"So, what do you recommend?"
Derek leaned over the counter, smiling at the woman on the other side of it. For someone working at a tacky knick-knack shop, she was really quite pretty. Short hair, big brown eyes...and that body, mmm. It was shameless, yeah, and he might not have a real chance with this chick, but he'd be damned if he wasn't going to try.
She giggled. Oh, this was going way better than he'd hoped.
"Ah, I don't know. It's all good. I guess it just depends on what you're looking for. We've got stuff for people looking for a change and for people looking to change others. And everything in between. So, what are you looking for?"
Derek almost blurted out "you," but he stopped himself just short. He was sure that would just come off as lame and desperate-- which he definitely was not, no sir! Besides, he was being watched.
"Uh, maybe a bit of both?" he tried, not sure exactly where they were in the conversation. Not that he actually cared about the conversation. It was a means to an end.
The girl's smile turned into a grin.
"Oh, man, I have just the thing! Hold on a second, I'll be right back!"
She disappeared into the backroom in a hurry. Derek looked over his shoulder at his buddy standing by the window. Mike was a good guy. He definitely had better luck with women than him, but maybe that would all change today. Fingers crossed. Either way, if he screwed this up, he'd never hear the end about it from Mike.
The girl came back a few moments later, a long, thin red box clutched in her hands. She set it down gently on the counter, a look of careful concentration on her face.
"Don't want to upset this one," she said by way of explanation.
*Okay, so she's crazy. Still cute, though,* Derek thought.
"So...what's in the box?"
"A necklace. But it's what's in the necklace that's the cool thing."
Derek frowned. Maybe she really was crazy. Maybe he could just go... Mike would understand. But the way she was looking at him...
"Uh...what's in the necklace, then?"
Her eyes lit up.
"A mischief spirit! Normally they roam around changing people at a whim, but we managed to capture this one. Well, I say we, but it was mostly just the Wizard."
Derek couldn't resist.
"Of Oz?"
The girl looked hurt. Oh, he'd done it now. No chance of him getting her number now.
"No...you know what? Maybe this is a bad idea. Something as powerful as a spirit can't be controlled by just anyone..."
Well, she wasn't really angry. Just sad. Maybe he could still pull this off...
"Hey, I'm not just anyone. I mean, I got this far, didn't I?"
She shrugged.
"I guess."
"So, how much for the thing? The spirit or the necklace or whatever?"
She brightened up a little at the question. Not much, but a little.
"Hmm...This one's a little wild. I think....fifty bucks will do."
If Derek had been drinking coffee at the moment, he would've spit it all out. Fifty bucks for a necklace? Jesus. He wanted to get back on this girl's good side, but damn. There wasn't anything he could even do with it if this shit didn't work out.
"Um, sure. Here you go."
He slipped her the fifty quickly, before he could talk himself out of it. The girl's irascible grin returned as she deposited the cash in the register. She tore off the receipt and pushed it towards Derek.
"All done. Congrats on owning one of these. Seriously, this is a great deal. You won't regret it. Just... be nice to it. You really don't want to upset a spirit. Any kind of spirit, not just the mischief ones."
Derek wasn't really listening anymore. He had the box tucked beneath his arm. Maybe he just wanted to look cooler as he asked her the question he'd come into the shop to ask.
"By the way, what's your name?"
She giggled again. So cute.
"I'm Tiffany. Nice to meet you, Mister...?"
"Derek. Just Derek."
She raised her eyebrows.
"Ah, cool. Well, you have a good day, Derek!"
And that was it. Conversation over. It would be really awkward to stick around now, so Derek didn't. Maybe he'd come back again and ask for her number. If he could summon the courage...
*Ah, face it, you just missed your chance and you got scammed. It's a wash, Derek. Now all that's left is to face the music.*
Derek could tell by the smug expression on Mike's face as he left the shop that his friend knew it, too. He was a big guy, way more handsome than Derek could ever claim to be. He'd played football in high school but quit by the time he got into college. Not really by choice. He'd torn some muscle or another. It sucked, but he was a smart guy. He'd be fine. He was doing fine right now, actually. Broad shoulders, dark skin, sharp cheekbones... he looked like something the ancient Greeks would sculpt out of marble. Except, y'know, moving.
"So, did you get her number?"
Derek shook his head. He could already hear the jokes coming.
"Dude, seriously? You had her on the hook. You totally could have asked for her number. Why didn't you? Also, what the hell is that thing?" He said, pointing at the box beneath Derek's shoulder.
Derek shrugged.
"A necklace. Nothing special."
Mike shook his head, his eyes wide.
"Dude, that's not nothing. Look!"
Derek looked. The box was glowing blue!
"Uh..." he stammered, unsure what was happening. "It's a prank. Some kind of LED."
"It's not a prank, cutie," a sultry voice whispered in his ear. Derek shuddered, a chill running down his spine. It felt like someone was leaning over his shoulder.
"Who said that? That's not funny!"
Mike just blinked.
"Who said what? I didn't hear anything."
"You didn't hear that voice just now? There was some lady whispering in my ear!"
He raised an eyebrow.
"Bro, there's no one here but us. Are you okay?"
"Yes, are you okay?" The voice whispered again, amusement evident in her tone. "I cannae tell. Maybe you need to consult a say-call-oh-gist? Or whatever it is ya have in this era."
"Who are you?" Derek whispered desperately, worried that he might actually be losing his mind.
"M'name's Mavis. A pleasure to meet you, Derek. You're cute. I was a little surprised ya didn't ask my name back in the shop. Probably didn' think I was real. Well, I'm real. Just lacking a proper form at the momen'. But I'm sure ya can fix that."
Well, one thing was for sure-- he wasn't going crazy. He was nowhere near creative enough to come up with something like this, even subconsciously. There really was a spirit in the necklace.
*Holy shit, there really is a spirit in this thing. Spirits are real!*
What did Tiffany say about this thing? Treat her right? Uh...
"That's right, laddie. Ya better be kind, or I migh' turn on ya! Well, probably not ya. I can see inta your heart. We're kindred spirits, you an' I. We're gonna have a lot of fun together. You and me. Not Mr. Third-Wheel over here."
It took Derek a moment to realize she was talking about Mike. A pit formed at the base of his stomach. He had a really bad feeling about this. Her tone wasn't doing anything to reassure him, either.
"You mean Mike? What are you gonna do to him?"
Mike was beginning to look seriously worried.
"Dude, who are you talking to?"
Mavis chuckled. He could practically hear the mischievous grin in her voice.
"Oh...nothin' bad. As a matter of fact, it'll be the best thing to ever happen to him. I personally guarantee it."
With that, the weight on Derek's shoulder disappeared. As if in a trance, he ripped the top off of the box and wrapped his hand around a thin metal chain linked to a big blue gem. Inexorably, uncontrollably, he marched towards Mike, who seemed equally as frozen. Unable to stop himself, Derek draped the necklace over his head. It fell onto his broad chest with a thunk. The blue gem pulsed with light, like a strobe at a nightclub.
"Bro, what did you just do? I feel fucking weird...."
Derek gasped, looking down at his hands. He hadn't done that. He hadn't been in control. What just happened? What had he just done?
"You'll see," Mavis teased inside his head.
At first, nothing happened. For a moment, Derek thought he might have imagined the whole thing. And then it all started to change. With a soft grunt, Mike...shrank. There was no other way to describe it. One moment he was six foot two, and the next... it seemed like he'd lost a whole foot in height. Mike noticed too.
"Oh my god, what's happening to me?"
Derek could only shake his head in open-mouthed awe.
Mike groaned as his shoulders narrowed, drawing closer to each other with a forceful crunch. "Ah!" He yelled. He tried to move, to get away from whatever was doing this to him, but Derek already knew it was too late. Mavis would have her due. In sharp contrast to his shoulders, Mike's hips widened, nearly tearing his pants apart at the waist. There was a wet squelching as fat drew its way to his rear. Overall, he was starting to look more... feminine?
"No way," Derek gasped.
"No way what? What's happening to me?!"
His voice cracked at the end, sounding decidedly higher in pitch. More fat deposited itself in his chest as the muscles he'd worked a lifetime for melted away into soft, feminine curves. Even Mike could tell what was going on now, and he was beginning to hyperventilate. It only got worse when he saw that his fingers were beginning to pale. Like juice being leeched from a fruit, all the color was being drained from his skin, to be replaced by sheetpaper whiteness.
"What the fuck?" he cried in a voice that was definitely not his own.
His neck snapped sharply to one side and he grinned.
"Exactly, m'dear. We're gonna have a lot of fun together in this body. Well, mostly me."
"Who are you?"
Mavis cackled.
"Better question-- who are you? A figment of my imagination, at best. And you're already fadin' away. Aw, look atcha!"
All the color had faded from Mike's skin by now. He was completely white-- and where he wasn't, he was covered in orange freckles. The shoulder poking out from the neck of his now oversized football jersey was spattered with freckles. They might have been cute if they weren't so horrifying.
"H-uh-help-- puh-lease, Der-ek..." Mike begged, his voice soft, nearly identical to Mavis' now. His face was melting and shifting into a different arrangement as his hair grew longer-- but not any less curly or kinky than it had been. It draped down over his face as his head lolled forward. Derek thought he might be unconscious. It would probably be a mercy.
His hair shifted from the deep, dark black it had been to a light brown and then to a fiery red. Unmistakably Irish.
And that was it. There were a few more changes that went unobserved by Derek, mostly because he was waiting with bated breath for his friend to confirm that he was alright. The person standing there in Mike's overly large clothes was decidely un-Mike-like. The jersey hung off of her like a dress, and her thighs were wide and thick. She was short and curvy, whoever she was. No, "she" was Mike. He shouldn't think about him like that-- he was--
"Mike's" head snapped up, a wide grin on his completely changed face.
"It's Mavis! In the flesh! And what nice flesh it is!"
Mavis did a little dance, kicking off Mike's pants in the process. Her face was so different from Mike's... it was hard to believe that this body belonged to his friend. She looked absolutely cherubic, beaming at Derek with bright green eyes set above round, dimpled cheeks. Her voice had been so sexy, but she was just... cute.
"Hey, cutie, why the long face?"
"You just... took over my friend's body and... Where is he?"
Her grin grew wider.
"He's here. Don't worry, this isn't permanent. I only said what I said to spook him. Just wanted to have a bit of fun. I'll let him have this body back. Eventually. Occasionally. I dunno, depends on how much I like it. And I'm really liking it so far. What about you? You liking this?"
She turned so her butt was facing Derek and gave it a firm slap. It jiggled, and he could see it all outlined through the jersey struggling to keep it contained. Derek could feel himself straining against his underwear.
*God, why am I getting so turned on by this?*
"It's 'cause ya know what ya like. I know what ya like. And this necklace...well, it's got us stuck together, hasn't it? I hafta listen to you, as long as I'm still bound to this thing. I don't necessarily hafta do what ya say, but I do gotta give your opinion some kinda consideration. But think of this as a mutual benefit. I can make some changes in your life and you can provide me with hours of entertainment. Maybe even years, if you're real nice to me."
*Is it crazy that I'm actually considering this?*
Yes, it was, but what other options did he have? He wasn't in control of her, she'd made that clear by taking over Mike, and who knows what else she's capable of?
"Okay, it's a deal."
Mavis laughed, hands on her hips.
"So it is! I haven't had a proper partner in decades! Let's see what the two of us can get up to, eh?"
With a snap of her fingers, the torn and ill-fitting clothing she'd been wearing reformed into a tight green dress with a plunging neckline-- deep enough to reveal her massive cleavage. The gemstone in which she'd been contained hung on top of her freckled breasts.
"Mm-mm. It feels good to feel good. Well, shall we get started? Where do you wanna go? Whaddaya wanna do, laddie? I've got a near-infinite amount of power and a will to use it!"
Yeah...Derek had to think about that one.