A Sound So Sweet, or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Mage
"Morin!"
The grating call from the living room made Morin wince. He ignored Celia's nasal whine and studied his face in the mirror. He concentrated and his eyes transformed from the unearthly red of a snake's to the icy cool pale blue that he usually chose to adopt.
"Morin, come here, I need your help."
He ran his hand through his shock-white hair and pulled his hands over his face, tugging the skin down. Closing his eyes, he bent down and rested his forehead against the sink counter. He really didn't feel like dealing with her now, on the eve of his big day.
"Ow! Morin, please?"
Sighing, he wandered into the room where Celia was lying on her side on a roll-out bed. She looked up at him and flipped her tail in annoyance. "I can't reach the remote." Morin silently picked it up from the floor and indifferently tossed it in her direction. She grabbed it mid-air and punched in the channel. The opening sequence of Days of our Lives played out on the screen. Celia leaned back, trying not to injure her dorsal fin. "I didn't want to miss my soap."
Hoping that the soap would distract her enough to leave him with more time to practice shapeshifting, Morin turned and headed back to the bathroom. He'd chosen Celia to practice on because he thought she was beautiful, but once she opened her mouth he would start to rethink his choice.
"Morin?"
He turned around. "Yes?"
"Change me back now. It's no fun anymore." She pouted, and flicked her tailfin. He studied her, and realized that he had done a good job with her transformation. Celia was a gorgeous mermaid. Her voluptuous torso melded seamlessly into a shark's silvery tail. It curled gracefully underneath her as she shifted her weight to avoid discomfort to her dorsal fin.
"I told you. After tomorrow it won't be an issue." He turned and dissappeared into the bathroom.
Celia muttered under her breath and shifted herself for the millionth time so that she wouldn't bang any of her fins. "Unh!" She glared at the fin on her abdomen as she accidentally rammed it into the mattress. She couldn't believe how many of the damn things there were--sticking out from her front, back, and arms. She was constantly banging them into various objects. And now her skin was starting to itch all over. Wonderful. She'd have to get Morin to take her back down to the pool soon.
She reached over to the nighttable to get a glass of water. Her elbow bumped into one of her breasts and she cursed it in annoyance. Morin had given her much bigger breasts than she had, as well as a narrower waist and rounded bottom. She enjoyed it a lot at first, but her breasts were getting in the way more than she'd expected. Plus, they were hard to sleep on.
Morin stepped out of the bathroom, cat's ears slooping back into his head. "I've got to go out for a while. Do you want anything?"
Celia flopped in anger. "Morin! You said you'd take me to the shore. I've been cooped up here all day, with nothing to watch but daytime TV! Really." She rubbed her shoulder above her dorsal fin. "And I'm really getting itchy! Why don't you just carry me down to the car?"
Morin sighed. "Why don't you just stay here? I'll fill up the bathtub for you."
"But that's so cramped. I can't stretch out in the tub. Please?"
He mulled it over. "OK. Let me bring up the wheelbarrow. I'll load you in, and dump you in the pool."
Celia squealed with excitement. "Oh Morin, thank you thank you thank you!" She leaned over to hug him but instead rolled off the bed right on to her ventral fin. "Damn!"
Morin shook his head.
As Morin lifted her, grunting, into the water filled wheelbarrow, Celia began to relax as her skin absorbed the liquid. "Morin, change me back soon, OK? I think my roomates will start to wonder where I am. I mean, you're a good magician, and it was fun for the first few days, but now I'm really getting bored."
He looked at Celia and smiled wistfully. She took that as a positive sign and swished her tail.
Before long Morin had overturned the wheelbarrow and Celia was dumped into the large swimming pool. She felt instantly better as her gills kicked in and she swam around a bit. She was glad that Morin was in a good mood. He had been a bit moody in the past few days and she had feared that he wouldn't change her back for a while. But now he was happy because his "Plan" was almost in effect. Celia had no clue what it was all about; she vaguely remembered him telling her what it was about on the night that they had met, but she had been quite intoxicated and really couldn't remember the details. She thought back to that night and did recall how he was the most attractive man at that bar, and she could feel him staring at her from across the room. 6 or so drinks later, he offered to show her some magic tricks back at his house and she, under the influence of both the alcohol and the pheromones, heartily agreed.
Celia looked down at her shark tail and wished Morin would come back so they could talk. She'd been at his place for about 4 days. It had been fun at first, when they would swim around together and he would caress her new form. But after that he turned distant and Celia could tell that he was preoccupied with his "plan". There wasn't much she could do except flop around bored on the couch and watching televison. She smiled. At least she had a chance to catch up on her soaps! And sometimes Morin would bring her magazines and chocolate.
She was wondering if eating sushi would constitute cannibalism when a rough hand grabbed her waist and pulled her out of the pool, banging her head on the concrete side. She blacked out.
Julia stretched and rolled over to silence the alarm blaring commercials in her ear. She yawned and her ears blinked and adjusted to the streaming bands of sunlight that fell through her open window. Five more minutes, she thought, but a quick glance at the clock confirmed that she needed to get going or she'd be caught up in the rush hour traffic to the city.
She got out of bed, pulled on her bathrobe, and scuffled into the kitchen to make eggs and coffee. Cracking the egg, the yolk dropped and sizzled into the frying pan somehow much more quietly than usual. Julia frowned and listened. She couldn't hear birds or even any cars passing by. The air suddenely seemed much thicker than usual, and charged - when Julia went to sit down with her breakfast in front of the early news show, it felt as if she was walking in molasses. She shook it off and turned on the television to the Morning Show.
Something very strange was happening. The hosts, usually grinning vapidly with mindless chatter and gossip, now wore expressions of apprehension. Julia squinted at the screen. Were those costumes they were wearing? Something was different about them. The perky blonde's ears seemed to elongate unnaturally on her head--horses' ears? Julia thought. She looked like she was sitting uncomfortably on her rear end - Julia thought she glimpsed a horse's rump emerging from her backside. The tall, dark and handsome man sitting next to her had skin that was tinged a subtle but noticeable green, and was beginning to shine. His tongue flickered. Like a snake? Julia glanced at her calendar. It was definitely not April 1st. Why the weird costumes? She supposed it was some special to promote a movie, but the frightened looks' on the hosts' faces told her that maybe something else was going on.
The blonde sounded on the verge of hysterics as she made a startling announcment : "Ladies and gentlemen, please remain calm. A mage going by the name of Morin has cast a transformative spell over the nation. He claims that he is doing his duty as rightful heir to the Magirin lineage by leading us into our new states. Please... I know this sounds incredible, but--"
The channel fuzzed out as Julia took another sip of coffee. Oh sure. A magician, casting a spell to turn us all into man-animals. She stifled a giggle. She didn't know what the show was trying to pull, but it seemed a little too amateur. Maybe the 10-year-olds would buy it, but Julia Trillan had to get to work, magicians be damned.
Suddenly the channel blinked on again. A very handsome man with white hair and clear blue eyes stood on the set where the two hosts had previously stood. He was dressed very professionally in a dark Armani suit with a midnight blue shirt and silver tie. Seated next to him - in a wheelbarrow for some reason - was a very naked young woman with shoulder -length red hair and a confused expression on her face. She looked down at her body, wiggled her toes, and squealed. "Morin! I knew you'd do it. You're the best! See you later!" The redhead started to get up, but Morin waved his hand indifferently in her direction and she collapsed back into the wheelbarrow. "Hey!" she struggled, but couldn't managed to climb out.
Morin stepped in from of her and spoke directly to the camera. His chiseled face filled the whole screen, and Julia couldn't take her brown eyes off his mesmerizingly cool blue ones.
"Hello," he spoke, in a crisp voice with the tiniest hint of an English accent. "As you no doubt have surmised, I am Morin Magirin and I am a mage - a wizard, as you would say." He rain his hand through his stark white hair. "I am capable of transforming other people so that they are part animal. For those of you who have already been transformed, this demonstration will be gratutious. For the many of you who have yet to experience the shift - and I guarantee you will - please observe carefully as I prove to you the extent of my powers."
He stepped back and turned toward the redhead in the wheelbarrow. She opened her mouth to speak but he put his hand over her mouth and no words came out. He then leaned over her and muttered a few words under his breath that Julia strained to hear but couldn't.
The redhead looked mad as the transformation began. She threw Morin a look that said, "Did you have to do that again?" Julia watched with mixed parts fear and fascination as the girl's legs elongated and fused together. Her figure stretched to accommodate an enormous pair of breasts and a generous behind, curving far into a small waist. The girl looked mildly bored while all this was going on. She wasn't surprised when fins--fins!--popped out of her back, stomach and arms. Her skin became thick, smooth and shiny, with a mottled gray pattern that spread from her fluke to her breasts and her forearms. Julia could see slits appear in the side of her neck - gills.
When the transformation was complete, Morin stepped back into the forefront, a slight smirk on his face. Julia sat, stunned, half positive that the change had been computer generated, half dreading that it wasn't.
"I hope this demonstration has prepared you," Morin was speaking to the camera again, "for your own personal transformation. Of course, it will be different for everybody."
This time his eyes were so piercing that Julia could not look away from them. They seemed to radiate light.
"In fact," Morin's voice seemed to penetrate her entire body. " Some of you might be feeling a little different right this moment."
Julia scratched an itch on her back and yelped when she felt fur. She looked at her hand, where more fur, short and red, had developed and was now spreading rapidly across her arm and over her body. She stared in fear as her fingers melted together to form two large fingers with black fingernails. "Ohhh.... noooo," Julia moaned. Her legs seemed to twist into crazy dimensions and enlarge to many times their normal size. Of course their shape was entirely different--her thighs had become super muscular haunches, her shins had become ridiculously long feet, and her feet had become paws.
She felt a pleasant tug as something sprouted from her crotch and buttocks. Looking behind her, she saw that she had grown a large, thick red tail. It extended a few more feet and flopped with a thud on the floor. "Aah!" It seemed as if her stomach had split as she felt her skin separate and become a thick patch that covered her abdomen, down to her crotch, where the tail began. A pouch. Julia's head spun as the realization hit her that she appeared to be turning into a kangaroo.
She was still feeling dizzy when she felt her waist shrink and her breasts balloon out far past their normal size. Her mouth and nose tugged gently upward into a snout, and her ears disappeared and reappeared, long and floppy, farther up on her head.
Julia just stood still for a long time after the transformation seemed to finish. She was afraid to move - afraid that the transformation wasn't done, afraid of her new body. After about an hour of stunned paralysis, Julia took a tentative step with her haunches. To her surprise she didn't just step - she bounced. Julia sighed. Of course - kangaroos bounce, that's what they do.
She practiced for a while moving her haunches. She found that the easiest, more natural movement for her was a springy bounce forward, the tail acting as a counterweight - but when she tried to move around her house in that way, she found that she would either hit her head or slam her tail into things, breaking them. Julia tried to gingerly baby step around, and discovered that while that was harder for her to do, it saved her a lot of head bumps and broken glass.
Julia forced herself into the bathroom to take a look at her new self. She closed her eyes and, holding her breath, opened them to gaze over her reflection in the mirror.
She gasped when she saw the extent of the transformation. Apparently she wasn't just a kangaroo- her normal human torso, with a few modifications, sprouted from a kangaroo bottom. She turned and studied herself from the side, hopped up and down. The thick red fur that covered her kangaroo half spread to her waist and thinned out, becoming a soft pink peach fuzz. The fuzz reached over her newly large breasts and continued over the rest of her body, but her face remained hairless. Instead, she noticed that it had become speckled red around the edges. She touched her snout and recoiled when she felt the strange sensation. Her face looked much the same, and the small snout actually improved her looks, pinching any sagging skin into what amounted to a dark, pointy button nose. Her hair had changed color to match the red of her fur, and she rather liked it. Her ears swiveled around strangely on her head.
"Oh my lord," she said out loud. She was two hours late for work. How on earth would she explain this to her boss? How on earth could she even go outside?
The strange, thick air feeling remained, and Julia remembered something that Morin had said on TV. "For those of you who haven't experienced the shift--I guarantee you will." Did that mean everyone was like her? No, he'd said "it will be different for everybody."
Julia debated whether or not it was safe to go outside. Finally she decided that appearing in public was the least of her problems right now. She had to stop this madman from changing the world into half-creatures. Nevermind that she wasn't quite sure how; she'd figure that out later.
She gingerly mini-hopped over to her front door and peeked out. Not a soul. She took a step outside and stretched her legs. "Damnit!" she thought. How the hell was she going to use her car? There was no way she could fit comfortably in the driver's seat. Then she remembered. She was half-kangaroo! She could leap tall buildings in a singl bound, or something.
Julia tensed her haunches and leapt forward. Looking back, she could see that she had landed at least a hundred feet from where she'd started! Julia smiled. Maybe this new-body thing wasn't so bad after all. She bounced her way down the street and towards the city.
Julia was pleasantly surprised at how powerful her haunches were. She'd leapt maybe a mile in under three minutes, and she hadn't even broken a sweat! Of course she didn't know if kangaroos had sweat glands, but whatever. Her huge breasts bounded up and down with each leap and and she cursed herself for not putting on a bra--or even clothes for that matter. She supposed that kangaroos didn't think about clothes that often.
As Julia bounded near the city, she was disturbed about how quiet it was. She didn't see a single living being at all. She frowned. At this hour, near a major city, she should see tons of people, commuting to work. Nobody.
As she approached the city limits she gasped. Hundreds of changed people grasping at the air around them, trying to move forward but finding only resistance. Julia found it a hideous spectacle. She moved closer to find out what was going on.
The people saw her and motioned for her to move away. She stepped up to what appeared to be some sort of invisible shield, but when she pushed her hands against where she thought it would be she met only air. Julia questioned a woman who appeared to be a snake, covered in scales. A cobra's hood covered her head where her hair should have been. She had a snake's slit eyes, and as Julia talked she noticed a forked red tongue dart out of her mouth.
"Excuse me, why can't these people leave? What's wrong?"
The snake woman hissed a sigh. "Morin wants us all to stay in the city.He put up a field spell to keep us from leaving, but people from the outside can wander in and get trapped." She coiled her body and touched her tail. "I don't know why. I think he likes to watch us."
Julia felt a fierce disgust for the man who would do this just because he can. "Well, I'm coming in. I'm going to stop Morin from wreaking any more damage. He's gotta be stopped."
Snake woman opened her eyes wide. "Are you sure you know what you're doing? Look, he turned you into a kangaroo. How are you going to stop him?"
Julia thought. "I'll kickbox him to death." She smiled. "Would you like to come help me?" The snake smiled, revealing fangs, but declined. "I'm waiting for my husband. It will pain him to see me like this, and vice versa, but at least we'll be together, and maybe we can petition the Mage to transform us again in case we're not compatible forms." She reached out one scaly arm. "Good luck to you, though." Julia smiled, shook her hand, and bounced toward the television studio.
Along her way Julia passed a horrendous mass of transformed people. The city was crowded as normal, but it was filled with confused half-beings with no clue as to how or why they acquired their new form. She passed another female kangaroo with gray fur instead of red. A group of centaurs passed her by, carrying briefcases, wearing ties and talking about the stock market. Some things never change, she thought. Passing by a fountain she saw a playful group of merchildren; in the hot spa, a man with a lobster tail chatted with a busty octopus woman. A slug man and a snail woman passed her and eyed her new form with jealousy. "She gets a kangaroo, and we get slimy things? Ew. That's not fair." Two women with insect bodies moaned for help from an alley. "Please! Please! Spiders!"
Julia shivered. She was amazed that some people could take the shift completely normally while others struggled against their changed forms.
She reached the television studio, which was strangely abandoned, although she could see a trail of slime leaving from the receptionist's desk and making a left out the door. She chose the floor from the directory and hopped into the elevator.
The doors opened on floor 9. Julia's jaw dropped - the studio looked like a wreck, as if people abandoned it in a hurry. She figured once Morin decided to show off they probably did.
Julia heard a moan coming from the audience bleachers. Hopping quietly over, she saw a woman with a taut, furry body, a red tail, and tipped ears. A fox. The woman tried to get up but groaned with pain and lay back down. "What happened to me?" she cried. She then got a good look at Julia's lower half. "You're a... kangaroo!" The Fox then fainted.
Morin was still sitting on the set. Somehow he had changed it into a floating set; the floor had become a large pool. He sat on the edge, looking bored, while three mermaids cooed and entwined themselves around him. Julia stared in disgust at the impossibly enormous breasts of the fish folk. What was this guy, some sort of porn king?
She thumped her tail in anger, which startled the mermaids, who scattered around. Morin looked up. When he saw Julia, his eyes lit up. He stood up and took a step towards her, much to the dismay of the mermaids, who flapped their fins in jealousy.
Julia bounded right up to him. "Morin Magirin."
Morin stared at the kangaroo woman. He was one hell of a mage - she was perfect. Gorgeous redhead with a voluptous body and large breasts, who just happened to be part roo. And she looked oh so familiar... he knew those eyes like he knew magic.
Julia grabbed his arm. "I don't know who the hell you think you are, mister, but why the hell have you done this to me... to everyone? What are you trying to prove?"
Morin sighed. His crystal eyes bored through Julia. In just a few moments, he would discover her true identity. "Boredom, mainly. No particular reason. Just thought it would be fun."
Julia's chest swelled with rage. "Boredom? You disfigure an entire nation because you were bored? You monster! How dare you?"
Morin hushed Julia. "You know, people only got the forms they would be most pleased in, the ones that suited them, unconsciously. The ones who became slugs and the lesser insects either secretly coveted that form, or they were that form, figuratively speaking. Your form is rather quite flattering. Kangaroos are very powerful creatures. They have been idolized in Aborigine mythology. They are thought to contain wild, independent spirits." He gazed at Julia. "I think you would be thanking me, not condemning me."
Julia was about to unleash a torrent of unbridled rage at this prententious wizard, when Morin said, "But you'll thank me soon, won't you please, Lekateriba?"
Julia stopped at the sound of her name. Memories came rushing back to her. "Morinizaliba Sebateka? Is that you?"
Morin smiled and held out his arms. "Leka!"
Leka lept in the air and bounced over to Morin. They kissed, each now fulfilled with the knowledge that they were together again. Morin stepped back. "Hold on." Leka watched as the same transformation that enveloped her earlier today rendered Morin in a a similar form. They embraced. "This is perfect," Leka sighed. "It's so good to have you back," Morin said, "It's good to be back," Leka smiled. "Now, what are we going to do about the mess you have caused?"
"Rule with me!" Morin exclaimed. "With two mages as leaders, this country is going to get a lot more interesting." He grinned. "And I'm sure we still have many other people to change. That will be fun."
Leka sighed and rested her head in Morin's furry chest as they watched the transformed people below deal with their predicament. "I want you to have my joey," Morin said to her. Leka smiled up at him--no other words could sound so sweet to her tall, red ears.