Duncan nodded to the other members of Arwen’s support group.  Arwen made a “go on” gesture, and he introduced himself by name.

“Hey!” protested Terry, “You said you were going to show us Donna tonight.”

Duncan chuckled warmly.  “No worries.  You’ll get to meet her soon enough.  Once everyone’s had their say.”

“Fine,” said Terry.  “Hi, I’m Terry and I’ve been living as a girl for the past ten months.  And loving it.  Next?”

The introductions passed swiftly around the room, only stalling when Ciara softly spoke about zir luck both good and bad in getting others to accept zir preferred pronouns.  Zir friends had been good about it, though imperfect about remembering.  Work had just ignored the request, which zie had found terribly frustrating.

“To be fair to them,” offered Duncan, “they’re probably somewhat confused by the idea.”

“I know,” moaned Ciara.  “It’s just... I’m finally starting to understand who I am.  It’s like they don’t even want to know.”

“They probably don’t.  They have two boxes ‘male’ and ‘female’.  Dealing with people moving between boxes is hard enough to adapt to.  That they want to make new ones?” asked Duncan.  “Despite recent events, I do have sympathy for those who have trouble coping when the world no longer makes sense.  Actually, make that also because of recent events...”

“I just wish I had a giant sign saying ‘Call me zie, not she’.”

Everyone except Duncan stared at the giant sign that materialized in front of Ciara.  Duncan just sighed and covered his eyes.  “Not how I was planning to do this.”

“What?”  “Where did...”  “What?”

Ciara grabbed the sign with both arms.  “YES!  This is perfect.  But...  Um, where’d it come from?”

Duncan raised his hand.  “Hi.  Magic is real, I can use it, and... none of you are surprised by that fact.  What?”

Robin waved to get Duncan’s attention.  “My doing, I’m afraid.  I dragged them all out to the Blue Vixen last night.”

“I still don’t buy that Duncan was able to pole-dance there,” grumbled Gary.  “Look at him!”

Duncan rolled his eyes and strode into the middle of the circle.  A quirky grin grew as he spun in place, light flaring around him as he transformed Wonder-Woman style from Duncan to Donna.  She carried the spin around, leaned forward and hooked a hand and foot around a pole that hadn’t been there a moment ago, and gave a brief show to everyone present.  She barely restrained the reflex to toss her top at Gary.

“Believe me now?” asked Robin with a huge grin.

Gary wordlessly handed over a twenty.

“Why are you here?” asked Terry.  “You can obviously be anything you want to be.”

“Terry,” cautioned Arwen.  “Remember the rules.”

“Sorry,” said Terry insincerely.

“It’s okay.  I’m still figuring it out myself,” admitted Donna.  “I’ve spent the last year or so living a double life.   Much of the time as Duncan, family man and engineer.  But a significant amount as Donna, exotic dancer and avatar of the Moon, able to grant fantasies both pure and otherwise.”  She grinned.  “The ‘otherwise’ ones are often a lot of fun.  But the best by far are when I can give someone their heart’s desire... Oh, that’s something else again.”

“You’re glowing,” said Ciara in an awed voice.

Donna looked down at herself.  Still human, but with a lambent glow teasing about her form. She held up a hand, watching the glow flicker about it.  Her hand turned to crystal, then to a cat’s paw and back to human.  “Sometimes the power gets the better of me.  It has become so easy to change myself that sometimes my thoughts and emotions get reflected in my appearance.”

“That sounds like fun!” enthused Terry.  “What have you been?”

Donna chuckled.  “It’d take more time than we have tonight to list it all.  But you’re not wrong.  It can be fun.  And sometimes inconvenient.”

“Inconvenient?” shouted Gary, pushing up out of his chair.  “Inconvenient!  You can in a moment do what all of us here have been dreaming about all our lives.”

“Gary...”

“No, Arwen.  This is too much.  How can we find common ground with a dream come true?”

“Because in part I am here to grant you those dreams,” answered Donna firmly, staring him down.  “If you like I can turn you into whatever it is you truly want to be.  Right here.  Right now.”

Gary’s eyes went very wide.  “You mean...”

“Male.  Fully and completely.  No pills, no follow-up surgery or after-care.”  Donna approached him as she lectured, getting right up nose to nose with him.  “Tall enough not to need those lift shoes.  And fertile, if you wish.”

Gary stumbled back to his seat, and stared into nothing.  His mouth moved, wordlessly.

Arwen filled the stunned silence.  “Do not rush into this.  It is not a one-time offer, Donna can change you whenever you like.”

“Within the limits of the Moon’s phases,” amended Donna.  She quelled her glow, and returned to her seat.  “Still, you can change any month you choose, in the week before the full Moon.  The changes can be temporary, fading a week after the Moon is full, or permanent.  But not so permanent you can’t be changed again, if you like.”

“Think about it carefully,” emphasised Arwen.  “Especially about what you will need to do if you want a radically altered body.”  She aimed the comment pointedly at Terry.

Donna followed her gaze.  “Oh!  For all the bluster you want to be Ciara’s size.”

“That’s possible?” asked Terry, eagerly.  “How small could you make me?”

“Knee-high to an oxygen atom,” deadpanned Donna.

Terry started to snicker, and it quickly progressed into full-on giggling.  “That’s a bit... a bit too small.”  Once she had her giggle-fit under control, she held her hand about three feet off the floor.  “This tall.”

“You’d look like a little girl.”

“I want to be six again.  To grow up as a girl, properly this time,” said Terry fervently.

Arwen shot Donna a hard look when she realized that Terry wasn’t just slouching in her chair, she was actually shrinking.  She got a grin in reply, and rolled her eyes.  “Terry, have you really thought this out?  Who would take care of you?”

Terry shrugged, then stared down at her feet.  Her shoes had just fallen off.  “Holy crap!  I’m...”  She turned wondering eyes on Donna.  “Really?”

“Yes.”

Terry hopped out of her chair, dancing around the room as she dwindled.  Her clothes changed with her – her rock band T-shirt and torn jeans slowly became a unicorn-themed top and a cute denim skirt.

“Oh my goodness you’re so cute!” squealed Ciara, scooping the little girl into a hug.  “Can I keep her?”

“I...  The paperwork alone...” fussed Arwen.

“To heck with paperwork.  I’ll home-school if I have to.”

“But you live alone,” said Arwen.  “You have a job.”

“My Mom will help,” said Terry.  “She wants grandkids so bad, and... and...”  She stared up at Donna in awe.  “Is the offer you made to Gary good the other way?  I could become pregnant?  Be a mother?”

Donna nodded.  “One hundred percent natural female.  You’re not fertile right now, because you’re pre-pubescent, but once you grow up, yes.”

Terry sat down abruptly on the floor.  “God, what a decision.  To grow up right, or...  Can you make me forget ever being a guy?”

Donna didn’t answer, and turned to Arwen with a pleading look.  “You’re asking something that can be done, but that Donna does not like to do,” said Arwen eventually.  “I do not think it is a wise course to pursue.”

Terry looked utterly heartbroken.  Donna studied her for a time, then sighed.  “There is a way of... temporarily suppressing those memories.  If you wear silver, you will find it impossible to think of being anything other than what you are.  Some come to hate the touch of silver, and I am... beyond such concerns now.  But that mostly applies to people who want to change and change and change again, not those who want a specific body.  If you do this, you have to take the silver off when you talk to Arwen, and do so at whatever schedule she demands.”

“I’ll do it!” exclaimed Terry.

“Donna...” said Arwen.  “Are you sure?”

Donna smiled at her.  “I think you know how this will go.  This is the fantasy.  The reality will sink in.”

Terry pouted up at Donna.  “You don’t think I’ll stay like this?  Grow up like this?”

“I know what body you really want, and this isn’t it.  But I can see that you need this experience.  If Ciara’s willing, anyway.”

Ciara’s squeal of glee was answer enough.  “I will love her like she was my own daughter.”  Zie sat on the floor next to Terry, and scooped her into zir lap.

Donna tilted her head in puzzlement as she watched the two of them together.  “You’re acting very... mothery, if I may.”

Ciara looked up.  “Yes.  And?”

“I just... you...  You’re trying to be something other than female.”

“And it’s strange to want to be a mother even if I don’t want to be a woman?  Is that it?”

Donna nodded, taken aback by Ciara’s sudden vehemence.

“I don’t hate everything about being a woman.  That’s why this has been so confusing to me.  I love the idea of giving birth, but hate sex as a woman.  I’d love to nurse a baby, but hate having breasts.  I even love being short, but hate being weak, being seen as helpless.”

“I see.  Not exactly, but I can work with it.”

Ciara blinked up at her in confusion.  “That’s not the usual reaction I get.  But I’ve had my fill of ‘oh you poor dear, that must be terrible’.”

Donna grinned and canted an eyebrow at her.  “And you want someone who can fix it, rather than just listen sympathetically?”

Ciara nodded vigorously.  “Can you?  I mean, you’ve turned women into men and vice versa, but this is something way beyond that...”

Donna burst into laughter.  She waved off Ciara’s offended look.  “Sorry, that wasn’t about you.  I’ve turned so many people into things they’ve wanted to be.  My first wanted desperately to be a catgirl.  She’s now a beautiful hybrid between human and Eurasian Lynx.  Turns out she was one of Arwen’s patients, so I kind of poached that one.  The second is currently a sentient blob of goo that spends much of her time as a breast implant.  I’ve turned people into bunny slippers, tattoos, and mermaids.  Some permanently, though some of those opt to change again the following month.  The slippers are now a cute bunny girl, and the tattoo is...  Oh, right.  A vixen girl.  And the woman she was tattooed on is now her tail.  So yes.  I can turn you into anything you can imagine.”

“I can imagine quite a bit,” said Ciara with a grin.

“You’ll get it.  Breasts are easy, I can make them flat except when you’re lactating.  Strength, too.”  Donna looked over at Robin.  “Would that have helped?  If you were as strong as before?”

Robin couldn’t meet Donna’s eyes, instead glancing over at Arwen.  “I...  No.  I want the package deal.  But not today.  Or this month.  Maybe not this year.”

“I am so sorry about what happened.  If there is any little thing you want changed, that would make you happier, just ask.”

“Donna,” said Arwen softly.  “Not now.”

“Right, sorry.”  She turned back to Ciara.  “You’re not done with me, are you?”

Ciara laughed.  “Not by half!  Can I try out the changes you’ve suggested so far?”

Donna gestured to Ciara’s chest, where zir breasts had been slowly melting away for the past minute.  “Already done.  Be careful, you don’t know...”  Donna winced as Ciara jumped and hit her head on the ceiling.  “You’re rather stronger than you were.”

Ciara rubbed zir forehead and grinned.  “That’s cool.  I wish I had a pickle jar to open...”

Donna mock-growled at Ciara as a jar appeared in zir hands.  “Easy on the W-word, okay?”

Ciara grinned back as zie wrenched the jar open.  A half dozen rubber snakes sprung out of it, making everyone except Robin laugh.  “That was awesome!” cheered Ciara.  “What else should I change?”

Donna studied zir.  “I could try to tweak your face to look more male,” she offered.  “But that doesn’t feel like the right direction.”

Ciara shook zir head.  “Nah.  I...  Arwen had elven ears one session.  I really liked how those looked on her.  Something to make me look... distinctly not-human.”

“But concealably so?  You won’t be able to go outside if you’re obviously magic-touched.  Magic censorship can be a pain.”

Ciara shrugged.  “I want to be mostly human.  I can hide ears under hair, or a hat.  And crystalline purple eyes could be contacts, or hidden behind sunglasses, right?”

Donna smiled and nodded, starting the second change.  “Indeed.”

When it was done, Donna created a mirror for Ciara.  “Oh... wow.  I’m not going to be able to sell ‘zie’, am I?”

“Is that a problem?”

Ciara studied herself in the mirror, then shook her head.  “No.”  She picked up the sign Donna had created earlier, and handed it to her.  “I’m not going to need this.”

The sign disappeared in a sparkle of dust.  Ciara smiled, curtsied neatly to everyone, and reintroduced herself to the group as Ciara, requesting the use of she and her as pronouns.

“Are you sure?” asked Arwen.

Ciara nodded firmly.  “Positive.  People will see what they want to see.  I know what I am.  How long will I be like this?” she asked Donna, urgently.

“If you look up at the full Moon on Monday, I’m quite sure you’ll find you can keep this body.”

Ciara clapped her hands gleefully.  “I’ll do that!”

“And if it doesn’t work, come see me at the Blue Vixen.  I’ll help you figure things out, and set you up as anything you like.”

Arwen sighed softly.  “You’ve done it again, haven’t you?”

“Hm?”

“Fixed someone’s body so it’s congruent with their mind.  Instead of the more usual way around.”

“And was that working with Ciara?”

Arwen sighed again.  “Not really.”

“Or anyone here?  They’re all in this group because their bodies don’t match their minds, and their minds have proven unable to adapt to the bodies they have.  So.  Anyone else for a change?”

Gary shook his head.  “This is such a shock, I’m...  Look, I want to change, but it’s... I’ve had a completely different plan in mind.  And this changes everything.  I can think on it for a while, right?”

“As long as you like,” reassured Arwen.  “If you change your mind by Monday, I’m sure Donna will be accommodating.”

Donna grinned.  “Of course.  I mostly seem to turn guys into girls, or girls into pretty or strange things.  Working with Gary to create his perfect body will be a refreshing change of pace.  Unless he’s secretly a dragon in disguise, or something.”

Gary laughed.  “Nah, I’m pretty boring.  Besides, it would suck to be a dragon and not be able to fly free.”

“True enough.”

“Now I have to figure out what to tell my girlfriend...”

Donna chuckled.  “Magic censorship will not be your friend in that discussion.  Unless you have it at the Crimson Kitten.  Order a Donna Special, and we’ll set you up.”

“Life around you is never boring, is it?”

“Not really, no,” said Donna.

* * *

Duncan returned home to find that Sidney was not so happy with her new forms as his support group had been.  She’d spent several days with a robot body as the only one she could show to her kids, and was getting tired of it.

“So... no more robo-Sidney?  Not even for changing diapers?” asked Duncan.

Sidney wrinkled her nose, then shook her head.  “No.  I’ll deal with it.  I want my body back.”

Duncan followed robo-Sidney to the bedroom, and waved to the sparkly form snuggled in the bed there.  “I’d have thought you’d enjoy being able to spend all day in bed.”

Sidney giggled as her limbs started to grow, squirming up to a seated position.  “I might be persuaded to have a vacation like that again someday.  But it pales, after a while.  I want to hold my kids with my own arms, not some synthetic duplicate.  It’s not the same.  Not the same at all.”

Duncan sighed mightily.  “I know.  Believe me, I know.”

Sidney patted the bed beside her, now that she was mostly back to normal, and Duncan sat in the bed to cuddle up beside her.  “Ah, yeah.  That’s more like it.  Can you make yourself human too?  So I can hug the real Duncan?”

Duncan shook his head.  “I can’t do it.  I can’t do it any more than I could voluntarily put my hand on a stove element that was glowing red hot.”

Sidney winced, and snuggled up against him.  “Was it really so bad?”

Duncan wrapped his arms around her.  “Worse than you can imagine.”

“Poor thing.  At least you’re still alive.”

Duncan snorted.  “Yeah.  Takes more than a bomb to stop me.  At this point, I have a hard time imagining what could.  Even without the crystal in that body’s mind, I’d still have survived.  Matter doesn’t matter to me any more.”

“Really?  You’ll live forever?  What happens when I grow old?”

Duncan shrugged.  “I can keep you young as long as I have power.  I... have kind of done a little of that already.”

Sidney giggled and wriggled against him.  “I can tell.  This body is so much better than the one I used to have.  No aches, and I’ll bet I’m forty pounds lighter to boot.”

“Closer to fifty, actually.  You don’t mind?”

“Why would I?  I feel good like this.  I feel...”  Sidney frowned, and looked around the room.  “Did you do something to my eyes?”

“Other than rejuvenating them a little, no.  Why?”

Sidney pulled up the duvet cover, bringing it so close to her face her nose brushed against it.  “It doesn’t look right.  The colours are off.  And... grainy?  Duncan, am I still a robot?”

“I...”  Duncan looked away.

“What the hell?  I wanted to be human, not a... what did you do to me?”

“You are human.  Ninety-nine plus percent, anyway.  There’s just... I kept the crystal, the one that let you be part of robo-Sidney.  You’re still...  See, it’s not like the waitress crystals, it’s the other way around.”

“I don’t understand.  What did you do?” insisted Sidney.

“You’re... well, you’re a crystal.”  Duncan held up his hand, thumb out.  “About this big.  All your body’s senses feed into it.”

“Why?  Why would you do that to me when I specifically asked to be human?”

“Because I can’t do it.  I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you’ve been a target of people trying to get to me.  It might happen again.  This way, if they shoot you, you’ll live.  Don’t worry, there’s a pain cutout that’ll keep you from feeling the worst of it.”

Sidney stared at him.  “And this is supposed to make me feel better?”

“No.  It’s supposed to make me feel better.  You’re safe.”

“Safe stuck in a rotting prison of flesh?  That doesn’t sound like fun.”

“Beats dying.  Been there, done that, don’t recommend it.”

“Damnit, Duncan!  You can’t just do this to me.”

“I can.  I have.  I’m sorry, sweetie.  I’ll do everything I can to improve it so you can’t tell the difference.  But the crystal stays.”

“What?  I trusted you with this!  I let you change my body into anything you liked, with the expectation that I’d be normal again once we were done.  I wish...”  Sidney’s mouth was abruptly filled with a sparkling gag.

“No.  No wishes.  In some ways they’re even more of a cruelty to me than this little thing I’ve done to you.”

Sidney’s eyes flashed and she felt for the buckle of the strap holding the gag in place.  There was none.  She started tugging on it angrily, trying to pull it over her head.  Before she succeeded, it vanished.

“Duncan!”

“Shh.  No yelling.  You’ll wake the kids.”

“Then no using magic to shut the argument down,” Sidney said, more softly.  “It’s not fair.”

Duncan nodded.  “Okay.  I won’t turn you into a pillow.”

“And in turn, I won’t wish you into one.”  Sidney chuckled.  “Though that does sound comfy.  Can I try it once we settle this?”

“Being the pillow or turning me into one?”

“I’ve been non-human long enough.  I just want some normality.  Is that too much to ask?”  Sidney’s voice was getting louder again.

Duncan shushed her.  “I understand completely.  I will do everything I can to make it completely imperceptible.  We’ll keep working on it until you pronounce it good enough that you can no longer tell.  Give me this night to fix it.”  He held up a hand as she was about to object.  “And if I can’t, then I’ll put you back to normal.  Please?  Just a few more hours until the Moon sets.  I’ll set an alarm this time.”

Sidney glared at him rebelliously.  “I just want to be normal.  To know I’m... normal.”

“There is nothing normal here, not any more.  You have millions of dollars to spend because of that not-normal.  You’ve spent the last few days as a fantasy toy – and don’t tell me it wasn’t fun, I was here for most of it – because of magic.  You can be and have anything you dream of, and the price... the price is this little thing you’ll never even notice until you really, really need it.”

“Sounds like I’m selling my soul.”

Duncan shook his head.  “Nope.  Your soul is fine.  That’s kind of...”  His eyes went distant.  “Oh!  Well, yeah.  I can do that.”

“Do what?”

“Give me a minute, I think I have something that will work.”  Duncan stared at Sidney’s head intently for some time.  She lasted twenty seconds before starting to ask what he was doing, and giving running commentary on how odd the sheet felt and looked.

Sidney squinted at the sheet again.  “The colours are right.  What happened?”

“You’re human.  Everything except one little bit... your soul is now in a crush-proof container.  So if your body dies, your soul will still be safe even if I’m not with you.”

“Oh.  Can I see the crystal?”

“It’s inside your skull.  So as not to disturb you further, can I show you a copy?”

Sidney nodded, then cooed at the thumbnail-sized diamond that appeared in her hands, light sparkling from its many facets.  “Oh!  It’s beautiful.  Why didn’t you say?”

“The first one wasn’t pretty.  But when I went searching for answers that would make you happy, it was obvious.  In a sense, your soul is now a diamond.”

Sidney closed her hand over the diamond and clutched it to her chest.  “Can I keep this one, to?”

Donna nodded encouragingly.  “Of course.  How does a white gold cage on a chain sound?”

“Perfect.”  When Sidney opened her hand, her newest necklace was revealed.  She turned her back to her husband and pulled her hair aside to make it easier to close the necklace’s clasp.  Once the necklace had settled in pace, caged diamond resting between her breasts, Sidney turned back to Donna.

“Where’s my husband?” asked Sidney, resignedly.

“Right here,” replied Donna.

“I didn’t marry a woman.”

“And I am not one.  I am an avatar of the Moon, and my truest self is a chunk of crystal.  When the Moon allows, I can be anything.”

“But you’re still in a woman’s body, and comfortable there.”

Donna pulled sidney into a hug.  “You needed comfort and encouragement.  Not an engineer’s attempts at fixing things.”

Sidney stiffened, but didn’t wriggle out of the hug.  “You needed to be a woman to do that?”

“It helped.”

“I suppose.”  Sidney’s tension waned.  “Why are you still a woman now?”

“Because I need you to accept that this is me, too.  There isn’t Duncan or Donna.  I am both.  Both of them are me.  Same person.”

Sidney looked away.  “It’s hard to look at... that, and see Duncan.”

“I’m not asking you to see Duncan.  I’m asking you to see me.”

“I can’t.  You’re all sexy and boobs and... Wrong.  I’m sorry.”

Donna vanished.