Moonstone - Chapter 20
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Two cougar-styled catgirls stood in front of the changing room mirror, wearing only panties with cutouts for their tails. One was staring at her reflection with a big goofy grin on her face. The other was just shaking her head. "What's the matter?" the first catgirl asked the second.
Donna sighed, and shrugged, her tail twitching in agitation. "I only asked the Moon to change you, but I got caught up in it. You'll be a catgirrl for a week, but I'll..."
"You'll what?"
Donna shook her head. "I'll manage."
"Cheerr up. Does whateverr you're worried about matterr tonight?" Ana purred.
Donna shook her head again. Ana grabbed her by the paw and dragged her toward the stage. "Then let's dance!"
Leo saw the two catgirls at the stage entrance, grinned, and fired up Donna's Wild Boys mix without even being asked. For the first time since Donna had realized what she'd done to herself, she grinned. She vaulted onto the stage, clearing all the steps in a single bound. Ana was only a half-beat behind her.
Donna let the music take her away. She became a living expression of the beat, and of the Moon's power. Ana swore she was actually glowing as she leaped across the stage. Several times, Donna vaulted clear over the smaller catgirl.
Ana tried her best to keep up, and raked in the tips that Donna mostly ignored. When Leo finally brought the set to a close both catgirls were panting with exhaustion. Ana hugged Donna, and gave her a bit of support as they walked, paw in paw, to the stage exit.
Rowan sighed as she walked into the green room. "I've got another big booking for a 'catgirl'. Are we going to have to bail like last..." She trailed off as she saw not one, but two catgirls looking back at her. The taller one gave the shorter a nudge toward Rowan.
"All yourrs, Ana."
Ana flashed a toothy grin at Donna. "Rreally? You'rre surre?"
Donna nodded. "I'm going to change myself back with the Moonstone. Have fun!"
Donna has just opened the Moonstone's box when Kate and Liana burst into the room. "We heard the Moonstone was charged again... whoa!" They stopped short, watching as the fur receded from Donna's form in a rolling wave. In moments, her head was back to normal, and the fur had receded from her arms, replacing paws with normal human hands once more.
The fur stopped receding at her waist. Kate asked why, and Donna just sighed. "Panties." She wiggled out of them, and showed the other girls the tail-hole. But not for long, as wiggling her finger at them through it started turning it into a tail. She pulled it out and dropped the panties on the counter before the change went far.
"Wow, you change a lot faster than we do," noted Kate. Donna was already back to normal. She closed the Moonstone's box, and put a different pair of panties on.
"Yeah, I've noticed that. I think it's a familiarity thing - I've changed so many times, it just comes easier to me."
"Handy."
Donna nodded. "Somewhat. It also takes proportionately less charge to change me, so that's a plus. So. You came barging in for a reason?"
Kate laughed. "Oh yeah. Do you have enough charge to do that custom tailoring we talked about last month?"
Donna touched her hand to her chest. The Moon-mark there was glowing with power. "Yeah, I've got plenty. Should be enough for three bras."
"How about shirts?" Kate held up a cute grey top.
"Hm. I don't know. Probably just the one. Bigger things take more to change."
Kate mulled it for a bit. "Just one shirt, or a few more bras... tough call. You can't, you know, recharge?"
Donna shook her head. "Have you seen the weather out there?"
Kate sighed. "Foo. Let me think."
Liana spoke up. "Can I use the Moonstone to change back to my normal breasts now?"
Donna looked over at the slim asian girl, who was clutching her usual bra to her oversized chest. She tried not to giggle, it looked comically small. "Sure." She flipped the lever to open the slats, and both Kate and Donna watched as Liana's endowment shrunk away.
"Those look bigger than last time," Donna commented. "I think you went a bit over the top."
Kate snickered. "Like you're one to talk."
Liana looked down at her shrinking breasts. "Yeah, this is about the size I had last time." She pulled her bra away, stopping the shrinking for a bit. "I like them this size. It's just... my mother wouldn't go crazy if she saw them like this." She sighed, and put the bra back on, resuming the shrinking.
"That sucks."
"I know, but that's life. I wish I could grow and shrink them every night."
Donna thought about that for a bit. The Moon rose later each night, but the Moonstone could be used for a few more nights before that became a problem. She just wasn't keen on bringing it in every night. Plus she knew she was going to need all the charge it had, and then some...
"I have an idea..." Donna started, as a different scheme formed in her mind. As she imagined it, she felt a rush of power leave her, and Liana squealed.
"What did you do?" Liana was standing by the Moonstone's box, having just closed the shutters. "I felt my breasts change, and it wasn't the stone."
"I got a bit carried away. I had an idea that would let you change the size of your breasts, and I think I just did it. Can you take your bra off?"
Liana did so, and worriedly inspected her chest. "What did you do?"
Donna pointed at Liana's nipples. There was a deep dimple in the middle of each one. "If someone blows on those hard enough, they should... inflate."
"Oooh," said Kate. "Can I try?"
Liana nodded cautiously. "I guess."
Kate ducked her head to Liana's chest, and started puffing for all she was worth. Soon one breast was significantly larger than the other. Liana was staring at it in amazement. Donna was just trying very hard not to show how turned on she was getting by the show. She couldn't avert her gaze for very long, it drew her like a magnet.
"I... uh, think that's enough, Kate." Liana ventured uncertainly. "It's feeling full."
"Does it hurt?" Donna asked, worriedly.
"No, just feels... weird."
"Weird good, or weird bad?" Kate asked, before changing breasts and starting to puff once more.
"Ooogh... I guess weird good, but this..." Liana waved her hands at Kate before her, "is just kind of uncomfortable."
Kate pulled back, and eyed Liana's chest critically. "I think you're mostly even."
Liana put on her bra from the previous month. "It fits. Thanks!" She bounced experimentally in front of the mirror. "They feel light."
Donna chuckled. "Well, they're half-full of air. I bet the guys will like that, you're extra perky."
Liana giggled. "I'll have to go see." She bounced out of the door. A moment later, she stuck her head back in. "Um, how do I reduce these, later?"
"Squeeze them tight, it should force the air out."
"OK. Thanks again! This is great!"
Kate handed Donna one of her normal-sized bras. "If I'm going to be growing this big regularly, I can buy a few tops. Having a bra that adjusts as I shrink is way more useful."
Donna nodded, and concentrated on the bra. She imagined it fitting Kate perfectly, and it started growing in her hands. While it was doing so, Kate intruded on her rather distant thoughts. "You enjoyed our show, didn't you?"
Donna blushed, and kept her eyes on the bra until it stopped growing. She handed it to Kate.
"You're not the only one, you know. Nissa would volunteer to help her, too. I'm not as sure about the others, but I bet a few of them are bi, too."
"I'm not bi," Donna said, then covered her mouth.
Kate stared into Donna's eyes, then her own widened. "You're not gay, though... You're a guy!"
Donna couldn't say anything at all. She just stared at Kate, stricken mute in fear. Then tears started to well up.
"Oh. My. God." Kate impulsively hugged Donna. "I'm sorry!"
Donna hugged back, uncertainly. "You're... sorry? For what?"
"For... um, for guessing your big secret?"
"You..." Donna's voice hiccuped a bit, "You won't tell anyone, right?"
Kate shook her head. "Of course not. Does anyone else know? Wait, does Rowan know?"
"I don't think so. I never told Rowan, but Pauline knows. They talk a lot, I'm sure Rowan knows."
As if summoned by the repetition of her name, Rowan appeared in the doorway. "Rowan knows all, but tells little."
Donna ducked her head. "So you knew I was a guy?"
Rowan put a finger under Donna's chin, lifting her head to meet her gaze. "I had guessed. Pauline didn't tell me, though she did provide clues. Remember, I've seen the Moonstone's work before."
"Why did you let me..."
Rowan smiled. "You won the contest. You had turned yourself into an exceptionally beautiful woman, and over the past few months into an exceptional dancer. Even if you scare the rubes away. Now get out there and show them what you've got."
Donna grinned hugely. "Thank you!"
It was late, there weren't many sets left, but Donna danced her heart out for the time she had.
At closing time, Donna packed up the Moonstone, noting that it was glowing brightly. She tucked her panties with the tail-hole in the bag beside it. They'd come in handy later, when she reverted to being a catgirl.
Rowan caught up to her with a huge wad of cash just before she left.
"Good grief. How much is... Gah, this looks like as much as I made last month. I should give up on dancing and just do this."
Rowan laughed. "You love the dance too much to quit. Besides, it won't always be like this. Ana dumped everything she had on me after you let her have the two hour booking of room three. Of course, she'll probably make twice that just off her share of the rental."
"Wait, two hours? But that was less than an hour ago, and we're closing now."
"For what we charge for that room, Ben and I can pull a little overtime. Don't worry about it."
When Donna got home, a light was still on in the bedroom. She peeked in briefly on the kids, sleeping quietly in their crib and bed respectively. Then on to the bedroom, after ditching her coat in the hall closet. Sidney was pretending to sleep, but Donna knew better - her wife never really slept well when alone.
Normally Donna would just slip into bed quietly, but tonight she felt like talking. "Sid?" she called softly. "You still awake?"
Sidney rolled to face her. "Not really, no. What's up, love?"
"Kate figured out my secret."
Sidney sat up. "Oh no! What happened?"
Donna laughed softly. "Nothing. She apologized. I found out that, as I suspected, Rowan knew all along. And they were both fine with the fact that underneath all this I'm a guy."
Sidney rolled back over. "Crisis averted then. G'night."
Donna bounced a little on the bed, still full of nervous energy. She couldn't tell Sidney about what Kate and Zoey had been doing, it seemed wrong. She was still excited, though, and leaned in to nuzzle at a certain spot where Sidney's neck met her shoulder.
Sidney cooed softly, and turned to look at her female husband. "Now? Really?"
Donna just nuzzled again, knowing full well what it did to Sidney.
"But you're still a girl, and I don't have the right... AUGH! What did you DO?"
"I..." Donna's eyes went wide. "Sorry!"
Sidney flung the covers off, and hiked up her nightshirt. She stared down at the very erect penis jutting up from her loins. It was smooth and sleek, somehow slightly feminine... "Why?"
"Sorry. It sorta slipped out. I'll get the Moonstone, and change you back."
"Do that." Sidney's voice was frosty.
Once Sidney was back to normal, she rolled over and turned out her light. The room was plunged into darkness, save for the faint glow from the Moonstone. Going by touch alone, Donna stripped, fished out a pair of Duncan's boxers, and waited out the change.
When Duncan slipped into bed, Sidney cuddled up against him, but was already mostly asleep.
Duncan didn't tell Sidney about the catgirl mixup right away. He did show off the bankroll from all his tips for using the Moonstone, though.
"Does this mean I can get something extra-sparkly for Valentine's Day?" Sidney asked with a grin.
Duncan nodded. "I think we're far enough ahead that I should be able to do something for my sweetie. And not just as an apology."
It was while they were out shopping that Duncan started to realize the depth of his problem. Signs were up everywhere for Valentine's Day, and he realized it fell one day after the new Moon. Short of wearing silver, there was no way he could share that night with his wife while male, or even human. As a sort of pre-apology, he agreed they could spend a bit more than he thought wise on a very nice silver ring, that would get set with four stones. Ruby, Alexandrite, Aquamarine and Sapphire - the birthstones of their little family.
That night, Duncan stayed home. He usually worked at the club Saturday nights, so Sidney was especially grateful. After the kids were in bed and safely asleep, and the dishes were done, Duncan approached his wife.
"There's a slight... problem coming up."
Sidney looked up from the TV. "There is?"
Duncan sat beside her on the couch. He noted that the cooking show was still playing, but Sidney didn't seem too engrossed in it. "Yes. I sort of... accidentally changed myself under the full Moon."
Sidney frowned. "You looked normal enough that night."
"I changed back, of course. But I'm going to
revert, once we get close to the new Moon."
"Which is..."
"The day before Valentine's Day."
Sidney let out a long-suffering sigh. "What did you turn yourself into this time? Not a giant plush bunny, I hope."
"No. A catgirl."
"Ah. I hope I won't be allergic to you."
Duncan's eyes went wide. "Oh no. That would make this even worse."
"I'd better buy a big packet of antihistamines, just in case. So how did you get stuck this time?"
Duncan explained how keen Ana was on being a catgirl, and the promise he'd made. Then how the weather had kept the Moon at bay, and how he'd managed to trigger a Moon-trance even so. "I changed her while in the trance, like I changed you after the naga incident. I was so focused on getting that right I didn't realize I was changing myself as well."
Sidney shuddered delicately at the mention of her previous transformation. "And she likes being that way?"
Duncan nodded. "You should have seen her smile." She grinned at the memory. "She's usually surly and sarcastic, but when she's a catgirl - or even when she just had cat ears - she's positively bubbly."
Sidney gave a sad little smile. "Well, at least someone's happy with this."
Duncan sighed. "Yeah, until the last quarter Moon. Then she'll go back to being human, and I'm the one who'll be changing into a catgirl."
"Oh! You can't let her see that. It sounds like it'd break her heart."
"You see. It's a mess."
"We'll manage. You'll be here for Valentine's Day, right?"
"Of course!" Duncan hugged his wife, and was gratified that she hugged back just as warmly.
Monday night after the kids were in bed, Duncan changed himself back to Donna. Sidney sighed when she saw her. "Already?"
"I'm not going to be able to dance for almost two weeks. I've got to earn what I can now."
Sidney sighed, and nodded. "Well, you'll be around more for those two weeks. That's something, I guess."
Donna nodded. "About a week of it as a catgirl, unfortunately."
"Nobody's perfect."
Donna laughed, and headed out to the car.
At the Blue Vixen, Donna noticed some changes. Despite the fact that it was Monday, and there weren't too many dancers about, things felt disorganized and chaotic. It took her a while to figure out why. Usually, Ana would be little more than a surly background presence, but a presence that managed to keep things organized.
After a few sets and a growing sense of frustration, Donna cornered Jenna to ask why Hannah of all people was running things.
Jenna shrugged. "Seniority, of course. Rowan takes Mondays off. Hannah's next after Ana, she's been here for a couple months longer than I have."
"Then why's she so bad at this?"
"She doesn't care. And she doesn't really have any experience, either. Ana never misses a night."
Donna frowned. "So where is Ana, then?"
"I don't know. Nobody has heard from her since Friday."
"That's odd," Donna mused. Then again, Ana was a catgirl now... it would be hard to get to the Blue Vixen.
Somewhat after midnight, Hannah left. Jenna took charge of organizing the remaining shifts. Soon, there was just one dance left.
"Who wants last dance?" Jenna called out to the room at large. A chorus of "me" and "me too" rang out in reply.
"How about we draw cards?"
"Boring."
"OK, fine, what do you suggest?"
"How about we play cards for it?"
"But that's... Fine," Jenna sighed. "Does everyone know how to play poker?"
Several of the girls shook their heads. Donna piped up, "We have nothing to stake, anyway."
"Go fish?"
"I don't see how that could possibly..."
"Crazy 8s?"
At least everyone knew how to play that. It didn't take long to deal out the cards and soon enough Isolde was off and dancing the last set. Donna had the most cards in her hand at the end. "Huh. So what does the loser get stuck with?"
Jenna looked around. "Cleaning up in here."
"Awww..."
Once the precedent was set, it carried on through the next week. Rowan was amused by it, and Hannah was never there for it. By the time the last quarter Moon showed up, it was as if they'd always been deciding things that way.
The next night things got interesting. Rowan had stocked even more of the dancing silks, and went so far as to advertise an 'Arabian Night'. Donna wasn't sure if she could make it. It was two days into the fading of the Moon's powers. She figured she'd be changing a fair bit between the time the Moon set and the Blue Vixen opened.
She'd been OK the night before - eight hours worth of change didn't show, and nobody even commented on it. By evening on the second night after the last quarter, Donna felt slightly fuzzy, but still looked mostly normal. There was a slight pointiness to her ears, and her teeth felt a bit sharper. Some depilatory cream took care of the most noticeable thing, the faint peach-fuzz of fur that had grown.
There were silks everywhere, an explosion of colour and texture all over the green room. Rowan had done somewhat more than just stocking up, and Neysa had brought along a good supply as well. She was an experienced bellydancer, and when Donna arrived, the slim olive-skinned dancer was leading several of the others through some fairly advanced techniques.
Donna joined in with a grin, looking forward to trying out some new ideas.
Everyone was dancing with silks, even the girls who hadn't had a boost, and Liana who just didn't inflate herself that night. Donna discovered later that she was a bit worried she might get stuck inflated, and agreed that there was a slight chance of that.
Then Hannah strutted into view. Unlike all the others she was in one of her normal dancing outfits... one of her 'enhanced' ones. Her breasts fit it perfectly.
Rumors swirled around Hannah, dancers chattering in her wake. They looked to Donna for answers as Hannah wasn't talking. Donna just shrugged. "I don't know how she did it," she would answer, truthfully. She had a pretty good guess, as silver was far more likely than a Moon-trance, but she didn't know for sure.
With the number of dancers - pretty much everyone had come out for 'Arabian Night', despite it falling on a Saturday - Rowan was kept busy. Donna managed to dodge her and the inevitable questions she didn't really want to answer. If all the girls knew how to make the changes permanent, her income would plummet. Donna felt a twinge of something more than guilt about thinking that way, but kept quiet.
Once Hannah left - even earlier than usual - things settled into something of a routine. Neysa continued to coach anyone interested in more bellydance lessons, and everyone remaining seemed to be having a great time with it.
Donna made sure to tip Neysa well when the night was done, she'd earned it. "You should teach this stuff for a living."
Neysa grinned. "I'm hoping to. I'm saving up to buy a little studio, like Pauline has. Tonight helped a lot."
"Hopefully we'll do more of these, can't hurt the popularity of it locally."
Neysa nodded. "That would be great."
The next night, Donna fretted in front of the mirror. She'd slathered her skin with the depilatory, and the third coat had worked - she was fuzz free. But her face looked just that little bit off. Her muzzle was pushing out just a touch. It was only really noticeable from the side. Maybe if she wore her hair down nobody would notice. And that would help hide the way her ears were getting awfully pointy, and migrating up her skull.
The eyes weren't too pronounced yet, and she could always claim they were novelty contact lenses. The teeth... Donna sighed, and resolved to smile only with her mouth firmly shut.
Driving was nerve-wracking. Donna could almost feel everyone's gaze on her, and knew she was on the cusp of magic censorship forcing her into hiding.
It was such a huge relief to finally be in private space again, that Donna didn't initially notice the confrontation brewing in the Blue Vixen's green room. The first thing she heard in the too-silent room was Hannah's ascerbic "Look what the cat dragged in."
Donna started guiltily, then after a few panicky moments realized that nobody was looking at her. They were all watching a once again human Ana facing down Hannah. Donna was rather surprised that the comment hadn't had much effect on Ana - she had imagined that changing back to human would have broken something in her. Instead, Ana caught Donna's look, and gave her a wink.
"At least I'm not an overinflated airhead with delusions of superiority. I've only been gone a week, and you think you own the place? I bet Jenna ran things way better than you whenever you left them alone."
There was a bit of snickering at that last, and Hannah turned beet red. She stormed out of the room, out of the building, and wasn't seen again that night.
Ana set to work getting everyone organized, then once nobody but Donna was looking, collapsed on a stool in the corner. Donna sat down beside her. "You handled that well."
Ana laughed. "I learned how to deal with her a long time ago."
"How are you holding up?"
Ana shrugged, and looked over at Donna. "Better, now that I can see... wait." She frowned, and stared at Donna's face more closely. "You're... part cat. What's going on?"
Donna just stared back at her for a moment, gathering her thoughts. That didn't work. "How can you tell?"
Ana laughed bitterly, ending on a cough that seemed to be concealing tears. "I looked just like that this morning. Now you're turning into a cat, and Hannah still has her tits. What the hell is going on?"
"I..."
"Can you make me stay a cat longer, next time?"
Donna didn't trust her words, she just nodded.
Ana smiled so broadly that Donna almost worried her head would split in half. "Thank you!"
The hope and faith that Donna saw in Ana's eyes scared her far more than the disappointment had. It shook her to her core, and she bolted.
Donna didn't go back to the Blue Vixen. As the days went by, changing back into Duncan with the Moonstone became harder - each change was slower, and each reversion was faster. Duncan was able to get out and run a few errands, but only short ones.
Three days before the new Moon, Donna gave up on it, and stayed a catgirl. It meant she couldn't leave the house unless completely covered. She tested that once, but not being able to see where she was going rather limited what she could do. So she stayed indoors, hiding in the half of the house that could be fully screened from view. The only time she could enter the living room was at night, prowling through the unlit house. Her eyes were fully as good as a cat's, and she amused herself by stalking the toys the kids left out. Better that, then gazing out the window at the world she couldn't enter.
On Valentine's Day, the day after the new Moon, Donna changed to Duncan once more. The Moon set a little before dinner time, so Duncan appeared to eat with his family once more. By the time the meal was over, she was a catgirl again, and could only stay at the table thanks to yards of paper her wife had taped over the windows.
Once the kids were abed, Donna hugged her wife. "Happy Valentine's Day. Thanks for making it possible for me to eat dinner with you guys."
Sidney smiled at her catgirl husband. "Thanks for trying to change back. I guess we'll have to chalk this up as the weirdest Valentine's Day ever."
Donna laughed, and disappeared off into the bedroom. When she came back out, there was some sort of harness dangling from her paw. "Want to try to up the weirdness a little further?" she asked with an uncertain smile.
Sidney stared at the thing dangling from the harness. It was swaying hypnotically, and it took a moment to realize that it was some kind of... "A strap-on dildo? Are you serious?" Sidney's tone was light, and a bit of a grin teased at her lips.
Donna nodded, her smile broadening in response.
Sidney laughed, and let her catgirl lead her to the bedroom. "OK, but I get to wear it."