The rest of the week went by quickly. John came home from work and immediately resumed his magic studies. Meanwhile, his roommate would immediately shift into a dog and spend the night unwinding as Spot. It was a little amusing. He never really announced, “I’m going to be a dog every night.” It just sort of happened. He got a little coy when John pointed out that he had stopped trying on other costumes. Spot had mumbled something about getting ready for casual Friday.
“Come on boy, it’ll be fine!” John tapped his thigh, doing his best to coax his dog out of the car. It was finally Friday! Their office tried leaning into the fall festivities and let people wear Halloween costumes for every Friday of the month of October. John was eager to test his wizard routine in public. That, and he wanted to show off his good boy.
“I can’t believe you talked me into letting people see me like this…!” Spot barked, “What if they realize I’m actually a dog?”
The realization wouldn’t be hard to make. Spot was trotting around the parking lot on all fours. John reached down and clipped a leash onto his dog’s collar.
“It’s alright,” John reached into his pocket and slid his wand out halfway, “I can just cast an amnesia spell.”
“Arf! I’m covered in fur and yet somehow I’m more worried about you. Don’t overdo it sir,” Spot barked softly.
“Hey, at least I figured out why I couldn’t remember much of that summer with my uncle,” John let out an amused snort.
The two entered the office. It hadn’t dawned on Spot that he should probably be on hind legs until he saw everyone else walking around. Oh man, almost everyone was wearing their standard business casual. There were a few Halloween-themed hats and one cowboy, but no one else had gone as all-out as they had.
“Woah, looking good John!” One of the secretaries waved from the front desk, “Someone wants to win that week of vacation this year.”
“You know it,” John shot a finger gun at her. He intentionally shot out a small magical spark from his fingertip. He was clearly enjoying watching her bewilderment as she tried to figure out how he had done that.
She wasn’t, you know, commenting on the guy wearing the hyper-realistic dog suit and walking around on all fours. Spot was about to say something when the two finally got to their desks. Or rather, their desk.
Scott’s desk had been completely replaced by a large dog bed. There was a sturdy looking hook on the wall to tie a leash down, and a few stray (squeakerless) dog toys.
“Arf?” Spot tried to ask his Master just what was going on, but there were people watching. He couldn’t reveal magic to them. His translation spell had shut off entirely.
“Oh wow,” John looked down at the new setup. Even his desk now had a treat jar to keep the dog happy, “I think you’re the office pet now?”
Spot started to whine. How was he supposed to show off his costume if people really thought he was a dog!?
“Oh stop,” John chuckled, “I just read about this last night. The sphere of influence of your collar’s spell is really fascinating. Everyone should believe you’re my dog today.”
Spot tilted his head and narrowed his eyes.
“Fine fine. Up boy!” John did the matching hand signal.
Spot hopped up onto his hind legs. His Master reached out and unclipped the ‘Spot’ tag from his collar.
The cubical got blurry for a moment as reality shifted back into is usual shape. Scott’s desk was back, the treat jar was gone, and he was thinking like himself again.
“Arf, uh, thanks John?” Scott rubbed his head.
“Don’t mention it boy,” He reached down and rubbed Scott’s ear, “I better make you a bit bigger so this costume’s more believable.”
He took out his wand and tapped the dog on the nose. Scott felt himself starting to stretch out a bit. He was still probably a bit shorter than his usual human self, but he could convincing reach his desk at least.
“So… I can talk today?” He rubbed his collar sheepishly.
John nodded, “Just tell people it’s a costume. That’s the truth after all.”
The admiration started to pour in almost immediately. (After some slight confusion about how he had managed to sneak by the front door.) Everyone in the office wanted to check out Scott’s “costume”. It was honestly a little hard to hold back the flustered barks as people reached out and petted him without asking. This body was a lot more awkward to move around in when he wasn’t thinking like a dog…!
“Looks like someone’s in the top running for this year’s costume contest,” their boss quipped, “The rest of you will need to step up your game!”
“Where on Earth did you get such a nice costume?” one of the secretaries asked.
A manager who was currently rubbing his ear laughed, “Scott’s clearly one of those fuzzy things.”
Before Scott had to come up with a plausible explanation for not being a furry, John mercifully stepped in.
“I made it actually!” he bragged. “I run a small costuming business on the side.”
John reached into his robe’s pocket and summoned a small stack of business cards. Arf! He was being a bit cheeky summoning those right in front of everyone. What if someone else had noticed that pocket was empty a second ago?
Everyone took the cards. The secretary scanned it quickly, “Uncle Jack?”
“Everyone needs a business name,” the wizard chuckled, “It’s short for John.”
“Yeah, but are you an uncle?” someone teased.
“Well just for the record, the contest who’s wearing the costume, not who made it,” his boss said.
“Do you do commissions Jack?” the secretary clearly had several more follow up questions.
John could see the hackles of his boss start to rise. They were quickly encroaching on a, “Get back to work!” moment.
“Actually, I’ve got a good number of pre-made costumes. Why don’t I set them up in the break room next week?” John flashed a salesman grin at his boss, “I can donate ten percent to the party’s pizza fund?”
The quickest way to a businessman’s heart was through his wallet. Their boss nodded, “Sure, just don’t let it distract from work too much.”
The crowd started to disperse after that. Scott finally felt safe to start wagging his tail again. The plus-sized dog-morph gave a sigh of relief as he started to turn his work computer on.
“Arf, thanks for that,” Scott felt his ears swivel to make sure everyone was out earshot.
“Any time boy,” John smiled as he booted up his own system.
“What was all that exactly?” Scott wagged curiously.
John grinned, “I had to do a good job convincing them that you’re just wearing a costume.”
“Yeah, but-“ Scott rubbed behind his head, “What’s with opening a shop in the break room?”
“Oh!” John looked excited, “I really want to get back to selling costumes. It seemed like a good opportunity at the time.”
“O-kay,” Scott wagged, “But… What about you calling yourself Uncle Jack?”
“Ha, I’ve already got the sign for it. I figured I’d just roll with it,” John said.
Thankfully the day was less eventful after that. Groups would still come by to look at Scott’s outfit, but nothing like the attention he got that morning. He could feel everyone’s eyes linger on him though. Particularly during the few meetings he had to attend.
After their last staff meeting, Scott tried to focus on his job. John had made him tall enough to sit down at his desk, but his body still wasn’t really proportioned for any of this. He could manage the computer’s mouse with his paw, but his keyboard left him hunting and pecking.
Scott finally let out a frustrated bark. He looked over his shoulder, “Hey John, do you still have Spot’s tag?”
John spun around in his chair, “Yeah? What’s up?”
Scott rubbed his ear anxiously, “I umm… Everyone’s staring at me.”
“Yeah?” John grinned, “You showed up to work in a dog costume.”
“I know. I just didn’t think it would attract this much attention,” Scott said. “I think I liked things better when I was just the office dog.”
Something about that admission made John smile. The wizard grabbed the tag and tossed it to the dog.
“It’s Friday afternoon. Hardly any work is getting done anyways,” John grinned, “Knock yourself out boy.”
“You keep doing that,” Scott caught the tag.
“Doing what?” John asked.
“Calling me boy,” Scott’s ears twitched sheepishly.
“Yeah? You’re my dog Scott,” John reached out and patted Scott’s head.
Arf! That did feel nice…! Scott felt his leg kick eagerly against his office chair.
“Spot’s your dog…” Scott struggled to get the words out against the ear rubs, “I’m your…”
“You’re my dog,” John repeated himself a bit more sternly.
“Even when I’m human?” Scott slipped out of the rubbing finally. His tail was still swishing back and forth.
“Especially when you’re human,” John winked. He turned back to his work.
Magic was getting so mundane for the wizard that he didn’t even want to watch Scott put the tag back on. The office chair he was sitting on vanished out from under him as he dropped down onto all fours.
Spot immediately felt the canine train of thought take hold again. Man, this was so much better than being human. Did dogs even know what anxiety was? All of his self consciousness seeped away as he trotted over to his new dog bed.
John blinked, watching his to-do list lengthen by a few action items.
“You might need to help me out with the Jefferson project boy,” he laughed softly. “You doing alright down there?”
“Arf!” Spot barked. His tail wagged back and forth excitedly. He finally lowered his voice, “You bet sir.”
“Good boy,” his owner smiled.
Spot looked out at the office. He was happy to see some new canine touches. There was a water bowl for him, a dog door in the back, and more than a few treat jars. The office still seemed unusually empty despite all the humans shuffling around.
Spot whispered up at his Master, “Sir, the office could use some more dogs.”