Curt thought back to his time with his friend Danielle, in college. She had certainly been… A handful, to put it nicely. She had been a pretty sweet girl when they first met, and she had an interest in furries and transformation, like he did, but she had taken her interest a little further than he had…
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“You want me to do a werewolf spell with you?” Curt asked, trying to get a read on if Danielle was serious, as the two walked away from the dorms.
“Yep!” Danielle smiled. “The ritual is supposed to be a lot more effective with two people of the opposite sex perform it together. I’ve already got everything set up in a little field just off campus. Nobody around to watch us but the full moon, as we free our true, wild selves.”
Curt chuckled. So THAT was her angel, huh? “Not that I don’t appreciate the offer, Danielle, but I don’t feel like our relationship is at the point where I’m ready for moonlit sex to fulfil arcane rituals.”
Danielle rolled her eyes. “The ritual doesn’t involve sex. Though by the time it’s done, your new instincts, and my new beastial beauty, will probably be enough to even make you less of a prude. If only on the full moon”
“We’ll see.” Curt said, deciding to play along. Most likely, this was just some silly prank of hers, and he felt he knew Danielle well enough to know she wouldn’t do something cruel or embarrassing.
Plus, on some small level, he kind of wanted it to be true, too.
The two followed the steps in Danielle’s spellbook, then read the verses of a “spell” outloud. (Curt recognized a few words of the spell as poorly translated Portuguese, some of words mentioning something about a female form, but decided not to bring it up.) As they completed the final step, Curt looked around for someone to jump out in a werewolf costume or something, while Danielle stared up at the moon in anticipation.
“Okay, we finished the spell,” Curt said. “I don’t feel any different. What’s supposed to happen now?”
“It should start changing us any minute now!” Danielle said.
There was an awkward silence between the two as they waited.
And waited.
And waited.
After fifteen minutes, Curt was starting to wish he’d brought his DS with him, so he could at least get some level grinding done while waiting for the “arcane ritual” to kick in. “Well, looks like it didn’t work. How about we head back to the dorm and watch some cat videos?”
“But if we start changing once we’re there, we’ll freak everybody out!”
“I think I’ll take that risk. The moon’s not getting any fuller tonight.”
“Fine…” Danielle muttered. “Maybe it’ll trigger on a different night,” she whispered.
The next day, when they met in the dining hall up after classes, Danielle was eager to talk about her experiences. “Oh! You’re looking a little scruffier than usual.”
“Yeah, I forgot to shave this morning.”
“Good to see it’s coming along for you too! I think my teeth have gotten a little sharper since yesterday!” She smiled widely. Curt couldn’t make out any difference whatsoever.
“Wait, what?” Curt shook his head. “Wait… You mean you were being serious about that spell stuff last night? You weren’t just trying some prank?”
“Of course I was serious! Both of us love transformations! I thought it would be cool if we could both turn into wolves!”
Hoo boy. Curt had heard some horror stories from other guys in his dorm about having a girlfriend go through a wicca phase. Maybe he should just try and talk some sense into her, and if she can’t be reasoned with, drop the relationship?
Then again, he hated the thought of giving up on a friend just like that. And even though he was certain that there was no such thing as magic, he couldn’t deny, on some level, that he wished there was. And it would be a bit hypocritical of him to rip into her for a weird hobby, wouldn’t it?
“Well, Danielle, I think you’re kinda… Reaching, when looking to see if that spell worked.”
“You don’t believe in magic?”
“Not really, no.”
Danielle sighed. “Well, no wonder it didn’t work. Curt… Would you really be interested in transforming, in real life, if the chance came up?”
“Well, depends on a whole lot of details, but I probably would, but-”
“Then please, try to open your mind, and believe it. It’s not going to work otherwise.”
“Have you ever heard of this stuff working even if they believed?” Was what Curt knew he should have said. But “I can try.” Was what came out. Maybe it was his fear of losing this relationship, maybe it was that small part of him that wished magic were real, but though he immediately regretted saying it, he didn’t correct himself.
“Great! Even if you’re right, and this spell is a dud, if we keep trying, I’m sure we could eventually find one that works.” Curt hadn’t taken his Probability and Statistics course yet, but he felt he didn’t need to in order to point out the flaws in that argument. Regardless, he stayed silent.
Danielle would continue to try out “spells” with him over the next two months, each failure frustrating her more than the last, and each desperate displays of confirmation bias from her frustrating him more than the last.
“No, Danielle, I’m not wearing the coat you ‘enchanted’ because I’m getting closer to my ‘true selkie nature,’ I’m wearing it because everything else is in the wash.”
“No, Danielle, my ‘brilliant, silky mane’ is not the result of the mare spell we tried. I ran out of shampoo and had to borrow a different type from one of the guys in my dorm.”
“For the last time, Danielle, all animals emit flatulence, not every gross-but-normal bodily function is the result of that sow spell.”
And even as he dismissed her spells’ effectiveness time and time again, he never stopped participating, or even suggested she stop trying, no matter how much he felt like he should. But one night, before one of his final exams, she approached him to do another spell.
“But the moon’s alignment is perfect! It’s a once in a lifetime chance!”
“Yeah, so is not getting an F on my calculus finals and losing my scholarship and having to drop out of college!” Curt let out a frustrated sigh.
“Do you want to experience a transformation in real life, or not?”
“Look, if we were talking dragons, or crocodiles, or crows, or some other animal I cared about, I would consider it,” Curt said, putting out anything he could think of to avoid saying what he actually thought about this whole spell business. “But I am not throwing out my future on some fake donkey-girl spell!” He didn’t realize he’d let that last bit slip until he saw Danielle’s scowl.
“So you never believed it at all!” Danielle clenched her fists. “I thought you were the only one I could count on, even when the other wiccans thought I was being stupid, but you were sabotaging it from the start! Because of you, I’ll never be the woman I’m supposed to be!”
“Woman you’re supposed to be?” Curt shook his head, he didn’t know what she meant by that, but now that the cat was out of the bag, there was no point in hiding his feelings about this. “Look, none of these spells were ever going to work. You were only setting yourself up for disappointment. I’m surprised you hadn’t already given up on them.”
Danielle glowered at him, and then started muttering something under her breath.
“What are you doing now?”
As she finished her whispering, she responded with; “Placing a curse on you! You’re going to miss your stupid test, and you WILL have the blood of a jenny flowing through you! Then you’ll know magic is real.”
Curt sighed, and sat back in his chair. “Okay. I’m waiting for the braying to happen.”
“Good! Because it will...”
Curt sat there for a minute or so, while Danielle glared at him. After checking his watch, he reached over to his desk, and started doing his calculus practice tests again. Danielle scowled.
“Ahg! You and your stupid unbelief making all my spells fail.”
“If a curse will fail if the person doesn’t think it will work, that sounds like a pretty useless curse.”
Danielle clenched her teeth. “Fine then, you don’t want to do these spells, you’ll never have to see them, or me, again!” She stormed out of the room, turning back once she was out of the door to spit out one last word. “Human!”
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Curt, indeed, had not seen here since, ignoring occasional glances at her from from across the campus. Not for lack of trying, though. Even though he knew it was likely for the best that their relationship was over, he still felt like he was partially responsible for her obsession escalating like it had. Maybe if he had only been honest with her earlier, and tried to talk her out of it, the two of them wouldn’t have wasted so much time and energy just to lead to a big blow-up. He tried to apologize for his dishonesty, and his rudeness in their final argument, but she did everything in her power to keep away from him. After a while he gave up, and just accepted she was out of his life.
Not long after, Curt had heard from a mutual friend that Danielle had been born male, and was suffering gender dysphoria, and had been unable to afford the surgery she had wanted. Then everything clicked; the bit about the “woman she was supposed to be,” why all the spells had been specifically about changing into female animals, and why she seemed so desperate to try ANYTHING. And it made him feel worse. While he knew that wasting time with “magic” was only going to give her false hope, had he known why she was doing it, he thought, he might have been able to help her see reason, and she wouldn’t have gotten so frustrated.
Eh, who was he kidding? Even if had known, he probably would have made the same mistake, too afraid about hurting her feelings in the moment to consider how much more harm it could do later.
So given all this, you can imagine his surprise, when one week prior, he received an email from her, telling him that she was moving to the area, and wanted to see him again, and apologize.
And now, not only did he have a chance to apologize, as well, with the TF raygun, he had a chance to give her what she had wanted for so long. Kind of ironic. He had been so adamant about magic not existing in the past. And while the spells she had looked into in the past were obviously fake, (his lack of being a donkey girl even all these years after Danielle’s “curse” being a testament to that) this little piece of plastic… If it wasn’t magic that was making what looked like a simple toy warp biology and human perception around him, it was tech so advanced it might as well have been.
He pulled into Danielle’s driveway. She had a simple, one-story house, in a quiet suburb, nothing really fancy in the yard. Curt got out of the car, Anna and Skyla following behind him as he started making adjustments on the gun. She had gone through so many fursonas when she was trying those spells, he was having a hard time picking the species. Then again, there had been one species she kept going back to, over those months. Maybe that one held a special place in her heart. Perhaps he’d ask her about it.
Next was the Busty/Adorable toggle…
Anna pounced to his left side. “Oh! Oh! Pick adorable! The world can always use some more cuteness!” The cat grinned, resting her chin on his shoulder.
“No, no, busty all the way,” Sklya leaned on his right side, “come on, I’ve seen your Fur Affinity favorites. You like ‘em that way, I like ‘em that way…”
Curt gave a perplexed glance at one, then the other. “Are… you two trying to do that shoulder angel, shoulder devil thing?”
“Me?” Anna gave her best Bambi eyes, “Of course not. By the way, what’s Fur Affinity?”
Skyla spoke up. “Well, you see, when a mommy furry and a daddy furry never actually end up meeting each other, they get a little frustrated, and-”
“Stop! Ix-nay on the ewd-lay!” Curt whispered sharply.
“Aw, fine.” The Kitsune pouted.
“But seriously, what is it?”
“I’ll tell you when you’re older.”
“I’m twenty.” Anna looked distinctly unamused.
“I’ll tell you when you’re older than twenty.”
Anna rolled her eyes, while Curt turned his attention back to the gun. After picking “nude” in the Nude/Maid Costume toggle, the last options were the Change Awareness checkbox, and the Reality Distortion Field box, the former still checked off, the latter checked on, from Anna’s using it on Meredith.
So, the reality distortion field made it so the people changed were, effectively, always that way, his memories, and possibly the memories of those that were changed with “awareness” checked on, as well, being the only things in the world contradicting it. That had some interesting implications. The fact that this gun could heal disabilities and serious diseases meant history could be altered pretty substantially, even before touching on males becoming females. People could end up never meeting those that would become close friends, or even the loves of their lives, simply because they were able to take a different career path with their improved health. He didn’t know much worse things could potentially turn out, for want of a nail. What gave him the right to reshape people’s whole existence like that?
Well, okay, if the license that came with the gun was to be believed, apparently, there were might actually be some multiversal lawyers that went over the paperwork, and literally gave him the right to do that. But they were LAWYERS, why should he trust them?
But at the same time, in Danielle’s case, maybe the it would be worth the risk. He couldn’t imagine what it must have been like, living all those years feeling like she was born wrong. Sure, her life might turn out dramatically different. It could be dramatically worse. But it could also be dramatically better. A doctor wouldn’t stop trying to keep a patient from going blind or becoming paralyzed just because becoming disabled MIGHT lead to the person meeting someone they otherwise wouldn’t have, or learning some life-lesson, or whatever. And while people loved to romanticize Van Gogh's mental illness, saying that, without it, we might never have gotten Starry Night Over the Rhône, the artist himself had apparently found the times he was suffering them were the times he could barely get motivated to paint anything at all. And needless to say, his suicide prevented who knows how many more potential Starry Nights. Were there a cure for his condition, perhaps we the art world would be an even more vibrant. But even if it had somehow prevented him from making those paintings, was a human life not worth more than a thousand Starry Nights?
Curt looked back at the gun in his hands again. Maybe he was just being selfish, thinking only of Danielle’s feelings right now, yet again, while ignoring what would happen in the future. Maybe he truly didn’t learn anything,all those years ago. He shook his head. No, he had to stop thinking like that. This was a chance to make a difference. It was a risk, sure, but it was one worth taking.
He checked the Change Awareness box on, only to see the the Reality Distortion Field check box go empty. When he pressed that box on the holographic display, the Change Awareness box went empty automatically. So, apparently, if reality changed with the person, they wouldn’t be able to keep any memories of their former life. It made sense, Curt supposed.
Undeterred by that setback, and satisfied with his settings, Curt rang the doorbell. After short wait, it opened, to reveal the familiar face of Danielle. “Curt! It’s nice to see you again. And is that your sister? And your friend… What was her name… Skyla? Please, come inside.”
The three stepped into her living room, taking a seat together on the sofa, Danielle sitting across from them. “Now then,” she said, “I guess I should start with an apology. Are you okay with your friend and your sister being here for this?”
“I suppose it’s better if you two go for this..” Curt said. “It’s between me and Danielle.”
“That’s fine.” Anna said, standing up.
“You two can go back to the kitchen, grab yourself some juice or milk if you like,” Danielle said.
As the two furry women followed her advice, Curt spoke up. “Let me apologize first. I should have been honest with you from the start about that whole debacle. I was worried you’d drop our relationship. Instead I just led to you getting more frustrated by feeding you false hope.”
“I forgive you, Curt. Now then-”
“Sorry, but before you apologize,” Curt interrupted, “I would like to ask you a couple quick questions.”
Danielle looked a little confused. “Sure, what are they?”
“Do you still like Donkeys?”
“Yes, they’re still one of my favorite animals.”
“Good. Next question;” Curt grinned as he raised the ray gun, “Do you believe in magic?”
A streak, like green lightning, arced from the tip of the gun. Short gray fur began to grow all over Danielle’s skin, save for her stomach, which received a white color instead. He body was covered from head to toe in fur, as her clothes seemed to vanish from existence. Her hips and butt flared out quite noticeably, and her legs became a bit longer, her feet in particular nearly doubling in length, her toes swelling and turning darker, as they hardened into a pair of hooves. Above her more prominent rear, a long, ropey tail, with a tuft of brown fur at the end, slowly slid out behind her, and through a hole that suddenly appeared in the back of the chair, similar holes appearing on every other chair in her house.
Her arms lost a little muscle mass, becoming more feminine looking, while her fingers became a little thicker, her fingernails taking the dark color of her hooves. Her waist pinched in a little, while her chest started to swell as well, two fur-covered mounds rising up, becoming bigger and bigger, yet not seeming to sag or harm her back, despite the lack of support. Well, nobody could say she wasn’t a real woman now.
Finally, her head began to change, her nose turning a dark color as the fur around it and her mouth turned white. Her jaws stretched out in front of her, nearly doubling the length of her head, her nose growing wider as it followed suit, moving to the end of her new, rounded muzzle. Her ears began to stretch out quite a ways, almost as long as her snout, growing to little points as they moved toward the top of her head. Most of her hair shrank down and changed color to match the fur around it, save for a “mohawk” of brown hair-turned black. It became a little shorter, and ran from the top of her head down to her neck.
“Magic?” Danielle said. “Can’t really say I do, Master. Why do you ask?”
Even after Meredith, Curt was still surprised to see someone change completely like that, and just carry on as if nothing had happened. Taking a second to regain his bearings, Curt answered. “Eh, no real reason, I just found this gun on my porch one day, with a note saying it would let me turn people into anthro animals that feel the need to serve me. Pretty silly, right?”
Danielle grinned. “Yeah, it does seem pretty silly, Master. It’s not like we’d need some magic compulsion to to wish to serve someone like you. It really is nice to see you again after such a long time.”
“Aw, thanks, Danielle, that’s so nice of you to say. Yeah, it’s been at least a couple years, hasn’t it?” Curt asked, trying to think of questions that would let him test how much had changed. “Do you remember why that was, Danielle? I seem to have been a little forgetful, lately.”
“Don’t worry about it, Master, we all have our moments. To answer your question, we had been having a discussion at that time about my interests and desires. He he he-haw…” She giggled, a bray getting mixed in with her laughter. “Ah, I remember you getting exasperated when I kept telling you that you were the only thing I desired. But I eventually told you that, aside from serving you, one of my life goals was to be a park ranger in Yellowstone. You encouraged me to pursue that as a career. I hated the thought of leaving you while you went through the stresses of college, but I knew I couldn’t just disobey you. And I must admit, I had an utterly wonderful time! I would love to be your guide there, if you ever visited. There is so much natural beauty everywhere you look in that place.”
“I imagine it must have complimented your natural beauty very well.”
Danielle blushed. “Oh Master, so kind, even to a simple jenny like me.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, Danielle, you are a wonderful woman. So, anyway, why did you move out here?”
“You had asked me to come back, Master. So naturally, I came to your call. Luckily, I found a job as a ranger at a local park. Even if it’s not as grand as Yellowstone, it’s nice to not have to choose between my passions.”
“Thank you, Danielle.” Curt replied. While he didn’t know what Danielle had done with herself after their blow up, he did remember her saying that she had been interested in being a park ranger before then. He probably should have asked what she had done in that time before changing her, in hindsight, but Curt was still happy with what he had learned from this. It did seem like Danielle was far happier after the change than she was before. Even happier than he remembered her being during their days in college. Their little argument, and the frustrations that led to it, had been erased from history, and she got to enjoy doing something she loved.
It also dawned on Curt, finally, that she had been calling him “Master” this whole time. In fact, when she talked about their college days, she had basically said she followed his every word, even then. And oddly, this time, he had felt comfortable with it. Was it some side effect of the Reality Distortion Field, or was he just getting used to it? Or maybe he was just enjoying her listening to him, after he had spent those months doing whatever she had asked.
Either way, he was starting to feel more confident about using the gun. And maybe even employing the RDF more often, since it didn’t seem to skew toward negative butterfly effects. If he was going to use it on strangers, who may or may not have actually wanted to be furry before, why not make them more comfortable with it by making their new situation the norm for them, and everyone that knew them?
Curt looked at his watch. The daylight hours were fading, and he still had one more friend he wanted to change before the day was over. “Oh man, the time! Sorry, Danielle, I know I only just got here, and I’d love to catch up, but I’ve gotta go take care of something.” He stood up, and gave the jenny a hug, which she immediately returned.
“Oh, don’t worry, Master, I understand. Though I would be happy to come with you, if you like.”
“Maybe next time.” Curt said. “I don’t know if I’d have time to drop you off here again tonight, and I need to clean the guest room back home before you could spend the night.”
“I could drive over there and clean it for you!”
“I appreciate the offer, but I’d be happier if you just rest and enjoy an evening to yourself, tonight.”
“Well, thank you, Master.”
Curt turned toward the kitchen. “Anna, Skyla, it’s time to go.”
The two came out of the kitchen, Skyla grinning as she saw the new jenny. She gave Anna a nudge with her shoulder. “Looks like he went with my pick, this time,” she whispered. “Too bad we couldn’t be there to see her change.”
Anna shrugged. “Oh well. She might not be as cute as I’d like, but she still looks pretty.”
The three waved goodbye as they went out the door, and got into Curt’s car. As they got out on the road again, Curt found himself wanting to play with his new toy just a little more. Maybe he could make a little time to change a stranger along the way…
As they entered his friend’s neighborhood, they happened to meet…