Leon and Jean rushed up to the door of the church, then slowed to a sedate pace and strolled through the entrance with barely a minute to spare.  Leon smiled and waved to his family, and as they made their way there Jean complained softly about not having had time to do her makeup.

“Nonsense.  You look lovely.  I prefer you like this, I don’t end up tasting foundation when I nibble at your neck.”

“I could have used the ring to do it.”

“And deny C-L her day in the sun?”

As they approached Leon’s family his mother gushed, “What a lovely hat, dear.  It’s... very ornate.”

Jean put a hand to the confection of fabric atop her head, brushing against the cats-eye set in the middle of it.  “Thank you, Ruby.”

“Wherever did you get it?” asked the younger woman by Ruby’s side.

“Hi Robin.  It’s, ah...”  Jean looked to her husband for a rescue.

Leon filled in with a grin.  “It’s from a friend in the city.”

“Oh, that explains it,” said Leon’s mother.  “It’s a little over the top.”

Leon chuckled.  “Yes, Mom.  We’ll find something more suitable by next Sunday.  This was what we could manage on short notice.”

The service started then, and Leon found it comforting.  He hadn’t been back to his family’s usual church in years, not since shortly after marrying Jean there.  Everything was still exactly the same.  Even the pastor was the same, though with a few more grey hairs.  The familiar ritual and routine was soothing.

At least, until the sermon.  The vituperation of the evils of magic made Leon look to his wife and the collar hidden under his scarf.  She smiled back at him serenely, and said nothing.  There was a twinkle in her eye that both amused and worried him.

Afterward, Leon’s parents insisted that Leon and Jean come home with them for lunch.  “We haven’t seen you in ever so long, and there’s so much to talk about.”

Leon tugged on Jean’s recalcitrant hand.  “Come along dear.”  Jean followed obediently, which made Robin’s eyebrows rise.

The meal itself was lovely and peaceful, with only inconsequential topics discussed.  Robin, Leon’s sister, chattered brightly about her new job at a local shop, and all the things they’d done there to decorate for Christmas.

After the plates were cleared off, Ruby turned her steely eyes on Leon.  “Now.  About that tree of yours.”

“Oh!  Uh...  It was...  You see...  Jean really wanted a tree, and...”  He looked over at his wife helplessly.

“So we turned me into what you saw, to decorate the house for a time. It was fun,” said Jean with a mild smile.  Leon smacked his forehead.

“Jean Louise Stone.  You did not just joke about using magic,” declared Leon’s mother.

“Not at all, Ruby,” replied Jean mildly.  “It wasn’t a joke.”

“Jean,” cautioned Leon in a strangled voice.

Ruby carried on then about the evils of magic, a rant that put the pastor’s to shame.  Leon looked to his father, who seemed almost as frustrated with it as he did.

“Mother,” interrupted Leon when she ran out of breath.  “I submit that magic is not inherently evil.  You’ve had your say, now hear me out.”

“Leon?”

“He’s right, Ruby.  You know the rules of debate.  You’ve made the opening argument, let him counter,” said Leon’s father.

“But Ed, this isn’t a topic for debate.”

“Of course it is.  Any topic can be debated, from the most profound to the most profane.”

“And which do you think this is?” asked Ruby dangerously.

Mr. Reynard shook his head.  “I am simply the interlocutor here.  It is not my role to take sides.  Leon, if you would?”

Leon grinned.  “Of course.”  He took a moment to marshal his thoughts.  “First, we have to stipulate that magic exists.  Given recent news reports from the city which made it into my esteemed opponent’s opening argument, we can take that as a given.  Let us consider the most obvious subset of magic, that which can cause radical persistent transformation.  In other words, people can be stuck as the wrong gender or even the wrong species.  Is that fair?”

Ruby nodded.

“Then I posit that magic is neither good nor evil.  It is a tool, a potent one capable of healing the crippled or lame.  It can make dreams become reality.”

“And nightmares,” interjected Ruby.

Leon nodded.  “And nightmares.  In the wrong hands, or simply careless ones...” Leon glanced at Jean, who looked abashed.  “It can do harm.  A person could become something they hate.  But even then, good can come of it.  Turn a white man into a minority woman for a week, and he will learn what it is like to walk a mile in her shoes.  I submit that, if he is then returned to his normal form, no evil has been done to him.  Instead, a great good has been done, that sympathy in the world can be increased by the use of transformative magic.  There is one use that I consider even greater, however.”

“Really?” asked Ruby.

“I know it is hard to accept if you haven’t met them, but some people are desperately unhappy with the body that fate has given them.  Medical science can only do so much, and at a terrible cost.  I’m not speaking of financial cost, though that is certainly a factor.  What medicine can do for these poor souls falls far, far short of the true change that magic can provide.  I would not be surprised to find that as the use of magic continues to spread, surgical interventions will decline.  In short, magic is a tool, a powerful one... but it is only a tool, good or evil comes from those who wield it for better or worse.”

“Well put, son.  Ruby, would you care to rebut?”

“It’s still wrong.  People should accept the bodies that God gave them as the blessing that they are.”

“God helps those who help themselves.  It is one thing to accept the blessing of a healthy, functioning body.  But not every body is a blessing, some are tribulations due to accident or disease.  Can you not see that a male soul trapped in a female body would be blessed by the chance to become a functional man?”

“Does that really happen?” asked Ruby softly.

“Yes, Mom.  It does.  I’ve met a few through work.  One particularly sad case was a biological woman whose parents refused to see him after he started living as a male.  He was a good person, one of the nicest I’d met despite the pain his nature was causing him.”

“Was?”

Leon closed his eyes.  “He committed suicide a while back.  Couldn’t live with the hate from his parents, with a body that he despaired of ever being right.  Damnit, it’s not fair to deny people like him what they need, no matter what Pastor Varley says.”  Leon wiped away his tears.  “Sorry.  Appeal to emotion.”

“I think the debate ended some time ago, son.  I had no idea you felt that way about it.”

Leon laughed bitterly.  “Neither did I until Mom dredged up that memory.”  He looked over at his mother, who was sitting there with pursed lips and a rebellious mein.  “We should go.  Thank you for lunch, Mother. I’m sorry to have upset you.”

Ruby sighed, then.  “I don’t think we’ll ever agree on the point.  But obviously it means a lot to you.  Can we agree not to discuss it again?”

Leon nodded.  “That seems fair.”

At the door, Robin rushed up to them.  “Can I come over and see your new place?”

“Sure, there’s room in the car.”

“Mom!” called Robin.  “I’m goin’ over to Leon’s place to check out their fancy new digs.”

“Will you be back for dinner?” Ruby called back.

“You can stay for dinner if you like,” Jean offered.  “I don’t mind cooking for more.”

Robin stopped with her coat half-on and stared at Jean.  “You...”  Her eyes narrowed.  “Who are you and what have you done with my sister-in-law?”

“We’ll tell you at our place,” chuckled Leon.

“I’ll be staying at Leon and Jean’s for dinner, Mom!” called Robin, and then they were out the door.

Robin poked for answers for the whole drive, but that just made Leon’s grin get bigger.  “You’ll see,” was all he’d say.

“Your husband’s being a meanie, Jean.”

“Patience, Robin.  We’re almost there.”

“Since when have you ever been patient?”

Jean untied her scarf as Leon turned up the driveway.  “Since I started wearing this.”  She pulled the scarf away from her neck with a flourish, revealing the collar underneath.

Robin stared at it in shock.  “You?  Wearing a collar?  Oh come on, there has got to be more to that story.”

“And I’ll tell it to you... once we’re inside and you’ve had the tour.”

Robin rolled her eyes, but followed the other two gamely inside.  Once their coats and boots were dealt with, she followed them into the great hall, where her eyes went wide.  “Wow!  Dad said this place was amazing.  This space is huge!”

“Yeah, it’s over half the house, one big open space,” said Leon.  “The bedrooms are down that corridor to the right, and the garage is accessible from the pantry off the kitchen.  There, tour done.”

Jean laughed, and tugged on Robin’s hand.  “No it’s not!  C’mon, you have to see the master bedroom and the walk-in closet.”

Leon sighed, and followed behind.  “Bathroom at end of hall, mostly empty guest bedroom and office-slash-library on right, master suite on the left.”

Robin spun around in the bedroom. “It’s huge!”

Jean flung open the remaining door in the room. “Walk in closet!”  She stepped inside, and Robin followed.

Leon sighed.  “And ensuite.  Could be bigger, still pretty nice.”

“Pretty nice?  This place is big enough you could live in the closet!”

“That’s what C-L keeps saying,” said Jean with a grin.

“Who’s C-L?” asked Robin.

“Oh!  Right.”  Jean took her hat off and spoke to the gem in the center of it.  “Come on, C-L.  Let go of the ring.”  She tugged at the cats-eye gem and it came loose, a hoop of gold following it.

More remarkable than the ring, to Robin’s wondering eyes, was how the hat was swelling and growing.  Soon it was not a hat at all, but a human head, one that was adding arms and chest and more underneath it.  Jean supported Carrie-Lee’s growing form until she could support herself.

Carrie-Lee spun around once and posed.  “Ta-da!”

Robin’s eyes were wide as saucers.  “You...  Magic?  I thought you were joking about the tree!”

“Nope,” giggled Jean.  “You saw the planter in the great room.  I was there for most of a day.  I would probably still be there if it wasn’t for your parents insisting we come to church.”

Robin grinned.  “So that’s why there’s tinsel in your hair. I’d wondered.”

Jean put a hand to it, brushing out a glittering strand.  “Heh.  Didn’t have time to get rid of all of it.  Plus... it reminds me of last night, so...”

Carrie-Lee grinned.  “Thought you’d enjoy that.”

“Enjoy what?” asked Robin.

Leon shook his head.  “Oh no.  You can’t tell my sister anything.”

Jean made mmphing noises and her eyes went wide.  She poked Leon imperiously.

“What’s wrong with her?” asked Robin.

Carrie-Lee giggled.  “She can’t tell you anything.  And since you’re in the room, that means she can’t talk.”

Robin spun from to Carrie-Lee.  “What on earth are you talking about?”

“The collar,” said Leon with a sigh.  “It’s also magic, and makes the wearer submissive.  Since I put it on her, Jean has to do anything I say.  Anything she’s capable of.  If I said ‘Turn into a dog’, it wouldn’t do anything.  Unless she was wearing the ring, anyway.”

A dog barked from behind Leon.  “And she put the ring on after taking it from Carrie-Lee.  Of course.”

Jean barked again, cheerfully, and shook her way out of her now very ill-fitting dress.

“Bwah?”

Leon laughed.  “Come on Jean.  Become human.”

Of course, by the time Jean was human again, she was quite naked.  She also towered over Leon, standing close to seven feet tall.

Robin stared up at Jean.  “Oh wow.”

Jean poked Leon again, and pointed at her mouth.  Once he’d recovered his balance, Leon rubbed his arm and said, “Cancel all orders.  Let’s see if that works.”

“Testing...  Awesome!  That makes things so much easier.  So.  What do you want me to be?”

“You really were the tree, earlier?”

“Yep!  I was weird looking, but sooo pretty.”

“And what was Carrie-Lee talking about earlier?”

Carrie-Lee grinned wickedly as she told the whole tale of what she’d done with Leon in front of the tree.  Leon was beet red by the end.

Robin grinned at her brother.  “So you wanted to hide your kinks from me?  I’m not twelve any more, I’m twenty-two.”

“Can’t I think of you as innocent and demure?” asked Leon plaintively.

“Pfft.  Fuck that noise.  I wanna play too!”

Leon made a strangled noise as Jean handed over the ring.  In doing so she shrunk back down to her normal height.  “Give it a try.  Imagine something about yourself changing.”

To nobody’s surprise, but to Leon’s even greater embarrassment, the first thing Robin did was to grow her breasts larger.  As soon as she tried to touch them, they shrunk back to normal.  Robin shucked out of her shirt and sport bra, giggling at Leon’s reaction.  “Come on, bro.  You’ve got nicer racks to look at than mine.”

“He had a better rack than any of the ones on offer,” added Jean.

Leon snorted.  “Yeah, I had a spectacular set that first time, didn’t I?  I grew fond of Leona’s A-cups, though.  Less to haul around, and sooo sensitive.”

“You turned into a girl?” asked Robin incredulously, staring at her brother in something akin to awe.  Her second attempt to grow her breasts deflated away, leaving her looking disappointed.  “How...  I...”   She shook her head, then tore her gaze away from her brother and back to her chest.  “I mean, how did you get it to stick?  How did you manage a tree, or a hat, or...”  She saw the grin on Jean’s face, and her hand on the collar.  “Oh.”

“If someone tells you to be something, you can’t not do it,” explained Jean.  “So the collar gives you all the focus you need to make the change lock in.  Then you can take the collar off again, and stay in that form.  But as soon as the ring comes off, you change back.”

“Gotcha.  So I’d have to...”  Robin looked around at the three of them.  “I’d have to trust you guys a hell of a lot more than I do right now to let you put that collar on me.  Damn.  I wanted to see what I’d look like with real boobs.”

“Give me the ring, then.”  Jean put out her hand, and Robin shrugged and dropped the ring into it.  Jean slipped the ring on, then turned to her husband expectantly.

“I don’t want to do it,” he said.

“Fine.  Then let her change me.”

Leon rolled his eyes.  “And that’s so much better.  Fine.  Change shape however Robin tells you to.  I’m out of here.”  He left the women in the walk-in closet, and went back to the great room to get a drink and see what was on TV.

Robin stared at the door her brother had left through, then back to Jean.  “You don’t mind?”

Jean grinned.  “Carrie-Lee got roped into this insanity because I wanted more changes than Leon, sweet as he is, was willing or creative enough to make.”

Robin nodded.  “So.  Can you look like me, then?”

“I could.  But you have to tell me, not ask.”

“Fine.  Change to look exactly like me, except with big boobs.”  A moment later she giggled  “Not that big!  About halfway between that and normal.”

Robin held her hands up to Jean’s breast, just short of cupping them.  “Grow them until they touch my hands.  Yeah!”  She stepped back to admire her work, and the breasts followed after her, expanding to fill the space between the two women.  “WOAH!”

Jean giggled.  “You said to grow until they touch your hands.  If you take another step back, I’ll run out of mass and turn into nothing but boobs.”

Robin pushed her hands forward, and Jean’s breasts obligingly retreated.  “Oooh.  This is so cool.”  She moved her hands in and out, tweaking the size of her clone’s chest until she thought it was perfect.  “OK, stop following my hands with your boobs.”

This time when Robin stood back, she wasn’t pursued.   Jean mirrored Robin’s pose, waiting and smiling to see how the younger woman would react.  Eventually Robin sighed.  “I wish...”

Jean laughed.  “Come on.  They’re just boobs.  Not even that much bigger than your real ones.  We’ll go get you a good push-up padded bra, and no boy will ever know the...”  Jean frowned at Robin’s expression.  “No boys?”

“No boyfriend, or any real interest in attracting one, no.”

“So team Sappho, then?” asked Carrie-Lee eagerly.

“I... don’t know,” Robin admitted shyly.  “For all my bravado earlier, I’ve never actually...”

Jean looked confused, “Why not?  It’s not like it’d be hard to find someone of either persuasion.  You’re cute enough that nobody would turn you down for a fling.”

“I don’t want a fling!”  Robin balled her fists, and shook them at the world at large.  “Everyone at school was all about bang and move on, there was no... anything.  It’s just fucking if there isn’t more, and my vibrator did well enough for me in that department.”

“Oh my goodness,” exclaimed Carrie-Lee.  “You are as pure as your brother thought!”

“Don’t tell him that!  It’ll only make it worse.”

“Make what worse, sweetie?” asked Jean.

“I... I...  Can I tell you something that really can’t leave this room?  If you thought Mom was pissed about magic, this is so much worse...”

Jean looked over at her friend, and Carrie-Lee nodded solemnly.  “We won’t tell anyone.”  Then Carrie-Lee looked deeply into Robin’s eyes.  “But I think I already know.  I saw how you reacted when you heard Leon had become a girl.  You’ve got a crush on him, but the idea of Leon is... not right.  But as Leona?”

Robin looked away from Carrie-Lee’s far too penetrating eyes.  She couldn’t speak, but she did manage a nod.

“Oh.  Wow, that’s fucked up.”

“Jean!”

“Sorry, C-L, but it is.  I mean we’re feeling our way into an open relationship but... damn.”  Jean turned to Robin, and took her hands.  “Does Leon know?”

Robin shook her head and sniffed.  “I don’t think so.  He’s sweet, but not that observant.”

Jean snorted.  “Are you sure about that?”

“He still thinks I’m innocent and pure.”

“Aren’t you?” asked Jean.

Robin growled.  “Turn into Leon.”

Jean’s eyes widened as Robin stalked toward her newly-masculine body.  “I...”

“Now turn into a girl version of him.”

Robin searched Jean’s eyes, then nodded sharply and closed in for a kiss.  It went on for a very long time.  Long enough that Carrie-Lee joked, “Geez, you two, get a room.”

Robin squeaked and pulled back, cheeks flaming with more than embarrassment.  “Oh God...  I’m so screwed.”

“Not yet you aren’t,” said Jean with a disarming smile.

“I’m in love with my brother’s female alternate form!” protested Robin.  “How the hell is that not completely messed up?”

Jean slipped the ring off her finger, her body retreating and thickening to its normal shape.  “Among other things, because we can turn anyone into that form.”

Robin stared at the ring, then shook her head abruptly.  “No.  That’s not the point.  Is it?”

Carrie-Lee put her hand out for the ring, and slipped it on when Jean gave it to her.  “I don’t know.  Is it?”  She closed her eyes, and her face shifted to match the one that Jean had been wearing moments ago.  “Come on, I can’t hold this for long.  Kiss me!”

Robin leaned in for a quick peck, and skittered back again when Carrie-Lee’s face slid back to normal under her lips.  She touched her hand to her own lips, confusion slowly blossoming into a smile.  “That was...  kinda fun, actually.  What else can you do with the ring?”

Jean giggled.  “Let me wear it, and you could sculpt me any way you like.”

Carrie-Lee clutched the ring defensively to her chest.  “No!  Let me try again, I can get it.”

Robin nodded at her.  “Go for it!  Turn into fem-Leon.”

This time, the change was comprehensive.  Carrie-Lee danced a jig of victory.  “I did it!  I did it!”  She scooped Robin up in her victory dance, then pulled her into a spinning hug and kiss that left both disoriented and giggling.  “Woo!”

“Do that thing with your tongue again!” gushed Robin, and this kiss got Robin’s pants off.

Jean coughed when Robin’s panties followed.  “So.  Not about who’s wearing the form?”

Robin shook her head.  “I...”  Then a grin formed on her face.  A wicked, evil grin.  “Only one way to find out, right?  Leon enjoys being a woman, do you think you could persuade him to be... that?”  She gestured at Carrie-Lee.

Jean laughed out loud.  “Yeah.  Tell him we’re going to have a girl’s night in.  Starting now.  We can ‘practice kissing’ later.  It’ll blow his mind.”

Robin giggled.  “That would work?”

“Hell yeah.  You in, C-L?”

“Is the pope gay?”

Jean looked shocked.  “Is... is that a yes?”

“C’mon, you dragged me off to church.  Don’t I get even one sacrilegious joke?”

“One,” said Jean firmly.  “And that was it.”

“Fine, fine.  Robin laughed.”

“Did not!”  At Jean’s glare, Robin backed up a step, bumping against a rack of dresses.  “Maybe I snickered a little.  Come on!  Mom and Dad have been dragging me out there every week.  ‘If you live under our roof’ and all that crap.”

“We need to deal with that,” pronounced Jean.  “But first... let’s see if we can get Leon to turn himself into your ideal lover.”

Robin blushed.  “My ideal lover wouldn’t be human.”

Carrie-Lee laughed at that.  “Nor mine.  Mine involved tentacles.  Fess up, what were you thinking?”

“I really like snakes.  So... something scaly.”  Robin looked up at Carrie-Lee, and smiled shyly.  “You like tentacles?  That’s... almost like snakes.”

Carrie-Lee grinned.  “Close enough.  Pity only one of us can change at a time.”

“Do you two need a room?” asked Jean.  “Or is the plan to prank my husband still a go?”

Robin and Carrie-Lee nodded eagerly.  “Think we can get him in the collar, too?” asked Robin.

Jean put her hand to it defensively.  “Do we have to?”

“Give her the ring, C-L.”  Once Jean was wearing it again, Robin said, “Erase your head.”

Robin snatched the collar out of the air as it fell, then pulled the ring off Jean’s finger.  Jean’s head re-emerged with a pout.  “That was a sneaky trick, using Leon’s command to get the collar.”  Then she grinned wickedly.  “I knew I liked you for a reason.  To hell with persuasion or subterfuge.  Sneak up behind Leon and put the collar on him, and he’ll do anything you ask.”

Robin licked her lips uncertainly as she wriggled back into her pants.  “Are you sure about this?  Giving me this kind of control over your husband?”

“I’ll take the collar off him if you abuse it.  Too much.  I’ve heard about how he teased you when you were younger.”

Robin’s grin was positively grinchlike.  “Awesome.  Give me a minute.”

Robin very carefully tiptoed up behind Leon, collar in hand.  She completely blew her cover when she exclaimed, “What the hell are you watching?”  She did at least have the presence of mind to hide the collar when Leon craned his neck to look at her over the back of the couch.

“Hey sis.  Just some random reality TV show I found while flipping channels.  It looks interesting.”

“It’s a show about fashion.  Women’s fashion.  Wait, does that model have cat’s ears?”

Leon chuckled.  “See?  I told you it was interesting.”

Robin came around the couch and sat beside her brother.  “She’s cute, I’ll grant you that.”

“Not as cute as Leona was, though.”

Robin cocked an eyebrow.  “You were a catgirl?”

Leon laughed.  “After I was a cat, yeah.”

“Oh, I have to see this.”  Robin dug the ring out of her pocket, and handed it to Leon.

Leon tried his best, and was able to not only shrink but summon ears and small breasts.  Robin’s squealing blew his concentration and he returned to normal.  “Sorry, almost had it.”

“Here, let me help.”  The collar was around Leon’s neck before he even knew what Robin was doing.

Leon scrabbled desperately for the collar, until Robin told him to stop.

“What the hell happened to you that has you so terrified of this thing?”

“Jean gave me lots of orders, including one to forget about the collar.  All accidentally.”

“Oh!  Okay.  I promise I’ll be careful.  And I’ll take it off soon.  There’s just one thing I have to do first.”

Leon sighed.  “Fine.  You’ve got me dead to rights, and after everything I put you through as kids, I owe you this one.”  He grinned back at her.  “Just remember, by doing this you’re now fair prey.”

Robin swallowed nervously.  “Great.  Still, might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb...  Turn yourself female.  Not Leona, what you’d look like if you’d been born a girl.”

Leon’s shirt puffed out with the breasts she grew, and her face softened and rounded slightly.  Beyond that and a tapering of her waist, the changes weren’t overly obvious.  Robin studied the result.  “Not quite the same,” she mused.

“Sorry?”

“Doesn’t matter.  Kiss me.”

Leon gave her a perfunctory peck on the cheek.

“Oh no mister.  You do not get away with that.  I want a proper kiss, a kiss with your full attention.  Kiss me like you would a lover wh...”  Leon’s lips cut off the rest.

Robin found her toes involuntarily curling as Leon leaned over her, pushing her to the couch as their tongues tangled.  By the time the kiss had ended, Leon’s clothes had been scattered, as had Robin’s mind.

“Oh, fuck me,” Robin moaned.

“As you wish.”