“What a mess,” sighed Gwen, shaking her head.  “I’m glad we could use magic to clean up the tank, getting rid of all that blood any other way would have been nasty.”

Donna nodded.  “I’m glad Tawny volunteered to be the mermaid, anyone else would have been traumatized but I’m pretty sure she had fun. She put on one hell of a show of being terrified.”

“But sending the client home in a fishbowl?  You didn’t have to do that.”

Donna rolled her eyes.  “I was just trying to threaten her for going too far.  I didn’t think she’d actually go for it.  You heard her wish.”

Gwen nodded.  “You didn’t need to make it a permanent change, though.  She’ll have to come back to become human.”

“Assuming she wants to.  That aquarium of theirs sounded pretty cool, and he has a headband shark to go visit her.  She won’t be back any time soon.”

Gwen rounded on Donna.  “What did you do.”

“Maaybe a little nudge to make her happy as a shark.  Not much, she already wanted it.  This way... she’ll stay until her husband asks for her back.  Which he didn’t seem too eager about.”

“That’s cold.”

“She did a pretty good job of trying to kill me as the prince.  Sure, I can’t actually die.  Still hurt like hell until I jumped out of the body.  Stupid on my part, sure.  But don’t tell me she didn’t deserve it.”

Gwen sighed again, and shook her head.  “Fine.  And she did wish for it.”

“She did,” agreed Donna as they entered the green room.

“Who wished for what now?” asked Rowan.

“Minor issue with the client for the big mermaid-octopus scene,” replied Donna.  “Be glad we didn’t put it in the bar’s tank.”

“Did you transform a customer and send her home that way?”

Donna met Rowan’s gaze levelly.  “Yes.  She won’t be complaining.”

“Given how big a tip the husband just dropped on us, I had wondered...  Sounds like he’ll still be a regular.”

“So it’s all good?”

Rowan favoured Donna with a thin-lipped smile.  “Don’t make a habit of it, please.  At least, not the paying ones.”

“I’ll see what I can do.  But when people throw the w-word around...”

Rowan sighed.  “I know.  But that doesn’t excuse leaving them that way.  In any case, I’ve got another complex one for you.  Rachel and Ronnie brought some friends for ‘couples counselling, Donna style’.”

“Which means that they’re probably not going home in the same shape they arrived in.  Didn’t you just warn me off of that?”

Rowan smiled.  “Rachel and Ronnie like what you do to them enough to keep coming back.  Their friends aren’t regulars, so...”

“You’re not really that mercenary.”

“I also know you’re unlikely to stop, so... redirecting your inclinations is my best hope.  They’re in room four, over in the Crimson Kitten.”

Donna smiled at Rowan.  “I’ll make them happy.  Even if it means a few aren’t going home human.”

“Donna...”

“Oh come on.  Ronnie and Rachel are currently small tentacled creatures that can occupy either of their two bodies, letting them swap at will.  They can pass as human, but they’re very much not human.  So we’re already starting down two.”

Rowan sighed, and waved her off toward the Crimson Kitten.

Donna went eagerly, and smiled to see the familiar faces in room four.   Both Ronnie and Rachel sported outsized breasts for their frame.  Rachel had breasts that rivalled those to be found on stage at the Blue Vixen most nights, and on her thin frame they looked more than a little ridiculous.  Ronnie’s heavier set form only had modest D-cups, but they still looked out of place on his otherwise male body.  “Making good use of Rachel’s old inserts, are we?”

Ronnie grinned at Donna.  “Hey, we both like boobs, and don’t often get to do this in public.”  He waved in the direction of the other couple sitting across from them.  The woman had a round face that would be pretty if she smiled, but instead she was grimacing at Donna’s barely-clad form and its over the top curves.  The sandy-haired guy beside her looked uncomfortable, and was leaning away from her.

“What is this floozy doing here?” asked the woman.

Ronnie and the other guy winced.  “This is Donna.  You two wondered how we turned our relationship around, and she’s how.  Donna, meet Martin and Marie, good friends of ours that are... having a bit of a rough patch.”

Marie brayed a laugh.  “A rough patch that isn’t being helped by a stripper parading in front of us.”

Donna raised an eyebrow in Rachel’s direction.  “Is she always like this?”

“Ever since you g...  Um.  Stupid censorship.  Can we start with the show and tell?”

Marie glared at her friend.  “Show and tell?  What is this, kindergarten?  You said she could help.”

Donna narrowed her eyes.  “Tell me what you wish each other knew about you.”  She leaned in, putting just a touch of power behind her words.

“That’s easy!” cried Marie.  “I wish Martin knew how tough it was to be me.”

“Granted.  Martin?”

Martin’s sulky expression had been replaced by puzzlement, but he smiled thinly at being included.  “I wish she knew what it was like to be walked on all the time.”

Donna’s grin grew wicked.  “Also granted.”

Martin’s hands went to his chest.  “What’s happening?  I feel all squidgy and weird.”

“You’re turning into a woman.  A twin of Marie, to be exact.”

Marie gawped at Donna, she was losing height at noticeable rate.  “Oh my God.  What’s happening to me?  I can’t feel my hands.”

“Shoes don’t have hands.”

“What?”  Marie tried to shout, but her voice wasn’t working right any more.  Her mouth gaped wider and wider and the red of her lipstick started to wash over the rest of her face.  Her clothes crumpled as she dwindled.

“That’s... not really what we meant,” sighed Rachel.  “But I can’t say she didn’t deserve it.  Will she be able to communicate?”

Donna smiled sweetly.  “Of course.  But to go out in public she has to seem like a real pair of shoes.  So she’ll be able to vibrate a little.  Should be audible via bone conduction.”

Martin was squirming uncomfortably on his seat.  His transformation into Marie was now complete, and his pants were straining at the hips.  “What should I do?”

“Wear your wife’s clothes.  She won’t be needing them.”  Donna scooped up the blouse and skirt from the pile in Marie’s chair, then fished out the bra and handed it over.  “You’ll need this.  She may not be as big as what you’ll find in the Blue Vixen, but the support will keep them from being too distracting.”

Martin’s pulled his hands from under his shirt and blushed.  “Ah.  Yeah.  Sorry.”

Donna giggled.  “Trust me, I understand better than most.”

After taking a few minutes to get settled in new clothes, Martin picked up the bright red pair of pumps sitting in Marie’s chair.  “Oh!  You’re right, I can hear her.  She’s pissed.  Saying all kinds of things that it would be best if you didn’t hear.”

“Oh, I’ve heard everything.  Witch was the kindest, so far.”

Martin winced.  “I’m sorry.  She...”  He sighed.  “Usually she’s a lot nicer?  At least, when things are going her way.”

“And when they don’t?” asked Donna softly.

“This.  What is the point in this?”

Donna’s smile returned.  “I’d figured on swapping bodies for you two, so you could learn how each other lives.  But then you made your wish, and... well, it seemed fitting.  I can give you the ability to turn her voice off, if you’d like.”

Martin shook his head and set the shoes down on the table.  “No need.  Okay, you’ve made your point.  Can we change back now?”

“Is that what you really want?” asked Donna.

Martin glanced down at the shoes, then guiltily back at Donna.  “I want to walk in her.  A lot.  But... truth be told I’m a little jealous.”

Donna’s eyebrows lifted.  “You’d like to be her shoes?”  She sat in one of the chairs facing Martin’s.  “Oooh, you do.  Something about her feet...  Have you told her this?”

“She has the prettiest feet I’ve ever had the pleasure to see.  And yes, I’ve told her many times, but she doesn’t get it.  She thinks I’d be more attracted to you with all those curves than to her with her sexy feet.”

Donna laughed.  “And she doesn’t get it at all, so she still thinks your eyes stray.  But they don’t, do they?”

Martin shook her head.  “I’m not just in love with her feet.  She’s a wonderful person, much of the time.  Strong and willful, sure, but I like that.”

“So why do you want to walk on her?”

Martin shared a glance with Ronnie, then sighed.  “The rest of the time she’s a hell-bitch on wheels.  Slip up on any little thing, and... well, you heard.”

“The provocation here was extreme.  Few people can take such a change in stride.”

“Yeah, but she’s like that for anything.  Brought home the wrong shade of flowers.  Missed a spot washing her car.  Lovemaking can be a trial, too... but so worth it when it goes right.”

“And how often is that?”

Martian shrugged helplessly.  “Less than I’d like, certainly.”

Donna tapped the shoes on the table, drawing fresh indignation.  She smirked.  “So.  How long do you think it’ll take for her to learn to bridle her temper?”

“Months, easily.”

“Done.  Can you vanish from the world for a few months?”

Martin blinked Marie’s pretty eyes in confusion.  “Vanish?”

“There’s no Martin now, but there is a Marie.  Can you fake it well enough to do her job?”

Martin's eyes went wide, and he shook his head.  “Not a chance.  She’s a real estate agent, really sharp.  There’d be so much to learn.”

Donna nodded.  “So I need to let you swap with her at least long enough to do her job.  What about yours?”

“I’m working toward a PhD.  My advisor’s off on sabbatical, and left me with a huge stack of papers to read.  As long as I get that done, I’m good for a few months.”

“Hm... I think I can work with that.”  Donna set a flat wooden box on the table.  It was a touch wider than a normal shoebox, big enough that a stack of papers could lie flat inside it.  “A few little features.”  She opened it briefly, and the sound of Marie’s curses emerged from within.

Donna slammed it shut again.  “There’s a speaker inside, that relays whatever the shoes say.  And it’s soundproof.  Second, the shoes can read anything placed inside the box.  Third, see the crystal on the top?  If you say ‘swap’ while touching it, you’re the shoes and she’s the person, until midnight.”

Martin’s eyes lit up.  “Oh!  Well, that’ll be interesting...  And we’ll stay this way?”

Donna nodded.  “For the next three months or so, you can come back here any time the moon is up to get restored.”

“And after that?” asked Martin worriedly.

“Then you’d have to come back on a night close to the full Moon.  You’d be getting stuck in those forms, but not irretrievably so.”

Martin nodded slowly, his eyes turning to the shoes.  “Mmm.  I suppose it’s time to try walking a mile in her shoes.  Or her as shoes.  Thank you.  Hopefully she’ll thank you for this one day, too.”

Donna chuckled warmly.  “I look forward to that day.”