Jem burst into Maggie’s apartment with all the vigour that her brilliant colours and eye-searing dress suggested.  “Hey everyone!  Thanks for the invite,” she said, with a perkiness that didn’t reach her eyes.

Bernice grinned, and gave the neon-coloured catgirl a hug.  “Thanks for coming over.  We’ve had a heck of a day, and were hoping...”

“Hoping what?” asked Jem cautiously when Bernice’s hesitation went on too long.

Bernice stepped back to study Jem.  The catgirl’s tail wasn’t swishing, and her ears drooped.  “You seemed so cheerful at the mall, and friendly.  I... guess I hoped you’d liven the place up a bit.”

Jem looked around at the others.  “Did something bad happen?”

“We told you about Maggie yesterday, right?  The whole skin-suit thing?”

Jem nodded.  “Yeah, but you were hoping she’d... she didn’t change back?”

“Nope,” answered Bernece dolefully.  “Stuck as a wisp of rubber whenever she gets unzipped.”

“Aw, man.  That sucks.  Even worse than my situation.”  Jem looked down at her feet, shuffling them uncertainly.  “Sorry.  I...  Look, I’ll go if I’m going to bring things down.”

“No!  Stay for dinner.  You wanted to see the trunk, right?”  Bernice tugged Jem further into the apartment, and introduced her to everyone except Maggie.  Jem had met Steve before, but he’d been Maggie-shaped at the time, so Bernice re-introduced them.  Then she finished off by introducing Bob, and explaining why the trunk had a name.

Jem’s grin was genuine as she crouched in front of the trunk.  “Real magic...”

Maggie giggled.  “I’d think you of all people would be accepting of that.”

“I got changed once, almost a year ago.  Been stuck like this ever since, without a sniff of magic.  I loved having a new body, but...”  Jem sighed, ears tucked back mournfully.  “I spent so long wishing I could be human again, and not get stared at everywhere I went.”

“We’re mostly done staring at you now,” said Maggie.  “It’s hard when you’re so brightly coloured, though.  Every time you move I can’t help but glance your way.”

Jem did a little dance, and rolled her eyes as everyone’s gaze turned toward her.  “I’ll admit, it’s a fun trick in the clubs.  But...”

“What?” asked Maggie, coming closer and taking Jem’s hands.

“‘S just it.  Everyone looks at the crazy neon cat.  Maybe wants to take her home as a trophy.  Nobody sees me as a...”  She sniffed softly.  “As a person.”

“Hey, that’s not true.  I see a person here.  Sure, you’re a colourful one, in more senses than one, but I think all of us here have gotten used to seeing some pretty weird shapes.  Right guys?”

“Yeah!” agreed Bernice.  “After getting used to Tanya as a thirty foot long boob-snake, you seem positively normal.  At least, you will once I get used to being blinded whenever I look your way.”

Jem snickered.  “OK, I guess that’s fair.  Do you think Bob can turn the neon down a little?  I’d love to be a little more anonymous.”

“Well...”

Jem’s hopeful expression faltered.  “No?”

Bernice held out a four armed T-shirt.  “Here.”

Jem bit her lip, showing two cute little fangs.  “You can fix whatever happens here, right?  It’s bad enough being neon, but...”

“As long as you don’t get in the chest, everything here is reversible,” reassured Bernice.  “But it’s also limited to reshaping bodies.  Put it on.”

Jem shucked out of her dress, and put the four-armed shirt on.  Soon she was admiring her two new arms, and posing with them.  “I see what you mean.  I’m even more neon now!”  Both new arms were just as colourful as the ones above them.

“But there is one exception.  Here.”  Bernice handed over a mannequin arm.  

Jem put it on her lower left arm, then peered at it dubiously.  “Not that I mean to sound ungrateful, but turning into a mannequin would be even worse.  The horror stories I keep hearing about that in retail, of missing clerks showing up later as mannequins...”

Kim and Tanya giggled.  “We both spent a week as a mannequin,” said Tanya.  “Not that much fun, in the end.  People-watching was cool, though.  Nobody thinks twice about the mannequin in the corner.”

“Not helping,” muttered Jem.

Bernice pulled the mannequin arm back off, and Jem stared at the result.  She moved the arm cautiously, flexed the shiny flesh-tone fingers.  “Okay.  I... see what you’re getting at.  So the options are... look like a living mannequin, or a neon catgirl?”

“Or look like me,” said Maggie softly.  “I could hop back in the trunk and recharge, then if you wore me you’d get turned into a clone of me, like Steve was yesterday.”

“But if you do that you’re stuck for sure,” protested Bernice.

Maggie sighed softly.  “I’m stuck.  Admit it.  This isn’t going away.  It’s not the worst thing ever, just... inconvenient.”

“Inconvenient?” protested her boyfriend, Steve.  “You blow away in the slightest breeze, and can get popped like a balloon.”

“A balloon that heals itself given time,” asserted Maggie.  “And I don’t get blown away if someone is wearing me.  Want to give this body a spin?  I’m not charged up now, so if you wear me it won’t change you... but you will end up looking like me even so.”

“And what happens to you when I do that?” asked Jem, ears perked forward curiously.

“I get to see and feel and hear everything... but you’re in control.  But I’m also solid, which is worth it.”  Maggie reached for the zipper on her back, and tugged it down.  She collapsed into a puddle of rubbery skin.

Jem picked up Maggie, untangling her from the dress she’d been wearing.  She looked over to Steve for confirmation.  He nodded, so she shucked out of her shoes and the four-armed shirt then slipped the bodysuit on.  Once she had Maggie’s legs on, she blushed.  “Um, she’s naked.  Should I...”

Steve shrugged.  “They’ve all seen it.”  While Jem continued to dither, he scooped up Maggie’s dress and handed it to her.  “Powder room’s over there.”

Maggie emerged from the powder room fully dressed.  “This is so, so weird.  Weirder than being a catgirl,” said Jem in Maggie’s voice.

“How so?” asked Bernice.  “Isn’t this what you wanted?  Anonymity?”

“Yes, but...”  Jem.  “I was just talking to this person.  A real live person, laughing and smiling.  I looked in the mirror expecting to see the person I used to be, and I see Maggie.  When it was a catgirl in the mirror, she was so obviously alien...  But this.  This is so much more not me than the catgirl is.”

“Uncanny Valley effect,” suggested Rob.  “Things close to right but not right tend to look even more off kilter.”

Jem nodded Maggie’s head.  “Yeah.  Plus I see the way Steve is looking at me.”  She turned to him.  “Do I confuse you?”

Steven nodded vigorously.  “Very much so.  You sound almost like her, except the cadence is off, and I can totally imagine you swearing.  Which she’d hate, so please don’t.”

“Okay.  We both jumped into this without thinking it through.”

“Do you like it?” asked Bernice.  “Being Maggie?”

Jem tilted her head as she considered that, then giggled.  “So used to my ears moving when I do this.  It’s weird and different and new and kinda cool.  I’d like to explore being... not a neon catgirl.”

“For how long?” asked Steve as neutrally as he could manage.

“Long enough to get used to my reflection?”

Before Steve could press further on the subject, Tanya called out from the kitchen that dinner was ready, and soon they were all gathered around the table.  Jem-as-Maggie ate with gusto, praising Tanya for her cooking.  Tanya grinned and thanked her, muttering something about the usual ungrateful wretches at the table.

Bernice stuck her tongue out at Tanya.  “I do a fair bit of cooking too, and so does Rob.  You’re the best, but hardly the only cook.”

Tanya nodded to her girlfriend with a grin.  “Thank you for noticing, sweetie.  You should see what I made for dessert.”

That led to more clamour and banter, and by the time Tanya’s apple crumble had been divided up and consumed everyone was in a jovial mood.  And when Bernice kissed the cook to thank her for her work, Rob and Kim did the same.  Steve kissed Maggie and was getting into it before he suddenly broke away.  “Jem!”

Maggie’s lips pouted at him.  “Do I look like a Jem to you?”

“We still need to talk about this.”

Jem sighed and returned to the powder room to extricate herself from Maggie.  The two of them returned, Jem in Maggie’s dress, and Maggie in Jem’s eye-searing green one.  Steven stared at her in confusion.  “Why the switch?”

Maggie giggled.  “Because I like Jem’s taste in clothes.  I wish we could swap the other way too.  This goes so much better with neon fur.”

“We have enough skinsuits,” said Bernice firmly.  “No more people in the trunk.”

Maggie nodded emphatically.  “I don’t want anyone else stuck like this.  Still... do you think you could persuade Bob to add Jem’s fancy colouration to whoever wore a trunked set of her clothes?”

Bernice shrugged.  “Worth a try, if Jem’s willing to donate some to the cause.”  She explained that any such clothes would end up with something odd about them.

Jem giggled.  “Maybe turning you into a catgirl will count as enough change.  I’d love to have a twin.  If I can borrow this dress to go home in, you can keep that one.  Employee discounts are the best thing ever.”

Maggie slipped out of the dress, and put it on top of the trunk.  Steven’s disapproving gaze led her to grab a dress from one of the bins by the trunk and don it as a replacement.  She ended up with four arms.  “Better?”

“Closer to a twin, anyway,” cheered Jem, waving her four arms about.

Steven sighed.  “Can we talk about the kiss, now?”

Maggie grinned.  “Sure.  You should have kept going.”

“What?” sputtered Steven.  “I was kissing Jem.”

“She might have been moving the body, but you were kissing my lips.  Just being able to snuggle against you without deflating was nice.  I want to keep her.”

“Hey!” protested Jem.  “Don’t I get a say in that?”

Maggie shot her a smouldering grin.  “Are you saying my Steven is a bad kisser?”

Jem held up her hands defensively, showing her claws.  “Not at all!  I’m not...  Hell, I’m not even arguing the point.  I liked being human for a little while.  I want to go out like that, walk through the mall without being stared at.”

“Okay,” said Maggie with a grin.  “You can be me as much as you like.”

“Can I object?” asked Steven.

Maggie turned to face him, tilting her head curiously.  “On what grounds?”

“You’re my girlfriend.  She isn’t.”

“It’s my body,” argued Maggie.  “I get to do what I want with it.  Right?”

Steven’s eyes went wider.  “Are you seriously okay with me kissing the two of you?”

Maggie took Steven’s hand.  “Squeeze me.”  Her hand collapsed under his touch.  “I want to be able to feel you properly.  I know we had all these plans to have a normal life, and all that.  Is that still the most important thing to you?  Being normal?”

Steven shook his head.  “You are the most important, Mags.  Always you.”

“I’m inflatable, Steven.  A shell of myself.  I have to accept that that might never change.  But with someone inside me, I can be solid.”

Kim giggled.  “Or with some*thing* inside you.  Maybe a vibrating thing?  Oooh.”

Maggie made a face at her.  “Unlike some people here, I do not aspire to be a sex toy.”

“Hate to break it to you, but you already are.”

“Kim!” Steven growled.  “That’s not nice.”

Maggie sighed mournfully.  “But it’s also true.  I’m an inflatable doll.  Worse, I’m a really squishy one.  We probably would have more fun with her idea.”  Her mournful look changed to an impish one.  “Actually, if it worked, that might be a lot of fun.  Got one we can borrow, Kim?”

“Heck yeah!  I’ll loan you the one with a remote control.”

Maggie grinned at Steven’s blush.  “Does the idea of turning me into a remote controlled toy appeal?  It’s that or a Jem-controlled one, either way I’m going to be solid tonight!”

“Sorry Jem,” said Steven.  “I think I’d prefer the toy.”

Jem laughed.  “That’s fine, she was moving a little fast for me, too.  I’m still up for kissing though.  That’s got to be better with a real person inside.”

Steven looked between the two of them, one making puppy eyes, the other kitten eyes.  He shook his head ruefully.  “As Mags said, it is her body.  If both of you are okay with kissing, it would be churlish to turn down the chance to kiss two sweet ladies at the same time.”

Jem and Maggie both dimpled at the compliment.  “Good answer, sweetie.  C’mon, Jem.”

Maggie and Jem scooted off to the powder room, and only Maggie returned.  She slinked up to Steven, and wrapped her arms around him.  He hugged her back, cautiously at first, then with a grin he squeezed her tight and lifted her off the floor.  After a quick spin that made her four-armed dress flare out, he set Maggie-Jen down once more, and pulled her in close for a kiss.

The others cheered when the kiss finally broke.  Steve sucked in a lungful of air, then grinned.  “How was that?”

Maggie looked dazed.  “Where have you been all my life?”

“Uh, right here?  Oh.  Uh.  That’s Jem talking.”

Maggie nodded.  “I have never, ever been kissed like that before.”  She licked her lips.  “Again?”

The cheering was even louder this time.

“Well,” said Kim.  “Time for me and Robin to hit the sack.”  She dragged Rob off toward their bedroom.  After a moment, he broke out in a wide grin.

Bernice shook her head.  “They’ll be keeping us up all night, again.”

“I...”  Jem whined and hugged Steven tight.  “I really want to stay.  But I have to work tomorrow.  I can help Maggie with her classes Tuesday and Wednesday, though.”

Steven nodded, and hugged Jem back.  “That’d be a huge help.  The rest of us will keep her from blowing away tomorrow.”

Jem tugged at the seam in the back of Maggie’s neck, and managed to slither out of Maggie and the dress at the same time.  She carefully zipped Maggie back up, leaving Maggie dressed and herself quite naked.  She sauntered off to the powder room with a sway to her hips and a swish to her tail.

Steven stared after her.  “That is a lot of spots.”

Maggie watched as well.  “Ayup.  Going to count them with me someday?”

“Eh?”

“Oh come on.  You’re not that thick.”

“Nope.  Just slow on the uptake,” chuckled Steven.  “What’s gotten into you, anyway?”

“Jem has.  Those kisses...  Damn.”

“I know, right?”

Jem sauntered back into the room, in Maggie’s dress.  “I can hear you, you know.”  She flicked her ears back and forth.  “These aren’t just for show.”

Maggie bit her lip in an effort to hid her grin.  “Good.  So will you?”

“What, become part of some madcap harem for this sexy boy of yours?” asked Jem, smirking.

“When you put it like that, it sounds bad,” grumbled Steven.

“No it doesn’t,” said Maggie and Jem together.  “Jinx!”  They broke down in giggles.

“Give me strength,” muttered Steven. “I’m going to need it.”

The inflatable girl and the catgirl both hugged him.  “Aww, don’t be like that sweetie.  If you’re seriously, seriously opposed to the idea, you just have to say ‘stop’, and we will.  Right, Jem?”

Jem nodded, but had her fingers crossed behind her back.  She took a step back out of the hug.  “I’ll leave you two to figure things out without my distracting presence.  Thanks for having me over, everyone.  I had a great evening.”  She waved to Maggie.  “Look forward to being you again!”

Maggie giggled.  “Wish I could say the same.  I’ll see what Bob can do with this dress, okay?”

Jem nodded.  “All yours.  I’ll bring this one back tomorrow night.  Night, all!”  

Bernice darted up to Jem before she could get out the door.  “You still have four arms.  And one of them is plastic.  Here.”  She held out two strings, then demonstrated how to use them to remove the extra arms.

Jem looked at the string with wide eyes once she was back to the normal count of arms.  “Do those only work on excess limbs?”

“Nope!” cheered Kim.  “They can take off anything.”

“I could lose my tail?” asked Jem.  “That’d be...  Wow.  I thought I wanted that, but now I’m not sure.  I can think about it, right?”

Bernice grinned.  “You’re welcome here any time.”

Jem nodded pensively, then slipped out the door and the room suddenly seemed half as bright.

“Whew,” said Tanya.  “She’s intense.  Are you seriously going to do this, Maggie?  You two seem so... mundane.”

Maggie snuggled up against her sweetie.  “That depends entirely on Stevie here.  I’m starting to like having someone else run my body from time to time.  That kiss...  I don’t know what Jem did, exactly, but I want to try it again.”

Steven’s smile was more than a little loopy.  “Yeah.  Sorry sweetie, but I think she’s got you beat in the kissing department.”

“Mmm,” purred Maggie.  “I was there for it.  I noticed.”  She pulled herself up to his face, feet dangling off the floor as she went in for a kiss.  They broke apart moments later and Maggie sighed.  “Just not the same when I’m not solid.  Sorry, love.”

Steven squeezed her tight enough to collapse her chest.  “It’s okay.  I really do think we’ll manage if this is permanent.  But...”

“Yes?”

“If it’s not...”  Steven looked away.  “I don’t know.  If you can go back to normal, what then?”

Maggie shrugged.  “Maybe I’ll decide I like this better.  C’mon, we can worry about this tomorrow.  Right now I’m turned on and want my big boy inside me.  One way or another.”

“What other way?” asked Steven, curiously.

Maggie whispered in his ear, and Steven blushed bright red.  Then he nodded, making Maggie squeal happily.  “Don’t wait up for us!” she called as Steven carried her to their room.

Bernice grinned at Tanya.  “Race you to bed?”

Tanya pouted and wriggled after Bernice.  “Hey, no fair!  I can’t move that fast without giving my boobs rugburn.”

Bernice turned back to her and smiled.  “Winner gets to put magic panties on the loser wherever they want.”

Tanya laughed.  “Well then.  I guess I’m going to lose.  Yum.”

*** *** ***

Monday’s alarm was at least as strident and unwelcome as Friday’s had been.  Tanya was no easier to rouse, either, and whined piteously once more as Bernice trimmed away her “wonderful tail” before she’d even had a chance to grow it out properly.  Bernice promised to try to persuade Bob to make something that could grow Tanya in one go.

“Hey, shouldn’t Maggie’s shed skin be ready by now?” asked Tanya at the suggestion.  “I want to see what became of it.”

Once Bernice had the coffee going, she checked the maze-lock, and the magic trunk opened readily.  Maggie was already up, and crouched eagerly by the trunk with her.  She scooped the snakeskin out the moment the chest was open.  “Hm.  Feels... stretchy?  It’s like he turned it into a nylon stocking.  Except the scales look completely real.”

“Try it on,” suggested Bernice.  “You know you want to.  Just remember to be quick about it.”

Maggie nodded eagerly, and pulled off her pajama bottoms.  Then she tugged the skin up her legs as far as it would go, marvelling at how a four inch wide ‘stocking’ grew to easily enclose her hips.

“It’s growing!” exclaimed Bernice, pointing at the rest of the tail.  “Is this what you wanted?”

“To be a naga?  Yeah.  Thank you so much, Bob.  This is perfect!”   Maggie gave the snakeskin another tug, but it was stuck tight just below her bellybutton.  “Guess I should have pulled it on faster if I wanted to be a true naga.”

“How so?”

“Nagas don’t have arms.  Well, by some interpretations, anyway.”

“Arms are pretty convenient, though.  How would you hug someone or take notes without them?”

Maggie coiled up all twenty feet of her tail, wrapping it tight.  “I could hug like this.  Let’s see about the writing...”  She wriggled her tailtip and mimed holding a pen.  “Hm.  I think I’d need a lot of practice.”

Bernice drew two cups of coffee from the machine while Maggie put her new snake-body through its paces.  She’d mostly figured out how to slither by the time Bernice offered her a cup.  “This is harder than it looks.”

Bernice shrugged, flaring her tentacles for extra effect.  “It takes time to get used to different limbs.  Keep trying.  Can you coil up like a cobra to lift your body higher?”

After a few unsteady attempts, Maggie gave her half-empty coffee cup back to Bernice.  She re-coiled her body for better stability, and lifted herself high enough to brush the ceiling with her hands.  On her next attempt, she nearly bumped her head.

“Great job!” cheered Bernice.  “I nominate you the official light-bulb changer of the house.”

Maggie giggled, swaying to and fro giddily.  She peered into the light fixture in the kitchen, wincing at what she saw.  “And official lighting duster.  Ew.”

Steven stumbled into the kitchen then.  He took one look at his girlfriend’s snaky body towering above him, screamed incoherently, and ran away.

Maggie slumped to the ground, head barely above knee level.  “What am I going to do?”

Bernice picked her up by the shoulders, grunting at the effort it required to lift even part of Maggie’s tail along with her body.  “You are going to go in there and talk to him.”

“Like this?  He’ll just panic again.”

“Honey, he retreated to a room that has a pet snake living in it.  I’m pretty sure he can deal, once the shock factor has worn off.  Look, just hide behind the counter so you’re at normal height, and I’ll go get...”

“I’m back,” said Steven softly.  “Thanks for not towering.”  He was very carefully not looking down.

Maggie wriggled out of Bernice’s grasp to turn toward her sweetie.  “I’m sorry I scared you.”  

The hiss of her scales across the kitchen floor as she approached made Steven twitch, but he held his ground and accepted her hug.  “This is a whole new world of getting used to.”  He kissed her tenderly, then squirmed away when he felt Maggie’s tail brush against his legs.  “Sorry!”

“It’s okay, sweetie.  I’ll take it off, be human for you.”

Steven’s lips pursed tightly before he spoke.  “Is that what you want to do?  I know this is your dream.”

“You hate it.  Maybe you can get used to it in small doses?” asked Maggie hopefully as she felt around her hips for the seam.

Steven shrugged helplessly.  “I guess we can try that.”

Maggie tugged at the scales.  “Bee?  How do I get this off?”

Bernice moved closer, inspecting the edge of the scales.  “There’s an oversize scale in the back here.  Maybe it’s like a zipper?”  She tugged it, and the scales loosened their grip on Maggie.  She slithered out of the snake-skin, and as she did so it shrank back to normal size.

Steven stared at her, ashen-faced. “You’re still a snake.”

Maggie wriggled her tail, it looked exactly like the one she’d taken off except the zipper down her back extended part-way down the tail as well.  “It feels a lot lighter.  Pick me up!”

Steven did so, and laughed as Maggie’s tail floated up with her.  “You’re a balloon animal!  Wait... you were heavy before.  So if you’re wearing the tail...”

“You can’t blow away!” finished Bernice.  “Pity the tail’s out of charge now.”

“Unless it works like I do,” mused Maggie.  “Put it on.”

“Me?” asked Bernice.  “Why not you?”

“Because I still have a snake tail.  Wouldn’t tell us much.”

Bernice had to agree with Maggie’s logic, and slipped her legs into the stretchy snake-stocking.  Much like it had for Maggie, it grew wider and proportionately longer as she drew it up her legs, growing the largest as it passed her hips, then reducing slightly as she pulled it up to her waist.  “Ooh.  This has potential.”

Steven looked away.  “God.  Now there are two snake-girls.  When will this nightmare end?”

Bernice wriggled back out of the skin, and hopped to her feet.  “It’s over, see?  The snakeskin is a bodysuit, when it’s not charged it doesn’t change you.”

“I’m a nightmare?” asked Maggie, tears in her eyes.

“That’s not what I meant,” protested Steven, weakly.  He rushed to her side and pulled her into a hug.  “You know me and snakes.  More snakes is not going to help.”

Maggie sniffed.  “You hate it.”

Steven looked away, then winced.  “Sorry.  I...  Maybe we can work up to it?  I want to try, but you’ll need to be patient with me.”

Bernice held up a set of leggings and some string.  “C’mon, Maggie.  Let’s get you human again.  We’ve all got classes soon.”

Maggie sighed mournfully as her tail went away.  Bernice claiming that she was as bad as Tanya only got the tiniest of giggles.  Soon she was human once more, and a turn of string got her back to the correct number of legs.  “No more tail, baby.  You can look now.”

Steven hugged her gently.  “Thank you.”

“We’ll get through this,” said Maggie.  “You’ll see.  I love you.  That’s what matters.”

Steven kissed her, and nodded.  “I love you too.  Snaky bits or no.”

Maggie arched an eyebrow at that.  “Really?  Because a minute ago you couldn’t look at me.”

“Doesn’t mean I hate you.  Just that my hindbrain is screaming bloody murder at me.”

Maggie sighed.  “Are we really going to be okay?”

“You aren’t if you don’t get moving!  C’mon, people, hup hup!  Tanya!  Get your pretty ass down here.  We’re running out of time!” bellowed Bernice.

Maggie and Steven giggled.  “Love comes in many shapes and sizes,” added Steven.

“So get yours dressed, already.”

“Yes Ma’am!”