Chapter XVI

    “Um... wh-what?”

    “Cici, I... I want you to turn me into something. Or someone. Please.”

    “I don’t... know if I should... or if I can...”

    “Why not?”

    “I just... I don’t know if it’s safe to use my powers on living things. I don’t want to hurt you... if my powers did you harm that would break my heart.”

    “It’s been my dream to transform into something new, Cici, something that isn’t me. I wish I were a shapeshifter like you, I wish it with all my heart but I’m not and I don’t know how you are. I just... could you please give me the chance, please, to be something that ain’t Kahri? I don’t care if it hurts me...”

    “Kahri... I care if it hurts you.” A rubbery arm lengthened around the slender woman’s shoulders, drawing her into Cecelia’s embrace. She rubbed her back as her arm returned to its normal length, trying to settle her friend.

    “Have you... you’ve never tried it on anyone before, right? Just objects?” Kahri asked, her voice quivering.

    “Yes, only nonliving, inorganic things. Things that don’t have feelings,” Cecelia replied.

    “Do you know what would happen if someone living, besides you were subjected to what you can do?”

    “...no...”

    “Well I-I can be your test subject! Uh, we’ll start with living things like other humans, then we’ll—”

    “Kahri... I’m not doing that.”

    “...Oh... um... okay...” Her heart fell into her stomach.

    “I’m sorry, I’m just not comfortable with—”

    “It’s... it’s fine... um... could you maybe turn into a woman in the audience or... or something. I kinda like watching it, interacting with it. It just... there’s something so enchanting ‘bout whatchu do...”

    “Sure,” Cecelia replied flatly, her body squishing and molding into a new form. She gained all over — weight, bust, and melanin — from her changes. Her hair dyed black. Her lips plumped up. Her ass filled with cellulite and her face grew wrinkles. The last of Cecelia Daboville was wiped away with curls in her tied mane and love handles on her hips, and in response to the strain this new anatomy caused her clothing, she simply decided to replace everything except her undergarments with a sleeveless fishnet catsuit. After vanishing her nipples and sex, she disappeared her bra and panties as well.

    Kahri, in close contact with her, found no remaining attributes of the young blonde. She’d been replaced by an older, heavier, strikingly more curvaceous African American matron, whose skin was somehow even softer than before. She slid a finger from her cushion-like tummy, across her breast and up to her forehead before flying it through her coarsened hair. They both giggled adorably.

    “Maybe... maybe shift again?” Kahri asked, leading Cecelia to stretch out in height, tucking away her belly fat as her skin tone shifted from ebony to olive. Her biceps, obliques, and hamstrings bulked up to give Cecelia a new kind of muscle tone as many fine hairs grew into existence all over her body. Her butt shrank, as did her breasts, which shrank so much that they ended up replaced by larger, more rigid pectorals sporting smaller, flatter nipples. Her jawline squared off and grew itself a beard, accompanied of course by a small mustache between her nose and mouth. Her lips thinned out and lost their feminine saturation, while her voice deepened and her hair shrank away into a far shorter style. Finally, a bulge unfolded into existence on Cecelia’s crotch, swapping her sex to leave her as a young Italian man.

    “Oooh...” A puff of air escaped Cecelia’s nose in response to Kahri sliding an arm beneath him, pulling herself in close. “I don’t think Cecelia’s a very fitting name for you anymore...” she purred, her empty palm eagerly exploring the new broad chest beside her.

    “Ummm...”

    “Whoa. That’s... a voice,” Kahri stammered, almost red from being so flustered.

    “...yeah, uh, call me Casey, I guess? Maybe Caesar? Sydney?”

    “Wow... awesome names, girl! Oh, I-I mean dude. You is not a girl,” Kahri proclaimed. “I think I like Casey, don’t you?”

    “Yeah, I do like Casey.”

    “Good! Now if Casey wouldn’t mind, we were watching TV together...”

    “Way ahead of you.” Casey hit play on the remote as Kahri shimmied herself into even closer contact with him. She settled eventually, her heart melted by the Prince Charming in her arms.

    “I knew ya had it in ya,” murmured Kahri.

    “What?”

    “Even if... you don’t wanna transform me into anything... you still transform you. Last time I saw ya, you tried hard to turn into another woman, and that didn’t work. Now here I am, askin’ you to do just that and there ya go doin’ it. That means you worked on somethin’, you practiced, Ion know butcha did somethin’ and you got them powers back on track. Look at you Casey! I knew ya had it in ya.”

    Casey was left speechless. She was right; he had to have done something to re-achieve his ability to mimic other humans’ appearances... though he was without an inkling of an idea as to any actions he could have performed.

    “I... don’t... know what I did...” he admitted meekly.

    “You had to have done somethin’. Learned somethin’ maybe? I take it shapeshifting ain’t easy,” Kahri said as she felt a pang in her heart.

    “Actually, i-it’s pretty easy for me somehow... but then why couldn’t I shift into other people for a few days after I’ve known how to do it for years...?”

    “If ya think I could tell ya, ya’d be damn wrong. I couldn’t hope to have an answer to that.”

    “I can’t say I blame you,” he replied.

Cecelia’s a smart woman. In fact, one could soundly say she’s just as good at problem solving as she is at shapeshifting. She is living proof that one not need know how problems are solved if one can solve them.