Mary groaned, scanning the shelves around her for anything interesting. But search as she might for diamonds in the rough, it seemed this store only had coal for her.
"I'm pretty sure Eve and Dora are going to be done soon," Tyler said, looking over his flute. "We can't keep them waiting forever."
"Fine!" Mary huffed. "Fine, we'll go. Might as well get back to the jewelry store, maybe I can grab that necklace I had my eye on before we leave."
Tyler, Mary, Rachel and Amber headed back to the jewelry shop, where Eve was in the middle of paying for a set of relatively cheap earrings for herself, while Dora simply watched.
Mary turned to Tyler. “To keep this trip from being a total waste, I’m gonna grab that necklace before we go, okay?”
Without waiting for a response, she went back to looking through the displays. Tyler sighed and shook his head.
“Well Master?” Rachel whispered, her hood flared in excitement. “Do you want to try out the flute on your friends?”
“I mean, if you don’t,” Amber added, “we’d be happy to hear you play, and dance for you all the same. But I think they’re missing out.”
Tyler gave it some thought. He didn't really know Eve or Dora that well, and any familiarity had with Mary was largely a coincidence. All three of the girls loved to be social, but never took the time to attend driver's ed, which was where he fit into their lives. They had met at school during lunch, mostly because Tyler didn't have anywhere else to sit the first couple of weeks. He hadn’t found most of their gossip interesting, and they didn’t listen when he spoke, but when some event or party was going on he'd offer to drive them, both to be nice, and for a chance to meet new people. But it never led to him getting to know them, or vice versa.
Should he really disrupt their lives on a whim? Just to test the flute?
Well, it's not like he hadn’t already done that with his new snake ladies.
Eve finished paying, and made her way toward Tyler, Dora right behind her.
"Hey Tyler, how's it going?" Eve asked. “You enjoying yourself here?”
Tyler heard Rachel whisper. “Did they even notice you were gone?”
"What do you have there?" Dora added.
"Just a flute I got at the antique shop." Tyler brought the flute to his lips, and began to play.
Once again, as if on instinct, the music drifted through the air, and Tyler found himself picturing the girls in front of him dancing. Eve dropped her bag, and tapped her foot, and Dora suddenly smiled wide as both girls were caught in the rhythm.
Amber and Rachel perked up at the sound and began to dance as well.
Mary turned from the counter, having heard the music, and watched curiously while the cashier rung up her purchase.
Eve and Dora mirrored the snake girls, Eve's plump figure bouncing as they all shook their hips in unison. Dora's long blonde hair whipped back and forth as her once willowy body began building muscle mass. To her right, Eve's fat seemed to shift around and harden into muscle mass as well, their arms and legs both getting larger and more defined as they moved with steady grace and poise.
Their clothes getting too tight, they pulled each article off in sync, revealing toned stomachs already covered in short, tawny fur. The perfect bodies Tyler was picturing for them were quickly taking shape.
Their dancing feet kicked off their shoes, and arched up into a digitigrade stance. Tyler could picture the soft, black, leathery pads swelling out from their toes and the balls of their feet. Their nails dissolved on their hands and feet, the bones within reshaping to hold their new retractable claws.
Each of their faces stretched forward, teeth sharpening as they gained feline muzzles with brown noses. Their ears moved up the sides of their heads, becoming rounder, while their hair shortened, and changed color, neatly blending in with their fur.
Tyler's mind drifted to the finishing touches as his music guided the girls' dance. Above their swaying, steadily swelling behinds, a long, thin tail, ending in tuft of brown fur, while their chests rose from a modest A and B, to firm D cups.
Content with his handiwork, Tyler let the music slow down and fade out, leading all four animal girls to take a bow as their dance finished.
Mary, her purchase finished, and necklace in hand, smiled, apparently enjoying a chance to watch the dance.
"That was incredible, Master!" Eve cheered. "You never told me you could play the flute!"
"I've never heard anything like it," Dora added. "Your music spoke to me, body and soul!"
"Glad you enjoyed," Tyler chuckled, looking up and down their powerful forms.
"I can't believe what I'd been missing," Eve continued, "beautiful music like that has to be protected! I can see why you gave us this strength."
"Thank you so much, Master!" Dora leaned in toward him.
Tyler smiled to himself. The first time he used the flute's magic, it had been on instinct, going to the first image that came to his mind. This time, he'd been picturing a specific species and position, that of his new bodyguards, both of which came to be just like he'd hoped. And now his two friends were fiercely loyal, powerful lionesses.
Now that he knew he had some control over its magic, the idea was a bit more appealing.