We returned to Angela’s parents’ house in time for dinner.  As we arrived, Lena and her husband pulled up.  I offered a hand to him, and he shook it.  “I’m not sure we’ve been properly introduced.  Henry, was it?”

“Henrik.  But I mostly go by Henry when speaking English.  Just easier, you know?”

“Given I get called Dave as often as David, I get the idea.”

We moved into the house as a group, with Lena making a half-hearted joke about “safety in numbers”.  We sat in the living room and made small talk for a little while before their mother announced that dinner was served.

It was a slightly more formal affair than last time, with what looked like the good dishes and cutlery in use.  Their father carved the roast at the table, serving each of us a slice of meat tailored to our request.  I’m not sure how they managed to have rare and well done in the same roast, but my slice at least was delicious.

After dinner there was cake, and singing Happy Birthday in a mix of English and German.  It sounded substantially more dire in German, which amused me.  Then we returned to the living room so that Angela and Lena’s father could open his presents.

There weren’t many to open.  A couple of books, one on photography, the other a coffee table book that claimed to be a comprehensive list of the world’s worst cars.  The latter made him chuckle, and he paged through it to find one particular car before moving on to the next gift.  The box of socks made him shake his head.

“Your current socks are all worn thin and full of holes.  You need new socks, dear,” said his wife in a patient tone that suggested this scene had played out many times before..

The last box was a similar size, but contained a pair of sheepskin slippers.  “Oh, these do look cozy.”  He had a wicked gleam in his eye as he turned to me.  “I’d like to ask a gift from you as well.  Might I borrow your magic box for a bit?”

Angela pulled it out of her purse, but I stalled her motion with my hand.  “I’m not sure I know you quite well enough to trust you with that.”

“Ah.  Pity.”

I took the box from Angela, and scanned it back and forth.  It was still locked on to her after our fun from the previous night.  “I will, however, use it on your behalf.  What would you like transformed?”

“If you’d be so kind as to scan these slippers...”

I did so.

“I think my darling daughters would make a lovely pair of slippers, don’t you?”

“Absolutely.”  Angela laughed as she dwindled, but when I turned the box to Lena and locked on to her she started to protest.

“I didn’t agree to this.”

“Neither did your father when you turned him into a shoe.”

Lena held up her hands as if that would somehow stop the box.  It didn’t, and once she’d dwindled away I scooped up the pair of them and handed them to their father.  “There you go.  One cozy pair of slippers that once were human.  I only zapped them once, so they’ll be fully aware, rather than thinking they’ve always been slippers.”

“Ah, and when I was a shoe?” he asked.

“That was two zaps.  A third would have left you no memory of your time underfoot.  And I expect you want them to remember.”

He slid a foot into each slipper in turn, then stood to test them out.  “They are quite comfortable.  Does your box do something about that?”

I shook my head.  “I’ve never been able to tell them apart from the real thing.  The only way to find out which is which is to try to turn them human again.”

He paced back and forth.  “And I suppose you’ve had a fair bit of experience with that?”

“Quite a bit, yes.  It’s not one-sided, they get to turn me into things when they like as well.  It’s just... they prefer being clothes to being human, so I’m the human most of the time.  That, and I’m the one with a job.  Angela has part time work, but she’s getting tired of the schedule.”

“And what do you intend to do with her if she quits?”

I grinned.  “Support her.  And have her support me.  She makes a lovely bra.”

He stopped pacing to turn his frown on me.  “I thought you said they were indistinguishable.”

“They are.  But knowing that you’re wearing someone makes the experience... well, you should have some idea, yes?  Your daughters are underfoot.”

He glanced down at his slippers.  “I’d almost forgotten.”  He took a few experimental steps.  “And they can feel all this?”

“Yes.  I haven’t been footwear before, but any soft shape can feel how it flexes.  They can probably hear, as well.”

He laughed.  “But they can’t talk back.”

“Is that a problem?  Both of them seem pretty opinionated.”

He returned to his seat and slumped into it.  “They are.  And they often talk rings around this doddering old fool.  I confess that they confuse me to no end, and I don’t always deal with it well.  So.  Without Zephyr to run interference for you... I do have a few questions regarding your plans...”

That led into a fairly comprehensive grilling about my background, education, work history, and finances.  Henry shared a sympathetic look as I was grilled, and I imagine he’d gone through much the same when courting Lena.

I answered truthfully, though without giving exact numbers.  I wasn’t actually sure what my savings total was, in any case.  I’d negotiated a pretty good salary bump when I came to Germany, and my costs were low due to staying in a company apartment.  The lease on the Audi did make him frown a little, however.

“Why not buy a car?”

“Headaches involved in importing it back to Canada, between shipping costs and regulatory compliance it’s expensive.  I don’t figure on being here for more than five years, so I’ll close out the lease and buy a car when I move back home.”

He harrumphed at that.  “And what happens to my daughter if you move back?”

“She’d be welcome in Canada.  If she’d rather stay here...”  I shrugged.  “So be it.  That doesn’t seem especially likely, considering how you get along.”

Henry shook his head at that, but didn’t speak up.

“I suppose you think that’s funny.”

I shook my head.  “Not at all.  It’s sad.  Half the reason I want to go home is that I miss my family.  I’m used to visiting my parents weekly for dinner.  Just getting to see them at Christmas is not enough.”

“And how often would Zephyr see us, if you do that?”

“I don’t know.  Because of the box we can travel back and forth more cheaply.  All we need is a ticket for me, and the others can fly in my carry-on, or on my person...”

“Others?” asked Angela’s mother.  “Plural?”

I winced.  “Right.  Has she told you about Janis and Katya?”

“Not much.”  Her tone made it clear she was disappointed.

“Ah.  Not all of their story is mine to tell, but I met Janis and Katya because they had the box, and were looking for someone to use it on them.  More or less.  They like being clothing, Katya more so than Janis.  Between that, and Angela spending time transformed... well, it’s not often there are more than two humans in the apartment.  It’s a sort of timesharing arrangement, and so far everyone involved seems pretty happy with it.”

“I would like to hear that from them.”

I nodded, then held a hand out to her husband.  “Might I have your right slipper back?  Angela was wearing Janis and Katya when I changed her, so I’ll need to restore her at least briefly.  And perhaps she’ll want a dress...”

Angela’s mother claimed there were some of Zephyr’s old clothes in the closet of her bedroom, and after a minute returned with a very pink and frilly dress that made me chuckle.  “I’m not surprised she left that behind.”

“She used to love this sort of stuff.”

“When she was twelve?”

“Well...”

I restored Angela, and she rolled her eyes at the dress.  “Fine.  I suppose I can wear this for a little bit... or perhaps you could turn it into something better?”

“Oh, right.  That works too.”  I zapped the poofy dress into one of the stored dresses, but I’d forgotten which one was Angela’s.  Insead, I got one of the most recently scanned dresses, one that fit me when I was half Daffodil.

Angela’s eyes widened when she recognized it.  “I... suppose I could wear that, but...”

I laughed and re-adjusted the dial, producing a clone of the dress she was wearing.  “Better?”

“What was that?” asked her mother.   “It was oddly cut.”

I exchanged a look with Angela, and she nodded.  “That’s a dress for me, when I’m half female, and half male.  I quite like the look, and...”

Angela blushed.  “And I love it when he’s like that.  So much I can’t even describe it.”

Her mother looked back and forth between us.  “And this makes you happy?  Both of you?”

Both of us nodded eagerly.

“Well, that settles that part.  I need to hear the same from Katya and Jan.”

“Janis, not Jan.  And of course.”

Angela left the room briefly to change, and returned with a dress and a bra in her hands.  I changed the bra into a woman, and Janis appeared fully dressed.  She blinked at the people around her.  “Uh, sweetie?”

“Janis, this is my brother-in-law Henry, and my parents.  Mom and Dad, one of my lovers, my dress, and sometimes my wearer, Janis.”

Janis made an awkward curtsey.  “What’s all this about?”

“Mom wants to know if you’re happy in our relationship, spending much of it as clothing.”

Janis grinned and nodded much as I had earlier.  “Oh heck yes.  I’ve never had it so good.”

“Would you change the arrangement if you could?” asked Angela’s mother.

Janis looked at the dress in Angela’s hands as she considered that.  “I don’t see enough of Katya.  I’d like to wear her more than I have been, and spend a little more time with both of us human.”

I nodded.  “I think we’d all like to see more of Katya, but... she does like being a dress.”

“Speaking of which...”

I nodded and zapped Angela’s dress.  Then I sighed as I realized that Katya had been transformed in the nude, and thus was appearing that way...  As Katya covered up with her hands, Angela snagged the box from me.  Before I could protest I was wrapped around Katya.

“Well,” I heard a familiar matronly voice say.  “That was an interesting display.”

“Sorry,” Angela replied airily.  “I’d forgotten.  Are you okay, Katya?”

Katya patted herself down, running her hands over me teasingly.  “I’m fine.  I’d rather be the dress, but this is nice once in a while.”

Angela introduced Katya to her parents, and she was asked the same question as Janis had been.  She mentioned learning to like being male once in a while, which would have made me blush if I was able.  Shortly after that, she asked to be turned into a dress once more.  I felt the world compress around me, and lost track of the conversation after that, as what does a dress care about talking?

I woke up in the hotel room.  Angela, Janis and Katya were giggling up a storm at my dazed expression.  “Turnabout is fair play, yes?”

I chuckled softly.  “Yeah.  That was... wow.  I haven’t been that deep in a while.  What’d I miss?”

“Oh it was epic!” crowed Janis.  “We restored Angela’s sister and she was absolutely livid.  Angela pointed out that she’d done worse to her father, and that set her off even more.  Angela turned her back into a slipper to get her to shut up, and sent her home with her husband.  We kept the box locked on to her, so we could change her back from here.  Once we’d done that, we restored Katya and then you.”

“Oh, right.  Spooky action at a distance.  It worked?”

Angela smirked.  “I was on the phone with Henry when we did it.  From what I heard not only did she change back, she pounced him immediately.  She wasn’t angry, Janis.  She was too aroused to see straight, and doing her best to distract from that fact.”

“Oh lordy, do we have another fan of being things?” I asked, dramatically.

Angela giggled.  “She’s a lot like me, it turns out.  I don’t know what got her going, but I bet we’ll find out in the morning.  You don’t mind staying here another day, so I can spend a little time with my sweet little sister?”

I laughed and shook my head.  “I’m sure we can extend our stay.  I still want to wear my bikini to the resort... but I can wait.”

“And what makes you think you’ll be wearing the bikini?  I think you’d make a lovely towel,” sassed Katya, of all people.

I grinned at her.  “Deal.  Me as the towel, Angie as a one-piece... and Janis gets to be human.  She misses you.”

Katya sighed and turned to her sweetie.  “I know.  I want to do more for you, I really do, but...”

“But?”

“I get antsy if I’m human too long.  I feel like something awful is bound to happen.  I can’t human right at all.”

I shook my head.  “You’ve been lovely all throughout this.  Even when you had trouble with your masculine impulses.”  I blushed at a memory.  “Hell, when you ordered Janis to flush me that was so hot I could just about melt just thinking about it.”

Katya’s eyes went wide.  “You liked that part?  I knew you liked being the condom, but... really?”

“You had total control of my fate, and you were terrifying.  I honestly believed you meant it.”

Katya shuddered and curled against Janis.  “I did.  I totally would have done it.  I wanted you gone so badly.  Do you hate me?”

I shook my head, and crouched close by them.  “Not at all.  I mean, I wouldn’t have liked actually being flushed, I guess... but in the moment it felt so right.  You did a fantastic job of making me feel worthless.”

“And... that’s a good thing?” Katya asked, puzzlement on her face.

“You like being a dress.  Everyone has their own quirks.  Non-embarrassing abasement might be one of mine.”

Katya’s eyes lit with curiosity.  “Show me.”

I knelt further until my forehead was pressed to the floor.  “What can this worm do for its mistress?”  I moved to kiss the top of her foot, but she pulled it away.

“Worms like you are not worthy to touch me,” hissed Katya haughtily.  “They deserved to be trampled underfoot.”  She put her foot on my back, and pressed down gently.  “Isn’t that right, worm?”

“Please, mistress.”

I didn’t see what passed between Angela and Katya, but the click of the box’s dial turning was a familiar sound.  A moment later I began dwindling into a new, unfamiliar shape.  Katya’s foot rode my compression down into the ground, then slipped into me.  I knew then that she had turned me into a slipper.  One a bit too large for her foot, which wiggled around inside me rather ticklishly.

Then she put her full weight on me, and I felt my body compress under it.  It didn’t hurt, but it was very different from the feeling of swishing against skin.  She stomped a few more times, and declared that I made a passable slipper, and that if I did a good job she might just keep me.

I knew it for play, but... oh, it felt good.  The joy in her voice was part of that.

“I believe slippers usually come in pairs,” Angela said.  I heard the familiar slither of dress over skin and then the brush of her hair as she knelt before Katya.

Katya’s giggle of delight was entirely unfeigned, and before long she was stomping around in her lovely new pair of slippers, loudly delighting in how we felt underfoot.  Janis giggled along with her, and eventually asked what her plans were.

“We get the hotel room to ourselves.  Aren’t my new slippers lovely?” replied Katya, twisting her feet to grind us into the carpet.

“Damn, you’re feeling feisty.”

“Rowr!”

The pounce that followed saw Katya leaping clear out of me.  Us mere slippers didn’t see much use after that.  At least, not until someone picked us up and started to tease the other with us...