Trust Machines - Boots

“Come on Shelly.  It’ll be fun!  I only want to make one change...”

“Mike, I know what guys want.”  Shelly holds her hands in front of her modest breasts.  “Do you really think I want to haul around bowling balls here all weekend?”

Mike grinned.  “Nah, I wasn’t going to touch your... OK, I do want to touch your breasts, but I wasn’t going to change them.”

Shelly cast a suspicious gaze at her boyfriend.  “Oh really.  What do you have in mind, then?”

Mike’s grin got wider as he pointed at the Venn Machine with its slowly turning logo.  “Only one way to find out.”

“Gaah, fine.  Just to shut you up about it.”

Shelly was singing a different tune inside the Venn Machine a few minutes later.  “Where are my shoes and what the hell have you done to my feet?  They’re immense, like size 17 or something.”

“More like size 33...”

“Are you some kind of freaky foot fetishist?”

Mike just stared at her feet.  He appeared to be drooling.

“Fuck it, we’re done.  I’m giving you the boot...  Heh, get it, the boot?”  Shelly touched the green button, and sighed.  “That’s another reason to give you the boot.  You never get my jokes.”

She plodded around to the other side of the Venn Machine on her canoe-like feet, and stared down at the giant pair of boots that were standing where Mike had been.  “Now what am I going to do with you...  I don’t even think the thrift stores will take boots this big.  And you are kind of cute...  OK, you get a reprieve.  Of sorts.”

Shelly dragged the two huge boots out of the Venn Machine, and sat down to put them on.  “Wow.  You fit perfectly.  And you’re even kind of comfy.”  She stood up, and took an experimental step or two.  Each boot landed with a resounding thud.

At first Shelly was a bit put off by the noise, and the way people looked at her.  But then she stomped harder, louder... and one of the guys near her that hadn’t noticed her yet jumped with alarm, and whirled around to stare at her in surprise.  She stomped again, and he scurried off.  A big grin started to grow on her face, and she started stomping her way out of the mall like some kind of miniature Godzilla.

As she went, she started humming a song to stomp by.

A gangly girl gawked at Shelly as she went stomping by, and picked up the song as well.  Her beanpole boyfriend joined in, except when they got to the chorus he sang it as, “These boobs are made for walking.”

Marcy stopped, and giggled.  “That’s not how it goes, Jerry.”

Jerry shrugged.  “We did it your way last weekend.  I like my way better.  Besides, you owe me a change.”

“You used it up to get me to turn you back into boots,” countered Marcy with a grin.

“That shouldn’t count.  You addled my brain by making me too sensitive.”

Marcy was instantly contrite.  “I’ve said I’m sorry about that Jerry, I didn’t know it would be like that.  Are you still sore about it?”

Jerry shook his head.  “Nah, the compulsion faded once I’d got another good night’s sleep.  C’mon, let’s give you some sexy legs.”

Marcy looked at Jerry askance, then grinned.  “I don’t know what you have in mind... but I expect it’s going to be fun.”  

Jerry led the way to the Venn Machine, and set it for a day.  “Mom and Dad aren’t home tonight, so we can have some fun.”

“Cool.”  

About two minutes later, Marcy stared down at what was left of her body.  “So not cool, Jerry.”  She didn’t have any arms, or legs.  Just an elongated torso, with pairs of boobs running its length.  Her back was flexible and strong enough to lift up the first four pairs worth of her body, but that still only put her head at Jerry’s waist level.

“Aw c’mon.  You’ll get to walk on boobs...  Please?  It’ll be fun.”

“I should turn you into a carpet so I can walk all over you...”  Marcy tried to wriggle closer to the display, then moaned and collapsed.

“Marcy!”  The doors opened a few moments later, and Jerry rushed around to scoop her up.  “Are you OK?”

Marcy snuggled up against him.  “Mmmm.  Feels soooo good.  Did you do somethin’?”

“A little...”  Jerry stroked Marcy’s back, trying to calm her down.  “Should I change you back?”

“Mmmmm.  A girl could get used to this.  Take me home.”

As they walked out of the mall, Marcy picked up the song again.  “These boobs are going to walk all over you.”

Jerry laughed.  “I’m looking forward to it.”


Yeah, you keep lyin' when you oughta be truthin'
And you keep losing when you oughta not bet


“You were staring at her!”

Luke twitched, looking back at his girlfriend.  “Was not.  I’ve only got eyes for you, Mary.”

“Don’t lie to me.  I can tell.  You want to turn me into something like that.  Something that’s made for just one thing...”

Luke’s eyes were bright with the suggestion, and the bulge in his pants put lie to his next words.  “Of course not!  Wait...”  He stared at her.  “You like the idea too?”

Mary’s eyes lit up as she spotted a nearby store in the mall.  “Yeah.  How about this.  We play poker, loser gets Venned by the winner into whatever they want.  No limits.”

Luke licked his lips nervously.  “You’d let me turn you into a... whatever that was?”

Mary grinned as she dragged him into the trick and joke store.  “If you win, sure.  But you don’t get to object when you lose and I turn into a toy for me.”

“Deal.”

Mary’s grin got even more predatory.  She bought the pack of cards she was after and dragged Luke back out of the store before he got a good look around.  They set up on one of the ubiquitous benches the mall provided for weary shoppers.

Luke lost the first hand badly.  “Best two out of three?”

“OK, but if you lose again, I’m changing you for sixteen hours instead of eight.”

By the time Luke had lost four more hands, he was up to three days of being whatever Mary wanted, and starting to sweat.  “One more try?” he asked plaintively.

Mary waggled the deck of cards in front of him.  “Next step is a month, and I don’t think you’re ready for that.  You’ll decide you want to stay as my toy forever.”

Luke opened and closed his mouth a few times, gaping like a dark-haired fish.  “I... fine.  Three days as your toy it is.”  He walked off to the Venn Machine like he was going to an execution.

Mary gave him a kiss after she’d set the duration.  “Don’t be like that sweetie.  I’ll make sure it feels *really* good.”

Luke stared at her, seeing his petite girlfriend anew.  “You’ve done this before.”

“Managed to keep him for almost two weeks, three days at a time.”

Luke stared into the open door before him as if it were the abyss.  “I don’t...  Why’d you stop?”

“No challenge left in it by the end, really.  So I cut him loose.  I hear he spends all his days in his next girlfriend’s toy drawer.”

Luke took a step into the Venn Machine, hesitated on the threshold.  “God, what am I doing?  I don’t want to be a toy forever.”

Mary gave him a withering look.  “You going to welsh on the bet, instead?”

Luke’s shoulders slumped.  “No.”  He stepped inside and the door vanished.  Mary entered her own side a moment later.

“Sex toy” was all Mary said, and she tapped at the interface blindly.  She giggled at what she saw, and her hand hovered near the green button that would seal Luke’s fate.  “I’m not going to keep you forever, you know.”

“Oh g...”  Luke’s voice was cut off by his transformation, which left him bouncing on the floor.

“But I am going to keep you long enough to make damned sure you’re mine.”

Mary picked up the large breast-shaped object from the other side, tucked it into a shopping bag, and practically skipped her way out of the mall.  As she went she sung a song that had gotten stuck in her head not long before.

“You keep samin' when you oughta be a changin'
Now, what's right is right but you ain't been right yet.”


You keep playin' where you shouldn't be playin'
And you keep thinkin' that you'll never get burnt
Ah, I've just found me a brand new box of matches, yeah


Liz shuddered at the mention of matches.   “Hey Gav, can I bum a smoke off you?”

Her neatly dressed boyfriend looked at her askance.  “We’re trying to quit.  I soaked all our cigarettes in water and dumped them in the garbage.  No, you can’t bum a smoke.”

Liz looked ahead at the Venn Machine.  “There is another way to get a smoke off you...”

Gav followed the gaze of his black-haired, black-clothed girlfriend.  “No.  Oh, no.  You are not turning me into a cigarette.”

“Not a cigarette.  That’s a waste.”

“Oh?  Well, that’s a relief.”

“I want to turn you into a whole carton of smokes.”  Liz kept walking toward the Venn Machine.

“Liz!” Gav stopped short, staring at her aghast.

“Aw c’mon,” whined Liz.  “My girlfriend and I used to take turns being each other’s smokes when we were broke and desperate.”

“Wait, you’ve actually... done this before?”

“Yeah.  Last time I kicked the habit.  We were each other’s smokes for a month, then... well, it just didn’t seem so urgent after a while.”

“I guess when you change back, the nicotine and such would go away too.  I can almost see that working...”  Gav mused, considering the puzzle.

“You’ve been on me to quit for ages now.  And I know this works,” Liz wheedled.

“Does it hurt?” asked Gav resignedly.

“Not really.  C’mon, you’ll see, it’s not so bad.”

Gav sighed.  “Fine.”

Liz cheered, and set the Venn Machine for a day.  Once they were inside, and her hand was hovering over the green spot, she grinned showing all of her teeth.  “I lied.”

“What?”

“It hurts.  It really, really hurts.”

Before Gav could react, she triggered the change.  A minute later, she tucked her case of ‘Gavin Lite’ cigarettes under her arm, and headed for the nearest exit so she could smoke.

The tune she was humming caught one more person in its net.  Nina was singing along, then ended up with, “Are you ready books?  Start walking!”

“Books?” asked the guy standing beside her.  “No, it’s boots.”

“Bah.  I think it’s funnier my way.”

Perry looked at her, and shook his head.  “It’s sillier that way, for sure.  Wait, I know that look. No!  I won’t be another one of your art installations.”

Nina made puppy-dog eyes at her friend.  “Come on.  You know you want to see book with feet.  It’d be hilarious!”

“I...  Aw, damn it, it does sound funny.  Fine.”

When the Venn Machine doors reopened on the pair, Nina was still as cute as ever.  But on Perry’s side was a library of hundreds of paperback books.  They hopped to their feet, and started running every which way.

“Perry, wait!” shouted Nina, but Perry wasn’t in control of the swarm.  There were too many bodies, and every single one of them wanted to run.  And run they did.  Up the mall and down, into every store, every nook, every cranny.  Nina chased after them, snatching up such books as she could find, but she only managed to get a hold of eleven, mostly due to them being very poor at hiding under the mall benches.  Three had stayed in the Venn Machine, unmoving.  She wasn’t sure why.

Nina stared morosely at her meager collection.  She’d tried reading them, but had given up when each one proved full of unrecognizable symbols.  “What am I going to do with you?  There’s not enough of you to restore with.  I guess we’ll have to wait out the eight hours.  Still... it was kind of funny.  I guess.”

Epilogue 1 - Shelly & Mike
Shelly was still stomping when Mike changed back.  Suddenly she had tiny feet, and Mike was splayed out in front of her.  She put a foot down on his back, and sighed.  They were dainty little things, and wouldn’t make any kind of impact at all.  She was already missing stomping.

“Are you OK?” she asked when Mike continued to just stare up at her worshipfully.  “Never mind.  We’re done.  I don’t think I can deal with someone who only loves me for my feet.”

Shelly turned to go.  Mike croaked an answer, and she turned around.  “What?”

“Please.”

“Please what?”

“Again?”

Shelly stared at him dumbfounded.  “I... you...  You want to be boots again?  So I can stomp all over everything?  I thought that hurt.”

The look on Mike’s face was indescribable, a cross between pain and bliss.  “Oh, it did.  But it was your beautiful feet causing it, so it was worth it.  You get used to it.”

“Really.”  Shelly’s skepticism was clear.

Mike smiled up at her.  “You could have changed back any time.  Did you like having big stompy feet?”

“I...”  Shelly blushed, and looked away.  “The stomping was fun.”

Mike got up to his knees, but didn’t attempt to rise further.  From his position of supplication (and proximity to her feet) he asked, “So I can enlarge your feet again?”

“No!  I mean...  I hated being... disproportionate.  My feet looked weird.”

“Oh,” said Mike, disappointedly.  “But you liked the stomping?”

“I loved the stomping!  When I wasn’t looking at my feet, just feeling them stomp and imagining people scattering before me...”  Shelly clenched her fists.  “Oh, I want that.”

“But... you hated your feet being all disproportionate.  What if they werent?” Mike asked gently.

Shelly crouched in front of him, took his hands in hers.  “A giantess?  You can make me a giantess?  But the Venn Machines are only so big.  Eight feet tall isn’t a giantess.”

“And if you crouched like this, how big could it make you?  How tall would you be standing up.”

Shelly dragged Mike to his feet, and off toward the mall.  “We’re going to find out.”

When Shelly carefully wriggled her way out of the Venn Machine, she emerged into a world grown tiny.  She slowly unfolded herself, and stood up.  Her body moved more slowly than she expected, and she had to reach out and steady herself against the Venn Machine, using it is a prop to stand up.  It came to her waist.  When Mike emerged, he barely made it above her knee.  She’d shrunk him down a little before becoming a giantess, and the way he looked at her feet before him made her giggle.

“Let’s go stomp,” she said.  Mike grabbed on to her left leg, and she could barely feel his weight as she walked.  She had to crawl to make it out of the double doors of the mall, but then she was out in the parking lot, and could stomp to her heart’s content.  Just as she’d imagine, everyone panicked and ran.

She stomped her way to a nearby park, and was met by a SWAT team that had been summoned by panicked shoppers.  They told her in no uncertain terms to stand down or be put down.  “We know you’re Venned,” they said.  “Shooting you won’t kill you.  But it will stop you.  And it will hurt like hell.”

Shelly sat down and cried.  Mike did his best to comfort her.  Eventually the SWAT team shuffled her off into a secluded part of the park for the remainder of her time as a giantess rather than risk sending her back to the mall.  In among the trees, she didn’t feel quite so tall.

When the time ran out, she hugged Mike.  “What am I going to do?”

“Big feet?” he ventured.

Shelly stuck her tongue out at him.  “No.  They’re ugly like that.”

“How about really tiny people.  Shrink me down to the size of your foot, and step on me.”

Shelly stared at him, eyes bright with tears.  “You’d really do that for me?”

Mike nodded, and they were back at the Venn Machine before Shelly’s tears had fully dried.  He had lots of good suggestions, like turning him into a miniature city that she could stomp through, but Shelly just went with the original plan, shrinking Mike to the size of her foot.

She chased him around the mall, giggling madly, then carried him home.  There, she took her shoes off and let Mike climb all over her feet.  He even offered to paint her nails while that size, and she was amazed at how much fun that was, watching him run around with the enormous brush.

“I could keep you like this,” Shelly murmured.  “Make you live in my shoe like an insole...”

At Mike’s incredulous look, she knew she’d found just the right idea.

“Ooh, you’d like that.  I could turn you into a dozen sets of insoles, one for each pair of shoes.  Wherever I’d go, you’d be underfoot.”

Mike bowed before her foot.  “That would be lovely, goddess.”

Shelly grinned hugely.  “Oh, I’m going to have such fun with you.”

Epilogue 2 - aka Support 4.5
Once they got to Jerry’s home, Marcy pounced.  She’d restrained herself as best she could while he carried her out of the mall, but the feeling of his flesh against her breasts had been driving her crazy.  During the car ride she’d snuggled against his side, learning how to use her breasts to move and grip things.  They were remarkably flexible and strong.

Jerry was so surprised by Marcy’s flying leap that he fell to the (thankfully carpeted) floor.  She started to undress him right there.  There was no need to undress her - her dress had become part of her body, colouring her back and sides the same bright yellow as the sundress she’d been wearing.

Once she had Jerry naked, Marcy proceeded to march back and forth across him, walking on her many pairs of boobs.  She tried to sing her song, but it was far too distracting, the feeling of his skin against her oh-so-sensitive breasts.  And when Jerry started to get aroused, Marcy couldn’t help but notice what was sticking between two pairs of breasts.

They had a lot of fun right there on the carpet.  And on the couch.  And up in Jerry’s bed.

Once Marcy had completely worn Jerry out, they slept.  If it wasn’t for the need to eat, they’d have done much the same in the morning, as well.

Jerry made breakfast for himself and Marcy, and fed her bite by bite.  He wasn’t about to suggest she eat from a bowl on the ground, after all.  It was Marcy herself who suggested that.

“Do you really want me to treat you like a pet?” Jerry asked.

Marcy thought about that, but then she started squirming her breasts against each other and lost her train of thought.  And once they were fed, their other activities drove the thought completely from mind.

Marcy was napping on top of a tuckered-out Jerry when she changed back.  The shifting weight woke them both, and Jerry got to watch Marcy’s face as she remembered everything she’d done over the past day.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, softly.

Marcy was a long time answering.  “Torn.  Between mortified and...”  She ducked her head.  “God, it’s so wrong but all I want to do is go right back to being your pet.”

Jerry hugged her tight.  “Ssh.  That’ll pass, just like me wanting to be your boots.”

Marcy shook her head.  “I don’t think so.  It’s so much more than just loving being a pile of boobs for you.  I loved feeling owned by you.”

“But I tried really hard not to...”

Marcy put a finger on his lips.  “Shush.  I will be your pet again.  And you will treat me as one.  But not today.”

Epilogue 3 - Luke & Mary & Tanya
Mary snuck up to her room with the spoils of her poker winnings, grinning guiltily about being able to sneak her boyfriend into her room.  Her parents hadn’t suspected a thing.  The fact that her boyfriend was currently a small lump of silicone had helped.

When she dumped Luke out onto her bed, she grinned.  He was hers, all hers, for the next three days.  She intended to...  Mary stared down at the breast-shaped object.  It had rolled, and showed that in the back there was a very realistic pussy.  What was she going to do with that?

She did her best, even so.  But the nipple of the breast wasn’t really big enough to do her much good, and even the knowledge that this toy in her hands was her boyfriend wasn’t enough to push her even close to the edge, never mind over it.

Mary sighed.  Then called her friend Tanya over.  The two girls giggled like fiends over the fate of Luke, especially when Mary described the poker game he’d lost.

“So he’s stuck like this for three whole days?  Is there a reason you didn’t turn him into something more... useful?”

Mary stuck her tongue out at her longtime friend.  “I was too excited, I just picked the first thing I saw.  The idea of him being stuck as a boob was so...”

They both giggled.

“So now what are you going to do?”

Mary bit her lip.  “I was hoping I could get you to change me a little.”

Tanya’s blue eyes lit up with glee.  “I can turn you into a guy?  Oh, this is going to be fun.”

Mary chewed on her lip some more.  “I won’t be able to sneak that past my folks.  Could you just do... part of me?”

Tanya nodded.  “Of course!  I can turn you into anything.  But you’re going to owe me on this one...”

Mary sighed, and agreed.  Tanya had told her all sorts of crazy stories about what people had used the Venn Machine for, but neither of them had been quite brave enough to try them out, before now.  “Yeah.  I’ll let you change me.  This time, and once more to... be whatever you want.”

Tanya clapped her hands.  “Goodie!  We’re going to have so much fun.  To the mall!”

A very different Mary snuck past her parents an hour later.  She didn’t look any different, but she could feel the changes Tanya had wrought deep inside.  Inside her bedroom she stripped down and stared at herself in the mirror.  Even naked, she looked pretty much the same.  She wondered if it had really worked, and hesitantly touched herself between her legs, where she could feel something coiled and waiting...  At her touch it emerged, and the pleasure of the long snaky thing emerging from her loins nearly drove her to her knees.

Mary stumbled to her bed and stared at this new thing that had emerged.  It didn’t look like any pictures she’d ever seen of a penis.  It looked more like some kind of bulbous-tipped tentacle.  She was about to call Tanya and give her a piece of her mind, but then she touched it again.  A moan trickled between her clenched lips, and she reached for Luke instead of the phone.

It was several hours before she made that call.  And all it consisted of was panting, and “Thank you.”

Mary and Tanya met up at the mall the next day, and Tanya egged Mary into spilling the beans.  Mary told what there was to tell, and ended with, “I have no what it is you gave me, but can you please extend the time another two days?  I want to keep using Luke until his brain and mine are leaking out our ears.”

Tanya agreed, but added a condition.  “Next weekend, another poker game.  With three hands.  Winner takes all...”

“Wait, you want in on the...”

Tanya pulled Mary close, and kissed her ferociously.  When they finally came up for air, she said,  “Oh hell yes.  I want you so bad right now it hurts.  The idea of you, with that between your legs...  I could barely sleep last night, thinking about it.”

“Oh,” said Mary weakly.  Then, “Oh!  Oh crap, we have to get out of here.”

“What?  Why?”

“Because I’m getting turned on and I...”  Her miniskirt started to lift up in front.  “Crap!”

Tanya shoved her purse in front of her friend’s skirt, and rushed her off to the nearest washroom.  Luckily, one of the unisex washrooms was open, and Tanya locked the door behind them.  When she turned around, Mary’s new anatomy was more than just peeking out from under the skirt, it was rising proud and was as long as Mary’s forearm.

“Damn, girl!  You’ve got one hell of a trouser snake.”

Mary started giggling.  “Yeah.  I’ve never seen one this big, even in pornos.  I don’t even think this is all of it.”

“What?” asked Tanya, weakly.

Mary flexed, and the pink fleshy thing slid further and further out, until it’s tip was nearly level with her breasts.  It waved about, then turned toward Tanya, who gasped.  “What have I done?”

“I don’t know.  But oh my God is it ever fun!”

Tanya touched it wonderingly, and Mary stumbled back against the wall, knees going weak from the pleasure.  Tanya licked her lips, and advanced on her.  “Show me.”

They were in there for over an hour.

Afterward, Tanya helped Mary learn to control her new appendage.  It took effort, and a strict mental focus on images of ice and snow, but Mary finally could settle her skirt once more.  “Thanks, Tanya.  You’re a life saver.”

“Are you sure you want this for two more days?” Tanya asked, as they walked toward the Venn Machine.

“At least.  I’m really tempted to keep it.”

Tanya grinned.  “Cool.  What about Luke?”

Mary giggled. “If I do my job right, he’ll want to stay, too.”

Three days later, Luke took one look at the enormous thing between Mary’s legs, the thing that had been giving him such pleasure moments before, screamed like a little girl, and ran.

He apologized two days later, after he’d had some time to think.  Mary asked him to come over for a little poker game.

“Same stakes as last time?” asked Luke, nervously.

“Higher.  Tanya’s going to be here, too.”

Mary won the first three hands easily.  Tanya started to get suspicious after the fourth hand went her way as well.

“You’re going to be my toys for two days.  Want to go for three?”

Tanya was staring at the card backs.  “Wait a minute.  These cards are marked!  Where did you get these?”

Mary grinned.  “The trick and joke store, of course.”

“Cheater!  I’m going to change you into a toy for three days, see what you think of it.”

“But...”  Mary looked back and forth at her friends, and sighed.  “Fine.”

When Tanya emerged from the Venn Machine and picked up Mary, Luke just stared at the long double-ended dildo in her hands.  “That’s Mary?” he asked, uncertainly.

“Yup.”

“But she’s... for two girls.  What are you going to do with her?”

Tanya put Mary into a locker, then gesture to the Venn Machine.  “Make you a girl for three days, of course.  You’d make a good Mary.”

Luke tilted his head, then smirked. “You’re sweet on her.”

“I fucked her with her new attachment.  I intend to do it again.  I think you’d like to be there.”

Luke grinned. “Hell yeah.”

Epilogue 4 - Liz & Gav
When Gav felt the heat approach the ‘feet’ of one of his many bodies, he tensed.  Mentally, anyway.  There was nothing he could do to move, to avoid the approaching flame.  To his great surprise, it didn’t really hurt.  It just felt like his feet were too close to a fire, and yet... it didn’t hurt.  It was hot, startlingly so, especially when Liz puffed on him.  But there was no pain.

Gav relaxed, and went with the flow.  There wasn’t much else he could do, anyway.  He studied the way his smoke curled in and out of Liz’s lungs, and how bits got left behind.  Gradually, as she worked her way through the whole carton, he could feel more and more of her body from being circulated through it.  He was resident in her very cells...

When Gav returned to normal, it took him a minute to reorient himself, and to get used to the feeling of having a human body once more.  “Ow,” was the first thing he said.

“But...”

“You lied.  It didn’t hurt.”

“So why the ow?”

“‘Cause I pulled my back yesterday, and now all that pain is back.”

Liz smirked.  “Aww, poor thing.  I could turn you into another pack of...”  She started coughing, long racking spasms that led to her gasping for air.

“Are you OK?” asked Gav worriedly.

Liz nodded through another coughing fit.  “I... god, I overdid it.  I chain smoked my way through as much of you as I could...”  She started coughing again.  “Fuck, that hurts.”

“But... it should all be out of your system, now.”

Liz nodded again, then collapsed back on the couch.  “Tell my lungs that.”

“I could feel myself coating your lungs with crap.  To be honest, now that I’m thinking of it... the very idea of all that crud building up there makes me feel sick.”

Liz looked a little green herself.  “Yeah.  Next time I want a smoke, remind me of this.  I’m done.”

Gav scooped her up into a hug.  “Then it was worth it.”

“I could go for a drink, though.”

“Why are you looking at me like...  Oh no, not again.”

Epilogue 5 - Nina’s Books

Nina was sitting near the Venn Machine, waiting.  The mall had closed around her, and the security guard had scooted her over to the other side of the partition before he closed it.  The Venn Machine and ATMs were still accessible, but the rest of the shops were shut up behind a folding partition that tucked into the walls when not needed.  Nina had studied it briefly, as she waited.  There wasn’t much to it.  Mostly it consisted of hundreds of little glass panels in a folding metal frame.  At one end there was a lock to hold it in place, and under that a mail slot.

The books in her bag had long since stopped squirming.  She wasn’t sure why, and had stopped caring some hours ago.  All that was left was waiting.  She checked her watch.  Soon, now.

The shapes in her bag disappeared, and Nina looked around.  Where was Perry?  The bag shifted in her hands, and she peered into it, then gasped.  Perry’s clothes had appeared in the bag.  It took her a minute to connect them to the three books that hadn’t gone running.  And then she groaned.  “Oh crap.  That means he’s somewhere out there, naked.”

Nina went up to the security partition and knocked on it.  “Perry?  Are you in there?  I have your clothes...”

Perry sidled up to the partition a few minutes later, hands firmly in front of his crotch.  “Uh... hey.  Can you...”

Nina was already at the mail slot, and managed to push his underwear and shirt through it.  “I don’t think your pants will fit.”

Perry quickly dressed in what he could get. “At least I’m not naked.”

“What’s going on here?” came a gruff voice from behind Nina.  “What’s he doing in there?”

Nina sighed, and explained the situation to the guard.  She got a sympathetic if long-suffering smile from the guard.

“Not the first time this has happened,” said the guard with a long-suffering sigh.  “Probably won’t be the last, either.”  He unlocked the partition, ushered Perry out, and locked it up again.  “Goodnight, you two.”

Perry quickly shoved his pants on, then he and Nina scurried out to his car.  “That was weird,” he said, once they were driving away from the mall.

“What happened?  I tried to call to you, but you went everywhere.”

Perry shrugged.  “Too many bodies.  They all went off and did whatever they wanted, and it took me ages to figure out how to focus on one.  By the time I’d done that, the damage was done.  I suppose I could have walked one at a time out to you, but I couldn’t figure out where you were.”

“Oh.  I’m sorry.”

“No worries.  It was different, anyway.”

Nina sighed.

“What?”

“I... well, I’d kind of hoped to read you.  But you were full of weird symbols, not words.”

Perry chuckled.  “I can see how that would have disappointed you.  What did you hope to read?”

Nina blushed, and looked away.  “Your deepest darkest fantasies, for one.”

“Well, up until recently my darkest fantasy involved being forced to run around in public naked.  I think I’ve gotten that one out of my system, tonight.”

Nina giggled hysterically.  “So glad I could help.  So... since you’re being so forthcoming, what’s your next fantasy?”

Perry pulled over to the side of the road and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel.

“What?”

“It’s...  Well, it’s not nice.”

“Dark fantasy.  Of course it isn’t nice.  Tell me anyway.  I won’t think less of you.”

“It’s kind of the opposite of the other one.  I want to walk a naked woman around on a leash.”

Nina sucked in a breath, then let it out in a gasp.  “You... what?”

Perry shot her a pained look.  “I know, it’s twisted.  To do that to someone.”  But there was something in his eyes when he looked at Nina.

“I...  You’d want to do that with me?”

Perry couldn’t answer, but his eyes told the story.

“Oh.  Wow.  I...  Um, what if the woman wasn’t... wasn’t human?  If she was a dog, you could walk her around on a leash, naked.  Nobody would complain.  But you’d know.  She’d know.”

Perry’s throat was suddenly very dry, and he had to work to clear it.  “Are you... Are you volunteering?”

Nina licked her lips, then nodded.  “Yes.  Right now.  Head back to the mall, and change me.  But afterward we’re doing one of mine.”

Perry’s eyebrows receded into his hairline.  “We... we are?  OK.  Yes.  That would be...  Which one?”

Nina whispered in his ear.  Perry’s blush lit up as brightly as hers had, but he nodded.  “It’s a deal.”

She made a beautiful golden retriever.  Later, so did he.