Chapter 13 - Sleepy Creatures

Once their parents were safely away, Violet and Miji grinned at Bailey.  “Sleepover time!”

“Okay, I’m sure it’ll be fine.  But I want to be a monsterkitty for this one.  A little bitty one.”

“Oooh, can I be a mini-monster too?” asked Katie.  “That way nobody will be afraid of me.”

“You were supposed to spend the weekend human,” said Miji.

“Which was amended to mean mobile and able to speak,” argued Katie.  “If I’m a tiny dragon-girl, that counts, right?”

Violet chuckled softly and nodded.  “As long as you can interact with others...  I’d rather only shrink your for tonight, though.”

“Okay!”  Katie had the Venn Machine set up in a flash, and bounced into her side of it.  Violet followed, shaking her head at the younger girl’s eagerness.

Katie emerged from the machine as a scaly green dragon with a body the size of Violet’s hand.  She had a long slim neck and an equally long tail that together made her about two feet from draconic snout to tailtip.  Her gossamer wings fluttered as she scuttled toward Violet.

Violet scooped the delicate creature up in her tentacles, and set her on her shoulder.  Then she approached the mirror as Katie wrapped her tail around Violet’s neck.  “What do you think?”

“So pretty!” squeaked Katie in a peeping voice.  “Aaa, my voice is so cute!”

Miji sighed.  “I thought she was supposed to be human-ish.”

“Close enough.  She can talk and move,” said Violet.  “And maybe even fly!”

“Oooh, I wanna try!” peeped Katie.

“Monsterize me first,” insisted Bailey.  “Then we can go, and Katie can try flying on the way to my place.”

Katie kept her place on Violet’s shoulder, and whispered suggestions to her as she worked on Bailey’s form.  Violet ignored most of them.  All but the last one, really, but Katie’s insistence on making Bailey even smaller than she was drew a giggle and a few final touches on the screen.

“Ready?” asked Violet.

“Ready!  Oh my God how tiny did you make me?” squealed Bailey from the floor of the Venn Machine.

“Pocket sized.”

Violet stepped out of the machine, and gestured for Miji to pick up the result of her work.  The black-haired girl crouched carefully before the cowering monsterkitty, and set a hand down next to it.  Bailey skittered back, then slowly moved up to a hand that was bigger than she was.  She clambered onto it, and only squealed a little as Miji lifted her.  She barely filled Miji’s palm.

“Oh my goodness you are so precious!” whispered Miji.

Bailey grinned up at her.  “You think so?”

Miji tucked her in between her breasts.  “I love it.  My girlfriend, the accessory.”

Bailey giggled then, and snuggled in for the short walk to her house.  Along the way, Katie tried out her wings.  The evening was breezy, which sent her tumbling whenever she opened her wings, and the best she managed was a clumsy glide letting the wind carry her down the street.

For the last block, Katie retreated to Violet’s shoulder, wrapping her tail around the back of Violet’s neck for balance.  “I thought flying would be easy.  It should be instinctive, right?”

“I patched wings onto a long-necked iguana,” replied Violet.  “I’m not too surprised instincts didn’t come with it.”

At Bailey’s house it took some explaining to get her mother to believe that the mouse-sized kittymonster was actually Bailey, and more to convince her that Bailey was happy to be like this.

Bailey’s mother studied her miniscule daughter.  “And you like being this small, too?”

Bailey shrugged.  “I’d rather be about three feet tall.  But this has been fun so far.”  She winked up at Miji, whose cheeks pinkened.

“And you’re... Jimmy?” asked Mrs. York.

Miji nodded.  “I’m going by Miji while I’m like this.  It’s... interesting, being such a different person.”

“I bet.  Has this new perspective taught you anything?”

Miji giggled.  “Mostly that pretty girls get stared at a lot more than I thought.”  She paused for a moment.  “And long hair feels weird.”

Mrs. York laughed.  “I’d have thought that the least of the oddities of changing gender.”

Miji shrugged.  “I’ve been a girl before, helping Violet practice clothing design.  But she mostly kept me looking like myself as a girl, not...” she gestured to her remade body.  “All this.”

“You do nice work, Violet.  Branching out into redesigning people now?”

Violet nodded.  “School has relented on the ‘no Venning’ policy.  Still have to be recognizably human and yourself, but I think the hallways are going to be full of colourful changes before long.”

“The school sent out an email announcing the change,” noted Mrs. York.  “You’ve made some waves.”

Violet put a tentacle up to the little lizard on her shoulder.  “Katie here helped.”  She told the story of the fight and its aftermath, and how Katie was going to be allowed to attend through her suspension as long as she wasn’t recognizable.

“So you’re going to wear her to school every day?  What does she think of this?”

Katie giggled.  “It’s awesome!  Being close to Violet all day is the best.”  She tucked her neck across Violet’s neck, putting snout to tail-tip and thus making herself into living jewelry for her crush.

“I suppose I can understand wanting to be that close to someone,” mused Mrs. York.

“If you want to try it out sometime, I can help,” offered Violet.  “Friends and family rates...”

Mrs. York laughed.  “I don’t think I’m ready to be turned into a piece of jewelry, dear.  Though I suppose it might be interesting to be my husband’s tie for a day...”

“With or without his knowledge?” chirped Bailey.

“Bailey!” protested Mrs. York.  “I would never sneak around like that to spy on him.  I trust him more than that, and ... and...”

“Mrs. York?” asked Violet when the older woman’s eyes turned away from them, staring into the distance.

“He’s off on business a lot, especially the past few years.  And I know I’m not as pretty as I used to be.”

“You know,” said Violet brightly.  “There are these amazing things called Venn Machines that can do something about that.”

“Violet!” protested Bailey, after getting Miji to lift her up so she could be face to face with Violet.  “You can’t make Mom hot!”

“Why not?  You threw me into the lion’s den offering my services to make my mother cute, why not yours too?”

“Because when Dad comes home we’ll have to find somewhere else for the sleepover.”

“Oooh, right.  Raincheck, Mrs. York?”

Bailey’s mother had been following the exchanged with a bemused look.  “Do you seriously think you can make me sexy enough to turn my husband’s head?”

Bailey and Violet shared a look, then both turned to Bailey’s Mom.  “Oh heck yes.”

Mrs. York put her hand to her chest, and took a half-step back at their vehemence.  “Oh.  I...  Um, you four have fun, okay?”  She retreated hastily.

Violet looked back to her friend.  “Was your mom crying?”

“I’m going to pretend she wasn’t.  Problem for another day, right?”

Violet sighed.  “If you say so.”

The four of them made their way to Bailey’s living room, and curled up on the couch in front of the TV.  Katie tried to lighten the somber mood by suggesting they watch something violent and funny.

Miji giggled.  “There’s four girls here, and you want to watch an action movie?  I thought...”

“Two girls, two monsters,” said Katie, perching on Violet’s shoulder and spreading her wings to show off.  “Monsters!  Monsters!” she cheered, and Bailey picked up the chant.

Miji smiled down at the tiny monsterkitty in her hands indulgently.  “As you wish.  I don’t know what movies you have, want me to carry you over to the shelf?”

Bailey nodded, and soon was scampering around the shelving unit that held her collection of DVDs.  Miji squealed when Bailey jumped from one shelf to the next one above, at her tiny scale it looked like death-defying acrobatics.  Bailey giggled at the reaction, and jumped up to the next shelf just for the joy of moving.  She made it to the top of the shelf, then looked out at the room.  “Hey Miji!” she chirped.  “Catch!”

Miji squealed again as Bailey ran off the shelf and jumped at her, aiming for her chest.  The tiny monsterkitty bounced off her chest and fell flailing through the air.  Miji moved just a moment too late to try to catch her, but fortunately her near-miss brought a finger close enough that Bailey could snag it with a tentacle.  Bailey clambered up into Miji’s hands, and contritely endured the scolding that she got for her stunt.

Once Miji had wound down, Bailey apologized.  In her soft, chirping voice she said she hadn’t meant to scare Miji that badly.  She knew she’d be safe, the worst that could happen would only take a short walk to the mall to fix.

“I still don’t want to see you hurt.  Maybe we should Venn you bigger.”

“If she gets to go bigger, I want to go smaller,” said Katie.  “Earring-sized, so this room would be big enough to fly in.”

“Pah,” exclaimed Violet.  “It’s big enough now.”  She scooped Katie up and tossed her in the air.  Katie managed a few flaps before landing back in Violet’s hands.

“Again! Again!” shrieked the tiny dragon in her cute, squeaky voice.

Miji rolled her eyes.  “You’re going to get Bailey going again if you keep that up.”

“So?  They’re tiny and the floor is covered in shag carpet.  They’re not going to get hurt.  Relax.”

Despite Violet’s optimistic assessment of the carpet, Bailey elected to do her bouncing around on the couch.  She had plenty of space to run and jump, and the cushions kept her from harm.  At least until she fell in between them, and had to endure a series of jokes about getting lost in increasingly improbable locations.

“I’d rather be lost in your panties,” shouted Bailey, grinning at the blushes she got from both Violet and Miji.

“Do it!” chanted Katie, flapping her way from the back of the couch to where Bailey was still stuck.  She offered the tiny monster a claw and between the efforts of the two of them, Bailey tumbled free.  Katie and Bailey landed in a pile, and Katie started to giggle.  “Hey, stop it!  I helped you out, no tickling!”

Violet picked Katie up in one pair of tentacles, and Bailey in the other.  “Do I need to tuck both of you into bras to keep you quiet?”

Both of them nodded eagerly.

Katie was a bit too big to fit comfortably in Violet’s bra, so she soon returned to her perch around her sweetie’s neck.  Bailey claimed to have the best seat in the house, and stayed with Miji through two movies, though she fell asleep near the end of the second.

“I guess they’re both tuckered out from their tussle earlier,” said Miji softly, pointing to where Katie was snoozing around Violet’s neck.

“Should we put them to bed?  What would we even use for one?”

“I bet Katie would rather sleep with you.”

Violet chuckled.  “And you’re going to sleep with Bailey?  She’d make a cute teddy bear.”

Bailey wriggled as her name was mentioned, burrowing deeper into Miji’s cleavage.  

“I guess I’ll sleep on my back,” Miji murmured.  “G’night.”

Violet headed off to her usual bed in the spare room, Katie still snuggled around her throat.  In no time she was asleep herself.

Some time in the wee hours of the morning, Katie started to squirm and wriggle.  Violet woke, petting the tiny dragoness softly and listening to her moans and whimpers.  She cooed words of encouragement, but that seemed to distress Katie more.  “Shh!” hissed the little dragon.  “They’ll hear.”

“Bah,” protested Violet.  “You can take them.  Go get ‘em!”

Katie settled then, a big grin on her draconic muzzle.  Violet wondered for a time what the little one was thinking, but other than a few deep breaths, no further hints were forthcoming.

*** *** ***

In the morning, Miji was the first awake.  Violet groggily made her way into the basement suite’s kitchen, to find waffles emerging from the toaster.  “Hungry?” asked Miji.

Violet nodded eagerly.  Little Katie was still clutched around her neck, but stirring and sniffing at the smells.  “Do dragons eat waffles?” giggled Violet.

“This one does!” chirped Katie.

As they were eating, Violet pointed a tentacle-tip at a round object in the middle of the table.  “What’s with the chocolate donut?”

Miji laughed so hard she banged her hand on the table, startling the “donut” into waking.  Bailey poked up her head and uncurled.  Her teeny little yawn made everyone giggle.

Bailey pouted at that, until Violet offered a forkful of syrup-laden waffle as big as her head.

Once the waffles were gone – Katie managed to eat an entire one, much to Violet’s surprise – talk turned to Bailey’s parents.  The basics of the plan to make Mrs. York young and cute again were simple enough.  Then Miji asked what sort of woman would most turn Bailey’s father’s head.  Bailey didn’t know, and they started to scheme.

“Why don’t we just ask Bailey’s dad what he’d like to see?” suggested Katie.  “This sneaking around seems like a terrible idea.  Trust me, you do not want to see your parents’ porn stash.”

“Oh sure.  I’ll just walk up to Dad and say, ‘Hey, we want to turn Mom into something sexy enough that you’ll pay attention to her instead of whatever you’re doing at work.’”

“Or whoever,” added Katie, to glares from the others.  “What?  That’s what Bailey’s Mom was crying about, right?”

“I’d like to think my father isn’t like that,” said Bailey softly.  “But he’s been awfully distant ever since my brother went off to university.”

“All the more reason to get on with this, then,” said Violet.  “Everyone in favour of Katie’s plan?”  Violet raised a tentacle, and Katie raised a wing.

“Opposed?”

Bailey put up a paw.  When she saw that Miji was staying out of it, she pouted and rolled to her back so she could put up all six paws.  “I can’t ask my Dad that.”

“I will,” offered Miji.  “Though maybe I should be a guy for it first.  Will he still be here later?”

Bailey shook her tiny head.  “He works Sundays, too,” she chirped.  “Says it’s the only time he can get some quiet.  I haven’t heard him leave yet, but it won’t be long.”

As if summoned by his daughter’s words, Mr. York’s heavy tread came clumping down the stairs.  Miji sighed, and went out to meet him.  “Hi Bailey’s Dad!” she called out cheerfully.

The other three looked at each other, then both Bailey and Katie gestured to be picked up.  One in each pair of tentacles, Violet ghosted up behind Miji.

Instead of eavesdropping, Violet got pulled into the conversation to explain why Jimmy was Miji, and just why Bailey was small enough to fit in her hand.  Katie kept out of it, pretending to be an ornate armband.

Mr. York agreed that it was quite fascinating and made a break for the door.  Violet followed after him.  “Can I ask you a question?”

“You just did.  Look, I need to get to work.”

“I’ll be quick.  If I were to Venn Bailey’s Mom, what would you most like her to be?  I can make her younger, but what else?”

Mr. York stopped mid-stride.  “You… What?  My wife?  Why?”

“She wants your attention.  She seriously considered an offer to be turned into a tie for you to wear.”

Mr. York ran his hand down his tie, straightening it.  “I…  It would be nice to have her close all day.  But you have something else in mind.  What?”

Violet squared her shoulders, and shot Bailey an apologetic glance.  “I want to make her so sexy you’ll forget about everything else in the world but her.  To do that right, I need to know what you most want to see when you come back through this door.”

Mr. York’s eyes were lost to a scene from decades past.  “Did you know she was a state champion gymnast?  Didn’t make the cut for nationals, but she was amazing.  So flexible.  She had this trick...”

“Dadeeee!” wailed the tiny monster kitten, with surprising volume given her size.

“Hah.  I hadn’t really believed that was my daughter until just now.  You’re actually serious.”

Violet nodded earnestly.  “I have enough to work with.  Have a nice day at work.  Hurry home.”

He turned away and yanked the door open.  In an emotion-roughened voice he said, “Tell her I’ll be home for dinner.”

After the door closed, Violet turned around to see Mrs. York standing at the top of the stairs.  “What have you done?” she asked, eyes glittering once more.

“Scored you a date night, I think.  Can Bailey sleep over with me tonight?”

“What?”  It took a moment for the offer to sink in, then Mrs. York’s eyes went wide.  “Oh!  Yes, that would be…  Please?”  The longing in her voice made Violet start to well up too.

“Then I guess we better hit the mall,” said Violet cheerfully.  “Do you have a picture of your championship leotard?”

“Yes, of course.  I still have the leotard, for that matter.  Can’t remotely fit it, and time hasn’t been any kinder to it than to me…”

“Bring it along.  I’ll rejuvenate both of you.”

*** *** ***

At the mall, Mrs. York approached the Venn Machine hesitantly, and Bailey patiently explained how it worked.  When she went to set it for eight hours, Mrs. York tapped the screen twice to bump that up to a day.

Inside the machine with Violet, her hesitant demeanour vanished.  Violet studied the newly confident woman for a heartbeat, then raised an eyebrow.  “You’ve done this before?”

“I wasn’t the only lonely woman on the block.  Judy and I spend most afternoons together at her house or mine, talking over coffee.  You and Bailey talked about these things so much, of course we decided to experiment.”

“Experiment with?”

“Being her pet, mostly.  She misses owning a cat, but doesn’t feel it’s fair to get a pet she isn’t likely to outlive.  I love the attention, and letting go to just... be a cat.  It’s very relaxing.  Sometimes I wonder if I might prefer it if Graham was seeing someone else.  Sending Bailey off to school then going cat full-time...”  She sighed regretfully.  “But I know there are things I’d miss.”

“And you’ve not been... unfaithful to Mr. York, yourself?”

“No!  Of course not.  I mean, not exactly...”  Mrs. York blushed, and looked away.  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Turned into something fun, did you?” asked Violet lightly, though her eyes were serious.

“Both cats,” said Mrs. York, making Violet giggle.  “What’s so funny?”

“Remember that time Bailey and I snuck into the house at 6am?  We got stuck as kittens.  Couldn’t get back into the Venn Machine, couldn’t get into the house.”

“Oh!  I had wondered,” said Mrs. York with a small smile.  “So.  Um, now what?”

Violet narrowed her eyes and crossed her tentacles.  “Now you answer my question, fully.  Have you been unfaithful?  Because if you don’t answer, I’m hitting that red button and we’re done.”

Mrs. York started to cry.  “We were cats.  You have to understand, I’d spent a dozen afternoons letting myself go, letting the cat’s instincts have the lead.  And it had been soooo long since Graham ever touched me like that.  We might have both been female cats, but...  Yes.  That was a glorious afternoon.  Judy and I have never spoken of it since, and...  Well, I haven’t been a cat since then, either.”

“What do you regret about it?” asked Violet softly.

“That I’ve ruined my friendship with Judy.  I know that ... whatever it does to Graham is important, but...”  She shook her head.  “Our emotional bond was lost a long time ago.  There’s been no spark, no sex, for...  I’ve honestly forgotten how long.  I’m not the lithe young thing he fell in love with, and it hurts to see that in his eyes.  He may be greying a little, and he’s added a few wrinkles, but I still see the man I married.  Then you gave me a glimmer of hope of him looking at me that way once more.  Even just once.”  Mrs. York rubbed her eyes, trying to wipe away the tears.  “I’m sorry, Violet.  Is there anything I can say or do that would make you forgive me, and...”

Violet smiled.  “Already have.”  She tapped the green circle, and suddenly Mrs. York was young once more.

Mrs. York wobbled in place, then glanced to the leotard in her hand.  “Oh!  It’s so pretty.  I don’t remember it being quite so...  Shiny.”

“A little upgrade.  I doubt your husband will mind, but if he does I can change it back.”

As they stepped out of the Venn Machine, Mrs. York stumbled.  Ancient reflexes turned the fall into a tumble and she bounced back to her feet.  “I feel very strange.  Incredible, but...”  She sat heavily on one of the mall chair/bench things.  She studied her hand, flexing her fingers forward and back.  Then back further, curling her wrist and fingers further and further until her fingernails brushed the back of her arm.  “I was never, ever this flexible.  I feel like I’m made of rubber.”

Mrs. York set her forearm against the wooden arm of the chair-thing.  Pushing at it with the other, her forearm slowly bent over the corner.  She kept it up until her forearm had a ninety degree bend halfway along.  “My bones, too?”

Violet shrugged, an apologetic smile on her face.  “I wanted to make sure you were sufficiently limber to do whatever trick Mr. York was thinking about.  I guess I overdid it a little.”  She watched Mrs. York bend her arm back the other way, the way the now-young woman was raptly watching her body contort in unnatural ways made her opinion pretty clear.

“Are you going to be okay, Bella?”

Mrs. York looked up at the invocation of her name.  “Hah.  I’d given up trying to get you to call me that.  Why now?”

“You look less like a parent now, more like a friend.”

Bella smiled at Violet.  “I’d like that.  Maybe later, though.  I understand you work weekends?”

Violet nodded eagerly.  “Right here, doing this.  If you want some new outfits to go with the new body, we can fit you in at friends and family rates.”

“Which are?”

“Free, mostly.  Especially if you’re willing to try out some of my experimental designs.”

Bella chuckled softly, and patted Violet’s cheek.  “Thanks for the offer, sweetie.  I’ll take a raincheck on it.  For now, I want to go home and... prepare for Graham.”

“Send him a selfie,” suggested Miji.  “I bet he’ll head home early.”

Bella smirked.  “Impudent boy.  Girl.  Whatever.  I like the way you think.  Ciao!”  She breezed out of the mall, with only a little stumble before she got used to walking with her hyper-flexible legs.

“Well,” said Miji once she was gone.  “I guess that’s it for sleepovers at Bailey’s.  Now what?”

“Now we figure out which of your place and mine will be free.”  Violet pulled out her phone and called.  “Hey, Mom.  Did you have a good... oh, hey Mr. Castile.  Scott.  No, I won’t call you that.  Yet.”  Violet rolled her eyes.  “Can I talk to Mom please?  About?  We need to find a new sleepover venue, Bailey’s parents are... yeah, more Violet magic.  Really?  That’d be awesome.”

“Well?” asked Miji.

“Your place is free tonight.”


“But tomorrow’s a school day!” protested Bailey.  “We never get to have sleepovers school nights.”

“I guess our parents forgot,” said Violet with a grin and a wriggly shrug.  “They do seem kind of distracted.”

“Magic,” whispered Bailey, tiny eyes bright with wonder.