Doing twenty-one people at once certainly made a good way to test the limits of how many people the ring could change at once, but Casper didn't feel like testing larger groups. Doing so many at once was like shoveling several chips into your mouth at once, no way to enjoy the taste, so maybe he'd do that sparingly unless the situation called for it.
Casper noted that while Ashley was no longer human, she was no longer even technically flesh and blood, she still found Casper himself 'cute.' Did it mean the rubber anthros didn't have 'species' barriers? Or perhaps it was just the way she was 'created.' After all, if the ring changed reality (and this wasn't some grand prank of the ring just toying with HIS perceptions), then Ashley and others like her had to come from somewhere right?
Casper had never been on a date before, never had much interest in that sort of thing, but if Ashley wanted to hang out with him later, maybe he'd humor her, after all, she'd been his first 'test subject' for the magic ring, it wouldn't hurt to see if she was nice.
There was also his two friends who it was only thanks to them that he knew about the store to buy the ring at all. Maybe the best way to thank them was to add them to the living rubber community. A rubber bull football player and a latex foxy cheerleader certainly had artistic merit.
Casper himself wasn't sure why, he wanted to do this, he just knew THIS was what he wanted the moment he heard about the rings the wizard could sell. It called to him, like it was his fate, if you believed in that sort of thing.
Ashley, the two rubber dogs, the otters, and the Orca swim coach, made already twenty-four. Though true, the Otters and Orca were more a test just to see how many he could change at once.
Casper hadn't expected the nozzles, could they be deflated? Could they be popped? Ugh. He'd rather not think about that. Seeing the two dogs playing, it seemed a strong wind DID NOT send them helplessly flying into the sky.
None of them seemed the least bit uncomfortable, like they didn't suffer so badly from the elements. Even when the dalmatian put his foot in something left by a careless pet owner, he just shrugged, washed it off like it had never been there, and continued playing with his friend the rubber doberman.
He noted that along with missing anything downstairs, none of them had nipples.
Did they eat, did they sleep? He hadn't ask the wizard such details when he had ordered the custom rings.
Well, he certainly ate, and he chose to sit down at a sandwich shop. After ordering, he decided to test the ring again.
He tried to turn one of the people behind the counter making lunch into a mermaid, and nothing, he then tried a merman, and with the same result: none.
He tried a sphinx next, followed by a chimera, kitsune, a native american thunderbird, a pegasus, a Phoenix, a dragon . . .
It seemed the ring wouldn't let him turn people into rubber anthros of mythical-beast.
He saw one of the employees bringing him his sandwich and decided to try another experiment. A thought and some will, and the employee was only wearing the store's shirt and his name-tag. However the sleeves now were v shaped and went all the way down the sides. The new anthro-bat instead of having arms and wings, had large flaps of 'skin' the folded out when he spread his arms, the wings having 'bones' that were shaped like a hand.
He had very large ears, a face that looked like a cross between a mouse and a pig, a tiny tail.
In a second, Casper's experiment bore fruit, the employee, his name tag read Dave, FLEW over to his table before the big purple living rubber anthro bat deposited Casper's lunch.
Casper didn't know why, but knowing the rubber anthros he was creating could truly and honestly FLY if their natural cousins could, gave him a strong sense of satisfaction.
He wondered where he could meet up with Ashley after seven. He didn't even know her. She didn't even know him. But hey, all friendships had to start somewhere.