“C’mon Robin, you said you’d give it a try.”

Robin shied away from her brother again, eyes fixed on the collar in his hand.  “No.  Sorry.  I know it’s terrible of me, but I’m not ready to let anyone control my mind.  If that means I have to dress up as a puppy instead of being one, so be it.”

Jean shook her head.  “Let her be, honey.  She’s missing out, her loss.”

“Missing out?” asked Robin incredulously.  “You spent all last night as a dog.  How is that good?”

Jean grinned impishly.  “Because I didn’t have to cook or clean.  Dogs have a sweet deal going.  The worst they’re asked to do is go pick up birds their husband has shot.”

“You took your wife out hunting as a dog?” asked Robin incredulously.  “Really?”

Leon grinned and nodded.  “She had a great time.  We had an awesome dinner that night, too.  If we weren’t so busy getting you moved and preparing for Christmas, I’d go out again.”

“With me, right?” asked Jean, snuggling up against him.

“Of course.  But for now, I need to head to work.”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” asked Jean, tugging at the collar in Leon’s hands.

“Right!  Can’t leave you running loose all day, now can I?”  Leon slipped the collar back where it belonged, and clasped it shut.  “Have a good day, sweetie.”

“The best!  Love you.”

“Love you too.”

Robin grinned as the door closed.  “What shall we do today?”

“We are going to find you a job.  My old friend Veronica still runs a dress store, and I know she’s often short-handed.  Let’s go pay her a visit.”

* * *

“Guess what, big brother!”

Leon looked at his grinning sister warily.  “I’ve had a rough day.  Mom’s been at Dad over you, and he was awfully grumpy.  So I hope it’s good news.”

“Yes!  I have a job!”

“I thought you said the convenience store was your last chance.”

“Until your wife begged Veronica to give me a chance.  I’m going to be a visual merchandiser!  She had me pretty up her shop window, and got lots of compliments on it.  I have to do regular clerk stuff too, but eee!”  Robin bounced in place.  “I get to be creative!”

Leon chuckled softly.  “Have you told Mom the good news?”

Robin deflated.  “I tried.  There was some yelling, then I gave the phone to Jean.  I’m... not exactly welcome back there anytime soon, so the move is still on.”

“Don’t worry, you’re always welcome here with us.  Where is my wife, anyway?”

“She’s driving C-L back to town.  C-L got an offer, too.  But she turned it down, said she didn’t want to leave her old shop in the lurch for the run up to Christmas.  Then she figured she should get back to help the others get some time off before the worst hits.  Jean said she’d be home late tonight.  She left me the ring, though.  I’ve practiced and practiced and I still can’t turn into anything for longer than my attention span.”

“Carrie-Lee got an offer, too?”

“Yeah!  So did your wife.  She said she’d consider it, after Christmas.”

Leon sighed.  “She didn’t need to do that.  I’ve got the bills covered.”

“She was only considering part-time work.  I think it was more to have a reason to get out of the house and chat with an old friend.”

“Ah!  Yeah, that might be good for her at that.  How is it that Veronica had so many jobs on offer?”

Robin shrugged.  “I didn’t really catch that bit.  Something about trouble with mannequins.  I’m not surprised, one of her mannequins is really creepily real-looking.”

“Hah!  Maybe one of her clerks got turned into one, then.  Happened to someone back in town, apparently.”

“Really!  Wow.  That would be so cool, getting to make displays of real humans.”  Robin cackled evilly, and rubbed her hands together.

“Now I know I should never let you near the collar again.”

Robin giggled.  “C’mon, it’s me.  Am I really going to torture someone like that?”

Leon breathed a sigh of relief.  “I suppose not.”

“Now if they were volunteers, on the other hand.”

“Robin!”

“Sorry, sorry.  C’mon, I’ve got dinner on the go and it should be almost ready.”

“And Jean’s been gone all day?” asked Leon, worriedly.  “Is it edible?”

Robin pouted and made big puppydog eyes at her brother, complete with muzzle and ears.

“Wow!  You are getting good with that.”

Robin’s face snapped back into human shape.  “Yeah.  I can see what I want so clearly, but I’m missing the trick of getting it to stick.  I will figure it out.”

Leon laughed.  “With or without the collar?”

“Definitely without.  You do it without, after all.”

Leon shrugged.  “After a couple times with the collar, first.”

Robin pouted.  “There has to be something else.”

Leon sniffed the air.  “Is something burning?”

“Crap!  Dinner!”  Robin rushed into the kitchen and flung the oven open.  The smell of smoke got much stronger.  She shoved on some oven mitts and a pulled out a very shrivelled looking meatloaf.  “Aw, crap.”

“Hey, it’s OK.  Everyone messes up from time to...”  Leon’s attempt at comfort was interrupted by the shrill squeal of the smoke detector.  “Get that outside!  Out the back door.”

Soon the scorched remains of dinner was melting into a patch of snow on the patio.  Even with the door closed, the smell of smoke lingered and the alarm kept up its shrill claxon.  Leon was perched atop a chair, futilely trying to reach the distant alarm when a pair of large arms wrapped around him and lifted him up.  He quickly popped the cover of the alarm off, and disconnected the battery.

Only then did he realize that the giantess holding him up was quite naked.  “Robin!”

She shrunk back to normal size abruptly, and they landed in a heap.  “Sorry.  Had to ditch the dress to change size.”  She quickly covered up again.

“That was really impressive what you just did.”

Robin finally managed a smile.  “Thanks.  As I said, I’ve been practicing.  A lot.  I can usually hold a form for a few minutes, unless something really distracting happens.”

“Loud noises didn’t seem to distract you, so your focus is pretty impressive.  Seriously, one change with the collar and you’d have it sorted.”

“No.  Just... no.”  Robin sighed.  “And now I’m hungry and depressed.  Can we order a pizza?”

Leon offered her a hug, which Robin accepted.  “Sure.  My treat, this time.”

While they waited for dinner to arrive, Robin showed off some of the changes she’d been practicing.  She could grow taller and shorter easily, and hold those changes the longest.  Getting too small was distracting, between the radically changed perspective and the cold.  Leon egged her into getting small enough that he could pick her up in one hand.

“You’re awfully cute like this.”

Robin blushed, and expanded so quickly she knocked Leon over.  “Ooops.  You distracted me.”

Leon laughed.  “Sorry.  Not quite over the crush?”

Robin blushed, and shook her head.  “Which is why I’m keeping the ring until Jean gets home.  No turning to Leona on me, or I might do something I’d regret.”

“So.  What non-sexy changes have you worked on, to keep us on safe grounds?”

“Um...”  Robin’s blush got worse.  “Most of them were sexy.  Well, at least for Carrie-Lee.  I managed to turn myself completely into a tentacle once, but the ring fell off.”

“That’s incredible!  Can you show me?  I promise I won’t find it sexy.”

Robin giggled.  “No, I guess you wouldn’t.  I’ve also managed to turn parts of me plastic, but I suspect you’d rather not see that at all.”

Leon shuddered.  “No.”

Robin slithered out of her dress, making Leon blush.  “You’re sure you don’t find this sexy?”  She lounged on the couch saucily, grinning at how Leon’s eyes never left her body.  Stretching languidly, she brought her arms above her head.  When her fingers touched together, they merged, her hands becoming a tapering fleshy cone with the ring on its tip.

As Leon’s watched in wonder, Robin rippled her arms bonelessly.  They wriggled and merged together into a flowing mass.  As the change rolled toward her head she blew Leon a kiss, then her face vanished under a tide of featureless pink flesh.  The changes hesitated there a moment, slimming her shoulders, and Leon found he was holding his breath.  He exhaled sharply, and the tentacle twitched toward him, shaking its tip as if it was a waggling finger.

Robin’s small breasts flattened out without a fuss.  Slowly and quietly, her nipples vanished away into her slimming torso.  Next was her bellybutton, followed by her pubic hair.  The change hesitated once again, then slowly sealed her legs together, her hips shrinking away to nothing.

Once it passed her knees the change accelerated, ankles and toes gone in a rush until only a waggling tentacle tip was left.  What once was Leon’s sister was now a squirming fleshy cylinder less than a hand-span thick.

“Oh wow.  You really are a tentacle.  That’s... impressive.  And a little creepy.”

Just then Leon heard the garage door open, and Jean's heels clicking their way to the pantry door.  Leon tossed Robin's dress at the tentacle still squirming on the couch and rushed to greet his wife.

Jean met her husband with a smile and a hug, then stiffened as she saw Robin’s flushed face and obviously hastily-donned dress.  “Let me guess,” she said in an amused tone, “It’s not what it looks like?”

Leon winced, but no outburst was forthcoming and his wife’s lips were curled into a speculative grin.  He ventured, “It might just be, if it looks like Robin was recently squirming on the couch.”

Jean raised an expressive eyebrow, then gave Leon another hug.  “Stop twitching!  I’m not going to bite your head off.  I know you’d never cheat on me with your sister... and given how open we’re being it’d hardly be cheating in the first place.  I can see that Robin is all flushed and rumpled, and you’re not.  She’s also clutching the ring in her hand, so it looks like she was just demonstrating her growing skill with it.”

“You should have seen it!” enthused Leon.  “She turned her whole body into a tentacle, from the tips of her fingers to the tips of her toes.  The only thing she hasn’t figured out yet is how to make it stick.  We all needed a collar for that, but she’s determined...”

“Actually, this time my problem was the other way round,” said Robin.  “I freaked out when I heard that door go, and I couldn’t figure out how to change back to human!  It wasn’t until I thought to let go of the ring that I managed it at all.  I wonder... maybe panic is the key?”

“Don’t worry, little miss squiggle, you’ll have it sorted by Christmas at the latest.”

Robin’s eyes went wide.  “You bought a Christmas present that will help?”

“Not telling.”  Jane’s poker face was impressive.

“You did, you did!  Tell me!  No wait.  Leon, make her tell us!  She has to obey you.”

Jean looked crestfallen and hurt, until Leon shook his head.  “Nope.  That would be cheating, and abusing her trust.  Not going to do it.”

“Fine,” pouted Robin.  “Be that way.”

“Ah, you’ll see.  It’s not long now, and between the move and your new job, it’ll be Christmas before you know it.”

* * *

Christmas Eve was upon them.  Robin arrived home late, dropping to the couch with a long, tired sigh.  “I am so glad the shop isn’t open tomorrow.  I’m wiped.”

Leon chuckled knowingly.  “It’s not the job that has you down, is it?”

Robin barely had the energy to glare at her brother.  “How’d you get so perceptive, anyway?”

“Maybe spending half my time as Leona is a factor.”

Robin stuck her tongue out at him.  “Fine.  Yes, I miss C-L.  I thought she was supposed to be here by now.”

“There’s something from her under the tree.  Go look.”

Robin whined, but Leon said she could open it if she wanted.  That did the trick and she was over to the tree like a shot.  A huge box was lying there, with her name written on it in enormous letters.  Below it was written, “Open me now.”  Soon paper was flying everywhere, revealing a large cardboard moving box with holes punched in the top.

“She got me a pet?”  Robin scrabbled at the tape, then tore open the top of the box.  She stared down at what was inside it.  “Oh wow.  Um... are you OK with me having a snake in the house?”

“Look closer.”

Robin’s eyes went wide when she saw the cats-eye gem embedded in the snake’s forehead like a bindi.  “C-L?” she asked in a shaky voice.

The snake nodded, then started slithering out of the box and around Robin’s arm.  Around and around it looped, first her arm, then her shoulder, then her waist.  Before long, twenty feet of python was wrapped around Robin.  She looked like she was in bliss.

“I...  I...”  Robin sniffled.  “I missed you soooo much.”

The snake flickered its tongue near Robin’s ear, and she stumbled to her feet, then on to her bedroom.

“Earplugs?” offered Jean to her husband.

Leon accepted a pair.  “Don’t mind if I do.”

* * *

Christmas Morning was a slow, languid affair.  Jean and Leon had finished breakfast by the time Robin stumbled into view, looking rather the worse for wear.

“Did you sleep at all last night?” asked Leon.

Robin shrugged dazedly.  “Maybe?  I don’t remember.”

“Happy?”

Robin giggled, and practically floated to the table.  “Deliriously.  I think literally... you two look like you’re kind of fuzzy around the edges.”

She gratefully accepted a mug of coffee, and a little later, a kiss from Carrie-Lee.  “Hey sweet tentacle.”

“Hey slithery.  Love you.”

“Wow.  You two move fast,” said Jean while Leon just boggled.

Carrie-Lee chuckled happily.  “When you find the right one, you don’t let go.”   She stole a sip of Robin’s coffee, then made a face.  “Too sweet!  Love you too, even if your coffee is undrinkable.  Please say there’s more in the pot.”

“There’s more in the pot,” said Jean robotically, though she was grinning.

“Bless you, woman.  Not for the coffee, but for the ring.  God, the things I want to do...”

Once everyone was fed and caffeinated enough to function, they converged around the tree.  There were only a few gifts under it, all but one quite small.

Jean presented the large packet to her husband, who cut the tape carefully, unwrapping the gift without damaging the paper.  “We’re not poor, dear.  We can tear the paper.”

Leon chuckled, then opened up the box.  Inside was a bewildering array of white and black fabric.  He found a shoulder-strap and lifted it up to reveal a classic black-and-white maid outfit with ruffled trim.  “Well, that explains why the tag said ‘to Leona’.  But isn’t this a bit big for her?”

“It’s sized for someone about five feet tall, rather than four.  And bigger up front too.”

“I’d noticed,” said Leon dryly, poking a hand into one of the voluminous cups.  “Why bigger?”

“Because sometimes my pretty kittygirl maid needs to reach the shelves without my help.  And I get a crick in the neck trying to kiss you when you’re tiny.  You’ll still be distinctly smaller than me.”

“Awesome.  Can I wear it now?”

Jean turned the ring on her finger.  “Mmm, check out the rest of the gift first.”

Leon set the first maid uniform aside and lifted up a second, bigger than the first and cut for a much, much bustier woman.  “I take it you’re a closet breast fan, then?”

“Not in the closet any more.  Boobs are great, and you need more of ‘em.”

Leon blushed and looked away from his wife.  As his gaze dropped to the box in his lap, the latest outfit fell aside, forgotten.  He lifted up a confection of pink and white, covered in ribbons and ruffles and bows.  It was very much the girliest piece of clothing he’d ever seen, a pink maid outfit sized for Leona.  “Oh my god!  It’s so pink!”

“Do you like it?” asked Jean uncertainly.

“Are you kidding?  I love it!  I want to be a kittygirl so badly right now.”

Jean slipped the cats-eye ring on Leon’s finger.  “Then become my sexy kittygirl, sized for that first outfit.”

Leon pouted as his body shifted, shrinking less than usual.  She still ended up significantly smaller than her wife, and also as curvy.  “Aww, I wanted to wear the little one.”

As Leona started getting dressed in her new maid outfit, Robin snapped her fingers. “That’s it!  You didn’t want to be this version, did you?”

Leona shook her head, getting even more tangled in the many straps of her outfit.  “No, but this was...”  She blinked, then stared at Jean. “How?”

Jean giggled.  “Robin figured it out, you can too.  You’re wearing the ring, you’ve been little Leona before.  Why are you this, instead of that?”

Leona screwed up her face in concentration, and shrunk by a foot.  The maid outfit fell around her easily, then.  But as soon as she opened her eyes, she returned to her starting height.  “I can’t do it.  Not... not by myself.  Is that it?”

Robin stared at her brother.  “Let me test my idea.  Now shrink!”

Leona dropped a foot in height, and giggled giddily as her outfit ballooned around her.   “It worked.  Wait, what worked?”

Robin got a big grin on her face.  “Shrink!”

Leona dropped to three feet tall, black and white satin puddling around her.  “What?  It was just being told to change that mattered?”

“Being told by someone you’re willing to change for,” amended Jean.

“You’re a foot tall,” Robin said in a commanding voice.

Leona squeaked and stared up at the giantesses around her.  “Oh... wow.”

“Should I stop?” asked Robin.

Leona shook her head.  “Not yet,” she squeaked in her tiny voice.  “But I’m getting cold.”

Jean scooped her tiny husband up, and tucked the kittygirl into her robe, cushioned by her breasts.  “Better?”

Leona purrrrred her answer happily.

“Shrink to six inches tall,” said Jean.

Leona cuddled up to her wife’s breast.  “More.”

“OK.  Shrink until you’re two inches tall.”

Leona clutched the ring, then slipped it around her waist as a belt.  “Woah.”

Jean gave her tiny husband a little nudge, pushing her into the middle of her cleavage.  Then she squeezed her breasts together, and Leona disappeared entirely.  “Mmmm.  So wiggly.  How much smaller do you think she could get?”

“Probably too small to see, as long as she’s touching the ring.”

Jean fished her teeny husband out from between her breasts, then held her on her open palm.  Spreadeagled, she didn’t even come close to filling it.  “Smaller,” she whispered, and Leona obediently shrank.  Her tiny, glittering eyes stared up at her wife’s in wonder.  Jean could see Leona’s mouth moving, but her voice was too soft and too high to hear.  “Shrink as small as you want.”

Leona dwindled further, hand resting against the inside of the ring until it towered over her.  The slightest tremor in Jean’s enormous palm tumbled her to her rump, and made her lose contact with the ring.  Her return to visibility was swift.  She grew and changed until Leon tumbled into Jean’s lap, still expanding.  Soon he was his normal self once more, and tugged his robe back on.  “That was... quite the adventure.  Seeing you so huge was awe-inspiring.”

Jean giggled.  “I could live with awe-inspiring.  If you didn’t have to drag that ring behind you, exploring my body at an inch tall could be fun, yes?”

Leon nodded with a huge grin.

“Then let’s get on with the gifts.”

Leon took the next-largest gift from under the tree, and handed it to his wife.

Jean opened the lumpy package curiously.  On top of the bundle was a DVD.  “Fantasia?  Why this movie?  And what’s all this fluff under it?”

Jean shook the fabric out, it was the palest of pinks and almost entirely translucent.  Along one edge was an elasticated waistband.  “It’s a tutu?  But it’s immense!”

“There’s something explanatory on the back of the movie,” said Leon.

Taped there was an obviously hand-drawn picture of a dancing hippo from the movie, looking sexier than any hippo had a right to.  “Oh... wow.  Where’d you get this?”

Leon nodded his head toward his sister.  “She’s quite the artist.”

“Huh.  Fine.  I’ll give it a try.  Later.”  Jean set the tutu aside.  “Who’s next?”

Robin fetched three small packages out from under the tree.  “From me.”

Leon hefted his in his hand.  “What did you get us, rocks?”

Robin stuck her tongue out at him.  “I should have gotten you coal.”

Leon pressed his hand to his chest dramatically.  “You wound me, after all I’ve done for you.  Taking you in when our parents threw you out.  Letting your sweetie have the ring last night so you two could play...”

Robin actually blushed, and looked over at Carrie-Lee.  The older woman had already opened her package to reveal a stone sculpture of a snake-tailed armless woman.  “It has my face,” she breathed.  “How on Earth did you find this?”

“I carved it myself.  Sort of an... idealized version of you.  I... I hope you don’t mind?”

“It’s beautiful!  I can’t wait to be this for you.”

Jean opened hers next, finding a figurine with her face over a gorgeous pair of wings.  As she turned it, she discovered scaly claws instead of feet.  At her curious look, Robin shrugged.  “It just worked, you ended up more of a bird-girl instead of an angel.  It’s what the stone wanted.”

Jean turned the carving in her hands, smoothing her fingers over the tracery of the wings.  “No arms, just wings...”  She bit her lip, then nodded. “I like it.”

Leon opened his warily, then started to giggle.  “It’s Leona!”

“Too obvious?” asked Robin.

“No!  It’s perfect,” said Leon, as he traced his fingers over the figurine’s feline ears.  “Just perfect.”

Leon said that his gift might as well go next, as nobody could follow that.  Jean and Carrie-Lee exchanged significant glances, then agreed.

Leon handed a very tiny box to his wife, and similar ones to Robin and Carrie-Lee.  Jean opened hers first, speculating about jewelry, and was puzzled to see a small wooden disc.  “A name tag?  Who’s Goldie?”

“Look at the next one.”

Jean lifted up an aluminum disc, stamped with their address, phone number, and a serial number.  “What is this?”

“A properly registered dog licence.  So animal control won’t do something unpleasant if we get separated.  It’s for your collar,” Leon finished weakly.

“I see.  Why would you think this was a good idea?”

“Didn’t you like hunting with me?”

Jean was still staring at the disc.  She nodded.  “Yeah.  Um... I’m kind of stuck here.”  She lifted up the disc, and her gaze followed it wherever it went.

“Oops!  Sorry, cancel all orders.”

Jean lowered her hand and finally looked at her husband.  “Thanks.  It’s an odd gift, but...”  She peered down into the box.  “Leona?  You got a tag for yourself, too?”

“Yeah.  Just in case you wanted to take me out for a walk one day.  The hard part was figuring out how to put the tags on a collar.  I asked the guy who custom made the name tags what he’d suggest, something that wouldn’t interfere with magic.  Some metals do, especially anything iron based.  So he recommended tying them on with silk, there’s some in the bottom of the box.  That way you don’t have to take the collar off.”

Jean chuckled.  “Thoughtful.”

The others opened their boxes, finding two tags each.  One had their name on it.

“Slither?” asked Carrie-Lee.

“For when you’re a snake, of course.  Sis seems to like that.”

Carrie-Lee giggled and nodded.  “Fair enough.  What’d he get you, Robin?”

“Squirm.”

Carrie-Lee’s eyes lit up.  “Oooh!  My squirmy sweetie.  I like it.  This is a better gift than you know, Leon.  Mine next?”

Jean nodded. “Sure.”

The boxes from Carrie-Lee were larger than Leon’s, flat and square.  She held one out to Robin, and another to Jean and Leon.  Jean took the latter, but waited for Robin to open hers first.

Robin stared into the open package, then lifted up a sparkling pink collar.  “This isn’t what I think it is, is it?”

“It’s magic, yes.  Like the other.”

“I said I wouldn’t wear that!  Why would you do this?”  Robin clenched her fists around the collar.

Carrie-Lee’s lips twisted briefly then settled.  “Because this doesn’t work the same way.  It doesn’t force you to do anything.”

Robin looked up at her abruptly.  “But you said...”  She took a deep breath.  “OK.  So what does it do?”

“Positive reinforcement.  Obeying makes you feel really good.  Disobeying makes feeling pleasure impossible.”

“Oooooh.  Wow, that sounds...”

“Potentially addictive,” said Leon dryly.  “That might even be more trouble than Jean’s collar.”

“But if I don’t want to do something, I don’t have to?” asked Robin, hopefully.  “Can I test it on you, first?”

Carrie-Lee nodded, and leaned toward Robin as the younger woman held the collar out.  When it closed around her neck she shuddered.  “Ooooh.  Didn’t know it would feel this nice just to wear it.”

Robin giggled.  “Mmm.  Maybe I should just take it back now.  Nah.  First...  Strip.”

Carrie-Lee laughed and said, “No.  Crap!”

“What?”

“All that good feeling went away.”

“Does it hurt?” asked Robin worriedly.

Carrie-Lee shook her head.  But she started wriggling out of her robe, sighing and moaning as the pleasure returned, then intensified.  In moments she was naked, and squirming on the couch.  “Damn, that felt good.”  She panted for a few seconds, then grinned at Robin.  “Again!”

“Go to the back door.”

Carrie-Lee immediately hopped up and hustled to the door.  When she reached it she moaned again, more loudly.  “Fuuuuck.  This is...”  Her hands went to her breasts.

“Stop that,” said Robin.  Carrie-Lee whined, but did so.  She stood before the door, trembling with suppressed desire, as Robin walked closer.  “Now open the door.”

Carrie-Lee flung it open, shivering from the cold blast that hit her.  “What are you...”

“Go out and roll in the snow.”

Carrie-Lee gasped, and turned out to face the snowy patio.  She hesitated, then slumped.  “Nooo...  It’s all gone.”  The loss in her voice was palpable.  A moment later she’d snatched the collar off her neck and slammed the door shut.  “That was... that was...  Fuck.  I was this close to doing it.”

“How do you feel?” asked Robin, snuggling up against her.

“Cold.  Better, with you against me.  When I disobeyed... it felt like I would never feel pleasure again.  Taking the collar off helped.”

Robin nodded, and lifted Carrie-Lee’s hand with the collar in it, touching it to her own neck.  “Do it.”

Robin shuddered as the collar clicked closed.  “Oh!  It does feel nice.  Warm and tingly.”

“Kiss me.”

Robin kissed her lover eagerly, moaning happily in the embrace.  Whispers from Carrie-Lee got her even more hot and bothered as she stripped out of her clothes.

“Get a room, you two,” laughed Jean.

Carrie-Lee pulled out of the embrace, and grinned.  “Stop.  Follow me to the couch.”

Robin did so, prancing ecstatically behind her mistress.

“Let me take off the collar.”

Robin made her best puppy-dog eyes at Carrie-Lee, but let her remove the collar.  She gasped in shock and huddled against Carrie-Lee, snuggling in for comfort.  “God.  That was...  Overwhelming.”

“I won’t make you wear it again, if it’s too much.”

“No!” Robin said immediately.  “I liked it.  I’m going to get sooo messed up by it, but I want it too badly to care.”

Carrie-Lee grinned.  “I’m going to turn you into my squirmy tentacle pet.”

“As long as she’s happy, I guess,” said Leon.  “Robin?”

“Yeah.  If only you could be my slithery snake at the same time...”

“Patience,” said Jean.  “First... are these really what they look like?”   She held up two collars, one pure white, the other a malevolent black.

Carrie-Lee nodded.  “White one is for you.  It’s just the focus effect, no mental control.”

Jean’s eyes widened.  “Does it matter who puts it on, then?”

“Of course not.”

Leon already had her purple collar off, and slipped the white one around his wife’s neck while she vibrated impatiently.  When it closed she sighed happily.  “Mmm.  Feels the same.  Order me to do something.”

“Strip,” said Leon with a laugh.

Jean did so.  “C’mon, something I wouldn’t normally do.  Like the trash.”

“Okay.  Take out the tra...”

“No!”  Jean’s denial interrupted Leon’s order, and she giggled.  “Again!”

“Take out the trash.”

“No!  A thousand times no!  YES!”  She flew to Carrie-Lee and hugged her tight.  “This is the most perfect gift you could have gotten me.  But if the white one is no control, the black is...”

“Complete and utter domination, yes.  Their mind is a blank slate for you to fill with whatever you wish.  Memories, feelings, emotions, all controlled.”

“Does it work on fears, too?” asked Leon.

“I asked that specifically.  Yes, it wipes them with everything else.  You can add them back, if you like.”

“That’s... wow.”  Jean shook her head in amazement.

Carrie-Lee smirked.  “It gets better.  It doesn’t work if it’s not put on by the wearer, voluntarily and with full knowledge of what it does.”

“That’s... good.  Right?”

“The bad is... anyone can control you.  Anything you hear is an order.  There’s also one order baked in.  You can’t take it off.  Once you put it on, you’re the bottom of the totem pole, everyone’s toy, until someone relents and takes it off for you.”

“Wow.  That’s... who would use such a thing?” asked Jean.

Carrie-Lee pointed behind Jean, and she spun around to see Leon flopped back against the arm of the couch, looking like a puppet with its strings cut.  The black collar was in place around his neck.

“Be yourself,” whispered Jean.

Leon sat up abruptly.  “Woah.  This thing packs a wallop.  What’d I miss?”

“Why would you do such a thing?” asked Jean desperately.  “You know how badly I messed up the last time.”

“One,” enumerated Leon on his fingers, “You’re wearing a collar that will keep you focussed, so you shouldn’t slip up as much.  Two, that same collar keeps you serene, so you won’t be evil to me.  Three, I trust you.  You’ll take it off eventually, or one of the others will.  And four...”  Leon hesitated.

“Yes?”

“I really, really want to see what you will do to me.”

“You are such a sub,” laughed Jean.

“Yes Mistress!” replied Leon promptly, going to his knees in front of her.

“Augh!  Cancel all orders.”

Leon toppled to the side, and Jean swore.  She pulled the collar off and set it on the coffee table.

Leon wobbled to his knees, then found his way to the couch.  “Wow.  You know the craziest part?”

“What?”

“Being turned off.  Wild.  I was jut... mindless.  I could hear you, see you, feel my body hit the floor.  But none of it meant anything.  Just memories being recorded.”

Carrie-Lee chuckled.  “Someone likes it.  Though... you make it sound tempting.  Can I borrow it once in a while?”

Robin looked shocked.  “You’d want that?”

“Mmm.  I spent too long as a coat on a hook, wondering when I’d get used next.  With that, I’d just be a thing.  Timeless.”  She shuddered delicately.  “I could spend months like that, happily.”

“I don’t want you to be gone for months,” protested Jean.

“Fine.  Days.  Nights.  Imagine wearing me as your nightie, senselessly wrapped around your body.  Just a thing you happen to own.  A lovely, sexy, cozy, comfy thing, mind.  Maybe your favourite thing.”

“Definitely my favourite.”

“But still yours.  Completely.”

“Yes,” said Robin softly.  “I’ll do it.”

Carrie-Lee cheered, and hugged her sweetie tight.  “You won’t regret it.”

“I might,” muttered Jean.  “But if you’re happy, and it does no harm...”

“I’m deliriously happy.”

“Wait for the best bit, then,” said Jean, pulling a single box from under the tree, addressed to ‘Everyone’.

“Better than the profusion of collars?” asked Leon skeptically.

“Yes.”  Jean handed the box to Leon.  “You inspired it, but you’re far from the only one that wants it.”

Leon tore the wrapping open impatiently, then pulled the top off the box.  He looked up at Jean questioningly as he tilted the box to the others.  Inside was a series of white ribbons of varying thicknesses, all wrapped and tucked away neatly.

“Magic ribbons?” asked Robin hesitantly.

Jean laughed.  “Anti-magic ribbons.  They prevent physical transformations in whatever they’re wrapped around.”

“How does that help?” asked Leon.

Jean handed him the ring.  Once he was wearing it, she said, “Turn into mid-sized Leona.”

Even mid-sized Leona looked like she was drowning in Leon’s robe, but she tugged it tighter around herself.  “And the point is?”

Jean tied a ribbon around Leona’s wrist.  “Now take the ring off.”

Leona did so, and everyone except Jean stared at her.  She wasn’t changing back.  Jean took the ring out of Leona’s stunned fingers, and passed it to Robin.  The young woman managed to get her finger into ring on the second try, then smiled at Carrie-Lee.  “Collar, please.  I so hope this works...”

Robin squirmed with happiness the instant the collar closed around her neck.  Carrie-Lee teased, “Tell me what you want.”

“I want to be your squirmy pet,” moaned Robin, hands darting to her erect nipples.

“Beg for it.”

“Oh please, Mistress Slither, make me your tentacle-pet.”

“Good, good.  Your legs are changing into big, strong tentacles.  Tell me what you want me to do to you.”

Robin struggled to be coherent.  “Anything,” she gasped.  “Everything.  Just don’t stop.”

Carrie-Lee grinned hugely.  “I don’t intend to.  Transform your arms, now.”

The hands caressing Robin’s breasts melted and slimmed into broad fleshy pads.  The bones of her arms melted away, leaving them squirmy and flexible.  “Oh God.  Yes!  More!”

“How can I refuse my pet.  Everything below your neck.  Make it all squirmy for me.”

Robin’s body exploded into a mass of writhing tentacles.  The arm and leg tentacles were by far the biggest, the rest ranged from a foot to a few inches long.  Two stubby tentacles replaced her breasts.  Carrie-Lee stared down at her transformed lover and grinned.  “Oh, Robin...  I mean Squirm.  You are beautiful.”

Jean tied another ribbon neatly around Robin’s neck, and plucked the ring free.  Again, the transformation held.  Carrie-Lee clapped excitedly.  “Me next!”

“Squirm, your turn.  Make me beautiful,” husked Carrie-Lee.  “Your perfect slithery lover.”

“Snake,” moaned Robin.  “You’re a snake.”

Carrie-Lee’s arms melted away, leaving the ring stuck against her side.  As scales rippled down her slimming body, her legs merged together.  Her face was the last to go, broadening to a cobra’s hood.  Glittering dark eyes regarded the tentacles before her and she slithered into its embrace.

“Can I have the ring back?” asked Jean plaintively, but the two were far too occupied to hear.

Leona pulled her sweetie into an embrace.  “There’ll be plenty of time for that later.”

“But you wanted...” protested Jean, before Leona put a finger to her lips.

“It’s fine.  I’m off until New Year’s, the office is closed.  We have time to do everything.  Right now, I want to try this new Leona body you came up with.  Preferably in a room where my sister isn’t busy tentacle-fucking a snake.”

Jean scooped her husband up in her arms, and carried him giggling to the bedroom.

* * *

A few hours later, there was a loud knocking on the master bedroom door.  “Guys, I’m sorry, but I really need your help,” came Carrie-Lee’s voice.

Leona stumbled to the door and opened it.  “What?”

Carrie-Lee was standing there, human and naked.  “I took Robin’s ribbon off... but she’s still a tentacle-thing.”

Leona stared down at the ribbon around her wrist, and tugged it free.  They both waited with bated breath, but nothing happened.  She remained stubbornly female and feline.  “Holy crap.”

Carrie-Lee offered Leona the ring, and she put it on and took it off several times to no apparent effect.  “It’s not restoring me,” whimpered Leona.  “Why not?”

“Because the ring makes permanent changes,” said Jean from behind her.  “It just changes you back when it gets taken off.  The ribbon prevented that, so now you can stay like this for as long as you like.”

“But I can change back for work?  Or for dinner with my folks?”

Jean grinned.  “If I tell you to change, yes.  You can’t do it for yourself.  Until and unless I say otherwise, you are really and truly Leona.  My beautiful catgirl husband.”

Leona started to smile, and turned to kneel before her wife.  “My lovely, thoughtful wife.  Thank you.”

Jean pulled Leona up into an embrace, then tugged her back to the bed.

“Um... so Robin’s now really a tentacle-creature?” asked Carrie-Lee.  Her only answer was tentacles grabbing her from behind and dragging her away to the guest bedroom.