Moontouched 5

“And they were still at it this morning,” Duncan complained.  “Sidney and Gwen, chattering away like old friends.  She even has the kids calling her Auntie Gwen!”

“So?” asked Arwen, diffidently.  “What’s wrong with that?”

“What’s...  God, Gwen’s in love with Donna, and Donna feels pretty much the same way about her.  They’re one badly worded wish away from betraying my vows to Sidney.”  Duncan hung his head.  “I’m afraid of what Gwen will tell her about my times as Donna.”

Arwen sighed softly.  “It sounds like you need my ex-partner’s advice on relationships more than mine.”

Duncan’s head jerked up to stare at Arwen.  “Ex-partner?  What happened?”

Arwen slumped back in her chair.  “I pushed the issue with silver, and... the other.  We both had fun, but afterward Joseph got all weird and distant.  I haven’t talked to him since we changed back to our normal genders.”

“Oh, Arwen.  That’s terrible, I’m so sorry.  If I hadn’t...”  Duncan’s posture shifted as his mind slipped into the Donna mindset.

Arwen shook her head.  “No.  Nobody’s fault but my own.  My curiosity got the better of me.”

Duncan got up and gave Arwen a hug.  “Ssh, it’s not your fault either.  You wouldn’t have forced Josephine, I suspect he was just as curious as you.”

Arwen allowed herself a single sniff, then re-established her professional demeanor.  “Thanks, Donna.”

Duncan smiled softly as he sat down.  “Yeah, she does pop up when I need her.  You’re welcome.”

“So,” asked Arwen.  “Did you figure out what it was you’d forgotten last week?”

Duncan laughed out loud.  “That Gwen was my Hallowe’en costume.  As a result, I wore her in front of Sidney, once.  Not my fault, the minx used a wish.”

“Ah.  We really need to work on that.  You said that you managed to prevent one of the other dancers from telling you what to do?”

Duncan nodded, and they discussed ways to deal with that.  Arwen suggested a series of exercises that would help Duncan evaluate his mental state, somewhat akin to anger management techniques.  The trick was to become aware of how he or she felt just before the magic started flowing, and use that awareness to improve control.

“For the time being, though... there is one mental change I’ve seen you make on normal days.  You flipped to your Donna-self a little while back.  How well can you control that?”

Duncan blinked, then looked at Arwen with Donna’s eyes, spoke with her voice.  “More than I recalled.  Far more.”

“What’s it like?” Arwen asked, leaning forward with fascination.

Duncan sat back, himself once again.  “I...  It’s a little bit like play-acting.  The question, ‘what would Donna think’,” Duncan’s voice shifted pitch subtly, “comes with a comprehensive answer.”

“But can you step back from yourself, and observe the change itself?”

Duncan frowned in concentration, his pose shifting subtly several times.  “I...  No.  There’s just me in here.  Me-Duncan, or me-Donna, it’s all just... me.”

“Hm.  Work on it.  Exercise self-observation, and you’ll get better at it.  I’ll see you next week to discuss your progress.”

“I’ll do that,” said Duncan as he gracefully stood up from the couch with a dancer’s poise.  “The trick might work better on the night of the full Moon, too.”

Arwen nodded.  “Likely.  If you lay the groundwork now, it will work better.”

“I can hope.  See you next week!”

* * *

After an eventful week, Duncan was glad to get back to a normal routine.  Work was going well on the new project, and he’d even been able to find an excuse to use genetic algorithms in part of the design.  That he’d been able to use what he considered ‘fun mathematics’ as part of his job tickled his amusement to no end.

At home, things were quiet as well.  Sidney said nothing more about Gwen, though Duncan suspected the two were still in contact.  Courtney did ask about “Auntie Gwen” a time or two, but was easily enough distracted by other things.  It was getting too cold and damp to take the kids out to parks regularly, so Duncan started turning the TV room downstairs into more of a playroom.  It was remarkable how quickly children with generous grandparents could accumulate heaps of toys...

The mice continued their depredations, and avoided the traps that Duncan set.  By the time the Moon was nearly full again, he was ready for desperate measures.  He’d bought a few packets of glue boards, but hadn’t quite had the heart to put them out, yet.  That changed the night that Sidney saw a mouse.

“You have to kill them!” Sidney wailed.  “Kill them with fire!”

“Um, that’s not a great idea.  The fire thing.  The house is made of wood.”

“I don’t care!  Get rid of them, however you have to do it.”

Duncan sighed, and went downstairs to set out glue boards.  He put an almond in the middle of each one, to serve as bait.  “Sorry guys,” he murmured to any mice that might be listening.  “I tried to do this the easy way...”

The next morning, there was a mouse stuck to one of the glue boards.  It was squealing in panic and thrashing about as Duncan approached.  He picked the board up and stared at the poor thing, shaking his head.  He thought mice were bigger, this was just a tiny thing, not even the length of his pinkie finger.

He looked into its glittering eyes, and brushed a finger against the glossy fur of its flank.  “What am I going to do with you now?” he mused aloud.  It was obvious that the poor thing was hopelessly stuck, and trying to free it would take so much force that he couldn’t see the mouse surviving it.

So he did what he had to do, and ended its misery swiftly.

Duncan sighed as he closed the lid of the trash can.  It didn’t seem fair, and certainly not kind.  But allowing mice in the house wasn’t acceptable, either.  He just wished they’d stay out, and be done with it.  He hoped that this was the only mouse, but in his heart he knew it wasn’t.  There’s never just one mouse.

He tried not to let it get him too depressed.  After all it was a Saturday and he’d have the day to spend time with his family.  Better yet, the full Moon would be rising before much longer, leaving him time to help Arwen, have dinner with his family, and then go off to the Blue Vixen.

Fresh snow had fallen that morning, and it was enough of a rarity that Courtney was eager to go play in it.  So they bundled Victor and Courtney up and Duncan took them out to play.  Victor decided he’d had enough early on, but Courtney wanted to build a snowman.  Duncan helped her to roll together a small spindly thing that looked like it had patchy fur made of the grass that rolled up with the snowballs.  Courtney was very proud of it.

Once Courtney was too cold to stay out longer, they came inside for hot chocolate.  Duncan spent the rest of the morning and afternoon spending as much time as he could with the kids.  In part it was to mute Sidney’s disapproval that he would be gone much of the night.  There was more to it, though.  Duncan wanted to ground himself in his family, in the simple things of reality, before his Moon-given power went to his head.

Just before the Moon rose, Duncan disentangled himself from his kids, and went out to the deck to greet its rise.  Despite the chill, he didn’t bother with a coat.  He hadn’t kept up his habit of tweaking his body’s design every Moon-trance since he’d given up the Moonstone.  Tonight he felt it was time to pick it up again.  So when he felt the Moon’s familiar presence rise above the horizon, he fell into the trance and stayed there for a time.

As usual, he found both Duncan and Donna waiting there for him, standing side by side.  A thought made them less sensitive to the cold, adding just a tiny bit of padding to both their frames.  Arwen’s exhortation to stand outside himself and observe the changes between Duncan and Donna’s mindset came to mind, and he wondered if there was something he could do here to help.

The very idea brought an immediate negation, he wanted to avoid anything that would mess with his mind during the trance.  First he had to safely lock in his form and mind for the next month.  Then he could experiment, not now.  He settled on giving Donna ice-blue nails, and broke his connection with the Moon.

Duncan looked down at his fingertips, curious to see what had carried over.  His nails looked mostly the same, save that they’d been polished to a fine sheen.  It looked like he had a coat of clear polish on.  He could live with that.

When he returned inside, Duncan approached Sidney.  “The Moon is up,” he said softly.

“But it’s still light out,” she protested.  “Are you sure?”

Duncan just looked at her with an eyebrow raised sarcastically.  After a moment he sighed.  “Yes.  Trust me.  I can feel it.”  He held up his hand, and turned a fleck of dead skin into a shining crystal snowflake.

Sidney’s eyes widened at the sight, and at her request Duncan formed a small hole in it.  Sidney got out her jewelry-making supplies, and put a turn of silver wire through the hole, turning it into a pendant.  “Thank you,” she said when she had it hanging from the silver chain she always wore about her neck.  “It’s lovely.”

Duncan went into the bedroom briefly to replace his clothes with ones Moon-crafted from a few stray hairs.  They’d be easier to change, and he expected to have to do a fair bit of that tonight.  He gave his kids a hug, promised them he’d be back for dinner, and left.

At Arwen’s, he met her first client, a twentyish woman who was dressed as and had the mannerisms of a man.  For all Arwen’s coaching through previous sessions, Duncan was still unable to think of people as other than their current gender.  It didn’t help that he could sense her true body under the disguise.

“Timothy, this is Duncan.  He’ll be helping you today.”

Timothy quivered with excitement.  “Really?  It’s today?”

“Yes,” said Duncan as his form reshaped to match Timothy’s, in all details but the most important.  “Now let us talk of what you would like to see in the mirror.”

“Oh.  My.  God.  How?” asked Timothy in wonder.

Arwen laughed delicately, then explained.  “Magic.  Magic is real, but until you’ve seen it you can’t be told about it.”

Talk then turned to practical things.  Timothy couldn’t be changed too much, or others would notice.  But small things were possible.  A slightly deeper voice, some hair on his chest, the jaw just a touch more square.

The moment Timothy pronounced his mirror image perfect, he felt the changes begin.  He sighed with relief as he felt his body become truly his for the very first time.  Once the change was done he danced about the room, then hugged Duncan and Arwen soundly.  “Thank you so much.  This is the best day of my life.  How can I ever repay you?”

Duncan smiled, and his form rippled and grew back to the one he’d had on arrival.  “Live well.  Share your joys with others.”

“I will!  Oh, I will.”

Arwen shooed Duncan out to the waiting room for the rest of the consultation, as usual.

While he was there, a familiar face entered.  It took Duncan a beat to recognize him, as the last time he’d seen Joseph he’d been Josephine, and made up to look very feminine.

“Joseph?  What are you doing here?”

The other man sighed, and sat across from Duncan.  “Hoping to talk to you, actually.  I have to know... how do you do it?”

Duncan frowned in puzzlement.  “Do what?”

“You flit from male to female so regularly, and you’re so comfortable as either.  I...  I’m afraid I over-reacted to being female, and...”  Joseph sighed.  “It’s much easier to give advice than follow it, I’m afraid.”

“I know,” said Duncan sympathetically.  “I... well, I cheated a bit at first, used the Moon’s power to make myself more comfortable.  These days... well, Donna’s never far from the surface.”  His form flowed easily to Donna’s female curves, and his clothes followed.  “Least of all on nights like tonight.”

“I still can barely believe...  How is it so easy for you to overcome your nature?”

Donna chuckled softly.  “In a sense, I haven’t.  I’ve always had a bit of female deep inside.  As Donna, I let her have her way.  That, and I’ve never been one to worry about what others think of me.  Well, not much.”

“Easy to say,” said Joseph.  “Not easy to do, for most of us.”

“Like everything, it comes more easily with practice.”

Joseph’s eyes widened.  “Surely you’re not suggesting...”

“I am.  Perhaps just for the night, though.  Josephine.”

Joseph looked down at himself in alarm, and was relieved to find himself still male.  “I...  Look, I want to talk to Arwen first.”

Timothy came bouncing out of Arwen’s office about then, and Donna waved to him.  “Good luck!”

Timothy blinked, then grinned.  “Duncan?  Wow, you look good like that.”

“Donna when I’m like this.”  She got up and gave him a hug.  “Good luck.”

He laughed.  “After tonight?  I don’t care what luck throws at me.  I’m me, finally.  Thank you.”

Once he’d left, Donna was alone in the waiting room once more.  She looked at the closed office door with a slight smile on her face.  With difficulty she resisted the temptation to make her hearing more sensitive so she could snoop.

A minute later, another familiar face showed up.

“Liana?” asked Donna in surprise.  “What are you doing here?”

The asian girl shrugged.  “Gwen said Arwen wanted to see us tonight.”

“Us?” asked Donna.

Liana lifted a familiar pinkish translucent orb from her handbag.  Zoey grinned at the sight of Donna.  “Hey Donna!  I made it the whole month without losing the silver.”

Liana chuckled.  “The little minx ate one of my earrings and wouldn’t give it back until a few days ago.”

“The Moon should show its face later,” said Donna.  “The clouds are supposed to break in a few hours.  Are you going to...”

Zoey’s form quivered in a way that suggested a nod.  “I really hope so.  I’ve already spent a month like this, and I’ve never been happier.”

Joseph emerged from Arwen’s office, smiling.  He waved at Donna.  “Perhaps not tonight.  But... yes.”

Donna grinned back.  “Come by the Blue Vixen later if you want the full experience.  We’ll put you up on stage.”

“Oh lordy.  I...  I’ll think about it.”  He left, and Arwen gestured the rest of them into her office.

“Thanks for coming, Liana.  It’s mostly Zoey I’d like to talk to,” said Arwen once they were all seated.

“Sure thing, Doc,” Zoey said cheerfully.  “What would you like to know?”

“You’ve been like this for a month.  What do you think?”

Zoey wiggled in Liana’s lap.  “I love it.  I get to hang out with my sweetie all the time.  I can’t do much, but I don’t really want to.  Being in her breast is the coziest place ever.”

Arwen looked taken aback, but carried on.  “So you want to stay like this?”

“Yes.  More than anything.”

“And Liana...  How do you feel about all this?”

Liana petted Zoey, who purred softly.  “She’s... it was a little weird at first.  But carrying her around inside me feels wonderful.  Knowing she’s always there, over my heart...  Getting to move into her apartment was nice, too.  I don’t have to worry about my parents disapproval.”

“Ah.  But what if you want to get... intimate?  Won’t she...”

Zoey giggled, and Liana blushed bright red.  “We...  Uh, that is...  Yeah.”

“Sometimes I live in her panties instead of her bra,” said Zoey, making Liana blush even more.  “She seems to like it well enough.”

“Zoey!”  Liana managed to squeak.

“Oh come on.  Like these two haven’t at least heard of stranger things.  And in Donna’s case, I bet she’s been them.”

Donna failed to hide a smile.  “Possibly.  Zoey wasn’t the first person to be nothing but a breast, after all.”

“That can’t be the strangest thing you’ve been,” prodded Zoey.  “C’mon, fess up.”

“It’d be hard to pick just one...”  Donna said, looking away.  “And I’d rather not shift and tell on Sidney.”

“OK then,” continued Zoey.  “What was your favourite?”

Donna hugged her arms around herself, settling back in the chair.  “You’ll laugh.”

Zoey giggled.  “I’m a blob of silicone, and love it.  Tell!”

“I turned myself into one of Sidney’s bras, by accident, and got stuck as it all day.  She only wore me for a little bit, until she figured out what happened.”  Donna sighed regretfully.  “I want to do that again one day.”

“Fascinating,” mused Arwen.  “Why?”

“She was wearing a silver necklace at the time.  Normally I hate the touch of silver, but this time... it made me just a bra.  A thing, living up to its highest purpose.  That, and being so near to her...  I...”  Donna fell silent, her form fluttering to the chair.

Zoey chuckled.  “I guess she really does want to be a bra.”

Arwen got up and walked over to the couch.  She picked the shiny black bra up cautiously.  “It seems the power of imagination is strong tonight.  Change back, Donna.”

And just like that, the bra flowed and filled out, in moments becoming a woman once more, hands holding Arwen’s.  Two heartbeats later, a dancer’s outfit poured into existence over her.  “Sorry about that.”

Arwen smiled at her.  “Nothing to be sorry about.  Just do your exercises, and try to learn better control.”

“I could feel the magic flowing, but...  Well, it didn’t seem like a bad idea at the time.”

Arwen shook her head.  “You’re going to be trouble, aren’t you.  Go, before I end up with elf ears again...”

Donna giggled.  “Too late.  See you next week, Doc.  Or maybe later tonight, if Josephine takes up my offer.”

Arwen reached up and touched her pointed ears with a shy smile.  “Thanks.”

Donna waved jauntily, and headed out the door, headed back home.

“Auntie Donna!” squealed Courtney when she arrived.  “Is it moon night?”

Donna chuckled, and at a glare from Sidney changed back to Duncan.  “Yes, sweetie.  The full Moon is up tonight.”

“Can I have wings, Auntie Daddy?”

Duncan ignored Sidney’s continued glare.  “For tonight, but just until bedtime.  Okay?”

“Okay.  Fairy wings!”

“As my little one wishes,” said Duncan, and translucent butterfly wings sprouted from her back.  They spread as wide as her outstretched arms, pink and beautiful.

Courtney’s face glowed with delight, and she jumped up into a hug with her daddy.  “Thank you.  Whee!  I’m a fairy princess!”

When Duncan set her down again, her shirt had formed into a sparkling pink gown, and a silver and pink tiara sat upon her head.  She ran off, giggling happily.

Duncan looked up at Sidney, ready to defend his actions, only to see a huge smile there.  “You’ll change her back before bed, right?”

Duncan nodded.

“Then I guess it won’t do any harm.”

Courtney came running – almost flying – through the kitchen, singing, “I’m a fairy princess, a fairy princess.”  Then she was out the other side again.

“She does seem really happy with it.”

Dinner was slightly more formal than usual, with Courtney in her gown.  Duncan decided he should dress up as well, and changed his clothes into a tuxedo.  Sidney found the whole thing ridiculous, but couldn’t keep from grinning at the two of them.

When it came to bedtime, Courtney was happy to see that her wings hadn’t disappeared, they just came off with the gown.  “Can I wear them again tomorrow, Daddy?”

“Yes, sweetie.  They won’t feel like part of you, but they’ll still be beautiful.”

“Yay!”

Duncan made sure to put a silver pin in the fairy-winged gown, so that Courtney could keep it as long as she liked.

Once the kids were asleep, Donna reappeared.  Sidney sighed.  “Do you have to go now?”

Donna shrugged.  “Soon.  The Moon has been peeking out from the clouds now and then, so Gwen can handle the early changes.”

“Can you check on the mice before you go, then?  And maybe...”  Sidney wiggled her fingers in an arcane way.  “Do something about them?”

Donna chuckled.  “Anything goes, is it?”

“I want them GONE.  I really don’t care how.”

Donna saluted Sidney.  “As you wish.”

Downstairs, she was about to reach out with her power to see if she could sense the mice, when she suddenly realized she didn’t have to.  One was standing on the shelf beside the bag of almonds.  It was staring at her with its bright eyes, as if daring her to do something about it.

“Why you cheeky little thing...”  Donna’s power flicked out, but she checked it a moment later.  Changing something against its will was... unwise.  She looked down at her soft plush body, and laughed silently.  It would have been nice to keep this brave one as a plush toy, but... no.  Something else was needed here.

Instead of turning herself back into human form, Donna’s thoughts led to hunting shapes instead.  Her plush mouse body changed into a plush cat, then firmed up into a real one.  She prowled, and sniffed, and realized that she was still too big to manage the confined spaces.

But a snake... ah, that was something made to hunt mice.  She slithered forward, and into the nooks and crannies of the woodpile that the mice were using as cover.  Before long, she had a mouse cornered, and no idea what to do with the terrified creature.

While Donna hesitated, the mouse finally reacted to its impending peril, and bolted past her, close enough that its whiskers brushed by her cheek.  She tried to pin it against the wall with her body, but it just lept onto her back and skittered along it.

Donna flailed around in the restricted space, making pans clatter.  She darted after the mouse, but it was too late.  Donna hissed her displeasure, and realized she needed more than a snake’s body to solve this problem.  She needed the snake’s instincts, too.

That thought reminded her of Arwen’s challenge.  If she was going to modify her mind, she needed to watch what she did.  She’d watched the Duncan-Donna exchange many times now.  There wasn’t much to see, she’d come to realize the difference between the two of them was actually quite small.  This was a much bigger step.  She needed a delicate touch.  Too much, and she’d forget who she was, and lurk in the basement as a snake for a week.

So gently, nibble by nibble, Donna nudged her mind towards the snake’s.  She did her best to maintain her sense of self.  At each step, when she weighed how she felt, she still remembered that she was Donna, not a snake.  Once she started to have doubts about that, she stopped.

Donna flexed her body, and flicked her tongue out to taste the air.  There!  Prey!  Her body launched toward it and this time, there was no hesitation.  Her jaws swung wide and the mouse vanished in a single gulp.

Her lithe body lashed through the woodpile, leaving the mice nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.  Two more vanished into her gullet in quick succession.  And then... nothing.  She scented down trails, followed this lead and that, criscrossed the entire basement.  No more mice.  She could have sworn there were more.  Puzzled and frustrated, the snake rested, curling up next to the warmth of the freezer to digest her conquests.

It was then that Donna remembered she was supposed to go to the Blue Vixen.  This was no time to nap!  Her form quickly returned toward human, and her mind soon followed... until she realized just what she’d done.  There were three dead mice in her belly.  Mice she’d hunted and killed.  Reflexively, she retreated into enough of the snake’s mind to accept that fact without shuddering.

Donna slinked her way up the stairs, gave her teeth a quick brush, then kissed her wife goodbye.  “I’ll see you later, my little eclair.”

Sidney shuddered at the pet name, and Donna’s ophidian senses perked.  She could smell her wife’s arousal, and nibbled at her neck.  Her forked tongue tickled, causing Sidney to giggle and pull away.  “Careful, or I won’t let you go until you have...”

Donna grinned down at Sidney.  “Take that silver off, and I’ll eat you up right now.”

Sidney’s hand reached for her necklace, grasping it like a talisman.  “The kids... they might hear...”

“Not if I take your voice, first,” said Donna, tracing a finger from her wife’s lips, over her chin, and down to the hollow of her throat.

Sidney trembled.  “What’s gotten into you?”

“Mmm...”  Donna nuzzled Sidney’s neck, getting another lovely shudder in response.  “I’m feeling predatory tonight.  I’ll see you later.  Go to bed with your silver off, and I’ll give you a very special wake-up call.”

Sidney stared after her husband for a long time after the door had closed.  It was longer before she could unclench her hand from the silver of her necklace.

Donna prowled into the Blue Vixen, searching for Gwen.  When she found her prey, she pounced.  To her surprise, Gwen pulled away from the hug.

“What’s wrong?”

Gwen smelled of worry.  “I...  Sidney called me yesterday.  She wants to meet for coffee tomorrow.”

“Oh.”