Sidney found Duncan out on the deck after all their guests had gone home.  He was staring moodily out at the horizon.

“Waiting for the moon?”

Duncan chuckled softly as he glanced her way.  “Not tonight.  But... yes.”

“I swear, Dia’s cryptic nature is rubbing off on you.”

Duncan turned his gaze back to the horizon.  “I am part of Dia.  They are more than me, or Donna.”

Sidney sighed and moved to stand beside her husband, putting one hand over his. “I know.  But you’ve been mostly Duncan the past week, and especially tonight.”

“Dia wanted to let me have my birthday party as... well, me.  Party’s over.”

“That’s hardly fair,” protested Sidney.  “She’s taking over again?  It feels like I barely see you.”

Duncan rolled his eyes.  “There’s always a Duncan instance here.  Even when our attention is elsewhere, he is with you, and always will be.”

“I heard that pronoun.  Go away, Dia.  I want to talk to my husband.”

A tinkling laugh faded away.  Duncan shrugged.  “It doesn’t actually matter if they’re here or not.”

“It does,” Sidney insisted.  “You act differently.  Dia’s disturbing, you’re sweet.  And moody.  What’s eating you?”

Duncan gestured toward the horizon.  “A year ago, I gave up the Moonstone, thinking that that would be the end of it.  No more transformations, just ordinary old Duncan.  And a year ago to the minute, the full Moon burst over that horizon and told me just how wrong I was.  That so much of what I’d done had been between me and the Moon, not the Moonstone.”

“Your last birthday?” asked Sidney.  “But you never said anything, not for months.”

“You were scared.  Hell, I was scared.  I’d done crazy things to two good friends, and thought they’d never forgive me for what I’d changed them into.  Now Gwen’s a creature of magic like me, and Kate loves being a robot.”  Duncan chuckled ruefully.  “I really should have known better, neither shied away from magic.”

“Neither did you,” said Sidney, a hint of accusation in her voice.

Duncan shrugged.  “Yeah, well.  I love transformation, how could I shy away?”

“That’s not what I was talking about.”  Sidney rapped on Duncan’s arm, producing a sound that was not in any way metallic.  “You’re a robot now, because you just jumped into the fight against those... things.”

“The ghouls?  They were killing people, sweetie.  Nobody else was handling it, and I could.”

“Barely.  You almost died, a bunch of times.”

Duncan shook his head.  “They did their best.  It’s tough to kill an immortal.”

“You are not immortal.  Those assholes in Toronto nearly killed you.  They dropped the CN Tower on you!” protested Sidney.

“That’s not quite how it happened.  And I put it back,” argued Duncan, defensively.  It hadn’t been his fault that the Tower fell, and his guilt about that night focussed elsewhere.  “I’m just glad Toronto has bounced back from the damage I did.  They have to fix a hundred thousand windows.  It’s been two months, and they’re not even half done.  Not to mention the four buildings that had to be condemned due to structural damage, those are going to take years to replace.  Despite all that, everyone’s focussed on the ‘miracle of the tower’.”

Sidney smirked.  “You just had to make it taller.  It’s the tallest tower in the world again.”

“Hey, the record stood for decades.  So I have some national pride...”

Sidney snuggled up against him.  “So it’s not all bad.  I’m glad you’ve stopped moping, at least.”

“Gwen’s resurrection helped a lot.”

Sidney stiffened at the mention of Gwen’s name.  “And you’d rather be with her, than here?”

“That’s not what I meant...  Besides, she was just here at the party.”

“And now she’s probably dancing at the Blue Vixen.”

“Not quite,” reported Duncan after a momentary hesitation.  “Her set’s in two minutes.”

“And Donna’s already with her, I bet.”

Duncan looked back to the horizon.  “Yeah.  As her bra.”

“How does that even work?  You can’t transform when the Moon isn’t up.”

Duncan’s gaze flicked to the north, and he pointed downward a little.  “Moon’s over there, about the lowest it’ll be for the night.  So yes, you’re quite safe.  Gwen has a few dancing accessories with mind-link crystals in them, and got Dia to hook Donna into the one in her bra.  Ettie’s her panties,” added Duncan with a grin.

Sidney studied Duncan’s expression.  “Why is that fun to you?”

“The bra thing in particular, or transformation in general?”

“Just answer the question.”

Duncan chuckled softly.  “As you wish.  The bra should be obvious.  Transformation, because I’ve always fantasized about being something different.  All sorts of somethings, and tangled up in it is the idea of loss of control, of being helpless to someone else’s whims.  That said, I don’t want to be stuck indefinitely, just... not in control of when I’m unstuck, at least for a while.”

“But you’re always so controlled, I don’t get it.”

Duncan turned back to the horizon.  “I suppose that’s part of why.  An object has no say in what happens, so it doesn’t have to worry about being in control.  It can’t be, so the question is moot.”

Sidney moved closer, putting on hand on Duncan’s where it rested on the railing.  “I’d find it terrifying.”

“And yet you like being the couch.”

“That’s not the same,” protested Sidney.  “I can take the headband off whenever I want.”

“Some people like being tied up,” mused Duncan.  “I get that’s not you, but you understand it exists, right?”

“I guess...”

“So if you were like that, and enjoyed being confined... well, being handcuffed then having a headband put on would be taking it further.  Right?”

Sidney shook her head.  “Still don’t like it.”

Duncan put his other hand on top of Sidney’s, sandwiching it between his hands before turning to face her.  “I’m not asking you to like it.  Just understand that I do.”

“Yeah, I kind of figured that out.  Which is why...”  Sidney brought her free hand up, holding up a slim box wrapped in shiny purple paper and a plethora of ribbons.  “Now that the kids are asleep, you get your real present.”

“I had wondered about the tie.”

“Hey, there were two DVDs, too.”

Duncan let go of Sidney’s hand to heft the box.  “Light.  I wonder if...”

“No sneaky stuff, mister.  No powers.  Do it the old fashioned way.”

Duncan chuckled.  “As you wish.”  He gave the box a gentle shake, and could hear something move inside, and a slight clink.  “Fragile?”

Sidney shook her head.  “But shaking won’t help.  Open it.”

Duncan rolled his eyes, and gave the ribbons a sharp tug.  With a crack that made Sidney wince, they broke free.  He took more care with the paper, and soon had a Birks necklace box in his hands.  He raised an eyebrow at Sidney.  She gestured toward the box.

Opening it revealed two ornately jewelled headbands, one in sapphire, one in ruby.  “No peeking,” reminded Sidney.  “Guess the old fashioned way.”

Duncan nodded. “I can use headband-controlled bodies, as can you.  So obviously they’re headbands.  I’ve never made jewelled ones, so someone else made them.  The only one that could be is Gwen.  But the aesthetic is yours, so you had a hand in this.”

“Obviously.”

Duncan chuckled then looked around, his gaze sweeping over the house before returning to the box.  “I’d have noticed the bodies if they were here, so they’re somewhere else.  The Vixen?”  At Sidney’s nod his eyes widened.  “Really?”

Sidney grinned.  “Really and truly.  One for each of us.”

That sent Ducan’s bushy eyebrows up into his hairline.  “You’re going... oh, this should be good.  Who’s watching the kids, though?”

“I can be back here in a moment.  Unit Jade can warn me if anything needs my attention.  You’ve gotten her trained really well, I trust her.”

Duncan grinned.  “You said you can be back here in a moment.  You know about this body’s lock?”

“Who do you think suggested it?  This way you’re stuck as whatever’s on the other end of the headband, until someone here lets you out.”  Sidney watched carefully for Duncan’s reaction.

He laughed out loud.  “You’ve been planning this for a while.  Excellent.  Which one’s mine?”

Sidney reached for the box, then hesitated.  “I...  There are two bodies there.  The blue headband will make you the center of the party, aware and intimately involved, but unable to interact at all.  The other is more active, a special design...”

“Which do you want?” asked Duncan.

Sidney shook her head abruptly.  “No.  This is about you.  The choice is helpless or shiny.”  She held up the blue and red headbands in turn.

Duncan chuckled.  “Who chose the colours?”

“Gwen, why?”

“Because she’s seen the Matrix.  I’ll be contrarian, and take the blue pill.”

As Duncan lifted the headband, Sidney put a restraining hand on his arm.  “Not here.  Let’s go sit inside.”

Duncan nodded, and they were soon snuggled up on the couch.  “You’re seriously going to show up at the Blue Vixen at what I presume will be a birthday party, thrown by Gwen and the rest of the crew?”

“I want to see what you get up to.  Gwen thought it was a good idea.”

“On your head be it.”  Duncan settled his headband in place, and his body slumped back against the cushions of the couch.

Sidney giggled.  “You really did it.  Well, hope I can pull this off.”  She slipped her own headband on.

Golden eyes blinked open, and Sidney glanced down at her scaly body.  “Oh!  This is familiar.”

The two sets of arms were somewhat less familiar, but she’d spent long enough with a snake’s body the one time that moving around via slithering came back to her quickly.  Sure, she’d freaked out at the time, but tonight she knew she could go back to normal any time she wanted.  And her body was so shiny.

“Like it?” asked Gwen.

Sidney looked up, then up some more.  “Why are you so tall?”

Gwen pulled up a chair and sat down in it, putting her head close to that of the golden snake-woman.  Doing so made it clear to Sidney that she wasn’t on the floor, she was on a table.  “I’m not tall.  You’re fun-sized.  Small enough for dancers to carry you onto the stage.  Duncan would have been fine with that.  Are you?”

Sidney looked down at herself, then shrugged.  “Once, anyway... wait, you know?”

Gwen tapped her forehead, where a crescent shaped crystal was set.  “I can tell who’s using which headband, and more.  What did you tell Duncan?”

“Blue for helpless, red for shiny.”

“Fair enough,” chuckled Gwen.  “He’ll have fun.  The rest won’t know you’re not Duncan, think you can fake it for a while?”

Sidney shrugged.  “I’ll give it my best shot.”

Gwen grinned. “Everyone’s expecting Duncan to be a bit overwhelmed, so just try to pretend you’re glad to be here.  I can feed you names as needed.”

“Oh?  Won’t that seem suspicious?”

A small bit of text popped up in Sidney’s field of view.  [Not if I do this.]

Gwen grinned down at the little snake-woman on the table.  “Ready?  Hop on.”  She set a hand in front of Sidney.

Sidney wrapped herself around Gwen’s forearm like a bracer, then grinned as she saw the cake that had been behind her on the table.  It was shaped like a voluptuous pair of breasts, and adorned with dozens of sparkling crystals.  “That’s Duncan?”

“Yep.”  Gwen picked up the cake, and carried it out of the Changing Room.  “Hey everyone, our guest is here!”

Dancers crowded round, all clad in dancing outfits that left little to nothing to the imagination, designed for ease of removal and showing off the goods.  Sidney stared wide-eyed at the display.  Not only were the breasts immense in any conventional sense, they dwarfed her current stature, and many of the dancers had more than the usual two.

A petite brunette stepped forward and started to sing with a voice that rivalled any of Sidney’s favourite artists.  She drew the others into song with her, effortlessly leading the most melodic rendering of “Happy Birthday” that Sidney had ever heard.  It wasn’t quite as sultry as Marilyn Monroe’s famous version, but one of the taller women was doing her a very good job of imitating  Marilyn’s antics.

Once the song ended, Sidney ducked her head.  “Thank you.  That was beautiful.”

“Don’t sound so surprised.  I’ve done better, but there’s only so much to work with in that one.”

Sidney smiled as stories she’d heard clicked.  That, and a little text box appeared in her view tagging the woman as Vanessa.  “Of course.  It still left me feeling hot and bothered.”

“Who wants some cake?” interrupted Gwen. While the others were gathering around, she caught Vanessa’s eye, and gave her a wink.  Vanessa grinned back conspiratorially, and her grin only grew when Gwen deposited the golden snake-woman in Vanessa’s arms to free up her own to cut and serve the cake.

Sidney watched the cake avidly as it was sliced up and shared around.  She wriggled and squirmed on Vanessa’s wrist, and the singer glanced down at her.  “See something you like?”

“You have no idea,” breathed Sidney.

Soon everyone had a slice.  It was a large cake, and Gwen had portioned it out carefully - she’d only cut up one half, the other breast was untouched.  “Your piece,” said Gwen with an impish gleam to her eye, and a nod to Vanessa.

Vanessa uncurled the snakeling from her wrist, held her up over the cake, and let go.

Sidney squealed as she fell.  Her body was dense with metal, so she plunged in deeply enough to entirely bury her body in the cake.  She wriggled and squirmed as she tried to free herself, and started to wonder just what this felt like to Duncan, which made her squirm even more.  When she eventually burst free, there was cheering.

Sidney laughed.  “I didn’t think the guest of honour was supposed to be the one bursting from the cake.”

Vanessa tried to look apologetic, but failed utterly.  “Did you have fun?”

Sidney tried to glare up at her, but at her scale intimidation was entirely off the table.  “Fun?  Gah, I’m all sticky...”

Gwen scooped her up and carried her back to the Changing Room, and the sink there.  It didn’t take long to get her sparkling clean once more.  Gwen studied Sidney’s face.  “I can get Donna to take over if you want out.”

Sidney nodded.  “Duncan might be back later.  Right now I want to jump him so bad...”

Gwen laughed, and made a shooing motion.  “You two have fun.  Thanks for being a sport about the cake.”

Sidney smiled wistfully.  “Maybe I can be the cake some other time.  You didn’t happen to make any spares, did you?”

“Don’t have to.  The decorative gems are the link, I’ll salvage these and you can add them to any cake you like.”

Sidney clapped both sets of hands happily.  “Yes!  I mean... thank you.  For everything.”

Gwen scooped her up into a hug against her bosom.  “Anything for you.  Both of you.”

The snake went limp in her arms, then wriggled free.  “Hey Gwen,” chirped Donna.  “Can we go dance like this?”

“Anything for you.”

Donna bapped Gwen’s finger with her tail.  “Laying on a bit thick, weren’t you?”

“Honestly?  No.  I love you, you love her... it all connects.  Happy Birthday.”

Donna shrugged.  “My birthday’s kinda fuzzy, and Dia’s is in January.  But sure, I’ll take it.  Thanks, love.  For me, and for him.  And Sidney.  Ooh, don’t go checking in on them for a while, ‘kay?”

Gwen giggled.  “Wouldn’t dream of... OK, I would dream of it.  Still a little jealous of her.”

“Give her another year like this one, and maybe she’ll let you join in.”

Gwen’s eyes lit up.  “Do you really think so?”

Donna shrugged her four arms expressively, adding a tail-swish.  “She wants the crystals.  I’m pretty sure you could finagle a dessert party turning into quite a bit more.”

Gwen blushed.  “I can imagine.”

*** *** ***

Sidney lay sated and happy beside Duncan.  She rolled her head to face him, found him studying her intently.  “Oh!  I thought you’d be long gone.”

Duncan chuckled softly.  “Maybe once you’re asleep.  The girls have figured out new stakes for crazy eights, and I’m... curious.”

Sidney snickered.  “Crazy eights?  Isn’t that a kid’s game?”

Duncan explained how the card game had acquired such significance.  “We made up a bunch of weird and silly headband bodies last full Moon, so the winner gets to pick what the loser has to be for the rest of the night.”

Sidney giggled.  “As weird as being a cake?”

Duncan shook his head.  “Nope.  You and Gwen outdid yourselves.  That was fantastic.  And I’m guessing your original plan was to be the cake?”

“Yeah, that scaly body is your gift from Gwen and me.  Did you like being the cake?”

“The best part was having you wriggle around inside me.  Did you know what it was doing to me?”

Sidney grinned wickedly.  “I had a pretty good idea, yeah.  That’s why I came back so soon.”  She leaned in to kiss him, and the kiss quickly turned steamy once more.

Some time later, Sidney was once again lying exhausted in their bed.  “How do you have such stamina?”

Duncan chuckled.  “Seeing the upsides of a robot husband now?”

“Mrrrr, yes.  C’mere.”