“Here’s the patient,” says Sam, gesturing at me as if it’s not obvious.

The two women both look about my age, although I don’t want to take that for granted after learning Sam’s age. Otherwise, they’re a study in contrasts.

Mistress Dumbass is my height, if not slightly taller, with a powerful athletic build. She has the classic Midwestern Scandinavian coloring, down to her close-cropped blonde hair. She’s dressed casually in blue jeans, a grey t-shirt, and black combat boots.

Her companion is a slender woman of average height with rich brown skin and a halo of tight curls framing her frankly adorable face. With the evening temperatures getting cooler, I don’t know how she’s comfortable in her light halter top.

Sam nods at the latter. “June is one of my employees and she can probably help you figure things out more than Rob or I can. And I’m sorry, I know you’re June’s roommate, but I can’t remember your name.”

Mistress Dumbass is giving me a very thorough looking over. It’s not exactly lascivious, but it’s not not that either. “Anya,” she answers without taking her eyes off me. Then she winks at me.

Somehow, I feel the effects of that wink in my stomach and also in places lower down that I’m still not quite prepared to think about. I’m suddenly and acutely aware of how Anya’s body is firm muscle in every place mine is soft and I’m wondering how it would feel pressed up against me. I think I would like her strong hands on my waist, and maybe elsewhere. I realize I’m probably blushing and duck my head.

Anya places a single finger under my chin and raises my head until I meet her gaze again. The gentle pressure continues until I stand up off the stool where I’m perched. “Hey, girl, I’m gonna help you figure your new shit out so I need you to focus for me, okay?”

I nod minutely and bite my lip. I’m sure I’m blushing now. For now, I’m going to just file away how being called “girl” felt so I can think about it sometime that’s not now.

Anya doesn’t take her eyes off me. “Hey, J?” she says. “Can you grab that duffel from the car, please?”

My eyes flick to follow June as she heads back to the door, but I feel them drawn back to Anya’s intense blue eyes.

“We’re going to start with the tail,” she says. “I want you to think about how it feels. Concentrate on the weight of it hanging off your spine. Now…just imagine that weight slowly disappearing.” Her voice is rich and slightly husky. I try to do as she says. There are so many new sensations in my body and if I’m honest with myself, I’ve spent a lot of my life not really thinking about my body beyond basic needs. It’s all a bit overwhelming, so I try to focus on my tail without shutting out the awareness of the rest of my body.

Nevertheless, I feel for a moment that not only am I in my body, but I am my body and in that instant I feel like I can grasp the system of myself. The feeling begins to slip almost immediately, but I do feel the weight of my tail lessen. Just as I lose my concentration, it’s like there’s a push from outside me and I think my tail is gone. A quick pat of my backside confirms this. Fantastic ass, yes. Tail, no.

“Good girl,” murmurs Anya. Warmth blooms in my lower abdomen.

She takes my face in both her hands. “Now for the horns. It might help if you’re touching them, but don’t worry if it doesn’t.”

I tentatively lift my hands to rest on the horns sprouting from my temples. I close my eyes and try to open my awareness of myself again. I realize that I’m intensely aware of Anya’s hands on my cheeks and how the insides of my wrists are brushing the backs of her hands. I feel the warmth of her skin and suddenly it feels like the warmth spreads through my whole body and my perception narrows and intensifies. I’m unaware of anything in the room beyond me, but I can feel the blood pulsing through my arteries and flowing steadily through my veins. Electricity crackles along my nerves. I somehow know that I could follow each branch of blood vessel or nerve down to the smallest part of me and that I can change my body in any way I wish as long as I can hold onto this awareness.

I focus on my horns. It’s the work of a moment and they disappear into my head. I change my skin next. It’s both harder because my skin covers my whole body, so holding my awareness of it involves a different sort of focus, and easier because changing a color is such a minor thing.

I wonder if I can change all the way back. As the thought enters my head, I gain a sense of my old form, overlaid like a shadow over top of me. I know where I would need to push or pull to make the necessary changes. I reluctantly reach toward those places, even though it feels like giving up. The way I am right now feels right and whole, except I kind of miss my tail.

Suddenly this new awareness completely dissolves. My eyes snap open but the brightness of the room lights rapidly fades and my extremities begin to tingle. My knees buckle and I know I’m going to hit the floor for the second time this evening.

Instead, strong arms wrap around me and pull me close. Now I know how it feels to be pressed against Anya’s muscular build and it’s even better than I expected. As my vision clears and feeling returns to my fingers and toes, I realize that my face is squished into Anya’s chest.

Unfortunately, the moment doesn’t last and she gently deposits me on a bar stool. Fortunately, she settles on the stool next to me and keeps an arm around my shoulders.

“You figured that out quicker than I expected. Didn’t think you’d be able to go that deep that soon. I was going to have you take a break before you did your skin. Sorry about that!”

“’S okay,” I mumble.

“I promise it gets a lot easier but it does take it out of you the first few times. That’s probably enough for now. You look human aside from your eyes and that shouldn’t be a problem.”

Sure enough, my skin is its usual pale color and the freckles are brown instead of purple.

“I’m not one to judge your fashion choices, but I’m not sure the duckies are really you.” Anya’s eyes flick to the towel wrapped around my lower half. “Let’s see what we can do for you.”

I realize that somewhere in there, June has returned with a large duffel bag which she is now unzipping and pulling out clothes. She immediately rejects some and tosses them aside. Others she holds up, her gaze alternating be me and the garment.

Rob is furiously jotting something down in a notebook. Sam is lounging on another stool, looking more relaxed than she’s been for a while.

After a few minutes, June says, “Okay! Got some options for you.”

Anya slides off her stool and I follow suit. She slips her hand down from my shoulder to my waist and guides me toward the bathroom. I’m not sure I really need the support at this point, but I’m also not going to object. June follows us with a stack of clothes.

“Start with this,” June says, handing me a few items. I take them and realize she’s given me a few choices of underwear and a black skirt. “I mostly grabbed skirts, since there’s more wiggle room. Also easier to accommodate a tail in case we couldn’t get that sorted. Just let us know if you want help.”

“Thanks,” I mumble and step into the bathroom, closing the door behind me. I pull the towel off me and drop it on the floor.

The underwear is pretty straightforward. June has given me a few different sizes and styles, although I’m not sure what to call them. After a couple tries, I find something that seems to fit, even if it hugs my butt, not to mention other areas, a lot snugger than I’m used to.

Next, I step into the skirt, which has a stretchy elastic waistband, and pull it up. The waistband seems a bit too tight and will probably be uncomfortable before long, but the skirt hangs down nearly to my knees and I figure I can deal with it for now. I open the door again.

“You’re not used to skirts, are you?” June says. “May I?”

I nod and she tugs it up significantly higher. “At your waist, not your hips,” she says. The waistband feels a lot better now, but I’m also showing more thigh than I anticipated and I’m reminded that there’s just more thigh to show than there used to be.

“I brought some bralettes for you to try,” June says, handing me the garments in question. “Don’t worry if none of these work for you or if you just don’t want to deal with it right now, but I wanted to give you the option. I’ve got some tops here, or you can stick with your tee if you’re happy.”

It takes me a little trial and error, not to mention a few moments when I’m afraid I’m hopelessly stuck in one of the bralettes and I’ll have to call for help, but I find something that seems to fit okay. I really don’t know how snug a bralette is supposed to be, or even if it’s the same thing as a bra or mysteriously different, but there’s less jiggle now and my t-shirt isn’t rubbing uncomfortably when I pull it back on. I decide I’m done with playing dress-up in a bar bathroom, so my old tee is fine for now. Besides, Spider-Man looks pretty good pulled tight across my new assets. I’m not sure about the fashion rules for tucking shirts into skirts, but after trying it both ways, I think my t-shirt looks better tucked into the skirt. I pull on my flannel and my sneakers still fit, so I figure I’m done.

“It’s lucky you had stuff in my size,” I say as I leave the bathroom.

“Yeah, lucky,” says Anya with an unreadable expression. I figure I’m missing something, but I let it go.

“So…what now?” I ask. “I appreciate not having to leave here in a towel, but I’m not sure I’m ready to explain things to my roommate. Hell, I don’t know if I could explain things to him. I don’t know what to do now!”

“That’s why we’re here!” says June.

“This isn’t our first rodeo, sweetheart,” Anya continues. “Now that you can leave here without drawing attention that we don’t need, it’s kind of up to you what happens next. We can get you home if that’s better, but if you’re not ready to deal with your roommate, you’re welcome at our place and we can teach you more about your powers.”

“If there’s someplace else you’d rather go, we’ll get you there,” June adds. “It’s perfectly understandable if you don’t want to go home with strangers. We just want you to be safe and comfortable.”

I hesitate. “I guess…if it’s not too much trouble, I’d like to learn as much as I can?”

“Woo! Sleepover!” shouts June.

Brynstar7

A little later than I hoped, but here's the next chapter!

Updates will be slowing down now, with probably a chapter or two a week, but it depends on life and stuff.

Thanks for reading!