TF (multiple, animal, plant, non-animate etc)

Not for the first time, Rebecca wondered why she'd wanted to have children.

World War Three was currently erupting in the back seat of her car.

"The Atom could totally beat Ant-Man!"

"The Atom's just got shrinking powers, moron. Ant-Man also has total mastery over ants! So even if he's not fighting, he could ruin a super-villain's picnic or something."

"Oh yeah? Well, Spider-Man could kick Ant-Man's ass.''

''Spider-Man and Ant-Man are on the same side, dickweed. Why would they want to fight each other?"

"Cody, don't call your brother a dickweed," Rebecca said automatically as she scanned for somewhere to drop the kids off. "There! OK, out you go, both of you. Have fun at school, and remember you've got football afterwards. Jefferson's mom is gonna give you a lift back home afterwards, OK?"

The two boys exited the car screaming at each other, without so much as a "thanks, mom".

Rebecca sighed. Oh well, at least she had the girls' get-together at her house later that morning to look forward to. Which reminded her, time to head to the liquor store for a bottle of wine or six.

Purchases made, she was returning to her car when a store tucked away on the street caught her eye. She could have sworn it wasn't there the last time she'd come this way. It looked freshly scrubbed and charming, topped with a hanging sign declaring it "The Potion Place".

The Potion Place? What did that even mean? Some kind of make-up store? she wondered.

Peering through the window, she spied shelves stocked with old-timey bottles. New age supplies? she guessed.

Her interest piqued, she opened the door and entered, a bell tinkling as she did. She wandered over to the shelves. Each of the bottles had a handwritten label describing the contents. And oh boy, were they doozies.

"Goo For You"? "The Melter"? "The Fruit Basket"? What the hell was this place?

"Can I help, you ma'am?"

Rebecca leapt about a foot in the air. She hadn't heard the man come up behind her - a portly, kindly-looking gent who could have been 50 or could have been 100.

"Sorry!" she said. "I'm just browsing ... I've never been in here before."

The proprietor smiled. "And do you like what you see?"

"Well, I like the look of the bottles. But what are they?"

"They're transformation potions."

"Oh. And what do transformation potions do?"

"Why, they allow you to ... transform."

"Into what?"

"Whatever you like! Here's an example," the proprieter said, taking a bottle off the shelf behind him. "The Spaghetti Incident. Drink it down, and presto! You're pasta!"

Rebecca was mystified. "Why would you want to be spaghetti?"

"Yeah, I know. It's kind of a slow seller," the proprieter said sadly, replacing the bottle. "But that's just an example. Come now, miss! Haven't you ever wanted to be more than you are? There must be some deep down desire of yours. To fly? Be a mermaid? Even be a mountain? At the Potion Place, if you dream it, you can be it!"

Rebecca found herself intrigued by the notion. "I guess. I'm sure I wouldn't know where to begin, though."

"Ah! Then I have just the thing for you." The proprieter went behind the counter and pulled out a little box. He opened it, showing 12 little vials inside. "The Potion Place starter pack! An even dozen of our most popular potions in a lovely gift box. Each transformation guaranteed safe, and timed to last between four and eight minutes. It's something new we're trying out."

"Oh, it looks lovely!" Rebecca said. "How much is it?"

"Full retail price is $500." At this Rebecca's face fell. "But as I say, it's something we're trying out, and somehow I just know you're going to drum up repeat business for us. So, guarantee you'll come back and let me know how it went, and I'll let you have it for ... $20?"

"Done!" Rebecca fished out two $10 bills and handed them to the proprietor, who promptly popped the box into a paper bag.

"Here you are! Enjoy!" he said, handing the bag over. "And ..." here he stared into her eyes "... I mean enjoy. No revenges, or get-rich-quick schemes. Use the potions in the spirit they're made."

A little shiver ran down Rebecca's spine. Suddenly the proprietor didn't seem quite so kindly. Suddenly he seemed slightly frightening.

At that moment the door to the shop flew open and a dark-haired woman in her twenties walked in with a space heater tucked under her arm. "Mr Wintergreen, she's done it again!" she called.

Rebecca took the opportunity to slip out of the store.

All the way back to her car, she told herself she really hadn't heard the space heater giggle.

*
"It's not that I hate my daughter," Nina said, her speech slightly slurred. "I love her! But oh my God, she's such a whiner!"

The other three women seated around Rebecca's living room laughed. "I absolutely identify," Samantha said.

"At least she speaks," Danielle added. "I used to have such a good time playing with my son. Then he hit 10, and I don't think I've heard anything more from him than a grunt ever since."

"I hear ya," Rebecca said, picking up the bottle of chardonnay from the ice bucket on the coffee table. "Another glass, anyone?"

"I shouldn't," Samantha said. "it's just gone noon and this is my third glass. Oh, what the hell, why not."

"And that concludes this bottle," Rebecca said, pouring. "I'll just pop out to the kitchen for another."

As she took a bottle out of the fridge she heard Samantha say, "So I told my son, 'Tim, I don't care what that girl at school said, eating broccoli won't transform you into a monster, so eat your darn greens!'"

Transform? Oh, that reminds me ... Rebecca saw the Potion Place bag on the counter and slipped the box out. "Hey, look what I bought!" she said as she entered the living room. She lodged the new bottle of wine in the ice bucket and, opening the box, placed it on the coffee table.

"Transformation potions!"

"Transformation potions?" Nina echoed. "What are they?"

"Well, let me tell you the whole story ... " And she recounted her trip to the Potion Place.

She was prepared for the sceptical looks she received. In truth, now she was at home she felt more than a little sceptical herself.

"Probably some kind of novelty party favours," Danielle said, sipping her wine, "Where did you say this place was? I was just down there and I didn't see anything like it."

Nina plucked one of the little vials out of the box. "What's it called? 'Man's Best Friend'? Weird." She popped open the top and took a sniff. "Smells good, though. Kind of apple-y."

"What does it taste like, Nina?" Samantha asked.

Nina put the vial to her lips and drank the contents. "Kind of like schnapps, actually. Pretty refreshing." She put the vial back in the box. "So did any of you guys see the WOOF!"

"The what?"

As the other women stared at Nina, her form seemed to shudder and blur. A few seconds later there was a confused-looking poodle sitting on a pile of Nina's clothing.

For a split second there was no reaction. And then the women erupted with cheers, hoots and hollers.

Maybe it was the wine talking, but Nina's sudden transformation didn't seem weird or horrifying at all. In fact, it seemed kind of ... cool!

"Aw, how cute!" Rebecca said, clapping her hands. The dog jumped off the chair, looking in a dazed fashion at the others.

"Oh Nina, I never thought you were that much of a bitch!" Samantha said to general hilarity. At the sound of her name, the dog waved her tail. Then it seemed startled and began to chase its tail as the women howled.

Another blur, and suddenly a very human Nina was sitting on the floor.

"Guys! Guys! Did you see that? I was a dog!"

"How could we not see, Nina?" Danielle said.

"Yeah, you had a lovely coat," Samantha added. "We were considering entering you in Cruft's."

"You guys don't seem to get it. I was human! Then I was a dog! And then I was human again!"

"You know what you are now?" Rebecca pointed out. "Naked."

"Oh, who cares?" Nina dismissed, reaching for a vial. "I've got to try that again!"

"Hey, wait." Rebecca snatched back the box. "They're mine."

"You're going to keep them all for yourself?"

"No, no, we'll all use them, right?" Hastily Rebecca made up some ground rules. "Three each, and we take it in turns. We go clockwise from Nina, so it's Samantha next, Danielle, then me." She placed the box back on the coffee table as the others murmured agreement.

Samantha looked slightly nervously at the box, then at Nina. "How was your life as a dog?"

"Amazing! Incredible! Don't worry, Sam, just do it!"

"OK, I'm game." She picked a vial out of the box.

"'Be Fashionable.' Here goes!" Samantha popped the top and downed the liquid. "That one tasted like a lemon square. Oh - I can feel the change starting -" Like Nina, her form shimmered and blurred, shrinking and flattening, then flooding itself with blue.

On Samantha's seat lay a beautiful blue dress.

Danielle blinked. "Wait. This can turn us into clothing as well?"

"I guess so," Rebecca said. "Well, hell, we know so!"

Nina picked up the dress. "Classy."

"What's the label?"

"Christian Dior. Sam will be happy." She held the dress up against her. "You know what? I'm gonna try her on." She pulled the dress over her head.

"What if she changes back?" Rebecca said nervously.

"The man at the store told you they were all safe, didn't he? It probably won't change her back while someone's inside her." Still, she noticeably quickened her actions. "Oh! Sam, you fit beautifully! Hey, someone get a photo." She turned to look at her butt admiringly.

"Here you go," said Danielle, pulling out her phone and taking a quick snap.

"Thanks, Dani. I'll take Sam off now." Nina pulled the dress off and laid it back down on the seat.

After a minute or so the dress shimmered back into Samantha.

"Whew! What a rush!" she said. "Guys, let me see the photo! Oh, I was so beautiful! I wish I owned me - the dress, I mean!"

"I hope you don't mind I tried you on," Nina said.

"No, it was exactly the right thing to do. I thought, I'm a dress, I'm made for people to wear, I hope someone does wear me."

"Wait a minute." Danielle frowned. "You thought? How did you think? I mean, I can understand Nina being a dog and being aware of what was happening. But you were a dress!"

"I was a dress, but I was also me. I was ... oh, it's so difficult to explain ... just hurry up and take it, Dani, then you'll understand!"

"It is your turn," Rebecca said, offering her the box.

"Fine." Danielle chose a vial. "'The Imprinter.' What does that mean?"

"Guess we'll find out."

Danielle popped the top then tipped her head back.

"What did it taste like?"

"Butterscotch, if anything. Pretty reasonable." She stared at her hands. Her friends stared at her. She most definitely was not changing.

"I guess this one is a bust," she said. She went to pick up her glass, leaned on the coffee table to do so - and promptly vanished.

The others leapt up, casting around for their friend. "Guys! I'm right here!"

"Where?"

"I'm in the coffee table!"

"You're what?!"

"Yeargh!" Nina jumped back as the coffee table gained a face, as if someone had taken Danielle's features and pasted a photo of them on the table.

Danielle chortled. "Well, I guess it would be more accurate to say I AM the coffee table!"

"How does it feel, Dani?" Rebecca leaned over the table.

"How do you think it feels? Woody!" Danielle laughed. "Phew, sorry guys, I think I might be high. I never thought being a coffee table would be so much fun!"

"Are you a coffee table?" Rebecca asked. "Or have you merged with the table?"

"The latter, I guess. Weirdly, I can still feel my body inside here. Hey, look at this!" Danielle's facial features began to push out of the table, still with a wooden veneer, turning three-dimensional.

"Well, I guess I know what you're going as for Halloween," Nina remarked.

"Ha ha! I wonder if I can push my butt out of the table - whoof!"

Suddenly Danielle's features vanished. The other three looked around as if she'd vanished again.

"No guys, I'm under the coffee table!" she yelled. "I guess the change was over and I got expelled."

She crawled out from under the table, running a wistful finger over its surface.

"Now Rebecca!" said Samantha.

"Yesss!" Rebecca practically leapt for the vials. She felt so excited by the prospect of changing her human form to something else. She'd been patient as her friends had tried the potions first, but now it was her turn. What would she be. What would happen to her?

"'Free change','' she read out loud. She quickly drank the potion inside. It tingled inside her. But what did 'free change' mean? Maybe it means I become whatever I think, she thought. She ran her eyes over the room, resting on an item in a corner. It had been hot recently and they still hadn't put away the - wait, not that -

And she changed. She could feel herself narrowing, her insides hardening and transforming - how was she even breathing now? -

The three other women stared at the result on the sofa, easily, they silently agreed, the weirdest change yet.

"Rebecca, were you on Facebook?" Nina asked. "Because I'm pretty sure you've become a fan."

She had. Her body was a long thin stick and her face was three propellor blades behind a mesh cage. A cord trailed out from behind her.

Suddenly Rebecca's eyes and mouth appeared on the blades. "Hey guys!" she yelled.

The others leapt back. "Argh! How are you doing that!" Nina yelled back.

"To tell you the truth, I don't know! I saw Danielle doing it to the coffee table and I guess I just decided I could do it too.''

"I'm glad you didn't realise you could do that when I was wearing you," Nina told Samantha.

'Um, you realise you're still naked, right?"

"Huh? Oh yeah." With a sigh Nina picked up her clothes and started to dress.

"So what are you waiting for, guys? Plug me in!" Rebecca implored them.

"What? Rebecca, we'd electrocute you!"

"No you won't. I'm a fan, after all!"

"But what if you change back?"

"Then I won't be plugged in. Will you guys just do it already!"

"Your funeral," Danielle muttered, plugging the cord into the electrical outlet and switching the power on.

"I'm not moving," Rebecca said panickedly. "Why aren't I moving?"

"We still need to set the level on your body," Samantha said. "What do you think, lo, mid or high?"

"High! Definitely high! High as possible!"

Rebecca's blades began to spin happily and the room became a blur as she rotated ever faster. Wheee! This is the life! she thought. She doubted whether she could explain to the others the burning desire that had come over her when she transformed. She wanted - no, needed - to cool the room, to make it as chilly as possible. She was a fan, that was her purpose, the fulfilment of all her desires.

When she transformed back suddenly a wave of giddiness overcame her and she fell on her knees.

"Rebecca!"

"I'm OK, guys. I just need ... a second ..." she gasped. Eventually the room stopped spinning.
"Oh man ..." she grinned. "That was the best. The absolute best!" I can definitely understand why someone would become a space heater now, she thought.

"I hope that wasn't the best, because we've got eight to go," Nina said. "And it's my turn again."

She picked another vial out. "'One dimension'. Like the band?"

"Maybe you turn into Harry Styles," Samantha giggled.

"Nah, not my type. I like them a bit manlier than that. Well, down the hatches!" Nina swallowed the potion. "Guys, I'm feeling a little flat ..."

Nina threw herself back in her seat. She was indeed looking a little flat. Then a lot flat.

The others looked at her. Their friend looked like a cut-out life-size photo. "That's one dimension, all right," Rebecca said.

"This is the weirdest feeling," Nina said. Her friends could see her lips move, but they stayed totally flat. "Like I've been run over by a steamroller."

"Hey. maybe we could roll you up!" Danielle said. She picked Nina's flat form off the chair and rolled her, starting with her legs.

"Guys! That's not funny!" All they could see of the rolled-up Nina were her eyes, glaring at them.

"You could fold her up too," Samantha said.

"Still not funny! Don't even think of it!"

"Put her in an envelope and post her somewhere. It would be so much cheaper than an airfare!" Rebecca giggled.

"GUYS! Unroll me!!"

With a sigh Samantha unrolled Nina and laid her flat on the chair. Just then Nina started to change back. Unlike previous transformations back to their human forms, this one seemed to take a minute or so. Nina expanded back as if someone was pumping air into her, all the while keeping up a running monologue. "My legs are back! Could I walk around like this, I wonder. Oh, there goes my butt! Is it my imagination or is it bigger than before? Nah, it is my imagination. It's hard to tell when the rest of you is flat. Oh! There go my boobs!"

Fully reinflated. Nina sat back in her chair. "Well, that was a real experience, but I think I preferred being a dog."

"My turn again!" Samantha plucked a vial out of the box. She drained it quickly.

"Wait, what was it called?" Danielle said.

"Oh! I was in such a hurry to take it, I didn't bother to read it. 'American Pie". Oh ... do you think ..."

"I definitely do," Rebecca said. Her friend was shrinking, and becoming flat, and round, and ... delicious?

"Sam, you're a sponge cake!"

"A cake?! That is just too weird." Samantha's face was clearly visible on the cake's top. "Hey, what flavour am I?"

"Um, well, going by the smell, vanilla."

"Cool!"

"It's nice to know," Nina announced, draining her wine glass, "that if we get hungry, we have dessert."

Samantha opened her eyes wide. "I know you're joking, but frankly, there's a part of me that really does want you to eat me."

"It's the transformation," Rebecca said sympathetically. "When I was a fan, all I could think about was cooling the room. You're a cake, so you want to be eaten."

"When I was a coffee table, all I wanted was for people to eat off the top of me," Danielle said. "Um, that didn't really come out the way I thought it would."

"We're not gonna eat you, Sam," Nina said. "But I'm on my fifth glass of wine, and I'm going to have to eat something."

"Oops!" Rebecca jumped up. "I'm being a bad hostess. We'll take a quick break and I'll make some sandwiches."

When she returned Samantha was no longer a cake. They quickly ate their sandwiches, wanting to get back to the potions as fast as possible.

"My turn now," Danielle said. "And look, I'm reading the label first! 'The Melter'. What's that?"

"Sounds creepy," Samantha shuddered.

"You can pick another one if you want," Rebecca told Danielle.

"No, that's OK. No matter how weird it is, it's all part of the experience." Danielle downed her potion, then gasped.

"Dani! What's the matter?"

"The taste! It's like neat vodka!" Danielle choked.

Suddenly the others noticed something seeping out from under Danielle. Something pinkish. Something ... that looked a lot like Danielle's butt. When her legs started to collapse too, seeping out from under her dress, there was no doubt as to the cause.

"Well, I guess that's why they call it the Melter," Nina said.

"Guys, can you help me take my dress off? I don't want to get me on it," Danielle said. Samantha lifted it off her, then plucked her underwear out of the mess.

Danielle's shoulders and head began to sink into the ooze. "Ah! I'm melting, I'm melting!" she yelled with a grin. "There's nothing like the classics, is there?"

Now there was a pink puddle on the sofa, with Danielle's eyes and mouth floating in it. And not in the right order.

"Is it too disgusting for words, Dan?" Nina asked.

"Actually, believe it or not it was quite sensual," Danielle said as her puddle form oozed about on the seat. "It's like having a really good massage - except I am the massage? Does that make sense?"

"Uh, how about 'no'?"

"That's the problem with all these transformations," Rebecca said, eyeing her friend's puddle. "They're hard to explain unless you've actually gone through them.''

"I guess I'm changing back," Danielle said. Her head was already rising out of the puddle and her shoulders were forming. The others sat back to watch her reassemble in the reverse order. It was so strange - and a little bit of a turn-on - to see her body form and harden. She got up and reluctantly put her shirt back on; she'd found not having a form so freeing.

"Now that was incredible!" Danielle smirked. "The next transformation will have to go a long way to beat that!"

"Well, let's see what I got," Rebecca said. She read from the vial, "'Classic Fade Out'. Invisibility, maybe?" She drank quickly.

"You guessed right!" Samantha said gleefully. Her friend was indeed beginning to turn invisible. It was as if her body was transforming into a fine mist.

"Neat!" giggled Rebecca. She held her hands up in front of her face. Already she could see through them. They became more and more transparent before evaporating into nothingness.

Rebecca's head, too, was vanishing. Her hair wisped away, then her ears. The last her friends saw were her facial features hanging in the air, before her eyes popped away one by one, leaving for a second a broad grin like the Cheshire Cat before it too vanished.

"Incredible! I'm invisible!" Rebecca gasped. "Or, not quite - but I will be!"

As the others gaped, invisible hands began to unbutton her blouse, which peeled away, revealing a bulging bra hanging in mid-air. Then her jeans were pulled off, revealing black undies.

"What is it about transforming that makes everyone want to get naked?" Nina asked.

"Goodbye, boobs!" The bra unbuttoned itself and fell to the floor, leaving the panties dancing around.

"Hey, wait a minute, Becc!" Samantha said. But Rebecca didn't wait; the panties fell to the floor, leaving no trace of her at all.

"Rebecca?" Danielle called. "Where are you?"

"Right next to you!" came a voice at her ear, causing Danielle to jump.

"That's not funny!" she scolded.

"Sorry, Dan. It's just like ... wow! This is so exciting! Hey Nina, can I have a cigarette?"

"Be my guest," said Nina, fishing a pack of Marlboro Lights out of her bag. Not knowing where Rebecca was, she simply held the open pack out; one of the cigarettes inside flew out.

"Thanks. Got a light?" Nina held her lighter out for the floating cigarette, which touched to the flame, then floated away. A cone of smoke appeared from between invisible lips.

"I didn't think you smoked," Danielle said.

"I don't usually, but this is just ... yeow ..." Rebecca's seat gained an imprint as she sat down. She took another drag and blew smoke out, which seemed to appear from nowhere, much to the others' amusement.

The others could see Rebecca was just becoming visible again. The first they could see was an outline in a vaguely female shape which then seemed to fill in as she became more and more visible. She was still fairly transparent, even ghost-like, as she stubbed her cigarette out in an ashtray.

"Shall we move on?" she asked, picking up her undies and blouse. "It's Nina's turn again."


"Ooh, what did you get, Nina?" Samantha asked.

"'Jumping Jack Flash'," a puzzled Nina read out. "I have no idea what that means. Oh well, down it goes ..." She popped the vial and downed its contents.

A few seconds later she began to fade away. "Maybe I'm becoming invisible too?"

"I don't think so," Danielle said as she watched Nina turn hazy. "Rebecca faded into nothing. You're ... Turning into a cloud?"

It was true. Nina's features were indistinct and she seemed to be evaporating, but she was also turning a pale green.

"What the heck am I?" she said finally.

"Oh! I know! You're a gas!" Samantha cried. She looked at the others. "Get it? Jumping Jack Flash - it's a gas, gas, gas?"

There was a hearty chorus of groans.

"I hope you're not a poisonous gas, Nina," Danielle said, waving her cloudy form away.

"I doubt whether anyone would turn a potential customer into something that kills people," Rebecca snorted.

Danielle watched Nina. "I have to say I don't see the attraction."

"Actually, it's kind of fun to float about," Nina said. "Maybe we should suggest a potion that turns you into a genie."

"I'm sure they've already got one," Rebecca laughed.

Nina's gas form began to draw in on itself, changing her into her human form.

"Which makes it my turn," Samantha said, lunging for a vial.

"Read it this time!"

"Don't worry, I will. 'Skull and crossbones'. Here we go!" She gulped down the potion. Almost instantly her body seemed to evaporate, leaving a skeleton in its place.

The others stared. "Well, that's one way to lose weight," Nina said finally.

The skeleton was rubbing its hands over its ribcage. "Well, that was unexpected," Samantha giggled. "But also kind of cool!"

"Can I try?" Rebecca grabbed her friend's ribcage and ran her hand along the bones. "I was wondering if you'd turned invisible except for your skeleton, but no, you're an actual walking, talking skeleton."

"I might get some more of this potion for Halloween!" Samantha laughed. "I could hang in the window and scare my kids!"

She strutted around the room until reverting back to human.

"Two left," Danielle said. She picked one up. "This one just says 'Roses'. I'm assuming it turns you into a flower." She was only partly right; she turned into a bunch of flowers. "Which one are you, Dani?" Nina asked. "Actually," came a chorus of replies, "we're all Dani!" For a few minutes the flowers, despite being cut, were content to bask in the afternoon sun.

"Phew," Danielle said after she'd changed back. "I don't know if I could have cut flowers in the house again."

"Last one!" Rebecca said, picking it up. "And it's ... Oh no, you have got to be kidding me ..."

"What is it, Becc?"

"'The Spaghetti Incident!'" she said. "'Presto! You're pasta!' Oh, Mr Wintergreen ..."

"Do it, do it, do it," Danielle, Nina and Samantha chanted. Rebecca grimaced, then with a sigh downed the contents of the vial.

Being a pile of wriggling strands of spaghetti was not actually that bad, Rebecca found. For one thing, her consciousness was split between each strand, so she was constantly changing viewpoints. For another, she found she enjoyed twirling the clumps of herself around. Maybe she would ask the girls to bring her a fork ...

A flash went off. Danielle, laughing, had snapped the pile of spaghetti on her phone.

"You realise if you show anyone this photo to anyone, they'll wonder why your dinner is on the floor," the spaghetti said.

"I'm not going to show it to anyone," Danielle smiled. "I'm going to look at it every day to remind me of the most amazing experience of my life!"

"Oh, you have to send me the photo of me as a dress!" Samantha cried.

"It's been incredible," Rebecca said as she shifted form to her usual self. "I can't believe it's over."

"It doesn't have to be," Nina said.

The others looked at her inquisitively.

Nina smiled. "I suggest we pool our money, give it to Rebecca, and ... Same time next month, ladies?"