Merlin stepped in. Time to intervene.
"I think I have the perfect costume for you both! If you gentlemen wish to follow me. I have extremely attractive prices too. You others can debate on what you would like to done as costumes. I'll come to you right after helping these gentlemen."
Arthur smiled broadly. Sweet!
"Come one," he grunted at the intention of Mark.
Lucky for that loser, the dweeb followed him. Arthur revelled in taking down others and Mark was his prime target at the moment. However, his time as top bully was seriously running out, even if he did not know it yet. Merlin hid his smile but his satisfaction made him glow from within. He was going to enjoy this so much! He stopped further in rows of costume and took out an impressive toga and sandals costume, complete with a wreath of laurel and other little accessories.
"Here! A costume of the god Apollo! Finest around, I assure you!"
Arthur was immediately taken by it. He just had to have it! No girls would resist him in this and indeed he could show off his body. He would be accepted in the frat for sure.
"But it comes with another costume. The low price comes with using both. For you young man," Merlin said, handing the costume of a satyr. Mark was appalled. Arthur would dress as a god and he as a lowly ridiculous creature? No way! It was unfair! But Merlin priced both costumes at 29.99 $ both and it was a done deal just for one only. Arthur, for his part, was elated. With the loser dressed as a goat-guy, he would shine even more! And these costumes really were cheap enough and amazingly so for their quality! Well, the god one, especially.
"Listen, dweeb," he said menacingly to Mark. "I need this costume to pledge successfully and you're going to help me in this. Let’s face it, your chances of entering the frat are low to the max, but if you do as I say, I'll make sure to put in a word for you. Someone like me can pull strings someone like you can only imagine. So do what I say if you know what's good for you, okay? Put on the silly goat-guy costume."
Mark wanted to say no. He really did. But he didn't know what to do. Everything Arthur said rang true. Merlin handed him the satyr costume and pointed him to the changing room. He whispered to Mark:
"Trust me. You'll emerge victorious in this."
He winked discreetly at Mark. Arthur had wasted no time in snatching the costume and stomping to the changing room. Mark followed, unsure of himself. Once in the changing room, though, he slipped on the costume and quickly felt strange. So much that he did not pay attention to the panicked breathing occurring in the next changing room. Arthur felt paralysed, the god costume left unattended upon its hanger. He was crouched on the ground, incapable of moving a single muscle. It would not move, his body. After all, its future host just wasn't ready yet. Waiting was thus in order. As for Mark, as soon as he was enclosed his costume, from the fuzzy breeches to the headdress adorned with goat horns and floppy ears, things commenced to go awry. A tingling spread all across his lower body. Was he allergic to the fabric? And what about the pressure the floppy fake hooves were giving to his feet? They were glorified slippers without soles! And that headdress was giving him a headache! And he could not pull the damn thing away from his head! In a panic, he opened the door and was relieved to see Merlin. Merlin who was beaming at him!
"Please! Help! The costume! It's..."
"It’s fusing to you. It's absolutely normal. Relax. I insist."
"What?"
This was insane! For Mark, all this was crazy!
"What do you mean, fusing? Why...?"
Merlin gently pushed him backward so he was sitting back on the bench of the changing room.
"For different reasons," smiled Merlin. "I'm offering you revenge on that lout Arthur. And I'm offering a new life. Sometimes, I decide my customers would benefit from becoming my costumes. I thought it was the case for you. As for your pals back there... Well, I'll see,. Right now, it is you and that arrogant prick I'm interested in."
"Why a satyr?... And Arthur is going to become a god? Or something?..." stammered a confused, understandably so, Mark.
"Him? Oh no! The idea!" chided Merlin. "No! I'm making you a satyr, to enjoy your new life in the fay world. You will dance, drink wine, play and listen to music all day or night long, and above all frolic to your heart's content with female fauns, maenads and nymphs! You will embody merry-making and lust for life! You shall live for jovial conviviality! A true living of your frat life without the restrictions of classes, grades, morals and the thin veneer of hypocrisy! Does that not sound very much tempting and appropriate? No bullies to annoy you there!"
Mark pondered upon these words. They rang true for sure. Absolutely true! It seemed like satyrs were indeed frat boys without the arrogance and stupid excuses for living as they did. Satyrs were at least authentic and true to themselves. And they made good music, cooking and exquisite food! They were artists! Just imagining dancing, learning to make alcoholic beverages and playfully pursuing laughing maenads was enough to make him nod and smile at the offer of Merlin. Why, he'd be a fool not to take it! What he did not know was that the costume was inserting new thoughts into him, new motives, desires and impulsions. Not that it was really hard. A satyr's prime instincts are not very different from a young frat boy, pledge or otherwise. And as he slowly accepted his fate, he was unaware that the costume was fully and intimately binding with him, only increasing its pace as the host was daydreaming about the new life he would simply love.
As the transformation completed itself, Mark felt his groin... expand. His testicles appeared to swell arrogantly and his penis gorged itself with blood and life itself, it seemed. It elongated itself and widened, all the while clearly standing at attention. It was... Wow! His privates had suddenly become handsomely arrogant! Bursting with virility and masculinity! Mark stood transfixed at his big changes, so much that he didn't even notice his belly similarly expanding, his gut becoming a hairy impressive paunch. All the better to accommodate the wine, cakes and roasts that would soon fill it and make his sleep peaceful with its stretched tummy skin, which was the best way to fall asleep, without a doubt. As Mark was contemplating his amazing bodily alterations that heralded a new wonderful life, the true changes for Arthur were about to start.
First, Mark's eyes widened as he saw his testicles glow. Actually glow. Then the glow receded into his skin and everything was normal again. Or rather, what counted as the new normal.
"What... What was that...?"he asked, dumbfounded.
"Why, Arthur, of course," Merlin answered in all simplicity.
"Why?... What's happened to him? Where is he?"
Merlin opened the next changing room from the inside with a simple wave of his hand. It was empty, with only his abandoned, empty clothes on the ground.
"He is now in your testicles. He is part of your gametes. His only hope of survival, ultimately, depends upon you fertilising a female. He will then become the infant. Reborn to a new life. Whether this happens, and whether he keeps his looks or even retains his memories, is all up to you."
"Really?"
"Absolutely," smiled Merlin. "He can hear everything we say from within your scrotum. Conscious. Appalled, most assuredly. He is powerless, though.Of you wish to expel him and never care for him, you may just relieve yourself in a flask. I'll deal with him then, as I love to torture bullies. If you feel charitable, then you can go in the fay world and generously ogive him a new life, which you shall choose for him. And a strapping young satyr such as yourself shall not be unattended and lonely for long, believe me! The choice is yours, Mark. So what shall it be?"