The weekend was looking to be a bit of a whirlwind. John wanted to pick up a a few more costumes from his uncle’s storage unit. More importantly though, he wanted to get a few displays put together for his mini-store at the office next week. There was plenty of work to do. The clothing racks needed to be loaded into Scott’s truck, they had to be polished, and all the costumes John was planning to sell at his office needed to be inventoried, tagged, and priced.
Of course, Scott had just learned something useful. No one expected dogs to do any serious work. He looked up from his coffee on Saturday morning with a bit of a sly grin on his face.
“Hey sir, I was thinking of trying to see if I could spend an entire day as Spot. You mind if I go get changed?” Scott asked.
John looked up from his cereal, “And here you were giving me a hard time for calling you ‘boy’. He glanced out into their driveway, “Umm… I was kind of planning on using Scott’s truck.”
“Surely you can just teleport everything here, right?” Scott laughed.
“That’s not really my specialty,” John said. He rubbed the back of his neck, “Look, go get changed. I’ll think of something.”
Spot didn’t really understand his Master’s explanation. Something about nudging reality altering magic in certain directions. In this case, bachelor John had apparently bought a truck a few years back since he now didn’t have a roommate with one.
And that was that! Spot mostly just helped hold doors open for his Master as the wizard played around with levitation spells. Spot did move a few small boxes on his own, but once some other storage unit customers showed up he had to just plop down on all fours and play the role of a lazy pup. Thankfully his owner didn’t seem to mind. It just gave him an excuse to try out some more discrete strength enchantments.
Truth be told, John didn’t really mind Scott’s transparent attempt to avoid helping out at the storage unit. Some part of him really liked having a loyal dog following him around.
That didn’t mean he couldn’t mess with him a bit though. After the two got home, John played tug with Spot for a bit after he unloading the truck. While he was rubbing his dog’s belly, he called up some magic and made the zipper on Spot’s costume a good three or four inches shorter. It was still there, but he’d probably have a bit more trouble getting out of it that evening.
John blinked, watching the metal clasp shimmer for a moment. Hopefully Scott wouldn’t freak out too much. Why… had he done that?
It would be a good way to gauge Scott’s reaction to being stuck as Spot. But he wasn’t going to actually keep his roommate as a dog, was he?
Every wizard needed a loyal companion! Scott had already been indulging in the outfit a lot. John would just have to make sure his roommate though his new station in life was at least partially his fault. He’s already given him the warnings and-
Woah, hold up. John was going to turn Scott into a dog? He rubbed his head nervously. He could… feel his mind made up on the matter. Maybe it was time for some wizard robe break time.
John got up from where he had been playing with Spot. “Hey boy, I’m going to do some laundry”, he said as he rubbed his dog’s ears one last time.
“Arf! Oh good sir!” Spot barked.
John tilted his head, “Do you… need me to wash something for you boy?”
“I don’t think I have anything to wash right now?” He pointedly sniffed the air, “But you’ve been wearing that robe for over a week.”
“Hey!” John laughed, “I smell fine, your nose is just overpowered.”
John started to get a load of laundry going. Couple of work shirts, some khakis, and one enchanted robe.
“I hope magic makes it through the spin cycle,” he laughed. John reflexively emptied his pockets. He set his keys and phone aside and then tucked the robe’s magic wand behind his ear. He set the washing machine on and went and got a pair of pajama pants from his bedroom.
“What now boy?” John grinned. He was glad to see Spot wasn’t changing back the second all the real work was done.
“Arf, uh- I need to hit the bathroom sir,” Spot’s eyes flickered towards the back door, “Can I just… see myself out?”
John grinned, “Of course! Just make sure you have your collar on.”
It was funny to see a dog hop up on its hind legs and throw its weight into opening a sliding glass door. It sure beat having to deal with a custom dog door installation though.
John plopped down on the sofa and reflexively picked up the spell book he had left on the coffee table. He flipped to the chapter of costume magic he had left off on earlier. It was some really fascinating stuff. It was all about using magic to “teach” clothing different stitches and sewing techniques so you could help it keep up with a shapeshifting wearer. Useful for werewolves, but also handy for costume construction itself.
Wait a second. The book wasn’t gibberish! He was actually retaining some of this magic knowledge! Oh man! He flipped back to some of the earlier chapters. They still made sense!
John felt his heart race. All the hard work had been paying off! He lifted his hand in the air and summoned a faintly glowing aura. Let’s see… That tape measure trick from earlier this week should be a simple enough of a test.
The wand behind John’s ear glowed faintly as he cast the spell. His hair started to become a little disheveled as he focused on animating the tailoring tool. Stubble started to grow out on his chin and sideburns. In the back of John’s mind, keeping up appearances for mundane non-magic folk was pushed into the back of his mind.
John was beyond excited. He was actually becoming a wizard! He had magic and the knowledge to wield it! He got up excitedly…
…and accidentally knocked the wand out from behind his ear.
The tape measure immediately fell limp on the floor. His hand stopped glowing, and the spell book on the table once again read as gibberish.
“Darn it!” John sighed. He hadn’t really taken the costume off at all! He tossed the wand down on the coffee table in frustration. If only there was some way to retain the magic even when he wasn’t wearing the robe.
John left the living room in a huff and got started on dinner. Some bland household chores should help keep his mind off things. He seasoned some chicken, got some rice going, and eventually moved his clothes into the dryer. A few minutes in to chopping some onions the sliding glass door to the back finally opened up.
“Arf! Sir, I got to bark at the mailman!” Spot wagged excitedly.
John looked up. Oh wow. His… roommate really was a dog. He knew that of course, but the awe-inspiring nature of this magic was a lot easier to appreciate when he couldn’t cast it. The little bipedal dog slipped inside, dropped down, and casually shifted back onto all fours.
“I heard boy,” John chuckled softly.
Spot found his usual place on the kitchen floor and started to chew on a bone. He really did seem a lot more carefree like this. Still… in the absence of his robe, it was a lot easier to pick up on the fact that something about being a wizard wanted to keep Scott as his dog. John could handle sales quips jumping out of his mouth every now and then, but this felt a bit more serious.
“Arf, that smells good Master,” Spot looked up at him, “What are you making tonight?”
“I’m going to stir fry some chicken and rice tonight,” John pointed at the wok he had got out earlier.
“Sounds good sir,” Spot stood up on his hind legs and walked over to him, “Can you help me out of my costume sir? I can help get the chicken prepped.”
John looked down at his roommate-turned-dog. He didn’t feel that wizard urge to keep a magical pet around. But he had left him to unload the storage unit by himself today. Spot looked like he was enjoying himself. Maybe he should give the whole messing-with-his-roommate thing a try?
“Actually… I was thinking of having some of these leftovers tomorrow,” John tried to suppress a smile, “Why don’t you stay like that for dinner?”
Spot went a little red, “Sir?”
“I’ll sprinkle a bit of chicken on your kibble,” John teased.
“Thank you?” Spot barked sheepishly as he padded back over to his spot in the kitchen. “I guess another night of dog food isn’t a big deal.”
John looked over, watching Spot sheepishly wag back and forth. Alright, maybe his wizard side had the right idea. Toying with Spot was pretty fun.
After dinner John started cleaning off one of the clothing racks he had brought back from the storage unit. He kept his robe hanging in the closet until the task was done. He tried to plan a bit for next week… Selling these costumes at work, covering up any magical shenanigans that would ensue, making some side money… It didn’t feel too overwhelming. Maybe the robe really was just making him a little quipper than usual?
John felt a little silly polishing the rack with some good old fashioned elbow grease. Still, it was nice to have this task out of the way. The two started getting ready for bed, which meant it was time to finally let Spot out of his costume.
“Arf! Thank you sir,” Spot barked eagerly. He shook his head as John popped off the collar. “Man, what a long day. I can’t believe you made me eat kibble for dinner.”
“I can’t believe you enjoyed it,” John smiled. He pulled back Scott’s mask and patted his human head.
“Yeah yeah,” Scott started to pull on the suit’s zipper with his stubby paws, “Being Spot’s fun.”
“You certainly gave the costume a workout today,” John said.
He watched Scott pull the zipper down. He had almost forgotten about shortening it earlier. Scott started to have a puzzled look on his face as the zipper came to a stop earlier than he expected. He peeled back the costume a bit, but the opening was too short for him to get an arm out now.
“Uh- John?” Scott said nervously, “I think I’m stuck?”
John pretended to investigate the zipper, “Oh wow, yeah, this thing looks a bit shorter than usual, doesn’t it?”
“What?” Scott’s eyes went a little wide, “Can you fix it!?”
“I don’t know? Let me go get my robe on”, John said.
He took his time getting the robe out from the closet. Scott’s head was human, but John could swear he started to hear him whine.
“Alright, what do we have here,” John rubbed his scruffy chin a bit after sliding back into his wizarding robe. “Oh wow, you really did wear this all day huh?”
“Arf! You told me to!” Scott protested, “Can you fix it!?”
“I think so,” John pulled out his wand, “The reality alteration spell was doing too good a job. It started to want to alter you.”
That was a bit of a lie, but his dog hadn’t spent the last week studying magic. John ran the wand down Scott’s clasp. He slowly turned the zipper back to its full length.
“There we go,” John smiled, “I just had to remind it that it was a costume.”
“Th-thanks John,” Scott started to unzip the suit. “Could… I actually turn into Spot if I wore this thing too long?”
“I’d say that’s almost certain to happen,” John nodded, “You’d probably have to really get sucked into it though.”
“But…” Scott kicked off the last of his costume. He held it up in front of his figure, but some of his canine sensibilities about nudity must have been lingering. “I like unwinding as Spot after work.”
“You’ll just have to decide who you like better. Scott or Spot?” John tapped him on the nose with his wand. “Now be a good boy and get ready for bed.”