Moonstone - Chapter 11
---------
After cuddling with her husband for a while, Sidney started trying to uncoil herself.  Duncan watched her, grinning a bit when she couldn't see his face.  She looked so amazing as a naga, but he knew she was still sensitive about seeming like a monster.  He especially admired how her hips swayed as she slithered off the bed toward the ensuite bathroom.  Then grinned a bit bigger when he realized at least half of her tail wouldn't even fit inside.  Twenty feet of snake-like body with pretty red scales was not going to fit into a room that was at best seven feet by four.

He suppressed the grin after Sidney started cursing about not being able to even fit on the toilet, and re-emerged.  "The toilet in the main bathroom is longer, and more exposed.  I'm sure you can fit there."  Sidney bobbed her head and slithered off down the hallway.  Duncan's grin returned as he watched, followed by a distant look as he contemplated how quickly she'd adapted to moving around in her new form.

A little later, Duncan heard soft crying from down the hall.  He listened briefly, and soon realized it was his wife.  He found her in the main bathroom, bathed in moonlight from the skylight.

"What's wrong, sweetie?"

Sidney just glared at him.  On the plus side, she'd stopped crying.  After a while she sighed, and answered, "I've been stuck as a monster for a month, and you have to ask what's wrong?"

"Wait, a month?  It's only been a few minutes."  Duncan looked at the moonlight pooled around his wife.  "Oh cr...  You looked at the moon, didn't you?"

"I..."  Sidney paused, unsure.  "Why?"

"I've got good news and bad news."

"Seriously?"

Duncan sighed but pressed on.  "That wasn't a real month.  Just a Moon-induced daydream of what the next month would be like in that form."

"A dream?" Sidney asked, incredulously.  "More like a nightmare.  I was a prisoner in my own house.  Worse - I couldn't even go into the kitchen.  On the other hand, I didn't have to cook - you took care of that.  Thanks."

"Dream-me says you're welcome.  You know I'll always take care of you.  There's bad news, too, though.  Every time I had that daydream, that form became my 'true' form.  That's how I gave myself permanent breasts to feed Victor."

Sidney just stared at him, open-mouthed.  Then she started crying in earnest, scratching at her body.

"Shh!  Don't, it'll be OK.  I'll see if I can work something out.  Just... stay there, and don't do anything drastic, OK?"

Sidney stopped scratching with some effort, sniffed softly, and said, "OK. What are you going to do?"

"Try to talk the Moon out of this."  Duncan stepped into the moonbeam beside his wife, and looked up.

In his Moon-trance, Duncan could feel a sense of frustration and loss, but not directed at him.  As before, an image of himself appeared, with the moon-mark glowing on its chest.  He tried to barter with the Moon, summoning an image of his snaky wife as well.  As he imagined her shedding her naga form, his own form grew scales, spreading outward from the white circle on his chest.  He had to strike a balance between the two - he had to work, so he couldn't take on the tail.  His hands and face had to be scale-free as well.  In every other way Duncan's image became that of a bipedal lizard with striking red and black scales.  He also made sure it was fully functional...  In return, his wife's image only had scales where the teddy had covered.

When Duncan emerged from the trance he was smiling. The Moon had seemed happy, too.  He looked at his wife and saw her just as he'd imagined - human gain, but for the skin-pale scales covering her torso.

"What did you do?" Sidney exclaimed.

Duncan looked in the mirror and admired his scales.  "I traded your scaly body for mine, basically."

"But I'd already shed the skin, and was fully back to normal!"

"You'd... shed?"

"That's why I was so itchy.  While you were out I just couldn't stop scratching."

"Huh.  I guess the Moon could tell you didn't want the changes."

"So why do I have scales again?"

"I made a bargain... without knowing you'd be back to normal before I was done."

"Ooops."

Duncan laughed.  "No wonder the Moon seemed so happy."

Sidney sighed.  "Now what do I do? I've had quite enough of scales, thank you very much."

Duncan picked up the shed naga-skin on the floor.  "I think this is the teddy.  Since you're not wearing it any more, the Moonstone plus an old shirt can fix you up like normal."

Sidney trudged down the hall to do just that.

Duncan examined the shed skin in more detail, running his fingertips over the surface and lining.  The scales looked printed on, and It felt more like fabric than skin, which was probably for the best.  The lining was silky and smooth, with pockets further down for legs - it would make an awesome naga costume should he ever want one.

His examination was cut short by the Moonstone's box being shoved into his hands.  "Take this, and that skin-thing downstairs.  I don't want to see them again."

Sidney was rather nonplussed when she discovered that Duncan had kept his scales.  The discussion happened several times over the next two weeks.  "I made a bargain in good faith," Duncan would say.  "It's only for the month.  I'll change back on the next full Moon."  Sidney would sigh pointedly, but let it drop.  

Duncan never admitted out loud that he really liked how his scales felt - they were smooth and sleek, and made him feel dangerous.  He also enjoyed going to work with the secret knowledge of what lay under his clothes.  Brushing up against the magic censorship principle from time to time just made it more exciting - sure, it meant he had to wear long sleeved shirts in late spring, and couldn't undo more than the topmost button in public.  He'd try from time to time, probing against the limits, just to feel his hand leave his voluntary control and drop away from the button or sleeve.

The day of the new Moon, still harboring his hidden transformation, Duncan was called into the conference room at work.  Sitting next to him was Cory, the only other programmer he considered competent.  Across from them were the two brothers that co-owned the business.  His bosses droned on about hard times and how the downturn had dropped their sales near to zero.  Duncan felt a brief pang of regret for the three fresh-out-of-college programmers he'd helped to hire and train over the last year.  If the company couldn't sustain the new development push, obviously they'd have to go... right?  Wrong.

Not many minutes later, Duncan was standing in the parking lot with a box of personal possessions in his arms, looking shell-shocked.  Cory seemed relieved rather than shocked - but he was the one who had faced the brunt of the bosses' wrath on that last schedule slip.  Waiting for them with a wry grin on his face was Richard, the tech writer.  He'd seen the writing on the wall for some time, and had taken his belongings home months ago.  He saw the termination pay as good seed money for the painting company he'd always wanted to start.

The three of them stood in the parking lot and swapped tales for an hour.  Duncan became more and more relieved at his escape from that toxic environment.  They laughed at the issues they were leaving behind - there was no need for logic bombs, as both Duncan and Cory had been working on some deep and difficult bugs when they were let go.  Neither had documented much about their suspicions, so it would be up to the new kids to figure it all out.  Given the pole-axed look on said new guys' faces as Duncan and Cory shook their hands goodbye, they knew productivity and morale were going to be abysmal.

Soon enough the talk wound down, and the three men exchanged contact information.  They promised to keep in touch, and headed their separate ways.  Duncan deposited his termination pay - about three months' salary - and headed home.

Sidney was worried, of course.  Still, they were covered for three months, and government unemployment benefits would kick in after that.  Duncan spent the afternoon playing with the kids.  The next day they had a picnic in the park with his parents, who had retired some years prior.  It was a fine day.  Duncan was happier and more relaxed than he'd been in a long time.

The next day he got serious about the job hunt.  It had been over 15 years since he'd last had to write a resume, so it needed a little updating...

The next two weeks were a flurry of activity - carefully crafting cover letters, hand-delivering applications, poring through want-ads from a dozen different sources, and making lists of local companies to cold-call.

Duncan was a little surprised when the night of the full Moon arrived.  He'd fully expected to be working by this point - Cory had already found a position, and Duncan knew his experience and qualifications were far greater.  Apparently nobody wanted a PhD for entry-level programming jobs, which was what Duncan was mostly seeing in the listings.  That, or they wanted new-fangled languages he'd heard of but never used.

Duncan's worries were set aside when he felt the Moon rise, though.  Wearing scales for the past month had been quite an experience, he mused, but it was time for a change.  Sidney was very done with scales, and had long grown weary of the reminders.  For Duncan, the deviant thrill of being radically different under his clothes had mostly worn off, replaced by concern for what would happen if someone did see.  Being unable to wear shorts or short-sleeve shirts in the summer was a bit of a pain, too.  Duncan did still like one particular thing about his current form - having all his junk tucked up inside his ventral slit.  Sure, it would have made sex rather... inconvenient, if the scales hadn't already been enough of a mood-killer for Sidney.  He liked the clean lines it gave his body - he'd never really cared for the "last chicken in the shop" look.

When he went out to greet the Moon, Duncan had a plan.