Before the Blue Vixen started to get busy, Donna spotted a familiar face walking up the entry corridor.  “Mackie!  Here to spend another week as Ken... oh.  You!”

The sharply-dressed man beside Agent Mackie sketched a bow.  “Thomas Hawke, at your service.”

Donna narrowed her eyes at the Disney lawyer.  “No mind control this time.  So your boss does listen.”

“He does.  Then does whatever the hell he wants, apparently.  I haven’t been told much more than I knew last time, other than it’s a matter of great urgency.”

Donna rolled her eyes.  “What on earth does he want from me?  You guys are the ones that can influence the rules of magic.”

“I honestly do not know.  I was only told that it is very very important.  There were many more verys and importants in the speech I was given, but I suspect you get the point.”

“And has your master secured travel permission for me to enter the United States?”  Donna looked pointedly to Agent Mackie.

“I checked earlier today.  You’re still on the no-fly list, and an anti-terror list, several others.  I think you’re on the FBI Most Wanted list as well, though not very high on it.”

Donna turned back to the lawyer.  “In any case, tell your master I will not meet in his locus of power.  Not happening.  However, I will be in Mexico in three weeks’ time, perhaps we could meet at the border?”

Mr. Hawke nodded.  “While I cannot speak for him, that seems to me like a reasonable compromise.”

Donna gave her itinerary to Mr. Hawke, and Agent Mackie’s number as a way to contact her to arrange for a meeting.

After he’d left, Mackie shook his head.  “You’re paranoid about the phone number, but will tell them when you’ll be out of the country?”

“If it’s urgent, I probably should see what I can do.  It just seems that someone would prefer we not meet...”

“I doubt it’s that.  The Americans don’t like powers they don’t understand or control, so out of an abundance of caution, they don’t want you to drop in.”

Donna nodded.  “I suppose we can be a bit scary.”

“A bit?” laughed Mackie.  “I’m just glad you’re on our side.”

Donna smirked at that.  “We are on our own side.  You’re just along for the ride.”

“See, that is the sort of thing that worries anyone with power.  You are a loose cannon, and effectively a one-person nuclear state.  You’re more of a threat than North Korea, and look at how they get treated.”

“Oh!  Speaking of treatments, I have some news from Doctor O’Brien.  Apparently cobalt works on the victims of the portal in Detroit, kind of like silver does for our magic.”

“I’ll be sure to pass that along.”

“So... with business out of the way, what can we do for you?”

Mackie rolled his eyes.  “You want to transform me again.  What if I say I like being who I am?”

“Do you?” asked Donna curiously.

“Yes!  Mackenzie was fun, but mostly for the chance to spend time with Cherry.  I miss the lunk.”

“So come visit whenever.  Cherry’s in the green room, I can poke her to pop out here.”

“Ah, she’s on the clock,” said Mackie. “I’d hate to cut into prime earning time.”

“Then visit outside club hours.  I’m sure she’d love to spend more time with you, as Mackenzie or Mackie, either way.”

Mackie looked away, a faint hint of pink on his cheeks.  “That’s... kind of the problem.  How do I deal with my buddy becoming a very attractive woman?”

Donna winced.  “That one’s a bit close to home.  Maybe talk to Doctor Sakurai?  I’m sure she’s dealt with it before.”

Mackie saluted Donna cheerfully.  “Sounds like a plan.  Think she’d be open late tonight?”

“On a full Moon night?  Always.  One of us will probably end up crying on her shoulder later.”

“Bah, what do you have to worry about?”

Donna grinned, and darted forward to hug Mackie.  “Tonight?  Absolutely nothing.”

After Mackie had left, Donna teleported to Gwen’s side.  She was going over fantasy requests with Rowan, and handed over a couple.  “These are up your alley.  Want to tag team them?”

Donna giggled at the first one.  “Someone wants to be a pet cat?  Well, that’d be familiar enough.”

The next fantasy was a familiar couple, back for ‘a few more tentacles’, which made Donna giggle.  She used a variation on the modular body trick she’d done for Dave’s sweetie, so that each of their legs could be swapped for a cluster of tentacles.

One of them hung back for a bit after Donna was done, and whispered a special additional request.  Donna’s eyes lit with delight.  “Of course.  Do you want your transformation timed, or triggered?”

“Oooh, could you make it trigger when she says certain words?  She calls me squiggle when she’s being especially lovey, and with all those new tentacles...”

Donna nodded.  “Easily.  And for changing back?”

“Our safeword is orange.  That’d probably work.”

“Planning to surprise her, hm?  Done and done.  For the next week, you’ll change whenever she uses those words.”

“A week?”  That revelation earned Donna a vigorous hug.  “This is going to be so awesome... Thanks!”

“My pleasure.”

A little later, Donna found herself in a private room with a woman whose breasts were already “club sized”.  She looked the woman over with a smile.  “I’m guessing you’re not here for a little boost up top?”

The woman just sighed.  “How do you folks manage?  Does the magic add back muscles as well?”

Donna sat opposite her.  “It does, yes.  That, and a lot of the bigger breasts around here are lighter than they should be.  It also helps that I can get rid of them when they’re inconvenient.”

“I wish...”

“Careful.  That word has power here.”

The woman barely hesitated before saying, “I wish people would look at my face, not my chest.”

“Granted,” purred Donna, with a wicked grin.  She watched as the changes slowly worked their way across the woman’s body.  She seemed pleased with her diminishing chest, but as her cheeks started to puff up a look of alarm crossed her face.

She touched her cheeks, then her nose.  “What have you done?  My nose feels like...”

“A nipple, yes.  Your head is becoming a breast.  You’ll keep the eyes and mouth, so it’s still kind of your face.”

The woman tried to frown, but it just made her face jiggle.  “That’s ridiculous.”

“I don’t much like wishes.  So I tend to twist them a little, to have fun.”

“This is your idea of fun?”  The woman touched her “nose” again, and squirmed.  “Ohhh.”

Donna giggled.  “Now you get it.  You could have a lot of fun kissing your sweetie.”

That got another sigh.  “If I had one.”

“Go out on the floor like that, and you will get attention.”

She licked her lips, and shuddered again.  “Okay.  How long will I be like this?”

“Just for the night.  It’d be too hard to hide in public.”

“Ah,” said the woman, with a hint of regret.

“I can arrange for other options, but you’d only be able to change when the Moon is in the sky.”

“If that includes control of how big my breasts are, it’s a deal.”

Donna handed her a slim remote control with six buttons on it.  “If you store this inside a silver box during the dark half of the Moon’s cycle, it should keep working for quite some time.  Be careful about touching silver, though.  It tends to make you forget you can transform.”

The woman chuckled.  “So I could end up thinking my boob head is normal?  Oh, I have to try that...”

“With someone who knows what you’re doing.  Trust me on this.”

“I know just the woman.  Hah, she’ll probably want one of these, too.”

Donna handed over another remote.  “Here.  Have her press it to her forehead for a minute to key it to her.”

The woman’s eyes went wide.  “Seriously?  Aw, you’re the best.  Thanks!”

Gwen dragged her off to dance after that, and Donna summoned up normal clothes to wear.  They re-enacted an old dance, with Donna acting reluctant and Gwen stealing her clothes piece by piece to reveal a plain black bra and panties underneath.  As the song ended, Donna’s bra disappeared in a puff of smoke, and before the smoke had dissipated her breasts went from mere handfuls to “Blue Vixen” sized.  She strutted the stage like she belonged there for the second song, then both bowed to the cheering crowd and headed out into the audience to work the room for a time.

A little later, Donna was back handling fantasies and got handed a slip for another familiar couple.  She smiled when she saw Martin and Marie sitting side by side, legs touching.  The latter had a very special plush kitten in her lap.

“Back for more?” asked Donna.  “You two seem happier than before.”

“Mostly, yeah,” agreed Marie.  “It’s just...  I love being the kitten.  But I’m really starting to hate waking up like that every day.  Having to beg to be human every day...”

“I don’t make you beg,” protested Martin.

“You like it when I do.”

Martin smirked a little.  “Okay, perhaps I do.  It’s a big improvement on your imperious tone.  Plus your kitty voice is just so cute!”

Marie’s eyes flashed at that, but to Donna’s surprise no angry outburst followed.  She slumped back further into the loveseat and sighed.  “Yeah, I guess I can see that.  Still sucks, because I’m starting to hate being the kitty.  You can see that, right?”

Martin patted her hand softly.  “I get it.  It was fun, but... I think we’ve had enough of that particular game.  But I still want to play...”

Donna nodded.  “So you still get to pick who gets to be what, but Marie will wake up in her rightful body every morning.  Good enough?”

Martin grinned, and Marie sat up beside him once more.  Martin’s expression turned sour after a moment.  “It’s still not fair, though.  I’ve... stopped more than a few arguments by turning her into a kitty.  Or into the vibrator and... um... kind of stealing her body.”

“Marie?” asked Donna of the uncharacteristically quiet woman.

Marie shook her head, lips tightly sealed.

“Talk.”  Donna put a little force behind the words.

“That was incredibly hot and I’ve started some pointless arguments just so Martin would do that to me again,” Marie blurted out, as her eyes went wider and wider.  She tried covering her mouth, but that didn’t stop the words.  “I love it when he takes charge.”

“What?  But you’ve never...”  Martin’s eyes went almost as wide as his wife’s as he started to search his memory.  “Oh...  Oh that puts a new light on so, so much.”

“Why did I say that?” squeaked Marie.

Donna smirked.  “You wanted to, but felt ashamed?  I just... nudged you along to speed up the process.”

Marie buried her face in her hands.  “You must think I’m horrible.”

“Not at all,” replied Martin, wrapping an arm around her.  “I like this revelation.  I promise to use it wisely.”

Marie’s head popped up at that and she stared at Martin, her cheeks blooming pink.  “You... what?”

“I think we need a couple more toys for me to shove her into, though.”

Donna nodded sagely.  “Of course.  I’ve added a couple you might find fun in your own body.”

Martin glanced away.  “Can I get a bigger one for... females?”

“Ooooh.  You liked that, hm?  Would you like your own female body to inhabit, sometimes.”

“I...”  Now it was Martin’s turn to look to his partner hesitantly.  “I would like that, yes.  If it doesn’t weird you out, love.”

Marie’s giggle turned into giddy laughter.  “You want to be my girlfriend?  And go shopping for clothes together?”

“Among other things,” admitted Martin.

“Say it,” Donna urged.  “Communicate.”

“The idea of making love to you while female is hot as hell,” said Martin, keeping his gaze locked on his sweetie.

“Oh.  Oh wow.  I don’t know what to say...”

“Yes you do,” interrupted Donna.  “So keep going.”

Marie shot her a withering glare that just made Donna’s grin grow wider.  “You are far too damned perceptive.  Yes.  But on one condition.”

“Name it.”

“I get a male body of my own, too.”

“Done,” said Donna after a moment’s work to create the requisite bodies at their house.  “Go have fun.  And maybe go visit Doctor Sakurai.  You still have some issues to work out around boundaries and communication, and she’s way better at that stuff.  She knows about magic, so you can talk to her about all this.”

The couple hugged her soundly, then headed out into the night, eagerly and earnestly chattering between themselves.

Before Donna knew it, it was time for Crazy Eights.  She should have been suspicious when Gwen handled the deal, and more so when she got a mitt full of eights.  Donna won easily, with most of the girls at the table grinning as they laid down their cards.  “You’re all nuts.  So what’s the plan?”

“You get to do whatever you want with the lot of us,” said Tawny, with Carmen nodding along beside her.  The rest of the players cheered.

Donna smiled at Gwen.  “You set this up, of course.”

“Wanted to send you off with something fun.  C’mon, go for it!”

Donna pondered for a moment, then a broad sweep of her arm sent sparkling lights toward all the players.  Gwen flickered for a moment, blocking the change so that the others would have to guess their fate.  Soon they were dwindling, their skin becoming filmy and brightly coloured.  Vanessa was the first to guess.  “Silks?  You’re turning us to dancing silks?”

Donna grinned, and scooped up the results of her handiwork.  “This is going to be such fun.”  She crooked a finger at Gwen, and the other woman obediently dwindled to match.

Donna draped the silks about her body, leaving her clad only in them and a pair of shimmering red panties.  Then she strutted up to the stage, nodded to Leo, and started to dance.  The veils fluttered and moved with her as if alive, guided by her magic.  One by one as she took them off the started to orbit around her body in fluttering, cometary wakes, until she was surrounded by a spiralling rainbow of silk.  Her chest was bare, but due to the fluttering mass, none could see it.

Then as she continued to dance, one by one the silks arced out into the audience, guided unerringly into the hands of those who would appreciate them.  Some just held them in their hands, others giggled and draped them over their shoulders, or their hair.  In the end, only one was left, hovering over Donna’s head like a halo.

When the song ended, Donna clapped her hands sharply, and every veil began to transform back into a woman.  Her halo dropped to the stage as Gwen, and they danced a duet as the Crazy Eights players all found someone to cuddle up with.

Gwen and Donna danced offstage and into the green room, leaving behind thunderous applause.  They also left behind two slightly confused raptor-girls.  Tawny and Carmen both had bright feathered crests that ran down their back to become broad bands of scales that curled out into a long, muscular tail.  Below the tail were scaly, clearly lizardlike legs, with wicked-looking claws.

Their faces pressed out slightly, suggesting muzzles, and when they grinned at each other they both displayed a daunting array of gleaming teeth.  Despite the distortions of the elongated jaw, one very clearly had Tawny’s face, the other Carmen’s.

“Do you think she meant to give us each other’s body?” asked Carmen after the giggling had died down.

Tawny shrugged.  “Probably.  Everyone sees us as two of a kind, anyway.  What difference does it make?”

Carmen grinned toothily.  “Very little indeed.  C’mon, these bodies feel amazing.  Let’s dance!”

Back in the green room, Gwen was cuddled up against Donna.  “Do you really have to go?”

“I promised to be as Duncan as I could be for the trip.  This was my big blow-out, and you made it a great one.”

“I’ll miss you.  Especially when the Moon is dark, and Ettie...”  Gwen sighed.

“I know.  You’ve got other friends here, love.  You’ll be fine.  I don’t think Sidney would object to the odd visit, either.  The kids like seeing Auntie Gwen...”

Gwen chuckled.  “Twist my rubber arm.  I didn’t want to be in the way, but if visits are okay... I guess I’ll cope.”

“Good.  Do you have enough magic crystals banked for next month?”

“Yes Mother.  The chests are all brimming.  We didn’t even get through one of the six last month, we’ll be fine.”

Donna hugged her tight.  “Be good.”

Gwen laughed. “That’s my line.”

*** *** ***

The weeks before the Faulkner family vacation sped by, in a whirl of plans and preparation.  Complicating matters, Air Canada cancelled the flight they were booked for two weeks before departure, and rescheduled them to fly via Calgary instead of Vancouver.  It was almost enough to make them bail on the whole idea and charter a private plane instead... but then Sidney pointed out that she had family in Calgary, and the revised schedule left them overnighting there with time for dinner and a chance to catch up on old times.

Before they knew it, departure day was upon them.  Duncan called Mackie one last time, but not only was he still on multiple no-fly lists, he’d apparently been added to new ones as well.  “Avoid the US,” was Mackie’s final admonition.  “Someone down there is really worried about you.”

Duncan sighed and agreed.  Flying out of Vancouver they’d have mostly stayed outside US airspace by flying off the coast.  The new route did not have that luxury.  So despite the fact it wouldn’t land anywhere near the border on either end, US rules had even more impact.

Before the flight left, Duncan touched his parents and his children, giving them the same crystalline soul-ward that he’d crafted for his wife.  “There.  No matter what happens, you’ll survive.”  He hugged them all tightly, and promised he’d see them in Calgary.  He’d already sent a Duncan-bot there via crystalline jet.

Once they were on their way, Duncan flitted home. He rechecked the wards and his crystal storage bins.  They’d been equipped with lids that could be raised and lowered via servo, so they could preserve the magic within through the Moon-dark by closing the silver lid.  The lids cycled as they should.  Duncan checked the home defences, armed the non-lethal ones against intruders, and then reduced his robotic body so that it would fit aboard another tiny crystal jet.

By the time his family landed in Calgary, Duncan was bobbing in the coastal waters off Puerto Vallarta, waiting for the morning and the opening of the port master’s office.

Ducan linked to the body in Calgary, grew it to full size in a bathroom stall, then joined his family for a pleasant evening with Sidney’s brother and sister-in-law, who he’d only met a few times before.  He figured that explaining magic wouldn’t be worth it in the brief visit, so the body he’d made for the event had a stomach that could at least hold dinner, if not do much with it.

He slept beside Sidney in the airport hotel, then in the morning went with them to the airport, and waved goodbye from the gate as they boarded their plane.

Job accomplished, Duncan sent his no longer needed body to the nearest library.  It could sit and browse there without attracting undue attention, until the Moon rose and he could dispose of it.

He returned his attention to Robo-Duncan MkII, and slipped onto the docks then carried on up to the port master’s office.  A single gold coin took care of the irregularity of his arrival, and his passport was soon stamped to show a quite official entry via “personal watercraft”.

A trip into town took care of converting a few more coins into a sufficiency of local currency, then Duncan took a taxi to the airport to await the arrival of his family.  He sighed at the sight of the arrivals board.  Instead of showing the flight’s projected arrival time, it merely displayed “Late”, as did about a third of the other flights.

He inquired after the status of the flight at the tiny Air Canada check-in desk, but they merely shrugged and said they hadn’t been informed of a new ETA.

Pacing the length of the airport didn’t take long, and didn’t much help pass the time.  Eventually, however, the board updated with an arrival time almost three hours later than expected.  Duncan waited eagerly at the arrivals area outside customs.  And waited.  And waited.  The display for the flight changed to show it had arrived, and soon a swarm of pale faces appeared through the door... but never the ones Duncan was looking for.  Once the flow of obvious Canadians slowed to a trickle, then stopped, he began to worry.  He checked the luggage carousel, and there were their bags, going around by themselves.  All the others had been claimed.

Duncan pulled the bags off and set them in a locker.  Then he went to get his family paged.  No answer.  Frustrated and worried, he approached the Air Canada kiosk once more, to find a man in a pilot’s uniform standing there with the clerk.

“Hello, Mr. Faulkner,” the man said, reaching out to shake Duncan’s hand.  “I’m Captain Johnson.  I was the pilot for the flight from Calgary.”

Duncan ignored the hand, and gritted his teeth to avoid cursing.  “Where.  Is.  My.  Family.”

Captain Johnson winced at Duncan’s tone.  “You have every right to be angry.  I am too.  The Americans sent fighters to intercept us, and forced us to divert to Anaheim.  Armed men boarded the plane, took your family off, and then told us we could go.”

Duncan closed his eyes and gathered his thoughts.  “Were they hurt?”

“They went without much fuss.  Well, the one woman was making a lot of noise, but didn’t put up a fight.  The older man argued with them, but didn’t get anywhere.  I’m sorry, we couldn’t do anything.”

Duncan sighed.  “No, of course you couldn’t, not in the face of that.  I don’t suppose I could borrow a phone?  I have some calls to make, and foolishly thought I wouldn’t need my cell phone on vacation.”

“We’re getting ready to close up here.  You might be further ahead with the cell kiosk out front.  They can have you set up with a cheap phone on the local network in no time.”

Duncan gruffly thanked them for their help, and headed toward the entrance.  On the way, he pinged Gwen’s comm crystal.

“Hey, Duncan.  I thought you were on vacation.”

“Vacation’s cancelled,” Duncan replied.  “The Americans pulled my family off the flight.”

“Oh hell.”

“Exactly.”