Gina laughed. "You're not too big to fit on the tennis court, right?"
Elizabeth shrugged, "Uhh... probably not. Why?"
Gina stood up from the couch and tossed a key with a large plastic logo attachment at Elizabeth. "Come on Liz, did you really forget? The girls down the street. Cassie and Vanessa. It's at 1."
She looked down at her watch.
"That's less than an hour. Come on, enough fooling around. Get dressed. You don't want to miss it again, right?. The way they trash talked you last time. And made me feel sooo embarrassed when you never showed..."
Elizabeth blinked as the memories surfaced. The girls a few units down had challenged them to a tennis match after they had a dispute over who had rights to use the tennis court to practice. The whole scuffle went down a couple Saturdays ago and Elizabeth had missed the initial scheduling of the match because her car broke down. They wanted to call it a victory but Gina had convinced them to reschedule to today.
Of course, at the time the match was challenged, Elizabeth had been able to wear tennis shorts. And only had 1 right arm. Several mischievous ideas sprung forth and she nodded back to Gina.
"Right! Almosst forgot." Her 4 torsos turned to head back to her room, but one paused a moment and turned back. "Hey wait a second. You were ssick last night. Are you okay to play?"
Gina nodded as she stood up and stretched, "It was pretty bad food poisoning but it's gone. I was able to keep both breakfast and lunch down, and I don't feel weak any more. So yeah, I'm good."
Elizabeth nodded and slithered back to her bedroom to rejoin her 3 other torsos which were already in the process of stripping off the bras and shirts she had just put on. The feeling of the door swinging to rest against her several of her tails momentarily distracted her. It wasn't fully open, but was still propped open a couple of feet. She shrugged and figured it would be okay - She had unintentionally flashed Gina twice in the last 24 hours. If Gina poked her head in while she was changing... That would be on Gina, not on her. In a small way, she kind of hoped Gina would do just that. Maybe it was her time spent making out between her torsos, but she was rapidly coming to enjoy the thought of embracing another woman. A familiar warmness started to spread in her nether regions and she pushed that thought out of her minds.
She searched the drawers of her armoire until she found one filled with exercise clothing - a variety of sports bras and exercise tops. There were also a few short skirts made of a fabric similar to biking shorts that she pulled out and distributed.
In her middle, her main tail region, she felt pressure points pressing against her tail for a second then removing only to reappear just a moment later. It felt like they were moving up her tail. A couple of her minds paused, confused by the sensation. One torso slithered over to the door and snaked one head out the door, moving her 9 inch long neck like a serpent itself. She laughed when she saw Gina walking barefoot along the back of her tail, arms out like she was walking on a balance beam.
"You know I could sswing my tail to either sside and you'd be asss up on the ground."
Gina glanced up at Elizabeth's inquisitive head, "Yeah, you could. But you won't. You're not that mean."
Elizabeth giggled, "Psshaw. Go get dresssed before you find out for ssure!"
Gina rolled her eyes, "What do you think I'm doing? It's not like someone's giant tail is all over the floor and I have to walk on her back to make it to my bedroom..."
"Oh. Right, ssorry."
Gina shrugged and took a few more steps before stepping down to the hardwood floor just outside Elizabeth's bedroom. "Hey look, floor! Bet you I'll be ready first." Then she sprinted down the hall to her own bedroom.
Elizabeth simply shrugged and pulled her head back into her bedroom. Her 3 other torsos had already finished putting on her sports clothing and were looking around for sunscreen and collecting water bottles. One torso slithered into her big closet and pulled the legalese note out of her skirt pocket:
----
The Do's and Don'ts of Owning a Magical Item
* Do conceal the item from anyone you don't fully trust
* Don't talk to mundane authorities about it. Police, CDC, government, etc
* Do contact the Veil Protection Agency (1-800-555-VEIL) in the event of any emergencies
* Don't be photographed or video recorded with aspects of the item visibly affecting you, or in a situation you otherwise wouldn't be able to be in (like flying)
* Don't use magic in wide open spaces
* Do enjoy the magic in the comfort of your own home
* Don't post about magic online, in text messages, write about it in journals, talk about it in voicemail or anywhere else that could be considered permanent communication
The Veil
The veil is a global protective enchantment that greatly reduces the ease with which non-magic users can perceive or generally be aware of magic. It is NOT 100% effective nor is it invulnerable. The health of the veil is the concern of each and every magic user.
The veil has limits: It can make a person riding a bike at 60 miles per hour on a city street seem plausible. It can make a person jumping 20 feet into the air to touch the ceiling seem plausible. It cannot make a person riding a bike at 500 miles per hour in the air seem plausible. It cannot make a person jumping to the moon seem plausible.
Keep in mind that the Veil does not affect anyone that the Veil protects. It is your responsibility as a ward of the veil to not draw attention to others under its protection.
The veil's influence is centered upon the magic user's head - People within several hundred yards or who have direct visual clearance to the user's head are affected, with the strength of the enchantment decreasing the further away, or the more obscured the head becomes. In the event someone starts to become suspicious or act strangely, make eye contact with them to allow the enchantment time to alleviate suspicion.
In event of any problems or emergencies, immediately contact the Veil Protection Agency (1-800-555-VEIL)
----
She finished reading the note and put it away. It had been very informative, and also worried her a little. The examples it gave didn't exactly translate to transformations - how close was she to being too different? Gina didn't seem affected, but Gina had also been within 50 feet of her heads the whole time, so the veil would have been at its strongest. Elizabeth decided to be prepared and retrieved yesterday's clothes from the bathroom, including the cell phone from her... skirt? Yesterday it had been pants, it must have changed along with the rest of her wardrobe.
Elizabeth added the VPA number to her contacts and slid it into the one pocket on her exercise skirt. She drew all 4 of her torsos together into the middle of the room and looked at her sportswear. All of it looked custom made for her body - All the tops had 4 armholes, and 2 of the tops extended up to her necks with 2 neck holes. Satisfied with her appearance, and a few tugs to make sure her "naga panties" were tight enough and wouldn't fall down when moving a lot, she grabbed 2 separate fist fulls of hair bands and paired off her torsos so one torso was behind another. Deftly using all 4 arms she put both heads of hair belonging to the torso in front into ponytails. Then she turned around and, after noting Gina leaning against the bedroom door frame with a goofy grin, finished tying her hair up in ponytails.
"Aaaand ready. Let'ss go."
"Lookin' good, Liz. Hope you don't mind if I get a head start. Someone left a treacherous patch of tail between here and the door." Gina winked and made an over-exaggerated step up onto Elizabeth's tail.
Elizabeth rolled her eyes and quickly slithered forward one of her torsos to Liz, then turned her back to Liz and bent forward at an angle. She turned one of her heads backwards so she could see Gina. "Hop on."
"Seriously?" Gina eye Elizabeth's offered back with a bit of skepticism.
"Yess. Unlesss you want to trip when I sstart to move."
Gina shrugged and climbed up onto Elizabeth's back. She wrapped her arms around Elizabeth's shoulders and straddled Elizabeth's waist from the back with her legs. "Mush!"
Once again Elizabeth rolled her eyes, then slithered towards the apartment front door. She was surprised - While she could feel Gina hanging onto her back, she could barely sense any weight. She accelerated and was at the front door in just a few seconds.
Gina grinned as her hair flapped back in the sudden wind caused by Elizabeth's speed. "Woo! One of these days we're going to see if I can surf your tail when you're going top speed."
Elizabeth had always known Gina liked to push her limits a little far, but had never pegged her for an adrenaline junkie. But the idea intrigued her. Not just the surfing element, but finding out what her top speed is. "Know what? We've got time. Let'ss do that now. I'll sstart sslow. Jusst let me get outsside."
She slithered outside, the more natural feeling of picking a direction and moving in it taking over. Gina stood to the side as Elizabeth's body flooded out from the apartment. Soon all 4 of Elizabeth's torsos and all of her tail made it out, and Elizabeth guided Gina down the sidewalk to a point on her main tail just after the first junction leading off to her 2 front torsos.
"Try it here. I'm going to sslither alongsside sso I'll be right here if anything goess wrong. Let me know when you're ready."
Elizabeth held Gina's right hand in 2 of her left as Gina climbed up onto her tail. Seeing her friend climb onto her tail and feeling the slight pressure of her feet helped her mentally pinpoint exactly where Gina was standing. She focused on making her slithering as smooth as possible - reducing the amount of zig-zag in her tail as she moved.
"Alright, ready."
With Gina's command, Elizabeth started to slither down the sidewalk towards the clubhouse. 1 torso out front watched where she was going, 1 next to Gina held her hand and watched, and 2 in the back watched the scenery pass by and generally enjoying the experience.
Gina shook a little as Elizabeth started moving, but quickly caught her balance and after about 20 feet shook her hand free of Elizabeth's. She loosely bobbed left to right in rhythm with the tail's horizontal motion. She laughed and took a few cautious steps forwards and backwards.
"This is way easier than it looks. You've got to let me ride you more."
Elizabeth cocked an eyebrow. "Oh, really? Maybe I sshould move fasster than a crawl."
Gina grinned and knelt down like she was riding her skateboard, "Bring it, speed snake!"
Elizabeth obliged, gradually increasing her speed to 5 feet per second. 10 feet per second. 20 feet per second. 30 feet per second. She wasn't able to reduce the side-to-side motion of her slithering any more at this speed. She veered around one of the property managers riding a golf cart. The sidewalk ended and she shifted over to the road, leaving a moving arc of tail to bridge the gap. She kept accelerating, eager to get a sense of what speed her body was now capable of. She sped past the clubhouse, out of the apartment complex and up onto another sidewalk. Her speed soon matched the street traffic.
On her back, Gina was having the time of her life. Gina's time as a skateboarder and a surfer had taught her everything she needed to know about controlling her center of gravity and keeping her feet in contact with a sometimes elusive surface. She flowed with the zig-zags of Elizabeth's tail almost like she were nailed to the back of the tail. The swerve where the golf cart had been was conquered with a casual tilt to the side. The speedbump-esque arc when Elizabeth transitioned from the sidewalk to the street was almost a problem: On cresting it, Gina's feet left Elizabeth's back. Elizabeth reached out to grab her, but Gina had other plans, as her backflip and flawless 3 point landing back on Elizabeth's tail showed. Gina flashed a grin, immediately caught a bug in her teeth, spat and coughed a couple times while still swaying in tune with the chaotically zig-zagging tail she rode. Just a couple seconds of recovery later, Gina stood up fully again and her hair flowed loosely in the breeze.
Up at her front, Elizabeth approached a stop-light. The light was green, but she didn't want to head away from where she lived, so she took a right and headed down the intersecting street. She knew the area fairly well, and knew that if she took 3 more rights she would wind up right back at her apartment. And that was perfect for what she wanted to do - essentially test drive her body.
A few hundred feet down the road the sidewalk ended and, after checking to make sure there were no cars coming, she slithered onto the road and zoomed down the middle of the lane. She encountered a red light at a side street intersection and slowed to a stop - her entire tail compressed its zig-zags and even coiled as she accordioned from 200 feet long to her entire body fitting in about a 15 foot long space. Then as soon as the light turned green, she was off! Her tail rapidly uncoiled and straightened out, once again extending. The zig-zagging motion reduced the length of road she occupied to about 100 feet. The driver of a car behind her seemed unfazed by her presence on the road, instead treating her like a biker and speeding past in the oncoming lane when there were no cars.
Only about 5 minutes after leaving her apartment, Elizabeth returned to the entrance of the apartment complex and made her right turn, slithering back in. She slowed down and stopped her front at the clubhouse and breathed heavily for a minute as the rest of her body coiled in. The exertion of keeping up with the cars on the road felt equivalent to a minute or two of jogging. She was confident that she would be able to keep that up for quite a bit longer.
Gina stepped down off her back and let out the loudest "WHOOP!" that Elizabeth had ever heard.
"THAT WAS FUCKING AMAZING!"
Gina tacklehugged Elizabeth's torso closest to her and gave her the biggest hug of her life. Only after 10 seconds did she release and take a step back.
"Pleeaaaaaaase tell me we can do that again. That was like... surfing plus skateboarding taken to another level!"
Elizabeth giggled. "Maybe later. Tenniss firsst, right?"
Gina nodded and jubilantly skipped to the clubhouse door. She swung it open and headed inside, "Hey Cassie! Hi Vanessa! Let's do this!"
Elizabeth caught her breath and followed Gina into the clubhouse...