Heather dashed down to her room, Moira only a step behind.  She flung open the cardboard box that had been designated Flint’s domain for making anything (or any of the three of them) within his possession, to change as he saw fit.

Inside the box was the same little orange tiger plush that Heather had deposited there four days before.  “Flint?” asked Heather.  “Can you hear me?”

The plush did not reply.

“Is he stuck?” asked Moira.  “If he’s not your possession any more, and he’s not aware, he can’t change himself back and we can’t either.”

Heather studied Flint with her magical senses.  “He’s not my possession, but he is... oh!”  She glanced to the side and started to grin.  “Well, now, isn’t that interesting.”

Heather scooped up the plush, and trotted over to her rug.  A moment later it squirmed in her arms.  “You figured it out!” cheered Flint.  “How long was I gone?”

“Figured what out?” demanded Moira.  “Why were you still a cat?”

“Tiger,” said Heather idly.  The plush in her hands became a shirt with a tiger prowling across it, and she slipped it on.

“Wait, how’d you...  Is he your possession still?  I thought four days on his own would have broken it.”

“It did.  Check the tripartite contract.”

Moira’s eyes went wide, then she started to grin.  “We’d already agreed, and it seems Flint has agreed as well, making it valid.  When did you do that, scamp?”

Flint giggled.  “I woke up, heard you two getting it on, and decided it could wait.  I poked around to distract myself, noticed the contract was still live, and agreed to it.  Then I got terminally bored before you two were done, so I blanked my mind again.  Figured you’d sort it out in time.”

“Wait, why didn’t Flint change back after two hours?”

“Little loophole in the deal,” said Heather’s shirt.  “If you’re not aware, you can’t will yourself back to normal.”

Moira stepped on to the rug.  “So if Heather turned us into an unaware bra and panty set, we’d be stuck as long as she wanted us to stay that way?”

“Yep.”

“And you two are okay with this?  You could get stuck.  We could all get stuck, if I did something stupid like turn myself mindless as well.”

“Are you likely to do that?” asked Flint.

“No,” agreed Heather.  “But Moira might not realize that you’d turned the two of us into mindless toys.  If she turned herself into a dress, we’d all be stuck.  We have to fix it.”

“Fooey.  You need all our consent to change it, though,” mused Heather’s shirt.  “Or two of us to break it.  If Moira and I don’t agree, you’re stuck.”

“Come on, Flint.  This isn’t safe.”

“One condition.  We only change the rule for you.  Two hours after any of us change you, any mental changes imposed are cancelled.”

“That’s hardly fair or balanced,” grumbled Heather.  “You two can get stuck, but I can’t?”

Flint wriggled around her comfortingly.  “I know it puts more responsibility on your shoulders, but you are the best choice for our safety.”

“That’s not what I meant!  It’s not fair I can turn you into things and get you stuck.”

“Seems fine to me,” said Flint happily.  “Moira, you okay with it?”

“Yep!”

Heather started to chuckle.  “You’re both mad.”

“You are too,” said Flint.

Heather’s giggling got worse.  “Yeah.  I want to be stuck some of the time too.”

“You can turn yourself off for however long you want with a conditional glyph,” Flint pointed out.

Heather nodded along.  “Fine, fine.  We’ll do it your way.  Mutinous ingrates.”

Soon the contract showed the amendment.  “So if I use the rug to turn myself off, I’ll wake up in two hours?”

“Should do,” agreed Flint.

Panties fluttered to the floor where Heather had been, and the shirt that had been Flint landed as a matching bra.  Moira giggled at the now mindless pair.  “You do like to live life dangerously, don’t you?”

Moira undressed, put her new lingerie on, and then turned one of Heather’s old dresses into a floaty sundress.  She returned to the kitchen and smiled at Heather’s father.  “Problem solved.”

“So Flint was...”

“A small plush animal.  And now he’s a bra for a couple of hours.  After that, anything goes.”

“So... enough business planning for the day?”

Moira nodded.  “And enough glyph sales.  It just doesn’t end.  I need a break, maybe a walk will clear my head.”

“You should post a schedule on your website.  Then stick to it.  No point in burning yourselves out.  It is a lovely Saturday, go enjoy it.  Heather should too.”

“She will,” giggled Moira.  “I’m wearing her.  I’ll make sure she gets some fresh air once she changes back.”

Mr. Marten shook his head.  “You kids have the strangest ideas.  But as long as you’re all happy...”

“We really are.  I’ll go post that schedule, then we’ll be out all afternoon.”

“And all of you are invited to dinner,” Mr. Marten said firmly.

“Yessir.”

*** *** ***

“Woo, nice view.”

Moira giggled.  She was sitting at a park bench near the beach, legs spread wide so her panties could see out over the ocean.  “You’re back with me, good.  Two hours on the dot.”

“So what’s the plan?”

“You change back to normal, and we keep walking.  I promised you’d get some fresh air.”

“You’ll be pantiless.”

“Won’t be the first time,” chuckled Moira.  “C’mon girl.  I want a hug.”

“Well, when you put it that way...”  Heather slithered out from under Moira’s dress, and looked around to see if she’d been spotted.  A couple dozen people were within view, all seemingly occupied with their own little groups.  She glared down at Moira.  “I could have been seen!”

“So?  You can do magic, and you post videos about it all the time.  It’s not a secret.”  Moira stood up from the bench, patted her dress down, and snuggled in for a hug.  “Nor is the fact that we’re doing all kinds of fun stuff together.  Want to really mess with this crowd?”

Heather looked around at the ordinary people walking in the park.  A few were flying kites. “Maybe?”

“Give them a show of just how big you can get.  I want to see this giant mermaid you’ve been talking about.”

“Here?” squeaked Heather.  “Now?”

“Here.  Now.”  Moira met Heather’s worried gaze with a reassuring one.  “It’ll be awesome.  Look at all those guys out parasail-surfing on the itty-bitty waves we usually get here.  They’ll love it if you can give them some real waves.”

Heather turned to watch the antics of the surfers.  With the parafoil, they could get surprising amounts of airtime off of the gentle waves currently rolling ashore.  “That does sound like fun...” she mused.

“It’ll be a blast.  Go for it!”  Moira shooed Heather away.  “Get huge!”

Heather started running toward the cliff-edge, then grew wings and rushed up into the sky, still human-sized.  She grew larger still as she arced over the ocean, then plunged into it with a resounding splash.  Under the water, a dark image grew ever larger as it swam away from shore.  It surfaced well past the point at the end of the bay, out into the deeper water.

Moira laughed at the gasps from people around her, and rushed to the fence at the cliff-top to watch the show.  Her lover was half a kilometer away, and still took up a good chunk of her field of view.  She waved and cheered, and the giant orca mermaid waved back, drawing more gasps and cheers from the crowd.

It took a little longer for the parasail surfers to notice, as they’d been focussed on the waves closer to shore, but soon several were scooting her way, led by a parasail with orange and black stripes.  When he approached her head, the scale of the situation became more apparent.  The man was about as tall as her eyeball, entirely dwarfed by her head.  She smiled down at him, but her words were soft and lost in the surf.

The question and answer were soon enough apparent when the giantess started lazily undulating her body, sending gentle swells toward the shore.  After the first few waves crashed gently ashore, Heather slowly increased her efforts, growing the swells to the point they started to break and curl as they approached the shore.  Soon they were crashing up the beach and lapping at the earthen slope behind it.

The parasailers were having a field day, but some of the people beside Moira were starting to look concerned.  “Heather, can you hear me?”

Those giant eyes snapped toward Moira, and an enormous head nodded.

“It’s getting a little rough on the beach.  The next bay is mostly rock, and there’s a sea-wall to keep the waves from doing any real damage.”

The giant orca mermaid carefully sculled her way along the coastline, with parasailers following in her wake like butterflies.  Once she was settled in place, she started making even bigger waves, big enough that the waves would crash all the way to the sea-wall, and send spray into the road beyond.  Several pedestrians ended up sprinting for cover, but most seemed to be laughing about it once they were clear.

The surfer with the tiger-striped parasail approached Heather’s head again, and she lowered a fluke to the water to form a ramp.  He darted away, then gathered speed as best he could, and with a little shove from the fluke went flying clear over the giant mermaid’s torso.

None of the others seemed willing to brave that enormous limb, but he repeated the stunt several times, once crashing into Heather’s hair and getting tangled there.

While the antics continued, a van from the local news station pulled up and set up a camera.  Moira jogged up to talk to them, and when they found out she knew the orca mermaid they were keen to interview her, with the antics forming the background to the shot.  Moira talked about WitchyWays, and somewhat cagily about what she and Heather had been up to.

“So you two actually sell abilities like... that?” asked the reporter.

Moira laughed.  “You have to be crazy powerful to get that big.  But I guess the mermaid thing should be doable.  Nobody’s asked, yet.  Mostly they go for the big boobs.”

When Moira emphasized her point by doubling the size of her chest, the reporter gasped.  “So... how would I go about getting that deal?”

“Play WitchyWays a bit, buy a RealityPlus from Technicon, then look us up.  Way cheaper than implants, and we’ve been getting rave reviews for them.  They feel totally real, because they are.”

“And you can just... change the size whenever you like?” asked the reporter eagerly.

Moira nodded.  “You need to work at the game for a month or so to get to the point where you can turn them on or off at will, but we have a technique that can give you control earlier.”

“For a suitable extra fee, of course.”

“Of course,” agreed Moira.  “Rates are on our site.  Way cheaper than surgery, even with the conditional glyph so you can dial the size up and down.”

“Damn.  You’re going to put cosmetic surgeons out of business.”

Moira blinked.  “I... suppose we might at that.  Um, sorry?”

The reporter chuckled softly.  “Somehow, I don’t think the women will mind.  And you’ll be creating a market for stretchy tops like yours.”

“Oh, this isn’t a special top.  Well, my bra is very special, but the top is just a normal one.  The enchantment sizes your clothes to fit, too.”

“Bloody hell.  Ooops, might need to edit that.  That’s amazing.  You’re amazing, and your friend out there doubly so.  Any chance you could get her to talk to us?”

Moira looked out to her friend, and called out, “Had enough, Heather?  There’s a reporter here who’d like to talk to you.”

“She can’t possibly hear...” started the reporter, but then she saw the mermaid’s enormous head nod.

The mermaid dwindled, and was soon lost to sight.  There were some sighs and cheers from the crowd, then people soon returned to what they’d been doing.

Heather fluttered down to perch on Moira’s shoulder at robin size, then grew to be a couple of feet tall, still perched there.  “Hiya!”

The reporter bit back another curse.  “Where’d you come from?  Are you even the same... oh, I recognize your face.  How small can you get?”

Heather giggled.  “Small enough you couldn’t see me.  That answers both questions, I think.”

“That’s quite the range.  How powerful are you?”

“I don’t really know,” shrugged Heather.  “WitchyWays won’t show my level any more.  I think I broke it.”

“WitchyWays... isn’t that an augmented reality game?” asked the reporter, puzzled.

Heather grinned and nodded.  “Yeah.  But they’ve added a RealityPlus accessory that makes the game’s magic real.  Well, Flint figures it gave us access to magic that already existed.”

“That’s amazing.  So can anyone become like you?”

Heather shook her head.  “I found a loophole.  Well, Flint and I did.  Technicon has closed it.  Though you can still get powerful enough to change into anything you’d like.”

“Anything?”  The reporter emphasised the second half of the word.

“I’ve been doing a little side business in turning people into clothing,” enthused Heather.  “Not permanently, just for an evening, because they think it’s fun to be worn.  Most people just want bigger breasts, that’s where the real money is.”

The reporter chuckled softly.  “Yeah, I’d love an upgrade, myself.”

“Tell me I have permission to grow your breasts, and you’ve got it.”

“Seriously?  Just like that?”

Heather snapped her fingers.  “Just like that.”

“You have permission to grow my breasts.”

Heather snapped her fingers again, and the reporter’s chest doubled in size.  “Hm.  It looks like I can’t make lasting changes if you’re not a player, though.  Those will go back to normal in the morning.”

“Oh, so you can’t go on a zappy rampage and transform whole malls full of people?”

Moira giggled at the thought.  “That would be so much fun.”

“Until the panic and stampede, sure,” sighed Heather.  “And no, I can’t.  Not unless they all wanted to be changed, anyway.”

“What, like some sort of transformation revival meeting?” asked the reporter.

“Oooh, a transformation concert!  We should totally set that up,” cheered Moira.

Heather groaned.  “Can you imagine?  ‘Come to Centennial Square at midnight, become the creature of your dreams’.”

“Are... are you actually going to do that?  Because I might just show up,” said the reporter.

“Yes!” cheered Moira.

“No,” said Heather firmly.  “We might at some point, but not tonight.  If your viewers call in and say they really want such a thing to happen... well, you guys help set up events and such, right?”

“I know people who can do that, sure.  Can we film it if you do it?”

“Sure!”

“Cool.  Thanks for talking to us, and I hope you have fun.  I know I will.  Until morning, you said?”

Heather grinned.  “And if you get yourself started in WitchyWays, I can set you up with them on a longer-term basis.  Usually we charge for it, but today’s our day off.”

“I’ll be in touch.  Have a good day!”

“You too!”

After the camera crew had packed up and left, Moira peered curiously at Heather’s hear.  “Where’d the tiger barette come from?”

Heather blinked, and reached where Moira had gestured.  She tugged gently, and a familiar looking bit of tiger-stripe fabric dangled from her hand.  At the end of its tiny strings was an even tinier man.  “Oh.  My.  God.  How long have you been stuck in my hair?”

The tiny guy just shrugged.  He tried to speak, but Heather couldn’t hear him.  A tug on the threads of magic binding him led to rapid expansion, and soon he stood the same height as they were.  “Hey.”

Moira giggled.  “You’ve been speck sized, and you introduce yourself with ‘hey’?”

“Your friend has nice hair.”

“Hi, I’m Moira,” Moira held out her hand.

“Zeke,” replied the guy, shaking her hand.  “And I didn’t catch your name, whale-girl.”

“Heather,” she replied.  “How did you shrink with me?”

Zeke shrugged.   “Just... kind of went with the flow, man.  Like surfing a wave, except down instead of sideways.”

Heather’s eyes narrowed.  “You wanted to be small?”

“Got a thing for big, strong women,” replied Zeke with a casual grin.  “Never seen bigger than you.  You going to do the giant orca thing again?  Those were some gnarly waves, best day ever.”

“Depends on the reactions.  I’d hate to damage the ecology too much.”

“Here?  Nah.  Just rocks and driftwood.  Seawall’s tough, the winter storms hit hard enough to soak the cemetery across the road.  Little too windy for parasails then, and too cold.  Summer waves rock.”

Heather smiled relievedly.  “You’re welcome.”

“Awesome.  Um... can I ask you something?”

“She’s taken,” growled Moira.

Zeke held up his hands defensively.  “Nah!  I got a girl.  Ace’s a sweetie, strong and ... well, she’s shorter than me.  And it’d be wicked cool if I could be shorter than her, sometimes.”

“Zeke!”

Zeke turned and grinned at the tank of a woman charging up to them.  “Hey Ace.  Figured you’d be along.”

“You asshole!  You scared me to death disappearing like that.  Figures you’d be chatting up some strange chicks.”

“These aren’t just any strange chicks,” protested Zeke.  He pointed at Heather.  “That one is mermaid girl.”

“Mermaid?”  Ace studied Heather’s face.  “Oh!   That was you out there!  Sweet waves, dude.”

Heather giggled.  “Not a dude.  Though... maybe Flint would like that.”

Moira crinkled her nose.  “I wouldn’t.”

“Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it, sister,” replied Ace with a grin.  “Guys with the strength to pin you against a wall while fucking you senseless are awesome.”

Zeke grinned at Ace.  “So are strong girls.  And big girls.”

Ace sighed.  “I know, I know, two out of three ain’t bad.”  She tapped his nose playfully.  “Boop.  Wish I could be your big girl, too.”

“Granted,” said Heather.

Ace turned to look at her in confusion.  “Wait, what?”

“Yes!” cheered Zeke as he lost a foot of height.  Now instead of looking down at Ace, he had to look up by the same amount.  “This is awesome.”

“What just happened?” asked Ace plaintively.  She wrapped her arms around Zeke reflexively as he snuggled in for a hug.  “Oh... I don’t care.  This is amazing.”

Moira watched with growing amusement as the hug turned into a makeout session.  When it threatened to become a public indecency risk, she cleared her throat.  “I think you’re embarrassing Mermaid Girl.”

Heather smirked.  Despite her flushed cheeks she shook her head.  “I’m good.”

Ace let Zeke go with a sigh even so.  “Fair.  How long will he be like this?”

Heather studied Zeke.  “He has to work on Monday.  He’ll change back in time for it.”

“Cool,” said Zeke.  “We’ll have fun until then.”

Ace nodded her eager agreement.  “Major fun.  If we want to do it again sometime, can we call you?”

Heather smiled at Ace.  The question had been asked offhandedly, but it was clear from Ace’s posture that she was keen on it.  “And if I could arrange it so you could boop Zeke to shrink him whenever you wanted?”

Ace let out an undignified squeal.  “Yes!  That’d be so awesome.  Wouldn't it be, Zeke?”

Zeke smiled up at her indulgently.  “I could get used to this view.  Or a lower one.”

“Lower?” asked Ace, delightedly.  “How much lower?”

“I could arrange things so Zeke loses a foot every time you boop his nose.,” offered Heather.

Ace’s grin grew even broader.  “Awesome.  Where do I sign my soul away?”

Heather’s expression froze, and she glanced over at Moira.  “Uh...”

“We’re off the clock today,” said Moira.  “Your dad’s idea, but it’s a good one.”

Heather nodded decisively.  “Okay.  So this one’s a freebie.”

“That’s not...” started Moira, interrupted by Ace’s squeal of joy.  “You know what, sure.  You’d get a kick out of this, right?”

Heather nodded eagerly.  “Give me a minute, this bit’s fiddly...”

Ace and Zeke waited silently, arm in arm, as Heather stared at and through them.  A brief flicker of magic linked Ace’s fingertip and Zeke’s nose, then vanished.

“Done.  Give it a try.”

Ace carefully laid her finger on Zeke’s nose.  Nothing happened.  “Boop?” she asked... and Zeke’s nose was suddenly a foot below her finger.  “Holy!  Um, how small will he get?”

Heather shrugged nonchalantly, poorly hiding a grin.  “You know how you want to find out.”

Ace booped Zeke’s nose three more times in rapid succession, and he dwindled until he wasn’t quite as tall as the tops of her boots.  She reached down once more, and Zeke skittered back.  “Don’t you trust her?”

Zeke glanced up at Heather then slowly nodded.  Ace glanced over at Heather, nodded at what she saw there, and cautiously reached toward her tiny boyfriend once more.  “Boop.”

Zeke rushed upward, and was soon full height once more.  “All the way around, is it?”

Heather grinned broadly.  “Yup.  The only way back is through.  So if Ace happens to boop you without thinking about it... you’re stuck until morning, or until she turns you doll-sized.”

Ace looked worried until Zeke burst out in laughter.  “I’m going to spend so much time looking up at her.  She does that all the time!”

Ace grabbed Heather in a big bear hug.  “Thanks so much.  This is going to be amazing.”

Heather grew her muscles big enough to return the squeeze in kind, and got a wolf-whistle from Zeke for her troubles.  Ace shot him a mock glare.  “Remember who has the finger of boopage, dear.”

“If I accept that every playful leer costs me a boop, will you stop stressing about it?”

Ace booped him on the nose to shrink him, then hugged him tight.  “I’ll try.”

Ace helped Zeke gather up his parasail and board, then the two headed off.  Heather watched them go with a grin on her face.

“Spreading magical joy and cheer?” asked Moira.

“It’s a good feeling,” agreed Heather.  “Tempted to go find someone else to fairy godmother at.”

“You’ve got two toys you can shrink whenever you like,” suggested Moira with a grin.

“True...  Wait, are you still wearing Flint?  Give over.”

Moira pulled up her shirt, showing off the lacy coral confection that Flint had become.  “You sure you want to swap right here, in public?”

Heather made a grabbing gesture at Flint, then looked surprised.  “I can’t change him.  What did you do?”

“Contract rules,” chided Moira as she smoothed her shirt back down.  “For the first two hours he was your possession.  Those are up.  If he was aware, he could change himself back... but he’s not.  Until we take him back to your room, he is just a simple bra, nothing more.”

“Still want to wear him.”  Heather glanced around.  “Not here.  Want to go hit the mall?”  Before Moira had answered her, Heather shrunk and grew wings, becoming a robin hovering in place.

Moira laughed, and soon an eagle was chasing the robin across town.  They flew over roads and trees, chirping and screeching back and forth as they played an aerial game of tag.  Suddenly, the robin darted downward, and when the eagle looped around to find her, she saw Heather standing in a hidden corner of the rooftop parking lot on their favourite mall.

Moira landed heavily, then grew back to normal, laughing merrily.  “Almost gotcha a couple times there.  Then what would you have done?”

“Grown myself bigger than you,” said Heather as she swelled to twice her height.  She glanced around, saw that nobody was watching, and gestured to Moira.  “Bra, please.”

Moira shucked off her shirt, then unclasped her bra.  She waited with the bra still covering her breasts, raising an eyebrow at her friend.  Heather shrunk back to normal size, and did the same.  Her cheeks pinkened a bit, but she readily swapped her plain white bra with the lacy confection Flint had become.  As they put the bras on, their robin enchantments resized them to fit perfectly.

A few moments later with shirts back in place, Heather peered around again.  “I can’t believe I just did that.”

Moira laughed.  “You just spent an hour as a giant mermaid with absolutely no clothing whatsoever in full public view, and got filmed doing so.  Granted, your mermaid shape seems to be lacking in nipples, so it’s not quite the same.”

“Yeah, but she doesn’t care about what humans think of her.”

“She?  The mermaid wasn’t you?”

Heather shook her head.  “The orca is a powerful spirit.  Strong, independent... but also a fierce protector and loves her pod so much.  When I give myself over to her, she colours my thinking.  It’s hard to look at humans as a threat, physically or emotionally.”

“Does she colour your thinking now?” asked Moira.  “Because that sounds a lot like how you’ve been behaving of late.”

Heather held up a hand, flexing it into a fist, then a black fin-tip, then back again.  “Maybe.  A little.  But it feels more like... finding a connection with a part of me that was always there.  The strength she gives me helps me be brave enough to show it.”

Moira nodded, then took her friend’s recently-transformed hand.  “I like it, wherever it’s from.  You’re sure you feel like... you?”

“More than ever.”

Moira led the way to the mall entrance.  “Then let’s go fairy godmother someone.”

“On our day off?” giggled Heather.

“Yeah, that means we get to do magic for the fun of it.”

Hand in hand they strolled through the mall, doing a little window shopping along with the people-watching.  Heather pulled them to a stop in front of a lingerie display, staring at a long flowy dress that was so sheer she could see the mannequin through it easily.

“Looking for new things to transform us into?” asked Moira when Heather refused to move after a tug on her hand.

“That’d be even better than buying it.”

Moira giggled.  “Don’t let me stop you.”

“We can change any of our possessions into whatever we like,” sighed Heather, shaking her head reluctantly.  “Seems like a waste to buy clothes.”

“And yet you still want to.  You’ve earned how much in the past week?  Treat yourself.”

Heather led the way into the store.  “You are a bad influence.”

“I’m the best bad influence,” purred Moira as she followed, eyes sweeping the store for pretties.  “Oooh, how about that one?”

They spent an hour looking around the store, gathering up items based entirely on looks, without regard to sizing.  The clerk eyed Heather curiously when she went into the change room with her choices, and as she modelled them the clerk’s eyes went progressively wider.

“How are you doing that?” she demanded, when Heather emerged with her breasts perfectly sized for yet another bra.  “That’s a G cup, and that last bra was a B.  How?  And can you teach me?”

“If you ask me very nicely,” Heather replied, drawing herself up to her full height, and then boosting it a little bit.

The clerk dropped to her knees and groveled.  Heather immediately crouched in front of her and drew her gently to a stand again.  “I didn’t mean like that.  Don’t do that.”

“Sorry,” said the clerk, shaking her head dazedly.  “I’m not sure what happened.”

“I think I know,” sang Moira.  “Try not to dazzle her too much.”

Heather stuck her tongue out at Moira, and they all shared a laugh.  “Short version,” she said after they’d caught their breath, “WitchyWays.”

“The game?  I’d heard of it, but...  It’s just a game, right?”

“Wrong,” said Moira.  “The game teaches real magic, but you need a boost to actually change things.”  She pulled her RealityPlus out of her purse.  “One of these.  Not cheap, but...”  She grew her breasts bigger than her head.

“I don’t care if I have to eat ramen for months,” gasped the clerk.

“Look me up online,” added Heather.  “I make videos showing how to do all this stuff once you’ve got enough power to change yourself.”

They chattered earnestly for a time as the clerk rang them up, then headed back into the mall with their plunder.  While passing through the food court, Moira nudged Heather, and pointed to a young woman about their age sitting alone at a table, reading a novel with a dragon on the cover.  “What about her?”

“Fairy godmother time?  No limits?”

“Does it cost you anything to give them the good stuff?”

Heather shrugged.  “Just a little time, really.  It’ll take longer to figure out what she wants.”

Moira dragged Heather forward, and both of them sat at the loner’s table.  “Hi!”

The dark-haired girl looked up at them, confused.  “Excuse me?”

“We saw you sitting there, alone, and figured you could use some magic in your life.”  Moira reached over and tapped the cover of the book for emphasis.

“Do I look like some sort of loser loner sitting in the corner with a book while life goes on around her?” asked the girl

“I wouldn’t put it like that,” temporized Heather.  “Honestly, I was more drawn to the book.  Good?”

The girl smiled down at it.  “Dunno yet.  My friend suggested it, she said it was one of her favourites.”

“So she likes dragons?” asked Heather.

The girl nodded and started to expound on just how fascinated her friend was with the legendary creatures.  Heather nodded along, mentally reviewing her glyphs.  The scaliest thing she had were her birds, and that only on the feet.  She was wondering if there’d be some way to turn her hand instead of her foot scaly when her brain caught up with something the girl had just said.

“Wait a moment... what was that again?”

The girl smirked.  “Thought that would get your attention.  Yes, Amanda has a dragon dildo.  She says she loves me, but I think she loves that thing just a little bit more.”

Heather’s grin grew wider than the girl’s.  “Then today is your lucky day.  How would you like to be able to turn into a dragon for Amanda?”

The girl rolled her eyes.  “You sound just like her.  She’s so excited that ‘magic is real’ she’ll believe anything that comes along.  But I mean, seriously?  Online videos are so easy to fake.  It’s all just CGI.”

“So you wouldn’t want to transform to make your sweetie happy?” asked Heather, a tinge of regret in her voice.

“I’ve played along with her fantasy before.  I even have a set of claw gloves, and a harness for that toy of hers.  God, those are fun nights.  More for her than me, but I’d do anything to make her happy.”

“So if, hypothetically speaking, someone could offer you the chance to make that all real... would you?” asked Moira.

“If that someone could find a way to prove to me that magic was real... yes.”

Heather set her hand on the table in front of the girl.  “Hold my hand.”

“Why?”

“Because you don’t trust your eyes.”

The girl tentatively took Heather’s hand, then squeaked in surprise as it started to change.  Instead of dropping it, her grip got tighter as Heather’s hand thinned out, becoming scaly and taloned.  When she was done, it looked just like a robin’s foot, the size of a hand.  “Holy...  How?”

Heather wiggled her taloned hand, relieved she hadn’t accidentally changed her foot instead.  “Magic.”

“But magic isn’t real,” protested the girl weakly.

Heather wiggled her hand free of the girl’s grip, and traced a talon across the palm of her hand.  “Feels real.  You saw this happen right in front of you.”

“But... but science!  How could we make it this far and not know?”

A loud squealing noise interrupted the discussion.  The squeal approached at high speed, and proved attached to a tall blonde woman.  “Lisa!  You didn’t tell me you knew Heather.”

Lisa grinned up at her friend.  “Hey Amanda.  Uh... I don’t.  I didn’t even know her name, they just sat down and...  You know who she is?”

Amanda nodded eagerly.  “All those videos I showed you.  You didn’t recognize her?”

“A fan, I take it?” chuckled Heather.  She offered her hand for Amanda to shake, momentarily forgetting that it still had scales and claws.

Amanda shook Heather’s hand, then took it in both of hers to study it wide-eyed.  “So it’s really real.  Lisa here nearly had me convinced you guys had a CGI team from Technicon backing you up.”

Heather giggled, and shook her hand back to normal.  “I can see that.  We have been plugging the RealityPlus hard, it’s just so cool.”

“I know!  I’ve been saving up to buy one, but Lisa has been trying to talk me out of it.”

“About that...” started Lisa.  “I’m almost convinced these guys are the real thing.  Can you really do what you offered?”

Amanda cursed softly, then apologized.  “I can’t afford what you guys charge.  Especially for what I really want.”

“The dragon thing?” asked Heather.  “Yeah, it’d be crazy expensive by our price list.  But we’re off the clock today, and the project sounds cool.  There aren’t any dragon glyphs, I’d have to either kitbash it together from bat, chameleon and maybe a few other odds and ends for muscles and other features, like growing and shrinking.”  She studied Amanda for a moment then grinned.  “Oh!  You’ve been working on WitchyWays.  Level 15?”

“How can you tell?” asked Amanda.  “Some kind of game popup?”

“Oh, that would have worked, too.  If I set up a bunch of glyphs, you could turn the bits on and off.”

“Glyphs?” asked Lisa.  “What glyphs?”

“Runes, whatever you want to call them.  Most of them are associated with a spirit animal, and pick up some of their characteristics.  More if you add power to them.”

Moira doubled the size of her chest, giggling at the reactions she got.  “Glyph of the Robin is awesome.”

“I already have a robin, and a bunch of the others you’ve suggested in your videos.  Bat would be a challenge, and it wouldn’t really look right.  It’d be so cool if there was a dragon glyph.”

Heather shrugged.  “Real animals I can find glyphs for.  But imaginary ones?”

Moira slapped her hand down on the table.  “And goo girls aren’t imaginary?”  Her hand melted into a translucent pink puddle as she said it.

“Oh!  Right.  Give me a minute.”  Heather closed her eyes, concentrating deeply.  “Goodness.  I owe you an apology.”  A sigil floated in the air in front of them, all twisty and scaly.  “Dragons are real enough that the glyph already existed.”

“It looks different,” mused Moira.  “Are you sure you’re not pulling it out of our collective imagination?”

Heather peered at the symbol, then shrugged.  “I don’t know.  It feels archaic.  Maybe it was created long ago?”  She smiled at Lisa.  “Game to try it out?”

Lisa glanced over at her grinning partner.  “Yeah.  For Amanda.  What do I need to do?”

“Give me permission to change you.  Oh, and clear your schedule for the next day or so, if you can.”

Lisa shrugged.  “I have work on Monday, but nothing planned until then.  So... I give you permission to change me.”

“Oooh, the things I could do with such general permission,” cooed Heather.  “But this is about making you two happy.  Let’s see...”  The glyph darted to Lisa’s chest, then vanished into her.  “Okay, now to empower it a bit...  Oooh.  What are you?”

“What is wha...” started Lisa, then her voice suddenly rose in pitch and cut off, as she dwindled out of sight.

Amanda stepped over beside Lisa’s chair, and looked down into it.  “You shrunk her and turned her into a lizard?”

“Apparently that’s a dragon thing.  So they can hide.”  Heather got up and moved around beside Amanda.  “Wow.  She looks just like a chameleon.  Maybe dragons hid too long, and forgot how to change back?”

“Can you change her back?” asked Amanda, worriedly.

“Of course.  Do you want me to?  She looks awfully cute like this.”

Amanda crouched down and lowered a hand to the chameleon.  The colouration looked odd, until one realized the black crest, purple chest and blue legs matched Lisa’s hair, shirt and jeans.  Lisa stepped cautiously onto Amanda’s hand, then skittered up her arm to perch on her shoulder, peering out from under the cascade of Amanda’s hair.

“This is so wild.  Okay.  Um...  I kind of want to go walk around the mall like this, think you can handle a lap?”

The chameleon bobbed its head agreeably.

Amanda looked for anything Lisa might have left behind, but only found the book.  She tucked it into her purse, then strode off deeper into the mall.  Heather and Moira shared a glance, then scrambled to catch up.  The three chatted amiably about various dragon-themed books and movies they’d enjoyed.  Once they’d returned to the food court entrance, Amanda put a hand up to her shoulder.  Lisa climbed out onto it.  “Ready to be human again?”

Lisa nodded.  Amanda set her down in a little alcove with a service door.  She pulled up WitchyWays on her phone, then sighed.  “I can see the glyph, but I don’t have access to it.”

“She gave me permission, not you.  Even then... I think you’d need a RealityPlus to interact with it properly.”

A moment later Lisa was standing full height, and being hugged anxiously by Amanda.  “Are you okay?  Was it fun?”

“Yes, and yes.  Even if that’s all we can do with the glyph, I’d chip in for the RealityPlus.”  Lisa grinned at Heather.  “But that’s just the beginning, isn’t it?”

Heather nodded.  “It’ll take some experimenting to learn what all the doodads around the glyph control.  Pretty sure this one is wings...”  Scaly limbs spread from Lisa’s back, carrying a translucent membrane between them.

Lisa flared them to full extension, pouting to find they were no wider than her arm-span.  “Decorative wings?  How does that make sense?”

“Pretty sure you can push this further, but I’d rather not test that inside.  Shall I leave these on, and you can figure out the rest when you get your RealityPlus?  Technicon must have a fulfillment center in town, they show up within a few hours of ordering them.”

Amanda grinned wickedly.  “I know what we’re doing tonight.”

Lisa pulled her in for a hug, wrapping her new wings around her sweetie.  Amanda swooned happily, nearly tumbling them to the ground.  “Going to be a good one,” she agreed.  She glanced up at Heather.  “I’m sorry I was rude to you at first.  This is...  I don’t even know what it will be, but it’ll be amazing.”

Heather smiled at her sweetly.  “Apology accepted.  And because you were so nice about it, I’ve thrown in a few bonus glyphs.”

“Oooh?”

“You’ll be able to give her toy some competition.”

Lisa’s eyes went very wide at that.  “Oh!  I love you.”

Amanda pouted at that.  “What am I over here?”

“I love you too, you goof.  I’m going to let me turn you into the monster of your dreams.”

Moira tapped her chin thoughtfully.  “We should give Amanda something that lets her do the same for you.  If you could change her into anything, what would it be?”

Dozens of ideas flickered across Lisa’s face, each making her grin wider than the last.  “I... it’ll seem a bit altruistic, but I swear it’s not.  I want her to be a monster with me.  All the stuff... um, except that last bit.”

Moira glanced to Heather, who nodded.  “Say the word, Amanda, and I’ll set you up just like your sweetie.  Even empower Robin for you, I’m pretty sure she’ll love it.”

“The word?” asked Amanda.  “Oh, right!  I give you permission to change me however you wish.”

“Rrrh.  I’m going to be good and only abuse that a little,” purred Heather.  Wings sprouted from Amanda’s back, matching Lisa’s.  Amanda’s chest expanded significantly, drawing a cheer from Lisa.

“This is your idea of abuse?” giggled Amanda, peering down at her sudden endowment.  “Abuse me more.  Please.”

Lisa burst out in giggles.  “Oh my God.  You’re pink!  And sparkly!  It’s so you!”  She hugged Heather ferociously, then gave Moira just as vigorous a hug.  “Thank you so, so much.  If there’s ever anything I can do to help you, I’d be happy to.  Even though I can’t imagine what you would need.”

Heather smiled at her.  “Your happiness is plenty for me.  But maybe one day I’ll need a pair of sexy dragons to play out some fun scenario with my sweeties.”

“Any time!”

As the two dragon-winged girls walked off, entwined in each other, Moira sighed happily.  “That was so much fun to watch.  Scaly and shiny is a good look.”

“Can be arranged, back in our lair.  I could turn you into a scaly bra, and let Flint out to play for a while.”

“Deal.”

*** *** ***

“Oh hello there girls.  And Flint,” greeted Heather’s mother.  Then she looked Flint over again, noting that her shirt was more of a blouse, and she definitely had feminine curves.  “Or just girls.  My daughter didn’t do this to you, did she?”

Flint smiled prettily at Mrs. Marten.  “No, this was my idea.  We fit together better like this”  She grinned at Heather.  “Well, some of the time.”

“As long as you’re happy.”

“Oh I am!  Deliriously so.”  Flint spun in a circle so her skirt would flare and swish around her calves.  “Everything is beautiful and strange and lovely and I can’t get enough of swishy skirts in particular.  Once I’ve had some time to adapt, I might be able to decide... but I don’t have to.  I can be a girl today, a boy tomorrow, and Heather’s skirt the day after.  It’s all good.”

“You three have taken to magic like ducks to water.  Oh, that reminds me, I heard a very peculiar story on the way home from work.  Something about a giant whale-girl off Clover Point?”

Heather raised her hand.  “That was me.  Oooh, we should record the news, they had a camera team out to film it for a while.”

“Already set up.  Dinner first, then we can watch it.”

“Yes Mom.  Can my friends stay for dinner?  I can help pay for groceries...”

“Never you mind about that.  Of course your friends can stay.  You seem to have welcomed them into your life.”

Heather nodded happily.  “We’ve come to a sort of settlement.  It’s a bit odd... but I think we can make it work.  Magic helps, otherwise Moira and Flint would be at odds.”

“You’re not turning yourself into a girl just because of another girl?” Mrs. Marten asked Flint.

Flint shrugged.  “Not just because.  It helps, but I’m honestly enjoying it.  I haven’t given anything up, I can change back whenever I like.  I’m just not feeling especially eager to.”

Heather snuggled up against Flint from one side, and Moira from the other.

“I think you can see why.”

Mrs. Marten chuckled warmly.  “Hungry for touch?”

Flint’s eyes widened.  “Yes!  So much so much.  I’ve been surrounded by it for days now, and I feel like I should be drowning in it, but I just want more.  I’d happily spend my life as Heather’s clothes, as long as she wore me all the time.”

“And how do you feel about Flint, missy?”

Heather grinned.  “I’d be very happy wearing her all day.  She spent most of today as a bra, and she was the most comfortable bra I’ve ever worn.  It’s a little too easy to forget your clothes are actually people.  Which is fun in its own right, there’s a simple joy in being treated as the object you are... but I miss Flint when she’s like that too long.  I love her and Moira both, and I’m greedy, I want them both.”

“You know you can’t marry them both,” said Heather’s father from the doorway.

“I know.  We came to a decision on that.  We have a contract that binds us equally.  Mostly equally.  It says more about our relationship than a marriage certificate ever could.”

“Ah.  I should like to see that contract, if that’s possible.”

“After dinner,” said Mrs. Marten firmly.

Her husband smiled at her.  “Of course, dear.”

Flint and Moira helped set the table, though Heather insisted on taking care of the washing up afterward.  She added an extra pair of arms to speed the process up.

Heather had just put away the last dish when there was a knock on the door.  Her father answered it, then called her over.

Heather studied the young man standing just inside the door.  He was wearing a very formal looking suit, and a neatly knotted tie.  “Don’t you usually come around in pairs?”

The young man rolled his eyes.  “That’s Mormons.  I’m from CAIT.”

Heather looked puzzled.  “Who’s Kate?”

“The Cascadian Association of Independent Thaumaturges.  We need to talk about your flagrant displays of magic.”