is that really you, Keeton?” asked Emily, who was slowly approaching the budgie on the floor.
“Tweet! Chirp!” I respond, and bow my head twice as a nod. Guess I should've expected not to be able to speak.
“Alright, Keeton, take as long as you need to adjust, then hop inside the cage. Your wife will take you home.” Reina spoke softly to the little bird on her floor.
I hopped along and leapt up into the cage, surprised at my accuracy and speed. I chirp my readiness.
“Good job, Keeton. Now Emily, remember to treat him well and be back within the week after I text you.” Reina said.
“I will. Um, so I just…take him and go?” Emily asked, nervously. She was still in shock at her husband actually becoming a little budgie.
“That’s right. Good luck, I’m a phone call away if you have any problems..” Reina opened the door to lead Emily out with her cage.
I chirp a farewell, and a thanks.
-----
Back at our house, after a car ride, Emily walked into the living room. It wasn’t that big, a coffee table in need of tidying, a box of unsorted socks, a table with a lamp on it, a brown matted carpet, a tv cabinet with an old tv on top, and a long cabinet that had a cage on top with a little blue and white budgie inside.
“Hello Coco, I brought a new friend for you.” Emily said as she approached the cage with her own.
The blue and white budgie chipped happily, excited to see his female owner, and eyed the cage in her hands.
Emily opened the cage on the cabinet, and then opened my cage.
“Okay, Keeton. You should get settled in with Coconut, I’m going to make dinner for myself and we’ll watch TV.”
The blue budgie was excited. He hops out of the cage and excitedly comes over to me.
The first thing Coco tried to do is make kissing noises and repeat “who’s a pretty coco?” in a mimicry of my human voice. I found it kind of embarrassing, but felt his excitement. We ran around on top of the counter for a bit, playing with mirrors and plastic balls. I was surprised how fun it was. Then Coco squawked suddenly at a shadow from a bird outside, and flew away onto the tv cabinet.
This was it, I thought to myself, time to fly. I flapped my wings and let my instincts take over, flying through the air effortlessly. It was exhilarating, and I completely forgot about landing at my destination. I accidentally flew into the curtains and began falling, flailing my wings helplessly and squawking in panic. Then my claws caught on the curtain and I stopped.
I hung there for a few moments, before getting a firmer grip and adjusting myself into an upright position. I began climbing up the curtain, my claws effortlessly gripping the vertical fabric. I got used to using my beak as a pseudo-hand pretty quickly, and had reached the top of the curtain, perching there to calm down.
Suddenly relieved, I felt my feathers puff out and then I involuntarily shook my body. I had seen Coconut do this a lot, and figured it was a physical manifestation of a sigh of relief. Turns out I was right.
Coconut, meanwhile, had been watching with fascination as his new friend fumbled their first flight. He chirped and squawked in concern the whole time. Watching curiously upwards from the tv cabinet.
I tried flying again, paying more attention to what I was doing. I landed on the TV cabinet after doing a small lap of the room. I tired quickly, and found my wings wanted to part from my body slightly. I knew this was to help cool down, as budgies tend to do this when they exert themselves. Since animals don't have sweat glands, and now that I was a budgie, I didn’t either.
My wife came in after eating her dinner in the kitchen, and Coconut was returned to the cage to feed on seed and water before entering an hour-long preening session.
I went in next and tried the seed and water, I was surprised how good they tasted. I had tried budgie seed before out of curiosity when I was human, and had promptly decided it was disgusting. Same with the day old water, it wasn’t refreshing, but it didn’t taste gross like I expected.
I decided I wanted more wife time that night and let myself out of the cage, much to Coco’s confusion. Coconut picked at the gate, confused how its friend had so easily escaped.
I flew over to my wife, landing on her ample chest and chirping happily.
“Naughty bird, Keeton. Just because you’re fluffy and cute doesn’t mean you can touch my chest all night.” Emily said playfully, reaching up to give me scritches under my cheek feathers and behind my ears.
My world was pure bliss, it felt amazing, I could feel my mind softening into an impossibly relaxed state. At this moment, I totally understood the appeal of scritches, and promised to reward Coco with more when I could as a human.
“Aww, your feathers are puffing out, and look at your happy little face. I’m so glad for you honey. You got your wish, and I promise to let you snuggle with me every evening.” Emily whispered to me, slowing her scritches to a mind numbing pace. “This is going to be a fun month, cutie.”
I heard her words through my haze, but right now all I wanted was to nap on my wife’s bosom and enjoy the bliss of being a well loved budgie.
-----
The next month fell into a routine for the 3 of them. Coconut and Keeton would preen each other, and share seed and water. Emily quickly found that feeding two budgies and one human, is far more cost efficient. And as a result of Keeton’s paid leave from work, they were actually saving good money this month.
Keeton and Coconut fell into a rhythm of having breakfast, then Emily let them out of the cage to play with the various toys on the cabinet. They would then fly around for an hour or so. Finally, Emily would put Coconut back in the cage, while Keeton spent time flying and watching TV.
Then at lunch time, Keeton would let himself back into Coconut’s cage to share lunch together and have an afternoon nap. Meanwhile Emily did housework, and occasionally went out to buy groceries and meet with friends. She also made sure to change the sandpaper, clean the cage and toys, and swap out water and seed dishes. Water changes were a daily thing.
In the evenings, Keeton and Coconut would share dinner and be let out again. Emily made sure to give both attention and love in the form of lots of kisses and scritches. For Coconut this was normal. For Keeton, having his wife’s giant face pressing against his small one was a bit disconcerting, at first - He started enjoying it by the 12th day.
Then Coconut would return to the cage to preen and get ready for sleep. While Keeton stayed out, relaxing on his wife’s chest and enjoying late night television. Emily even thought to put on some movies to keep things interesting. Keeton enjoyed watching old Star Trek with his wife, but honestly preferred the scritches more.
Emily, for her part, found herself learning to understand why Keeton enjoyed birds so much. She usually left looking after the budgie to him, so having to fill his shoes and get closer to both him as a budgie and Coconut had made her realize that she liked birds too. Still not to the extent Keeton does, though.
Emily started feeding them fruit, like she saw Keeton do before with Coconut. Keeton was very surprised how good fruit tasted as a budgie, and found he enjoyed bananas.
Keeton got good at flying, and had made it a personal challenge to eventually fly without relying on his instincts. It took time for him to grasp it, but he had mastered instinct-less flying by the 16th day. He never felt more pride or elation in his whole life. He was flying, under his own power!
Something odd happened after that for Keeton. He found that the instincts at the back of his mind that he had been using, for minor things at this point, had vanished. Instead he just did those things now. I guess the training wheels are off, I'm a real budgie now! He thought to himself.
The idea was slightly frightening when he gave it more thought. Had the instincts taken over completely? Is he actively choosing to do these things now, or has his free will vanished?
He decided on the training wheels theory, and reasoned that the instincts were gone since he didn’t need them anymore. Plus, it was less scary to think about.
The idea of staying like this was growing like a weed in his heart, however...
On the 24th day, Emily received the reminder text from Reina. She sat down with Keeton that night and told him this was the last week, she’d take him back on the 30th day.
Keeton felt an unexpected, and profound sadness at hearing this. He lost control of his emotions and started making sad, squeaking, squawks - the kind budgies make when distressed. Emily was beside herself with worry, gently patting Keeton on the back with a finger, and saying ‘sorry dear’ over and over. His distressed cries broke her heart.
The next day Keeton was depressed and didn’t eat or play with Coconut, who was very concerned for his feathered friend. Coconut tried cheering Keeton up with the motion and mimicry of kisses, along with soft chirps of encouragement. But Keeton ignored him, and just sat there feeling sad.
Emily decided to intervene that night, grabbing Keeton in her hand and taking him out by force. Keeton bit her, but Emily winced and kept a grip on him as he squawked and struggled. She walked to her seat on the sofa and sat down, looking at Keeton with a mix of pity and resolve.
“Honey, I know you’ve loved this. Wanted this for so long, but please, I need my husband back. My human husband.” Emily spoke firmly and kindly, even as Keeton nipped at her hand painfully.
Keeton squawks of anger died down a bit. Becoming sad squeaks. Emily gently opened her hand up to release him from her grasp. He shook his feathers to fix them, but didn’t fly away.
“Listen, sweetie. You’re a human, an amazing wonderful human who I love with all my heart.” Emily spoke sincerely and softly to Keeton, in her hand.
“You have 5 days left. Why not make the most of it? Don’t feel sad over it ending, celebrate it happening.”
Keeton perked up a bit, feeling guilty for how selfish he was being right now. She’s right, what am I doing? This was never going to be permanent, I can't just throw it all away on a selfish whim. I should enjoy the experience, not get lost in it. I’m such an idiot. He thought to himself.
Emily smiled and gave him a kiss on the beak. “Good boy. I promise you’ll get to do this again one day. And maybe even fly in a plane, or fulfill your dream of getting an aviary.”
She paused and gave him a scritch behind the ear, placating him completely with her love.
“But you can only do that if you’re human, so lets enjoy this while we can.”
With that, Keeton, Coconut, and Emily made the most of the remaining days. On the 6th day, the 30th since the transformation, Keeton and Coconut enjoyed a final morning together. In the afternoon, when Coconut was winding down to take his nap, Emily quietly transferred Keeton to the transport cage and left with him.
-----
Reina was looking through the list of current transformee’s on her crystal orb display screen.
“Business only opened recently and already, so many customers! 2018 is going to be my year!” she said to herself excitedly. Just then she heard the bell of her door open. She blurted out the rehearsed motto without looking up.
“Welcome to Good Witch Solutions, a good solution for every good desire. How can I help?”
“Um, hi. It’s me, Emily. Here to turn my husband back?” Emily said as she approached the witch sitting behind the, much smaller than last time, counter.
Reina looked up from the square display projected from her small crystal ball.
“Oh! That’s right, the bird lovers!”
“Um… So, will you turn him back?” Emily asked, lifting the cage slightly higher.
“Of course!” Reina laughed and gestured to the door off to the side.
Emily nodded and walked towards the door, she looked back to see Reina rise from her chair, the chair sunk into the floor, becoming part of it. The counter top rose upwards to a standing height, like before.
Reina entered the room, closing the door behind her and Emily.
“Now place the cage and we’ll have Keeton hop over to the center of the room.”
“Alright, will this take long?” Emily asked as she set down the cage and opened the latch.
I hopped out to the middle of the floor as commanded.
“Surprisingly, no. Applying a spell takes time, but undoing it is instant.” Reina explained, beginning to channel her red and gold magical energy around her fingers.
“Alright Keeton, I’m ready, you might feel disoriented for a little bit, just stay still and calm. Being human is like riding a bike! Ready?”
I bob my head in a nod and tweet in affirmation.
Reina smiled and unleashed her spell break on me. The crimson gold magic struck me like a bolt of lightning, then there was a loud pop and a lot of white smoke.
When the smoke cleared a few seconds later, I was standing there, back to being human once more.
“I’m...I’m me again…” I said breathlessly. “Wow, this feels odd.”
“Oh honey!” Emily ran up and hugged me tightly. “Welcome back, dear.”
I was caught off guard by the hug, something I didn’t realize I had missed, and found my arms in that moment to hug her back. I didn’t even realize I was crying.
“What’s wrong, dear?” she asked.
“N-nothing, I didn’t realize how much I missed your hugs…feeling your entire body against mine again…” I said, leaning back a little and drying my traitorous eyes. “I’m fine, really. Just sad it’s over.”
Reina just smiled at the familial bond, with a look of sad envy.
“Come, we'll get your deposit back and expel the contract.” she said and walked out the room, leaving the door open for them.
“Can you walk, dear?” Emily asked me.
I nod. “Like riding a bike…” I said with a smirk, oh I can smirk again.
Actually walking was a bit of a struggle, and Emily had to support me to stop me from falling over. By the time we exited the room into the main shop I had gotten the hang of it again.
We returned to the counter, behind which Reina was standing.
“Alright you two, here…” she pushed forward £200 in cash towards them on the counter. “Your fifty deposit, and the hundred and fifty return from that lovely watch.”
Emily greedily grabs the cash and sticks it in her purse. “Thank you, Reina.”
“Uh, yeah, thanks. It was a really good experience, I wish we had the money to do it again…” I say sadly.
“Well, I might have good news about that.” Reina smiles, sliding a plain red card with a gold witches hat outline on it towards us.
“What’s this…some kind of membership card?” I joke, picking it up.
“That’s one way to look at it. Basically, this card marks you as one of my VIP’s.”
“And we deserve that honor because…?”
“Two reasons.” she holds up a finger “One, customer retention. You get a 25% discount on all future transformations, and I get a loyal customer.” she raises a second finger “Two, reliability. Your wife came back within the time allotted, making you trustworthy enough to be responsible with future transformations.”
“How can you be sure? My wife brought me back, but how can you trust me?”
“Call it a witch's intuition, dear.” she chuckled, gesturing to the door. “I’ll see you again, Keeton, Emily. Oh, and why dont you check the pawn shop across the street before you go, hm?”
“Pawn shop…?” I mutter as I leave.
Emily and I decided to cross the street and check out the pawn shop, we found my watch. The one I gave to Reina to pay for the transformation, and that I got as a wedding gift. With the extra cash we had saved up, I was able to get my watch back.
Later, as we were driving home, I thought back on my experience. It was a lot of fun, I really could lose myself in that easy life forever. I’m glad my wife was there to pull me back though, human life is filled with responsibilities and expectations that make it hard sometimes, but it’s far more fulfilling and the rewards are worth the pain.
“Hey, honey. Are you alright? You’ve been pretty quiet.” Emily asked me as she was driving..
“Yeah, just reminiscing. Getting used to being human again.”
“Okay. You know, given how fun it was for you, I might give being a budgie a try next. We certainly saved a fair bit of money.” she said casually.
“You…you would do that?” I asked in surprise. “But I thought you didn’t care for birds?”
“Yeah...I mean, while I don’t obsess over it like you do, I think I appreciate birds more now.” she said with a smile. God, I love it when she smiles like that.
“Plus there’s the money you’ll get to spend when you change back.” I add coyly.
She chuckled at that and nodded. I glanced down at my pocket, where the vip card sits tucked inside. I get the feeling it will be seeing a lot of use...